Who's using Who's Calling.com and do you feel it's worth it?

[MikeHaeg]

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.

Hey Doug!

Things are great here, crazy as usual. Nice piece of news on the CI front is that we recently added Mr. Pogo Parr to head up our automotive team. He spent 3+ years as VP Auto at CallSource and by "recently added", I mean he joined us on Wednesday this week!

We'v got a couple really neat things coming down the pipeline in the very near future. Let's chat on the phone soon, I'd like to catch up.

 

[Chris Atwater]

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.

Thank you!

 

[ddavis]

Too often, you see these same dismal reports. Response times in hours and even days. Phones are not being handled properly.

50% of your appointments will purchase a vehicle at time of appointment (If you are average).

85% will visit the internet when shopping for a vehicle. I believe that has risen to 92%

Most salespeople average less than a 5% closing ratio on phone ups.

Wow! I must have glanced over this the first time. One out of twenty phone calls turns into an appointment? That isn't bad salespeople. That is bad management. Imagine how many additional sales a dealership would gain if the salespeople were trained.

The thread asked the question, Who's using Who's Calling (call measurement system) and do you feel it's worth it?
Maybe the question should be, are those statistics representative of your dealership? If yes, why are you still in that position?

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Doug,

You would be surprised at just how bad the average to really bad performers handle phone shoppers. I've taken on some clients that are maybe making 15 appointments out of 100 calls, and those are the lay downs making the appointment, not the salesperson. I've done studies, looked at call tracking, looked at the CRM data and I've seen closing rates as low as 3%. Just getting the shopper logged is an issue for many.

Call tracking allows one to inspect what is expected. Those audio files are the fuel that allows my company to drive results. Each call is a training opportunity. It's like looking in the mirror and seeing just how ugly you are. Being ugly, not much we can do about that, but we can do something about bad phone skills.

Here is an example of what can happen when a salesperson trains: Phone Ninja in Action!

Now some may say, "Jerry set that call up and made this guy look good." Well that is not the case. I can tell you that this guy sucked when we first started with him. Some of you may remember my thread, "How Are Your Phone Skills" well if you recall I had taken a young lady under my wing and trained her how to be a Phone Ninja. She got pretty good before she decided to leave the industry. While searching for her audio files I would come across Tom who you just listened to above, and he was terrible on the phone. So the GM of the store decided to hire us to train Tom. Here is a look at Tom's history:


9/14/2012 3:51:15 PM - YouTube They video embed tool was not working Jeff!

So in my opinion call tracking is a wonderful tool as long as it's utilized.

 

[ddavis]

I have been part of some really good sales organizations. They are only as good as the people that you surround yourself with. Managers have a responsibility to the store, their people and to themselves to see that the sales force is properly trained.

From under five to nineteen out of twenty appointments, that guy is ringing the cash register. We expected to close over 70% of our appointments. The net effect is ten additional sales for just that guy. You have made a serious improvement in that guy's life.

 

[TomLaPointe]

Like any sales process tool, it seems to depend on what you do with the data. If you or a manager listen with regularity for quality control (and training), as well as get the data into CRM, it can be worthwhile.

Here is probably one area i have seen a BDC really shine, relative to the showroom floor. While the sales crew may be better at the overall selling process, BDC staffers tend to work under more oversight, ensuring more adherence to process...like ENTERING DATA INTO CRM, which often doesn't happen eve when a customer is on the lot.

 

[ddavis]

Like any sales process tool, it seems to depend on what you do with the data. If you or a manager listen with regularity for quality control (and training), as well as get the data into CRM, it can be worthwhile.

Here is probably one area i have seen a BDC really shine, relative to the showroom floor. While the sales crew may be better at the overall selling process, BDC staffers tend to work under more oversight, ensuring more adherence to process...like ENTERING DATA INTO CRM, which often doesn't happen even when a customer is on the lot.

I classify dealerships into three groups; Market Leaders, Average Dealers and Sub Par Dealers. What you are describing are dealerships that fall into the last two groups. That is the majority.

 

[MikeHaeg]

Like any sales process tool, it seems to depend on what you do with the data. If you or a manager listen with regularity for quality control (and training), as well as get the data into CRM, it can be worthwhile.

Here is probably one area i have seen a BDC really shine, relative to the showroom floor. While the sales crew may be better at the overall selling process, BDC staffers tend to work under more oversight, ensuring more adherence to process...like ENTERING DATA INTO CRM, which often doesn't happen eve when a customer is on the lot.

Tom,

Your first point is spot on. A bunch of data sitting around untouched or not acted upon is useless. This applies to anything from call tracking to my personal online credit card dashboard. If you use call tracking currently but want to get more out of it, you should request data be integrated in CRM, automated in emailed reports, or request a thorough training of the back end (or all of the above!)

With that said, the data should be useful in itself. Date/time stamp and call recordings are great but that's ultimately become the industry standard. There are great next step features out there designed to provide more insight into the phones at your store. Shameless plug: We have some really neat, manageable, and valuable solutions available. Plug for other vendors so this isn't too salesly: Other vendors have nice tools too that are worth asking about if you're currently with them.

 

[ddavis]

Hey Mike, I'm afraid that most dealerships do not have a call tracking system and those that do are not consistently listening to the calls or using it to train their salespeople. You really need to evaluate your life, if the height of your day is listening to sales calls. I made sure that every call was listened to and recorded in the CRM. I was thankful for any any assistance from other managers.

 

[MikeHaeg]

Hey Mike, I'm afraid that most dealerships do not have a call tracking system and those that do are not consistently listening to the calls or using it to train their salespeople. You really need to evaluate your life, if the height of your day is listening to sales calls. I made sure that every call was listened to and recorded in the CRM. I was thankful for any any assistance from other managers.

If the height of your day is listening to sales...well, go for it. Reality strikes at some point though: too many calls to filter through, too much to do, some kid just puked on the showroom floor. We see it a lot where dealers go to corporate meetings or conferences and get motivated to listen to every single phone call. Monday morning hits, they're 3 calls in, and give up.

It goes back to my original point, there is a lot of data but how (and where) it's presented and how you use it efficiently to run a better business is the key.