eCommerce Director of Southtowne VW, Bryan Armstrong, shares his success with his factory lead closing ratios after just one month utilizing the DealerKnows Consulting follow-up process method and automotive email templates. His store experienced over a 12% closing rate increase on those pesky leads. Listen to Bryan’s endorsement.
Posts Tagged ‘email templates’
Automotive Email Templates Testimonial
Wednesday, December 7th, 2011Let it Rain
Sunday, September 18th, 2011How long do you follow up with your Internet leads? What about your inbound phone calls that you haven’t set appointments for? You might answer these questions with numbers from 90 to 120. 15 to 30. 60 days. Forever. You answer this way because that is the process you built in your CRM. Allow me to tell you that this isn’t happening.
There is one thing a CRM cannot do and that is stop your sales team from taking the easy way out. (That takes management). My team actively mystery shops dealers all year long and the one guarantee we can make is that the majority of leads are flipped to a CRM status that automatically cancels your ongoing follow-up process.
You might have a 90-day process in place, but I promise you that, without management looking, a good majority of your leads are being flipped to “Lost” or “Bad Lead” or “Out of Market” because it is simply too easy for your salespeople to end the cycle. Even if alerts are set up in the system that catch leads switched to “Lost”, it takes someone diligently holding feet to the fire and ensuring leads aren’t trashed for no reason. The path of least resistance is taken with your leads far more often than the lead management process is allowed to do its job.
You must train your people as to why the processes should run. Allow the automated emails (going out with their name on it after all) to fire. Maybe something in a latter email won’t offend, but entice. Maybe the topic of a 75-day email reaches them at the right time and engages rather than annoys. Your salespeople don’t always know their buying trends so they shouldn’t be allowed to cease the processes you put in place.
Over the last year, we at DealerKnows had over 400 mystery shops performed – and that doesn’t include the CRM email correspondence policing we do for our own dealers. We also create and customize templates and long-term follow-up processes for our dealers. Even with this, we’ve seen that the average number of days before all communication from dealership to prospect ends is roughly 8. Eight days is the number of days the average dealership follows up with an Internet lead. Now I know that your processes are built out longer than that, so I urge you to train your sales team to let it go. Training and management will be the only way to stop them from dropping leads early.
Let the ongoing emails do their job. Let the scheduled outgoing phone calls be made. Let the automated alerts reach the customers. Nowadays, it takes more communication to sell vehicles, not less. Let your scheduled follow-up rain down on the consumers until they say no more. Otherwise you are wasting well spent money that could still be converted into a sale. So for that reason, I ask you to… let it rain.
“I Am a Nigerian Prince in Need of Your Help”
Thursday, August 25th, 2011We’ve all received these emails of ridiculously too-good-too-be-true, obviously false declarations from spammers around the globe. They fill our email inboxes and are quickly dismissed. They are filled with foolish calls to actions and requests to contact. Allow me to say that the emails firing from your CRM system are likely no different.
I’ve always been amazed that dealer principles will sit in an office for an hour with their ad agency executive discussing the week’s layout for the local newspaper – “Why don’t we put the 4.9% in the upper right hand corner and color it gold? You know… really make it pop!” – yet they have no idea what is being sent to the Internet shoppers that submitted leads into their store. Trust me that more of your down-funnel customers are seeing the emails from your CRM/ILM and DMS then are viewing your Saturday full-page age.
As I’ve been advising for years, we must pay attention to what we are emailing our customers. The power of email correspondence should not be discounted. Constant emails asking -
“Are you still in the market?”
“Have you bought yet?”
“Are you still in the market?”
“I haven’t heard from you.”
“Are you still in the market?”
“Call me at this number as I have great news”
- are tactics of the past and you need to begin looking deep into what answers and engagements in your email templates might actually drive action.
Sure, Nigerian Princes and wealthy bankers offering to throw gobs of money into your Fifth Third Bank account from their family’s estate is one way to do it, but the elements in your emails might not be better. Either the multiple fonts, center justification, endless links, and large colored words will get you sent to spam or simply the way you phrase your words will go disregarded as having no true value for the customer.
Be more intuitive with the emails you send and stop looking like an off-shore pyramid company trying to gain access into an old woman’s trust fund. You might just get their money the right way.
The First 5 Emails to Successful Lead Management – Joe Webb
Friday, August 5th, 2011After mystery shopping countless dealers over the years, some of the glaring needs we see are a basic process for handling leads. Over time, we’ve been able to determine a few of the basic steps your dealership must take when properly managing ongoing follow-up with your potential clients.
Step #1: Give them what they asked for and be generous with the information.
This seems pretty basic, but, still to this day, the good majority of customer questions go unanswered in the first email. It is well known that if you can answer any specific questions the inquiring customer asked, offer multiple pricing options, and give truthful information regarding inventory, availability, builds, prices, and incentives, you are on your way to building trust with the customer.
Step #2: Endear yourself to the customer.
As the saying goes, people buy from people they like. However, in automotive Internet, you need to go one step further. People buy from those they respect and appear willing to go above and beyond to earn their business. This is why so many have seen success stem from performing actions as simple as including a personal picture of themselves in the emails, shooting a quick walk-around video of the customer’s desired vehicle, sending Why Buy from Me’s, and emailing personal video introductions. You can’t build a relationship with someone you don’t know.
Step #3: Detail your process.
In ALL of our mystery shops, the Internet Manager says the same thing. Paraphrasing – “We have a special process in place to make this the best no-hassle purchasing experience for you.” Well that is all well and good, but not EVERYONE can have the best process. And what is your in-store process anyway? Why don’t you tell them what will happen when they arrive? People are submitting leads because they are afraid of the unknown. Put a detailed process of what events/activities will they can expect to transpire when they arrive for their appointment.
Step #4: Build value in your dealership
An Internet shopper can buy their desired vehicle from anywhere. When it comes to new cars, they can get the same car in the same color with the same options/features/specs at the same price or lower from your competitor right down the street. They can get the same finance rate or lower. They can get the same trade-in value or higher from them too. So what really is it (besides your people) that separates your dealership from the rest? What is your Value Proposition? What do you offer that others don’t? Being “family-owned and operated” doesn’t always translate the way you think it does to a consumer. So make sure you have an email template or Value Proposition with something that a customer might be able to attach a dollar value to.
Step #5: Sell the brand
This is the LAST thing you need to do… not the first. The manufacturer already spends millions and millions of dollars selling the virtues of their brand. The customer submitted a lead on that brand so they at least are considering it in the mix. At one point in your lead management process, you will need to re-sell them on the brand, most specifically, against the other makes the consumer is considering. However, this can certainly be one of the latter messages/topics you are sending to your Internet shoppers. They’ve likely uncovered enough to sell themselves on it one way or another in their research phase so focus on Steps 1-4 first.
If you give them what they ask for with multiple options, sell yourself, your process, your dealership, and your brand – in that order – you will convert more Internet shoppers to In-store customers through your email and phone communications
Put Your Best Font Forward
Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011When is the last time you mystery shopped your own dealership? Did anything go to SPAM? If so, why? If you think nothing goes to SPAM, my guess is you haven’t likely checked.
I mystery shop dealers every week and it still amazes me how many emails and auto-responders are sent directly to my junk mail. I just returned from speaking at a NADA 20 group where 5 of the 20 dealers’ emails were caught in SPAM. Last month, when Jared Hamilton, Brian Pasch, and I spoke to an NCM 20 group together, of the 35+ emails I received back from the attending dealers over the course of 5 days prior to the event, 8 of them went to SPAM. That is almost 25%. What are you doing to combat this?
There are several things you can do to avoid getting lost in a prospect’s junk mail. Here are just a few ways to put your best font forward.
- Tiny font tends to get caught in spam. If you have font smaller than 10px, it can get you nailed by the triggers. (Think of all the legalese trapped at the bottom of special offers…that is why)
- Large font sizes bigger than 2+ gets trapped in spam filters
- More than two font sizes and two font types are no good either
- More than two images or two links in your email can get you caught as well
- If you do send an image, make sure it isn’t too large and overwhelming to the email
- If you do send an attachment, make sure it is under 300k
- Don’t use too many bolds, colors, exclamation points, or italics
- Make sure your email text has the same font and size as your signature. (Not sure if it affects spam, but it ticks me off and looks unprofessional
- Don’t use punctuation in your subject line (Writing a good subject line is a necessity and worthy of another blog entirely. Recognize its importance)
- Make sure that if you are sending an html email, you have a higher percentage of text to html image. (I just learned of this one by researching… pretty cool)
- Always test yourself by mystery shopping as you can easily get put on a blacklist – and that can be the primary reason you are getting sent to spam
- And do your best to steer clear of these “trigger” words:
|
Free
Click Here Call now Subscribe Discount! Debt Act Now All New Bankruptcy As Seen On… Cash Special Promotion Guarantee, Guaranteed Great offer While Supplies last |
Opportunity
Compare Removes Collect Amazing Cash Bonus Promise You Credit Loans Satisfaction Guaranteed Serious Cash Offer Please Read Don’t Delete Visit our web site |
|
When all else fails, just go to Spam-Checker.com and plug in your email templates individually. Considering my company, DealerKnows Consulting helps all of our dealers create and customize email templates, it is imperative for us to recognize that the most elementary task we must perform is getting back in touch with a customer who submitted a lead. These are just some of the tactics we monitor during our Virtual Dealer Training to ensure there is a proper lead management plan in place.
I hope this helps you take a close look at what you are sending out from your store. Make sure to put your automotive email templates under a microscope and ferret out the spam triggers. The customer already submitted the lead. Why not make sure you are getting back to them professionally? Don’t throw away opportunities. It is imperative to put your best font forward.
Grant Cardone recommends Joe Webb of DealerKnows Consulting
Friday, September 10th, 2010NY Times Best-selling author and sales training expert Grant Cardone of Cardone Technologies endorses Joe Webb of DealerKnows Consulting for Internet sales training and digital marketing consulting. Grant Cardone attended Joe Webb’s session at the Innovative Dealer Summit to the Colorado Automobile Dealers Association in Denver and reccomends auto dealers to get involved with Joe Webb and his ecommerce training initiatives.
It Takes a Village – by Joe Webb
Sunday, August 8th, 2010When a lead arrives, a prospect is born. As the lead ages in the CRM systems of our homes, it must be cared for. Every lead has specific needs and it is the responsibility of the guardians of that lead to nurture it. Rules must be set for the lead to follow and certain requirements are to be enforced. One person should not be the sole guardian of each lead. It takes a village.
To ensure a lead reaches its full potential (sale = adulthood), multiple people within your dealership have to get involved. At different points of every lead’s existence there comes a time where different influences must help it along its way to sale.
Simply put, it cannot just be the Internet Sales Manager’s sole responsibility to manage every lead. This is why a Business Development Center is of such importance to so many dealerships. It gives dealers the ability to have multiple hands on each individual lead. If you do not have the benefit of a BDC, you must bring your management team into the mix. However, with a BDC team in place, you are creating both a front line of defense for your dealership as well as a backstop.
If the initial correspondence with an e-lead is handled by the Internet Sales Manager, then I believe you should have a second stage of communication where a representative from the BDC/management team reach out to the customer under the guise of Customer Relations Manager. If a consumer feels as if they are valued and have the attention of multiple people in the store, they may feel better taken care of. At the same time, the second stage calls made from the BDC/management team will alert you to shortcomings the prospect may have felt they had with the original ISM. Much like a BDC call to an unsold walk-in on behalf of the sales floor, a second ear open to a customer’s needs usually yields eye-opening results.
In another instance, when an appointment is set by an Internet Sales Manager, it is only good business to have an additional person reach out and confirm the appointment. Let’s face it…. Doctors are not the ones calling you back to confirm your appointment, it’s the nurse receptionists.
That is the power of the BDC. More than one person making multiple touches to maximize results. It is a team environment. We must make back-up calls for the sales team to unsold customers, to all sold customers, to all set appointments, to all missed appointments, to all potential customers, to all active leads, to all impending lost customers, and to all lease return customers.
And it isn’t just calls that should be made to these consumers, but emails too. Fit yourself with a strong CRM that allows several people to be prompted/triggered to contact each customer (via phone and email) without the lead changing hands. That is a very important trait to have in any good CRM.
A lead cannot and should not be handled by one. It must be handled by multiple. Don’t let the youthful leads of our generation slip through the cracks of our dealership society by letting them fall by the wayside. Guide the leads using different role models at different times through their life to help them blossom into the sale they deserve the chance to be. To raise a customer from lead to sale, it takes a village.
Are Your Emails Being Tivo’d?
Friday, May 7th, 2010I bought a Tivo the very first month they were introduced in the market. I wanted to be a pioneer before an early adopter. I paid the $300+ one-time fee that was available to be granddaddied into the service for life. Shortly thereafter, they began charging a monthly subscription fee for those jumping on the bandwagon late – so I felt on top of the world for several years (until I switched over the a regular DVR). I haven’t watched commercials since. Never. I will pause a show, find something to do, and return just to fast forward it. I hate advertisements. Now stick with me here as I connect this, as per usual, in my stream of consciousness way.
Dealers ask me to mystery shop them frequently and give them my assessment of their email templates. Over time, I’ve found that dealers are pushing to be more progressive, more professional, in the emails they are sending out to customers.
In the past, emails were sent in plain text, easily read, the occasional spelling error mixed in. Then we began including banners of the dealerships for branding and pictures of the Internet Sales Managers thrown in for good measure. Today, templates have involved into flashy, overdesigned advertisements.
I understand why dealers have paid vendors for these jazzy versions of email responses. They want to appear to be as sophisticated to their consumers as possible and they’re looking for some conformity for all of their templates.
Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I believe these glittery, some say garish, email template advertisements being sent out (being paid for) are getting your customers to fast forward, to Tivo, past your emails. I check email much the way everyone else does, and when I see a bright, shiny picture to review – or worse, click to “show images” – I click past. There is very little value to me in an email that appears to be nothing more than a template advertisement. It is just like a commercial in need of skipping.
There are some consumers out there, I could imagine, that prefer these snazzy, ostentatious emails, but to most who take the time to submit an inquiry, they want a proper, personal email back. They don’t want something that looks as if it is an automated, showy response that is all glitz, no guts.
This is the same reason why some CRMs allow dealers to decide if they want their emails to be sent in html or plain text format. The same reason other CRMs let the dealers decide if they want to include the “opt-out” message or not to their automated templates.
Don’t get me wrong. I actively train to send dynamic video messages, include fun, personal pictures in the emails, and well-created e-Brochures. However, I also request that there are a variety of templates being sent. Specifically, in the initial emails sent, it is important they get through spam filters which is why a plain text email works best. It also seems that a customer would be more willing to read something being sent from a person than a computer system. (And I won’t even delve into the content being sent – which is just as important.)
So put yourself in your customers’ shoes. Sit in their living room and flip open the laptop. Mystery shop yourself and determine if your emails are coming across as emails or getting fast-forwarded like commercials. Do the templates look like the normal spam emails you receive and automatically delete? If so, change the design of what you’re emailing. Don’t let your prospects Tivo past the value propositions you are sending.
The Lead
Thursday, November 6th, 2008
- In this clip I wrote and filmed, you will see the three ways that dealerships are handling leads. You will see the wrong way, the DealerKnows way (the correct way), and the worst way.
to adapt smart lead management and positive first responses in your store, contact DealerKnows.
Will Your Internet Department Sink or Swim?
Saturday, October 4th, 2008An Internet Sales Professional should be a life raft.You can stop an internet customer from drowning in a pool of builds, specs, and prices.You can save them from visiting one salesperson-flooded dealership after another.
Now ask yourself…are you a life raft or are you an anchor?
A life raft will answer a question quickly and, more importantly, competently.
An anchor will attempt to drag the customer into the store by giving them either as little information as possible or by flooding them with prices.A life raft offers quality answers after the initial email and gives customers realistic expectations and fair offers.An anchor promises the imminent arrival of a vehicle they have little chance of obtaining.
One thing that an Internet Sales Professional (ISP) can be sure of is the internet-savvy consumer knows a price waits for them right around the corner; one website away.More and more, customers demand to have all their questions answered… and sooner rather than later.Vague answers are no longer adequate bait to lure today’s consumer.
Save them from vague answers, repeated urges to visit, and automated follow-up responses.If you want to be competitive, you have to answer their questions on the first email.Please notice… “email”.Don’t be the person that calls them immediately, even if it is under the veil of “Did you receive the information I sent you?”They are sitting at their computer with their inbox open!They know you did not send anything!You can always call later; but you can’t change a bad first impression.Send a personalized email first.
Internet Sales Professionals have the opportunity to separate themselves from the typical salespeople on the dealer floor.These are the very people the consumer fears and want to avoid speaking to in the first place.And let’s face it, we ISP’s are all just glorified sales reps with good word tracks, better organizational skills, and fast fingers.However, customers have higher expectations of us.Johnny Car-Buyer doesn’t want to believe he is talking to a Sales Rep that can type.Nor does he want to be conversing with a technician from a computer store.He wants to believe he is speaking to a knowledgeable friend that is looking out for his best interest.Johnny needs a life raft.
Any ISP worth their weight in leads will tell you that directing an internet customer to act is just as easy as a walk-in customer.We all have the same job duties.We all are fighting toward one goal.“Get the customer in.”How we go about this and how we view our job description, though, is what separates you from the next ISP a few miles away.How do you direct an internet customer, you ask?Your first email will rarely spur someone to hop into their car, drive to see you, and drive off with the exact vehicle quoted.Not anymore.A few years ago this was a little more common, but people want all of the information nowadays.They don’t do this solely by collecting prices.Internet customers ask follow up questions.It is how you respond to these questions that determines your worth as an Internet Professional.
Build trust by moving the internet customer one step at a time.Build the relationship, connect with the customer, and move them toward you.This is how you differentiate yourself from other ISP’s and endear the customer to you.Customers want to be guided on their car-buying process.Replying to customers’ questions will give you the opportunity to direct them to the dealership. If handled correctly, you can guide them straight to your lot.You don’t need to light a fire under them in the first email.You simply need to give them reasons over time to see you.It is a process.
Some dealers operate by inundating their internet leads with mass amounts of information, whether it was requested or not.This is called the “Info Anchor”.The anchor drowns the customer with builds, specs, and prices, hoping to look like they are being upfront with their information, but, in reality, just trying to save themselves time from following up.You don’t need to purchase ALL of the leads possible. You simply be more thorough with your leads so your closing ratio increases.
Like everyone else, I shop my competition.Their initial emails with amazingly low price quotes, attached list of all features and options (and even discounted warranty prices!) are absurd.Even though they are not being vague, they are supplying the customer with too much information:The Info Anchor. However, try to ask them a follow up question and wait for a response.Continue to wait.Take a nap.Take a trip.Take a coma.You will keep waiting because they hardly ever answer follow ups.They give it their one shot and they’re done.That is when Life Raft (me – and not just because of my size) floats in and saves them.I keep them headed toward land by answering any remaining questions they have.I don’t make their vehicle purchase seem like a too-good-to-be true mirage, but a tangible and reachable goal. An overflow of information will simply numb them from realizing the difference between a fair deal and a nit-picky deal.You will just send them shopping.Doing this is creating your own worst enemy.
Here is my request to all ISP’s.This is what I am asking you to do.
1) Do not give the lowest possible price for a vehicle.Offer a competitive price that reflects the value their vehicle deserves.You are selling something of value.You are selling a motor vehicle that will be carrying their most important commodity – their family.
2) Don’t offer to beat everyone’s deal.You will only send them scavenging for quotes.In latter emails, simply tell them you will stay competitive with other offers.
3) Build value in what you do.Buying a vehicle can be a painful process.You are saving a customer from going through a potentially-frustrating and painstaking process of visiting an endless number of dealerships to get the same questions answered.
4) Tell them the truth.It is a lot easier to remember what you have said to them in the past.
If a customer feels that you have saved them time, energy, and a little money…you have already become their life raft.You have become a real Internet Sales Professional and you have earned the sale.