Statistically speaking, if a runner is on third base, they have a much better chance of scoring in a baseball game than if they are on first base. However, isn’t this concept a matter of common sense? No matter how many outs there are, if you are on third base, you don’t need a chart to tell you it’s more likely you will score than if you are on first, or even second base.
“Nothing worse than a guy who is standing on third base and thinks he is the one who hit the triple.” I broke down the bases into a simple analogy for automotive sales:
- First Base – building value with a walk around. Second Base – doing a demo of the product, which, in this case, is a demo drive. Third Base – showing the service department and talking warranties.
I have preached this over 1000 times in my life. “Just like a 12 year old kid who missed touching second base in a little league game, if you did not do the demo drive, your chances of scoring go way down. Period.”
In that little league game example, as you are rounding third and heading home to score, the umpire will tell you to run back and touch second base because you missed it. In most cases, you will be thrown out and not score at all. In sales, if you rounded third and tried to close a deal without doing a great demo, the customer will ask you to back track and actually do the demo. They want to understand and fall in love with the product a little more, so again, you will probably get thrown out. Skipping second base (the demo) is not the natural progression of a sale and going back to it gives the customer time to feel the pressure of you trying to steal home. Bottom line: your chances of scoring go down. This is indisputable.
As an agency that drives traffic and opportunities to businesses, we follow the rules of sales. We want you on third base with a customer. We do not want you on third base without first hitting the other bases. We want you in a position to score more easily and more often. How does this translate into advertising? First, we have to establish what third base is in this case. We have to determine which level of the advertising and sales funnel equates to being on third base with no outs in terms of raising your chances of scoring with a customer.
I will tell you how we gauge this. To us, a lead is third base. As a Google Certified partner and a full-service agency that handles both traditional and digital media, we do things a bit differently. It’s easy for many companies like us to get caught up in the metrics and analytics game. If your agency is talking to you about your web sessions, tell them to get off first base. If they move on to conversions and a low bounce rate, tell them to get off second base. You can’t sell a car to a guy who visited your website if you never had his name, number and email to follow up with. Your chances of scoring are horrific and worse than being on first. That’s like striking out and never even getting on base.
“LEADS ARE THE EQUIVALENT OF A TRIPLE IN BASEBALL!” Once you have a customer’s name and contact information, you can take control and set the score. No, you won’t score every time, but you will score more often, and that is the name of the game. At Dealer World, my team concentrates on putting our customers on third base as often as possible. We are the lead off hitter, if you will.
Here are the only ways to count leads that are the equivalent of third base:
- A walk in
- A phone call
- A lead form filled out and submitted
- A text lead
- A web platform chat
These are your only plays. These are where you can score from. Take the time to evaluate all your marketing—from your ads, both offline and online, to your website and whether or not it is set up to convert. Be sure that all of your efforts are centered around earning the right to be on third base, i.e., getting a lead. I promise, you will sell more, score more and make more money by being the best player on the field.
Just for fun, take a look and you will see it’s all about the percentages of scoring. Everything you do should be positioning to score.
Troy Spring is the owner of Dealer World, Agency 345, and co-founder of Dealer Funnel. His roots in advertising started while he managed four automotive dealerships and the large advertising budgets for the stores. The dealerships all grew under his watch. He credits much of that growth to the advertising decisions he made to drive more business to each location. He has spent the last decade perfecting what he calls the four pillars of advertising: reach, frequency, creative, and cost. He is a strong advocate of this formula. He spends much of his time sharing these concepts as a national speaker and occasional guest on podcasts.