Lessons from Belgium

Last week, at the invitation of a major automotive brand in Belgium, I gave two presentations about lead follow-up. Great to do; it always gives me energy. And although I am not a born speaker, motivator or trainer, it goes quite well, judging by the reactions afterwards.

I do not only share my knowledge, but I also take lessons from it myself. After all, with now more than 25 years of experience in online automotive — yes, that surprises me too — so many things have changed, and yet also not. Every customer who submits a lead wants information. That can be trade-in information, model information, information about availability, and so on. The main thing is: information.

The definition of a lead is a difficult one. Do you see a lead as the starting point of a dialogue, or is it actually more than that? Is a lead not actually “an answer that was not given on the website, paid for with your own name and address details in order to still get the question answered”?

The best way to approach such a lead is, even after 25 years, still: calling. Calling immediately. Because we all lack patience and are hard to reach. So if you want an opportunity, a connection to provide the requested information, calling quickly is the rule. You can see it below in the visual: the chance of contact via the Calldrip platform drops from calling after one minute (+75% connections) to below 50% after ten minutes!

But in the meantime, a new dimension has been added. With a mobile phone you can also FaceTime, make videos, text and WhatsApp. When I mentioned this last week, that penny dropped there as well. A complaint from a customer who thinks you do too much — call, email or app too often — is actually a compliment to yourself. If that is your process, and it suits you, then it comes with the territory. And yes, I too adjust my behaviour too often. To that one complainer who thinks it is all too much, too much work, too much hassle — as a buyer, but certainly also as a seller.

A complaint from a customer who thinks you do too much — call, email or app too often — is actually a compliment to yourself.

As an entrepreneur, I have the right to run my business the way I think it should be run. And if I embrace a complaint about my way of following up as a compliment, then consistently executed and frequent lead follow-up suddenly becomes fun again. That was my own lesson after two days in Belgium!