Can my dealership handle inbound calls in peak times?

I am often asked about handling inbound calls and whether outsourcing calls is the right path to follow.? Why can’t the reception team handle the calls and save on the cost of outsourcing?

The answer, of course, is that their busiest times are exactly the same time that the phones are going crazy, and that’s no good for anyone. We find that between 9am -11am is when we receive the most inbound calls. This goes hand in hand with the busiest times to your service reception.

One of the key questions here is what is the cost to your business if you don’t outsource the calls?

• How long do customers wait before their call is answered?
• How many calls are missed in each department each day, week and month?
• When are your peak call periods?
• Are there any gaps in your call handling process?

If this is typical of your business, then who is answering the phone if both your reception and service advisors are busy with customers? And let’s be honest: if they are not being answered, are they calling back or are they going elsewhere?

The next question to look at is who is answering your calls. Customers are busy too. Many of them are trying to fit in speaking to you around their own workday. For that reason, they expect to get through to the right person when they call, not to be called back when your team is free but they are busy or have moved on to something else.

We all know how frustrating it is when you make an important call, only to be to be put on hold to listen to “Greensleeves” on a loop until you finally lose the will to live and hang up. ?Worse still, if you call back later and finally get through to someone that can’t help and wants to arrange a call back. How many of these customers persevere and do business with you and how many of them have moved on?

We know that the service department is a dealership’s lifeblood for profitability. We also know that most service advisors do a fantastic job up-selling to customers and provide great service face to face. That’s why their time is taken up. But, be honest, are they also the best people to talk to your customers over the phone and do they have the time without compromising your showroom customers?

I have worked with many dealerships that have great advisors who truly invest in their customers face to face. They work hard to build rapport, they take the time to know the customer, and they build relationships with them that allow them to advise and upsell where it’s appropriate. Give them a phone and it can be a totally different story. They can see customers walking in the door, try to deal quickly with or to transfer the call and so they rush the job. That’s when it’s tempting to simply order-take and forget everything that they would do if the customer was face to face.

Increasing your service advisors and giving full support and telephone training is one way to improve the handling of your inbound calls. Of course, this does mean an investment in additional headcount in order to cover what might be just a couple of hours a day.? Overflowing your calls to the rest of the business is another way and, of course, that does mean that more get answered. However, it’s not always the most effective way if they can’t handle the customer’s query effectively.

Here are some of my top tips for handling more inbound calls and handling them effectively, ensuring the best customer service and optimizing your resource;

How to handle more inbound calls;

• Know your peak periods and resource accordingly
• Have advisors available to take the calls and increase your headcount for busy periods.
• Have a backup plan if things go wrong – an agency that knows your business inside out or trained staff that are prepared to work on an ad-hoc basis.
• Make sure the team answering the phones have the knowledge and skill set to help the customer with their enquiry.
• Make sure the team have the time to understand the customers queries and do not rush the call
• Give the team regular call coaching and feedback. Make them aware of how critical their call handling is to the business
• Ensure you have complete visibility; when are calls missed, peak volumes, whether the process fails at any point and, if so, where.

How to handle the inbound calls effectively;

• Have the right people answer the calls
• Give clear guidelines for the call process; Greet, engage, establish the real reason for the call, complete the request for the customer, educate and look after their needs, close, and reinforce.
• Tell the customer then ask a question to make sure they have understood. It’s easy to misunderstand or miss completely what has been said over the phone.
• Check the customer’s name and pronunciation- details matter; show the customer that you care about their experience
• People say “no” all too often, as they feel they are being sold to. Create an interest and show value before you close.
• Show genuine emotions
• Pay attention, don’t just listen passively, actively engage and show the customer you have understood. ?

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