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Your competitors still haven’t caught on—incorporate the automatic text message into your dealership’s sales department and reap the benefits
The life of an auto salesperson is fun, but let’s be honest—it can be pretty hectic, too. Sure, there are times when the dealership is slow and you have to push your sales team to send out emails, make calls, and prospect a bit. However, there are many more times that you watch them running around like crazy people, trying to juggle test drives, financing talks, follow up calls—and do it all with smiles on their faces.
Much of a salesperson’s busy day just comes with the territory, but what if you could make things easier for them and improve customer interactions as well? If you haven’t looked into automatic text message marketing for your dealership yet, it’s time.
7 Ways the ability to send an automatic text message is an industry game-changer
1. More focus on closing the sale
Customer contact and follow up is essential in auto sales, but automatic text message marketing takes some of that off your salespeople’s plates. Less time typing up emails means more time making deals.
2. Get the quickest customer response possible
When you send an automatic text message through AutoRaptor, you can use templates that have both an email and text version so the CRM can work best with the contact information that’s available. If both versions are available, AutoRaptor will always send a text message first—the feature is designed to get the quickest response possible, which has proven to be through text messaging.
3. A little work upfront saves a ton of time in the long run 
In the beginning, you’ll need to put some time and thought into setting up templates for different scenarios—for example, first follow up, appointment reminder, two day follow up, and so on. You’ll also create action plans that will determine when these texts get sent out. However, once the initial work is done, your salespeople can trust that each automatic text message is going out when it’s supposed to.
4. Fewer lost leads
It’s hard to say just how many leads your salespeople lose when they forget to follow up with a customer in a timely fashion. Setting up automatic text messages to go off when certain actions are performed ensures you stay top-of-mind with customers.
5. Creates a more personal experience
There’s something personal about sending a text message because it goes right to an individual’s own phone that they may be holding in their hand. Instead of a customer weeding through their email inbox to get to a message from your dealership, it’s delivered straight to them.
6. It’s what your customers want
According to the J.D. Power 2017 U.S. Customer Service Index Study, customers prefer text as a channel of communication—but very few dealers are actually meeting the demand. Give your customer what they want, and do it better than the competition.
7. Automatic text message marketing breeds loyalty
The J.D. Power study also says proactive communication is a factor that directly influences customer loyalty. When customers were contacted by phone, 55% said they’d definitely return to a dealership for paid service work; 67%, however, said the same when text messages were used.
Do a compliance check before you send your first automatic text message
Having the ability to send automatic texts through your CRM can be invaluable, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have any rules to follow—it’s the auto industry. Did you expect to get out of this without thinking about compliance?
Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, you’re required to obtain “prior express written consent” from an individual to send them texts. Written consent can be given with a handwritten signature, via email, a website form, or a text message. When you use AutoRaptor as your CRM, it’s easy to keep track of whether a customer has consented to text messages.
In addition to obtaining prior written consent, there are some ground rules for text messaging that you should always follow. For example, an automatic text message should be short, sweet, and to the point. Identify yourself in initial texts, so there’s no confusion. And finally, if a customer responds back to your auto text and it requires a response from you, try to send it as quickly as possible to keep them engaged.
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