New Vision Sales Automobile Dealer Sales Training – Article Series

Increasing Revenue Through ROI

Reporting

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All incoming sales calls and every lot up should be ad-sourced
and lead sourced—no exceptions. Determining the source of every
lead allows you to generate a report that will show you whether
your dollars are being spent effectively. Without this reporting,
you may wind up wasting thousands of dollars a month.

In a perfect world, dealers should monitor ROI reports for 60 to

90 days before adjusting their advertising/marketing, but many
managers want things done yesterday. I suggest reviewing ROI
reports weekly, so you can identify trends and adjust, rather
than react, quickly. A dealer who decides to cut ad expenses
without examining ROI reporting could be cutting business as
well.

Additionally, ROI reports need a cross-reference of

accountability. If every lead isn’t being handled as best it
could or the sales calls have no guidance, these issues can be
addressed through quality control, or training may be needed.
Keeping an eye (and ear) on your pipeline of prospects can
identify whether you have a procedural concern prior to just
changing course in your marketing strategy Without proper ROI
reporting, a dealer who is spending over $5,000 a month on one
paid lead source and $2,000 a month on another might be quick to
cut the source with a higher monthly cost. However, the $5,000-a-
month lead source could be resulting in three times the gross as
the other, which makes it a cheaper lead source.

For ROI reporting to be accurate, no one hangs up the phone or

leaves the property until you know specifically what drove the
traffic, and that can be done very eloquently. Instead of just
asking the customer, “How did you hear about us,” you can ad-
source/lead-source with an assumptive question like, “Did you
receive something in the mail or hear us on the radio?” Then, the
customer will tell you the real reason and say something like,
“No, we actually saw you on TV.”

You can then dig deeper by asking customers which station they
saw your ad on. You can even break down your television
advertising by station on your ROI reporting to uncover which
stations generate the most traffic and profit. Even if you have
toll-free numbers dedicated to tracking and identifying specific
campaigns, process and skill are key to conversion. A simple
validation of their timing or choice can go a long way in
lowering defenses. The lower one’s defenses are, the more they

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share. Knowledge is power and quality information is paramount to
accurate ROI reporting.

Similarly, most Web pages offer reporting that you can use to
break down how different sections of your Web site, like “chat
now” widgets, spokesmodels (are they annoying or helpful?) or
lead points on different pages, are performing. If you’re paying
for an add-on to your Web site and accurately sourcing leads back
to it, you can easily figure your ROI on that spend. I suggest
not depending solely on analytics. They can be misleading and
don’t share why someone left or spent little time on your Web
site. Talk with your customers. They can tell you a lot more than
your software. Don’t get me wrong, we need measurements from
multiple angles, but the personal touch of human interaction
(along with diligent follow up, of course) is what will develop
repeat and referral business.

Lately, I’ve noticed database marketing is on the rise. Dealers

are scrubbing their database for specific groups of customers and
then marketing to them. While there are several different groups
of customers dealers can target, I see a lot of dealers
concentrating on driving traffic to their service departments.
Another surprising trend is that newspaper seems to be performing
better than it used to be in some areas. Print is certainly not
dead. Purchased leads with proven track records help keep the
equation balanced.

The advantages of tracking your ROI are great, as proved by one

dealer I work with who significantly increased his ROI and
profits. So far this year, he has already increased his net by a
million dollars when compared to last year’s!

Any time you can equate production with different ad and lead
sources, you have more of an ability to forecast, and by
concentrating more of your spends on sources that produce well,
your sales should increase.

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New Vision Sales Inc.

1670 Hwy 160 West Suite 206
Fort Mill, South Carolina 29708
803-802-2124
Toll Free: 866-532-2827
Info@NewVisionSales.com

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