Simple Sales Improvement Process

No one likes to wait, especially customers! Connect to your prospects in seconds not minutes. #happycustomers #auto http://t.co/dOX1pgvlwT

Are You Wasting Internet Leads

Are You Wasting Internet Leads?

According to Forbes magazine, companies that generate leads on the internet are wasting nearly 71% of them. Companies work hard to boost close ratios and to generate fresh leads but they overlook the most important aspect, which is taking advantage of the leads they already have. What is the biggest challenge that today’s companies face? Ironically, it’s possibly the simplest to address, they don’t respond quick enough to leads.

The Big Challenge

On average, sales reps take anywhere from 1 to 46 hours to call and respond to a lead. Moreover, the rep assigned gives up after making just 1 or 2 call attempts. How was this problem identified?

Over the last five years, tests were done in over 10,000 companies. These were “secret shopper” studies where the companies were informed of a potential lead on their website. The lead came with an email address and valid telephone number. From there, the company’s performance was analyzed based on how fast they responded and how many calls they made to the lead.

Research shows that out of all the marketing that companies do only 27% of the leads they generate ever get contacted. What’s worse is that nearly 60% of the time an attempt isn’t even made.

Bad Timing

Another way that leads get wasted is bad timing. According to a study conducted using call center data combined with the results of the calls (customer relationship management), the best days to contact leads was on Wednesday and Thursday. The best time to call them was between 4-6pm while the best time to contact and set up an appointment with a lead was between 8-9 am and 4-5 pm.

These studies demonstrate the effect that response time can have on lead conversion, but why is it so important?

Why Is Response Time So Important?

The first reason is that when you respond to a lead within five minutes, the chances of setting up an appointment with them are increased by up to 21 times. This is because your company is still on the client’s mind.

Second, if you contact them immediately, you know you will have their attention. By responding within five minutes after the initial inquiry your prospect is most likely still at their computer. If they are looking for specific information you will be able to direct them to your website and help to answer any questions they might have. You also lower the chances that they will stumble across a competitor’s website.

Thirdly, when you respond immediately, prospects will be impressed by your rapid response. Consequently, the company is able to build trust with their prospects. The prospect will understand that their business is valued and will be more likely to become a customer.

April 2013 Best Car Deals

April's fastest-selling cars mixed luxury models with recent redesigns and, oddly enough, a few oldies. The Audi Q5 and Q7 — frequent speedy sellers despite their age — met the likes of the BMW X3, Land Rover Range Rover, Mercedes-Benz GL-Class and Lincoln MKZ. A couple 2014 redesigns also made the list: the Subaru Forester and Chevrolet Impala.
It's good news for Ford's Lincoln division, whose redesigned MKZ has been hampered by production setbacks during its launch. Both the MKZ and MKZ Hybrid were among April's fastest-selling cars, reprising the cars' March appearance — but with a key difference. As we reported on April 2, March's brisk sales pace didn't translate into higher sales, but that changed in April. Lincoln shoppers bought 4,012 MKZs and MKZ Hybrids, up 115.4% versus April 2012. It was the best month in the nameplate's seven-year history, Ford proclaimed.
A few oddball cars often land among the fastest sellers, and April was no exception. The current Scion xB hatchback hit dealerships in May 2007 while Nissan introduced the current Frontier pickup truck at the 2004 Detroit auto show. In car years, the elder Nissan is somewhere between actors Michael Caine and Christopher Plummer — and it hasn't aged as well. But the Frontier and xB spent little time on dealer lots in April, and both have minimal incentives. Go figure.
April's slowest sellers document the continuing sales trickle for two cars: the Acura ILX Hybrid and Chevrolet Malibu Eco. Both variants make up a good chunk of their respective nameplates in Cars.com new-car inventory, but they took 150 and 229 days, respectively, to move. Contrast that with April's 51-day monthly average, which stayed about even with March (48 days) but came in a bit slower than April 2012's 45 days.
Here are March's fastest and slowest sellers:
April Movers

2014 BMW X3: 4 days
2014 Chevrolet Impala: 7 days
2013 Land Rover Range Rover: 7 days
2013 Hyundai Santa Fe: 9 days
2014 Subaru Forester: 10 days
2013 Lincoln MKZ Hybrid: 10 days
2013 Mercedes-Benz GL450: 12 days
2013 Audi Q5: 13 days
2013 Toyota RAV4: 13 days
2013 Ford Fusion Hybrid: 14 days
2013 Nissan Frontier extended cab: 14 days
2013 Scion xB: 14 days
2013 Audi Q7: 15 days
2013 Toyota Avalon Hybrid: 15 days
2013 Lincoln MKZ: 16 days
2013 Subaru XV Crosstrek: 16 days
April Losers

2013 Chevrolet Malibu Eco: 229 days
2013 Jaguar XKR coupe: 212 days
2013 Jaguar XK coupe: 197 days
2013 Mitsubishi Outlander: 151 days
2013 Acura ILX Hybrid: 150 days
2013 Smart ForTwo convertible: 146 days
2013 Volkswagen Golf R two-door: 127 days
2013 Jaguar XKR convertible: 125 days
2013 Volvo C30: 124 days 2013
Volkswagen Golf R four-door: 119 days
Cars.com Picks

2013 Chevrolet Traverse: 62 days
2013 Ford Flex: 69 days
2013 Volvo S60: 74 days
2013 Chevrolet Sonic sedan: 80 days
2013 Hyundai Elantra coupe: 87 days
2013 Chevrolet Tahoe: 91 days
About the Lists
The Fastest- and Slowest-Selling Cars list reports the average number of days it takes to sell models from the day they arrive on the lot until the final paperwork is signed by a buyer. This is not a days-of-inventory list like you may find on other websites. We look at 2013 and a handful of 2014s now, calling the fastest sellers Movers and the slowest ones Losers.
For Movers, we only list vehicles that pass a certain threshold of sales in order to weed out limited editions, ultra-high-performance cars and others that might skew the numbers or otherwise inaccurately portray popularity. To highlight all slow sellers, losers have no such threshold.
Our Picks highlight cars that take a significant time before they're sold and might be overlooked by shoppers. Dealers could be more motivated to sell these cars.

www.calldrip.com

Internet speed today's online shoppers

Everyone agrees that the Internet has changed the retail car business forever. A customer’s first impression of your business now occurs online and not in your showroom. Within a matter of minutes, a customer can compare your dealership to a dealership across town…or across the state.
Your dealership is evaluated on your ability as a communicator before they set foot in your showroom.

One of the first things a prospect judges you on is how fast you respond to them.

“In Internet time, a minute seems like an hour and a few seconds wait time is unbearable. The Internet prospect expects you to respond at lightning speed. This means that a slow response is only slightly better than no response at all. All the studies in this area conclude that he/she who responds fastest has the overwhelming advantage for getting the sale.”

An auto-responder email will definitely provide that lightning response. In fact, it’s so fast the customer knows there is no way anyone actually wrote it. They know it’s canned, and will give it very little attention if any.

Even in this day of advanced technology, the most effective means of communicating with a prospect is on the telephone. Nothing beats that interaction your sales staff can have talking personally with a potential customer. However, it’s generally slow. Most dealerships average a 24 hour response time returning phone calls, and many don’t return them at all. Hardly the lightning response your prospect is looking for.

So how do you get the intimacy of a phone call, at the speed of an auto-responder?

www.calldrip.com

Customer Testimonial

Customer testimonial, giving free sales advice.

http://youtu.be/w4xNj-dBBGg

Automotive Website Update

With all the success we have been seeing in the auto industry, we wanted to say thank you! We will continue to provide quality tool which help you sell more cars.

http://www.autodealercalls.com/
http://www.cars.com

Auto Dealership's First Monthly Results

One dealership's results after one month of using Calldrip. Could you have improved these results?