Marchex Automotive Study Reveals the Cost of Saying “No” to Customers Over the Phone
Using the
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As an industry, auto service providers are losing
$110 million per year by saying “no” to their customers. On average, the analyzed auto service stores lost nearly$23,000 in annual revenue per location just by saying “no.” For an auto service provider with over 100 locations, that means an average of$2.3 million annually. - Agents say “no” nearly six percent of the time. In fact, some say no to as many as one out of every ten customers. The good news is brands say “yes” most of the time, and while six percent may seem small, shops are losing business most often because they aren’t staffing or stocking optimally.
- Agents tend to say “no” more often on the weekends. Agents say they don’t have appointments available on weekends 17 percent more often than during the week, and they say they are closed on weekends 24 percent more often than on weekdays. This may be attributed to the fact that auto service brands tend to lighten staffing and shorten hours on the weekends, therefore leaving them unable to meet customer demand on Saturday and Sunday.
- Agents say “no” more often as the week progresses. During weekdays, agents tend to say “no” on an average of 6 percent of calls. That number rises to more than six percent on the weekends, resulting from fewer staff and the inability to order parts from manufacturers over the weekend.
- Agents say “no” more often throughout the day. One reason for this is that inventory for requested parts and accessories decreases as sales are made throughout the day. In addition, businesses tend to staff stores more lightly in the evening, resulting in less appointment availability and saying “no” to customers more often.
“These types of insights are critical to identifying problem areas
across a business and can be the first step toward a solution,” said
Building off these insights, there are a few ways service centers and their frontline agents can improve customer engagement:
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Avoid negative phrases.
Marchex data from a previous study shows agents with lower sales rates say “no” twice as often as top performing agents. Avoiding common negative phrases, such as “No, I don’t think I can” or “No, that’s not right,” can help. - Increase weekend hours and staffing. Increasing weekend hours and staffing results in additional appointment availability and will enable brands to say “yes” to their customers more often.
- Stock up on parts. Having the right inventory on hand decreases the number of times a business says “no” to a customer as the day progresses.
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Source:
Marchex, Inc.
Investor Relations
Trevor Caldwell, 206-331-3600
ir@marchex.com
or
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