OEM Services

A lead is not a sale. High performing dealers will close 3X as many internet leads as the average dealer. How a dealership responds to internet sales opportunities will determine if the sale will go to your brand or the competition.

Cobalt offers a complete suite of diagnostic, benchmarking, education, training and change management services for OEMs to provide performance oversight and process improvement programs that optimize the productivity and financial health of their dealer networks.

Diagnostic & Monitoring Services - eMystery Shopping

Cobalt offers the most experienced dedicated automotive mystery shopping service in the industry. Cobalt evaluates the timeliness and quality of dealer's response to qualified internet shoppers across 13 measures, providing dealers and their OEMs the insights needed to improve the shopper's experience and the conversion of leads to sales. Cobalt's Automotive eShopper Index benchmarks across 30 OEM brands and is published annually. Learn More ›

Cobalt OEM Services Get Results

  • Increased lead response from 77% to 93%
  • Reduced lead response time from 80 hours to 4.5 hours
  • Supported 2/3 of dealers adopt a standard lead management tool
  • Internet follow-up rates increased by 15%
  • Dealer close rates increased up to 18%

Dealership Training Content & Services

Cobalt works with each OEM client to determine their training objectives and define a training and process improvement program that will have a material impact on their network's performance. Cobalt's training leaders are automotive pros who have worked in dealerships and are schooled in the educational approaches that are effective in the dealership culture. Cobalt's training methodology is based on over 10 years of research on industry best practices and is recognized as the industry "gold standard".

Training Programs May Include:
  • Instructor-led workshops (On-Site and Web-based) Our performance improvement consultants are highly trained in delivering structured programs to dealer staff from Dealer/GM leadership to Internet Sales Managers to achieve a higher-level of dealership sales productivity.
  • Self-paced rapid skill development courses (RSD) - The RSD courses are short, highly interactive self-paced web tutorials to develop and maintain discrete dealership process and product skills.
  • Process and/or product guides Easy-to-use tools to help you get the most out of your website tools and processes.

Custom OEM Programs - eDealer Solutions

Cobalt's custom OEM training and consulting services are designed to help our clients optimize the productivity and financial health of their dealer networks through deployment of a specialized field training and consulting team.

Cobalt's eDealer Solutions Consultants (eDSCs) offer powerful field support to OEM programs. Working directly with each dealership's sales staff, eDSCs provides ongoing, knowledgeable resources for best-practices and in-store process consulting and Cobalt product and services training. The result: greater lead conversion and increased vehicle sales.

Cobalt eDSCs Are An Extension Of Your Marketing Department:
  • Conducting regularly scheduled phone, email and onsite dealer visits to provide ongoing education and training of eBusiness best practices
  • Providing in-depth analysis, reports and critical feedback on progress made toward your program's objectives - eDSCs act as your deployment specialists "eyes and ears"
  • Establishing close relationships with dealers and your Regional office staff to enable efficient and timely communications support - promoting program buy-in, participation and follow up
  • Attending Regional dealer/field staff meetings to promote and support your programs
  • Raising dealership Internet efficiency and program compliance using the latest eBusiness best practices on lead response with long term follow-up support
  • Review and discuss dealer websites, associated traffic, Internet and web site trends that affect Dealerships
  • Develop proven action plans for dealerships to ensure progress in achieving program goals

An integral part of the Cobalt offering since 1999, eDSC teams have serviced over 3,500 dealers increasing dealer engagement, traffic generation, lead response and program compliance.

Contact Cobalt to learn more about specialized OEM services.

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