The Sandown Group has achieved a 222% increase in the number of leads marked as ‘lost’ by staff that are subsequently converted to a sale.

The Mercedes-Benz retail group attributed the increase to an enhancement to its process that alerts prospective customers about relevant stock via automated emails.

Customer enquiries are often defined as ‘lost’ by dealer staff if a suitable make and model of car is not available – a common occurrence given the ongoing industry-wide stock shortages.

However, the AM100 group has used Marketing Delivery’s VoiceBox system to automatically email ‘lost’ prospects as soon as a suitable model becomes available.

The software has been implemented at all 11 of Sandown’s locations across Surrey, Hampshire, Berkshire, Dorset and Wiltshire selling and servicing Mercedes-Benz new and used cars and smart vehicles. The email-focused process has been in place for the last six months.

Keith Jackman, head of marketing and CRM at Sandown Group, said: “Stock shortages stop us from converting business as quickly as we would like, and it also creates an ongoing admin burden for sales staff – if we don’t want to give up on a lead we have to keep checking and rechecking whether it can be fulfilled.

“The automation that VoiceBox offers takes all that burden away, tracking the stock situation for us and issuing a tailored communication to the customer in a timely fashion. It’s kept large numbers of prospects in our sales funnel and is making a real difference to our monthly numbers.

“The team at Marketing Delivery works hard to ensure we develop the right customer journey, ensuring we achieve the best results. The results speak for themselves.” 

Marketing Delivery’s Jeremy Evans is speaking at AM Live today (November 10), delivering the presentation ‘Deploying advanced technology to return to basics’ at 12:15–12:45.

Expert help for UK motor retailers will be on hand at the event, when the biggest challenges and opportunities for franchised and independent car dealers will be discussed.