While shopping recently for a new car, one of our teammates asked the young sales associate how much training he’d received. “None,” he said. “You’re it.”
Lovely.
Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated case. Too frequently, sales managers direct their green peas to the brand’s online product literature to study and, seemingly at the same time, tell them to “take the next up.”
We have to do a better job preparing and equipping sales associates to succeed. Leads are too expensive and too far between to fritter away.
As your sales team engages leads — whether originating via your digital channels, as phone ups or as walk-ins — those leads will convert better when sales associates answer prospects’ questions knowingly and on the spot. Leaving prospects alone to seek answers or putting phone ups on hold jeopardizes those opportunities. No one likes having to wait.
So, what do you do?
Know It
You equip the sales team to quickly and accurately answer vehicle questions, give them one-click access to used inventory details, including PDF documents of their history and vehicle condition reports, reconditioning events and related repair images and videos.
The ability to communicate on-the-spot the details about what reconditioning has been completed and approved builds value and trust in the vehicle being considered, whether shown face-to-face with a customer or pushed via text to their smartphone for reviewing at home or elsewhere.
Everyone in the new-era sales cycle wants to look and be smart — now they can know it, empowering them to present confidently and knowledgeably in real-time. Sales lead conversion doubles when “know it” sales associates work their opportunities like this.
Find It
Misplaced or lost keys plague every dealer, as cars get misplaced, forgotten about and otherwise “lost.”
Vehicle and vehicle key location and tracking solutions have come a long way; now a sales associate working a solid up doesn’t put that deal at risk because the car (or its keys) can’t be located for the test driver — or delivery!
New-era locator tools find cars even when parked in above- or underground garages.
A dealer using this locator technology remarked recently, “We no longer look for keys and cars, we go get them.”
If you can’t find it, you can’t sell it.
Sell It
A 21-day turn is possible — and necessary — to command and hold a decent margin today. To get there, dealers tell us the solution is taking cars from acquisition to sale-ready status in under five days.
We call this fast-track process speed to sale.
A speed-to-sale advantage starts with providing the sales team with direct access to your reconditioning workflow, from their desktop and mobile devices. Their quick check of inventory-in-process equips them with the “Know It” advantage described earlier.
Now your sales team, whether they’re working a deal while standing on the lot, engaging the prospect on the phone or following up with an online lead, can respond to questions promptly, accurately and confidently.
Dealers practicing this tell us they retail up to 40% of their inventory while those cars are in recon.
In our increasingly multi-channel retailing environment, advantage favors the equipped and responsive sales team. Such teams answer questions knowingly and on-the-spot, never having to call customers back or put them on hold. They go get cars of interest, never having to look for them and their keys. Because they better engage leads, they convert more opportunities to done deals.
