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As I walked into the showroom of one of our clients dealerships recently, I was somewhat dismayed upon arriving at what I encountered. I initially counted three salespeople smoking cigarettes and one with his hands in his pockets staring off into space. I also counted two leaning on the receptionist’s desk in conversation with the female receptionist. As I waited for the GM, I looked around the showroom and noticed two more in an office huddled over a computer playing solitaire. By this time I was getting curious to see what else I could find, but it was starting to get harder to find salespeople. Keep in mind this is on a Tuesday, right in the middle of a shift change. I finally found three more in the service waiting area watching ESPN. This was a grand total of eleven salespeople.
 
As we sat down in the GMs office I asked, how many salespeople do you have now? Sixteen I think… We are a little under-staffed, why do you ask? he replied. I went on to tell him what I had observed and, as you may have guessed, he was a bit disturbed by the news. What should concern you as you read this article is that you were probably able to guess where each of the salespeople were and what they were doing. That means its going on in your dealership right now and subconsciously are aware of it.
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Marketing is not all advertising and the Internet- your most expensive and potentially most effective marketing asset is right in front of you: your salespeople! It seems to have become OK not to hold the sales force accountable for their fair share of customer traffic. Its become OK not to have sales managers manage sales. We call them desk men now and that is exactly what we have turned them into!
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It has become increasingly more important to get the most from every marketing asset you have-especially your sales force. With this said, you will need to give them the tools by which to do so. Its your job, as the principal, to give them those tools. After all, you’ve never heard of anyone going to work for McDonalds and being told to bring their own spatula. They’re your advertising dollars and they are your customers- give your salespeople the best tools available to work with them. Give your management the best tools available to help them. Give yourself the best tools available to inspect what you expect.
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There are many products available in the market today that will help your salespeople and managers do a better job of working with your customers. When considering them, keep these things in mind:
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1. Ease of use: Probably the single most important factor I would look for when choosing a CRM program or any type of program designed for salesperson interaction-with as little typing as possible.
3. Automation: Does the system require a data entry person or administrator to make it work? If so, you must add that to the cost when evaluating price and real-time functionality. Also, what happens if the administrator gets sick or quits?
4. Data protection: No system you invest in should allow your salespeople to download your
customers information.
5. Hardware and software: Im not a big fan of hardware-based systems. These systems tend to have a hefty capital investment for computers that will be out-of-date in 6 months or, worse yet, out-of-date when you buy them. When looking at software, be careful that you have the right system configurations and the networks you will need to make it do all the cool things you saw in the demo. Also, consider how many software licenses and operating system updates will you need.
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No matter what system you are considering, CRM is not a technology. Technology is the tool you can use to take the system processes and procedures that have worked for 50 years and make them
more efficient.