Every inbound call deserves an outbound call, whether that is replying to a caller’s message, confirming an appointment or acting on a CRM trigger. Like other sales campaigns, dealers tend to focus on outbound call volume and the cadence of those calls. Customers, on the other hand, want fewer calls and one great call experience.
To make this transition from purely measuring the quantity of outbound calls to managing customer interactions, dealers need to reinvent their outbound calling processes. The new era of outbound calling relies on an optimized CRM, leverages great data and uses multiple communication channels.
CRM workflows and business logic need to zero in on the time the outbound call is queued up. Many CRMs serve up calls due “today” and so the dealer team cranks out calls during the slow morning hours. Two-thirds of all customer connections occurring Monday through Friday happen between 12:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. If a dealer’s goal is for a BDC rep to make 75 calls a day, they can accomplish the goal quickly before 11 a.m. Dealers that focus on just 10 quality conversations each day call customers at the right time and set more appointments.
Great data makes for a great outbound call. Dealers need data like which vehicle options were asked about and prices and payments that were discussed. Outbound calls that start with the details of where the last interaction left off and a purpose for the call that continues that conversation lead to connections. Without detailed information from the last communication, a connection can’t be made and the call ultimately results in your team asking if the customer has bought a car. That is not making a connection. High appointment setters describe their approach as “Not trying to sell a car, but helping the customer buy one.”
Most dealers avoid leaving voicemails when their calls are not answered or are sent straight to voicemail, as they believe the customer will not reply and decline future calls from them. Roughly 15 percent of those calls sent straight to voicemail are being responded to with a text message from the customer.
Great interactions include the transparency of who is calling and why they are calling, and they use everyday technologies like voicemail and texting. Dealers must text-enable their click-to-call and dealership landline phone numbers in order to interact with more customers. Tailor your voice and text messages to the contact’s status, likes, wants and needs. Take the time to measure your response rates to various voicemail and text messages and train your team to utilize these proven methods to increase your callback rate.
Shifting the focus in your store from call counts to customer interactions requires time and effort. Dedicating yourself to creating a wonderful call experience will not only please your customers, it will make your staff less susceptible to outbound calling burnout. Chip King
