The stereotype of the car salesperson of yesteryear who didn’t let the customer get a word in edgewise stubbornly persists. Yet it is largely a misleading characterization. Granted, personalities who are drawn to a sales position in any industry, not just automotive retail, are more inclined to talk rather than listen.

But today, largely thanks to technology and the internet, informed customers show up at or call your store ready to do the talking. That’s because in many cases, your customers are better informed than our salespeople. Consumers do their research and they know what they want.

The real beauty is, if you listen to your customers, they’ll tell you exactly what you need to know to close a deal with them. In the words of newspaper columnist Doug Larson, “Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you’d have preferred to talk.”

Your unique sales tactic, then, should be to master the art of listening.

Own Your Dealership’s Conversations

To enjoy the fruits of active listening, however, you must first invest in owning the conversation. In other words, you need to capture, store and analyze all conversations between your employees and your customers. Nothing said or written should ever get lost or be ignored.

The only way to truly own all your customer conversations is by implementing an integrated and comprehensive communications system. When it comes time to upgrade your phone system, here are three improvements to consider:

• Choose Cloud-based over Premise-based – More and more businesses are switching from a premise-based to a Cloud-based communication system. The Cloud advantages are obvious: you can easily add new employees or locations; get access to more features than a traditional system; pay lower maintenance costs than with a premise system; and install or manage the system from anywhere. It’s been estimated that businesses can save up to 50% by moving to a Cloud VoIP service. No wonder more and more small businesses are moving to a hosted voice solution.
• Make Your Mobile and Desk Phones Seamless – Most mobile phone carriers force you to use your cell phones separate from your store’s primary phone system, making it easy for calls to fall through the cracks. Additionally, if any of those employees quit—and many will, especially since the industry has a turnover rate of 62 percent—there’s a good chance those customer calls and phone numbers walk out the door with them. Instead, enable your desk phones and cell phones to talk to each other, across all your stores. The phone in your pocket should be no different than the phone on your desk. Did you know that 40-to-60 percent of all cell phone calls are made while in the office?
• Integrate All Communication with your CRM – Record and publish 100 percent of your calls and messages to your CRM in near real-time, as well as analyze those calls. For instance, you may want to automatically notify management whenever a customer hangs up unexpectedly or a key word is mentioned. In such cases, management should be able to respond immediately and take the appropriate action. To own your dealership conversations, every inbound and outbound call must be recorded and published to your CRM. By analyzing and reporting on these conversations, you gain critical insights into what car shoppers really want.

Two Ears, One Mouth

The Greek philosopher Epictetus lived during the 1st Century and is credited with saying, “We have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen twice as much as we speak.” If you’re in Sales, you may have heard variations on this famous quote, especially since this bit of ancient wisdom is just as valid today.

But what’s uniquely valid today is the power of technology, something the ancient Greeks lacked. Your dealership has access to powerful communication tools that enable you to listen to customers, understand what they tell you and respond appropriately—from anywhere, at any time.

Welcome to the Golden Age of Sales.

About the Author

Steven Barnett is the Founder and CEO of dealerTEL, the only automotive technology provider that offers a 100 percent capture rate of inbound and outbound calls. To reach Steven please email at sbarnett@dealertel.com or visit www.dealertel.com.