What a Dealership CRM Report Should Show Every Monday
Most dealership CRMs can produce dozens of reports. Most Monday meetings use none of them well. Either someone prints a stack of numbers nobody reads, or the meeting runs on gut feel and whoever had the best Saturday.
A good Monday report is short. It answers three questions: where did last week’s opportunities come from, what did we do with them, and what are we fixing this week. Here is what belongs on it.
1. Leads by source and lead type
Start with volume, split two ways. Source is where the customer came from: your website, third-party sites, OEM leads, phone, chat, walk-ins. Lead type is what they asked for: a specific vehicle, a trade appraisal, a finance application, a service-to-sales handoff.
Show last week next to the four-week average. One slow week is noise. Three slow weeks from the same source is a problem worth a conversation with that vendor or that budget.
2. Response time
How long did it take for a real person to respond to each internet lead? Report the average and, more importantly, the share of leads answered within your standard. Many stores aim for under 15 minutes during business hours.
Response time is the easiest number to improve and one of the most predictive. A lead that waits two hours has usually already talked to someone else.
3. Contact rate
An automated email is not contact. Contact rate is the share of leads where you had a real two-way conversation: a phone call, a text reply, or an email reply from the customer. If response time is fast but contact rate is low, the team is sending templates and moving on.
4. Appointments set and shown
Appointments are where online shopping becomes a showroom visit. Track both numbers. A team that sets plenty of appointments but shows few may be booking soft appointments, or not confirming the day before.
5. Sold units and close rate by source
This is the line that ties marketing to the floor. For each source, show leads, sold units and close rate. Look at the trend over a month or a quarter, since a single week is too small to judge a channel.
Close rate by source is what lets you have an honest budget conversation. A third-party site with a lower cost per lead can still be the most expensive channel if it rarely closes.
6. The same numbers by salesperson
Break response time, contact rate, appointments and close rate out by salesperson. This is a coaching tool, not a scoreboard to shame anyone. The goal is to spot the one habit that would help each person most this week.
A salesperson with a strong close rate and slow response time needs a different conversation than one who responds instantly but rarely sets an appointment.
7. A short list of untouched leads
End the report with names, not percentages: every lead from the past seven days with no logged contact. Assign each one before the meeting ends. This is often the fastest way to find a car deal you already paid for.
A baseline internet lead funnel to measure against
Numbers only mean something next to a target. A good industry rule of thumb for internet leads is a five-step funnel, with each step about half of the one before it after the first contact:
| Funnel step | Target | Out of 100 leads |
|---|---|---|
| Total leads | 100 | |
| Leads contacted | 80% of leads | 80 |
| Appointments set | 50% of contacted | 40 |
| Appointments shown | 50% of set | 20 |
| Sold | 50% of shown | 10 |
That works out to a 10% close rate on internet leads. It is not a great number, but it is a solid baseline that tells you the process is working. From there, you get better one step at a time.
A lot of sales managers expect to hit 20%. In reality, for most mainline franchise dealerships, a steady 15% is rockstar status. Results vary a lot by market and by the type of vehicles you sell, so treat these as a rule of thumb, not a law. The value is in seeing which step is leaking. If contact rate is 60%, start there. If appointments are strong but shows are weak, fix confirmations before anything else.
What to leave off
- Website sessions and page views. Useful for the marketing team, not for a sales meeting.
- Every lead source the CRM tracks. Group small sources into “other” so the page stays readable.
- Year-to-date totals. Monday is about last week and this week. Save the big picture for the monthly review.
How to run the meeting
- Send the report Sunday night or first thing Monday so people arrive having read it.
- Spend five minutes on the store numbers and what changed.
- Spend ten minutes on individual coaching points, one per person.
- Assign the untouched leads.
- Agree on one or two actions for the week, and check them first next Monday.
Steady beats dramatic here. A short report reviewed every single week will move close rate more than a beautiful dashboard opened once a quarter.
Common questions
Which CRM is best for this kind of report?
Most major dealer CRMs can produce lead funnels by source, lead type and salesperson. The bigger difference is usually how consistently the team logs activity. A report is only as good as the data entered.
What is a good close rate on internet leads?
About 10% is a solid baseline that shows your process is working. For most mainline franchise dealerships, a steady 15% is excellent. It varies by market and by the vehicles you sell, so track your own trend and improve one funnel step at a time.
Should the Monday report include phone leads?
Yes, if your phone calls are tracked in the CRM or through call tracking. Phone shoppers are often the most ready to buy, and leaving them out understates how marketing is performing.
How is this different from a monthly report?
The weekly report drives action: follow-ups, coaching and quick fixes. The monthly report drives decisions: budget, vendors and staffing. They use the same numbers at different speeds.
Want this report built for your store?
Fast Tortoise builds Monday-ready CRM reporting and sales coaching cards for dealers as part of our dealership marketing toolkit. For the bigger picture, read how to connect dealership website traffic to sold cars. When you are ready, book a free pit stop call.
Founder of Fast Tortoise Marketing and a marketing director with 20+ years of experience in automotive, service and community brands. More about Ryan