Since Q4 2022 dealership stock have risen back towards pre-Covid levels.  In some cases, too much stock. But getting back to normal is not just about stock levels.  It’s about attitude.

Over the last 6 months, through our lost sale follow-up calls, we have seen a continuation of the ‘reason for lost sale’ that became prevalent when we had limited stock. Namely – “We didn’t have exactly what they wanted, so they bought one elsewhere”.

Speaking to Sales Managers this has not been the whole truth.  Quite often we get – ‘bloody hell, we have two of those!’.

The strong sales managers, before 2020, always seemed to know which people in the team were the closers, the working sales exec’s you could rely upon to talk the customer into the car you had.  It might not have been the right colour, or the right spec, but – “Today Mr Customer, this is the right car for you.”

Have we been developing teams of order takers?  It has been a growing issue for perhaps the past 10 years, but the pandemic brought it on in waves.

True, when the only cars to sell are new cars, cars that aren’t in stock and aren’t available to demonstrate, we built some very good teams of order takers.  Explaining the pro’s and con’s of a vehicle that, as yet, doesn’t exist is not always easy.

But has it gone too far?

Our ‘Reason for Lost Sale’ analysis is showing more and more that the real reason your customer decided to buying elsewhere, wasn’t price or availability. They just weren’t closed.

Thankfully our calls are still showing that roughly 55% of customers still haven’t bought any car a month after they initially enquired.  Out of those half again are actively looking for your brand now. Today.

So all is not lost.

You just have to know which ones to chase.  Which is where Cymark comes in.

Have a look – Enquiry / Lost Sale Follow Up.

#lostsale, #customerjourney