Carport Dealer Networks

Owned by Dan VanOrden
Last updated: Feb 15, 2021
3 min read

Attracting and retaining high-quality dealers are critical to the success of most carport manufacturers. IdeaRoom is designed to be a dealer’s favorite sales tool whether selling in person, over the phone, or online. We provide multiple complementary options for supporting a dealer network and designing an effective dealer sales process and ordering workflow.

Dealer Network Support

IdeaRoom Pro and Enterprise include support for dealer networks of any size. There is no cost to the dealer, and there is no per-dealer cost for the supplier. IdeaRoom creates a unique link for each dealer to access the supplier IdeaRoom configurator with additional dealer-specific features:

  • Dealer receives an email copy of each submitted save and quote.

  • Dealer information displayed on the IdeaRoom contact bar and in emails content.

  • Dealer information preserved in customer saved links to retain dealer association.

  • Deposit calculated based on commission rules you set per dealer.

Dealers are identified using a parameter that you specify and maintain in your dealer list. Examples:

  • https://build.maxsteelbuildings.com/?dealer=comet-carports

  • https://build.maxsteelbuildings.com/?dealer=carports-plus

  • https://build.maxsteelbuildings.com/?dealer=custom-storage

You can provide dealer-specific links to dealers and customers in a number of ways:

  • Dealers bookmark their dealer-specific link for quick access in sales conversations.

  • Dealers link customers to IdeaRoom from their websites and social media. 

  • Suppliers provide links from a “Find Your Dealer” function on the supplier website.

  • Link to IdeaRoom from an online dealer portal or other online resource.

Dealer Subscription

IdeaRoom also offers a separate subscription to carport dealers. This service targets dealers focused on selling carports as more of their primary business. These dealers invest in internet marketing. They strongly prefer to retain customers on their website. They integrate IdeaRoom deeply into their marketing and sales efforts. In some cases, dealers sell for multiple suppliers. For the purpose of servicing online dealers and a larger geographic region, multi-supplier support is reasonable and somewhat necessary.

A combination of the included Dealer Network Support with options to upgrade to an IdeaRoom Dealer subscription can help you attract high-quality dealers and provide them with tools to enhance their sales efforts on your behalf. This is one way we differentiate ourselves from our competitors. There is significant demand for a 3D configurator that addresses dealer needs. 

Dealer Capabilities

The following is a list of the most important capabilities added in the dealer subscription:

  • Hosted on a subdomain of the dealer website or embedded directly on a page of their site.

  • Configure logo and colors to make it more consistent with dealer branding and their site.

  • Manage their own list of salespeople for access to sales tools.

  • Query and manage leads with access to the IdeaRoom dashboard.

  • Add online ordering and checkout to capture the payment and present financing options.

  • Capture quote data using the IdeaRoom API for integration with a CRM system.

Dealer Branding Concerns

Some carport suppliers have concerns about dealer branding with a supplier dataset in IdeaRoom. We are sensitive to those concerns and work with suppliers to design a service consistent with their strategy and goals. For example, suppliers can include branding requirements in a dealer agreement or supplementary agreement:

  • Require co-branding to clearly promote the supplier within IdeaRoom configurators.

  • Set reasonable constraints on the extent of re-branding and presentation of quote content.

If a supplier wants to disallow the use of a dataset for dealer subscriptions, that can be enforced in a dealer agreement, or a supplier can add white-labeling to their IdeaRoom subscription. White-labeling includes the following:

  • Removes the IdeaRoom logo from the software.

  • IdeaRoom doesn’t publicly discuss or confirm that the subscriber is a customer.

  • Lock the use of the products and pricing dataset to the supplier IdeaRoom site.