Think of your CRM as your digital memory, OK? It's going to remember every lead that's come in. It's going to remember every follow up that's happened. It's going to remember every note even when your sales team can't, OK. So if it's set up right, if your CRM is set up correctly, it's going to track where each customer is in the bind. It's going to track where each
customer is in the bind journey. It's going to pick up conversations without starting over, and you're going to be able to send the right message at the right time. And if you have your CRM set up correctly, that means you're taking advantage of everything it has to offer, whether it's text messages, it's automation through e-mail, making it really easy for your teams to to utilize.
When reps use it daily, not just the check boxes, but to do their day-to-day follow up with their customers, It should become more than just the sales tool, OK? It should become a habit. Your CRM is only as good as the information you put in there, OK? So clean data equals clean sales, right? Best practices would be to update records immediately in real time, OK, Have your reps or your sales guys immediately update those records after every
customer interaction. Whether it's a phone call, it's a text, it's a showroom visit, it needs to be. Updated always. Confirm contact information before ending a call. OK, making sure you've got the right name and number is going to be important for future follow up. Now use required fields in your CRM. Don't just skip it, OK? That's really important. Information such as traits such
as vehicle of interest. This will be great to kind of refer back to in the future when you're doing some mining or campaigning. Automation equals consistency, OK? You don't have somebody there all the time that can follow up, such as after hours, let's say, maybe after the sale. So having that automation to maintain and nurture those leads even after the cell is super
important. Most reps want to follow up, but the reality is they get distracted, they get busy, hot lead comes in and that takes the priority. So just making sure that you're taking advantage of any automation that your CRM does offer will already put you ahead of the game. The key to automation with your CRM is going to be personalization. OK, if it feels like a mass message, it's going to get
ignored. But if it includes things like the customer's name, the bike they were interested, and maybe a relevant next step, that feels like service. OK, and it doesn't replace the Rep, but it helps support the Rep. OK, so automation doesn't replace the Rep, but it supports the Rep when they get busy. The biggest challenge that dealerships face when implementing a new CRM or a CRM system is going to be.
Getting the staff. To actually use it, OK, that is the biggest challenge that they face you're going to hear things like it's too complicated, there's too many clicks, it's too much work it does, I don't have time to update it OK the fix keep the CRM simple. Remove clutter OK, make sure that any information you put in there is solid information, but remove clutter only show fields that matter.
Make sure that they are trained on a process, not necessarily just trained on the tool, but a specific process that is going to help them right. So the best way that a dealership can get the most out of their cream is making sure that when it's set U right, it's used daily. OK? It's going to become a place where every lead, every conversation, every note and
every oortunity lives. So making sure that the data you put in there is nice and clean because that's going to be what you get out of it. You can track where all of your customers are or where any of your past customers are in the buying process. OK, follow up without starting from scratch is going to be made easy. And even reconnecting with with clients or customers or leads that went quiet is going to be made easier.
All right. A strong CRM let's your team stay focused, stop guessing and actually build better relationships and better relationships turns into sales. So making sure that you're maintaining accurate, up to date customer data is extremely important. All right. Bad data is like putting the wrong address in your GPS, OK, it sends you in the wrong direction. One of the best things you can do in your CRM is keep your customers records clean.
Always confirm contact information, always fill out the necessary fields. So making sure if they have a trade that that's filled in, making sure if they have a vehicle of interest and there's a section for that in your CRM that that is filled into. What this will do is this will give you data to either your mind or look back at when it comes time to and making sure everybody at every level is recording every interaction with your customers in your CRM.
This is going to keep all of your information up to date and this is going to make it easy for follow up to happen even if you don't know where that customer left off at right. So how can automation help improve your CRM follow up process? All right, so automation is going to be how you make sure no lead slips through the cracks. OK, let's face it, even the best sales Rep, it's busy, OK, we
miss follow-ups. So that's where your CRM automation comes in. All right, it can step in, it can do check in texts, perhaps emails on specific days. Really take advantage of any automation that your CRM has to offer. Make sure it's set up correctly so you can kind of set it and forget it. Hey, the best way to win with automation though, it's going to be personalization, a little touch such as your customer's name, maybe the vehicle of interest.
This will get you a better open rate, especially if you utilize that in the subject line. But you're going to get, you're going to get a more personalized touch with your automation emails and hopefully a better reaction and engagement from your customers that way. So lead. Follow up is often inconsistent because there's no process in place. Just as you would. Jump on a new walk in or showroom walk in. That's the type of mentality you should have with a new Internet
lead. So making sure you have a consistent follow up plan and process when working these new Internet leads is going to be key to whether or not you're successful with the leads. That you. You are getting into your CRM OK, so one simple fix that dealerships can be making today to to help. Them. Have more conversions when it comes to their Internet leads or inbound phone calls is making sure that you're responding faster.
I have had the opportunity to audit hundreds of dealers across the nation and one thing I found to be very consistent with them is that the follow up just isn't there. If they're following up within hours, maybe within days, that's not gonna capture that lead, that's not gonna capture that customer. So making sure that you're following up quicker, 30 minutes is ideal.
But if you can get them within 15 minutes or less, you're gonna have a much better chance at getting that customer to actually walk through your doors. Why are Internet leads often mishandled in power sports? So the reason leads are often mishandled? In powersports is because a lot of us are. Treating them as if. They are. A cold call when in fact this customer landed on your website,
maybe a third party vendor. They filled out a form and gave you their information to follow up with you. So instead of taking the phone call, hey, this is Heather with Easygoing Powersports, The reason for my call today. Is to follow up. With you, did you have any questions on the bike that you were looking at instead of taking the phone call? In that matter, have a plan. Be prepared. Have a game plan set in place. What? Is your outcome that you're hoping to get which should? Always.
Be to bring that customer into the dealership and know ahead of time what they're interested in, if they have a trade, if they've provided that information and be ready to talk about it. Don't treat it as if you are an order taker and you're just there to answer their questions. Treat it as though. You are. Trying to do what's in their best interest and that is to get them into the dealership.
A few things that dealerships can start doing today to have a better conversion rate of their Internet leads is have a game plan. Have somebody dedicated to your Internet lead follow up. Make sure that they are available. If you can't do that, round Robin it, but have some sort of plan in place to make sure that these Internet leads are getting followed up with in a timely manner. Second, one, follow up within 15 minutes or less. I cannot stress that enough.
In 15 minutes, if you can get to an Internet lead in 15 minutes or less or even 30 minutes or less, the chances of you capturing that customer before another dealership has are going to be so much greater. You're going to have a much better chance at having a conversation with that customer, giving them all the reasons to come into your dealership before your competitor down the street does. Which? Is super important.
If you aren't calling your leads, your competitors are because their leads aren't just shopping you, they're shopping and multiple dealerships. So make sure that you are responding in a timely manner. Now, when you respond, having a few touches versus just one touch is extremely important. I can't tell you how many. Dealerships just. E-mail their customers now an e-mail has about a 10% open rate, which is very low. Not to mention do you have a
call to action in there? Do you have anything, do you have anything that really set you aside from your competitors or local shops that are close to you? Probably slim to none. All right, so make sure that you have more than just one touch with your customers. 3 touches is ideal, especially for a brand new lead. You want to phone them first, get them on the phone, stop them from shopping your competitors and tell them why they need to
come to your dealership. If they don't answer your first phone call, great. We've got texts that we can send out. We are in the digital age, so a lot of customers are shopping digitally and that includes includes text message and then third an e-mail. So having those 3 touches is going to but heighten your chance of converting that lead. Still guessing what to pay on a used bike? Still holding aged units that just won't move? It's time for a real system.
Moto Hunt's Ultimate Used Inventory Playbook shows how the best dealers are finding better inventory, pricing trades right, and turning used bikes faster with fewer mistakes and more margin. It's short, real, and free to download right now. Visit dealers.motohunt.com to grab your copy or check for the link in the notes. Uh.