Part 2 of our look at why having a SUPERdesk can help consistently boost your sales performance
In our first column in this series, we talked about the “SUPERdesk”’ concept, and provided details on the role of the Desk Manager. In this column, we continue our analysis with a deeper dive of some of the tools they use.
Traffic control log: The Desk Manager is responsible to record all opportunities of the day in an electronic Traffic Log or a manual one — that includes all clients who visited the dealership, inquiries from sales calls, live chat, e-leads and service customers who might be eligible for an upgrade.
In most dealerships that we visit, Sales Consultants touch desk before going out to present and demonstrate a vehicle, however, they rarely see a Sales Manager to develop a strategy to generate an appointment from a sales call inquiry or an e-lead.
Sales Managers need to have the attitude that sales calls and e-leads are of equal value to a dealership visitor. We deal with a dealership visitor first of course, but Sales Consultants spend far less time on a sales call and even less when replying to an e-lead.
Sales Calls and e-leads need to be dealt with the same level of effort, interest and urgency as they do with a dealership customer. Too many Sales Consultants and Sales Managers have been trained to get an appointment — that is old school thinking.
Today, Sales Consultants need to sell an appointment. The fact remains that two heads are better than one when developing a strategy to generate an appointment. Ensure that every Sales Consultant touches the desk after receiving a sales call or an e-lead. Also ensure that they send their potential customer a “hello” video introducing themselves.
Benefits of “HELLO” videos:
- Engages a customer immediately: more two-way communication;
- Demonstrates that the customer is dealing with a professional;
- Differentiates your Sales Consultants from other Sales Consultants at other dealerships;
- Reduces the aggressive tone from customers. (on the phone or in written form in an e-mail); and
- Increases your appointment rate.
Service department visitors: Sales Managers should have a list of clients with service appointments the next day. Orphan customers or customers who did not purchase/lease from your dealership can be assigned to competent Sales Consultants and not just to new hires.
Have a process in place that has your Service Advisors inform you of customers who show without appointments and/or customers who decline service work or repairs. With your Sales Consultants and Used Vehicle Manager, determine if suggesting an upgrade would be possible.
Many dealerships subscribe to an equity tool to identify the equity position of a targeted group of previous customers — this includes cash, finance and lease transactions.
Farming your customer base: Sales Managers should be analyzing the customer base for upgrade opportunities in an organized system. Many dealerships subscribe to an equity tool to identify the equity position of a targeted group of previous customers — this includes cash, finance and lease transactions.
If your dealership does not subscribe to one, you must adopt a manual system. Many Sales Managers assign orphan customers to new hires thinking they’re doing them a favour. This could be disastrous!
The customer’s previous deal should be reviewed to see what aftermarket protection plans were registered, if any negative equity was consolidated and if there would be any refunds available for any cancellations of an extended warranty or Creditor Insurance policies.
Be sure to install a procedure that has your Service Advisors inform the Sales Manager when a customer arrives without a service appointment. These are quite often missed opportunities. If your dealership has a Quick Lube lane where no appointments are required, install a similar procedure to have your Service Advisors inform the Sales Manager.
Morning huddles: Google, Apple Retail, Walmart and banks like Scotiabank have morning huddles every morning to rocket-launch their day.
Gathering your team first thing in the morning allows you to set the mood and pace of the showroom, update your sales team as well as teach and motivate. These are 15 to 20-minutes in length.
An effective morning huddle can be broken down into several simple components:
- Component One: Announce and review business updates such as manufacturer’s incentives, dealership promotions, month-to-date dealership performance and attainment of monthly targets. You can also walk the used vehicle lot with the team to showcase fresh vehicle inventory arrivals;
- Component Two: Share a success story from the previous day; a Sales Consultant’s victory such as a Client-appointment that purchased, a Service Department upgrade victory, a 100 per cent Client Satisfaction Survey, a 5-star Google Review, etc. Review some “HELLO” videos from the previous day. Look for things to celebrate!
- Component Three: Deliver a thought-provoking or motivating message or facilitate a brief learning module. (E.g. role-play the presentation of a proposal, overcoming a common objection such as, “I want to think about it.” Have different members of the team lead morning huddles for variety. Keep it fresh!
One on Ones: These are opportunities that allow a Sales Manager to assist in strategizing on how to turn all customer opportunities into showroom visitors. A One on One also allows a Sales Manager to ensure that their Sales Consultant is following their Planned Daily Activities.
Adopting many of these strategies has little or no cost and thus delivers a dealer a huge return on investment.
