Is there such a thing as too much follow-up? Automotive sales professionals have differing opinions on the topic, but most will agree that the frequency is less important than the strategy. If your dealership doesn’t have a sales lead follow-up strategy in place, you could be letting warm leads wander to a more proactive sales team offering a personalized customer follow-up experience.

By implementing these car sales lead follow-up tactics at your store, your sales experts will be empowered to not only keep warm leads interested but engaged as well, helping you close more deals, boost customer satisfaction, and increase sales profits.

5 Lead Follow-Up Strategies to Keep Your Sales Leads Engaged

1. Be Deliberate with Your Follow-Up Timing

No one wants to feel smothered by communications that arrive too soon or too often. Customers who are overloaded with lead follow-up may perceive your staff or your store in a poor light, ignore your communications, or even visit your competitor instead.

Rather than reaching out to a vehicle sales lead immediately, spend a little time preparing an informative and transparent communication strategy, showing prospective customers that your expertise and excellent customer service is worth the (brief) wait. Include information and updates relevant to the prospect’s specific needs, such as:

• New inventory that a sales lead has expressed interested in.
• Sold inventory that a sales lead may have missed (as well as similar vehicles that might interest them) as a way to demonstrate transparency and prompt future urgency.
• Price decreases on a model they researched to encourage a warm lead to make the leap.
• Seasonal incentives, sales events, or exclusive offers to reengage cold leads or nudge a lead to that final decision.

2. Pinpoint Customer Needs with Predictive Technology

Sending your sales leads a one-size-fits-all follow-up message is likely to repel them with its impersonal approach. It’s crucial for your sales staff to gain insight into your leads’ online activity and fully understand their wants and needs. By adding predictive intelligence tools to your lead follow-up plan, you’ll be able to:

• Review what each sales lead viewed on your website, such as whether they researched trade-in options, specific price ranges, or lease incentives.
• Track the inventory each lead researched, so you can create informed scripts for follow-up conversations.
• Know when car sales leads are actively shopping on your website to help you prioritize those potential customers.

3. Grab Their Attention with a Personal Video

Following a solid sales follow-up strategy is not foolproof, and sometimes leads go cold despite your team’s best efforts. In those cases, you can add to the customer experience while capturing their attention by leveraging newer digital solutions such as video content.

Using video can give your communications a more intimate, personal feel and often catch a customer’s attention more effectively than an email or phone call. These communications demonstrate time and effort and can indicate to potential customers that your dealership truly values their business. To make your sales lead videos stand out to prospects, ensure they are personal, informative, upbeat, and sincere.

4. Craft a Compelling CTA

Whichever sales follow-up communication route you include in your strategy, ensure each customer message concludes with a compelling call-to-action (CTA). If contacting car sales leads via email, you might encourage the prospective customer to call the dealership for more info or make an appointment online. When calling sales leads, prompt customers to make an in-person appointment or to visit for a test-drive. A few general CTA guidelines to keep in mind:

• Keep it concise. CTAs are typically no more than one or two sentences long.
• Use powerful verbs that prompt action, such as “Book Now” or “Learn More.”
• Be clear about what you want the customer to do. Avoid confusing customers with multiple options.
• Opt for simplicity. Make it easy for customers to reach you or directly link to a contact form.

5. Maximize Your Capabilities with the Right CRM

Keeping your warm leads engaged and converting more of them into sales is simpler with the right customer relationship management tool. Whether your car sales leads are coming in via your website or third-party lead providers, a fully integrated CRM can help manage each one so you can make the most of every sales opportunity. By consolidating lead management tasks and monitoring lead follow-up, you can also gain a comprehensive overview of your data (and your results) so you can adjust and improve your strategies.

A few key features your CRM solution should include:

• Wireless access via a mobile app so you can manage internet leads and complete follow-up tasks.
• AI-powered technology to provide automated and scheduled customer follow-up.
• A single, easy-to-use platform that allows you to monitor all showroom activity in real time.

The Secret to Smarter Sales Lead Follow-Up

Your prospective customers are searching for their next vehicle, and with smarter sales lead follow-up strategies in place, you can help guide them to your showroom. Knowing what information to provide (and when to offer it) requires the right technology to track online activity and identify what your leads ultimately want

Improve the customer experience and sell more vehicles with Affinitiv XRM. Our CRM powerhouse is designed by dealers for dealers, helping you simplify your sales processes while building stronger customer relationships. From showroom monitoring and internet lead management to mobile-enabled customer interactions and desking, XRM can help you increase your lead conversions without increasing vendor fees.

Discover how XRM can help you leverage predictive intelligence to drive more revenue—contact us today.