Danger Close: It is a term included in the method of engagement segment of a call for fire which indicates that friendly forces are within close proximity of the target.

In today's world third party lead providers are needed but the fact remains that your Dealership is Danger Close to their marketing efforts and lead generation. We must be honest in the fact that Cars, Trader, Guru’s, and others do not have your store best interest in mind. Face it we created the monster that is now telling our customers where to buy. Also, those same lead providers are reaching back to the customer days later and showing them a similar vehicle that is priced lower at a competitor store 2 miles away. Seriously!

Let’s get this straight. 

You paid to be on the platform so that your inventory can be showcased and for them to send you leads. Then the very next day they are contacting the same customer to say, "Hey we found another car elsewhere for less money that would be better", which means you are now competing with your vendor. Again seriously? This is happening simply because dealers let it.

As a dealer your most valuable possession is your inventory. It is why people come to your site. Why they walk into your showroom. It is why you are in business. We must face the fact that lead providers are basically selling cars. They make their money from your content while you pay the interest on the floor plan. Seriously!

Dealers must, must, must own the retail experience and know when customers are back on their site. Dealers must know if the returning site visitor is a DMS customer, or a conquest customer with a trade even without a form fill. This method of digital retailing along with the inventory content is the absolute GOLD that is owned by every Dealer. Unfortunately, all too often Dealers horse trade their gold for a lead which might close, at best 20% of the time. With the right insight your team will be able to see the customer more often and speak directly to what they are shopping for. With the proper tools your team will increase appointments, which will lead to more sales. It’s that easy.

Own the customer experience and stop leaving it up to you third party vendors to control. You have the Gold!

You have the latest tools, gadgets, and gizmos in play and your digital strategy is on fire. That means that you BDC should be able to increase their closing percentage, right? 

An increase in budget only means that you spent more money and not necessarily and increase in units sold. If the average dealer gets 3% conversion on traffic from 4,000 unique visitors that is 120 form leads per month. Where do the other submission come from? Most dealer spend a lot on third party leads then they need to only because they lose sight of the customer. Who is still in market? Most BDC's do not see how many repeat visits consumers have, or if the consumer has changed their minds about the vehicle interest. Dealers today need to know their recapture rate percentage. The recapture rate is the percentage of leads recaptured from the total submitted over the month. For example, if 500 leads were submitted for the month and 150 were recaptured in the CRM then you have a 30% recapture rate.   

In my opinion BDC's and Sales need to know what the customers are shopping for. Also having data about Price Points and Vehicle interest is critical in creating a targeted pith. If your team is relying on a form fill that is 30 days old, then they are looking at an incomplete picture. 

Digital is required no doubt but having the tools for your team to quickly set the appointment, thus increasing the show to help deliver the close is where the greatest increase in sales volume will come from. Furthermore, focusing on consumers who really want " your car " will help to retain gross.

Dealers spend so much on training but teams lack on specifically how to properly see the data. The end results are a constant pursuit of 90 days leads in the CRM with 95% of the consumers not wanting to answer the phone or are not in market.

Data is everywhere but how we use it is the difference. Its Money Ball time and Dealers need to be smart about which customer they focus their attention towards. Learn what your recapture rate is and increase the Appointments before you increase the Close.

Interest rates are up and so are inventories. Consumers demand is expected to be less and your stores are still expected to make the number. 

Most dealers will still do the same thing over and over only to apply pressure the last 10 days of the month in order to make the numbers happen, somehow. The fact remains that you still have consumers who are still in the buying cycle. They have not gone away and they are still shopping you and others. It's 2019 and you still have no idea who they are. Your team does not correlate how many times this customer has been back to the site who what they are actually shopping for now. 

Dealers today need to know what their digital recapture rate is month in and month out. Your team needs the data displayed simply within the CRM to quantify to them how many times this customer has been back to the site over the last 30 days. With this understanding you team will be empowered to do two things. 

1. Increase the appointments

2. Increase the show. 

These two things will increase the closing percentage and add an additional 10 - 12 units per month without adding additional marketing cost, change in personal, or training. 

Understanding consumers on the path to purchase provides your store with the ability to be direct and personal in pricing, and provide transparency throughout the process, it allows your store to engage customers with purpose. 

This year look at the strategy of why you are marketing and find a system that will quantify how many shoppers / consumers you still have in funnel next month. Most importantly know you lead recapture rate and how to increase it. 

Have a great 2019 and sell more!

Today a large portion of your digital spend it captured within Face Book because you just have to be Social. Remember you are giving Face Book what they need which is your content in return for more eye balls back to your site. But the fact remains that most of Face Book views are inflated and with the recent turmoil consumers are spending less time on the platform. 

Your digital should not provide your team with more dead leads to chase but it should focus your team on exactly who they need to chase. By focusing attention on In Market shoppers and recapturing those consumers you team can put into place selling skills and actual training that you have paid for. 

Burning the CRM for 30, 60, 90 day follow up or having the consumer tell you they are no longer in market is typical, but being able to see when they come back to your site and how often provides your team with insight and data that is now actionable. The path to purchase is never a straight line so knowing the WHO helps to gain the extra 20 units we all want. 

Spend less and recapture more.  

We see it time and time again where the digital spend increases but the sales do not. Most dealers still only capture a small percentage of traffic to their site and have to rely on third parties to make up the difference. Of course this take more profit out of the deal really only provide a one time engagement with the customer. 

Dealer need to own the journey. They need to know WHO and WHEN a customer is engage with their content. They need to know when does that customer switch their vehicle consideration and price point so that they can follow up in a more real time and personalized engagement. Having a digital marketing company that creates clicks, VDP's and stalks people on Face Book only to bring them back to the site just to create more clicks does not provide real actionable data to your team. As Dealers you need to know the WHO. 

Remember that if the average dealer is only getting about 2 - 3 % form fills then what about the other 97% of the traffic? Who is still in market and how long have they been in market? How many site visits have they had? These are answers that should be easily displayed within you CRM. If not then you need to find out how do we get the WHO. 

The most important part of digital is the recapture rate and most dealers do have any insight as to what that might be. For our dealer we find that if we recapture 15% of their traffic that is should be able to add another 15 deals per month, new or used. So remember it is important to know your recapture rate. 

Keep selling and keep testing.