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Phone and Internet lead-to-set ratio

tima

Full Sticker + Prep
Jun 29, 2010
20
0
First Name
Tim
Kind of taking a poll here. What do all of you expect or think is acceptable in terms of lead-to-set apppointment ratio on phone and internet leads? This would be the average including both types of leads. 50%? 40%? 30%? Less? More? As always, thanks!
 
Kind of taking a poll here. What do all of you expect or think is acceptable in terms of lead-to-set apppointment ratio on phone and internet leads? This would be the average including both types of leads. 50%? 40%? 30%? Less? More? As always, thanks!

I try to stick by the rule of 60%.

If I have 100 leads, I want to contact 60% = 60 leads contacted
Of that 60 I want to set 60% appointments = 36 appts
Of that 36 I want 60% to show up = 22 Show
Of that 22 I want 60% to close = 13 closed.

That is my general rule from which I look at my month and all my leads. However, I expect to close closer to 20% of my first party leads and probably 10% of my third party leads. So the source is important!

Hope that helps...
 
I believe that web leads and phone leads should be kept completely separate. Even if they are coming from the same ad source you do need to separate which ones are working. So seperate tracking numbers should be applied as well as sourcing on your web leads. I use a very similar ratio as Clay with his appt set/show goals to closing ratio.

Good luck!
 
Clay and Lee-Thanks for the replies. We do break out phone and internet leads seperately. Just kind of checking for an overall number. I want to see if the goals that I have been given are realistic. Thanks again,-Tim
 
I try to stick by the rule of 60%.

If I have 100 leads, I want to contact 60% = 60 leads contacted
Of that 60 I want to set 60% appointments = 36 appts
Of that 36 I want 60% to show up = 22 Show
Of that 22 I want 60% to close = 13 closed.

That is my general rule from which I look at my month and all my leads. However, I expect to close closer to 20% of my first party leads and probably 10% of my third party leads. So the source is important!

Hope that helps...


Clay what do you mean you want to contact 60%? I assume you want to contact 100% of them, but you mean you only actually get in touch with 60%, is that correct?

Here are numbers so far for this month (we've been slow with the leads this month for some odd reason.)

163 Leads (we contact them all, but not sure how many we actually talk to, haven't kept that stat.) Oh and as of now we don't seperate phone from email.

60 Appts Set - 36.8%

57 Showed - 95%

27 Delivered - 47% (this one I don't get because we dont' actually SELL so I don't know why we're held accountable for this number, but oh well.)

Leads VS Delivered - 16.56%

And we've been accounting for about 50% of the overall sales this month. Previous months was 31% and 33%. (I am pretty sure we're getting better at what we're doing lol)
 
Tim,

I'd be curious as to what your goals that were given to you are? (Btw, I'm new in this business...just started in the internet dept. June of this year. Never worked in the car biz before...so I'm always looking for other peoples insight, etc.)
 
Carey-Sure, happy to help, Goals are set "unacceptable" to "superior". For this purpose let's use the "good" range:
Internet Leads to appts. set-45-50%
Phone leads to appts. set-56-60%
Overall leads to set appts.-56-60%
Appt. set to customer show-61-65%
Appt. show to vehicle soid-45-50%

For those of you who have been following this thread please know that I should have included these metrics in my initial post. Hope this provides a little "food for thought" and hopefully more discussion, Thanks
 
Carey,

You're numbers are looking really good. I would like to see a higher appointment percentage. To accomplish that you need to be more aggressive trying to make contact with customers. Multiple phone calls over the first few days on all Internet leads, plus effective e-mail templates that help initiate a phone conversation.

I would like to see a spread sheet that breaks out the lead type and lead source in addition to all the other information mentioned. This way it can be sorted to determine the effectiveness of advertising sources.

You're off to a great start and there's still a lot to learn. I sent your boss an e-mail and suggested that he send you to Digital Dealer.

By the way, your show rate is really awesome. I can tell you that your ability to set SOLID appointments is what's helping you achieve such a high show rate. And you do care about the sold rate since it's the true measuring stick for the effectiveness of your department. If you're team is not closing at close to 50% it becomes a sales process issue. In your case, they are looking good at 47%. The other 53%, you should do a follow-up CSI call to see what it will take to bring them back in. Here's that script: Unsold CSI

Keep up the good work, you've been a great student!
 
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Clay what do you mean you want to contact 60%? I assume you want to contact 100% of them, but you mean you only actually get in touch with 60%, is that correct?

Carey,

Exactly. I try to contact 100%, but I am looking to actually make a connection with 60%. No matter how hard I try, there are always those customers that never email or call back - or answer their phones. Or, when they finally do answer, it is to tell you they bought elsewhere.

It all depends, I think, on the level of responsibility. Ultimately, I am responsible for sales, so the only number that really matters to me is my percentage of leads to sales. Everything else is a good indicator of how well I am doing in getting to that number.
 
Carey,

You're numbers are looking really good. I would like to see a higher appointment percentage. To accomplish that you need to be more aggressive trying to make contact with customers. Multiple phone calls over the first few days on all Internet leads, plus effective e-mail templates that help initiate a phone conversation.

I would like to see a spread sheet that breaks out the lead type and lead source in addition to all the other information mentioned. This way it can be sorted to determine the effectiveness of advertising sources.

You're off to a great start and there's still a lot to learn. I sent your boss an e-mail and suggested that he send you to Digital Dealer.

By the way, your show rate is really awesome. I can tell you that your ability to set SOLID appointments is what's helping you achieve such a high show rate. And you do care about the sold rate since it's the true measuring stick for the effectiveness of your department. If you're team is not closing at close to 50% it becomes a sales process issue. In your case, they are looking good at 47%. The other 53%, you should do a follow-up CSI call to see what it will take to bring them back in. Here's that script: Unsold CSI

Keep up the good work, you've been a great student!

Jerry thanks for all the kind words. And I'd like to see that spread sheet too! lol The reason I laugh is that it'll be half a good spreadsheet (i.e. all of the customers that Tom and I entered in) and then it'll be a half sucky, repeated not the right information spreadsheet (i.e. all of the customers that the sales guys DUPLICATED, entered in again and they neglected to look at our original account for them and take that lead source and they mark it "unknown" or "walk-in" or whatever they feel like that particular moment.)

Call me crazy but my thinkning is "you know it's an internet appt, so you KNOW the internet dept. already has them in CM so why wouldn't you look for them in there instead of adding them again!"

It seems simple to me, but perhaps I'm missing something :) And I think Tom and I have been getting better at the multiple calls over the first few days, then we go to a once a week or once every few days call (plus whenever I call, I send an email right after too.)

I'd love to know some effective templates that folks use! Always, looking for new things that work.