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How not to handle Internet leads

mattwatson81

Getting Refreshed
Apr 10, 2009
334
10
First Name
Matt
On this last Monday evening I submitted two REAL Internet leads to two local dealers here in the Kansas City area as I was doing some research for a car for my wife.

Both of them immediately sent me an auto responder saying they received my lead. Otherwise the auto responder didn't contain any other links to help me in the buying process or include any information about the vehicle I inquired upon. So far OK but not great.

Dealer #1 emailed me back and left me a voicemail at about 3:00 PM the next day. Pretty slow response.

Dealer #2 Has NEVER emailed or called me to this point and it is now Friday!

Since that initial email and voicemail from dealer #1 I haven't received a secondary call to try and actually get me on the phone and they haven't emailed me again.

Pretty sad huh?
 
While this is my first post I will have to say most dealers don't know how to deal with internet leads or have staff that is lazy and not willing to put forth the effort to deal with the internet customer.

I'm sure the more you test the more you will find not giving you what you want.
 
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While this is my first post I will have to say most dealers don't know how to deal with internet leads or have staff that is lazy and not willing to put forth the effort to deal with the internet customer.

I'm sure the more you test the more you will find not giving you what you want.


I would say most dealers don't have to be great at it because so many are so bad! Seems like just being good is a lot better than a lot of dealers!
 
It amazes me everyday that most dealers still don't have a handle on speed of response and quality of response. Any many of these are the same dealers trying to figure out how to leverage facebook or twitter.

Or better yet..let's add chat! We can't handle an incoming phone call properly by asking the right questions but let's install chat on our website. :rofl:
 
It amazes me everyday that most dealers still don't have a handle on speed of response and quality of response. Any many of these are the same dealers trying to figure out how to leverage facebook or twitter.

Or better yet..let's add chat! We can't handle an incoming phone call properly by asking the right questions but let's install chat on our website. :rofl:

I went to a dealer two weeks here in town to genuinely buy a car. I test drove the car and afterward told them to figure out what the lease payments were and contact me because I was very interested.

They never called me...

I bought a car from someone else 2 days later.
 
As an Internet Sales Director I have been shopping dealers all over the country for years. That is how I learned both what to and not to do. I find it impossible to understand that at this point in time there are still business' of all kinds that do not see or understand the precious relevance of the internet inquiry. The truth is that the owners and upper management in many dealerships as well as other business' just don't get it.
 
I love being in the internet department as we focus on our response times, it helps to show genuine interest to the customer. We use iMagic to receive the lead and a text message to our phones when they come. Using a smartphone and having a personalize template ready to go is all I need if I don't have a pc directly in front of me.
 
Dealer #1 emailed me back and left me a voicemail at about 3:00 PM the next day. Pretty slow response.

Dealer #2 Has NEVER emailed or called me to this point and it is now Friday!

I am not surprised at all to hear this! It shocks me how many dealers out there have little to no on line presence, or whose management/ownership simply dismiss it. You see great internet departments in larger more metro areas or in progressive dealer groups everywhere. Our dealer group works out of mostly suburban areas and has great success with our internet department and really are at a huge advantage. I see how this business (among all others) is getting more and more dependent on the internet and wonder how those who don't adapt or simply think that internet customers are junk are going to survive.