How do you take your dealership from 10% up to a 15% Closing Ratio on Internet Sales leads?
By Adam Ross, Managing Director at Infinite Prospects
I was inspired by a discussion on DrivingSales, an automotive social networking site, where an Internet Marketing Manager at a VW dealership was soliciting help on improving his closing percentage above its current consistent 10%.
This manager has a basic set of steps he follows, which are widely accepted as the best practice sales process to achieve the best results in the automotive industry:
- AutoResponse
- Send Qualifying Questions (Fact Finding) email
- Send Price Quote email
- Call Customer
- Follow Up
I had a few suggestions for him, which you can apply to your dealership’s process to improve your closing percentage:
- How many days out are you following up with each prospect right now? And how often do you email/call them? Converting more 30-90 day old prospects through diligent follow up is a key factor in increasing closing ratio.
- Do you send TARGETED broadcast (bulk) emails? Targeting by model would make the offers more relevant to your existing prospect base.
- Do you have a solid follow up EMAIL process that incorporates asking recently sold customers for referrals from their family and friends?
- Have you heard of Enhanced Automated Response Tools? These systems work with your CRM tool to stop-the-clock and send an email with a link to a customized, multi-choice eBrochure to each prospect. This eliminates your staff having to spend as much as 10 minutes per lead building a multi-price email menu to email the client. The eBrochure can also include useful links to pages on the dealership’s website, plus to the dealer’s social media outlets and 3rd party rating sites. Infinite Prospects is a distributor for one of these services and can show you how it works.
Each of these tips could help you save time or engage more prospects, which will add an extra few deals each month. With those additional sales, you’re talking about significant positive impact to your dealership’s closing percentage.
