How to pilot dealership software

What to check before you decide

Set the baseline. Record the current numbers for the weeks before: response time, appointments kept, hours per repair order, cost per sale, or whichever measures matter. Without a baseline, the pilot proves nothing.

Choose success and guardrail measures. Success might be a faster response and more appointments kept.

Guardrails protect against harm: customer complaints, consent errors, data mistakes, staff overtime. Write targets in advance and agree who reads them.

Define the scope of the integration. Which systems will be connected during the pilot, and which will be simulated?

A pilot without the DMS connection may not show real problems. Be honest about what is not tested.

Plan the support. Who answers the team's questions?

How fast will the vendor fix a defect? Keep a daily log of issues for the first week.

Set the dates and the decision. Pick a length, such as sixty days, and a meeting at the end where the group decides: buy, extend, change scope or stop. Decide in advance what happens to the data and to any fees if you stop.

Pay for the pilot, or negotiate that it can be credited. Finally, write the result down, with the numbers.

Keep the pilot honest by recording problems as they happen, with the date, the person affected, the vendor's response and the time to fix, because memories improve after a good week, and a log that shows three unresolved issues at day thirty is more useful at the decision meeting than any impression people formed along the way.

Agree in writing who owns the data produced during the pilot and what is deleted if you stop. Pilots involve real customers, so the same consent and security rules apply as in full use.

Hold a brief check-in every week during the pilot, so problems surface early and the final meeting contains no surprises for the vendor or your team.