NEED HELP -> Templates for the first 8 Days - No Contact

Replies to This ADM Discussion

Permalink Reply by Philip Zelinger on October 17, 2009 at 2:06pm

Hi Dave,

I read your post and I thought that I would reply to your real question of "Need Help" rather than your request for templates. Autoresponses, templates and basically anything that reduces the people part of the follow up process to more process than people is doomed to fail.

People like to do business with people that they like and it is hard to get warm and fuzzy with a one size fits all request to be your friend. If the original lead, or hopefully the virtual or real contact that started the process was completed correctly, then there should have been enough of a personal exchange of information to personalize the follow up to fit. If not, then I would work on that foundation of the relationship in the meeting and greeting phase first before attempting to build a relationship on quicksand.

As far as a daily email in the absence of any response, I can live with that but I would suggest that unless you are providing additional information with each communication or another reason for your urgency to contact your "friend" then your motives will become suspect. I suppose some humor or a personal plea to return your call so you can share some undisclosed new opportunity will spark a reply if there is a legitimate interest, however, if not then perhaps your time and efforts would be better invested in following up someone who cares.

Time is money and investing your time in a process and/or with people that are interested may be the low hanging fruit that warrants your attention. Of course persitence pays and you certainly don't want to give up on a real opportunity so when all else fails - tell the truth!

Something like - "Hi Dave, I have been trying to reach you to follow up on our conversation the other day but I may have been missing your replies? I enjoyed meeting you and I want to make sure that I haven't left any unanswered questions. There is a fine line between professional follow up and stalking and I don't want to cross it so please reply and advise me if I should keep in touch. If you have made a decision that you can share with me I would be happy to help even if you decided to purchase a vehicle elsewhere. After all, what are friends for!"

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Permalink Reply by Karen Aichinger on October 21, 2009 at 9:51am

here are some of the templates i use, hope they help! I agree with Phillip that the personal response is much better then the templates but i don't live in the perfect world yet. we use templates until the salesperson has made a personal contact with the customer (which can sometimes never happen), when a personal contact is made we switch from templates to more personal emails. good luck

Attachments:

• Current Email emplates.doc, 74 KB

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Permalink Reply by Philip Zelinger on October 21, 2009 at 10:01am

Hi Karen,

I agree that templates play a role - and yours are excellent - but I figured that ADM would provide plenty of best practice examples so I figured that I would contribute a more personal message as the answer. Sort of like practicing what I preach - so to speak!

My point, you are absolutely correct in that the real world pressure of a quick reply requires templates to fill in the gaps, however, given the reduced traffic and sales volume being experienced in today's market I think that many salespeople will be better served to make personal follow ups rather than some of the "make work" projects that I have seen in many stores.

Just a thought to add to the mix before turning to templates vs. personalized replies.

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Permalink Reply by Trace Ordiway on November 28, 2009 at 10:34am

Dave - I just came across your post even though it is over a month old. If you are still looking for some template ideas I can share some of my stuff with you. - TVO

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Permalink Reply by David Kost on November 29, 2009 at 7:58am

Trace,
I have some, but I'm always looking at ideas, and ways to improve. You can send them here, or to my E-mail. dkost@pcford.com

Thanks!!!

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Permalink Reply by David Kost on November 29, 2009 at 8:03am

Stan,
I know E-mails don’t sell cars, but I think that contact for the first 7-8 Days is very important. This is only for the customers when there is No Phone Contact. I want to customer to engage in comunication, and then hopefully to a phone call that will lead to an appointment. If there is phone contact, we do something much lighter.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Thibeau on November 30, 2009 at 9:27am

David,

I would suggest keeping your e-mail templates short and simple. Unless you're writing some amazing stuff, people will cease reading once they get bored. I've seen some pretty boring templates out there. Create some curiosity and try to get the customer to call you. Once you have them on the phone it becomes a phone-up and it's a lot easier to ask for an appointment; especially when you have an easy script to use.

Here's an example of one of the first e-mails I like to send. I may vary the verbiage depending on if I have a phone number or not:

David,

We were just informed by (lead provider (autofill from CRM)) that you're interested in the (make) (model) . You're timing is perfect! In order to save you as much money as possible, I do have a few questions I would like to ask. Could you please call me at the number listed below?

Are you ready to be dazzled? Please start with this short video: Video link

Your Sig File

The video should be you telling the customer all about your dealership. Get creative and throw some personality in there. Get the customer laughing; let them see you as a genuine person instead of some bland e-mail. I would end the video with you prompting the customer to call you in some sort of funny manner. It bores the heck out of me when a dealer starts writing gobbledygook about heir dealership. Try using 800 tracking numbers in your signature file to track response rates. This way you can try different types of templates and see which ones get the best response rates.

Hope that helps,

Jerry Thibeau
Sales Trainer
Phone-up Ninjas

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Permalink Reply by Susan Burgess on December 2, 2009 at 12:58pm

Jerry-
I love how you tie in the lead provider! I'm cheesing that!!!

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Paglia on December 3, 2009 at 2:10pm

@Jerry - One of the first principles to apply if you want to sell cars is to READ WHAT THE CUSTOMER SENT and then answer their questions! Over 90% of customers who submit leads to a particular dealer go and visit a different dealer because whoever the idiot was who received sent some stupid sounding canned response like what you posted in your comment!!! There is no substitute for READING what the customer has submitted and then addressing their questions directly, clearly and specifically about whatever they ask for... THAT'S HOW YOU GET THE PHONE CALL to be accepted.... Everybody who has worked with me in dealerships will testify that when you use common sense and answer the questions either indicated by the FORM they filled out on the web site (go look if you don't know) or put in the comments, and put YOUR personal cell phone in the subject line... Half the time the customer calls the salesperson BEFORE you finish whatever is distracting you from making that immediate phone call... Other times, when you call within 5 to 15 minutes after sending an email that actually delivers some real value to the customer, they are a lot more likely to answer the phone...

Heck, most of the time the customer does not have a clue as who the so-called lead provider is that the dealership buys the lead from because most lead PRODUCERS sell their leads wholesale to lead AGGREGATORS who are the companies that sell leads to dealers... Telling a customer that "Dealix" or "AutoUSA" or any other lead supplier referred them makes the sender sound like one of those Viagra spam letters that pretend to have been referred by some person you never heard of before... Customer response? can you spell D-E-L-E-T-E?

I REALLY DO NOT WANT THIS TO READ AS HARSH AS IT WILL, BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT BECAUSE IT INVOLVES PEOPLE EARNING A LIVING, PAYING THEIR BILLS AND PUTTING THEIR KIDS THROUGH COLLEGE... That text you showed above is one of many prime examples of WHY Honda dealers have a 300% better Internet sales closing rate than Toyota dealers (in aggregate for USA). That message looks like a lot of the bullshit responses so many Toyota dealers send out, BUT which would also bring the wrath of the local Honda factory DSM if it was sent out by a Honda dealer, or the regional DMC if it was sent out by a Ford dealer...

Think about it, Honda dealers sell three times as many cars to the same amount of sales leads as Toyota dealers do on a national basis... Why? Because Honda (AHM) has done a better job than Toyota (TMS) of making sure dealers understand what responses ACTUALLY DO produce more sales. Whereas Toyota has never figured out (except for GST and SET) on a national basis how to use RDR to Lead Data matches and Lead Disposition Reporting to PROVE to dealers EXACTLY what lead responses result in more sales.


If you have never seen the results of data match studies that match up what customers reported was the response they received from dealers, in surveys submitted between 24 and 72 hours after the customer sent the lead, and then what happens when the customer's lead data is matched against RDR records over the next two months, then you really should not be giving advice based on your own "gut feelings" or the wonderful system you use to sell 10 cars a month from 100 to 150 leads... That just means you are full of crap (See C.R.A.P. Group in ADM)... The reality is that there IS NO MYSTERY to what the best way to respond to an Internet Lead actually is, IF YOU WANT TO SELL MORE CARS! Heck, Ford figured it out and they didn't rely on some idiot's opinion, they studied the real world results from what dealers ACTUALLY do and factored in what customer perception was as a backup...

EVERY SINGLE CREDIBLE AND FACT BASED STUDY ON LEAD RESPONSE SHOWS THE SAME KEY BUYING FACTORS... Heck, you can look at what a dealer does and the brands they sell and predict their actual sales closing rates within 1%! There is NO MYSTERY TO WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DEFINITELY DOES NOT WORK... Bullshit lead responses that provide no value to the customer sends that customer running to other dealers and other brands.

There are 5 key lead response actions that if you execute at least four of them you will sell 50% more cars to the same number of Internet leads than if you do only two... Here's an image of the handout cards that Ford uses, but which are also the sames 5 key lead response attributes that several other companies who never saw Ford'd data also were able to determine are the predictors of how many cars a dealer will sell to the leads they receive:

.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Thibeau on December 3, 2009 at 4:27pm

Ralph,

As soon as I return home from my current business trip, I'll take the time to properly respond to your "chest thumping" king of the jungle message.

Jerry

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Permalink Reply by Susan Burgess on December 4, 2009 at 11:23am

Absolutely! Half the time, I'm composing the "first" response while I'm on the phone with the customer- which is actually the 2nd response after the automated response. I'm considering tying the lead provider into the auto response, not my personal "first" response.

What has been expressed here is KEY and dead on- pick up the phone AND in the email you MUST respond to the customer's questions. Funny how no matter the OEM, they all stress that the first initial sent by the rep email not be a template and I agree 100%. I'll use a "blank" template that has my dealership logo, my salutation and ending and fill in the blank with whatever it is that I need to say to the customer.

Kills me when I mystery shop and I simply ask "Do you have such and such model in white on your lot" and I get flooded with price quotes....Rarely does anyone ever takes the time to just email me, "Yes so&so, we have a few white of such&such model in both new and gently used. I can provide you a price quote on any one of these- just click the link associated to these white such&such models to be directed to our dealer site and watch the video of the vehicle walk around we have..."

Now, I have canned emails that do go out with answer generating questions- just used one from the GM yesterday to blast to all our "lost" customers- it gets an 85% response rate and generally after that I can then use the CRM to tailor the emails sent to the customers to match what response I get from the GM email.
Also, it helps me stay compliant with the DNC/Can-Spam laws.
I think the initial request was to save time of coming up with their own "templates" and I'll share the one's that I have from when KainAutomotive came in and consulted with a prior dealership I worked with. I STRONGLY suggest that you use the filters in the ILM/CRM you use with following up with the leads that have not had a response and tailor the "templated emails" to match what the customer wants their purchase experience to be.

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Permalink Reply by Chuck Clymer on December 4, 2009 at 1:02pm

Great response,

Can you share your GM blast, I have never seen an 85% response rate, I would be very interested in seeing what I am doing wrong.

Thanks,
Chuck

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