Modified CRM Round Robin

[Tallcool1]

I am wanting to implement some type of a "Merit Based" Round Robin in my CRM.

Say a store has 5 sales people and no BDC. All incoming leads go directly to the sales staff. 3 of the sales people do a great job of following up and rarely have more than a few open tasks in the system.

Sales Person 4 does a decent job, but not stellar by any means.

Sales Person 5 is horrible. He will do the bare minimum, usually does most follow up in 1 day each week, doesn't keep very good notes, etc..

A Round Robin will distribute leads equally among these 5.

I want to implement a Merit Based system where Lead Distribution is based upon the sales person CRM performance. I want the sales people that are the most likely to convert a lead to get more of them. That is not to say that #4 and #5 should get absolutely none. Just less.

Is anyone using this type of logic?
How are you scoring your sales people?
Does it work?

Please limit responses to the question. I understand that CRM Usage should be a condition of employment. This is not for my own store. It is for clients. These clients really don't need me to tell them to fire #5.

 

[Richie K]

Which CRM are you using? We use Tekion. Our UCM assigns leads manually.
We have two main salesmen. One is a go-getter, and the other does the bare minimum. Sometimes our go-getter doesn't follow up as he should, but he still outperforms the other guy. We don't use RR to assign the leads. Although, in a sense, our UCM assigns based on merit. The go-getter always gets more leads, even when he is off.
I just checked our CRM and I don't see any settings that might assign leads based on merit.
The closest we can get, is to automatically assign leads based on past relationships, or if the assignee fails to answer the leads within a certain amount of time the CRM will automatically re-assign the lead to the next person. This is with a RR setting.

I will keep this in mind to ask our Tekion tech because I can see some advantage to having it. In theory, it could incentivized the slackers to do better.
I'd love to see what you come up with.

 

[Tallcool1]

Which CRM are you using? We use Tekion. Our UCM assigns leads manually.
We have two main salesmen. One is a go-getter, and the other does the bare minimum. Sometimes our go-getter doesn't follow up as he should, but he still outperforms the other guy. We don't use RR to assign the leads. Although, in a sense, our UCM assigns based on merit. The go-getter always gets more leads, even when he is off.
I just checked our CRM and I don't see any settings that might assign leads based on merit.
The closest we can get, is to automatically assign leads based on past relationships, or if the assignee fails to answer the leads within a certain amount of time the CRM will automatically re-assign the lead to the next person. This is with a RR setting.

I will keep this in mind to ask our Tekion tech because I can see some advantage to having it. In theory, it could incentivized the slackers to do better.
I'd love to see what you come up with.

It is actually my own CRM Company.

The way that you are doing it (in my opinion) is ideal. The UCM manually assigns based upon whatever criteria he sees. Maybe the next guy up is out on a delivery or has a customer with another one waiting. Maybe he looks and seed 35 open reminders/tasks and says nope, not making that number into a 36. The problem is that most Independent Dealerships don't have someone sitting around at all times to handle the assignment of leads.

In my own dealership, the sales people keep up with their reminder and tasks (which of course they would because I own the CRM Company). We don't use Round Robin in my store either. The sales people simply communicate with one another and know who is next. They will pass sometimes because they know that they have a customer out on a test drive or whatever reason. Any lead form that comes from a Contact that is already in my CRM automatically flows to the employee that is already attached to the Contact Record.

I appreciate the comment. I like the way that you handle it. It may not be perfect but it is in the best interest of the dealership.

 

[Ryan Everson]

It is actually my own CRM Company.

The way that you are doing it (in my opinion) is ideal. The UCM manually assigns based upon whatever criteria he sees. Maybe the next guy up is out on a delivery or has a customer with another one waiting. Maybe he looks and seed 35 open reminders/tasks and says nope, not making that number into a 36. The problem is that most Independent Dealerships don't have someone sitting around at all times to handle the assignment of leads.

In my own dealership, the sales people keep up with their reminder and tasks (which of course they would because I own the CRM Company). We don't use Round Robin in my store either. The sales people simply communicate with one another and know who is next. They will pass sometimes because they know that they have a customer out on a test drive or whatever reason. Any lead form that comes from a Contact that is already in my CRM automatically flows to the employee that is already attached to the Contact Record.

I appreciate the comment. I like the way that you handle it. It may not be perfect but it is in the best interest of the dealership.

I like it, a next up system, but for lead assignment.

Could use AI modeling to come up with an always learning lead distribution system.

As we all know, different salespeople excel with different lead sources - marketplaces, dealership websites, trade tools, etc.

The same goes for preferred vehicle classes and body styles. Some salespeople specialize in trucks, while others might excel in selling EVs.

The list of variables goes on, including many that may not be obvious to the human eye but could be easily identified by an unbiased AI model.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

If someone is bad at internet leads, why let them get any at all? Hell, why keep them around at this point? If you can't sell internet leads, you might not be selling any cars soon.

 

[Tallcool1]

If someone is bad at internet leads, why let them get any at all? Hell, why keep them around at this point? If you can't sell internet leads, you might not be selling any cars soon.

I understand Bill. It's not for my store. I agree with you.

 

[Alex Snyder]

You could get quite robust with a simple model. Here are some ideas:

• What is the response rate on leads this user has answered? I would rate this highest.
• What is the closing rate?
• If you can break the closing rate out by source, you can assign by certain sources.
• Is this user better over the phone or email, and assign based on customer communication preferences
• Past sales history with certain vehicles can dictate which user gets what leads with vehicles on them
• Appointments on trade leads - who does the best with those?

 

[Tallcool1]

You could get quite robust with a simple model. Here are some ideas:

• What is the response rate on leads this user has answered? I would rate this highest.
• What is the closing rate?
• If you can break the closing rate out by source, you can assign by certain sources.
• Is this user better over the phone or email, and assign based on customer communication preferences
• Past sales history with certain vehicles can dictate which user gets what leads with vehicles on them
• Appointments on trade leads - who does the best with those?

Thank you Alex. I like the Response Conversion metric. I agree...without that there is no sale.

 

[Dan Sayer]

@Tallcool1
Last year, I think I shared on this forum how we implemented a “Moneyball” approach with our sales teams. We broke down lead performance (Internet, Phone, Walk-In) into stages from Lead to Sold. At a quarterly planning event, I had managers map their salespeople on an X-Y matrix showing lead volume vs. conversion rates for phone and internet. The result? The following month was our best ever for phone and internet, as managers started directing leads to top converters and away from underperformers. However, this success was short-lived—lasting about 45 days.

The Challenge:
Redirecting leads to top performers eventually overloaded them, causing their pipelines to degrade. In cradle-to-grave sales setups without a BDC, the more deals reps close, the less time they have to nurture new leads. I’ve seen this firsthand—after a 30-car month, my pipeline would stagnate, leading to an 18-22 car month afterward. The key is understanding each rep’s capacity to prevent overload. An “on one week, off the next” strategy might help balance the workload.

Our Current Strategy:
I now run weekly calls with individual store managers focusing on salespeople’s performance at every stage:

• Lead to Engaged
• Engaged to Appt Set
• Appt Set to Show
• Show to Sold

Each stage presents a unique coaching opportunity. Instead of just looking at Lead to Sold, we pinpoint weak spots in the sales funnel and coach accordingly, ensuring reps can re-enter the rotation (hopefully the next week) without overloading others.

Key Metrics & Tools:

• Lead Caps: We’ve identified that some reps perform best with 20 leads/month, while others excel with 70. For cradle-to-grave reps, 45 leads/month is a typical cap.
• Distribution Rules: Using DriveCentric, we manage lead distribution rules based on schedules and even differentiate between new and used leads. For phone calls, we prioritize appointment setters in the hunt/queue ring order.
• Ongoing Review: Weekly and 30-day trend reviews are essential. This helps spot patterns and address downturns before they affect performance.

Results:
Last month, our group averaged:

• 13.8% Internet close rate (5 stores exceeded 15%; two struggled due to new management).
• 30%+ Phone close rate with reliable phone tracking.
• 5% Bad Lead Rate.

This approach requires intense management—reviewing 60+ salespeople weekly and addressing performance issues. While not all store-level managers lean into this level of detail, those who do see a significant impact on their store’s success.

I'd love to offer you any help you need @Tallcool1. You can always hit me up. Thanks.

 

[Tallcool1]

@Tallcool1
Last year, I think I shared on this forum how we implemented a “Moneyball” approach with our sales teams. We broke down lead performance (Internet, Phone, Walk-In) into stages from Lead to Sold. At a quarterly planning event, I had managers map their salespeople on an X-Y matrix showing lead volume vs. conversion rates for phone and internet. The result? The following month was our best ever for phone and internet, as managers started directing leads to top converters and away from underperformers. However, this success was short-lived—lasting about 45 days.

The Challenge:
Redirecting leads to top performers eventually overloaded them, causing their pipelines to degrade. In cradle-to-grave sales setups without a BDC, the more deals reps close, the less time they have to nurture new leads. I’ve seen this firsthand—after a 30-car month, my pipeline would stagnate, leading to an 18-22 car month afterward. The key is understanding each rep’s capacity to prevent overload. An “on one week, off the next” strategy might help balance the workload.

Our Current Strategy:
I now run weekly calls with individual store managers focusing on salespeople’s performance at every stage:

• Lead to Engaged
• Engaged to Appt Set
• Appt Set to Show
• Show to Sold

Each stage presents a unique coaching opportunity. Instead of just looking at Lead to Sold, we pinpoint weak spots in the sales funnel and coach accordingly, ensuring reps can re-enter the rotation (hopefully the next week) without overloading others.

Key Metrics & Tools:

• Lead Caps: We’ve identified that some reps perform best with 20 leads/month, while others excel with 70. For cradle-to-grave reps, 45 leads/month is a typical cap.
• Distribution Rules: Using DriveCentric, we manage lead distribution rules based on schedules and even differentiate between new and used leads. For phone calls, we prioritize appointment setters in the hunt/queue ring order.
• Ongoing Review: Weekly and 30-day trend reviews are essential. This helps spot patterns and address downturns before they affect performance.

Results:
Last month, our group averaged:

• 13.8% Internet close rate (5 stores exceeded 15%; two struggled due to new management).
• 30%+ Phone close rate with reliable phone tracking.
• 5% Bad Lead Rate.

This approach requires intense management—reviewing 60+ salespeople weekly and addressing performance issues. While not all store-level managers lean into this level of detail, those who do see a significant impact on their store’s success.

I'd love to offer you any help you need @Tallcool1. You can always hit me up. Thanks.

Thank you! I appreciate your input.