Are You Spending Your Digital Money Wisely?

HAMILTON, N.J. - Sept. 20, 2013 - PRLog -- Are You Spending Your Digital Money Wisely?
Are you spending to much to get quality leads?


An old competitor of mine, now a friend, amazed me.  His dealership had every possible third party lead provider, Auto Trader on Steroids pack, cars.com's, 'heck will even sell you their leads edition', etc.  In all, his spent on Digital is huge: two websites, total optimization, Search engine marketing, re-targeting Banner ads.  

He asked me one day how he was doing.  I cringed!  Although he followed the digital frenzy playbook to a tee, he forgot one major element of the equation. People.

He employed one salesman to handle his leads.  He was topping 700 leads per month, and this guy was drowning in them. And,he worked them from bell to bell.  Yep, answered leads, made appointments, waited on them, and sold and delivered. But he wasn't complaining.  I don't blame the salesman - an unlimited supply of warm customers to cherry pick through!  700 leads - 25 solds! Urgh!

A few years back I interviewed with a very large dealership in Philadelphia.  He said he needed help in his Internet Department, that his "guy" wasn't getting to all of the 1200 leads a month coming in.  I didn't take the job.  

My suggestion to my friend was a simple one.  Back off your digital spend.  I told him that if he wanted to only have one person handling leads, he got more than enough from the Manufacturer's sponsored website, and the Manufacturer's brand site.  He should still get 15 solds a month.

He was at an extreme. I just wanted to shift him the other way.

We worked out a plan and took his money and split it down the middle. ( A good start!)  Half to Digital spend and half to employees.  We got the salesman back on the floor.  We built a 4 person Call/ BDC Center, which now handles 650 leads per month, plus data mining his customer base.  They make appointments for the sales department. In August, they attributed to 70% of his sales, roughly 85 units.  

Just thought I'd share a thought.  Too much advertising and not enough manpower is a waste of money.  Have a great Friday and hope you have a stellar weekend.