Creating an Appointment Culture – Part 12

Creating an Appointment Culture – Part 12

TRANSCRIPT: In the last session from this lesson, we learned what it would sound like to leave a really compelling voicemail. We left a voicemail that created a sense of urgency for a prospect or a “be back” who was interested in a new car. Now, we are going to discuss what should really be the “meat” of your appointment driven culture. That is to drive appointments with your owner data base. These are people who have bought from you in the past or your service customers. If you are a typical dealer, right now your team is not making calls to those people. They are checking off in the CRM tool that they are making the calls, but they are not.

Now, some of you may say that your team is making the calls. They may be calling, and when no one answers, they just hang up. They put the word ‘voicemail’ in the CRM tool, like that is supposed to mean something. Some may say that their team is sure to leave a voicemail every time because it is being monitored. This might be what that sounds like:

“Hi Bob, this is Steve Stauning from Century Toyota. I hope you really like you 2011 Camry. Listen, next time you are in for service, stop by and say hello. Bye, now.”

What is the goal of that call? Is it to build rapport? Is it goodwill? All of those things are worthless.

The goal of that call should have been to drive an appointment, or to create a call-back. Then from that call-back, you could set the appointment. Here is one other thing that your team might be doing that you think is the right way to do it. “Hi, Bob. This is Steve Stauning from Century Toyota. I wanted to let you know that we have got some great deals on close-out Camry’s this month. Why don’t you give me a call back at 555-1212. Thanks, bye.” Great deals on a close-out Camry? Hmmm…sounds wonderful. See, you can’t sell a car over the phone. It is just not going to happen. You certainly are not going to sell a car over voicemail.

By the way, the reason I am teaching you about voicemails is because nine times out of ten, you will probably get a voice mail. These voicemails have one goal, and that is to drive a call-back. Once you get them on the phone, you have one goal. That goal is to get an appointment that shows. Now let’s listen how that thirty-six month anniversary call should go.

“Hi, Bob. This is Steve Stauning calling from Century Toyota. I am calling about your 2011 Camry you bought from us a few years ago. Those really are great cars. They are almost impossible to get at auction right now. In fact, my general manager asked me to call you today to see if you would be interested in selling yours back to us. We are paying way above book price. We will buy yours even if you don’t buy anything from us. Anyway, Bob, please call me back so that we can schedule a time for a written appraisal on your 2011 Camry. My number is 555-1212. Once again, that’s 555-1212. Don’t worry if you can’t reach me right away. I am going to try to call you again later. Thanks, and talk to you soon.”

Just like in the prospect call we discussed earlier, we want to highlight our persistence.

Right now your team may or may not make anniversary calls. If you do, is your team even making the call. Then after you make that call, you are not going to call them again for six months. That is not going to get the job done. It is not going to allow you to get to one thousand quality calls per sales person. What you should do for your thirty-six month anniversary call is to schedule five to ten calls in the same month until we reach that person. You should have five or ten voicemail scripts, all different, that you will leave each time you call. Let’s say you schedule five calls for the thirty-six month anniversary call. You are going to call Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Then you will call next Tuesday and Thursday. That is going to be your five calls over a ten or twelve day period, and you are going to call until you reach them. Once you reach them, you are going to try to set the appointment. That is the goal of the anniversary call. Remember, when you set an appointment with an owner, you are going to close at sixty percent. Also, you will close them at higher grosses.