Why are the leads so crappy ?

[Deliala]

Hi, I am a P&I Manager. I am hitting a wall with leads. How can our sales go up if people are sending bogus leads and or not ever responding? We are right on top of our responses in timeliness and answering thier questions. I really feel it may have alot to do with the 3rd party lead generators such as auto trader and the actual quality of our leads. IF THE QUALITY WOULD GO UP I AM SURE OUR SALES WOULD TOO. Please what do I do?

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

[FONT=&quot]Deliala,

Please give us more info on who you're using in addition to AutoTrader.

Are phone numbers coming with the leads and are you trying to call them?

Internet leads can take longer to cultivate, do you have a long term follow-up process?
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[JillB]

You can't let yourself get caught up in a few bad apples!

I would also be interested to hear what lead providers you have. We get solid traffic from Autotrader with little to no issue on quality. If you want to increase sales volume you have to have processes in place to encourage that, not just a company to give you more leads. My lead volume has actually went down recently - over the past year or so - and our sales consistently go up. I believe a focus on a high quality website with detailed information, good photos, video, etc bring people to our store - it brings qualified people to our store that are ready to buy! If your store is stuck in an "Internet" pay plan where you only get paid on internet sales, then you've got to bring them out of the stone age. I think that sales person and the online marketing person (whatever titles you want to use), are two very separate positions. I don't sell. I hate it actually! But I market the heck out of my store online because that is what I am good at, and my sales people sell cars, because that is what they are good at.

Jerry is also right - leads don't buy in 24 hours - rarely do they, particularly new car leads. You must have a detailed follow up process for 6 months.

 

[DrewAment]

We also need to look at how online marketing is changing, and what you/dealer does consider a lead. When we look at what we normally consider a "lead" in the internet department, I think allot of us are not looking at the big picture. I would rather call a lead an "opportunity"...email, phone, or walk-in - they should be considered opportunities based on the advertising source that brought them in.

Salesperson: What brought you in?
Customer: I saw your car on the internet
SP: Great, what site?
C: Autotrader.com
SP: Great, let's go find the car.

That is a opportunity (lead) from AutoTrader.com...right? And, should be sourced in the CRM as such....ya right, that happens...but that is a whole other topic.

I know we have seen reports/studies from AutoTrader.com and the likes. Like many of you I was just blowing it off as "they are just trying to validate their low numbers". But, I am slowly becoming a believer. While I am still looking and putting together hard data, my gut is telling me that more and more people ARE just coming in with-out calling or submitting a lead. Floor sales are up, internet department is flat. And for 3rd party leads, IMO, the ones that do submit seem to be "duped" into a lead via a contest sign-up.

I think the days of the "separate" internet department are shortly numbered. Are we ready, can your dealership handled a "melded" sales floor? Start planning now, it is coming sooner than you think!

 

[Deliala]

We do have a process for when leads come in and I am very much on top of making sure every one gets a phone call right away and an e-mail, and the follow up process is done, if the sales people don't get to it I do! That is not the problem our numbers are great if you only factor people we were able to get a hold of or responded back to us via e-mail or a phone call. My problem is the amount of leads from all the different sources we use that never respond or are invalid, bad phone number or none at all or an e-mail address that bounces back. Those are frustrating.

 

[Deliala]

lol yes, I know all of that don't be silly.

 

[mikeelmore]

If the opportunity does not reply to your emails or calls, keep on trying, always be upbeat, relevant, and professional, one day that lead may walk into your office and be ready and willing to do business and will want to close "the loop" with you because you treated them well

If you can't reach the "lead" by the contact info that was supplied, is it really a lead? I learned a long, long time ago that there's a word for these type's of "leads".............................Next!!

 

[danoneil]

We do have a process for when leads come in and I am very much on top of making sure every one gets a phone call right away and an e-mail, and the follow up process is done, if the sales people don't get to it I do! That is not the problem our numbers are great if you only factor people we were able to get a hold of or responded back to us via e-mail or a phone call. My problem is the amount of leads from all the different sources we use that never respond or are invalid, bad phone number or none at all or an e-mail address that bounces back. Those are frustrating.

I would shop your competitors using the same vendors and see what kind of response you get from a competitor. See if competitors are giving info your not.

Does your store send a price quote when it is requested ?

 

[AutoInternetSpecialist]

We do have a process for when leads come in and I am very much on top of making sure every one gets a phone call right away and an e-mail, and the follow up process is done, if the sales people don't get to it I do! That is not the problem our numbers are great if you only factor people we were able to get a hold of or responded back to us via e-mail or a phone call. My problem is the amount of leads from all the different sources we use that never respond or are invalid, bad phone number or none at all or an e-mail address that bounces back. Those are frustrating.

Most lead providers offer a credit or replacement lead for those with invalid emails & unreachable, or disconnected numbers. Have you called your providers and asked them on replacement policy?

 

[Alex Snyder]

Hi, I am a P&I Manager. I am hitting a wall with leads. How can our sales go up if people are sending bogus leads and or not ever responding? We are right on top of our responses in timeliness and answering thier questions. I really feel it may have alot to do with the 3rd party lead generators such as auto trader and the actual quality of our leads. IF THE QUALITY WOULD GO UP I AM SURE OUR SALES WOULD TOO. Please what do I do?

Are you selling or marketing in your responses? If you're selling then you're giving up too much information. Selling, by the way, should only be done on a sales floor. Marketing is spiking curiosity to push people to the next step. It is a tough transition if you come out of sales, but a sales person who gives too much information or "talks himself out of a deal" is exactly what you don't want in an Internet department.

Very simple lead response formula:

2 sentences of response + 1 question at the end that can't be answered with a yes/no = more responses and higher gross

Approach email responses as marketing and stop selling!