Why five minutes changes everything
If you want to see a sales lead disappear, just let it sit in your inbox for an hour. By then, the customer has probably spoken to another dealership, booked a test drive, or decided to “think about it” for the next six months.
Speed-to-lead isn’t a nice-to-have: it’s the single biggest factor in turning an enquiry into a sale.
Respond within five minutes and your chances of qualifying that lead can be ten times higher than if you wait just sixty minutes. Wait a day and the odds collapse completely.
The real reason dealerships respond too slowly
Most dealerships aren’t slow because they don’t care. They’re slow because their processes work against them.
Leads trickle in from half a dozen channels - website forms, social media, classified ads - all landing in different places. Someone has to assign them manually. Salespeople dig through CRMs to find the right details. In the meantime, the clock keeps ticking.
How to fix it
The solution is simple: remove every second of friction between “lead arrives” and “salesperson says hello.”
Start by centralizing every lead in one place so nothing gets lost. Trigger instant alerts to the right salesperson the moment a lead comes in. Give them the ability to claim it instantly and see all the context - from vehicle of interest to past purchase history - without digging. And make it clear that follow-up isn’t something to get to later; it’s the first priority, every time.
What happens when you get it right
Dealerships that put these changes in place see response times drop below five minutes without adding staff. Lead-to-sale conversions climb by 20–40%. Customers notice the speed and associate it with professionalism. And perhaps most importantly, your sales team starts the conversation before the competition even knows there’s a lead to chase.
Five minutes can be the difference between winning a sale and losing it forever. The only question is whether your processes are built to move that fast.
Want to see it in action? Book a free demo with WEBSOLVE today and discover how ConvertPro and Leader can put every lead in your team’s hands — instantly.