Missed sales opportunities happen more than you think and definitely, more than you’d like to admit. Many of these opportunities are missed because we didn’t recognize them early enough and others come and go so quickly we don’t even realize there was an opportunity. You may miss a sales opportunity because you can’t compete with your competitor's pricing, you don’t have a large enough inventory or for a bunch of other reasons. Most of these reasons are changeable if you’re willing to take the necessary steps to do so. We’re not saying that if you make these changes you’ll never miss a sales opportunity again, but you’ll certainly allow less to fall through the cracks. In this article, we’re going to go over four different sales opportunities and how to capitalize on each of them. 

Four Types of Sales Opportunities

1. First In-Person Impression

While younger generations usually prefer to do their pre-shopping for a vehicle online, there are still plenty of people who want to start their car shopping in person at a dealership. They want to meet a salesperson who can help them through the process and they want to actually get into the vehicles they’re considering. So when someone comes into your dealership, you need to make sure you’re giving them the best possible experience so they stick with you when they decide to buy. At the very least, you need to ensure your dealership is clean, well organized, full of helpful salespeople and has a good selection of vehicles. 

2. Follow Up Call

If a customer is calling you for information about cars on your lot, you need to make it a priority to get back to them with an answer as soon as possible. The longer it takes you to get back to the customer with an answer, the higher the likelihood that they’ll look somewhere else and find another dealership to work with. Even if you’re wrapped up with another customer and can’t get back to them right away, at the very least let them know you’ll be able to get back to them within a certain amount of time. This way they won’t be left wondering if/when they’ll hear back from you and will be less likely to call another dealership until getting your answer.

3. Online Sales

On the opposite spectrum of the first type of sale, the online sale is one preferred by many car shoppers, usually younger generations. One of the biggest missed opportunities with online sales is not getting the vehicles in your inventory online and with photos right away. Many buyers want to know what vehicles you have before they ever step foot on your lot and if you have 10 vehicles that aren’t listed on your website, they may decide to look elsewhere. Now that we’re at the point where people can go through the entire car-buying process online, you need to make updating your website regularly a priority. This means more than just having a listing without images, you need to have at least a dozen images showcasing both the interior and exterior of each vehicle. 

4. “Just Looking Around”

If you’ve worked in the industry for more than a few months you’ve likely heard customers in your dealership tell you that they’re “just looking around”. The reality is, that most people don’t spend time at the dealership just for fun and even if they’re not close to buying a car today, it doesn’t mean they’re not considering buying a car soon. Especially because so many people do the first phase of their car shopping online, chances are the person who says they’re “just looking around” is probably looking at the vehicles they’re interested in based on their online research. In this situation, the best thing you can do is be accommodating and not pushy whatsoever but make it known that if they need anything you’re there to help. It’s always a good idea to give them a business card if they do decide to look more seriously at vehicles in the future.