The conversation on digital retailing, customer experience and dealer optimization continues. But do our efforts on the dealer level reflect these conversations? More importantly, who on the dealer level is engaging in these conversations? How often have we gone to a dealer or OEM training session to not follow up on what was discussed? These conversations are the start of effecting positive change. But positive change can only be effective if your dealer's processes change as well.

Two of the biggest struggles dealers still face is answering a phone call properly and responding to a web lead correctly. Asking ourselves, "are we really still talking about taking calls responding to leads." Sounds simple or something that we're already doing, right?

However, believe it or not, dealers still struggle to get contact information from the call and that initial email response out to the customer. And for those that do get the email out, it's often not answering the customer's questions. In fact, in many cases, if the customer does receive an initial email, it's an auto-response offering that "so and so" will be reaching out to you. The problem with using an autoresponder during business hours is that the Sales Consultant or BD Agent that usually does reach out to the customer is not presented in the autoresponder. And while this doesn't sound like a big deal, we've already created a breakpoint in the customer's experience within the first five minutes.

The breakpoint we've just created is having set up false expectations for the customer. The customer inputs their information/questions and is expecting a response. But when - and if they do get a response - it often doesn't answer their questions. Those questions could be anything from pricing, trim-level, trade-in, and financing, to name a few. Or, even easier in today’s unique market, availability! So now, not only have the customers' questions not been answered, but now they're having to repeat themselves starting the process over.

If the customer doesn't get a response at all, they might call the dealership but since no contact information was asked for, you don’t know it’s the same customer! You see, the keyword here is "might." Without calling the customer or responding to their questions in an email, we're "maybe" going to get the opportunity to earn their business. With the amount of money and resources that are invested on a monthly basis to have these opportunities, why then do we let ourselves go with "might" call vs. "your appointment is scheduled for (time)."

To get that appointment and earn the customer's trust, we have to communicate with them. Answering their questions - whether that is in an email, on the inbound call or making the outbound call. And while it's certainly easier to speak directly with the customer on the phone, we have to first answer their questions - setting the tone for the next steps. But to get the next steps of the process, you have to respond in a timely fashion. Five minutes doesn't seem like a lot of time, but guess what? The customer is shopping at multiple stores. And if your store isn't responding or does respond without answering their questions, they already have a bad taste in their mouth and potentially moved on.

Whereas, if we'd responded within five minutes, answered their immediate questions, and offered the appointment or a phone call, the chances of you earning their business increases. To address this core issue we continue to face – your Sales Consultants, BD Agents, and sales managers need ongoing coaching and training. Without this, you'll continue to be plagued with the same issues. How many leads and opportunities are you willing to throw away?

Food for thought. Take a moment and see how much profit you're potentially missing! 

Ah, the day a new sales consultant starts. That moment of relief, believing that all will be well and the sales floor will have coverage for the weekend. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? Well, let's back up for a second. It seems that there are three schools of thought when hiring the ideal sales consultant. That is A. hiring a Sales Consultant with dealership experience, B. hiring a Sales Consultant with sales experience (not dealerships specific) and C. hiring a Sales Consultant with no experience. Either may wind up being the best hire ever, BUT let's take a step back for a second. The idea that we let a new hire loose on the sales floor without any training can be a recipe for disaster…. And it happens every single day! While they might have all the necessary ingredients, they don't have a good recipe. At the end of the day, you've got a recipe that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth as, yet another Sales Consultant turns over. And who knows how many opportunities.

While It's never easy to determine the success of a new Sales Consultant - off the cuff - various factors must be considered. That is everything from training, sales goals, experience, and an overall plan of action for the first ninety days on the job. Think about it for a minute. Just because they've got sales experience at another dealership doesn't mean they'll automatically know how you run your dealership. Much less whether or not they've ever had proper training on how to handle objections or manage leads. So, while inventory is at an all-time low and customers are conditioned to buy without much hesitation, this will not last forever. Instead, it's the perfect time to solidify your hiring process and ensure everyone has the proper training. 

Here are two things to think about when onboarding a new Sales Consultant.

1.     Have a Process for New Hires That Is Consistent

I understand that you need to cover the sales floor while hoping they'll sell the eight to ten units needed to meet OEM goals. But hiring a Sales Consultant to fill the hole and praying they don't sink isn't a cost-effective solution, and it won't help your dealer. Another issue that dealers encounter when allowing a new Sales Consultant to work on the floor is that they've most likely had zero lead management training, or worse – allowing them to work the sales floor without any OEM product training. Living on a prayer might work, but why risk losing customers for the hope that they'll sell a vehicle they know nothing about?  

You may be scratching your head about not allowing an experienced sales consultant on the floor, but the truth is that while they have the expertise, they're unfamiliar with your process. If your sales consultant is not following a process, it can and will result in unwanted break-points in both the sales process and, more significantly, the customer's entire experience. I can't tell you how many times I've witnessed a new-to-the-floor "seasoned" sales consultant sell customers things or "We-Owes" that would otherwise be prohibited. All of this can not only reduce your profit margins but will also lead to frustration on both sides. Not to mention the "unwanted" "meeting" your Sales Manager will have to have, in which case the new sales consultant may be chastised for offering freebies or products that aren't even an option. This creates unnecessary tension that could have been avoided. 

2.     Your Sales Training Isn't Working. But Not for the Reasons You Might Think. 

Let's not forget the famous "one on ones" or "shadow days" that Sales Managers use to train new hires. In many cases, the GM will tell the Sales Managers to spend time with the new hire. Sounds great, right? It works in restaurants, doesn’t it? But in reality, the new Sales Consultant will most likely spend time shadowing a Sales Consultant who follows their own set of processes, which will not help the new hire. It just reinforces bad habits. 

And one of the most common reasons sales managers give for not spending time with new hires and instead assigning them to whoever is available is due to "lack of time." And look, your Sales Managers are undoubtedly busy, but at the end of the day, it's often not about "time," but rather about what's in it for them. Have you considered rewarding your Sales Managers with retention bonuses for their Sales Consultants? If they had a strong incentive to boost retention, it would benefit the dealer and them as managers – knowing that nothing is more frustrating than starting over every month by hiring a new sales consultant.

The last component of not having an effective sales strategy is not realizing that it takes time to go through the process. Far too frequently, a dealer's training program has good intentions but ends up throwing them onto a floor to assist a customer when they have no idea how anything works. This can frustrate the customer and creates a rift between the Sales Manager and the new sales consultant. If you're going to implement a sales training process, stick to it! Not everyone will make it through the ninety days, and for those who don't, it will give you insight into the breakpoints and provide ideas on how to address them. 

Lastly, there's nothing wrong with having an outside source - whose highly trained in sales processes and lead management - to assist your dealership! Techniques that are proven to work! In fact, by doing so, it not only ensures that your Sales Consultants are appropriately trained, but it also allows your managers a means of managing their Sales Consultants on consistent processes. 

A BDC is a business development center, an auto dealership department devoted solely to making outbound calls and taking inbound ones. Chances are you’ve heard the term mentioned, even if you haven’t yet instituted one of your own.

While at first glance, you may question the wisdom of setting up a team just for phone calls — isn’t this the social media era, after all? — you’ll soon see the reason why so many dealerships have chosen the BDC model.

Whether you opt to create a BDC in-house or work with a virtual center on a contract basis, the advantages can range from more free time for salespeople to better appointment and sale rates and beyond. The old-fashioned phone has some life left in it, at least in the auto space.

BDC: What it is and why your dealership needs one

The automotive BDC is a place where all your dealership’s phone needs combine.

When you have dedicated BDC staff, either in-house or virtually, there’s a better chance that your potential customers will reach a real person on their first attempt to call. These representatives also have free time to reach out to more prospects, and the well-honed phone skills to make a good impression.

Top-performing BDCs can drive an 80% inbound appointment set rate, with a close rate of 50%. These centers aren’t one-trick ponies, either, delivering results on both inbound and outbound calls. Here’s what that looks like:

Inbound

BDC representatives take inbound calls from curious shoppers, ideally confirming appointments with these interested callers. You can choose which departments go through the BDC instead of their own personnel. For example, it’s up to you whether to train BDC reps on fixed ops products or to keep that with the service department. Inbound calls can come from:

• Interested shoppers who prefer the phone to online browsing.
• Previous buyers interested in making another purchase.
• Callers looking for something other than to buy a car (such as parts or service).

Outbound

While knowledgeable BDC representatives are experts at turning inbound calls into appointments, they also make outbound calls to a long list of potential prospects. This division of labor allows salespeople to focus on closing deals on the sales floor while the reps reliably feed them new leads. Call recipients might include:

• Replies to curious shoppers who have filled out an information form on the website.
• Outreach to previous buyers or service customers about their interest in a new purchase.
• Sales calls based on referrals from current customers.

You can get this level of performance from either an in-house or virtual BDC. In either case, to deliver good set rates and show rates, the reps should be knowledgeable, well-coached and working from consistent, high-quality scripts.

For an in-house BDC, you’ll have to connect your team with a good coaching program. For a virtual BDC, it’s important to link up with an industry-leading provider.

Coaching for an in-house BDC

Why work with Phone Ninjas to coach your BDC personnel? In short, it’s because this coaching is very different from one-time training. Team members start out learning from video lessons, then comes the heart of the program: Reviews of real customer calls based on phone scripts.

Representatives being coached by Phone Ninjas work from a library of well-tailored phone scripts to give customers a consistent experience. Coaches base their reviews and comments on the audio of real calls made using these scripts, giving each BDC rep a template for success.

The BDC manager monitors the progress of each BDC representative over time, in a number of areas. These leaders use the rich data to enforce accountability and motivate staff to greatness.

Virtual BDC services

Rather than coaching an in-house team of BDC representatives, Phone Ninjas can take charge of your inbound and outbound calling entirely, serving as a virtual BDC. This is a way to simplify the whole process of phone management, paying a simple and economical rate to have our experienced reps handle:

• Inbound sales calls, service calls, warm transfers and operator functions
• Outbound follow-up, sales lead generation and service generation calls

The level of service you require from the virtual BDC will determine what you receive — each deployment is tailored to a specific dealership. For example, if you want to fully commit to the third-party model, you can opt for a virtual operator.

The virtual operator, which we consider the “director of first impressions,” serves as a live voice for your customers. Rather than reaching an automated menu, they hear from a real person who will greet them, schedule appointments and transfer them to the department they’re seeking.

The overall virtual BDC experience is designed to create a smooth, high-quality process for your dealership, staffed by people who understand customer service and have advanced phone skills. These experts are there to deliver set rates and show rates that will help your salespeople thrive. All this excellence comes without any of the complexities of staffing a new in-house department.

Contact us for a demo, a free phone analysis or even a free mystery shop to learn about coaching your in-house BDC to greatness or adding a virtual BDC to your offerings.

Does your dealership have a business development center? Is it producing the level of leads you’re looking for?

If the answer to either of those questions is “no,” you’ve got some homework to do — but don’t worry, the end result is worth it. A thriving BDC can become a powerful pipeline of leads for any dealership turning inbound and outbound calls into new business.

Establishing a new BDC or turning around an existing one can come down to training. By using BDC phone scripts, active coaching and more tools and tactics, you can make sure your phone warriors are producing leads at an impressive clip in short order.

Of course, there is another option — a third-party virtual BDC — but we’ll get to that. First, let’s define what we’re talking about.

Automotive BDC: Widening your customer pipeline

A BDC, a dedicated department to answer and make phone calls, is going from nice-to-have to need-to-have. If your dealership doesn’t already have one, it’s worth considering right away.

Your dealership can’t afford to have floor staff making and taking calls on an as-needed basis. This does a disservice to those employees, taking them away from value-adding work, and to your customers, who might face longer wait times or inconsistent service.

The best way to make the phone into an essential part of your sales apparatus is to dedicate people to these tasks. These should be trained and experienced reps, ones who know your products inside out and are ready to answer questions and warm up potential leads.

There are two sides of BDC work, both worthy of focus and development:

• Inbound calls: Fielding customers’ questions is the prime way of turning curious shoppers into red-hot leads. Their interest may cool down if they get transferred or put on hold, so having razor-sharp BDC personnel ready to help them right away is a must.
• Outbound calls: Whether they’re responding to online inquiries or reaching out to past customers, your BDC team members can strike another rich vein of potential leads through outbound calls.

What could go wrong with this ironclad approach to conversion? A lack of training, consistency or preparation, for one thing.

Having people ready to take and make phone calls is one thing, and drilling them until they’re experts is another. You should take the latter approach for the best possible results.

BDC training, scripts and more: Powering up phone skills

Whenever there’s a knowledge gap, you fill it with training. In the case of BDC training, this means not just drilling your team on the products they’re selling — they should also learn how to specifically handle phone calls.

Training in the BDC isn’t something that just happens once. It’s an ongoing process with a few components. While that sounds a little complex, it really just means covering all bases. You don’t want to give your team an incomplete education. Here are some of the essentials:

BDC phone scripts

The BDC experience should be consistent and carefully guided by best practices. Ideally, you’re not sending your reps out there to freestyle. Rather, they’ll have access to BDC phone scripts that help them gather information while giving a positive, helpful customer experience.

These phone scripts should cover a wide range of scenarios. This helps your staff solve a variety of issues without coming off too robotic or impersonal. Whatever situation your customer is dealing with, the BDC rep has the solution, from the start of the call to the finish.

Ongoing training

Rather than sitting your BDC staff down for a single session and sending them on their way, you should keep up with their development. This can start with video sessions to let your team know exactly what they should be doing to get better results from their calls.

The best training for your reps involves professional coaches checking on their progress. How well are they applying the scripts? Are they getting the right information and doing all they can to provide a great customer experience?

Management support

Even when you work with consultants, leadership personnel — that’s you — have an important role to play in keeping your BDC staff at their sharpest. By checking up on call performance, you can make sure BDC training scripts are being followed.

Accountability is an important part of BDC success. This doesn’t just mean being tough on employees to make sure they take their training seriously — you should also make sure to be a positive champion for the process and all it’s accomplishing.

Virtual BDC: Calling in customer outreach ringers

Staffing up internally isn’t the only way to make a BDC work for you. If you don’t feel you can free up the resources to hire and/or train a team of BDC personnel, virtual BDC could be the perfect alternative.

In this model, the experts don’t train and consult with your team, they take the calls themselves. By having these professionals handle your inbound and outbound calls, you can make sure everything from service inquiries to follow-up lead generation is handled with panache.

Beyond the lead generation BDC functions, you can even arrange to have a virtual operator. Not virtual as in digital — this is a live person who can quickly and efficiently direct your callers to the department they need to reach, for a smooth and positive customer experience.

Whichever option you choose, whether you’re setting up a BDC for the first time, training up your team or opting to go virtual, success depends on having the right allies on your side. When you’re talking about dealership BDC, that ideal ally is Phone Ninjas.

Our promise is smoother operations within your dealership and better BDC conversion rates. What’s holding your reps back from converting 80% or more of their calls into warm leads? If you work with Phone Ninjas, the answer is nothing.

Contact us today to learn more about BDC training scripts or our virtual BDC offering, or schedule a demo to find out how we match your dealership’s needs.

Have you ever gone onto a dealership's staff page to see employees switching positions? You'll see a Sales Consultant becoming a BD Agent. Or a Sales Consultant becoming a Manager. A Manager becoming a BD Agent. You'll see it all. It makes one wonder “why all of this switching around?” Sure, there're instances where the switch makes sense. But it also could be due to a lack of training and the mentality “let’s give “Ed” a try now….”

One of the biggest reasons dealerships continue to face a high level of turnover has to do with a lack of training. I'd say that "you'd be surprised to see how high the level of turnover is on the dealer level," but I don't think we're that surprised. So, if we're not that surprised with the turnover, how can we resolve this recurring issue? An issue that continues to cost dealerships hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost profitability.

Will switching the employee to a new department or role – without training – resolve the issue? No, it won’t. This method goes back to the question of what the real issue even is? Not to mention, have we dug into the core issue and asked ourselves the hard questions? Out of those who have switched roles on the dealer level, how many of them were trained for the role they're leaving? Yet, we constantly say, "We offer full training and will work with you to achieve success."

Achieving success in their respective roles isn't done through pairing them with a Sales Consultant or Manager who isn't following the process themselves. In fact, when's the last time your Managers discussed the "process,” or lack thereof, for sales or lead handling? What about the phones? In many cases, it's not discussed. Or if it is, each Manager has their own version of the "process." It's this situation that can lead to such a high turnover or the "burn & turn" we face. Where instead of saying the Sales Consultant or BD Agent didn't have what it takes – be cognizant that it could have been they didn't have the skills or resources to be successful in their role. How can we expect a Sales Consultant or BD Agent to be successful in their roles if they haven't had any training? Or they don't have a consistent process to follow?

Whether the process is good or not, it at least offers insight where the potential breakpoints are in their performance. In which case your managers can assist them in enhancing their performance. But if there isn't a standard process, or worse, your managers follow their own processes, it can and does send mixed signals regarding what your Sales Consultants or BD Agents need to do to perform better.

More importantly, if your dealership invested in quality training from the time they were onboarded, you would not only have quality training but a road map for success—understanding how their performance has impacted their jobs and what they need to work on to improve. Imagine how much less turnover you'd be facing if they were properly trained? In addition to retention in their role, they were initially hired to generate income and make customers for life, right? When's the last time you discussed with your Sales Consultant or BD Agent why they wanted to switch roles? And no, don't default to "well they weren't performing, and we needed to fill another position." Instead, focus on the performance and whether or not they were trained for the role. This isn't saying everyone will be successful, either. It's just that there is a much better chance of their success if they've had proper training.

Are you ready to kick high turnover to the curb and increase profitability? Are you ready for ongoing coaching and training by professionals?

Most of us have faced the hard reality of a bad month. Whether that's missing the monthly manufacturer stairstep after we “realized” the dollars or not hitting the new sales volume requirements imposed upon us internally. Leaving you faced with that never-ending cycle of "adding another program car" to make the number. Having your GSM or Sales Manager crunch numbers harder than Accounting, who's paying out the monthly commissions, to then start the "report" frenzy. Looking at every report to see where the "missed" opportunities were or scouring for what we call the "low hanging fruit." 

Looking for the low hanging fruit at the end of the month as you're deciding whether to add additional program cars is not the solution. And reviewing the reports near the end or after the fact is only looking at one part of the root cause. As it's not taking into consideration the total leads (including inbound calls) your dealership received for the month. And sure, none of us are perfect, and leads do fall through the cracks. But when the cracks get bigger and bigger each month, you start losing that many more potential deals. That's everything from the inbound calls that never made it into CRM, potential deals your GSM or Sales Manager didn't follow-up on, unanswered leads, previous month's leads that are still hanging in the abyss, or current web leads that weren’t followed-up on.

Despite many CRM's having workflows, the cold hard truth is many of the workflows are behind the times. Nor do they often reflect how customers communicate with us. Whether that’s through social media messaging, texting, email – etc. In fact, what's more concerning is that so many of today's CRM's don’t even count texting as a means of "following-up" with the customer! *fax much? The point is we cannot solely rely on an antiquated workflow report to get the real story. Instead, you must dig into the CRM and see how these leads were actually answered and followed-up on. Think about it, how easy is it to click a button that says "phone-call" / "left-message" when they might not have actually even called the customer? Or "sent-email," which was nothing more than an outdated "canned" auto-reply template that failed to answer the customer's question. What's worse is that, more often than not, the Sales Consultants and BD Agents’ CRM email signature line has never been updated or offers the incorrect information by way of broken links. And if you think your Sales Consultants or BD Agents are only sending emails out of their work email, invest in a proper third-party mystery shop and see for yourself. Not to mention all of the other messages/follow-ups that are done through social media apps, or other platforms your dealership is using that aren't reviewed or captured.

So how do we globalize their communications and tackle the root cause of the issue? It's not easy. But it is possible. And it starts with Active Coaching. So when they're answering leads, inbound calls, chats, texts, social media messages, or on any other platform, they're doing so properly with consistency. The more uniformity across the platforms and among the team - with quality responses - the better their chances are of closing them. More importantly, avoiding the cracks, tackling the root cause of the issue starts with lead management. And no, this is not just about looking at the reports, either. It's about understanding how the leads - every single one - is handled. You'd be surprised, but there are so many instances where the lead's first response is not consistent with your expectations. Whether that's not sending a well thought out and relevant email to not even sending an email at all (yeah, that happens too). As we know, we tend to have one shot at getting the customer's attention. And once we do get their attention, we have to diligently follow-up with purposeful content until we've built the relationship that makes the sale.

Bottom Line: if we want to end the cycle of adding rentals/demos/service loaners/program cars each month to hit our numbers, we have to tackle the real issue. That issue is handling the leads correctly. But to handle the leads correctly, they need active coaching. Coaching that instills consistency in how they respond to each and every lead. Who doesn't want to avoid a bad month and have their dealership be profitable? 

Completing a training course or being mystery shopped is only one part of the equation. Taking that first step by offering your team training is great, but what happens after the session? All too often we revert back to the same old habits – not answering the phones correctly, for example – because we've failed to tackle the root cause of the issue. Pointing out the areas of opportunity is one thing. Fixing the break-points and staying in front of the people with it is what changes their performance. To enhance their performance, it's critical to have ongoing and situational active coaching.

Think about it, your Sales Consultant gets mystery shopped, and before you know it, they're sitting in the GM's office getting "the talk." That "talk," though, is not "coaching" and is usually a situation where the Sales Consultant or BD Agent is sitting there defending themselves. Especially if they're caught off guard. Instead of taking the approach of sitting behind the desk berating them on what they did wrong, offer them a path to success. You can provide them "answers" and "tips & tricks" all day long – but if they don't have the solutions in their back-pocket to reference when handling the same objections as muscle memory, they're not going to perform any better. And the “tips & tricks” of what the shop company is looking for really doesn’t address the root cause and that’s fixing what’s really wrong…. What’s really wrong? Doing better consistently! Not just “beating the test” or “faking a score” but truly seeking to understand and then supporting that with changed behavior, improved scores and better numbers. Because at the end of the day, you’re there to make money. Profit isn’t a dirty word and all the “education” offered should be doing one thing, helping you to make more money.

And before we blame the "mystery-shop" and how it wasn't a real situation, let's talk about the real problem here: The problem is that your teams are not effectively trained to answer the phones. Using a mystery shop by itself also isn't enough training. Quality training is active coaching sessions that use the mystery shops as examples as one piece of an overall strategy. Working on the break-points in the call. Everything from the greeting needs analysis, to asking for the appointment, to overcoming objections and making sure you’ve offered proper directions to the store which has a method. These core steps must be effectively and efficiently accomplished in one call and it’s absolutely possible to do it within the average duration of an inbound call of 3.25 minutes. Make no mistake, each mystery shop offers valuable insights on how to handle that break-point in the future. But you see, unless there is follow-up – through active coaching – it's easy to fall back into the same pattern they're accustomed to when handling the phones.

Another of the many benefits of active coaching is that it’s entirely virtual. Long gone are the days where the trainer needs to come into the dealership. All your Sales Consultant or BD Agent needs is a quiet place, a computer, and a pair of headphones. It's these "check-points" (active coaching) that can build their confidence, knowing that they have a training session scheduled just for them. Whereas when you have the trainer in the dealership, you (the GM) usually pull them aside multiple times, getting them off track, to ask questions, or inquire about other break-points you'd like them to address. Because let’s face it, you just can't help yourself from getting involved. Let the Sales Consultants and BD Agents complete their active coaching session online and work with them to track each session's progress. You'd be surprised as to how many of your Sales Consultants & BD Agents want to do better at their jobs. They (being some) just don't have the courage to ask for more training or know how to ask for it. And for some, they just don't think they need training!

Imagine if the times you did pull one of your Sales Consultants or BD Agents into your office that it was to discuss how they've enhanced their performance. Where the feedback is positive and a chance for you to connect with your teams. Believe it or not, most of your Sales Consultants or BD Agents would love the opportunity to sit down with their GM to ask you questions on how to improve their skill-set based on what they're learning. But again, if you're only using these opportunities to do a throat-punch and not offer the tools to better their performance, they wind up leaving your office more deflated than they already were. Don't be reactive, be proactive, and you won’t just see results but you’ll see sustainable results!

Are you ready for an Active Coaching Method for your team? One that consists of mystery shops, listening to actual customer calls, critical coaching and personalized one-on-ones? Your prospects sure are….

If an "easy button" really existed we'd all have it jammed by now. Effortlessly fixing one issue at a time. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. And the "easy button" is usually only ever short-lived. Never fixing the root cause. You see, the root cause is the "real problem." It’s the question behind the question, it’s the problem behind the problem, it’s the math behind the math…. One that cannot be "band-aided" or "swept under the rug" to address later. Or worse, we ignore these "issues" when the times are good, never truly learning from the past and how that impacts the future. Instead of jamming the "easy button," you have to fix the issue's root cause. One of the most significant issues and root causes for missed opportunities that dealerships still face today is lack of training!

The lack of training offered on the dealer level makes sense when one of the most common frustrations and issues we face on the dealer level today is the age-old dilemma of "we aren't closing enough leads, so let's add another $5k in monthly spend! That will fix the closing rate." If it were this easy, we'd all be doing it, no? Well, sadly, most dealers are approaching it this way. Because instead of fixing the root cause of this issue, most will simply press the "easy button" and add to their monthly ad budget. Sure, pressing the "easy button" and spending more money will produce more leads for your dealerships. And sure, you might close more leads as a result. But why aren't we talking about the root cause of not having a good closing rate? Why aren't we discussing the poor set and show rates on the appointments? Why aren't we talking about the vast amount of opportunities left on the table each month from lack of performance and training?

If you were to actively listen to your dealership's inbound phone calls or read your team's lead responses, you might be scratching your head as you just agreed to use the "quick-fix solution." Thinking, "well, we trained them once or twice. They took the OEM training," which, while that might be true – it doesn't mean they are adequately equipped to handle inbound phone calls and lead opportunities. Training isn't done in a day, or by having someone come into the dealership once or twice. It's more than that, and it takes time! It’s a process and it’s ongoing.

Aren't we all tired of getting stuck on the hamster wheel and stuck in the autoloop of all autoloop conversations? The irony in all of this is that most GMs want to "cut" spend when the results aren't there. No, that does not mean they want to hire outside training due to cutting the ad spend. They just want to "cut" the expense and hope for the best. How about instead of "cutting your spend," and hoping for the best, or spending money on additional ads (or any ads at all) - you use it for training! Training that will fix the root cause of the issue! So instead of jamming the "easy button," you're focused on building success not just for today, but for the months in the future. Money that would be used to invest in building stronger sales consultants. At some point the decision must be made and the line drawn.

Think about it, if you just took a quarter of your total ad spend and used that for ongoing monthly sales agent coaching, one-on-one training sessions and supporting mystery shops, you'd be able to spend the overall same amount and yield substantially better results! It sounds almost too good to be true, but it is true; it’s absolutely true! The fact is that while you can keep jamming your "Easy Button" and throw opportunities down the drain for the hope of doing better, you can instead take the lead and get better results with the same overall spend. Investing in training, investing in your people, which will build a solid team.

To get this process started, first - do not stop advertising altogether. Just don't add to your monthly spend if your sales team isn’t equipped to effectively handle the current opportunities. Think about it. Your team has one shot at getting the customer's attention (their first impression). A bad first impression can make or break the deal before it even starts. It sounds simple, and it is! Every dollar counts for the bottom line, and if you can increase your bottom line without having to spend additional money on advertising, it's a win-win situation for the dealership.

To get started with training, take the time to review your current calls, email responses, and overall response time. You'd be surprised when looking at the CRM at just how many leads fall through the cracks; not whether or not they were responded to, but when and how. Leads that your teams didn't answer within the first hour (or in some instances that day), you’ve already lost that opportunity. The customer is shopping at other dealers at the same time. So, the dealer that responds first – with a quality response – is the one that’s most likely going to convert the customer.

Once you’ve taken the time to look at lead response quality, note your team's most significant opportunities:

Lead Response Time: As mentioned above, if your team doesn't answer the lead promptly, you’re losing business. It's essential to answer the lead as soon as possible. But making sure that the response is of the highest quality.

Email Response: If you can't get the customer on the phone on the first try, they need to send the customer an email (if the lead has it in there). The email needs to clearly outline the next steps for the customer, making sure to answer any questions they have. And most importantly, the email needs to outline any brand value statements that sets your dealer apart from the competition.

Inbound Phone Calls: Keep in mind, the customer is calling you! They saw a vehicle online and chose to engage. Inbound phone calls are critical as they’re one of the best, if not the best, lead sources there are but also the biggest profit leak in the store! Your team must be equipped to handle the call properly and efficiently. It's just as easy to lose the customer as it is to receive the inbound call. And sure, they’re recorded, some are even monitored and alerted, but what good does that do if it’s fumbled? In most instances that doesn't mean the customer's information is in the CRM for follow-up. Or, more importantly, that your team has the customer's email (or other contact information) in the CRM. And if we're not actively managing the CRM or reviewing inbound calls, then how many opportunities are we missing each month? So why would you just increase advertising without first getting better results on what you currently have?

Bottom Line: if there’s one thing you can do for your dealership without increasing advertising that’s guaranteed to drive sustainable results, it's offering training. Training that not just fixes the root cause of poor performance, but enhances performance, which adds to the Bottom Line. Every sales opportunity missed or handled poorly is a lost sale. How many lost sales are you willing to ignore, how many lost opportunities - repeatedly hitting the "easy button" - before taking action and fixing the problem behind the problem?

Have you partnered with a training provider yet?

The General Manager role isn’t an easy one, nor is it a role for the faint of heart. You need thick skin…. But that doesn't mean we don’t try our darndest to succeed and approach each and every day with a smile. Whether we were prepared for the position or not, adequately trained or not, it's a role we took on, and through the years, we’ve learned a lot from it. One of the biggest struggles GM's, humans, are still facing today is taking responsibility for their shortcomings. These shortcomings take many forms, such as lack of training, and then you have to find the time and make an effort to work on them. No one is perfect, and no GM has it all figured out on day one, if ever. But what we can do - whether you're a veteran or new GM - is make a conscious choice to not play into what "everyone" thinks a GM is or should be. Most notably, we don't want to be the GM that our teams or vendors say, " you will only have him for 5 minutes before he loses interest." As if we have a "condition" that our teams use to excuse us from the way we interact with our staff, colleagues and vendors.

Having been one of those "GMs" when I first started (and throughout the better part of my career), it's critical that we work on this "condition" (a mentality) that's used to excuse the way we approach our profession. Whether it's dealing with the excuses people make for us behind our backs, "only having 5 minutes" to offer, or confronting the reality of the situation, which starts with the willingness to break the mold and not be the GM they think you are, but being the GM you need to be.

So, where to start? Changing the way you lead is everything from dealing with ineffectively managing your time to not properly observing your teams to not creating and building a culture for success to not investing in the right training. Or, the worst one of all, micro-managing your managers to the point where they cannot make a decision without second-guessing themselves or without coming to you. The reality is this is no way to effectively manage your dealership's growth and success. As the GM, it has to come from the top - YOU - and your time must be invested appropriately. Now, before someone hits me with the "one-off" examples or the advanced time management bucketing techniques whereby you dedicate time to tasks based on importance, yeah, I get it. I'm not referring to those. Like my old self, somebody may speak up and hit me with their respective accomplishments with said "condition," but I’ll ask this: if you're doing “so well” doing it wrong, how much better could things be by doing it right? And, if you don’t believe you’re doing it wrong, why are your people, your vendors and your colleagues making excuses for you? Why are they also making fun of you behind your back?

Instead of playing into what you think a GM should be, be the GM you need to be to manage your dealership effectively.

You Only Have him for 5 Minutes: This is one of the most commonly used excuses your management team uses when working with a vendor or even your sales staff. Sure, it might be a punch in the face. Or, you might laugh it off as a joke. But this isn't a joke, and certainly not something to simply laugh off, implying that as a GM, you have this innate "condition." Importance, nope. That’s definitely not it. Instead, ask yourself - taking a step back - have you taken the time to understand why this is such a common statement? If you are going to participate in a meeting or vendor demo, make sure you are prepared and invest the time. Sure, this doesn't mean that you need to be in every meeting. After all, if you trust your sales managers, you don't need to be in every meeting or make every decision. That's what you have sales managers, no? Or did you hire them wrong? Perhaps another meeting (interview) you weren’t paying attention in? More importantly, if you're taking the time to meet with your sales managers or sales consultants, allow them the time needed that isn't interrupted with several phone calls, or a time where you're entirely distracted and not "present" in the conversation. There is nothing worse than trying to communicate with an unengaged GM. Pay attention. Observe what they are saying. Offer positive critiques. More importantly, use this time to mentor your sales managers. Sharing your overall growth strategy and how they fit into the bigger picture. The more your sales managers feel a part of the bigger picture - as their work directly impacts it - their performance will increase.

Training: This is not a role your sales managers need to play. Yes, your teams should observe the Sales Managers’ performance and reflect it in their own work. But even your sales managers need training. As the GM, it's your responsibility to cultivate a culture that encourages training and provides the necessary resources for training on the dealer level. If your Sales Managers are not adequately trained, how can they manage their sales consultants? And how can you expect them to train their sales consultants? Investing in quality training on the dealer level for inbound and outbound calls, internet leads, F&I, and product knowledge is invaluable. Building a properly equipped team only means better results for the dealership. And isn't it about not just cultivating a quality team but also increasing your dealership's profitability? Make no mistake, trying to increase profits on a broken foundation is not only short-lived but will only cause a chaotic environment with high turnover. Think about it, have you ever experienced a situation where your sales consultants are going through a revolving door, but not your Sales Managers? Is it really all your sales consultants' fault? Or is it because you failed to provide proper training, is that your sales consultants’ fault?

Vendors: As the GM, you shouldn’t be managing the day-to-day tasks with the vendor. That’s the job of your sales managers or Business Development Manager (for those that have that role) or the respective department head based on the specific vendor. Let them do their job so that you can do your job! If you're trying to manage the day-to-day tasks for a vendor, it doesn't effectively allow you to manage the bigger picture. The other unintended consequence of managing the daily decisions or tasks is that it can - in many cases - create a "micro-managed" environment, which stunts growth and leadership opportunities for your sales or business development managers. It's like moving ten steps forward to then fall down the stairs and have to start all over again, injured, with each step having its own set of issues and unnecessary obstacles to deal with. It's also essential to effectively delegate tasks so that each sales manager (or Business Development Manager) has a clear understanding of their role and individual responsibilities. Again, this goes back to empowering your teams to effectively manage the vendor relationships so that you may continue to focus on the bigger picture and what that looks like for the dealership.

Time Management: The GM, in many ways, is the face of the dealership. You should be spending time observing, mentoring, and, more importantly, spending time developing the next steps, setting the strategic direction of the store, developing a plan to achieve and executing against that plan. It's those next steps - based on your observations working with your management team - that can get your dealership to the next level. But this cannot be done if you're playing the role of what everyone "expects from a GM" and not what you need to do to be a successful GM. Having the right managers in place and investing in quality training will positively impact and cultivate a culture that enables all of your teams to succeed.

Bottom Line: If you effectively cultivate a culture that promotes growth and development through observation, empowering your managers, and spend time planning the next steps for your dealership, imagine where you'd be? This doesn't happen overnight, and it certainly doesn't happen by playing into the role of what you think a GM should be. Be the GM you need to be with those five minutes available to strategize and get your dealership to the next level.

It's ingrained in most of our DNA to answer a lead as soon as possible and for good reason! With the lead unanswered, every minute that goes by decreases your chances of getting in touch with the customer. But make no mistake, the quality of the response - especially the email - is just as important given that our first impression can make or break the deal. When answering an internet lead, it’s essential to check a few core items. Ones that can help you get a response that can help sell the vehicle!

Read the Lead (my personal favorite)

In most cases, the customer might complete a generic form on the website they inquired on. But it's important to know where the lead came from! If the lead came from a third-party site, the customer might not be expecting a response from your dealer directly. That's why it's so important to read the lead and know where the source came from. In doing so, you can identify that you are a partner with "x" lead source and assist them with their inquiry.

If the customer did ask a question, be sure to answer/address it before pressing send. Taking the time to answer the customers' questions shows that you are paying attention and are willing to assist them! Not to mention, if the customer were to get a generic response that does not answer their questions, you could be starting off on the wrong foot.

Subject Lines

Email still remains effective when corresponding with customers. According to Oberlo, in "2019, global email users amounted to 3.9 billion users (Statista, 2020). This figure is set to grow to 4.3 billion users in 2023 (Statista, 2020). That's half of the world's population. This statistic clearly shows that email marketing is an opportunity that you shouldn't be missing out on." So, to stand out, you have to have core elements that attract your customer to your email. One of the best ways to combat email fatigue is by offering a relevant, attention-grabbing subject line. One thing that stands out the most is using the customer's name in the subject line.

“[customer name], Important information on your [vehicle]!

By using the customer's name, and "your" (which refers to the vehicle as theirs) can easily grab their attention vs. using something to the effect of "thanks for your inquiry at [dealership]"

Out of the two options, which one would, you most likely open?

Brand Value Statements

With so many options out there from which the customer may choose, it’s essential to have attention-grabbing brand value statements that set your dealership (and you) apart. One of the best ways to offer your dealership's value is by showing the potential customer what your current customers are saying about you. There are tools out there that allow the customer to review you personally. By including testimonials from your existing customers, it can help you stand out from the competition.

Even if you take just one actionable item away from this, such as the email subject line, it can increase your open rate. Increasing your open rate means you have a better chance of working with the customer to sell them a vehicle!

Helpful Hints

Whether or not the “experts” agree, pay attention to links, pictures/images and attachments on initial emails. One article says the word to link ratio is “x” and another says it doesn’t matter but at the end of the day you don’t want to end up in spam.

Does your signature line have your company Facebook link, your picture, your rating site, a map site link and maybe a redundant email link in it? Sometimes they’ll get through, sometimes they won’t and sometimes your audience is trying to open that email with a poor signal on a mobile device. So, be mindful of these things and adjust accordingly.

What other things have you done to help make your emails stand out from the competition?