The first goal when you follow up with your dealerships internet leads is to set the appointment.
Without an appointment it is almost impossible to sell any product you’re selling.
As soon as the leads get to your CRM or email, you should be calling them on the phone.
One mistake I see with dealerships lead forms is some only require a name and email.
They leave the phone number optional and I think this is a big mistake!
The phone or in person are the best ways to earn your customers trust.
Defaulting to emails make its harder to connect with your customers, so make the call.
As customers are bombarded with emails and will likely miss your email, they aren’t receiving as many calls.
In a single day I will get a handful of calls while I will receive hundreds of emails.
It is safe to say the easier way to get ahold of me is by the telephone.
Long story short, make sure you require the phone number on your lead forms!
As you get new leads and you divvy them amongst your sales team.
The first goal should be to set an appointment.
Ask your lead(s) to come to the dealership and take a look at the product in person.
Some people will set the appointment right away, and some will take time answering your calls, emails, and texts.
Here is where most sales people fall off.
Your lead didn’t answer your phone call.
You leave a voicemail and tell them to call you back, but they don’t call you back.
You send them an email thinking they will respond, but no reply back.
At this point, most sales people are done!
They will no longer follow up with the lead and will label them one of the following:
- Tire kicker
- Window shopper
- Waste of time
- Not a buyer
- Shopping around
I could keep going, but you’ve heard the excuses before and I think you get the point.
I want to stop here for a second so you sales people can understand that this is killing your numbers!
Most of the time you will have to reach out to your lead(s) more than 5 times before they will answer you.
If you are one of those sales people who are unwilling to follow up multiple times, then take a new career.
Follow Up With Your Dealerships Internet Leads!
Customers are not sitting by their phone and watching their emails to make sure they didn’t miss a call or email from you.
They’re worried about their own lives, and their dogs, and their kids, and their jobs, and the leaky tub, or the long grass, or the million other things people worry about.
The reason your lead didn’t answer the first 5 times wasn’t because they hate you and want you to stop calling them.
They didn’t answer because they are busy with life and you called at the wrong time.
Maybe they were at work taking a shit, and couldn’t answer the phone.
There are a million reasons why they didn’t responded yet but don’t let that stop you from following up!
Now that I got that off my chest lets move on to the follow up process:
Lead Comes In and Sales Manager Assigns Lead To A Sales Person – Every lead should be given to a sales person within the first 5 minutes it was received and the sales person should follow up within that same 5 minutes.
If you call your leads within the first 5 minutes of them giving you the lead, you will have a higher chance of setting the appointment and closing them.
The more time in between when you get the lead and when you call them will determine the chances of you getting them on the phone or not.
Sales Person Calls The Lead – After the lead is assigned to a sales person, that sales person should call the lead in the first 5 minutes.
The next step is to land the appointment.
One way you can try to set an appointment is by opening your phone call with something like,
“Hi, John this is Chris from ___________. I received your inquiry about our _____________ and I wanted to see if you had some time today to come take a look at this product in person. Does 1:00pm or 4:00pm work better for you”?
If your lead doesn’t answer their phone you should leave them a voicemail.
Tell them you will be sending over a quick text video of the product they inquired about and get ready to shoot a video.
(May not work with all products, but works great for dealerships)
Send A Personalized Text Video – After you leave a voicemail, the next step is to go out to the unit, open the camera in your smart phone, and record a personalized video to your lead.
You will want to get your face in the video and make it personalized to your lead by saying something like,
“Hey John, this is Chris here at _______ and this is the _______ you inquired about on our website. I wanted to give you a quick walk around of this unit so that you can check it out a little more before you come in and look at it in person. If I miss any areas you want to see or if you want me to go back over something let me know and I’ll get it sent over to you. I am here most of the week if you have some free time to come take a look at this _______ in person, let me know what will work best for you and I will make sure I am available for you.”
After you text your lead this personalized video from your cell phone, you will want to ask them what they think of the unit and try to set an appointment.
These personalized videos also help if your lead is from out of town or has a long way to travel because they can see your product closer before making the trip.
Using videos like this will help you sell more products over the phone because your video will build credibility in your products.
Since the video you’re sending is personalized and not a stock video, customers feel more at ease and trust your sales people more.
Notice I am always trying to set the appointment.
This is very important because no matter how many leads you get, without an appointment you will never sell any products.
You can take your videos a step further and send them a couple different videos on comparable units. (No more than 3)
This helps because your customer sees you’re working for them and understand that you are willing to help them find the right product before they buy.
Send An Email – After you call, leave a voice mail, and then send a text video.
The next thing you want to do is send an email.
Your customers will get back to you on whatever medium they feel most comfortable.
If your leads like phone calls and all you do is email, that is no good.
But if your leads like emails and all you do is call, that is also no good.
(If you have to choose one or the other calling is better than email, in my opinion)
This means you have to follow up with your dealerships internet leads on all the different mediums they want to talk on.
This way your leads can choose which one they want to respond to you on and you can start the sales process.
If you follow up with your dealerships internet leads using this method your sales team will be:
- Calling in the first 5 minutes
- Trying to set the appointment
- Leaving a voicemail everytime
- Sending text videos of the products and comparable products your lead inquired about
- Sending emails and asking for an appointment
- Calling a 2nd time before they leave for the day to set an appointment
By using all of these forms of follow up you will increase the chances that your lead will start talking with you so you can start the sales process.
Also, take note how many times in 1 day you should follow up with your internet leads.
If you follow this system you will reach out to your leads 4 times in the first day, and you will repeat the process the next day.
In day 2 you will reach out to your leads another 4 times and you should be able to start the conversation with them by the 8th contact on the 2nd day.
Back To The Phone – Lets assume by the 8th contact your lead(s) still haven’t responded to you.
Get back on the phone and follow up with your dealerships internet leads.
The phone has always been and will always be one of the best devices to conduct business.
Customers get pissed off on a daily basis hearing automated customer service systems because they want to talk with a human.
People want to deal with experts who can help them find the product that fits their needs and solve their problems.
The only way you will be able to figure out what pain points and problems your customers have is by talking to them.
There is a reason every sales process in the world has a section where you qualify your customer.
Even though your leads are pre-qualified, your sales team will still need to take them through the sales process in order to get the sale.
(Want More On Sales Process? Read This Article)
Rinse, Wash, and Repeat – If your lead still hasn’t responded to you, do not stop following up.
Customers will typically purchase a product within the first 16 months of them giving a lead.
This means you should be calling, text, emailing, and even using social media to keep the attention of your leads.
If you stop following up with your leads after the first phone call, or the 10th email, or whatever.
You’re leaving money on the table.
Your leads needs will change as time goes on.
The unit they looked at the first time may not be the unit they need anymore, so follow up and re-qualify your leads before you take them through your sales process.
Moral of the story… always follow up with your dealerships internet leads.
Don’t give up on your leads and make sure you’re contacting them over 8 times.
If you follow up with your customers through phone calls, texts, and emails you will eventually get them on the phone and be able to start your sales process.
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