Although the new car lead business has been around a long time, dealers are taking a new approach to driving quality prospects to their dealerships. With dozens of dealers competing for the same customers in a saturated marketplace of new and used car sales, dealers know they need to get a leg up on the competition.
Considering the fact that the average dealerships operate in the red, they know that getting back in the black isn't easy to do. When dealers need to get leads fast, they find that approaches such email campaigns, search ads, microsites and advertised incentives can drive more leads through the door. Dealers are finding that other approaches such as Google PPC can be an invaluable source of for getting more prospects as well.
Market saturation, such as the Midwest markets of Southern Ohio and Northern Kentucky, are a hotbed for aggressive online advertising. Particular General Motors franchises typically spend a greater portion of their overall advertising budgets in online advertising. Pontiac Cincinnati Dealers are leading the way in the online leads push. Not to be outdone in this highly contested market are the Buick Cincinnati Dealers followed closely by the GMC Cincinnati Dealers. These franchises pride themselves are quick, accurate responses to the leads and setting up face to face appointments.
A number of studies have been done that show that more than 60 percent of customers that send a lead to a dealer end up purchasing a vehicle. When generating leads, if the dealer chooses to utilize search engine marketing and if the leads are scrubbed for accuracy, dealers are able to receive a much higher level of quality leads. In addition, techniques such as Live Chat can be used to engage car buyers as soon as the lead is submitted. It doesn't matter if you are the biggest dealer or the smallest, a lead is a lead and comes with a customer plain and simple. If they don't become your customer then they will become your competition's customer. Following up quickly and continuing to work the customer can mean the difference between closing the deal and a lost customer. With all the time and effort put into get customers to request a quote, a much bigger issue can be the lack of follow up once the lead is in the hands of the dealer. Every dealer hopes for a closing ration of no less than 50% which can easily be achieved with just a little training and effort on the part of sales personnel.
There are a number of companies such as Dealix, AutoBytel, and CarsDirect who have made their mark on the new car business by grabbing the attention of consumers and then connecting them to dealerships for a price. Their websites are well advertised and designed to get customers to submit for a quote. For most dealers the additional leads from a source such as this come at a premium cost per lead but may be worth the additional cost.
So bottom line is pick you source, work the leads and follow up again and again until the sale is made!
