I've seen an increasing number of new BDC reps and managers alike, ask: “how do I generate more activity in the dealership”. Do we increase ad spend? Switch vendors? Fire the guy that's generating the least number of e-leads? The answer is NO! We need to end the madness and it starts now.

Look, there's no shortage of vendors looking to sell you the latest up and coming "household name" to solve your problems, many of which promise results and disappear just as fast as they surface. We've all bought into gimmicks, the trends, switched vendors and experienced the highs and lows of the buyers’ market. The key for 2016 and the foreseeable future is a trained, successful, sustainable and accountable BDC; and that doesn't happen overnight, by accident or by plugging people into seats on day one. Why is it that we hold sales meetings for the floor every Saturday and never do this for our BDC? If we don't invest in the BDC it will simply become a cost center and an extension of the sales staff with an hourly pay attached.

I do mystery shops almost every day and am always amazed at how few and far between the dealers are that actually put a formal training process in place for their BDC. There is so much more to BDC than making follow up calls and logging phone ups.

If you are hearing and/or seeing the following, you may want to consider BDC training. Unfortunately, I hear these things every day on the majority of mystery shops I do. These items below can be poison and indicate that there is no formal process in place to capture the leads we spend so much to generate.

1. Would you like to come in?
2. What time are you available?
3. When can you come in?
4. Do you want to come test drive at 6:15?
5. Would it be ok if I scheduled you for an appointment?
6. If you want, I can schedule an appointment for you…
7. Let’s schedule a tentative appointment
8. If our appointment coordinators aren’t able to set an appointment are we TO’ing that call?
9. Is someone always available and trained to run to a BD rep that needs a TO on a live call?
10. If you’re a few hours or late, don’t worry, it’s ok
11. What color are you looking for
12. Would you like to talk to a salesperson?
13. Would you like to talk to my manager?
14. BDC Manager/Lead BDR cues - You see a rep that has been on a phone call for more than 5 Minutes and is not already in the process of setting an appointment
15. Does your BDC immediately go to your website when a phone up asks if the vehicle is available? This is poison! Don’t do it!
16. You see a rep using your website to locate a new vehicle and/or you see a BD rep clearly not in control of a call. In most instances I teach complete ability to appointment set without a web site click from the rep.
17. Not asking for the appointment, the only way, the right way, every time
18. Not asking for help (Live TO) on difficult calls
19. I’m not sure
20. I can check and call you back
21. In case we get disconnected, What’s your number
22. I didn’t catch your name
23. Who am I speaking to/what’s your name?
24. Not asking for permission for a customer’s time on outgoing calls
25. Attempting to negotiate a price over the phone 
26. Are your reps checking their own call times on their phones frequently while on calls and aware of their average call time? There’s a magic time as a BD Rep that you ask for a TO at…
27. Are your reps allowed to schedule appointments past 48 hours out from today? If a customer is insistent on not being able to show prior to then, do you have a TO process to increase the immediacy since we know that appointed customers over 48 will likely never show?
28. Is there a high level of excitement in the room to make the next appointment? Are people generally eager to make 60k or take their next smoke break?