With today’s inventory shortages and heightened competition, customer retention is more important than ever —the Power of Leads report can help
More than ever, engagement and retention are critical to a dealership’s long-term success. The Power of Leads report gives dealers the information they need to send their customers timely, targeted communications that keep them engaged.
Joe Randazzo, senior sales associate, Coral Springs Honda in Coral Springs, Florida, appreciates these exclusive reports of his dealership’s active Honda Financial Services (HFS) customers. The reports include customer contact information, what they own or lease, and when they bought it, as well as their payment amount, maturity date and other information that allows a sales associate to make targeted offers to that customer.
“I have a system where I will send out a minimum of 50 emails out of Power of Leads every morning,” Randazzo says. “Probably 10% of the people will contact me back,” Randazzo says. “Then I will go over their estimated—and I always use the word estimated—payoff and the estimated equity that they have, and that catches their interest right away.”
In November 2021, HFS added five new fields to Power of Leads: prequalified, prequalified date, prequalified amount, prequalified payment amount and expiration date. “With these new fields, dealers can go in with confidence when they have conversations with their customers about getting them into a new retail or lease contract,” says Jon Eldridge, assistant vice president, Sales and Marketing, American Honda Finance Corporation.
“Power of Leads is our way of providing dealerships with a tool that they can use to help build customer retention,” Eldridge says. “Dealers can review the information that’s in Power of Leads, and then contact their customers to start or continue building relationships. As customers near the end of their retail or lease contracts, dealers can start to understand what those customers are likely to do next.”
Eldridge recommends that dealers have a dedicated individual or group of people working on Power of Leads, making sure they understand the report and are reaching out to their dealer relations manager if they need additional training to understand the data.
That data is more important now than ever, he adds. “In these times, with challenging inventory, you might see customers who are approaching the end of their leases and their preferred vehicles are not in stock. They may not even be on order,” he says. Talk with these customers about using any of the current programs that are available—and maybe show them the benefits of another model.
“The other important piece right now is that retaining these customers is so important to all of us,” Eldridge says. “If the model or trim that they want is not available, we want the customers to understand what end-of-term benefits we can offer, such as extending a maturity date. For instance, a customer might qualify for a three-month extension on their maturity date and that allows more time for you to get that specific model they want. Power of Leads is a valuable tool right now in this market environment.”
Randazzo adds that he’s found Power of Leads an essential resource in every market environment. “I’ve been using it probably for the last 10 years—I go to every lead,” he says. “It gives me all the information I need to make a deal.”
AT YOUR FINGERTIPS
In November 2021, HFS added five new fields to Power of Leads: