It’s an understatement to say this year has been unpredictable. In the last few months, showroom traffic has recovered due to pent-up demand and stimulus checks, but there’s no guarantee these levels will stay consistent. Dealers are reporting higher volumes of internet and phone leads due to changes in customers’ daily lives, e.g. people working from home and resistance to going out unnecessarily. How is your dealership keeping up with these shifts in traffic?

During the shutdown, many dealers discovered they could be more profitable with less staff. But if you’re relying solely on your sales team to handle inbound leads, you’re probably missing out on sales opportunities. Same goes if your current team is trying to convert all inbound leads into showroom appointments.

The new reality is, we need to stop thinking of inbound phone and internet inquiries as “leads,” and think of them as “ups” who are already in the buying process. Many of these callers don’t want to come into your store until they’re ready to sign paperwork or pick up their vehicle. At the very least, most want confirmation of availability, price and trade-in valuations.

Handling remote ups requires more than just technology; it requires dedication and finesse. Dealers who can navigate this new normal will be in the best position to make the most of every sales opportunity.

Follow these steps to ensure that your dealership can handle every single up.

Identify Missed Opportunities

Many dealers have no idea how many inbound phone ups they’re really missing. Especially now that dealers may be operating with a leaner staff, calls can go unanswered, or voicemails unreturned. No salesperson wants to admit to their boss that they missed a call that could have led to a sale. Every single phone call should be connected with a live agent, or responded to as fast as possible. Same with internet leads. Speed matters.

This is why it’s so important to use an integrated call monitoring/call reporting system to run reports. This way, you can identify exactly how many opportunities you’re missing and put processes in place to capture them.

Get Help Responding to Leads

It’s time to rethink whether salespeople are the best people to handle inbound phone and internet ups. You hire salespeople because they have great personalities and work well face-to-face. But this personality type does not always perform best while on the phone, or sitting at the computer writing detailed email responses.

You need to figure out how to handle ups who need technical help with tools on your website or need help with vehicle selection. One suggestion is to create a concierge position, someone with great customer service and phone skills who can bring remote ups down funnel to the point where they can be handed over to a single sales or F&I manager to close the deal.

Shorten the Car-Buying Process

Many of today’s car buyers want information about pricing, trade-in valuations, financing and payment options before they visit the dealership. If this part of the process can be handled over the phone and via email, then the in-store purchase process can be shortened to an hour or less. If you can set up a remote signing process so the customer can sign paperwork from home, even better.

Even test drives can be done remotely. I’ve talked to several dealers who are offering virtual test drives—this can be done with pre-recorded video, or you can send your salespeople on a live virtual test drive with a hands-free phone and camera mounted behind their shoulder, so that customers can see what the driver sees and ask questions during the drive.

The more of the car-buying process you can do remotely, the less of it your customers will have to do in the dealership—which also means that your sales and F&I managers can handle more in-person appointments per day. Imagine if they could see one customer every hour! It’s possible with the right process, tools and technology.

Training is Essential

Whatever process you implement to handle remote ups, training is essential. Staff must know how to do virtual product presentations, be experts with your website tools and technology, and should know how to conduct live video calls for consultations and vehicle walk-arounds. Most of all, they need to be more knowledgeable about your product line then today’s savvy car buyers, who spend hours researching online before placing a call.

No matter what the future holds, dealers are resilient and adaptable. You’ve changed before, and you can do it again. It may help to step back from the minutiae of every-day operations and observe how auto industry disruptors are doing things, as well as how processes have changed in other retail industries. Just remember, the ability to navigate through uncharted waters often leads to riches.

You may be familiar with the saying, “Never let your emotions overpower your intelligence.”  This advice is smart and logical, but how many people follow it?

When it comes to car buying, not very many. Emotions often take center stage. 

Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing inherently bad about putting emotions first. Consider a couple buying a new car because they are expecting a baby. Or parents buying a car for their teenager who’s going off to college. These are big, emotional decisions.

Unfortunately, many salespeople focus on selling vehicle features instead of meeting the emotional needs of customers. The typical qualification process is often dismal, with questions like “How are you today?” and “Are you looking for a new car today?”

It’s natural for salespeople to slip into the path of least resistance. However, tapping into customer emotions can help you sell more cars. Here’s how to get into an emotions-first mindset:

Operate as a trusted advisor. A study by Urban Science in conjunction with Harris Poll found that 81% of shoppers trust the information they receive from a franchised dealership, and 72% are influenced to work with a dealer based on staff experience. The salesperson is becoming a trusted advisor. That’s what our entire industry has hoped for. When you approach customers, be mindful that they are seeking expertise and vehicle knowledge.

Know that most buyers are undecided at the beginning of the shopping process. According to Autotrader, 6 out of 10 customers are open to multiple vehicle options when they first begin the shopping process. Uncover the emotions driving a purchase and you have a lot of opportunities to steer them towards the right vehicle on your lot for their needs.

Answer the customer’s questions first. We all know that today’s shoppers go online to do initial research before they pick up the phone or show up on your lot. A little bit of research often leads to a lot of questions. Answer every question and take notes in your CRM before you ask for the appointment or suggest a specific vehicle. This shows you’re there to meet their needs, not simply to sell another vehicle.

Focus on vehicle benefits, not features. Once you’ve answered every question and know the driving motivation behind a purchase, don’t fall back on selling vehicle features. Customers want to know how a vehicle will benefit them. Will it keep a baby safe? Will it help a teenager spend less money on gas? You get the idea.

Talk about how a car feels. The way a car feels to drive is important. Customers have to enjoy driving a car as much as they enjoy looking at it. Talk about how a reverse camera will instill a feeling of confidence. Or how plush seats and a smooth ride spark joy and happiness during a long commute.

Now that you’re focused on uncovering emotional needs, you can fine-tune your needs assessment process. A solid process is key to uncovering what is truly driving a customer’s purchase. Here is a sample of questions to ask:

 - Are you replacing a current vehicle or buying a second vehicle?

 - Are you buying a vehicle for someone else?

- What’s important to you in this new vehicle? What specific needs do you have?

 - What have you looked at so far? What did you like/dislike about that vehicle?

 - What’s your buying time-frame?

 - How much are you looking to spend?

Put on your investigator hat and follow up on every answer. Buying a car for a teenager going away to college? Okay, great. How often will your child be driving home? Will they have covered parking? Will they be paying for their own gas? Make sure to take notes and record everything in your CRM as the building blocks of a long-term relationship.

Keep in mind that most people don’t mind talking about their needs. In fact, it will probably be refreshing and welcomed. This is how you get customers to paint a picture of what they want. This makes it much easier to sell them the vehicle they need.

For many buyers, a vehicle is an emotional purchase. Tap into those emotions with a solid needs assessment process that uncovers the customers’ why, and you’ll sell more vehicles.

Surely, you’ve heard the saying, “Everything old is new again.” But did you know this also applies to your leads?

Old leads can become new sales when you use the data in your CRM to re-start sales conversations with customers who are still in the market, or in the market again. This strategy is especially helpful if you’re not getting the volume of high-quality new leads that you’d like from your website and marketing efforts.

Equity mining is the most well-known source for finding new opportunities from sales and service customers. However, there’s more than one way to mine your CRM.

You know the average closing rate for internet leads is 15 percent. That rate jumps to 25-30 percent for both showroom leads and phone ups. That means anywhere from 70 to 85 percent of all the leads in your CRM are unsold. That’s a huge pool of potential customers – if you take the time to go back and revisit them.

Your CRM software should make it easy for you to create targeted marketing and sales lists based on customer profiles. The following are examples of lists you can create that are not as “obvious” as current sales and service customers in a position of equity. The payoff is more sales, without additional lead acquisition costs.

Unable to obtain financing. Our economy is rebounding from the massive slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The unemployment rate fell to 8.4 percent in August. Now is a good time to revisit leads who previously were unable to secure financing. Perhaps they’ve recently been hired or received a raise. Or they’ve married and a partner that can be a co-signer. We’re also seeing historically low-interest rates and aggressive manufacturer incentives. Any of these factors could help turn a previously denied customer into a closed sale.

Be-Back appointments. Be-back appointments close at a much higher rate than first appointments. The problem is that many salespeople don’t like this follow-up process and give up after a few attempts. A BDC armed with a be-back list can handle the heavy lifting that salespeople don’t have the time, inclination or skill to do. If your budget doesn’t stretch to a BDC, or you’re trying to do more with fewer employees, double down on a stringent follow-up process that includes seven phone calls and five emails in a 30-day period. Pull customer touch reports from your CRM every day to ensure sales associates are following best practices.

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• Unsold leads. Don’t write-off unsold leads. Just because they bought from a competitor, or stopped looking, doesn’t mean they’re not open to communicating again. Use your CRM checkbox functionality to easily create a list of customers who submitted a lead, then dropped out of communication. Reach out to ask if they purchased somewhere else. If they did, offer a coupon or special to win their service business. If they did not purchase a new vehicle, re-engage them in a sales conversation. Again, a BDC can handle the heavy lifting of these long-term follow-up campaigns.
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• Friends and family. The friends and family of sold customers are a fertile field for new sales. Create a list of all customers who purchased a vehicle in the last two years with the purpose of asking them if a friend or family member is thinking about purchasing a vehicle. Write a script for salespeople and/or BDC employees to follow with a conversation path for both affirmative and negative replies. Most CRM platforms have the ability to track relationships. Take advantage of that capability to link customers so that your follow up is more personal and relevant.
• Pre-owned vehicle customers. People who purchase a pre-owned vehicle are likely to go the pre-owned route for their next vehicle, too. Pull a list of customers who purchased pre-owned within the past three to five years. Create a cross-channel marketing campaign featuring the most desirable pre-owned vehicles on your lot and send it to that list. Follow-up with a phone call and then work with a BDC to continue long-term follow-up.

Everything old is new again if you take the time to revisit the lead data already in your CRM. Pull targeted sales and marketing lists, create a follow-up process for each type of lead, and be creative about segmenting your customer profiles. The payoff can be new sales without additional lead acquisition costs.  

Truth be told: we’re all addicted to our smartphones. Nearly 80 percent of the U.S. population owns one, and adults spend an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes every day staring at that small screen. And it’s not just for millennials - even my 70-something parents are constantly on their phones, texting and going online.

This constant connection and easy access to information lead customers to expect nothing less from you during the buying process. They want instant vehicle and inventory details, transparency in pricing and faster in-store experience.

Simply put, mobile applications help you deliver what your customers want. You can use your mobile app to help your staff build trust and foster transparency while saving the customer’s time.

Improve your interactions with customers and sell more by tailoring your communication, research and in-store tools to a mobile-first world with these five tips.

• Focus on concise, real-time communications. The average person looks at his or her smartphone 150 times a day. That gives you a lot of opportunities to get in front of customers with marketing messages – whether it’s a phone call, email or text message. But messages must be tailored to the mobile experience. Make them short and to the point. Emails should be two paragraphs or less. Texts should be only a line or two. Voicemail messages should be under one minute. Then, be prepared to immediately respond when a customer reaches out because fast responses win business. A Harvard Business Review study found that if you respond to a lead within one hour, you are 7X more likely to have a meaningful conversation and qualify that lead.
  
  And don’t fall into a trap thinking that a missed call notification is as good as a voicemail. So many salespeople now just make the call, don’t leave a voicemail and expect the customer to call back. Take it from me: if the dealer doesn’t bother to leave a voicemail, I don’t bother calling back.

Send only personal, relevant messages. People don’t usually mind being contacted, but you better not bother them with messages that don’t apply to their current situation or needs. Mobile phones make it easy to block incoming spam, so make sure your marketing communications and personal messages aren’t regarded as such. Use your CRM to create targeted marketing lists based on where customers are in the buying cycle. Don’t get lazy and send unsolicited offers to a large group of people who never showed interest in the first place. That only increases your opt-out rate. Ask customers their preferred method of contact and communicate effectively with messages that fit their needs and where they are in the buying or service cycle.

Include a visual component. People, in general, respond very well to visuals. The more you can incorporate vehicle images, inventory videos or even videos of salespeople answering the customers’ questions, the higher your response rates will be. Let’s face it: it’s easy to scroll through text, but when you see a stunning image of a vehicle, you might be compelled to stop scrolling. If you see a video play button, you might be curious as to what the video contains.

Make research and buying tools mobile-friendly. We are certainly seeing dealers and consumers embracing more tablet and smartphone-based tools throughout the sales process. Many consumers want to shop and begin the buying process at their leisure, away from the dealership. They will seek out stores able to provide them with this experience. The best way to determine if your process is mobile-friendly? Try it yourself on your mobile phone. Also, make sure your sales team has access to your CRM using mobile devices. This allows them to collect and update customer data and conversations on the go, so nothing gets missed. 

One note of caution: do not allow staff to use their own devices. A private phone is not tied to your CRM. You can’t capture conversations, monitor for productivity, or review exchanges for training purposes. Purchase business-only devices for your employees. The price tag is small compared to the cost of losing customer data and valuable conversations.

Smooth customer experience with in-store mobile apps. Customers want a faster and more personal in-store experience. Apps like a mobile driver’s license scanner with an ID authentication tool before the test drive, a VIN scanner during appraisals and a mobile CRM and desking platform, speed up the buying process while ensuring the sales associate never has to leave the customer’s side. The whole process is transparent, faster and much more personal because the customer is included every step. On the service side, advisors should use a mobile or touch-less check-in process, so the customer is involved in the walk-through.

Smartphones are increasingly becoming the way we interact with the world. Your dealership has to meet the demands of the market with a solid mobile component. The five tips above will help you continue to infuse mobility into your communication, research and in-store tools so you can reap the benefits of greater customer satisfaction, retention and sales.

We all know that a sale is just the beginning of a customer relationship. But how do you manage that relationship so customers not only come back for service but also repeat sales?

Right now, dealers are focused on the here and now. I get it. Everyone is scrambling for used vehicles to meet the surging consumer demand as OEMs rebound from the slowdown in manufacturing. Used car inventory is low and the value of a trade has never been higher. Everyone is worried about coming out on top of the current economic crisis.

Retention has understandably been on the back burner for many dealers. But as we look forward, whatever the timeframe, we will return to a sense of normalcy and customer retention is a key part of ensuring your dealership’s success for years to come.

The good news is that dealerships are doing a better job of converting sales customers into service customers. According to the J.D. Power 2020 Customer Service Index Study, dealers capture 88% of customers’ annual service visits in the first three years of ownership vs. non-dealers. This is up from 79% in 2015. However, defection to the aftermarket occurs rapidly once warranties expire.

There are some simple, key practices you can put in place to inspire customer loyalty and keep retention rates high. The following list will help you get the customer back into the dealership for that first service, second service and all the way to their next new vehicle.

• When you deliver the vehicle, use your service lane software to set the first service appointment for 3 months in the future. Emphasize to the customer how important this service is in making sure the vehicle is performing at its best. Schedule a reminder call for your service advisor or BDC in your CRM. You wouldn’t believe how many dealerships forget to remind customers of these crucial appointments. Schedule that reminder and get it done. Customers lives get busy. If you want that first appointment, you have to earn it.

• Process Improvement: The service advisor and the sales representative who sold the car should greet the customer when they come into your shop. This personal attention shows the customer that their business is valued and appreciated. If a customer wants touchless drop-off, have the sales rep give a welcome call instead.

• Prove that you want the customer’s business by offering options for their convenience. This may include vehicle pick-up and drop-off, and/or offering a loaner vehicle. Make life as easy as possible for your customer. They will remember and appreciate it.

• Use technology to the customer’s advantage. Implement online scheduling, enable a mobile platform so service advisors can text customers and get fast RO approvals and allow customers to receive invoices and pay via text. Again, it’s about making the process as easy as possible so your customers want to come back.

• Change your language when setting the next service appointment. Don’t ask for the next appointment. Let the customer know that based on mileage, a certain date in the future is the best option to keep their vehicle running at peak performance. Then ask what time on that day works for them. The customer will be more likely to schedule because you’re counseling them on what is best, not asking for the appointment. Change your words, change your results.

• Answer your phones. Customers get frustrated when they want to schedule an appointment or have a question, but they can’t get anyone on the line. Dedicate one person during your busiest times to pick up the phone. This person’s sole responsibility is to make sure every call gets a live voice on the other end. Can’t make this happen with current staffing? Consider a third-party BDC service. You’ll close more service business and keep customers happy when every call is picked up, handled, and routed properly.

• Stay top of mind. Targeted, cross-channel marketing is critical to stay on a customer’s radar. Use your CRM to create targeted customer lists based on mileage, vehicle make, etc. Then create messages to be sent automatically on a pre-set schedule. Don’t inundate customers with messages and don’t make everything about a sale. Seasonal travel tips, holiday greetings and birthday cards go a long way toward cultivating genuine relationships. 

• Create a clear process for equity mining. The ultimate goal of a vehicle sale is to turn that customer into a service customer and then into a repeat buyer. The service drive is a great place to equity mine for the used vehicles you need and move customers into their next new vehicle. But you have to have a process that makes sense. Don’t approach a customer who bought within the last 12 months and encourage a trade-in! Do dedicate an equity mining expert to review all service appointments for the coming day and identify those customers with equity in their vehicles that you can move quickly for higher profit. Have the expert create a written trade-in quote for every eligible vehicle and email, text or hand it to the customer in the service drive. Then have that expert or your BDC follow-up. As I’ve said in previous blogs, a clear equity mining process combined with a strong BDC delivers an ROI of 10 to 1. For every $1,000 you spend, you’ll get $10,000 back.

Retention may have slid to your back burner right now, but it still deserves your attention. Things will get back to a sense of normalcy, and retaining customers is still your best bet for long-term success in your market.

Many dealers have seen their online shopping tools be used nearly twice as much over the past six months. With inbound calls also continuing to rise, it seems consumer behavior modification is a natural response to the current climate.

So, what’s interesting about this? Phone and online closing rates are not corresponding to lead volume and the vast majority of customers still want to come into the dealership to finish the buying process.

Customers want an alternative shopping experience married to a traditional buying route. In today’s rapidly-changing retail environment, how do you deliver what customers want and still close leads? Use the following strategies to combine the old with the new for a blended sales process.  

Offer and communicate shopping alternatives.

Several dealers are doing a great job offering up alternative ways to shop. We’re talking about digital retailing tools, of course, but also remote test drives, contactless vehicle delivery and touchless trade-ins.

While we have not seen a big uptick in customers proceeding from start to finish using digital retailing tools, many complete at least a few steps before picking up the phone or submitting a lead form. Other touchless shopping alternatives may likewise not see large adoption, but some customers will want them, so they should be offered.  

The old adage remains true: Communication is key. Customers won’t know how you’ve augmented in-store shopping with digital and touchless alternatives if you don’t talk about it. Make use of cross-channel marketing, keep your website updated and use your CRM to create targeted lists of existing and potential customers. All of these tactics will help get the word out about what you’re doing to help your customers browse and buy safely.

Keep traditional shopping and selling methods high-class.

At the end of the day, the majority of customers still want to touch and feel that new vehicle before they go through with a purchase. It’s important to offer and communicate alternatives to a traditional in-person test-drives, but it’s more important than ever before to make sure the customer gets a high-class sales experience if they take the traditional shopping route. Customers expect a personal, knowledgeable encounter with your staff that above all puts health and safety first.

A trend on the floor that continues to grow is assigning a single point of contact to a buyer. Both because customers prefer it, and because it can be a safer experience for customers to come into contact with fewer people.

Dealers forced to downsize employees are increasingly turning to this new sales model for efficiency. If your team members aren’t taking on the work of two or more employees in the dealership right now, they probably don’t have a job. Creating a customer experience with a single point of contact can be an effective way to deliver a high-class customer experience with a smaller staff.  

Get your systems to talk to each other.

Customers are doing their own vehicle research and gathering their own knowledge. By the time they call or contact your dealership online, they are at the stage of the process where they’re looking for validity. If customers see something online and then get different information from your sales representative, it delivers an inconsistent experience that leaves a bad taste in the customer’s mouth. A better approach is to develop an omni-channel retail strategy that creates a fully integrated user experience - from mobile shopping to the brick and mortar store, and everything in between.

Systems that integrate, talk to each other and share data are even more critical now to provide the consultative sales approach that customers demand. The process has to be seamless or you may as well not have it at all. Make sure your phone system and digital retailing tools tie into your CRM so information is readily available during customer interactions.  Sales reps should have instant access to inventory and pricing. Keep inventory up-to-date on your website and in other tools. The trick is that all your systems have to communicate so you can deliver correct information to customers at a fast pace to keep transaction moving.

A lot of customers are eager to take advantage of aggressive manufacturer incentives and historically low interest rates. But shopping and buying needs to be on-demand, seamless, and safe. Offer shopping alternatives, make sure your traditional in-store experience is high-class, integrate your systems so customer information is standardized across all platforms, and communicate everything that you offer. That’s how you close leads in today’s retail environment.

Stay tuned for part two of this blog where we’ll discuss: So, you closed a sale. Now what?

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If your CRM helped you nurture customer relationships, could you transform more leads into loyal customers?

The short answer is “yes,” and here’s why:

 - Today, a great customer experience drives loyalty, not product and/or price.

 - Consumers expect personalized, relevant information to help them make the best purchasing  decisions. 

- Self-educated consumers want a consultative experience, not a hard sell.

Lead volume is up dramatically as people continue to shift from traditional drive by to more touchless research and shopping. What customers expect from a shopping experience has changed. Your dealership needs to change too.

The more you know about a customer, the better you can tailor and personalize your lead follow-up. You become a trusted expert, not just another dealer out for a quick sale. Customers will appreciate and reward your efforts. 

So, how do you get to know your customers better and nurture long-lasting relationships?

A recommended first step is to use a CRM that includes shopping intelligence tools. These tools allow you to track, record and analyze your customers’ online shopping behavior, tying it back to the customer record in your CRM. You can know where they are shopping, what vehicles they’re researching and what features matter most to them.

The CRM aggregates all of this data so your salespeople can have more relevant, consultative conversations with potential customers - and you get a true view of every customer. This includes their online activity, how the customer prefers to be contacted, vehicles of interest, pricing, etc. This level of insight contributes to more thorough, personal follow-up for a better customer experience that leads to long-term relationships.

Then, email alerts notify you when a customer is shopping on your website. They can also flag when they’re shopping with a competitor, or on a third-party site. This empowers salespeople to reach out at exactly the right time, with exactly the right information for that customer.

This technology is also a powerful addition to your marketing efforts. The perfect time to send a personalized email message or offer is right after a customer is looking at a particular vehicle make and model. Getting a pop-up notification in the CRM when the customer is actively shopping makes this type of hyper-personal and relevant marketing a breeze.

Remember that instantaneous communication is important to today’s always-connected consumer. If your staff is too busy to immediately follow up with a lead, your customer experience suffers. But many dealerships are experiencing limited resources right now. So, how do you make sure that you’re providing that instant communication customers have grown to expect?

Here’s where you can lean on a trained automotive virtual BDC to function as an extension of your dealership. The BDC can respond to requests, make follow-up calls and track every interaction in your CRM. When a tracking alert pops up, the BDC can jump on it immediately and send personal communications to keep relationships growing, while you staff can focus on the customers in front of them. A flexible mobile platform gives staff the ability to engage in conversations quickly and manage customer details from anywhere at any time.

A virtual BDC can nurture leads on an ongoing, long-term basis, using proven strategies to move customers down the funnel. The best part is, all of this ties back to the customer record in the CRM. When you aggregate all customer data in one system, you can have more productive conversations with customers and deliver a personal experience every time.

Your CRM can also help you make the most of the customers you already have. Most dealerships have hundreds of unclosed leads already in their CRM.

Using an integrated equity mining tool can leverage your existing database to generate more revenue. Lean on your CRM and shopping intelligence technology to nurture these relationships with personal, relevant communications that will help you transform leads into loyal customers.  

It’s much more cost effective to sell to a current customer than to acquire a new one, so there is a huge opportunity to increase profits without incurring those hefty customer acquisition costs. And who doesn’t want to do more while spending less?

Your CRM is a powerful tool that can certainly help you transform more leads into loyal customers. Make sure you are utilizing your tools to their fullest extent so you can have happier customers and close more deals.

Good selling!

As the weather heats up, sales traditionally tend to cool down in the dealership. We’ve all been there. This year, though pent-up demand has caused sales to soar for some, economic uncertainty still looms over many car buyers, and it will be prudent to focus on multiple revenue streams.

So, how can your dealership weather the uncertainty and keep profits steady?

My recommendation: focus on service sales.

Even as many people are still spending much of their time at home, a dependable car continues to play a critical role in daily life. Your customers need their cars to commute to work if they are essential employees, to run important errands and to provide safe travel if public transportation isn’t available.

Service and repair thrive during traditional slumps, and this summer is no different. Here are some helpful tips to boost your service revenue and make this a summer to remember.

Market your customer safety steps

Staying healthy is on everyone’s mind these days. Implement measures and processes to keep your customers safe, then communicate what you’re doing through targeted customer emails and mailers.

Online service scheduling and payments help reduce unnecessary contact between your customers and staff. They also deliver a hassle-free experience that today’s customers often prefer.

You can also offer contactless pickup and drop-off, and extend service hours so you can accommodate more customers while eliminate over-crowding.

Some service centers are taking it a step further and moving closer to a fully no-contact model to handle minor repairs or service. This idea is modeled on the pit crew in a race that surrounds the car and gets repairs done fast, all while the driver sits safely inside the car.

You can also help customers feel safe and secure by touting extensive sanitation procedures, including regular restroom cleanings, face shields in front of service desks and vehicle wipe-downs after service.  

Create a special sanitizing service package

The idea here is to offer a special deep cleaning service that kills bacteria on hard and soft surfaces of vehicles.

I’ve seen a few dealerships do this with great success, including a couple that offered this service for free to first responders. What a great way to help your community and create goodwill. You can bet many of those people will remember this and become loyal customers.

Make sure to use an EPA/FDA approved cleaners and widely market what you’re offering.  Lean on your CRM to pull targeted marketing lists to spread the word to current customers and leads. Prominently display the package on your website and post it across all social media channels.

Create special summer driving packages

The family road trip is making a comeback. According to travel app GasBuddy, nearly 1 in 3 Americans are planning to hit the road this summer. And that number could go up, especially later in the summer.

In our experience, the top three performing summer service campaigns are the same ones you’ve probably been doing for years. These are a radiator/coolant flush, air conditioning check and oil change/multi-point inspection.

This year, the messaging needs to be tweaked to emphasize the cleanliness of your shop and communicate in the way customers feel most comfortable. This is where all those measures you’re taking to keep customers safe come into play. Talk about what you’re doing in every communication so customers can be reassured that you are putting their health and safety first.

Keep in mind that most people are not mechanics and they often don’t know why a service needs to be done. Tailor your marketing messages to the “why” and “how often” and avoid industry jargon.   

For best results, practice multi-channel marketing. Drop a mail piece or send an email and follow up in a few days with a phone call to ask if they would like to take advantage of their special offers.

There’s a huge space right now for your dealership to boost profits by being innovative with service. Despite travel reductions, you can lean on service sales and out-of-the-box thinking to stay strong through uncertainty and keep summer sales steady.  

How well do you retain sales staff?  The average annual turnover rate for salespeople in our business is 67 percent, according to Automotive News.

That’s an alarming statistic when you consider it can cost upwards of $10,000 to replace one salesperson, according to CPA Lane Mecham who has worked with dealerships for over a decade. This figure accounts for recruiting fees, on-boarding costs and potential lost revenue from missed deals.

The good news is that there are proactive steps you can take to stop, or at least slow down, the revolving door of sales employee turnover. These five tips will help reduce the likelihood that your sales team and your profits will disappear.  

Invest in digital training

Training isn’t an expense. It’s an investment. And it pays off in a number of ways, including lower turnover, better customer relationships and more sales.

Poorly trained sales staff can’t succeed in volume selling. When you set your team up to fail, it leads to frustration and often means they quit before they reach their full potential.

An efficient and cost-effective way to help train your employees is by utilizing online courses in addition to your in-person training efforts. Online courses can be taken at the employees’ own pace and schedule and is a great remote option for dealers. You should provide at least a couple of weeks of additional online training before allowing new salespeople to greet prospects on their own.

Training should focus on soft skills (such as problem-solving) and technical skills like CRM training and certification programs. Your CRM partner should have remote and in-person training and certification resources available.

Get serious about phone handling skills

Don’t skimp on phone training. A single 30-minute session or a one-time visit from an outside trainer just won’t cut it in today’s market.

Up to 61 percent of vehicle shoppers make initial contact with dealerships over the phone, according to the Local Search Association. You only get one chance to impress those callers. That first impression could mean the difference between a buyer visiting your dealership or choosing your competitor down the street.

Phone training should be on-going, managed and monitored. Practice effective voicemail messages and appointment closing techniques with your team every day.

Invest in a call recording and analysis solution and listen to a couple of calls every day with your team. Identify the most challenging phone calls and make those the focus of your meetings, using peer collaboration and feedback to brainstorm what could be improved. This will create a thriving culture of continuous improvement make your team feel more connected and boost morale.

Create a collaborative culture

It doesn’t help anyone when you pit salespeople against each other. Everyone needs to work together to reach the common goal of a thriving dealership – and that’s not going to happen if your team is competing with each other.

Create a collaborative culture by encouraging salespeople to share techniques that work for them. Include winning strategies for converting customers over the phone, via text, and on the floor. 

Promote mentoring. Pair a newbie with a seasoned veteran for at least 30 days and encourage collaboration by compensating the veteran with a bonus or a percentage of the mentee’s sales. This helps build relationships within your team by giving your veterans a way to earn more and refine their skills while giving newbies a mentor who can provide guidance and advice.

Encourage your managers to prioritize staff development and team cooperation by tying a portion of your sales managers’ compensation to sales staff productivity. That way, when the team wins, everyone wins.

Let data drive your sales goals

Having specific goals increases motivation and drives better results. Salespeople who stick to a goal-orientated plan perform 30 percent better than those who don’t, according to a Harvard Business study. 

Lean on trend and tracking reports in your CRM to set precise and attainable goals for every salesperson. A good rule of thumb is to have a 90-day sales plan based on each individual’s 90-day rolling average.

For example, a salesperson who sells 10 cars in January, eight in February and five in March has sold a total of 23 cars, divided by three months, for a rolling average of 7.6 cars. Thus, it’s reasonable and fair to set a monthly goal of seven cars for this salesperson.

When you forecast goal attainment you can identify and flag those salespeople at risk for attrition. This allows you to offer more training before they throw in the towel and cost you money as a result.

Commit to helping employees grow

Not all salespeople want to remain in the same role forever.  Some may want to climb the corporate ladder, and it behooves you to encourage their ambition.

When these high-achievers don’t have a clear advancement path, they start to question their place in your dealership and may set their sights on new opportunities.

Be a “scale-up” dealership. Help employees grow and find advancement. It’s important to encourage your sales and human resources leaders to work together to develop career advancement paths. Share these paths with salespeople to demonstrate that a career at your dealership can be long-lasting and fulfilling.

You can also share success stories with your team. If someone has taken the path of advancement a salesperson wants for him- or herself, connect the two employees so the junior can learn what the senior did to get there.

Your dealership can buck the trend of high sales staff turnover by taking the proactive steps outlined above. You have the ability to make changes that encourage employees to stick around for the long haul and reward them for doing so. When you invest in training and execute retention strategies, you’ll reap the benefits of a thriving dealership today and far into the future.

You’ve decided to get a CRM or replace an existing one. Now what?

A CRM system should help your staff connect with customers, increase sales productivity and provide actionable insights to deliver the great experiences that create long-lasting customer relationships.

We get it - there are a lot of options on the market. And in a time when the bottom line matters more than ever, it’s vital to choose with care. The wrong choice could lead you to abandon the new system and waste thousands of dollars and hundreds of employee hours in the process. No dealership needs that.

That’s why it’s crucial to ask these key questions before buying your CRM software.

Why am I investing in a new CRM?

This question gets to the core of your business needs and requires you to examine your current processes and methods of performance management.

Too often, dealership managers try to sweep front-line problems under the rug by turning to a new CRM. Yet, behaviors like lack of usage or poor process follow-through will not automatically change with a new tool.

Conversely, the problem could be a fundamental issue with a current tool. For example, if it can’t easily adapt to a growing dealership or it’s lacking in key integrations.

Once you identify your needs and pain points you can better decide if you need a new tool, or if you’d be better served by further training and support from your current provider.

What integrations are important to me?

The usability of a CRM tool depends on its integrations and OEM certifications. Consider the technology tools you rely on daily, such as desking, inventory, customer communications and data mining.

The ability to access these programs through one CRM platform will go a long way towards creating efficient and streamlined workflows that are easy for salespeople and your BDC to follow. Additionally, having one system that’s adaptable to both the front and back of the house will give you a full view of the customer’s history and value.

Examine your current integrations, but also the ability to create additional integrations and the costs associated with that. For example, if your salespeople text with customers, can you track those communications in the customer record? If you offer a digital retailing channel, can the work a customer completes online flow into your CRM seamlessly?  If not, is there an additional fee to add those options?

Can I customize workflows and scale up when needed?

What good is a tool if you can’t make it work with your unique processes and workflows? A good CRM should adapt to your business, not the other way around.  Make sure a tool is flexible enough so that you can customize it to fit your dealership’s needs and challenges.

You also need a solution that can grow with you, whether that’s adding another storefront or expanding your digital retailing. Today’s auto retail market is competitive and unpredictable. You need a solution that allows you to be nimble so you can pivot on a dime as the market advances.

What training and long-term support is available?

Training and performance management can be the different between a solution that sings and one that sinks.

Make sure your training solution covers not just how to use the system, but also how your staff can use the system according to your store’s processes.

Be wary of vendors who want to change how you do things to match how they want you to do things. That’s a red alert that a system is an inflexible CRM-in-a-box and the provider will likely be difficult to work with.

Look for hands-on guidance during the implementation process and live training with on-site assistance and coaching.

Will I gain insights to deliver the best customer experience?

A great customer experience starts with actionable insights into all customer touchpoints.

A CRM should bridge the gap between online, phone and text experiences, as well as sales and service activities and transactions in your store. You gain real-time visibility into your customers, and the ability to deliver great experiences, when every action and interaction is tied back to a customer record. 

Your CRM is crucial to capitalize on leads and opportunities, connect with customers, and create great experiences that lead to long-lasting relationships. Ask yourself these questions before committing to a new vendor and you’re much more likely to find a long-term partner in your success.