Harnessing the Modern Sales Conversation

The face of modern business is changing on what seems like a daily basis. While all aspects of business are evolving, the sales conversation has undergone a renaissance of sorts. Years ago, car dealerships connected with consumers on two fronts: in person and over the phone. Today the list of consumer touch points seems to be ever expanding. If you hope to experience success with your dealership marketing efforts, it’s essential to harness the power of each of the following:

Chat
Though many dealerships are apprehensive to adopt onsite chat functionalities, chat is a viable tool that can lead directly to sales. It is however important to keep in mind that chat must be managed properly. Response times should be rapid, and those charged with chat conversations should be prepared to answer questions accurately. It’s always a good idea to have a list of FAQ’s and canned responses on hand for quality control. Should a consumer have a question about a specific vehicle, it’s imperative that the sales person on hand is prepared to respond quickly and schedule a test drive. Once your team has mastered the art of online chat, you will find it to be a highly effective component of the sales funnel.  Read more chat in our earlier blog post: Mastering the Art of Chat.

Email
Newsletters and drip email campaigns are a great way to remain top-of-mind with consumers. If segmented properly, this can be a fast and easy process to craft and distribute highly targeted email marketing campaigns to your contact list. When leveraged strategically, email marketing can be yet another key component of the sales conversation. Also, contrary to some proponents who suggest that email will eventually go away, email is here for the long haul. It is the only individually unique, platform agnostic, form of direct communication on the web.

Social Media
There is no denying that social media is affecting virtually every area of our lives. In fact, according to recent research from Wildfire (a Google owned Social Media Marketing company), 37% of consumers reported they rely on social networks to complete research before making a buying decision. This is precisely why it’s important to include social media in your dealership marketing strategy. Work to grow your audience and share engaging information through your social profiles. Keep in mind that consumers seek an organic conversation in social; avoid traditional ‘marketing speak’ and include a mix of interesting third party content.

Phone Conversation
The phone call is still one of the most important aspects of the modern sales conversation. This is a salesperson’s opportunity to create rapport with a potential customer and schedule a test drive. It’s extremely important to train and coach your sales team to ensure they are effective over the phone. If handled  correctly, a large portion of your inbound calls should result in a test drive. Keep an eye out for our upcoming blog posts on phone call training and best practices: How to Convert Site Visitors into Phone Calls, and Leveraging Inbound Calls to Improve the Sales Process

In-Person Conversation
Finally, the traditional in-person sales meeting remains one of the most important aspects of the modern sales conversation. However, it’s also important to realize that many of the aforementioned touch points lead to the ultimate goal of that in-person sales conversation. In fact, according to J.D. Power & Associates, 79% of consumers that are in the market to buy or lease a new car will complete online research before making a buying decision. Perhaps most staggering, these consumers visit an average of only 1.4 dealerships before making a purchase. If your team is equipped to handle the online sales conversation, they will achieve higher levels of success in drawing consumers onto your lot and therefore increase close rates.

At Speed Shift Media, we offer the very best in automotive display advertising on the market today. Our intuitive Auto Audience™ Network enables us to target motivated consumers in the midst of the online buying process. Delivering deep behavioural and contextual targeting and Retargeting, we are the dealership marketing partner of choice for those looking to harness the most advanced consumer targeting options on the market today. If you’re ready to learn how we can take your dealership marketing efforts to the next level, we encourage you to contact us today!