Last week I heard it again: dealer managers (not the owners) believe that active leads – potential customers who themselves take the effort to contact the dealer or car company – should first be “pre-qualified” by a call center before being passed on to the salesperson.

The past six months — actually seven — have flown by once again! This means we can take stock at the Experience Store Doesburg: what have the marketing investments, and in this case specifically the portals, delivered? Especially now that we enthusiastically started with AutoScout24 as of September. We can include the results from that portal next time.

This week it suddenly caught my attention that we received a lead for a new Ligier via our own website, with the referral: ChatGPT! A quick look in GA4 (where, to be honest, I still don’t always fully find my way) showed that this was not the first lead coming in via ChatGPT! Especially for […]

Years ago, I think it was more than ten years ago, I was on a Monday morning, the last morning of the NADA in Las Vegas, in one of the last workshops of that year. There was almost no one left; most people were already packing up. The topic of that workshop seemed interesting to […]

My father called me recently with a story. He is still an entrepreneur and drives his van all over the country selling belts and textiles to small shop owners. Nice work: it keeps him busy and among people! My father therefore drives a van of brand X. He is very satisfied, has his maintenance done at the dealer, and has been driving it for four years already.

Over the past two weeks, it has once again become clear to me: leads are expensive! Getting opportunities and investing in them through marketing is costly, and the tangible outcome — an online lead — therefore is as well.

Recently I spoke with a dealer of a premium brand, who considered speed less important than good preparation for the phone conversation.

I heard that quote on my way to Spain in one of the many podcasts I listened to during the 2,500-kilometer journey. A simple sentence, but so powerful when it comes to online leads: Never walk away from an opportunity to talk to a potential customer.

Recently I heard an American dealer on CBT News (highly recommended, daily) talk about how he dealt with staff shortages in sales and service. His solutions were creative, not new, but certainly consistent. It was actually nice to hear the vision of an owner of a large dealer company, and to see what details he focused on in sales and service. It was about KPIs based on conversions and potential: what is maximally possible, for example, instead of managing based on budget.

That was the question the owner of a dealership recently asked me in a meeting. The dealer, mostly offering nice cars in a somewhat higher price segment, didn’t think Marktplaats was the right platform for his store(s) and inventory.