SALES AND TRENDS WITHIN THE IDA ENVIRONMENT – JUNE 2015

Top 6 passenger vehicle sales per manufacturer
Volkswagen
Toyota
Ford
BMW
Nissan
Chevrolet

Top 3 commercial vehicle sales per manufacturer
UTILITY 1.4 S/C P/U
NP200 1.6 P/U S/C
NP200 1.6 A/C SAFETY PACK P/U S/C

Top 10 derivatives sales
FIGO 1.4 AMBIENTE
POLO GP 1.2 TSI TRENDLINE (66KW)
PUNTO 1.4 BASE EASY 5DR
POLO VIVO GP 1.4 CONCEPTLINE 5DR
POLO 1.4 COMFORTLINE 5DR
POLO VIVO 1.4 TRENDLINE 5DR
UTILITY 1.4 S/C P/U
NP200 1.6 P/U S/C
NP200 1.6 A/C SAFETY PACK P/U S/C
POLO GP 1.2 TSI COMFORTLINE (66KW)

The average age of vehicles sold in July was 3.7 years .


IT'S ALL ABOUT RESPONSE TIME
Businessman John Wanamaker is quoted as saying 'Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don't know which half.'

The Internet has changed all that, and you can now measure your advertising response in the form of leads generated.

Car dealerships are improving at responding to Internet leads, but the quality of the responses are still poor, according to a new study by Forbes.

Forbes found that many salespeople still fail to address customers’ questions timeously. An email response that provides the information requested by the customer is imperative, as the customer demands it and it is usually promised by the website from which they have submitted their enquiry.

The Internet is shortening our attention spans, but not all sales teams know how fast they need to respond to online enquiries to be effective.

30-minute turnaround for responses vital
Customers expect a response within 30 minutes or are likely to take their business elsewhere. That’s bad news for the one-in-four dealerships that still take more than 24 hours to respond.

Then there are the salespeople who think they can complete a transaction solely through email contact. How many times have we heard “But I replied to the customer’s email.”

Whenever you have the option – pick up the phone. If the lead comes with a phone number and the customer hasn’t indicated that they don’t want to be called, then call. Resort to email if there’s no phone number, but follow up with a call as soon as possible.

The customer, if properly approached, would welcome the personal service. It is also makes it easier to understand what a customer’s needs are.

Quick email, then phone call
The first response to any lead should be to ascertain what the customer wants and then provide it. Sending a quick email response first, before making the phone call gives you a great opening line. If the customer requests a call do so first, but most leads are generated by customers seeking answers by email first, which earns you the right to call them afterwards.

Although there is no perfect cookie-cutter program for every dealer, speed of response should be a priority. Beyond that, it’s all about establishing a relationship with the customer as one would on any dealership floor.