iPads Will Help Mercedes Benz Close The Sale To Buyers In The Showroom

Buyers checking out the latest Mercedes Benz models in showrooms will have an iPad-armed salesperson on hand to help them pick out a car.

Mercedes Benz Financial field tested 40 iPads, giving them to about 40 car salespeople so they could use the MB Advantage web based App while face to face with a potential car buyer on the showroom floor.

Information Week's Global CIO ran a report by Chris Murphy which says the pilot program was ruled a success. MF Financial is handing out an iPad 3G to each of some 355 Mercedes Benz dealerships so more can cash in on the benefits.

7 Tips For Using The iPad in Business, by Murphy, gives the details of how iPads were used in the pilot program, and additional features salespeople want—like printing from the iPad.

Murphy's report today is part of a continuing series on using the iPad for business. Here's what he says about his columns: “Tablet computers are going to impact businesses in two main realms. One is the consumer end, where businesses need to learn how would-be customers will use tablets in new, more mobile ways to reach Web content. The second is about how employees can use them to do their jobs better, and that’s mostly what this column is about.”

Planet iPad will be a regular reader of the column, and give the occasional “heads up” here for own on readers to link over to columns of interest.