As we kick off the new year, dealers are looking to hit, or exceed performance goals to start off the new year right. High-performing dealers turn to their Service Departments to optimize their processes and capitalize on end-of-year revenue opportunities.
When someone calls into your dealership connecting customers to someone who can help is crucial as it ensures efficient problem resolution, enhances customer satisfaction, and ultimately drives more booked appointments, directly contributing to achieving end-of-year revenue goals.
Car Wars experts analyzed call data to see what time of day and day of the week had the most unconnected calls, on average, in Service Departments. The time of day that has the most unconnected calls is 11:00 AM. This metric has remained consistent throughout 2021, 2022, and 2023. The day of the week that had the most unconnected calls in 2023 was Monday. This also was the same as the previous years (2021 and 2022).
So how can your dealership combat these trends to connect more calls on Mondays and at 11:00 AM?
Here are the 4 tips to overcome bad phone connections:
While it may seem simple, this first step is one that a lot of dealers forget about. Call into the dealership yourself, ask for Service, and see where your call is being routed. Make these test calls from the perspective of a customer and try real-world scenarios. A round of test calls may reveal that an employee does not have their voicemail set up properly or that customers are being routed to someone who does not work at the dealership anymore.
Multi-rings – ringing multiple phones at once – and fallbacks – rerouting calls to a different set of phones after a designated amount of time – are other effective ways to ensure callers get connected to someone who can help.
Cold transfers are when a receptionist answers the call and blindly transfers the call to an extension without confirming who you are transferring them to. This can cause potential customers to reach voicemails or even hang up on hold! So, we recommend a warm transfer. That is when the receptionist or anyone who answers phone calls verifies that the salesperson, service advisor, or whoever the customer is asking for is available before transferring. They put the customer on hold while dialing department rep to confirm availability. Once confirmed, they transfer the customer to the rep.
Implementing a phone bridge will improve your customer's experience of getting connected to the desired department in a seamless, timely manner. Options like “press 1 for sales, 2 for service, and 3 for parts” can improve customer satisfaction. According to Car Wars data, dealers with a phone bridge connect callers an average of 12-15 seconds more quickly than stores without a phone bridge. Many dealers have the unpopular belief that phone trees can make an impersonal touch; however, Car Wars has found that customers prefer to get automatically connected to the right department, rather than wait for a greeter to route them.
Start the new year strong with these strategies to mitigate bad phone connection and get customers connected with someone who can help. Not only will they bring in opportunities for more business and provide great customer experiences in your Service Department, but they’ll also set your dealership up for success for the new year.
Learn more about how Car Wars is helping Service Departments Own the Phone at, carwars.com/home/service/.