Question to the community?

[Jerry Thibeau]

I might be interested in your services. I have a phone issue, however I don't think anyone wants to believe it. I hear you do mystery shops. I think with some ammunition I could get ownership to pull the trigger on some kind of phone service. What's the best way to start the process?

I had Cindy call you today. I would have called myself, but I was tied up today. I am having one of my coaches mystery shop you by phone and Internet. You'll see the results in your inbox within a few days. Cindy will follow up with you once completed.

Thanks,

 

[mcampo2501]

Thanks Jerry. Can't wait to see the results!

 

[ddavis]

Thanks Jerry. Can't wait to see the results!

Mike, be careful for what you wish for.

At my new gig, I can only now listen to inbound and outbound calls. Today, I spent the afternoon listening to calls. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Was one bad one after another. I went through seventeen phone calls without a salesperson asking for a name. I'm am yelling at my screen, you F'n idiot!!!! I'm downloading calls and emailing them to floor managers, WTF, who tells a customer that? I don't normally try to embarrass salespeople but I may play one call at a sales meeting: "He's not here but maybe I can help you".

 

[joe.pistell]

Careful Doug,

I've been thru 2 different dealers launching call recording services. I warn management to NOT play the recordings in public (but they do it any way). When you do, the reps WILL NOT LEARN, they'll just laugh at the mistakes of others. Going forward, as calls come in, the majority of the reps will become wickedly self-conscious, worried if this call is going to be played to all and they'll totally lose track of their processes. I've had reps avoid taking calls to avoid the mockery (aka weak management).

AVOID PUBLIC DISPLAYS AT ALL COSTS.


Use the recorded calls for followup with reps, for one on one coaching tools and for strategic use (some reps should not take phone ups... period).

 

[joe.pistell]

Doug,

FYI, I scored the last 30 days of sales phone calls:

1. Did they get Name and phone number?
2. Did they put that into CRM?
3. Did they ask for an appointment?
4. Did they get the appointment?
5. Did the appointment show?
6. Was there a sale?

From this list, I found:

68% of calls got name and number, of those calls, only 54% went into CRM (akkkk!!)
Only 33% of calls were asked for an appointment and 23% made an appointment.

Then I wanted to drill into the list and see "who are my heros and who are my zeros?"

First thing I found is 50% of ALL sales calls are being taken by 20% of the reps in each store. This makes the stores phone performance VERY dependent on the most aggressive reps.

Second thing I found was that ALL reps needed to be hounded to log phone ups into CRM.

Third thing I found was reps have holes in select parts of their processes. So need a little bit of work, other reps need a major overhaul.

Some reps are "clerk-like" and help the shopper get answers, but are shy about getting contact info and asking for appts (yet they have excellent closing ratios). Some reps are just awful, fumble around and get lucky.

IMO, coach the reps that need a little work and put the god-awful reps on probation (I'm doing this same drill down process with emails)

 

[ddavis]

Joe, You have guys that "fumble around and get lucky". My guys aren't good enough to fumble. I had two hangups, in the middle of the day, where the phone wasn't answered by the Receptionist. The phone rang about ten times. So far, I haven't found flogging in the employee handbook.

 

[john.quinn]

Mike, be careful for what you wish for.

At my new gig, I can only now listen to inbound and outbound calls. Today, I spent the afternoon listening to calls. Ahhhhhhhhhhh! Was one bad one after another. I went through seventeen phone calls without a salesperson asking for a name. I'm am yelling at my screen, you F'n idiot!!!! I'm downloading calls and emailing them to floor managers, WTF, who tells a customer that? I don't normally try to embarrass salespeople but I may play one call at a sales meeting: "He's not here but maybe I can help you".

Sounds like a Clear and Distinct case of Lack of Leadership at the Internet Director level, if you ask me...

 

[joe.pistell]

hahaha... "So far, I haven't found flogging in the employee handbook."

For the record, anyone thinking of adding call recording to your stores. Call Recording is a NEW management tool that is made for coaching. The results that we hear TOTALLY SHOCK MANAGERS. Too many managers are poorly trained and the only solution they can think of it to play the errors to the whole team. That method always fails.

I'll ask my managers, WHAT IF there was a new tool that RECORDED THE MANAGERS PROCESSES? And, what if we displayed the managers errors to the staff? What if we displayed the managers errors to the other managers? Are we improving weaknesses or raising blood pressure?

Coaching to conquer weaknesses improves processes and sells more cars. Call recording helps coaching... a thousand fold.

 

[Agrrip]

This would be my strategy if I were in your position:

1) Call the dirt bag dealership and let them know that I'm going to forgive the debt and let them know that it "could" have been a communication error...

2) I would then let the owner/GM know that for the next month or two, I'm going to forward the calls to him personally so that he knows that he was getting good calls from the service. And also give him the chance to find the source of the calls and either redirect the number and/or replace the number.

3) NEVER turn the number off ...muwahahahahaha...j/k...turn the number off after a month or two. If he liked the calls then he may resign...charge him each month in advance.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Too many managers are poorly trained and the only solution they can think of it to play the errors to the whole team. That method always fails.

This is great and needs to be stated more often. I've seen many consultants walk into a dealership and play the dealership's calls in front of everyone (including the sales agent on the call) and all it does is embarrass people. But if the entire sales team is embarrassed then nobody cares as a team.

One on one coaching is the ONLY way to manage. Now, how do we convince our sales managers they have enough time to do that