Recently I heard from a dealer who received “too many leads from across the river.” His dealership is located in Washington, D.C., and due to the limited number of bridges spanning the Potomac River, they rarely get customers from certain areas in Virginia. However, he was receiving leads from these areas because geographically these customers are very close to him. Fortunately, solving his problem was an easy fix.          Many independent lead providers can only draw a simple radius, or series of radiuses, around the dealership as the dealer specifies. In many cases a territory defined by a simple radius is both sufficient and desirable, giving the dealer access to the greatest number of local, in-market customers. If a dealership is centrally located within a busy urban or suburban area, then leads from the immediate surrounding area can result in high closing rates.  &nbs...

Though SEO and social media have received the lions’ share of hype lately, third party leads are still a critical part of many dealerships’ Internet marketing strategy. Just as dealers are realizing that NOT being on social media can be damaging, most dealers already know that NOT having any presence on consumer research sites like Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book, MSN Autos and Yahoo! Autos means they are missing out on making their presence known to a percentage of the millions of consumers who visit these sites every month. But as one dealer among many on these sites, how do you stand out? Exclusive advertising programs or extending zip code reach can help increase lead volume, but increasingly online reputation management is playing a role in how consumers decide which dealers to contact.