What is Micro-Learning?

Microlearning is a method of training that serves up bite-sized pieces of information in short periods to promote better engagement and retention of the learned material. This can include short text or videos to help workers develop new skills with less time invested.

Employees want continued education

While 93% of employees say they’d stay at a job longer with continued education, most companies admit that finding the time is a huge obstacle. Micro-learning is the best solution to keep your employees trained while still giving them the time to focus on their work. Companies find that they only have 1% of overall work hours to allot to training and that equates to about 15 minutes per week. That’s not a lot of time, so the way we train must adapt to this schedule. A quick lesson on closing the sale or how to properly attain the appointment is the best way to teach. It also will give the important lesson needed and allow them to immediately apply the material rather than forgetting what they learned in an all-day session. 

Invest in your staff

Turnover is ranked in the top 3 costs for all businesses. It is much more costly to invest in a new hire rather than to invest in your current staff. Lack of training leads to employees feeling unappreciated which means they either leave or get fired for underperforming. While it may seem simple to hire a replacement, it actually costs ⅓ of their salary to hire and train a new employee properly, while training your existing staff, will only cost a few hundred dollars per person. 

Trained employees are profitable employees

A company is only as good as its employees, so give them the resources needed to proudly be your frontline and the face of your business. Provide the tools needed to be the best. Proper training will ensure that they are spending less time researching and more time providing the info needed to help close the deal. According to HR Magazine, companies that invest $1,500 on training per employee can see an average of 24% more profit than companies that invest less.

A well-trained employee is more effective and happier in their position. They stay longer in their current position which saves you money in turnover and will help you become more profitable. The days of a full 8-hour training session in a hotel meeting room are long gone. They are overwhelming and can negatively affect the bottom line. A company that offers ongoing coaching can provide the micro-learning needed to keep your employees trained, not take too much time away from their daily tasks, and help increase your bottom line.

Is Coaching Better than Training?

No. They're just different. Coaching is Apples. Training is Oranges. You can't compare them. Both are fruit. But each does something unique and complements the other.

This article is about How Training and Coaching work together.

But first: Why is it so important to differentiate Training from Coaching?

Phone Training and Phone Coaching share similar goals and outcomes: to promote individual learning, and generate positive changes in the learner's behavior. But they differ in their approach, their time-frame, and their expectations.

Essentially, training is about transferring knowledge while coaching is about enhancing knowledge and practicing skills so that they become an integral part of how the learner acts, and even who they are, when taking an inbound call from a customer.

Typical Sales/Phone training is limited. Even world-class automotive-focused training—which is tried-&-tested, perfected over many years, delivered in bite-sized sequences that make perfect sense, word-crafted for every kind of phone call (outbound or inbound) and available in-classroom or online—is limited in its effectiveness in changing behavior. It's a powerful model, proven over decades with hundreds of dealerships. But after the training—when the salesperson goes back to the floor, or their desk—it takes a lot to remember everything to say, the way to say it, in the right order, with the right words and with proper tone. Mostly, it's because old habits get in the way—not lack of motivation, or of interest, or of a positive attitude.

Ongoing one-on-one active coaching delivers continuous value. Even the best auto sales training seminar isn't a one-and-done solution for your dealership. As time passes, the best practices and knowledge learned in the sessions may fade.

As one of our coaches wrote in a 2021 article:

“Brain science research shows that an average of 50 percent of the information received in classroom training is forgotten within one hour. After 24 hours, on average, only 30% is retained. And within a week, only 10% of that valuable, expensive training information remains…”

So, much of the $642 million spent annually by US dealerships on Training (not coaching) is wasted. (Average Annual dealership spending is estimated at $36,000.)

Therefore suffice to say if some of the $642 million spent annually by US dealerships on Training were re-distributed and re-prioritized to reflect a training/coaching mix, the ROI would be a lot more rewarding for owners, managers, and learners.”

What team members need is:

·    Ongoing accountability

·    Ongoing reminders

·    Ongoing real-time feedback

·    Ongoing recent situational conversations that are their own

·    Notice anything? Ongoing, ongoing, ongoing…

Are there people and structures in place to monitor employees' use of best practices, to ensure that they hold on to what they've learned? Who do they go to when they feel unsure about a particular call, or their use of the word-tracks? Where can they get feedback that isn't the usual "constructive criticism" that they'll get from their manager? Oh, and lest not forget the ultimate question, “is that manager qualified to address these concerns?” Store managers are retailers, inventory specialists, closers (hopefully) and salesmen. While a lot of us like to say their job description includes training, they’re not teachers, they’re not trainers and oftentimes they themselves don’t know what to say in a lot of situations.

Each salesperson has their Workbook or Manual, printed or online-library scripts, so they can continue to work on making their learning stick. But for most folks, it's hard to do that on your own.

Whether it's classroom training—usually in the break-room, for a day, or a half-day—or Zoom classes, or days of online learning at a PC, the challenge for Training is how to transform learning new ideas and new techniques into changes in behavior, language, attitudes, even mindset…Success depends on What Happens Next.

Training creates awareness, demonstrates new processes, and word-tracks, and Steps to the Sale. It educates us on protocols, models, techniques. We get excited and motivated to get back to work, and make even more money…Then what?

We've all been there—as learners ourselves on a course, or as managers responsible for keeping our salespeople motivated, focused, and capable of using what they learned when they get back to the desk. Despite our best intentions, it doesn't take long for reality to set in. We get busy. They are playing catch-up on what they missed. People to call. Calls to answer. All of a sudden, from the smoothness of the role-playing in class, they disintegrate into the Liberty-Biberty bumbling actor on the Liberty Mutual ad!

I'm not criticizing. I've been there too – we all have. It takes practice and courage to change the language and sequence of what you say on the phone to a prospect. It can be easier just to side-step into your old way of doing it, can't it? "Hey, it's worked so far…may as well stick to what I know…"

That's where Active Coaching works its magic.

We need Active Coaching to take it to the next level, which is to observe, record, and measure the salesperson's performance.

Immediately after the initial certification, active coaching begins whereby one starts to listen to their phone calls, to identify where they have (or have not) integrated their learning into their behavior. Measures of accuracy and excellence are deployed, and straightforward feedback is given in near real-time: honestly, respectfully, non-judgmentally, and all builds upon the initial foundational certifications. This starts to build confidence, capability, and works to replacing old unconscious habits and beliefs, with new habits, that drive better results.

One-on-one coaching is the gold standard when it comes to retaining and adding to auto sales phone skills. A professional coach can periodically check in on recordings of live client calls, grading each automotive sales representative against a situationally appropriate score sheet on how well they follow the relevant phone script and maximize the chance of setting an appointment and thus making a sale.

By reviewing those calls in a live one-on-one session with the car salesperson, a coach can guide the employee to better performance. The feedback is tailored to the learner's strengths and weaknesses, delivering more bang for the buck than a generic Training refresher would.

In the coaching review process, coaches can go through role-playing sessions, and give employees an update on their progress. These check-ins are designed to keep every salesperson engaged and improving from one coaching session to the next.

Why can't the Sales Manager do the Coaching?

Well, of course he could…if he didn't have a hundred other things to do, problems to solve, owners to please, teams to manage, etc.

In a recent Sales Coaching Practices survey, 72% of sales managers agreed that coaching is important. The survey reported that "Organizations effective at coaching the topics of salesperson performance, motivation improvement, and skill development have positively correlated performance advantages of 12%, 9%, and 6%, respectively, over other firms."

The survey also reported that 44% of respondents only dedicate between one and four hours a week to coaching.

Why dealerships NEED Active Coaching

Outsourcing your Sales/Phone Coaching overcomes most, if not all, obstacles. But it also does a lot more. Here's a brief list of why it is so effective:

·      Time. Each coach manages the time with their salespeople.

·      Contact is consistent, regular, and recorded.

·      Two-way. As an external coach, with no management role, we can work outside the normal boundaries of accountability, to develop more open-ness and trust. Listening, not Telling

·      Individualized/Personalized: Each session and each coaching strategy is based on how each salesperson is motivated.

·      Fine-tuning: The salesperson is responsible for incrementally adjusting their performance in a way that works for them.

·      Intentions = Development, Growth, not just Results.

·      Measurement is Critical, and the process is transparent:

·      Observe.

·      Record.

·      Listen.

·      Give Feedback.

·      Nudge, if necessary.

So, in conclusion, is Coaching better than Training? No. They depend on one another, like sunshine and rain. Without either one, there is no growth.

The mixture of instructor-led car sales training and active coaching adds up to a potent performance improvement approach. By focusing on the vital elements of car sales, such as phone skills, under the microscope, you can make your people more effective — and your dealership will grow, more than ever before.

"If you're not happy, there's the door" might have worked circa 2019 (or 1978), though not recommended, but does that work now? More importantly, have we really spent enough time trying to determine why so many Sales Consultants, Sales Managers, and BD Agents leave the dealership? Could we increase retention by deploying on active and ongoing training? These are good questions and questions we should be focused on as we continue to face the uphill battle of retention.

A new statistic suggests that more than 43% (DSES 2021) of current employees are actively looking for a new job?! Why are they looking for a new job? It's been said loud and clear that employees want training. They also want to have a clear understanding of their career path. Imagine doing this as part of a plan vs. throwing someone into a role without training or providing a clear path! Believe it or not, there are several career paths in the auto industry - if anything, we've proven to pivot and create roles to handle the current issues we face.

So Then Where Are We With Training?

Well, discussing the importance of training isn't new. Knowing the value of training isn't new. But acting on offering dealer-level training IS something new. And when you think about it, it poses the question, "why do we fight against dealer level training so hard?" Do we spend more time and energy fighting against training - losing revenue from turnover - than if we just embraced it? Aren't we tired of using the same playbook (or no playbook at all), following the same unconventional haphazard ways that leave us puzzled when things go wrong? It seems exhausting, doesn’t it? And when you “google earth” yourself up to the 10- or 30-foot view, who honestly wants to associate with someone that actually says “I don’t need training, I don’t need to get better at my job….” Read that again. Why would any business retain anyone, management or otherwise, with that mentality? It’s NOT always verbal, actions speak loudly.

So, while the conversations remain the same, the actions based on these conversations remain unchanged. Where you might've had your Sales Managers take a demo - while they're desking deals - not paying attention, to which they say, "We don't need that I think we're good." Or worse, you get a free mystery shop, and one of the first comments from your Sales Managers, Sales Consultants, or BD Agents is "well, I knew that was a mystery shop" or "that was a fake customer, do you want me to waste my time." To which, in many cases, the GM might respond to the vendor, "now's just not a good time to train. You can follow up with me another time."

It's these comments and responses that should have us concerned. Regardless of what they "think" or "assume," the call or lead doesn't mean they should handle it differently. Every lead and phone call should be dealt with at the same level of customer service, following a process and of course with a true sense of urgency. Without following a process, how can we effectively handle breakpoints or offer guidance?

Sure, we might offer a "one time" online class or share an article - that gets left on the floor or thrown in the trash - but is that really training? Sharing advice, tricks, or tips is never bad, but is it beneficial to share tips and tricks when your teams aren't sure how to apply them?

The bottom line is the dreaded question, "are we losing more employees than we think due to lack of training and guidance?" And are we willing to continue to lose otherwise good employees because we don't want to train them? More importantly, are we willing to lose highly skilled employees - who sell 10-15 units a month - because we don't want to invest in their future?

If you're tired of losing employees and starting at square one before you can even hire the next sales consultant, it's time to start a conversation. To start, sign-up for your complimentary mystery shop. 

Don't you love a good headline? Those attention-grabbing headlines elicit a worst-case scenario, don’t they? I'll leave it up to your imagination on what they might have searched for - but what if they were actually searching for "online sales training?" Did you know that online sales training for the automotive industry is searched over 12,000 times each month?

That's a lot of searches! With many searches comes a lot of training material, videos, and those infamous "get trained fast" schemes. However, there is no such thing as a "quick fix.” Sure, you can watch a video or even take a class, but simply "doing it" isn't the same as "living it." Training, and thus coaching, is still ongoing. Using and applying the training learned in stages is more practical and more likely to result in long-term success.

If you're in the early stages of looking for the right training program - kudos to your dealer for recognizing the importance - it can be challenging to know which program is best for the Dealership. To make the best decision possible, you must first identify your objectives. More importantly, understand how the training will be applied at the dealer level. Training cannot be crammed into a day in-person session in the lunchroom or a one-time virtual session.

I can't tell you how many times dealers have paid thousands of dollars to hire a trainer for a "one-day training program" only to have their Sales Managers not follow up with their Sales Consultants or BD Agents. Or worse, their Sales Managers and General Managers were not present during the training sessions.

We keep saying things like "it starts at the top" or "we need our GMs and Sales Managers to be engaged," but this is a critical component that frequently falls short. Why do we fall short when it comes to Management engagement? It's not a simple question. However, it is a question that must be addressed before implementing a dealer-level training program.

And no, this isn't one of those "let's change their pay plans to reflect training" ploys. It would have already worked if it was as simple as "fixing pay plans." Not only does this rarely work, but it also shouldn't have to resort to changing pay structures to ensure that our management works to enforce training. Instead, we must examine why they have adverse reactions to the word "training."

One of the most common objections I've heard to training is that "training can affect my pay." The notion is that if they can manage their "way," they can control their paycheck. And, while it might have merit on the surface, at the end of the day, it's your Dealership and your bottom line. By ensuring that your Dealership has adequate training for growth and development, you can control and protect your profitability and revenue.

Another thing to consider is that it's OK to focus on one core component at a time. We'd all be selling 25 vehicles per month if the training was "easy." So, while the market is hot right now, and dealers are largely relying on smaller teams to sell more, this is all smoke and mirrors. Make no mistake, once the market settles, and dealers face a flood of inventory - with floor plan expenses rising - it will become an increasingly competitive market with lower front-end grosses and lower overall GP. That is the nature of a hot market cooling down.

And, no, I'm not talking about going into panic mode. It's about taking the opportunity to strengthen our dealer teams to refine our efforts. Not to mention that even in a hot market, we continue to miss out on opportunities. Consider how many potential customers have slipped through the cracks. How many leads have gone unnoticed? How many customers were brushed off? If you don't believe this has occurred or that it isn't a big deal because of limited inventory, what do you think will happen when there is a lot of inventory, and that customer who was brushed off the lot or whose inquiry went unanswered is ready to buy?

We must not overlook the customer who did not purchase today because they will still be in the market tomorrow.

Do yourself a favor and sign up for a complimentary stealth test. You won't be disappointed in the training or your Sales Consultant's approach after they've been trained. 

The conversation on digital retailing, customer experience and dealer optimization continues. But do our efforts on the dealer level reflect these conversations? More importantly, who on the dealer level is engaging in these conversations? How often have we gone to a dealer or OEM training session to not follow up on what was discussed? These conversations are the start of effecting positive change. But positive change can only be effective if your dealer's processes change as well.

Two of the biggest struggles dealers still face is answering a phone call properly and responding to a web lead correctly. Asking ourselves, "are we really still talking about taking calls responding to leads." Sounds simple or something that we're already doing, right?

However, believe it or not, dealers still struggle to get contact information from the call and that initial email response out to the customer. And for those that do get the email out, it's often not answering the customer's questions. In fact, in many cases, if the customer does receive an initial email, it's an auto-response offering that "so and so" will be reaching out to you. The problem with using an autoresponder during business hours is that the Sales Consultant or BD Agent that usually does reach out to the customer is not presented in the autoresponder. And while this doesn't sound like a big deal, we've already created a breakpoint in the customer's experience within the first five minutes.

The breakpoint we've just created is having set up false expectations for the customer. The customer inputs their information/questions and is expecting a response. But when - and if they do get a response - it often doesn't answer their questions. Those questions could be anything from pricing, trim-level, trade-in, and financing, to name a few. Or, even easier in today’s unique market, availability! So now, not only have the customers' questions not been answered, but now they're having to repeat themselves starting the process over.

If the customer doesn't get a response at all, they might call the dealership but since no contact information was asked for, you don’t know it’s the same customer! You see, the keyword here is "might." Without calling the customer or responding to their questions in an email, we're "maybe" going to get the opportunity to earn their business. With the amount of money and resources that are invested on a monthly basis to have these opportunities, why then do we let ourselves go with "might" call vs. "your appointment is scheduled for (time)."

To get that appointment and earn the customer's trust, we have to communicate with them. Answering their questions - whether that is in an email, on the inbound call or making the outbound call. And while it's certainly easier to speak directly with the customer on the phone, we have to first answer their questions - setting the tone for the next steps. But to get the next steps of the process, you have to respond in a timely fashion. Five minutes doesn't seem like a lot of time, but guess what? The customer is shopping at multiple stores. And if your store isn't responding or does respond without answering their questions, they already have a bad taste in their mouth and potentially moved on.

Whereas, if we'd responded within five minutes, answered their immediate questions, and offered the appointment or a phone call, the chances of you earning their business increases. To address this core issue we continue to face – your Sales Consultants, BD Agents, and sales managers need ongoing coaching and training. Without this, you'll continue to be plagued with the same issues. How many leads and opportunities are you willing to throw away?

Food for thought. Take a moment and see how much profit you're potentially missing! 

Ah, the day a new sales consultant starts. That moment of relief, believing that all will be well and the sales floor will have coverage for the weekend. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? Well, let's back up for a second. It seems that there are three schools of thought when hiring the ideal sales consultant. That is A. hiring a Sales Consultant with dealership experience, B. hiring a Sales Consultant with sales experience (not dealerships specific) and C. hiring a Sales Consultant with no experience. Either may wind up being the best hire ever, BUT let's take a step back for a second. The idea that we let a new hire loose on the sales floor without any training can be a recipe for disaster…. And it happens every single day! While they might have all the necessary ingredients, they don't have a good recipe. At the end of the day, you've got a recipe that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth as, yet another Sales Consultant turns over. And who knows how many opportunities.

While It's never easy to determine the success of a new Sales Consultant - off the cuff - various factors must be considered. That is everything from training, sales goals, experience, and an overall plan of action for the first ninety days on the job. Think about it for a minute. Just because they've got sales experience at another dealership doesn't mean they'll automatically know how you run your dealership. Much less whether or not they've ever had proper training on how to handle objections or manage leads. So, while inventory is at an all-time low and customers are conditioned to buy without much hesitation, this will not last forever. Instead, it's the perfect time to solidify your hiring process and ensure everyone has the proper training. 

Here are two things to think about when onboarding a new Sales Consultant.

1.     Have a Process for New Hires That Is Consistent

I understand that you need to cover the sales floor while hoping they'll sell the eight to ten units needed to meet OEM goals. But hiring a Sales Consultant to fill the hole and praying they don't sink isn't a cost-effective solution, and it won't help your dealer. Another issue that dealers encounter when allowing a new Sales Consultant to work on the floor is that they've most likely had zero lead management training, or worse – allowing them to work the sales floor without any OEM product training. Living on a prayer might work, but why risk losing customers for the hope that they'll sell a vehicle they know nothing about?  

You may be scratching your head about not allowing an experienced sales consultant on the floor, but the truth is that while they have the expertise, they're unfamiliar with your process. If your sales consultant is not following a process, it can and will result in unwanted break-points in both the sales process and, more significantly, the customer's entire experience. I can't tell you how many times I've witnessed a new-to-the-floor "seasoned" sales consultant sell customers things or "We-Owes" that would otherwise be prohibited. All of this can not only reduce your profit margins but will also lead to frustration on both sides. Not to mention the "unwanted" "meeting" your Sales Manager will have to have, in which case the new sales consultant may be chastised for offering freebies or products that aren't even an option. This creates unnecessary tension that could have been avoided. 

2.     Your Sales Training Isn't Working. But Not for the Reasons You Might Think. 

Let's not forget the famous "one on ones" or "shadow days" that Sales Managers use to train new hires. In many cases, the GM will tell the Sales Managers to spend time with the new hire. Sounds great, right? It works in restaurants, doesn’t it? But in reality, the new Sales Consultant will most likely spend time shadowing a Sales Consultant who follows their own set of processes, which will not help the new hire. It just reinforces bad habits. 

And one of the most common reasons sales managers give for not spending time with new hires and instead assigning them to whoever is available is due to "lack of time." And look, your Sales Managers are undoubtedly busy, but at the end of the day, it's often not about "time," but rather about what's in it for them. Have you considered rewarding your Sales Managers with retention bonuses for their Sales Consultants? If they had a strong incentive to boost retention, it would benefit the dealer and them as managers – knowing that nothing is more frustrating than starting over every month by hiring a new sales consultant.

The last component of not having an effective sales strategy is not realizing that it takes time to go through the process. Far too frequently, a dealer's training program has good intentions but ends up throwing them onto a floor to assist a customer when they have no idea how anything works. This can frustrate the customer and creates a rift between the Sales Manager and the new sales consultant. If you're going to implement a sales training process, stick to it! Not everyone will make it through the ninety days, and for those who don't, it will give you insight into the breakpoints and provide ideas on how to address them. 

Lastly, there's nothing wrong with having an outside source - whose highly trained in sales processes and lead management - to assist your dealership! Techniques that are proven to work! In fact, by doing so, it not only ensures that your Sales Consultants are appropriately trained, but it also allows your managers a means of managing their Sales Consultants on consistent processes. 

A BDC is a business development center, an auto dealership department devoted solely to making outbound calls and taking inbound ones. Chances are you’ve heard the term mentioned, even if you haven’t yet instituted one of your own.

While at first glance, you may question the wisdom of setting up a team just for phone calls — isn’t this the social media era, after all? — you’ll soon see the reason why so many dealerships have chosen the BDC model.

Whether you opt to create a BDC in-house or work with a virtual center on a contract basis, the advantages can range from more free time for salespeople to better appointment and sale rates and beyond. The old-fashioned phone has some life left in it, at least in the auto space.

BDC: What it is and why your dealership needs one

The automotive BDC is a place where all your dealership’s phone needs combine.

When you have dedicated BDC staff, either in-house or virtually, there’s a better chance that your potential customers will reach a real person on their first attempt to call. These representatives also have free time to reach out to more prospects, and the well-honed phone skills to make a good impression.

Top-performing BDCs can drive an 80% inbound appointment set rate, with a close rate of 50%. These centers aren’t one-trick ponies, either, delivering results on both inbound and outbound calls. Here’s what that looks like:

Inbound

BDC representatives take inbound calls from curious shoppers, ideally confirming appointments with these interested callers. You can choose which departments go through the BDC instead of their own personnel. For example, it’s up to you whether to train BDC reps on fixed ops products or to keep that with the service department. Inbound calls can come from:

• Interested shoppers who prefer the phone to online browsing.
• Previous buyers interested in making another purchase.
• Callers looking for something other than to buy a car (such as parts or service).

Outbound

While knowledgeable BDC representatives are experts at turning inbound calls into appointments, they also make outbound calls to a long list of potential prospects. This division of labor allows salespeople to focus on closing deals on the sales floor while the reps reliably feed them new leads. Call recipients might include:

• Replies to curious shoppers who have filled out an information form on the website.
• Outreach to previous buyers or service customers about their interest in a new purchase.
• Sales calls based on referrals from current customers.

You can get this level of performance from either an in-house or virtual BDC. In either case, to deliver good set rates and show rates, the reps should be knowledgeable, well-coached and working from consistent, high-quality scripts.

For an in-house BDC, you’ll have to connect your team with a good coaching program. For a virtual BDC, it’s important to link up with an industry-leading provider.

Coaching for an in-house BDC

Why work with Phone Ninjas to coach your BDC personnel? In short, it’s because this coaching is very different from one-time training. Team members start out learning from video lessons, then comes the heart of the program: Reviews of real customer calls based on phone scripts.

Representatives being coached by Phone Ninjas work from a library of well-tailored phone scripts to give customers a consistent experience. Coaches base their reviews and comments on the audio of real calls made using these scripts, giving each BDC rep a template for success.

The BDC manager monitors the progress of each BDC representative over time, in a number of areas. These leaders use the rich data to enforce accountability and motivate staff to greatness.

Virtual BDC services

Rather than coaching an in-house team of BDC representatives, Phone Ninjas can take charge of your inbound and outbound calling entirely, serving as a virtual BDC. This is a way to simplify the whole process of phone management, paying a simple and economical rate to have our experienced reps handle:

• Inbound sales calls, service calls, warm transfers and operator functions
• Outbound follow-up, sales lead generation and service generation calls

The level of service you require from the virtual BDC will determine what you receive — each deployment is tailored to a specific dealership. For example, if you want to fully commit to the third-party model, you can opt for a virtual operator.

The virtual operator, which we consider the “director of first impressions,” serves as a live voice for your customers. Rather than reaching an automated menu, they hear from a real person who will greet them, schedule appointments and transfer them to the department they’re seeking.

The overall virtual BDC experience is designed to create a smooth, high-quality process for your dealership, staffed by people who understand customer service and have advanced phone skills. These experts are there to deliver set rates and show rates that will help your salespeople thrive. All this excellence comes without any of the complexities of staffing a new in-house department.

Contact us for a demo, a free phone analysis or even a free mystery shop to learn about coaching your in-house BDC to greatness or adding a virtual BDC to your offerings.

Does your dealership have a business development center? Is it producing the level of leads you’re looking for?

If the answer to either of those questions is “no,” you’ve got some homework to do — but don’t worry, the end result is worth it. A thriving BDC can become a powerful pipeline of leads for any dealership turning inbound and outbound calls into new business.

Establishing a new BDC or turning around an existing one can come down to training. By using BDC phone scripts, active coaching and more tools and tactics, you can make sure your phone warriors are producing leads at an impressive clip in short order.

Of course, there is another option — a third-party virtual BDC — but we’ll get to that. First, let’s define what we’re talking about.

Automotive BDC: Widening your customer pipeline

A BDC, a dedicated department to answer and make phone calls, is going from nice-to-have to need-to-have. If your dealership doesn’t already have one, it’s worth considering right away.

Your dealership can’t afford to have floor staff making and taking calls on an as-needed basis. This does a disservice to those employees, taking them away from value-adding work, and to your customers, who might face longer wait times or inconsistent service.

The best way to make the phone into an essential part of your sales apparatus is to dedicate people to these tasks. These should be trained and experienced reps, ones who know your products inside out and are ready to answer questions and warm up potential leads.

There are two sides of BDC work, both worthy of focus and development:

• Inbound calls: Fielding customers’ questions is the prime way of turning curious shoppers into red-hot leads. Their interest may cool down if they get transferred or put on hold, so having razor-sharp BDC personnel ready to help them right away is a must.
• Outbound calls: Whether they’re responding to online inquiries or reaching out to past customers, your BDC team members can strike another rich vein of potential leads through outbound calls.

What could go wrong with this ironclad approach to conversion? A lack of training, consistency or preparation, for one thing.

Having people ready to take and make phone calls is one thing, and drilling them until they’re experts is another. You should take the latter approach for the best possible results.

BDC training, scripts and more: Powering up phone skills

Whenever there’s a knowledge gap, you fill it with training. In the case of BDC training, this means not just drilling your team on the products they’re selling — they should also learn how to specifically handle phone calls.

Training in the BDC isn’t something that just happens once. It’s an ongoing process with a few components. While that sounds a little complex, it really just means covering all bases. You don’t want to give your team an incomplete education. Here are some of the essentials:

BDC phone scripts

The BDC experience should be consistent and carefully guided by best practices. Ideally, you’re not sending your reps out there to freestyle. Rather, they’ll have access to BDC phone scripts that help them gather information while giving a positive, helpful customer experience.

These phone scripts should cover a wide range of scenarios. This helps your staff solve a variety of issues without coming off too robotic or impersonal. Whatever situation your customer is dealing with, the BDC rep has the solution, from the start of the call to the finish.

Ongoing training

Rather than sitting your BDC staff down for a single session and sending them on their way, you should keep up with their development. This can start with video sessions to let your team know exactly what they should be doing to get better results from their calls.

The best training for your reps involves professional coaches checking on their progress. How well are they applying the scripts? Are they getting the right information and doing all they can to provide a great customer experience?

Management support

Even when you work with consultants, leadership personnel — that’s you — have an important role to play in keeping your BDC staff at their sharpest. By checking up on call performance, you can make sure BDC training scripts are being followed.

Accountability is an important part of BDC success. This doesn’t just mean being tough on employees to make sure they take their training seriously — you should also make sure to be a positive champion for the process and all it’s accomplishing.

Virtual BDC: Calling in customer outreach ringers

Staffing up internally isn’t the only way to make a BDC work for you. If you don’t feel you can free up the resources to hire and/or train a team of BDC personnel, virtual BDC could be the perfect alternative.

In this model, the experts don’t train and consult with your team, they take the calls themselves. By having these professionals handle your inbound and outbound calls, you can make sure everything from service inquiries to follow-up lead generation is handled with panache.

Beyond the lead generation BDC functions, you can even arrange to have a virtual operator. Not virtual as in digital — this is a live person who can quickly and efficiently direct your callers to the department they need to reach, for a smooth and positive customer experience.

Whichever option you choose, whether you’re setting up a BDC for the first time, training up your team or opting to go virtual, success depends on having the right allies on your side. When you’re talking about dealership BDC, that ideal ally is Phone Ninjas.

Our promise is smoother operations within your dealership and better BDC conversion rates. What’s holding your reps back from converting 80% or more of their calls into warm leads? If you work with Phone Ninjas, the answer is nothing.

Contact us today to learn more about BDC training scripts or our virtual BDC offering, or schedule a demo to find out how we match your dealership’s needs.

Have you ever gone onto a dealership's staff page to see employees switching positions? You'll see a Sales Consultant becoming a BD Agent. Or a Sales Consultant becoming a Manager. A Manager becoming a BD Agent. You'll see it all. It makes one wonder “why all of this switching around?” Sure, there're instances where the switch makes sense. But it also could be due to a lack of training and the mentality “let’s give “Ed” a try now….”

One of the biggest reasons dealerships continue to face a high level of turnover has to do with a lack of training. I'd say that "you'd be surprised to see how high the level of turnover is on the dealer level," but I don't think we're that surprised. So, if we're not that surprised with the turnover, how can we resolve this recurring issue? An issue that continues to cost dealerships hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost profitability.

Will switching the employee to a new department or role – without training – resolve the issue? No, it won’t. This method goes back to the question of what the real issue even is? Not to mention, have we dug into the core issue and asked ourselves the hard questions? Out of those who have switched roles on the dealer level, how many of them were trained for the role they're leaving? Yet, we constantly say, "We offer full training and will work with you to achieve success."

Achieving success in their respective roles isn't done through pairing them with a Sales Consultant or Manager who isn't following the process themselves. In fact, when's the last time your Managers discussed the "process,” or lack thereof, for sales or lead handling? What about the phones? In many cases, it's not discussed. Or if it is, each Manager has their own version of the "process." It's this situation that can lead to such a high turnover or the "burn & turn" we face. Where instead of saying the Sales Consultant or BD Agent didn't have what it takes – be cognizant that it could have been they didn't have the skills or resources to be successful in their role. How can we expect a Sales Consultant or BD Agent to be successful in their roles if they haven't had any training? Or they don't have a consistent process to follow?

Whether the process is good or not, it at least offers insight where the potential breakpoints are in their performance. In which case your managers can assist them in enhancing their performance. But if there isn't a standard process, or worse, your managers follow their own processes, it can and does send mixed signals regarding what your Sales Consultants or BD Agents need to do to perform better.

More importantly, if your dealership invested in quality training from the time they were onboarded, you would not only have quality training but a road map for success—understanding how their performance has impacted their jobs and what they need to work on to improve. Imagine how much less turnover you'd be facing if they were properly trained? In addition to retention in their role, they were initially hired to generate income and make customers for life, right? When's the last time you discussed with your Sales Consultant or BD Agent why they wanted to switch roles? And no, don't default to "well they weren't performing, and we needed to fill another position." Instead, focus on the performance and whether or not they were trained for the role. This isn't saying everyone will be successful, either. It's just that there is a much better chance of their success if they've had proper training.

Are you ready to kick high turnover to the curb and increase profitability? Are you ready for ongoing coaching and training by professionals?

Most of us have faced the hard reality of a bad month. Whether that's missing the monthly manufacturer stairstep after we “realized” the dollars or not hitting the new sales volume requirements imposed upon us internally. Leaving you faced with that never-ending cycle of "adding another program car" to make the number. Having your GSM or Sales Manager crunch numbers harder than Accounting, who's paying out the monthly commissions, to then start the "report" frenzy. Looking at every report to see where the "missed" opportunities were or scouring for what we call the "low hanging fruit." 

Looking for the low hanging fruit at the end of the month as you're deciding whether to add additional program cars is not the solution. And reviewing the reports near the end or after the fact is only looking at one part of the root cause. As it's not taking into consideration the total leads (including inbound calls) your dealership received for the month. And sure, none of us are perfect, and leads do fall through the cracks. But when the cracks get bigger and bigger each month, you start losing that many more potential deals. That's everything from the inbound calls that never made it into CRM, potential deals your GSM or Sales Manager didn't follow-up on, unanswered leads, previous month's leads that are still hanging in the abyss, or current web leads that weren’t followed-up on.

Despite many CRM's having workflows, the cold hard truth is many of the workflows are behind the times. Nor do they often reflect how customers communicate with us. Whether that’s through social media messaging, texting, email – etc. In fact, what's more concerning is that so many of today's CRM's don’t even count texting as a means of "following-up" with the customer! *fax much? The point is we cannot solely rely on an antiquated workflow report to get the real story. Instead, you must dig into the CRM and see how these leads were actually answered and followed-up on. Think about it, how easy is it to click a button that says "phone-call" / "left-message" when they might not have actually even called the customer? Or "sent-email," which was nothing more than an outdated "canned" auto-reply template that failed to answer the customer's question. What's worse is that, more often than not, the Sales Consultants and BD Agents’ CRM email signature line has never been updated or offers the incorrect information by way of broken links. And if you think your Sales Consultants or BD Agents are only sending emails out of their work email, invest in a proper third-party mystery shop and see for yourself. Not to mention all of the other messages/follow-ups that are done through social media apps, or other platforms your dealership is using that aren't reviewed or captured.

So how do we globalize their communications and tackle the root cause of the issue? It's not easy. But it is possible. And it starts with Active Coaching. So when they're answering leads, inbound calls, chats, texts, social media messages, or on any other platform, they're doing so properly with consistency. The more uniformity across the platforms and among the team - with quality responses - the better their chances are of closing them. More importantly, avoiding the cracks, tackling the root cause of the issue starts with lead management. And no, this is not just about looking at the reports, either. It's about understanding how the leads - every single one - is handled. You'd be surprised, but there are so many instances where the lead's first response is not consistent with your expectations. Whether that's not sending a well thought out and relevant email to not even sending an email at all (yeah, that happens too). As we know, we tend to have one shot at getting the customer's attention. And once we do get their attention, we have to diligently follow-up with purposeful content until we've built the relationship that makes the sale.

Bottom Line: if we want to end the cycle of adding rentals/demos/service loaners/program cars each month to hit our numbers, we have to tackle the real issue. That issue is handling the leads correctly. But to handle the leads correctly, they need active coaching. Coaching that instills consistency in how they respond to each and every lead. Who doesn't want to avoid a bad month and have their dealership be profitable?