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Craig,

I'm not saying that in-house Chat reps is the solution. I'm not saying that 3rd party vendors can't deliver a solution. I am saying that chat is the 1st point of contact with a store, and, speaking as a marketing dir, I fought long and hard for that chat to appear. Stuffing all chats into lead-gen tracks is simply throwing cash out the window.

Sales managers spend a life time teaching reps how to qualify shoppers to improve their results.  In chat/txt we often go for the close ASAP.  For example http://www.dealerrefresh.com/dealership-chat-used-or-abused/, 44% of chats simply wanted search help. Lead-gen word tracks in this sample can create dead-end leads.

All I am saying is that dealers need to understand that lead-gen word tracks can have unintended consequences that are difficult to measure (because shoppers silently vote with their feet).

p.s. I still am a big fan of 3rd party chat vs in-house chat.  IMO, commissioned reps manning in-house chat is another rats nest of chaos.