Why 1 KPI from an OEM doesn’t work in lead follow up!

Leads were labeled as ‘not reached’ and an email is sent immediately just to meet the time limit.

You get it: measuring just one KPI – the reaction time – and not measuring anything on the next conversion, makes measuring your success nothing but a joke. So there is no chance of success, at all, especially because most dealers are more afraid to get punishment from the OEM’s for late follow-up, than they are sick of a missed sale. A sanction of € 15, imposed by the OEM, therefore hurts more than missing a customer. Even though it is a customer who had ensured trade in the coming years.

The system is bypassed
Many dealers and OEM’s look no further than the first KPI. Strange? Yes and no. That first KPI is important. The sooner you follow up, the greater the chance of a dialogue. With a dialogue you have a chance of an appointment and thanks to that appointment you might sell the car… But the whole process is killed if the right steps don’t take place in the right order. Therefore, there is no chance of success if the seller in this case labels leads on ‘not reached’ to start e-mailing right away, just because that order suits him better and it doesn’t get checked anyway.

The first rule in the online lead follow-up is ‘call first, then email’. Before you can label the lead as ‘not reached’, you should have made at least four call attempts in a period of three to five days. Working fast ​​is fine, but only with a clear contact KPI. With 60% of all leads you need to have a meaningful dialogue (two-sided). If you do not achieve that percentage, but do follow up 100% of the leads in time, the quality of your lead follow-up is not in order. This has nothing to do with the quality of the lead, but the quality of the dealer company, the process and the seller in question.

And so OEM’s should measure in a different way
OEM’s that supply leads to dealers should develop a different mindset. The leads are free for the dealers, but not without obligation. This means that the dealer has the obligation to do everything possible to convert the lead he gets into a real opportunity. Speed ​​is one, the conversion to a dialogue is the next and convert to an appointment the last. If I were an OEM, I would place the leads along the 60% rule. I expect, no, I demand a process that enables the dealers to convert 13% of the leads into concrete sales.

This means that all leads have to be touched qualitatively within 15 minutes (opening hours in 2018 between nine o’clock in the morning and nine o’clock in the evening), then in 60% of cases a dialogue has to be started, then 36% of the total has to lead to an appointment and 22% of the total should appear on that appointment. The great thing is that if 22 out of 100 customers who have registered – and therefore no lead from a cold DM, database or something else – actually come, it is relatively easy for most sellers to sell 13 cars. A KPI of only speed is nothing but window dressing and doesn’t make the dealer better. More sales do.

About Paul and #DCDW
#DCDW was founded by Paul de Vries, the authority in the field of online automotive in the Netherlands. Paul uses his broad knowledge of the automotive industry to help sales people, sales managers and dealer management improve in their lead follow-up, sales and online marketing.

In addition, Paul is a frequently asked speaker, coach and motivator. He presents a podcast every week and two books with a collection of his inspiring blogs have already been published. Paul is also an automotive spokesperson of Marktplaats, an eBay company in the Netherlands. Read all my articles now in English!