DX1, Dominion continue to grow with dealer feedback

Dealer Advisory Council for product meets at AIMExpo

Though Dominion Powersports has talked about its DX1 dealer management system as being built for dealers by dealers since DX1’s inception, the company isn’t just touting its staff of former dealership principals. In addition, DX1 is truly being shaped by the dealers who use the product every day.

After nearly six months of work, Dominion Powersports transferred its final Ziios DMS customer to the new DX1 system on Oct. 20, and the product dealers see now has been tweaked throughout the process to provide a better system for all users.

“The level of engagement with dealers allowed us to take a lot of the feedback that we received and incorporate that into the final fit and finish of the product, and that was a fantastic opportunity for us,” Jeff Littlejohn, Dominion Powersports president, told Powersports Business.

What makes DX1 different from its competitors and even Dominion’s previous products is that DX1 offers a variety of functions in one platform, saving dealers time from entering the same data in more than one system.

“By moving our customers to the DX1 management platform, it is increasing the functionality of the system that they have to manage all the areas of their dealership within one single technology platform,” Littlejohn said. “DX1 has DMS; it has lead management; it has websites; it has marketing functionality such as social media integration and newsletter integration, and by being this one technology platform, it eliminates the need to manage data across multiple disparate products, so that saves them a lot of time within the dealership.”

It also offers efficiencies such as model drop-down menu, so multiple records don’t exist for the same model; a single customer record for each customer throughout the system; and the instant removal of a unit from the dealership’s website when the unit is sold.

“It really came down to workflow, so while a bunch of the workflow is very similar to what we already had with Ziios — because that tended to be a very efficient and effective workflow process for the dealerships — it was finding additional ways to create efficiency and making the product more intuitive,” Littlejohn reported.

Though much of the DX1 staff is composed of former dealership owners and employees, current dealers have played a large role in DX1’s functionality and will continue to impact DX1’s future improvements.

“It’s not just about what the next release or two look like; this level of engagement with the customer is even on conceptual things we’re taking into consideration much further down the road because we want to make sure that they have a say in helping us guide the direction that we’re going with the product and our business,” Littlejohn said. “We don’t view our customers as customers. We view them as business partners.”

DX1 has even gone a step further in this commitment to work with dealers, launching a Dealer Advisory Council at AIMExpo in October. Comprised of dealer principals, parts managers, service managers and other players across a variety of dealerships, the council is designed to advise Dominion on its products. At AIMExpo, the group met with DX1 product managers, and regional events for the council are planned for the future.

DX1 has also committed to sending its team into dealerships frequently to interact directly with customers, and the company also continues to seek feedback from all of its users.

“Every feature request is documented and reviewed, and it goes on to product management for consideration,” Littlejohn reported. “We’re excited that our dealers know that their feedback is important to us, and they understand the level of partnership that we’re creating with them.”

Though much of the focus over the past several months has been on transitioning current customers, with the switch has also come referrals and requests from new customers, not only growing Dominion’s customer base, but also increasing its pool from which to draw feedback.

“We have been thrilled with the number of dealers that have expressed interest in the platform,” Littlejohn said. “We’ve also been thrilled with the number of prospects that our current or existing customers are bringing to us as a result of our technology. We’re very confident in the direction we’re heading and couldn’t be more pleased with the level of activity and interest around DX1.”