If you work in the automotive sales industry, you probably often need to update your cache of auto leads to obtain more sales. Automotive leads are often hard to come by, and quality leads are even harder to find. Sometimes, even after you do buy car leads, they do not do their job, which is to lead you to new potential clients. Whether you are looking for free car sales leads or are willing to pay for quality leads, you need to know what to look for when working with automotive sales leads.

Doing some research on car sales lead companies will help you pick the right one to purchase from. You will find that the most useful vehicle sales leads usually include:

1. A high amount of research before compiling leads;

2. Exclusive automotive sales leads;

3. And many details on each lead.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Ensure that the providers of vehicle sales leads have done their research

Some lead generation companies are known for coming up with car leads for people who are not likely to purchase a vehicle, either because of age or their financial situation. It goes without saying that such a lead is useless to your company. Try to stick with companies with updated leads that point you to people who might actually buy a car.

I recommend: Autoleads.org makes sure employees have done their research before selling leads, as does the Axiom Group.

Stick to exclusive auto sales leads for best results

Not every lead generation company offers exclusive car leads, but be sure to pick one of the few that does. There is nothing worse than hammering a lead with emails or phone calls from not only your company but several other companies as well. This will usually cause them to ignore all marketing efforts from every company, basically wasting the money you spent on your leads.

I recommend: Find exclusive leads at blueSky Marketing Group or Auto Internet Leads. Check out a success story regarding original auto leads at Cars.com.

Choose a car lead generation company that provides a good amount of information in each lead

The most detailed leads will be the easiest for you to follow. A car sales lead with the person's full name, address, phone number, email and current car information makes it easy to get in contact with the lead as quickly and as easily as possible. Some companies offer this type of information and more.

I recommend: Check out the high amount of details you will get from a lead from HBW Leads. Find out why detailed information is so important at The ACE Group.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you cannot afford to purchase auto leads just yet but want to see how they work, try out a company that provides free leads. Many quality companies offer the first few leads for free, so take advantage of such offers.

For automotive dealers business comes down to one simple thing – closing the sale. Smart auto dealers know that it does no good just sitting around waiting for prospective buyers to walk into a dealership and find them. Dealers need to be proactive in order to keep making automotive sales. That’s why many auto dealers rely on new care automotive sales leads to maintain their conversion rates.

New care automotive sales leads make sense for various reasons:

1. New car automotive leads can help dealers achieve an 8 to 10% closing rate.
2. Dealers can purchase leads containing buyers who are actively seeking auto car loans.
3. Automotive sales leads save dealers time and money. They spend less time hunting for viable leads and more time making the sale.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Choose quality providers of vehicle sales leads

You may need to inquire with several automotive sales leads providers to find the right lead generation vendor. Make sure they provide exclusive leads in real time that have not been resold two or three times to your competitors. You also want quality leads containing detailed information about your prospects that are ready to take action. You want to avoid leads with casual Internet surfers that have no interest in making a purchase.

I recommend: Check out automotive sales lead companies like Mailing Leads and All Media, Inc. to ask about purchasing quality new auto sales leads.

Create a car leads strategy

Once you have found a company that can provide you with quality automotive leads, you'll need to decide how many leads you need each month. You also need to decide whether you want your leads to be categorized by distance or zip code, or based on what you can afford.

I recommend: Buy auto sales leads from a lead generation company like BlueSky Marketing, a licensed sales and finance company that provides pre-approved prospects to dealers through their partnerships with the major credit bureaus.

Measure your results

If you really want to know whether your new automotive sales leads are working, you'll need to closely monitor your results and record them for review. Ask yourself questions like, how many of your prospects made appointments with you and kept them? How many of your sales this month actually came from your leads?

I recommend: Bamboo Ad Network provides a click tracking service that allows dealers to distinguish between callers from their lead generation services. When a potential buyer calls, a device digitally records the origin of the call and records their contact information. Market One tracks sales results through a lead generation portal, and Full Spectrum offers dealers a 24 hour, 7 day a week report of all sales made by auto leads and is organized on their web-based system.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you purchase leads for a lead generation company, make sure that they are exclusive leads in real time so that you can be sure you are not contacting leads that your competition could have purchased as well.

It often takes a lot of legwork and phone calls to cultivate solid construction sales leads. But hitting the pavement isn’t the only way to build your list of construction leads. In today’s construction industry, sales leads can come from a variety of sources. To increase the number of construction sales leads: 

1. Use online sources for construction sales leads and construction referral services.
 
2. Network with former clients and colleagues in the construction industry - sales leads often result from these connections. 

3. Narrow your marketing efforts and you may land more qualified construction leads.

4. Manage your construction leads wisely and satisfied customers will provide even more referrals to your business.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Peruse online databases for construction sales leads

The Internet is a powerful tool for helping stay connected to job opportunities in your field. Several online databases exist that provide listings of various construction projects coming up for bid. You'll be able to search for potential construction sales leads by geography, industry and job function.

I recommend: BidClerk is a search engine dedicated to the commercial construction industry that is chock full of construction leads. For a monthly fee, you can view thousands of construction projects nationwide and bid on the projects you want. ConstructionWire, Dodge and Onvia provide similar services.

Use contractor referral services for construction leads

Online contractor referral services handle all the marketing and advertising for you then pass on the construction sales leads to you. Typically, it's pay-for-performance with these referral services - you only pay for the construction leads you get.

I recommend: CalFinder qualifies construction sales leads before passing them on to you. For construction leads on home improvement projects, consider using QuinStreet, or Renovation Referrals.

Increase your construction sales leads with targeted marketing

Purchasing the right mailing lists, telemarketing lists and email lists can be the key to growing your own list of construction leads.

I recommend: ConstructionLists, a division of The Information Refinery, is a full-service list broker specializing in the construction industry. Construction sales leads can result if you target your marketing using their lists of architects, property managers and more. 

Invest in software to help manage construction sales leads

Once the construction sales leads start to roll in, the real work begins. Contacting your leads, setting appointments, creating estimates - managing your construction leads takes time but is crucial to landing projects and keeping customers satisfied. Customer-relationship management software can facilitate the process and let you focus on what you do best.

I recommend: Although sales lead software, such as Salesforce.com or Leads360, may not be designed specifically for the construction industry, it can still be a useful tool for managing construction sales leads.   

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Stay organized. You don't want to get so overwhelmed that you miss out on promising construction sales leads or have to turn down any construction projects because you are overbooked.
• •  Many customers still like to do business the old-fashioned way, through face-to-face contact. Network with other players in the construction industry. Sales leads are often a hot topic of discussion at industry events.
• •  Construction jobs are plentiful. Keep sniffing out construction sales leads until you find the project you'd like to bid on.

For busy auto dealers and dealerships, the ability to find and solicit leads is a vital aspect of their business. There are various terms associated with automotive sales leads that describe the prospect or the promise of securing a deal. Using these key terms will help dealers secure auto leads and increase the profitability of their businesses while also meeting customer demands for types and prices of automobiles. Familiarize yourself with the appropriate terminology to secure and call on leads.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Lead generation

Lead generation results in automotive sales by using advertising, direct mailing and interactive websites to generate lead information for dealers to find prospective buyers. Auto dealers can sign up to access these services to not only receive leads, but to also generate leads for all personnel at their dealerships.

I recommend: Learn about how dealers use lead generation at Automotive.com.

Automotive lead generation case studies

Automotive lead generation case studies help dealers learn about the strategies and services of lead generation services. By reviewing case studies, dealers can see the end result of lead generation efforts, including which models sold best and possible reasons why. Then they can take that information and apply it to their own sales strategy.

I recommend: Read the information about automotive lead generation case studies at Pasch Consulting Group.

Special finance leads

Special finance leads are for auto buyers who don't have a perfect credit history. Approximately 60% of auto buyers fall into this category. For dealerships that offer special financing offers, using special finance leads is a great way to increase profits for their business. Special finance leads are also called customer finance, secondary finance, subprime finance and second chance finance auto leads.

I recommend: Find information about auto loan leads at Auto Credit Express.

Lead trading

Lead trading is a service where dealers sign up to trade or share leads with each other. Using this service, dealers can search, verify and acquire leads from dealerships all over the Internet and across the United States.

I recommend: Learn about the lead trading services provided by Dealix.

Lead management

Lead management is a software tool that helps dealers and dealerships manage their auto leads. Users can keep track of leads as well as organize them according to their own criteria and do follow-ups with other dealers. Some lead management software has email marketing features to help dealers generate and gather more leads.

I recommend: Learn about the automotive lead management solution featured at Dealer.com.

Used car leads

Since the majority of car buyers are interested in purchasing a pre-owned car, it is essential for all car dealerships to include used car leads in their auto lead searches. There are many companies that specialize in generating used car leads only.

I recommend: Find used car leads at Car Daddy.com.