3 Common Lead Conversion Mistakes

Internet leads are a part of daily life for today’s dealers, but many still struggle with simply getting a hold of the customer. Sometimes, going back to basics helps identify why conversion rates aren’t higher.

Consider whether your dealership suffers from these common errors:

• Working too many leads – Sales reps have too many leads to work through, and “cherry pick” who they think the buyers will be. They don’t have a defined sales process by which they are held accountable. (For example, how many dials/day, talk time/hour, and conversion rate to appointment, with follow up for no-shows.)

• Calling customers at the wrong time – Sales reps can focus too much on getting through every lead every day and forget that if they consistently can’t get a hold of someone at 10am every day, for example, that they should try the prospect at a different time. It’s important to focus on prime contact hours – look at mornings before work, lunch, evenings after work, and weekends.

• Method of contact – Many sales reps don’t try to text the customer. Or they reach out only via e-mail, and if calling leave bland messages that don’t elicit a return call. They don’t examine their customers’ behavior to understand what the best opportunity is for contact.

At CarsDirect, we’ve sold hundreds of thousands of vehicles through our brokering business without ever seeing a customer face-to-face. When optimizing your lead conversion processes, consider the above points, and remember: Dealers need to step into the customer’s buying process, not force the customer to their selling process.

Cross Shop Close-Up: 2014 Maserati Ghibli

Fiat is betting big that its once-dormant Maserati brand will grow to sell 50,000 cars annually. A big part of those hopes rests on the company’s new more compact – and more affordable – luxury sport sedan, the Ghibli. Priced from $66,900, the Ghibli is poised to strike in a competitive North American market. The Ghibli is intended to compete with high-trim performance versions of longtime stalwarts including the BMW 550i, Audi S6, Mercedes-Benz E550, and Cadillac CTS Vsport.

Touting a Ferrari-built, twin-turbo V6 engine, an interior adorned with rich Italian leather and woods, and available Bowers & Wilkins 15-speaker audio system, Maserati hopes to lure buyers from the more traditional offerings in the segment with an exotic nameplate and a focus on performance.

But is Maserati’s new entry connecting with these buyers? To find out, we used exclusive CarsDirect cross-shopping data from the past three months to take a look at the top five vehicles currently cross-shopped against the 2014 Maserati Ghibli.

(The percentages refer to the percentage of total Ghibli shoppers who also cross-shopped the alternate models listed. For example, 13.9% of buyers who shopped a Ghibli also shopped a GranTurismo.)

Maserati GranTurismo: 13.9%

Maserati Quattroporte: 13.3%

Tesla Model S: 9.0%

Porsche Cayenne: 6.6%

Jaguar F-Type: 6.5%

CarsDirect’s take: The top two vehicles cross-shopped against the Ghibli are higher-priced models from Maserati’s own stable, meaning that many buyers are considering the Ghibli as a low-cost option to get a Maserati into their garages.

However, the Ghibli is also appealing to those interested in hot-selling high-end vehicles such as the Tesla Model S and Jaguar F-Type, indicating that the Ghibli is getting the attention of buyers interested in the latest-and-greatest high-end offerings. These buyers are more likely to know about the Ghibli than buyers of the more traditional competitors the Ghibli is targeting (such as the upper-trim versions of the BMW 5-series), which are missing from the list.

Maserati is currently offering attractive lease rates on the Ghibli in many markets, and sales are up considerably as a result. As more Ghiblis hit the streets, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the Ghibli poach more of the traditional high-end midsize luxury sport sedan buyers the brand hopes to capture as awareness of the model grows.

Want custom cross-shopping data for the vehicles you sell? Contact us at 866.852.3784 or connect@carsdirect.com for a customized cross-shop report.