3 Ways to Dominate Car Sales in the “New Normal”

The Automotive industry has been turned upside down over the past 4 months and has pushed the future forward in regard to the way that business is being conducted. Selling today requires adapting to the current circumstances and reengineering the mechanics of the sales process. The staples to success never change, but this is a wakeup call to all of us that we need to reflect, reevaluate, and pivot to become bigger and better than ever. Here are three essentials to focus on moving forward to maximize opportunities.

Master Phone Skills and all Communication Channels to Increase Sales Opportunities

This is the time to ramp up training your people and their phone skills. With social distancing and the uncertainty that customers have about coming into your dealership, this is crucial to your success moving forward. You must have a call tracking platform and should be monitoring all calls to coach your team as well as implement management involvement to maximize every opportunity. Everything starts with the greeting and we recommend all your employees answer the phone with a consistent message such as “Thank you for calling Cardone Motors, what can I get you information on today?”

This does not end with the phone but also carries over to text, chat and social media engagement. When consumers reach out, they are looking for information and it is your responsibility to provide the answers. You need to build their trust to convert them into a new client.  Amazon set the precedence of what great customer service looks like and consumers expect timely response to their inquiries. Your team needs to be trained to understand what to say and what to do when the most common questions are asked. Missed opportunities are not an option in this current marketplace.

Related: Use These Tips to Improve Your Follow Up Phone Calls with Customers

Follow Up

This is the holy grail of the sales process.  You should be doing massive outreach and engaging with your customer base and prospects regularly. The follow up in the CRM will be essential in determining your success over the next 30-90 days. What are you doing to re-engage prospects in your internet lead bucket? This is the most common area where lack of proper engagement will cost you deals. You should have a 365 day follow up program in place and give your team the ammunition to know what to do and what to say. You need to provide a seamless way to implement this.

Regardless of the circumstances your customers and prospects need to be aware of the opportunities available. You now have the opportunity to potentially provide large incentives and spread out their loan over a longer term, many times, and with a lower interest rate. These are options that can provide the urgency needed to close a deal today.  

Data Mining

Leverage your data mining software and create call lists for your team. This gives you a reason for the call to alleviate potential call reluctance. Maximize the programs that you have with your manufacturer and create another sales pipeline. You can provide an instant 15-20% life in sales volume for your dealership that way. Here is an easy tip to create hand raisers – every night run the list of service customers for the following day and prepare a personalized letter to attach to their invoice that gives them the opportunity to upgrade.

When your team follows up on the service experience you can also provide a soft touch to mention the opportunity again. This provides a two touch in 24hrs. Make sure you have POS materials in the service lane letting your customers be aware that you have a vehicle upgrade department. Less than 10% of dealers master this process and you can gain substantial market share here.

The dealers that focus on expansion and doing the things that others won’t,  will grab market share and dominate.

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Car Biz Today, the official resource of the retail automotive industry.