Digital Dealer - November 2019 - 30

M A R K E T ING & ADVERT ISING: F ixe d Op s

By Angela Schliinz
BDC Director,
Customer Traac

Consistent
Communication
Strategy
Specialties in the
medical field are normal
for those in the healthcare
industry. Orthodontists
focus on correcting teeth,
and dentists make sure the
teeth and gums in your
mouth are healthy. Imagine
if your eye doctor was also
tasked with cleaning your
teeth and making sure your
knee injury is healing
correctly. Or the person that
schedules your appointment
at the dentist also filled your
cavities? These expectations may seem crazy, yet
we do this every day in the
auto business to the dismay
of our customers. We
expect our service advisors
to provide stellar service
and to be answering
inbound appointment calls
while trying to communicate
with customers in for
service on the status of their
car.
Salespeople are expected to sell 15 cars a month,
which puts them in front of
customers around six hours
a day and then to respond
to 100 internet leads and
follow up promptly with
each one of those leads.
This is an ineffective
communication model that
is inconsistent and frustrating for our customers.
30

NOVEMBER 2019

How do we fix this? Where
should you start? Simply
put, just pick one! Start
small and build to your
needs for better results.
PICK ONE. For many
dealers, that is basic
appointment confirmation
calls on behalf of your sales
team. For others, it is reminding customers they are

appointment communication
 First service appointment (after the customer
has purchased a vehicle)
 Service reminder for
maintenance that is due
 Sales lease renewal or
equity mining
 Inbound sales and
service call handling and
appointment setting

THE REASON MANY
DEALERSHIPS FAIL AT
THE BASIC "PICK ONE"
APPROACH IS THAT
THEY ARE UNABLE TO
CONSISTENTLY DELIVER
ON THEIR COMMITMENT. "
due for service. Maybe your
sales inquiries are hitting
voicemail or your internet
leads are sitting for hours
waiting for dealer response.
It happens to the best of the
best. There are times where
you can't provide a consistent and timely response.
You can start simply and
continue to build from there.
Here are a few key areas to
consider as a starting point:
 Sales and service appointment confirmation
 Missed or no show

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

 Internet lead management strategy
CONSISTENCY. The
reason many dealerships
fail at the basic "pick one"
approach is that they are
unable to consistently deliver on their commitment.
Dealerships can be a whirlwind on Monday mornings
or during busy times. Ask
yourself if you can consistently deliver on your "pick
one?" If you find yourself
in doubt, it might be more
effective and less expensive

to have an expert complete
this task for you. You may
be surprised that it will actually cost you less money
than having your highly paid
service managers, advisors
or sales team do these "pick
one" tasks.
BE PROMPT: A recent
Lead Response Management Study, found that the
odds of making a successful contact with a sales lead
are 100 times greater when
a contact attempt occurs
within five minutes of the
inquiry as compared to 30
minutes after the lead was
submitted.
What's even worse than
a delayed response? The
average number of times a
lead is followed up with is
1.3 times. Not only are we
not prioritizing these conversations, but we're giving
up after just one call? Two
things that can bring added
results are:
1. Urgency in response
2. Commitment to sales
cadence.
Focus on your strengthsHire for your weaknesses.
*Gallup analysis reveals
that people who use their
strengths every day are
three times more likely to
report having an excellent
quality of life, six times
more likely to be engaged
at work, eight percent more
productive and 15 percent
less likely to quit their jobs.
Employees who use their
strengths at work are often
more productive because
the activities and demands
of their job are more
rewarding, which in turn
leads them to try harder
and succeed more often.
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Digital Dealer - November 2019

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