LMCars needed a system to handle enquiries, stock, people, staff rotas, their website and analytics. That was the brief. I built the software around it.
Calling it a CRM captures part of the work. Customer records and enquiries matter, but so do the cars, the preparation jobs, the appointments and the people doing them. The project had to bring those parts of the business together.
This is the kind of bespoke software I enjoy building. The starting point is the business and what it needs to do. From there, I work out how the information should connect, what people need on screen and which jobs the software can take off their hands.
Connecting the working day
The system links stock, contacts, enquiries and appointments. A car has its own record, and preparation work belongs to that car. An enquiry connects customer interest to stock. A viewing or handover can continue that same conversation.
Those relationships matter because people need to pick up the work without reconstructing it. The database gives each piece of information a defined place and connects it to the records that need it. Normalising the data helps keep those connections consistent as the information appears in different parts of the system.
The wider application also covers staff rotas, website management and reporting. Website insights bring together page visits, vehicle views and contact activity so the dealership can explore what is attracting interest alongside the stock and enquiries it manages.
Each area has a different job, but they belong to the same business. Bringing them into one bespoke package has helped LMCars run its operations and reduce administration elsewhere.
Importing stock while preserving staff work
The stock import is another part of the system with its own constraints. A scraper collects vehicle information and photos. The pipeline standardises inconsistent fields, removes duplicates and matches each vehicle to a stable record.
An imported update needs to be distinguishable from information a member of staff has added. Otherwise, refreshing the source can undo work inside the CRM. The review flow keeps source changes visible and protects staff-owned information rather than treating every incoming field as permission to overwrite it.
That separation is a good example of the work behind a convenient-looking screen. Collecting data is one job. Deciding how that data should enter a business system, and what it is allowed to change, requires understanding how the system is used.
Building around the actual brief
I don’t expect a client to arrive with a list of database tables or technical requirements. LMCars could describe the areas of the business it needed to manage. My responsibility was to turn those needs into working software and explain the decisions along the way.
The website is the part customers see. The bespoke system behind it is a substantial part of the project: tools for the people running the dealership, designed around their work.