 A lot of people ask me how our iConsult team can get a dealership to close 20% of their Internet leads and have gross profits higher on average than their walk-in business.
It's not rocket science but it does take patience, the right tools and a commitment from the dealership management team. Our iTeam consultants are comprised of individuals that clearly understand the auto industry. |
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Most iTeam members have been Internet managers, directors, general managers and some have been dealers themselves. Everyone has had advanced training on the latest adult learning techniques. Most importantly the iTeam consultants can relate to the sales people and management at the dealership in a way that matters.
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| We focus on five things and measure the dealership's success by the ability to execute all five things well. |
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1. A Process
The process must be compatible with the customer, the manufacturer, and the dealer. We designed a process that is easy to replicate and use within any dealership.
We use an individual's strength and talent to execute the process. If they're no good on the phone, we don't try to make them better on the phone. If they're unable to focus on details even with emails in front of them, we don't make them read emails. It's most likely not their strong suit and we would only hurt your business in the long run if we pushed them too hard.
We recognize and focus on people's strengths and have them use that skill well. We look for and find the assets in the people in your dealership to help get the job done despite whatever they may be lacking.
We have developed a process, which takes into account the psychological effect the prospect's current location (home or office or recreational space) has on them and engages them by getting them kinesthetically involved.
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2. Response Time
Response time is the time taken to make that first personal phone call to the customer right after the last auto email response. Response time is measured in work hours, which means that leads coming in after closing hours do not start to count until the dealership is open again.
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A good relationship with your customer does bring you higher profits and a staggering amount of industry statistics indicate a direct correlation between the quality of the relationship you create with the customer and the speed of your response.
The best in class is an 11-minute response time. Some dealerships I've visited have had response times of over 44 days and they thought they were doing a great job. Bear in mind, the national average is over five hours!
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| 3. Getting That Appointment |
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| We work on three things here: |
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How many calls do we make before we give up? |
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What time of day are we making the calls? |
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What do we say when we get on the phone? |
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| We know that it takes an average of nine attempts to reach a client on the phone so we make sure we have a process in place and manageable workloads to accommodate the process. |
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| Here is an example:
If an Internet sales person gets 100 leads a month and we know the average attempts to get a client on the phone is 9 that equates to 900 phone calls. |
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If they work 20-22 days a month that would mean they need to make 45 outbound calls every day just to talk to each client one time. Ask yourself are they doing that now?
We also help dealers solve a common industry problem - the time of day phone calls are made. Most Internet sales people make such calls when it is convenient to them, between 9 am and 11 am, and wind up in message hell because it's exactly the time when your prospects are at work.
Ideally, your Internet salespeople should be on the phone with prospects in the evening when they would have the greatest success in making appointments. We design and work through manageable workloads to facilitate these calls at the most appropriate times.
Last but not least, since most salespeople struggle on the phone, we provide scripts and a process that helps them learn and use the script in their own words. We use scripts to stay on price and availability discussions and psychology to help build a relationship with the client. We never ask a prospect to come to the dealership unless it will result in a benefit to them. We have extensive role-playing, all designed with the intent to listen to the customer and make an appointment. Every objection is covered and practiced multiple times.
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4. Long Term Follow-Up
We know a new car Internet lead matures in 91 days so we need to get dealerships to develop a long-term follow-up process. It is virtually impossible to do this by telephone so we have created a power suite of emails with beautiful graphics.
All our emails are designed to make your prospects feel good about your dealership, your sales people, and the cars you sell. We have interactive emails, which get your prospects kinesthetically involved by letting them change the color of a car, make 360-degree spins, and access detailed information.
It's not uncommon to send out emails for two years to a prospect, getting no response, and then suddenly one day down the road you get a "Thank you, I'm finally ready, do you have one of these in black"?
We estimate that our follow-up emails, if sent out correctly, will represent 7% of the 20-23% close rate.
5. Management Involvement
In order for the process to stick and for your sales staff to maintain a high level of commitment between our training visits, we need to get the dealership management more involved in carrying out the iConsult process.
We expect Internet departments to get appointments from at least half of their leads and have half of those appointments actually show up at the dealership. Typically, dealers have demonstrated that they can close 70-80% of the appointments that show up, credit willing.
To learn more about the iConsult training process and powerful, interactive email templates, please ask for a free evaluation. We will easily show you a guaranteed Return On Investment (ROI) and you can then make the decision on your own.
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