FireSocket Drives Home Importance Of CRM Technology

The company's initial target is auto dealerships, but the problem FireSocket founder Jonathan Ord faced was convincing a bunch of hands-on salespeople that they needed CRM technology to close more deals.

"Industry statistics show that 78 percent of the people that walk into the lot will buy a car within the next month," said Ord, CEO and chairman of FireSocket, based here. "Once that person walks off the lot, however, the salesperson often doesn't follow up with them."

The process of convincing dealerships that the technology would be a boon to their business, and not a burden, began with Ord studying the workflow and business processes of the sales, financing and service departments.

Five months later, Ord emerged from the assessment stage of his project and introduced DealerSocket, a .Net platform-based CRM solution custom-built for auto dealerships.

One feature of the system allows salespeople to enter a phone number or a driver's license ID number to enroll a potential buyer in a marketing campaign. The customer then receives e-mail, print literature and calls from the dealership's inside sales force.

"It's ideal for dealerships because salespeople don't want to enter a bunch of data," said Ord. "They think a bird in hand is worth more than three in a bush."

FireSocket brings to the table the ability to map technology to business processes, said Ord. The company didn't walk into a dealership with a prebuilt solution in hand; it created the software after observing day-to-day operations.

"What impressed me was all the studying [they did overall and on an individual basis within the departments of the dealership," said Maribel Munoz, business development manager for customer care at Nelson Honda, Elmonte, Calif. "[Ord was able to pinpoint where the disconnects in our customer care processes were and develop the technology to address those areas."

Nelson Honda expects to go live this month with DealerSocket, which will replace the dealership's custom software. The goal of the rollout is to connect Nelson Honda's business development center and its sales, financing and service departments. Ord has already met with 100 dealerships and signed on 13 of them to beta-test DealerSocket.

Another feature tracks quality assurance to make sure the dealerships retain certification levels set by auto manufacturers. If customer satisfaction ratings drop low enough, a dealership's certifications are at risk. Losing those credentials means not getting money back from the manufacturer or not receiving inventory preference when purchasing new car lines.

FireSocket is also working on a feature that will allow service technicians to scan in a vehicle's identification number so they can view the service history. "[This way, the dealership knows if that person is a red-carpet customer or not," said Ord. "Most [dealerships don't even know if a person is a first-time customer or someone who's coming back to buy again, or if they're losing follow-up business from that customer."

But auto dealerships aren't the only vertical Ord has his eye on. He envisions InsureSocket for insurance agencies and BuilderSocket for home builders.

A former consultant and accountant for home builders, Ord left Ernst and Young in 1996 to form Foreshock, a consulting company that specialized in Onyx solutions. In July 2001, he left ForeShock to found FireSocket with Brad Perry, a former Deloitte and Touche accountant.

To date, the company is self-funded and profitable, said Ord. "We are accountants by mind-set, so we are very detailed as to what percentage of revenue should be put toward development, consulting, sales, marketing and so on," said Ord. "An investment would help us grow, but we want to make sure all of the risk is taken out of our business model first."