I'm wondering what is the best way to implement a BDC schedule. We are re-committing to the BDC and making it mandatory that every sales consultant attends every day.

     We have 2 teams at our store and we set up the schedule to where each team is up there for an hour. Example: Team A is in the BDC from 2-3 and team B covers the floor. Then the teams alternate from 3-4 in the afternoon. We have had a 50% show rate at best during the first few weeks. I make it mandatory that each guy goes up during his scheduled shift and the only exception is if they are in front of a live customer. I find that most of the time the guys can't come up for one reason or another. Our guys understand the importance of the BDC and acutally want to come up for the most part. They just can't come up because most of the time they are legitimately busy and don't have enough time. 

     I'm wondering if there is a better way to increase my BDC attendance. I figured that the afternoon would be the best time of the day to do it because both teams are here and it is a more effective time to make calls vs. the morning. I can't do it at night because we get too busy and it would be impossible to get the guys to come up. I'm toying with the idea of not just doing the 2 hour block. Meaning, 2 guys or so come up at a time whenever they free up. I've even considered reducing the time to 30 minutes instead of an hour (even though they wouldn't be able to complete all the daily tasks that they have in such a short period of time). Any suggestions????

     I'm wondering what is the best way to implement a BDC schedule. We are re-committing to the BDC and making it mandatory that every sales consultant attends every day.

     We have 2 teams at our store and we set up the schedule to where each team is up there for an hour. Example: Team A is in the BDC from 2-3 and team B covers the floor. Then the teams alternate from 3-4 in the afternoon. We have had a 50% show rate at best during the first few weeks. I make it mandatory that each guy goes up during his scheduled shift and the only exception is if they are in front of a live customer. I find that most of the time the guys can't come up for one reason or another. Our guys understand the importance of the BDC and acutally want to come up for the most part. They just can't come up because most of the time they are legitimately busy and don't have enough time. 

     I'm wondering if there is a better way to increase my BDC attendance. I figured that the afternoon would be the best time of the day to do it because both teams are here and it is a more effective time to make calls vs. the morning. I can't do it at night because we get too busy and it would be impossible to get the guys to come up. I'm toying with the idea of not just doing the 2 hour block. Meaning, 2 guys or so come up at a time whenever they free up. I've even considered reducing the time to 30 minutes instead of an hour (even though they wouldn't be able to complete all the daily tasks that they have in such a short period of time). Any suggestions????

     I was recently in a training and one of the topics discussed was closing out the month in 3 days. Our store normally takes 10 days or so to close out the month, so we are quite a ways away from the goal. The reason it takes us so long to close out the month is that it takes F & I until about the 5th of the month to finish up all deals. It then takes the accounting office a few days to post & cap all the deals. Finally, it takes our controller and GM about 2 days to do the statement. It is usually the 10th-13th of the following month until we see the statement from the previous month.

     I feel like we take too long to close out the previous month and this training was a pretty big eye opener. They discussed ways to expedite everything so you could close the month by the 3d of the following month. I know we have room for improvement but I feel like 3 days is pretty unrealistic. What is your guys' thoughts? Do your stores have a process for closing out the month? Or do other stores even care about it?

     I was recently in a training and one of the topics discussed was closing out the month in 3 days. Our store normally takes 10 days or so to close out the month, so we are quite a ways away from the goal. The reason it takes us so long to close out the month is that it takes F & I until about the 5th of the month to finish up all deals. It then takes the accounting office a few days to post & cap all the deals. Finally, it takes our controller and GM about 2 days to do the statement. It is usually the 10th-13th of the following month until we see the statement from the previous month.

     I feel like we take too long to close out the previous month and this training was a pretty big eye opener. They discussed ways to expedite everything so you could close the month by the 3d of the following month. I know we have room for improvement but I feel like 3 days is pretty unrealistic. What is your guys' thoughts? Do your stores have a process for closing out the month? Or do other stores even care about it?

    Our current turn policy for our used car department is a 90 day turn. We stick to our guns the majority of the time and make sure that we get off of the car in 90 days. However, sometimes we will make exceptions and let a car age past 90 days if auction values or going up on the same car and it would be difficult to go replace the same car for approximately the same money. In our opinion, it makes sense to throw our turn policy out the window in some cases in order to avoid a wholesale loss. We will then give the car up to 30 days more ( max of 120 ) days and price it # 1 in the market to make sure we have a good chance of retailing out of the car quickly.

     I recently attended the NADA Dealer Academy and used car turn was one of the many topics addressed during the week that I was there.  The teachers basically laughed at our current policy and told me that we should be on a strict 30 day turn policy with no exceptions. He made the same points that I already knew: more pack money, more doc fees, more back end money, more shop money, less flooring, and overall more profit.

     I agree with most of his points but I feel like it is impossible to get to a 30 day turn unless I’m ok with my front end gross dropping significantly. I feel like the pros don’t outweigh the cons. We discussed going to a 60 day turn and felt like we could kind of get the best of both worlds by doing that. We would like the extra volume, but it doesn’t make sense if we make less money in the long run.

     Does anyone agree with me? Are there really that many dealers out there that are on a 30 day turn policy? If so, I would love to hear about how you made it work and if you experienced a significant drop in front end gross. Let me know…..

    Our current turn policy for our used car department is a 90 day turn. We stick to our guns the majority of the time and make sure that we get off of the car in 90 days. However, sometimes we will make exceptions and let a car age past 90 days if auction values or going up on the same car and it would be difficult to go replace the same car for approximately the same money. In our opinion, it makes sense to throw our turn policy out the window in some cases in order to avoid a wholesale loss. We will then give the car up to 30 days more ( max of 120 ) days and price it # 1 in the market to make sure we have a good chance of retailing out of the car quickly.

     I recently attended the NADA Dealer Academy and used car turn was one of the many topics addressed during the week that I was there.  The teachers basically laughed at our current policy and told me that we should be on a strict 30 day turn policy with no exceptions. He made the same points that I already knew: more pack money, more doc fees, more back end money, more shop money, less flooring, and overall more profit.

     I agree with most of his points but I feel like it is impossible to get to a 30 day turn unless I’m ok with my front end gross dropping significantly. I feel like the pros don’t outweigh the cons. We discussed going to a 60 day turn and felt like we could kind of get the best of both worlds by doing that. We would like the extra volume, but it doesn’t make sense if we make less money in the long run.

     Does anyone agree with me? Are there really that many dealers out there that are on a 30 day turn policy? If so, I would love to hear about how you made it work and if you experienced a significant drop in front end gross. Let me know…..

     We have been making some changes to our internet process lately. We are evaluating our closing percentages to make sure we are capturing enough deals during each phase of the buying cycle. We do a really good job tracking accurate data, so I feel like our closing percentages are close to accurate.

     The problem that we are having is that it has been 5 years since we have done a complete overhaul of our internet process. We feel like the data for national averages that we collected back in 2006 is potentially less accurate than it once was.  Here are the #'s that we have according to Polk reports:

• 56% of new vehicle leads will purchase a new vehicle
• 42% will purchase a vehicle in less than 30 days
• 16% will buy between 31-60 days
• 10% will buy between 61-90 days
• 32 % will buy in 91 days or more

     I was hoping you guys could clarify to see if those closing percentages are still accurate.  Also, I had a few more questions:

    At what point in the buying cycle to they eventually switch interest to a used vehicle?

    What % of the leads actually buy the same make/model that they inquired about?

    Do you guys offer any giveaways at any point of the internet process to entice them to make a decision sooner?

     We have been making some changes to our internet process lately. We are evaluating our closing percentages to make sure we are capturing enough deals during each phase of the buying cycle. We do a really good job tracking accurate data, so I feel like our closing percentages are close to accurate.

     The problem that we are having is that it has been 5 years since we have done a complete overhaul of our internet process. We feel like the data for national averages that we collected back in 2006 is potentially less accurate than it once was.  Here are the #'s that we have according to Polk reports:

• 56% of new vehicle leads will purchase a new vehicle
• 42% will purchase a vehicle in less than 30 days
• 16% will buy between 31-60 days
• 10% will buy between 61-90 days
• 32 % will buy in 91 days or more

     I was hoping you guys could clarify to see if those closing percentages are still accurate.  Also, I had a few more questions:

    At what point in the buying cycle to they eventually switch interest to a used vehicle?

    What % of the leads actually buy the same make/model that they inquired about?

    Do you guys offer any giveaways at any point of the internet process to entice them to make a decision sooner?

     I have never been a huge believer in negative reinforcement. The tough thing as a manager is to figure out what actions to take when you have repeatedly told your guys what to do and they fail to listen.  So what is the best way to handle a situation like that?

     We have been trying for years to fix an ongoing problem we have had at the dealership. We ask our sales consultants to turn in a "guest trek card" every time they talk to a guest. It is a very easy thing to do, but they still struggle to stay on top of it and get all their cards turned in. There is always a million excuses as to why they weren't turned in (none of which I buy). I have tried to help them see the big picture and to understand the importance of tracking all of our customers, but they don't seem to care. I have taken half deals, but they don't seem to care. My final attempt was to put together a negative spiff program associated with turning cards in every day. As you may guess, it went over like a ton of bricks when I threatened their money.

     Unfortunately for them, I'm at the point where I don't care anymore and I don't see any other solution to the problem. I thought about a positive spiff program but I feel like I shouldn't have to pay them to do their job. But maybe there is another solution and I'm failing to come up with it.... Any thoughts?

     I have never been a huge believer in negative reinforcement. The tough thing as a manager is to figure out what actions to take when you have repeatedly told your guys what to do and they fail to listen.  So what is the best way to handle a situation like that?

     We have been trying for years to fix an ongoing problem we have had at the dealership. We ask our sales consultants to turn in a "guest trek card" every time they talk to a guest. It is a very easy thing to do, but they still struggle to stay on top of it and get all their cards turned in. There is always a million excuses as to why they weren't turned in (none of which I buy). I have tried to help them see the big picture and to understand the importance of tracking all of our customers, but they don't seem to care. I have taken half deals, but they don't seem to care. My final attempt was to put together a negative spiff program associated with turning cards in every day. As you may guess, it went over like a ton of bricks when I threatened their money.

     Unfortunately for them, I'm at the point where I don't care anymore and I don't see any other solution to the problem. I thought about a positive spiff program but I feel like I shouldn't have to pay them to do their job. But maybe there is another solution and I'm failing to come up with it.... Any thoughts?