One of the most asked about ContactAtOnce visual cues is the drop-in and how to set it up to be most effective. In this post I’ll first discuss the placement then the different settings for the drop-in.
Our statistics show that the drop-in is the leading visual cue that is used to start a conversation to the tune of about five clicks to every one click of an IM button. So the more places that you have your site provider place the drop-in the more conversations you will see being initiated.
Where should you place the drop-in? Place the drop-in on the pages where people are going to need help or have questions. The obvious ones are homepage and contact page for general questions, product details for specific questions about a particular offering. The places that a lot of people overlook are the finance application and trade valuation pages. These are pages where people are going to have questions. While it is possible to place it on every page of your site, stick to the pages that really make sense and leave the website visitor to browse the virtual tour of the dealership on their own.
Now that you have the drop-in on the key pages of your website let’s take a look a more in depth look at the drop-in settings.
Template -Using the prebuilt templates you can pick a color or branded drop-in that matches your site and franchise offering. This will help the drop-in integrate into your website.
Position - The position that the drop-in actually lands is more important that one would think. If the drop-in only falls to the top of the page there is a smaller opportunity to catch the eye of your website visitor.
Telephone Number - The phone number that displays on the drop-in should match what is displayed on your website to reduce confusion of your visitors and make the drop-in appear as part of your site.
Delay – By default we set the drop-in to display four seconds (4000 milliseconds) after the page loads. This is a pretty good setting… otherwise we would set it to something else. The thought is that if somebody is looking at the same page for four seconds they may need some assistance. You can adjust this to be more in line with what your experience dictates but the key take away is that you do not want to offer up a contact method until after the website visitor has a chance to digest the webpage.
Governor – I’m just going to make a brief note about the governor. If you have the drop-in on a lot of your site’s pages or it is on the vehicle details page AND you have the IM buttons on the same pages, set the governor count to a value of 5 or 6. The drop-in will be displayed the first five opportunities it has and then be turned off for an hour. By not displaying the drop-in all the time you will not annoy your visitors but you will let them know that they can IM you and they can use a button to initiate the IM.
Interested in customizing the drop-in with your own artwork to match your site exactly? Just get in touch with the ContactAtOnce support team.
If you advertise your inventory on Cars.com, here’s a no-brainer tip for selling more cars. Contact your Cars.com rep and request that they turn on DealerChat for you.
Today at NADA in New Orleans Cars.com officially announced the immediate availability of DealerChat, powered by ContactAtOnce!, for all franchise and independent dealers that advertise on Cars.com. ContactAtOnce! did a corresponding press release too.
There is no additional charge for dealers to take advantage of DealerChat, and doing so is sure to increase the number of quality leads a dealership receives from Cars.com. No additional cost. More leads. No-brainer.
At NADA in New Orleans, Cars.com today announced that their dealer chat solution, powered by ContactAtOnce!, is available to all Cars.com dealers. We issued a corresponding press release. The use of live chat software by car dealers has been steadily increasing over the past several years, based on the relatively low cost and high rate of return it offers. With Cars.com now proactively making chat available to roughly 17,000 dealers nationwide, that trend Is likely to accelerate.
If you already use ContactAtOnce! on your dealership’s website, hurry up and contact your Cars.com rep to ensure you are at the front of the 17,000 dealer line. You’re likely to increase the number of Cars.com leads you receive and you can further leverage your ContactAtOnce! investment.
If you have never tried ContactAtOnce! on your own website, why wait any longer? It works!
Cambria Automobiles Holdings Ltd, a UK ContactAtOnce! customer and one the fastest growing dealer groups in the UK, today issued a press release highlighting the business benefits that chat has delivered for them. It is a very impressive story. Below is an excerpt, but read the full release here for a great example of what chat can do for a business.
“Cambria has a history of innovative online marketing initiatives”, said Ian Godbold, Head of Group Marketing at Cambria Automobiles Holdings Ltd. “but we could never have anticipated the magnitude of the business benefits derived from adding live chat to our websites including, most notably, increased sales that are the direct result of making our associates more accessible to in-market car shoppers.”
Cambria has documented results showing that 50% of consumers who initially contact a dealership via chat will ultimately go on to supply their full contact details and visit the dealership.
Today ContactAtOnce! announced partnerships with AutoConX and Dealer HD, two auto dealer website providers. Both companies have integrated ContactAtOnce! with their website solutions, enabling their dealer customers to purchase ContactAtOnce! on a bundled basis. Dealers benefit from improved conversion of website visitors into appointments via presence-aware graphics, such as the business card drop-in, that stimulate higher response rates. Dealers also benefit from enhanced measurement of website effectiveness, including tracking of live chat and phone leads via the ContactAtOnce! call tracking and click-to-call features. Read more here and here.
Chat! It’s a simple way to communicate with your site visitors. I read a transcript yesterday that proves that if you are willing to provide information and then ask for information you will be successful. I read so many transcripts where the visitor says “do you have this vehicle” and the dealer replies “No”. What is that? Were you trained to do that? I hope not. I have always been trained to never say “no” without giving an alternative or solution to the problem. So here is how it should read “do you have this vehicle” reply: “We don’t, but I have something very similar. What was it about that vehicle you liked most”. I now have the warm fuzzies because it sounds like you are willing to help and that you care.
When you ask questions for your own good that shows me you have your own agenda. You can ask your questions just check your methods. Have a process in place and be willing to adjust it as time goes on. Stick to your plan and watch your sales grow.
When my wife and I planned our wedding we wanted to get married in St. Lucia. We had a concern that they do this everyday and it wouldn’t be special. Well, after speaking with them they seemed to care so much like we would be the only ones getting married. They did 5 weddings that day but we never felt like we were just 1 of 5. We sell cars every day but these people only buy cars every couple years and maybe longer. Remember, take your time and educate these people. We have made buying a car so difficult.
I have a store that is absolutely blowing everyone out of the water and they are not hurting at all. Why? They handle questions properly. It’s that easy. They are willing to answer questions and build rapport. Are you willing?
So, I get an opportunity to write blogs now about tips & techniques. This excites me because I read a lot of transcripts. I see some transcripts that anger me and some that amaze me. This post is more tips. Here we go…..
First and foremost a chat is very similar to a phone up. The difference is we can’t hear emotions but we can show emotions. So we are going to discuss how to handle a chat conversation.
I would start every conversation with “Welcome, my name is Ryan and your name is?” Hence, giving info asking for info. Auto dealers are bad about not training their guys. I know… not yours. I was trained like crazy. I remember listening to Grant Cardone every day for years on the way to work. Eventually I was training the people at the dealership. So here are some techniques I think we should all use. Always give information and ask for information. Example: “The price you requested is $34,233. Can I have an email address so I can send this to you?” Example: “Yes that vehicle is available, may I call you to discuss the details?” See it doesn’t have to be hard. I see it done every day. I also see “No” “you will have to give me your name and phone number to get a price.” What are you a human form? Wow! I just made that up. I like that. Dealers need to be the gateway of information.
Off subject: For so many years 3rd party companies have been educating your customers on how to buy & vehicle details. Dealership websites should be informative and easy to get the information they are looking for. Why are we making it so hard. Why do you not have a “Research” navigation button on your website? If you do, good job!
Ok I’m back. So we covered giving information & asking for information today. What about pricing? Do you give price or not? I say give it. If you don’t you will never see that person any way. What if it’s a competitor? Give it. They are not going to tell you and it doesn’t matter any way. People buy from people they like. It’s proven. I can’t begin to tell you how many people told my boss “We didn’t plan on buying today” after they bought the car. Do you think if I made the process hard, they would have still said the same thing? No. What do you do when someone says “We are not buying today?”
The dealerships that call me and say “Ryan, you’re not going to believe this, we have sold 5 cars off chat this week” are not telling customers they can’t have price. I know this is a structure thing and you may not be in control of these decisions but I encourage you to explore treating chat prospects more like phone prospects. The only difference is chat prospects are not in so much of a hurry to get off the phone with you. Take your time ask questions. They are not going to hang up on you. No need to feel rushed.
Wrap up- Give price, give and ask, show emotions, be the source for research, and sell yourself.
You guys are important to our economy and Contact At Once!. We thank you for all the hard work you put in on a daily basis. Continue to work hard and be blessed.
The following is a transcript of the “Ryan’s Story” video:
My Name is Ryan Lucia and I am a Sales Executive at ContactAtOnce! I have over 8 years in Dealerships. I started in 1999 and remember bringing in my cordless phone from home so I could stand on the corner and still take phone ups. I was so successful at scheduling appointments my boss approached me with a proposal. “Do you want to go into the Internet Department?” “No way!” I replied. Things were going well for me - I was selling 8 to 12 cars a month and making decent money my first 6 months in the business. Well, a week later I had no choice because the acting Internet Manager left. And so it begins…..
Does anyone remember the old CRM tool “Sales Enhancer?” That is what I used to manage the 380 + leads a month I was getting. Struggling to keep up with the new leads, I really had no follow up. Great news though… I went from selling 8-12 to 20 real quick. Back then I thought I was the man. Let’s do the math 400 leads 20 cars a month = 5% closing ratio. Strong, Right! So my boss sits me down shortly thereafter and suggests I bring someone else in to help me and maybe double the sales. Of course I was totally against it. Sure enough we were cranking out 35 to 40 cars a month in no time. We even hit 50 one month. Keep in mind this was a Hyundai store before Hyundai was big.
Times have changed. So should we. Since being at ContactAtOnce! I have seen morale at dealerships that use ContactAtOnce! go through the roof. We don’t like to admit it, but things are not like they used to be when we could stand on the corner. So why are some dealers doing well in these trying times while others are closing their doors? Willingness to change.
Instant Messaging / chat is used by Millions of people. It’s a new form of communication. Yes, I struggled with the idea at first. I am the guy that wants customer info upfront. Stats are stats and Instant Messaging is where it’s at. Instead of calling 5 times, emailing the same person trying to say the right thing to get them to respond, you receive the instant gratification all salespeople are looking for. We know if it is a “boy” or a “girl” at the end of the conversation. Deal or no deal. So, now we can handle 300 requests all the sudden because at the end of the conversation we know if it is worth following up on.
Best leads in the business come from where? Your site! Yes, many have figured out that driving traffic to a site will generally increase leads. Unfortunately many are spending a lot of money on “just” traffic. Traffic is no fun for anyone. I sit in it everyday.
Have you ever wanted to ask a question but didn’t want to be an inconvenience? Like asking “Can we help you?”. People are trained to say “no.” That’s why we don’t ask visitors on the lot, same theory. Give people an opportunity to ask you questions. During the conversation build report and go for the appointment.
Dealers coming together to make the process convenient again!
Before you release your sales people and allow them to run wild with your IM/chat program you need to implement procedures to control what is written in your IM program by your employees. Remember that written correspondence creates a written record. It is a legal and business necessity for any organization that allows employees to use an IM to have written rules and policies for the use of the IM.
Purpose-built IM/chat solutions such as ContactAtOnce! address most of the security, recording, technical and compliance issues mentioned in the following document, which is more about personal IM products such as AOL, Yahoo, Google, Skype, etc. That said, there is still valuable information in this document that will help with the creation of written rules and policies: http://www.epolicyinstitute.com/imr/32rules.pdf.
One of the oldest adages in the car business states that if you don’t collect personal information on a phone call you have failed. Well times have changed. If you attempt to collect a name, phone number or email address before you have established rapport and trust you will fail. Let’s face it, everyone needs and answer to a personal uncertainty. If you request or demand personal information the customer will not give you the opportunity to answer their question. ContactAtOnce enables my dealers to address personal needs, build rapport and gain their trust.
The Cars.com DealerChat No-Brainer
If you advertise your inventory on Cars.com, here’s a no-brainer tip for selling more cars. Contact your Cars.com rep and request that they turn on DealerChat for you.
Today at NADA in New Orleans Cars.com officially announced the immediate availability of DealerChat, powered by ContactAtOnce!, for all franchise and independent dealers that advertise on Cars.com. ContactAtOnce! did a corresponding press release too.
There is no additional charge for dealers to take advantage of DealerChat, and doing so is sure to increase the number of quality leads a dealership receives from Cars.com. No additional cost. More leads. No-brainer.