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Automotive Dealer Resources

Use our free resources to help you along the road to the sale. Our email templates have been remarkably useful for our automotive dealer clients. Use some or all but do check them out. We encourage you to incorporate them into your sales process.

The Magic behind Email

40% of internet shoppers will not convert into a phone call opportunity.

You take 100 leads per month. 40% of that number is 40 leads.

If you properly engage with those 40 people, half of them will result in two way email conversations. That leaves with you 20 additional opportunities to sell a car if you haven’t engaged the right way in the first quality response email.

Statistics show that half of those additional opportunities will come into your showroom. Now we have 10 additional customers per rep in the showroom that should close at 50%. Consider that! What does 5 additional sales per BDC rep or salesperson look like in your store? How many reps are there? In most cases, this can equate to 15 more cars per month per store.

To get here, we must command the customer’s respect and to do that, we must make sure our reply is straightforward, to the point, brief, planned in advance and most importantly, professional.

Read on to find out how to do this.

1
Become a Lead Detective
First, you must be a “lead detective”. View the full lead and look for “clues” Notes, specifics, trim level, trade info. Check the source of the lead. Sometimes that will tell you all you need to known when the consumer does not put specific info in the actual lead.
2
Address Questions and Concerns
If there is a question or concern, address it right away upfront before getting into what you want to say. Remember, at this point, they don’t know you and they don’t care what you want to say. They want to get their questions answered. We wouldn’t ignore a customer’s question if we were face to face, would we? So why is it okay to do that in an email?
3
Identify Needs
Learn to identify the need or want, even if the customer does not spell it out for you in the comments. This is why being a “lead detective” is so important.
4
Proofread!
Pay particular attention to how your email looks when it is finished. Check the spacing in particular. Is there too much space between each paragraph or question? I see this often. Remember, this is something that does not exhibit professionalism. It screams amateur and ignorance.
5
Include Three Qualifying Questions
Always include 3 qualifying questions about the product. Questions create engagement. If we do not ask any, and only make statements, there is no reason for the customer to reply to your email. If the customer has already clearly defined what they want in their vehicle in the lead, ask questions confirming their choices.
More often than not, when a customer is on a website and submitting a lead, it is overwhelming and they start checking a bunch of options they may or may not want.
6
Incentives
Always include an incentive. Mention both factory and dealer incentives. Including an incentive may eliminate price questions because it gives the customer an idea of what they would spend.
7
Trade in Question
Take caution with the trade in question. While we want you to ask it as another way of creating engagement, make sure you looked for “clues” in the lead when you first received it. If the trade is mentioned, do not ask what they are driving. Instead acknowledge the make and model and ask some questions about the condition, mileage etc., just as we would over the phone.
8
Ready a Pre-Owned Response
If the internet lead is on a used car, you should have an appropriate preowned response that is similar to the used car phone script intro.
9
The Trade Tool response is Different
If the internet lead comes from your “value your trade tool,” your reply should focus on the trade classification “sell” you would use over the phone.

Email Template Samples

Use these templates with your CRM.

Pre-Owned Lead Response

Dear Mary,

My name is Saul Goodman. I have received your purchase request on the 2020 Toyota Tacoma. That vehicle is still available, but I did want to ask you if that was the exact vehicle you are looking for, or if you just settled on something in our online inventory. That may seem like a strange question but the reason I ask is because what you see on autotrader.com is really just a small sample of our total selection. We sell so many new cars and take in so many trades here, that it makes it almost impossible to keep the internet 100% up to date as soon the vehicles become available.

With that being said, would you also consider a year older or a year newer if it met with your requirements? Besides the Tacoma, are there any other makes or models you would consider?

When is a good time for us to get together? Would today or tomorrow be better for you?

Trade-In Tool Response

Dear Mary,

My name is Saul Goodman. I received your request for a value on your 2017 Nissan Altima. The request says your Altima has 56,521 miles on it and is in very good condition. Is this correct information?

If so, I must tell you that your Altima sounds like it would make a perfect student car for us. You see, this time of year, we get a ton of inquiries from parents who are looking for first time cars for their children who are preparing for college in September. Generally, most consumers believe they are better off selling these types of cars privately. Because this is such a common misconception, we are left with few to none of those types of vehicles so it is impossible for us to meet the consumer demand for them in this area. This is great for you because this means my pre-owned manager will be all over this car and pay you top dollar for it!

When is a good time for us to get together? Would today or tomorrow be better for you?

The First Quality Response

Be sure to read the analysis of this important email.

Dear Mary,

My name is Saul Goodman. I received your purchase request on the 2022 Hyundai Sonata. We do have it available in black. The MSRP is $24,250 on the base model. I will be more than happy to provide you with the best price on the vehicle you want, but in order to do that I need to ask you some questions about what you are looking for so I can price it out accurately for you.

How familiar are you with the Sonata?
Did you want yours with cloth or leather interior?
Is navigation important to you?
Did you want it with or without a sun roof?

I also wanted to make sure you knew that Hyundai is currently leasing the Sonata for as low as $269.00 per month until the end of February, or they will give you an additional $500.00 in customer cash towards your purchase price.

Lastly, we are in dire need of vehicles to replenish our pre-owned inventory. What are you driving now?

Let's break this email down now and point out what each item is and why it is there:

Dear Mary,

My name is Saul Goodman. I received your purchase request on the 2022 Hyundai Sonata. We do have it available in black. The MSRP is $24,250 on the base model. I will be more than happy to provide you with the best price on the vehicle you want,

(Here I answer the questions before I even get into anything else, Assuming the question in the lead I received was, “Do you have a black one in stock and what is your best price?”)

but in order to do that I need to ask you some questions about what you are looking for so I can price it out accurately for you.

Here are 4 qualifying questions to create engagement/a reason for her to talk to me:

How familiar are you with the Sonata?

Did you want yours with cloth or leather interior?

Is navigation important to you?

Did you want it with or without a sun roof?

I also wanted to make sure you knew that Hyundai is currently leasing the Sonata for as low as $269.00 per month until the end of February, or they will give you an additional $500.00 in customer cash towards your purchase price.

Here is my trade question -a last ditch effort to engage.

Lastly, we are in dire need of vehicles to replenish our pre-owned inventory. What are you driving now?

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