Finding Product Rejecters

[jwiltsh1]

Hi everyone, this is my first post. I work for an automotive company and we are always interested in people who shopped one our cars but rejected it in favor of another brand. Finding and recruiting these people is tough. You can buy a name list from a company like Polk, of people who purchased your competitors and then go fishing to try to find someone who shopped your car. That's expensive.

So I was thinking what other ideas you all might have for how to find these people. For example, we could stand outside a competitors dealership and intercept people as they leave and ask them if they also shopped our car. That would be very focused but also expensive and slim pickings. Does anyone have any bright ideas perhaps based on how this is handled in other industries.

Thanks for your time and ideas.

James

[Saul Dobney]

This can be a tough problem for any market. If you're collecting details of customers who have made enquiries. for instance online, or who have taken a test drive then it is possible to follow up with those prospects after a period of time to find out what happened and why.

In B2B business where companies are pitching, they might complete a formal win-loss analysis where they are for feedback on the pitch - we have a demonstration using 'fly-menu' type questions for win-loss analisys. http://www.dobneyresearch.com/DemoQs/index_flymenu.php

Competitor intercepts can run into problems because you don't necessarily have a relationship (and so goodwill) with the customer which makes them less like to help, and competitors can feel aggrieved if you are too close to their business. For this reason some agencies offered pooled services where they collect data from every dealer and then sell the information to the suppliers. Competitor intercept can also now extend to online where individuals identify themselves as having bought a new product.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else has other methods, as it remains a difficult, but obviously very important, area for research.



Saul Dobney

[zack.miller]

Doing the exact opposite was my subject. 5 years ago I worked on a Customer Satisfaction Survey for a Car Dealer and Service Company with a similar problem. I decided that I need to understand what's the satisfaction level of my customers opposite the other brands' Service. My survey was a failure because there were two locations for different brands and I didn't harvest enough data from the Service where I wasn't present. For your problem, I would advise you to start with the B2B clients. Be sure to check how many B2B clients you've may lost. In my experience, they always represent the bigger portion of the whole and are easier to cooperate with.