How car dealers can improve lead management despite low vehicle supply with guest Steve Roessler

Welcome to this week’s episode of Used Cars Weekly, the original CBT News show dedicated to bringing car dealers best practices and tips for the used car department, in-depth dealer interviews, hands-on dealership strategies, as well as vendor analysis. Today, host Jasen Rice, founder of Lotpop, chats with Steve Roessler, Chief Evangelist Officer at DriveCentric, about the integration of inventory management and lead management.

DriveCentric helps car dealers answer the question, What is the customer saying and how is the salesperson handling their question? Right now, with inventory as low as it is, Roessler thinks that salespeople have to be taught how to redirect conversations with customers. If your car dealership does not have the specific vehicle a customer calls about, redirect them to similar vehicles.

Rice adds that one of the biggest concerns he sees in inventory management right now is appraising cars that won’t be traded in for a while. For example, if you sell a car in April, but the car won’t be delivered for another month or two, how is that performance measured?

According to Roessler, DriveCentric’s pipeline separates deals sold and delivered from sold and not delivered. He recommends that car dealers on the platform set up reminders for the staff to engage periodically with customers that bought undelivered vehicles. One of the best ways to engage or reengage with customers like this is by text messaging, says Rossler. In fact, 80% of incoming messages are text alone.  However, he adds that salespeople need to be trained in sending texts and discerning the appropriate channels for specific information.

Everyone at the dealership should be texting through the CRM instead of their personal numbers. First, to make sure you are compliant with TCPA laws. Second, if you text in the CRM, managers can see it and come in to back you up to improve response times.

It’s also important, for the staff who use text or email capabilities, to send videos to customers as well. Doing a simple walkaround video or touring other vehicle options, heightens the emotional purchase.

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