ADOPT TECHNOLOGY FOR GREATER PROFITS!

inspired by an article by George Russell, Currie Management Consultants

In your own dealership, the adoption and use of new technology is moving faster than you may realize. More products you may sell, such as precision farming products, are based on the concept of using technology to access knowledge. For example, many farmers are using hi-tech geo-location, GPS, weather analysis tools and the like to increase their yields, and now many tractors are becoming standardly equipped with remote diagnostic software. “The products you sell and service are more technologically sophisticated, which means that the way you sell and service them must at least match that level of sophistication,” says George Russell, of Currie Management Consultants in his article, “How to Have An Interconnected, Knowledge-Based Dealership.”

Using Technology to Access Knowledge Also Applies to Managing your Business
There is a wealth of information and knowledge about your customers that you already own. As George states in the article, “You could be using this information to make more money, become more productive and improve customer satisfaction.” Digging into your own data can provide invaluable insights about your customers, such as what they’re buying or what they’re not buying. Information about machine purchases, service and repairs, parts purchases, quotes, lost sales, emergency orders, etc. is all extremely valuable, and should be readily accessible through your business system and CRM. A CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system provides dealers with many tools to access customer data. These systems cover a large scope of business operations including sales, quoting, and internal communications and task tracking.

{pullquote}Bottom line benefits that can be seen by adopting current technology are impressive: lowering the cost of operations, increased annual productivity, higher levels of customer satisfaction gained through increased responsiveness and creating a better image that attracts and retains like-minded customers—who also use technology to improve their profitability—are just a few benefits to consider! {/pullquote}

While some dealerships use a business system along with a CRM, others use one or the other, and in some cases, such as in the ASPEN Business Management System, the two are combined. A built-in CRM, such as in ASPEN, frees you from the expense of buying and maintaining another system and eliminates concerns about integration with your data.

Using ASPEN’s CRM functions, dealers can track, classify and report on customers, sales/quotes, equipment, work orders, etc., view and track the life cycles of sales, and prepare quotes from within the system or from a manufacturer’s configurator. Management can track sales confidence level, revisions, and sales won and lost reasons directly from the ASPEN dashboard. Users can also save countless hours by utilizing ASPEN’s time-saving internal communications tools that are accessible right from most ASPEN screens, such as sending an instant message or assigning tasks to anyone at any of your dealership locations with a link to the relevant record in ASPEN.

There are other ways to “mine data” using a business system as well, once you become familiar with the tools. For example, using ASPEN’s Selection Screens and Query Tool dealers users can create reports and queries, and schedule the creation of data exports, reports or queries to automate their processes.

Increase of Mobile Devices in The Dealership:
There is also a rise in popularity of the use of personal mobile devices in the dealership as employees are finding more need to be accessible to their customers. But along with the obvious ability to text and reach customers from wherever they are, dealers and their staff also no longer need to be tethered to a computer monitor in order to check the status of an order, check parts availability or see if a customer’s unit has been serviced.

More business management systems such as ASPEN are integrating mobile applications into their software. Using A.I.M., ASPEN Interactive Mobility, users can access Parts, Service, Customers, Bar Coding, Units and List information from various ASPEN components using mobile devices such as Smartphones, tablets, and handheld scanner and data collection units. This type of mobile access to your dealership’s data can expedite your internal communications, customer service and general operations.

With A.I.M., an employee can scan bar codes for bin locations and part numbers from a handheld bar code scanning device and update ASPEN records immediately without the need to sync, and also manage parts receipting and shelving and physical counts. Employees can also use their mobile device to make parts inquiries & check parts availability, view options, comments, meters, attachments, rental rates and general information, and create lists of parts and units generated from the mobile device to use on invoices, work orders or rental contracts. Users can also make customer inquiries and call/email the customer or view an address map directly from links shown on their device screen. Techs on the go can access ASPEN’s Service Clock to clock in and out of work orders.(example shown in image at left)

According to George’s article, the bottom line benefits that can be seen by adopting current technology are impressive. Lowering the cost of operations, increased annual productivity, higher levels of customer satisfaction gained through increased responsiveness and creating a better image that attracts and retains like-minded customers—who also use technology to improve their profitability—are just a few benefits to consider.