Auto Group Increases Monthly Sales by 40% with In-Market Leads

Pinnacle Auto Group had been purchasing leads for their 6 Ohio dealerships for years, but the economics had never been great. Their existing vendor provided demographic-targeted leads — consumers who matched the profile of a car buyer based on age, income, and vehicle ownership history. The problem was that demographic matching tells you who might buy a car, not who is actively trying to buy one.

Contact rates were 42%. Of those contacted, 9% converted to a sale. At $25 per lead and 100 leads per dealership per month, they were spending $15,000 monthly across the group for 22 vehicle sales — a cost-per-sale of $682 before accounting for sales team time on failed contacts.

WaveTech's intent-based lead program changed the targeting model entirely. Instead of demographic matching, we identified consumers who had exhibited multiple in-market signals within the previous 30 days: visits to vehicle listing sites, auto financing searches, insurance quote requests, and trade-in valuation tool usage.

These intent signals were layered with credit filtering (minimum 620 FICO for financing-dependent buyers) and geographic targeting within 25 miles of each dealership location.

The results were immediate. Contact rates jumped to 71% in the first month. Close rates climbed to 18% of contacts. Monthly sales from leads increased by 40%, and cost-per-vehicle-sold dropped from $1,800 to $680.