Salesforce-based automotive dealership management solution

Analysis & solution design

Itransition analyzed the customer's business processes and leveraged tools, with a focus on inventory and sales management, as well as information management practices and workflows. We also conducted interviews with key stakeholders, which allowed us to gain a clear understanding of operational and organizational inefficiencies. To address the company's challenges, we suggested implementing a dealership management platform on top of Salesforce Automotive Cloud. With its preconfigured data model and process logic, Salesforce Automotive Cloud was specifically built for automotive businesses to enable faster system implementation. The solution was also a good fit, as it supports rapid dealership network expansion across countries and regions, while its automotive-specific data model enables seamless addition of new vehicle brands, which aligned with the customer's growth objectives.

Proprietary accelerator-based implementation

To accelerate solution delivery and reduce costs, we used Salesforce Automotive Accelerator – Itransition's proprietary solution built on Salesforce Automotive Cloud that incorporates proven re-usable patterns for core dealership processes, such as sales, service, customer relations, and inventory management. It includes:

• Embedded and extensible custom business logic layer to quickly customize flows without extensive development
• Predefined and configurable workflows and automation templates for key processes (lead handling, assignment rules, deal progression, service cycles, etc.)
• Pre-built UI layouts and role-based workspaces for different teams
• Reusable document templates (contracts, test drive forms, etc.) and approval flows
• Custom client- and vehicle-related milestones (key lifecycle events)
• Pre-configured integrations (WhatsApp for client communication and DocuSign for digital document signing)
• Built-in activity tracking and task management (reminders, process control)
• Structured multi-location warehouse management

CRM customization & extension

The preconfigured solution covered up to 70% dealership processes of the customer's company out of the box, so the team focused on adapting it to the client's specific needs. To create a full-fledged solution for the customer's dealership network, Itransition's team customized and extended Salesforce Automotive Accelerator by tailoring pre-built features to the unique processes of the customer's business, introducing client-specific business logic, and adding required functionality and integrations. This included additional integrations with third-party platforms for omnichannel client communication (Facebook and Instagram) and payment processing (Stripe and POS), as well as the implementation of email marketing automation, AI-powered capabilities, and custom automation and notifications.

Dealership management capabilities

Unified customer profile

We implemented a unified customer profile shared across all dealerships, providing sales managers with a 360-degree view of each client, regardless of location or prior ownership of the relationship. The customer profile consolidates:

• Personal and contact client details, including household context, residence and workplace information
• Vehicle interests and preferences
• Full interaction history, including showroom visits, test drives, offers sent, and purchases
• Service history, covering client requests, completed work, declined offers and repairs
• Financial context such as insurance status and financing details (installment plans, tradeins, etc.)
• All related customer documents (e.g., scanned IDs, signed agreements)
• Complete communication history

Omnichannel lead management & routing

Itransition's team realized omnichannel lead intake and configured a rule-based, multi-criteria lead distribution aligned with the customer's sales model, including:

• Consolidation of website requests, phone calls, WhatsApp messages, and Facebook and Instagram inquiries into a single system
• Rule-based lead qualification criteria reflecting car brand, model interest, region
• Automated lead routing based on client location, manager expertise, and current workload, replacing the sequential lead assignment
• Task-based lead handling to control speed and quality of response
• Lead dashboards to provide end-to-end visibility into lead volumes, progression across sales stages, conversion rates, and drop-off points in the funnel
• Sales dashboards to allow tracking sales performance by dealership and location

Deal & document workflow management

We implemented a fully digital deal and document workflow, introducing automation to streamline deal processing and eliminate manual document handling through the following capabilities:

• Ready-to-use document templates where client and deal data is automatically pulled from the customer profile
• One-click contract generation, with documents automatically sent to the client by email
• Online signing of test drive and deal documentation
• Digital payment processing
• Automated recording of signed documents and transaction data in the customer profile
• Quotas for different payment options (e.g., one-time payment, installment payments, etc.) and approving or declining quotas directly from email

Inventory management

Customer engagement management

We implemented proactive lifecycle-based customer retention processes, shifting engagement to automated, event-based interactions, including:

• Automatic tracking of milestones – key client and vehicle lifecycle events – including customer birthdays, scheduled maintenance, insurance expiration, financing end dates, purchase anniversaries, mileage thresholds, warranty expiration, and seasonal service events
• Rule-based milestones that determine when and why a manager must contact a client (service, offer, congratulation, discount)
• Task automation prompting the assigned manager to contact client and perform the required action at each milestone, with task progress and completion being visible to managers and supervisors
• Automated, personalized reminders and offers sent to clients

AI assistant for frontline teams

Itransition implemented an AI assistant based on Salesforce Einstein to support managers' daily work. Having full, governed access to the CRM data, the assistant operates with complete customer and operational context, enabling new managers to start working efficiently from day one and receive AI-powered guidance. The AI assistant provides:

• Fast, natural-language search across the client database, including all documents, interaction history, financial terms, service records, and prior manager ownership
• Concise client summaries to quickly understand customer background and preferences
• Suggestions for next best actions during customer interactions
• Automatic transcription of voice calls and generation of call summaries, which are stored directly in the customer profile
• Analysis of call transcripts to identify client concerns or negative signals and contextual guidance on how managers can address identified issues