A Glass's survey of dealers reported in connection with the launch of the firm's Xchange lead management system suggests the apparent need for such systems to improve dealers' sales efficiency. It indicated that of those dealers which currently maintain an online stocklist, only 44% up-date it daily. Thirty-eight per cent of dealers surveyed have no controlled sales process.

Glass's research also indicated that 26% of dealerships still do not hold customer details centrally on a PC - they either do not keep customer records, or allow them to be held only by individual salespeople.

Only 42% of dealers keep PC-based records of the cars that prospective customers are interested in, adds Glass's. A third of that number do not then use that information to replenish stock with the most saleable models.