Brockman meets face-to-face with dealers, workers

November 05, 2007 12:00 AM

Ralph Kisiel

Bob Brockman's acquisition of Reynolds and Reynolds Co. sent shock waves through the dealership community one year ago.

Today, as Brockman continues to merge Reynolds and Universal Computer Systems Inc., the market for dealership software systems is in flux. Dealers are more willing than ever to consider switching systems. The market soon will be flooded with new entries from giants Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. and startups such as DealerStar.

Brockman discussed the past year and what's ahead for his ERA- and POWER-brand dealership management systems with Staff Reporter Ralph Kisiel.

Have you changed the focus of your marketing efforts to larger accounts?

There has been no change in marketing focus at all as far as the ERA product is concerned. The POWER product, of course, is more focused toward larger customers and always has been.

What will you generate in revenues for 2007?

That's one of those things I'd prefer not to comment on. That's one of the beauties about being a private company; you just don't have to publish that kind of information. The only thing I'd be willing to say is that I'm pleased and satisfied.

How has the Reynolds staffing level changed in the past year?

Amazingly, it's virtually unchanged. The dust has pretty much settled.

How do you talk to your employees?

I've spent a lot of time internally speaking to small employee groups, having breakfast with them, having lunch with them, groups of 20 or so. I've also conducted a number of internal management education courses, which are basically my philosophy of operation and what my philosophy of leadership is. And I think that's gone a long way also to help everybody understand what the organization's about, where we're going and how business is going to be conducted. It's uncertainty that troubles people. Once people understand, then the uncertainty goes away and life gets back to normal.

How do you keep in regular contact with the dealerships?

We have a customer advisory board coming in. I've met and got to know a number of those people. This is a very, very useful process here at Reynolds that we didn't have in UCS. Reynolds has put a lot of money and a lot of effort into customer advisory boards, and it really seems to work well here, and I'm very pleased with that.

How often do you meet?

They come in spring and fall. We have a customer advisory board for regular dealerships and another comprising what we call enterprise customers, the big public chains. They definitely have different priorities.