Assigning leads, a core responsibility of a sales manager. Simply put however, it can be a hassle. Lead assignment requires a great deal of time and energy by knowing the who, what, where, why, and how, for every prospect that funnels into the dealership. This will always, because of human error, have mistakes that occur. A groundwork of rules must be set up to better govern the process, otherwise no dealership will handle them properly. But is this enough? In most cases, NO. So why then do we not look at Lead Pools rather than individual assignment as a means to success? Let's do just that.

First we need to look at the basic rules a sales manager in assigning leads. They must allow only truly active salespeople to take the leads, have time limitations set in place, avoid overloading employees, and being "fair". However being "fair" is looking at the dealership by individuals, and not as a whole. The only success that matters is the entirety of the dealership. Then and only then will all individuals "fairly" be triumphant. There are many who have conquered these steps, but again as with anything, human error will have an adverse affect on any rules set in place. This is why the dealership's CRM is so very important. The CRM will help control the pool of leads that come in, and can have guidelines and restrictions for the sales manager to work with. But no matter how well a dealership believes it's CRM is helping in its lead assignment and management, most likely, it can do MUCH more.

A dealership CRM must perform a few strategic actions to succeed in controlling leads that enter into the dealership.

• Perform the concept of a Lead Pool. Customer ownership allows leads to fall through the cracks, however, with lead pools it's on a first-come, first-serve basis. This type of function allows ALL incoming leads to become readily available for all sales personnel, creating an atmosphere where the LEAD is the center of attention and not the salesperson.
• The ability to set Lead Response Reserve Times. When you think of lost leads, think lack of response time. Why endure the constant frustration of losing leads to minuscule issues? Setting a reserve time allows the salesperson a designated amount of time to work on the prospect, otherwise the lead will be placed back into the Lead Pool for other dealership personnel to have the chance to work on.
• Settings that allow for a Minimum/Maximum limitation. Like it or not, salespeople will hog leads. Having the ability to set the number of leads salespeople must have, as well as the maximum number of leads he/she is allowed to have, will create that "fairness" that traditional lead assignment tries but fails to establish.

Having certain intelligent functions in place in a dealership's CRM will have direct results in lead conversion. CRM technology that allows the sales manager the ability to set in place the functions that work best for the specific dealership. From there the software can take care of the rest. With a plethora time saved for the sales manager, they are able to concentrate on the dealerships bottom line. Because let's face it, when the dealership succeeds, so do the salespeople that we strive to be "fair" to in lead assignment.

When you think of customer ownership and customer abandonment both seem drastically different, but in the dealership marketplace they are all to often tied together. Take customer ownership: Bob gets a lead, and will forever own that lead, that lead is tattoo'd with Bob's name. Then we have customer abandonment: Bob takes a lead, but then Bob takes a vacation and the customer comes in. Bob's not there and the customer hears “I’m sorry, we can’t do your paperwork because Bob isn’t here, but he’ll be back on Friday. Come back then." The customer's information falls through the cracks when Bob leaves, so the dealership is a man down and a sale lost. Thanks for nothing, Bob.

So, why are we still working with the old format of customer ownership when it leads to abandonment? Let's look at why both of these are highly connected, and why they don't have to be a hindrance any longer.

This concept of customer ownership has long been Gospel, after all, 71% of customers say they bought their vehicle because they liked, trusted or respected their salesperson. But it’s the outliers of this concept that have become phased out, and in turn a shift has happened. This is due to three key reasons; lifetime employment is a thing of the past, OEM and BDC Programs ensure MANY hands are touching the customer before and after the sale, and then there’s the Internet. Yes, the Internet. The ability to trove through models, pricing, warranties, and rebates has given the consumer the upper hand and forced the salesman to become more knowledgable than ever about the product.

In many cases these factors have led to the high turnover that has run rampant in the automotive industry. NADA reports that salesperson turnover is 72% for the year 2015, with this number unlikely to change much for 2016. While this number is staggering, it really shouldn't come as the biggest surprise. What should is the amount of abandoned customers it creates. Customers no longer need to rely on the same salespeople to walk them through the entire process. As we remember with Bob, while he may have left,the customer is fine to work with another salesperson, perhaps Tom. The customer has already done their research, they know what they want, and for the most part they'll know what they're going to pay. The question that remains for most dealerships is if they have the right setup to accommodate this customer before they become abandoned.

So what can be done about this issue? Plenty, but not all can ensure a positive and sustainable outcome. You CAN hire a firm that helps dealerships make better hiring decisions using data and process. You CAN hire a trainer to come in and work with your salespeople for a week. But these techniques are not guaranteed, and we have to remember that not everyone can work in the dealer marketplace and you will always end up with personalities that aren't fit for this industry. Basically, you'll be right back to square one.

Every dealership can benefit by using/changing one thing to better themselves on both of these problems: their CRM.

Using a CRM properly and advantageously WILL ensure better sales and create a better customer experience. That is by far the greatest goal every store should have. With a proper CRM solution, dealerships will have the ability to create a better lead pool, keep existing leads, close more deals, and extract more long term customers. In the current fast-paced marketplace, taking advantage of a system such as this offers dealerships the ability to close more leads while never having to worry about losing a customer due to customer abandonment.

As with any possibility of change, it takes time and can scare some away. But the days of complete customer ownership are fading faster and faster, and to prevent losing leads, it's a simple change. You'll be creating a more stable environment for your employees and close those deals that once fell through the cracks when Bob went on vacation.