In challenging trading conditions we do tend to see the cream rise to the top so to speak. In car retailing as less customers are in the market sales people have to work harder to generate sales from a smaller lead base.
Converting enquiries to appointments is a skill which requires training and experience and relies on everybody in the chain doing their bit.
Today’s car buyer is more clued up than ever before, they have access to information on cars, finance, reviews etc and can be far more choosy when deciding what car they want and who sells it to them, before they even get to visiting a showroom.
If we take that as a starting point then the initial contact is even more important. We all contact businesses everyday and often feel the frustration of waiting a long time to actually speak to a human or find ourselves in a queue with Vivaldi’s four seasons boring us to death, and therefore already the dealer will have to work harder to gain our trust.
The telephonist/receptionist is clearly the first point of call and if they are enthusiastic and actually sound like they would love you to come and visit it is not only comforting but perhaps somewhat unexpected, rather than the reality where you often feel like you are cutting into someone’s private life and they can’t wait to get rid of you.
Once in contact with a sales person the important thing is for them to respond positively to your enquiry and give you confidence that this is the dealer that will give you a first class experience and sell you the right car. This is all the more important when things are quiet because there aren’t many opportunities to convert those leads into appointments and customers know that they have a wide choice of car dealers to choose from.
There are all types of new and creative ways in which car dealers can generate leads but converting them into potential sales means getting the basics right, qualification and making a connection are key
to this but, as the world becomes more technical, it is often forgotten that good old fashioned communication is vital in persuading a customer that he/she should visit your showroom to make their car purchase.
When spending a large amount of money customers need to make sure that they are being treated with professional care and have the confidence that they are going to get what they want out of the buying experience.
If a showroom team is working together to maximise the leads to appointments conversion ratio there is far more likelihood of buyers obtaining the right result.
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