The buying process that takes place when a prospect decides to purchase an RV can be a long one. It can also require a lot of time and effort on the part of the salesperson. First, there are the marketing efforts to generate interest in the unit. Once a potential customer has shown interest, the salesperson often needs to stay in touch and follow up with that person for a length of time, answering any questions they may have while maintaining their interest in the purchase (also called lead nurturing).
For a salesperson with several prospects and customers to juggle, managing and providing encouragement throughout the buying process can require a lot of time and energy. This all becomes even more complicated when you introduce online leads into the mix. The sales team may have little to no information about a website visitor, and even if they are serious about buying it can be difficult to identify and keep track of specific leads.
Marketing Automation allows dealers to set up systems that facilitate online marketing activities, eliminating many manual tasks that can be rushed or forgotten in a busy salesperson’s day. Some common dilemmas that can occur without Marketing Automation include handling leads poorly, waiting too long to follow up with leads, lack of customer retention and missed opportunities to up-sell. All of these equate to lost business for the dealership. Marketing Automation allows businesses to send the right messages to the right customers at the right time — costing the salesperson less time and providing greater accuracy in your sales pitch.
While there are many other factors that come into play in implementing Marketing Automation, Lead Scoring is really at the heart of it all when it comes to saving time for your dealership’s sales team. This is a customizable process for your dealership. While some leads that come in look very promising, perhaps because they fill out a specific lead form or respond to an email, others seem less likely to convert.
Your sales team will want to place higher priority in the hotter lead, and Lead Scoring allows for that. It allows dealers to define what’s important to the business and assign scores to specific actions, which add up to an overall Lead Score for each of your online visitors. The sales team can devote less effort in pursuing a lead with a low score, and they’re going to have the time and energy to follow up with higher lead scores as quickly as possible.
Marketing Automation comes with so many possibilities and benefits, but one of the most valuable aspects is how much time it saves for the sales team. They know exactly which leads are the most important to follow up with, and they even know exactly how to follow up with them in a way that they are most likely to respond. Marketing Automation can help protect a dealership’s bottom line, save time, and allow dealers to see the greatest return on investment.