Blog

Recently I spoke with a dealer of a premium brand, who considered speed less important than good preparation for the phone conversation.

I heard that quote on my way to Spain in one of the many podcasts I listened to during the 2,500-kilometer journey. A simple sentence, but so powerful when it comes to online leads: Never walk away from an opportunity to talk to a potential customer.

Recently I heard an American dealer on CBT News (highly recommended, daily) talk about how he dealt with staff shortages in sales and service. His solutions were creative, not new, but certainly consistent. It was actually nice to hear the vision of an owner of a large dealer company, and to see what details he focused on in sales and service. It was about KPIs based on conversions and potential: what is maximally possible, for example, instead of managing based on budget.

That was the question the owner of a dealership recently asked me in a meeting. The dealer, mostly offering nice cars in a somewhat higher price segment, didn’t think Marktplaats was the right platform for his store(s) and inventory.

Recently, I wrote about the thank-you pages on various websites. But when you say thank-you page, you also say autoresponder. In other words: what email do you send to the customer after they’ve submitted a request on your website?

Last week, I spent two days in Milan for a few interesting meetings. I was invited by Smile.cx, one of the largest customer contact centers in Europe, active in sectors like the Italian automotive industry. What they’re doing there is comparable to what we’re building with CARMEN Automotive BDC in the Netherlands — but on a much larger scale.

As I wrote in an earlier article: a lead is merely the starting point of a dialogue with a potential customer. That customer has submitted a request, and that’s your first chance to actively start the dialogue—through the thank-you page and the autoresponder. However small the effort via such a page may seem, the effect can be significant. The beauty is that you only have to get such a page right once, for all future leads. The thank-you page on your own website is under your control, unlike, for example, the one from Marktplaats.

I’ve been working with online leads for over twenty years. They come in all types: first-, second-, and third-line leads, active and even passive ones, and of course, online or by phone. Honestly, not much has changed over the years. The customer searches for information, doesn’t find it, and takes action. That moment is the starting point of a dialogue!

Three years ago, I thought I had it all figured out. I was 100% sure of my plan. A Ligier dealership was on the way, born from an idea in my head, and just three months later, Ligier Store Doesburg launched—on my birthday! That first month, we were active online only. Then the idea grew into the first Ligier Store in the Netherlands—and immediately the largest. But looking back on those three years: did all the bold plans come true?