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GM Internet Lead Response Time - OFFICIAL thread

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#32
The problem is GM and other OEMs are putting so much emphasis on forcing the dealers to respond quickly that the responses themselves are low quality and don't answer the customer's inquiry.

They all say something along these lines:

Thank you for your vehicle request. I will contact you when I am back in the office
OR
Thanks for your interest in XYZ Chevrolet. my name is John Doe. I will contact you soon.

OR sometimes all they say is "Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry"

None of the OEMs want to base the response times off dealers hours. I get that because every dealers is different. Some states don't allow dealers to be open on Sundays, and you have to worry about holidays. But why not at least base it off 8 am to 8 pm working hours 365 days a year or something? So if you get a lead at 2 am the response time calculation doesn't start until 8 am the next day? Nobody who submits an internet lead expects a quality response in the middle of the night.
 
#33
Matt M said:
Please tell me how you're able to stop the clock without being in front of your computer. I'm wondering if there were any special set-up instructions you had to do to make it work or if you (like me) just reply to the "do not reply" email to stop the clock.

If you reply to the email that comes in to your phone there there is a problem on GM's end as I'm on top of things when it comes to that.
Click to expand...


Hi Matt, sorry for the delay in getting back to you. I keep the Global connect page opened on my desktop when I'm home for easy access and I respond with my BB if I'm outside or trying to sleep. Yes, sometimes I sleep hard for an hour or so, and usally that's when they'll come in, so I'll paste in my automatic reply to stop the clock then cut and paste the lead in my CRM for the formal work process. Since they "fixed" their problem on reply's not stopping the clock, I've kept my time at 21.48 minutes. I don't know if this is the best way to "work" this deal, but I'm making it work for me. Of course, if it's true what I just read.....that all SFE leads have to be responed to within 1 hour, and the first time I miss one for 2 hours or so, well then I'll have to consider another game plan.

Good Luck!
 
#34
mattwatson81 said:
The problem is GM and other OEMs are putting so much emphasis on forcing the dealers to respond quickly that the responses themselves are low quality and don't answer the customer's inquiry.

They all say something along these lines:

Thank you for your vehicle request. I will contact you when I am back in the office
OR
Thanks for your interest in XYZ Chevrolet. my name is John Doe. I will contact you soon.

OR sometimes all they say is "Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry"

None of the OEMs want to base the response times off dealers hours. I get that because every dealers is different. Some states don't allow dealers to be open on Sundays, and you have to worry about holidays. But why not at least base it off 8 am to 8 pm working hours 365 days a year or something? So if you get a lead at 2 am the response time calculation doesn't start until 8 am the next day? Nobody who submits an internet lead expects a quality response in the middle of the night.
Click to expand...

Now Matt, you are trying to use common sense and reason with this issue, and there's no place for that here, not where corporate GM is concerened :rofl:
 
#35
mattwatson81 said:
The problem is GM and other OEMs are putting so much emphasis on forcing the dealers to respond quickly that the responses themselves are low quality and don't answer the customer's inquiry.
Click to expand...

I'm with ya. Rather worrying so damn much about the lead response time during off hours, why not place that effort into helping the dealers with their quality of response.

Speed of response is important but the quality of your response is what can make or break the opportunity.

AIUA – 4 Letters That Will Sell You More Cars This Month

Who makes these asinine decisions?
 
#36
#38
Ok. I have been reading this thread for awhile now, and figured it was time for me to throw my 2 cents in. We started out at the begining of the year having just me respond to leads for three dealerships after hours. Well, on New Year's Eve I was up to four in the morning responding to leads and it didn't take long for me to realize that it wasn't going to work. After the first month, we hired a third party company called LeadPro to respond to the leads, but the quality of the communication with the customers is pretty much awful. They were sending emails with my name all over them and a disconnected phone number!! AHH!! So, my owner has since decided that we will be going 24/7 here shortly. Yes, you heard right. We just hired three more staff members for third shift. I am in the process of training them as we speak. This is the only way that we could figure out to solve the issue of reponding to leads quickly, and get the quality of response that we want. I would love to hear what everyone thinks about this.. The jury is still out for me.
 
#39
Amanda Marsal said:
Ok. I have been reading this thread for awhile now, and figured it was time for me to throw my 2 cents in. We started out at the begining of the year having just me respond to leads for three dealerships after hours. Well, on New Year's Eve I was up to four in the morning responding to leads and it didn't take long for me to realize that it wasn't going to work. After the first month, we hired a third party company called LeadPro to respond to the leads, but the quality of the communication with the customers is pretty much awful. They were sending emails with my name all over them and a disconnected phone number!! AHH!! So, my owner has since decided that we will be going 24/7 here shortly. Yes, you heard right. We just hired three more staff members for third shift. I am in the process of training them as we speak. This is the only way that we could figure out to solve the issue of reponding to leads quickly, and get the quality of response that we want. I would love to hear what everyone thinks about this.. The jury is still out for me.
Click to expand...

Does a customer truly expect to be contacted at 3am? Or is it reasonable to say that a customer would accept a call back at 8am?
 
#40
We are using Vinsolutions to stop the clock. We made it through the first quarter with success. I am the only clock stopper unless I take a Vacation, then I give the blackberry to my other internet guy. This has worked, I am a little nervous for this quarter, with the new report. I wish it were a little more clear. Vinsolutions is a good tool and it does stop the clock, we use their camera, inventory manager and ILM for our internet Dept. We have Cobalt Site Rapid Chevrolet Cadillac, Rapid City, South Dakota and a micro site Rapid Chevrolet-Cadillac Rapid City, South Dakota - with autoconx this site blows cobalts site out of the water as far as speed and mobile use. Thats what we are doing and seems to be working, now if we can just close more leads, the world would be great!!!
 
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