In this week's Freebie Friday, CDK Global VP of Sales Bill Wittenmyer shares advice for dealers on the most effective length of e-mail for dealers.

VP of Sales CDK Global Bill Wittenmyer shares a tip on how dealers should be evaluating a vehicle subscription model at their dealership.

Do you ever wonder why dealerships and consumers alike are all programmed to buy cars at the end of the month? Asking how this happened is like asking which came first, the chicken or the egg.

For sales teams and managers, the end-of-the-month crunch is a grind. When it's over, it's natural to relax a little before diving into the new month. For consumers, all the commercials and pressure to buy are pushed out towards the end of the month, so many of them are programmed to know they can get a better deal if they wait.

Then there are the manufacturers, who throw out additional incentives towards the end of the month to keep managers and salespeople motivated.

It's a vicious cycle, and I've often wondered what would happen if we could break it. Think of what your numbers would look like if you could create that same sense of urgency all month long!

Keeping a steady pace of sales throughout the month might help to avoid the crunch and the burnout that sometimes goes with it. Here are a few tips to try:

1) If you give your sales team spiffs, try adding weekly spiffs for specific goals. For weeks one and two, make the spiffs more substantial than weeks three and four.  Salespeople are motivated at the end of the month by income and sales goals more than they are spiffs.

2) Create an equity mining campaign at the beginning of the month to load up your lead pipeline. Target your best 300 to 400 prospects and organize an outgoing call campaign. If your sales team can't handle the volume, consider outsourcing the heavy lifting to a BDC. This is a great strategy if you need to boost sales volume by 10-12 vehicles a month.

An equity mining campaign in itself won't help you avoid the end-of-the-month crunch, but if you can create a process where you're actively nurturing leads at the beginning of the month, those consumers should be ready to close by mid-to-late month. Besides, more leads are never a bad thing.

3) Ramp up your marketing efforts to drive traffic at the beginning of the month, then let the natural flow happen towards the end of the month. Since you rarely have problems getting traffic towards the end of the month, focus on marketing offers to bring customers in sooner rather than later.

4) Focus your sales team on daily activities. Does your CRM have a dashboard that displays metrics for individuals and compares those metrics to the team as a whole? If a salesperson logs in and sees they're dead last in entering prospects, and second to last in logging ups, they should be motivated to take corrective action. Managers, be sure you review these metrics in daily one-on-ones.

5) Review CRM metrics on a regular basis. How are you pacing with new and used sales? If your goal is to sell 200 units per month, that's an average of six or seven vehicles per day. If you fall more than 15 units behind that pace you're playing catch up the rest of the month.

Also, look at no sales. If a salesperson hasn't sold a car in three to four days, something's wrong. Look at their activities to see if you can find out why. Are they making enough phone calls and appointments? If so, they might need some coaching in other areas.

When you sit down with the salesperson to discuss, don't be negative, judgmental or criticize. Provide them with positive, constructive coaching to help get them motivated.

Creating a sense of urgency at the beginning of the month is difficult, but the rewards are worth it. Try adding equity mining, outbound calls and marketing campaigns. Track activity metrics and coach your team, so they feel that motivational push sooner rather than later. You should see overall sales volume rise, which will help to ease the end-of-the-month crunch while still having a net positive effect on your bottom line.

Bill Wittenmyer shares tips on how dealership personnel can stay motivated in this edition of Freebie Friday.

CDK Global VP of Sales Bill Wittenmyer shares how dealers can get the most of their CRM investments in this episode of Witt's Wise Words.

In this episode of Freebie Friday, CDK Global VP of Sales Bill Wittenmyer shares tips on how dealers can get the most out of their CPO programs.

Bill Wittenmyer shares why success in automotive depends on aiming high but shooting higher in this episode of Witt's Wise Words.

In this episode of Freebie Friday, VP of Sales CDK Global Bill Wittenmyer shares the three most important traits that your BDC should have. 

Bill Wittenmyer shares his thought on digital retailing in the retail automotive industry in this week's episode of Witt's Wise Words.

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.