If I'm giving a Internet Manager 150 leads a month, how many cars should they be selling a month?

[kcar]

Let's say 50% dealer site, 50% brand site. What's the minimum # they should be selling per month, off internet leads alone. No walk-ins, showroom, etc, just internet leads..

 

[john.quinn]

Let's say 50% dealer site, 50% brand site. What's the minimum # they should be selling per month, off internet leads alone. No walk-ins, showroom, etc, just internet leads..

That's a tough one to answer. With no 3rd-party leads in the mix, you can safely say that 15% should be your minimum.

But there's a whole lot that goes into getting a higher close rate. PROCESS is key.

Of those 150, some will be ready now, some in a month, and some in 90 days. Not that I want to invoke the wrath of Doug Davis, but depending on your set-up, 150 is A LOT of leads. If this person is responsible for test drives (floor time), deliveries, etc., then flat-out 150 per month is way too many leads.

Here's the skinny, and really, what I think the cradle-to-grave proponents are missing: YES! You can close 15% of those 150 leads with a cradle-to-grave approach. Those are the 15% that are in the market now. Cradle-to-gravers become EXCELLENT cherry-pickers. It's the nature of sales; get all I can NOW.

But that person cannot possibly do a GREAT job with all the follow-up and attention the 30-90 day people need -- they just don't have the resources to "reel 'em in" if they're not already close to the boat.

OK -- so I kept going here... sorry. My old store, no joke: consistent 30% close on our home-grown leads, and 15% on OEM leads (some OEM's higher, some lower -- that's an average for the group). So say 23+11=34 deliveries on the high end, and 22 on the low end.

 

[bzweifel]

Over 20+ if they are trained and don't have too much side responsibilities. John hit it on the head. At 150 leads there isn't enough time in the day for everyone. It's not weak, it's not lazy, it's just human instincts. 75 leads from your website is a dream if you talking about leads on a stock number.ake sure they arent over analyzing website leads. It's as simple as a phone call saying "hey this car is still available, I'm not going to lunch until 1pm, are you able to stop in?"

We close over 25% of these if there is a phone #. 3rd party leads are where the beat down is.

Make sure they are trained. Some salesmen what to sell more but honestly dont know how. If they answer phones, buy Jerry's manual. It's like $20 and tells you exactly what to say.

 

[john.quinn]

Make sure they are trained. Some salesmen what to sell more but honestly dont know how. If they answer phones, buy Jerry's manual. It's like $20 and tells you exactly what to say.

That's a great point -- training. Knowing what I know now, if I went back on the floor tomorrow, I really don't think I'd want more than 50-70 per month, and that's assuming I have a GREAT CRM system. At that number, I can do 20 cars per month without ever waiting for an up, and manage my day/week/month appropriately.

The trap we fall into is the More More More Paradox. If I can do 20 cars on 75 leads, then I should be able to do 25 on 100 leads, right? We fail to see the level of saturation; More More More, after a certain level, includes More Waste as well.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

Not much more to say after John's response. I'll agree that 150 leads is too many and will no doubt encourage cherry picking.

Quinn says "But there's a whole lot that goes into getting a higher close rate. PROCESS is key." - Lead Process is key, as is acquiring and growing high quality leads for your sales people. It doesn't take much to burn a sales person out on bad leads. Can someone say Hand Raiser Leads?

If you are acquiring leads from a less than average service and your sales team starts to recognize this (and they will), they quickly get a bad taste in their mouth and dismiss the lead(s) service as junk. All of a sudden the closing ratio goes from 4-6% to 0%. Heck, this happens with above average lead service. Another reason Process is key.

Example: Trade-in leads from your dealership website. My blood is boiling if my dealers are not at 15% or above with these leads. When they're below 15%, I know there is a break in process. We're not talking about the trade in our emails and on the phone. Managers are reluctant to work with the sales team / BDC and a lot of "Just gett'm in" is being thrown around.

150 leads is too many for a cradle to grave. Deals are being left on the table.

Quality and Process.

 

[ddavis]

That's a tough one to answer. With no 3rd-party leads in the mix, you can safely say that 15% should be your minimum.

But there's a whole lot that goes into getting a higher close rate. PROCESS is key.

Of those 150, some will be ready now, some in a month, and some in 90 days. Not that I want to invoke the wrath of Doug Davis, but depending on your set-up, 150 is A LOT of leads. If this person is responsible for test drives (floor time), deliveries, etc., then flat-out 150 per month is way too many leads.

Here's the skinny, and really, what I think the cradle-to-grave proponents are missing: YES! You can close 15% of those 150 leads with a cradle-to-grave approach. Those are the 15% that are in the market now. Cradle-to-gravers become EXCELLENT cherry-pickers. It's the nature of sales; get all I can NOW.

OK -- so I kept going here... sorry. My old store, no joke: consistent 30% close on our home-grown leads, and 15% on OEM leads (some OEM's higher, some lower -- that's an average for the group). So say 23+11=34 deliveries on the high end, and 22 on the low end.

John, John, John ..."the wrath of Doug Davis"? You know that we have more in common than we disagree on. 80 to 85 leads each was the cap. My guys and girls didn't have floor time and they didn't deliver their cars. Given the opportunity, they will cherry pick and take the low hanging fruit. The Internet Director is responsible to see that doesn't happen. I had a really good team but a small store. We were limited by phones, drops and space. Sadly, the team blew up when I left. Most of them are gone along with the numbers.

 

[AlexB]

A normal salesperson on their own with that workload should be able to sell around 20-23 in a perfect world. With AVA, that same salesperson with the exact same leads should close at least 40.

The average Internet Sales Person closes at around 12-15%.
The leads AVA handles close around 28%.

It's all about how your salesman is equipped.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

The average Internet Sales Person closes at around 12-15%.
The leads AVA handles close around 28%.

You have data to prove this? I would like to see some dealer references. That's a mighty bold claim!