Click’s Top Tips For Managing Telephone Enquiries!

The first rule of managing telephone enquiries is to answer the phone! You may have the best marketing strategy in the business but if you are not there to pick up the phone to convert the leads that your marketing has brought in, all your hard work goes to waste.

But what happens when a customer starts walking through the door of your dealership at the same time as the phone starts ringing? Who gets prioritised? Both customers are important and you should try to make each of them feel this way.

Have a Back-Up Plan

It is completely understandable if you are with a customer when the phone rings and you do not want to neglect them, but you should have a back-up plan so that the caller does not feel like they have been ignored either.

You might want to consider setting up an ‘Auto-Attendant.’ After a certain number of rings, the attendant should be programmed to make the customer aware that you are currently busy, but give them two options: to wait on hold, or to leave their details so that their call can be returned.

Make Sure the Telephone Call Gets Through to the Right Place

If you have different departments, it is a good idea to have an interactive voice system (IVR) so that calls are directed to the correct place. This should reduce the time that customers are left waiting unnecessarily. There is no point in them waiting on hold to be put through to the sales team only to be transferred to the body shop if they want to book an appointment for some repair work.

Monitor Calls

It is very beneficial to keep track of missed calls and get back to the customer as soon as possible. You should definitely record the customer’s details, when they called, and what their enquiry was about, so that you can get back to them efficiently. If the enquiry was about a particular vehicle, this could be important because if it is a common car and their call is not returned quickly, the customer is likely to look elsewhere, so you may want to prioritise them.

Sticking to the simple rules above should help you keep on top of your enquiries and make all of your customers feel valued, so that no potential sales slip through the net!

For more information about how Click Dealer can increase your dealership’s efficiency and profitability, get in touch today on 01782 478 220, marketing@clickdealer.co.uk or via our contact page!