At Mentor we are please to announce a new integration with Xero and QuickBooks accounting software, this allows users to easily export their sales data held in mentor and import it into their accounting software. Need help with these updates? Our support team is ready to assist: Contact us today! Call us on 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk. Schedule a demo and discover how Mentor can help your business thrive.
Read MoreWe're excited to announce the latest update to Mentor CRM/DMS, designed to boost your sales team's efficiency and streamline key processes. Here's a look at the highlights: MOT Date Prompt Prompts for the next MOT date at the point of service invoice (if an MOT is present). • If the MOT is marked as failed then the MOT record is ignored by the system and no next date is required. • If the MOT is marked as passed then the next/expiry MOT date is marked against the vehicle record. The vehicle record can be edited at any time if the found to be incorrect in the future. This helps Mentor keep track of the next MOT. Diary labour progress indicator (and key tag and board no.) • Indication on the diary of labour in progress, paused jobs (where work has started, but not yet complete), overdue jobs (on estimated time) and labour complete jobs Enhanced job clock • Job clock display now contains more vehicle information, and a link to the picking list Re-order Service lines • Ability to re-order the position of service lines on the service invoice before final invoice Need help with these updates? Our support team is ready to assist: Contact us today! Call us on 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk. Schedule a demo and discover how Mentor can help your business thrive.
Read MoreOur newest release includes improvements across 43 updates, packed with fixes, optimisations and powerful new features designed to make your dealership operations smoother than ever. Here are some key highlights that will have a direct impact on your workflow: Stellantis Automated Parts Orders: – Manual order entries are now a thing of the past. Our system automatically generates manufacturer parts orders based on what has been requested through your main supplier, improving efficiency and reducing errors. Stellantis Discount Code Management: – Maximize your savings with our new discount management tool, allowing you to effortlessly track and manage your Stellantis supplier discount codes. VHC Entry Enhancements: – We’ve fine-tuned the Vehicle Health Check (VHC) entry screen to make it even more intuitive with additions such as custom rates for account customers and custom follow up periods per VHC item. Asset Log Improvements: – Managing your dealership’s assets just got easier! We've simplified asset entry and introduced multiple depreciation options to give you more control over financial tracking. Automatic Stock Re-Aging: – Keep your stock records accurate with automated re-aging of vehicle inventory when it's confirmed on-site. These updates are designed to enhance efficiency, reduce manual workload, and help your dealership run at peak performance. Stay tuned for more innovations coming your way! Need help with these updates? Our support team is ready to assist: Contact us today! Call us on 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk. Schedule a demo and discover how Mentor can help your business thrive.
Read MoreRunning a Stellantis dealership just got easier. Mentor DMS now features direct interfaces with Stellantis systems, saving you time and streamlining your operations. Imagine: Faster parts ordering with direct access to Stellantis listings Reduced paperwork with automated stock invoices Improved customer satisfaction tracking with seamless CSI data transmission Simplified setup with a built-in Stellantis Softbox Mentor DMS is your all-in-one solution for managing every aspect of your dealership. This comprehensive system includes integrated accounts, robust stock management (for both parts and vehicles), powerful sales and aftersales tools, innovative vehicle health check video capabilities, and effective marketing tools—all designed to streamline your operations and boost your bottom line. Stay tuned for more Stellantis integrations in 2025, including Customer First lead integration. Visit our growing Stellantis section [Link] and request a demo today! [Link]
Read MoreStreamlined Sales and Improved Efficiency: Introducing Mentor's November Software Update We're excited to announce the latest update to Mentor CRM/DMS, designed to boost your sales team's efficiency and streamline key processes. Here's a look at the highlights: Effortless Deal Management:• Automatic Price Updates: Say goodbye to manual calculations! The deal book now automatically adjusts the selling price when accessories are added to an order form, saving you valuable time. Simplified Part Exchange:• Seamless Integration: With this update, salespeople can effortlessly add part exchange vehicles directly onto the order form at any stage of the process. Adding a trade-in for a quick sale is now a breeze! Faster Part Returns:• Introducing Adhoc Parts Returns: This brand new feature allows you to return a part in stock without needing the original order, streamlining the process and minimising hassle. These updates are just a glimpse of our ongoing commitment to listening to our clients' needs and continuously improving Mentor. Ready to experience the Mentor difference? • Contact us today! Call us on 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk.• Schedule a demo and discover how Mentor can help your business thrive. Let's take your sales to the next level!
Read MoreOur March system update has now gone live which provides many improvements, including better handling of service sub contract work and enhanced system notifications between sales and service departments. At Mentor we are constantly updating the system, and all our customers benefit from these updates and new features, making the system more useful and efficient for all our users.
Read MoreWith this feature, users can create a factory order within the system. Once a factory order is created for a particular customer, the copy facility allows the user to duplicate that same order multiple times for the same customer. This is particularly beneficial when factory orders are required for multiple identical orders, saving the sales user from having to manually redo the same order repeatedly. This feature is also available for fleet vehicle order forms, allowing 1 customer to purchase multiple vehicles without the sales user redoing the order form for every vehicle, for ACL compliant dealers the sales user will only be required to complete the ACL stage once within a 6 month period and be able to raise and complete multiple vehicle order forms. By implementing these copy facilities in the system, the efficiency of creating and managing orders is significantly improved, benefiting both the sales team and customers.
Read MoreWe're thrilled to share that Mentor has experienced tremendous success with the release of our quotation system last month. Thanks to valuable feedback from our clients, we've been able to enhance the system's usability and incorporate new features. The system is designed to generate quotes for vehicle repairs or parts purchases, and these quotes remain active on the system for 30 days, giving you the flexibility to make any necessary adjustments. Additionally, the system enables you to swiftly and effortlessly convert quotes into job cards or POS invoices, streamlining the process from quote to booking/invoice. We welcome the opportunity to demonstrate how Mentor can assist your workshop or independent garage. Don't hesitate to contact us to book a demo or learn more.
Read MoreMentor are very pleased to announce a new feature that we are releasing to our current DMS client base. The new feature is a quotation system for service and parts. The quotation system allows you to quote a customer for any repairs on their vehicle or any parts they are looking at purchasing. The quotes will stay live on the system for 30 days so you are able to amend them if needed. Once the 30 days are up the system will automatically store the quotes in an archive section of the system, so you can always look back to see what the customer was quoted originally. The system will also allow you to create job cards or POS invoices from the quote to make the transaction from quote to booking/invoice a lot quicker and smoother. To find out how Mentor can help your workshop or independent garage, please contact 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk. To book a demo or find out more.
Read MoreAs part of Mentor's integrated accounts module, we have included electronic submission of your VAT returns to HMRC. The system is fully integrated within Mentor DMS and allowing you to meet your VAT obligations without additional software. Highlights to using Mentor. View your VAT Obligations. Mentor will retrieve your latest tax obligations electronically from HMRC. The system will then clearly display what submissions are outstanding and those which have been fulfilled. Review your VAT Return’s. Your Tax return is summarised on screen for each VAT period, this will allow you to drill-down into data more easily for inspection before submission. Submit Electronically. Our simple submission process will allow you to push your VAT returns electronically to HMRC. You will also receive a receipt reference tied to your HMRC account for your peace of mind that your VAT return has been received. To find out how Mentor can help your workshop or independent garage, please contact 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk. To book a demo or find out more.
Read MoreWith Mentor we release new updates regularly to all our users. We are very pleased to announce the new features that we have released in the past few months. The new features are: o Upgrades to the direct order to allow settlement amounts and providers to be recorded. o It is now possible to see the sub-contract labour lines and miscellaneous lines on the back of service invoices for the customer to see. o You are now able to see the part exchange vehicle on the proforma vehicle invoices. o Upgrades to the purchase register to be able to copy & also to be able to reverse general sales invoices. o Upgrades to the loan car diary, which makes it easier and quicker to capture the information for your job card. To find out how Mentor can help your workshop or independent garage, please contact 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk. To book a demo or find out more.
Read MoreMentor launches their new website today, www.mentorsystems.co.uk, which has been created to highlight the features and benefits that Mentor creates for second hand car dealers, garages and franchise dealers. Mentor’s dealer management software has been developed over the last twenty years, specifically for the car industry. Helping car dealers to sell more and increase productivity for independent garages and workshops.#WhyPayMore To find out how Mentor can help your car dealer or independent garage, please contact 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk. To book a demo or find out more.
Read MoreWe are very pleased to announce that Mentor Systems has recently passed the (re) certification for reading Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Alfa and Jeep, Stellantis part files.“We had some very good comments and feedback from the auditors at Stellantis, and we were very pleased that we passed. Mentor will be included in future communication from Stellantis regarding DMS’s which are capable, and certified, to read their Peugeot, Citroen, Fiat, Alfa, Jeep and after-market PSA parts,” said Paul Heams, Head of Technical, Mentor Systems.New features for Mentor include: Extended Part information: o Dimensions o Extended tyre information o Efficiency ratings o Manufacturer handling codes · Support for complex and multiple part supersessions. · Handling information at point of order and sale for specialised parts. To find out how Mentor can help your workshop or independent garage, please contact 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk. To book a demo or find out more.
Read MoreWe are pleased to announce a recent integration with DealTrak, a software platform dedicated to connecting the automotive finance and insurance sectors. DealTrak brings together motor dealers, lenders, finance brokers and VAP providers into one efficient and compliant platform. To increase productivity, and to eliminate the need to re-enter data, the Mentor DealTrak integration enables a quick and easy one-click submission of customer, vehicle and finance details from Mentor directly into the DealTrak portal. Mentor CRM integrates with hundreds of third party integrations and manufacturer hubs. Mentor DMS comes with features normally only reserved for expensive bolt-ons. Contact 01923 604 105 or email info@mentorsystems.co.uk to find out more or to book a demo. Or you can visit www.mentorsystems.co.uk to see how we can help your dealership. For further information about DealTrak please visit www.dealtrak.co.uk.
Read MorePeter Ambrose (Castleford), integrate the new ACL integration feature within Mentor for full FCA compliance throughout their sales process. “We are very pleased with the new ACL integration within Mentor, it saves time as our sales people don’t have to rekey customer information and keep going in and out of different systems. It safeguards our business throughout the different stages of the sale, from quote to handover.” Peter Ambrose, Managing Director This new integration safeguards businesses, as FCA compliance procedures are part of the Mentor system, salespeople cannot miss out stages in compliance or process the deal without recording the information needed, in the right order. Being an appointed representative member of Automotive Compliance Ltd, helps companies to adhere to FCA compliance and protects dealers, but this integration goes even further. It ensures that for every vehicle certain procedures must take place, or the sales person cannot go to the next step of the sale. “This new integration ensures that dealers are fully compliant in the reselling of financial and insurance products, as no parts of the process can be forgotten or take place in the wrong order. Salespeople and customers also appreciate how much quicker this process is, as the information needed is part of the Mentor DMS, there is no need to keep going in and out of a system, with different passwords, and customer information only has to be keyed in once,” said Danny Palmer, Managing Director, Mentor Dealer Management Systems & Palmers Motor Group
Read MoreWhat difference would it make to your business if you could double your sales from web enquiries without increasing your marketing spend? Web-Connect Training Program (TalkSales Europe Ltd) white paper using Palmers Motor Company case study. Audience: CEO’s, MDs, GMs & DPs, Sales Managers and BDC & Contact Centre Managers. Aim: This white paper will examine how the car industry currently manages web leads and will look at ways to make changes to increase web conversion rates. It explores this issue by using Palmers Motor Company as a case study. Author: Richard Beagle, TalkSales Europe Ltd, is a specialist in the automotive industry. TalkSales has supported over 850 dealerships across the UK, to grow their sales and service staff to the next level. Contents 1. Current situation – where is the automotive sector now in terms of managing web leads? 2. Solution - using Palmers Motor Company as a case study, what did TalkSales discover utilising their Web-Connect Training Program? What were the steps taken which made a positive impact on results for web leads? 3. Conclusion – summary and call to action. 1. Current situation Where is the automotive sector now in terms of managing web leads? For many of us in the automotive sector, we have been conditioned over many years to sell cars based on customers reaching out to us – customers coming into our showroom and forecourt. Second to this is inbound phone enquires and a long way behind this, web enquires. With COVOID-19 these figures have completely reversed in the last 12 months. What do you do when your customers cannot come into your dealership? Instead of a nice to have, maximising web leads is now essential to your business. Why did the automotive industry not focus on web leads? The management focus was on walk-ins and inbound phone enquiries and maximising these. Web enquiries were not given as much focus and were often seen as a distraction. As a result of this the industry didn’t figure out ‘what good looks like’ and were more concerned about hitting the standards of (some) manufacturers to ‘call customer within a certain amount of minutes.’ Sales people focused on getting a good score on this, but this took the focus away from results being achieved in the business from web enquiries. A lot of dealerships were finding also that they had a poor measurement of conversion rates on web leads, and some dealerships were not measuring this as it was not their focus. Typical dealership conversion rates from web leads Talk Sales reviewed web conversion rates in early 2020, reviewing 2121 automotive web leads from 11 different dealerships, identifying 157 sales from web leads giving a close rate of 7.4%. These figures highlight that dealerships are not selling to around 93% of their web leads! how long could you afford that conversion rate if this was ‘walk in’ customers in normal times? But with COVOID-19, this is how your sales are taking place! Why are dealers losing 93% of their web leads? When we look at why dealers are just converting around 7% and losing 93% this has been proven to come down to a number of different reasons with the major ones being (this list is not exhaustive): 1. No ‘spoken to’ contact attempt from the dealership because of no phone number on enquiry. 2. Not actually spoken to customer despite having phone number. 3. No fixed sales process ‘trained in’ for engagement with web lead. 4. Multiple voice mails and emails, in small time window, sent to customer with no response activated. 5. Incorrect or no use of video communication. 6. Extended follow up period of ‘no contact’ web leads. 7. Lack of ‘buy-in’ from sales teams on quality of web leads. 8. Lack of measurement and communication of results to team. 9. Poor CRM program to track results from web leads. 10. Ineffective management practises. How many of the above is happening in your dealership now? What is the common solution and why it is not very effective? The common solution would be to phone the customer on the web lead arrival and keep following the customer up until they answer maybe over a number of days/weeks. With continually no answer from the customer, this can be demotivational to sales advisors particularly with a full diary of similar leads to follow up. 2. Solution - Palmers Motor Company case study – how to convert web leads into sales. Use an easy-to-use CRM that can show sales conversion rates Palmers Motor Company use Mentor CRM and DMS to run their dealership. This means that they can quickly gain information on both group and individual performance. Without a management system it would be difficult to identify conversion rates and see where salespeople need that additional investment in training and development. Communicate your web conversion rate to your sales team With Palmers Motor Company we rolled out the Web-Connect training program by video conference to the whole sales team. We communicated where the company was from a conversion rate perspective, which was at 7.1%. This was an important part of the process – communicating with the team. Like any type of measurement, this was a line in the sand. From this we set in place what we would need to do differently to have a positive change to the conversion rate. Give sales people 100% accountability for every single web lead Bring 100% accountability for every single web lead that arrives into your business. We created an easy 7 step process that each sales person must deliver on with every web lead. These steps did not mean working harder or longer on each lead, but working smarter and getting better results to sell even more cars. Video content for customers with no telephone numbers An integral part of the Web-Connect training program was the introduction of video content. This was particularly aimed at customers where no contact telephone number had been provided. What this meant was the sales adviser would send the customer a friendly and professional introduction video of themselves and the business, with the objective of creating a positive first impression and getting a telephone number back from the customer. This enabled the sales advisor to have that critical phone conversation. Conversion rates and results This resulted in a 100%+ shift in results going from 7.1% conversion rate to a 16% conversion rate on web leads in the space of 8 weeks. One of the key goals of the Web Connect training program was to have an actual telephone conversation with the customer this would lead to a massive uplift in the conversion rate. This uplift was down to a new strategy with the sales adviser’s ‘double tapping’ the customer’s phone number. Which means if there was no answer on the first call, we would immediately redial the customer again. Both actions completed within a maximum time of 15 minutes of web lead arrival. Plus, if there was no answer on the ‘double tap’, an appointed phone call time was sent by SMS to the customer; this appointment time was set to one hour after the double tap. This was pre-programmed into the Palmers Mentor CRM and made it easier for the sales teams to activate. This proved to be very effective and led to an increase of 45% for ‘first contact’ with the customer. A key factor of success in 2020 was using video content for customers where there was no phone number. This led to a conversion rate of 80 sales with a 13.2% conversion rate. Over 75% of these videos were sent to customers without a phone number meaning the 80 sales truly were additional to Palmers Motor Company generating just over £120,000 of extra income for the company. 3. Conclusion We are in a period of retailing that none of us would have experienced ever before. In order for dealerships to survive, thrive and drive we have to be flexible in our approach in the way we maximise results. A well-used saying and one that’s so relevant at the moment ‘If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we will keep getting what we’ve been getting…..’ Having looked at the problem ‘where are the automobile industry now with web leads?’ and looked at the solution, ‘what worked at Palmers Motor Company?’ we have presented some empirical data to answer this, notably the conversion rate on web leads going from 7.1% to 16%. Again using Mentor, this information was easily accessible and also showed where sales advisers were above or below the 16% and where to focus their attention. With the combination of TalkSales Web-Connect and Mentor this has proven to be an invaluable partnership to get even better results without any more spend on stock, premises or marketing.
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Mentor specialise in software for the automotive industry, providing vehicle dealers with cost effective Contact Management and DMS software solutions. With over 20 years of experience and supported by manufacturers and industry specialists, we provide a complete package to help you run and manage your dealership.
Mentor Dealer Management Systems,
24 Greenhill Crescent, Watford,
Hertfordshire, WD18 8XN
01923 604105