We know from research that quick and appropriate telephone follow-up of test drive requests by dealers has a massive impact on sales.
But we don’t really need the research, surely it is just common sense? If a prospect has requested a test drive in one brand, there is a good chance he has requested one in two or three other brands. I know I did when I bought my last car. It stands to reason that a helpful dealer who gets the prospect into a test drive quickly puts themselves in pole position to make a sale.
It won’t surprise anyone in the car industry that not only do many leads not get followed up quickly, a large percentage still don’t get followed up at all. And if we think it is bad in the UK (which it is), look what is happening across Europe. The figures below relate to research conducted in 2011 across all brands based on internet test drive requests through manufacturer websites and allowing an 8 day window to follow-up*.
UK – 54%
Germany – 47%
Netherlands – 37%
Russia – 36%
France – 31%
Spain – 24%
Italy – 19%
Anyone would think there wasn’t a new car sales crisis in the European car industry!
We have been working with our customers to improve the volume, speed, and quality of lead follow-up across all lead types. Using TrackBack to measure and monitor the actual calls made, we have objective evidence that the dealer networks we work with in the UK are now calling over 90% of the leads they get within a day.
Because we are fully integrated with the Lead Management Systems we are measuring the speed of follow-up to the minute and are not reliant on dealer updates to do it. Monitoring dealer response accurately has allowed the manufacturers we work with to target their network to follow-up leads within an hour of receipt.
We are now rolling out this service across Europe. It will be fascinating to understand the impact of TrackBack to monitor dealer lead follow-up in different markets with different cultures and expectations.
Written by Gareth Thomas | Managing Director | Calls2Account
*Research conducted by Bearing Point/Multi-M/IT.