I was looking at some really old automotive Internet related data, a few days ago. Does this look familiar?
30% of leads are never answered
Response times average 5.4 hours
80% of customers get no product information
75% of customers are never given a price
70% of customers are not told if vehicle is available
This is old news but has it really improved? From my experience, NO!
I recently visited a dealership where my friend is the new GSM. I clicked into his CRM and then into his reports. I noticed that the average response time was over 5 1/2 hours and his closing ratio, as a percentage of leads, was under 4%. One of his ISMs had 58 leads with zero sales. I could sell more cars approaching strangers, at the mall.
The Internet is a marketing tool but most dealers give little consideration to marketing but focus on follow-up. If the statistics are close to accurate, it is no wonder why dealerships are cutting back on their Internet related budgets. The GM, at my friend's store, believes that he is already spending too much money on the Internet. Based on what I saw, he is probably right.
I'm convinced that it is safe to post away. If any of your competitors actually reads DealerRefresh, they probably are too lazy to implement it. There are some really sharp people, on here, but they are not typical of what I'm seeing out there.
30% of leads are never answered
Response times average 5.4 hours
80% of customers get no product information
75% of customers are never given a price
70% of customers are not told if vehicle is available
This is old news but has it really improved? From my experience, NO!
I recently visited a dealership where my friend is the new GSM. I clicked into his CRM and then into his reports. I noticed that the average response time was over 5 1/2 hours and his closing ratio, as a percentage of leads, was under 4%. One of his ISMs had 58 leads with zero sales. I could sell more cars approaching strangers, at the mall.
The Internet is a marketing tool but most dealers give little consideration to marketing but focus on follow-up. If the statistics are close to accurate, it is no wonder why dealerships are cutting back on their Internet related budgets. The GM, at my friend's store, believes that he is already spending too much money on the Internet. Based on what I saw, he is probably right.
I'm convinced that it is safe to post away. If any of your competitors actually reads DealerRefresh, they probably are too lazy to implement it. There are some really sharp people, on here, but they are not typical of what I'm seeing out there.