GM 3rd Party Lead Conversion

[jscole86]

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.

Eley, we were in the same process evaluating dropping our GM 3rd party leads. Our close rate on those this past year was 2.4%. And that was a big consumption of our time as well. I decided that we'll continue to use them, but we are going to revamp the approach and process we have for them. We are going to have a short, personalized approach by the sales team (maybe 3 days) to work with the customers that are close to making a purchase, followed by targeted automated (model or body style specific) email campaigns into the future.

 

[Eley Duke]

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.

Eley, we were in the same process evaluating dropping our GM 3rd party leads. Our close rate on those this past year was 2.4%. And that was a big consumption of our time as well. I decided that we'll continue to use them, but we are going to revamp the approach and process we have for them. We are going to have a short, personalized approach by the sales team (maybe 3 days) to work with the customers that are close to making a purchase, followed by targeted automated (model or body style specific) email campaigns into the future.

Kevin and Josh, as always you bring up good points. That is where I am, dump those 3rd party, or possibly put those into an automatic follow-up process. Our Dealer Socket rep was here today and this was part of the conversation. I am thinking about a 3 day push;

Day 1 - Call each - bad # or msg - send email asking a few urgent questions -
Day 3 - No contact - call again - email again
Day 5 - 120 day automated
Day 121 - 6 month touches

If this produces the same 2.2% results, i've freed up a lot of our BDC's time and not lost those deals.

 

[Eley Duke]

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?

So you all bough the BG deal across the street? Congrats, now go buy a bunch of Aleve, and welcome to GM!

Kelly, call me, email me, text, twitter, happy to talk with you anytime.

 

[ddavis]

Eley, at about $4.50/lead, GM knows what their leads are worth. Nissan charged $17.00/lead provided you maintained a low response time and other requirements. If not they went to $19.00. When your COS is nearly $700 it is an easy call.

Nearly a year after I cancelled, the Cobalt rep came by to see me. He showed me that I selling as many of these third party customers as the top guy, in the market, that was still paying for the leads. He felt that I should feel obligated to get back in the program. I thought I was on Candid Camera.