Super Size Your Team's Phone Skills
In 2004, Morgan Spurlock, directed and played the lead role in a documentary film titled Super Size Me. In this film, Morgan ate at McDonald’s restaurants three times per day for 30 days in attempt to see what the health consequences would be to his body. If you haven’t watched the movie, I won’t spoil the ending… but just to give you a sneak peak Morgan gained 9.5 pounds in the first five days. There were rules:
- He must only ingest items that are offered on the McDonald’s menu, including bottled water. All outside food was prohibited.
- He must only Super Size the meal when offered (i.e., he was not able to Super Size items himself)
- He had to attempt to walk about as much as a typical United States citizen, (5,000 steps per day at the time).
4. He had to eat every item on the menu at least once
What does any of this have to do with selling cars and the phone? Look at item number 2 above, “He must only Super Size the meal when offered and he was not able to Super Size items himself”. When I first heard that rule, I was very intrigued. Think about it, a real documentary stating in advance he will say “yes” to a sales offered IF and only IF the McDonald’s employee asks for the sale.
How often do we get to see an unbiased buyer, filmed buying day after day, knowing he will say “yes” if the employee simply offers the sale?
Skip forward from 2014 to July 2017, I was in Vermont with a 20 Group and we secret phone shopped the dealer’s sales staff without their knowledge, prior to the meeting. We recorded the calls and then played each sales call to the group in the 20 Group meeting. Very quickly heads began to shake and eyes began to roll. You could visibly see the discontent on the dealers’ faces as each one took a turn, subjected to the audible punishment of their own staff neglectfully handling inbound calls. Only one dealer had a sales person get the caller’s first and last name, and a phone number. This isn’t a special sample of dealers, we all know if we called 20 or 200 at random the results would be painfully similar.
McDonalds asked Morgan Spurlock to Super Size 9 times, and he said yes. A 30 day experiment with 3 meals per day is 90 meals. However, McDonalds didn’t Super Size breakfast, so that reduces the opportunities to 60 meals. 9 attempts to up-sell Morgan, 60 opportunities. That equates to the staff of McDonalds offering an up-sell 15% of the time. There were 17 dealers in the Vermont 20 Group and not one effectively asked for an appointment. 0 attempts to set an appointment out of 17 opportunities is 15% less than the staff at McDonalds.
These are well-intentioned dealers, trying everyday to build great car businesses with best practices and smart processes. If we called every used car lot in the country, it is unlikely a strong ask for the appointment would equal or be greater than the 15% from the McDonalds team (McDonalds discontinued the Super Size program shortly after this documentary was released).
Dealers are hunting for and edge over competition like never before, especially through technology advancement. Fundamental phone skills can be easily overlooked. Here is what a dealer’s sales team must be great at.
Sound Great and be Prepared for the Call
When inbound phone calls come in, the prospects commonly hears, “…sales…”, “this is John…”, “XYZ Auto Sales, who are you holding for…”. Think about it, Over 75% of inbound callers by a new or used car within 10 days of an inbound call and this is their very first impression. This is the quality of representation you are receiving after working so hard to build a great business, not to forget how much money you spend to get that phone to ring. A STRONG and CONFIDENT greeting introducing ourselves and thanking the prospect for calling the dealership must be an everyday thing. Tone of voice, interest, listening ability all are basics that we can improve on today without spending a dollar.
Be Great at Getting Their Contact Information
The potential buyer can’t be contacted if their first and last names, phone number and email address are not captured. There are multiple tactics to ensure you collect the contact info but being friendly, listening to the prospect and just asking for it work pretty well. Consistently asking is the key.
Ask For An Appointment
Phone calls must be recorded and reviewed periodically. Sales professionals are either unwilling or unable to learn how to ask for an appointment. If they are unwilling, take them off the inbound calls. If they are unable, teach them and they will deliver. This all applies to a BDC as well.
Appointment setting is pretty simple and there are various tactics. I am happy to email you scripts and word-tactics to Super Size your team’s phone skills. Simply send a request to my email me at [email protected].
