Car sales managers play an integral role in the success of a dealership. They need to ensure that they bring in the right sales team, adequately train their sales team and manage them effectively. In this article, we will cover 5 practices that sales managers should be doing to set up their team for success.
With the number of car shoppers doing online research before buying a car, buyers are as knowledgeable as ever on the vehicles they’re considering. So when customers do have a question about a vehicle it’s critical that your sales team can answer it right away. If your sales team can’t confidently talk about the differences between each model and trim level, they’re not knowledgeable enough. So often customers go to a dealership with one vehicle in mind and up buying something different. Usually, this decision is heavily influenced by the salesperson. Therefore, the salesperson needs to be able to guide the shopper in the right direction by understanding the shopper's needs and then finding a vehicle that matches their needs. Knowing this, it’s important to encourage your sales team to study their vehicles and trim levels during their downtime.
With how the market is today and demand far outmatching supply, selling a car is easier than ever, but that’s not an excuse to loosen up on your sales skills. As the sales manager, you need to stay on top of your sales team and ensure they are constantly sharpening their sales skills. Whether it be through online training, daily role plays or fine-tuning their sales presentations, don’t let your team get complacent. One of the worst things salespeople can do is ask a customer for information the customer has already provided online. Not only is it a huge waste of time, but it looks incredibly unprofessional. As a salesperson, you need to make the car buying experience as easy and stress-free as possible, you can do this by picking up in-store where the customer left online.
We’re often so set in our ways when dealing with customers we fail to recognize that we use the same script with everyone. So when we only have a fraction of the vehicles in our lot that we’re used to having, it’s a great opportunity to try switching up the script. For example, during this inventory shortage, it would be a great idea to create a script explaining why the inventory shortage is happening and how you’re dealership is combatting the issue. The inventory shortage is only a temporary issue so when stocks do go back to normal, you’re going to want to ensure you have a full lead pipeline. Having honest conversations with your customers is a great way to prepare yourself for when inventory levels go back to what they were before the pandemic.
Inviting all customers into your half-empty showroom may not seem like a great plan but as we discussed earlier in the article, many customers end up buying a different car than they had originally intended. If you’re able to pay close attention to your customer's needs and show them other vehicles that would meet their criteria it can go a long way. In fact, if you can show a customer that you truly care about getting them in the best possible vehicle for them, you may have that same customer return to you for years to come. Stop playing the short game and think long-term. Most of the dealerships your customers would otherwise visit will have half-empty lots so you shouldn’t hesitate to show what you have.
Your sales team probably has more downtime now than ever before, but don’t let that time go to waste. As the sales manager, you need to make sure that you’re always thinking about how you can keep relationships active so you’re constantly bringing in customers to the dealership. A great way to do that is by keeping in contact with prospective customers and previous customers. This could be as simple as sending out a quick touch-point email asking about how a previous customer is liking their vehicle. For a prospective customer, it could just be an email asking about something you may have discussed in the past and doesn’t necessarily have to be about selling them a car. Another way to keep yourself in the spotlight is to be active on social media. Make regular updates about your dealership, the vehicles you have and the promotions you have going on.
