With the start of the new year, you should be looking forward to what you can do to make 2023 a success for your dealership. While there are endless marketing strategies to employ, having a solid outbound calling strategy should be at the core of your efforts. Whether or not it was successful for you over the last 12 months, there are things that you can do to make it more effective. 

Implement Scripts

Phone scripts for outbound sales calls are a must these days. There is a lot of information that your sales reps need to include in the call, and it can be hard to keep all of it straight. Using a phone script allows them to feel confident in the work that they are doing and to have the resources they need to have a successful phone call. There are a variety of phone scripts that they can use, depending on the purpose of the call. This can also help them not get tripped up and accidentally talk to the person on the other end of the phone about something that doesn’t apply to them at all. Phone scripts also improve your training because no one is going off and trying their own techniques that won’t be as effective. They also serve as protection for your dealership, so you don’t make promises you can’t keep.

Record Phone Calls

Recording the phone calls that your dealership makes and receives is a great way to see what is happening in the conversation and where improvements can be made. Even if you have a supervisor in your call center, they only hear half the conversation. If they do hop on the call, it’s typically because it was escalated. You can choose whether you record all of the phone calls or just record them randomly, but you should have a sample for each person making phone calls that can be reviewed at regular intervals. 

When listening to the recorded phone call, you can determine if the sales rep asked the right questions, if they introduced themself and the dealership, and how the sign-off was. If your reps are consistently hitting these marks, their calls stand a good chance of success. While the sales managers should check up on these metrics, they shouldn’t be the only ones responsible for improving employee phone skills. That’s where coaching comes in.

Invest in Active Coaching

At a time when car dealerships are feeling the pressure to stay competitive and remain profitable, phone coaching for sales teams is becoming an increasingly popular tool for improving customer service and boosting sales. As a dealership owner or manager, you know that having a strong sales team is key to success. Active coaching allows you to provide individual coaching to each salesperson in order to identify their strengths and weaknesses and provide tailored advice that can help them set more appointments. This includes regular feedback on their coached calls, highly effective scripts, personalized one-on-one sessions, and well-placed mystery shops. 

Phone coaching can also help you keep track of the progress of your sales team. You can monitor their conversations with customers and provide feedback in real-time to help them improve their performance. This will help them develop the skills they need to be successful and engaged sales reps. With proper coaching, they should be able to set appointments for your dealership 80% of the time, which can bring in a lot of business.

Listen to Employees

Your employees are the ones on the phone every day, and they are the ones who talk to your customers, web leads, and prospects. Ideally, your team is filled with talented and hardworking reps, which means they likely have a good pulse on what is going on with the company, the calls they make, and areas that can be improved. You should be empowering your employees to step up and make suggestions on how things can be improved and share what they have had success with. Let them own their success and take pride in their work. Even if their suggestions won’t work at this stage, make sure they know you appreciate their contributions. An engaged employee is a valuable asset you need.

Using these strategies will help your dealership see more success and closed sales in 2023. With the ever-changing market, it is important to not just talk to people but to get them to take action. Take a look at what you are doing and how these actions can help you improve your strategy this year.

If you want to improve how your dealership handles outbound phone calls, check out our Active Coaching Services and see how Phone Ninjas can help you!