Mercedes-Benz Omni-Lead Program with Urban Science

[Jeff Kershner]

Another manufacturer getting into the lead business for "their" dealers.

Mercedes Benz has started a new 3rd party lead program for all their Mercedes dealers. They are calling it the "Omni-Leads Program" while going through Urban Science

In an effort to better position our dealers to succeed in capturing all potential leads Mercedes-Benz has developed the Omni-Leads program. Slated to launch on April 19th, 2010, MBUSA will purchase leads directly from leading 3rd party sites such as Edmunds and Cars.com and pass those on to dealers, based on AOI, at a substantial savings versus what most sites charge to individual dealers. We foresee this program benefiting dealers by achieving the following key objectives:

1 - The capture of all potential 3rd party leads in the market place
2 - De-duplication of all leads (3rd Party vs. 3rd Party, 3rd Party vs. MBUSA.com leads)
3 - Overall lower cost per lead via a flat rate
4 - Simplified program management - one source for all 3rd party leads, sent out by MBUSA

Dealers do have the option of Opting out of the program with no ramifications so that's a good thing.

History has showed me that these OEM/Manufacturer Lead programs usually don't fare too well. You're usually getting all the leads that the other lead brokers were not buying. Not saying this one will fall under that domain, but I'm curious if there are any other Mercedes dealers here in the forums giving this a shot or did you decide to Opt out.

What has been your experience with other Manufacturer/OEM lead programs that are outsourced to Urban Science or another lead service that captures and distributes customer leads from a variety of sources?

 

[Mitchell Brenner]

Hi Jeff,

When I was at Mercedes the website and leads were the worst. We very rarely received a quality lead from MB and the SEO was none existent. That was about a year ago and I had many conversations with the powers that be that never amounted to anything. At Acura it's completely different. The OEM leads and the leads Acura supplies from Edmunds are excellent and we do a very decent job with them. They supply them at no cost and we always generate 5 - 8 sales a month from them. Knowing Mercedes like I do I wouldn't bank on viable leads. I used to buy leads from everywhere and I just don't buy 3rd party leads anymore because they are so watered down so I can imagine leads that I have no control over. So far Mercedes hasn't done much right with Internet marketing so I doubt they will now.

Another manufacturer getting into the lead business for "their" dealers.

Mercedes Benz has started a new 3rd party lead program for all their Mercedes dealers. They are calling it the "Omni-Leads Program" while going through Urban Science



Dealers do have the option of Opting out of the program with no ramifications so that's a good thing.

History has showed me that these OEM/Manufacturer Lead programs usually don't fare too well. You're usually getting all the leads that the other lead brokers were not buying. Not saying this one will fall under that domain, but I'm curious if there are any other Mercedes dealers here in the forums giving this a shot or did you decide to Opt out.

What has been your experience with other Manufacturer/OEM lead programs that are outsourced to Urban Science or another lead service that captures and distributes customer leads from a variety of sources?