Owners and GMs are incredibly busy people—if you’ve found your way here, you already know that! The responsibilities are heavy, and there’s rarely enough time to take a deep dive into the fine details that can give your dealership a lasting competitive edge.
But how can you run your business while still focusing on those mission-critical strategy details and delivering excellent training? In many cases, outsourcing certain aspects of your business can be a real lifesaver. Training never really ends, and as the industry evolves and trends change, a dedicated partner can make sure you are always ahead of the game.
A great place to start is outsourcing your phone training. It’s an area where most dealerships haven’t made big improvements over the last few decades, but statistics show that more and more people are dialing in long before they walk on the lot. Maximizing your opportunities on the phone is key.
Here are some of the top sales advantages great auto consulting can add to your business.
1. Saves You Time and Boosts ROI
Training is unquestionably a time-intensive endeavor, and doing it yourself can be impractical. You definitely know what it takes to excel in the automotive industry, but do you really have time to become a book expert on the latest trends and tactics?
When you add up all the development hours (and dead ends) required to create a new training program, working with industry experts who are already at the top of the auto sales game is unquestionably worth the investment.
Also, one-on-one personal mentorship relationships that develop over time are by far the best way to evaluate and enhance the performance of every member of your team. Auto consulting companies that offer this type of active coaching model offload a tremendous burden from any GM’s shoulders. They’re also experts in how to deploy these training strategies as efficiently as possible and can work around your business needs to ensure they support your goals rather than interfering with them.
2. You Don’t Have to Develop Scripts from Scratch
More and more, successful dealerships are implementing scripts for customer service and sales staff. You might worry scripts will limit your best employees or produce dull and repetitive sales experiences for customers, but this couldn’t be further from the truth.
Scripts improve the customer experience by formalizing service and call routing procedures, and making sure your dealership’s amazing personality and messaging pops no matter who picks up the phone. They also keep sales staff moving efficiently toward closing and ensure your team capitalizes on all their sales opportunities.
And don’t forget: even if you’re a good writer, it takes a lot of time and testing to get your scripts fine-tuned and working properly. The right auto consulting firm will do all this for you.
3. They Can Evaluate and Troubleshoot Issues
A big part of any GM or owner’s time is spent monitoring the numbers your team is putting up, but if you’re not seeing the performance you’d hoped for, identifying the problem can be extremely difficult. Many things need to be evaluated on an ongoing basis to optimize your sales processes, and it’s nearly impossible for one person to cover it all.
While it’s imperative for leaders to have this information to make decisions, that doesn’t mean they need to gather it personally. Auto consulting professionals are experts at assessing sales teams, identifying issues, and preparing reports for owners and GMs to review. Also, the best consultants should offer mystery shopping services to make sure the training they’ve implemented is translating to the workplace.
4. Improve Appointment Setting and Lead Generation
In this anonymous digital age, getting a customer into the showroom can be one of the biggest sales challenges to overcome. Most people don’t usually close a car deal over the phone, but more often than not it begins there.
Whether it’s cold calling, referrals, or just a curious customer making first contact, the phone is the tool that generates new leads and on-site appointments to boost your numbers. By tailoring your phone scripts to drive appointment bookings and connect with new customers, your auto consultant will make a tangible impact on your sales KPIs.
5. Increases Customer Retention
One of the biggest advantages of auto consulting is how the sales and phone scripts (and the intense coaching that goes into implementing them) ensure even the smallest details of the customer experience are delivered the same way.
While it’s always a bit of an X factor, creating a brand that’s consistent, familiar, and inviting for customers is one of the best ways to develop a loyal customer base. Phone scripts help ensure your dealership works as a team to create that experience by collectively reinforcing your messaging and service expectations.
A great auto consulting agency will make sure your key differentiators always stand out and are supported by excellent customer service. They’ll even catch nuances that you never realized were affecting customer behavior, and confirm these important details are emphasized in training.
Phone Ninjas Will Deliver!
Our auto consulting agency was founded by some of the greatest time-tested superstars of the automotive sales profession. We’ve taken our combined five decades of experience and committed them to helping dealerships across the industry crush their monthly goals and optimize all aspects of their sales strategy.
Our active training coaches work with your employees individually during every weekly session to deliver hand-tailored scripts flawlessly to your customers. Our clients reliably see appointments from phone traffic double and triple after teaming up with us, and we work synergistically with your dealership’s needs to make sure training is as efficient and hands-off for you as possible. We take care of everything, including the mystery shops and follow-up coaching.
But we can’t double your phone leads until you contact us! We’ll set up a demo, and even provide two free mystery shops (one phone, one digital) to show where we can help. Get in touch today!
As the COO | Partner of Phone Ninjas, Chris delivers leadership, coaching, and mentorship to 55 team members providing software sales and phone skills coaching. He fosters powerful partnerships and collaborations with leaders across various business sectors, establishing expectations, communicating vision, and escalating performance to maximize productivity and effectiveness.
Chris is an innovation-driven business executive with over 25 years of experience delivering leadership to teams of up to 75 overseeing development, launch, and sale of website lead acquisition, reconditioning process software systems, and technology that support automotive dealerships across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
