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Recent Articles About Car Dealer Marketing
- from the BlogosphereDealership Lead-Handling Quality: You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea
3 Feb 2012 at 9:40pm
Dealership Lead-Handling Quality: You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea
By Anthony Navarra, Cobalt/ADP Performance... (show more)connect for lifeDealership Lead-Handling Quality: You Think You Know, But You Have No Idea
By Anthony Navarra, Cobalt/ADP Performance Improvement ConsultantNew Cobalt Lead Study Reveals Response Time is up, Quality Suffers
How is your dealership performing? How well is your dealership handling leads? Do you think you know, or do you really know? Based on the results from the latest ?industry shaking? eShopper study performed by Cobalt/ADP(http://cobalt.com/eshopper2011/), representing 4,400 dealers across 30 brands, the answers may be surprising.
Do you make these lead-handling mistakes in your dealership?
According to the study, on average 8 out of 10 leads never received a response. The lowest performing brand responded to only 4 of 10 leads. Would we ignore a customer standing on our showroom? Would we just turn away up to 40% of our traffic? I hope not. We may have set up procedures and processes, but are they being followed? Is anybody responsible for watching their performance?
Sales managers typically have a good feel for how well their sales teams are performing in person. They typically measure with metrics such as number of customers engaged, phone ups taken, closing ratios, gross generated, etc. Are we monitoring this with regards to their lead handling?
Is Quality the Casualty in the Race for ?Lead Speed??
It is an old adage, but one that obviously needs to be re-visited. You need to inspect what you expect. For most of us in the car business, it would seem obvious that we need to respond quickly and with quality. Based on this study, however, for many the speed was most paramount, often at the expense of quality. In 2003, the average lead response time was 7.5 hours, but this year the average has dropped to 3.2 hours with over 60% of responding dealerships coming in at under one hour. That shows dedication by dealers and OEMs alike to drive down response time, and it has worked.
However, we need to respond promptly and with quality. A quality response is one that compels the consumer to engage and choose to do business with us.We?ve heard many dealers nod their heads and agree this is all obvious by now.
My question is: if it is so obvious, then why are so many of us not doing it?
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3 Feb 2012 at 3:41am
Anyone ever hear of connect for life? The company sending this appears to be a fishing newsletter looking for intere... (show more)
Press Release: DriveItNow Mobile Converts On-The-Go Car Payment ShoppersAnyone ever hear of connect for life? The company sending this appears to be a fishing newsletter looking for interested car buyers who are researching their next vehicle purchase. I work with a dealer in Wisconsin that received a newsletter suggesting that Ford Dealers are cutting prices to meet quotas. Then it suggests that you search for your new vehicle by selecting your make, model and allows you to pick a competitive vehicle. You also have to enter your zip code.
Any ideas who might be behind this or where the leads go? It resembles a USAA/ZAG style relationship looking for third party leads. I was curious if anyone knew who was behind it.
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1 Feb 2012 at 4:36pm
DriveItNow Mobile Converts On-The-Go Car Payment ShoppersDriveItNow launches industry-first mobile plug-in to help... (show more)
DriveItNow Mobile Converts On-The-Go Car Payment ShoppersDriveItNow launches industry-first mobile plug-in to help dealers engage and close smartphone users
Cincinnati, OH ? February 1, 2012. Automobile Consumer Services, Inc. (ACS) has released a mobile version of DriveItNow, an innovative online pre-qualified payment quoting service.
Mobile car shoppers can now see instant monthly payments for which they qualify with only a few keystrokes or by using their Facebook login. This industry-first service builds on the success of the website version already in use by dealers across the United States.
DriveItNow?s proprietary patent-pending technology provides online shoppers with instant personalized car loan payments based on their actual credit eligibility and the dealer?s finance programs. DriveItNow does not impact a shopper?s credit or require confidential information.
Through DriveItNow Mobile, dealers can now engage car shoppers who use their smartphones and other mobile devices while on the go, on the lot, and after business hours.
?DriveItNow needs minimal information to credit-qualify a shopper. This makes it a perfect fit for a smartphone or mobile device where typing in a lot of information is not practical.? says Tarry Shebesta, President of ACS. ?Limiting keystrokes is the key to engaging mobile users. DriveItNow even allows shoppers to use their Facebook account to pre-populate fields quickly.?
?Most mobile dealer websites and apps do not provide payment information.? continued Shebesta ?For the first time ever, a shopper can instantly see personalized monthly payments based on their credit for a particular car ? a real game-changer for mobile websites.?
?DriveItNow uses state-of-the art mobile website technology, not a downloadable app, which gives it broader accessibility and compatibility.? comments Brian Clifton, CIO of ACS. ?Our mobile plug-in easily integrates into any mobile website platform used by finance portals, classified listing sites, online auctions and OEM sites, by any mobile website provider for iPhones, Androids, BlackBerries or most other mobile devices.?
For a limited time, DriveItNow Mobile is free for dealers who sign up for the standard DriveItNow service.
Visit DriveItNow.com using your own BlackBerry, iPhone or Android Smartphone to experience this exciting new technology.
About DriveItNow (http://www.DriveItNow.com)
DriveItNow?s patent-pending payment marketing technology is a service of Automobile Consumer Services, Inc. (ACS). ACS leads the industry with over 20 years of creating innovative proprietary technology that connects buyers and sellers online.BusinessWire Link: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120201005641/en/DriveItNow-Mobile-Converts-On-The-Go-Payment-Shoppers
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iMagicLab Announces Automotive Industry?s First Dealership CRM iPhone App
Baltimore, MD ? July 27, 2010. iMagicLab, a technology leader in automobile retailing, today announced the submissio... (show more)Baltimore, MD ? July 27, 2010. iMagicLab, a technology leader in automobile retailing, today announced the submission to Apple of the world?s first automobile-dealership CRM app for use in the iPhone and iPod Touch. DealerCRM ...Next Generation of Dealer Services Scams ? Social Media Training
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Social media is a very hot topic and now it appears that every wannabe trainer and even a few well respected ones are... (show more)Social media is a very hot topic and now it appears that every wannabe trainer and even a few well respected ones are jumping on the band wagon to teach dealers social networking and social ...Website Providers Social Media Fail
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Who put that there? Using social media to promote your business and products you sell is the craze today. Everybody ... (show more)Who put that there? Using social media to promote your business and products you sell is the craze today. Everybody is talking about it and a few are doing really well with it in the auto ...Not Another Automotive Social Network?!?!?
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The automotive social networking space has a new entry. Jeff Kershner over at DealerRefresh is adding a forum to his... (show more)The automotive social networking space has a new entry. Jeff Kershner over at DealerRefresh is adding a forum to his already popular blog. This is a welcome addition to the already fragmented automotive social networking ...Automotive SEO ? Conference Wrap Up
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The “Automotive SEO Exposition” held this year in Washington DC was a huge success. Top level automotive seo practit... (show more)The “Automotive SEO Exposition” held this year in Washington DC was a huge success. Top level automotive seo practitioners from all over the country came together for two days of powerful round table style discussions. The ...
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