Whenever we get these call's I usually look at the caller ID, If they are a regular customer I try to look them up first while I am creating chit chat. If they are new I try to ask them how they found us and so on. Also if their name is on the caller ID i usually refer to them and this usually catches them off guard. After that always try to get the vehicle in the shop and I always point to the differences in parts so we need to make sure that its apples to apples, most of the time if you see the pattern of phone shoppers its usually the same type of jobs. Brakes, Tune-ups and exhaust, at least this is my experience in my shop. When I can get them to my shop the closing rate just increased because they saw that I took time to talk to them and not hurry them off the phone. Also if you know that they are coming in after you get them off the phone make sure that you acknowledge them, in my shop sometimes this is the hardest customer to win over, but treat them with kindness and respect and this usually will make the next step easier.
This topic sure creates discussion......