Help, I don’t have any new leads anymore…

It’s summer, many people are having a good time in a sunny foreign country, and those staying at home or working are experiencing a period without traffic jams and with people having time.

Because so many people are on vacation, there are naturally fewer people looking for new transportation. The vacation pay boom has passed, and the search volume is declining. Most dealers and car companies notice this in their visitor numbers, but you also see a decline in VDP views and thus leads on the portals.

Ligier Store Doesburg

At the Ligier Store Doesburg – Experience Center, I am busy with visitor numbers and views daily because without new leads, I can’t grow the sales funnel; instead, it shrinks. In recent weeks, we have achieved a conversion of over 22% on leads, which means that if I don’t add new leads, I ultimately have nothing left to sell.

So, how do I get attention for my stock from the few buyers who are in the market?

Certainly, now I use all the extra features that Marktplaats, Autoscout24, and others can offer me. Yes, it costs money, more money than usual, but the choice between nothing and something is quickly made. In my previous article, you saw that the ROI on the portals is almost always there, and a slightly higher Cost per Sale compared to no sale is 100%, meaning it can always be worth it.

Own database

The smartest thing might be to work on your own database. In the past three months, we have received many leads. The conversion was excellent at over 17%, but on 100 leads, that means 83 leads showed interest but did not buy, at least not from us. I have reviewed the cancellation reasons for those 83 leads and skipped the following:

• Buys a car elsewhere
• Chooses another car brand
• Ninja
• No financing agreement

Cancellation reasons live – Ligier Store Doesburg – Leads from Marktplaats

All other cancellation reasons, see pie chart, are therefore suitable for another call, app, and email. Not trying is always a miss, and situations can change. Especially with new microcars and new cars, the lead-to-order lead time is longer than 45 days in more than 50% of cases. So what didn’t result in an order back then may suddenly offer opportunities now.

Don’t sit still

So yes, I am nervous because the number of new, fresh opportunities is lower, but I can’t sit still and wait for that new chance. I have to get to work with all the other possibilities where we haven’t had the chance to sell the car or microcar yet. And let’s be honest, we from the sales department have to call, app, email, or be in physical contact with that customer, whether it’s a ‘fresh’ or ‘old’ lead. Opportunities, new or old, are there to convert. Even in the summer. Good luck!