Follow these tips to generate more appointments from E-leads
Most dealerships struggle to generate appointments from e-leads and give up reaching out to an e-lead prospect after being “ghosted” after several attempts.
Most dealerships do not value e-leads as an equal opportunity as a showroom visitor. Just consider how much time is spent with a showroom customer vs. how much time is spent replying to an e-lead.
While replying to an e-lead with speed greatly improves the chances of securing an appointment, many forget that the quality of the reply improves results even more.
E-leads should be dealt with the same level of interest, effort and urgency as a showroom customer. A new vehicle e-lead study showed that 68 per cent of e-lead prospects had not yet purchased after 30 days yet most dealerships mark an e-lead as “dead” after three or four replies. What a missed opportunity!
The first issue that hinders results for dealerships is misunderstanding the objective of replying to an e-lead. Many have been taught that the objective is to get an appointment.
Supporting that objective merely secures the low-hanging fruit. The true objective in replying to an e-lead is to: Sell an Appointment! Selling an appointment means to convince a prospect to visit your dealership by offering unique reasons. It will be the quality of the reply and not just the speed.
The following represents the best practice for replying to an e-lead:
A speedy reply (original content consisting of two options)
- An original 30-60 second ‘HELLO’ video if there is no phone number and/or both;
- A telephone call if there is one to inform the prospect that the Sales Consultant will work on their request and provide an approximate time that they will get back to them without over-promising.
Producing and sending a ‘HELLO’ video produces the following results:
- Engages a prospect immediately with more two-way communication;
- Demonstrates that the prospect is dealing with a professional Sales Consultant;
- Differentiates your Sales Consultants from others at other dealerships;
- Reduces the aggressive tone from prospects (on the phone or in written form in an e-mail); and
- Increases the appointment rate.
Develop a ‘CONTENT REPLY’ consisting of the following:
- A “Thank you!” and a reintroduction of the Sales Consultant;
- Answer the prospect’s questions;
- Provide MORE information than requested;
- Ask relevant questions;
- Attempt to secure a showroom appointment for a demonstration drive; and
- Ask for a day and time to confirm the appointment if it’s not on the same day.
Content suggestions:
- Answer the prospect’s question. If it’s a price or trade-value request, decide how to address these requests with a Sales Manager’s advice;
- If appropriate and applicable, consider offering deferred payments, leasing options or an Equity Pay-Out (E.P.O.) if the client qualifies for one;
- If there is a trade-in, review your unique appraisal service;
- Put together a resume/report card for the client; provide compelling reasons to purchase the model, articles, consumer reports, J.D. Power ratings, crash test videos, a link to the IIHS report, vehicle reviews, the Vehicle History Report and most importantly, video links;
- Accessing a ‘PRODUCT SUMMARY SHEET’ and an AI tool are useful tools and strategy;
- Take an original 60 to 90-second video of the vehicle or vehicles the prospect is inquiring about or send them a link to a quality video review; and
- On a pre-owned vehicle inquiry, detail the pillars of your dealership’s Certified Pre-Owned Program and the benefits if you have one. Detail how you back-up a pre-owned vehicle purchase or what you do include.
Be sure to offer a pre-approval
Have your Sales Consultant ‘TOUCH DESK’ and confirm their strategy with a Sales Manager seeking advice. Two heads are better than one yet, most Sales Managers rarely get involved with a Sales Consultant on an e-lead inquiry.
Don’t give up. Keep your Sales Consultants and the dealership on a prospect’s radar. Dealerships have up to six months to follow-up a client who has made contact with the dealership.
Any showroom clients, sales calls or e-lead inquiries that have gone dormant should be placed in a dormant folder and contacted once a month until they buy from you or have asked you to stop contacting them. A decision to drop any prospect should be authorized by a Sales Manager.
