In Part 3: On Hold & Transfer Hell, we uncovered that so far, you’re potentially losing $1,017,433 per year due to unanswered call drops, leads not entered into the CRM, and people who hang up from being on hold too long. How’s that pit in your stomach doing? Ready to see where else you’re probably losing money?
Part 4: Not Asking for the Appointment
A study by Marchex uncovered that 63% of shoppers were never asked to schedule an appointment when they called the dealership. Yes, shoppers call to get their questions answered and kudos to your team for getting that part done. But they are missing a critical next step to taking the shopper down the sales funnel by not asking them to schedule an appointment.
Best Practice: Try asking for the appointment 3 times during the conversation with the shopper. It’s natural after every question is answered to pose the following questions:
- “Sounds like this car might be the perfect fit! When would you like to come in for a VIP test drive?”
- “Sounds like you have some reservations on if this is the right vehicle. Let’s schedule some time so you can hop in, make sure the legroom is a perfect fit for you and that the trunk will fit your golf clubs. Bring those with you when you come!”
- “Sounds like you’re worried about whether your trade will impact your payment. The best way for us to find out is to schedule some time for a VIP trade evaluation and then we can run the numbers with you to get you as close to your goal as possible.”
What’s that costing you? Let’s continue to use the Facebook analysis
- We started with 550 inbound Facebook phone call leads.
- We lost 126 leads to unanswered calls.
- We lost 56 leads that never made it into the CRM.
- We lost 169 leads to hang ups from being on hold too long.
- We are left with 209 leads (less than half of where we started).
- So, out of 209 leads left, 63% were never asked to schedule an appointment = 132 opportunities lost per month/1,584 lost per year.
- 132 click to call leads lost x $2.24 (FB CPC) = $295.68 marketing dollars wasted per month/$3,548 per year
- Assuming you could close 12.5% of those = 17 sales lost per month/204 sales lost per year
- Assuming a gross profit of $2,000 per sale = $34,000 lost profits per month/$408,000 lost profits per year
The loss tally so far…
| Per Month | Per Year | |
| Part 1: Unanswered Calls Marketing Budget Loss | $282.24 | $3,386 |
| Part 1: Unanswered Call Sales Profit Loss | $28,000 | $336,000 |
| Part 2: Leads not entered in CRM Marketing Budget Loss | $125.44 | $1,505 |
| Part 2: Leads not entered into CRM Sales Profit Loss | $14,000 | $168,000 |
| Par 3: On Hold Marketing Budget Loss | $378.56 | $4,542 |
| Part 3: On Hold Hang Ups Sales Profit Loss | $42,000 | $504,000 |
| Part 4: No Appointment Ask Marketing Budget Loss | $295.68 | $3,548 |
| Part 4: No Appointment Ask Sales Profit Loss | $34,000 | $408,000 |
| Total Loss | $119,082 | $1,428,984 |
But wait – there’s more. Head on over to Part 5: Lack of Follow-up.
