Hi Victoria, is your question about online visites / chat or voice calls?
Ben
I have found that many customers do not expect you to answer their inquiries after-hours. It has been a struggle to get anyone to answer leads after/hours and on Sundays because the mentality is largely "why do I want to spend my one day off answering leads with a chance of getting an appt." That said, we offer the customer the ability to text us: for example, in the auto-responder (only use them on the weekend), we offer "we are currently closed, but feel free to text us and we will be in touch" this has been very effective because the customers who respond via text are usually highly engaged, and turn into an appointment. The biggest thing to consider is making it worth the BDC Reps/Sales Consultants time as they are answering inquiries on their day off.
for me, if you’re able to connect on your off time you definitely beat out other dealers. that instant human connection wins
@ben, do you get many voice calls after hours?
@derrick, so you’re saying your BDC dept is open 24 hours a day responding to texts? or is it done externally?
Do you guys have a procedure for who handles closed hours, and Sunday leads?