Auto shoppers are spending more time researching vehicles, comparing brands and visiting multiple dealerships before making a purchase. At the same time, many dealers report that closing sales has become more difficult despite confidence in their lead management and sales processes. The challenge is not always generating more leads. It is understanding why buyers leave the sales funnel and purchase elsewhere.
In this session, Eric DeMont will discuss how defection intelligence helps dealers identify when buyers defect, where they purchase and why they leave. Attendees will learn how daily sales and defection data can uncover hidden conversion issues, reduce wasted follow-up efforts and reveal opportunities to improve sales and marketing performance. The session will provide practical strategies that help dealers move from assumptions to data-driven decisions that increase conversions and sales.
Key Learning Takeaways
- Identify buyer defections and measure their impact on dealership performance.
- Understand the most common reasons buyers leave, including communication breakdowns, pricing concerns and inconsistent follow-up.
- Determine whether conversion challenges stem from lead quality, sales execution, marketing effectiveness or competitive pressure.
- Use defection data to evaluate performance by lead source, salesperson, vehicle model, geography and purchase timeline.
- Apply defection insights to improve conversion rates, strengthen sales coaching and optimize marketing investments.
