When a campaign falls flat and the expected sales don’t materialise, the first instinct for many marketers is to dig into the numbers.
Lead volumes. Call activity. Contact rates.
This data has value - it tells you whether leads are flowing through the system and whether dealers are doing what’s expected. But here’s the problem: those metrics only tell a small part of the story. And often, it’s the least useful part when conversions are low.
If you’re not hearing what your dealers are saying on the ground, you could be missing the early signs that something’s not working - and the clues that could save time, trust, and protect your all important ROI.
Are You Listening to Your Dealers? Dealers Spot the Issues First
Dealers are often the first to spot when a campaign isn’t hitting the mark. They know when the leads don’t match the messaging. They notice when customers are confused or disengaged. And they can tell when a follow-up process that works for one campaign simply doesn’t work for another.
But if that insight isn’t captured - or worse, isn’t trusted - decisions can get made in a vacuum. Follow-up gets tightened. Targets get raised. Pressure increases. And the real problem goes unsolved.
That’s how otherwise solid networks end up on the receiving end of unfair assumptions.
CRM Can’t Tell You What Was Said - Just That Something Happened
CRM systems are good at logging actions: when a call was made, how many attempts were recorded, whether KPIs were met. But they can’t tell you what was actually said on the call. Or whether the lead had genuine intent. Or whether the messaging made any sense to the customer.
That’s where TrackBack’s Scan service comes in.
What Scan Does (That Your CRM Doesn’t)
Scan, part of TrackBack’s Lead Experience services, analyses the content of real dealer-to-customer conversations. This isn’t about mystery shopping or scoring performance - it’s about understanding what really happened.
Our team of trained analysts listens to a sample of real interactions and evaluates them against agreed criteria. We look at:
- Technical knowledge – Did the dealer explain things clearly and correctly?
- Interpersonal skills – Was the conversation handled professionally and helpfully?
- Outcome – Did the customer engage? Did the call progress the lead?
And, crucially:
- Was the lead ever a good fit for that follow-up process?
These are the questions CRM can’t answer. But they’re essential for any marketing team trying to figure out whether a campaign actually worked - and what to do next.
For Marketers, This Insight Changes Everything
When you have objective evidence from real conversations, you can make far stronger marketing decisions. You can:
- Protect good dealers from being blamed when the issue lies elsewhere
- Avoid wasting marketing budget on channels or campaigns that aren’t delivering the right kind of leads
- Adapt strategies that feel fair and grounded in reality - and gain buy-in from your network
Better still, you reduce the risk of repeatedly investing in campaigns that look fine on paper but don’t actually perform in practice.
A Real-World Example
One OEM recently used Scan to investigate why a major lead-generation campaign was producing such weak conversion results. On paper, things looked worrying - activity levels were high, but conversions were low. The assumption was clear: something must be wrong with the network’s follow-up.
Instead of acting on that assumption, they asked TrackBack to review just 150 calls.
The insight was immediate: the follow-up was solid. Dealers were doing what they should. The issue? The leads didn’t match the follow-up process - they simply weren’t the right kind of enquiries for that campaign path.
That one insight led to a £250,000 reallocation of planned marketing spend and helped rebuild alignment and trust between head office and the network.
Final Thoughts: Sometimes it Pays to Listen to Dealers
If you’re serious about improving campaign performance, don’t just look at what happened - listen to how it happened. Your dealers are already having the conversations. Scan helps you hear them - and act on what they’re really telling you.