With companies like Axciom, Polk, Urban Science, etc all out there in the leads game I was wondering how many dealers are currently part of an OEM program by which the OEM sells them 3rd party leads at a discounted rate? If you are participating through your OEM, do you find this to be beneficial to you in regards to overall cost, time spent, program management?
OEM Lead Programs
- Thread starter steve1021
- Start date
- Jul 21, 2009
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- Brent
Thanks for starting this thread! I was actually in a meeting yesterday and we are trying to decide to take on GM 3rd party leads. We had gotten out of the 3rd party lead business a few years back when I was still on the sales staff and not the ISM. Now we get very few new vehicle leads and I am looking at GM plus some SEM. The main reason we got out of GM's leads were that they were CRAP!! So everyone's input here would be a big part of my decision.
Are GM leads better than they were 3 years ago?
How about Cars.com...anyone buying leads from them?
As you probably know Gm and other oem's get their leads from SEM, 3rd party lead providers, and other retention programs. I know from experience that it makes very little sense to purchase leads from an OEM without knowing where they are getting the leads. For instance if you buy leads from Dealix and you buy leads from your OEM and your OEM is buying leads from Dealix you will be getting a lot of dup's. Now, you can normally work with 3rd parties on some level to achieve some sort of exclusivity. That is a NO GO with your OEM. Consider your OEM in most cases to be a 4th party lead provider. That is why so many of them are horrible. Your domestic dealers tend to play the send a ton of them and even sometimes resend them game (extra work for you). I know of one OEM that got caught by a dealer sending dup's on purpose. Not cool! Anyway....Ford was horrible, Subaru was excellent, Hyundai was excellent, Mitsu was bad, Mazda was excellent and Honda was good. Those are the leads I worked with.
Remember the reason the OEM's can charge less is because they are buying in bulk and reselling them much like a lot of 3rd party's do. Your OEM doesn't care if you or the other dealer gets them as long as the people are called a bunch of times and their product is the one they buy.
I suggest SEM but you need to know what you are doing. Its not rocket science but it does take time. If you don't have it I am sure Joe knows someone he would recommend
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Remember the reason the OEM's can charge less is because they are buying in bulk and reselling them much like a lot of 3rd party's do. Your OEM doesn't care if you or the other dealer gets them as long as the people are called a bunch of times and their product is the one they buy.
I suggest SEM but you need to know what you are doing. Its not rocket science but it does take time. If you don't have it I am sure Joe knows someone he would recommend
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- May 1, 2006
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- Alex
I have yet to meet a good OEM-purchased-third party lead. And please don't confuse that with leads that are directly sourced straight from the manufacturer's website - totally different!
Typically the OEM's pay for the second-tier third party leads (not true in all cases), so they can negotiate better rates than the standard $20 per lead charge (I know of one OEM that is actually paying more than that
). When they do this, you end up getting stuff the third party lead provider purchased from somewhere else - there is a lot of lead brokering going on out there - and it usually doesn't pan out to much for the dealer.
I am not a fan of third party leads. They're expensive and many are huge time wasters. Give me SEO/SEM performance for my own site and let me generate my own leads!
Typically the OEM's pay for the second-tier third party leads (not true in all cases), so they can negotiate better rates than the standard $20 per lead charge (I know of one OEM that is actually paying more than that
). When they do this, you end up getting stuff the third party lead provider purchased from somewhere else - there is a lot of lead brokering going on out there - and it usually doesn't pan out to much for the dealer. I am not a fan of third party leads. They're expensive and many are huge time wasters. Give me SEO/SEM performance for my own site and let me generate my own leads!
CAROYN
You mention a bunch of different OEMs and which ones you found to be good and which ones were not. I would guess that has a lot do with which companies those OEMs are working with right? I believe Subaru is with Urban Science.
As to OEM leads being almost a 4th party source, do you think a case would arise where as a dealer you would stop buying 3rd party leads on your own and get them exclusively via your OEm program, since they would most likely be more affordable, you could get them from more sources and you wouldn't have to manage contracts with multiple vendors on your own?
You mention a bunch of different OEMs and which ones you found to be good and which ones were not. I would guess that has a lot do with which companies those OEMs are working with right? I believe Subaru is with Urban Science.
As to OEM leads being almost a 4th party source, do you think a case would arise where as a dealer you would stop buying 3rd party leads on your own and get them exclusively via your OEm program, since they would most likely be more affordable, you could get them from more sources and you wouldn't have to manage contracts with multiple vendors on your own?
Thought this would be a good place to quote/post this announcement that went to Nissan dealers.
A concern is the 'Lead prioritization' - I want my salespeople handling ALL leads like they are top priority. You start letting scoring systems and previous purchase stats dictate process and customers will fall through the cracks.
--Drew
Edit: Got a call from Nissan North America asking me to delete their company memo. While this was forwarded to me form a Nissan dealer who asked me to post it, I am going to comply. Pick your battles. I am leaving the lead prioritizing section (with OEM removed), because my question/comment is valid.
A concern is the 'Lead prioritization' - I want my salespeople handling ALL leads like they are top priority. You start letting scoring systems and previous purchase stats dictate process and customers will fall through the cracks.
--Drew
Edit: Got a call from Nissan North America asking me to delete their company memo. While this was forwarded to me form a Nissan dealer who asked me to post it, I am going to comply. Pick your battles. I am leaving the lead prioritizing section (with OEM removed), because my question/comment is valid.
drew said:
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