GM 3rd Party Lead Conversion

[sweece]

Does anybody have a conversion rate that I can use as a benchmark for GM 3rd party leads? Our conversion rate on them isn't too great and I'm trying to determine if it's because they're poor leads or because our process needs work. Relative to our website lead conversion rate, they're a bit worse -- but I would expect that a bit.

Thanks!

 

[ddavis]

I stopped taking third party leads from the factory because they proved to be low quality, low percentage. I based all of my decisions on ROI. It wasn't GM but I suspect they are from many of the same sources.

 

[sweece]

I stopped taking third party leads from the factory because they proved to be low quality, low percentage.

I agree, they sure aren't the best leads. I guess I was under the impression that we had to take them though? I know GM tracks our response time pretty heavily on those leads.

 

[ddavis]

I agree, they sure aren't the best leads. I guess I was under the impression that we had to take them though? I know GM tracks our response time pretty heavily on those leads.

I don't know about GM but we received some leads that were free, from the factory website. Others, were purchased, from other sources, and that charge was passed on to us. We maintained a very low response time but that was just one of many requirements that had to be met. Honestly, the quality was so poor, I wouldn't take them if they were free. We were closing over 15% of our leads and the factory third party leads were at 1.5%. I didn't have to put up with the factory BS, either.

 

[Joshua Campbell]

I Cant stand the hand raisers with little if any explanation as to the actual lead source.

 

[Eley Duke]

I'd like to revive this and ask a few questions of GM dealers.

Are you getting 3rd party leads from GM?

What is your set, show and close rate on GM 3rd party leads?

How much time are you spending on each 3rd party lead?

Are you using Cobalt as your main site?
If not - how many leads do you get from your Cobalt site?



We get a lot of GM 3rd party leads for our size, usualy 200+ per month, and we only have 2 people in our BDC. Being the only GM dealer with all 4 lines in our area we get a lot more than some much bigger stores do. We can sell anywhere from 1-6, highest has been 8, and we work each one dilligently. We are pushing 300 leads a month currently and we are doing more and more video for our web site lead responses which takes more time of course.

I've recently had our BDC leader tell me about a webinar he was on where a vendor talked about getting to 15% close rate from OEM leads?? He shared with me many GM peoplechimmed in saying hold up, we just want to get to 10%.

So what is everyone seeing with GM 3rd party? How are you handling those?

Thanks,

Eley

 

[ddavis]

6/200 = 3% What percentage, of the population, is in the market to purchase a vehicle, at any given time? Depending on the economy, 2 to 2 1/2 percent? How much are you paying for these leads? At what point, would you be better off just having the BDC call people out of the phone book?

 

[Eley Duke]

6/200 = 3% What percentage, of the population, is in the market to purchase a vehicle, at any given time? Depending on the economy, 2 to 2 1/2 percent? How much are you paying for these leads? At what point, would you be better off just having the BDC call people out of the phone book?

We are paying a flat rate $775 a month. We got 2,058 leads Jan '12 - Jan '13 - and closed 47 - 2.2%. And it's a huge consumption of our time, when they could be focused on our own .com leads that are closing 19% and growing.

I would really like to hear from GM dealers if they are doing GM 3rd party or not.

 

[Kelly Wilson]

Eley,

As I will now have to start taking on the GM leads from the Buick/GMC store across the street that we just bought, I'd love to hear a little more too.

The GM store doesn't have any real web presence beyond the out of the box Cobalt site and what they paid for with iMR at a base level. They have the lowest level of AT and Cars is only what came with a weekly newspaper ad. 9 or less used car pics (not in house) and no new car pics. According to what I can find in what remains of the Contact Management records, they had 25% more "Leads" than we did last month but sold 17% of our total last month.

All leads are not created equal. - I'm up for a learning curve; Who's Pitching?

 

[kevinfrye]

First - how are 3rd party leads obtained? Typically from a clever SEM campaign offering "secret pricing" or "clearance prices", etc, which then takes the shopper to a landing page where they must submit their info to get the "best price" etc...

Second - that lead is then sold or shared with multiple dealers, who all call/email the shopper around the same time.

Third - your sales reps often are met with a hostile reaction as the prospects are often unsure how you got their contact info, and they are aggravated at all of the calls and emails they are receiving.

The leads are difficult to close with all of the competition, and are also hard to sell with a good gross/unit as a result. With all of that said, there is a COST TO YOUR LABOR in working these leads, as well as an cost to the loss of motivation of your sales reps who are working hard and seeing little results with these leads.

With all of that said, you should be calculating your ROI on these leads to include a labor cost (I am showing this at the upcoming Digital Dealer). Closing rate will typically be no higher than 6-8% on average, and gpu lower than average. If you are a dealership that is struggling with enough folks to work your leads, focus your time on your BEST leads which make you the most money, and use a customized, shortened process for your 3rd party leads.

As for GM Handraiser leads - we have sold a few, but most are useless. Remember, they typically gave their info for a free hat, shirt, etc, and then GM tells us they are "ready to buy" shoppers. Right...