Autotrader, Cars.com, what is your favorite 3rd party lead provider?
We have agreements with about everyone....had a terrible experience with Carsdirect 72 leads 0 sales...and customers seem to use it as a wish lists...for new or used...not to mention I hate that they have a site to tell me how much I should be selling my cars for. AutoUSA seemed less attractive when they lost Edmunds. Imotors/Reply.com very low closing ratio..similiar customers to Carsdirect.
So currently we are using Autobytel, Zag, Edmunds, KBB, Dealix, we even pay for 3rd party leads from the manufacturer. We get a total of 550-600 leads on average.
Who do you like....and why?
I am always looking for good companies that are not on my lists or radar and would love to know your closing ratios....
We close over 11% when you include the leads driven by our website...and I have 2 experienced managers and 2 people with no car experience answering the leads. We have a decent system I put in place.
I am just not getting enough leads and I want more traffic...(that does not mean I want to expand my miles radius past 25)...whenever I have stretched it out the close ratio drops too much and puts my R.O.I. out of wack.
Look forward to the thoughts out there.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Mike Warwick on
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You've got the thrid party leads covered so I would look at putting a coupon onto the webiste. Dealeron has a great product with their E-Autosavings coupon. Depending on how much traffic your site gets, you can easily generate an additional 75-150 leads a month from this coupon.
If your PPC is performing well, you can also look to increase that budget.
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Permalink Reply by Mr. Natural on
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We like Active Engage a bit. Though their methods and actions are sometimes aggrivating to both my internet personal and the customers, we do seem to be able to sell cars off of their leads, and they have also several times set appointments. You can call me and ask about them if you like or would like to discuss this issue and my thoughts on the big picture. 971-544-9041
We get a lot of bogus stuff from Dealix, though some good stuff...Autotrader=poor...cars.com mas y menos....but call me.
Sincerely,
Gillon
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Permalink Reply by Tony Abbott on
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Gosh Robert,
Sorry to hear about your bad experience with CarsDirect.com. How was your process? With 72 opportunities how can you not have at least one sale? I would be happy to go through each and every lead with you and find out where and what happened to these opportunities. Please contact me. I would like to address this issue with you.
Tony Abbott
Dealer Relations
CarsDirect.com
310-280-4191
tony.abbott@carsdirect.com
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Permalink Reply by Rich Soviero on
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Robert,
We have a program that consistently delivers 100+ leads per month to our dealer clients,and they are closing from 9-15% These leads are generated directly from your inventory and within the radius you want to focus on. If you would like to know more please call me at 954-658-2900
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Wow Robert, you're attracting a lot of sales types. Here's what I think...#'s of leads, and closing #'s are nothing. Its all about lead quality. The closer the lead is to your own website, the better it is. Would love to chat.
g~
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You may actually be better off investing in training for the two inexperienced lead handlers. What are their closing rates?
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Nice answer Mike, and indeed some truth there. However, I feel it's all about the relationship, and you cant train the ability to build relationships over the phone. Nobody buys anything from somebody they don't like. It takes pure talent to build a relationship of trust, and mutual respect over the phone. You will need to look for the ones with talent do this job.
Mike Warwick said:
You may actually be better off investing in training for the two inexperienced lead handlers. What are their closing rates?
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Permalink Reply by Michael Abrams on
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Funny, I was thinking the opposite. Most training in this area has the inverse effect. It's the training that causes the adversarial relationships to flourish in this business. I recommend that you all read some of Tom Watson's findings on this at www.skildev.net
Mike Warwick said:
You may actually be better off investing in training for the two inexperienced lead handlers. What are their closing rates?
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Permalink Reply by Frank Blair on
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What I think stinks about Auto Trader is that if you price your vehicles aggressively you are put at the end of the vehicle list and when customers look at your ad they are pulled away to other soures for financing and "big box" car dealers. So the space you are buying is really not yours. Any body have any luck with any marketing programs that promote CAC's Guaranteed Credit Approval program? FKBlair@aol.com
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Permalink Reply by William Bryant on
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Okay, this is my candid response because you are getting a ton of leads and only selling 60-66 cars/mo... I can narrow down much deeper if you want about your closing ratio because I think it should be much higher, but not right now. Right now, here's what I see:
#1 when I go to your website (the place where your leads close the best) nothing draws me in. There's no call to action on your home page. Really you shouldn't be trying to sell me on your home page, just quickly putting me into where I really want to end up -- New Inventory and Used Inventory. As dumb as this sounds these links are not prominent enough, let's make then stand out -- each on their own.
#2 speaking of the nav bar, let's bury that Facebook link a little since I don't want any reason to distract visitors on my website to somewhere else. I want them looking at inventory! Reading my reviews! Watching my videos!
I suggest having a "NEW CARS" main nav link, "USED CARS" nav link, with your $10k or less and inventory links the first ones below these main links so people don't have to even think about where they're going. Internet ADD anyone?
#3 The inventory details page -- Again, get rid of that daggum Facebook link. I don't want them on Facebook I want them shopping cars. Again, here there's no call to action on this page. Let's add a CALL ME NOW 877-313-2767. Also with dealer.com you can add a "click for best price" on your main nav page (and also on the inventory details page) which is proven to create more leads.
#4 It wouldn't hurt, either, to have at least one real picture of the actual car. This will help generate more leads.
#5 Inventory Details Page -- There's that facebook button again, be gone! Let's throw in a "CLICK TO TEST DRIVE" button or a "CLICK TO GET APPROVED" button that will actually generate a lead. Call dealer.com and ask about that "Click here for the best price" button, which will show right below your "Internet Price $20,840" on the details page. That's a very prominent call to action which was always one of the most used lead forms.
#6 One step no one else takes on this page is, notice all that dead white space below the main picture of the car? Below that you can insert a picture (maybe of your internet team, be personal!) and another call to action like "CALL ME NOW 877-313-2767" (let's get them off that mouse and on the phone baby!)...
Well there's a lot of steps you can take right now for FREE to generate more 1st party (high closing ratio) leads. Live chat would also be great on your site.
And let me say one thing about pop-up coupons -- if you have a well optimized lead generating monster of a site, these will actually hurt your conversion ratio! I've tried them all over the place and get the same results. On a mediocre site, sure, but there's so many other free and better things to do.
Robert if you need more help, just call me.
William Bryant
864.881.1234
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Permalink Reply by William Bryant on
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... I'm seeing more and more as I browse your site. No specials? Weak keyword optimization... Your blog which I got to through your website has only one post -- Kia recalls 70,000 vehicles! Not a good start for leads to be thinking about.
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Permalink Reply by Sheldon Goldman on
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If you are looking to bring in customers with older vehicles that will generate business for your service and parts department, and the opportunity to sell them a new or used vehicle,you might look at www.autorepairmoney.com . This company has started in North jersey and is now expanding nationwide. There is never any charge or fee other than a customer discount for the affinity group and internet customers they send. Check out their website wwwautorepairmoney.com and use zip code 07470
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