How can a dealership answer sales enquiries out of hours?
With an agent that knows your stock and answers at any hour. It picks up the evening call or website chat straight away, answers from your live stock feed, asks what the customer needs, books the test drive into a real slot, and leaves your sales team the transcript for the morning.
Kestrel Automotive Intelligence, Scotland, UK
When customers get in touch
Customers research cars in the evening and at the weekend. A Moneypenny survey of 5,000 UK consumers and 200 automotive businesses, reported by AM-online, found that only 40% of consumers said 9am to 5pm support best met their needs, and 26% wanted access between 5pm and 9pm. Most showrooms are closed by then, so the evening enquiry usually waits until the next morning.
What the agent does after hours
- Answers from live stock. Price, availability and specification come from your stock feed, refreshed as the feed updates. If a car is not on the list, it says so and offers the closest match.
- Finds the right car. It asks about budget, fuel, mileage and how the customer wants to pay, then narrows your stock to the few cars that fit.
- Quotes only what you approve. It gives the representative finance examples you have signed off, and says plainly that your business manager confirms the exact numbers. It does not invent rates or make credit decisions.
- Books the test drive. Into a slot your diary actually offers, confirmed to the customer.
What your team finds in the morning
Every conversation and booking is in the Kestrel console, with the transcript behind each one. Your sales team's first contact is with a customer who already has a slot in the diary, not a missed call to return.
What it leaves to your people
Valuations, negotiations, complaints and credit decisions are left to a person, with the transcript already in front of them. The agent does the lookup and the booking; the conversation that needs judgement stays with your team.
One agent for the website and the phone
The phone line and the website chat run on one agent with one set of rules, one stock source and one diary, so a customer who starts on the website at night and phones in the morning is not asked to start again. Customer data is held in the UK, and Kestrel runs on UK infrastructure under UK law. How the agent answers your phone line.
Questions about this page: hello@kestrel-automotive.com