Let’s face it: every dollar you invest in your dealership needs to come with a return, and that goes double for the money you spend on boosting sales performance. As competition between dealerships is becoming ever fiercer, savvy owners and GMs are looking for new and innovative ways to increase profits with the most cost-effective strategies. 

There are a lot of consultants out there making big promises, but giving your word and actually knowing how to improve sales performance with data-backed results are worlds apart. Taking your dealership’s revenue to the next level means identifying where dollars are slipping through the cracks and correcting those issues as efficiently as possible so your people can do what they do best. 

Even small increases can lead to big rewards down the road, and nearly every dealership can make simple changes that dramatically increase key metrics like appointment rates. We’ll talk through some of the best ways to go about getting all your numbers where they need to be!

THE POWER OF 1%

Success is often perceived as a huge jump in single areas of productivity. But these solutions are often envisioned as big, vague processes that can seem impossible to take on. You’ve got to think hard about how to improve sales performance at your dealership to come up with practical real-world ideas.

A much more effective approach is to leverage a lot of marginal gains. The idea is that making 1% improvements in as many areas of your business as possible will pay off in a way that is greater than the sum of its parts. 

This is not a pie-in-the-sky theory either—it’s been proven to work. Consider that a 1% improvement in sales volume equates to a 3.3% increase in operating margin, and a 1% improvement in pricing leads to an 11% increase in operating margin.

What does this mean for dealerships? Glad you asked. When you’re looking for a training partner, they should be delivering ongoing training that helps your sales team make incremental improvements and solidify their skills. Relationships are everything when it comes to coaching for success, and the best consultants will never try to sell you on a one-and-done model.

DIG INTO YOUR METRICS

Your sales and performance data needs to be squeezed for every last bit of actionable intel. This may mean investing in better software, people with the right skills, or 3rd-party partners who specialize in crunching numbers. This will give you insights into demographic spending tendencies, seasonal fluctuations, add-on product benefits, etc. 

Any automotive consultant you’re considering for your dealership should be able to back up their strategy with solid analytics as well as specific industry advice—not generic sales jargon. After all, your people are pros, and improving sales performance takes concrete training points taken from mystery shops and other real-world evaluations that lead to results they’ll see in their paychecks and on your bottom line.  

EMBRACE SOCIAL MEDIA AND DIGITAL MARKETING

A smart social media campaign is one of the least expensive advertising campaigns you can invest in. And there are a wealth of advantages:

• Better brand/ product awareness. These days, 43% of customers learn about these through social media
• Increased sales. 87% of customers think social media helps them make purchasing decisions, 71% buy based on social media referrals, and 66% buy after seeing other people’s posts (which can be your shared posts if you design the campaign correctly).
• Lead Generation. Great social media campaigns are shown to improve the number of leads, closings, and even up to 48% larger deals.

Of course, it’s not always easy to understand how to manage a social media or digital advertising campaign, and the learning curve can cost you a lot of time and money with little in the way of results. This is where an automotive consultant can nail down your best targets and help customize a winning strategy. 

INVEST IN A BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT CENTER (BDC)

These departments are becoming more and more common in dealerships everywhere. BDCs are critical for managing leads, setting appointments, anticipating customer needs, routing call traffic, providing customer service, and so much more. 

These can be outsourced or built in-house. Which solution is right for your dealership is highly dependent on your budget, expertise, floor space, etc. But you absolutely need a BDC center coordinating all facets of your customer service in order to thrive.

That being said, these sales-boosting dynamos don’t just organize themselves. They’re highly refined revenue-generating investments that require a dedicated training partner to keep them working at maximum efficiency. That being said, you know who’s leveraging them?

The top dealerships in the country. And if you want to compete, you’ll need to get on board. 

INCREASE APPOINTMENT RATES

The single most important thing you can do when considering how to improve sales performance for your dealership is to increase the number of in-person appointments your BDC is booking. If you can believe it, only 20% of most dealerships’ phone and internet traffic results in appointments. Why? 

Because the customer wasn’t asked. 

To keep up with the top performers in the industry, your rate must be at least 60%. The key here is simple: your people need the best training and scripts. Phone scripts (executed properly) are key to giving your CS agents a proven roadmap that covers all common scenarios, and reminds them to ask the necessary questions, like “Would today or Friday be a better day for you to come in and see our amazing new deals?”

PHONE NINJAS KNOWS HOW TO GET PEOPLE THROUGH YOUR DOOR

At Phone Ninjas, we know how to improve sales performance for the dealerships. We’ve made our name in the industry by boosting our clients’ appointment rates from phone and internet channels far beyond the average to 60%, even 80% and higher. But that’s just one aspect of the value we bring to our partners in the automotive, motorcycle, and marine sales industries. 

Our proven training model is world-class. Our VP of Training, Mike Hoyser, conducts initial group activities to orient your salespeople to the areas we’re going to tackle. Then, our coaches work with your team in one-on-one weekly coaching sessions to improve their consistency and skills until everyone’s ready to fly on their own. We follow up with our mystery shopping team to ensure your customers are experiencing the very best service. If any shortcomings are identified, we continue working with team members to make sure no revenue opportunity is left on the table. 

You can stop wondering how to improve sales for your dealership. Reach out today for a free demo and to claim two free mystery shops! We can’t wait to help you break new records!