Question

Topic: Advertising/PR

Customer Management Tool For Follow Up

Posted by Anonymous on 12/21/2010 at 9:48 PM ET 125 Points
I handle advertising/PR/BDC for a Car Dealership and I am noticing that way too many customers are falling through the cracks or getting forgot about. whether be email lead/walk up or phone up. Please let me know if you know of any good follow up tools that may help me out.

Thanks in advance. I love how we can all help each other out!!

~Brian
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RESPONSES

  • Posted by michael on 12/22/2010 at 8:05 AM Accepted
    Brian,

    Randall (WMMA) nailed the issue. My experience with car sales people...or any retail sales person...is that they don't want to make the call unless it's a sure thing. THAT, my friend is order taking...not sales. Those people don't deserve a "sales" commission.

    I've purchased 4 cars in the last 2 years....because people ask me to help them, not because I'm buying bad cars....so this is very fresh in my mind.

    Dealers using the major websites (autotrader/cars) etc do not keep the listings up to date and think that luring people in with cars that don't exist will help them get a sale. Umm...bait & switch went out with 2400 baud rates.

    It really comes down to hiring the right sales people. "If you don't make the calls, you don't work here anymore". I'm just finishing "The Search for Something Better" about how US Cellular turned around with stellar customer/prospect focus. Easily translatable to your situation.

    Here's something fun to try: Don't have a sales person call, have a mechanic make the call. "Hi this is Bob from ABC Auto. I saw that you were looking at the XXX we have listed on our website. When we got this car on trade in, I am the one who did the mechanical check. I just wanted to tell you about it. "

    Michael
  • Posted by AdsValueBob on 12/22/2010 at 9:35 AM Accepted
    From the book THe Greatest Management Principle - "What Gets Measured Get Done".

    I totally agree with the other contributors, yet they still didn't answer your basic question even if you do (should) follow their advice.

    With a diversity of sources of leads, and I suspect not a voluminous amount of leads, consider:

    1. I've used a free / paid online software called FreeCRM. Its easy to use. Just use the minimum features / entries to achieve your objectives

    2. A simple Excel spreadsheet on the dealership LAN can do wonders. You can access each salesperson's file from your desk and see how they're doing.

    There are other more costly and complex solutions, yet it appears you need to solve the sales problem first - then scale your process solution.

    Sincerely,

    Bob
  • Posted on 12/22/2010 at 10:33 AM Author
    Thanks for all the great responses. I appreciate them all!! I will leave this open for another day or two for more input, but Thank You, Thank You, Thank you!
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