Comments on: Long Term Email Follow-up – What are you sending your potential customer?

By: Joe Ingram

Joe Ingram — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 03:46:11 +0000

I have adopted a new philosophy on sending out e-mails. What I had found in the last quarter of 2008 was that the customers I was getting in direct phone contact with were telling me that they were just researching for 3-6 months down the road. It was roughly 1/3 of the people I spoke to. WOW, the rebates and incentives change by then. I signed up with a follow up company and I controll the frequency, and the content of the messages, and when a customer expresses interest it gets forwarded to the top of the que. I also added “Non-Selling” emails to the mix, and have received great responses to them. “That was a great article, thanks for not always trying to sell me something”. I usually find a couple articles a month from across the web, and now my 10,000+ database doesnt hate my emails anymore (at least they are opting-out less than before). I am now putting my emails together with video embedded in them – the customers like watching a video instead of having to read it.

By: Terri Hall

Terri Hall — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:50:36 +0000

I find that it is not only important to send emails for long term follow up but to proceed with a phone call. It may sound very time consuming but the majority of the calls are just leaving messages. Why not let them here your dealerdhip’s name so it is fresh in their minds? There is no way better to personalize the emails than to follow up with the sound of your voice.

By: Jay Traylor

Jay Traylor — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 18:48:00 +0000

If you reaaly want to add the personaL touch to your followup emails, check out http://www.covideo.com.
I have been a reseller for them for a while now and can tell you, it works!
Contact me for any help I can provide.

By: Philip Zelinger

Philip Zelinger — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 03:11:58 +0000

People over processes! I live by that logic but all it suggests is an order of priority and they are not mutuially exclusive. The use of new “automated” applications that use “matrix” based emails tied to initial vehicle selection and payment and downpayment objections in the initiating vehicle lead for the term prior to selling the vehicle – or even after losing the sale – coupled with service patterns and projected mileage and age for ongoing follow up for service based on the distance from the store, time between services and the type of service the customer returns for provides a logic in email follow up that replicates professional sales practices and follow up for an auto industry that is sorely in need of professional salespeople!

As an example, there is a vendor that creates an automated follow up with regular emails and or letters that integrates with the CRM and DMS to include real time payments based on suggested downpayment, current rebates and interest rates coupled with suggested INSTOCK vehicles that will lower the customers payments until they buy or die. PLUS, they are able to determine if the customer has purchased a vehicle by cross referencing with third party online resources so they can change the message to a service offer.

The ability to automatically suggest solutions including payments and information custom tailored to the customer based on their original objections is as close to artificial intelligence as I have seen in follow up systems and it is available today!

Oh yeah, it can and sholuld be done by your sales staff but, are they? If so, never mind!

By: Ryan G

Ryan G — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 20:27:20 +0000

You know, there is nothing wrong with automated follow-up campaigns. It takes on average 7 follow-up emails to instigate a response from people. You should put technology to use by automating this, just be careful of de-personalizing the messages and keep consistent with the reason people might be on a list, which brings up the real dilemma…HOW AND WHY SOMEONE IS ON YOUR LIST.

If someone submits a vehicle inquiry, following up with them automatically with similar vehicles in stock makes sense, as Matt Wilson suggest. Adding them to your newsletter however does not. You can resolve this by including an invitation in your inventory follow-up campaign for the person to opt-in to your newsletter.

With MULTIPLE OPT-IN LISTS, automation is kosher. It’s more management and maintenance, but it can also be more fruitful.

By: Chris K

Chris K — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 19:57:12 +0000

I think that follow up is where the fortune is… but most emails but I send are all hand written. MOST IMPORTANTLY I ask for THEIR BUSINESS… and also remind the customer to ASK FOR ME, providing my hours, my cell phone, my email, always.

By: mark noger

mark noger — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 20:23:58 +0000

I think it’s important to remember that only 25% to 35% of consumers buy a vehicle during the first 30 day cycle. That leaves roughly 50% of your dealership leads still active and depending on the lead type, the remainder will purchase during that next 30 day cycle. If you are currently receiving 400 leads per month, this means about 100 to 125 of the leads are today or this month buyers. That leaves 200 left that are next month buyers. I threw out 25% of the leads for flakes and whack jobs. If the department closing ratio is 15%, that equals twice as many sales in second 30 day cycle. The biggest challenge is to help salespeople to understand that the main reason a lot of prospects don’t respond is because they aren’t ready to talk to anyone yet and to not yield to temptation and focus solely on the low hanging fruit. In any sales arena, the greatest enemy of a salesperson is Pre-Qualification. Sometimes you have to switch shoes with your customer to really grasp how to effectively create dialog.
One of most valuable tools you have in ecommerce is the ability to track the entire sales process. One statistic most managers fail to monitor is the average sales cycle. What I discovered by tracking sales cycles is the average gross profit on customers that purchased in the second 30 day period averaged $463 dollars more per copy than those people who purchase in the first 30 day cycle.
Being able to determine your customers purchase cycle and building a sales process around this information is critical to success. That brings me to my last point…lead accountability, in this challenged economic climate, maintaining a consistent buy or die process for EVERY LEAD is paramount to success.

By: Stan Sher

Stan Sher — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 06:04:57 +0000

Craig,

I completley agree with you. In a process that is longer than 73 days, the follow up times are so spread out that a sales person will not have a chance to get annoyed because the older the lead the less work you need to do. In fact, since we are in the process of sending out personalized emails instead of templates, it might be an idea to template those 100 day leads. It is no different than taking a new sales person and giving them a list of 1000 old customers and have them cold call them to try to sell them a new car except here we are not cold calling, we are just following up because they contacted us first. Your point is a very valid and excellent one. I have always had my set way of running an internet department and setting up processes because they worked for me. However, I try to take those concepts and differentiate every store that I will work at or will consult. I do not want every store doing the same thing. A 100 day follow up might work best in one store while it might really suck at another store that needs only a 70 day. Also, this is a way of branding and individualizing each store to do things their own way.

By: Craig Belowski

Craig Belowski — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 22:13:40 +0000

Stan,
I understand that process’ can and are set up to prompt follow up…..The task becomes treating every call as one of importance and making each call like it’s your first attempt. Customers buy at their own pace for some that may be 1 day for others that may be 101 days. My point is salespeople need to stay on top of leads wihout becoming annoying until those people either say “yes I want to buy” or “leave me alone I already bought”

By: Jeff Kershner

Jeff Kershner — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 17:18:11 +0000

@ Eric and Terry. Good point on adding the video link. I have several dealers incorporating this into their process and being successful with it. No doubt your video can engage the customer that much more and allow you the opportunity stand out and better your chances of receiving a response from the customer.

Short and sweet works!