No Thanks, I’ll Use a Spreadsheet

1. No Thanks, I’ll Use a Spreadsheet Jessica George Alberto Camacho Stephanie Williams Maria Moya Rekeisha Scott

2. To what extent do you agree with the opinions presented by the salesperson? To what extent are the concerns expressed here justified? To what extent might they be due to other factors? • I agree with Keep it simple. When dealing with a job with selling cars or lending out a loan its best to have a simple data system/ software to record your transactions.  I also agree with a system do not necessarily needs to be fancy to be organic. The company had built a system that does not work, and they had to hire three consultants to fix the problem. The system was complicated, because they had problems recording the consumer merchandise and the models of the used cars on the lot. The company believes since the system was more high tech, it was more difficult to handle, and to record rather to just use a simple system such as Spreadsheet.

3. What problems do you see will the way that the car salesperson stores address data? What will he have to do if he ever want to send a letter or an email to all of his customers? -The Main Problem is that the salesperson stores data in an Excel Spreadsheet. -In an Excel Spreadsheet: one can store a lot of information. But it is not useful since an Excel Spreadsheet is primarily used for facts and figures.-The salesperson will have to create and send a separate letter or email to each of their clients individually. This would be very tedious and time consuming.-If the salesperson used a database, he could easily create a letter and input the client’s information and input facts and figures together under one cover sheet.-Using a database can be faster and easier to use than a spreadsheet

4. From his comments, how many different themes are there in his data? What does this imply about his ability to keep his data in a spreadsheet? - From his comments, he says he uses an Excel spreadsheet with four different columns: name, phone number, car interests, and notes. I think this implies that he likes the old-fashioned way. Like his motto, “Keep it simple,” he feels that his method of keeping his clients organized is effective. Even though he can’t send form letters, to him, it is not a big deal because he uses a phone to make most of his sales.

5. Does the concern about not sharing data relate to whether or not he uses a database? • I don’t believe so, with a spreadsheet, the salesperson is more likely to share information in a simpler form. By having certain information in each separate column can actually express more information. Which in the long run helps not only the client but him as the employee of the company as well as the company itself.

6. Apparently management at the car dealership allows the salespeople to keep their contact data in whatever format that they want. If you were management how would you justify this policy? • Management should be more strict than relaxed. • If I was management, than I would find out for myself what I like, and also what works best and is most efficient, rather than let my employees do as they please. • I would promote an open door policy, open door policy is a concept used in foreign affairs. I will first observe my employees, than tell them if they don’t follow the rules of using one database to store contact information, the door is there. Simple!!

7. What disadvantages are there to this policy? • If not everyone is using the same network, than how will everyone work as a team. • If you keep contact data stored in your own system, how do we know your not skimming off the top from us. • Also if you let employees use their own system, rather than one that is already setup for them, you can easily lose control.

8. Questions for the class…. • If you were a manager what system do you believe would be more effective, the use of databases or spreadsheets?? • What are a few examples of companies where a database would be more helpful than spreadsheets??

9. Thank you.