The hustle of the day is real!

Nothing is easier than standing on the sidelines and saying how it should be done in the car business while doing nothing yourself. I must honestly admit that I was guilty of this in recent years. Sure, I had experience, but today’s world is different from when I was a SsangYong dealer in 2009. Nowadays, as dealers, and in this case as a Ligier dealer, we have so many fantastic systems that help us manage the hustle and bustle of the day better… Or so I thought!

Two Years

I have now been a Ligier dealer for two years, and it still surprises me when I shadow Gerard for a day, how many things happen daily before you can systematically work on leads, for example. There is always something that screams for attention and takes priority. We benefit enormously from Calldrip for lead follow-up; it forces us to pick up the phone and take immediate action instead of procrastinating. But the hustle of the day is real!

Monotonous

Lead follow-up is repetitive, process-driven, and often monotonous work where success is not measured in orders but in the number of conversations, appointments, and showroom visits. The number of orders that follow is then a given. I am happy that at the Experience Store Doesburg we achieve a conversion of 15.2% in the first half year. So, over 15 sales per 100 leads for used cars is a solid basis to build on because it can get even better!

If only we didn’t have the hustle of the day… We have taken many steps to optimize the lead process. Gerard follows up 100% of the leads, then there’s an online sales colleague, then again a regular second sales colleague. We also stopped having cars delivered by sales, now we do have sales deliver again, and we are involving CARMEN Automotive BDC for long-term follow-up. In other words, I’ve done just about everything to achieve a stable conversion rate of over 20%.

Peace is Needed

One thing is clear to me: if the salespeople have ‘peace’ in the right way and they have time for the right phone call, the right app, or the right sales conversation in the showroom, then you quickly go from a base of 15.2%, which we have now, to the ultimate goal of 20%…

The only thing I need to do is manage the hustle of the day, without hiring FTEs, but by making automation work in combination with all the AI capabilities available today. Fortunately, we are already far along with Walcu, Calldrip, and AutoChat to explore the next phase with AI! We will keep you updated.