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CRM. More bad than good?

Speaking of stupid Nazi like Buy or Die sales processes... I just crunched some numbers for one of my clients and surprise, their performance is typical for auto dealers. 62% of their sales happen within one day of a customer contacting them or walking onto their lot. 85% of their sales happen within the first 7 days. Think about that for a moment, you got 7 days to close a lead because after that your odds start to drop like a stone. Only 6% more will buy in the next week, only 3% more the following, and only 2% the week after that. Basically 96% of your sales are going to happen within 30 days if they're going to happen.

The implications are clear, if you can't get a lead engaged, into your store and sold within 7 days your odds of closing a sale are slim. Managers, sales reps and BDCs should concentrate on fresh leads that engage and let the others go. After that, humans should follow up with only leads that are engaged and let the automated systems drip on the rest.

If you're forcing your people to work leads that aren't going to buy to the detriment of ignoring fresh leads that still have a chance, you're a fool that's wasting your money, wasting your employees time and pissing off customers.

And it doesn't really matter what type of lead it is either. Internet, Walk In, Phone, no matter what kind of lead it is it's not getting any fresher.

The only exceptions to this are going to be lease renewals and some loan payoffs. But again, you need to be smart. Identify these customers and start dripping on them with your best people 6 months out once a month.
 
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Hmm, this sounds interesting. Anyone else have input on this? I'm having a challenge with a new internet guy that continues to ignore the non responders he gets, but he has had 2 good months in a row, so I'm paying attention to this. Do you recommend an automated workflow for these non responders, such as the Conversica model? Or just ignore them altogether if they don't engage quickly. I'm after efficiency for the reps, I've done the job and it's tough to keep working a person that won't answer you.
 
Hmm, this sounds interesting. Anyone else have input on this? I'm having a challenge with a new internet guy that continues to ignore the non responders he gets, but he has had 2 good months in a row, so I'm paying attention to this. Do you recommend an automated workflow for these non responders, such as the Conversica model? Or just ignore them altogether if they don't engage quickly. I'm after efficiency for the reps, I've done the job and it's tough to keep working a person that won't answer you.

Your rep is on to something. I strongly suggest that you text your leads. Engagement rates are much higher and much faster. A simple, I sent you an email, but I wanted to ask if you prefer text? It's not commercial and it implies opt in. I followed the three strikes and your out rule for human involvement. Three emails/calls/texts over 3 days and if they didn't engage I let the machines take over. I'd drip on day 5 and day 7 with automated messages. Then once a week for the next three weeks with automated messages. After that, they were marked lost and I'd drip on them with mass emails like everybody else. I also would let my retargeting run for 30 days. It would follow them and if they re-engaged, then we would start the clock again with a "new" lead.

Conversica is great. Really helps stay in touch with leads to make sure nobody falls through the cracks and for re-engagement.
 
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It's easy to blame salespeople. But only half are stereotypical...

It's also easy to blame the software: you need a dual PhD in Computer Science and Psychology to make sense of many of these systems. But they all do some things well...

The success stories I've witnessed -- and there have been quite a few -- have all had a couple of things in common:

1. An abundance of Common Sense at the Management Level.
2. Positive Energy -- a people culture -- established by ownership.

Good people in a good place make good decisions -- and get the most out of whatever tools they're using.

If your best tool is a meat grinder, well...enjoy your salisbury steak :)
 
I strongly suggest that you text your leads. Engagement rates are much higher and much faster. A simple, I sent you an email, but I wanted to ask if you prefer text?

Chip, I agree 100%, we get good response from the text feature in the CRM. I use "Is it easier to text you the info you asked for"? on the opt in.

The CRM is what you make of it. Getting upper managers to embrace that this thing will tell them A LOT of what they need to know is a surprise challenge. Shortcuts kill the process...
 
@BillH Totally would agree on the texting. Actually, I would make sure you ask on every phone call or walk up and get opt in as a part of the process. Just ask "Are you a texter?" Works for me every time to get opt in.

I have used CRMs in 3 different industries now and I cannot imagine NOT using one. This is my 3rd start up and a BIG reason for my success is having a CRM. If your team doesn't use it, then you need to ask the question "Why?". In many cases, it's toooo difficult like @john.quinn says and you don't have their buy in. That's the overall problem. During any big switch, we need to get the "buy in" to gain support on the "Why" the CRM, website or whatever is going to benefit the sales team. Just my thoughts.
 
Re: OEM's wanting data - my experience is they typically want or demand an 'approved' CRM so that this data will line up with some "Internet Report" they then redeliver back to dealers to compare 'performance' across the region...often these reports roll up high quality lead sources (like Tier 1 leads) with poor quality 3rd party leads that OEMs have wholesaled back to their dealer network - with little visibility or transparency into the wholesale ecosystem (one specific example we uncovered was an OEM selling us the same lead to three of our locations...). I don't believe this data grab is nefarious or ill-intentioned, but rather misinformed or unsophisticated...and I do believe it can make for some poor business decisions.

Re: CRMs general utility - I find the tools are not keeping pace with the evolution of consumer communication, and live in their own siloed bucket. Certainly, the established market share leaders tend to have legacy technology that the vendor is simply trying to maximize profitability (by way of minimizing R&D).

I'm surprised there isn't more conversation around the fragmented channels of communication that actually exist (Chat, crm text-sales, text-service, text-salesperson individual device, social messaging, google SMS, slack, pando, phone calls, call-source, in-store, etc). I think the CRMs that win in the future will be centered around improving the facilitation of customer communication within different business units at a dealership (website visitors, BDC handoff > sales > manager > service - true lifecycle flows). BUT - OEM requirements for 'approved' vendors will always challenge more innovative approaches, especially for larger groups.
 
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