Without On Hold Messages Car Dealers Lose 1 in 5 Callers!
The auto dealership industry has enjoyed some pretty fruitful years as of late, and the good news is with low loan rates and cheap gasoline, auto sales will continue rising and the forecast for new-car sales remains very strong. CallSource, providers of award-winning solutions to help dealerships track, analyze and improve incoming call performance recently conducted a survey. The CallSource survey shows that 89% of auto dealers report that inbound calls have increased, and 50% of those report an increase of inbound calls by nearly 20%. These are indeed some pretty impressive numbers.
But don’t drop the balloons, and pop open the champagne and celebrate just yet. While the survey shows auto dealers reporting an increase in inbound calls, less than 40% of dealers are confident that they’re managing these inbound calls effectively. The survey concludes that 1/3 of dealerships believe they lose 1 in 5 sales calls to competitors! However, the survey also revealed that top performing dealers can reach over 33% call-to-sale ratios. So what’s the secret to their success? A fundamental shift in how these dealers capitalize on these invaluable inbound marketing opportunities, and enhance the caller experience with the effective use of custom on hold messaging.
On average, for about every four sales appointments set, a dealer typically converts at least one into a sale, averaging about $2,200 in bottom-line profit for a new car sale. This would mean that for every four or five mishandled incoming calls, a dealer is potentially losing not only $2,200 in profit, but to exacerbate the problem, they’re also forfeiting the marketing spend that went into driving that consumer to their phones in the first place. So to recap, dealers who mishandle inbound opportunities lose callers to competitors, lose bottom line profits and waste marketing spend.
It’s pretty apparent that without a professional message on hold service, there’s a clear disconnect between what dealers think is happening on their phones and what is really going on! However with the strategic use of auto dealer on hold messages, callers are provided with pertinent information about the dealership’s latest service specials, promotions, showroom hours and locations, add-on services and more. Top performing auto dealerships know that callers who are exposed to engaging, informative, and entertaining messages will remain on hold up to three times longer than when forced to wait in dead- silence or listening to canned music.
In the survey, CallSource customer Casey Jenkins of Jenkins & Wynn Ford Lincoln Honda is quoted as saying; “There is zero need to spend money marketing our services, if we can’t communicate professionally or convert a call to a customer transaction via the phone.” These days, customers are mobile, which means more calls are streaming in than ever before. It doesn’t matter whether your customer is looking for a pick-up or Porsche – you only have a few seconds to make or break a customer relationship, so focus on inbound call handling with on hold message which can deliver greater ROI, and happier customers.
Have questions about on hold messaging for your auto dealership? Are you already using auto dealer on hold messages and have a success story you’d like to tell? Let us know in the comments section, or share it on Facebook.
