Getting Key Contact Information
Posted September 6, 2011 by adminIf a good closing ratio is 20%, meaning 2 out of 10 customers buy, we’re doing good if 80% of our customers leave the dealership without purchasing. So, how do we gain additional sales from the 80% of unsold customer? First, we must realize that our competition isn’t just the dealer across town. Now more than ever our true competition is anything a family can spend money on for enjoyment. It seems that for every person who wants a new bike there’s a spouse that wants a new dining room suit, big screen TV, family vacation, house, truck, boat, RV… and the list goes on and on.
When a customer visits a Powersports dealership it does mean they’re interested in our products, but they may be interested in several other products as well. This means that we must follow-up with unsold customers and give them a reason to come back to the dealership. But, how can you follow-up with a customer if you didn’t get their contact information? You can’t.
Through their ‘mystery shopping’ program, Pied Piper Management Company, LLC determined that powersports dealers only ask for a customer’s contact information 38% of the time. This means that we cannot follow-up with 62% of our customers! In comparison, RV dealers ask for a customer’s contact information 68% of the time, and auto dealers ask for contact information 82% of the time. So, our performance in this area is lacking, and we have significant room for improvement.
Our customers are looking for someone to help convince them that they’re making the right buying decision, so we must be able to follow-up. Additionally, it has been documented that customers will tell us things over the telephone that they wouldn’t have told us in person. Things like, “your price is $200 higher,” or “I really wanted the black and all you have is the red.” The point is, if you don’t get their contact information and follow up, you will never have the opportunity to get the customer back into the dealership.
Have you ever heard the old saying, ‘the be-back bus don’t come back?’ This is only true because we’re not asking 62% of our customer’s contact information. However, if we do get the contact information and follow-up, many customers will come back. The good news is that when a customer does show back up, our closing ratio jumps up to an average of 65%!
So, if we log 5 customers per day we would have 100 logged customers in one month. With a 20% closing ratio we would have 80 unsold customers. We can generally get in touch with 50% of our follow-up dials, so we would have 40 contacts. Those 40 contacts would lead to approximately 20 appointments, which could easily create an additional 10 unit sales per month. This is only possible if we can learn how to get the customer’s contact information.
Here are a couple of tips to consider when asking for contact information:
- Never use permission questions like, “would it be okay if I got your phone number?” Instead, just ask directly like, “what’s the best phone number to reach you at?”
- Be prepared just in case a customer asks why you would like their information. It could be that you’ll give them a call if you get a good clean pre-owned mid-sized cruiser, or that supply and demand changes every day and you can let them know if something changes.
We’re all representing the powersports industry together competing against the expendable portion of every family’s income. If the RV and automotive guys are following-up and we’re not, then you can bet that the ‘be-back bus won’t come back.’ But, if we can learn the importance of gathering our customer’s key contact information and follow-up quickly, then we can sell more units despite the market, weather, or economy.
