New rules for developing a productive showroom, now and for the future!

New rules for developing a productive showroom: Crisis

In today’s pandemic and the by-product of low inventory, we all know one thing for sure: the showroom that never closes is the online showroom. Car companies invest a lot of energy, creativity, and money into their highly visible digital showroom. It is considered the center of the company; a place where new shoppers and existing customers can find the information they are looking for. They could be searching for hours for directions to the dealership, a list of your service offerings and scheduling opportunities, or details about the vehicle inventory selection and pricing. Your dealership’s website is often the only place where information is available about the parts and aftersales you offer.

Keep selling

Most car companies know that you should continue to sell and institute smarter marketing even in times of crisis. You need turnover to satisfy the financial drain of fixed costs. Astute investments in online marketing must therefore continue. And especially since selling opportunities now are fewer, the sales department must cherish those leads. Many salespeople indicate that they prefer working with qualified leads. In today’s market, every lead is qualified. Most websites need more than 100 visitors to entice someone to submit an application, so that one lead that presents itself is already qualified.

Dealing with leads

In recent years, I have focused on how to better deal with these online leads. We used the online rules for this; a set of rules that brought us great success at Nieuweautokopen.nl. After a few years, we also developed a set of rules for telephone leads. We saw that the telephone leads via the portals were actually leads that were triggered online. 

Online rules for developing a productive showroom

Many dealers and sellers successfully use the online rules which results in a higher conversion rate for them. Following those rules is actually universal. If we want to lose weight, we know what to do: diet and exercise. If you are consistent in this, you have a good chance that you will lose weight. It is no different when it comes to following up leads. As a seller or as KCC employees, you must consistently follow the rules. You can see from the better lead successors in the Netherlands, for example the Herwers Group, that a constant and consistent follow-up method produces the desired results. So first the dialogue, then the agreements, and follow that up with the sale.

But times change. The current market situation calls for different rules. Emailing used to be dominant and successful, but it’s not anymore. Video and Facetime also fit in as part of the solution. It is illogical to have different rules for online leads than for telephone leads, while the goal is the same: meaningful dialogue, appointment setting, and sale.

What are the new rules for following up online and telephone leads?

• Call first, then use other means of communication
• Follow up on all leads through a process
• Thank the customer and ask questions
• Provide a followable lead
• Set a (follow-up) appointment and confirm that appointment
• Be available

We will discuss implementation of these rules in the following articles. We will explain why following these rules leads to success. These rules are not in order of importance, let that be clear. The next article is about ‘First calling, then using other means of communication.’