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Provoking a Used Car lead

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JesseJ

JesseJ

Boss
Mar 22, 2011
113
5
First Name
Jesse
#1
I've been having trouble with this. When we get a used car lead, it is usually on a vehicle that does not yet have pictures or pricing. It's just a request for one of the two or both. Once I provide either pictures or pricing I usually never hear from them again or can't get a hold of said individuals. This obviously helps me eliminate the idea of removing pricing to generate leads.

In my experience, our used car listings (Website, Cars.com, etc) generate more walk in traffic than internet leads. Am I wrong to expect otherwise? I try and add comments to every vehicle but there is no real way to track that or quantify the effectiveness. Any ideas? I've scoured these forums so I'd be surprised if I missed a topic but I could have. Thanks in advance!
 
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#2
Jesse,

No pics or no price does jack up lead counts. But, it pisses off shoppers and they don't return to your site. Fact remains that 9 out of ten of your BUYERS were on your site prior to purchase AND less than a few percent of them sent in a lead.

think about it.

Think about how the work of the picture taking, comment writing ISM helps ALL the other reps.

It's madness.

IMO, if you don't get paid for Internet Merchandising (pics and comments), then by all means DONT DO ANY and use your spare time to call and call and call and email and email some more.
 
#3
Well I do get a base salary, although my pay plan is heavily commission based. It has treated me well mind you. We don't have enough used cars in our inventory for it to be a headache to maintain. The question just popped in my head, "If I'm shopping for a used car, why would I request information?"

Basically, I'm going to look at the pictures, see if I like the vehicle and if I do I'll likely show up to the dealership. Maybe that's just inevitable because it is...well...logical.
 
#4
JesseJ said:
"If I'm shopping for a used car, why would I request information?"

Basically, I'm going to look at the pictures, see if I like the vehicle and if I do I'll likely show up to the dealership. Maybe that's just inevitable because it is...well...logical.
Click to expand...

This was a tough reality to swallow. In the old days of the internt, the strategy (or was it a tactic, Joe? ;) was to capture a phone number and call, call, call. So tools and processes were developed to capture information.

But now there's Internet 2.0 -- the game has changed, and it was hard for an old-school guy like me to accept. Basically, the thinking is that you now have to give the client just about everything they want -- when they want it -- to "earn" them. It helps me to keep the mind-set that my "lot" is no longer just that pavement outside of my door. My Lot is whereever a potential client happens to be browsing my inventory.

There's Pro's and Con's, but it is what it is.
 
#5
JesseJ said:
In my experience, our used car listings (Website, Cars.com, etc) generate more walk in traffic than internet leads. Am I wrong to expect otherwise? I try and add comments to every vehicle but there is no real way to track that or quantify the effectiveness. Any ideas? I've scoured these forums so I'd be surprised if I missed a topic but I could have. Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...

If you want this to change, concentrate on your marketing. You can't "try" to add comments. That is how you hook the customer.

Yesterday, I was talking to a GM at a Toyota dealership. They are an AutoTrader Alpha dealer. I selected the first car in his Alpha advertisement and this is his actual dealer comments:

Hey!!! Look right here!!! Dare to compare!!! What a great deal!!! Who could say no to a simply outstanding SUV, like this outstanding-looking 2008 Toyota 4Runner?

This 4Runner was priced right but it was the first Limited, about five places down on the search result page.
Limited should be the first thing in the comments to separate it from the SR5s above. I pulled the CarFax and
not only was it a one owner vehicle but it was originally purchased and serviced at that store. This was also
Toyota certified with no mention of what that provided to the customer.

You want to have customers engage your Internet department? Work on you dealer comments. Tell a story and provide a call to action.
 
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#6
Here is an article from 2008 over on the blog. Does too much information equal less leads? | DealerRefresh

There was a great string of comments but for some reason they're not showing. I'll try and see if I can find out what is going on here.


I was in the market for a vehicle not too long ago and I found myself getting pissed off at the dealership/websites that did not have the information that I was looking for. I got frustrated and moved on to another dealership website.

Your website has a major influence on your floor traffic. I recommend providing all the right value build information to the consumer.
 
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#7
It's very interesting Jeff. It's all about finding that medium seemingly. I think pictures are a must. Price is a must but I sometimes try to provoke further interest with internet prices, specials and that sort of thing. It isn't as successful as I'd like but I've had some success. I'm still working on it. Part of the issue is our klunky dealer connection website. Until I can force a change their my inventory options are limiting.
 
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