There are a few points to consider when debating on adding a service BDC. How big is your shop? What are your primary appointments being made? Are your advisors overworked, or can they handle making their own appointments? These are all important things to consider when determining whether a service BDC is right for your shop.

A large shop should be bringing in much work. That statement alone is enough to merit a service BDC. Even with advisors to match the number of techs so that work is efficient, volume is always something that needs more managing, and a service BDC is an adequate addition to the team. Keeping the advisors moving allows them to focus on their customers in the shop, which in turn should create a better quality of customer service and, thus, more profitable transactions.

Moving on to appointment type. This is crucial because, depending on the appointments being set for the shop, a service BDC may not be as efficient as an advisor taking the call. If a recall or service campaign is in full swing like that of the Takata Air Bag Recall, it may be most efficient to have the advisors making and taking those appointments. This is based on their knowledge of the workflow, capabilities of their technicians, and parts availability. This can all change based on the other active or inactive campaigns, and advisors need a little more control. However, if the shop isn’t experiencing that, then again, a service BDC should be a great addition to the team. This can also be mitigated by implementing well-trained and informed employees in any case. So, let’s not count out a service BDC based on this argument alone. It really all comes down to communication between the department and the BDC standards in the end.

Are the advisors overworked? We all know what a burned-out advisor looks like. It is a fine dance a service manager must perform to keep techs and advisors happy. There is never a perfect scenario in the shop, and everyone always thinks they can do it better. There will always be people who need more work and some who should focus on less. But ensuring a team culture in the shop should help reduce some of the stress an advisor has during the day. Making sure the lane is fully staffed is also a great way to manage that (in theory). However, a service BDC is a great way to funnel calls away from the advisors so that they can focus on their current customer base, not only waiters but also those drop-off appointments. A focused advisor can always turn more cars through a shop with eager technicians. When a tech sits on their box waiting for an answer on a job, the shop comes to a halt. A grumpy tech can break even the most seasoned advisor if they are acting like a stubborn mule.

Overall, what we’re getting at is that customers will always benefit from a well-staffed service BDC. By well-staffed, we mean staff with common sense who are willing to learn along the way, striving to serve your customer base. We cannot continue to hire based on whether someone has a pulse or not. Creating a culture of hard-working individuals and holding them to your standard of service will be the make or break of any department. A well-working service BDC will only ever be an asset to your department and your customers in the long run. 

It's hard to believe that March 2020 will soon be three years behind us. Digital Retailing became more than just a call to action on our websites three years ago. Many dealers quickly responded to the pandemic by offering customers the ability to purchase their vehicles online. Or in some cases, dealers provided at-home delivery. But just because dealers offered customers the ability to purchase their vehicle online doesn't mean it worked. It didn't necessarily mean the customer could buy their car online. Hence why, dealers are still figuring out "digital retailing."

Fast forward to today, we should ask ourselves - have we learned anything from Carvana? Do customers really want to purchase their vehicle online? Did Carvana get it right by offering the customer to buy a car online? More importantly, is there a need to continue with online digital retailing?

All are valid questions, so let's answer them. Before Covid, Digital Retail meant a myriad of different things. Some dealers allowed you to view potential payments, apply for financing with a specific lender, etc. Yet so many dealers - those with digital retailing features - didn't have an internal process to manage the steps the customer completed online. So, when the lead came into the CRM, the response sent to the customer didn't always match the steps they completed.

As a customer, it's frustrating to complete a "digital retailing" process online to have to start over when coming into the dealership. And whether this is about having unclear steps online or simply not following the steps online at the dealership – it's important to note that online steps can positively impact both the customer and the dealership. Regardless of whether or not the customer switches vehicles at the dealership, starting the finance and trade-in process online with clear directions will save them time at the dealership. And we all know that saving time at the dealership can positively impact their post-purchase survey from the OEM. Not to mention it’s a win for the dealership as well. This allows more efficient turn rates and thus saves everyone time which is, as you know, the most precious commodity today.

However, if when the customer gets to the dealership and the Sales Consultant expects the customer to repeat the entire "online" experience, it can and will cause unnecessary break-points. Albeit Carvana is in turmoil, but one thing they did get right is setting a level of expectation for the customer. They legitimately went through the process of purchasing their vehicle online. The customer clearly understood what their vehicle payment would be before delivery. If we can use elements from Carvana - such as financing/payments - it could save time. Of course, it's not to say that when the customer gets to the dealership, they'd end up purchasing the same car. Hence why so many customers continue to prefer going to the dealership to purchase their vehicle.

So that poses the question, is it still necessary to continue offering digital retailing? Well, that depends. It depends on whether or not dealers will follow the steps they place online in the dealership. As mentioned above, if the dealer pushes the customer through the same processes they completed online at the dealer, then no – it doesn't make sense. It will only cause frustration for the customer. It's essential to explain what customers can expect when visiting the dealership. There's nothing inherently wrong with offering the customer the ability to get the financing process started by reviewing payments and pre-approvals.

The key thing to note here is ensuring that you offer the customer the next steps. Even though they fill out an online credit application and review payments, they still need to select the right vehicle to meet their needs. More often than not, the car the customer inquired about differs from what they ended up purchasing. An issue that has and will continue to plague Carvana. It seems so simple to buy a vehicle online, BUT they wouldn't offer a 7-day return policy without merit. Without test-driving the car and ensuring it fits their needs, it's begging for issues with the customer's overall satisfaction. It's equally important to note their trade-in process, which is not the best practice. Since when does it make sense for a dealer to purchase a vehicle without actually test-driving it or completing a walk-around? How often have we seen a trade-in lead from KBB where the customer indicates it's in pristine condition only to find out it's less than perfect?

The bottom line is that digital retailing has a place in the industry. While Carvana is everything but nirvana, they offer dealers an opportunity to get digital retailing right. That is offering the customer the steps to purchasing a vehicle. Imagine if your dealer had a video that clearly explained the steps to purchasing a vehicle? In doing so, it shows transparency and can also help build the rapport needed to earn their trust. Trust built on solid rapport remains the best way to approach selling a vehicle. So, while Carvana is scrambling to figure out what it should be, let's use this as an opportunity to refine what Digital Retailing is on the dealer level. Offering our customers a straightforward and to the point experience by mirroring their dealership experience to what we're offering online.

In the meantime, it never hurts to complete a health check! Take a minute and complete a free stealth test - you won’t regret it. 

With the start of the new year, you should be looking forward to what you can do to make 2023 a success for your dealership. While there are endless marketing strategies to employ, having a solid outbound calling strategy should be at the core of your efforts. Whether or not it was successful for you over the last 12 months, there are things that you can do to make it more effective.

Implement Scripts

Phone scripts for outbound sales calls are a must these days. There is a lot of information that your sales reps need to include in the call, and it can be hard to keep all of it straight. Using a phone script allows them to feel confident in the work that they are doing and to have the resources they need to have a successful phone call. There are a variety of phone scripts that they can use, depending on the purpose of the call. This can also help them not get tripped up and accidentally talk to the person on the other end of the phone about something that doesn’t apply to them at all. Phone scripts also improve your training because no one is going off and trying their own techniques that won’t be as effective. They also serve as protection for your dealership, so you don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Record Phone Calls

Recording the phone calls that your dealership makes and receives is a great way to see what is happening in the conversation and where improvements can be made. Even if you have a supervisor in your call center, they only hear half the conversation. If they do hop on the call, it’s typically because it was escalated. You can choose whether you record all of the phone calls or just record them randomly, but you should have a sample for each person making phone calls that can be reviewed at regular intervals. 

When listening to the recorded phone call, you can determine if the sales rep asked the right questions, if they introduced themself and the dealership, and how the sign-off was. If your reps are consistently hitting these marks, their calls stand a good chance of success. While the sales managers should check up on these metrics, they shouldn’t be the only ones responsible for improving employee phone skills. That’s where coaching comes in.

Invest in Active Coaching

At a time when car dealerships are feeling the pressure to stay competitive and remain profitable, phone coaching for sales teams is becoming an increasingly popular tool for improving customer service and boosting sales. As a dealership owner or manager, you know that having a strong sales team is key to success. Active coaching allows you to provide individual coaching to each salesperson in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses and provide tailored advice that can help them set more appointments. This includes regular feedback on their coached calls, highly effective scripts, personalized one-on-one sessions, and well-placed mystery shops. 

Phone coaching can also help you keep track of the progress of your sales team. You can monitor their conversations with customers and provide feedback in real-time to help them improve their performance. This will help them develop the skills they need to be successful and engaged sales reps. With proper coaching, they should be able to set appointments for your dealership 80% of the time, which can bring in a lot of business.

Listen to Employees

Your employees are the ones on the phone every day, and they are the ones who talk to your customers, web leads, and prospects. Ideally, your team is filled with talented and hardworking reps, which means they likely have a good pulse on what is going on with the company, the calls they make, and areas that can be improved. You should be empowering your employees to step up and make suggestions on how things can be improved and share what they have had success with. Let them own their success and take pride in their work. Even if their suggestions won’t work at this stage, make sure they know you appreciate their contributions. An engaged employee is a valuable asset you need.

Using these strategies will help your dealership see more success and closed sales in 2023. With the ever-changing market, it is important to not just talk to people but to get them to take action. Take a look at what you are doing and how these actions can help you improve your strategy this year.

If you want to improve how your dealership handles outbound phone calls, check out our Active Coaching Services and see how Phone Ninjas can help you!

As a customer, there’s nothing worse than being ignored or getting a response to your inquiry that doesn’t answer any of your questions. Before the world of Covid, many dealers heavily focused on answering leads in a timely fashion. Heck, even most, if not all, of the OEMs had standards in place to ensure that all leads were answered within a certain time frame. Yet during the height of Covid, when supply and demand weren’t equalizing, some dealers just didn’t answer their leads. Or if they did answer leads, it certainly wasn’t within ten to fifteen minutes. In fact, it was actually noted in a study that dealers slid significantly in 2021 in both response time and actually responding to a customer inquiry.

So, what happened if we know that it’s important to respond to leads and answer the customers’ questions? Well, we can’t fix what didn’t happen, but we can fix how we’re going to respond to leads today. To start, one of the best things you can do is review your CRM workflows. When was the last time they were updated? If it takes you a minute to think about it, it’s time to give it a look. After you’ve completed a check-up on your CRM workflow, take a minute to review the automated emails. Are the signature lines complete? Do your automated emails still make sense? Do all of the social media links work? It sounds simple, but some dealers are still sending out automated responses regarding Covid-19 and store hours!

Once you tackle the core basics with your CRM, meeting with your BD agents and Sales Consultants is best. A quick refresher never hurts. Once you’ve gone over what best practices are for responding to leads, it’s important that they’re held accountable. To hold your teams accountable, you can simply use CRM reporting to check on response time. The other thing to review is the actual response. We can all easily stop the clock. But we’re not all sending out the best response to the lead. Let’s ensure we’re answering the customers’ questions and providing the next steps for the customer. The end goal is to build rapport with the customer to increase the chances of earning their business. But we can’t do that if we’re not responding to the leads or if the responses we’re sending out don’t answer the customers' questions - failing to provide the next steps.

If your teams are still struggling with word tracking or how to best respond to customers' questions and objections - we can help with that. Knowing what to say and when to say it can make or break the chances of your dealership earning that customer's business.

If you’re still on the fence, take a minute and submit a request for a FREE Stealth Test! Once we’ve completed your stealth test, we’ll be in touch with very detailed results. Here’s to getting back to the basics and ensuring we’re proactive instead of reactive. Let’s start 2023 off on the right foot. 

Appointment setting is one of the best ways that a dealership can get people into the showroom to buy a car. But if your agents don’t see success on the phones, it can feel like a waste of time. Luckily, proven training methods increase your agents' efficiency in getting people into your dealership and closing sales.

Hold Regular and Ongoing Training

Phone training plays an important role in improving the outcome of your agents’ phone calls, but training is never just a one-and-done thing. Holding training at regular intervals will allow you to address current issues, teach new techniques to try, or allow team members to share stories of success. The type of training you require will depend on the length of time a person has been on the job, their responsibilities, and their overall performance. You can have training that involves the whole team for company-required training and team updates, but you should also focus on individual and small-group training that allows people to hone the skills they need at their own pace. These training sessions should happen at regular, expected intervals.

Involve Different People

Everyone on your team has their own strengths, and the best way to utilize them is to allow your team members to share the things that they are good at with everyone else. If the same person has been hosting the same training for a while, consider switching out who is in charge. Not only will this give the former trainer a chance to learn, but it also gives your team a new perspective to consider and a new way to learn something they may have heard before. Nothing makes people pay less attention than feeling like they already know every word that is going to be said. You can also reach beyond your team to find experts to help you train your employees. Professional coaches are a great resource to use when you are trying to help employees develop new skills and increase their success rates.

Set Clear Goals

Unless the training that you are implementing has clear goals that you can use to measure progress, you may not see any difference in the before and after your training. If there is no measurable change, that means you’ve wasted your time and your team’s time. The most measurable goal you can set for phone agents at a dealership is the outcome of their phone calls. Agents should set appointments, resolve concerns successfully, and generally have good phone interactions. Before you start any training, make sure you know each employee’s metrics for their phone calls, and set a customized goal for them to work on based on what they learn during the training. Custom-tailored goals can help employees feel empowered to be successful and apply what they have learned. After all, you probably shouldn’t expect your top performer and a new employee to have the same results. You can also set an overall team goal to motivate them to work together. 

Provide the Right Tools

No matter how much training you provide, if your phone agents don’t have the tools they need, they aren’t going to be successful. It’s important to not only provide them with these tools but also train them with them and incorporate them into all aspects of the job. Phone scripts are an excellent example of one of the best tools that allow your phone agents to be successful at what they are doing. Phone scripts give them the information and direction they need to have successful phone calls, but if your agents have never used a phone script before, it is unlikely that it will actually help them. If you update software, procedures, or anything else your agents use, ensure you have enough training to empower them to use these tools successfully.

Using these methods to improve the efficiency of your training will help you and your dealership flourish. With the ever-changing car market, you need all the resources you have access to to see the success you want.

Want to improve your appointment-setting phone calls? Click here to see what we can do for you!

The telephone is your most reliable source of leads. Inbound phone calls allow dealerships to gather more detailed information about a customer's needs, resulting in higher conversion rates. Since six out of every ten inbound calls to the sales department have intent to purchase, it's crucial to optimize them to close more deals. 

However, despite the rise in phone leads, phone performance is not necessarily keeping up. Many businesses are struggling to convert inbound phone leads into sales, largely due to a lack of proper training and resources. The inbound sales call is one of the most important aspects of sales and one of the most difficult to master. The good news is there's a huge opportunity to improve.

Here are 5 mistakes that sales reps make on inbound sales calls and how to avoid them:

Making a Bad First Impression

Making a bad first impression on an inbound sales call can negatively affect a company. Sales reps should strive to create a positive customer experience by listening to the customer and avoiding being too pushy or aggressive. Unfortunately, sales reps often jump right into their pitch without taking the time to introduce themselves properly or build rapport. This can be off-putting to customers and turn them off from the conversation. Avoid pressuring the customer into making a purchase and instead focus on building a relationship and understanding the customer's needs. It's also important to be mindful of the customer's time.

Failing to Ask the Right Questions

Asking the right questions can help uncover a customer's needs and wants, allowing you to tailor a car and a deal that is right for them. It can also help to learn about any potential objections or hesitations they may have. It's important to ask questions to better understand what they are looking for in a car. 

Lacking Confidence

When making an inbound sales call, remain confident and stay positive. Try not to be intimidated by the customer's responses, but use them as an opportunity to build rapport and engage in a meaningful conversation. Being confident in your abilities and knowledge of the vehicle you're selling is key. An automotive phone training script will help you cover all your bases and appear confident. Remember that even if a call does not result in a sale, it can still be a valuable experience. Use the call as an opportunity to learn more about your customer, their needs, and the marketplace. It's also a chance to gain insight that you can use for future calls.

Giving Away too Much Information

While answering your customer's questions immediately may seem helpful, it’s better to wait and try to save any details for when they come in and see you. If a customer receives too much information from a dealership over the phone, it can make them feel overwhelmed and unmotivated to visit the dealership entirely.

Not Setting an Appointment  

A well-trained and engaged sales rep can drive a 60% appointment set rate, with 50% of appointments showing. Setting appointments allows you to get face time with your potential customers, build relationships, and eventually close a sale. Plus, your customer is less likely to pick up the phone and call another dealership if they already have an appointment scheduled. When setting the appointment time, focus on what’s most convenient for your customer. It's also a good idea to walk them through what to expect. The more you prep them, the more likely it is to be a successful appointment.

By avoiding these mistakes and investing in the right tools to maximize phone performance, sales reps can ensure that their inbound sales calls are productive and successful.

Want to improve how your dealership handles inbound phone calls? We have the coaching experience and tools you need!

Using video to engage sales prospects is an effective way to provide information and enhance the customer experience. By creating engaging and informative videos, car dealerships can showcase their inventory, highlight features and benefits of specific vehicles, and even offer virtual test drives. This can help car dealerships position themselves as a trusted source of information and a go-to destination for car buyers.

Let's explore some of the reasons why your dealership should use video communication along the customer journey.

Build a Personal Connection 

Video is a powerful tool for car dealerships looking to jump-start and maintain the customer relationship. By using video chat or recorded video messages, dealerships can provide a more personalized sales experience, answer customers' questions, and address their specific concerns. It also offers greater transparency and feels more inviting to potential buyers. This can build stronger relationships with customers and increase the likelihood of making a sale. 

Showcase the Vehicle

Another way to use video to engage sales prospects is to offer virtual test drives. Using video chat, the salesperson can take the consumer on a virtual tour of the vehicle, showing off its interior and exterior features and highlighting key performance capabilities. This can give potential customers a feel for the vehicle without having to visit the dealership in person. 

Dealerships can also engage sales prospects by creating short, informative videos highlighting the vehicles in the dealership's inventory. These videos can be shared on the dealership's website and social media channels and can be tailored to specific vehicles or target audience segments. For example, a dealership could create a video that showcases the safety features of a particular SUV model, and target it to families with young children.

Reach More Leads

Customers are turning towards online sales to access more car inventory and find the dealers they want to buy from. This is especially beneficial for smaller dealerships that may have previously struggled to compete with larger, more established competitors in their local market. With the ability to reach more customers online, dealerships can now target a wider audience and potentially increase their sales and revenue. Using video can help streamline the car buying process and make it more convenient for customers.

Confirm Their Appointment

Video is an effective way to confirm an appointment for a car dealership because it allows the customer to see and hear the confirmation directly from the salesperson. This personal touch helps build trust and establish a connection with the customer, making them more likely to follow through with the appointment.

Using video for appointment confirmation also allows for a quick and easy way for the customer to verify important details such as the appointment date, time, and location. This eliminates any confusion or miscommunication and ensures that the customer arrives at the dealership on time and prepared for their appointment.

Say Thank You

Dealerships can also use video messaging to say thank you after a successful sale and at any time. Customers and prospects alike want to feel valued and respected. A thoughtful video message can be easier and more cost-effective than sending snail mail. Keep in mind that you don't need a sale to express your appreciation. Holiday greetings, birthdays, and special promotions are good occasions to reach out with a short greeting and thoughtful message.

Overall, using video to engage sales prospects at a car dealership is a powerful way to provide information, enhance the customer experience, and drive sales. By creating engaging and informative videos, car dealerships can showcase their inventory, highlight key features and benefits, and offer valuable advice and tips to potential customers.

Phone Ninjas can help with video and phone sales techniques for your automotive dealership. Check out our Automotive Phone Training or Active Coaching Services and see how Phone Ninjas can help you!

“You might be interested in a new vehicle and we’d possibly like to buy yours” said the sales consultant I overheard while my car was being serviced. Sure, it could be a “one-off” opening line for a voicemail, but this line was used multiple times for the new vehicle they were trying to sell. To make matters worse, the ending of the calls was “so, um yeah just figured I’d give you a call you know, and ugh yeah let me know.”

Let’s be serious - if the customer were to listen to this voicemail, they’d most likely pass it over, right? It doesn’t sound very appealing, you know?

It’s voicemails and calls like the above that continue to plague our industry. The way your Sales Consultant or BD Agent presents the offer can make or break your chances of selling the customer a vehicle.

So, despite continuing to live in a world where inventory is low and used car pricing is through the roof, having good phone skills is still required. 

This also isn’t saying they're not a good Sales Consultant, either. What this is offering is that even your best Sales Consultants still need refresher courses on best practices to effectively handle phone calls and voicemails.

But, all too often, our response to the above voicemail is “well they're not good on the phones so we just have a BDC handle the calls.” But really? Do they all not have phones on their desks? What about in their pockets? Do their business cards have phone numbers on them?

Sure, you might have a BDC handle calls – who could also benefit from a refresher course – but just like in today’s experience, the Sales Consultant was the one handling outbound calls and leaving voicemails. Not the BDC.

Even if your Sales Consultant only makes a few phone calls – those phone calls still count. Every phone call, no matter who's making the call, should be handled with the same level of etiquette. Every phone call that’s not handled with proper phone etiquette is potentially a missed opportunity. How many opportunities are we willing to throw away because we didn’t want to train our Sales Consultants or BD Agents?

Take 30-seconds, complete a complimentary Stealth Test and see what it can do to help build strong phone skills for your Sales Consultants and BD Agents. 

A car dealership is not a simple entity. There are moving parts everywhere! Most are 4 businesses in one and some are even 5 businesses in one. Managers and department heads are constantly working to ensure that their staff is making the right decisions to ensure everyone’s income is maximized. When you break down the task list that a manager needs to handle on a daily basis it is long, and micro-managing every staff member never works out for anyone involved. 

With the current market and the market that is being projected ahead, it’s time to make sure that management is utilizing the proper tools to get an actual and honest snapshot of staff’s performance. Remember the phrase “work smarter, not harder?” Now is the time to mitigate stress and use every tool in the book to ensure staff performance is in tip-top shape.

There are plenty of training tools out there that give sales associates an idea of their performance and how to improve without a lot of hands-on work by a manager. This is a great way to ensure that staff is consistently checking their performance without that dreaded micromanagement. Daily training on the most common tasks, like answering the phone properly, is like brushing your teeth in the morning, it’s just a necessity.

When it comes to our bi-weekly or monthly check-in or morning meeting a manager can use a simple report from the training program to get an idea of strengths and weaknesses from whatever aspect we are training similar to many manufacturers’ CSI reports. It gives them an opportunity to mention key points quickly and efficiently so that everyone knows how to proceed. What’s even better with third-party training though, is when a trained professional is working to assist your associate. Gone are the days of multiple-choice quizzes to ensure someone “knows their facts.” Having a third-party coach is a great way to get an honest and unbiased assessment of your sales associates’ performance. It’s also a great way to continue training an associate when they need more assistance. It can be done on the salesperson’s schedule and the manager isn’t taking time out of their day to assist. Plus, how many of your managers have teaching degrees? Non, right? They’re sales pros, closers, product knowledge experts, they’re NOT trainers! Of course, it’s always great to have all parties involved, however with short staffing being a real issue, having someone else available to take that extra time on management’s behalf is a game-changer. 

So, when used as a consistent tool, third-party training is a crucial asset to any dealership. It allows management to get a snapshot of the group’s training and performance. It also allows sales to receive additional assistance if needed on an individual level, and it keeps all associates on the same page when it comes to performance expectations. With a massive market shift coming, third-party training may be seen as something to be cut from the budget. But it’s really a massive asset that dealers cannot afford to lose. As a matter of fact, most top-performing stores are doubling down on it! It should keep all departments involved focused on ensuring a profitable performance across the board. 

When everyone at the dealership works to improve their performance on the customer experience front, the dealership prospers tenfold. Having a live assistant to oversee sales associates’ performance in certain aspects of the dealership, like phone training or in the BDC, is huge because, as we all know, communication is key and perception is reality. When you get an honest assessment in a quick snapshot as a manager, you can quickly determine what needs attention and what is working as it should. While there may be some fat to trim, consistent training is not part of it!

These days there is a crucial part of the car buying process that needs to be communicated very clearly to keep a customer confident in their salesperson and the dealership they have chosen to give their business to. Gone are the days when someone could stroll the lot to pick out the trim level and color of the vehicle they are interested in and drive 3 cars while they are at it. The modern-day salesperson needs to explain what is happening in the market clearly and make sure the customer understands what their “real” options are.

Currently, we’re facing a market anomaly where vehicles are sold faster than they can be produced, and customers are bouncing from dealer to dealer over the phone trying to find something that they can even look at. With that being said, phone etiquette is going to become even more of a crucial factor in dealership survival in the coming months and years. Sales associates not only need to know their product knowledge like it’s second nature, but they also need to be able to educate an unaware customer or defuse a frustrated customer in their first encounter.

Working with a customer over the phone has been commonplace even before vehicle inventory was slim to none. Now more than ever we need to ensure that our sales associates are willing to review all the details necessary with the customer and continue to keep the tone of the call positive. Perception is reality and if the sales associate isn’t on the ball over the phone, they are wasting an opportunity because the customer will go elsewhere.

This is where having a common and consistent practice for all associates over the phone is vital to a dealership’s success. We now need to work on having everyone on the same page and working as a team to present a united front across all departments. One thing that can help with this is dedicated phone training. Everyone can benefit from hearing themselves over the phone, but also having someone guide them to a better call with proven suggestions and best practices on how to continue to improve is extremely beneficial.

It's time to make sure that all associates are working to inform the customer of current dealership practices and how they are continuing to work to fulfill their customers’ needs in a vehicle. All aspects of the dealership’s current process should be presented in a positive manner, from pricing to available inventory to drive. The process should be presented simply and efficiently making it sound like a matter of fact, but also reassuring the customer that they are going to be taken care of appropriately. A sales associate that follows an organized process on the phone for every call will have no problem putting the customer at ease and getting a higher rate of commitment to purchase with them.

A united front via the phone, and in-person, is going to put your dealership ahead of the pack and keep your sales associates busy with special orders and pre-sales through even the toughest of markets. What processes is your dealership putting into place or currently utilizing to do this, and are they working?