Some people want it to happen,
some wish it would happen,
others make it happen. ~ Michael Jordan

Anybody with even a passing interest in sports in the 80’s and 90’s has vivid memories of basketball legend Michael Jordan defying gravity to fly through the air and slam dunk a basketball. Again, and again, and again. The man was virtually synonymous with Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ slogan, because he did. Such was his dominance not only of the game, but of sports branding, that he still pulls in nearly $100 million a year on branded gear.

When you watched Jordan play, he was ‘all in’. And so it is with live chat on dealership websites. If you want true success leveraging this key technology, you had better ‘Just Do It”. If you want to maximize lead generation with live chat and give shoppers a quality experience, you need a full commitment. Staffing, processes, management, and financial investment all depend on how much you want in-house and what level of managed chat service you prefer.

Here is a glimpse of the resources you need to allocate for different levels of chat support:

• Full Support managed chat requires the biggest financial investment, but little staffing or management outside a process for handling leads and ensuring the service performs strong enough to provide AT LEAST 1/2 to 1 percent lead ratio to unique visits.
• Backup Support managed chat requires substantial staffing and manager oversight to ensure chat requests are answered quickly, but is less expensive than full support and should have 24/7 rollover to the chat provider if in-house staff are logged off or can’t respond.
• Self-managed Chat has the lowest cost investment (sometimes free), typically for a software subscription that includes the consumer-side interface on the website and chat console for the operators.

In all cases, software and support quality covers the spectrum from dollar store level to something more like Macys or Nordstrom. The biggest factor to examine, especially when choosing a full or backup managed option is which generates the best results – not just in QUALITY lead count, but (most importantly) SOLD UNIT ratio.

Whichever level of chat support you choose for your dealership website, Just Do It! It will require a full commitment to make the most of this key technology and turn the investment into a noticeable lead bump.

Tom LaPointe CarChat24 Marketing Consultant

www.carchat24.com/ 24/7 Interactive Automotive Dealer Website LIVE CHAT Solutions Managed Chat, Backup Chat Support, and chat software options 727-638-0195

A U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Tom has an MBA in Marketing and is an automotive writer and author with nearly 20 years experience in virtually every aspect of the retail auto industry. He has been involved with the internet from the beginning, building websites at Johns Hopkins University in the 90's, and has been a performance leader in nearly every dealer role, from sales and service, to BDC / internet sales and viral marketing.