The 5 Key Factors to Choosing the Right Car Dealership Call Software

The phone is an auto dealer's most essential sales tool. According to a study by Google, 70% of mobile phone users said they would call a company if making a high-value purchase like a car. 

Even more compelling, the study found that car buyers wanted to use the phone at all stages of the sales cycle, not just at purchase. 

For example, 57% said they preferred to use the phone to schedule an appointment with a salesperson, and 51% said they would call to inquire about inventory.

Your response to these inbound phone calls is critical to your sales team's success.

As a result, call response software built specifically to support a car dealership sales team can be a game changer.

What is Car Dealership Call Software?

Car dealership call software is technology that empowers an automotive sales team to connect to leads, prospects, and customers quickly and efficiently. The best software also optimizes your sales team's time by using automation to answer and connect calls promptly, tracking sales results per call, customer, and salesperson, and deploying artificial intelligence to help your team learn from each call. 

This is just one type of software that dealerships like yours can use to be successful. You may also use a customer relationship management database (or CRM), inventory management software, text messaging software, and scheduling software. Finding a car dealership call software that integrates with these other systems is a best practice.

If these tools do not integrate, navigating the different data sources these tools process and store in your fast-paced work environment can be challenging. That's precisely why Calldrip offers an all-in-one approach to sales. Our conversational sales enablement software includes automated business call and text messaging, web chat, sales coaching, call tracking, online review capture, and more. In our solution, your team will have the tools to find, nurture, and convert more leads.

5 Key Factors to Consider When Choosing Call Software for Your Auto Dealership

These are essential factors when choosing a car dealership call software:

1. Speed to Lead
2. Automation and Efficiency
3. Convenience and Mobility
4. Integration
5. Customer Experience 

Let’s take a closer look:

Speed to Lead

As smart sales leaders, we know how important it is to respond to new leads quickly. If your team can contact a lead within five minutes of their first inquiry, you are eight times more likely to make the sale. (That's just one of many speed to lead statistics.)

Calldrip's call response solution was built around this premise. We are experts in rapid lead response, often referred to as speed to lead. 

Please don't just take our word for it. Listen to one of our customers:

"We started using Calldrip…and immediately we saw our connection rate increase. We also received a pleasant response from the customer with praise of speed in which we answered their lead." 

-- Lee Jones, General Sales Manager

Automation = Efficiency 

The beauty of call response software is that some connections are automated, such as intro texts, appointment reminders, and thank you notes. Waiting longer than five minutes to connect can be detrimental to your sales, but the reality is that no human is available 24/7. But with automation at key moments in the buyer’s journey, there’s no need to wait for a salesperson to be available to pick up a message. An immediate, automated, and helpful follow-up text can quickly let the customer know you received their inquiry and will call them as soon as possible.  

With Calldrip's solution, each lead is automatically transferred to the appropriate salesperson's cell and converted into a responding phone call or text. Calldrip's response solution can also create a unique text response for each available car. Learn more by reading our recent blog post, 5 Use Cases for Automotive Text Messaging.  

Convenience & Mobility

No tech solution should keep you tied to a desk. This is particularly true in the fast-paced and dynamic auto sales environment.. The best car dealership call softwares will enable your team to be productive on-the-go, with their mobile phone. 

Calldrip's call response software makes it easy to respond to inquiries from anywhere via cell phone. However, your dealership maintains all relevant customer data within the software. Our routing technology keeps your data centralized and accessible, even while it helps your sales team be more nimble.

Integrate With Your Other Tools

If your team uses a CRM or other software, it's crucial to choose a car dealer call software that will integrate with those solutions to avoid redundancies. 

Calldrip's call response solution integrates with many leading automotive industry CRMs, including VinSolution, ELead and DealerSocket. 

Customer Experience

It’s important to meet your consumers where they are, and communicate with them in ways that they find valuable, simple, and convenient. Even though the Google study we cited above showed that many car shoppers prefer a call to communicate with dealers, plenty of consumers want to engage with brands over text. In general, 90% of sales leads would rather be texted than contacted by a company via call. 

Your call response software should be equipped to handle both calls and texts so you can interact with your customers the way they prefer. This personalization can lead to brand loyalty and, ultimately, sales. 

Does Your Car Dealership Call Software Include Texting? 

Some dealerships today ask the question, “Should we be calling or texting our leads and customers?” The reality is that you should be prepared for both - and more. A successful sales team has every communication tool available, so that you can use the one best for each situation. Don’t skimp on any one communication channel. Meeting your customers where they are is not just a catchphrase. It's a smart sales strategy.

Businesses with lead engagement strategies over multiple channels retain about 89% of their customers, compared to 33% for companies that don't offer customers the ability to engage with them over multiple communication channels. 

Also, automobile shoppers typically shift between channels four times or more. And they expect their personal preferences to be shared between those channels, so they don't have to repeat them over and over. 

The data clearly shows how essential a system that allows your team to deploy a multi-channel sales strategy can be to your bottom line. This is why you need Calldrip’s car dealership call software.

Our all-in-one conversational sales enablement platform includes calling, texting, and web chat. Even better, we empower your team with rapid lead response, sales coaching, call tracking and even automated business text messaging.

The best car dealership call software makes your job easier, not more difficult. Our experts at Calldrip want your team to have the tools they need to connect successfully with every prospect, every time. That commitment is one reason why we're consistently ranked among the best car dealership software companies in the world. 

Want to see how our car dealership call software can turbo charge your sales team? Book a free demo today.