Last Tuesday I could have kicked myself. Tuesday is the day we’re normally closed at the Ligier Store Doesburg. But when I have the time, I’m there and I happily run the shop, as I did again this Tuesday.

Not that it’s busy then, but still: I sometimes bring my orders along. That’s genuinely enjoyable, but then it has to work out. First, some people dropped by on the off chance. Always nice! That’s an opportunity. But it’s that missed call that, now a few days later, still makes me feel sick.

What happened?

I also had a few online meetings, and during one of them we received a call via Marktplaats. The computer picks up and announces that we’re closed. My first mistake, because that message needs to be variable. If I’m there, then we’re simply open. After that, the customer receives a text saying we’re closed, but that we can communicate via WhatsApp.

After the meeting, I see that someone called. By then it was well over an hour later, so I call back. The customer told me he was on his way and had called to ask whether we were there and whether he could take a look at car X. But because we didn’t pick up, he drove on. He happened to be near Doesburg.

A 100% missed opportunity!

Well, a 100% missed call and therefore a missed opportunity too. Because the offer to come by his home with the car was no longer needed by then. Maybe he’ll still drop by on Saturday… Maybe. In the meantime we’ve made a video, shown the shop and shared the reviews. But what sticks most is that missed opportunity.

In the data from Calldrip you see them too: missed opportunities, time and again, especially with inbound calls via portals like Marktplaats. The phone may well be picked up, but does the potential buyer actually get a salesperson on the line?

Back in 2018 I already wrote an e-book and presentation about it: the most mistreated lead in the automotive industry. And that’s still just as true today. It’s the best chance of conversion, provided you pick up the phone. And if you can’t — my excuse was that I was in a meeting — then it’s simple: shame on me. The only upside is that I can at least still see that it was a missed opportunity. I do still have the summary of the voicemail text. And a very clear lesson: a call that was answered by a computer and is logged as ‘answered’ is, in this case, really still a missed call. And therefore a missed opportunity.

An expensive lesson

I need to make sure the phone gets answered. I can simply bring in CARMEN Automotive BDC so they pick up the phone when I or one of our salespeople can’t. Not after 45 seconds, but after 15 seconds. Because a missed call is a 100% lost opportunity that may never be convertible again.

I’m still hoping for Saturday… but I’m bracing myself.

It was an expensive lesson….