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What Are You Doing to Make Technology Easier For Salespeople?
- Off Topic & Everything Else
- 15 Replies
Darrin,
Wow, thanks for the pitch....well not really sorry.
I guess although I agree with Uncle Joe on the CRM rant, I wasn't really looking for new vendors or trying to pick on any one item CRM,DMS or otherwise. For me this was about the blame on salespeople that goes down for not "getting it" while all the while they are the first connection to the customers that pay most of our bills either directly or indirectly and that they are often the last people consulted in adding technology or features to technology for selling cars.
Speaking of rants.....I didn't write this and Jeff didn't include my Linkedin link so I could be bombarded with generic request from vendors claiming to be my "friend".....sorry if I didn't add you, maybe next time hit me with a why we should be connected....please
Wow, thanks for the pitch....well not really sorry.
I guess although I agree with Uncle Joe on the CRM rant, I wasn't really looking for new vendors or trying to pick on any one item CRM,DMS or otherwise. For me this was about the blame on salespeople that goes down for not "getting it" while all the while they are the first connection to the customers that pay most of our bills either directly or indirectly and that they are often the last people consulted in adding technology or features to technology for selling cars.
Speaking of rants.....I didn't write this and Jeff didn't include my Linkedin link so I could be bombarded with generic request from vendors claiming to be my "friend".....sorry if I didn't add you, maybe next time hit me with a why we should be connected....please
What Are You Doing to Make Technology Easier For Salespeople?
- Off Topic & Everything Else
- 15 Replies
Great post Craig and as the Northeast Regional manager for Automotive Computer Services, and former dealer kid (well always a dealer kid, graduate of the NADA academy, grew up living Joe Verde until Dad sold the store).
You (and Joe P.) are spot on with a dealer designed, not platform down design system to make technology easier. Automotive Computer Services has always been a Windows based DMS solution which as the industry has migrated beyond green screens, has become a much more embraced platform. We are a small company with approximately 400 dealers on our system. We typically replace Reynolds and ADP systems and we are privately owned with the one goal in mind of customer satisfaction. Many of our staff have dealership experience but many are also programmers and thus our best ideas come from dealers to make things more simple to use. Indexed help embedded in the ACS system, 100 support staff in our headquarters, free web training scheduled each month and available on demand, on site training available with low cost, and we continually improve. Over the past 3 years we've rewritten three core modules and provided about 900 dealer requested enhancements because they were things that would make their lives easier. Are we perfect? Not yet... we're finishing up our Toyota DCS integration for next year... then we'll be closer
but as a small technology vendor we really do our best to keep it simple stupid. Point and click, real english statements, full MS Office integration, a built in CRM that while simple, it has horsepower, easy to learn.. and yes I'm self promoting too much; but as I once sat on your side of the desk with ADP and Arkona as our DMS' during my time with Dad, it took a special company for me to work for. Automotive Computer Services is that company. www.acsaccess.com Thanks again for the post.
You (and Joe P.) are spot on with a dealer designed, not platform down design system to make technology easier. Automotive Computer Services has always been a Windows based DMS solution which as the industry has migrated beyond green screens, has become a much more embraced platform. We are a small company with approximately 400 dealers on our system. We typically replace Reynolds and ADP systems and we are privately owned with the one goal in mind of customer satisfaction. Many of our staff have dealership experience but many are also programmers and thus our best ideas come from dealers to make things more simple to use. Indexed help embedded in the ACS system, 100 support staff in our headquarters, free web training scheduled each month and available on demand, on site training available with low cost, and we continually improve. Over the past 3 years we've rewritten three core modules and provided about 900 dealer requested enhancements because they were things that would make their lives easier. Are we perfect? Not yet... we're finishing up our Toyota DCS integration for next year... then we'll be closer
but as a small technology vendor we really do our best to keep it simple stupid. Point and click, real english statements, full MS Office integration, a built in CRM that while simple, it has horsepower, easy to learn.. and yes I'm self promoting too much; but as I once sat on your side of the desk with ADP and Arkona as our DMS' during my time with Dad, it took a special company for me to work for. Automotive Computer Services is that company. www.acsaccess.com Thanks again for the post.
What Are You Doing to Make Technology Easier For Salespeople?
- Off Topic & Everything Else
- 15 Replies
When Jeff asked me “When are you going to write a blogpost for DealerRefresh?” lots of thoughts ran through my head…. along with feeling flattered and a little nervous the biggest question I had was “What does the Refresh community want to hear from me?” Then I put my ego aside and decided this isn’t about me, it’s about us. So, I decided we’d all be better off if I wrote this as “What do I want to know about you?”
So here goes… As the title states my question to the ever growing, award winning DealerRefresh community is “What are you doing to make technology easier for the Salespeople we rely on either directly or indirectly for our incomes?” Not more complicated or feature heavy… easier.
If you are a Technology Vendor, are you really designing with a car salesman in mind?
Or are you adding more and more cool features or reports that in reality are only taken advantage of by a few select stores or more often, select people? Are you living up to the promises made when you sold a dealer your product?
Or are you hoping they will just pay the bill and never really take you on as a true partner in their success?
Are you providing ongoing training, not only to 1 or 2 people in your dealers but real value add training either in stores or online to the actual salespeople our success rides on? Non-interactive video training doesn’t count. Think Grant Cardone’s Virtual Training that is monitored and tested on if you want to claim you have an online training piece.
If you are an Internet Sales Manager, Are you passing down information and really working with your salespeople to make sure they understand all those shiny technology tools that all seem to easy to pay $299 - $2999 per month for? Are you really thinking about the ease and reality of use for the salespeople that sometime get written off or complained about for not wanting to change or “get it”?
If you’re not in a leadership role in your dealership, do you realize you need to be and are you taking the steps, reading the books, listening to leadership training and acquiring the mentors that will grow you into the true leader your salespeople need you to be? Or are you hiding information, passwords, access to vendors, shortcuts and techniques needed to maximize the technology you have?
Are you allowing, coaching and training your staff on how to be part of your digital culture? Or are you complaining how “old dogs just don’t get it” and recruiting more tech savvy people for their jobs?
If you are a GSM, GM or Owner, are you leading your digital revolution? Or are you standing back in denial or watching as “the kid with the laptop” AKA your “Internet Manager” spends your money on technology your people don’t use or know how to use, or worse you can’t use yourself? Are you helping your less tech savvy people get the education that is your job to help provide them? Or are you waiting for them to get on board on their own? Tip… you can provide them video computer skills training with a subscription to Lynda.com for $25 per month, if you’re looking for a good place to start.
If you’re a Salesperson, are you really committed to growing your career through the use of technology? Or are you waiting for the “good old days of car sales” that I’ve been hearing about since I started almost 20 years ago to come back around? Hint… it doesn’t get any easier if you don’t do anything progressive to change it. Are you developing positive customer reviews online to help grow your own career, self-esteem and Digital Footprint? Or are you not asking because “you don’t get paid for that” or “those reviews only help the dealer, not the salesperson”?
We all know that ease of use and time involved are the 2 biggest factors in getting the salespeople that put in the hard work and long hours that give people like me the time to write blogposts as well as the income to provide for my family, but do we all think about their time and money when we design or add new tech for their “productivity”? I think most of us know we could improve greatly.
Finally… Are you picking up what I’m putting down?
Or are you reading this and wondering “Who is this kid and what’s with all the questions?”
