Test Leads

[BillKVMotorCo]

It's been a few years since we sent out some test leads to dealers to see what other people are doing and maybe steal some ideas. Sent out about 20. Holy smokes, how are we still so bad at this? Seriously?

 

[craigh]

I've been casually shopping for a car for months (while I wait out these rates) and I'm shocked by how bad it still is.
A same day reply is rare, but no response at all is surprisingly common.

I don't understand how it can be so difficult - I am asking about a car I am clearly interested in.
Give me a personal response written by someone who can sell me a car.

 

[jon.berna]

Here's an idea for a company...keep in mind this is pure evil and no one should actually do it.

Setup automation to bombard all of your local competitors with fake leads including, responses, return calls...everything. Watch as they melt down as their conversion rates plummet. They start thinking every customer is not interested, they try every sales technique, pay for training, start replacing sales people, bdc teams, managers...a death spiral of bad morale. Tune it right up to the point before they think it's as a result of a bad actor, like the allies in WW2 after they cracked enigma.

I am certain this has and is being done in most industries but with all the tools today you could make it almost perfect.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

I've been casually shopping for a car for months (while I wait out these rates) and I'm shocked by how bad it still is.
A same day reply is rare, but no response at all is surprisingly common.

I don't understand how it can be so difficult - I am asking about a car I am clearly interested in.
Give me a personal response written by someone who can sell me a car.

It seems so easy. We have all of the tools. It shouldn't be this hard.

And I wholeheartedly agree with all of this. I sent one dealer an email-only lead and instantly got two long emails. Obviously that's not a personal email. Dealers are still sending out the same standard template responses "Thank you for your inquiry..." I couldn't believe how many templates looked just like the ones we were sending years ago. Emails with subject lines that give me no reason to open the email. No real attempt at engagement by anyone. The worst text was "You were inquiring about the X, correct? I sent two leads to a large dealer group with no response. I say in my leads with my number that I prefer text. They only call me. Truthfully, out of all of the test leads I sent, I would only give one over a C grade. The majority would be flat-out failures, in my opinion.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

Here's an idea for a company...keep in mind this is pure evil and no one should actually do it.

Setup automation to bombard all of your local competitors with fake leads including, responses, return calls...everything. Watch as they melt down as their conversion rates plummet. They start thinking every customer is not interested, they try every sales technique, pay for training, start replacing sales people, bdc teams, managers...a death spiral of bad morale. Tune it right up to the point before they think it's as a result of a bad actor, like the allies in WW2 after they cracked enigma.

I am certain this has and is being done in most industries but with all the tools today you could make it almost perfect.

Don't they already think and do all of these things? I honestly think that's part of the problem. People either think they are all a waste of time and there is nothing you can do or they waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay overthink it.

We have 4 simple rules.

Respond quickly.
Respond accurately.
Answer and ask easily engageable questions.
Be real.

 

[DrewAment]

Just my 3 cents (inflation)

I can't honestly believe that we are still talking about emailed leads -- like this is 2005?

Turn off whatever "lead type" your establishment is not well trained at - or has a problem with - until they are ready.

Are your salespeople good on the phone? Turn off all lead forms. While quantity (OTDBs) will go down, the quality of people you talk to will go up. And, people looking to buy will ultimately contact you if you have the product they want - along with a good website experience.

Good at chat/text/SMS? (dealer managed) - funnel your customer to chat/text, with phone as a backup.

If you ultimately want to leave on your lead forms - go with a 3rd party program like Response Logix (DAS) to handle lead quotes and first response. Going to be even more important if your processes are not in place to handle the C.A.R.S. Rules that are coming in July.

 

[Jeff Scherer1]

It's been a few years since we sent out some test leads to dealers to see what other people are doing and maybe steal some ideas. Sent out about 20. Holy smokes, how are we still so bad at this? Seriously?

I wrote auto-responder e-mail templates back in 2005 for a large company who was just getting into CRM. They are still using them today. Was I THAT good?? :-o I think it is back to the reality that businesses STILL fail to walk their customer's path.

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

I wonder how many dealers fainted at the words "turn off lead forms?" But I would agree. If you're handling them that bad it's hurting more than helping. Just making you look bad.

I also believe that the bigger city dealers just don't care. They can scrap a whole lot of leads and still be just fine. Like I asked my people the other day: How many people just moved into Kirksville today? Maybe one. How many people moved into Kansas City today? Probably a lot.

 

[jon.berna]

 

[BillKVMotorCo]

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LOVE this.