• Stop being a LURKER - join our dealer community and get involved. Sign up and start a conversation.

The Definition of Irony

I can only offer a theory based on discussions with other vendors.

This may be the toughest time vendors have had since the last recession. COVID quarantines were brutal for all. If dealers weren't cancelling vendors outright revenue churn was through the roof to keep dealers on services. The big empires gave dealers 50% discounts and it trickled down from there.

When quarantines were over many dealers did not bring back their entire staff. Mix that with the highest glut of customers and you have some busy dealerships!

Vendor sales teams were not able to physically visit, so experienced sales people were relegated to an "inside sales" position pounding the phones. C'mon dealers, how well do your floor sales people do on making outbound calls? In many companies this is still the way the entire sales org is operating. Take it a step further, dealers weren't answering their phones. They weren't returning emails. Hell, dealers weren't even answering the calls from their own customers or responding to the internet leads.

And now there are fewer cars to sell. Demand may be shifting down, but supply is still super low. We have a 12 store group that has 7 cars at each store as I type. @jon.berna tells me in normal times the average dealership has 220 cars in inventory. Right now, it is 56.

A well-known advertising vendor with a 50+ person sales staff hasn't even hit 30% of their sales projections once this year. They've been living off their cash position, but layoffs are around the corner.

I'm hearing most dealers are sticking with what they have until they begin to see allocations on the horizon.

So, my theory is that vendor sales team morale is low. Instead of responding to your lead, they're probably looking for another company where the grass is greener.
 
I completely get it. I'm just astonished to have issues with both vendors. I called the Sales line on the other and got "This number is no longer taking calls at this time." For the other one with the bad template when I called it went to VM. And these two actually came highly recommended from here. I've considered this factor though and that is why I've kept powering through and have kept pursuing both. I just... wow.
 
I am looking for a new CRM and I sent in two "leads." I've received no response. I want my template email dammit!
Bill that just blows me away, I actually measure response time on when a lead for our CRM comes in as to when the first contact was made via a connected phone call or an email response from the inquiring person. I can promise, 2 days would lead to a counseling session. If you are still looking feel free to take a look at us DealerPeak