Brockman launches road show

When Bob Brockman bought Reynolds and Reynolds Co. a year ago, the intensely private dealership software developer remained in the shadows. But his coming-out party is in full swing, and he's got some things to say:

• Ignore those persistent rumors about altering dealer contracts and sticking customers with higher bills.

• He's not phasing out the lower-priced Reynolds ERA system in favor of the company's high-end POWER dealership management system that Brockman imported from his premerger company, Universal Computer Systems Inc.

• He's not backing down on Reynolds' controversial stance on dealership data security, which requires independent data providers to pay a fee to Reynolds in return for a secure data link.

• He's not the ogre of the industry that he's made out to be.

After the $2.8 billion acquisition of Reynolds by UCS, Brockman stayed out of the spotlight and let the popular Fin O'Neill, formerly Reynolds' CEO, be the point man for the acquisition.

But O'Neill left the company last month, and Brockman is becoming more visible with a road show for dealers that will hit 20 cities by year end.

"Frankly, I'm just letting (dealers) see me and talk to me," Brockman tells Automotive News. "My competitors have spread a lot of words about what kind of person I am. I don't think I'm that way, and after I go talk to these dealers, they don't think that I'm that way either."

Addressing a rumor that has refused to die, Brockman is telling dealers that he will not toss out existing Reynolds contracts. Nor will he phase out the lower-priced Reynolds ERA system in favor of the high-end POWER dealership management system.

Brockman blames competitors for spreading misinformation.

"In fact, there has been no change to the ERA contract whatsoever — not a period or a hyphen," Brockman says. "There are no present plans to change it. It's a very fair and balanced contract and it is the most customer-friendly contract that's out there."

Brockman also is telling dealers that they will see software improvements. He has consolidated Reynolds and UCS software development at the company's headquarters near Dayton, Ohio.

"As we start to get into next year, you're going to start to see more and more things coming out of the pipe," Brockman promises. Software will be "dramatically improved." He has cloistered his developers in a private area so that they are not interrupted.

Some dealers have been concerned about doing business with Brockman, who has a reputation in the dealer community as a tough, opinionated, hard-nosed businessman who prefers litigation over negotiation.

Brockman wants to change their minds in what he calls "Leadership to Leadership" summits that he started in September. He says he could have squelched some of the rumors had he done this sooner.

"In retrospect, I kind of wish I'd done that earlier," Brockman says. "I'm a little disappointed that the rumor mill hadn't slowed down as fast as I thought that it would."

Brockman's Sept. 28 summit in Denver persuaded Dick Johnson, dealer principal at Johnson Auto Plaza in Brighton, Colo., to renew with Reynolds for five more years.

"Quite frankly, my contract was up, and after that meeting I went back and signed a contract with Reynolds and Reynolds," Johnson says. "He convinced me that he wasn't going to play hardball with me or my money. I felt that there was value in what I was going to buy."

Johnson Auto Plaza has a Chevrolet-Pontiac-Buick dealership and a Chrysler-Dodge-Jeep dealership.

A year ago Brockman wasn't even approachable, Johnson notes. This road show is necessary to get dealers' confidence back with the product, he says. "He was right up front with everything, even some of the stuff dealers didn't want to hear," Johnson says.

Brockman seems comfortable and affable in his new, more public role. Internally, he meets regularly with small groups of employees, held an employee family picnic in September and even booked the Beach Boys for this year's employee Christmas party.

Brockman has few regrets as he reflects on the past year and progress he has made in merging the two companies.

In recent months, rumors have circulated among dealers that ADP is grabbing big chunks of market share from Reynolds as dealerships switch vendors.

ADP will not say how many Reynolds customers it has signed up. But one company executive claims the merger has helped ADP.

"The merger compelled a number of dealerships to make a thorough side-by-side comparison of dealer management systems," says Kevin Henahan, senior vice president of marketing for ADP Dealer Services, in a written statement. "A significant number of these dealerships realized that ADP offered a number of advantages."

ADP Dealer Services, a division of ADP Inc., generated more than $1.2 billion in revenues during the 2007 fiscal year ended June 30, up 14 percent for the year.

"I would challenge the ADP folks to come up with a list of the ones that came and went to confirm that," Brockman says. "Frankly, based upon the stats that I see, that just isn't true."

With a customer base of 11,000 dealerships, Reynolds' losses are "way less than 1 percent," he says.

While Brockman is willing to take on a more active role directly with dealers, he's not backing off controversial decisions.

Any third-party company that wants to access dealership data must first pay for a secure, certified connection between the third party and the dealership's Reynolds system. Reynolds now has certified more than 100 companies in its Reynolds Certified Interface program.

"We continue to approve more companies for certified interface, and we continue to move forward making incremental security changes," Brockman says. "A great deal of all this was generated by our competitors, loving to stir up some kind of issue."

Nor is he afraid of new competitors promising dealers a better system at a more attractive price. Reynolds has employees with years of experience in dealership systems that Microsoft Corp. and other newcomers simply can't reproduce, he says.

Says Brockman: "I don't think that we will see Microsoft or Oracle or SAP be a factor in the marketplace any time soon."