Nothing is better than hearing one magical word in sales--YES. Yes to a test drive, Yes to an in-dealership appointment. Yes to a virtual call with your salesperson. But having a customer set an appointment is just the beginning of the sales journey. How many times have you set an appointment, waiting for the customer, only for them not to show up? 6:30 turns into 7, and you realize you won’t be seeing Mr. Smith that night. 

So, how are you confirming your appointments and reminding the customers of the value you will bring to your meeting? Do they know how you will walk them through the car buying process? Do they even remember who you are and that you have an appointment? 

While you’ll always have people who don’t show up for appointments, following these steps will help minimize how often a “no-show” happens.

I know--this is not new information and is nothing that seems groundbreaking. But so many people are either not using the CRM, or not using it the right way. If you’re not using your CRM to keep track of your appointments, then you need to. This is your one source of truth to let you know who has connected with your customer and the cadence to reach out.  Use your CRMs to set appointments and to send reminders, which saves you time and serves to double check with your customers.

You can use your CRM’s automation tool to easily do this. Every CRM is different, and your process for setting up automations can vary, but it’s worth looking into. Utilizing every aspect of your CRM can benefit your dealership in many different ways.

What does every manager say? If it’s not in the CRM, it didn’t happen.

Confirming with your customers is key to actually getting them to show. Life is busy, and we’re all humans. How many appointments have you missed--not intentionally, but because you truly got busy and forgot?

There are different ways you can go about confirming with your customers, such as having an immediate email sent and a manager calling the day of, but the most important part is consistency. You need to be confirming multiple times with every appointment you have set. 

Texting is one of the best ways to confirm appointments, because the majority of people have their phones with them all the time, and text messages are something most people don’t ignore. As long as you have received an opt-in, texting is one of the most effective ways to confirm appointments and ensure they either show or reschedule.

Since March 2020, we have had to highlight and advertise all the elements the dealership has to assist with virtual selling. That does not mean that the customer will fully complete the sale on their smartphone, but it does mean there are aspects of your website that can assist the customer, help move them further down the funnel, and ensure that they will spend less time at the dealership. Send information to your customers that will help them before they even enter the doors of your dealership. Things like walk-around videos, similar cars, credit apps, and links to your digital retailing tool. All of these things will help the customer and make the time they spend with you in the dealership that much more valuable.

Time and transparency are two of the more important elements to customers when purchasing a car. They don’t want their time wasted, and they want to know you are transparent. Sending information up-front and giving the customer tools to complete aspects of the sale at home help with both of these, and will also eventually help with your CSI.

Life happens; don’t just assume that a customer isn’t interested in buying a vehicle when they don’t show up for an appointment. Always follow up with your customers and remind them of the value you bring to the appointment. A simple text with a walk-around video of their vehicle of interest. A video email stating that you missed them, but that the car is still available and list any incentives it may have. 

It is not enough to remind the customer they missed an appointment. You need to remind the customer that you have something better than the dealership down the road. Those “Why-Buy” statements will help ensure customers won’t miss another appointment. 

What Now?

• Analyze your confirmation process. If you don’t have one, you need to create one now.
• Email, Call, and Text. These three solutions together are the trifecta. If you don’t have solid solutions for these, call us and we can help.
• Look at the follow-up cadence in your CRM. Make sure the messages are updated if emails are going out along with calls.

If calling, texting, or emailing the customer, take a moment and review the value that you will bring. Be confident, be friendly, and bring value.