New technology is changing the way dealerships manage their sales teams and interact with customers.

Guy Allman’s workshop at auto-retailing 05 will look at the impact they can have on sales department profitability, and at how to get the most out of your sales lead management and CRM systems – with particular reference to the sale of finance and insurance.

“Sales managers are bashing their heads against a brick wall trying to get salespeople to use paper-based sales lead management systems, which are often repetitive and require quite a degree of administrative skills,” says Allman, the managing director of training and consultancy firm BTC.

“But most salespeople don’t have administrator-type profiles. If dealerships can use technology to reduce the administrative burden and make life easier for the salesperson, that has got to help in terms of improving sales department efficiency.

“The most important piece of technology required to make the sales process work properly is the sales manager. When tuned and functioning effectively, it’s amazing what this machine can do.”