• Stop being a LURKER - join our dealer community and get involved. Sign up and start a conversation.

How are you using Tablets at the Dealership?

Jeff Kershner

Founder
Staff member
May 1, 2005
4,497
1,786
Awards
12
First Name
Jeff
I was checking out some of the "other" online publications and forums, and took notice to a few conversations around utilizing tablets at the dealership, specifically on the Showroom floor. I couldn't recall if I had ever uploaded and shared my presentation from last years Dealer ThinkTank regional events and last years Driving Sales Conference.

Looks as if I had not. So here it is - http://www.slideshare.net/kershner/mobile-workflow-and-the-showroom-process-of-the-future

If I were on the sales floor, my tablet would never leave my side, until I placed it in the hands of a potential customer. There are too many stats that support all the reasons to utilize a tablet on the showroom (and service) floor.

Are you personally using a Tablet at the dealership? If so - what apps are you using and what pages/services do you have bookmarked to easy access?
 
Last edited:
The dealers I work with and I have had this discussion a few different times in a few different contexts.
My takeaway on it, although we have not done anything yet, is the following:
  • Tablets are great for standing with the customer and navigating a large inventory
  • Tablets have to work flawlessly - customers don't want to see technology fail in front of them
  • Tablets are great for starting the sales process if you can seamlessly transfer that data to your CRM, DMS, etc
  • Back office can really benefit from tablets, but I really loved (surprisingly) the Reynolds product for this - http://www.reyrey.com/qr/docupad_na...nk&utm_campaign=docuPAD_None_None_RR_012715_P
I'm also keeping my eye on http://www.testdrivewithspark.com/

Personally, I think tablets are a mediocre solution and don't really add much to the process, but they certainly could if all the vendors got onboard. I think we're moving past the tablet stage and moving more into the interactive showroom process. I'm partnering with some touchscreen kiosk vendors to start bringing this concept into the dealership in a realistic and usable way because I think it's a stepping stone that we need to embrace in order to take the next few steps.
 
I just added on for our service drive, Surface Pro. Not cheap but it seems to be working out with it's dedicated access point. I prefer Apple but alas, our vendors don't see things the way I do. :bkheart:

Get a surface docking station and set it at the advisors desk. You can use the Surface Pro as the advisors tablet and PC. Just hook up your Monitor, keyboard and mouse to the docking station and as soon as the advisor connects to it, with in 2 -3 secs he now has a full screen monitor, full keyboard and mouse to work with and never looses his place on the screen with the program he has open. You can take it a step further and use the surface screen as a 2nd monitor when connected and now he has dual screens to work with. To put it in and out of the docking station is a snap.

Me personally, I haven't had that much experience with ipads this way but I own a surface pro as well and am extremely happy with it. We've discussed using tablets in our drives but haven't made a decision yet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Jeff Kershner
Get a surface docking station and set it at the advisors desk. You can use the Surface Pro as the advisors tablet and PC. Just hook up your Monitor, keyboard and mouse to the docking station and as soon as the advisor connects to it, with in 2 -3 secs he now has a full screen monitor, full keyboard and mouse to work with and never looses his place on the screen with the program he has open. You can take it a step further and use the surface screen as a 2nd monitor when connected and now he has dual screens to work with. To put it in and out of the docking station is a snap.

Me personally, I haven't had that much experience with ipads this way but I own a surface pro as well and am extremely happy with it. We've discussed using tablets in our drives but haven't made a decision yet.

Sounds like a solid set up. Easy, efficient and productive for everyone. Any photos?
 
@Jeff Kershner
This is the only I pic I have. This is my desk at home. I have Dual monitors setup and I'm using the surface screen as a third monitor (a buddy of mine wanted to see my setup for my surface) .
surface_setup.jpg

I don't think ppl realize that these are strong little machines. They run the full version of windows so basically any program you place on your windows desktop, you can run on this tablet. On mine, I'm running Photoshop, illustrator, Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate, Three major browsers (Chrome, safari and IE for usage and testing) and the list goes on. Theres no worry about any type of integration for our CRM because I open the full CRM product in the browser just as I would a the desktop. It doesn't matter if I'm walking around our showroom or if I'm walking around a mall. I can set my phone as a hotspot and as soon as I fire the surface up, it connects and I surfing away with a secure connection.

I don't know how reyrey is set up to run on wireless. But I can tell you this. If you can run that program on a desktop pc, you can run it on a surface pro. I haven't tested it but I can't imagine it not running it.

When I'm training our reps or mgrs, I use the Microsoft wireless display adaptor and surface connects seamlessly to it. Whats awesome about that adapter is that you can also connect other products to it as well. I've used it to display pics from events that I've attended taken with my cell phone (sorry apple users. apple won't let you connect your devices to the MS Display Adapter. You'll have to buy apples wireless display) I use samsung for my mobile device.

I also have the entire MS Office Suite of products on here as well.

Excell, Power Point, Outlook, Word, etc..

Google Drive Sync ( I haven't made the transition to One Drive yet)

I could go on and on about this device. I've been super impressed with it.

Ol ya... Looking at the pic above, I think those are Jelly Beans in the right hand corner :) LOL
 
(sorry apple users. apple won't let you connect your devices to the MS Display Adapter. You'll have to buy apples wireless display) I use samsung for my mobile device.

I think that's just the product Microsoft made to compete with Apple's product anyways.
AirPlay has finally taken off enough that I'm seeing it in boardrooms and classrooms all over the place.
 
Here's the setup with a Kensington case to protect it. All from Tiger Direct, Second pic with "kickstand" deployed. That's part of the Surface, not the case. I installed a dedicated 5 ghz access point so it would not have to fight as much with the 60+ APs in the nearby apartment complex.

IMG_1222.JPG

IMG_1223.JPG