A Spirit of Innovation
Founded in 1866 as a business forms printer, Reynolds and Reynolds began serving the needs of automotive retailers in 1927 by providing standardized accounting forms to U.S. Chevrolet dealerships. That one simple innovation made the dealer’s business more efficient and productive, while also making General Motors’ tasks of analyzing sales and forecasting demand much more consistent and effective.

That spirit of innovation is the same spirit that has nurtured Reynolds’ success in meeting the needs of automotive retailers… from business forms in the 1920s…to batch processing systems in the 1960s…to dealership management software in the 1980s…to the sophisticated retail management systems of today.

As Reynolds plans for the future, our vision is to help dealers meet the demands of the changing retail landscape, enabling them to improve how their business operates and transform how consumers experience the dealership. That vision is anchored in the capability of the Reynolds retail management system and extends to every aspect of how dealers interact with consumers, whether that’s inside or outside the four walls of the dealership.

The Changing Retail Landscape
To seize the retail opportunities ahead, dealers need to be prepared for a number of changing conditions and market forces that are converging to change the dealership business.

First, across the board, car companies are producing higher quality products and bringing a steadier supply of fresh, new models. As a result, the retail experience a dealer provides and how consumers interact with the dealership will become an important way to differentiate car brands and distinguish one dealer from another.

Second, industry changes brought on by the recession are putting increased pressure on dealerships for greater productivity and efficiency. There are more consumers to serve and more cars being sold and serviced, yet fewer dealerships. But, dealers simply cannot hire more people. Rather, dealers will need to use technology more effectively to compete against other dealerships, other vehicle brands and even other types of retailers.

Third, there are broad forces at work shaping how consumers approach any retail experience.

Consumers have increased expectations for:

• Fair treatment and exceptional customer service during each retail interaction.

• Greater transparency in every retail transaction.

• More information at their fingertips–information they can access instantly.

Consumer demographics also are changing:

• Generation Y is rapidly becoming a target audience.

• Women influence four out of every five car purchases in the U.S. and spend nearly $200 billion per year on vehicles and repairs.

Built to Work Together
To help dealers face the changes in the retail landscape head-on, Reynolds continues to develop industry-leading software that helps dealerships operate more efficiently and profitably.

The core of Reynolds’ software development efforts is the dealership management system (DMS). Reynolds offers a choice of two robust systems, ERA-IGNITE and POWER, to provide the transaction management and reporting capabilities dealers need to serve their customers and improve their business.

Reynolds also is at the forefront of developing retail management tools that help dealerships further increase efficiency in their transactions, as well as improve every customer interaction. These tools are built to work together–seamlessly. Here are a few examples:

docuPAD®
docuPAD® is a complete, interactive F&I selling solution that enables dealership personnel to engage customers with personalized menu presentations, present forms in an electronic menu format, disclose necessary contract information, electronically capture required signatures, and store files in an electronic deal jacket.

The docuPAD workstation sits on the F&I manager’s desktop and offers a touch screen where the F&I process can be presented. Customers use the docuPAD pen to click through menu options, actively participating in the process. As a result, docuPAD creates an entirely new level of customer engagement and a product experience that is shared between customers and dealership personnel.

Dealerships also benefit from docuPAD’s features that help improve F&I operations, most notably compliance.

Dealerships that use docuPAD report it decreases the customer’s time in the F&I office and improves the overall sales experience. At the same time, docuPAD helps dealerships ensure compliance and increase the number of F&I products sold and overall gross profit.

Contact Management
Contact Management, which is Reynolds’ customer relationship management (CRM) tool, helps dealership employees effectively and efficiently communicate with consumers during every interaction.

Contact Management is a complete solution for sales and service CRM. Dealerships can use Contact Management to track prospects from all lead sources and manage important customer data such as contact information and sales and service history.

The latest features in Contact Management allow dealers to use a single login to access CRM, vehicle inventory, and Web applications. Plus, mobile capabilities in Contact Management enable dealers to quickly respond to leads, organize their day, and update customer records at any time, from anywhere, on any device and browser.

Reynolds Integrated Telephone System
The Reynolds Integrated Telephone System is designed specifically to help automotive retailers use their customer database more wisely and effectively. Thus, turning every phone call into an opportunity to improve customer relationships.

Built to work together seamlessly with the DMS and Contact Management, Reynolds Integrated Telephone System helps notify dealership employees who is calling and the possible reason for the call.

Additional features of the phone system include inbound and outbound call tracking, voice mail, call distributions, detailed reporting, and more. All of these tools help dealers better balance customer service with employee productivity to deliver an optimal consumer experience.

Service Sales Kit
Developed to work on a mobile tablet, Service Sales Kit from Reynolds enables service advisors to thoroughly complete the write-up process alongside the customer’s vehicle or at the advisor’s desk–or anywhere in between.

By accessing customer information stored in the DMS, Service Sales Kit allows service advisors to greet customers by name, creating a welcoming first impression. Advisors then can perform a thorough vehicle inspection, complete a vehicle report card, sell maintenance menu services, and quote prices to the penny using Service Price Guides from Reynolds.

With Service Sales Kit, dealerships can offer customers a consistent, pleasing service experience that follows the dealer’s desired write-up process and helps keep satisfied customers coming back.

Delivering Results for Dealers
As dealers shift their business focus to deliver on the changing expectations of consumers, they can count on Reynolds to deliver the retail management solutions that deliver results for their business–day after day, month after month, year after year.

For more about how Reynolds and Reynolds can help you transform your customers’ experience and improve your business results, please call 1-800-767-7879, e-mail marketing@reyrey.com, or visit our website www.reyrey.com.