Artificially inflating your internet lead closing percentage?

[Ryan Everson]

Dealers: You may be artificially inflating your internet lead closing percentage and not even know it...

All too often BDCs and salespeople direct customers to the dealership website to fill out a credit application.

Those credit app "leads" then import into the CRM, and depending on your CRM, the credit app may end up receiving credit for the sale, thus stealing credit from the "true" lead source.

They very often have a 50-75% closing ratio which grossly inflates your overall internet lead closing ratio.

So what can you do?

1️⃣ Many credit app providers or digital retailing tools have a separate in-showroom link that you can send to customers you're actively working with.

2️⃣ Mark the "true" lead source as sold, not the credit app lead source (depending on CRM).

3️⃣ Exclude your credit app lead source from your internet lead performance reporting.

This will help paint a more accurate picture of your internet lead performance.

Sure, having a higher internet lead closing percentage may look good on your 20 group composite or BDC manager payplan, but it's not doing you any good being in the dark about how you're truly performing.

 

[Kelly Wilson]

Ryan,

To me, this really comes down to having a manager, typically the internet manager/director, who is paid a base and commission and can be trusted as well as an accountability process for both sales and internet.

If a credit app comes in after the process is underway, the lead should default to a duplicate as the salesperson has the active opportunity in the CRM where they've been working the deal (if not, that's a CRM setup issue). If the app comes in under another name, the customers are connected once communicated to the sales manager and the duplicate is marked. If that falls to the internet manager/director, there needs to be a base pay to account for the anti-commission work to avoid larger issues. If the salesperson has completely abandoned the process and the customer isn't in the CRM, that's a different conversation.

Sadly, the sales team doesn't often get valid information on how/why/which site got the customer in the door so there's a margin of error inherent in all sales attribution. We've seen lots of ways dealers try to get that information over the years, and just as many ways they use (or don't) the data to inform their marketing strategies. Way back in the day when this was my job, I would also search out the data points from a showroom visit to insure an internet lead wasn't being subverted.

All of this to say, proper CRM setup, especially understanding of how the CRM functions with different steps in the process, would be my step 1, regardless of credit app input tech, and that should cover your step 1 & 2. My step 2 would be to have a CRM process that everyone from top to bottom understands and follows. Given that some customers really do start their communication with a dealer via credit app (typically those questioning their ability to buy), I would still count them in reporting.

 

[Ryan Everson]

Ryan,

To me, this really comes down to having a manager, typically the internet manager/director, who is paid a base and commission and can be trusted as well as an accountability process for both sales and internet.

If a credit app comes in after the process is underway, the lead should default to a duplicate as the salesperson has the active opportunity in the CRM where they've been working the deal (if not, that's a CRM setup issue). If the app comes in under another name, the customers are connected once communicated to the sales manager and the duplicate is marked. If that falls to the internet manager/director, there needs to be a base pay to account for the anti-commission work to avoid larger issues. If the salesperson has completely abandoned the process and the customer isn't in the CRM, that's a different conversation.

Sadly, the sales team doesn't often get valid information on how/why/which site got the customer in the door so there's a margin of error inherent in all sales attribution. We've seen lots of ways dealers try to get that information over the years, and just as many ways they use (or don't) the data to inform their marketing strategies. Way back in the day when this was my job, I would also search out the data points from a showroom visit to insure an internet lead wasn't being subverted.

All of this to say, proper CRM setup, especially understanding of how the CRM functions with different steps in the process, would be my step 1, regardless of credit app input tech, and that should cover your step 1 & 2. My step 2 would be to have a CRM process that everyone from top to bottom understands and follows. Given that some customers really do start their communication with a dealer via credit app (typically those questioning their ability to buy), I would still count them in reporting.

Agreed, it usually comes down to an issue with process because when humans are involved, there's always a good chance mistakes will be made. And some CRM's are better than others when it comes to handling duplicate leads.

In my experience, there are 3 types of people who typically submit a credit app "lead":

1) Customers that are unsure of their credit and don't want to go through the embarrassment of being turned down when they reach the showroom. For a Mitsubishi store, this may result in a large volume of credit app leads. For a Cadillac store, this results in very few true credit app leads.

2) Customers who are instructed by someone in the store to fill one out online.

3) Stellantis customers who are required to fill out a credit app in E-Shop in order to receive a $1,000 rebate. Suddenly E-Shop looks like a runaway success!!

 

[Bruce Roscoe]

3) Stellantis customers who are required to fill out a credit app in E-Shop in order to receive a $1,000 rebate. Suddenly E-Shop looks like a runaway success!!

Ah, yes, the classic bait and switch tactic. It's always interesting when companies try to sweeten the deal by offering rebates, but then make you jump through hoops just to claim them. Requiring customers to fill out a credit application just to receive a discount seems a bit excessive, don't you think? But hey, if you're willing to hand over your personal information for a thousand bucks, then go for it. Just make sure you read the fine print and fully understand what you're signing up for.