It is imperative that you are familiar with your lead source providers. Just as it is important to know how your floor traffic was directed to your sales floor you need to know how that Internet Customer came in contact with your Dealership. Salespeople would kill to know their customers background, wants and needs before they show up on the doorstep. Internet Sales Managers as well as Coordinators need to know their lead sources and how that customer’s information came to them to better qualify who they are dealing with. They must understand their lead source providers from the customer’s perspective. Some of these sources take time and require some attention to detail of the vehicle your customer may be looking for so they may not be primarily concerned with pricing but more of the features and availability of the selected vehicle This is going to be your pre-qualifying period where you get a chance to study your customer before you go for the sale or the appointment.

Start by compiling a list of your lead source providers and save them in your “favorites” category of your web browser. Go to their websites and see what type of information it contains. See if the customer has the option to build their vehicle, view pricing information and even select the dealership they wish to contact. This will give you an idea of what your customer had to consider when filling out the application. To get a better idea of where your customers are coming from, fill out an application yourself for research purposes. Did you pick a make, model, trim and options? Did you select interior and exterior color choices? Was your vehicle and options priced on the website? Did you have the opportunity to select your Dealership preference? How long did it take you to fill out the application? Pay attention to these details, they will later help you better qualify your Internet customer. Once you fully understand your providers, you will be ready to profile the customer before making the call and selling a car or securing an appointment.

Every request that falls into your CRM from a third party lead source provider will have a “Prospect Sheet” attached. A prospect sheet is a form that contains all information your customer has submitted in its pure form directly from your provider. A copy of this form will be forwarded to your CRM and stored in your database. Read the prospect sheet! This is where most Internet Coordinators make their biggest mistakes. These are simple mistakes and usually occur from the lack of attention to detail. Below is an example of a prospect sheet from AutoUSA, I have highlighted all of the key information for you. :