What makes a great phone call?

[Walt Kustra]

I am sure a lot of you, our store included, have a certain inbound and outbound phone process. Over the past year we have tweaked, tuned, and refined both our inbound and outbound procedure with great success. What I am curious about is when you break it down to the most simple of terms, what differentiates a good phone call (inbound or outbound) from a bad one? Having changed our process a little bit recently I have found some of our Internet Mangers at some of our stores are a bit reluctant to readily grasp the new ideas and are fearful of sounding too "scripted" or "robotic" when taking or recieving calls. While these scripts are proven effective and its our goal to have all our team members well versed in our procedures, is there any way I can simplify this for them to help make sure they are as effective as possible and are getting the best possible results? Any thoughts on this would be greatly appreciated!

 

[joe.pistell]

Walt,

IMO, in this industry, the biggest weakness in working incoming phone calls is poor QUALIFYING. If you ask me, It's everywhere... it's an epidemic.

Marketing stats are everywhere, the majority of customers buy a different vehicle than what they call on. Great Qualifying techniques are the gateway to a big pay raise.

 

[joe.pistell]

I... Having changed our process a little bit recently I have found some of our Internet Mangers at some of our stores are a bit reluctant to readily grasp the new ideas and are fearful of sounding too "scripted" or "robotic" when taking or recieving calls....

Walt,
The life of a Professional Salesperson is so closely tied to Professional Sports, the parallels amaze me. I could go on for hours about the similar ups and downs of sports -and- sales. The role of Coach and GSM is an example of this parallel. Where the 2 careers disconnect is the LACK of "practice" or training in sales (vs sports).

This lack of training takes us to why you're getting "push back", they're simply not use to it. For example, If you've got a minor league b'ball team filled with talented kids playing hoops and you hire your 1st head coach, you're going to get a ton of push back. Players LOVE to play, but to win, they need practice and dicipline AND that dosent happen naturally, it takes a wize, thick skinned leader to improve the skills of the pack.

If you've ever played any sport (or game) and got decent at it, then, tried to "re-invent" your technique, you feel very rigid... "scripted". This is normal. It takes repetition to ingrain it into a flow.

If you're looking to create a message to your team and let them know that it's natural to feel scripted in the early days, look for examples in sports where pros WANT more money and look for new techniques to improve their results.

Tim Tebow is trying to re-invent his techniques, see the great example, fast forward to the 25second mark (look at the football):




Tiger Woods:




First, the professional acknowledges a new technique is needed to gain more results. Once they start, these guys feel clumsy and un-natural while learning the new techniques, but their commitment to the new technique is what drives them to practice, practice practice until it "feels" normal.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

It's not a script when you know it by heart.

Here are the common flaws we here when listening to recorded calls.

- Customer controls the conversation.
- Salesperson gives out too much information.
- No direction when taking or making calls.
- Salesperson tries to sell the car over the phone when they should be selling an appointment.

Want to get better? Call me later today and I'll show you how.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Great last Post Joe.

Do you practice until you get it right, or until you can't get it wrong?

 

[Jeff Kershner]

It's not a script when you know it by heart.

Here are the common flaws we here when listening to recorded calls.

- Salesperson gives out too much information.

Jerry, can you better clarify this "Salesperson gives out too much information." ?

I ask this because many times the techniques are to give out NO information where as I believe it's ok to give out the right information that the customer is asking for but of course the rest of your conversation needs to include the right "word tracks" to drive the customer into an appointment.

Walt, I would give Jerry a few minutes on the phone. I'm positive he'll give you some additional recommendations.

@Walt, I would encourage you to give Jerry a call. I'm sure within a few minutes on the phone with Jerry, he can give you some great pointers.

I too many times hear "don't give the customer any or too much information" and if I were on the phone looking some information and the sales person straight up neglected to share it with me, they would most likely not get the opportunity to earn my business.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Jerry, can you better clarify this "Salesperson gives out too much information."

Jeff,

I am not saying don't give any information, I am just saying don't give out unsolicited information.

The more information you give out the more likely you are to demotivate the customer from coming in. Customers have a vision of what they are looking for and as soon as you tell them something that is not part of that vision, they move on to the next phone call. 86% of the time they buy something different then what they inquire on, so why not just bring them in. There's a good chance you're going to have something on your lot that will work.

Here's a better example of what I am talking about.

Customer: " Can you tell me more about the 2004 Honda Accord you have advertised in the paper?

Really bad salesperson: "We have an ad in the paper? Cool, what does it say?"

Average salesperson giving out too much info: "Oh that one, it's got 68,000 miles on it, it's blue, it's got gray cloth seats and it's a five speed manual transmission."

Good salesperson: "Oh that's a really nice one, we've had a few calls on that one already today. When would be a good time for you to come in and see the Accord, now or later today?" Note: I would gain customer contact info before going for the appointment.

You may laugh on the really bad one, but I hear that one all the time from salespeople who are clueless when it comes to the dealerships advertising campaigns. With the good salesperson, who is to say the customer would not make the appointment based on what they heard. With the average salesperson the customer may hear something there that they don't like and decide to shop the next dealer. So unless the customer specifically ask for something, I don't offer up that information. It's like playing cards, you only show your hand when you have to.

Oh and that customer scenario above, the customer ends up driving off in a Nissan Maxima.

 

[Walt Kustra]

Great stuff guys. This is obviously why DR has become such an indispensable resource to our community. @joe, thanks for the insight as to why my colleagues are having such a hard time adapting to the changes. Your sports comparisons will work out great when trying to get our point across. @jerry, I agree with you whole heartedly. As im sure you already know having been in contact with Bobby, we are using more of your scripts now than the Dealer Synergy ones we originally became familiar with. I love your ideas, but as Joe was saying we always have to work on teaching an old horse new tricks! Our team became so comfortable with the DS scripts that they want to push back and fall into old habits when introduced to the new stuff. I always feel more comfortable and confident relaying information to my guys when I feel I am more an expert on it myself and am currently working diligently to master our new process. Great points in the last few posts. Selling the appointment is key as well as qualifying. Getting our guys better at both these things will help. How true it is that appointment on the Accord often finds themselves driving home in a Maxima! @Jeff, thanks for asking those clarifying questions. @Jerry, thanks for providing the answers! Some of the points you all made will help in distinguishing what these word tracks are provided to them to accomplish, and as we all know when people understand the "why" the "how" usually takes care of itself. Thanks again!

 

[Alex Snyder]

I am not saying don't give any information, I am just saying don't give out unsolicited information.

That is the key right there. After going through Jerry's program, at Checkered Flag, this is where we are still dropping the ball. Our agents are too proud of the knowledge they attained over the years and want to show that knowledge off by telling the customer more than what was asked for. The agents who only answer the question, then get right back to controlling the conversation by asking for an appointment, make an appointment almost 100% of the time. The proud agents end up losing the customer almost 100% of the time by talking them out of the sale.

 

[Walt Kustra]

Alex, great point! It made me think of when we first started our internet department. We had kids that never sold a car or took a sales call in their life setting crazy appointments all day long! After a while (when we think we know something) we all have a tendency to get wrapped up in other details instead of controlling the conversation and getting the appointment.