Stale leads / follow up?

[The QR Code Guy]

I keep hearing here and there about dealerships struggling with lead followup by their sales teams. Curious about the struggles and solutions that work for you. ie. does your CRM really work in getting the sales staff to cultivate the buyer, or is success determined by the individual sales associate's ability to stay on the buyer and get the deal? Curious on your thoughts.

 

[ChrisR]

Reps have to have some drive to do their follow up.
Management has to build a proper follow up cadence, and make sure it is followed.

 

[Jeff Kershner]

I keep hearing here and there about dealerships struggling with lead followup by their sales teams. Curious about the struggles and solutions that work for you. ie. does your CRM really work in getting the sales staff to cultivate the buyer, or is success determined by the individual sales associate's ability to stay on the buyer and get the deal? Curious on your thoughts.

@DaveTheWave DealerRefresh has been around for over 16 years and we have been having this same conversation the entire time.

 

[Tallcool1]

It is very much an individual thing. Some staff members take great pride in their follow up, and love the challenge of resurrecting a once thought "dead lead".

To me, the most challenging are the non responsive leads. After about 5 days, I lose faith in them.

 

[The QR Code Guy]

@DaveTheWave DealerRefresh has been around for over 16 years and we have been having this same conversation the entire time.

So CRM's have had no real impact on solving the follow-up problems over the years? To be fair, software can only do so much, and the team has to do the work and of course, buyers are really good at ghosting follow ups.

 

[Tallcool1]

So CRM's have had no real impact on solving the follow-up problems over the years? To be fair, software can only do so much, and the team has to do the work and of course, buyers are really good at ghosting follow ups.

I don't believe that CRM's have had no impact. They are a tool that provides organization of customer data. As you are saying, the people have to make that data work for them.

It still boils down to the people behind the keyboard. We can automate to a degree, but again someone has to manage that.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

It's not the CRM or the sales rep. It's the customer. They are either interested or they are not. If they aren't responsive after a couple of days, the only way you're going to get a response is buying bugging them enough to tell you to leave them the hell alone. You're either being blocked or they are using their spam email account. For crying out loud think about what YOU do when YOU send a "lead" in for something. I have a Yahoo account I NEVER look at. It only exists to get my "10% off your first purchase." We should save ourselves the time and effort. If they aren't responding, move on. Even if you do pull out 1 out of 50, is it worth annoying the hell out of the other 49? I know some vendor is going to jump in here at some point and say, "Well our service increases lead response after... by X%" No it doesn't. Just stop it. I've seen all of your services. They don't work. You aren't changing customer behavior on this one. I consider myself one of the most open-minded dealers out there on any subject, but I'll die on this hill of negativity on this one.

 

[Tallcool1]

It's not the CRM or the sales rep. It's the customer. They are either interested or they are not. If they aren't responsive after a couple of days, the only way you're going to get a response is buying bugging them enough to tell you to leave them the hell alone. You're either being blocked or they are using their spam email account. For crying out loud think about what YOU do when YOU send a "lead" in for something. I have a Yahoo account I NEVER look at. It only exists to get my "10% off your first purchase." We should save ourselves the time and effort. If they aren't responding, move on. Even if you do pull out 1 out of 50, is it worth annoying the hell out of the other 49? I know some vendor is going to jump in here at some point and say, "Well our service increases lead response after... by X%" No it doesn't. Just stop it. I've seen all of your services. They don't work. You aren't changing customer behavior on this one. I consider myself one of the most open-minded dealers out there on any subject, but I'll die on this hill of negativity on this one.

So what does your follow up workflow look like for Non Responsive leads? Do you chase for a couple days and just mark them as Lost (or whatever status)?

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

So what does your follow up workflow look like for Non Responsive leads? Do you chase for a couple days and just mark them as Lost (or whatever status)?

Depends on if we get engagement. If they responded at some point it can go on a little longer. Even if they open an email at least as well. But a lead that never responds is dead after 5 days.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Depends on if we get engagement. If they responded at some point it can go on a little longer. Even if they open an email at least as well. But a lead that never responds is dead after 5 days.

Our BDC handles leads for a whole bunch of dealers, and the response rate drastically drops after 6 days. The key is timing the "dead lead" blast after 60 days to bring those customers back to life.