There are How Many “Hidden” Sales Leads at Automotive Dealerships?
New research of sales process data across U.S. automotive dealerships sheds light on the opportunity of “hidden” leads in dealership CRMs.
New research of sales process data across U.S. automotive dealerships sheds light on the opportunity of “hidden” leads in dealership CRMs.
Foureyes, who conducted the analysis, defines hidden opportunities as:
- Sales leads marked “closed-lost” (or similar statuses like “lost” or “bad”) by dealerships in their CRM
- Despite being “closed-lost,” the leads are still actively engaging with the dealer’s digital properties
They are “hidden” because of the tendency for dealerships to stop prospecting these leads.
So, just how quickly are leads being marked “lost?”
In the first half of 2024, the Foureyes research found that lost leads were marked as such within 21 days (median) of contacting the dealership. This number slightly changed depending on how these leads contacted the dealership, with internet leads (20 days) being marked lost slightly faster than phone ups (22 days) and showroom ups (22 days).
Leads that inquired about used vehicles (21 days) were marked lost slightly faster than those interested in new vehicles (22 days)
How many “lost” leads still engaged with the dealership?
On average during this timeframe, “closed-lost” sales leads accounted for:
- 13.3% of all sales leads who returned and shopped the dealer website
- 15.7% of all sales leads that clicked into emails* sent by the dealer
“We hope this data helps dealerships see the sales opportunities that already exist in their CRMs and sales process today,” said David Steinberg, CEO of Foureyes. “So often dealerships call for more leads while tending to close out the ones they already have too soon.”
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