Thanks for getting in on this post [USER=7]@JoePistell[/USER].
Today, I do not have a CRM that automatically logs leads. By this time next week I will. This whole CRM shopping experience has been much more challenging than I ever imagined. There are many truly amazing systems on the market. The tough part is matching a system to a budget, and then factoring in things such as man power. I have found that most CRM users have a favorite system, and many times that favorite is the system that they have in their store which consequently is often the ONLY CRM that they have ever used. I have finally come to the conclusion that ANY type of CRM is going to be better than no CRM. I have it narrowed down to a couple, and am going to focus on utilization rather than features. The old saying that an A+ execution of a C+ plan is much better than C+ execution of an A+ plan, is what I am going to go with.
Special finance accounts for 10%-15% of my business. That means 2-4 sales per month. I don't have a problem with subprime customers, but I do not actively pursue them. I have in the past, but find myself overwhelmed with applicants and very little sales from it. Subprime customers seem to have no problem submitting forms.
I sign up all of my customers, so I have the opportunity to do an "exit interview" while handling financing. I talk with customers a great deal regarding how they found the store or the car. I don't know if this is right or wrong, but if a customer tells me they have been on CarGurus, cars.com, and my website, I will give credit to both 3rd party sites. I know that our inventory is on both, so if the customer gives even a hint of doubt I just record both lead sources. Some customers know beyond any doubt how they found us, but most seem to be a little unsure.
My current system of logging customers is horrible. We do have a customer log, but there is nothing in that log or process that would give me the slightest bit of confidence to use the data for decision making. This is of course one of the reasons that I am committing to a CRM. I realize that having a CRM means nothing if we do not use it correctly and make a 100% effort to get data into it. All leads from all sources will automatically flow into the CRM, but that doesn't cover actual floor traffic. This will take significant effort. The percentage of phone ups that do not get logged is high. I can't tell you the number, but it is high!
I seem to remember checking out a website that you designed. In essence, customers must enter their contact information in order to view inventory. I have been giving a lot of thought to some variation of this type of system. I would allow shoppers to view SRP and VDP information without any type of lead form. However, to get pricing they would have to enter their information. This would be some type of "For the most up to date pricing, vehicle condition reports, and special offers CLICK HERE". I believe that a high number of shoppers that find my vehicles on Cars.com, CarGurus, CUDL, etc., simply open a new tab and search for my website. I believe this because of the fact that 40%+ of my website traffic is either a direct search or a search for some variation of my dealership name. Many of these customers have already seen the vehicle on another site, know what the price was on that site, and want to see if it is cheaper on my website than it is on the 3rd party sites. I don't know if this is a good idea or not. I can see a situation in which I just piss people off, and I can also see a situation in which these could be low funnel shoppers that are ready to make a purchase if someone would just reach out to them and show them the way. Opinions on this would be appreciated.
Site engagement stats in case this matters to you are as follows"
2000 sessions
1300 unique
3:31 average session duration (which is actually down about 00:35
20.92% bounce rate which is up about 1.5%
5.28 pages per session
