Dealerships are constantly on the hunt for more leads, but the quest for quantity can often overshadow the importance of quality. While having a large number of potential customers might seem beneficial, it doesn’t inherently translate to increased sales. The real game-changer lies within understanding the quality and specific details of each lead.

On average, 19% of all leads in your database are defecting.

Your lost sales* to other dealers, defections, play a significant role in analyzing the quality of your leads. Understanding what types of leads are defecting will clue you into your overall lead quality.

Gaining this insight will help drive changes in your lead management to increase sales efficiency by:

• Knowing what type of leads need to be increased
• Restructuring what lead sources are assigned to each salesperson
• Optimizing marketing to target the leads that are still looking to purchase

Knowing what type of leads need to be increased

By identifying the lead sources that convert to sales, you can focus in on the sources that work. But your sales are only half of the story, defection data captures the lost sales opportunities. You might think source A is performing great, but when layered with defection data, you notice 75% of source A leads are defecting. With the full story in front of you, you can see which lead sources provide leads that follow through with purchasing and then optimize by reallocating resources to your top performing lead drivers.

Restructuring what lead sources are assigned to each salesperson

Want a fast way to improve close rates? Not all salespeople see the same success with every lead source they are provided. A general manager used our defection data by lead source analysis and realized that certain salespeople had higher defection rates with specific lead types (floor, internet, commercial, retail). They restructured the sales process, assigning salespeople to focus solely on specific lead types rather than all sources. This approach enabled each salesperson to leverage their strengths naturally, resulting in maximum output across the team.

The result: A 14% increase in close rate (over a three-month period).

Optimizing marketing to target the leads that are still looking to purchase

After cleaning out the lost sales from your CRM with daily defection data, you can then target only leads that are still in-market. Saving time and resources by not going after defections drives a more streamlined lead management process. Set up marketing automation or use AI to streamline efforts towards the in-market leads to set your sales team up for the highest chance of success. Give your marketing dollars to the leads that matter.

After you’ve strategically aligned your leads – how do you ensure high quality leads are being captured?

Let’s say your dealership needs higher quality leads for a specific vehicle that’s sitting on your lot – now what? Increase leads with incentives. It’s an age-old tactic that’s recently resurfaced with customers being more motivated than ever to submit a lead form and come into the dealership for a small incentive offer. The incentives don’t have to be substantial, with 87% of shoppers willing to come in for a test drive for just $50**. Customize offers that will move inventory, drive new-to-brand customers, and bring quality leads to the showroom.

Surprisingly, even a majority of the most well-qualified, high-quality leads are motivated by incentive offers. These desirable leads are more likely to defect, typically having the ability to shop around. Using an incentive offer will help convert your hard earned leads before they purchase elsewhere. AutoHook® incentives, specifically, are proven to have a higher close when the leads income and/or education level is higher.

It doesn’t have to be as complicated as it seems. Analyze the quality of your leads with defection insights and use incentives to help drive the right customers to your dealership.

*Sales refers to vehicle unit sales and does not represent vehicle price or revenue.

**Urban Science Online Consumer and Dealer Studies, February 2024. These surveys were conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Urban Science among 3,005 U.S. adults aged 18+ and 250 U.S. automotive dealers.