So, what does this have to do with your dealership? Similarly, your chat provider needs to be dedicated to constantly developing its chat’s intelligence to not only be the best, but to continue to beat its personal best. I believe that the Greek philosopher Heraclitus says it best, that “change is the only constant in life.”

Once you start meeting your goals consistently, it’s time to level up. You are seeing the progress and are motivated to keep pushing yourself; so you may not need a personal trainer anymore. Maybe all you need is a gym buddy to be your spotter waiting on the side to step in if you need help. At your dealership, let your chat agency continue to carry the conversation, and have a process in place so your dynamite salespeople can jump into the conversation at any time, like answering very specific questions meant for experts or moving the chat through the funnel and into a potential sale.

While it is important to keep a consistent schedule at the gym, be sure to schedule in some rest days as well. Your body also needs time to rest and recuperate from the all of the hard work that you are putting in. Similarly, the perfect chat providers offer a good balance of intelligent automation, while also providing opportunities for human-to-human connection through live chat. Let your AI and chat agents—the best providers offer 24/7 support and service! —do the heavy lifting to carry the conversation, and your salesperson can be their spotter – assisting when conversations reach a certain engagement point.

In your dealership, if your chat function is disconnected from your other tools, like your CRM or even appointment scheduler, it’s going to work in a silo. Information won’t carry over from the chat to your actual calendar and you could miss out on valuable opportunities. A connected chat should be able to follow the customer through their online journey and provide relevant, helpful information as they move through different buying phases. It should also connect seamlessly with your CRM and DMS so that appointments are scheduled correctly and your sales team can have informed and timely follow-up.

It’s never too late to set goals for improvement, and as long as you are able to stay on track with your changes you will begin to see progress. In a time where the car buying process has changed so drastically, it’s important to be able to reach your customers and answer their questions wherever they are. How do you plan to improve your chat experience this year?