Digital Dealer - August 2018 - 41

THE PERSON ANSWERING THE PHONE HAS TO HAVE
THAT SAME FRIENDLY HANDSHAKE, GREETING AND
SMILE IN THEIR VOICE THAT AN EFFECTIVE GREETER
ON THE SALESROOM FLOOR HAS."
'rushed'? Did you feel like
your questions and concerns were important to the
person on the other end?
Did you feel like they were
honestly trying to assess
your needs and give you the
information or assistance
you were looking for? Did
you feel like the person on
the other end was knowledgeable and qualified?
Several of the very
successful dealerships I've
had the pleasure to work
with over the years have
all phone sales inquiries
forwarded to an available,
qualified salesperson who
has been fully trained on
handling 'phone-ups' in the
same manner the salesperson would greet a customer
walking onto the showroom
floor or lot. But unlike a
customer who walks in the
door who might be willing
to wait a few minutes for an
available associate, callers
might not have the patience
to wait and if all salespeople
are busy, the call is routed
to a sales manager.

To Price or Not to
Price, That Is the
Question!

If you speak with 15 different dealers on the subject
of giving out a price on the
phone, you might get 15
different answers. Here are
a few responses I received
when I sent out an inquiry to
a number of dealers:
 "Our salespeople

explain to the customer
that it is difficult to quote a
price on the phone because
often our competitors call
in disbelief of the discounts
we're offering. However, we
offer a return call to the caller from our sales manager
who has the ability to give
out more information, then
we take a name and number
and promise a return call
within 15 minutes."
 "On advertised used
vehicles we quote our current offer, but explain that
we may also have similar
vehicles with lower prices
according to equipment and
mileage. We give a range of
MSRP pricing on new vehicles depending on equipment and explain every
one of them has different
discounts and incentives
so it would be hard to quote
a specific price without
the customer seeing the
options."
 "If someone calls for a
price we encourage them
to call the 'one-price' dealer
in town, and then bring us
the quote see how much we
can beat it by."
 "Our people are trained
to develop a personal
relationship with call-in
customers because we've
found when there is a good
connection, asking the
right questions, we have a
lot more success setting
appointments where people
actually show up."

How you decide to handle
the 'pricing' issue, as well as
how you answer, greet and
direct phone call information
inquiries will have a major
impact on whether that call
is converted to a sale. Here
are a few suggestions to
improve your success:

LOW-UP! If a customer

Let shoppers know you are
happy to answer questions
on the phone. Give out
your number several times
in an advertisement about
your phone friendliness
and always tag every ad,
in broadcast and digital
with both your website URL
and an easy-to-remember
phone number.

of the most referenced attributes in research studies. If
you are in a location with lots
of traffic and you have the
option of adding a telephone
number to your sign, you'll
be amazed at how many
calls you receive, especially
during peak traffic times.

BE PHONE FRIENDLY!

BE PHONE PREPARED!

Make sure every person
who handles incoming calls
for sales information is properly trained in how to handle
calls properly. Recognize
that not all people do well on
the phone. Anyone answering a phone call must be
able to speak and annunciate clearly.
SPY ON THE COMPETITION! Call your competi-

tors. Ask for sale and pricing
information and see how the
call is handled.
MONITOR YOUR TEAM!

Have someone call and ask
for sale and pricing information from your dealership
and see how the call is handled. You have to inspect
what you expect.
DO PHONE FOL-

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

gives his or her name and
contact information, follow
up this inquiry just as you
would on any other visit,
logging the call and entering
information in your CRM
system.

PUT YOUR NUMBER IN
LIGHTS! Location is still one

AND HOW ABOUT THIS!

A dealership in Michigan
has an after-hours/weekend/
holiday message that goes
like this: "Thanks for calling!
Even though our dealership
is closed right now, our
website is open 24/7 and if
you'd like to speak to a sales
representative right now,
press 7." The dealership has
salespeople that, on a voluntary basis in rotation, take
calls on their cell phones
after hours. At the end of the
day the receptionist forwards
'7' to the salesperson 'on
duty.'
JIM BOLDEBOOK is Founder
of CBC Automotive Marketing,
an advertising/marketing agency
working with some of America's
most successful dealerships. He
has been in the broadcasting,
advertising and marketing fields
for almost 50 years. EMAIL:
jim@cbcads.com

AUGUST 2018

41
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