How to Create a Successful Leads Strategy

Without an effective strategy for generating, managing and converting leads, your dealership could be missing out on a lot of business.

One of the most important things that a lead strategy needs to be is comprehensive. If your marketing efforts are bringing in a high volume of leads, but you do not have a process in place to manage them, they may easily become lost. Similarly, if you have implemented a firm lead management process but you are not doing anything to attract consumers in the first place, your results are likely to be equally poor. Therefore, your strategy needs to encompass everything, from lead generation, to lead conversion.

Capturing Leads

When it comes to generating leads, these days, it is all about Search Engine Marketing (SEM) and there is one very simple reason for this: it works. The convenience of the internet has resulted in the majority of consumers beginning their car purchase journey online.

• SEO – Search Engine Optimisation helps your website appear prominently on search engine results pages so that when consumers search for local car dealers, there is a greater chance that they will pick you above your competitors.
• PPC – Pay-Per-Click advertising allows you to target specific internet users and direct them to lead-generation landing pages on your website. This tactic delivers instant results.
• Social Media – When an individual decides to buy a car, they are more likely to choose a brand that they have heard of before, and social media can be a very powerful tool for increasing brand awareness. Channels like Facebook also have exceptional targeting capabilities for advertising.
• Blogging – Publishing blog articles is a great way to direct consumers to your products. An article explaining the different types of car finance could persuade an individual to apply, and you could provide an internal link straight to an online finance application form.

Nurturing leads

Generating leads is challenging enough, but it is only half the battle. Once you have brought someone to your website and they have expressed their interest, you need to hold onto that lead and make sure that it gets converted.

This is easier said than done, because it is likely that you will have leads coming from different sources. You will receive enquiries over the phone, from your website and from advertising portals, and you will need to keep track of all of these at the same time as dealing with walk-ins. This is why it is so easy for leads to get lost and why it is so crucial that you have an effective lead management process in place.

Every dealership operates differently, and you will need to find a system that works for you. Gather any team members involved with customer service, marketing and sales and devise a process which ensures each and every lead is nurtured and dealt with efficiently, so the chance of a customer becoming unsatisfied and looking elsewhere is minimal. Alternatively, you could introduce lead management software, which will eliminate the risk of human error.

Lead Management Software

Click Dealer recognises how much of a challenge it can be to stay on top of leads, which is why we have created our own online retailing platform which doubles up as a lead management tool. ClickEngage™ can be implemented on car dealer websites to enable customers to complete five stages of the purchase process (choosing a vehicle, adding a part exchange, selecting add-on products, receiving finance quotes and reserving the car) entirely online.

How ClickEngage™ can help your dealership manage leads:

• ClickEngage™ responds to enquiries instantly, so there is no risk of customers getting impatient waiting for a reply and looking elsewhere.
• The software manages leads not only directly from your website but from advertising portals too!
• ClickEngage™ integrates finance software and vehicle valuation software, so it is capable of handling part exchanges and finance quotes without human involvement.
• If a user stops the process at any stage, they will receive a link to their deal via email or SMS, so that they can come back to it when they are ready and pick up exactly where they left off.
• Every lead which comes through ClickEngage will be nurtured for you, so you only need to acknowledge them once they have already been converted! This frees you up to dedicate more time to nurturing leads from other sources.

For more information about our industry-leading SEM packages or to book a free demo of ClickEngage™, get in touch via marketing@clickdealer.co.uk, or 01782 454354, or, alternatively you can send us a message through our contact page.