3. Amy Huseth (CDK Global Inc., Vice President, Marketing & Sales Enablement)

New alarm bells ringing tonight on the coronavirus outbreak in this country. Doctors say the virus is spread through droplets when someone coughs or sneezes. I think the business community, it's in their interest that people actually stay home and stop the spread. For a business that can allow more employees to telecommute, we want you to do that.

In these times, what does it mean to sell with purpose? How can you bring intention to every sales conversation no matter what you're selling? What if success doesn't mean just one more closed sale, but one more life saved? Hi, friends.

I'm Andy Paul, host of the Sales Enablement Podcast, and this is Selling with Purpose, a special six-part series of inspiring conversations exploring what it means to sell with a mission greater than just hitting your numbers in the era of COVID-19 and beyond. Tune in to hear from world-class enterprise sales leaders and learn how their six companies will close $50 billion selling remotely. See how they've supported essential workers with the products and services they need to stay safe and thrive during this time of crisis.

A special thank you to our guests and their incredible companies Sodexo, Henry Schein, Gordon Food Services, NFP, Stanley Security, and CDK for allowing us to share their stories. All right, let's get into it. Amy, welcome to the show. Thank you so much.

I'm happy to be here. So tell us a little bit about what you do. You're VP of Marketing and Sales Enablement for... Yes, I am the VP of Marketing and Sales Enablement for CDK Global.

CDK is a technology company and we create and sell hardware and software to dealers, automotive, recreation, agriculture, heavy construction internationally to help them connect with and serve their customer base. Yeah, so basically anybody that I guess has a dealer network for things that move somewhat, right? Basically, everything from a moped to a Mack truck. Right.

So I imagine that at least domestically here in the U.S. A lot of those haven't been doing any business over the last three months. You know, it's been tough, but you'd be surprised.

Interestingly, the recreation has been doing well because people don't have a lot of options to get out. So they want a motorcycle or a boat. But the dealerships are open? Yeah.

So I would say the majority of dealerships, their service departments are open. The sales appointments, the majority are appointment only unless they're regionally on the east. And then they have been completely closed. But they and us are looking for ways for them to do business virtually.

Yeah. So you have an interesting combination of responsibilities, marketing and sales enablement. And generally, I'm seeing that combination more and more. So what was sort of the thinking about combining those two?

I am actually, so I've been with the company for 13 years and I've had a number of roles. And currently I am responsible for the majority of departments that do anything to support sales. So I have the marketing that's got product marketing, communications, creative. I have the events team for the events for the dealers and internal events.

I've got the training teams that do the new higher and ongoing training. I have our solution consultants and the sales enablement teams that do the demos for our products during the sales process. And then I have a couple of sales teams that sell layered hats and network solutions. So that is all under me.

And we basically like to say from beginning to end, we support the salespeople and our clients so that we train, we market, we demo, and we sell all the same way. Wow. Yeah, because looking at the range of things that you do, it really is soup to nuts for the dealers. I mean, phone systems, dealer management systems, credit even, right?

Sure. I like to tell people when you walk into a dealer, anything you see other than their equipment from desks and chairs, we've helped them provide. From the day you go on the internet to think about looking for a car, to see what their inventory is, to get your financing and your credit done, to having the car delivered. And then later on in the service bay, everything from booking your appointment online to figuring out what needs to be repaired and pulling up warranties.

We sell all that. So tell us a little bit about the Salesforce for CDK. How do you guys service your dealers? So, well, historically and now it has been a little different.

So we're all over the country and the average rep has anywhere from 60 to 100 dealers. In the field. These are field reps, right? Yes.

Yes, correct. Sorry. And we do both inside field reps and inside sales. So our field reps are all over the country.

They have anywhere from 60 to 100 dealers they work with. You know, our salespeople have been around a long time. We have an average tenure of 10 years, but some have been here 20 plus. So the relationships are really strong.

And then in addition to that, they have support on the inside, both a network team that helps them with things like routers and making sure they have the infrastructure set for the dealers as we sell products to them. and then an inside sales team that helps them with the smaller layered products that can be sold over the phone. Give us an example of what those are. Sure.

Those would be things like a credit check or things to help them with inventory. Smaller things that the demo can be done over the phone, not bigger purchases, generally under $5,000 a month in purchase price. What's the transition been like for your field team once the shutdown came around? You know, it was interesting.

When the pandemic started, we honestly did not know what to expect. As I said, historically, our customers base their business on face-to-face interaction, and the majority of our business with them is face-to-face. But our sales team actually found itself busier than ever A lot of it I think was due to the relationships we have with our dealers that have been long So we truly became their partners during this time helping them figure out how to continue to grow their business in this virtual world which was new to many of them And then we've also been focusing a lot on the products that had been there the whole time, but not really a focus.

All of the ones that can help the dealer do business virtually. Well, so, yeah, what would those be, for example? Yeah, sure. So everything from some of my network team who sells the VPNs and the routers, and they needed to beef those up for the infrastructure.

And we have our big product right now that we have a huge initiative with called Connected Store. And it's exactly what it sounds like. It connects the dealer with their customers virtually so that they can do everything from look for the car, check their credit, do a virtual check of the car. They can do everything but test drive the car and then have it delivered to their door without ever stepping afoot in the dealership.

So this is really, you're sort of, it sounds like, from this and correct me if I'm wrong, it sounds like you're facilitating your dealers to be able to compete against all the new services, the online purchase services then. Oh, 100%. CDK is unique because we do have all the integrations from soup to nuts, as you said. So we don't have to integrate with outside partners.

We have them all inside. And I personally bought a car that way. a few weeks ago. Test drive, did it all online, and they could deliver it to my house.

I went to go pick it up, but they said, we can just drop it off at your house. It was brilliant. But what was the experience like saying, okay, I'm making the commitment to buy this car without actually having sat it and driven it? So in that case, I did go up and test drive, but what they did is they said it's sitting in the lot, the keys are in the car, go take it.

I faxed them a copy of my license, and then I came back to the car. I didn't really see the member, but the rest of it was brilliant. Everybody does so much research on the internet now, they really don't need to haggle face-to-face. Nobody looks forward to that.

Actually, it's taken a big chunk of time and stress out of the car buying experience, in our opinion. How are you helping your dealers with that, with the remote sale? What are the specific things you guys emphasize that you have in your product set that help them with that? Yeah.

So actually we've done a number of things as a company to help them. A lot of it has been around the pricing and we've priced these products differently. So for example, we rolled out an initiative that gave away, you know, four of our big products for two months for them to try, which were integrated phone systems, the virtual connectivity to the inventory and the credit that can be done virtually and the pricing. Uh, those, we all said to the dealers, look, we'll give these to you for two months, try them out and see if that helps your business.

Um, and then we made the initiative to really unprecedented, gave away the connected store for free to our dealers until 2021. We basically said, you know, it's really important to us that they stay in business and do that. We need to do things like this. So we, we gave away this, this great, you know, product to them for two years to use.

So, harkening back to something you said earlier, is you talked about your sellers are trying to help your dealers not just stay in business, but also grow sales on a, let's say, on a normal basis. So, what do their interactions sort of look like when they're interacting with the dealers? I mean, I'm sure it's not just, hey, upsell and cross-sell all the time, but how do you work with them strategically to help them grow their business? So, the thing we have been doing is really we don't talk about products when we talk to our dealers.

We talk about their business holistically. So, you know, we have a conversation like you would with anybody else. You know, what's your real focus right now? What are you trying to improve?

Where do you think you could be doing more? What are you happy with what you're doing right now? And we try to figure out what's causing them pain. And then we really focus on that and how that would look if we could solve this problem for them now.

Right now, traffic's not coming into the dealership on foot. So how do we resolve that? Is that beefing up their internet site? Is that making their virtual connectivity better?

Is that helping them advertise to show that they are prepared for this pandemic that may continue and change the way they do business? So it is really a discussion. We don't talk about product. We talk about what their story is, how we can help them, and then what products may support that.

And we really do like to be a consultant to them because once again, no one wants to listen to you unless you've proven that you know and understand what's going on in their business. We spend a lot of time learning their business. And a lot of these are family businesses that have been passed down through generations. Yeah.

Which is great. I mean, we've dealt with grandparents to parents to now their kids who are taking over the business, which has caused a lot of interesting conversations as technology comes about. During the shutdown period, explain what the transition has been for your sellers now that have been so accustomed to that face-to-face. How quickly were you able to transition to virtual selling and what are you set up to do in that regard?

We did it very quickly. I think like everybody else, everybody had a week of frozen holy cow, what does this look like? But we really beefed everything up. So, you know, a lot of it honestly was with my group really trying to enable them.

So my training department started doing sessions on how to work with people virtually, how to talk over the phone, how to do discovery over the phone. And we had specific training sessions for the salespeople just on that. We then had mass training sessions on the products that we knew we needed to focus on, like the virtual products. And my marketing team started creating videos on those that they could be sent out 90 second videos to get them in front of the clients.

And we've been using Zoom and a lot of video. Our solution consultants have started doing national and regional demos before we were hitting 400 clients a month We now hitting 400 to 500 a week because we holding mass demonstrations of our products and thought leadership and modern retailing seminars to get people on those. So really we've hit the plan, honestly, even during a pandemic in April and in May, actually had a record month in May for a couple of our big virtual products.

And then likewise our implementation teams have instilled a virtual install model, which is brilliant. I mean, it's something that we had thought about, but this kind of forced our hand, and it will really pay off in the future as well. And the feedback has been from our clients who've had both sides of the coin that they like the virtual model just as well, if not better, and it took up less time and less resources. So, you know, I think we've really come out on top of this thing.

Well, I was going to ask you that question. So now as we start seeing some opening in various parts of the country, and obviously we'll see more clearly, hopefully, fingers crossed, is do you see your sellers sort of changing how their day-to-day routine is going to go, where they're actually going to be saying, oh, maybe I spend a little less time in the field because it might be more efficient, and if it's a better experience for some of the dealers, is I'll do some of this more virtually?

I really think it has, and I think that is great because I think they realize that you don't need to be in front of the client. Between the windshield time and the flight time you waste, while you and I talked earlier, we love to travel. It does take time. So they're realizing that that's not the case, that they can get their point across with the technology we have and the right speaking points.

And I think dealers are appreciating it. I know we've had higher attendance at all of our virtual webinars, And I think it's between their need to know what's going on in the market and know how to further their business, as well as the fact that they're not spending time doing some face-to-face interactions. It frees them up to learn and help their business out. So, meaning that they were maybe spending too much time with their salespeople before?

No, not our salespeople, but I think when you have people coming into the dealership and they're kind of, let's say, looking around at cars and spending time, they don't have as much time to get the other things done. Got it. That's a webinar or strategically looking at their business. And I think anyone who owns a business, you get that a lot.

Someone comes and says, let's talk about your strategy. And look, I'm just trying to get through today. So I think this has kind of given them a breather. and a lot of them have come out with, you know, I've had time to think and process and this is the strategy going into next year and beyond.

So let's work on that together. It said something interesting earlier about teaching people how to do virtual discovery, let's say. What's different that you're teaching them about what they need to keep in mind about doing that virtually as opposed to doing it face-to-face? So I think, you know, as is obvious, you're really missing the nonverbal cues.

And if you're somebody who deals with people a lot face-to-face, you heavily rely on those. And on a call, you don't have those. So we actually gave a whole session, a few of our top salespeople, talking about the importance of silence, the importance of open-ended questions, the importance of not asking yes and no questions to keep the conversation going, the importance of taking notes so you don't have to go back and ask them again. Little nuances in a conversation that you take for granted when you're looking somebody in the face.

So I think that's empowered our salespeople to feel more confident in that because prior to this, when we would say, why do you need to drive three hours to talk to them? Why don't you just call them over the phone? And they'd say, no, you need to get in front of them. I think they've developed confidence that they know that's not the case because they're still hitting their numbers.

It's an interesting point you brought up because I think a lot of people, when they get on video, they get self-conscious about things they would do if they were in person. Take notes, for instance, is one. I think people feel that they have to be so focused on the camera, focused on the person they're talking to and on video, that they're hesitant to look away and take notes the way they normally would. I think that's a really great reminder because some of the basic disciplines can fall by the wayside.

Well, and we've talked about really the advantages of being on the phone. I mean, right now, I've got a couple of notes up in front of me. They may or may not be applicable. But when you're on the phone, you can have cheat sheets.

You can have notes around, especially if it's regarding a product and somebody asks you a question. We've literally given them ways to hold off on a conversation while they're Googling somebody or reaching out to somebody on a chat to say, how many users can go on this product? You know, something when you're standing in front of you, you can't do. So we've actually shown them how this is more powerful and creates more of a support system with them while they're in front of the dealership because you have people backing you on chat and everything else to give you the information you may need, where otherwise you'd have to say, I need to check on that and get back to you.

So really for you, I mean, this could really be this, meaning the pandemic. I think it has been for other companies, too, is it actually could be quite transformational in the way that you service your customers. I always try to look at the bright side of things and good things that could have come out of this crazy time. And for us, I really see a lot of it from the fact that we have a great CEO who made a number of moves during this time to not only bring our company together more cohesively and feel proud to be part of the company.

He did things like he made his salary until the end of the year $1 and his bonus is $1 to ensure that our company stays strong and stays healthy and is there for our clients. He does things like I said, we've been given discounts on all the April products. I think we have made a good name for ourselves because our clients truly feel we are a partner with them and we're in this together. Culturally, we feel stronger internally.

We already a really tight company We do call ourselves family and that has been strengthened And then it forced our hand in some of our technological advances to speed those up and really look at the coming marketplace and how we can be there. And we've proven we can do it. And so I think people have a lot of confidence going into next year, and we're excited about it. Yeah, that's an interesting perspective, because most companies I talk to are still a little sort of wait-and-see type approach.

Well, you know, I think right now the auto dealers are starting to open back up. They are, it depends where they are in the region. We work internationally, really. So a lot of them have a pretty solid outlook, and we're going in and trying to be there for them every step of the way.

And we feel like if we succeeded during this unprecedented pandemic, then we can only go up from here. And I think it's really made us focused on what's really important, both with our client relationships and with the technology we're providing. Yeah, I mean, when you're talking about you've had these clients for so long, multi-generational customers, if you will. So, yeah, I was earlier this week on my podcast, I had a guest, Robbie Kelman Baxter, who has written this book called The Forever Transaction, and talks about that moment when your customers take off their customer hat and put on their member hat.

You know, they feel like they belong to something. It sounds like that's the case with you. Yeah, you know, we do, in a lot of our things, talk about the CDK family. And it's not just the people who work for us.

It's the people we work with. And I think that's the thing we stress. They really aren't our customers. We work with them.

And I would say we all have personal relationships with our clients that we've known forever. We know when their kids are being born, when they're getting married, their softball games. We spend a lot of time with them because with a lot of businesses, but particularly family-owned, it's not just a job for them. It's their life.

It's their livelihood. It's everything for their family. And we understand that. so we go in with that attitude that they're all part of our family as well.

So who's your competition? Because if I remember correctly reading this, in your earlier iterations, CDK has grown through acquisition? Because wasn't Reynolds and Reynolds part of how you guys got started? Well, no.

So Reynolds and Reynolds is one of our competitors. I thought you'd go for it. They're a competitor. My mistake.

Yes. So we actually were part of ADP. I'm sorry. I meant, yes, ADP.

That's totally fine. And we broke off about five years ago, and we were part of their dealer services, but we were a very small part. So about, I want to say, five years ago, we had the anniversary of this year, we broke off and became CDK Global. and that actually was part of a digital acquisition that does all our websites, part of an international acquisition.

Since then, we've acquired a number of different companies that can add to our portfolio. At the basis we're a DMS company, so Dealer Management System Foundation. We have a number of competitors out there. Reynolds and Reynolds is one of them.

We have Autosoft. We have Cox. We have a number of different companies we compete against within the market. The reason we're a little unique is we have then either developed or taken on companies that have the smaller products as well that integrate.

So we recently made a great acquisition called E-Lead, which is our CRM company, and do exactly what it sounds like. They help us, you know, help the dealers create leads. And we've now got that integrated into our system. So in the ancillary products we have, the layered, we have a lot of competitors out there, but they may only specialize in that one smaller product.

So we're unique because we're the umbrella with all the smaller products under it. Got it. So about a $2 billion a year company? Correct.

Correct. Yeah, no, I apologize for a mistake earlier. Early in my career, I sold computer systems to auto dealers. Oh.

I forget what the application name was. I was working for Burroughs, which was a big computer company at that time, now Unisys. But I competed against ADP and Reynolds and Reynolds. Sorry for that.

That's where the confusion came from. No problem. Yeah, we didn't last long in the business. We weren't dedicated to it.

And that was always the thing, right? There was such history that those companies had with auto dealers that we just didn't. Yeah, it is a niche and specialized market. And I will tell you, I really do feel like the auto dealers know that.

So if you try to walk in and have a conversation about technology, that's not what they're interested in. Have a conversation with them about their business. And then that's where you open the doors to a relationship. Yeah.

I did buy two cars, though, as a result of selling computers to auto dealers. My first two cars I owned in my professional career, from customers. Well, my family was auto dealers. My mom's side.

My grandfather and my uncle owned a Ford Lincoln Mercury dealer in a small town in Iowa. So, runs in the family. Yeah, unfortunately no longer in the family, but they had it for a long time. Well, Amy, I really appreciate you spending the time with us here today.

No, thank you so much. It was great talking to you. I appreciate the chance to come on and talk about what our company's doing because I'm really excited about it and really proud to be a part of it. Excellent.

Well, good. We'll look forward to doing this again. All right. Take care, Andy.

I appreciate it. Bye.