Hello Joe,
I’m looking for some Best Practice advice for the illustrious “Out of Market Area Used Car Lead”. More specifically, what are you recommending for a follow up email template and process for this type of lead. (If different at all.) Your Thoughts????
Eric Y.
General Sales Manager
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Thanks for reaching out, Eric.
Regarding Used Car out-of-market emails, they should be followed up just as diligently in the beginning stages as any lead. (The VP of DealerKnows, Bill Playford, drove from Kalamazoo Michigan to a Toyota dealership in Virginia to purchase a used vehicle he found online. At Arlington, I sold a pre-driven SUV to a gentleman in the Army stationed in Germany that previously lived in Atlanta. He flew in from Germany to Chicago, took the Metra train, a bus and a cab to get to the dealership, only to drive the SUV to Atlanta and drop it off at his mom’s and fly back to Germany.) Distance means nothing. (Obviously, I answered every question prior to his trip and was very transparent and abundant in pictures of the vehicle he was coming to purchase, but he made the extended trip none the less. People want what they want.)
Granted, all the data shows that there isn’t much need to follow up with a pre-owned out-of-market lead more than 35 days, but the same consistency for upfront confirmation of price, sending of pictures, and video walk-arounds (not stitched video, but real video) should all be incorporated into your short-term process as a means to sell the value of that one particular vehicle. People will drive long and far to find that perfect vehicle so it should be considered as valuable as a normal lead, provided you’re willing to include in some multimedia correspondence.
Here is just one of the over 70 email templates we provide to our dealer clients. This is meant to be one of the ongoing (but earlier) emails to go out to these very same used car, out of market prospects. We call it our “Traveler Template”
The keys are speedy responses, sharing of multi-media answers to their questions, creating peace of mind, and letting them know it is customary to have customers drive far and wide to your dealership for a great used car deal. Hope this helps, Eric.
Joe Webb
DealerKnows
847-456-5130
