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Dec 17, 2008

Nice work Alex! I think we both stole that tip from the Crackberry Forums.

Love the cardboard click screen mod.

Honestly, I've had this device since the first day and I think its a revolutionary leap forward. The OS is *at least* 6 months to a year behind the hardware. Many people have complained and there have been some abysmal reviews.

The problem is that too many people want it to be like the iPhone-which is a Multi-media toy. Also the original OS that shipped (.65)just sucked. Major accelerometer lag, and memory leak. With the lastest OS from Bell Mobility(.76)everything is much better.

The 9530 is a pure business device with superb multi-media functionality mixed in. I have been tweaking it for a good while and have optimized it as well as the current OS will allow. I recently offered a post which turned into a lengthy thread on the Crackberry Storm forums titled "Dramatically Improve Your Storm in a Few Simple Steps". Its worthy of a read as there are a lot of useful tips from the entire community thrown in on optimizing the device. Feel free to hit me up to discuss improving it more.

Check out the thread here.

http://forums.crackberry.com/f86/dramatically-improve-your-storm-few-simple-steps-116539/

And Jeff, you should definitely buy the device when it comes out for T-Mobile.(And I can tell you how to get it to run on T-Mobile tomorrow if you want..

Happy Holidays to All!

Dec 17, 2008

Jeff,

I am an avid Crackberry.com follower, so I can't take credit for the business cards. I did hear that is a good modification for any touch screen phone and some with keyboards.

Ryan,

Yes, it is completely touch screen, but the screen depresses so you have some feedback. It definitely helps! Just stop by a Verizon store or Best Buy to test it out.

Dec 16, 2008

The online aspect is what has my attention on phones these days. The Storm sounds great.

I am a Spring customer on the World Edition. I bought it for the keyboard but the browser bugs me. I also desire a camera.

I take it the keyboard is 100% touch screen on the Storm? I am not familiar with that style.

-Ryan

Alex Snyder · Dec 16, 2008

First off, sorry for disappearing from Dealer Refresh again - I was on another vacation....rough life, I know. I just got back Monday morning and thought I'd do a quick review on the Storm since it has now gone through its first firmware upgrade, and I've got some significant mileage on it.

There is a Verizon store about a mile from my house and I have to pass it to get to work, so I stopped by late on the release date to check it out. When I got there I found out I could grab a spot to get the phone on the second shipment of the day, so I bit. Later that day I got a call to drop everything and get to the store. After 3 unsuccessful attempts to get it programmed (Verizon's systems crashed numerous times) we finally got it right.

The Storm is a very well constructed phone. It has a weight to it that gives it the same kind of feel you get from a German car - just solid. When you turn the screen on, it is beautiful. There is so much screen real estate you almost get lost. It is filled with all the Blackberry goodness of intuitive navigation and simple buttons to move through apps easily.

Before the new firmware update, it was a little slow to respond to things and I found myself hitting buttons twice because I didn't think it was responding. Today it is much better.

The keyboard takes a lot of getting used to. Everyday I get better, but it will never be the same as the keyboard on the Curve or Bold. I like it much more than the keyboard on the iPhone though. There are 3 keyboard options: regular QWERTY, double-lettered SureType like the Pearl, and a numeric keyboard much like any regular phone. I find myself using the SureType keyboard more than anything else. I only use the QWERTY one if I need to type a word the SureType (fills in the words for you) doesn't like - usually cuss words (for emphasis of course). SureType has a tendency to replace a certain word with "ducking" every time and that is *ducking* annoying!

Keyboard Tip: grab a business card and cut in 3 equal pieces. Put one piece between the battery and the battery cover to decrease the travel space on the push-down part of the touch screen. This will allow you to type much faster. Continue to add pieces of the business card until you're satisfied or the back cover won't close.

The phone is plenty loud - louder than the Curve and much better than the older Blackberry 8703e. BlueTooth is fantastic over an earpiece or through the car. Using BlueTooth sucks the battery out over a day of use, but when the BlueTooth is not on the battery lasts for days with heavy use. My biggest gripe with the phone is that there are 4 big buttons present: Speaker, Mute, Add Participant, and Flash. Because this is a touch screen you either have to pull up the numeric pad or be very careful not to rest your face on the screen or you're going to hit one of those buttons. My second biggest gripe with the phone is that you have to hit the call button twice in order to get to the phone - it is just annoying. When you hit the phone button it takes you straight to your contacts which is good for me about 40% of the time, but I also call people back about 40% of the time too and have to shift over, or the other 20% of the time I'm actually dialing a number. I can't tell you where I'd prefer the phone default to.

Where the Storm rocks is online. I have yet to find a website I can't visit in its full splendor. There are 3 browser settings that tell websites what type of device you are: Blackberry, Internet Explorer, or Firefox. If you find a website isn't loading quickly or is coming up in the mobile format, it is simple enough to flip between one of those three and hit refresh - works like a charm! The Verizon 3G network is fast. Yes, I would like Wi-Fi, but I'm not that impatient. I find my texts, emails, voicemails and any other messages coming to and from the Storm are happening much, much faster than on any other Blackberry I've ever owned.

When on a call, you cannot send and receive emails, but you can send and receive texts. I find this to be a blessing and a curse all in one. I'm too much of a multitasker to pay attention to anything. I'm always doing 3 or 4 things at the same time and think that not being able to respond to emails in a call helps me pay better attention (my girlfriend appreciates that), but there sure are a lot of boring business calls during the day where I'd love to be saying "uh huh" .... "yeah" ...."gotcha" ...."uh huh" while getting some emails done.

It works fantastically while roaming - even in Mexico....except in Mexican Customs where I really needed it to work (don't ask). I have yet to find a bad spot with this phone.

All in all, the Storm is a great phone. I'm not convinced it is "the" phone and my search will continue one day. I'm looking forward to the new Curve, but I certainly will not be getting one on launch day. If you're a heavy Blackberry user with little patience you will hate the communications side of the Storm, but if you need to visit heavy websites on the go, you'll love it. So I'm split because I need to do both.

Some of the things I didn't cover, but am happy to answer in comments below:

Visual Voicemail
Voice Dialing
Instant Messaging
Highlighting Text
3 MP Camera
Video Camera
Music/Video...media
Other Applications
Memory
Acclimater

Dec 17, 2008

Umer - I am sorry about that technical difficulty. As the organizer of the event, I will be contacting WebEx to ensure that does not happen in the future.

The fact that 0% responded as using CARFAX in their advertising caught my eye as well. Whether known or not, the availability of CARFAX is there for everyone to take advantage of in all of their online listings.

I hope everyone was able to take some best practices out of the webinar yesterday. We are looking forward to providing more of these in the coming year so our dealers can learn more online without leaving the dealership.

Armand LeVasseur
Dealer Marketing Manager
CARFAX

umer.autojini · Dec 16, 2008

Good Webinar... not a fan of WebEx... if it was on something like Acrobat Connect where no 10MB dl is required... I would have loved it better... as installed required me to restart FireFox... kept on going into full screen... and crashed FireFox at the end... other then WebEx issues it was good... mainly covered the CarFax benefits... not much new information. Q&A had some good questions/answers... Was surprised by one the polls... regarding use of CarFax in online advertising... had 0% response. errr.

Jan 8, 2009

Josh - That is awesome to hear! Pushing out 100 contracts per month, WOW !!!! I would be all over that!

Jan 6, 2009

This article was originally posted on F&I forum by Eric Judson, or as I know him on the forum carguyJD it was written as a rant at first then F&I magazine asked if they could could print it. Eric works as a F&I man at the largest chevy dealer in the country, the guy is a machine, he bangs out well over 100 contracts per month with three other F&I guys doing the same.

Dec 20, 2008

Excellent discussion! The strong go to work to WORK and solve people's transportation needs. (and Go John Maxwell!!)

Dec 15, 2008

Glad to hear Scott. A slogan popped in to my head and visualized it on name tags or even company sweaters. "Need help, YES WE CAN!" at and Bob Watson Chevy or World Hyundai...Anybody good at your store with a vid camera? You tube it with the reps and give them a ego boost, turn then into your rock stars. Then post it up and send via e-mail to your customer base. Just a suggestion... All the best and happy holidays-Pete

Dec 15, 2008

I have plenty of passion for sales, just not in the automotive sector of business, I got off the train before it left the tracks.

Dec 15, 2008

Sammy - I am not trying to step off on the wrong foot.

There must be a little passion left in sales for you to visit this post....

Scott - Awesome I love to hear that you are are a fan of John Maxwell!! Keep up the great work..

andwrig · Dec 15, 2008

I love it. Right on.

Dec 14, 2008

Pete and Jennifer,

Thanks for the comments and Pete I'm not offended at all. I was thinking about the question earlier today and started making a list of all the things I was doing to support the stores. I felt pretty good about the topics and the depth at which I have tried to make sure the team has everything they need on the list, but then I began to feel like I was aggrandizing...after all it's my job so I'm not entitled to a pat on the back. So I took the opposite approach and asked what I wasn't doing for them and at the top of the list was me being "there" more often. Trying to cope with the reality of today has been sucking the life out of me and if I have not been doing something big for the stores, that would be it. So this week I plan on reviewing my schedule to do a better job of being around for things like role playing, T.O's, listening to CD's and watching DVD's with the sales staff. Having it posted here leaves no room for excuses either. Once you declare it, you better do it. And John Maxwell is one of my favorites!

Thanks,
Scott

Dec 13, 2008

I chuckle every time I see the word "team" used while refering to a retail sales organization. Don't kid yourself, in retail auto sales these days it's every man for themself. I left the car biz two years ago after having been succesful in sales for several years and I'm glad I did. I still cringe when thinking of two words "mini deal"

Dec 13, 2008

What these times are all about is being a true professional in sales. These times are about having the right attitude every day. These times are about having a plan and working it every day no matter what. These times require extremely tough individuals who will continue to do things the right way. Those who are strong now will be even stronger when the good times return. The world is changing again but our jobs remain the same. Please remember to do this with Integrity, and work hard! Great email.

Dec 13, 2008

I would think that the internet made it more difficult for dealers because consumers can read reviews that make them stop their plans. People can get a negative vibe if the dealership has a bad reputation. People can shop as many dealerships that they want to save an extra $50. I was not around in the 70's and 80's to sell car. However, I imagine that dealerships had more power and a lot over the consumer because the consumer was powerless without the information that is readily available today.

Ralphe · Dec 13, 2008

As one who has been in this great business for a few months

I would like to add some thoughts:

There is no question that these are tough times. While some of us veterans can say that we have been through this before, we have not. Selling vehicles in the late 70’s and early 80’s was no picnic. Double digit inflation (we received price increases from the OEM’s every 4-6 weeks) and double digit interest rates (financing new vehicles at 16%--it would have been higher had the law allowed).

The greatest difference from those tough times and the ones we are going through now is the media and the Internet. Let me explain—not only has the Internet become the point of entry to the transaction for the vast majority, it also has hastened change. *Change in the marketplace based on news reports. *Change in consumer decisions based upon the media. *Rapid change in wholesale values based on consumer swings in what they are buying.

*Change in the marketplace based upon news reports: While print has deteriorated as the primary source of information for many, broadcast and the Internet have expanded. It is not long ago that you had 30 channels, much less 3 to choose from. Now we have hundreds. Many are devoted only to news and or finances. They say that bad news travel fast, and that has never been more factual than today.

*Change in consumer decisions based upon media: We have always tended to blame the media for our troubles. While this might be somewhat true, with more, easier and quicker access to news, it is making the consumers quicker to shy away from major decisions faster than ever before.

* Rapid change in wholesale values based on consumer swings in what they are buying: I have never seen or been aware of the flux in consumer buying and wholesale values. The swing has been mind boggling from SUV’s to Hybrids to SUV’s. Whew!

Now, all that gloom and doom stated, let’s look at the truths:

* “JD Power projected that the number of franchised dealers would drop from 22,000 to approximately 12,000 in ten years.” Of course that projection was published in 1980. THAT’S 1980! Has it happened—no. Could it—sure—and California could slide into the Pacific Ocean, too.

* “People are not buying cars.” Hmmm. While not as many are today, the reality is that a whole bunch are. And the good news is that the best MONTH of the year is around the corner—beginning on December 26 and ending on January 1.

*”The Internet has ruined the cars business.” Really. Or has it made the shopping process easier and quicker once the consumer enters the showroom?

*”I can’t make any gross because of the Internet.” Really. Taking orders or helping people buy?

The facts are that great salespeople are great in good times and tough times. The things that make them great are the tried and true basics. Tenacity, product knowledge, people knowledge, attitude, attitude and attitude. Ed Parkinson’s engraved message above is right on the money.

Good habits are learned in hard times. Bad ones creep in during good times.

Dec 13, 2008

Well I will say great points all. I will share alittle advice. Back in the 80's I was direct selling. Everybody was at the recession party! Our boss flew in and strongly encouraged us to not attend the party. I will never forget his comment. If unemployment is at 7% then 93% will still purchase. Either from you or the salesman down the road.
Be the Salesman! Make it happen, Be in charge of your ship.

Dec 13, 2008

Kim,

"sledge hammer" it is. Forget about improving. A long story short on the findings I am basing my comment on, there comes a point that there is no improving a system or current selling model as in auto industries case but a total destruction(re-direction actually) and by taking the most important web based building components upon which to build upon it.

Really now can they all just stop putting balloons on the cars. About 16 years ago I got fired for not doing it on a Saturday morning and had 37 cars out for the month at the time-lol I have been out of the retail business for awhile but I crack up sometimes looking back.

Jennifer, that Kool-Aid is good stuff! No hangover this morning...

Dec 13, 2008

Philip Zelinger: with all due respect, I think you may be missing his point. Disagreeing with the symantics of selling vs qualifying is a trivial part of his overall statement. The overall idea, unless I'm mistaken, is about pushing forward, discovering new ways of doing things, about ignoring prevailing wisdom, about setting aside all the reasons why something "won't work" and pushing forward with ANYTHING that does. Even if it means re-writing the play book. This is stuff that's right up your alley (or so it seems from my reading of your blog)! Anyway, maybe you were just being a bit of a contrarion (which is ok, too). But, I for one, solidly support the notion of pushing forward, innovating, focusing on what DOES work and building and innovating from there.

Dec 13, 2008

Thanks for posting this article, it is spot on. I am going to share this with my team mate in hopes that it may bring some of them back to reality. Thanks Jeff.

Dec 13, 2008

I love the feedback that everyone has. I am not sure if it was here our on ADM but I recently read a post where someone went to a dealer in South Florida and that dealer acctually said that they want to spend the money and keep things working because now is the time to take business from the competition. If the competition wants to sit and cry about how they are cutting back and not spending, we can let them do that and that we smack them in the face with, "No problem, I totally understand where you are coming from. The dealership down the street is interested in this product and I am going there as well. They are willing to spend whatever they have to just to make sure that they outsell you. Here is my card, if you decide that you want to do business with us I will be thrilled to work with you." I like taking that stand because I represent and amazing and innovative product which is pretty inexpensive. The best of all is that we have no competition really. Sometimes when you get those stupid objections and excuses is because the dealer is ignorant and other times you maybe the fifth vendor to call that day and really piss them of. However, mention that the competition is interested in taking their business and see how they respond.

When they say that they are not spending money they are sometimes taking a shot at you just like that up on the lot that tells you that they are just looking.

Now is a better time then ever for dealers to look at what will make them money. They drop spending and and complain that business is slow. Well if you do not get your name out there, how do you expect to be busy?

Dec 13, 2008

WOW!! Lovin the comments and I am jumping in. I SELL products to dealers and the phone slams I have gotten lately would curl your hair. I 'feel' the fear in the Service Manager and GM's voice and I am sick of it!! I have one product that hands down will make the service department money!!! Another product that will save the dealership money!! And all I hear is "WE AREN'T SPENDING ANY MONEY" and I get it - BUT how about making more money than what you are spending? DUH. . .
I know I am preaching to the "internet lead" side of the automobile business but, like you, I will survive and plow forward. We need to shut off the radio and TV and realize people will always NEED transportation. They WILL buy cars and you are their audience of reason. YOU GO!!

I plan to buy a sledge hammer today and start going into dealerships and using it. "LISTEN to me - I CAN HELP YOU".

Whatta you think? Will it work????????

Dec 12, 2008

I feel that Scott is doing a great job of encouragement to his sales staff. The point point of creating a smooth flow is if the Sales staff is willing to participate and taking on Scotts words of encouragement and support to consideration....

The good ole days: Have a sales meeting, go off to the side of building to the hangout where we smoked ciggerates and drank coffee and bitched about personal business & how crooked the Gm's were. I ignored it.

If you take the moment and look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself "Am I a true team player"?.

The words that should come out of any salesperson mouth should be:

Did my GM / SM make an impact?

Did they encourage me?

Did they create a positive atmospher to sel more?

There are dealers out there and owners that don't give a hoot about their staff! They give a hoot about their pocket book!

If your team is not doing well remove the coach! It is clearly stated in John C Maxwells books. Leadership!

Why is my football team not doing well?
Why are they not scoring?
Why are they not pumped up?
Why are they not excited?

Hmmmmmm? Remove the coach and get an inspiring one. If that coach is looking at their own benefits ( Recognition, $$ and EGO ) GET RID OF THEM!!

Maybe I should become a GM...... I tell yah I would be a killer GM.

KEEP IN MIND THOUGH: A title does not mean anything, however being a true team player and being supportive of your staff; all of you will surely shine!

As ole' Jim Bradford from TK CARSITES SAYS!!

"You will rise to your occasion"... Need I say more?

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