The auto industry can be a tricky business. With dealerships on every corner and repair shops on every street, it can be difficult to make your business stand out. Time and time again at Marchex, we discover deep insights into the call data of businesses just like yours, insights which enable these business to take the next step in not only their marketing, but their customer experience.
Our team of data scientists and analysts at The Marchex Institute spend their days crunching numbers, looking for trends, and discovering what makes your prospects and customers tick. And they’ve discovered some simple, easy to implement, and most of all, effective suggestions to give your business the advantage it needs to succeed.
We know it’s Saturday, so today’s blog will be quick. Quick, but very beneficial to anyone who’s using or thinking about using a secret shopper program on their lot.
Secret Shopper Programs
Many brands in the auto industry use secret shoppers to test how their employees are handling phone calls. But if you have worked in the retail industry, or in phone sales, you may know that it’s super obvious when you are getting secret shopped because the person is asking every question and trying to get you hit all the checkpoints on their scorecard. At the same time, it’s pretty expensive to understand how all of your stores or employees are doing since you have to pay an actual person or company to make these calls. Using Marchex Speech Analytics, you can actually do this in real-time for every call and not have to pay a person to do it for you or to monitor calls after the fact.
Some of the most important things to monitor, when scoring sales reps on their phone handling skills are:
- Warm Greeting – This is the first point of human contact a prospect may have with your business. Be sure to mention your brand or store name, thank the caller and ask them how they’re doing.
- Get Contact Info – You don’t want to lose a lead, make sure you have the callers correct name, phone number and any other information that is relevant in your system.
- Ask Questions to Understand Needs – Your employees can better assist a caller when they fully understand the purpose of the call.
- Mention Product Features – Mentioning warranties, certified technicians, and other specific details gives the caller a complete picture and establishes your employee as knowledgeable about what products and services your business offers.
- Offer Alternatives – Give the caller ‘good’ and ‘best’ options so they can make the decision or if you have the part or vehicle in stock, make sure you offer them alternatives.
- Offer Promotions – Everyone loves a deal, but they can’t take advantage of it if they don’t know about it.
- Discuss Financing Options – Buying a car and sometimes maintaining a car are big ticket items so offering financing can help reduce the financial burden on the consumer.
- Attempt to Schedule an Appointment/Test Drive – Callers will be more likely to walk in the door if they’re prompted to schedule a set time for an appointment or test drive.
- Confirm Location – Make sure that the caller has correct information, and that your reps are prepared for when they visit your location.
And just like that, all the insights you’d gain from hiring a secret shopper are delivered in one easy to use, easy to read online interface. With Marchex Speech Analytics, real-time, actionable insights are only a click away. If you’d like to learn more about Speech Analytics, or any of Marchex’s tools and technology that can improve your marketing, capture more insights and enhance your customer experience, please contact us today.
