The automotive industry is shifting gears. Global disruption, technological advances, and changing consumer behaviors are altering the auto industry on many levels simultaneously. The traditional method of designing, manufacturing, selling, servicing, and financing vehicles is now seeing an undeniable shift.
Tangelo Motor Company, a part of City West Country Ltd, which owns automotive organizations Mercedes-Benz South West, Carparison Leasing, and Snap Car Hire, is a disruptive new online car sales platform specializing in used vehicles. From searching for cars online, to value and part exchange, to buying and financing cars, to even home delivery of your new vehicle, Tangelo is transforming its brand and sales process to match the ever-changing ways UK customers are choosing to shop for new cars.
Dealers are operating in an increasingly disrupted environment, requiring dealers to review their operating model, identify and unlock operational efficiencies, and discover new ways to operate in a digital, omnichannel environment. That’s one of the main reasons why Tangelo turned to SugarCRM.
From a Local Car Dealer to a National Car Sales Platform
When the pandemic hit in 2020, car dealerships were forced to close their physical doors overnight. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated that transformation, encouraging consumers to adopt digitally enabled car buying and online sales models. This was the beginning of a disruptive and fast-moving time for the automotive industry. Customers still required vehicles to get around but couldn’t go to a dealership to see them, forcing them online. The semiconductor shortage also severely impacted the supply of new cars, fueling demand for used vehicles.
Tangelo’s sales team still manually recorded customer information and team activities. This was likely to hamper the business in the future, especially in the context of a revamped online platform. Tangelo needed its sales and marketing systems to be linked and collaborative with a single access point. It required a CRM system to serve as a single source of truth where everyone could find integrated, accurate, and updated data in a unified business-wide system. Enter SugarCRM and its implementation partner, Provident CRM.
Given the extreme changes underway, the future of automotive retail has understandably become a top agenda item in many boardrooms, especially within Tangelos.
Searching for the Right Solution
After researching the market and watching demos for several different CRM platforms, Tangelo’s management concluded that Sugar Sell and Sugar Market together met all its requirements, including the need for flexibility, collaboration, and customization. Not only did the new system save their sales team time, but it has also enabled them to deliver a better customer experience, with all a customer’s information and past conversations in one place. In fact, since onboarding Sugar, Tangelo’s database has already grown by 22%. By integrating the two solutions and linking sales results back to marketing campaigns, the company now benefits from better decision-making and more efficient use of time and resources.
Looking Forward: How Tangelo is Determined to Keep Driving Change
As Tangelo continue to evolve, they are now adding more elements to its Sugar solutions, including integrating data with major auto marketplaces and the website showroom. This provides their teams and leadership alike with a clearer view of the lead inquiry process. Not only that, Tangelo is now able to tap into previously untouched data, which is proving to be a real game-changer in being able to market to individual customers.
With the help from partner Provident CRM, Tangelo is now able to benefit from extensive staff training and ongoing customization that works at an industry and business level. This is allowing Tangelo to continue its growth trajectory. In just a relatively short time, Sugar and Provident CRM has helped Tangelo put the customer in the front and center of its business to grow from a successful local dealership to become a UK-wide car sales platform. The sky is now the limit as the partnership grows further.
Want to learn more about Tangelo’s journey to digital enlightenment? Read the full case study here, “Disruptive Used Car Sales Platform Accelerates Growth by Implementing SugarCRM with Help From Provident CRM.”
