Glen Demetrioff
HE: You’ve seen major growth in the adoption of RAPID! Response among dealers in Canada, what do you think has driven that?
GD: When we started with RAPID! Response, it was about addressing a need in the marketplace. We found that dealers wanted an effective response solution to leads but were struggling with a process in how to do it. Some could respond quickly but had no idea of how their salespeople were operating while others couldn’t get responses to all of their leads because the mechanism of their existing tools didn’t enable it. By developing RAPID! Response we were able to bring those two elements together, providing an effective solution that doesn’t require dealers to change how they do business.
HE: Can you tell us a little more about that?
GD: RAPID! Response is designed to mimic and support the processes a dealership has in place, so for example, if a store has one salesperson that handles leads at the dealership it will enable that, or three people, or even if leads are channeled through reception staff and then distributed. The mechanism we have ensures a 100 per cent response rate and I think that is why dealers have adopted it the way they have — there’s accountability in every lead response.
HE: You’ve also developed a tool within RAPID Response that’s designed to handle warm leads, not just those that are hot. Can you tell us a little about that?
GD: Within RAPID! Response we have developed a Warm Lead Module. There are types of leads where an immediate response isn’t required, such as auto show leads, financing leads and maturity leads — what we call “warm” leads. These still have a pulse behind them but don’t necessarily need a response within 30 minutes. Our Warm Lead Module was developed to handle the mass distribution of these leads, so if I have 100 leads from an auto show requesting information I can respond to them with a general marketing message, like a mini E-Blast, instead of one-on-one communication like RAPID! Response.
HE: Given a choice between following up a lead or facing a potential upsell in the showroom, do you think a salesperson is always going to be drawn to the latter?
GD: In general, some dealers still have pre-conceived thoughts about leads. Simply put, they feel if a consumer is truly interested, they will just show up in their showroom — and that thinking still exists today, but leads need to be engaged in order to convert to a showroom visit, which means dealers need to respond to leads in order to get showroom ups. Our research shows that when a dealer responds to a lead, 44 per cent of those responses are opened by customers within 30 minutes of being received, within 10 minutes it’s 22 per cent, so a fifth of all leads are being open within 10 minutes. If you can wow the customer with a quick response to their lead they are more likely to do business with you. The longer it takes to respond, the more likely the consumer will become disengaged because they feel you don’t value or aren’t interested in their business.
Next week, we’ll look at some of the partnerships DMT has developed as well as ways in which the lead management process is evolving and how stores need to effectively respond to consumers.
For more information about DMT and the products and services it offers, visit: DMT.ca
