As a "3rd Party Vendor" Partner with a couple of dozen dealerships here in Central Florida, it is both a privilege and a frustration listening to recorded sales calls that my Company of employ produces for my Dealer Clients. The first bit of pain usually occurs when the call is answered at the dealership. If the caller has to navigate thru several automated options I can literally hear and feel the tension start to mount for the prospective buyer. When a real live human being answers "Thank you for calling ABC Motors how may I direct your call?" I know we are off to a good start. More importantly I know the person calling in is one step closer to the vehicle they are interested in. Right here is where we can begin to deviate from a great phone experience for your opportunities: if you are a dealership that has a specific person mentioned to ask for then that person should be available right away for the opportunity to speak with. Here is an example: A dealership has "ask for Tom Jones" in every vehicle listing instructing an opportunity to ask for Tom Jones when the real live human being answers the phone and thanks us for calling and inquires how may we direct the call. So when the opportunity does as instructed and asks for Tom Jones and Tom Jones the Pre-Owned Sales Manager is in a meeting or otherwise indisposed the opportunity has to be told by the receptionist "Tom is in a meeting right now is there someone else who might be able to be of service?" So now the opportunity (read: live human being) calling in has followed the instructions and must now explain the reason for calling in so the receptionist can ultimately just page sales.

LISTEN FOR THElittle thingsThey AreIMPORTANT

A Sales Associate answers the call and the opportunity inquires about the vehicle they discovered online. here is what I heard today:

Opportunity " Hi yeah I live seventy miles away and wanted to see what time you close today."

Sales " 7 o clock."

Opp "okay that would put me there about 6 or 6:30. I have a pre-approval from my CU and I dont want to lose this vehicle like the one I just lost two days ago. Its the perfect truck for us. I like the vinyl floors instead of carpet. My wife and I just had a Son and I will need to be able to wipe stuff up easily...lol."

Sales "ok well do you have a trade?"

STOP!I will stop here. I mean you get the idea where this is headed. The Sales person actually knew a lot about the vehicle and asked most of the right questions. Name. Phone number. trade info. Payoff. but the Sales person never acknowledged that this opportunity (live human being proud new FATHER)just had a S O N. If there was a moment to build some rapport, show some humanity, indulge the human spirit it was when the opportunity said "we just had a boy." Listen for the little things because really they are what is important.

Happy Selling!