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How long does it take to answer a lead?

Alex Snyder

President Skroob
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May 1, 2006
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@Wesley made a point in another thread that has had me thinking about the entire internet lead response situation. That point:

It took my fastest sales rep 7 minutes to build a cash quote response from the CRM...

If we pair an internet person with roughly 300 new leads a month it means we are putting 75 new leads on that person every week. If 7% close then the math says we're also working 70 from the prior week. So, if we just concentrate on 2 weeks worth of leads (which is probably pretty accurate) then each internet person is working 145 leads each week.

Let's also assume this person works 50 hours a week, doesn't play on Facebook, never takes a lunch break, isn't flipping quarters with the salepeople, training, talking to vendors, entertaining a Shift rep, meeting with a boss... is spending 50 hours a week ONLY answering internet leads.

That means this person has enough time to respond to 3 new internet leads per hour: 145 leads ÷ 50 hours = 3 leads per hour. Not bad! Easy peasy.

A fresh lead comes into the CRM and the mission is to stop the clock as fast as possible. Send the template. That takes less than 10 minutes.

Now it is time to put the quality effort in... pick up the phone.

  • 6 minutes to leave a voicemail, log the call in CRM, and compose an email saying "I left you a voicemail to discuss your future car yadda yadda yadda."
  • 9 minutes if they answer the call because it is time to collect their "is the car available, how much is it, can I get approved, how much is my trade" questions and then promise something that shouldn't have been promised because we're excited someone actually answered the phone
  • 7 minutes to check the spreadsheet for the approved discount, find the invoice on that car, do the math to get it to $200 over invoice, and send that price via email
  • 11 minutes if there is any change to the approved discount because it is time to call or walk to the desk
  • 11 minutes again because they now want a payment
  • 11 minutes again because they won't schedule an appointment without a trade number
  • 11 minutes again because they now want an out the door price
  • 11 minutes again because they said they drive 15,000 miles per year
  • It takes, on average 11 minutes, to hit the desk for anything right?
  • 5 minutes to check availability because we don't want to lie to a customer

How long does it take to provide a quality response to an internet lead?
 
That's a lot of effort that may well be unnecessary if we just pick up the phone, engage the customer, earn the right to ask for an appointment, set said appointment and send the confirmation text/email, and lastly log this conversation in the CRM.

To answer the question, our goal is always to get the customer to say, "wow, that was fast! I just hit send."
 
That's like asking:

How_many_licks.jpg

If you're younger than 35, you may not know what that ^^^ is. @Alex Snyder this discussion is comparable to asking "what is your close rate?"

To answer a lead that asks nothing and we assume an implied question based on the form or path they raised their hand from (Confirm Availability or Confirm Price CTA) - 5 minutes to dial and lvm and write a good email. Add 1 minute for SMS text and add 10 minutes to add a video.

To answer a lead from a 3rd-party-who-knows-where-FordDirect-bought-it-from-or-what-click-bait-URL-lead-aggregator-sold-it - 15 minutes to dial, get hung up on, complain to another sales person, call back while trying not to sound pissed, leave the "I'm sorry but I think we got disconnected but the reason for my call is...", send an email checking all 5 Key Drivers from FordDirect. Add 0 minutes for SMS because you think "3rd party leads don't buy" and add 1 minute to think about sending a video but reminding yourself that "3rd party leads don't buy". That is what you call a "self-fulfilling prophecy" BTW...
 
Most dealerships. Including the above-average ones.
@Alex Snyder are you serious? Sometimes I can't tell. Handing 300 Internet Leads to a single cradle-to-grave salesperson is not normal so when you say "Most dealerships", implying it's normal, I hope you're being facetious. I had that many leads when I was selling and I sold a ton of cars but I also gave a lot of appointments away (my max was 5 or 6 customer sets in the store at once that I could handle because we worked our own deals). I had no time for my family. I could choose to wear the crown of "being THE man" or do what would be the best for my family by "being a man" so I walked away from auto for two years.

I still think each sales person has their monthly max. For some, they run 12-17% at 30 to 35 leads and for others they can run 75 to 100 at that rate. Keep in mind, most our teams also take phone ups and lot-ups. If you run 7% in our group, with our mix of leads, you're "fired" from Internet because you're probably just selling the low-hanging fruit. We have such a varying degree of capacity in the stores. I have yet to see, in our group, someone that could manage 120+ effectively (again 12-17%) while also giving the customer a great experience. I would love to see that, don't get me wrong, but balancing a guy's work-life is something that we do pay attention to.
 
Well, that's kinda a big deal. Comparing the capacity of a BDR vs cradle-to-grave sales person is like comparing Driving Sales and Dealer Refresh forums. Both have the capacity for greatness but only one delivers...

Ha!

It is a big deal, but when you're driving a lead-hungry ship for 20 years with managers moving in and out of the company you end-up with a lot of leads without a clear path to handle them. Certainly, a boon for FRIKINtech as we have a lot of opportunities to help there.

Aside from that, we all know few dealerships will ever be staffed appropriately to handle the fluctuating numbers of leads that come in seasonally. So let's get back on how long it takes to perform the duty. And thank you for being the first to go there Dan (y)