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Performance Management

How to Overcome the Most Common Objections for Appointment Setting

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While prospects calling into your business are usually hot leads, it isn’t always simple to get them to commit to your business by the end of the phone call. Even if a consumer is ready to buy or make the appointment with your company, phone handlers still need to have a sales mentality to make sure the conversation ends in the commitment. Getting the commitment can be difficult, – especially if you aren’t prepared ahead of time for objections that may come your way.

Call handlers need to have a lot of skills in their back pocket while talking with potential customers. Besides being the first impression of your business, call handlers have to understand how to set the appointment; they need to apply a salesperson type of approach.

Your employees won’t book every call into an appointment (sorry!). However, there are certain skills they can acquire to book even the most difficult caller into an appointment. Some of the objections they may face and will have to overcome, as well as skills they’ll have to present, are listed below:

Pricing

Common Pricing Objection: “HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?”

Pricing is a common theme that your call handlers have to overcome. Sometimes quoting a price, or even a range of prices, isn’t the right thing before setting the appointment. It is more important to deliver the value your business provides.

Make sure to express why a caller should choose your company and not look at just a price point. Indicate what differentiates you from your competitors, such as customer service, finance options, or longevity.

Explaining the full value of the service or product, or explaining your thorough vetting process to ensure they get an accurate price quote once you know the full scope of their need can help the caller see beyond the one-time fee.

It is also important to note that to overcome pricing objections, the call handler must have control of the call from the get-go. Some callers will want to jump immediately to price—this makes it harder to defend against this type of caller.

Start building the value of your company and its services/products right away.

This way, if and when price comes up, you can respond with value statements first, so that they aren’t only focused on your company’s price point, but what you can deliver that makes it worth the price. In most instances, the caller will see that your value is far more important.

Presenting Value

One of the most important skills for a successful phone call is to present value for what the caller cares about. Asking the right questions and explaining value from the beginning will result in fewer objections later in the conversation.

As mentioned, it is important to not wait for an objection before explaining the company’s value statements. Explaining the company’s value sets the client’s expectations to be confident that they know what to expect in their appointment and by doing business with your company.

Presenting Value Examples:

“Our company has won awards for best customer service 3 years in a row, so I am confident that you will be satisfied with our services.”

“We have been in business for 20 years and are experts in the industry. You are in knowledgeable hands.”

Value statements let callers know what sets your company apart from the competition. They also help provide information to the caller that they need to make a key decision: will they do business with your company or not?

Download our 10-Point Call Handler Audit to ensure your call handlers are successful on their phone calls – and overcoming objections.

Scheduling

Scheduling is another common type of objection a caller may have when it comes time to book the appointment with your company.

Common Scheduling Objections:

“I’m not sure when I can come in; I have to check my schedule.”

“That time doesn’t work for me. I’ll have to call you back.”

“I’m not sure when I can set an appointment yet; I have to think about it.”

This could be a scheduling issue on the caller’s part; for example, they have to check with a spouse, or they don’t have access to their calendar. There may also be a conflict with the office’s schedule; the time slots that are available do not work for the caller.

If the caller has to check with someone else before booking an appointment or has to check their calendar, it is important to focus on urgency with the caller.

Asking questions about the caller’s needs will bring the focus back to their issue. The best way to do this is to ask questions about the nature of their problem. Once the caller’s need is the main focus, let the caller know they can make an appointment and call back to change the time if needed.

If that still doesn’t work, it never hurts to allow the call handlers to double-check with a manager about their schedule to see if someone else can be squeezed in, or if any appointments can be re-arranged. It may be worth it if you are gaining a new life-long customer.

Want more tips?

If this information was valuable, be sure to subscribe to our blog. For more information on how to handle objections when booking appointments, schedule a demo with one of our specialists or call us at 888.788.0123.

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Call Management: Your Guide to Better Phone Experiences

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Introduction

For companies that have an appointment-based business model, the phone plays a vital role. Products or services cannot be sold solely on the internet or in brick-and-mortar stores. Potential customers must phone your business and engage with a real person to book an appointment before the sale can be made.

Appointment-based businesses’ marketing campaign ads are not limited to digital advertising. Appointment-based businesses use many advertising channels in addition to digital such as TV, radio, direct mail, and more. Digital attribution is a built-in part of online marketing, but offline attribution must come into play as well for a holistic view of your marketing analytics. Appointment-based companies need to track incoming phone calls to determine what channels drive customers to call, and which ads generate qualified leads.

Determining where to spend your marketing dollars successfully should be based on the data that you receive to determine your ROI. Should you keep advertising with Campaign A, or reallocate that marketing budget towards Campaign B that generated more leads with a lower cost-per-lead investment? In a world with so many advertising options, it is imperative to make data-based decisions and not rely on antidotal information.

Call management helps companies understand how their phone lines and offline marketing attribution impact their overall marketing and company success. The phones are a vital step in consumers’ buying journeys; they must not be ignored. Having a call management system in place is essential to make informed marketing decisions based on real data, not assumptions, of marketing and employee performance.

What is the basis of call management?

The backbone of call management is your phones. However, it does take more than having phone lines for effective call management. The foundation of any successful call management system is call tracking or call recording.

Call tracking, which was invented by CallSource in 1991, is how data is gathered to aid marketing professionals in determining the success of their phone-driven marketing campaigns. At its simplest, call tracking requires creating and then publishing a unique phone number (local or toll-free) for each marketing campaign that you want to track. Ideally, this includes all of your distinctive ad sources: your website, television advertising, direct mail campaign, etc. Each unique phone number is routed to your main line(s).

When a potential customer calls in to each these numbers, detailed information including the caller’s phone number, name, address, connection status, duration and more are automatically captured, and the call is recorded. The call recordings can be listened to almost immediately for review.

As vital as it is, call tracking is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to call management. Analyzing a phone call provides robust analytics for marketing and operations managers alike. Leaders can improve in all departments with more detailed analytics about each phone call.

It is impractical for a staff member to review all your recorded calls and score call handler conversion rates. This is why appointment-based companies rely on call processing systems to do the dirty work for them. Call processing not only delivers insights into what channels consumers are calling from but also how the call was handled internally and what the outcome of the call was: did it end in an appointment or was it a lost opportunity?

Don’t be fooled, not all call processing companies are alike. Some call management systems utilize speech analytics to deliver more data about the phone call; this is inadequate for determining a call outcome as the technology is not quite there. Tone, nuance, and people’s accents are not understood by computers. 100% accuracy is simply not available with AI software like speech analytics. It is reported that speech and voice-to-text analyses only reach an accuracy of 77%1, while CallSource’s human analysts come in at upwards of 95% accuracy. When choosing a call management system to process your calls, you need human analysts that can truly determine call outcomes.

By diving deeper with these advanced call management systems, you can make more informed decisions to better your business.

How do I figure out if I need a call management product?

Simply put, if your business depends on the phone at any point in the customer journey to make a sale, you will benefit from a call management system. Try these simple questions to determine if call management is right for you.

  1. My business follows an appointment-based model.
    Do most of your customers make an appointment to purchase your product or service? Although some businesses may adopt an online form appointment booker, most consumers will still choose to call in and book an appointment over the phone by speaking to a live representative.

    Phone traffic to appointment-based companies has increased four-fold in the past several years due to click-to-call with smartphones. Within local services, 76% [of potential buyers] would use call features to schedule an appointment for professional services.2 Regardless of your marketing spend, you have one chance to turn a caller into a potential customer. Understanding your call to appointment rate is vital to the health of your business.

  2. My business has a dedicated call handling team to answer inbound calls.
    Your business either has a front office staff answering phone calls and speaking to customers, an in-house call handling department, or uses a call center. When you’re paying employees to handle phone calls, you need data to understand call outcome rates.
  3. My business relies on repeat customers.
    If your business model depends on return customers (regardless of frequency), then every new customer requires nurturing over time. Customer service is the key to creating loyal customers. Call analytics will help you determine repeat customers to market and speak to them as an existing customer rather than a potential client.
  4. In-person appointments are required to make a sale.
    If making a sale requires customers to come to your business or for you to dispatch a technician for a consultation, then phone handling and appointment booking rates (taking into account no-show rates) are imperative to understand your true marketing ROI. If booking three more appointments a month without increasing more marketing spend can impact your profitability, it is imperative to use call processing.

What should I look for in a call management vendor?

Although call tracking has been around since CallSource invented it over 26 years ago, many other call management-type solutions have popped up over the years. When researching companies, cast a wide net and narrow down your choices based on criteria that matters to you.

Below are a few items to consider when choosing during your evaluation.

  • Experience
    • Make sure that the company you choose has experience. There are a lot of fly-by-the night call tracking companies that appear in the industry and disappear just as quickly, leaving you in a lurch as your phones simply are not ringing. Call tracking is no longer an innovative technology; many companies and CRMs have adapted using call tracking as a part of their services. Having the capability to record a call does not mean they understand call processing and have the ability to support your business’ goals. Ensure that the company you choose has been in the industry for a while, is financially secure, and will provide the right level of customer service that you need.
  • Reliability
    • When a company is partially responsible for handling your phone lines and delivering phone numbers for your business, you want to make sure that they will be reliable and working. Just like Verizon and AT&T dominate as phone carriers for most mobile phone services, make sure your call management provider has a good phone carrier presence with quality phone routing.

      Besides reliable phone routing, make sure that the website uptime reliability for your provider is top-notch. Website downtimes mean you cannot login to view your data.

      Last, is the data reliable? Does the vendor score calls based off of algorithms that may not fit your actual phone calls? Do they use speech analytics or human call processing? If your call handlers are self-scoring, using a third party call processer will give you unbiased data. Make sure to get answers to your questions about reliability. A reputable call management company will have no problem answering how and who is scoring your calls. Don’t make critical business decisions from unreliable data.

  • Customer Service & Onboarding Process
    • Implementation of a management platform and maximizing it to improve your business requires commitment on your part as well as your provider.

      Implementing call tracking or call management is likened to buying a gym membership. You only see the results of getting fit if you commit yourself to make a change. Fortunately, call management doesn’t take a toll on you physically—but you do have to put the initial time in to make it work.

      It is vital that the vendor you choose has excellent customer service and dedicated representatives to your business, especially during your onboarding phase. As you move through the onboarding process and you have published your phone numbers, a dedicated representative should be there to help you understand your data. Receiving data is just another report if you don’t turn it into actionable and achievable goals.

  • Industry Knowledge
    • Some call tracking vendors focus on specific industries as their specialties in the call management sphere. If you are in a niche industry that needs specific industry knowledge, make sure your call management vendor can provide you with what you are looking for before deciding to hire that firm.

      A reputable call management system should be able to provide proprietary data to compare your business to others similar to yours. This gives you benchmarks and confidence that your customer representatives understand your needs and goals.

  • Pricing
    • Just as all call management providers aren’t created equal, neither are their pricing models. Find out what products you would benefit from and at what point they recommend you using each product. Buying all offered products at one time can be overwhelming. You can also be paying for products you don’t need yet. For instance, if you are looking for a call performance solution based on conclusive information for your employees/call handlers, you need a baseline of information before implementing an improvement strategy.

      Find a vendor that will create a pricing structure with you based on your call management goals. Be wary of contracts that lock you in; find a flexible, month-to-month solution that allows you cancel anytime, but is confident in their services to know that you’ll want to stay with them.

  • Integrations
    • Do you work with specific CRMs or marketing software with your business that you just cannot imagine adding another platform to look at in your day-to-day? If so, it is important to make sure that the call management provider you choose can integrate or push data into your existing platform. You want to ensure you’ll actually utilize the data – not just let it sit in another sphere that you only look at from time to time because you feel too overwhelmed.

Choosing a call management provider doesn’t need to be daunting; make sure you are clear on what you want to achieve when trying to find the right fit. Remember, call management should augment your business and make life easier for you, not more cumbersome. The above suggestions aren’t an exhaustive list but a starting point to use when speaking to different vendors.

What should I do before implementing a call management program?

Once you determine the call management provider, be sure to read the following section before implementation.

Define specific goals for your call management system
Create specific SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant & Time-bound) Goals you want to achieve with your call management system.

Make a timeline for yourself for achieving your goals.

If you don’t know where to start—answer why you want to purchase and implement call management and work backward. Discuss your goals with the call management vendors you are deciding between and validate your timeline with them. If they don’t take an interest in your goals or your business before they make the sale, it is indicative of the support you will receive later in the relationship. If your vendor isn’t helping you in making the right decisions, it’s probably not the right call management system for you.

Team buy-in and excitement
Remove ambiguity from your team. Explain to your call handlers and office manager(s) how and why you are implementing call management. Call handlers can have anxiety over having their calls recorded or monitored; it can feel punitive if not approached appropriately in the beginning. This can change your desired company culture.

Designate a call management team to train them on your “why.” This teach-the-teacher system will create transparency. Create clear expectations of responsibilities and accountability with regards to the reports and data each person will use and how to create a system for a feedback loop to find out what is working and what is not. Remember, negative feedback isn’t bad as long as it is constructive. Your employees who are answering the calls are closest to your new call management system; their feedback is needed for success.

Look at online reviews
Before purchasing your new call management system, look at their online reviews and testimonials. Some great review platforms to read reviews for call tracking and management companies are G2 Crowd, Google, and Capterra.

Consult industry groups and talk to peers who may use call management platforms and find out first-hand what they do or don’t like about who they use.

Still skeptical? Here is how call management will improve your business.

Since 1991, CallSource has been working with call tracking clients, but have created a myriad of products at our clients’ request. From Tier 1 companies to small mom-and-pop businesses, our call management system has helped a multitude of our clients improve marketing spend, advance call handler performance, and ultimately increase their appointment conversion percentage and their bottom line.

First, using a call management system keeps you informed. Major decisions should not be made without using sound data. By habitually reviewing your call analytics reports and scheduling regular meetings with your call management representative, you are committing time to improve your business. Once reviewing your call management data becomes a part of your regular work routine, you can easily spot areas where you are excelling and hitting your KPIs, as well as areas you need to improve.

Utilizing a call management system also improves your bottom line. Allocating marketing dollars to advertising effective channels rather than wasting budget on ad sources that are underperforming will maximize your marketing spend. Call processing ensures your call handlers are increasing call-to-appointment rates and improving call handling skills.

Last, a call management system helps owners and managers use data-driven forecasting. Discover peak times for inbound calls by looking at your past data to stay prepared for upcoming seasons. Seasonal trends in advertising will also become apparent when reviewing data over time. Creating benchmarks and evaluation periods when trying new channels will also help you make more informed business decisions. By decreasing wasteful spend, you will stop leaving money on the table. If you decide to combine your call management system with a digital attribution management system (which CallSource also provides), you get an even clearer picture of your customer journey.

How has utilizing call management helped other businesses like mine?

  • A large company that is part of a major home service network saved over $45,000 once they started using CallSource’s call management system by negotiating with one of their ad vendors after seeing their true ad performance with call track reporting.
  • A plumbing, heating, air and solar company that has been in business for over 17 years with 200+ employees increased their overall conversion rate from 74% to 78% and added over $43,000 in revenue to their bottom line by working with CallSource to improve their call handling experience with employee performance.
  • A large automotive dealership that has been run by family for three generations increased their work orders by utilizing CallSource’s call management services, resulting in an additional $17,500/month in service revenue.
  • A well-known audiologist who has been in practice since 1994 increase their call to appointment conversion rate from 45% to 78%, dropped their average patient acquisition cost as much as 50% compared to the industry average and improved their overall marketing ROI while decreasing their marketing spend by $50,000.

In Conclusion

Choosing a call management system shouldn’t be a quick decision. Evaluate all your options; make sure the company you are going to choose can support your business goals and provide the level of support that you want.

We hope that this guide has answered your questions about call management and how call tracking analytics can help your marketing and operations teams improve to achieve greater ROI.

Offline marketing attribution (and combining it with your online marketing) isn’t talked about quite as much in this digital age. It is, however, where the industries are going. Call tracking has evolved since its start over 26 years ago, and understanding how it works and what it can do for your business is vital before determining if it is a product that your business can benefit from.

If you have further questions regarding call management or just are interested in learning more, subscribe to our blog for more insights and solutions.

We are the experts in call tracking, call management, performance management, reputation management and digital management. Contact us today to learn how we can help with your call management needs.

Why Your Dealership Desperately Needs Great Phone Skills

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Car-buyers have more ways than ever to discover your dealership and contact you. Of all the ways they can reach you, the phone remains the second-most popular initial point of contact your dealership.1

Over half of all inbound calls to automotive dealers are revenue-generating opportunities, so it is vital your inbound calls are handled by trained and skilled employees.

The first impression of your dealership

The person who answers the phone is the caller’s first impression of your dealership. Good customer service skills and a positive tone will make a caller’s first impression of your dealership a good one. Without proper phone skills, a customer will be left with a bad taste in their mouth instead of wanting to buy a car.

The right first phone impression shows the customer why they should choose you over your competitor. When call handlers are equipped with value propositions about your business and give your lead the help they need—your chances of booking the appointment and making the sale will increase even more.

Showcase your dealership’s superiority

By answering the phone quickly, answering the caller’s questions, and leading the conversation to get details, you increase your close rate. Confidence in your dealership and knowledge about what you sell and have on your lot builds trust with the caller.

When a potential customer has a great phone experience, they believe they are choosing the right dealership. By ignoring “your phone issues” and not providing great customer service from the first phone call means you are leaving money on the table.

You can’t close a deal if the lead doesn’t walk into the dealership. You need to pay attention to the phone.

Dazzle callers with superior customer service skills and they won’t go to your competitor.

Download “6 Perfect Phrases for Every Stage of the Sales Call”
to start improving your phone skills today.

Getting the caller’s foot in your dealership’s door

Having great phone skills doesn’t mean answering questions and being respectful. Great phone skills means you get a YES for an appointment.

A “soft appointment” is not a YES. You should only consider appointments that specify a date and time as a “real” appointment.

Customers who have called your dealership, made an appointment, and walk through your door are ready to buy! It is up to you to close the deal.

Improve phone skills & improve conversion rates

Better call handling skills means higher call-to-appointment rates, which means more sales for your dealership.

For help improving your team’s phone skills, check out CallSource’s custom employee scorecard and our over-the-phone or in-house call coaching. Schedule a time to speak to a specialist to learn more, or call us at 888-340-0123.

 

The Phone is Vital to Your Dental Practice’s Patient Experience

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As an appointment-based business, your dental office relies on the phone for new patients and book appointments with existing patients. The phone is an integral part of your full customer experience scope, and should not be ignored.

It is the experience that is delivered which leads to positive online reviews from patients.

Maximize reviews for your practice by ensuring your front office staff provides exceptional phone skills; giving a great first impression on the phone starts the patient’s experience with your office as a positive one.

Patients are calling your office

The easiest way for patients and potential patients to get a hold of you is via the phone. Therefore, this is the first point of the patient experience.

Patients call through your marketing materials

When new patients discover your dental office, they will need to contact you for any inquiries, including booking the appointment. Usually, this point of communication will be via the phone.

You probably rely on marketing to acquire new patients. Your marketing materials should be targeted for your practice’s ideal types of patients, prompting them to contact you. These marketing materials may include:

  • Direct Mail
  • Radio Advertisement
  • TV Commercial
  • Newspaper Ad
  • Online Ads
  • Etc.

Make sure each of your ads have an easy to find contact method included so that people who are ready for your services can quickly get a hold of you. The most common form of contact is a phone number.

Learn how to effectively use call tracking for your dental practice
– in under 30 minutes a week!

Patients call your office after finding you through local search

Another way that consumers may find you would be by searching online to find a practice near them. When they find your office, either from your SEO efforts, local search, or a great online review presence, they will visit your website or use one of the contact methods found on a review website or provided by Google. It is important to make sure you have a working phone number for all of these places that your business has a presence online.

Discover how using call tracking phone numbers
can help your dental office.

Patients call from a referral

Even patients that are referred to you by someone will most likely ask their referrer for your phone number as the point of contact.

No matter how a patient finds your office, it is a high chance that they will call your office as the preferred contact method.

Why a good phone experience is necessary for a positive reputation

When patients call into your office from your ads, finding you organically, or through a referral, you want to be sure that your front office staff has the skills to give a great first impression by providing a superior phone experience to potential new patients.

Your phone handlers are the first point of contact that a new patient has with your office – don’t ruin the first impression and lose a potential patient with a poor experience over the phone.

Get our free call handler checklist for the qualities
of a successful inbound call.

Improve front office staff’s phone skills

To receive great online reviews, you must be sure that your employees are delivering a consistent and positive phone experience to existing and potential patients calling your office.

Are you ready to stay accountable and employee scorecards and coaching your office? Reach us today at 888.788.0123 to learn more, or we can have someone contact you.

Improve your call handlers appointment setting techniques.

Get Employee Report Cards and Call Coaching

I want to talk to learn more about improving
my call handlers’ phone skills

The 4 Stages of Call Coaching Proven to Boost Appointment Setting

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The ultimate goal of any call handler is to book the appointment for a caller.

Although many call centers utilize phone scripts to stay on track, you don’t have to follow a specific script to ensure a successful phone call. Phone scripts don’t always lead to appointments – good phone skills do.

CallSource has broken down inbound calls into Four Core Principles to simplify this process for call handlers. These four stages of the call have resulted in call handlers booking more appointments on a consistent basis. The Core Four Principles are based on over twenty-five years of experience listening to and analyzing over one billion phone calls.

Think of how much one appointment is worth to your business. The number of appointments booked is directly correlated with your number of sales. Now imagine adding even one additional appointment per week. What would that mean to you on a quarterly or yearly basis?

You can start utilizing CallSource’s proven principles to make your phone calls better as soon as today —follow these four stages of the sales conversation:

  1. Build Relationships
  2. Understand Needs
  3. Create Value
  4. Ask for the Commitment

Find the telephone appointment setting tips below to start applying on calls now to book more appointments.

Call Principle 1: Build Relationships

Although personal and professional relationships have some key differences, we are all still people who enjoy connections with other people. This is why building a relationship with callers is a huge factor when it comes to booking the appointment.

It is no surprise that a Harvard study, The Real Skills Gap, found that 85% of success in jobs comes from having great people skills. Good relationships help build trust and personal rapport, allowing callers to feel comfortable—and when clients feel comfortable, they will want to do business with you and keep coming back.

Call Principle 2: Understand Needs

Piggy-backing off the importance of building relationships with callers, you need to discover and fully understand their needs. Finding out the caller’s specific needs and what is important to them is a vital part of creating rapport and ensuring that they feel validated and heard. By asking open-ended questions, the call handler can discover what the caller truly needs and what is important to him/her.

A great call handler allows the caller to tell his/her story and provide reasons why your business can help solve the problem.

Asking questions ties into building a relationship. The client feels heard and knows that you are listening to them. This is also true of small talk when meeting strangers just as much as it is when answering the phone and speaking with someone new. In another Harvard Business School experiment, they found that participants liked people better who asked them many questions rather than those who only asked very few.

Call handlers transform callers into customers of the business by not only booking the appointment but truly understanding their needs. The “why” helps your company solve their issue and create lifetime value. While it is important to book the appointment by the end of the call, you must understand why the caller called your business, and how you’re going to help them. This is how you win them over.

Call Principle 3: Create Value

This is the time to shine!

By explaining the value of your company, you are sharing the features and benefits of doing business with you. This is especially important when you receive “price shoppers” and those who are afraid of commitment. Before a caller has the opportunity to object to a price, scheduled time, or try to push off the rest of the conversation to a later time, you want to use your great skills to show that your business is the right choice.

Entice callers with what you offer and set your business apart from the competition. Here’s where you need to brag a little bit to stand out. Have you been in business for over 20 years? Do you have any specific awards or certifications? Talk about it! You need to know about the value of your business for your potential clients to understand and believe it as well.

Sales Call Principle 4: Ask for the Commitment

Once you have built a relationship, found out what is important and enticed the caller with what you offer, ask for the commitment. This is done with a closed-ended question to close the sale such as, “Can I schedule this appointment for you?”

Too many times call handlers follow most of the steps above, but once it comes time to the sticking point for setting the appointment, they fail to ask for the commitment.

Answering the client’s questions is important, but isn’t enough if you don’t get a firm date and time for the appointment. Once you’ve built a relationship with the caller, made them feel important and flexed your knowledge of what makes your company great, the caller will want to set the appointment!

Although CallSource dives deeper into these categories with our monthly call handler scorecards and with the help of call coaching to improve appointment setting techniques, you can download our FREE call handler audit now to start improving today!

Download the 10 Point Call Handler Audit for telephone appointment setting tips

Be sure to subscribe to our blog for more call handling script help and other call handler tips to improve appointment conversion rates at your business.

Improve your call handlers appointment setting techniques.

Get Employee Report Cards and Call Coaching

I want to talk to learn more about improving my call handlers’ phone skills.

13 Notable Inbound Phone Call Automotive Stats for Dealers

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Even in 2019, the phone is not dead.

While smartphones have become smarter and smarter, they are still being used to make actual phone calls – and consumers are calling auto dealerships as a part of the buying process.

In the brand new Automotive Inbound Call Data Report, CallSource analyzed over 106 million phone calls to auto dealers over a 4 year span. The report illustrates how vital inbound phone calls are to the automotive industry, and delivers key takeaways for dealers to keep in mind when prioritizing phone calls.

Take a look below for 13 of the most important stats from this study, or view the whole report in its entirety here.

The phone is paramount to auto dealers

    1. Over half (54%) of all inbound calls to automotive dealerships are revenue-winning opportunities.
    2. One in four leads calling a dealership are for sales – 75% of prospects calling in are for Fixed Ops.

Make all calls to the Sales department count

    1. Only about half (51%) of your sales calls in 2018 were viable leads.
    2. 80% of inbound sales opportunities are being missed.
    3. Less than a quarter of all sales opportunities (20%) are actual confirmed appointments.

Fixed Ops generate the majority of inbound call leads

    1. About ¾ of all inbound prospect calls to dealerships are for Fixed Ops.
    2. An average of 40% of calls to Fixed Ops have resulted in an appointment since 2015.
    3. 60% of Fixed Ops calls are missed opportunities – no appointment set.
    4. Appointment conversion rates to Fixed Ops have increased from 35% in 2015 to 52% in 2018.
    5. Almost 90% of parts calls don’t result in an appointment.

Service calls and appointments are increasing year-over-year

  1. Over half (58%) of calls to the Service department in 2018 resulted in an appointment set.
  2. Dealers are able to convert more calls to the Service department into appointments than they can in Sales and Parts combined.
  3. Service appointments have been increasing since 2015, but 40% of prospective service appointments are still booking with the competition.

Improve your inbound phone performance

Numbers don’t lie – the phone is vital to automotive dealers. It is imperative for dealerships to track phone calls and implement changes for performance increases.

Check out the full automotive report here to view the above stats and for advice to help your dealership improve.