Despite all of the advances in technology, phone skills training focused on phone Skills on setting appointments is overlooked and absent. Dealers spend countless dollars each day in an effort to make the phone ring, yet make no investment in training salespeople on how to effectively communicate on a phone. Technology has changed the auto business – from fax machines to the internet; mobile applications to online forms for everything. Yet the one piece of technology that is most often ignored and remains critical in doing business is the telephone. Training is critical!
When we analyze our monthly sales results, oftentimes we count the number of clicks on our website, visits to our showroom, and in the end, the number of cars sold. All of the most successful dealers in the industry track their phone traffic and they continually train phone skills their personnel. There is no better qualified up in the store than one that has actually called first. Closing rates are far better on a customer that has already spoken to a salesperson prior to arrival yet most dealers spend little, if any time, to actually make sure their staff can perform the most critical of phone tasks –Setting the appointment.
Salespeople hate training. For some reason, their dislike for phone training is at the top of the list. This doesn’t negate the need for phone skill training. Each month, I spend countless hours listening to recorded phone calls for clients, and more often than not, they are painful to listen to. Routinely, I hear customers calling to ask questions about specific cars, get directions to the dealership, or inquire about the current advertising campaign. Over and over again, salespeople answer the questions without ever asking who is calling, how they can be reached, and what time is best for the customer to visit the showroom. Dealers spend on average of over $50 per lead yet we let salespeople answer the phone any way they chose. How, as an efficient leader, can you sit by and let the phone ring in your store as many as 100 times per day yet spend so little time actually training and coaching your team on how to handle the calls when that comes in?
The fix begins with developing and training phone skills that focus on one thing – setting the appointment. This is the hardest thing to get salespeople to do but if done properly, the results will be significant. By using a call guide, you can ensure that all calls are handled the same with the end result of setting the appointment each and every time. Technology has evolved here as well and for a minimal investment, contract with a phone recording service. There are many options that allow you to record, and listen to all incoming or outgoing phone traffic.
Next, use the recorded calls to teach from during your sales training. The majority of inbound calls are directions, pricing, inventory, and credit. The goal is the same with all of them – set an appointment. The call should always be answered with an excited salesperson offering to tell the caller about the great promotion that is going on right now! Regardless of the caller’s reason for dialing, set an appointment to get the customer into the dealership. Stop letting your salespeople give out prices over the phone, determining a customer’s ability to buy, or telling potential sales, “that car sold yesterday!” Prior to writing this piece, I just listened to a call where a salesperson told the customer they would call them back next week in an effort to set an appointment. Why wait? The dealer will be lucky to ever see this customer and the salesperson is the reason for the lost sale.
Put your call guides in place, record your calls, and train your salespeople. Commit to a process of training phone skills focused on setting appointments. The sooner you make phone skills training a priority, the sooner you will see results!