Inbound & Outbound Call Management | Power Up Dealership Performance

Satish Negi | Call Center, Customer Service, Inbound & Outbound Call Management | , , , , , ,

Calls still matter in dealerships. Many buyers prefer to speak to a real person. They ask questions. They want quick answers. And they expect follow-ups. If calls are missed or rushed, deals slip away. Good call management helps avoid that.

This blog explains how inbound and outbound calls support dealership performance. It focuses on structure, timing, and consistency. No hype. Just what works.

Why calls matter in dealership sales

A call is often the first real contact. It sets the tone. A clear and calm response builds trust. A rushed or missed call does the opposite.

Many dealerships spend on ads but lose leads on the phone. That loss is silent. It does not show up in reports. But it hurts sales.

Handling calls well is not about scripts. It is about listening. It is about responding with the right information. And doing it on time.

A rep displaying how an automotive business development center can help dealerships grow

Managing incoming calls the right way

Inbound calls usually come from active buyers. They are asking about price, stock, or availability. Some want service details. Others want test drives.

This is where Inbound and outbound call management plays a role. Calls need to reach the right team. Not bounce around. Not sit unanswered.

Clear call routing helps. So does proper training. Staff should know how to answer fast and stay focused. They should capture details without dragging the call.

Simple steps make a difference. Greet the caller. Ask why they are calling. Confirm details. And explain the next step.

Handling dealership calls without confusion

Dealerships deal with many call types. Sales. Service. Finance. Follow-ups. Each needs a different approach.

Inbound call handling for dealerships works best when roles are clear. Sales calls should not land with service staff. Service calls should not reach sales by mistake.

Call logs help too. They show missed calls. They show repeat callers. This helps teams spot issues early.

Short calls are fine. Clear calls are better. The goal is not to talk more. The goal is to help the caller move forward.

Why outbound calls still matter

Outbound calls are often ignored. That is a mistake. These calls help close deals. They confirm interest. They remind buyers who were not ready before.

A follow-up call shows effort. It shows the dealership cares enough to check back. But timing matters. Too early feels pushy. Too late loses interest.

Outbound calls should be planned. Not random. Each call should have a reason. A reminder. A check-in. Or an update.

When done right, outbound calls feel helpful. Not salesy. And that matters to buyers.

Scheduling calls to save time

Missed calls waste time for both sides. Call scheduling helps avoid that. It gives structure to follow-ups. It keeps staff organized.

With Inbound call scheduling solutions, teams can set call-back times. Buyers know when to expect a call. Staff know who to call next.

This reduces repeat calls. It also reduces frustration. Both sides stay on the same page.

Scheduling also helps managers. They can see workloads. They can adjust staffing. And they can keep service levels steady.

Keeping call data useful

Calls generate data. That data should not sit unused. Simple reports help spot trends.

Are calls missed at certain hours. Are follow-ups delayed. Are some staff overloaded. These answers help improve performance.

Call reviews help with training too. Not to blame. But to improve clarity and tone.

Small fixes often lead to better results.

Conclusion

Strong call handling supports steady growth. It helps dealerships respond faster, stay organized, and follow up on time. When calls are managed with care, buyers notice. It leads to better conversations and better outcomes. Customer Traac helps dealerships bring structure and clarity to their call processes, without adding complexity.

Automotive BDC

How to Enhance Your Automotive Call Center

admin | Call Center | ,

Running an automotive call center is not easy, but we’re here to help. Read this article to learn four tips for running an effective call center, along with why outsourcing your call center to a trusted automotive BDC can help optimize your call center operations.

Four Tips for Running an Effective Automotive Call Center

While managing your call center, we recommend keeping the following four things in mind to ensure you optimize your operations for a high ROI:

  • Don’t Cut Corners on Training: As a manager or owner of a dealership, you know that providing exceptional customer service and a smooth customer experience is essential for success. And in order to provide this high level of customer service, you must ensure that your agents are highly trained and experienced communicators. So, it is necessary to provide a comprehensive training program for new employees to ensure they can deliver that smooth customer experience. And while this extensive training may be a bit more expensive, it will more than pay for itself in high customer acquisition and retention rates.
  • Don’t Just Use the Phone: This is 2021 and your customers are not only communicating over the phone. In fact, they communicate mostly through SMS, chat, email, social media, and other newer forms of communication. This means it is important that your agents are able to communicate with your customers via numerous forms of communication. They should be prepared to interact with your customers over whatever platform your customers prefer, which will of course differ depending on the individual.
  • Use Data for Effective Targeting: The rise of the digital world brings with it the rise of data and using data to develop marketing and communication strategies. We now have access to in-depth data about customers, their habits, where they communicate, and so much more. So take advantage of this data! Be sure to analyze your customers’ trends and habits to ensure you communicate with them as effectively as possible. This involves using data to target them via social media, digital advertising, email campaigns, and more. Use data to figure out the best time of day to reach your target audience and who specifically to target within that audience. The bottom line is that you can use data to more directly target all of your campaigns, regardless of the mode of communication you are using.
  • Set Clear and Quantitative Goals: Setting clear and measurable goals is important for any marketing effort, and call center operations are no exception. Make sure you have clear metrics for your call center agents to meet, whether that be calls answered, appointments set up, maximum length of a conversation, and/or so much more. Your goals should depend on what exactly you are trying to accomplish with your call center. Moreover, while setting up outbound calling campaigns, be sure to set clear metrics to help measure the success of your campaigns.

Outsource Your Automotive Call Center to Enhance Your Marketing and Customer Experience

One of the best ways to optimize your call center operations is to outsource your call center to a trusted third party. Outside call centers can provide expert and objective consulting, while also possessing the resources to create and implement full-scale marketing campaigns. Plus, they can save your dealership lots of time and money, as you will not have to hire, train, and manage a team of call center agents.

If you would like to optimize your operations by outsourcing your automotive call center, or if you would like to speak with an expert in the field to learn more, please reach out to us to see how we can help. At Customer Traac, we work with you to understand your specific goals and needs, so we can provide a personalized service that optimizes your dealership’s marketing and communication efforts. We offer a full range of automotive marketing services, including a full-charge contact center, appointment scheduling, outbound calling campaigns, and a full-service automotive BDC. Our agents go through extensive training to make sure they provide the best customer service and help your business grow.

We partner with dealerships across the United States. Please call us at 763-553-2989 or fill out our contact form to learn more.

call center employee

Automotive Contact Center vs. Call Center — What’s The Difference?

admin | Call Center, Contact Center | ,

As a manager at an automotive dealership, you are probably looking for the best way to optimize your service department and customer experience. And while there are many ways you may be able to improve both aspects of your business, the solution you probably hear the most is outsourcing your scheduling and customer service to contact centers or call centers.

While working with both contact centers and call centers can be effective ways to improve your customer experience and service, it is important to know the difference between the two and what each offers. In this article, we will discuss what contact centers and call centers are, their differences, why contact centers are more effective, and how Customer Traac can help you with its automotive contact center.

What is a Call Center?

A call center is a centralized office that manages inbound and outbound calls for companies. Call centers focus solely on communicating via telephone, unlike contact centers, which focus on a variety of means of communication (more on this below). In the automotive industry, call centers focus on handling phone campaigns for dealerships.

What is a Contact Center?

While call centers only deal with phone campaigns, contact centers offer a vast amount of communications and marketing services. In the automotive industry, contact centers not only manage inbound and outbound calling campaigns, but they also communicate with customers via email marketing campaigns, SMS, chat, and many other communication tools. So, contact centers are optimized to communicate and run marketing campaigns that are on par with how customers communicate in the 21st century.

Why are Contact Centers Better than Call Centers?

Contact centers have many advantages over call centers. In fact, here are just a few of the most important benefits of using a contact center for your dealership:

  • 21st Century Marketing: As mentioned earlier, contact centers are optimized for marketing in the 21st century. While call centers only use phones, contact centers use email, SMS, chat, and more, so they are ready to communicate with customers the way customers communicate in today’s world.
  • More Marketing and Communication Options: Because contact centers use all these different modes of communication, dealerships have numerous options for how to reach their customers, leading to lots of marketing possibilities.
  • Better Customer Experience: Being able to communicate with your customers in the ways that are comfortable for them provides the best customer experience possible. You may have some customers who prefer texting, some who prefer email, and some who prefer phone. With a contact center, you can accommodate your customers regardless of their preferences. Since customer experience is so crucial in the automotive industry, being able to communicate with your customers in the most efficient way possible is necessary for operating your dealership. And contact centers allow you to do just that.

There are more advantages of contact centers than what we list above. For more information on contact centers and how they can improve your dealership’s marketing and customer experience, please visit our “Contact Centers” page.

Enhance Your Dealership with Customer Traac’s Contact Center

If you would like to improve your dealership’s marketing efforts and customer experience, or if you would like to speak with an expert in the field to learn more, please reach out to us to see how we can help. At Customer Traac, we work with you to understand your specific goals and needs, so we can provide a personalized service that optimizes your dealership’s marketing and communication efforts. We offer a full range of automotive marketing services, including a full-charge contact center, appointment scheduling, outbound calling campaigns, and a full-service automotive BDC. Our agents go through extensive training to make sure they provide the best customer service and help your business grow.

We partner with dealerships across the United States. Please call us at 763-553-2989 or fill out our contact form to learn more.

call center metrics for dealerships help improve results

4 Critical Call Center Metrics for Dealerships

admin | Call Center, Contact Center, Customer Service | , , , ,

We have previously discussed the KPIs your dealership should track to measure success, but what about the call center? After all, they have their own metrics that indicate areas of opportunity as well as wins for your business. Of course, they should be mindful of to ensure customer retention, good sales numbers, and to improve upon processes. But how can they be tracked and evaluated? To get started on tracking call center metrics for dealerships, here are four key metrics to keep tabs on in your department.

Call Abandonment Rate

Dropped calls are something no contact center agent wants to have, but it does happen. It’s important to keep that percentage of abandoned or dropped calls to a minimum. The abandonment rate (or ARP) is the percentage of phone calls, generally inbound, made to a call center and abandoned by the customer before speaking to an agent. The general standard for a call center is to have a 2% or less abandoned call rate. If your call center is inching towards 5% or higher, that can be an issue and could lead to poor customer satisfaction and in turn, customer churn.

To figure out your abandon rate percentage, use this equation, which excludes any calls abandoned within 5 seconds, as those may be wrong numbers:

ARP = (# of calls offered – # of calls abandoned in 5 seconds – # of calls resolved) / (# of calls offered – # of calls abandoned in 5 seconds) x 100

Call abandonment rate can tie directly to wait times, being put on hold, and not being offered a callback. Here are some effective ways automotive dealership call centers can minimize abandoned calls:

  • Maintain a full staff, especially at busy call hours in the day.
  • Improve on-call messages.
  • Use a call back service that gives customers an option to wait, or receive a call back when their time in the queue comes up.
  • Reduce wait times, and answer within a few rings.
  • Incorporate after-hours answering services into your operation to make sure customers can choose to call back later and still reach someone.

Average Call Wait Time

There is a Golden Rule in the customer service industry that 80% of all calls should be answered within 20 seconds. We call this the 80/20 rule. While 20 seconds doesn’t seem like a lot of time, it can make a big difference to your customers!

Today’s consumers expect things to happen as fast as possible. With self-checkout lanes and same-day delivery via Amazon Prime, people don’t have to wait to get what they want anymore! HubSpot Research conducted a consumer survey that showed consumer patience wears out in under 10 minutes.

With a full staff receiving inbound calls and making outbound calls, this should be completely achievable. Introducing chat and email options for contacting your call center can also help alleviate some of that pressure, and it may be more suitable for managing high volumes.

Average Handle Time

Average handle time is another very important metric to track. If measured appropriately, it can help determine proper staffing needs so that a call center can run as efficiently as possible—without over or under hiring.

Average handle time (AHT) is the average duration of one phone transaction, starting from the customer’s initiation, including any hold time, talk time and post-call tasks, to the end of the call. To calculate you will add those numbers together, and divide by the total number of calls:

AHT = total talk time + total hold time + total post-call tasks / number of total calls

Customer Satisfaction

How does that old saying go… “The proof is in the pudding”? We don’t really know the origins of that phrase, but we know it means the effort put in should be reflected the outcome. By putting in a good effort towards customers, it should mean high customer satisfaction. This could be shown in reviews (both good or bad), or in a verbal confirmation that the call center did a good job.

If you notice reviews are going down, or more bad reviews are being left on your site, take action quickly. Customer satisfaction is one of the most telling metrics a call center can utilize for how they are doing overall. It can be an overarching issue with wait times, resolutions, agents, callbacks, etc… If your customers are telling you something is broken, it probably is. This is an opportunity to improve upon all of the above-mentioned metrics, which tie directly to a customer’s likelihood of coming back.

You should be diligently tracking and reviewing all of these call center metrics for dealerships quarterly. This data can help improve processes, find ways to make customers happier and more satisfied, and bring cost savings when you can staff and plan appropriately.

Customer Traac has been partnering with dealerships for over 30 years, improving customer satisfaction and growing profitability. To learn more about how Customer Traac can help your dealership, contact us today.

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