According to NADA, salespeople in the automotive industry have a turnover rate of 72%. That’s 38% higher than the turnover rate for other industries. Why is this important? Because salespeople are infamous for using their personal cell phones to handle their client base. Consequently, when salespeople leave, they tend to take customers with them. As a business owner, that’s the last thing you want. Customers shouldn’t be following salespeople from dealership to dealership. They should be following you—your dealership.

So how do you ensure your customers stay where they belong? Follow these simple steps to prevent salespeople from taking your customers.

Require a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Platform

A CRM platform will enable you to track your leads and opportunities all in one central location—disarming the threat of the personal cell phone. Here, you can monitor the activity of your entire sales team. You can view which customers salespeople are currently working with, when they are following up with them, and how—by email, phone, or text. A CRM platform is going to improve your business performance, accountability, and communication—all while improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.

Invest in a Phone System

A high-tech phone system will also improve your dealership’s communication. It can grant your employees the power to handle calls more efficiently as customer information and details are displayed instantly for each call. Management tools like call tracking, automation, and self-service options help you focus more on building good phone processes across the dealership. This will result in increased staff efficiency and stronger customer relationships.

Perform Sales Reviews

Not only is identifying loyalty in customers important, but sales team loyalty is important to identify as well. Performing weekly one-on-one meetings with your team allows the salesperson to talk about what he has in his pipeline, and how he is managing it. Though this sounds very similar to what a CRM platform can provide you, it simply creates an open, honest, and transparent business relationship between you and your salesperson.

Beyond that, it creates coaching opportunities. Your salespeople will feel further vested and dedicated to your dealership through the feedback you provide.

Value Customer Relationships

Meeting with customers regularly is just as vital to a successful business as meeting with your salespeople. Don’t treat them with only a buyer-seller relationship. Make connections with them on all levels. Get to know them personally. How old are their kids? What do they enjoy doing? Do they like to travel? What is their favourite sports team? Relate to them. Find some common ground between the two of you.

Take it a step further. Send a thank you note for doing business with your dealership. Send birthday cards every year, personally signed from you and the sales team. Send anniversary cards of their vehicle purchase date. Remind them every so often how much you value them and their business.

Establishing these customer relationships helps the customer acknowledge that they are doing business with an entire organization and not necessarily just one individual (the salesperson) who only wants a sale. They are less likely to view a particular salesperson as the most important person; in turn, creating a stronger bond between your dealership and your customer.

Conclusion

These four actions work hand in hand. By doing only one, you’re weakening your chances of keeping customers loyal to your dealership.

Most importantly, be active with your customers. Show them who they’re really doing business with by branding your dealership. Win them over with outstanding customer service and support, not just your salespeople.

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