Jeff, look who's calling car salepeople "typical sleazy"?

Look in the mirror!

Chris K,

Jeff is correct in saying there is alot of valuable information within DR. DR has consistently been a leader in the exchange of ideas for years. We advertisers sure don't want to muck it up for you.

Jeff,

I am a little surprised to see your comment "the advertisements are bad enough". For advertising is the ebodiment of capitalism and capitalism is fundemantal to our entire economy.

For if you bad mouth capitalism, isn't this an indictment of our entire system in general? I put it to you, Jeff, isn't this an indictment of our entire American society?

Well, say what you want to say, but I'm not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America.

No really, your site is not a bill board for advertising and never has been. It provides a great forum for ideas and I'm sure the little bit of ads you have help to pay some of the overhead. Also, I normally sit on the sidelines because I am an advertiser but I had to comment here. Hope you enjoyed my Animal House rendition.

By the way, Jim said he had a great time in New Orleans. Keep up the good work on the site! We do appreciate it!

I was hoping to find a thread where we can get past semantics, social networking, beyond computers and vendors and talk about what really sells cars .. like actual email verbiage, follow up techniques, phone conversations and messages, tie ins... but I don't think this site appears to really focus on the really important stuff - to me at least.

I want to get past the advertisements folks....

Mike,
You and Dean deserved it, you could tell you all put quite a bit of time and effort into the presentation. Has Matt been contacted by any music agents yet?

Brian, thank you for the very kind words on our presentation. We're glad you enjoyed and we're looking forward to more synergy fun! - Mike DeCecco

oh....and one other thing........never ever forget to ask for the Sale!
Who knows you might win a trip to New Orleans

Brian,

Thank you very much for the Post. On behalf of Dealer Synergy, Synergy Sessions and AutoSuccess Magazine it was a pleasure having you and we are so very glad you had a great time.

The whole reason why we created this contest on Dealer Refresh was that we wanted to get as much feedback as we could from people on the front lines about what they wanted. And we had some great comments on this BLOG as well as from everyone that attended from the dealers, managers, speakers, exhibitors... everyone. We realize that there are so many things to do and conventions to attend. We want to provide a serious value to our attendees as well as create a great environment for them to have fun and meet others and create "Synergy".

I had so much fun there myself meeting all of the dealers and managers. We had dealers that came from over 18 different states to attend our Synergy Session in New Orleans!

I enjoy learning as much as I do teaching. So for me to see the awesome line up of speakers and educators was great.

I received a tremendous amount of positive feedback about the Franklin Covey presentation. For several reasons... First, its not the SAME recycled information or speaker that is at EVERY event This is the first time Franklin Covey has ever done anything like this in the Automotive industry. They other reason is that the information that DeVerl delivered was powerful, important and useful. It was truly and honor for me to be able to do a joint presentation with the Franklin Covey Organization. What is so funny is that I speak in front of large crowds of hundreds and hundreds of people, 20 group after 20 group... blah blah blah... but, I was nervous going after DeVerl. He is ONLY the #1 International trainer for the Franklin covey Organization and I had to give an hour presentation of my interpretation of the 7 habits of highly effective people for the automotive industry as it relates to Internet Sales departments But, I had fun doing it!

Great speakers, Great presentations, Great information, great Attendees!

The VIP party was off the hook! We had several limos on call for the night... Yes, one was a Hummer! I heard several times that night that the VIP Party was NADA caliber. We did NOT spare any expense as Brian mentioned before. We really wanted EVERYONE to have fun. The Band was truly amazing! They were this Creole, New Orleans Band... They had this guy that had a metal grate on his chest and he was playing it with, I think a spoon or something. He was truly off the hook! And Jeff Kershner says it was a little too loud? Jeff, Are you getting too old? Who are you kidding? I have seen your MySpace page

But, There was an after Party to the VIP party from the house of blues... There was about 15 or so "Troopers" from several different dealerships that jumped into one of the limos with me and my Fiancé... we headed to Bourbon Street of course. After having some fun... We headed back to the house of blues and I treated everyone to a Hard Rock Concert. A Band Called Super Suckers played and killed it. I had to turn in a little early but the group stayed and had a great night. I am proud to say EVERYONE made it (almost) on time the next morning for day 2 of the Synergy Sessions.

I know, I just spent a lot of time talking about having fun and VIP parties... I figured Brian gave you all the run down on the instructional design of Synergy Sessions. I wanted to give you the behind the scenes perspective

As far as the Video Production. Kaizen sent out a serious, mobile video production team to archive the entire event including the VIP party, all of the speakers and presentations PLUS a TON of Video Testimonials... It is going to take a couple of weeks to edit the OVER 40 hours of finished Video Content.

We will be releasing, teaser, testimonials and montages shortly.

We have decided to NOT do another Synergy Session until March 2009. It will be held in Atlantic City New Jersey. We want to take our time and really plan this event to even greater depths of perfection...

We are REALLY, REALLY going to try to blow everyone away with this event. So we are going to spend the next 2-3 months just getting the right mix of speakers, information, instruction design straight and then we have to outdo this last off the hook VIP party!! And we have gotten some great ideas for additional wow factors. So stay tuned on information for Synergy Sessions 2009.
If you have any questions, ideas, about the 2009 Synergy Sessions in Atlantic City, Please feel free to Contact me. I would LOVE to hear your ideas and suggestions.

Thank you again to everyone that was apart of the 2008 Synergy Sessions. And for those that missed out... I am truly sorry. But no worries the AC event will be here before you know it!

SVB-

Great posting Alex.

iPhone rocks!! It changed my life and I cannot imagine existing without it. I recommend it to all ISMs out there.

Since I love the iPhone, I decided to convert to the "other side" and
I just bought a Mac Book Pro laptop. My priority was to be 100% mobile.

The adjustment to Mac is interesting....there's no right click!!!...but it's easy to use and lightening fast.

I'm also the dealer group's I.T. manager, so I took my old PC and turned it into a server for storing website graphics, HomeNet IOL for data and inventory management, and virus protection. That frees up my laptop for everything else.

For car guys and gals like me that don't have an I.T. background, Mac is really easy to use...blogging, editing videos and audio files, podcasting, etc. There's a template for everything! Just drag and drop.

One negative - all of my emails from the past two years in Outlook have to be sacrificed because the Mac cannot read .pst files. Also, there are two programs that I need that require Java or IE. But I can access these with Boot Camp. A little bit of a pain, but benefits of MacBookPro far outweigh the cons.

Wow! I am surprised at the lack of MAC lovers in the comments. In my past lives, I built, re-engineered, and managed support centers focused on PC and Microsoft products because that is what Corporate America focused on. During those years, we worked with Dell, HP, Acer, Compaq and Toshiba. Dell was the best deal, but HP and Toshiba had their niche. Dell had a great business model and whenever a friend would ask, “What kind of PC should I buy?”, I would immediately say, DELL. However, times have changed. In the past year, I have come completely over to the dark side to become an Apple follower and a Steve Job's disciple. Not because I think that the PC is a piece of junk, no far from it; and not because Apple is the best either. But because I got extremely tired of the overhead with Windows and other MS products and the hoops you have to go through to get it to Really Work.
In truth, Apple found a way to give me just what I wanted: to WIN at what I am doing. I define Winning as the fast and efficient path to producing the output I desire. In other words I want an efficient tool. I don’t want to have to learn the tool, but want the tool to perform for me intuitively. Another way to say it is: If my job is to win the race, I am not focused on the Craftman tools, just winning the race.
Well Apple gives that to me.
Alex, you mentioned you are a heavy Photoshop user, but all my friends who are professional photographers and graphic artist (and I have a few) use Macs. And you don’t have to have the big box mac to get the job done. Hey, I am not saying you cannot run Photoshop on a PC, I am just saying it was designed for the Mac and the graphics folks are all in the Mac camp.
When it comes to building PCs, I have to ask the question… WHY? In the days of the 8088 (yes I was there when the first pc came out) you had to know how to fix them, build them, and to make them more robust. As the processors changed and the video changed, you best know how to upgrade or replace them. I went to the shows at the Hampton Coliseum and bought the parts to make PCs. But that is because I had fun doing it.
But when it comes to my job, that is not my job, to build PCs. I would even argue that it is a waste of time, valuable time to be building these machines even for a dealership who can lease them and then refresh them on a regular basis (but that is a different discussion).
So I appreciate your comments on PC building, but I wonder why a guy in the automotive business is not utilizing the tools available today to seamlessly move data and information to our finger tips (iPhone type stuff) but would prefer to discuss building PCs.

Wow! Most of this post was completely over my head, but I do know one thing Alex.. As internet managers our computers are the life of our operation, and if they don't work neither do we. The server was down at my dealership for a few hours one day and I felt helpless.. I thought, I just call a few people, oh wait can't do that all of the leads are on a web based lead management system and I cant get to the numbers .By the way I thought I did good when they bought me an extra monitor...

Building your own computer is great until something breaks and you are working a car deal(s) then have no time to fix it. I'd rather call Dell with my 4 hour hardware replacement warranty than be down for days whether on a home or work machine.

CASH = FPS and bragging rights
Why do we need a machine that can play Call of Duty 4 at 222 fps?
Just cause!

Looks like Chris K beat me to the punch, but my thoughts on this matter are that he's correct...the average ISM will be fine with an off-the-shelf $1000 machine. The people who KNOW they need all the bells and whistles probably need them. The people who may be reading this post, wondering what all this tech talk means, and wondering if they need a higher end machine probably don't need it, and that would be about 98% of the industry. Well, DR readers are a little different than the rest, so probably half of the DR readers.

Alex nice write up...

On the memory... XP will use Max 3GB... and your Motherboard chipset needs to support PAE for you to go even above 2GB.

For storage f you can afford it go for RAID5 and with external controller... don't be cheap and do Software RAID... 3Ware or Areca makes some nice controllers.

If anyone is interested I have a nice hot swappable 12 bay external NORCO DS-1220 USB storage array for sale... NO HDs.

Lau's links didn't come over, so here they are:




Everything you see here, from the documentation to the
code itself, was created by and for the community.
WordPress is an Open Source project, which means there
are hundreds of people all over the world working on
it. (More than most commercial platforms.) It also
means you are free to use it for anything from your
cat’s home page to a Fortune 5 web
(http://autoshows.ford.com/ site without paying anyone
a license fee.

You can see what is possible with this link:

B-Man: The dual 22" is very nice. I have it at both home and work and won't be going back to one ever. From a productivity perspective, I think the screen real estate can give an ISM the best benefit. I usually have 20+ programs open at once and spead out across the screens. I can track, analyze, create so much more at a faster rate. Of course, you'll need the video card to support it, and then a cpu, memory, power and motherboard to support all that. So, basically, a complete system upgrade is in order.

I'm a total geek, and now can proudly admit it. (I always say to myself, "Bill gates is a geek") I used to suppress it, but this tech sh#t just keeps getting better and better. It'll only become more pervasive, and at a faster rate. Its nearly impossible to not be engaged with it all.

So where are the Amazon links to all these computer parts Jeff?

Great discussion fellas. I owned a MAC a few years ago but found it difficult to access some websites with Safari and I have the same problem with Firefox. So I sold the MAC and bought a HP laptop. For example, Reynolds Contact Managment is inaccessible in an efficient fashion with anything other than Internet Explorer. Honda' Interactive Network and Hyundai's dealer portal are totally inaccessible with anything other than IE and its my understanding that you can't run Reynolds ERA on a MAC.

Computer's are definitely becoming necessary in virtually every department in the dealership. Buying the right systems and then putting together a plan to maintain them is critical. We began controlling access to certains sites on the net and that has contributed to healthier computer hardware (now that there isn't a big a exposure risk to viruses and malware on the net). We also don't allow outside computers on our primary business network which cuts down on the introduction of viruses to our system.

Stores without comprehensive technology procurement, management and maintenance plans will end up spending more on technology because their exposure to problems will be greater.

Funy you bring this up. I just got all new parts to build a new office computer at the agency.

I got (2) 22" LCD's - gonna be pretty sick. Building it on Monday.

Interesting post, and I have been a long time afficianado of building a P.C., but I must say, for the average customer to be able to build a computer that will suffice for our needs as ISMs, I don't think we can compete with Dell, Gateway, etc. Getting a fundamental system with an OS, HD, OD, 1/2 to 1 GB RAM for under $500.

You might very well build a gaming system for less than a hard-loaded manufactured piece, but for me, the solace in knowing I CAN upgrade it (manufactured ones often are not upgradeable) is worth any additional cost.

Anyone have a good website for purchasing? I use pricewatch.com to identify the parts and vendors. Anyone else?

Here are a few thoughts on solutions.

This is a Content Management System (CMS) that will help build great websites and robust online applications.
This is also an open source solution that is free, and is one of the most powerful Open Source Content Management Systems on the planet. It is used all over the world for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications. Joomla! is easy to install, simple to manage, and reliable.

Joomla is very powerful, and is a little more difficult to get to grips with if you're a novice than some others you might have in your control panel. Certainly, for ease of use and a less steep learning curve, Wordpress is a good option too, and is a lot easier to customize visually as well (not to mention a wealth of plug-ins that will make it do almost anything you want it too, including galleries and forums that you can build into Wordpress).

One can use Wordpress as the basis of quite large and complicated sites, especially when I know the client wants to update their site themselves and has limited coding knowledge. This is a great tool for use in the smaller business model.
There are a number of inventory solutions that are available at an affordable price. I happened to like IOL as they are professional, priced right, month to month and passionate about what they do.

Knowing what you want to build is always a good first step.
Wrong or mismatched interfaces: a PCI-e video card will not work in an AGP slot and vice-versa. Similarly, a 939-pin motherboard (Athlon) can’t be expected to accommodate a Pentium IV processor (427 pins).

One component too fast or slow: why buy a memory designed for a 400MHz front- side bus if your motherboard can only go up to 333MHz?

Write down all the known requirements for the build, filling in as many details as possible. Then look for parts that will meet those requirements. Make sure that all the components will work with each other before making any purchases.

Now is a good time to learn more about computers in general and the new build specifically even if someone else is building it for you.

Additionally, knowing what is needed will help preclude the inevitable last-minute addition. Finding out that you need a more robust or different style of heat sink for the processor as you are trying to assemble not only delays the build, it can also break the budget.

Knowing the limit on spending for the system is smart look for the best deals, make realistic decisions on which components to buy and use, and knowing how much the custom build will be allows you to see if there’s a pre-built that meets your specifications that would be cheaper (yes, that does happen, occasionally, especially if you are buying software, too).

Keep the receipts everyone knows that you always get good parts from the dealer, especially online dealers, right? Hold on to the packaging and especially the receipts until you know all of the components are working properly. .

Think about protecting your computer. Do you have an adequate surge protector? Have you considered getting an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS)? If your area is prone to brownouts, then a UPS is the way to go. Use a UPS that powers the computer from the batteries all the time and recharges them while power is on. If you do go with a UPS, be sure it isn’t underpowered, providing enough current to save your work and properly shut the computer down.

ESD be sure to use all reasonable Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) precautions when assembling your system. While today's electronics are better-armed against the ravages of ESD than their earlier counterparts, why take chances? Keep in mind that it is your money going into the system. Do you really want to risk damage and delays (awaiting replacement parts) by not using a cheap wrist strap?

Documentation do you know exactly what is in your computer right now? Do you know the model number and firmware revision of your sound card? Do you know where the driver discs and manuals for all the components are?
Recording all the details of the system as you build it up, as well as placing all the documentation and software discs in a common binder will save you time and effort in the long run. Want to check for the latest drivers? Grab the binder and look up the part number. That beats having to crack the case open and pull the card, which may or may not have the part number openly stamped on it. Want to put Linux on the computer? You have the part numbers handy so you can determine if and how the components will work with the OS.

This goes for that software you have loaded, as well. You might need to put all those CDs into a case, but where are the registration keys and serial numbers? What are the settings you spent so much time perfecting?

Likewise any passwords you may have. If you are like me, you have A lot of passwords for stuff that I tend to forget, particularly if I don’t use them on a regular basis. So I’ve compromised and placed all my passwords into a secure PDA file. With one master password, I can access the whole lot of them.

Do you have the most up-to-date drivers and firmware? Back-ups? You'll need them, so be ready beforehand? Have you slipstreamed your Win XP with the latest Service Pack and hot fixes?
Plan the install

What OS are you going to use? Are you planning on installing another at some time in the future? What are you going to use the machine for? How many partitions will you need and in what sizes? How should the partitions be ordered? Have you planned a backup scheme and how can you simplify that process from the beginning?

Write down what software you need to install and at what point you need to install it. You can use that list to build an unattended installation disc.

Backups you need to think about archiving data when you began ordering all the components. If you have a backup plan set up ahead of time, then you are likely going to use it, and it won't hurt quite as badly when that unexpected crash comes.

RTFM
Read the manual beforehand so you know what particular board requires RAM in both slots 1 and 2, not 1 and 3 as is standard on many other boards. If you have all your documentation in one place, you will know where that manual is.

The software might sometimes show both the minimum and recommended system requirements. Best you use the recommended + requirements as your guide.
Get a fast enough processor (preferably Quad Core - Intel being best choice for the future upgrading of your system.
Get as much memory as you possibly can afford to enhance your computer's performance.

If you are purchasing a computer system or building your own, get more hard disk space than you have determined that you will need now. Buy as large a hard drive as you can possibly afford. This is to allow for future expansion.

Taking the time to evaluate your needs before making your final selection will save you both money and regrets in the long run.
Before buying, it is very important that you familiarize yourself with some basic knowledge of what a computer consists of and the function of each of the components.

You should try to buy as much as you can possibly afford.
Do not 'cut corners' on your main system unit such as your processor, memory and hard drive.
You would not want to be running out of memory or disk space shortly after purchasing a complete computer system or building your own!

Delay the buying of some of the software applications that are not critical for you to get now until at a later date. You might want to be using this computer for a few years; therefore, you should ensure that you now have enough memory, CPU, hard drive, etc.
Categories of Computers

Basic:
This computer would be used by someone who sends and receives email, surfs the Internet, uses word processing, prepares spreadsheets and plays simple games.
Minimum Requirements: 1.0+GHz AMD or Intel processor, 512MB DDR RAM (Memory), 120GB, 7200 RPM, 8MB cache hard drive, on-board video, audio and LAN, DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive.

Mid Range:
In addition to the basic needs, this range is suitable for someone who is involved in medium graphics, some video editing, downloading music and video and playing games, etc.
Minimum Requirements: 1.8+GHz AMD or Intel Pentium 4 Processor, 1GB DDR Memory, 250GB SATA 7200 RPM 8MB Cache Hard Drive, mid-range Video and Sound (Graphics) Card, 10/100 LAN, DVD Writer and a 21" Monitor.

High Range:
This computer is suitable for intensive graphics, video editing, game playing and other memory and CPU intensive programs.
Minimum Requirements: AMD Athlon 64 FX62 or Intel Pentium (best bet) Core 2 Duo processor, 2GB DDR Dual Channel Memory, 400GB SATA hard drive, RAID (0,1), High-End Video (nVidia GeForce 7950 GX2 Graphics Adapter) and Sound Card (Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic), Gigabit 10/100/1000 LAN, DVD ROM Drive and a Dual format, Dual Layer DVD Writer and a 24" Monitor.

Choosing Online Vendors to purchase your Best Cheap Computer System. Buying your computer system and parts online is recommended since this is where you will get excellent quality systems and computer parts at the best available prices. Here are some online vendors who are known to be reputable, have great deals, operate secure Web sites and will deliver a quality computer to your door. You can visit these Vendors' Web sites by clicking here.

I'm geeky too... just try not to get too consumed by it because the fundamentals is what is and will always work for me at least - follow up! But I myself have found a few killer deals on some Dual Xenon PC's with Mega RAM.. for like $1,250... and might get one for my home, but since much of my Tech Tools are Web-Based, a super fast connection to the WWW is more important to me.

I agree Chris, but it sounds like we're all a bunch of geeks at heart

oh and one more thing.....I think DGI is only measurable on dual core systems....but I could be wrong

MOST computers in the $1000 range nowadays have the essential stuff 98% of ISM's would ever need. The most important aspect in my opinion is to have at least 3 MEG of ram so you can actually run several programs at once. If you are a developer of Games for EA you might need a computer in the $3000- $8000 + range, but even with all this technology, you will only sell cars with continuous phone and email follow up.

Most Important Tools for ISM's:

Your Personality
Your Telephone
Good Grammar and typing skills
Good Follow up
Access to Email