The car is no longer available!

What Can You Do With This Opportunity?

At Calldrip, we screen many conversations for quality. We pay attention to both the quality of the lead and the quality of the salesperson. The salesperson, usually a hardworking opportunist who seizes every ‘easy’ chance to sell a car, also misses many opportunities. One of those often missed opportunities is the ‘sold car’. Many leads come in for popular cars, often not just one but several, and also a few phone calls. What do you do with those leads when the car is no longer available? Do you discard them or is there more to it?

Asking the question is answering it. Firstly, it can really be different and better, but you have to want it. That’s where it starts: the will to do it differently. We recently had a great example at a large dealer of an Asian brand. The customer responds, submits a lead, the salesperson calls and the conversation ends within a minute with the salesperson informing that the car is no longer available. The customer is thanked for their interest and is told to keep an eye on the website for another interesting car. I almost want to say: ‘Excuse me?’ Why should the customer check the website themselves? The salesperson knows they have an interested lead looking for a specific brand and model in a specific segment. And now that lead has to look for an alternative at that company, possibly even elsewhere. A few simple questions in the conversation could have worked wonders: “What attracted you to this car?” What did you find interesting? Perhaps I have alternatives for you?

15 Alternatives Available!

This specific dealer had at least fifteen similar models that the salesperson could have offered during the conversation. A conversation doesn’t necessarily have to be about that specific car but can also be about the customer’s wishes, needs, and how these can be met.

Why does this happen?

The reason is simple: we as salespeople think too much that the buyer has already made their choice for that one specific car. If that car is no longer available, we think the customer will do a new search and hopefully end up with us again. However, we need to see it differently. The customer’s choice doesn’t matter; you have a customer who is in the market for a particular car in a particular segment. You are in conversation with that customer and no one else. How can you show in that conversation that you as a salesperson and company are the right partner for that customer’s next purchase? This can be done by asking the right questions so you can offer alternatives that might fit the customer better. You, as a specialist, can guide the customer to the right product. The car is not available, but the customer is available on the phone and available in the market. How good do you want it to be?