The journey taken the modern car buyer is as complex as it is revolutionary. It features multiple research locations (both on- and off-line), crowd-sourced decision-making and a variety of communication channels.
The team behind OneDealer possesses a deep understanding of this process, and that knowledge is woven into the OneDealer Sales & Lead Management module. This has resulted in a tool that enables car dealerships to take a holistic, structured approach to the sales process.
The importance of the dealership workflow
As a new enquiry develops, it should be guided down a path that has key, strategic triggers along the way, prompting the enquirer to move closer to the intended goal (usually closure of the deal itself). It’s a process that should take place unobtrusively, but can all too easily be derailed if managed incorrectly.
A standard workflow may take place as follows:
- Customer enquiry regarding a car is received.
- Enquiry is reviewed by sales manager and passed to relevant member of sales staff.
- Customer is contacted and invited to visit the showroom.
- Customer visits and conducts a test-drive.
- Assigned sales staff member provides a quote.
- Customer signs the deal, or…
- …declines, resulting in a lost sale.
It all looks devilishly simple, but there are numerous opportunities along the way for things to go wrong. Missed enquiries, poor visit scheduling, inadequate chasing and neglected leads can all add up to a hefty dent in the dealer’s bottom line.
However, a great workflow is nothing if the salespeople don’t buy into the system. Thankfully, OneDealer ingratiates itself with sales staff by offering the following tangible benefits:
- Users are navigated painlessly through the sales process, negating the need to ‘invent’ next steps or remember specific procedures themselves;
- the system does the heavy-lifting when it comes to documentation, ensuring sales agents no longer have to manually write up visit and contact reports;
- bureaucratic alignment procedures and constant phone calls become a thing of the past thanks to built-in collaboration tools;
- the system knows when to hand over the reins; sales people are still free to make their own decisions about when a lead becomes an opportunity
With the OneDealer Sales & Lead Management module, sales managers and staff benefit from a system that combines the best elements of customer relationship management software with a workflow-based approach, while customers enjoy close digital and physical attendance throughout their buyer journey.
- An example workflow per lead. Action: test drive.
The resulting OneDealer workflow is simple, intuitive and can, in certain areas, be fully automated. It flows as follows:
- Enquiry generation (channel and source [see below] recorded).
- Enquiry qualification (manual or automated).
- Enquiry distribution (manual or automated).
- Enquiry assignment (sales manager or automated).
- Sales workflow (sales person).
What’s more, the workflows can be customized to fit new, used and fleet sales operations with each element along the way assigned a ‘temperature’ that denotes the percentage cost of the total vehicle sale. Therefore, if an enquiry has a temperature of 60, managers intrinsically know that it’s most likely at the quotation stage and deserving of extra special attention.
Channels and sources
Put simply, a channel is the method car buyers use to contact dealerships (e.g. the dealer group’s website or social media page), while the source refers to how they became aware of the dealership (e.g. advertising campaign, OEM recommendation). Capturing this information doesn’t just inform future campaigning, but helps sales staff guide the buyer through the rest of their journey in the most appropriate fashion.
Let’s say a customer enters the showroom in person. In OneDealer, this may be classed as a ‘walk-in’, and sales staff can quickly assign that channel to the lead in question. They can also check to see if the new enquirer is an existing customer by searching the database, or simply add a new record that contains the pertinent details – including the all-important channel and source of business.
- Sales opportunities by status and temperature
Getting straight to the heart of the enquiry
Thanks to full integration with either automotive research expert JATO’s car specification data base or other OEM-based configurators, OneDealer’s Sales & Lead Management module guides sales people straight to the heart of the enquiry – the car choice and configuration.
- The JATO car configurator
Once a customer’s details have been entered, the sales person is taken immediately to the car configurator (a separate module) that benefits from the latest update to car models, specs and options as well as their prices.
Most importantly, this can all be carried out from the comfort of a tablet computer, negating the need for the salesperson to take the customer to their desk. It’s fast, fluid, and ultra-portable.
No communication leaks
The worst thing that can happen during the car sales process is a communication leak. It only takes one forgotten task, one missed message or negligence when it comes to keeping the customer informed to result in a lost sale.
The OneDealer Sales & Lead Management module includes the following functionality to prevent any leaks from taking place:
- A calendar for each employee, highlighting upcoming appointments and tasks
- Availability of sales people is instantly visible to managers so they can assign leads and tasks to the most suitable staff at a glance
- Actions assigned to sales personnel have to be completed within a set timeframe. Managing staff is notified and in full control of the process
- Appointments and activities per vehicle
- Quick access to the list of currently open enquiries / leads / opportunities for each customer
- Automated customer correspondence for the confirmation of appointments and test drives (via both SMS and email)
- In-app messaging attached to leads, customers and specific cars
- My Account functionality via a prospect’s personal microsite
- Role-based access
- Management view of open leads (from which enquiries can be assigned to individual sales people)
- Built-in reporting via Crystal Reports
- Native integration with Campaign Management
- Staff calendar scheduling and task reassignment
- An open opportunities list
We’re also preparing an API for financial institutions, that will integrate the lease process and all-important financial close for each successful sale directly into OneDealer.
Three major benefits of Sales & Lead Management in OneDealer
We’ll finish with the three key benefits of the OneDealer Sales & Lead Management module:
- Increases sales person efficiency. Salespeople can work faster and smarter, thanks to a connected enquiry process.
- Increases customer satisfaction. Customers receive timely emails and SMS messages relating to the progress of their enquiry, while maintaining a clear view of the offer on the table. They also have access to key data pertaining to the deal and car itself.
- Fosters a faster response time to leads. The buyer journey is contained within one system with all tasks tracked and the customer notified when it matters.
Nothing beats seeing this solution ‘in the flesh’, therefore we recommend contacting us today to book a full demonstration of OneDealer.
