Creating an Appointment Culture – Part 2

Creating an Appointment Culture- Part 2

TRANSCRIPT: What is the appointment opportunity in a dealership today? It is interesting. Depending on the statistics you look at, car dealers close between nine and twenty percent of the traditional Ups that come in the door. There are probably some great dealers out there that can probably close thirty percent. Certainly, there are great sales people who can close thirty, maybe even thirty-five percent, of the traditional Ups that walk in the door. Though, on average, car dealers close at a rate of between nine and twenty percent.

It is interesting that car dealers actually close fifty percent of the internet appointments that show up. When a car dealer gets an internet lead, they set an appointment for a prospect. If that prospect shows, and that car dealer is an average dealer, they are going to close that prospect at a rate of fifty percent. On top of that, top car dealers today are closing eighty percent of their internet appointments. They are doing that month in and month out because they are following what we call the “Perfect Appointment”. We will teach you the “Perfect Appointment” in a later lesson in this session.

What is the overall opportunity in a car dealership? We know that internet opportunities close at fifty percent if you are average, eighty percent if you are great, right? But what is your opportunity if, for example, you want to market to your data base? Well, you are closing your traditional Ups at nine to twenty percent, but did you know that the average dealer closes their owner marketing appointments, (appointments that your team makes with prior sold and service customers), at a rate of sixty percent. That means that six out of ten buy a car from you.

Furthermore, because you get to inject these folks with “new car fever”, meaning that they don’t catch it from somewhere else, you are less likely to be in a price comparison situation and more likely to drive higher grosses. On top of that, we know that car dealers close their “be-back appointments” at sixty seven percent. So, two thirds of your “be-back appointments” close, sixty percent of your owner marketing appointments close, yet you are only closing nine to twenty percent of your traditional Ups. What is it you want? You want more appointments. The goal is to create an appointment driven culture throughout your entire dealership.