u/FlipOfTheWhip

I went through my leads that havent responded, stopped responding, etc. these are people as far back as January. Tons of follow up attempts. Today i decided to ask directly

“Are you still looking for a vehicle or should i close your file for now?”

Thinking that id get a bunch of opt outs or closes but surprisingly i have awaken a decent amount of people from the dead that are only NOW giving me the time of day.

Im genuinely curious as to why a million calls and texts didnt work for months but just asking if i should close their file, now they are wanting the info and to be worked

Im going through a phase where i see a few customers that were bdc leads that I worked but didnt really go anywhere but a week or so later someone else has them ready to buy .

This is more of a finding out how to keep going even after things seem dead or exhausted.

The most recent example is a customer got a mailer wanting their vehicle. They called wanting a sight unseen appraisal. They wouldnt come in unless they knew the trade numbers . I kept explaining what my manager directed us: “Must appraise in person” . The customer said “im not interested then…thanks” and hung up. I ask manager their thoughts and got “If they arent willing to bring it by for us to look at then what do you really got? “ shrug and told to move to the next.

Now about a week or two later another lead in, a different salesman has thier credit and an appt scheduled.

I notice when i run out of what *I* think to say, I kinda disengage but thats not all there is that CAN be said. What could have been a better way to steer the conversation towards the end goal vs accepting where they said they were?

Something ive seen in some of my training is how salesmen do a lot walk in the morning and can look at the inventory and go “this would work great for so and so” and it becomes not so much making pointless phone calls and more about providing value with my call.

I keep a booklet of recent customers and leads but i dont feel i have that type of skill where i can look through my inventory and know who in my base i can call about.

I get these emails in from people 4 or 5 hours away from the dealership, looks like the emails are written by chatgpt because of how formal they are, asking for quotes on 4 or 5 different vehicles , telling you that they are fielding multiple offers across the country and whoever is the best deal they go with.

I get shopping to an extent but what would incentivize anyone to reply? It reads completely like a lot of work for very little chance to even do business when I could focus my time or more probable customers.

I just am confused by how productive that approach is vs just saying you are interested a vehicle and wanting to set up a good faith appt to possibly purchase. Everyone knows people shop and are going to take the best deal all that stuff is implied