By Michael Biasco, Senior Product Marketer, Elead/CDK Global
Your sales staff may be out of practice desking. After all, there’s no need to structure the best deal when you have no or very low inventory. You can simply wait for someone to come along who is willing to pay full price. But, inventory levels will come back and lots will fill up again.
At the same time, more customers are gravitating to digital retailing tools to complete some or all of the car-buying steps. A customer who selects a vehicle, submits a credit application, and calculates a payment has a different expectation than a customer who simply walks through your door. A salesperson who ignores what a customer does online and instead tries to force a traditional desking process will likely see that prospect walk right back out the door.
Today, the ideal desking process is one built around the modern retail experience that accounts for the work a customer does online, increases price transparency, and still delivers the highest possible gross for every deal. Want to ensure your salespeople can deliver? Here’s how.
Respect work done online.
A common mistake I see is how salespeople jump into a traditional desking process with every customer. A customer who has already put in hours on your website calculating terms and narrowing down a deal will be frustrated and even angry when asked to start from square one again.
As soon as a customer introduces themselves, your salespeople should be checking your CRM and/or DMS to see what steps have already been completed. Then pick up with the customer from wherever they are in their journey.
Remember, you are in control of the pricing and options presented through your digital retailing tools. Vehicles should be priced competitively already so you should never present a first or second pencil that contradicts your online pricing. Customers will feel like they’re being scammed and will be up and out the door. Consistent pricing from online to in-store is what the customer expects.
Be ready to present options.
That being said, digital retailing customers still want expert help from your salesperson. Maybe they calculated a payment of $550 per month, but they’d really like to get that down to $500 per month. This is where your salespeople need to be informed and helpful consultants well-versed with your desking tool.
Your desking presentation should allow salespeople to show customers side-by-side comparisons of multiple payment and/or lease options. Changing a monthly payment should be as easy as plugging in new numbers. Working a deal in front of the customer – instead of running back and forth to a manager – breeds trust and transparency. Even if you can’t hit that desired $500 payment, you show the customer that you are working in good faith on their behalf.
Integrations rule.
It’s no exaggeration to state that the quality of desking to provide a modern retail experience hinges on how well your desking tool integrates with your digital retailing tools, CRM, DMS, and third-party rate and incentive providers. Logging in and out of systems wastes time and increases the likelihood that the data a customer enters online will not flow back and forth between your systems.
A fully integrated desking tool also allows your salespeople to give a professional presentation, where A/B comparisons, multi-quotes, and nine squares are visible on one screen without sloppy toggling from tab to tab. Full integration also ensures salespeople don’t miss an incentive the customer deserves.
With so little inventory salespeople may be twiddling their thumbs right now. Take that downtime and turn it into training time – especially on your desking process. Modern retail has completely changed what the customer expects when they walk through your door. Make sure your salespeople know how to account for work done online and leverage your desking tool to deliver great customer experiences and maximum profit.
About the Author
Michael Biasco is a Senior Product Marketer at Elead/CDK Global.