Our dealership has been using them for a few years, but I don't believe it's worth the money if you don't use it correctly. What are other dealers doing to not miss out on potential leads being let off the hook by the salesman with no name, number, email, etc.? If you are currently using Who's Calling do you have a dedicated person listening/tracking the calls?
Who's using Who's Calling.com and do you feel it's worth it?
- Thread starter Chris Atwater
- Start date
I go through the call log, match the number to the CRM database, and can see everything.. Don't use that company, just using a cars.com tracking #, nothing fancy.. Would love to have it create leads in the CRM per call, but it's too expensive.
If you are using Cars.com tracking # how are you tracking other sources? Are you tying them in to the Cars.com number?
Assuming this is the same as Call Source [If it isn't please stop reading] ....
What I would do is have a different number for ALL internet sources. 1 for cars.com, autotrader, google places, etc. I would import all of the phone numbers into excel at the end of the month. Then, I would run a query and pull a list of vehicles sold along with the buyers (and co-buyers) phone numbers.
Now I would have a list of all numbers that called AND all phone numbers of people that bought. I would then run a simple comparison in excel to see what matches up.
Spoiler: Usually most sales come from the website phone number by my experience. Google Places generates crap ton of phone calls, but it's usually for service customers!
Helpful?
What I would do is have a different number for ALL internet sources. 1 for cars.com, autotrader, google places, etc. I would import all of the phone numbers into excel at the end of the month. Then, I would run a query and pull a list of vehicles sold along with the buyers (and co-buyers) phone numbers.
Now I would have a list of all numbers that called AND all phone numbers of people that bought. I would then run a simple comparison in excel to see what matches up.
Spoiler: Usually most sales come from the website phone number by my experience. Google Places generates crap ton of phone calls, but it's usually for service customers!
Helpful?
I use call measurement and have a number for each source. I have a different number for new and used vehicles on Cars and AutoTrader.
I am usually the one listening to the calls but lately, I have a manager in each of the stores that has taken an interest in listening.
I always have a call to action in my descriptions. "At this price, this one won't last long", "Priced, below market, this one will go fast", "We use market-based pricing to ensure that our vehicles sell fast over the internet" "Call now". I have dozens. I want the customer to call rather than send an email. If you aren't listening to the phone calls, I promise, you have idiots taking the calls.
With Call Measurement, you can send the really bad calls to their manager's phone. It usually gets an immediate reaction. I have a hard-fast rule, idiots don't answer my phones. I told the receptionist that certain people are allowed phone calls. The others, don't let them answer even if their wife is calling.
Chris, Phone ups are at the very bottom of the funnel. Not handling these properly is very expensive. You are stepping over dollars to save dimes.
I am usually the one listening to the calls but lately, I have a manager in each of the stores that has taken an interest in listening.
I always have a call to action in my descriptions. "At this price, this one won't last long", "Priced, below market, this one will go fast", "We use market-based pricing to ensure that our vehicles sell fast over the internet" "Call now". I have dozens. I want the customer to call rather than send an email. If you aren't listening to the phone calls, I promise, you have idiots taking the calls.
With Call Measurement, you can send the really bad calls to their manager's phone. It usually gets an immediate reaction. I have a hard-fast rule, idiots don't answer my phones. I told the receptionist that certain people are allowed phone calls. The others, don't let them answer even if their wife is calling.
Chris, Phone ups are at the very bottom of the funnel. Not handling these properly is very expensive. You are stepping over dollars to save dimes.
Thank you for the information. I'm the one who listens to all the calls when I'm not selling cars. The reason is the other salesman don't ask how the caller found our vehicle or dealership. I'm very interested in knowing what sources the calls are coming from and it's nice to know what calls are missed during business hours. People are pretty impressed when you call them back. I was just curious on how many dealers use a tool like this. I see quite a few do!
Sounds like for a lot of folks, simplification is key. There is a lot of noise among your calls. Having them pushed into CRM with recordings, notes, call data, etc is something to consider if you're not already. It's something we place high on our priority list when working with dealers in addition to categorizing calls by whether or not there was an inventory discussion, appointment booked / not booked, failed to ask for appointment, etc. These categorizations should help with keeping the volume of calls that are worth your time much more manageable.
Hey Mike and how is Dallas? For anyone that isn't familiar with Century Interactive, I've used this company with great results. It does play well with your CRM.
Chris, the fact that you have enough interest to seek out a resource like DealerRefresh puts you in the minority.
Every year, we see the same tired statistics about how many hours it took an Internet department to answer a lead, if they bothered to answer it at all. I was reading Jerry's Phone Ninja book. At the front he has some fill in the blank statistics like:
Less than _____% of sales people will ask for the name of the caller.
Less than _____% will ask for a phone number.
Jerry didn't give the answers but I know that they are dismal. (Jerry, there is a hint here)
How are you going to inspect what you expect, if you don't have the tools? As a group, dealerships haven't improved.
Chris, it is good to have you involved.
Every year, we see the same tired statistics about how many hours it took an Internet department to answer a lead, if they bothered to answer it at all. I was reading Jerry's Phone Ninja book. At the front he has some fill in the blank statistics like:
Less than _____% of sales people will ask for the name of the caller.
Less than _____% will ask for a phone number.
Jerry didn't give the answers but I know that they are dismal. (Jerry, there is a hint here)
How are you going to inspect what you expect, if you don't have the tools? As a group, dealerships haven't improved.
Chris, it is good to have you involved.
- Apr 28, 2009
- 1,163
- 363
- First Name
- Jerry
Filled the blanks above and here are the others:
80% of your phone traffic will buy within 3-5 days.
90% will buy within 10 days.
76% of your customers will call before the come in (more than one dealership).
85% will visit the internet when shopping for a vehicle.
50% of your appointments will purchase a vehicle at time of appointment.
86% of your customers will purchase something other than what they inquired on.
Less than 25% of sales people will ask for the name of the caller.
Less than 15% will ask for a phone number.
Less than 15% will ask for a solid appointment.
Less than 25% of all salespeople will ask any qualifying questions.
Less than 5% off all salespeople ever even attempted to identify themselves by having the customer write their name down.
Over 50% of all salespeople will provide customers with too much information.
Over 30% of all salespeople will unknowingly de-motivate the customer from visiting the dealership.
Most salespeople average less than a 5% closing ratios on phone-ups.
