Does your dealership use an external BDC for sales calls? Many managers like to keep control of their sales process in house, but realistically, the majority of salespeople don't have time to place the hundreds of calls necessary every week to keep their pipeline filled.

Additionally, many salespeople lack the skills to effectively engage consumers over the phone. The personality types that provide engaging in-person experiences don't always translate well to over-the-phone experiences.

Using an external BDC is not about handing off the sales process to someone else; it's about increasing the number of opportunities for your own team. If you're not sure whether a virtual BDC can provide value or ROI, use these metrics to measure performance.

1) Contact Rate

The more information provided with a lead, the better the contact rate. If a lead has a single phone number, the contact rate is typically in the low 60-percentile range. However, if a lead has two phone numbers, the contact rate jumps drastically. In general, contact rates between 70 to 80 percent are considered excellent.

Many salespeople complain they can't get hold of leads after repeated attempts. The reality is, most dealership salespeople quit after two attempts. External BDC data shows it takes an average 3.4 phone calls to connect with a customer. That's an average; most external BDC agents will make at least six to eight attempts.

2) Conversion Rate

Conversion rates are challenging to measure because they vary depending on the type of campaign. If a BDC is placing cold calls from a data mining campaign, the percentage will probably be low, whereas Internet leads from in-market car shoppers will yield conversion rates that are relatively high.

If you're looking for a rough average, approximately 45 to 50 percent of calls placed by a BDC will generate an opportunity of some sort; whether in sales or service.

If your BDC/CRM software is integrated with your DMS, you can track sold customers and/or number of service appointments set. This allows for accurate measurement of conversion rates for specific campaigns.

3) Time on Phone

Most dealers don’t think about this but depending on the type of call, time on the phone can be a gauge that helps to measure customer engagement. In sales, the longer a BDC agent is on the phone, the better customer experience they provide. In service the opposite is true. Service appointment setting should be a short, efficient process. The longer the BDC agent is the phone, the more questions the customer has and the longer it's taking to get those questions answered.

These metrics will help you evaluate whether the external BDC you're using is providing value and ROI for your dealership.

However, it's important to realize that outsourcing calls to a BDC is not meant to be a 'silver bullet' that will instantly flood your showroom with customers. An external BDC is simply an additional tool that can help elevate your own teams' performance to the next level, and at the same time improve the experience your customers have with your business over the phone.

If a BDC agent sets an appointment, it's still the dealership's responsibility to confirm that appointment, preferably twice; immediately after it's made and again the day before. If a warm lead is handed over, it's still your sales' team responsibility to answer customer questions and provide an honest, transparent experience.

One effective way for dealerships and BDCs to work together is a hybrid process, where the internal dealership salespeople handle short-term follow up, while an external BDC handles long-term follow up and business development.

One of the main benefits of having an external BDC do long-term follow up is the survey data they collect. Because the calls are coming from a third part, 95 percent of customers contacted after visiting a dealership are willing to give a short survey. This data is extremely valuable and can be used as a teaching tool to improve internal processes and/or salesperson behavior.

BDC agents typically ask customers to rate the salesperson's product knowledge, level of courtesy and test drive experience, as well as verify and gather additional ways to communicate. Most of these questions are designed to build rapport with the customer. The most important question comes at the end: what can the dealership do to earn your business? That's the feedback sales managers should pay attention to and use to recover lost prospects and increase sales to new prospects.

If you've ever considered outsourcing to a BDC, use these metrics to help you determine the value and ROI it provides. But don't expect the BDC to replace the efforts of your sales team; instead, it should complement your teams' efforts and increase the number of overall opportunities.

In the car business money has always been used to motivate salespeople. The idea is that commissions are a big enough motivator to drive salespeople to do what they need to do in order to sell a car.

Today we have to question whether this method works on a new breed of salespeople. I'm not referring to Millennials. I've never really liked the word "Millennial" because I don't believe you can slap labels on an entire generation. Besides, I have noticed that many 40- to 50- year old salespeople fit into this new breed; which is simply a large percentage of people who aren't super motivated by money.

This attitude reflects a shift in culture and priorities. In general, people are placing more value on their personal time. At work, they want to feel valued and part of something important. They want to be empowered to make their own decisions and feel like they're working towards something meaningful.

Creating a workplace environment that provides all these things is a significant first step to employee retention. But it won't always guarantee your employees will stay motivated. The question still remains, how do you change a person's behavior in order to get different results?

Traditional management techniques tend to rely on negative feedback, such as: You're not making enough calls; you need to stick to your word tracks; you shouldn't have said that; you should have done it this way. If you do this, then you will get that. If you don't reach your goals, you'll be fired.

The problem with this method is that the salesperson is only hearing what they do wrong, and not what they do right.

Recent studies by behavioral neuroscientists reveal that negative feedback doesn't work to change behavior. Have you ever tried to "help" a smoker quit smoking by telling them all the horrible health problems that smoking causes? A smoker knows the health risks, but it's hard to change behavior.

Negative feedback creates negative emotions. As humans, it's natural for us to try and eliminate negative feelings. When we hear something negative about ourselves, we tend to rationalize, justify, blame the messenger or bury our head in the sand—anything that makes us feel more positive about ourselves.

Instead of working with the positive self-image that we as humans fight hard to maintain, some managers try to put a clear mirror in front of employees so they can see what needs improving. But our brains are very adept at distorting images until we see only what we want to believe.

Instead of trying to fight our brain's natural tendency to eliminate the negative and feel positive, why not try to work with it?

Neuroscientists have discovered three primary principles that can positively impact specific regions in the brain and successfully change behavior.

1) Social Incentives

We are social animals and to some extent, we all care about what other people are doing and how we compare to them. Here's an example. The British government used to send out letters to citizens who were late paying taxes. The letter basically explained how important it is to pay taxes on time, but the response rates were always low. Then someone added a single sentence to the message: "Nine out of ten people in the U.K. pay their taxes on time." Response rates rose 1.5 percent. When another sentence was added, "You are one of the few people who have not paid us yet," response rates rose 3.9 percent.

In sales, a similar tactic can be used to help motivate. Let's say you're tracking KPIs such as phone calls made or emails sent. Publicly display how individuals are doing, as well as how the whole team is progressing. For some people, seeing how their activities contribute to a team goal highlights the importance of their role in a social group, which can be more motivating than comparing themselves as individuals to other individuals.

2) Immediate Rewards

To our brains, the future is uncertain. That's why the promise of a financial reward isn't always motivating enough to divert us from doing what feels good today.

But people do respond to immediate rewards. How can you provide immediate rewards for activities that your salespeople do every day, or even every hour?

Rewards don't have to be monetary, but they should be tangible, such as seeing numbers or rankings go up on a board showing them winning a competition and hearing a congratulations from the manager. Underperformers, in particular, need to know that the tasks they don't like doing are so important that a reward is attached to them. As they perform more tasks in order to get a reward, the tasks become ingrained as a habit.

3) Progress Monitoring

The average brain does a good job at processing information that will positively impact our future. The brain doesn't do as well processing information that will negatively impact our future.

If you're trying to get someone's attention, highlight their progress and don't focus on the decline. Work with peoples' strengths and get them to develop those strengths, rather than trying to force someone to develop a skill they don't have. There are dozens of ways to arrive at the same result, so it's important to allow employees to find their best way, which might not be your best way.

Focusing on strengths also empowers employees and makes them feel like they're in control.  Being praised for something we've done right makes us want to do that task again.

If you're managing a sales team, it's time to review your methodology. If you're not getting the results you want using money as a motivator, come up with a coaching plan that incorporates these three principles, which are scientifically proven to change behavior.

When a customer leaves the lot without purchasing a vehicle, there's a good chance he or she will never be back. A few may return, but most won't. Does that mean you should never follow up with customers? Obviously not!

The follow-up call is critical and can absolutely save a deal. Even if only one out of ten customers comes back to the store and buys from you, it's worth your time.

Unfortunately, many salespeople aren't trained how to make effective follow up calls. I understand that when you call or text a customer, and they completely ignore you, it can be disheartening. But ask yourself honestly, are you giving them a reason to return your voice mail or text?

Here are three types of follow up calls that DON'T work:

The "check-in" call. There are several variations of this: Have you made your decision yet? Are you close to making a decision? Have you checked with your husband/wife yet? (Hint: that was never the real reason they left in the first place).

The "bigger discount" call. If you call a customer to talk about price, the only way that price is going is down. Besides, you should have given them the best price in the showroom. If you let them leave without offering the best price, it makes you look bad.

The "do you need more information?" call. You should already know what information they need.

The reason these follow up calls aren't effective is because they don't address the customers' real objections. Here are the most common reasons why customers leave without buying:

• They thought they would get more money for their trade-in
• The vehicle they looked at/test drove did not meet their expectations
• They couldn’t arrive at a monthly payment to fit their budget
• They didn’t like you (the salesperson)—hey, don't take it personally

Granted, there's not much you can do about the last reason. But let's tackle the first three. In order to address the objection, you have to know what it is. That's why it's so important to qualify a customer when they arrive on the lot.

Ask all the qualifying questions and be sure to note answers in your CRM so you can reference what the customer said in a future conversation. Qualifying questions include:

• When are you planning to purchase?
• Why do you need a new vehicle? (life event such as baby, marriage, etc.)
• Do you know your current vehicles' trade-in value?
• Why do you like this vehicle?
• Which features are most important to you in a new vehicle?
• Will you use this primarily for commuting to work, outdoor adventures, etc?
• What's your color preference?
• How many miles do you drive per year?
• What's your budget or monthly payment?

Of course, you don't want to barrage your customers with a list of pre-rehearsed questions. Qualifying should be conducted in the style of an easy conversation between friends.

You might not get the answers to all these questions, and that's okay. The goal is to get enough information so that if the customer leaves without purchasing, you'll be able to deduce what their real objection is. Then DO something about it.

The follow-up call should convey new information. This could be a change of inventory, a new incentive or end of incentive, or a pre-owned vehicle that just came in that would work for their budget. Try sending them data that supports your trade-in offer, or tell them about a vehicle in a different color—any information that's valid and different.

Get your manager involved if necessary. Sometimes it's useful to have a manager call to ensure that the customer's experience was a good one.

If your manager doesn't have time, enlist your BDC to help, if you have one. If you don't have a BDC, consider outsourcing to a call center.

When a call center follows up with a customer, the approach is to ask for a survey about the customer's experience with the dealership. Very often, the customer will open up to a third party in a way they simply won't when dealing directly with dealership personnel.

Because of this, a BDC agent is often able to identify the real reason for not purchasing. If the customer's experience was less than optimal, that information is handed to the manager who can immediately follow up to try and save the deal.

Even if the deal can't be saved, the ability to compile a list of customer objections is helpful for future coaching and training purposes. As a manager, this type of feedback allows you to identify a salesperson that needs help or a process that needs fixing.

I know that follow up calls seem like a chore, but there's a reason that every top salesperson and sales expert recommends them. They work. Not every time, but a percentage of them do result in a sale that otherwise would never have happened.

In this episode of Freebie Friday, Bill Wittenmyer explains why simply making follow up calls won't help sell more cars and offers advice on what to do instead.

In this Witt's Wise Words, VP of Sales, CDK Global, Bill Wittenmyer discusses how sales is a numbers game. If you’re selling the same product that others are selling, you can only expect to close a percentage of customers that come into your store.  So, how do you get more appointments?

At its core, sales is a numbers game. It always has been and always will be. If you’re selling the same product that others are selling, you can only expect to close a percentage of customers that come into your store. In our industry, top performers close 50 to 60 percent of their appointments.

Therefore, logic dictates the only way to increase sales is to make more appointments. We all know you can’t rely on “ups” alone.  So, how do you get more appointments? It’s pretty simple. You make more phone calls.

The person who makes the most phone calls makes the most connections. Those who make the most connections, make the most appointments and ultimately close the most sales. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

Yet, many salespeople routinely struggle to make the necessary phone calls. This is why 30 percent of auto dealerships now use call centers for the type of “heavy lifting” phone calls that their sales team can’t, won’t or don’t do.

I’m talking about calling hot leads, cold leads and equity leads generated from data mining your CRM for potential customers who in a buying position, about to go out of warranty or come off lease.

What’s that I hear? Your salespeople are already making these phone calls? Are you sure about that? 

Just because your team is making some phone calls, doesn’t mean they’re making the right kind of calls, or all the calls they could be making. Let me share a few common myths that I keep hearing, and the reality of what’s going on.

Myth #1: My salespeople are making those calls.

Fact: Your salespeople aren’t making enough calls.

Call center data shows it takes an average 4.8 phone calls to connect with a customer. The average salesperson follows up with a hot lead two or three times and virtually ignores cold leads. Plus, salespeople get caught up in other activities of daily meetings, talking to ups, customer appointments and lunch. There’s isn’t enough time in the day for them to make the hundreds of calls required for prospecting.

Call center agents make phone calls, every day, all day long. That’s the only thing they do, and they are trained to know how to handle each type call professionally and use the right call guide to get information dealers need.

Myth #2: My salespeople are motivated to make phone calls.

Fact: Salespeople are not paid to make phone calls.

Salespeople are paid on commission when they sell cars. So, they will always be chasing the down funnel leads they believe are close to closing—and rightly so. They are not data mining your CRM or creating strategies that will fill their pipeline full of prospects three months away from purchasing a vehicle.

Call center agents create organized outgoing call campaigns and execute those campaigns with precision. They don’t lose interest in customers who don’t call them back. They contact cold leads and nurture up funnel leads. Then, when a lead becomes “hot,” they hand it over to your sales team.

Myth #3: My salespeople have better phone skills than an outsourced agent.

Fact: Not all salespeople are great on the phone.

Do you hire salespeople based on the impression they made from a phone call or from their in-person interviews? If the latter, how do you know what their phone skills are? Most sales people are great face to face but many lack the patience needed for effective phone skills.

How much phone skills training do your salespeople receive? Or, do you just assume that they should know what to say and how to say it? Converting conversations into appointments is a specific and learned skill. Call center agents are trained how to be personable and sound authentic. Asking for an appointment too soon is guaranteed to drive the customer away. You need to earn the right to ask.

Myth #4: My salespeople are great at making follow up calls

Fact: Some salespeople suck at follow up calls

It’s not their fault. When a customer leaves your lot without purchasing a vehicle, the salesperson has often done everything they can do. When they call to follow up, they don’t have an enticing offer to lure the customer back in, so they resort to the “checking in” call or asking if the customer has made a decision yet. No wonder customers avoid answering their phones.

However, 95 percent of customers contacted by a third party are willing to take a short survey about their customer experience. This is what call center agents do. These surveys provide valuable insights into what your sales team is doing right and wrong so that you can coach them up effectively.

Additionally, sometimes the customer shares the real reason why they didn’t buy, which is not always the same reason they give the salesperson. When the real objection is identified, the customer feedback is given to a sales manager who has strategies to overcome that objection.

Yes, your salespeople “should” be making phone calls. But are they? That’s the only question you need to answer, and hopefully, it’s an honest answer. Because whoever out dials, out connects and outsells.

As an industry, we have pretty much perfected the process of following up on Internet leads, but we are far from perfect when it comes to handling inbound phone leads. According to CallSource and IHS/Polk research, 84 percent of consumers purchase vehicles from a different dealership than the one they originally called.

The good news is, there’s a huge opportunity to improve. Consumers are using cell phones more than ever for research during the car-buying process. In recent years, this has led to a significant increase in the volume of inbound calls to dealerships, compared with the number of email and Internet leads which have stayed the same or even declined.

When a customer calls your dealership, most times you’ve got one shot to get it right. Which is why converting inbound calls to sales opportunities should be your number one priority. To ensure you don’t drive customers away, follow these tips.

Answer the phone

This may sound obvious but don’t expect your sales team to answer all inbound sales calls. According to Marchex, nearly 20 percent of incoming calls fail to connect the caller with someone at the dealership.

Auto attendant options, call routing errors and voice mail compound this problem. It’s not enough to measure whether a call is answered; you need to measure how many callers are connected to a live person who can help them.

Designate a receptionist or BDC agents to answer calls. Or, you can have salespeople dedicated to this task during certain timeframes. Just be sure during that time they are focused on the phone and not drawn away by other tasks.

Also, try attaching a spiff to an existing bonus as a qualifier. I don’t recommend paying people extra to do the job they’re supposed to do. But pay plans need to be tied to a number of goals such as CRM logging consistency, number of survey completions, average call length, etc.

Collect and give information

Numerous studies have documented how poorly most customer inquiries are handled. Less than five percent of salespeople identify themselves by name and/or ask for an appointment, and dealers gather viable information on only 11 percent of callers.

Our BDC data shows that when asked, 97 percent of callers will give information about themselves or their experience over the phone. At a minimum get their name, email address and phone number—preferably two phone numbers. From making over 60 million calls a year, we know that it takes an average of four attempts to get a customer on the phone. With one phone number, there is a 67 percent contact ratio, and with two phone numbers that rises to an 80 percent contact ratio.

People like to feel important, so let your callers talk and remember what they say. Always enter notes about the type of car they’re looking for and what the follow-up action is because there should always be a follow-up action.

Meet customer expectations

Be sure that the branding messaging you’re portraying is consistent with what consumers experience when they call your dealership. Most callers have done their research, so by the time they place calls they’re in the process of elimination. Don’t give them a reason to eliminate you.

Answer their questions and give them the information they’re looking for, even pricing questions. The reality is you’re not going to close any deals on the phone. Your goal is to give the customer a pleasant and memorable experience on the phone so they will continue to engage with you when you follow up. Giving them the third degree and trying to force them into an appointment before they’re ready is not a winning strategy. To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with asking for the appointment, but don’t do it before you establish rapport and don’t try to force it.

Scripts can be helpful. Not everyone is a natural on the phone. Develop and test strong scripts to guide salespeople and BDC agents until they learn how to engage, memorize the important questions to ask and learn how to overcome objections. Ideally you want every conversation to sound authentic, so it’s OK to add your own words and style to a script.

On a weekly basis track your phone metrics, listen to conversations and provide your staff with feedback. Coach them on areas that need improvement. Also, test your phone system and processes regularly by calling into your own store from every phone number that you are marketing.

Thanks to improved digital marketing strategies, more consumers than ever are calling dealerships directly. Phone leads are still your best and most valuable opportunities, so don’t let them slip through the cracks of a bad phone process. Technology, measurement, training and accountability are key factors in implementing any successful process, inbound calls included.

Need more leads? Whenever sales are slow, one of the first reactions from salespeople, and sometimes their managers, is to proclaim they need more leads or better leads.

In response, they might run a lead generation campaign which results in a temporary lift in lead volume. The problem is, when the campaign ends, the lead volume drops back to less than optimal levels.  

A better, more consistent approach is to build a lead generation process into your culture. The process should also include lead follow up, so you’re maximizing the potential of every lead.

If sales is a numbers game, then your CRM is the PlayStation. Lead volume is an important number, but equally so are connection rates, set appointments, appointment shows and closing rates. The answer to more leads is to build a sales culture around the CRM and to focus on CRM usage.

I’m a big believer that usage and enforcement of processes must come from the top down. In the most successful stores, it’s typically a GM, GSM or Sales Director who is the CRM power user. We like to call this person the CRM Champion, and I always recommend appointing one person for this role—and please don’t appoint an IT person. How can you expect your sales team to use the CRM if senior sales management isn’t using it themselves, or enforcing its usage?

The best way to enforce CRM usage is to build an activity-based process. This starts with logging every person that walks into your dealership. I don’t care if they’re just stopping by to look or they say they’re not ready to buy. If they’re in your dealership, log them.

The same goes for logging phone ups. Whenever a person calls, for whatever reason, the call should be logged. Not logging phone ups is probably the largest area of missed opportunities for dealers.

Logging every lead is critical because it’s impossible to manage and follow up with leads unless they’ve been logged in the first place.

Salespeople should also be trained in the art of prospecting both in person and on social media. Get to know your customers, ask for referrals and learn how to master the phone.

Whether you believe it or not, the customer who was on your lot yesterday really does want to be followed up with. If they don’t answer your phone or text, keep trying. They’re not trying to insult you, maybe they’re just busy and you’re not a top priority. After all, most people don’t need a new car right away.

I also recommend that lead generation be addressed in daily save-a-deal meetings. When one deal is closed you have to know where the next deal is coming from. The lead is the beginning of the deal, and most salespeople need to learn how to prospect and generate their own leads. If you don’t coach them or hold them accountable, you’ll hear the inevitable, “these leads are terrible.”

Your CRM Champion should also be using the CRM on a regular basis for equity mining and to find past customers that can be turned into new leads.

For lead generation to be part of your culture, you also need to implement performance mandates. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment.

The best way for the CRM Champion to manage performance is by activities. When I was starting out in sales, I was unmanageable, like a speedboat in a no-wake zone. So, my manager managed me by activities. He assigned me tasks, and I completed them, or there were consequences – which usually affected my pay.

Identify the six or seven most important activities that salespeople must do in order to close the deal. Assign those tasks to every salesperson, then hold them accountable. The best way to enforce accountability is with a monetary consequence. Try scaling bonuses and commissions based on how well each stage of the deal was recorded in the CRM.

Finally, always demonstrate how the CRM can make an individual more successful. Most people are not inherently organized or detail oriented, but a CRM forces you to become that way.

The CRM is much more than a lead repository and communications system. When set up correctly, the CRM becomes the process that leads to success. So, if you ever hear someone on your sales team complain about leads, investigate the team’s usage of the CRM. When your sales culture is built around your CRM, lead generation never stops.

What’s the definition of multi-tasking? It's doing a lot of things at once, and most often, that means doing them poorly. In fact, research proves that multi-tasking is largely a myth; our brains are not wired to focus on multiple things at once. Studies show that multi-tasking ruins productivity, causes mistakes and dampens creative thought.

Yet, many people keep trying, simply because they have too much to do and too little time to do it in. The solution is simple: get your priorities straight and accept the fact that you won’t be able to do everything, because everything can’t be a priority.

Whether you’re in sales or service at a dealership, your CRM can help you manage activities and complete tasks. But it can also overwhelm you if you’re not prioritizing correctly. If you log in every morning and see 100 tasks marked as “high priority,” you know you’ve got a problem.

On the other hand, if your to-do list isn’t long enough you’ve got a problem as well. Most people have a longer list than they can get through. If you can breeze through your daily tasks with time to spare, you don’t have enough to do.

To help prioritize what’s really important, take a step backward and focus on the big picture.

The Pareto principle states that 80 percent of your results come from 20 percent of your work. The hard part is determining which 20 percent produces the results you want.

Is your top priority to sell more cars, or is it to take care of customers’ needs? Taking care of your customers will always lead to more sales, but if you’re focusing on the sale you might not be taking care of the customer, giving them a poor experience with your business.

It doesn’t matter what business you’re in; taking care of your customer is always your No. 1 priority, so they don’t give their business elsewhere.

Knowing this, create workflows and processes that focus on taking care of customers, and always flag these items in your CRM as your highest priority. When I have a list of phone calls to make, I always call customers back first.

It might be more difficult to prioritize one customer over another. Are unsold showroom customers a higher priority than sold? Are customer-pay service customers a higher priority than warranty? What may seem obvious on the surface isn’t always; this is where you can use your CRM to run revenue reports that will shed light on who your current and potential VIP customers are.

Yes, ideally you would take care of all customers equally. But it’s more crucial to take care of your loyal and repeat customers, ensuring that they get the red-carpet treatment every visit.

For most people, the second priority is going to be their team. Your co-workers need information, approvals or advice in order to accomplish what they need to do. Almost every workflow in your store involves more than one person, which is why, after customers, your co-workers should be next on your list of tasks or callbacks.

After your customers and co-workers are taken care of, then you can focus on priorities that will create new customers, such as filling your pipeline. If you’re in sales, this may seem counter-intuitive. Shouldn’t you always be prospecting? The reality is, if you prioritize and take care of your current and sold customers, you’ll get more referrals and sales than you would by chasing random leads. 

Many productivity experts recommend having your priorities and task list for the next day all set before you go home at night. That way, first thing in the morning you can get to work instead of wasting time figuring out what to do first.

I always recommend “eating the big frog first,” that is, tackling the most difficult and most important priorities first. Get that 20 percent of work that produces 80 percent of results out of the way. For this reason, try to avoid scheduling meetings and phone calls in the morning (unless they are part of the 20 percent).

It’s important to establish priorities up front and verbalize them to staff, so everyone is working on the same page. Trying to prioritize tasks “on the fly” is not a good idea as it’s too easy to be swayed by outside influences. For example, when your boss says he or she needs a report on his desk ASAP, you might be tempted to immediately drop everything to do it, leaving a VIP customer’s need unmet.

Also, revisit your priorities on a regular basis; at least annually if not quarterly. This is because your store’s priorities might change. If you’re trying to increase sales gross, you might decide to focus on CPO; if you want to increase customer-pay ROs, you might concentrate on fine-tuning digital marketing strategies.

There is only so much time in a day, and you will never have more time than you do right now. Everything can’t be a priority, so allocate your time carefully and focus on what gets results.

The decision to switch to a new CRM is not one to be taken lightly. On a daily basis, your sales team relies on your CRM for new leads and opportunities, to remind them what needs to be done, guide them through car deals and keep them on track to meet business goals.

Yet, just about every dealer has switched to a new CRM at one point, typically because of a change in management, but sometimes because they want to try the latest shiny new technology.

Whatever your reason for wanting to switch, here are a few tips to guide you through the vendor selection process and help you make a decision you won’t regret.

Don’t Chase Utopia

If your current CRM isn’t working for you, it’s important to figure out where the source of your problems lie. If your new sales manager is requesting the switch, ask for a list of reasons why. Then do a little investigating. For each reason, identify whether the issue is a product, vendor, process or people problem.

Make a list of features that are most important to your team. Write down your sales process and ask potential new vendors how their CRM can be customized to your processes.

Vendor Presentations

Do you remember what you ate for lunch two weeks ago? How about two days ago? If the answer is no, how do you expect to remember all the details from three different vendor presentations over the course of a few weeks?

Taking detailed notes during presentations is important. Have a written list of questions for each vendor, plus a checklist of your most important features with room for notes on how each feature works.

Without detailed notes, it’s common for dealers to confuse one vendor with another, forget which vendor had which feature, or the benefits that one vendor offers vs. another.

Then again, some dealers go overboard in the opposite way. They create a 28-page product RFI with endless questions, 90 percent of which don’t have anything to do with what they really need.

A happy medium between these two extremes is recommended.

Identify a CRM Champion

The relationship between a CRM vendor and dealership tends to work best when the dealer assigns a primary point of contact. Many years ago, we dubbed this person the CRM Champion.

The role of the CRM Champion has changed over the years. Originally, this person made sure all the ups were logged, opportunities were captured, and input information from daily work plans into the CRM because the salespeople wouldn’t do it.

Now, salespeople are responsible for entering details about their own ups, conversations and work plans. The role of the CRM Champion today is more about setting KPIs, tracking goals, and monitoring daily activities to hold the team accountable. Your CRM Champion should also know how to mine your database for new opportunities, in addition to your regular ups and leads.

The CRM Champion trains new team members and sometimes plays the role of coach. This is an important role, so be sure that whoever you assign, or steps forward, is passionate, dedicated and detail oriented.

Allocate Enough Time

When you move to a new house, it’s a great opportunity to get rid of all the junk that you don’t want to move with you. That’s why people have garage sales and haul bags of stuff to donation centers.

When you move to a new CRM, the same concept applies. Your current CRM probably has hundreds of templates that haven’t been updated in years. Do you still have your 2005 Thanksgiving email promoting free turkeys?

Prior to installation, audit and update all templates, and eliminate old ones. Review your processes to see if there’s room for improvement. Update workflow schedules to make them more efficient.

Be sure to allocate enough time to do all this before your installation. Better yet, make this a pre-requisite for your team to accomplish these tasks before you commit to switching.

Don’t Commit to Long-Term Contracts

The grass isn’t always greener on the other side. When you make the switch, you may find yourself standing in a pasture with a septic tank, so why commit yourself to a long-term contract?

Fifteen years ago, contracts were the norm. Over the years, the industry evolved to where month-to-month commitments became the standard. Recently I’ve noticed the pendulum has swung back to long-term contracts. The reason for this is because implementing a new CRM has costs associated with it, and dealers don’t want to pay for everything up front. So, vendors accommodate them by incorporating the cost into a contract. Then the dealer is committed.

So, you save a few bucks up front but you’re stuck with a CRM you hate for a year or more. It’s actually cheaper to pay up front than to buy your way out of a long-term contract.

Also, be cautious of contracts that contain auto-renewals. What your vendor may not tell you is that the auto-renew kicks in 60 days before the actual date of renewal. Read the fine print and give yourself options, not obligations.

Following these tips should help you make the right decision for your dealership, and your sales team will thank you.