Optimize the use of mobile devices in your dealership while avoiding common pitfalls

Smartphones are everywhere. Really? Unless you’ve been living in a cave or completely off the grid, this statement is not surprising. According to the Pew Research Center, over 64% of American adults own a smartphone and 45% own a tablet. We use our mobile devices to share photos and videos, to make voice and video calls, to play games, to read email, articles and books. We even use them to control the appliances in our home or office. The reality is that mobile devices have made their way into every aspect of our lives.

While we can talk about the negative effect this is having on things as unrelated as driver safety and erosion of quality conversion with friends and family, the use of mobile devices, including smartphones and tablets, can have a very positive effect on your dealership. These devices can greatly enhance your staff’s flexibility and effectiveness. However, some ground rules must be set, especially if your staff will be using their own devices, and standard operating procedures should be put in place for how these devices are to be used.

 

The primary benefits of using mobile devices in your dealership boils down to the three C’s: Communication, Collaboration and Control.

 

Communication – 85% of Americans ages 18-29 are smartphone owners while 83% of Americans ages 30-49 and 58% of Americans ages 50-64 own a smartphone. Furthermore, 78% of college graduates and 84% of those living in households with an annual income of $75,000 or more per year own smartphones. The bottom line is your customers have them as do most of your employees. Using built-in applications like email and texting, more and more people are preferring to communicate with apps as opposed to talking on the phone. With the advent of speech to text conversion software found on all Apple and Android devices, you no longer have to attempt to type messages on these devices either. We can also share images, videos and documents on our mobile devices with customers and internal staff.

 

Collaboration – Keeping your team energized and excited, while staying focused on your customers is simply good for business. Take cameras and GPS capabilities as an example. With an increasingly mobile workforce, there are multiple ways you can use location services and image capabilities to connect employees more effectively and share information more efficiently. Photos and videos of boats, engines and equipment can be shared with customers, subcontractors, manufacturers, suppliers and internal staff members.

Collaborative apps like Google Docs and cloud storage technologies like Dropbox, iCloud and Google Drive allow your team to stay connected to a common set of data, and you can send updates to your team, instantly keeping everyone on the same digital page. Using GPS capabilities, you can track where your mobile technicians are located so when a customer calls and needs service on the double, you can deploy the closest resource.

 

Control – If your dealership is like most that I visit, there are likely a number of paper processes in place and forms that employees are asked to use to assign tasks, track labor hours, request parts, view inventory listings, etc. This information must then be entered into the dealer management or accounting system that runs your business. While many management systems today automate these things, forcing someone to find a terminal to get the information they need can be both time consuming and inefficient.

To maximize productivity and ensure that your team is spending more time with customers and less time in front of a computer, mobile devices have proven to be very valuable.  A common set of mobile apps used by your team will ensure that all of the critical information you use to manage your dealership is kept in one place. Customers, prospects, boats, inventory, parts and work orders can be viewed and managed from a mobile device so your team can get the information when they need it regardless of where they are. You can regain control of what in many cases is an out-of-control paper process and avoid common pitfalls of having staff members take a handwritten document and enter it into a dealer management system. Maybe this doesn’t happen at your dealership but some of the time sheets and technician notes I’ve seen are often illegible or the information is simply incorrect. Furthermore the data entry is time consuming and redundant.

 

The key to not letting the mobile revolution completely undermine your business is to ensure that smartphone and tablet usage is to enhance the customer experience, not replace it. Your sales and service team need to stay focused on staying in front of customers and working on their boats. Mobile devices don’t replace human interaction, and they certainly don’t turn wrenches. When your staff has a customer in front of them, it’s time to put down the device and look the customer in the eyes. Like scrolling through Facebook posts on your phone at dinner, staring down at your smartphone or tablet while a customer is in front of you does not strengthen the customer relationship. If anything, it creates a barrier between your customer and your staff member. For instance, a trained sales person or service advisor can easily jot notes down using a stylus on a tablet. It’s really no different than writing it down on a piece of paper. But they need to practice this so they feel comfortable doing it. Fumbling around trying to find an app while your customer waits can sour the experience you want to provide.

 

I am often asked about the use of employee owned smartphones and tablets at a dealership. Many dealers and service centers allow their employees to use their own device at work. The company will often give them a monthly allowance to defray the expense. However, the last thing you want is for your staff to compulsively check Facebook, Instagram or Yahoo News. Some businesses have started to incorporate smartphone monitoring tools like Checky and Moment that actually tells the user how many times they unlock their phone and how much time they are spending on it. These apps are good at providing daily usage but they haven’t evolved to the point of breaking down the usage within certain time periods (e.g. Mon-Fri between 8 am and 5 pm).

 

All in all, mobile devices can have a very positive benefit on a dealership if used in the right way for the right things. In the next post, I will provide some actionable examples of things a dealership can do to start using readily available apps to help increase both communication and collaboration in your dealership while maintaining a level of control to keep everyone focused.

To read the second blog in this three blog series from Cam Collins of MyTaskit, click here.

 

Join Me for Leadership Training

“I never thought I could learn so much in three days,” said Mary Jo Goettling of Blue Springs Marine, who received the 2014 Duane Spader Scholarship. “And the stuff that we’re learning is so hands-on applicable.”

The program consists of five three-day educational workshops, plus hands-on homework assignments that have you putting what you learn to work in your business. While it has proven attractive to many young leaders with their sights set on running their own dealership someday, participants come from a wide range of generations and roles. 

The next course starts in just a few weeks, and I’m fired up to be a part of it. I hope you’ll consider sending someone from your team to join me. Whether you’re looking to strengthen your own skills, or you’re looking to build up the leadership capabilities of your star players, there’s my better time than the present to invest in the future of your business. LEARN MORE.

Slate of 2016 ACMA Resolutions Approved by MRAA Board

The MRAA Board of Directors accepted and approved a set of eight resolutions presented by the Advisory Council of Marine Associations (ACMA). Drafted last November at the 2015 Marine Dealer Conference & Expo (MDCE), the resolutions outline requested action during the 2016 calendar year and can be read in full below:

1. To support and seek legislation to increase funding and awareness for vocational education, recognizing the marine industry’s shortage of qualified technicians across the country.

2. Recognizing that the Great Lakes region accounts for one-third of all recreational boating sales and usage in America, ACMA recommends to the MRAA Board that it be a priority in the MRAA legislative program to closely monitor Great lakes issues at the national level and regularly communicate them to the MTA’s in the Great Lakes states as well as to all ACMA member organizations.

3. Communicate more frequently with state associations on legislative issues monitored at the national level, opportunities for public comment, and action alerts to share with MTA members. 

4. Take action to closely monitor and support favorable use of the Water Resources Reform & Development Act and the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund for the dredging of America’s small boat harbors.

5. Support actions to support reform of the Renewable  Fuels Standard to eliminate the damaging impact of corn ethanol on millions of America’s marine and small engines by working to restrict and repeal the mandate for continually increasing the quantity of ethanol in the nation’s gasoline supplies. 

6. Take action to be an advocate and supporter of a re vision of Magnuson-Stevens Reauthorization Act during its reauthorization process, calling for more time and latitude for the US F&WS to rebuild overfished stocks using reliable scientific research and data.

7. Support action that helps stop the spread of Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS), prevents the introduction of new AIS, and helps eradicate AIS, as water quality and fisheries are vitally important to the survival of the marine industry in the U.S.

8. Support local and state marine trades associations, where and when requested, in their efforts to gain favorable boating legislation and regulations.

Danny Goldenberg and the Growth Story of Marine Connection

The system is simple: create a centralized Excel spreadsheet, route it to monitors throughout the dealership and insist on consistent updates. Each job listed is a working repair order containing a customer’s name, location and the technician assigned to the ticket. Data fields are color-coded and correlate with a numerical identifier guiding anyone interested to a boat’s current location.

Marine Center of Indiana services approximately 1,500 boats each year, and Fred estimates the system increased shop efficiency by at least 15 percent annually.

“I think it’s made our shop more efficient, and we don’t find ourselves searching for boats,” he said. “From an incorporation standpoint, there’s not much to it. I think it’s a cheap way to get everyone on the same page.”

“I think it’s an impressive thing for your customer to see because they can look around and say, ‘wow, it looks like you guys really know what you’re doing,” Fred laughed. “Which we hope they already know.”

Certified Marine Dealers’ CSI Scores Outpace Industry

Chasm between Certified and non-Certified marine dealers continues to grow, 2015 data says

Measuring customer satisfaction in nine key areas, the 2015 National Marine Manufacturers Association’s Customer Satisfaction Index again draws a clear distinction between Certified and non-Certified Dealers. Steve Pizzolato, founder and CEO of AVALA Marketing Group, which gathers and evaluates data for the annual NMMA CSI numbers, says the correlation between Certification and improved customer satisfaction grows stronger each year.

The largest, and what Steve says is the most important, gap in the 2015 numbers can be found in the “overall dealer” category, where Certified Dealerships received a cumulative score of 91.3 compared to 88.4 registered by non-Certified businesses. The +2.8-point chasm is the largest seen in the category since data compilation began.

About 55 marine manufacturers voluntarily participated in the recent AVALA data collection, up about 10 percent from 2014.

Sam Dantzler and MRAA Partner on Virtual Training

MRAATraining.com, which features more than 30 modules on the topics that matter most to marine dealers.

“If you make it easy for a customer to buy, you improve the chances of the purchase significantly,” Sam said.

With the purchase of Hitting & Blocking: The Fundamentals of Sales, dealers gain 12-months of access to all nine course chapters for up to 25 team members. The MRAA virtual training system offers the ability for subscribers to train from any Internet-enabled desktop or mobile device, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Managers can use the system to assign courses, track employee training and monitor their performance.  

One of the highest rated presenters at the annual Marine Dealer Conference & Expo (MDCE), Sam is a 20 Group moderator, offers consulting and dealership training, and recently launched Sam’s Watersports Dock, a virtual training portal for marine retailers.

“At MRAA, we get fired up by the chance to make a difference in the lives of dealers and their customers,” added Liz. “So does Sam and his team. That’s why we’re so excited to expand our relationship.”

This new course is part of a continually growing MRAA virtual training library, which now includes sessions from the 2014 and 2015 MDCE, education from leading experts both inside and outside the boating business, as well as webinars and other courses available free to MRAA members. Visit MRAATraining.com and sign in with your MRAA member username and password to learn more.

Senate Hearing Sheds Light on Shifting Positions on the RFS

The following post discussing the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was originally published online by the Center for Regulatory Solutions and appears here with permission. 

This week’s Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works oversight hearing on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) could prove uncomfortable for a number of Democratic members who have had a tough time dealing with the environmental impacts of the corn ethanol mandate. A review of the positions held by members of the committee over the past decade reveals surprising results with many of the most prominent members flipping their positions over the years.

For example, the ranking member of the Senate EPW Committee, Senator Barbara Boxer, once an avid foe of the corn ethanol mandate, now vigorously defends it, despite a Center for Regulatory Solutions (CRS) report showing that the mandate imposes a $42 billion fuel tax on her home state of California. Meanwhile, Senator Carper (D-DE), ranking member of the Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety, went from being an ethanol promoter to raising the alarm about corn ethanol’s impact on climate change. Perhaps most interesting is Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT), now in the race for President. He has also flipped his position in time for the presidential campaign, moving from an opponent of ethanol to a vocal supporter, while an economic analysis conducted by CRS last fall found that ethanol costs the New England economy $20 billion.

Meanwhile, outside of Washington, the environmental case against corn ethanol has only grown stronger. Environmental activist Bill McKibben from Vermont has said, “Ethanol is the worst idea of all time.” Former Vice-President and green leader Al Gore called ethanol a “mistake.” The Sierra Club and Environmental Working Group have said for years that the RFS is causing greater harm to the environment than gasoline. A recent report by researchers from the University of Tennessee, among others, found that ethanol’s lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions actually exceed those of gasoline when land use changes associated with its production are properly measured. The study also found that ethanol’s lifecycle emissions of other pollutants – including those that contribute to smog – greatly exceed those of gasoline.

Even academics in Iowa, the top ethanol-producing state in the country, are warning that the RFS creates a perverse incentive for farmers to convert land to corn fields and thereby increase soil erosion and fertilizer runoff. As the Los Angeles Times wrote: “Corn is a very water- and chemical-intensive crop. Ordinarily, farmers rotate crops annually to avoid soil exhaustion, but high corn prices encourage them to plant corn in the same fields year after year. The only way to make this work is to pour on more fertilizers, which seep into waterways and create algae blooms that suck up all the oxygen and kill everything else.” Last summer a toxic algal bloom shut down two-thirds, or 636 miles, of the Ohio River. Those fertilizers and nitrates are eventually swept into the Gulf of Mexico, creating the second largest human-caused dead zone – an area where algae consumes the oxygen needed to support life – in the world.

Democrats’ Shifting Positions on Corn Ethanol Revealed

  • Senator Barbara Boxer (CA): Senator Boxer, the Committee’s ranking member, has undergone a dramatic evolution on ethanol over the last 14 years, shifting from absolute opposition to the fuel additive to becoming one of its staunchest supporters outside of the Corn Belt. In 2002, Boxer refused to endorse a deal that would significantly boost demand for corn-derived ethanol, arguing it would create an ethanol mandate (which we now have) that could cause gasoline shortages and price spikes. That same year she vehemently opposed a renewable fuel mandate in the Senate energy bill. Though she voted for the 2007 energy bill that significantly expanded the RFS, she signed a letter in 2010 rejecting ethanol subsidies, calling them “fiscally indefensible.” But beginning in 2013 Boxer reversed her position and fully embraced ethanol, incorrectly stating that it would reduce carbon pollution. In 2014 and 2015 she denounced EPA’s plans to set ethanol targets below the Congressionally-mandated levels. The Senator has not yet accounted for what changed her mind on the biofuel.
  • Senator Tom Carper (DE): Senator Carper voted for the 2007 energy bill that expanded the RFS, but by March 2009 he questioned whether biofuel volume mandates he supported were increasing too quickly. But two months later he was praising the EPA for increasing the supply of renewable fuels. By 2011 he was back to warning that corn ethanol was competing with our fuel supply and degrading our air quality. Carper voted later that year to end the corn ethanol subsidy, calling the move “long overdue.” Responding to a constituent’s question in July of 2011, Carper said, “The corn ethanol tax credit costs us billions of dollars a year, that’s money we shouldn’t be spending…The idea of using kernels of corn for ethanol I don’t think makes a whole lot of sense anymore…” Senator Carper has been consistent in his opposition to corn ethanol ever since 2011, expressing support for advanced biofuels while warning: “…we cannot ignore the unintended consequences of increasing our biofuel mandates.”
  • Senator Ben Cardin (MD): Senator Cardin, a resolute friend of the poultry industry, has long been wary of corn ethanol. In 2007, he urged the Bush administration “to carefully evaluate and respond to unintended public health and safety risks that could result from the increased use of ethanol as a ‘general purpose’ transportation fuel,” though he would vote for the RFS expansion a few days later. In 2011, he criticized the EPA’s approval for E15 fuels for older cars and introduced two bills and an amendment to repeal the $6 billion ethanol “blenders tax credit.” He took to the Senate floor multiple times that year to decry ethanol:

    “The ethanol subsidies are not needed. The market is there. More damaging, it is hurting our economy. I have the honor of representing the people of Maryland and the Delmarva Peninsula. The poultry industry is suffering because of the ethanol subsidies. It is costing more to produce poultry, making the industry less competitive. We can save and create jobs by eliminating the ethanol subsidy, which will help us in balancing the budget.”

    In 2012 he called for “an end to the preferential treatment of corn-based ethanol,” and introduced the RFS Flexibility Act to tie the corn ethanol mandate to available U.S. corn supplies. Senator Cardin has continued to speak out against the RFS and ethanol, raising concerns that the biofuel “poses significant environmental concerns.”
     

  • Senator Bernie Sanders (VT): Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont wasn’t a fan of corn ethanol until he decided to run for president and needed to woo Iowa voters. His record shows that he urged President Bush to “carefully evaluate and respond to unintended public health and safety risks that could result from the increased use of ethanol as a ‘general purpose’ transportation fuel.” Though he voted for the 2007 expansion of the RFS, he voted in 2011 to take down ethanol subsidies, saying at the time: “Subsidizing the ethanol industry not only is a great expenditure of taxpayer dollars, but it also has a negative impact on farmers and consumers in Vermont and around the world in terms of higher feed prices and higher prices for food.” But just four years later, as a presidential candidate stumping in Iowa, Sanders said, “Iowa is one of the leaders in the country in wind and biofuels. So, I support the Renewable Fuel Standard.” “We have to be supportive of that effort – and take every step that we could, and in every way we can, including the growth of the biofuels industry,” he told Iowa Public Radio last year.
  • Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI): Senator Whitehouse, known for his weekly speeches on climate change from the Senate floor, is inexplicably in favor of ethanol. But he wasn’t always. He voted for the 2007 RFS expansion, but in 2011 he said, “The corn ethanol industry, much like Big Oil, does not need taxpayer subsidies to turn a profit. The production process also poses serious environmental risks.” In 2014 he pressed further, warning that corn-based ethanol “poses significant environmental concerns.” Most recently, though, Senator Whitehouse had shifted his position, asking the EPA to return its biofuels targets to the Congressionally-mandated levels. Senator Whitehouse is trying to have it both ways on the ethanol issue and it will be interesting to see how he positions himself at this week’s hearing.
  • Senator Jeff Merkley (OR): Though Senator Merkley wasn’t around to vote for the 2007 RFS expansion, he began his Senate tenure with a report attacking corn ethanol because of the “substantial fossil fuel inputs” it requires. In the five years since then he has evolved on the issue, signing a letter to the EPA advocating for the agency to return to the Congressionally-mandated ethanol targets established in 2007. It remains to be seen whether Merkley will continue supporting corn ethanol at this week’s hearing or if he will return to his initial opposition to the biofuel.
  • Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (NY): Senator Gillibrand has been a steady voice against ethanol for nearly a decade. Though she voted for the 2007 energy bill in the House, she was endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters New York in 2008 for her pledge to “push for locally grown biofuels as alternatives to gas and corn-ethanol.” When asked about corn ethanol by a constituent in 2011, Gillibrand told him “there should be more effort put into making energy out of sources that are not food crops.” The Senator called for alternatives to corn ethanol in 2012, noting that “attempts to use corn-based ethanol as energy have only raised prices for farmers and consumers.”
  • Senator Cory Booker (NJ): The hearing will be Senator Booker’s opportunity to voice his position on ethanol. Aside from a single retweet mocking ethanol subsidies, the freshman senator has yet to make his full views on the issue known. Will he stick to his environmental guns or will he opt to boost his prospects as a vice-presidential contender and side with Big Corn?
  • Senator Ed Markey (MA): Senator Markey appears to have followed the lead of Secretary John Kerry, whom he replaced in the Senate, in his curiously consistent support for corn ethanol, despite representing a New England state. As a U.S. Representative Markey voted for the 2007 RFS expansion and became a more vocal supporter of the biofuel after he assumed Sec. Kerry’s seat in the Senate. He opposed decreasing ethanol volume requirements in 2014 and signed a letter in 2015 asking the EPA to return the ethanol targets to their Congressionally-mandated levels. Most recently he attacked Republicans for what he described as their “goal…to roll back all of the measures that will help us reduce our oil consumption and decrease carbon pollution, including fuel economy standards, the renewable fuel standard and President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.” We can expect to see the Senator from Massachusetts continue his legacy of supporting this costly and environmentally dubious program.

What it all Means

Why are Democratic members of the committee so inconsistent in their views towards corn ethanol? Perhaps this week’s rarely scheduled EPW oversight hearing on the RFS will provide some answers. But given the widespread, bipartisan opposition from across the country, it’s time for Congress to end this failed experiment which has comes at a high cost on small businesses for no gain.

 

MRAA Launches Workforce Assessment Survey

“When it comes to the technician shortage in our industry, we have plenty of anecdotal examples to share,” explains MRAA Vice President Liz Walz. “But we need to get a firmer grasp on the extent of the challenges marine retailers are facing and what’s driving them, so we can focus our programs and benefits on the most effective solutions. Today, there is little data to define this problem, and the survey will help us change that.”

Take the MRAA Workforce Assessment Survey Now

A primary purpose of the workforce assessment survey will be to give MRAA the data needed to address the shortage of skilled marine technicians. Responses will provide MRAA with a clearer picture of how many dealerships need technicians, as well as other positions, and what strategies they’re currently employing to fill those openings.

The survey, available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MRAAWorkforceAssessment, will take less than five minutes to complete. Participants will be asked questions about their company workforce, including whether they have open positions, plans to grow their staff and more.