Almost Everyone Texts Today. How About Your Dealership?

Your customers are busy. They don’t want to have to read lengthy emails or take voice phone calls from your dealership when they could be receiving and sending convenient text messages instead.

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2 MIN READ

Race against time. Time is money. Time is of the essence. And here’s one your salespeople know well: time kills deals.

What links these phrases is the reality that your customers are busy. Yes, they want to buy a vehicle, but they want to do it efficiently and quickly. This means they don’t want to have to read lengthy emails or take voice phone calls from your dealership when they could be receiving and sending convenient text messages instead.

As of early 2018, 95% of U.S. adults now own a mobile phone. Among adults ages 18-29, the percentage is 100%. You can be certain that your customers are equipped with devices that can send and receive texts, and 9 out of 10 consumers say they want to be able to do business via texting.

Texting to engage customers

Text conversations may seem fleeting, but industry research shows that an average messaging session, from initial message to last message, lasts 86 minutes. That’s obviously not a continuous back-and-forth for 86 minutes, but considering that the vast majority of consumers have notifications turned on for the native SMS texting app on their smartphones, the potential for both immediate and convenience-driven two-way communication is definitely there.

Texting also tends to feel more personal than any other forms of communication, in part because it’s so immediate and also because it seems less formal than an email or phone call. It’s also a quick and easy way to send a photo or video, which can really come in handy during initial vehicle purchase conversations.

Maintaining accountability when texting

It’s easy to understand the why of texting for automotive salespeople, but it’s equally important to consider the how. As with any form of customer communication, it’s vital to record each conversation in the CRM. If a salesperson uses their personal device rather than the CRM to send texts, you’ll end up with an incomplete view of the customer’s contact history.

Using the texting capabilities of your CRM is the best way to ensure that your sales team can provide a seamless customer experience, even if the salesperson changes.

Interested in learning more about how you can use VinSolutions’ Connect Texting to communicate with customers? Schedule a demo!