Advice

Looking for some help:

Our internet dept handles transactions start to finish. Customers like this since it’s one person they have to deal with and the people they are working with have the skill set to answer questions (unlike many BDC reps). The obvious downside is with deliveries, etc response time is a problem. Regardless of how many leads (we try to keep them under 75 leads per person) aggressive long term follow up can be problem b/c of a lack of time as well. I’m thinking about taking my ISMs and having them be trained/certified with our brands appointment setters. Response time will improve and there would be more time for follow up. Additionally, they will be forced to simply focus on selling the apt instead of sometimes trying to sell the car over the phone since they would be handing the customer off to a salesperson once they arrive at the store. Thoughts?

Anyone have a good BDC payplan they would share with me?

Tags: internet, managers, sales

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Permalink Reply by Don Queen on April 16, 2012 at 1:59pm

This is a great apporach. Adding more head count is counter-intuitive to adding growth/profits. The stats (per NADA) tell the tale - 1 in 4 calls are mishandled by dealerships and its takes an avg. of 9 attmepts to get through 70% of your database. It takes volume and skill to convert a majority of leads into traffic. Afterall, what good is a lead if you can't get the in the door!?

Tony Troussov said:

Chris sounds like you're moving toward BDC/Hybrid approach! With a good wordtrack your BDC people will be able to focus on selling the appointment vs. selling the car over the phone. I ran a large Toyota dealership and we have tried all three ways - BDC, Hybrid and Cradle to grave. From that experience I found out that Hybrid approach worked best for us. The cradle to grave simply did not allow enough time for the follow-up and ISMs got bogged down just like your people did. Having designated people handle the incoming calls works better - you might even find out that someone on your team already does a really good job with phone calls. We had a good success with creating teams where each team mate had his/her own responsibility and they split deal as well. Keep tweaking this and you will arrive at the model that works best for you. There is no cookie-cutter approach to this. Your team's strength/experience your pricing structure/selling philosophy will determine what is best for your store. I will email you ideas for BDC payplan.

Tony