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.

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.

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.

As states continue to loosen stay-at-home restrictions, will people continue to shop online for vehicles?

What I’m hearing from dealers is that digital retailing tools are a great research platform and the majority of consumers prefer to complete some purchase steps online. But, many  consumers still prefer to complete deals in the traditional way.

This may reflect a lack of comfort with a purely digital experience on the part of some consumers. Another aspect is that most states are not equipped to handle all forms digitally. Florida is just one example of a state where a wet signature is required for tag and title forms.

It may take years for consumers to feel comfortable completing 100 percent of a deal online. And even then, no one knows how long it will take state laws to catch up with a new way of doing business. But, market uncertainties don’t mean you should take a wait-and-see approach. Isn’t it better to get ahead of the curve? 

Digital retailing is an important alternative to offer consumers. Much like dealers offer purchasing alternatives such as financing or leasing. You wouldn’t offer just one financing option, so why offer just one path to purchase?

Your best bet is to offer an integrated omni-channel approach where consumers move effortlessly back and forth between your digital and physical showrooms.  

The first step towards this goal is to make sure your systems all work together. Information needs to move seamlessly between your online retailing tools, CRM and desking tools, so no information is lost and customers never have to fill out the same paperwork more than once.

Seamless information flow also ensures every customer action and interaction are tracked in one location and are accessible to your staff. When a customer poses a question online, or shows up on your showroom floor, everything they’ve done previously is easy to view so you can pick up right where they left off. This saves time, builds trust, and creates a better customer experience.

Transparency and trust are key throughout the entire process, but especially when it comes to calculating payments online. The digital retailing process must offer penny-perfect calculations. The payment seen online must match what’s seen inside the dealership, and it should include state and local taxes and fees, as well as the customer’s credit score in the final price.

Although consumers may say they don’t like negotiating over price, the irony is that the majority do just that when they enter your showroom. That doesn’t make accurate online pricing less important. In fact, it’s just the opposite. A real, viable purchase price builds trust before the customer enters your store and sets the stage for a better customer experience moving forward.

Another key to winning more business is responding to every Internet, email, and text lead within minutes. As I discussed in a previous blog, fast responses win business. If your response time lags due to staff constraints, consider an external BDC to help with overflow and after-hours inquiries.

Pay attention to how your team responds to leads. With so much information now available online, the majority of customers narrow down vehicle choice before they contact your store. These lower-funnel shoppers will likely recoil at a hard sell. They want information and will visit the dealership that answers all of their questions quickly and thoroughly, instead of one that immediately presses for an appointment. 

Timing is everything. Talk of an appointment should only come after every question is answered and rapport developed.

This shift in how customers research vehicles and educate themselves is why many dealerships have carved out new roles such as product specialists and/or digital concierges.  These employees are trained to guide online shoppers from initial contact to contract. Duties may include personally responding to digital retailing leads, controlling deal-making decisions, and strategizing the best deal for each customer.

As our industry prepares for a glut of lease vehicles to hit the market, strategizing the best deal for end-of-lease customers is more important than ever. Set your team up for success with a desking tool that includes solid rates and incentives integrations and allows for the display of multiple different financing and lease options for easy side-by-side comparisons.

Finally, promote your dealership’s modern, integrated purchasing approach. If consumers don’t know about it, how can they take advantage of it? Place digital retailing tools prominently on your website and social sites. Outline the path to purchase, including how customers move from online to in-store seamlessly, and place that on your website. Create multi-channel and targeted marketing campaigns to spread the word to current customers and prospects.

Digital retailing is not a silver bullet. You can’t plug in the tools and expect sales to just roll in. Success comes from shifting traditional lead responses and process, re-thinking some employee roles and wrapping it all in solid in-store processes.  Taking an integrated approach that seamlessly moves between your digital and physical showrooms creates an efficient and convenient customer experience that leads to more sales and loyal customers. 

Are you ready for the glut of lease vehicles about to hit the market?

According to J.D. Power, nearly 2 million vehicles are coming off lease over the next five months. Attracting and selling to end-of-lease customers is a huge opportunity to emerge stronger from the current market downturn.

Competition for these buyers will be fierce. Other dealerships, banks and captive lenders are all going to want a piece of the pie. Aggressive retail programs launched during the quarantine add to the competitive landscape.

It pays to increase your lease portfolio. Customers will likely come back to you for service, and the trade cycle is short. If you deliver a great customer experience, customers will happily return every couple of years to trade up. This means you not only get repeat sales, but also quality used inventory, potentially with a known service history.

We generally see that most dealership lease portfolios are around 5-10 percent of overall business, but you can double or triple that penetration with the following four tactics.

Update your website now with actionable information.

Customers may not be packed in your showroom right now, but you can bet they are researching vehicles online. According to J.D Power, as many as 14 percent of end-of-lease customers are thinking about their next vehicle a year before lease end. Only 3 percent were thinking that far ahead in 2017.

Therefore, now is the time to update your website with details of your lease program. Include options to defer payments and extend or terminate leases.

Out of necessity, car buying and leasing processes have moved online which makes online retailing tools a “must-have.” Implement or improve your digital retailing strategy with tools that are accurate and fully integrated with your CRM, desking, and inventory solutions. This gives the best customer experience, eliminates double entry of data and allows you to control the sales process while migrating some of your process online.

Transparency and trust are crucial to a successful online retail experience. Make sure your tools display penny-perfect calculations with a dynamic payment builder and provide complete information about F&I products and trade-in details. What customers see on deals online, they should see on deals in your store.

When a lead comes in, it’s imperative that you get back to the customer within one hour. As I highlighted in my last blog, companies that respond to a lead within the first hour are 7X more likely to have a meaningful conversation that can lead to a closed deal.

Create targeted marketing campaigns and follow up using your CRM.

Get out in front of prospects and end-of-lease customers with multi-channel, targeted marketing campaigns. When you proactively reach out with a relevant offer, you have a much better shot that customers will work with you instead of a competitor.

Lean on your CRM to segment your customer database. Create targeted lists for current customers who are coming up on the end of a lease or are on track to go over mileage. Another list should be populated with every unclosed lead in the last 90 days. Finally, create a list of customers who purchased a vehicle at least two years ago.

Follow-up is key and the best practice is to make seven calls and five emails per lead over a 30-day period. If that’s too much for your staff to handle, consider pulling in an external BDC for overflow. A trained automotive BDC will ensure proper follow-up and free up your sales team to concentrate on low-funnel opportunities.

Provide lease options to every customer early in the process.

Provide lease and finance options to every single customer early in the sales process. Earlier is always better because the customer has time to process and think about the benefits of leasing compared to financing before they make their final decision.

It’s easy for your sales managers to access lease information if your desking tool is integrated with rates and residuals. The best tools offer grid presentations so you can present up to nine different financing and lease options for side-by-side comparisons. This way, customers can see at a glance which option is right for them.

Another great strategy is to have your sales managers find the “sweet spot,” or lowest profitable lease offer, for potential lease vehicles on your lot. Print out this information for every salesperson to study, and display it prominently on your website. A great deal is hard to pass up. For example, I know a Honda dealership that’s offering a 36-month lease on a 2020 Honda Fit for under $200 a month. That’s a great opportunity to get into a new vehicle for a low monthly price.

Make the customer experience easy.

Customer satisfaction is the key to retention and loyalty. Studies show that the average overall satisfaction score is 862 (on a 1,000-point scale) among mass-market lease customers who leased again with the same brand. Overall satisfaction among lease customers who switched brands is 778.

So, what increases satisfaction? An efficient, fast and personalized experience. Set your dealership apart with tools and processes that help customers during these uncertain times as our economy recovers.

For example, implement technology that allows customers to schedule lease inspections and returns online. Consider creating a BDC leasing team equipped with information and scripts to answer questions about turning in vehicles, the steps to terminate a lease and other details about lease end. Blow your competition out of the water with a program where an employee picks up an end-of-lease vehicle at the customer’s home and leaves a new vehicle for them to test-drive.

Increasing lead penetration rates is a solid strategy to help your dealership succeed now and as business returns to normal. Refresh your website with lease information and online retailing tools, mine your CRM for multi-channel marketing campaigns, train your sales staff to always present a lease option and get creative with new tools and programs that give customers the easy and fast experience they want. Increase your lease portfolio to 40-50% and you’ll have a book of business that is virtually pandemic-proof.

Your dealership likely spends a lot of money each month for internet leads. Are you responding to each lead within minutes? If not, you’re throwing money away.

Fast responses win business. According to a study from the Harvard Business Review, companies that respond to a lead within the first hour are 7X more likely to qualify that lead (defined as having a meaningful conversation with a decision maker) than those who respond even an hour later.

Those who respond within an hour are 60X more likely to qualify a lead than companies that wait 24 hours.

As showroom visits decrease due to social distancing, internet inquiries are a crucial part of your business. The same is true of emails and texts. Responding to all leads in real time is critical to your success.

Ready to speed up your response time and deliver a better customer experience? Implement the following strategies.

Capitalize on every lead with BDC services that track inside your CRM.

An experienced automotive BDC is your best bet to ensure every lead is followed-up quickly and completely. Leaning on your BDC also frees up sales and service staff so they can focus on low-funnel opportunities.

Make sure your BDC is tracking all activity in your CRM to manage leads more effectively and provide an integrated customer experience. 

Many dealers prefer using internal BDCs so they can control leads and processes. But an internal BDC can be expensive in today’s circumstances and you’re typically not getting after-hours coverage. Going with an external BDC, or taking a hybrid approach, helps with overflow and after-hours inquiries, particularly in times where showroom visits are slower.

Outsourcing to a virtual BDC is not a silver bullet, but an additional tool to improve the experience customers have with your dealership.

Respond faster with texting.

All customers want information fast. So, how do you ensure your leads are getting the information they want at the speed they require?

Don’t sleep on text messaging. Texting is faster than a phone call and on average results in 78 percent higher open rates than email.

More than 90 percent of texts are read within three minutes of being received. It’s an excellent form of real-time, two-way, contactless conversation.

Texting is an efficient way for sales to stay connected to customers, but it’s just as helpful in your service department. It’s a fast way to send status updates, respond to inquiries, and get approval on service work – all while techs stay in their bays getting more done in less time.

It is a bad business practice to allow personnel to conduct any dealership business on their personal phones, which are not tied to your CRM. You can’t capture conversations, review texts for training purposes, or monitor what employees are really doing if they’re using their personal phones. An employee may look busy, but is that a customer exchange or a chat with a friend?

The high turnover in the auto industry also means you’re risking that employees will take valuable customer information with them if they decide to leave your dealership.

The easiest way to mitigate risk is to purchase business-only mobile devices for employees that tie into your CRM. You incur upfront costs, but those pale in comparison to safeguarding customer data and conversations. 

Customize communications.

Customers practicing social distancing are turning to phone, text, email, and digital retailing tools to interact with your dealership. Though they may not be in your showroom, they still expect a personal and efficient experience.

A personal interaction strategy makes customers and leads feel seen, heard, and valued. Ensuring your CRM has the tools to customize communication to each customer’s preference means happier buyers.

For example, if a customer sends a lead through your digital retailing tools, don’t pick up the phone and give them a call. They’ve indicated they want to work with you online. Calling them may make them feel pressured and turn them off to working with your dealership.

The more data you have, the more personal and targeted you can make your communications. Take advantage of advanced CRM functionality to aggregate, view, and analyze all customer data in one place. Then tailor follow-up processes to an individual buyer’s wants and needs. This gives you a much better chance of keeping customers happy and buying from your dealership.

Examine current Internet lead performance.

When sales staff don’t follow best practices, leads get dropped or never enter your CRM. Take advantage of the current drop in customer demand to do a benchmark audit of the health of your processes.

Take a look at your CRM sales data for the month before our current disruption hit (when business was still “normal”).  Benchmark your data against the industry standard that for every 100 leads, 40 percent should set an appointment. Of those 40 people, 50 percent should show up. Of those that show up, 50 percent should buy. That nets you a 10 percent closing ratio. The other five percent of buyers submit information online and show up at the dealership without setting an appointment.

Check employee contact reports if you are not hitting these benchmarks. Employees should make seven calls and send five emails per lead over a 30-day period to achieve these numbers. If they’re not, it’s an opportunity for coaching and improving your team.

When demand returns, keep an eye on those benchmarks. Still not hitting the right numbers? Consider adding an outsourced BDC or take the hybrid approach mentioned above. Dedicating more of the heavy lifting to a BDC can reduce your inquiry handling times up to 40 percent and ensure customers receive fast, quality responses.

It’s more important than ever to evaluate how fast you’re providing information to customers, especially internet inquiries. The shift away from in-person interactions may continue after this change in climate subsides, so take the time now to examine your processes and analyze your operations. Updating and modernizing your business means you will hit the ground running when demand surges back.

Good selling!

Various industry studies show over 80 percent of customers want to start the car buying process online. So, it makes sense that more dealerships are implementing digital retailing tools.

Today’s customers expect an Amazon-like online shopping experience that is connected, seamless and easy. If your digital retailing tools and process don’t deliver, customers will choose another dealership that can accommodate their needs.

The right experience is more important today as people distance themselves from each other to stay healthy. If proven valuable, the big shift away from physical stores to online shopping and buying may continue after health concerns pass.

It’s important to note that just having online shopping tools doesn’t guarantee success. Are the following three digital retailing mistakes costing you money? Now is a crucial time to evaluate your processes to ensure you are providing the online experience customers want.

Mistake #1: Implementing inadequate shopping tools.

Your digital retailing experience should allow shoppers to build a deal online that reflects a realistic car-buying scenario. Essential tools include penny-perfect payment calculations that include taxes and real lender programs, accurate trade-in valuations, credit app submission, and F&I product information and pricing.

It doesn’t do any good if customers have to repeat what they’ve done online when they enter your store. The online and in-store experience must be seamlessly connected or your customers will get frustrated with the inefficiency. Synchronizing your digital experience with your showroom CRM, desking software and a complete set of integrated shopping tools delivers the fast, connected experience that is crucial to winning online business.

Mistake #2: Running the same old sales model.

Digital shoppers need nurturing, not a hard sell. That’s because they are much further down the sales funnel than traditional Internet customers. When they call your dealership or send an email, they’re often looking for more information on their vehicle of interest.

Running the same old sales model of pushing for the appointment before providing the information requested or answering every customer question signals your dealership is aggressive or hard to work with. This can make customers eliminate your dealership from consideration.

To win sales, focus on rapport and building a relationship. Two new sales models will help you do this.

In the first, a sales manager handles every aspect of the deal from start to finish - including F&I. In the second, a product specialist nurtures the customer until he or she is ready to come into the dealership; then, a manager takes over in-store and transacts the deal in one sitting.

Both of these models respect and honor the work customers have already done online and limit the number of transfers between salespeople. They also make it easy and comfortable for customers to transition from online to in-store for a faster and more convenient experience.

Mistake #3: Limiting your knowledge of customers.

Creating rapport and relationships is difficult when salespeople have a limited view of what a customer needs and wants.

That’s why flexible shopping intelligence technology is gaining speed as dealerships use it to maintain a 360-degree view of each customer’s overall online browsing behavior inside the CRM.

With shopping intelligence tools, you’ll know what vehicles your prospects and customers are looking at and on which sites they are shopping in real time. And when you know what they’re searching for as they’re searching for it, you can communicate smarter.

A better understanding of the customer’s challenges or needs enables salespeople to stay in touch at key points in the customer lifecycle. You will have insight as to which vehicles the shopper is researching. This means you can deliver the perfect message – for example, a list of similar vehicles that the customer is searching for - at the perfect time for better results.

Ultimately, digital retailing is a powerful channel for selling more vehicles – if you do it right. Avoid these three common mistakes to create an experience that is connected, seamless and easy. As shopping behaviors change due to health concerns, you’ll be prepared for digital customers and your bottom-line will reflect that.

Good selling!

We all know new leads are important and you always want to keep that pipeline full. But attracting new customers is expensive, and making more money while spending less is something that every business wants to do.

What if I told you that you could save both time and money by nurturing the relationships you already have in your CRM?

Research suggests you should spend only 20% of your time acquiring new leads, and spend the other 80% nurturing your existing relationships.

Mining your CRM for unclosed leads, customers with equity in their vehicles, or sold customers who did not convert to service - your biggest profit center - is a huge opportunity to increase profitability while keeping customer acquisition costs down.

These three strategies will help you properly utilize the data and reports in your CRM to profit from the relationships you already have.

Target and market unclosed leads.

Unclosed leads are a reality for every dealer, and success winning business sometimes depends on how you plan to handle them long-term.  To take these opportunities from leads to customers, you have to re-engage them on a regular basis with messages that intrigue them or make them want to take action. Use advanced search functions in your CRM to create a list of every unclosed lead in the last 90 days, then create personal, targeted marketing messages based on where the customer was in the buying cycle when you last engaged.

What good are your email campaigns if no one is reading them? Untargeted email open rates are only in the teens, whereas you’ll get an open rate of around 30 percent if you personalize those messages. Using targeted marketing messaging lowers your costs, increases customer engagement and ensures relevancy so customers open your emails.

Leverage the power of multi-channel marketing by following up with a phone call. If your salespeople don’t have the time to properly execute phone campaigns, engaging an external BDC is a no-brainer. It takes an average of four attempts to get a hold of a customer. Stressed out salespeople will give up after a call or two, but a dedicated BDC will stay the course until the call connects.

Finally, continue to market to customers who opted to buy a car at another dealership or who purchased with you but aren’t using your service center. They are not lost opportunities. Stay in touch with service specials, seasonal tips, holiday greetings, etc. Even though you may have lost one deal, they’ll have automotive needs in the future and you have the opportunity to become their go-to “car guy” just by staying in touch and providing value.

Create an equity mining strategy.

I’ve written about equity mining a lot, and for good reason: it’s a proven way to earn more sales while sourcing the pre-owned vehicles you need.  And these are leads you already have a relationship with inside your database.

When combined with a strong BDC, equity mining delivers an ROI of 10 to 1. In other words, for every $1,000 you spend, you get $10,000 back. Not a bad investment, right?

But like any investment, you must have a solid strategy to succeed. You need to dedicate one salesperson to your equity mining efforts. Have them look for customers in a position of equity, or those coming up on the end of a lease or loan, with a vehicle that your dealership needs. It could be beneficial to also post a used car manager in your service drive to provide immediate vehicle valuations and proof of incentives to trade up.

Set clear parameters for eligible prospects. For example, a customer who hasn’t purchased a vehicle in at least two years, or a customer coming up at the end of a lease. Don’t bark up the wrong tree and call a customer who bought within the last 12 months to encourage a trade-in.

Remember to highlight the benefits of trading up to good prospects , and offer service coupons or other incentives to sweeten the deal.

Get to know your customers better.

Technology has advanced to track a customer’s online behavior and we can now use shopping intelligence to make relevant purchase suggestions. Customers are conditioned to this level of personal engagement from companies like Apple and Amazon, and they now expect it from your dealership.

Flexible CRM tracking technology allows you to maintain a 360-degree view of each customer so you can engage at the right time with the right message to meet their specific needs. When you know what they’re considering buying, you can send them information on that vehicle, as well as additional, similar options before they reach out to competitors.

You can receive alerts within your CRM when the customer performs relevant activity, like researching vehicles on your website or a third-party site. Think of it as digital breadcrumbs that allow you to follow where a customer is in the buying cycle.

All of this data is aggregated in your CRM so you have one centralized location to view and analyze a customer’s profile. These insights enable you to develop a strategy for salespeople to stay in touch at key points with relevant messages. Customers feel more seen, heard, valued, and happier. And you increase your chances of closing deals faster.

To grow your business from within your CRM, remember to target and market unclosed leads, identify and nurture equity mining prospects, and get to know your customers better so you’re there to meet their needs and wants. These three strategies will help you profit from the opportunities and relationships you already have, instead of buying more leads.  

Good selling!

It costs most dealers about five times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain those they already have. Yet, increasing customer retention by as little as five percent can increase profits by up to 95 percent, according to the research group Bain & Company.

That’s because loyal customers and enthusiastic fans will keep coming back - and they’ll refer friends and family to your dealership. Loyal customers also tend to prioritize great customer service over price and scoring the best deal.

Bottom line? It pays to put time and resources into nurturing your existing customer relationships.  Begin cultivating loyal customers immediately with these three retention strategies.

Build loyalty in the service lane.

Customers are wary of being sold unnecessary services. A multi-point inspection tool with photo and video capabilities allows service advisors to show customers what needs to be done, instead of just telling them. This goes a long way to build trust and loyalty.

Prioritizing customer convenience by implementing helpful technology also improves customer satisfaction. The J.D. Power 2019 Customer Service Index (CSI) Study found that satisfaction is 75 points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) among customers who have an all-digital experience where they can schedule service online, communicate via text message and view service recommendations on a tablet.

Some of the best results happen when service advisors change their communication strategy to emphasize the safety aspects of necessary services. When customers learn that a faulty spark plug or alternator could leave them stranded on the side of the road, they will be more likely to approve the service. They’ll also feel gratitude towards your service department for recognizing and fixing the problem.

Capitalize on your BDC.

The human connection goes a long way to create loyal buyers. Customers will reward companies that take the time to build genuine, personal relationships. Give your sales associates and service advisors that time by delegating everyday tasks to your BDC.

Don’t have the resources to handle these tasks? You might look at outsourcing the work, or a portion of it, to a trusted virtual BDC.

Your BDC should handle the majority of inbound and outbound phone calls, especially in the service department. When inbound service calls are handled properly by your BDC, up to 72 percent convert to an appointment.

Your BDC should also help with personalized, targeted marketing campaigns that build loyalty. Use your CRM to schedule event-based marketing triggers that re-engage customers at the perfect time in the buying cycle. For example, create a special offer for service customers you haven’t seen in six months. Then, have your BDC follow up with phone calls. Well-targeted cross-channel campaigns build momentum and loyalty because you’re offering a relevant message that meets your customers’ unique needs.

Practice Strategic Data Mining

Data mining can help you build loyalty at both the sales desk and in the service drive. It’s also a great way to source well-maintained vehicles for your pre-owned inventory without paying auction and delivery fees.

The best way to execute this strategy is to have a dedicated data mining expert or team. These individuals keep an eye on service appointments for customers in an equity position with vehicles that are in-demand in your market.

Eligible customers receive a written trade-in offer and suggestions for a new vehicle with confirmed incentives, interest rates, and lease options, if applicable. Keep in mind that few customers will accept a deal on the spot, so have a process in place for BDC follow up.

Customers who accept a deal will get a fair price for their trade-in vehicle, plus a new vehicle with the most modern safety and technology features, all fully protected by a manufacturer’s warranty.

This way, you meet vehicle needs your customers may not even know they have, which helps to engender loyalty and increase the likelihood they will return to your dealership for future service.  Plus, now you have well-maintained vehicles to stock your pre-owned lot. It’s a win-win.

Good selling!