The days inside a Powersports dealer can be hectic. Prospects walk through the door, phones ringing with customers calling to order parts and schedule service.
Employees get pulled in multiple directions but when everyone works as a team, customers are satisfied, and new sales are closed. One solution that can aid in improving team efficiency and the customer experience driving sales growth is VoIP.
So What Is VoIP?
VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol. In layman’s terms, it is a phone service that is provided through an existing internet connection. Over the years, it has become popularized with more flexibility and can even reduce costs.
With that being said, here are six reasons why Powersports dealers are choosing VoIP:
1. Improved Customer Experience (CX)
According to Forbes, 86% of buyers will pay more for a great customer experience. On the other hand, 32% will leave a brand they love after one bad experience.
One of the reasons Powersports dealers are rethinking their current phone system is because they lack features that can provide a quality CX. Nothing is more frustrating to a customer than calling-in and either being put on hold for an extended period or transferred around to multiple employees before they reach the right person. Contrary to many phone systems, VoIP was designed to provide a quality CX.
With an IVR, also known as an auto-attendant, the call-in greeting that customers hear can be your voice recorded instructing the customer to make a selection.
For example:
“Thank You for calling Rusty’s Powersports. For over 20 years, we’ve had the pleasure of serving customers like you from all across the state and the honor of being awarded as the state’s number one Powersports dealer. Please make your selection from the following options:
For sales, press one. To request a part, press two. To schedule a service, press three. To hear hours of operation, press four. For all other inquiries, press five or stay on the line”.
By creating this option, the customer doesn’t need to be transferred around or wait on hold if all lines are occupied. Even if one department is busy, like sales, VoIP is intelligent enough to allow for a back-up queue to ring a department like service. That way zero, customers have to wait. Or, if an employee answers a call and has to place a customer on-hold, they can enhance the customer experience by listening to on-hold commercials that advertise products, services, and/or specials. In fact, callers stay on the line 25% longer when provided with on-hold messages than compared to ‘dead air’ ‘music’.
Aline is a cloud-based, VoIP phone system that makes your business more efficient and easier to manage.
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2. Mobility for Salespeople
Everyone knows that a sales role isn’t usually a 9-5. You get pulled in multiple directions. Customers can call at any time, new prospects walk-in to inquire about a new bike, or you may need to help a customer outside load a bike into their truck. Regardless, salespeople need to be available and always on their toes. The next sale is always just around the corner.
One way that VoIP is giving salespeople more flexibility is with a mobile app. To simply put it, a mobile phone app is your business phone, in the form of an app on your cell phone. When making outbound calls to prospects and customers, the caller ID is always the business number and not the personal cell phone number. With this tool, salespeople never have to provide their personal cell-phone number to clients and risk being contacted when they don’t want to be.
Another advantage of the VoIP and a mobile app is that each employee can be assigned their direct number. If salespeople would like to be more personable, they can tell prospects to call them on their direct number anytime. They can even advertise this phone number on their business card so that customers can contact them directly.
3. Adaptable to the Customer’s Preferences
One way that retail businesses have adapted during the COVD-19 is pandemic are the tools used to interact with customers. For those customers who want to reduce their number of visits to a minimum, video conferencing has become popularized and, in some cases, more popular than a phone call.
By putting a face to a name, video conferencing from a VoIP provider like Aline allows for a more intimate conversation and a personable CX. It’s especially helpful for salespeople who thrive on face-to-face interaction. Plus, they’re able to read their customer’s body language rather than solely talking on the phone.
4. Pandemic Proof
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses struggled to adapt their employees to working remotely. One of the reasons was because employees weren’t equipped with the right technology. For those businesses not using VoIP as their phone provider, their operations became complicated. The best solution companies implemented was to forward the lines to an external number(s) and ask employees to use their cell phones when calling customers. Problems arose from this like customers calling employees at all hours on their cell phones and the inability to transfer calls to employees. This frustrated employees and customers alike.
Are you ready to make the switch from your landline phones to a VoIP Solution?
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Aline, for example, is flexible enough to be used from home or anywhere and users never have to provide their cell phone number. With VoIP, users can still transfer calls like they were in the office and choose to use either a desktop phone, mobile app, or softphone. To avoid an operational nightmare in the future, businesses are choosing solutions that are easily transferable to working remotely.
In addition, VoIP is also helping employees stay connected with each other and reduce loneliness triggered by working remotely. Video conferencing has made it possible to communicate and feel like you’re still in the office. Employees and teams never feel too far away
5. Streamlined Communication
Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS) such as landlines lack key features that streamline communication with customers and employees. For example, internal chat allows employees to send messages to each other without the need to leave their workstation to ask a question. Also, Department group chats can be set-up as for any communication that is reserved for the entire department. For salespeople who are on the floor or outside, the ability to send a receive chats keeps through a mobile app keeps everyone informed with no delays and maximizes efficiency.
6. Solving the Blind Transfer Issue.
Another difficulty some Powersports dealers face is when they need to check if another employee is free for a call before they transfer it. Or, they’ll transfer the call blindly not knowing that the other employee is on a call which results in a missed call or voicemail. This can upset the customer if they expected that they were going to speak with the intended employee. Also, if employees are not physically near one another, it’s impossible to see who’s available and who isn’t. A softphone application solves this. This tool allows users to view who is on a call and who isn’t without rubbernecking or having to leave the workstation. Even if the employee that the customer wants to speak with is on a call, this can be communicated. Then, the inbound caller decides if they want to leave a message or be transferred to their intended voicemail box.
Conclusion
2020 is a year that taught everyone to be adaptable to change. Moving forward, businesses like Powersports dealers have the opportunity to adapt to new ways that benefit employees, CX, and drive continued sales growth.
Click here to schedule a live walk through and see firsthand why Powersports dealers are staying ahead of the competition by switching to VoIP.