DealerKnows
Where Do I Start?
  • Services
    • Training
    • Consulting
    • Creative Video
    • Performance Monitoring
    • CRM Analysis
    • Professional Speaking
    • Bundles
  • Products
    • TaskTeacher
    • PriceMatrix
    • Dealer Forensics
  • Clients
    • Results
    • Reviews
  • About
    • Joe Webb
    • Bill Playford
    • DK Team
    • Ask the Experts
  • Blog
  • Videos
    • Funny Videos
    • Educational Videos
    • Dealership Videos
    • Conference Videos
    • Make Me A Star
  • Contact Us
  • DealerKnows Summer Camp
  • Services
    • Training
    • Consulting
    • Creative Video
    • Performance Monitoring
    • CRM Analysis
    • Professional Speaking
    • Bundles
  • Products
    • TaskTeacher
    • PriceMatrix
    • Dealer Forensics
  • Clients
    • Results
    • Reviews
  • About
    • Joe Webb
    • Bill Playford
    • DK Team
    • Ask the Experts
  • Blog
  • Videos
    • Funny Videos
    • Educational Videos
    • Dealership Videos
    • Conference Videos
    • Make Me A Star
  • Contact Us
  • DealerKnows Summer Camp
Where Do I Start?

Can you Kill a Sacred Cow?

Share With:

Almost everything I write stems from an emotional rant I go on during conversations with friends. As Jeff Kershner of DealerRefresh and I were grumbling about pushback from sales professionals unwilling to adapt to mobile technology in the showroom, I asked, “Can you kill a sacred cow?” The best of the best salespeople on our retail floors are untouchable by management and ownership, which leads to policies being overlooked, forgotten, and left wanting. Must you kill a sacred cow to get things done?

While working with dealers throughout North America to improve online, on the phone, and on the lot, mobile technology is at the forefront to enhancing dealer to customer communication. Here is a recent example of how sacred cows can spoil the other fresh meat in the store.
One particular DealerKnows client purchased iPads for their entire team. Based on our recommendations, they placed:
1) the mobile version of their CRM
2) the CarStory app to allow for insightful understanding of each in-stock vehicle’s value
3) vAuto for live pricing examples/ranking
4) AutoTrader Trade-in Marketplace to allow for customers to assist in the appraisal process
5) Advantastar so sales professionals could speak competently about differentiations of their models versus competitive models
6) the dealership website
7) a credit application
8) the Insignia app allowing customers to visually see how they can accessorize their vehicles immediately after the sale
9) and countless apps/games to entertain the children of the parents in the showroom

The dealer then filmed live, walk-through tutorials of each app, uploaded them to Youtube, required the sales team to watch said videos, and ensured they understood how to utilize each app by having their salespeople present back to ownership. We felt this was a comprehensive way to gain buy-in, understanding, and excitement across the sales floor. While there were success stories during those first few months, I can say that 6 months later, no one uses the iPads.

sacred cowHow did this happen? The 30-car a month sacred cow said he didn’t need to use it or want to, and management didn’t want to ruffle feathers by pushing him any further. (Yes, I know cows don’t have feathers.) Then the 25-car a month guy said if the other guy didn’t have to, he shouldn’t. And down the line it went. After three months, the only agents using the iPads (or even trying to place them into the hands of in-store customers to let them use the technology) were the newbies.

It could be said that the iPads are arguably as valuable in the customers’ hands as they are in the salespeople, but it still takes a sales agent with the willingness to offer the iPads, rather than the stubbornness to ignore the chance.

The downside here is that someone new to the industry, while willing to embrace technology, is too busy worrying about making it to their 10-car sales quota to save their job than to pick up the available iPad. Let’s admit it – while all of the tools I described above can make you more proficient, profitable, and dominant as a sales professional/closer, it still takes more time to use than less. Sacred cows are different from newbies in one particular way. Sacred cows like doing it their way, while newbies prefer doing it the easiest and fastest ways. Mobile technology, while fast in its own right, is still viewed as doing more. And while today’s researched customers deserve and expect more, most sales agents still want fast and easy. I understand from a newbie’s point of view that when you’re worrying about hitting quota, you’re not thinking about doing anything extra. Mobile is indeed extra, albeit a worthy extra. However, until our sacred cows start grazing in this new land of mobile technology, it won’t be adopted by the calves on the floor.

I see this as a problem, but don’t have the answer. (Yes, I know the answers could be management, motivation, pay, punishment, etc, but we all know the most valuable sales agents on the floor get to graze where they want, and do what they wish. Not all dealership policies put in place always apply to them.) Dealerships are businesses after all. We don’t want to have to lose our most profitable employees, so there must be another solution beyond killing the sacred cows. Any suggestions?

Joe Webb • January 12, 2016 • Leadership and Sales Management

One Response to “Can you Kill a Sacred Cow?”

Tell Me About It

Click here to cancel reply.

  • Best Of
  • Most Read
  • Three Questions That Need to Be Answered For 2023: Why Does It Matter Now?
    By Bill Playford
    December 29, 2022
  • 3 Important Questions That Need Answering for 2023
    By Bill Playford
    December 19, 2022
  • improv comedyHow Improv Comedy Builds Companies
    By Joe Webb
    July 2, 2019
  • NYE PartyWhat My Crazy NYE Party Can Teach Us About Marketing in 2019
    By Joe Webb
    January 3, 2019
  • 3 Important Questions That Need Answering for 2023
    By Bill Playford
    December 19, 2022
  • sales managementThe Manager Who Doesn’t: A Guide to Better Sales Management
    By Joe Webb
    June 2, 2016
  • The LeftoversWhat Happens When They Disappear?
    By Bill Playford
    August 29, 2015
  • DealerKnows CurmudgeonsFamous Last Words: The Way We Have Always Done It
    By Bill Playford
    July 26, 2014

Categories

  • All About BDCs
  • Ask the Expert
  • Comic Strips
  • Competitive Edge
  • DealerKnows Data
  • DealerKnows Press
  • DealerKnows Testimonials
  • Digital Marketing
  • Digital Marketing Conferences
  • Gotta’ Share
  • Internet Strategy
  • Lead Management and Process
  • Leadership and Sales Management
  • Quotables
  • Sales Training
  • Small Business Consulting
  • Social Media and Reputation Management
  • Technology
  • Vendor Relations
  • Websites and Online Search

Search Posts

Sign Up for DealerKnews

There are craptastic newsletters, then there is DealerKnews. Get all of our posts without having to set up a RSS feed. Start getting a monthly megadose of geniusness. Its like steroids for your brain.

Latest from the Blog

3 Questions That Need to Be Answered For 2023: Who is Responsible for Success?by Bill PlayfordRead blog post

Contact us

We really, really, really want to talk to you.

Get In Touch with Us

Sign Up for DealerKnews

There are craptastic newsletters, then there is DealerKnews. Get all of our posts without having to set up a RSS feed. Start getting a monthly megadose of geniusness. It’s like steroids for your brain.

© 2023 DealerKnows | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Powered by Launch Digital Marketing.

2023 DealerKnows Summer Camp

The Only Automotive Conference You’ll Regret Missing

Location: Camp Blue Ridge | Clayton, GA

May 23-25, 2023

Buy Tickets!         Book Rooms!

Rooms are filling up – book your hotel soon!