MAKING MORE (AND BETTER) CUSTOMER CONNECTIONS WITH AN INITIAL QUALITY RESPONSE
Connecting with customers via email may sound as easy as 1-2-3. Receive a lead, respond with an electronic note and wait for the customer to reach back out with the follow up email. Connection made!
Well, what if I told you that, on average, many dealers see far less than half of their emails making a connection with their prospects? In other words, the majority of your opportunities that start with an email or e-Lead from your dealer website are falling through the cracks.
Now don’t get me wrong, a quick response is important, but it’s the combination of speed and quality that will improve your connection rate and ultimately sell more vehicles through better customer engagement. I liken speed without quality to Wile E. Coyote chasing the Roadrunner — he was always really, really close but just never quite made the contact that counted!
So why is a quality response so important for making connections? Well, the Initial Quality Response (IQR) is the Moment of Validation for the customer — it meets the needs that most prospects have when shopping a new dealership:
Do you care?
Can you be trusted?
Will you answer my questions?
Sounds simple enough right? Respond with a few encouraging words and ask for the appointment, get them on the phone and in the showroom where the real selling process can take over! This is an approach we often see when working with dealers and quite frankly, it’s outdated. If you use it today, it‘ll only erode trust and, over time, will reduce your customer connections. Changing your approach or process for responding to customer e-Leads or requests begins with understanding the goal of each step in the e-Lead selling process.
1. Initial Quality Response — Sell the reply by earning trust and asking a good question;
2. Second response — Sell the call to save them time;
3. On the call — Sell the visit and inspire a drive;
4. In the showroom — Sell the vehicle by making the visit special.
Elements of an IQR
By associating the IQR with simply selling the reply and earning trust, it allows you to focus your efforts on including those elements or phrases in the response. Quality can certainly be subjective, but with our research and alignment with industry studies across North America, we’ve identified five Key Elements in the body of the response that help drive customer connections.
1. Introduction/Genuine Interest: This is the digital “meet and greet” that sets the tone of the response. By including key elements such as thanking them for the inquiry and introducing yourself by name and title, you will let them know you care and that you can be trusted.
2. Vehicle Value Propositions: Remember, an e-Lead is all about the vehicle they’re interested in. By confirming and validating their vehicle choice and letting them know its availability, you further increase their emotional connection with the vehicle (or vehicles). Including attributes or awards about the vehicle further drives this home.
3. Answering/Asking a Good Question: This is the epicentre of an Initial Quality Response and is the key component to driving the connection rate. By not answering either an asked or implied question (based on Lead Type), you risk the quick erosion of trust. Asking a good question takes some thought but it is the key engagement element that drives a response. An example of a quality question is: “What feature of this vehicle is most important to you?” versus simply asking “What’s your phone number?” If they didn’t provide you a phone number when submitting the request, it is most likely because they would prefer to communicate via email until they’ve built trust in your dealership.
4. Price: Okay, I can feel you bristling as you read this. Yes, this has long been a controversial subject when it comes to responding to a customer via email. The age-old response is “You’re just giving the customer the licence to hunt.” While this may be true to a certain degree, statistics show that if you give a competitive price (not necessarily the lowest price), 60 per cent of the time the customer will give you the opportunity to earn their business. Also, what we see is when a price is included in an Initial Quality Response, transparency is obtained and closing rates rise significantly. In many cases they double — from 10 per cent to 20 per cent. Price is important to your customers — provide it in some form and you will see results.
5. Dealer Value Proposition: Providing the customer with a reason to do business with your dealership and offering a differentiation statement will help set you apart from the possible crowd of dealers. Remember, you may not be the only dealer competing for the customer’s business so make an effort to stand out!
Using video for further engagement
In addition to what you write in the body, the use of video links in the Initial Quality Response is growing quickly in popularity. Dealers who’ve incorporated a video strategy when responding to customers see quantifiable results in both customer connections and e-Lead sales. Video is engaging and now very easy to incorporate into a response. A typical introduction video can be shot at your desk with a webcam, posted to your YouTube channel, and shared with your prospect through a simple link. It really is that easy.
Inspect what you expect
Improving your outbound responses to meet the needs of your prospects and aligning with the new digital times takes effort, effort that WILL pay back in dividends through more customer connections and e-Lead sales. By tweaking your content and the tone of your responses, you should expect to see your connection rate surpass 60-70 per cent. This won’t happen without work and inspection so be sure to read and review what your team sends to your customers. Simply inspecting what you expect will drive positive change and help your team sell more cars and trucks.
