Securing leads is one half of the sales cycle. You might think that the other half is converting those leads with the job ending there. The truth is there is much more to leads than simply acquiring and converting them. True skill lies in the journey between these two points where your auto dealership’s sales executives engage and nurture potential leads.
Generating leads is step one and involves getting customers aware of what it is that you are offering and creating interest around your offerings. Informing them of how you distinguish yourselves from competitors and how they can benefit from purchasing a brand new vehicle. Creating a desire that may not even exist in the first place may seem difficult but it is possible with the right marketing tools.
The next stage involves tending to and nurturing the subset of leads that displayed interest in making a purchase based on your previous marketing efforts in step one. Once you have baited promising leads into the idea of buying a new vehicle, your task will be to supplement them with information they will need from that point on such as promotional offers, post purchase service deals, necessary financial documentation and so on. They key here is to anticipate and resolve customer queries before they are even inquired about.
Why is Lead Nurturing a Core Sales Component?
Consistent effort each day is essential to converting a lead and this can only be achieved through diligent nurturing.
-
As a part of approaching leads it becomes important to segregate them into different categories based on their activity so that they can each be approached differently depending on their needs. This makes following up on leads much more efficient.
-
Sustained attempts are crucial since most leads are not likely to respond immediately but will do so at some point in the future.
-
Chasing a lead should be personalized. Customers expect that their individual needs be met, so any future phone calls, emails or text messages should deliver information that is specific to their demands.
-
Timing is key; so following up on a lead as soon as possible can make a huge difference.
-
Excellent customer service can create a positive impact which means that customers are likely to seek out other dealerships if yours doesn’t respond instantly.
How Does AI Enter the Picture?
All of the these tactics only work in an ideal world because in reality no dealership exists with the resources and manpower necessary to cater to each of their leads individually. Execution is the key here, if sales executives did actually focus on leads as discussed, they wouldn’t have the time to deal with actual in-store customers. This mean that one way or another your dealership is still losing leads and not operating at full capacity.
This is where technology comes into the picture to offset the burden on automobile sales reps. Artificial Intelligence (AI) can be incorporated into dealership process pipelines to make life easier for your sales executives. By automating several aspects of the lead follow-up process sales teams will have more time on their hands to engage customers in selling tactics that work best with human intervention.
Using AI to Upgrade the Lead Follow-Up Process
AI can play an expanded role in the way your dealership handles its leads. It can also solve a number of presenting issues.
-
Ongoing Messaging
A missed opportunity is when dealerships end the relationship with the customer post-purchase. By continuing to supply them with relevant information pertaining to their specific car model and make you can give the impression of enhanced customer service that is one-on-one. But this again becomes difficult with sales execs already engaging new leads.
The solution is AI, as intelligent automation can automatically segment all of your consumers depending on their stage of the buyer journey and send them tailored made information that pertains to their particular interests.
-
Deeper Insights & Personalization
Personalized communications are dependent on the amount of information regarding each lead that is available. With purely manual processes, the information available is directly influenced by how much the customer is willing to provide. This might leave sales execs frustrated since their outbound communications are poorly informed.
AI on the other hand can glean a plethora of insights about the customer from their online interaction. A passive incoming stream of data that can be used to extract customer preferences and intent which can then be incorporated into the type of messaging sales teams send out.
-
Automate Data-Intensive Tasks
Using your sales executives time and effort for every single follow up activity like scheduling appointments, setting up a test drive or arranging for other small services can be very time-consuming and tedious. Their energy could be spent elsewhere maybe making a convincing sales pitch or resolving bigger issues than routine tasks such as these.
Intelligent automation that uses AI can intervene to set appointments straight from your website so customers can eliminate that intermediary interaction and avail a service straight away. This speeds up the whole process while removing friction from the customer buyer journey.
-
Scoring Leads
Bad leads are a huge waste of time and energy especially for sales reps who spent months of effort on customers who never had the intention of making a purchase.
AI is a huge booster in situations like this because it can assess and evaluate various consumer to device interactions to understand who is really looking to buy and who is not. By identifying this set of buyers and then identifying their specific needs your sales reps can have a much more productive experience by focusing efforts on them.
There are a variety of tools available for your sales reps to choose from so that time and effort isn’t wasted on pointless leads that are not going to convert. If you’re looking for ways to generate and nurture leads for your auto dealership, the SalesCatcher team would be delighted to assist you. Working towards adapting to an age of digital transformation is the only way forward for any industry. Cater to consumers and achieve greater agility with SalesCatcher’s Intelligent Offering (iO). Our AI orchestration platform – iOFlow, working in tandem with our intelligent RPA tool – iOBot can create a highly customized experience for each of your consumers. If you’d like to find out more our AI team at SalesCatcher would be happy to help.
