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Call Tracking and Monitoring Systems

ddavis

Boss
Jun 28, 2011
1,491
496
First Name
Doug
I have always been a fan of call tracking and monitoring. In Phoenix, after getting a new CRM, at the two stores, I got a call monitoring system. As soon as the system became live, I was shocked at how inept the majority of the salespeople were. I found myself cursing at the monitor ..you f$#king idiot! Not only did salespeople fail to get the customer's name and number, many didn't even give them their own. I discussed this on a thread some time ago.
Because, we actually used the system extensively, the costs for additional minutes made the system rather expensive.
A friend has developed a new system. It is a flat charge and has a really nice reporting system. I am considering representing this company.
 
Grant, I haven't had much time to play with the interface but like all systems, you have dedicated numbers to track your ad sources. You are able to listen to your phone calls which is essential. You has a nice interface that tracks your performance at a set monthly charge.
 
As soon as the system became live, I was shocked at how inept the majority of the salespeople were. I found myself cursing at the monitor ..you f$#king idiot! Not only did salespeople fail to get the customer's name and number, many didn't even give them their own.

Imagine that! Who is in charge of training them? What I am about to say is going to sting, but I feel it needs to be said. You are great at offering free advice here on Dealer Refresh, and lots of it that is mostly sound. When it comes to your own house, you're like the cobblers children with no shoes. If I was your dealer principal, I would fire you today based on the above statement. The time you put in here on Dealer Refresh could have been spent training and holding your team accountable. I don't think your heart belongs in a dealership and you should probably make the switch to the vendor side if that's where you want to be. Since you are at the dealership, it's most likely your responsibility to ensure the proper training of your staff. You can call you're reps "f$#king idiot's," but in my experience, birds of a feather normally flock together. Who is at fault for their lack of training?

Now you can take what I wrote and be pissed, or you can think about what I wrote and make a change for the better. Take care and best of luck with your decision!
 
Jerry, After the system was installed, I began listening to calls just before the store closed. I had left one store to go to the other. I was listening to the calls until nearly midnight, that night. Prior to the installation, I had no way to monitor calls and determine what the salespeople needed. At no time did a salesperson hear my frustration. Yes, I do have a dirty mouth. In my years in the business, I have never cursed a salesperson and can't remember a time when I raised my voice. With decades in the car business, I have never had a salesperson complain to HR or my GM. In stores that do Management reviews (Group 1 and VanTuyl) I have always been reviewed at the top by the salespeople.

I just moved back to Dallas to be close to the family. At this point, I'm exploring my options. As for training, that has always been a top priority and an area where I spend a great deal of time.
 
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Doug,

It's normally a knowing or doing problem. Any usually it's a knowing problem. Dealers don't have to wait for call tracking to determine the effectiveness of a stores phone handling skills. If there is an accountability chain, one would know the number phone-ups generated each month. They would also know if the reps were getting contact info, scheduling appointments, how many shows, and the number of sales. A lot of dealerships don't do this since they still live in the land of walk-in traffic.
 
Dealers don't have to wait for call tracking to determine the effectiveness of a stores phone handling skills
I came into two stores that were buried in the past. Absolutely nothing was tracked other than sales. All phone calls came through the operator including service and parts. The only log that existed was the sales log. It logged the traffic that was actually sold. Neither the salespeople or the Sales Managers wanted the accountability that came with call measurement and the new CRM. The phone system now has an electronic bridge that sends the calls to the appropriate departments. They now embrace all this technology.
 
I have always been a fan of call tracking and monitoring. In Phoenix, after getting a new CRM, at the two stores, I got a call monitoring system. As soon as the system became live, I was shocked at how inept the majority of the salespeople were. I found myself cursing at the monitor ..you f$#king idiot! Not only did salespeople fail to get the customer's name and number, many didn't even give them their own. I discussed this on a thread some time ago.
Because, we actually used the system extensively, the costs for additional minutes made the system rather expensive.
A friend has developed a new system. It is a flat charge and has a really nice reporting system. I am considering representing this company.

Have you watched any of the Car Lot Rescues? I am not a huge fan but, a few weeks ago the crew was at a lot in New Orleans and they did the same thing! Listened to the calls to find where the problem started...the sales guys weren't selling the appointment first, can't sell the car if people aren't coming to the lot! It was great to see the way technology is being used, sounds like much the same for you guys!
 
Not that I need to promote Jerry's service but once you listed to the calls and know that they are wrong now what?

I see the Seattle Mariners play and I know things are wrong but now what? I don;t know the knowledge to fix it.

The phone systems should be a way to track progress, the fact that things are wrong is pretty much certain.

The key is to learn to get both together: Tracking with trainign so it becomes measurement of the training's effectiveness.
 
Yago, after listening to the tapes, I forwarded some of the worst calls to the new and used car managers. The next morning, we went over the tapes and I provided a script (much of it came from Jerry's book) for us to agree on. That afternoon, we conducted training and drilled on the scripts until we felt that the salespeople were comfortable. I insisted that we would not play the tapes to avoid embarrassing the salespeople. I wanted the meeting to be positive. We chose to go over the statistics (% that got the customer's name, % that asked for a phone number etc.) that was also in Jerry's book.
Salespeople would hear the managers listening to the phone calls at the desk. We all conducted one on ones with the salespeople. Some of the older salespeople wouldn't conform and they were not given calls. I had complete buy-in from the other managers and the improvement was dramatic. As we listened to the calls, we could add the customer's name, verify the source and put it into the salesperson's name. We could track the performance through the CRM.

Cortney, I haven't seen Car Lot Rescues but I can imagine what that would be like. When I said, "I found myself cursing at the monitor ..you f$#king idiot!", he wasn't talking about the car. He was asking her if she was married or involved.