When a prospective customer comes in to your store, you know that you have more than a 50-50 chance of penning a deal before he or she walks out, a show-to-close ratio that is almost unheard of in other businesses. Despite the already high chances of making a sale, there are always little things we can and should be doing to help increase those chances. The AutoHook coupon redemption process, as simple as it is, gives you an opportunity to increase those chances. When a customer visits your dealership website and fills out the web overlay form to receive a $25 reward card when she comes in to your dealership, this person is making a conscious decision to give you her contact information, which is something that should not be taken lightly, especially in this day in age where privacy protection and control are of increasing importance.
During the redemption process where you enter the customer's coupon code into the AutoHook redemption tool, entering the person's shipping information offers a perfect opportunity to build on your rapport with the customer who is now one step closer towards buying a vehicle from your dealership. Even though this process can be made optional by your AutoHook admin, which should only be done on rare special occasions that we can't think of good examples for, spending the 30 to 45 seconds it takes to enter the info will prove to be a far better use of everyone's time than not doing so.
Here is why...
If no address is input by your team at the time of redemption, an email is automatically sent by the AutoHook system to the customer that contains a link for him or her to click on and submit her shipping information. This is set up this way as a measure to make sure a shipping address is supplied. After all, with no shipping address, no reward card can be shipped.
The problem with this is that now you are putting responsibility back onto the customer who already a.) gave you her contact info and b.) came in to your dealership with her coupon code. If you put the responsibility back onto the customer then you run the risk of her not receiving her reward card.
Think about this from the customer's perspective. It could ruin every bit of rapport you built with that person, all because you did not want to be inconvenienced with entering a street address, city, state, and zip code. IT'S NOT WORTH IT. ENTER THE INFO.
Use the Redemption Process to Build Rapport
The redemption process truly is a terrific way for your personnel to build rapport with walk-ins. If a staff member finds this to be a nuisance, we want to encourage him to think about it differently.
You are literally giving someone a $25 reward card for coming in to meet with you. We all know what a great feeling it is to give people something like this, and sales associates can use the redemption process as an opportunity to make someone happy BEFORE going into the selling process. It takes less than a minute to do this the right way up front and it is time very well spent because it minimizes if not eliminates the potential for hassle, headache, and upset customers that do not receive their card.
Always Redeem the Coupon
On a similar note, failing to enter redemption codes is the #1 reason for your AutoHook numbers to appear lower in your reports than they actually are. We see it all the time. Sales associates find ways around redeeming peoples’ reward cards for coming in and while you might still be selling more cars as a result, the reports can show a lower lead-to-show ratio as a result, which misrepresents the true picture.
Be sure to enforce the process of redeeming all coupon codes that are brought in, and be sure your staff members are also entering the shipping information. This 30- to 45-second process will go a long way for your dealership when you are consistent with this.
Advanced Tips and Best Practices
For more tips like this and to keep abreast with our best practices, register for our Advanced AutoHook Users Webinar Series which runs on the 18th of every month at 11:30am EST.
