Car buyers today are driving sales at dealerships to record heights. So much so that the automotive industry as a whole is experiencing its largest economic boom in recent years — while steadily expanding its market.

For a dealership to build upon success like this, it must remain competitive with its digital marketing efforts. To help you increase your online exposure, we recommend our six-step digital sales funnel.

Never heard of the digital sales funnel? Back up and develop a stronger understanding by reading this post written by Scott Meyer.

Welcome to part two of our four-part series on the digital sales funnel! If you missed part one on generating auto leads, be sure to read it to learn about the crucial first few steps in making this method work for your dealership.

In this post, we will cover the third and fourth steps of the digital sales funnel in greater detail. Continue reading to find out how you can increase your number of appointments set and shown.

Improve Your Number of Appointments Set & Shown

Leads whom you have already contacted (and who are still interested in hearing from you) are known as your hot leads. After a lead is contacted, the best next step is for them to make an appointment at your store.

What Are Appointments Set?

Appointments set (step #3) refers to the percentage of leads contacted who schedule an appointment at your store. Getting a potential buyer to come to your dealership will dramatically increase your chance of making the sale.

What’s a good conversion rate for your number of appointments set? Anything over 35% is considered above average.

What Are Appointments Shown?

Appointments shown (step #4) refers to the percentage of appointments set that actually come to the dealership. Just because a lead schedules an appointment doesn’t always mean they’ll show up. And if they don’t show up, making a sale gets far more difficult.

What’s a good conversion rate for your number of appointments shown? Anything over 80% is considered above average.

Provide Great Sales & Service Resources Online

So, how can you increase your number of appointments set and shown?

Make it as easy as possible for a lead to set up an appointment with you.

Direct any leads who are looking at your online resources (like VDPs or SERPs) or who are engaging with your emails to call or fill out an online appointment form. Be sure to include your sales and service phone numbers on your website header and footer, near CTAs, on appointment booking pages, and other logical areas.

When contacting a hot lead, use a script for phone calls and a template for emails. Once your staff feels comfortable with the script and template, you can add in personalization for each individual lead.

Have your sales manager call every appointment the day before they are scheduled to show up. Make sure your staff is aware when a hot lead is visiting the store — everyone on the floor should look for these shoppers and be ready to welcome them.

Technology can also help you book more appointments. Marketing automation software can track what people are looking at on your website and when they are clicking your emails, so you can tailor your message to their individual preferences.

There are many tools, like Calendly and HubSpot Sales Pro, that will allow a shopper to set an appointment themselves. That means you can increase your appointments set after hours or if you can’t get ahold of leads.

Setting up an appointment with an automotive marketing lead is one of the best ways to gather contact and vehicle information. Once the lead visits your dealership, your sales team has an opportunity to make a solid first impression and your chance of converting the lead to a sale dramatically increases.

By booking more appointments and bringing more people to your store, you increase your number of sale opportunities.

Get More Appointments Set & Shown at Your Dealership

If you build a digital sales funnel for your auto dealership, you will be able to attract more leads — and do a better job of selling to the leads you already have.

Stay tuned for the third post in this four-part series uncovering the digital sales funnel for your dealership. You can also explore all six steps to building a digital sales funnel here.

Convinced your digital marketing efforts could use some work? Allow us to take action. We have the right tools at hand and the know-how to get you more sales and service opportunities.