Prospecting Phone Calls
Hey everyone!
Lets face it, as the cold weather approaches and the nights become longer some dealerships are going to experience less showroom traffic through the holiday season and the winter months. Number one thing is to keep busy, and the phone is a tried and tested tactic that has proven its self over the decades in every field of sales. With all this use of the telephone a great deal of customers and potential prospects have almost became numb to it and seem to shut down almost immediately thinking "oh, this is just another sales call". So how do we over come this?
I would like anyone with any ideas, experiences negative or positive, scripts or pointers to let me know what works and doesn't work for them. And everyone's take on leaving messages.
I had some success in the summer with this little line I used to use on peoples answering machines with some good results.
"Hello ____
This is Kurtis Rule from Elgin Chrysler, I have some great news for you! Give me a call back at your earliest convenience!"
I try to stand out from the rest of the calls my future prospects receive on a daily basis by getting them excited and curious about what I had to offer them rather then turn them off with a sales pitch right off the bat. I know that the phone isn't always going to produce non stop appointments but it is the easiest way of speaking with a large amount of people and getting your point heard.
I believe that if we all put our heads together we could come up with some great guidelines and tips for a solid script that is going to get MORE appointments sitting in front of us and ideally more cars per month!
Thanks for reading guys! Lets do this!
Kurtis Rule
519-854-3317
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sean Prosser on
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Hi Kurt!
As you know, I am also new to auto sales and think that this is a great question to ask on this site since it is full of Professionals with many years of experience. I think that if you speak to enough people and stay persistent you will be able to drive in at least an extra appointment each day which in return should generate an extra 4-6 sales a month. Make sure you schedule some time each day to make calls. I have been told that the best time to call people is between 9-11am. Later than this people are either at work or out running errands. Also at night people who get home from work are usually starting to cook dinner and want to spend that time with their family and may not be as accepting to calls. I'm, not saying don't make them at this time, I am just saying that the morning is more ideal. If you are calling be-backs you will find your life will be much easier if you get as many numbers from them as possible (work,cell and home). Go through your orphan/service list and look at when the last time the client had maintenance done to their vehicle, when their lease/payments are finished and invite them in for the "upgrade event". Get people excited about this! You can get them in a NEWER car for the same or less monthly payments! Orphan and service clients are already familiar with your business and obviously trust you dealership since they keep on coming back. Speak with your manager and ask them if you are able to offer someone a free car wash and appraisal. We take the appraisal for granted but many of people have to pay for this. Tell them that you will get their car appraised for them while they go on a test drive. Even if they don't buy that day, when the service customer leaves in their car they will notice how much nicer a new car is to drive. This will get them more in the mode of wanting to purchase a new vehicle. Take advantage of the tools you have at your dealership! It is a gold mine, and if your dealership is like mine 80% of them are orphans. Be enthusiastic and show them why they need to come see Kurt Rule for their next vehicle and it will work. Stay focused and remain persistent my friend. You are going to be a LEGEND!
Thanks for your post Kurt, Glad you are doing well
-Sean Prosser
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Permalink Reply by Rob Winters on -
Kurtis,
Answering machines are tough. In fact, I've seen a trend moving away from them. I no longer have one at my home. Cell phones seem to be taking over, though many people are screening those calls as well. Your script,
"Hello ____
This is Kurtis Rule from Elgin Chrysler, I have some great news for you! Give me a call back at your earliest convenience!"
while short and to the point, is probably not as effective as you would like. Give the following script a try and see if your phone doesn't ring just a little bit more :)
"Hello ____
This is Kurtis Rule from Elgin Chrysler, Some information with your name on it has just come across my desk. Give me a call back at your earliest convenience to discuss how you would like to proceed. If I don't hear back from you this afternoon, I'll try you later this evening. I can be reached at 555-5555. Again this is Kurtis Rule from Elgin Chrysler and I can be reached at 555-5555."
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Permalink Reply by Kurt Rule on
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You were absolutely right Rob! I was finding only a few people were actually returning my calls, the ones that did though were actually in the market which was a plus.I like what you have laid out for me, it creates urgency. I will get back to you on how it works. We have a big sale over the next couple days so your advice has came at a perfect time!
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Permalink Reply by Brian Andersen on
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Kurt,
I am curious to hear from you how this worked out. I have 4 BDRs and right now we are struggling with the same issue - getting people to call back. How did this approach work out for you?
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Hey Brian,
Sorry I haven't been on a while or followed up with this. January has started to pick up for us! As for the results of the new phone technique it actually works quite well. By leaving a message simply saying " I have some information with your name on it, please give me a call at your early convenience" makes people curious. They don't automatically think Sales Call, time to hang up. Now the trick is actually having something important to tell them when they call back, whether is a special service special or a private sale that isn't advertised to the public. I would say about 40-50% of people are calling back now. Now its time to set some appointments! I am relatively new to the business, What does BDR stand for?
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Kurt,
No worries. "BDR" is an acronym for "Business Development Representative." Basically the appointment setters. I think I am going to have my BDRs give this a try and see how it works. Any suggestion as to what to offer? 99% of our leads are sub-prime targeted, so I think it would have to be geared towards that. I am thinking something along the line of "New bank programs to help people rebuild their life and credit" type approach. What does everyone think?
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That sounds pretty appealing! We have been calling some orphan owners, and offering them half priced oil changes. This brings them in, you lose a little money on the oil change but its gives your service department a chance to up sell them and the sales guys a chance to get them in a test drive while they wait. No matter what they say as soon as they feel, touch and smell that new vehicles that urge will start inside them that they need to replace what they currently drive. It's a slow process but if you stick with it eventually the dealership will become busy!
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