How to Manage Leads Effectively at Your Vehicle Dealership

The Holy Grail of online marketing has always been the same – getting new leads and providing them with the right offers, at the right time, to drive sales.

However, it is extremely important to segment these leads out into different segments. This can be based on different parameters, but the most straightforward method is splitting them depending on how far down the sales funnel they’re currently located.

Based on their progression, what you offer for each lead needs to change as well. It is by doing this smartly that your auto dealership can maximize the chances of these leads converting into actual paying customers.

In this article, we will share a few helpful ideas to accomplish this.

Early Stage Leads for Your Auto Dealership

A lead can be classified as early stage in the following cases :

• If they are first time website visitors
• If they visited only a single page and spent a very short amount of time before converting
• If they converted on an incentive

 Early stage leads are flexible about which car they want to buy, and are usually on the lookout for a brand that they trust and feel comfortable using.

The leads in this section are still researching which car to purchase, and usually don’t end up converting at all. However, if your vehicle dealership is lucky enough to capture one of these leads, it’s a great opportunity for you to influence every stage of their upcoming buying process.

By providing them with sound advice on which car to buy, its features, details on financing and trading-in their existing car, vehicle comparisons and so on, you can be guaranteed that they’ll trust your dealership all the way.

Late Stage Leads

A lead can be classified as late stage if they meet these parameters:

• If the lead has visited the vehicle detail page (VDP) of a particular car multiple times
• If the lead has viewed VDPs of many similar vehicles
• If the lead spends long amounts of time on your auto dealer website
• If the lead converted on a particular vehicle

Late stage leads are closer to buying, so your goal is to bring them onto your showroom floor.

Earn their business by simplifying their purchasing process and making it hassle-free and transparent. Giving them more detail about the VDPs that they are interested in, booking an appointment for a test drive, and helping them to start off the financing process are great ideas as well.

Additionally, you can even try cross-selling and up-selling to late stage leads.

Duplicate Leads

Duplicate leads are those leads who have already converted on your car dealer website, maybe even more than once in the past. As a result, they are some of the most highly qualified leads that you could possibly find, since they have already expressed interest repeatedly to do business with your vehicle dealership.

All they probably need to convert and become a paying customer of your auto dealership is a gentle push. How do you do this? By giving them your undivided attention right away.

Reach out to them immediately, figure out what they want and what caused them to not convert during the previous occasions, and resolve any problems they have.

Lost Leads

All those leads that have been lying idle in your CRM can be classified as lost leads.

These leads may also be those who were never followed up with or successfully reached out to, for whatever reason.

Simply offering general information might do the trick in getting these leads back and converting them. Once you get them to return, enter these leads into your early stage lead funnel.

Previous Clients

These are leads that have already converted and bought a vehicle from your vehicle dealership.

Even if the deal is now closed, make sure that you don’t lose contact, and keep in personal touch.

Send updates about special promotions going on at your dealership and service reminders on a regular basis, but be careful to not spam their inboxes.

Always maintain a strong relationship with all your leads and customers, regardless of where they are in the purchasing cycle.

For more information on dealing with leads at different stages, Contact Us.