18 November 2025 · 6 min read · SpectraIQ Research
When leads actually arrive
Across Australian franchised dealers observed in 2026, roughly 41% of digital leads arrive outside business hours, including evenings, weekends and public holidays.
What that costs
If half of those leads are cold by Monday morning, and your contact-to-appointment rate is 35%, and your appointment-to-close rate is 22%, you're losing roughly 3.4% of monthly sales to coverage gaps. At metro gross-per-unit numbers, that's significant.
Why human extension shifts don't work
They're expensive, hard to staff, hard to QA, and produce inconsistent customer experience. They also leak compliance, late-night BDC agents make more mistakes.
What AI changes
Coverage from 5pm Friday to 8am Monday at a marginal cost approaching zero, with the same tone and compliance posture as a business-hours response.