45 days and 2 weeks…

You read it correctly: this article is about 45 days and 2 weeks. Not 14 days, but 45 days and 2 weeks: a substantial difference in the follow-up of online leads for new and used cars.

Used cars

Leads for used cars are very different from those for new cars. After all, a customer who, for example, searches for a used car on Marktplaats and then calls or submits a lead is often successful within two weeks — at least the vast majority are. Following up these leads is highly intensive and has a high success rate. Leads for used cars should be well above the benchmark of 13%.

Customers who are interested in a used car, in a market where the online supply consists of hundreds of thousands of vehicles, are genuinely in the market for your car. For an opportunistic salesperson, this is the ideal customer. Immediate follow-up, commercially aggressive, engaging in dialogue, making an appointment and selling! That is what we like to see, especially when they call themselves and the connection is made immediately. This period often lasts only two weeks. Within those two weeks, the customer usually buys a used car from you or someone else, or disappears from the market as a buyer. Of course, exceptions like your neighbour always exist…

New cars

A lead for a new car, however, is completely different — entirely different. While people looking for used cars are generally quite far along in their buying process, people searching for information about a new car are often still much earlier in the process and submit a lead because otherwise they cannot get the information, across all phases of the customer journey: the orientation, discovery, comparison and purchase phases. As a salesperson, it is difficult to determine which phase of the process the lead is in, because you cannot see that from the outside. Someone requesting a brochure is not necessarily in the orientation phase, but may already be in the purchase phase; you do not know until you actually follow up the lead and speak to them.

Nieuweautokopen.nl

At Nieuweautokopen.nl this became very clear! 55% of our sales volumes came from leads that were at least 45 days old. More than half! Leads that came in for a quotation and for which the majority therefore took longer than 45 days to say yes to a proposal. So 45 days in which the salesperson, the sales manager and the sales director must keep telling the team that creative follow-up of a new-car lead is crucial! Not just calling to see if you can close a deal, but calling, emailing and messaging with new information, new insights and new ideas to persuade the customer to buy from you after all.

55% of our sales volumes came from leads that were at least 45 days old!

CX Research

It is actually absurd that in our CX research at our #DCDW event we saw that there is virtually no dealer who follows up the lead — and therefore the opportunity — until a yes, a no, or “do not contact me again.” You spend so much money and so much energy on acquiring leads that it is a waste to treat them as if they were used-car leads. Leads for new cars are, by definition, information seekers, regardless of the phase of the purchase process, and you as a salesperson must sell that information into a deal — not expect the buyer to simply go and buy. Otherwise, we would not need salespeople but order takers.

Importers

Imagine being an importer of brand X, paying more than €150 for each lead, and then knowing that your lead may only be picked up twice and that, if the customer does not prove within two weeks that they can and want to become a customer, the opportunity is missed. Sure, 45% buy within 45 days. That may get you a 6.5% conversion rate, and that may be good enough for you, but the ROI on marketing does not add up, and the ROI on your work as a salesperson does not add up. Follow-up is not a task, but a goal to get more out of your own investments — in terms of energy, money and ultimately sales.