I was recently speaking for a group of dealers from France and a gentleman from an Automotive research firm mentioned that 95% of all people are online. I've heard 70% to 95%. So let's just say it is a large majority of our customers.

For the past decade our company has been measuring effectiveness by three means. The walk in up, phone up and intenet lead. I believe we track this data as well as anyone. My closing ratios always compare with other large dealer groups and other sources I've researched. Yet I see all of these silly awards given away and when I look at the numbers provided by certain organizations I have to believe that there is something fishy going on. What is an eDealer and how do we measure our selfves if everyone is measuring differently? Let's set the measurements and benchmarks together.

My question is:

How to you measure your results:

A. Give credit by first point of contact

B. Give credit to the internet if the customer mentions the internet

C. Measure phone and internet separately

D. Measure phone and internet

E. Give multiple sources credit

F. Make it up so you can appear at the top of the lists and win all the awards.

I guess my reason for righting is to shed some light on how you all do this. In the East region for Group 1 Automotive we keep them comepltely separate. Phone, Internet, Walkin and Internet phone. We find that about 40% of all our traffic is converting to a lead or phone call. The rest may use the internet but are not converting. I am sure your results may be higher or lower. I am really just trying to figure out if I should start calling all my sales Internet so I can win some awards! :) But seriously I would like to find out how others are doing it. Thanks for your time and answers. Vin