RECAPTURING “THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY!”

Have you ever lost a customer? They may have decided to go with a competitor or stopped using your Lexus OEM parts. Regardless of the reason, it is a difficult situation to deal with. But you can recover from these situations by focusing on what you can control and providing the best customer service possible. In this article, we’ll concentrate on lost sales and supply you with tools to help you turn them back into viable customers.

HOW TO “HOOK” THE ONE(S) THAT GOT AWAY

STEP 1: DETERMINE WHO HAS LEFT OR MIGHT BE LEAVING

Losing an account is frustrating, especially when it’s one you’ve worked hard to get. However, there are ways to proactively intervene when customers show signs of leaving, including reducing their buying volume overtime. If you’re able to identify “at risk” customers, you have a better opportunity to solidify the relationship and keep the customer coming back to your dealership for parts.

Management software such as PSX^TM(Xcellerator) is a great way to track your sales. With this system, you can get reports on gained or lost sales. However, depending on what systems you have in place, track your sales by category, such as collision and mechanical, then request an activity report of who is buying from you and then compare it to who isn’t purchasing.

As an example, PSX can create a report that shows you four months of sales. That report can identify customers who were spending over $4,500 per month but are now spending just $2,000 per month. This report helps to identify what types of parts they were buying. It’s a way to see your customers’ buying patterns and determine if the drop in sales is cyclical, or, if that shop is just buying less from you.

PSX smart data can help you run your parts business into actionable insight. Watch this video for more information.

STEP 2: DETERMINE WHY THEY LEFT

Next, you need to determine why they left. This can happen for any number of reasons, including not having the required inventory or even something as simple as the customer perceiving your prices as too high. Or was it something else entirely?

Communication is the key here. You must reach out and contact that shop to ask why they’re not doing business with you anymore. This can be an in-person meeting at their shop, via email, or by picking up the phone and calling them.

“A dealer told us they contacted a shop who had quit buying from them and asked why they left. The shop owner responded that he didn’t like the attitude of the dealership’s delivery drivers. The Parts Manager asked, why didn’t you tell me? To which, the shop owner said, I did. I started buying less and less, and you never called me, so I figured you didn’t care.
“Additionally, a Wholesale Parts Manager noticed one shop was only ordering brake rotors from them, so he called and asked why they weren’t buying brake pads, too. This opened the lines of communication and led to an increase in sales.”
Patrick Delaney, PSX

Understanding your customer’s journey to purchase is a vital key to success. If more than one shop is defecting for the same reason, consider what you can readjust and build strategies to keep them coming back to you.

STEP 3: THINK OMOTENASHI

The Omotenashi philosophy covers many important points that relate to this topic:

Focus on your guests — your IRFs.
Be hospitable — find ways to make your IRF comfortable doing business with you.
How do you address a lost customer — apologize for previous shortcomings and do better in the future.
The root cause often comes down to service — it’s not always about price.

“When you embrace the omotenashi philosophy in your work operations, that becomes the differentiator — you wouldn’t lose customers in the first place because you have built the relationship with that customer.”
— Paul Williamson
Product Education, Manager of College

STEP 4: YOUR TOOLBOX TO ANALYZE LOST SALES

You could analyze the data independently, but that consumes time. PSX can do the “heavy lifting” – PSX runs behind the scenes, monitoring all your customers and then alerting you when you need to take action.