Success with 3rd party Call and Email Follow-up Services?

[Tony Schlotter]

We are looking into a 3rd party call center for email/phone call follow up on internal campaigns we are running. Who is using who, and why? We're looking for a progressive provider that is easy to work with (aren't we all) that can accommodate 3- 5 attempts per client we have.

Also, if you are using a software that helps with campaign management, who is is and are they worth looking into?

Any feedback on what is working or not working would be great!

Tony

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Tony, some of the community might be a bit shy in reponsonding due to being up North. Maybe @Mitch Gallant could help with this.

From what I gather, you're looking for a company that will follow-up by phone AND email after your internal campaigns have dropped. What are you looking to achieve from the follow-up? I'll assume an appointment...

There are a few companies here in the states.

EleadOne has a dedicated BDC / Call Center - From what I gather they do work with Canadian dealers.

CallRevu is another that has a dedicated Call Center but I'm not sure they service Canada. I asked my connection there and if he responds, I'll update this thread.

*UPDATE: Tom Harsha did inform me that they would and do indeed have and work with dealer clients in Canada. I asked him to chime in to help answer your additional questions.

 

[Tony Schlotter]

Hey, Jeff! Thanks for the reply.. as a matter of fact, @Mitch Gallant is my boss so he may have an idea or two as well.

I can see the hesitancy as well in throwing out who may work with who. We are looking for someone (company) who can accommodate simple follow up on small campaigns that we are running internally (no shotgun approaches). We have spoken to ElaeadOne, so they are on our radar of options.

We are also interested in campaign management.. Dealer Socket suits most of our needs, however creation of and tracking campaigns is a little more difficult and foggy then we would like. Our intention is to run multiple campaigns between sales/service/etc at the same time. So, ultimately the most efficient way would be worth looking into if isn't our CRM.

Whether it's a software program that is worth looking into or another program that will facilitate our needs, we're open to options.

Thanks, again!

 

[Tony Schlotter]

'From what I gather, you're looking for a company that will follow-up by phone AND email after your internal campaigns have dropped. What are you looking to achieve from the follow-up? I'll assume an appointment...'

Depending on the campaign we are running, yes, an apt may be what we need at that time. However, we could also use a simple confirmation call follow up/email to a mailer, event, etc. It will not always be about an apt, but rather very dependent on the message we sent out that particular time.

Our targets will be small in the scope of follow up.. likely, 200- 500 at a time. Again, very dependent on the campaign itself.

 

[Alexander Lau]

I would agree with @Jeff Kershner (those are the best) and throw in Better Car People @ http://bettercarpeople.com and DecisionLinks @ http://decisionlinks.com and a cheaper option at SunStar Autos http://www.sunstarautos.com.

BTW, I'm unaffiliated with those groups, just have used them in the past.

I would also look into Conversica @ https://www.conversica.com or the like (but IMO, they are the best artificial intelligence / AI software out there that supports automotive). If your outsourced group isn't using something similar, you should question their tactics and technique. In theory, it should help increase your closing rates. I've measured it to in the past.

 

[Alexander Lau]

AutoSoft @ https://autosoftdms.com might have some form of an outsourced call center as well.

 

[Tom Harsha]

Tony, I built the CallRevu Call Center based on my personal experiences with outsourced call centers while managing a large Honda dealer in Cleveland Ohio for 10 years.

My goal by starting with a clean slate and re-thinking the call center model was to address key communication break downs between the call center and dealership, low appointment show rates and create some innovative solutions for customers that respond via text to outbound calls and voicemail. Ironically my approach is a little "Old School" but has proven to generate signficant results for dealers.

Here are some best practices that I've found drive the best appointment set and show rates for dealers:
1. Branding each script for the dealer to create a call flow more like jazz music than an A - B script.
2. Eliminate auto dialing software. This hurts campaign efficiency but the customers know immediately by the pause before speaking that its a generic call center call. This step ensures a one to one feel and focus for each dealer customer call.
3. Encourage the call center to focus first on the quality of each outbound attempt instead of how many attempts they complete per hour. I'm also a big fan of pricing based on closed contacts versus charging for every record in the campaign.
4. Make sure each campaign includes a tracked local number that is text enabled. We see a 12 - 15% text response to outbound phone call attempts.
5. Each campaign includes a custom voicemail message with live answer or voice prompts.
6. Require a minimum appointment threshold that triggers a pause on each campaign after the first 48 hours of dialing. This allows you and the provider to review the data and customer responses on under performing campaigns. This process facilitates active campaign script adjustments and customer offers along with a review of call intervals and time.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you have additional quesitons.