Winging it is for tailgate parties, not dealerships...

Are your salespeople just ‘winging it’?
Chances are that your Internet Sales Personnel have a process they work off of, a series of steps to take when they receive an online information request that probably includes a schedule of when and how they attempt to contact the customer. Everyone has their own idea of what works best; call, email, text and follow with another call… call, call, email and call again the next day etc. While I am not here to suggest what process works best I am merely asking two questions. First, as the Manager or GSM etc do YOU know what the sales process for Internet leads is? If not why not?

It should be in a binder at the sales desk at the very least and not one with dust covering it. Remember the old phrase ‘inspect what you expect’? Well it’s pretty darn relevant here I would say! Sure, you may have a Director overseeing the department and they may be doing a bang up job, but should that be enough? Spot checking what’s going on is always a good idea however it cant be done if you yourself don’t have a good understanding of just how those Internet people go about bringing their deals! In addition what if your Director is lured away? Would your department continue on without interruption? Could someone step in and pick up seamlessly or close to it, and keep the department moving forward? Second question, does your retail sales staff follow the same process with their unsold showroom traffic? Again, if not why not? A customer who walks on the lot and gets information is just like one getting information online but more valuable because they have been to your store, they have a name and a face to keep in mind. Stats show that only 25-35% of walk ins are recorded into the dealerships CRM, that’s a staggering number but being knee deep in this business as I am one that’s completely believable. This pulls the covers off of the inconvenient truth of what is happening out on the lot, your sales people are skipping steps, ignoring the process of the store and basically ‘winging it’ and hope for the best. There should be a process in place for how to manage your opportunities today, tomorrow and next week. Take a look at your Internet Sales process and I would bet you can easily modify it to work for unsold showroom traffic quickly and once in place I am sure you will see an immediate increase in capturing those previously missed opportunities!