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Car Dealer Marketing  >  Auto Dealer Sales Tools  >  Drive Showroom Visitors  >  Conversion

CapGemini's Cars Online 07/08 report has a lot of insightful information, but one thing that may surprise you is the perspective of car buyers about dealer and manufacturer response time. Over the last few years this has been tightening up and currently 34% of car buyers say they want a response within four hours. Eight percent say they want an immediate response.

Almost half will wait up to 24 hours, but here's the real kicker. If they don't get the information they want, at the speed they want it, their top three reactions are:

• 48% will look for another dealer
• 18% will switch both dealer and manufacturer
• Only 14% would call the dealer (presumably to ask what's holding up their response)

The other point of interest about responding to lead inquiries is the study found that the closer the buyer gets to making a decision, the faster they want the information they request. This puts even more importance on trying to develop a process that accurately gauges a buyer's stage in the purchase cycle. Or, given the next example, just be fast with all responses. During the study CapGemini discovered an outcome of double the previous conversion rates when a European luxury brand manufacturer responded to inquiries within 20 minutes of submission. Something to think about.

And when you respond, think about how important the relationship you build with your customers is to future sales. The top three considerations for buying their next car from you are:

• Dealer Trustworthiness
• Customer Service Quality
• Friendliness of Sales Staff

Consider the ROI you could achieve by leveraging an automated response system that intelligently provides information to your leads about the car they've expressed interest in. Yes, personalization is important too, but putting the information they want into their hands as quickly as possible shows them a couple of things about doing business with your dealership:

1. First - Inquiries get immediate action - and, if you look at the percentages above, you'll be exceeding the expectations of 92% of buyers.
2. Second - you've now bought yourself enough time to make sure that your salesperson can respond in a professional and friendly manner, not overly hurried or frazzled when contacting your leads. It also gives them time to check for alternatives or complimentary cars to the one the lead is interested in, should the conversation take a turn away from that vehicle.

Responding quickly in today's tech-driven world is critical. But it doesn't have to become a rat-race if you leverage the right automative lead generation tools. Exceeding expectations is terrific. Allowing your salespeople time to prepare and present your dealership in the best light is a differentiating factor that can produce more customer conversions.