How Dealers Can Gain More Customers Over the Phone

Dealers are in the people business and need to ensure their customer experience matches expectations. Customers want and need to build relationships with people at the dealership to validate their purchase decision. Phone calls are one of the most important ways for dealerships to connect with consumers and build relationships. Here’s how you can make the most of your customer experience by optimizing calls, increasing the caller experience, and recovering missed opportunities.

Optimizing Calls at the Dealership

Customers that call a dealership show more intent to purchase, which can lead to a faster conversion rate. Since calls influence $1 trillion in customer spending¹, it’s important to know how to optimize your calls. Optimizing calls also allows you to measure the success of your own dealership campaigns through call tracking. When you begin a conversation with a phone call, you can increase the customer journey when they actually arrive at the dealership and continue that connection.

Increasing Caller Experience

Phone calls are the first point of contact that consumers have with a dealership, so providing a great experience is key to keeping them engaged and coming back. Caller experience is also shaped by your employees and call flow. Eighty two percent² of consumers say that the number one factor that leads to a great customer service experience is having their questions answered and issues resolved quickly. How your employees handle calls has a direct effect on Sales and Service revenue. Are they asking the right questions?

Recovering Missed Opportunities

A top challenge for dealers is managing missed and mishandled calls. On average, dealerships miss 19 percent of all their calls, which is not a percentage any dealer finds acceptable³. In a recent CDK Global survey, we heard from dealers about their top challenges with call handling. Around 50 percent of dealers⁴ said that identifying and eliminating missed and mishandled calls were a problem. Many dealerships also don’t have the staff to help manage this issue. CDK Call Tracking tools work with your CRM system to help you recover missed opportunities. With tools to measure and improve employee phone skills, we can help you convert more phone calls to sales and appointments.

Phone calls are one of the most powerful tools you can use to gain new customers and keep your existing customers coming back. With the right tools and processes, you can convert more calls into sales, capture missed opportunities, and provide a better caller experience to increase revenue. Having the right solutions to engage consumers is what will separate you from the competition and allow you to thrive and succeed in the current market. Learn more about how you can use calls to convert more leads by downloading our latest e-book. If you’d like to see how CDK can help you improve your communication solutions, fill out this form.

Sources: 1. CDK Global, 2020 2. CallRevu call study 3. Marchex 4. CDK Global Survey, 2020