One Simple Method to Increasing Appointments

According to most experts and sources, you will set appointments with 50% of your leads, 50% of those appointments will show, and you will deliver a vehicle to 50% of those that show for their appointment. Given that, if you start with 100 leads, you will set 50 appointments, 25 of those will show, and you will deliver 12.5 vehicles. If you raise the appointments set by 10% to a 60% ratio, 50% or 30 show, and you sell 50% or 15 vehicles, you go from 12.5 to 15 vehicles delivered or an increase of 20%. How do you accomplish this 10% jump, however? It is easier than you might think.

You should first make a list of the questions most frequently asked by your customers during the appointment setting process. Next, you need to prepare answers that are effective at overcoming the objection. When answering the question, state that you understand their question. Then you should let the customer know that they are not alone in asking that exact question to make them feel comfortable. Now, answer the question and again try to set the appointment. Here’s an example:

Question: What will my interest rate be?

Bad Answer: Well, your credit is not so good, so you will probably pay around 22%.

Good Answer: That is a question I hear a lot. I understand your concern about interest rates, like most of our other customers. As you probably know, interest rates vary between new cars and used cars. Our Finance Managers are the best in the industry at finding the lowest interest rates possible for each of our customers. We also have a special computer program that will match each customer with the best finance source to achieve the lowest rate available. You will not find this combination of systems at most dealerships, only here at Johnson Ford. You are going to love the way this system works. Can you come in this evening or would tomorrow morning be better?

Are your people using good answers or bad answers? As you can see, with the good answer we have overcome the objection and most likely caused the customer to get excited that they contacted the right dealership that has a system to find the best interest rate. There’s a good chance this customer accepted the appointment and came into the dealership. If they come into the store, there’s at least a 50% chance of making the sale. If they do not come to the store, the chance of a sale is zero.

Here is a short list of other questions you may want to add to your list:

How much will I need as a down payment?

What will my monthly payment be?

I do not want to drive that far to buy a vehicle.

Will I need a co-signer?

I want to refinance my current vehicle.

I cannot come in this week.

That should get you started with your own list of questions. Once you have all of the answers prepared, make sure that everyone involved in the appointment setting process can respond to each question without hesitation. The best way to do that is by role playing.

By the way, if you really get good at overcoming objections you may also increase your appointment-to-show ratio. If you increase your lead-to-appointment ratio by 10% and your appointment-to-show ratio by 10%, you will increase sales by 44%. That is not an increase to scoff at!

-About the author- Over the last 30 years , Denny Long has written hundreds of articles for great publications as World of Special Finance , and Auto Dealer Monthly. It is a privilege to be able to share some of his work with you.