Adopting new technology is a time of transition for any type of business, including car dealerships. Part of the challenge lies in “selling” the new technology to employees, which will encourage them to learn about its capabilities and use it to their – and the company’s – advantage.
The following are some dos and don’ts, suggested by Harvard Business Review, that can help ease the transition into new technology for your car dealership:
Do
Explain the concrete benefits
Employees won’t embrace change just for the sake of doing something a different way. You’ll need to be able to clearly show how new technology will benefit the dealership as a whole while making employees’ jobs easier. For example, will the new technology help employees fill out less paperwork? Will it help salespeople reach their goals faster and make more money?
Offer rewards
Rewarding employees who are successfully adopting the technology is a powerful “carrot” that is much more effective than reprimanding employees who don’t use it. Make the rewards fun, perhaps making a game of accumulating points to achieve “status” or rewards. Even a small cash bonus, combined with bragging rights, can be a powerful incentive.
Make it a part of their everyday routine
As soon as everyone receives training, transition to the new technology as soon as it’s feasible to do so. If, for example, you’re tracking reconditioning numbers with ReconTRAC software, ask for real-time information for your dealership’s reports.
Don’t
Make it more complicated than necessary
Users should find new technology intuitive and user-friendly. There’s always a learning curve, of course, but technology shouldn’t be more complicated than it has to be. This makes users question its usefulness and become discouraged as they’re trying to learn it. An intuitive product like ReconTRAC reconditioning software is easy to implement and learn and will be adopted more quickly than technology that’s unnecessarily difficult to learn and use.
Fail to get ‘influencers’ on board
Every manager or business owner knows there are certain employees who have a good deal of influence over other employees. Their behavior and habits set the example for others. Don’t fail to get these influencers on board early in the process, because they’ll soon have other employees embracing the new technology as well.
Be eager to punish employees
If some employees are reluctant to use the new technology, don’t punish them unless absolutely necessary. This should be the last resort, after incentives and other methods haven’t worked, because it will make them even more resentful of new technology.
