Retail technology changes fast. As car shoppers continue to evolve their preferences, they increase their demands for dealerships to keep up. Despite the pace of change and the pressure from consumers, many dealers aren’t in a rush to refresh their old technologies—especially their Dealer Management System. After all, change is difficult and many dealership employees aren’t excited about having to learn new tools, systems, and processes.
Hanging onto old, outdated DMS platforms may be a common practice among dealerships, but it doesn’t make much business sense. When dealerships refuse to evolve, they lose ground to their competitors and they risk losing customers who expect a more modern, technology-assisted buying experience. And, with new, easy-to-learn technology tools, the cost of making a change has gone down drastically. Consider the following important impacts of implementing easy-to-learn technologies at your dealership.
Onboard New Employees Faster
Onboarding is an important process at every dealership, but the process of getting new employees up to speed can distract from revenue-generating activities. One recent study suggested that it can take up to eight months for fresh new hires to reach peak productivity. When your DMS is easy to use and easy to learn, your new hires get up to speed faster and more efficiently.
Hire For the Skills You Want
When your dealership runs on a difficult-to-learn DMS, it becomes necessary to hire employees based on their past DMS experience. In fact, candidates with prior DMS experience often edge out better candidates that don’t have a history with your difficult DMS platform. Unfortunately, eliminating impressive job candidates is not a good formula for customer satisfaction. When your DMS is easy to use and easy to learn, you can hire candidates that will fit your culture and care for your customers.
Develop Your Engaged Employees
In today’s job market, the very best employees aren’t just looking for a job. Instead, many young digital natives are looking to develop new skills while advancing their careers. To attract and retain them at your dealership, you’ll need to offer lots of opportunities for professional development. In fact, a surprising 87% of millennials listed professional development as even more important to their job search than time off and compensation. An easy-to-learn DMS offers endless opportunities for continued learning and a community they can turn to in order to develop new skills.
Technology change—especially DMS transitions—can be difficult, but holding on to old, outdated tools is harmful to customer experience and dealership profitability. An easy-to-learn DMS helps you hire better employees, onboard them more quickly, then keep them engaged with ongoing educational opportunities. Watch the video below to learn more about the business benefits of an easy-to-learn DMS.
