William H. Kelly is a partner at Automotive Development Group (ADG), an Eden Prairie, Minn.-based agency with clients in seven states. His business partner, Joel Kansanback, founded the agency in 2002, and Kelly joined two years later. He said that a key part of his job is to always be on the lookout for new ways to bring F&I products to market, and he thinks he found one last February at the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention.
That’s where he met Brian Reed, founder, president and CEO of Intersection Technologies Inc. in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., home of the F&I Express eContracting platform. Reed told Kelly that he was developing a new iPad application that would give agents easy access to product-specific forms, training materials and more, all backed by a remote content management system (CMS).
Less than a year later, thanks to the efforts of Reed, his team of software developers and input from Kelly and ADG, ExpressTablet is hitting the market.
“This is something that’s going to be a difference-maker for our agents,” Kelly said. “It’s a very powerful tool.”
Books and Binders
Reed said ExpressTablet was designed to replace the product books and binders filled with forms and printed emails that agents have traditionally armed themselves with. The iPad-based system offers a more professional presentation, Reed noted, and allows agents to instantly share a form with their dealers and order multiple copies.
But the key point, according to Reed, is that all parties can be sure each form will be the most current document available. “The CMS controls all the data,” he noted. “The provider updates the form, and ExpressTablet sends it out. We can make the update sync to all active users at a particular time or when each agent syncs up as part of their startup routine.”
By ensuring the most current agreement goes out with every deal, Reed believes ExpressTablet will serve as a compliance tool as well. But a look at the home screen reveals several more features: Among others, the “Clients” and “Prospects” buttons offer contact lists with a mapping feature, audio notes and typed reminders — plus the ability to generate dealer-specific product sales reports — and “Tools” includes customized dealer surveys, a function Reed believes will replace email surveys for most users.
Reed said the whole interface, from the graphics to the buttons themselves, is customizable. “We have what we call a ‘Rapid App Development,’ or ‘RAD,’ session with each new agency,” he said. “We ask, ‘Do you want to change the buttons? Who are your product providers? Is training a product?’ Then we train them on the CMS, including how to upload documents. And, of course, support is ongoing.”
The Rollout
ExpressTablet’s official debut was at September’s Industry Summit in Las Vegas, where attendees of the F&I Conference, Subprime Conference, CRM Conference and VSCAC gathered around the Intersection Technologies booth to see the new app in action. Reed and his team will also be out in force for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) convention in Orlando in February, and then back to Vegas in March for Agent Summit 2013.
“Our initial focus has been on agencies,” Reed said. “That gave us the opportunity to talk with the providers they’re connected to, and from there, the providers’ sales forces.”
Reed said the feedback from agents and providers has been very positive, and providers have pitched some “interesting ideas” for more functions. Ultimately, he noted, the shared objective of selling more products and putting product information, tools and support in one place will drive adoption on both fronts.
“It can be difficult to be sure all our employees have the most current form in hand,” noted ADG’s Kelly. “Having the wrong form can set back production. This will be an all-in-one deal that will keep us organized and help us with our presentations.”
Better yet, Reed added, even lo-tech users have found ExpressTablet easy to navigate. “Ease of use is extremely important,” he said. “It’s a lot of data in one place, but if you can use an iPad, you can get to that information.”
