Automotive News Canada - April 2021-v2 - 7

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Earn the Appointment and Narrow the Service Gap
Is your sales team
willing to " go to
your customer "
before they expect
your customer to
" come to them " ?
By JEFF WILLIAMS
President & CEO, Absolute Results

In the last article I redefined an appointment as an opportunity to " go
to the customer " virtually in order
to earn a showroom visit. Your sales
team has this kind of opportunity
every time they connect promptly
with a customer, and add value by
answering their questions and sharing information. As they serve the
customer, they can gain a better understanding of the customer's needs
by asking questions, providing new
options and sharing product stories.
When this process is done well, the
Sales Team then earns the privilege
of recommending a showroom
appointment for the customer, or in
some cases even securing the next
step in an online transaction.

THE BENEFITS OF THIS
APPROACH
This approach benefits your Sales
Team, as the sales conversion rate on
these showroom appointments is often as high as 70%. Your customers
have the benefit of a more efficient
and personalized experience. For
dealers, the benefit of this approach
is that they begin to " crack the code "
of one of the biggest customer-ser-

SALES LEADERSHIP
Insights & Selling
Strategies
vice gaps in the retail auto industry
- the disconnect between the online
/ offline customer experience.

and their reasons for considering a
specific product, before they can test
drive and get a drive-home price.

As automotive online shopping
tools continue to rise in popularity,
consumers are frustrated by this
disconnect. So much information is
available online, yet with the growing complexity of selection - new
models with new technology and
limited availability; combined with
the complexity of finalizing the
price, terms, and trade in value, etc.
there comes a point in the shopping
process where most customers will
need help from a product specialist.
They will likely need information to
complete their " virtual shopping " ,
and then they will likely want to see
and test drive the vehicle before they
finalize their selection and purchase.

This frustrating reality is in stark
contrast to the customer who arrives
with a pre-arranged showroom
appointment. The Sales Professional has previously engaged with the
customer through a combination
of phone calls, emails, and digital
interactions. In this case, the sales
professional has added value to the
customer, by confirming selection,
guiding the conversation and earning their trust. The Sales Professional
has also prepared in advance for the
customer appointment by ensuring
that a vehicle is ready for a test drive,
a pre-appraisal has been completed,
and enough time is set aside to assist
with the customer's unique needs.
The Sales Manager can work with
the Sales team to ensure that the
showroom appointment is efficient,
personalized and memorable.

Too often, however, after a customer gathers a significant amount of
information online, and arrives at a
dealership they are confronted with
the frustrating reality of " having
to start over " and re-explain themselves to a sales professional. These
" walk-in customers " often are met
by a well-meaning Sales Professional
who tries to take the customer back
into the customer needs analysis and
discovery part of the selling process.
The Sales Professional is " just doing
their job " and following the traditional linear selling steps; but the
reality is that they are stepping into
the middle of the customer's buying
process. Customers resent being
forced to backtrack by explaining
all the research they have done

ABSOLUTE DRIVE™
Identify who is in
service every day

Starts a selling
conversation

Shows daily and
monthly ROI

" Show me 10 more software programs that get
me this kind of ROI, I'll take them all. "
-Mazda Dealer, BC

WHAT IT TAKES
Let's discuss the Appointment
Culture approach of " going to your
customer " and what is required from
both the Sales Team and the Sales
Management in more detail.
Sales Team that adopt this Appointment focused approach, need
to be comfortable engaging with
customers both over the phone and
digitally. They need to have strong
discovery skills - the ability to ask
good questions about the customer's
driving needs in order to develop
rapport and connection - and they
need to be willing to " work for the
customer " before trying to commit
the customer to a showroom appointment. All of these skills can
be learned and developed by most
salespeople, but education alone
won't change process and behaviour,
that's the job of the leadership team.
This approach involves the Sales
Management doing more than just
developing the skills of the sales
team. It requires full buy-in, engagement, and leadership from Sales

Management. Even more than the
Sales Team, they need to shift how
they think about the appointment
process, how they engage with the
sales team, and how they interact
with the customers.
For example, instead of saying to
the Sales Team " get the customer to
make an appointment, and I'll get
you a number on the trade when
they're here " , this approach means
asking " how can I help to earn the
appointment? Ask the customer to
send you some pictures of their vehicle and I'll do a pre-appraisal? " .
Sales Managers need to be available
to coach the Sales Team's telephone
skills to be sure that they are asking
the right questions to determine
the customers needs. They need to
be available to coach the appointment making process, to ensure that
pictures and videos are being sent to
the customers, and they need to be
available to make Preparation Calls
(a.k.a. confirmation calls) to help
their Sales Team prepare for each
showroom appointment.

THE NEW REALITY
In the old, pre-pandemic world, the
best Sales Managers were active on
the physical showroom floor interacting with customers and coaching
the Sales Team. In the new online/
offline reality, the best Sales Managers will be just as active in the digital
showroom coaching the Sales Team,
and taking a virtual " TO- turn over " ,
as they help their Sales Team " go to
the customer " online.
When the Sales Management fully
embraces this Appointment focused
approach, not only does the Sales
Team Succeed, but the dealership
takes a crucial step, creating a bridge
and narrowing the service gap in
their customer's online and offline
shopping experience.
This is a key part of Absolute Result's
vision of an Appointment Culture
that helps dealers to sell cars today
and tomorrow.
To learn more about Sales Leadership
training and
how to develop
an Appointment
Culture for your
dealership, point
your camera here:
Automotive News Canada - April 2021-v2

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