Adopting mobile sales processesImprove customer experience and empower your sales staff

Three tomatoes are walking down the street. Papa Tomato, Mama Tomato, and Baby Tomato. Baby Tomato starts lagging behind, and Papa Tomato gets really angry. He goes back and squishes Baby Tomato and says: “Ketchup.”

Like any business trying to succeed in today’s ultra-competitive market, your dealership should avoid playing “ketchup”or risk getting squashed. At a minimum, you must meet the pace of your customers’ changing expectations. There are two particular expectations that heavily influence dealership processes and give forward-thinking dealers a competitive advantage: adapting a modern, streamlined sales approach and staying ahead of the technology curve.

Never get caught playing “ketchup”

Change management can be an agonizing task. At a dealership, change is often avoided or unenthusiastically embraced. Between rapidly changing consumer buying habits, high employee attrition rates, and sales reps with “old school” mentalities, it is extremely difficult to introduce new sales techniques and tools effectively and efficiently.

One thing is clear: Dealers must find a way to make these changes or risk falling behind. The competition is expanding into new arenas at an accelerated pace. There are so many different technologies available to dealers, from devices to software to hardware, it may be difficult to determine the best strategic approach to optimize ROI. Based on our observations, top dealers across the country tend to stay focused on a handful of best practices.

Good technology fosters engagement, builds trust, and increases the likelihood that a customer develops loyalty and purchases from you time and again.

Technology aside, consider how cars are sold and why repeat customers come back to a dealer again and again. Simply put, it’s relationships.

The best technologies take up less time “computing,” instead paving the way for staff to connect with customers. It may sound counterintuitive, but good technology fosters engagement, builds trust, and increases the likelihood that a customer develops loyalty and purchases from you time and again.

Back to the basics

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The CRM is the heart of any dealership practice. A simple, intuitive platform that offers various extensions that can be customized for your dealership’s unique needs is an ideal place to start. Look for a solution that is constantly evolving and offers integrated tools that work together across all areas of the dealership. A platform with separate tools that don’t work in unison tends to complicate the process instead of simplifying it.

Next, break down how consumers prefer to transact. They want a dealer that makes use of the same familiar technology they are using to make their purchase and service decisions every day: mobile.

Where to begin

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The use of mobile and tablets during the sales process draws substantiallyhigher customer satisfaction ratings.

You can significantly increase customer satisfaction by leveraging devices such as tablets and smartphones into the sales process. By simply utilizing mobile technology as part of your sales strategy, your CRM can make a bigger impact for your business. For example, if you’re using mobile platforms as part of the quote process, you’d never have to excuse yourself from the customer, reducing the likelihood of that customer going on their phone to research or shop competitor websites during the negotiation.

Employing mobile technology on the sales floor not only simplifies transactions and deepens connections with customers, it encourages trust-based activities for your sales staff.

Here are a few recommendations to get your dealership started on a mobile sales process:

Technology-based recommendations

Provide dedicated training

More often than not, the culprit behind lack of technology use is lack of training. Work with your CRM provider to set up formal training for your team specifically geared to using mobile. Before you jump into the training, ensure your trainer understands your clearly-defined expectations of your team. Do you want them entering every fresh up on mobile? Do you expect them to work answer customer emails and inquiries in their off-hours? Map ouryour plan with your Customer Success Manager and then set up a forum where they can ask questions, and get answers. Sales people won’t adopt new process unless they see how it will benefit their sales efforts.

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Set up inventory access

The majority of car buyers haveused online resources for researchand have a vehicle in mind beforethey enter your dealership. Merchandising vehicles on your website with well-lit photos and full product descriptions allows you to guide them through vehicle specs without having to walk them from car to car through the lot. Providing VDP information to your sales teams via their mobile devices engenders customer confidence. Someone looking to invest tens of thousands of dollars in a purchase doesn’t want to feel like they know more about their purchase than the salesperson assisting them.

Provide mobile apps that empower your sales staff

Selecting the right mobile appsstreamlines the sales process and builds a stronger bond with your customers. Apps such as mobile CRM with convenience features such as driver’s license and VIN scanning capabilities for customer upload, voice recognition for adding notes, and custom email templates for follow up, allows your salespeople to manage admin work without leaving the customer. Your mobile CRM should enable your sales staff to do everything they can from a desktop, from their phones.

Sales people won’t adopt new process unless they see how it will benefit their sales efforts.

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Integrating mobile into your sales process is an easily employable option that can have a remarkable impact on customer retention and your shop’s bottom line.

Many dealerships are making great strides in implementing new technologies on their sales floor. The increasing prevalence of technology-based solutions breeds greater competition and improves customer experience. In today’s market, introducing mobile to your sales process is really table stakes. It is an easily employable option that can have a remarkable impact on customer retention and your shop’s bottom line.

Conclusion

Understanding your staff and your customer demographic will help you determine how mobile can improve the customer experience at your dealership or in your dealer group. Coupled with the right technology partner, you can implement an effective mobile process through effective change management and avoid playing catch-up.

To learn more about all the mobile offerings available to you, visit dealersocket.com.