Black Book Online offers Dealerships the “Super Lead”

With the announcement of the new Credit Activator, Black Book Online is offering dealerships a “Super Lead“. Most DealerRefreshers are very familiar, if not already a user of Black Book Online trade appraisal service. We’ve had many discussions around trade appraisal tools for dealership websites here on DealerRefresh but this new service is quiet different from the usual Black Book Online offering.

I sat down with Mike McFall, President of Black Book Online,  for a quick Q&A about the new service.

Follow the jump for the Q&A

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Last week’s announcement by Autotrader.com, combined with previous announcements by Cars.com and other

automotive website providers, shines the spotlight on live dealer live chat.

Many of us are asking questions about what this means for our dealerships, so I conducted an exclusive interview with Marc Hayes, the founder and head of products for Contact At Once! whose software powers the live chat features on both Autotrader.com and Cars.com.

Jeff: What are the implications of last week’s Autotrader.com announcement?

Marc: The broad implication is that, if live chat wasn’t already a mainstream technology in automotive retail, it is now. The momentum behind dealer chat has been building for several years with adoption by Cars.com, CarsDirect, and others. Now Autotrader.com has implemented chat. Dealers that don’t already have a chat strategy will need to develop one.

Jeff: Chat is a 15+ year old technology so, unlike other trends born of “new” technologies, such as social networking, why is chat just now trending in automotive retail?

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Perfecting the Lead Mix for your Dealership – White Paper

Dealers receive leads from their own websites; their OEM’s site; and independent Internet sites, which can include large portals as well as auto research, buying, and enthusiast sites. Each source represents different types of investments and different types of buyers – and no two dealers will have the same formula for how much of their lead mix should be allotted for each source. To explore the question of lead mix, Dealix hosted a moderated panel discussion at the 2010 NADA convention. The panel, attended by 50 invited guests representing dealerships of all sizes, resulted in a robust information exchange and debate. In response to requests for transcripts of the discussion, Dealix compiled this edited transcript of the event. You can download it here.

Agreement and Controversy

The panelists agreed on certain important points. For instance, all stated that dealers should have leads from each source in their business mix, and all agreed that evaluation of results should be based, not on lead close rate, but on gross profit per vehicle sold. Certain items, however, produced controversy. Most notably, the question posed by John Holt, CEO of The Cobalt Group and moderator of the discussion, produced different opinions from the panelists

“Which type of lead do you assign to your top salespeople?”

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Edmunds.com, they’re stealing from me!

We spend a lot of money with Edmunds.  We buy leads off their site (through a third-party) and participate in their PDP program for premium placement.  We have been a very good customer of theirs for YEARS!  And they’ve been good to us….until now.

Before I get into what is going on, I want to say that I have sent emails and made phone calls to my rep who aids us in all things Edmunds.  He has pushed things up the chain, along with my request for “at least a phone call” before 5:00 PM EST today to work things out.  Well, the phone call didn’t come.  So, I feel that I have given Edmunds time to respond.  They could have simply said “5:00 PM isn’t enough time” and I would have been fine with that.  So here we go:

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KBB wants to change how auto leads are bought and sold

Guest Posting by Cliff Banks

Kelley Blue Book is launching a bold initiative, hoping to revolutionize the way online leads are bought and sold.

In the process, it’s turning its back on a rather successful revenue generator while speeding into a business dominated by AutoTrader.com and Cars.com.

In July, Kelley announced it was launching an online classified listings service for new and used vehicles and will charge dealers on a per lead basis. It’s calling the venture KBB’s Trusted Marketplace.

For years, AutoTrader.com and Cars.com have employed a subscription-type model, in which dealers pay a flat rate each month to list their inventory on the two automotive sites. The price is determined by the level of service a dealer chooses.

At times, dealers have grumbled about the seemingly high prices AutoTrader charges, and say the cost does not always match the level of performance.

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