What kind of an impact is data having on the sales processes within the retail automotive environment? It should be huge and those not using data to its full potential are missing out.
This was certainly the view of Kayla Kody, VP of Business Development at US-based, Richmond Ford. Kody was speaking at the Reuters webinar, The Digital Dealership of the Future.
“Customers don’t enjoy waiting, why aren’t we taking the time to properly prepare for them? The biggest thing we have had to change in our dealership is getting prepared for the customer, what have they completed online, what options do they need from us?”.
Watch the webinar HERE
Primarily focused on the pre-order stage of the buying process here, Kody explains that the omnichannel approach is enabling sales teams to be more consultative and get ‘ahead of the game’ when a customer enters the showroom – but clearly this has required some learning within sales teams.
“This truly leverages the best parts of your salespeople because we can match people better with more data. Before, we started at point zero with customers, but now we are going in and saying, ‘ok these are their needs, how do we meet them in the best way possible?'.”
We no longer start from “point zero” as Kody calls it, which is a huge shift. But critically, if we don’t need to start from point zero, why are sales teams still ignoring the opportunity to get ahead?
This data is clear and available for everyone on the showroom floor. It's helping separate the traditional, old school hard closers from the product specialists and the customer experience is all the better for it.
“These are truly product specialists, not the hard closers of the past and maybe those hard closers are developing their soft skills,” she adds.
Enable and enhance
Kody’s viewpoint is music to our ears. Technology doesn’t replace and remove, it enables and enhances but people need to spot their cue to take advantage.
It’s the same in the ‘journey within the journey’ that we love to talk about at AutoComms. The moment the customer steps into the ‘post-order pre-delivery stage’ there is an assumption that the lights go out again.
Do we need to go back to the start, back to “point zero”?
No, absolutely not we need to shine a bright light on this stage of the customer journey because it’s when customers need more support than ever.
When is my car going to be ready?
What do I need to do next?
What else can I buy?
Believe it or not the final question is asked many times by customers in the order to handover gap, but sales teams don’t always have the data at their fingertips that equips them with the knowledge and understanding to do anything about it.
AutoBuzz technology specialises in unearthing the value that exists in the pre-order to post-delivery stage in every car buying journey.
Get a handle on the untapped value trapped within this period of time and see how technology can unlock additional revenue and increase customer satisfaction.
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