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In today's world of the Internet, smart phones, and apps for everything, communication is supposed to be easier and more efficient than ever before. But when it comes to dealers communicating with potential customers, plenty of opportunities are still slipping through the cracks. That's one of the major takeaways from our latest exclusive quarterly survey of customers who submitted leads on CarsDirect.com.

Take a look at the following survey excerpts from customers who did not end up purchasing a vehicle after submitting a lead:





Looking at the first chart a full 41% of consumers said they either weren't contacted by a dealer or were not sure if they were contacted. In today's world, there's almost always a way to reach a potential customer, but almost half of leads are passing by unconverted due to something as simple as making initial contact with the customer.

To avoid missing these opportunities, focus on what customers see as making contact, and on your current process at your store. While your process might consist of sending an e-mail shortly after receiving a lead, it could be that the customer is expecting a more personal phone call. Experiment with different ways of making initial contact with customers to see which one garners the best response. As illustrated above, there are plenty of opportunities other stores are missing that you can seize on.

Moving onto the second chart, again we see that by far the top reason or not purchasing: no contact. If there's no communication with customers, it's impossible to make sales. That's why it's imperative to examine and refine your processes so your sales team knows they did everything they could to contact a customer and get them in the door.

The second most-cited reason customers gave for not purchasing was that they are still looking for a vehicle. These are the cases when contact is made with a customer but they drop off the radar. In these cases, it's important to examine why your team hasn't closed the customer. Are they still working the customer? There's usually plenty of opportunity to win a customer back if they're undecided.

Finally, the third most common reason that customers gave for not purchasing was price. Here, make sure that you're giving customers a price online so that there is no surprise about price on first contact. Also, make sure you're priced competitively in your area. It sounds simple, but your prices could be out of line with the rest of your local market if you're not keeping tabs on pricing trends in the surrounding area.