No matter how Frankenstein-genius, how mysterious and spooky (and all-together ookily) advanced your dealership software is, it’s 6 feet under if it doesn’t produce results.

You know those killer salespeople on your team? The ones who are constantly hustling to make something happen, even when customer traffic is slow, even when they’re not technically at work?

Give those beasts killer tools to match! In fact, give ’em to your whole team. The sales leaders will just likely be the ones who’ll absolutely slay it, raising the dead and motivating the entire team to get on board.

But how do you find the treated-not-tricked tools to give them?

The Hunt Is On …

It’s no wonder that deciding which business software to use can feel a bit like running through a tall field of corn on a thriller night. Just a quick Google search for “sales tools” reveals stomach-turning first-page results including “The 45 Best Sales Tools: What You Need for 2019” and “70 of the Best Sales Enablement Tools to Arm Your Team With.”

70, really? And that’s just sales tools. It’s a bit chilling, to say the least. Perhaps it’s why so many businesses roll over and play dead when it comes to finding the right solutions for their team, sticking with the same tired software. Who can blame them.

Researching these tools, however, is worth it. The cost of using the wrong software is high – and not just in terms of dollars spent.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the costliest costs of investing in the wrong dealership software.

Top 4 Costs of Bore-You-to-Death Tools

We could say that not having the right tools will cost you your dealership culture, and stop at that. Barclays reported on a new study out this month revealing that nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of senior business leaders agree that “culture is central to success when all factors affecting success are taken together.”

The report also found that culture is valued most of all – even before customer relationships! – when businesses are struggling.

Here are four costs (besides money) that the wrong tools incur, and how they contribute to zombie culture.

Productivity (The Zombie-Maker)

Being difficult to use, the wrong tools frustrate your team and do a number on your productivity. Things just aren’t working right, and the lack of success can quickly make zombies of even the best salespeople.

It’s not just the software that your team might quit – some employees even quit jobs over user-unfriendly software. Sure, there will always be a learning curve to new tools, but look for those where that curve isn’t so steep. Ones that adapt to your goals and processes, rather than the other way around. Look for seamless integration and continued ease of use.

Teamwork (The Zombie Mentality)

And you thought meetings were a nightmare. Surveyed employees recently said that the number-one productivity killer is actually lack of communication between departments. No communication, no collaboration. It’s an “I’m on my own” mindset, and it’s a dark road to success.

This certainly applies at dealerships. At the very least, teams need to be given the chance to be on the same page regarding customer basics: their first name, where they are in their journey, why they’re at the dealership today, etc. They need a tool that lets them communicate across teams and individual-to-individual. Perhaps the fastest zombie killer is a strong team!

Accountability (The Invisible Zombie)

Without transparency into your team’s work, you really have no idea who’s doing what, and what’s working and what isn’t. A tool that makes everyone’s tasks visible creates accountability, and accountability is critical to success. This Forbes article, in fact, found that accountability is the most important element fueling success, because of its strong ties to culture (the non-zombie kind), excellence, ownership, trust, and more.

This isn’t micromanaging. With the right tool, you can discreetly monitor your employees’ task completion, not in order to chastise them, but to learn best practices and scale them to your entire team.

Customer Experience (The Zombie Dance)

The zombie dance is when the sales associate tries to casually, sometimes straight-forwardly, get details out of the customer. But then the customer doesn’t want to give everything away, yet obviously wants help getting the car. In addition to the dance are the long periods of “sitting this one out” for the customer (i.e., waiting). What your tool needs to do is …

• give your team insights into what the customer needs and wants
• connect your team so everyone is on the same page throughout your customer’s journey
• greatly reduce waiting time
• make every experience memorable

“Our industry has begun a metamorphosis, from ‘selling packaged goods’ to ‘creating consumer experiences.’”
— FD Wilder, Vice President of Global Market Strategy and Innovation, Procter & Gamble

Warning – Scary Pop-up

We weren’t going to talk about money. But when technology fails dealerships it can turn into a never-ending-nightmare dream sequence. Imagine all the time wasted on slow-running programs, outdated software, and poor tech support. Horrors like these cost U.K. businesses an estimated $45 billion/year, a recent study reported.

Finding the right software for your team doesn’t have to be costly, or scary. Look for a solution that you can partner with to build success your way, uniting your team and fending off future zombie apocalypses.

(Happy Halloween, all!)