Responding to Internet Leads
3 Principles for More Effective Email Follow-up
For many years, car salespeople have relied on phone conversations as their primary form of contact when first engaging with a new prospect. While solid phone etiquette is certainly still an important skill to have in your repertoire, today’s customer is far more likely to inquire about a vehicle by email, via the contact form on your website.
While many dealerships have tools like AI Chat-bots and Email-Automation Software in place for capturing those internet leads, these tools are only part of the equation. Much like your phone conversations, your internet leads are far more likely to result in a sale if you’ve taken an intentional, methodical approach, to engaging with the customer.
1. THE PRINCIPLE OF INTRODUCTION
“Something that’s properly introduced is more memorable than something that’s not.”
When a customer lead first comes in, how are you responding? Are you sending them a generic, pre-prepared email-message like the following: “Hi John, we noticed you’re interested in this vehicle… Please contact me with any questions.”
While this can be helpful, the customer has likely received 5-6 similar messages from the other dealerships they’ve interacted with. Instead, we recommend sending a custom follow-up message, containing a link to all available vehicle information on that car. Take a look at this example follow-up message that iPacket uses:
On top of providing your customer with all of the information they’re hungry for, you can now see which elements your customer is interacting with most frequently. This will help you tailor your follow-up. For example, if you know your customer spent the most time looking at the CarFAX, be prepared to spend extra time reviewing that document, during your next interaction with the customer.
Below you can see how salespeople capture and track these insights, using iPacket’s MicroData Heatmap feature:
2. THE PRINCIPLE OF CURIOSITY
“Word your message in a way that piques their interest and leaves them wanting to know more.”
Now, your customer may be fully-engaged after that initial email, and interested in coming in to test-drive the vehicle. However, chances are they’re not quite there yet.
In fact, 80% of sales take five or more interactions to close. This means that your follow-up process is everything. Using the customer insights you’ve gathered through Heatmap Data, find a common ground for discussing that vehicle. Maybe it’s the vehicle’s service history. Start there.
When you attempt to call or email your prospect a second, third, or even fourth time, you’ll now know which information matters most to them (even if it’s changed over time).
Fortunately, iPacket makes follow-up easy by (A) notifying you each time your prospect is viewing the vehicle, (B) showing you exactly which details they’re viewing, and (C) notifying the prospect any time the price of that vehicle changes.
3. THE PRINCIPLE OF EXPECTATION
“Leave them with a clear action they need to take, in order to help them make a decision.”
This is where your persistence pays off. You’ve captured valuable insights about your customer. You know when and how to reach them. Maybe you’ve even had a brief phone conversation, and learned about their job, family needs, or daily driving habits.
Your process has laid all of the groundwork, and now it’s just a matter of using all these insights to close the deal. Remember, today’s car buyer is often well-informed, and prefers to make information-based decisions. So, if you’ve presented your dealership as the most trustworthy and transparent option, you’re likely to close the deal.
For more information about how iPacket can help maximize the success of your internet sales efforts, schedule a virtual walkthrough with our team.
