Have you ever pulled one of your Sales Consultants or BD Agents into your office because a lead didn’t get answered? And that lead just so happened to be a mystery shop? And instead of your Sales Consultant or BD Agent saying, “we did miss this one, and I will get with the team to review our process,” they said, “we didn’t get that lead”?
If you don’t think this happens, then you’re losing sales. If they missed that one lead, how many other leads have fallen through the cracks? Are they following up with customer inquiries or leads in a timely fashion? And no, this isn’t about beating anybody up. But it is about ensuring that your Sales Consultants and BD Agents actively manage the leads and inbound calls. Besides, today’s CRMs and web platforms have several notification options for new leads, and it’s hard to miss out on a lead.
But let’s step back for a moment. If your Sales Consultants and BD Agents give an eye-roll or the infamous “we knew it was a mystery shop” or “we didn’t get the lead” response on a missed lead, you have a bigger problem to tackle. Continuous mystery shopping aims to ensure that your BD Agents and Sales Consultants are well equipped to effectively handle inbound phone calls and leads. To start – it’s about ensuring that all leads have been answered. In this case, the Sales Consultant said, “we didn’t get the lead.” How many leads have they not “gotten”?
And no, nobody’s perfect. A lead can undoubtedly slip through the cracks, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t take this issue seriously. If you’re a GM, Sales, or BD Manager in this situation, it’s the perfect opportunity to explain the importance of not just handling the leads properly, but all leads should be handled with the same process. It’s having a tight process with checks and balances that ensures that the customer will receive consistent and spectacular service no matter the lead or phone call. It’s also having top notch customer service that can and will set you apart from the competition.
The more practice your teams have, the more effective they’re going to be on the phones. And the better your teams do on the phones and answering leads, the more appointments you have to sell vehicles too. So, even if they “know” it’s a mystery shop, it’s the perfect opportunity to showcase your skills and how you handle customer inquiries. And if they are a fortune teller, please have them send me the lotto numbers.
If you haven’t had mystery shopping in a while – take a minute to connect with us and have a complimentary stealth test completed!
As the COO | Partner of Phone Ninjas, Chris delivers leadership, coaching, and mentorship to 55 team members providing software sales and phone skills coaching. He fosters powerful partnerships and collaborations with leaders across various business sectors, establishing expectations, communicating vision, and escalating performance to maximize productivity and effectiveness.
Chris is an innovation-driven business executive with over 25 years of experience delivering leadership to teams of up to 75 overseeing development, launch, and sale of website lead acquisition, reconditioning process software systems, and technology that support automotive dealerships across the U.S., Canada, and Europe.
