Technically Speaking...
By David Stephenson
Technically speaking, there is such a thing as fate. Every action produces a consequence. When they do the math, physics professors tell us it's all a matter of probabilities. Technology speeds up the whole process and makes some things more likely to happen. In his ground-breaking book, Relationship Marketing, Regis McKenna notes that markets are subject to laws similar to those of quantum physics. In the year 2000, McKenna proclaims in an interview that marketing, as we know it, has transformed. What matters now is who has access to the customer. In the millennium marketplace, relationships transcend branding. In relationships, often it is the little things that make a difference.
Day One:
So I'm sitting around wondering about this sort of stuff and Sandi Jerome, Editor of Digital Dealer magazine calls. She offers me the opportunity to write an article for the magazine. I am excited because of all these grand thoughts I have an urgent need to share. Sandi asks if I would write about PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and their applications in the car business. I've been helping people use technology to sell stuff for ten years and I still want to avoid Personal Digital Assistants. I don't see the need for all that fiddling and yet another learning curve. But of course, I leap at the opportunity. She is gracious to ask, and I hope to do well and get asked to write for the magazine again.
So I get on the Internet for hours, visit two Comp USAs and Fry's (the equivalent of a small foreign republic in terms of the size), and ask everybody I meet in the course of a car business day, "Hey, by the way, how's that Palm Pilot of yours working out"?
And still I'm not convinced. I have a good memory, I'm a relationship selling consultant; people are my business. As I'm going through customs and immigration leaving Fry's, Matt Phelan calls. I had called him to arrange our annual get-together to catch up on each other's families and to share my latest project. I want to ask him about his son, (I think his name is Joe) but I can't be certain I am remembering his son's name correctly. So I just ask, "How's the family"?
I like Matt, we are friends, and I would like to show I care by remembering the name of his son. Time for this relationship marketing consultant to acquire a little assistance. In this case, my lack of accurate information produced a less than desirable consequence-a weaker relationship with a "customer."
Besides, ZDNet estimates that by 2005, $100 billion in goods and services will be purchased over wireless devices in the U.S., up from $70 million this year. Time to get with the program. Wireless is definitely the 'channel' of the future. All you Internet managers out there know how important it is to respond immediately to incoming e-mail. Immediate e-mail capability, with a detailed customer database, is the stock-in-trade for a professional Internet salesperson in the car business today.
Day Two:
First stop-CNET.com. Reviews, comparisons, price-shopping all the information I could ask for. Second stop - to the store for a test drive. I like the handheld computers: Cassiopeia, HP Jornada and the Compaq Ipaq. They are larger and heavier than the Palm V, not really a shirt-pocket fit. The color screen is easier to work with than the monochrome LCD, but the reviews indicated that the pocket PCs were slower and suffered a shorter battery life as a result of the power required to drive the screen. I couldn't see myself using pocket Word and pocket Excel, so overall, I couldn't justify the extra $150 or so. As they approach the size of the Palm, and come down in price, these little computers will become very popular.
Black Book provides a Cassiopeia with optional bar code scanner, mainly for auto auction buyers, for about $1000. I imagine that device, fully-loaded, could become quite a tool: computer, video camera, bar code scanner, voice recorder, MP3 player and Internet connection, but a little too much for an every day digital assistant for everyone. Kelley Blue Book also provides Pocket PC software.
UCS makes available to their dealers the Mobile Business Advisor (MBA), a Cassiopeia pocket PC that downloads current inventory from the mainframe and makes it available, along with other pocket PC programs (prospect information, mail, to-do lists, contact management, etc.) to the salesperson on the move. The Windows environment, and the color screen, make the device user-friendly. The unit synchronizes with the resident UCS Customer For Life software, making the complete database available to the salesperson who is out of the office. Peter Sidwell, the UCS consultant demonstrated the unit for me, and sent me a thank-you voice mail as an e-mail message, through the MBA. A nice personal touch. I understand UCS is very aggressive on pricing during the introduction of the MBA, and I think every UCS dealer should request a demonstration.
For those whose response time is critical (you Internet salespeople know who you are), one of these computer assistants with a modem and e-mail capability will help you sell cars. The single most effective factor in selling more vehicles on the Internet is a quick personalized response to a request for information. Don't remember the person who sent the email? Look them up in the database. Is the vehicle available? Check the inventory on the Internet. Those in the business who care the most, show it in a personal way, and take action the quickest, will probably own the market in their community. The research shows that car buyers prefer to do business locally. There are limits to the space your efforts can cover, but you can expand the time that you are available. If I made my living selling cars and trucks on the Internet, I would use this particular technology to speed up the process of making my living.
After a solid morning's research, I settle on the Palm Vx because I think that beaming thing is cool, everyone else has one and because size and speed matter. I put aside the wireless issue for now, since immediate e-mail response time for me is not yet mission-critical. The price is $399.99 plus tax. Every deal CNET could find totaled about the same after shipping.
It took about 30 minutes to take the kit out of the box, hook it up to my laptop, install the Palm desktop software, and begin the four-hour process of charging the unit. While it was charging, I downloaded my Outlook contact files, a simple, straightforward process. Of course, I immediately became aware of how outdated my Outlook files have become, so now I must put serious energy into the matter of my contact files. One thing leads to another.
Transferring contact files back and forth is easy. Access to the database is very quick. The graffiti writing is easy to learn. The Palm Vx screen actually works as a touchscreen calculator, at least for my level of math; I am not a physics professor. Other new users tell me that the hardest part in the beginning is remembering to use the device consistently to keep track of all the stuff that matters.
But keep track we all must. The time has come. There is such a thing as fate. In the age of relationship marketing, these little computers mean something to us because they help us sell cars.
David Stephenson is the director of training for Autoleap.com. dstephenson@dealeronline.com
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