Therefore, this article shall focus on the second part of the process: qualified lead to order<\/strong> and this shall be referred further on as \u201cthe car sales process<\/strong>\u201d. A qualified lead for the purpose of this article is a lead where both the contact person and his\/her interest are qualified, that is known and identifiable. Qualification rules on persons and interest types may vary. At minimum, the person’s name and at least one contact method (email or phone) must be known, together with the relevant brand, model family, or model.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>The car sales process \u2013 characteristics<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div>The car sales process has several unique characteristics that need to be addressed (depending on the region and the local market conditions, their significance may vary):<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>
- <\/i><\/span>
The vehicle, the object of sales, is not completely standardized, comes in many different configurations that need to be explored and presented during the sales process<\/div><\/li>
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Stock cars and their relation to the requirements of the customer are always a factor in the process (multi-layered stock that is dealer stock, regional\/network stock, pipeline stock, and vehicles in transit)<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
Additional accessories and services complement the offer<\/div><\/li>
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A large share of new-car sales in many European markets involve financing or leasing<\/div><\/li>
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Many car sales involve the buying back of the previous car of the customer (trade-in)<\/div><\/li>
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The process is fragmented across companies (importers and dealers) and channels, including importer and dealer websites and the physical showroom.<\/div><\/li>
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It is a short-lived process of days or weeks of the active transactional phase depending on the brand and the market and it is a mass sales process<\/div><\/li>
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The parameters defining the process\u2014prices, incentives, models, financing options, etc.\u2014can change frequently<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
Resuming the process after an interruption requires a lot of preparation<\/div><\/li>
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Besides the salesperson, many departments of the dealership participate (sales back-office, accounting, service)<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
Small fleet sales often need to be accommodated by the same people \/ tools as retail customers<\/div><\/li>
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There are special steps like test-drive demanding specialized documentation like driver’s license, insurance, consent\/waiver, test-drive agreement and planning like vehicle allocation and scheduling<\/div><\/li>
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There is a huge number of technical and pricing details that the salesperson has to know\/have access to, since the customers that arrive to the showroom have done extensive \u201chomework\u201d online<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
And finally, there are various business models under which automotive networks operate (classic dealership, agency, semi-agency, mixed by model family, etc.)<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
![](\"https:\/\/proaxia-group.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/car-sales-characteristics.png\" "\\"car")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>These characteristics, combined with the large amount of information that salespeople must manage across spreadsheets, calendars, and other systems, create a strong need for an integrated digital sales tool to increase salespeople productivity and reduce the number of errors.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
Automotive Sales Software \u2013 the toolset<\/h2><\/div><\/div><\/div>![](\"https:\/\/proaxia-group.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/sales-software-finance.png\" "\\"sales")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>Having the above characteristics in mind, let us examine the software tools that are in place, starting with those that are mandatory:<\/p>\n<\/div>
- <\/i><\/span>
DMS of the dealership or the ERP of the importer depending on the business model; all steps concerning pricing, financing, quotation and ordering must be synchronized with the DMS or the ERP of the importer (in case of agency) which is naturally the sales operations back-office<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
DMS of the dealership or the ERP of the importer concerning all back-office calculations and updates (margin calculations, commission calculation, stock update)<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
DMS of the dealership concerning all steps to receive the car, prepare it for delivery (Pre Delivery Inspection) and deliver it to the customer.<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
In the most basic setup, the DMS may provide the minimum functionality required to execute a sale, that is the \u201cminimum Automotive Sales Software\u201d and there used to be \/ are dealerships that operate sales based on this. The functionality here is very basic and not salesperson friendly. Most of the salesperson\u2019s tasks along the sales process must be performed manually in such a case.<\/p>\n
The next group of tools we shall examine are sales assisting tools \u2013 their job is to perform calculations and support the salespeople taking part of the workload, so that salespeople can focus on the customer. Here we can observe a big family of tools that are dedicated to specific tasks of the sales process, among others:<\/p>\n<\/div>
- <\/i><\/span>
Car configurator<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
Stock locator<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
Finance Calculator<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
Pricelists<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
Test-drive booking system<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
Used car evaluation system<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
![](\"https:\/\/proaxia-group.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/car-park-2.png\" "\\"car")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>![](\"https:\/\/proaxia-group.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/car-sales-software-car.png\" "\\"car")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>The first digital sales workplaces that had appeared in the 90s in the US (dealer based) and in the mid-2000s in Europe and Asia (OEM\/brand based) were attempts to collect as many of these tools in a single piece of software to support the salesperson taking over tasks and ensuring proper maintenance of the information (which would be a source of errors if left to the initiative of the salesperson\u2026).<\/p>\n
The quality of the \u201cdigital sales workplace\u201d tools is measured by the scope (the coverage of everyday salespersons tasks), by its capacity to organize and schedule the salesperson\u2019s work, by its integration (mainly to the DMS and other dealership systems) and of course by its ease of use and intuitive fitting to the habits and trends of car salespeople.<\/p>\n
Two types of sales workplaces emerged:<\/p>\n<\/div>
- <\/i><\/span>
dealer based for multi-brand operations and used cars \u2013 in close synchronization with the DMS and;<\/div><\/li>
- <\/i><\/span>
OEM\/brand based for single brand operations \u2013 in close synchronization with the OEM back-end systems and the DMS. This type is especially fitting for OEM driven business models and branded networks.<\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
These developments slowed down when OEMs started deploying CRMs on a global and national scale. Applying CRM on the lead management brought immediate results and led to the idea to use the very same CRM platform to implement the digital sales workplace functionality and have the totality of the sales process in one system.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>