Automotive dealers: Is complacency the 8th deadly sin?

Automotive call tracking specialist, Harry Bott.

They say complacency breeds contempt, and it could be argued that it is the eighth deadly sin. Why is this important to the world of automotive retail? When I talk to my customers and automotive contacts, there’s a sense that May has been a tough month.

Is this true? Or is it the case that May is being judged against a long period of strong demand? Sales teams have got used to cherry picking their deals and the margins have been superb. However, everyone is having to work harder for their leads now. As a result some dealers will say the sky has fallen in.

For those with long memories, May is always a slow month in a slow quarter. Are we back to more traditional trading patterns with sales teams that are not match-fit? When demand is high it’s quite common to fall into a trap of becoming complacent with sales processes. Lots of calls coming and and going out – it’s busy and it’s easy for your sales teams to forget to log inbound enquiries into the lead management system (LMS). As a result, enquiries aren’t followed up.

How do you know if you’ve become complacent in your sales processes? A quick way to find out is by using the data from your phone calls. Take the phone numbers of your inbound sales calls and input these into your LMS to see if they have actually been recorded.

Most dealers will find that around 50% of their inbound sales calls do not make it onto their LMS.

If a lead isn’t recorded, you can’t manage it. Improve this metric by simply making sure all leads are captured on your LMS and you won’t be worrying about a poor month.

The time has come to really focus on being brilliant at the sales basics, and treating each lead like gold dust. Cherry picking is not the answer. Get in touch, and I can explain this in more detail.