consulting - AIS Expert Bloggers - Automotive Internet Sales - BDC - Free Training Resources2024-03-29T05:03:50Zhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/expert-bloggers/feed/tag/consultingCan Your Dealership Beat the Mystery Shopping Challenge?https://automotiveinternetsales.com/expert-bloggers/can-your-dealership-beat-the-mystery-shopping-challenge2014-10-23T20:44:39.000Z2014-10-23T20:44:39.000ZSean V. Bradleyhttps://automotiveinternetsales.com/members/SeanVBradley<div><p><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474839?profile=original" target="_self"><img src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1474839?profile=original" width="469" class="align-full" height="267"></a></p>
<p>http://www.DealerSynergy.com </p>
<p>Can Your Dealership Beat the Mystery Shopping Challenge</p>
<p>My company recently mystery shopped 28 dealerships around the</p>
<p>country. We called each dealership twice for a total of 56 calls in six</p>
<p>weeks, and the results were truly eye opening — so much so that I feel</p>
<p>compelled to share the results with the industry.</p>
<p>First, let me explain that on our scale, the maximum opportunity — a</p>
<p>perfect score — is 35 points. While you wouldn’t need a perfect score to</p>
<p>set the appointment, you want to be as perfect as possible.</p>
<p>Having said that, the top people only received a 16.75 average. That’s</p>
<p>right; the best of the bunch earned less than half the points possible. Are</p>
<p>your eyes opened yet?</p>
<p>Out of the 28 dealerships we could not reach two. That’s right — two</p>
<p>dealerships didn’t even answer the phone. Keep in mind that even though</p>
<p>we called all the dealerships twice, on different days, we still couldn’t</p>
<p>even get two stores to pick up the phone.</p>
<p>It’s hard to overstate how important the initial experience is for a</p>
<p>customer contacting a dealership — you’ve only got one shot to make an</p>
<p>impression. That initial experience boils down to simple actions. How</p>
<p>many times did the phone ring? How many people did they go through</p>
<p>before getting a salesman?</p>
<p>We found that out of the 28 dealerships, only eight had acceptable</p>
<p>scores for initial experience. There were so many calls where the phone</p>
<p>rang off the hook. Moreover, when they finally did answer the call, it</p>
<p>wasn’t the right person to take a sales call and was often fumbled in the</p>
<p>process of transferring to the right person. And, in several instances,</p>
<p>after waiting on hold, being transferred and having an overall stressful</p>
<p>initial experience, some calls wound up going to people’s voicemails.</p>
<p>That’s a lot of work on the potential customer’s part for absolutely no</p>
<p>result. How would you feel?</p>
<p>While the majority was able to conduct a proper greeting, about a third</p>
<p>of the group struggled on the greeting, and almost everyone did a poor</p>
<p>job on phone etiquette; that they did not ask for the prospect’s contact</p>
<p>information including names, phone number, email address etc.</p>
<p>Of the 28 dealerships, 23 did not qualify the prospects other than on the</p>
<p>vehicle. They did not identify wants, wishes, expectations etc.</p>
<p>Only six of the 28 dealerships demonstrated any type of “phone</p>
<p>process,” and even those six struggled in the execution. For the most</p>
<p>part, people answered the phone and tried to answer some basic</p>
<p>questions, but there was no strategy. There was no “road to the</p>
<p>appointment” process and there was no value being created. There were</p>
<p>just people answering the phones and trying to answer some questions</p>
<p>and “hoping” that these prospects would just show up to the dealership.</p>
<p>Only five percent of the dealerships evaluated attempted to build</p>
<p>value in themselves, the dealership or the product. The vast majority</p>
<p>absolutely did not “sell the appointment.”</p>
<p>We found that their closing were generally good, but it’s was too little,</p>
<p>too late because by then, the customer has not had a good experience.</p>
<p>The bottom line is that the phones are one of the most important,</p>
<p>most basic and most misused opportunities at the dealership. Every</p>
<p>dealership needs the following:</p>
<p>• A strategy of inbound phone calls — Specifically, you want</p>
<p>to make sure that, when you are trying to sell the second most</p>
<p>expensive item the average American will ever purchase in their</p>
<p>lifetime, it is an awesome first impression and experience. You</p>
<p>want the right person to answer the phone within two to three</p>
<p>rings, and they are capable of answering questions and satisfying</p>
<p>the needs of the prospect.</p>
<p>• A contingency plan —If your “A-Plan” doesn’t work, there needs</p>
<p>to be a “Plan B” in place. For example, if the phone rings more</p>
<p>than three times, the phone system is set up to re-route the call.</p>
<p>• A “road to the appointment” phone strategy — If you think</p>
<p>that it is important to have a “road to the sale” for the showroom,</p>
<p>then I assure you that you need to have the same strategy for the</p>
<p>phones.</p>
<p>• The ability to sell the appointment — The goal is getting the</p>
<p>maximum amount of appointments to show to the dealership, not</p>
<p>a bunch of appointments who’ll never show up. The only way to</p>
<p>do that is to sell the value of your organization.</p>
<p>• Create a “value package proposition” — You need a “why buy</p>
<p>from us” list, and articulate it to each and every prospect.</p>
<p>• A clear objective — Remember that the No. 1 goal of the phone</p>
<p>opportunity is to secure contact information, not make the</p>
<p>appointment. The appointment is secondary. Think about it; if you</p>
<p>do not secure all the relevant contact information and they do not</p>
<p>show up, you’ve got nothing.</p>
<p>Dealers need to respect the phones. Why spend $60,000 per month (the</p>
<p>NADA average) and drive all of this “traffic” to the dealership via the</p>
<p>Internet and phones and totally blow it on the phones? It doesn’t make</p>
<p>sense. I advise every single dealership to evaluate the way they handle</p>
<p>their phone call protocol and strategy. Mystery shop your own store; you</p>
<p>may will be shocked at what you find.</p>
<p>As a matter of fact, if you would like me to mystery shop your dealership</p>
<p>for free, contact me and I will conduct a mystery shop, recorded and</p>
<p>graded, at no charge.</p>
<p>Sean V. Bradley is the founder and CEO of Dealer Synergy, a nationally recognized</p>
<p>training and consulting company in the automotive industry. He can be contacted at</p>
<p>866.648.7400, or by e-mail at sbradley@autosuccessonline.com.</p></div>