DealerRefresh

Obstacles, Observations and Opinions of an Automotive Internet Sales & Marketing Manager

Archives for November 2014

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Message or NO Message – Which one is it?

Do you leave a message each time you call…OR do you not?!
Which is the right approach?

Some recommend leaving a voice message each and every time you call a potential customer. While others recommend you do not.

This is the conversation we’re having right now over on the DealerRefresh forums. This are the type of conversations we have each day – so if you’re still lurking and have yet to join, what are you waiting for?

I’m not sure there’s a right or wrong . I would even bet it fluctuates across regions AND the demographics of the customer.

Myself – I don’t return phone calls from a number I don’t know, especially if it isn’t followed by a voice message. But that’s me and I’m not sure how I compare to the average.

Throughout this conversation, several other topics and opinions come about. Like…

  • Should you call from different number and/or your cell phone? Switch it up and see if you can’t sway the customer to answer.
  • When leaving a voice message, what do you say?
  • What contact information should you leave in your voice message?

No matter what you believe to be the right answer, the CHALLENGE is getting the customer on the phone. Even more so, convincing a customer to actually return your voice message. So, what do you do to convince that customer to call you back? Because the perceived conclusion is – the consumer never returns your call.

Too often we base our opinions or build our practices on short, incomplete data. Let’s use this one as an example.

On average, 40% of phone calls into your dealership hit a brick wall!! – 40% that’s not a number one can ignore. 

As we converse and share our opinions and practices on how to get the customer to call you back, what if they ARE calling you back, but you’re not aware of it.

On average, 40% of phone calls into your dealership hit a brick wall!! – 40% that’s not a number one can ignore. 

Here’s some supporting data from Mike at Century Interactive.:

* Connecting calls 60% of the time is better than the current national average. That means 40% of inbound calls don’t reach someone who can help the caller. 

40% of phone calls hit a brick wall

40% of phone calls hit a brick wall!

Why aren’t calls being connected?

Calls never connected - 38% Hung Up!

Calls never connected – 38% Hung Up!

38% Hung up while on hold.

How many of the 38% that hung up was a potential customer returning your voice message? This is what I mean by basing our opinions and building processes on short, incomplete data.

This conversation is priceless for several reasons more than original topic (Megan, thanks for posting it). As you read through the thread, it’s so much more than when to or when NOT to leave a voice mail.

Just one of the takeaways from this thread but I believe to be the most vital – are you giving potential customers your DIRECT contact information, making it as easy as possible for them to communicate with you?

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What Business Are YOU In?

A friend of mine from school just took over ownership of a local vehicle service shop. I congratulated him. What an amazing opportunity.

I asked him – what business are you in?
He replied, with a funny look – we fix cars and trucks.
Why would I take my car to you to get fixed?
Because we work on all types of vehicles and we usually fix it right the first time.
So what – most everyone does that. What BUSINESS are you in?
We fix cars and trucks.
No! You’re in the business of Customer Service. You just so happen to fix cars.

He pondered. Over the next 20 minutes of conversation around now operating his own business, he had that AH-HA moment.

“I’m in the business of making people feel better about getting their vehicle fixed.”

You got it!

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4 Steps to Being an Essentialist – Learn to Say No

A few days ago a friend of mine shared an article with me all about being busy. At first I thought, “I’m too busy to read this article, is there a 30 second video?” But, I was fresh off a lengthy conversation with him about being pulled in too many directions and the inability to simply say, “no”, so I read the article.

And, every word rang true.

Like you, I’m balancing too many balls in the air and hoping that I drop not one. While I will admit I haven’t actually implemented anything in that article I read regarding being pulled in too many directions, being too busy and simply saying no – I am a lot more aware of it and I would like to think that leads to change.

Turns out I’m not alone. According to Harvard Business Review this is called the More Bubble. The More Bubble is just what it sounds like – how much more can you pack into your life until it burts? For many of us, stuffing ourselves full is about bragging and not so much about busy.

We are more aware than at any time in history of what everyone else is doing and, therefore, what we “should” be doing. In the process, we have been sold a bill of goods: that success means being supermen and superwomen who can get it all done. Of course, we back-door-brag about being busy: it’s code for being successful and important.

Whatever will save our poor souls? Essentialists, that’s who. It’s hard to spot them in the wild – but, they can be seen enjoying another person’s company sans smartphone. Instead of scheduling a meeting, they schedule “blocked off” and get essential work done.

How do you become an essentialist you ask? Here are 4 steps (according to Harvard): [Read more…]

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Editing your Profile, Photo, Signature and more…

One of the most asked questions is "How do I edit my…". It's easy, so easy it's overlooked.

Here are a few screen shots to help you out..

edit_profile.jpg

Currently you can find "home-base" to your profile in the upper left corner. It's easy to find if you have a photo attached to your profile. Otherwise, you'll see your name and a generic avatar.

Once you click on your name in the upper left corner, a drop down menu will appear. From there you have access to just about every setting you need to update your profile and more.

Need to edit your signature – click on signature and you'll be taken straight to the Edit Signature page.

Personal_details_edit.jpg

After clicking on any of the several option in the dropdown, you have 2 options to continue editing. You can go back to your home-base profile link OR use the menu found on the left as seen in the screen shot above.

*IMPORTANT – Use the Personal Profile link to EDIT and UPDATE your profile. If you've been part of the community for awhile, you will want to update this section while uploading a new profile image. We do ask that EVERYONE has a photo attached to their profile.

The more information you have in your profile, the better your engagement will be with less chance of being moderated.

**Side Note: Vendors – don't go all crazy with your signature line. We have several members that like to use their signature lines as a billboard. This is frowned upon and breaks up the flow of the forums. Plus it's straight up tacky.

If you have anymore questions on how to Edit your profile, please post them below and I'll get them answered for you.

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Online vs Offline – The Green Dot.

If you would like to know if a particular member is currently active within the DealerRefresh forums, you can now reference to the little dot placed above their photo/image/icon within the profile element within a thread.

The Green dot = online
The Red dot = offline

online_status_greendot.jpg

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A Why Buy Is a Must Have!

“Today, the fight to convince automotive shoppers to buy from you is won and lost on the digital battlefield.”

This is a statement frequently made by Mike Hills, General Manager at Acton Toyota of Littleton, one of the most successful and progressive Toyota dealerships in the country.

We hope and trust all of you out there reading are in full agreement with Mike’s belief. If not, please realize the only time Mike made a mistake was when he incorrectly thought he had made a mistake, but in reality, hadn’t. We’d also refer you to a recent study from DMEautomotive to convince you Mike’s right on the money.

The DMEautomotive study reveals that overall car buyers only visit 2.2 dealerships to make a purchase. This study confirms similar research from McKinsey which found car buyers visit just 1.6% dealerships before buying– plummeting from 5 just a decade ago. That’s right. In just 10 years the average number of dealership visits for a car purchase decreased by well over 50%. [Read more…]

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Why Dealers Should Protect Their Time More than Anything Else

At most dealerships in North America, there is a huge gap in the free time available to people in different roles. Some people such as General Managers and eCommerce Directors could probably count the free minutes they get in a day on one hand. Other roles seem to have a hard time staying busy at all.

When I sold cars, the salespeople often fell into the category of those who had plenty of free time. Many would sit around waiting for the next up. Things have changed and many dealerships keep their salespeople busy with follow-up, online prospecting, training, and logistic activities. That’s not every dealership, but it should be. Before I get into the meat of this article, let me say that there is plenty to do in the digital age rather than waiting aimlessly for the next up over a cup of coffee and discussion about last night’s game. If you still have idle salespeople, fixing that is the first step.

Now, let’s talk about your time… [Read more…]