Customer or salesperson at the center of lead follow-up?

Many car companies (both dealers and independent businesses) place the salesperson at the center of their online lead follow-up, often without even realizing it. That’s strange, isn’t it?

That’s the statement I want to highlight. After all, not every owner or director will agree with this claim! They will emphasize that, of course, the customer is at the center—not the salesperson. Unfortunately, the facts often tell a different story.

An example of how the salesperson takes priority over the customer is the follow-up of online leads. In many cases, these leads are not immediately followed up by the salesperson but rather by an internal online team or an in-house call center (KCC). The purpose of this is to filter out the lower-quality leads (read: more work) and only schedule high-quality appointments for the salesperson.

Who normally picks up a potential customer?

However, if a lead physically walks into the showroom or calls, they immediately get to speak with a salesperson. But if they submit an online request, they first need to be “qualified” to prevent the salesperson from wasting valuable time.

This approach can yield good results through higher conversion rates, but from an investment standpoint, it’s rarely worth it. The minimum conversion rate for a salesperson is 13%, but an internal sales team must achieve over 20% just to be profitable. This is where things often go wrong. The baseline conversion rate is already so low that an online sales team might improve it slightly, but rarely enough to achieve a positive ROI. Simply put, the investment in staff is too high.

The customer wants one person!

Additionally, customers don’t want to be passed between different people. They prefer to speak with one and the same salesperson—someone knowledgeable. That’s why we see a recurring trend: large dealership groups that actively follow up on online leads open internal call centers, only to shut them down again.

If you train, coach, and guide your salespeople properly, any dealership can follow up on active online leads as it should… and during regular business hours, a KCC isn’t necessary. If you prioritize the salesperson’s convenience by having leads “qualified” first, then you are not choosing the customer.

Want to be well-prepared?

Another sign of companies prioritizing salespeople over leads is their failure to recognize the importance of fast follow-up over well-prepared follow-up.

An active online lead is missing something: information. They are looking for details they couldn’t find on the website and want answers as quickly as possible!

Research by #DCDW shows that if you call the customer within two minutes of their inquiry, the chance of setting an appointment and making a sale is significantly higher than if you call later. This approach truly puts the customer first.

Still, some brands and dealerships want to be perceived as “premium” and don’t value fast follow-up. They have the salesperson gather all relevant information first—such as trade-in value or delivery time—before making the call. As a result, the customer is only contacted about 20 minutes later. The outcome? Voicemail or a customer who has already moved on.

I understand that a salesperson would rather be fully prepared before making a call. But a good salesperson doesn’t need preparation—just a potential customer they can call right away to move the process forward. It’s no different in the showroom, so why should it be different online?

Furthermore, if you reach voicemail on the first call and need to call a second or even third time, we don’t need to sugarcoat it—we know that 80% of salespeople won’t make three attempts. This was confirmed by our CX research, presented at our #DCDW Event in November 2023. If you prioritize the salesperson’s comfort, then you are not choosing the customer.

Furthermore, if you reach voicemail on the first call and need to call a second or even third time, we don’t need to sugarcoat it—we know that 80% of salespeople won’t make three attempts.