Sales process execution, not market size or lead volume, is the primary driver of whether dealerships convert prospects into buyers, according to a new report by Foureyes.
First things first: The report, which tracked 2.6 million leads from more than 1,150 dealerships across 48 U.S. markets through Q1 2026, found a 15.6-point gap between the highest- and lowest-performing close-rate markets in the country.
Des Moines, Iowa, posted the highest close rate at 30.1%, while San Francisco-Oakland ranked lowest at 14.5%.
The overall average close rate (total leads divided by total vehicle sales across all 48 markets) was 18.5%.
Seven of the top 10 close-rate markets were in the Midwest, though Honolulu ranked second overall at 28.6%.
The lowest-performing markets were concentrated in large coastal and Sun Belt metros, with Los Angeles posting a 17.2% close rate and Dallas-Fort Worth 16.7%.
Why it matters: The findings suggest dealership performance is influenced more by process execution than geography or market opportunity, signaling that improving how leads are handled may offer a bigger growth opportunity than simply generating more traffic.
Between the lines: Most leads stall between contact and appointment in the four-stage sales funnel (contact, appointment set, show, and show-to-sale), with contact rate emerging as the metric most closely tied to close-rate performance—outweighing market size and lead volume.
Nine of the 10 markets with contact rates at or below 66% closed below the 18.5% overall average, with Knoxville the lone exception.
Eight of the 10 largest markets in the study, measured by dealership count, closed below the overall average in Q1 2026.
The largest of those markets—Los Angeles (64 dealers), Chicago (61), and Philadelphia (61)—ranked among the weakest close-rate performers.
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What they’re saying: “In Q1 2026, the five highest close-rate markets in this study were Des Moines, IA (30.1%), Honolulu, HI (28.6%), Omaha, NE (25.4%), Wichita, KS (24.4%), and Milwaukee, WI (23.8%),” wrote Matt Inda of Foureyes in the report.
“These markets generally ran contact rates of 70% or higher—above the study's overall average of 69%—alongside strong show-to-sale performance.”
Bottom line: Identifying which stage of the sales process is underperforming, be it contact, appointment set, show, or show-to-sale, is critical, Inda noted. And tracking all four stages, rather than the close rate alone, provides a clearer view of where leads are falling out of the pipeline.
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