Let’s say that your dealership makes a major investment in a series of special promotions hoping to drive traffic to your store. And voilà, it works. Before you know it, hundreds, maybe thousands, of auto shoppers flock to your showroom. They mingle. They kick tires. They open and close doors, sit in the seat, play with the steering wheel. They are very excited, maybe even ready to buy.

Unfortunately, when they look around for assistance, no one shows up. That’s because you don’t have any sales staff waiting to assist these customers, which means they are totally on their own. And because they have been left to fend for themselves, they quickly abandon your store and visit your competitor’s showroom down the street.

The analogy may sound extreme but it happens every day and could be happening right now on your own web site. On average, over 98 percent of online shoppers take no action while visiting dealership web sites, yet over 41 percent purchase within 30 days of visiting a dealership web site. This can represent a huge missed opportunity; especially since leads generated from a dealer’s own web site often have the highest conversion rate. In other words, you may be letting your best catch slip through the net.

Article Source: http://www.dealer-magazine.com/index.asp?article=2049