The Big Picture: Dealership Follow-Up

A dealership’s ability to follow-up with buyers makes a world of difference in getting extra car deals every month. However, many dealerships have follow-up that doesn’t engage buyers. This in turn means they don’t stand out in the market, or just becomes noise to buyers. That’s why being able to consistently deliver quality dealership follow-up with all your buyers is directly tied to your ability to succeed. In order to sufficiently follow-up with buyers, a salesperson needs have the information, technique, and insights required to be able to get in contact with and engage any buyer.

In today’s world, new leads are critical. Yet, depending on new leads for success will mean hitting lower numbers each month in car sales. If you have no new leads, then it’s time to go back into the CRM and find some good people to call. By turning up old leads and hanging in with long-term follow-up buyers, you can create new sales. Being able to pleasantly and effectively follow-up on leads and hang in there with clients is a critical part of landing more car deals.

Dealership Follow-Up: Being Prepared

Remember, when there is a buyer on the phone or the showroom floor, a salesperson’s goal is never to follow-up. However, a buyer that you cannot reach is a buyer that you cannot follow-up with. So, when the appointment doesn’t get set or a car doesn’t get bought, the information you’ve gathered creates the opportunity to accomplish these goals in the future! As a result, being able to gather customer information during your first communication is vital to your ability to keep the deal alive later down the road.

Keep the deal alive with great dealership follow-up with good, quality contact information. Phone, email, text, video and social networking are all great ways to follow-up with car sales customers. So, throughout your process, naturally start to collect contact information. Additionally, double check that you have the best contact information to reach them with. Have their cell phone, home phone, 2 email addresses, and social platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter. Customers will want to contact car dealers that can efficiently communicate with them and benefit them in some way. Remember, the more information you have, the better your follow-up will be.

How to Engage Buyers with Different Communication Methods

 

https://player.vimeo.com/video/254313588?dnt=1&app_id=122963

Once you have a plethora of contact information, you are ready to start following-up. In order to be a dealership follow-up master, you need to engage buyers through multiple communication sources. Diversified follow-up is perhaps the most important aspect to being successful in contacting buyers. By using a multitude of follow-up methods, alongside quality information, eventually something will hit and you will get in communication with the buyer.

Let’s take a look at the different methods of communication and how to effectively engage buyers with each source!

Dealership Follow-Up: Phone

These days, some salespeople hate following-up with buyers over the phone, and others love it! Yet, there’s no denying the importance of following-up with customers over the phone. A lot of people fail to follow-up consistently because they are afraid of annoying the buyer. However, persistence wears resistance! You want to be pleasantly persistent and hang in there with your follow-up. 

If the buyer is shopping around and you are only calling once a week, then you are going to be less successful. Instead, you want to outrun the other dealers. You want multiple approaches and plenty of good reasons why you are calling the buyer. So, be pleasantly persistent! Call until the buyer answers, and when they do, be ready to rework the deal with information that they will want to hear. When you have a great attitude and good information, these buyers will be delighted to take your call!

For 30+ free call guides, including numerous follow-up call guides, click here!

Dealership Follow-Up: Text

An overly long, overly detailed text message usually just ends up turning buyers off. So, keep texts short and sweet, but with a sense of urgency to help get the deal rolling again. If a deal has seemingly grown cold, get it hot again by firing off a short text with strong one-liners and information the buyer wants. Do not turn off the customer with a long, drawn-out wall of text.

Example Follow-Up Text:

"ARE YOU STILL TRYING TO SELL YOUR CAR? i THINK i HAVE FINALLY FOUND THE RIGHT CAR FOR YOU! PLEASE GIVE ME A CALL BACK AS SOON AS POSSIBLE, I HAVE IMPORTANT NEWS TO SHARE ABOUT THE VEHICLE."

 

Furthermore, salespeople should constantly analyze their outgoing texts. To do this, take a look at your initial text message, secondary text message, and third text message. If you are getting poor results, it is often because you are sending out overdrawn messages and information that is turning off the buyer. So, periodically analyze your text messages to make sure you optimize what you send out for better success!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/387063732?dnt=1&app_id=122963

Dealership Follow-Up: Email

Emails need to grab the reader’s attention and move the deal forward – not just be noise. However, dealerships often send a multitude of emails without the sought-after information until three times in! Sending too many emails without the content the buyer is looking for will cause you to be ignored. Imagine that first email is your only shot at locking that customer down!

Dealerships that send information the customer wants will help ensure that they are more likely to choose your dealership. For example, price, a personalized video, and alternative options such as cars they haven't considered yet or special deals. On the other hand, dealerships that spam lackluster emails will cause buyers to get annoyed and delete or block you. Put your best foot forward on the first email and get the buyer the exact information they want. Get engagement, bring the buyer into the dealership and sell that vehicle!

Dealership Follow-Up: Video

Modern technology is at the center of every dealership and every buyer’s life. Yet, video is one of the most underutilized technologies at a car dealership, even though videos are a fantastic way to follow-up with the buyer! For example, after failing to get an appointment, shooting a video of what the buyer is looking for is a great way to follow-up. Furthermore, follow up with clients by not only shooting videos of the vehicle they're interested in but other similar vehicles as well to expand your inventory and boost your odds.

Videos are a great way to place yourself in front of the buyer and differentiate yourself from the salespeople at the other dealerships. Send videos if you get new inventory, took in a trade-in that is similar to the buyer’s car, or if there are any other new developments. Additionally, texting buyers a video alongside a call-to-action to give you a call, or sending a video in unison with a strong email are great ways to engage buyers and breakthrough during your follow-up! The more videos you shoot, the more deals you're going to make!

https://player.vimeo.com/video/356306082?dnt=1&app_id=122963

The Modern Follow-Up Source: Social Media

Social media, such as Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram, is another great way to follow-up with buyers. You never know what will breakthrough to a buyer, and with social media being used more often than ever, it can be a great place to breakthrough to buyers. Similar to texting and emails, follow-up texts should have some strong one-liners and quality information. A custom video in your social media message is another great way to help breakthrough!

Social media can also be utilized for some more out-of-the-box follow-up tactics. For example, if the buyer runs a business, go on their Facebook business page and write them a positive review and use that as a conversation starter in your next message!