What is the REAL reason the customer didn’t buy from you ?
I hear a lot of companies talking a lot about getting more customers, and their marketing spend and budgets for 2025.
But what sometimes gets overlooked, is how to convert more of the customers you actually quote for.
One of the most successful services I offer is to contact a client's “dead” or “lost” leads, and speak with the customers to get the real truth about why they purchased elsewhere, or didn’t go ahead at all.
Because I am not ringing from the showroom itself, and I usually have a different accent to the region of the showroom (unless I’m ringing in the Midlands!), I usually get the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And customers usually don’t hold back !
When I speak to the showroom beforehand, I always get their thoughts on what they think the reasons are. And rarely are they correct.
Here are the top 5 reasons in my experience..
1 - Designer Not Listening
I have put this at number one because it’s probably the number one reason I hear.
Examples…
I told them my budget was £20,000 and that’s all I had to spend, and they designed a kitchen for £30,000.
I told them I wanted a layout different to what I currently have, and they designed it the same.
I told them I wanted the same layout to what I currently have, and they changed it.
The designer wasn’t really interested in what I was saying, they were more intent on putting their own ideas in the design.
There are a lot of variations on this, but listening is perhaps the key skill to focus on when the customer is talking about their wants and needs.
2 - Poor Communication
Communication again is right at the top with listening.
Did we explain to the customer…
The next steps
What they will receive in terms of paperwork at quote stage
How long a quote will take to put together
Why one door is more expensive than another door
The ramifications of changing the design at the last minute
What is and isn’t included in the installation service
What the payment stages are
A lot of times I hear feedback from customers where the showroom was absolutely correct in their actions, they just didn’t communicate their process well enough to the buyers.
You cannot “sell it and forget it”, you must keep the customer informed of their journey at every step.
3 - Personality Clash
Sometimes, it can just come down to a mismatch of people.
This is a really hard one to beat, but it can be down to attitude, an ill judged joke or comment, or the salesperson has made an incorrect assumption about the customer that has been taken the wrong way by them.
A really good example of this, which I have had a number of times, is where the buyer had a big budget to spend on the project, but the salesperson was talking to them as though it was going to be too expensive for them.
“I had £70,000 to spend on the kitchen, but when the kitchen came out at £50,000 the salesperson was talking to me like I couldn’t afford it. I ended up spending £90,000 on it elsewhere.”
This was just one conversation I had.
As salespeople, we need to quickly work out who our customer is, and how they want us to be.
4 - They Got a Better Deal Elsewhere
Again, a very common thing I hear when I am making calls.
Wren had a great finance deal on
My installer got me a kitchen through Howdens
Your competitor was doing a free Quooker tap
I found similar kitchen cheaper online
Now we know all of these are “false deals” and the costs are added on somewhere else across the quote, but you need to understand early what is important to the customer.
At the approach and qualification stages of the process, it’s important that you work out what the customer counts as high priority, and what they are willing to compromise on.
You need to know…
How are they funding the kitchen?
Who is installing the kitchen?
Where else have you been looking?
This will help you tailor a quote, and work out whether you will be able to be competitive or not.
5 - Outside Influences
Sometimes, things happen.
Deaths, redundancies, illnesses, some things just happen beyond your control and there’s nothing you can do.
Maybe the planning is taking longer than expected, or the architect has been changed, or the tender process is taking too long.
Perhaps new legislation has changed the way people look at their finances.
I spoke with many buyers when Labour came into power that said that VAT being added onto private school fees has meant their kitchen needs to go on hold.
Interest rates also play a massive part in people’s decision making process.
Again, things can sometimes be totally unavoidable, but your knowledge of the customer and their buying process will help you prepare for the worst case scenario.
Do you know how the customer is funding their project?
Do you know at what stage the build is at?
Has planning been passed?
There are things you can’t change, but you can be prepared for!
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If you are interested in me calling your customers to get the feedback to help you shape your business, get in touch.
I can also contact customers who haven’t necessarily gone elsewhere, but maybe they are difficult to get hold of, or you think they are avoiding you.
Maybe you’re a retail business and wanting to speak to end users, or you are a B2B business and you need some feedback from your customers.
Thanks
Paul
07776113376
So true, listening is one of the keys elements.