Why You Should Focus On Your CRM To Drive Traffic

I was recently reading an article on DrivingSales from Keith Shettery called Traffic Is Everything about the focus and solution for most dealerships in driving more traffic. Although I agree with Keith that driving traffic is important, I think an important part that is missing, is that most dealers look to drive traffic through "online reputation, SEO, PPC, CPM, websites, cable TV, radio, print, direct mail, email", etc and then we hope salespeople will use the CRM or even enter the traffic that comes into the dealership in the CRM. There always seems to be this focus on leads and traffic that cost dealers money for a lead with little information and not even guarantied exclusivity.

At every tradeshow I attend, almost all the speakers talk about driving more traffic. I agree with Keith that "traffic is everything" I wanted to write this article becuase I feel dealers should be focused using their CRM and driving traffic from existing data. In your CRM you now know more about your customers than any time before or with any lead. We know: Every Call, Email, Letter, Text… Mailing Address, Phone Numbers, Email. Every Lead and Vehicle they have looked at. What Vehicle they own, have owned. Service History, Average RO. Estimated Mileage. Trade Value, Equity. Previous Deal Structure. Communication Preference. Bank Programs, Manufacture Incentives. plus more. If you have access to all this data you should be using it to cater marketing and follow-up to that customer to drive traffic. Instead dealers are spending the majority of the effort and money to drive traffic marketing to the 98% that are not in the market versus focusing on the 2% that’s in the market.

Just look at the comparison between a Floor Up, Internet Lead and a Repeat Customer:
Fresh Up: Closing 10%, Gross: Average, CSI: Average, Ad Spend: 70%
Internet Lead: Closing 40%, Gross: Low, CSI: High, Ad Spend: 15%
Repeat Customer: Closing 60%, Gross: High, CSI: High, Ad Spend: 5% 

But where do most dealership focus their attention? Driving new traffic. Most dealers don’t even know how to handle the traffic they do get. If 80% of your leads come from the phone and internet that means 80% of your “Success” is dependent on Appointments. And according to a DealerSocket research study of 346 dealers and 1,956,624 calls only 6% even included an attempt to set an appointment. Talk about missing huge opportunities with new traffic! It doesn’t get any better on the lot. I attended Keith Shetterly’s session at Automotive Boot Camp this year where he said, “Only 25% to 35% of dealership visits get put into the CRM.” Dealers, Yikes! This means your marketing and analytics data could be off by over 75%! 

If you initiate traffic from your CRM your salespeople are more likely to use it. Get your salespeople to think of their CRM as a pump; where the more they work the CRM the more that comes out of it. Driving traffic is important. You have to look at what you are doing to drive traffic and manage the traffic efficiently. CRM's have an important role in this. I believe it is all about sending the right message, to the right person, at the right time. 

Here is a list of marketing campaign ideas that yield high traffic returns: 
A customer life cycle (customer for life) 
Finance termination 
Extended warranty 
We want your trade 
Declined services 
Aftermarket accessories 
Customers in equity 
Bought elsewhere 
service introduction 
High customer pay RO to new vehicle 
Future model introduction 
Lead escalation 
Sales notification of a customer in service
 
 and the list goes on… 

I would love to talk with any dealer who is looking to successfully drive more traffic to their store through the use of their CRM, regardless of which vendor. Thanks Keith for sharing and inspiring me to write something. Hunter 


About Hunter Swift 
Hunter Swift is the Director of Sales Development at DealerSocket and has been with the company since 2005. In addition to his current role, he has fulfilled the responsibilities of customer support, consulting, training, and sales. Hunter specializes in helping dealerships improve sales and follow-up processes through the use of CRM technology. He is known for his ability to connect with people and demonstrate his knowledge to help others solve their problems. Hunter honed his dealership skills as a salesperson prior to joining DealerSocket. He has earned a Business Degree from Pepperdine University. Hunter can be reached at hswift@dealersocket.com and on social media at @HunterSwift.