Study: Car Dealership Stars Stand Out on Phone Calls
“Active listening is the key to building meaningful connections with prospective car buyers over the phone,” says Marchex’s Matt Muilenburg.
Top-performing car salespeople actively listened, laughed more at the right times and said the magic words (“please” and “thank you”) during phone calls with customers 179% more often than bottom performers.
That’s according to a study by analytics company Marchex that analyzed 6,200 U.S. dealership sales conversations during January.
Top performers, defined in the report as the top 25% of salespeople, relied on active listening techniques. Those include repeating and clarifying information and consequently providing callers with relevant feedback.
The study benchmarked salespeople’s specific phone-conversation goals. Those center on getting inbound callers to schedule an appointment to either look at or test drive a vehicle.
The findings show top sales performers:
Requested the caller’s name 163% more often than bottom performers did.
Provided their direct contact information to callers 40% more often than bottom performers – and got the caller’s contact information, as well.
Said “please” and “thank you” 99% of the time, while lower performers used these phrases 89% of the time.
Laughed on more than half of their calls, which kept the calls positive and helped relax the caller.
Matt Muilenburg Headshot resized_0