Dealerships are always on the lookout for the latest and greatest ways to generate new and better leads. One of the ways dealers have been doing this is by integrating engagement technology onto their websites — trade appraisal tools, deal arrangement tools — the list goes on.

Although web engagement technology of that caliber has proven time and time again to perform well, a disconnect with the sales team can limit the value a dealership can realize from the investment. The reason for this is because sales reps are used to receiving standard contact data for their follow-up.

Not only are many sales reps used to following up with consumers in a very specific way, but they don’t know what to do with the new data they’re receiving. In most cases, many of them don’t even know where to find it in the CRM.  

Prior to investing in any sort of lead generation software for your website, first ask yourself this question: Will my sales team be prepared to properly leverage the new data being generated? Many website engagement tools allow dealers to ask more substantial questions of the consumer like “how they want to be contacted, what financing interests them, what is the best next step for them, and more.  This raises the expectations of the consumer and sales reps need to be able to use that information in their follow-up to maintain a strong relationship with that consumer.  

In other words, they need to be prepared. Here are a few things you should openly communicate to your sales team prior to integrating software onto your dealership’s website:

Explain the “Why”

Many dealers consistently receive the same data from their basic lead forms on the website — name, phone number, email, and not much else. This makes it difficult for sales reps to adjust their approach because they don’t have any new information to use and reps easily fall into a patterned follow-up routine.

When consumers share more, they expect that routine to change based on what they shared.  This also gives the sales rep the opportunity to build more rapport with the consumer - increasing lead to appointment, appointment to show and show to sale.  

In a nutshell, you need to address the “Why?” for the sales team. Explain why these integrations are important, and then go on to describe the new data that your team will be able to access. Additionally, you can and should explain why that data is so important to consumer follow-up efforts. If you don’t explain the importance of these tools and the importance of this new data, then the buy-in for this new technology will be low — and things will never change.

Show Them Where to Find this Data.

Let’s not assume that just because there is new consumer data and insight that it will be automatically and correctly used.  The next conversation you need to have with your sales team is simply about finding this new consumer data. It isn’t enough to tell them that you’re integrating new technology and that the information will be useful.
 

Your sales team needs to be able to locate the data, so that they’re able to use it for their follow-up efforts. While the information generated by these tools will most likely transfer to your CRM, not all of the information collected by these newer tools can be properly placed into CRM fields.  Many times, the most valuable new data doesn’t have a home and gets put into a general notes/comments field.  If the sales team doesn’t know to look there or how to interpret that data, then they clearly won’t put it to use in their follow-up.  

Depending on the type of tool that you’ve integrated onto your dealership’s website, chances are pretty good that you have access to the navigation data from certain leads. By possessing the ability to look at how a consumer navigates your dealership’s website after completing an online experience, you have a great opportunity to provide answers to questions they hadn’t asked (yet), or change the course of a discussion to something that they may or may not have been interested in.

Let’s say, for example, you notice that after filling out their information in a trade appraisal tool, a consumer starts navigating through specific vehicle body types. With this knowledge, a member of your sales team can discuss their trade appraisal and segue into a discussion about possible vehicle body types they want like. Obviously, you don’t want to directly tell them about their search history, but you can lightly allude to it by suggesting body types or asking if they’ve decided on a certain vehicle body type.

Never Underestimate Feedback from Your Sales Team!

In the past, we’ve learned that even after integrating new software onto their website, many dealerships are concerned that they’re not taking full advantage of the software’s full data collection capabilities.

Although dealerships have access to an outrageous amount of new data, formulating the perfect talking points (during follow-up) around specific types of data received can be tricky -- especially if your sales team is receiving data that they’ve never received before.

Upon integrating software onto your website, I highly recommend having an open discussion with your dealership’s sales team. Each sales team member most likely possesses their own unique way of reaching out to prospects -- which means each individual prefers using certain types of lead information to craft their follow-up message. Some sales folks like knowing about a specific vehicle of interest; while some sales folks want to know how soon they want to purchase. These talking points are what help your team to thrive.

Regardless of what type of data your sales team prefers, it’s important that you do your due diligence to see if you can collect this data to begin with. As technology continues to become more advanced, many lead generation tools are continually able to cater to the needs of their sales team -- and that means the ability to customize.

That being said, talk to your sales team about the types of data they would like to collect into their CRM. Their feedback matters! After all, they’re the ones who are directly attempting to develop a relationship with a complete stranger and convince them to buy a vehicle.

As soon as you find out what it is they want to see, take that feedback to your software provider and see if they’re able to provide those customizations. If your provider isn’t able to make those changes in order to better accommodate your sales team, it might be time to find a new provider.

Integrating a new type of lead generation software onto your dealership’s website isn’t something to be taken lightly. Not only can it often be a big investment money-wise, but it can be a big investment time-wise too. Thankfully, despite the learning curve that comes with integrating new types of software, the ROI that stems from these newer tools is worth it — especially if you can teach your sales team how to leverage its full potential.