David Malone's Posts - DealerELITE.net2024-03-28T21:27:23ZDavid Malonehttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/DavidMalonehttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/5224111685?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://www.dealerelite.net/profiles/blog/feed?user=0r2c5gbawunwm&xn_auth=noHow the Entire World is Leaning on Live Streams as a Revenue Sourcetag:www.dealerelite.net,2020-08-31:5283893:BlogPost:13525932020-08-31T15:54:19.000ZDavid Malonehttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/DavidMalone
<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7752203469?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7752203469?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="380"></img></a> COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed shopping habits. Some even say they have changed forever, tossing retailers into an adapt or die scenario There is more incentive than ever to focus and invest in taking your digital retail strategy to the next level. One innovative and simple way to do that and to make your business stand out from the competition is to…</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7752203469?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7752203469?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="380" class="align-right"/></a>COVID-19 has undoubtedly changed shopping habits. Some even say they have changed forever, tossing retailers into an adapt or die scenario There is more incentive than ever to focus and invest in taking your digital retail strategy to the next level. One innovative and simple way to do that and to make your business stand out from the competition is to incorporate live stream shopping. Here are some examples of livestreaming growing revenue for major retail industries</span></p>
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<p><span><a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/features/pandemic-music-industry-trends-cardi-b-taylor-swift-1045276/">Rollingstone</a><u>.com</u> calls live streaming a music industry trend that is here to stay. With a ban on live events (that is still in place in parts of the country) local and major label musicians alike took to livestreaming to keep fans engaged and to make money. <a href="https://wbznewsradio.iheart.com/content/local-musician-leads-facebook-sing-alongs-amid-coronavirus-pandemic/">One musician in the Northeast</a> even found some mental health benefits with that digital fan engagement proving that there is something special about the live connection.</span></p>
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<p><span>Makeup retailer Maybelline <a href="https://www.techinasia.com/live-streaming-ecommerce">experimented with livestream</a> selling with a Chinese video-sharing app and sold 10,000 lipsticks in two hours by combining live streaming with real-time chat and one-click purchases to create seamless digital shopping experiences and generating nearly $100,000 in revenue. In two hours. If that figure is unimpressive, how about this: During the annual discount festival in China," Alibaba Taobao Live " sold nearly $ 740 million worth of products in the format in just one day.</span></p>
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<p><span><a href="https://www.realwire.com/releases/All-Buchbinder-auctions-now-via-live-stream">German Auto Auction Buchbinde</a><u>r</u> recently announced they are live broadcasting all vehicle auctions for online participants. Buchbinder's adoption of live streaming makes auction offerings even more user-friendly, saving auction surcharge, eliminating reservation and renegotiation.</span></p>
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<p><span>Kia Motors launched a <a href="https://auto.hindustantimes.com/auto/news/kia-launches-live-stream-showroom-to-help-customers-buy-new-cars-online-41594186427236.html">‘Live Stream Showroom’.</a> An online platform that offers customers access to personalized virtual viewings in select Kia dealerships. The platform was introduced in the Middle East. Live Stream Showroom offers customers live video sessions with Kia dealers designing a digital experience tailored to meet individual needs. Customers can receive one-on-one consultation with live responses to questions, and even explore the design and features of their vehicle of interest and see demonstrations in real time.</span></p>
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<p><span>Shopstreaming (as it is known all over the world) has been a wildfire of a retail trend in Asia for a few years now. Mandated closures and capacity limits on re-opening have made consumers accustomed to shopping and purchasing everything from toothpaste to real estate from the safety and comfort of home. Retailers need to bridge the gap between physical and digital shopping experiences and what better way to do that than by providing a fully interactive visual experience by utilizing live stream capabilities to the fullest.</span></p>
<p><span> </span></p>Putting CX Front of Mind During a Sales Calltag:www.dealerelite.net,2020-08-12:5283893:BlogPost:13500702020-08-12T15:01:46.000ZDavid Malonehttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/DavidMalone
<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7429744285?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7429744285?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="380"></img></a> Customer experience can make or break a dealership. It is a term often used when making marketing strategy plans, but is it front of mind for every dealership employee; especially those who communicate with customers directly? If your sales and BDC staff are relying on old school phone and internet techniques, it’s not. The language salespeople use with…</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7429744285?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/7429744285?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="380" class="align-right"/></a>Customer experience can make or break a dealership. It is a term often used when making marketing strategy plans, but is it front of mind for every dealership employee; especially those who communicate with customers directly? If your sales and BDC staff are relying on old school phone and internet techniques, it’s not. The language salespeople use with customers IS the customer experience and from greeting to close, it needs to be customer-centric.</span></p>
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<p><span>Your first opportunity to provide superior customer experience to your phone customers is in the greeting. Most businesses, customer facing or not, answer the phone the same basic way: business name, agent name and a “how can I help you?”. It’s professional, succinct and void of any meaning to a caller who has probably heard the exact same greeting thousands of times over the course of their life. Here is an opportunity to say something a little different to set yourself out from the competition and to snap the caller to attention. Try a small shift in wording by answering the phone “Hi, this is Bill. I can help you.” Then whomever answers the phone needs to take ownership for that call and customer and not simply transfer them into the netherworld of automated voice trees or voicemails. By changing the way you answer the phone in that minute way, you are telling the customer that YOU can help them, not that SOMEONE can. </span></p>
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<p><span>After greeting a customer, the next step in a well-planned incoming phone call strategy would be to qualify a bit and gather contact information. Here is where a lot of salespeople tend to lean on old sales techniques that were designed to shuffle a customer along their shopping journey ASAP. There has been enough car shopping data analysis for us to know that car shoppers HATE feeling pressured and especially hate feeling like they are being rushed through a shopping process. That data did not exist when these old techniques were crafted, so using a sales strategy that doesn't take those factors into perspective today will drive shoppers away indefinitely.</span></p>
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<p><span>Needs assessment over the phone is very difficult to execute with a customer-centric approach as the process itself is designed to narrow a customer down to one vehicle. That is the very definition of pushing a customer along the shopping journey. The needs assessment/qualifying question over the phone has changed very little from the day car dealerships started to use the phone. It has always been some form of: “Is this the only one you would consider?” Anyone who spends time listening to recorded calls knows that this is the question that changes the entire tone of the call and can cause customers to shut down. Try offering the customer something here instead of asking of them. Something like: “While I am checking on this, should I keep an eye out for anything new that is coming in today as well?”</span></p>
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<p><span>Gathering complete contact information is the second most important element of taking a phone up besides inviting the customer into the dealership. The key to gathering complete contact information in a customer-centric way is to offer a valid reason for them to share it. This is another area where I would advise not saying the same thing to every caller. Customize your request by mentioning their question when you ask for it: “Let me check right now while you’re on the phone to make sure it is available for a test drive today AND confirm that this is the price. What number can I reach you back on in case we are disconnected?” Some people choose to rely on Caller ID over properly asking for it, and shoppers can find that creepy and are not usually calling from their best contact number.</span></p>
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<p><span>The only reason a BDC agent or salespeople answers a phone up is to set an appointment with the caller. In order to provide a good customer experience in this area would be to treat it less like an ‘appointment’ and more like an invitation. Don't think of yourself as “selling an appointment,” because you’re not. You are not taking money from a customer to show up at the dealership. You would however very much appreciate their presence so you may then sell them a vehicle. That being said, avoid using the word ‘appointment’ when inviting people in. That word alone is enough to provide a poor customer experience. Customers know that they can come into the dealership at any time with or without an appointment and can buy a car. Rather than sell an “appointment,” sell an experience. An example of an experience is one that involves VIP treatment and reduces time spent by offering to have the car ready for them when they show up at a certain time.</span></p>
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<p><span>Closing a phone up with or without an appointment is your next chance to provide the best possible customer experience. If closing with an appointment, be sure the customer knows exactly where you are located, where to go once they drive onto your lot and who to ask for. Offer to send directions, but still give them a basic visual idea. If closing without an appointment be specific about your next agreed upon interaction. End the call by recapping why you are calling back and verbalize exact expectations for it. If you let people know what to expect, the next time you speak to them, you will find fewer people avoiding your calls.</span></p>
<p></p>Voicemail Tips to Get Your Phone Ringingtag:www.dealerelite.net,2020-06-10:5283893:BlogPost:11755802020-06-10T16:20:52.000ZDavid Malonehttps://www.dealerelite.net/profile/DavidMalone
<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/5806561654?profile=original" rel="noopener" target="_blank"><img class="align-right" src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/5806561654?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="380"></img></a> Anyone in sales can probably agree that leaving dozens of voicemails a day that are never returned is the most frustrating part of automotive phone sales. <a href="http://www.mostsensational.com/2017/09/22/19-shocking-sales-statistics-that-will-change-how-you-sell/">The average voicemail return rate is 4.8 %</a> and sales reps spend about 15% of their…</span></p>
<p><span><a href="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/5806561654?profile=original" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><img src="https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/5806561654?profile=RESIZE_710x" width="380" class="align-right"/></a>Anyone in sales can probably agree that leaving dozens of voicemails a day that are never returned is the most frustrating part of automotive phone sales. <a href="http://www.mostsensational.com/2017/09/22/19-shocking-sales-statistics-that-will-change-how-you-sell/">The average voicemail return rate is 4.8 %</a> and sales reps spend about 15% of their time leaving voicemails so it’s hard to blame people for throwing their hands up and skipping it altogether, but when it is used properly, it can be an effective way to encourage contact and is a necessary part of sending a unified branding message to potential customers. Here are 5 tips that will get YOUR phone ringing.</span></p>
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<li><strong><span>Keep your messages under 11 seconds</span></strong></li>
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<p><span>This is going to seem impossible at first, but it is critical to effective voicemail strategy. If a customer looks at their phone and sees a 10-second message they are more likely to listen to it because it is such a negligible amount of time. Every 10-seconds you add on top of that chips away at the customers likelihood to listen. Keep in mind that the point of leaving this message is to encourage the customer to return (or at the very least accept) your call and the benefit of the voicemail is hearing your warm inviting tone relaying useful (to the customer) information.</span></p>
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<li><strong><span>Be selective about the information you include.</span></strong></li>
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<p><span>Keeping the message shorter doesn't mean speaking faster. Be more selective with the information you include in the message. A first name, job title, dealership name, a little bit of intrigue or a question FROM you and confirmation that you will be calling again will do. Do not answer questions, or confirm vehicle availability within a voicemail. Those tactics work against you, and remove any reasoning the customer would have had to return your call. There is no need to repeat yourself, since this is such a short message the customer can quickly replay it if they feel compelled to hunt down a writing instrument and paper in order to write something down, with their hand, that they will probably lose the second they turn away from it.</span></p>
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<li><strong><span>Skip the Main dealership phone number</span></strong></li>
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<p><span>Speaking of things people who listen to voicemails absolutely never do; it’s ok to skip the dealership's main phone number within a voicemail. The likelihood of the customer taking the time to write it down is very low, while the likelihood that they will never lay eyes on that piece of paper again are very high, plus leaving a phone number can take 4 to 5 seconds, that's nearly half of the entire message. Now, if there is a phone number the customer can dial that you and <em>only</em> you answer, that is fine to leave for them as well as an extension number, no need to repeat it, just speak clearly and enunciate.</span></p>
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<li><strong><span>Let people know what to expect</span></strong></li>
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<p><span>Instead of “thanking” at the end of a voicemail, let them know you will be calling again later. At the end of the day, that can end up being the true motivator for the customer to return your call now as opposed to waiting for the ominous ‘later’ to occur. Ending all calls (live and voicemail) by telling the customer exactly what you expect to happen next time you speak will relieve some of the inevitable anxiety car shoppers tend to have of talking to salespeople.</span></p>
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<li><strong><span>Put it in writing</span></strong></li>
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<p><span>Once you hang up the phone after leaving a voicemail, fire off a text or email with the exact same message you left. Don’t add or omit anything and use the subject line: That was me who just called”. Why even bother with the voicemail you wonder?</span></p>
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<p><span>In the intro to this blog, I mention how voicemail is a necessary part of sending a unified branded message. Car shoppers shop multiple dealers at once online and end up getting 3 to 4 calls and 5 to 7 emails a day from different dealerships, so it is important to align voicemails coming from you with emails coming from you. That’s also why it's important to keep the message the same when mixing communication media. Text response rates are higher than voicemails response rates, but you have a better chance of setting an appointment with a customer speaking over the phone than you do by text or email. Texting is best used to complement rather than replace phone contact.</span></p>
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