April Simmons, Corporate Internet and Marketing Director at Horn Auto Group, reveals how dealerships are missing opportunities by failing to properly handle internet leads and phone calls. We explore why many dealerships have lost the fundamental communication skills needed to convert digital leads into sales.
• Most dealerships have recognized they drifted from sales fundamentals in showroom interactions during COVID but haven't applied the same realization to digital communications
• The industry benchmark for internet lead closing ratio is 15%, but most dealerships hover at 8-10%, with many falling to 5-6%
• Templated responses fail to address what customers are actually asking for and miss opportunities to build relationships
• April identifies nine different types of leads (chat, specific vehicle, third-party, OEM, etc.), each requiring a distinct response strategy
• Customers self-qualify through the CTAs they click on websites, revealing their "hot buttons" in the process
• The "Listen, Align, Persuade" approach applies to all sales channels, including digital communications
• AI and automation should serve as assistants to salespeople, not replacements for human connection
• April deleted all templates from her CRM to force personalized responses, resulting in increased closing rates
If you'd like to learn more about improving your internet sales process, reach out to April Simmons on LinkedIn where she's happy to share her training materials and playbook.
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