Depending who you ask, some might tell you it's about rapport or the ability to close.

Others will tell you it's all about leads, or a combination of all mentioned. 

While these are significant contributors, hang on to your hat while we explore the big picture.

When you get past all the tips, talk and hype around active listening, selling to customer needs or trying to wow the customer, you can step back to get a look at the big picture.

As a cog in the machine, you're a contributor to a business. From moving inventory and sales to putting customers in the finance office, you've got to look at things from beyond your view.

We all know it's the service department that makes up most of the dealers revenue, but sales and finance can bring in a lot more. Part of the problem is the process, and getting down to business. 

There's also the unbanked, which are not always easy to finance and make up a considerable part of the market. 

But when you put this all together, if you really want to drive sales, skip to the point. You can still build rapport, do a needs analysis and so on. If you can see more people per day and fine tune your process, you'll come out ahead.

Want to increase leads and improve conversions? It’s easier than you think.

The success of most car dealership relies on relationships. Yet most sales people overlook one of the easiest ways to grow their leads. This is not about relationship marketing or social media or referral marketing, at least not directly.

That one opportunity few make use of effectively that can make all the difference with generating more auto leads and sales is about one thing that you would not expect, and it’s been in front of you the whole time. What is it? I’m talking about online reviews.

Many will dismiss the advice that follows. 

There will be those that ignore this advice, thinking they’ve it heard before and dismiss the idea. For those that take action, they will have the advantage.

What It Takes

Before you’re able to earn the trust of consumers that have never heard of you, the prospects that you would like to convert, you need to think about reputation management.

You might provide sales inside a dealership and think it’s the name of the brand that brings people in the door. But people deal with people, and buy from people they like.

When you make use of online reviews, you’re getting an endorsement. That carries far more weight than most forms of advertising could ever hope to provide. Possibly the only option that might compete is the endorsement from a celebrity (which brings some trust too) but few dealers have the deep pockets to spend on such gambles for local marketing.

This comes with a degree of trust, and when it’s shared on social media, you’re able to access the personal network of an individual through a referral. Unlike advertising, this tends to not fall victim to banner blindness or similar due to the personal connection and endorsement.

The journey begins by tapping the shoulder of past customers to request reviews. Most consumers say they’re happy to do so when asked, but around half follow through.

So it becomes a numbers game in order to build your credibility and acquire any sort of meaningful or substantial amount of reviews that might get consumers to take notice.

The key to acquiring these reviews is not just by asking, but also to consistently remind them. Possibly up to a certain point, you might not want to risk a restraining order.

What you should do

The best time to request a review is promptly after a sale. If you think of a review request as a lead, they too go cold over time. But that’s not to say that you shouldn’t try with the past customers from weeks or months ago.

How you go about it is important. Use simple language, get to the point, and demonstrate your gratitude. Here’s an example;

Hello John

It was great to meet you the other day and I’m glad we were able to find you a car that makes you happy.

I wanted to ask a small favor. I presume you were happy with our engagement and was hoping you would leave a review at [website] and mention your experience. If you could also mention myself, I would be forever grateful.

Warm Regards

“Dave”

The customer isn’t always able to comply and provide you a glowing review that minute. Which is why it often takes a few requests (reminders) so that you might ‘convert’ them to taking that minute or two to write up a small review. When following up, or reminding, be sure to create variations and not send the same message.

The challenge of sending review requests along with reminders, besides managing day to day responsibilities is they quickly add up. When doing so manually, it can lead to dozens of emails that need to be sent each week on top of everything else, which is why using some type of review management software with automation for review requests makes all the difference.
 

One of the most important aspects of lead acquisition is collecting email addresses, so that you’re able to nurture the consumer. Most don’t convert on first encounters when it comes to sales, and requesting online reviews isn’t any different.

What you should know

The people coming in the door might have settled on the brand of the product you offer, but unless you’re the only game in town offering that brand of car, there’s something that made those consumers to choose your place of business over the competition.

This often comes down to reputation management, which includes word of mouth, along with referrals and online reviews.

• 95% of car buyers start their vehicle search online

• Over 90% of consumers rely on reviews when selecting a dealership

• 72% of car buyers would drive 20-60 miles for a dealership with good reviews

• Over 30% of consumers seek out a specific salesperson based on positive reviews

When a consumer has interest in a product or service, 97% of consumers will use the internet for researching (BIA/Kelsey) their needs. This leads them to search engines, and within the results they will often find review websites. Especially when they get past the product and start looking for local places of business they might turn to for purchasing.

Over half of the car buying process (59%) is spent researching online, and you can be certain that the consumer will see all sorts of options where to buy when they shift gears beyond make and model, and start looking for a local solution to deliver.

The customer journey of a car buyer goes from looking to narrowing down interests to choosing where to conclude the transaction.

For car dealers and salespeople that take their brand and reputation management seriously, they can tell you that it’s the last stretch where online reviews matter most, so you can become a viable option when a consumer is deciding where to bring their business.