DSP Insight
Pulling customers in or driving them away?
IT ALL STARTS WITH HOW YOU USE THE PHONE By
Jeff Morgan
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here are so many great tools for marketing yourself to new customers: digital and print ads, social media, websites and more. When used well, these channels can certainly get new customers to consider you for their tire and service needs. And often, they will drive customers to your door. However, in most cases, before customers flock to your store, they will still pick up that old communication device called the phone. What kind of experience are your employees creating for customers when they call? Do they make the customer feel welcome? Do they inspire the customer to visit your store? If your people are not using the phone properly, all of the great marketing campaigns you have launched and all of the other communication tools you are using will be rendered meaningless. It starts with the very first moment the phone rings. Is it a priority for everyone at your dealership to ensure that phone is answered quickly? In today’s world, if a phone is not answered within the first few rings, customers will move on. Once an employee answers the phone, what does the customer hear? Have you ever called a business, only to hear someone speak so fast that you cannot understand what they are saying and you must ask them to repeat what they have just said? Perhaps you called a business only to hear a very unfriendly, unenthusiastic voice on the other end? How did that make you feel? What was your immediate perception of that business? This is the same response that your customers will have if they experience the same things when calling your store. It is important that your entire staff knows that when they answer the phone — regardless of how rushed, aggravated, or apathetic they may feel at the moment — they must step into the utopian world
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The goal is to give the customer a compelling reason to walk in the door and you should make sure that everyone who works for you is aligned to this objective. You can be very friendly, informative, and responsive over the phone, but if you do not proactively invite the customer to visit, you can miss out on an opportunity.
of the telephone with a smile on their face. Putting a smile on your face puts a smile into your voice. Try it! You might be amazed at how different you sound when you are physically smiling. Another common mistake is the use of the hold button. First, do not do what I like to refer to as “insta-hold.” You know you have experienced it: “Thank you for calling. Can you please hold?” Before you even have a chance to ask your question, you are already “on hold!” This is very aggravating. And for many customers, this gesture implies that they and their needs are not that important to you. This is made even worse if a customer is left on hold for a long time or is put on hold again after you finally pick the call back up. When answering the phone, let your customer at least express the reason for his or her call.
Often, the hold button is used out of habit or for personal convenience, as opposed to true necessity. A customer should only be put on hold for one of two reasons: 1) So the employee answering the phone can move to a different phone for access to privacy or extra information, or; 2) To transfer the caller to another employee who is better-equipped to assist. I realize that many of you are thinking that if you have another customer in front of you at the sales counter, this is a good reason to use the hold mechanism. While this may be a reason, it is not optimal. Let me explain. Most calls made to tire dealerships are completed within one to two minutes. That is not too much time to excuse yourself. In most cases, the MTD June 2020
