ContactAtOnce! customer Toyota Sunnyvale has one of the most successful internet departments in the country. In this AIN video Adam Simms shares some statistics and best practices, including the importance of chat in their overall process.

Today ContactAtOnce! announced a new feature called Chat Rollover and a new managed service for answering chats on a dealer’s behalf. Both represent significant announcements that will be of interest to readers of this blog.

From the press release:

“Sales people in the dealership are very effective answering a shopper’s questions and setting appointments, so we strongly prefer that they handle our chat leads,” said Drew Fitchett, Owner of North Penn Imports VW Mazda in Colmar, PA. “That said, there are times during the business day and certainly after-hours, when our sales people are not able to answer, yet we still want our prospects to be able to connect with someone immediately. The ContactAtOnce! rollover feature intelligently forwards leads during those times, and ContactAtOnce! managed live chat personnel have demonstrated excellence in handling rollover leads exactly how our dealership wants them handled.”

When I was younger I was told to engage my brain before using my mouth.  Today I teach engage your brain before using your mouth, mouse or keyboard.
 
I have worked with Auto Dealerships all over the U.S. for the last 10 years helping them install or improve processes to drive more customers to their showrooms via their phones and the internet, and when I first saw Contact at Once I was floored…finally a tool to break through the clutter and allow a customer to engage in conversation without all of the usual flaming hoops like enter your age, pin # and social security number and we’ll get back to you soon (with an impersonal auto response I might add).
 
Since I first saw this tool I have helped many of my Client Dealers implement this tool and without exception they have seen measurable upticks in their business, and in some stores the increase has been huge.
 
In today’s more demanding business climate I have not seen a better, more user friendly or more cost effective way to increase traffic and sales than the Contact at Once chat software. I recommend it to anyone who would like to have more returns from their internet presence, and I look forward to sharing some of the tips and techniques that I’ve developed.

Cambria Automobiles Holdings Ltd, a UK ContactAtOnce! customer and one the fastest growing dealer groups in the UK, today issued a press release highlighting the business benefits that chat has delivered for them.   It is a very impressive story.  Below is an excerpt, but read the full release here for a great example of what chat can do for a business.

“Cambria has a history of innovative online marketing initiatives”, said Ian Godbold, Head of Group Marketing at Cambria Automobiles Holdings Ltd. “but we could never have anticipated the magnitude of the business benefits derived from adding live chat to our websites including, most notably, increased sales that are the direct result of making our associates more accessible to in-market car shoppers.” 

Cambria has documented results showing that 50% of consumers who initially contact a dealership via chat will ultimately go on to supply their full contact details and visit the dealership.