According to a recent article on Driving Sales:
63% of Dealers (still) Don’t Set Up Appointments On The Phone.
Talk about dropping the ball at the most important time.
All of that money spent driving consumer behavior to contact the dealership for what? Nothing.
I won’t lie and write that I set (or even tried to set) an appt on every phone up I took.
However, when I learned a cool little trick I’m about to share, it sure helped set a lot more appts. Read on dealer friends…
But first, take off your sales hat and put yourself in the CUSTOMER’s shoes. You know, the people that are going to pay you a lot of money for their next vehicle.
Now that you are thinking like a CUSTOMER and we’ve determined WHO is really in the driver’s seat let’s think about this…
As a customer, would you feel obligated giving your personal information (phone, email, ect) over the phone to someone you’ve never met? Hell no.
As a customer, would you feel obligated to commit a day and time to a dealership slobbering over the phone for your business? Hell no.
Fact: The thing we value most in our lives after our health and our family’s health is TIME.
Our time is valuable. Your customer’s time is valuable.
How could a dealership ever think of asking for an appointment over the phone?
Offer Them Something In Return
The conversation usually went something like this:
Customer: “Oh good, it is in stock…”
Me: “Yes Customer Name it is and I would like to invite you for a No-Obligation test drive and describe the test-drive experience I offer my customers who set appts ahead of time…
(note: this is 1st important part!) I understand your time is important so prior to your arrival Customer Name, I have the vehicle washed, gassed, plated and parked 30 feet outside of my office window. Once you arrive and we formally greet each other, I will perform a 2 minute walk around highlighting the features important to you and answer any questions you may have….
Is there a day and a (note: this is 2nd important part!) a time range that works best for you? I say a time range understanding most have other errands they may be running…”
It’s that easy, as long as the sales rep follows through with the promises.
Not only will it be easy to set appointments but your customers will be blown away at your attentiveness to THEIR NEEDS.
Unintended results include: Lowers the customer’s inhibitions = easier to work with = possibly higher grosses and definitely = higher CSI scores.
So stop dropping the ball as you’re about to cross the goal line and start setting more appointments today!
