Active Listening is Essential to Mastering Communication Skills
Communication is “a process by which information is exchanged between individuals through a common system of symbols, signs or behavior,” according to Merriam-Webster. While the definition does not directly mention listening, it is a key part of exchanging information.
How well you listen to others is very significant to earning their trust. Constantly learning about your customers and their individual needs is essential to building the rapport and confidence that will allow them to gain the trust that they have reached the person who can help them. In every buying situation, people are afraid of two things—buying the wrong thing and paying too much for it. When they realize they have the right person on the line, you will create a more confident buyer.
We need not just pay attention, but we must prove to others that we are paying attention. When speaking to customers over the phone, proving you’re paying attention requires more work than if you were talking with someone face-to-face because you can’t rely on eye contact and body language to let the person who’s talking know you’re listening. On the phone, you must be an active listener, meaning you must acknowledge and validate what the customer says.
Oftentimes, repeating something pertinent that an individual says helps retain that information more effectively. For example, if a customer says, “I really want a car that gets good gas mileage,” you can respond by saying, “Good for you for taking your entire budget into consideration. I can definitely appreciate that with gas prices fluctuating constantly. It is very important for me to know that the vehicle I’m driving not only works in my budget for the price of the car, but will also not break the bank at fill up.” This lets the customer know you’re listening and that you understand this is an item of importance, and it helps you commit this information to memory.
Another rule of thumb is to never interrupt (even if you don’t quite understand what the customer is saying). Allow people to finish their thoughts; then, ask questions. Using assumptive questions by asking either/or questions will clarify what the customer is trying to get across, without the customer feeling as if they are being quizzed. This will not only indicate that the customer has your attention, but it shows you’re interested as well.
Active listening also allows you to determine the personality type of the individual you are speaking with based on the tonality of the person’s voice, as well as the words they use. As I’ve stressed in earlier articles, knowing what personality type you’re dealing with is important because it can help you properly understand how to best communicate with the individual. Matching tonality and utilizing the personality type information will build a real connection without running the risk of sounding fake or scripted. Communicating in a similar fashion is called commonality building. To find commonality, look for similarities, not differences.
The art of listening makes communication a two-way street. When we make an effort to participate in a conversation by listening, we not only show someone that we’re interested in what they say, but we are usually learning something about them. Active listening helps pinpoint what is most important to your customer. Knowing the hot buttons of a customer and using them as tools for commonality will give the customer a sense of ease and comfort.
It’s important that you understand the customer’s needs to learn what the customer is really looking for in a new vehicle. Believe it or not, oftentimes when representatives do not know the true needs of a customer, they never sell the advantages and benefits of dealing with them, the dealership and/or the particular product. Instead, they usually go straight to price. This is running rampant in automotive Internet departments, sometimes even when the customer brings his or her needs up. To not listen is to short-cut, which your customers won’t appreciate because people want to be heard. So sit down with the people who man your phones today, and review how to be an active listener.
“A good listener is not only popular everywhere, but after a while, he knows something.”
– Wilson Mizner (1876 – 1933), playwright and entrepreneur.
To determine what motivates a customer to buy a vehicle, we first must identify the different things that make customers tick. Each customer has a hot button, but combinations of the following motivators are usually present in each customer’s decision-making process. For some, it’s the status they perceive they have by driving a certain vehicle, while theirs focus on more practical aspects of vehicles, like safety, performance or utility.
If you’re able to pinpoint and appeal to a customer’s hot-button issue while you have them on the phone, you are more likely to get them into the store. Before delving into the different hot-button topics car buyers are swayed by, let’s briefly cover how to simply identify the different kinds of people—Visual (Type A), Auditory (B) or Kinesthetic (C). Your odds of getting the customer in the store increase if you identify what type of person a customer is; this is accomplished by picking up on what he or she says and how they say it (tone) and responding appropriately.
A Visual person might say, “I can see myself driving a [type of vehicle]” and an appropriate response might be something like, “From having the opportunity to look at all of them, I can see why you would! Nice choice!”
An Auditory person might say, “I hear the [vehicle] is a nice car,” and a fitting response might be, “Yes, when I listen to [vehicle] owners talk about their cars, I hear how happy they are with their purchase.”
The Kinesthetic personality is more interested in” just the facts” on the surface, but as we know with a Type C, it is really all about how things feel. A very effective response would be to try my Boomerang© technique and let them know why doing their homework makes such good sense. “That is why I love working with {your dealership], as your advocate, I can schedule an information day visit!”
Once you’ve determined whether a customer has the dominant traits of a Type A, B or C, you can better appeal to their hot-button issue(s), which could be any one or any combination of the following:
Status: For car buyers motivated by status, their vehicle is an extension of who they are and may contribute to a feeling of importance they derive from things like their jobs, wealth, home, etc. By validating the status a vehicle can represent, you’ll get them more excited about the prospect of a new vehicle in the driveway; etc.
Style: Among us, there have always been those fashion-conscious customers who simply must wear the newest style of clothes and accessories, and the same is true concerning automobiles. Similar to status, some people choose their vehicle based on how it coordinates with the image they want to portray. There is an old expression that there is “no accounting for taste,” but being aware of customers’ keenness for style persuades such people to set and keep an appointment.
Safety: The most important issue for some customers is the survivability of their loved ones should they be involved in a wreck. This type of customer wants high ratings for their car from organizations that do crash testing (e.g., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety). They also desire engineering for safety and features in their vehicles such as reinforced panels, front passenger airbags and side-impact airbags. Have desktop evidence manuals because people want to know they’re right-on with their thinking. Relate to them, build rapport. We all can appreciate safety. Tell them why and your commonality grows and their fear lessons.
Utility: Utility is an easy desire to pinpoint, as usefulness is the key factor for the choices people make regarding vehicles. The particular tasks that customers want to accomplish drive their vehicle decisions. The soccer mom or road warrior (guilty as charged), chooses an SUV to haul kids or a week’s worth of suits. New parents tend to opt for a minivan. The practical rural resident or construction worker gets a truck. Teenagers and young adults want sporty, economical four-cylinders. The young at heart choose muscle cars and sports cars. Senior citizens tend to opt for luxurious comfort and the practicality of large, four-door sedans and crossovers.
Change: Some customers just get tired of the same old thing. Some simply want to experience a different type of vehicle than they had before, and some just want a newer version of the same model. A change in job or marital status could prompt the desire for a new car.
Pinpointing customers’ desires takes communication skills. That’s why I’m a firm believer in training on skills and not scripts. Make sure the people answering your phones and setting appointments have the skills to determine what type of customer is on the phone and pinpoint what is driving his or her purchase decisions. How are you being represented? Remember: “People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care!”
Selling the sizzle doesn’t ignore significant questions, it puts the customer at ease or excited. Either way they show and sell. Especially if they see and hear the same smile in person they heard on the phone.
Responding to All Things Internet
The Internet can be your best friend or your worst enemy. To effectively communicate and maintain strong relationships with Internet customers, responses to inquiries must be immediate and consistent and you must interact with customers on the latest Web 2.0 Internet avenues.
When handling e-mail inquiries, the dealership’s initial e-mail response should be made within five minutes. The e-mail needs to
include a call to action, reason(s) the customer should buy from you, acknowledgment of the customer’s question, and question(s)for the customer to generate activity and continue dialogue. I suggest resisting the urge to use e-mail templates as responses. I also suggest only using auto-responders after hours. Also, all auto-responses must include a reasonable expectation for live follow-up.
Chat
Customers who engage in the live chat portion of your Web site expect an immediate answer. Dealers should strive to have their average chat response time under 10 seconds. While it may seem obvious, before responding, read what the customer said so you can answer appropriately as opposed to using a canned response. If a customer starts a chat with, “Hi. I’m looking at anew Sequoia,” you don’t want to respond with, “Hi. This is Glynn from ABC Motors. How may I assist you today?”
Instead, you want to develop a chat by saying something like, “Ooh, nice choice! Hi, my name is Glynn, and yours is?” Acknowledge what the customer said and share information with them, so they will be more likely to share information with you. It’s the law of reciprocation and you can use it to get valuable customer information.
Phone Calls
When the Internet drives phone calls to your dealership, I suggest and teach the “Four I’s”—Introduction, Interview, Initiate and Insinuate. While it’s a much more in-depth process, I’ll summarize the main points. In the introduction, it’s important to make a good first impression and establish rapport. During the interview, use the law of reciprocation to get the customer’s contact information. In the “initiate” stage, begin to close on the appointment by setting a time.
The “insinuate” stage includes confirmation of the appointment and making sure the customer writes down all the important information about their appointment.
Social Networking
If you’re going to get serious and invest in social networking, you must have somebody committed to keep it up. With sites like Facebook, MySpace, and especially Twitter, you’ve got to be online almost nonstop (at least once an hour) to make updates, “tweet” and respond to “friends,” “fans” and “followers.” When it comes to sharing information on social media, dealers should share all the sizzle they can—lifetime warranties, tires for life, up to $7,500 cash back, links to take advantage of “today’s special,” etc. Equally important to note is if your employees use social media for your dealership, it should be only as a representative of your dealership. Don’t allow employees to post their position at your company on their personal pages because
any page with your dealership’s name on it becomes a representative of your business. There can be some pretty funky stuff on peoples’ personal pages that you don’t want associated with your business.
Customer Review Sites
If you’re seeing negative customer reviews on other sites, I absolutely suggest trying to contact these customers to fix the problem and, hopefully, get the negative review taken down if possible. When responding to a negative review, don’t over-apologize on behalf of the dealership or anybody in particular. Rather, become the person’s friend and create a solution.
However, I believe preventative medicine is the best, so I suggest calling customers immediately after appointments,both sold and unsold, to make sure their experience was a positive one. You can usually put out the fire before a customer goes online to post a negative review. In some cases, the customer may just need a little validation about their purchase to help avert any negative feelings they may have toward the dealership. The Internet is a powerful tool.
Used wisely, it will allow you to significantly enhance your dealership’s image. Increased business should follow. However, don’t think like a hammer so that everything you see looks like a nail. The Internet should remain a part of your overall marketing strategy. An important part, yes, but only a part.
Business Development Changes in 2010
Many perceptions have changed, some of the challenges have changed, the economy has changed but (gender neutral) salesmanship, my friends, has NOT. Customers have NOT changed; just some of their buying habits have improved while many of their concerns have worsened. The good news is that the more we change, as professionals, the more we separate ourselves from those unwilling or incapable of changing.
This version, Hybrid BDC 2010 is part of the NVS Road to Success Training Series. The primary function is about developing or enhancing your ability to make and take intelligent, masterful, and persuasive and most importantly; rapport based appointments that show and sell.
What has not changed is that self barometers do work! If you would find a conversation, dull, scripted, slick or demanding, how would you feel or react? We don’t need any more word tracks! The industry has ample. We don’t need more scripts, they don’t work. What we do need for the primary function of this course to work is to clearly identify why we must master communication skills, know exactly how each customer reacts and why and be the exact breath of fresh air they have been waiting for. So what do I mean exactly by building suggesting that the only lasting training is one built on a foundation of Skills not Scripts?
BDCs in 2010 have changed, their core needs have not!
In any Sales team, Internet Dept or BDC, skills are what separate your dealership from what customers consider the stereotypical car-buying experience to be, and skills in the BDC revolve around understanding, alignment and communication. Skills are what can make your dealership stand out from all the other stores in your market.
Right now I see three successful ways of Developing Business or selling more rides:
1) Complete In House BDC/Internet Sales Call Centers. Each agent makes a minimum of 150 dials per day and ALL sales calls are funneled only to the largely staffed and heavily trained/monitored, BDC.
2) Complete Out Sourcing of all the above mentioned functions.
3) Hybrid BDCs. These are done one of two ways, either with a small well trained and prepared BDC and Internet Sales Dept working with equally professional and capable sales teams or by utilizing a Call Center for backup of calls, follow up; etc.
So no matter what, to succeed in 2010, it is all but required to have one of these in place. Quite frankly the acronym BDC, meaning Business Development Center is not in a room, in a book or in a title. It is a way of life. BE THE BDC and you will earn well above average industry income. Habits are either our best friend or worst enemy. It takes 30-60 days for a true habit to take hold and become a way of life. Any goal without a very clear plan of action is still but a wish.
Now that we have established that BDC can mean many things, let’s all ponder the idea of this acronym and agree it now is meaning one clear thing, a Business Development Commitment!
A BDC should make people feel comfortable and excited about the dealership at the same time. To do that, it’s imperative that a business development representative (BDR) sound sincere and speak with customers in a non-confrontational, leading manner. Dependence on scripts or rebuttals in the BDC will not do the job. In fact, they can help set you up for failure by confirming what they thought we were. Rebuttal means argument and that is exactly what they are preparing for. Human instinct will drive someone in an argument into a fight or flight mode and often times the flight mode takes the road of least resistance and they set an appointment with no intention of showing up.
When you think of how your BDRs are communicating with your customers, consider the breakdown of how communication is transmitted—63% of communication is body language, 30% is tonality and only 7% are the actual words we use. Of course, an understandable misconception is that the 63% attributed to body language is eliminated when talking on the phone. It is not, and there are two reasons why. One; try to sound like you are smiling while frowning and two; body language and tonality go hand in hand. (No pun intended) By mastering the ability to adjust the tone of a customer by, say slowing and quieting down, I always relax my hands and posture. I, being a type A. personality (WE need to be able to identify all three personalities and adjust accordingly) am a classic example of having an intense fast paced tone. By slowing down my hand gestures, etc., my tone follows suit. Training and practicing effective communication skills empowers us to speak with common tone and wording. Commonality equals rapport and rapport is what sells an appointment that actually shows, never mind a customer for life!
If you train on just scripts or quick word tracks, you’re putting your money (and possibly your ROI) on that 7% of communication; you’re just training on what is said. I believe in training people on why, not just what and how. Training BDRs to use impact wording and put emphasis on certain words can make a world of difference in people’s perception which is to them, reality. The 93% of communication can be utilized over the phone. How else does one sell the sizzle of a dealership over the phone? Be consistent when they show! Continue to validate all they heard on the phone and work the process, NOTATE extensively.
Also because scripts focus on what is said, BDRs reading from them tend to sound robotic. No one likes to be on the phone with someone who sounds as if he or she’s reading from a script. It’s impersonal and insincere. Even if someone has a script down pat, it doesn’t create sincerity. While the best way to sound sincere (of course) is to be genuinely sincere, watching where and how you enunciate your words will create sincerity in your voice. Develop BDI, or Business Development intuition!
Additionally, insincerity detected in a script reader’s or an unprepared voice feeds into the customers’ fear or perception of the car-buying experience—one where the salesperson pushes what he or she wants the customer to buy and worries only about profit. A skillful BDR doesn’t need a script to figuratively validate price being important, identify with the customer, (Alignment) get a target budget range. and then complete the Boomerang© back to leading the call by asking an assumptive question like, aside from price, what would you say is the next most important factor—safety or performance? Master the Boomerang© process or VPL (validate, pace then lead).
By utilizing assumptive questioning, you let customers know that you’re not avoiding or just focusing on money or price, and from their answer, you can find a point of commonality, which is very important. Establishing a point of commonality helps put the prospect at ease and makes overcoming objections later in the conversation easier for the BDR. Sincerity is a breeze in a skillful conversation. Who can’t relate to safety? Practice Active Listening to the point of AWOL (A way of Life)
Too many BDCs, Sales Reps and call centers rely on scripts today. These can be actual printed ones or the habit of saying the same things on every call that has become an unwritten script. Now, I’m not saying we should be just talking or capturing info to or from memory. It is a good idea for anyone representing your dealership to have a guide in front of them with important reminders and fields to fill out. For example, the explanation guide used in my BDC reminds BDRs to obtain important contact information, including two contact numbers and an email address. The law of reciprocation is mentioned and the need to validate and pace to effectively lead a customer to your front door! Review Influence and Persuasion techniques and make a list of your strongest and weakest points.
Also, when examining how we speak on the phone, changing the word order of a sentence or two can have a positive influence on a customer. For example, instead of saying, .If for any reason your contact person is running late, I’ll give you a courtesy call. Will you do the same for me?. That may get a yes, but it does not program the subconscious to actually call. But, if you were to say, .If for any reason your contact person is running late, I’ll give you the courtesy of a call.. See the difference? You give the caller .courtesy. in the second set of sentences instead of .a call. like in the first set. Change the subject then asks…if for any reason you were running late, what would you do?. It gives us another chance to thank them and more times than not, when posed with being late, someone that said what they would do vs. just answering yes will actually call. A customer that calls to say they are running late is a customer that will show and likely sell. Practice Impact Wording, reciprocity and the proper use of the scotoma.
Like other skill sets, BDC skills aren’t accomplished overnight. While there’s a learning curve and some trainees can hone their skills in a week or two, I suggest a minimum of 5-30 days of training and grooming before anyone is working alone on the phone. BDRs in my Outsourcing BDC receive at least eight hours of classroom training, eight hours of role playing and shadowing, testing, and retesting. We of course have the luxury of working in a BDC training center, but anywhere can work. Plus, once they’re skilled BDRs, they continue to have a mentor, as well as becoming a mentor to new BDRs. Mentoring breeds consistency. Know who your coach, manager or Team Leader is, they are accountable for your actions & production.
Two additional mandatory aspects of my BDCs (In-house or Out-sourced) are mirrors in front of every computer monitor and coaches. The mirrors are to help the BDRs maintain the proper tonality; I’ve never seen anyone frowning while talking on the phone in an upbeat voice. To convey genuine sincerity, they need to have the same game face on whether the customers are on the phone or in front of them at the dealership. (Sales reps take notice) The coaches circle the wagons throughout the center making their work to listen to calls, load lips and look for BDRs needing a T.O. It’s far too easy (and far too common) for the atmosphere in a BDC or call center to get boring, and the coaching, whether weekly or monthly, help ward off boredom and keep skills fresh and push the needle with training & incentives for greater production. Be prepared with someone close by for a TO, the phone TO must be as important as on the lot.
When skills are the foundation of a BDC, customers attribute keeping their appointments to their advocate —which is a compliment to the skill-level of a BDR and more people show and sell. Every aspect of our job is closing. Master communication and closing skills with the: barometer technique. Prompt calls backs, and make them feel like they have someone on their side, because they do; use the BDC as more than a dumping ground of customers with whom you have no rapport. Notate more than status, add rapport based discussion starters! Follow the 4 steps to a show, document your work and reap the rewards.
On the Phone with the Subprime Customer
BDR intuition is the skill to know which direction to take at the fork in the road during customer interactions. Ad and lead sourcing helps make this simple by identifying credit issues early. Being on point and having BDR intuition when speaking with a special finance customer is vital because these potential buyers are likely filling out multiple credit applications.
Once you’ve uncovered that someone has subprime credit, use communication skills and persuasion techniques to build rapport and let the customer know you’re the right dealer to do business with. Validate the fact that the customer is looking at the big picture and understands how important having a good credit score is. Let SF customers know that buying a car from you and keeping up-to-date on payments can help improve their credit. Make the customer feel good about what they’re doing, and above all, be sincere.
Part of why I recommend using skills when on the phone instead of just scripts is because relying solely on a script can make a person sound like a robot, which completely lacks sincerity and certainly does nothing to differentiate the dealership. Once you’ve established rapport, instill a sense of confidence. Utilize influential techniques to take them off the market. Inform them of how submitting multiple credit applications can adversely affect their credit score and that some dealers may submit multiple applications to finance companies on their behalf without telling them, further affecting their credit. Some finance companies get a little leery of a customer applying to multiple finance sources, so let the customer know that you are their advocate.
Once you’ve formed a bond with the customer, start using “us” and “we” to help solidify the relationship. . Next, move into assumptive questioning to set an appointment. “Is today or tonight best for you?” Then, nail down a specific time. If they say they can come in around 2:00p.m., say, “I’m looking at the appointment calendar, and I see a 2:10 available.”
If the customer confirms the specific time, ask without a pause, “Do you have a pen handy? I’ll wait.” By not pausing after the question and immediately saying you’ll wait, you don’t give customers the option to just say they have a pen when they really don’t. Then, once they have a pen, give them a confirmation number, directions to the dealership, appointment time,name of the salesperson/manager/credit specialist they’ll meet with, stips and a callback number.
If during the conversation the customer starts asking specific questions about a car, interest rate or payment, it’s important to use the Boomerang system to overcome any objections in a non-rebuttal or -insincere manner and bring the conversation back around to what’s most important—finding the right vehicle for the customer that’s within his or her budget.
Some dealerships take credit applications and answer these questions over the phone, but I recommend bringing the customer to the dealership for that part of the process. What you don’t want to do is start over promising. If you under-promise and over-deliver, you’ll exceed expectations every day, and the opposite can be said if you over-promise and under-deliver.
You can also tell the customer, “I don’t want to limit our options too early, and it would make more sense for someone who works in the finance office to help you with these questions. Not being licensed in F&I, I would be doing you an injustice by quoting you a rate right now.”Emphasize that “our” credit specialists have great relationships with our many finance companies. Explain that their appointment is with a person who will guide them through the process and explain all of their options.
The one exception is if the customer lives a considerable distance away from the dealership. You need to determine the driving distance threshold on answering deal-specific questions over the phone. When on the phone with customers who live far away and want to submit a credit application, walk them through filling out a credit application on your Web site, and while you’re doing this, reiterate the importance of not submitting multiple credit applications.
Notate every significant detail into the CRM. These are for intelligent use when working with the customer upon arrival. If while on the phone the customer shared information about down payment or monthly payments, make note of that. The communication and rapport-building skills you use when speaking with SF customers over the phone can make or break a sale.
The customer may have already been to other dealerships and been treated poorly, so by creating a good relationship with the customer on the phone, you can immediately differentiate your dealership from competitors and not just sell a vehicle to them, but to everyone they know!
Database Mining for All Departments
Database mining, or organic business development, is maximizing the opportunities that are sitting in a dealer’s database uncultivated or, to be frank, being ignored.
These people are not being called; they’re not getting letters. They’re being left for the competition to call. Sure, the sales staff or BDC will call a customer in the days or weeks after they come in, but what about months or years later?
A lot of the same people that you’re paying to advertise to are already at your disposal. Cross-reference a recent direct mailer manifest with your database and look for overlap. You already have this customer information. Why pay for something you can do on your own? I do recommend purchasing leads and dropping direct mail, but please make sure every new opportunity gets entered into your CRM and scheduled for follow-up going forward. This not only makes for quality marketing campaigns and lead conversion, but also provides future business.
Dealers should make database mining a part of daily work or action plans. Salespeople should make a minimum of 30 dials a day and hand in their appointment logs, and the pattern will become abundantly clear. Those selling the most cars set the most appointments.
Here are a few examples of data mining campaigns designed to drive traffic to the sales department:
• Invite sold customers who are in an equity position in for a sales event.
• Call all customers—sold,unsold and service—to enroll them in a friends-and-family,or referral, program.
• Assign orphan owners to sales staff or BDRs for follow-up.It’s important to mine a database for more than sales leads. We may not get 10 percent out of every area we look at, but we’ll get one percent from each of 10 different areas. When we’re getting one percent from each of 10 different areas inside the database, that’s a good return, so look at all past customers to determine how to drive traffic to sales, service and F&I. Here are some examples of data mining campaigns that could generate service revenue:
• Market a promotion for a free oil change (or free oil and charge for the labor) to sold customers who have never been in the service department.
• Let service customers know about any upcoming recommended maintenance.
• Contact people who only visited the service department once, to find out why they haven’t come back. Learning why people didn’t come back can help sell them on why they need to come back.
• Call once-regular service customers who haven’t been back to the service department in a while. Their absence could point towards an expensive repair coming up that they’ve been putting off. The call could lead to a service appointment, or it could lead to a sale because now may be the time for the customer to consider trading up.
Remember, you don’t have to sell a car to sell a service contract. From your database, you can develop campaigns to drive traffic to the F&I office too. Here are a couple examples:
• Follow-up with sold customers whose warranties have expired, and offer them your specials on extended service contracts.
• Contact sold customers who barely needed cosigners when they purchased. Perhaps they don’t need one now. The customer might not realize he or she is now in a better position, and the cosigner would probably like to get off the loan.
All these campaigns have the ability to lead to cross-promotion as well. For example, you may be calling someone about recommended maintenance, but the customer may be in the market for a new vehicle or know someone else who is. Similarly, you could turn your orphan owners into service customers. No harm in asking. It just shows customers you care, which is likely to be a different experience for them.
The old saying, “People don’t care how much we know until they know how much we care,” applies. Nothing shows we care more than a follow-up call. Following up with customers – sold and unsold – also keeps your dealership fresh in their minds. Showing you care really provides an opportunity for a dealership to differentiate itself from any other experience that their customers have had.
Also, remember to leave effective voicemails. Many voicemails will be left during data mining campaigns, and they really need to create some curiosity and sizzle so that they are quite different from any messages your competitors might be leaving. When sending a mailer to customers in the database, I suggest calling the person in advance to let them know to expect “something special” from you in the mail. That way, they are more likely to read the mailer when they receive it.
More and more dealers are cultivating the leads that are already in their database, and more are likely to join in. It’s almost like having a cellar that needs to be cleaned out. There’s a lot of good stuff down there that’s worth good money. You could be sitting on a gold mine.
Increasing Revenue Through ROI Reporting
All incoming sales calls and every lot up should be ad-sourced and leadsourced—no exceptions. Determining the source of every lead allows you to generate a report that will show you whether your dollars are being spent effectively. Without this reporting, you may wind up wasting thousands of dollars a month.
In a perfect world, dealers should monitor ROI reports for 60 to 90 days before adjusting their advertising/marketing, but many managers want things done yesterday. I suggest reviewing ROI reports weekly, so you can identify trends and adjust, rather than react, quickly. A dealer who decides to cut ad expenses without examining ROI reporting could be cutting business as well.
Additionally, ROI reports need a cross-reference of accountability. If every lead isn’t being handled as best it could or the sales calls have no guidance, these issues can be addressed through quality control, or training may be needed. Keeping an eye (and ear) on your pipeline of prospects can identify whether you have a procedural concern prior to just changing course in your marketing strategy Without proper ROI reporting, a dealer who is spending over $5,000 a month on one paid lead source and $2,000 a month on another might be quick to cut the source with a higher monthly cost. However, the $5,000-a-month lead source could be resulting in three times the gross as the other, which makes it a cheaper lead source.
For ROI reporting to be accurate, no one hangs up the phone or leaves the property until you know specifically what drove the traffic, and that can be done very eloquently. Instead of just asking the customer, “How did you hear about us,” you can ad-source/lead-source with an assumptive question like, “Did you receive something in the mail or hear us on the radio?” Then, the customer will tell you the real reason and say something like, “No, we actually saw you on TV.”
You can then dig deeper by asking customers which station they saw your ad on. You can even break down your television advertising by station on your ROI reporting to uncover which stations generate the most traffic and profit. Even if you have toll-free numbers dedicated to tracking and identifying specific campaigns, process and skill are key to conversion. A simple validation of their timing or choice can go a long way in lowering defenses. The lower one’s defenses are, the more they share. Knowledge is power and quality information is paramount to accurate ROI reporting.
Similarly, most Web pages offer reporting that you can use to break down how different sections of your Web site, like “chat now” widgets, spokesmodels (are they annoying or helpful?) or lead points on different pages, are performing. If you’re paying for an add-on to your Web site and accurately sourcing leads back to it, you can easily figure your ROI on that spend. I suggest not depending solely on analytics. They can be misleading and don’t share why someone left or spent little time on your Web site. Talk with your customers. They can tell you a lot more than your software. Don’t get me wrong, we need measurements from multiple angles, but the personal touch of human interaction (along with diligent follow up, of course) is what will develop repeat and referral business.
Lately, I’ve noticed database marketing is on the rise. Dealers are scrubbing their database for specific groups of customers and then marketing to them. While there are several different groups of customers dealers can target, I see a lot of dealers concentrating on driving traffic to their service departments. Another surprising trend is that newspaper seems to be performing better than it used to be in some areas. Print is certainly not dead. Purchased leads with proven track records help keep the equation balanced.
The advantages of tracking your ROI are great, as proved by one dealer I work with who significantly increased his ROI and profits. So far this year, he has already increased his net by a million dollars when compared to last year’s!
Any time you can equate production with different ad and lead sources, you have more of an ability to forecast, and by concentrating more of your spends on sources that produce well, your sales should increase.
