In the ever-changing automotive industry customer service is your only constant value proposition. All customer interactions matter. Customers will spend more, travel farther, and wait longer simply to have an excellent experience. 

When your customers interact with your employees, no matter the form of communication, the quality of the interaction is what will stand out to them! Customers may not always remember what happened, or the words that were spoken, but they will never forget how the conversation made them feel. Your goal should be to make sure every time a customer ends a conversation with your staff, they walk away saying “WOW!”  

Today's customers communicate in a variety of ways. Whether by phone, text, email, chat, social media, or in person, consistency is key because of the halo effect - when customers believe you are great at one thing, (like customer service,) they assume you are great at everything else that matters. What else matters? Over 70% of U.S. consumers say speed, convenience, helpful employees, and friendly service matter most (Clarke, n.d.) 

And, this is huge, at a time when dealers are increasing the use of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and automation, a shocking 82% of U.S. consumers want more human interaction (Clarke, n.d.).  

If consumers want human interaction, it is imperative your humans are trained and delivering a consistent message and experience. 

When your customers receive exceptional service online, they expect the same level of treatment when they walk into the showroom! Make certain your team is using the same language across all platforms and you will unlock more delighted customers in your showroom. Train all FLE (Front Line Employees) to make customers feel served, not sold.  

The customer experience is your single most important part of the entire process of doing business.  

Focus on doing things in a timely matter. Focus on doing them right. Show customers you care, and they will reward you with that “wow” you are looking for. 

Source: 

Clarke, David, and Ron Kinghorn. “Experience Is Everything: Here's How to Get It Right.” PwC, www.pwc.com/future-of-cx. 

n the first blog on the Eight Cylinders of the BDC, we established that a successful and profitable BDC starts with the team. To perform at a high level, BDCs need high level performers. The BDC needs high-level performers on the frontline as well. BDC success lays outside of the BDC as much as inside. 

Since our definition of culture is “the way we do things around here”, the dealership as a whole should have a “BDC” culture.  

The first step is to ensure all FLE (front line employees) understand the purpose of the BDC and know their role in BDC success. BDC success is measured by how well the departments do in addition to the standard set of BDC metrics alone. The BDC does not produce revenue. The BDC helps other departments produce revenue. 

Another key driver of BDC culture is to include the BDC team in your sales meetings. Encourage a working relationship between the sales team and the BDC. Have your salespeople (especially new salespeople) spend time in the BDC working alongside agents to set appointments. This will give them a better understanding and appreciation of what the BDC does. When all departments work in tandem, the culture improves and it benefits everyone, especially your customers! 

Consistent coaching and encouragement for agents and FLE is another great way to foster a healthy BDC culture in the dealership. Coaching breeds a culture of accountability and high-level skills. 

Does the food match the menu? When a customer has an excellent experience with an agent over the phone, they are expecting the same treatment from your receptionist, showroom staff, finance department, and service advisors. The expectation is that the physical visit will pick up where the BDC left off. 

The last piece of the culture puzzle is the CRM. CRM is a cylinder on its own, but there is an overlap. You cannot have a great BDC dealership without first having a great CRM dealership. Proper CRM use contributes to the effectiveness of your BDC processes and supports the BDC culture in a dealership. 

Next, we will discuss customer experience. Your customers are demanding, and in order to stand out, your dealership must adopt practices that best serve your customer’s needs. Stay tuned for more tips to ensure your BDC is running effectively and efficiently.   

Just like an engine, any highly effective and profitable BDC is made up of eight cylinders. If one cylinder malfunctions, the rest are obsolete. These critical elements of your Business Development operation work together to deliver concierge–level service to your customers while increasing sales, service, CSI, retention, and profit. This series of blogs will help you dive deeper into your BDC operations so you can ensure your engine is running effectively and efficiently. 

A successful and profitable BDC starts with the team. To perform at a high level, BDCs need high-level performers! Your BDC team will talk to more customers than anyone in the organization. They handle 35% – 60% of your business, both in sales and service. You must hire people who have the skills, attitude, and passion the job requires.  

To find applicants, create an interesting and exciting post and share it across all social media platforms. Encourage your current employees to refer applicants. Your BDC will have a much better culture if your employees get along! Once you have your candidates, follow a thorough process to ensure you hire the best of the best: 

1. Interview by phone first! After all, your employees will spend most of their time on the phone with your customers. It makes sense to screen prospective employee’s potential before beginning the interviewing process. 
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3. Have the candidate send you a short video explaining why they would be a good fit for the position. Even if their responses are generic, shooting a video shows initiative! This will give you an idea of which candidates will be willing and able to communicate across all platforms and set more appointments.  
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5. Invite applicants in for an in-person interview if possible and have two to three managers present. Allow your leadership team to hand-pick their team, as they will be the ones responsible for their success or failure. 
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7. Have all candidates complete a typing test and verify their familiarity with basic programs (Microsoft Office, CRMs, etc.) 
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9. After the interviews, put all your applicants in a grid. Score them based on attributes such as attitude, communication skills, relevant experience, professional appearance, and potential. 

The work doesn’t stop once you’ve built your all-star team! Now that you know how to hire the best people, stay tuned to learn the best ways to keep them. 

With each phone call that we make, the goal is the same: get the customer on the phone, then get them to come in and buy a car. When you are communicating with your customer, it is very important to take a step back and find out who you’re servicing. If you identify your customer, you will be able to easily connect with them, and create the chemistry needed to make a deal go smoothly and deliver an exceptional customer experience. 

Do Your Homework. When an internet lead comes in, before you pick up the phone and start dialing, look at the details of the lead. 

Are they already your customer? Pay attention to their history in the CRM. If they are already a customer, either from sales or service or both, you should have a whole different approach. This is not a “lead”, this is your customer. You know them and should act like you know them. 

What is the Source? The source in which a lead comes from can teach you a lot about the customer. You would handle a new car lead from a third party differently than a trade in lead source. The source can also indicate where the customer is in the funnel and what the next steps should be to move them toward an appointment that shows. 

Read the lead. Always look for customer comments and address them in your reply. This is missed a lot by BDC Agents and salespeople. When a customer asks a specific question, and you don’t address it, it really is a huge omission and not a very good customer experience.  

What does the contact info tell you about the customer and their story? 

• Are they local? Check their phone number, and address if it’s included in the lead information. Don’t invite them in for a test drive immediately if they live 3 hours away. 

• Google their name and address. Another way to identify your customer! Who are they? Where do they live. We know one agent who looked everybody up on Google Earth and it gave her something to talk about. 
• Where do they work? If they are using a work email look that company up on Google and check the staff page. If during the conversation, you can say “Hi Jeff, I see you are the marketing director at ABC sales’, this is a powerful rapport technique. People love to talk about themselves, and it can really get a dialogue going quickly. 
• Are they on a specific car? Is it available? What additional information could you give them about the car as added value? 

This sounds like a lot of research, but it just takes a couple of minutes and is well worth the time spent. 

Identify your phone ups too. 

Working a phone up is different because you’re answering the phone with a blindfold on.  

To get off to a good start ask your customer “Have you purchased or shopped here before?” If they say yes, then they are already in the CRM. You may already have all their contact info, know what they are driving now and how they paid for it.  

Think about going to the doctor and all the forms you must fill out the first time. What if that doctor made you fill it out every time you called or came in for an appointment? That would not be an exceptionally pleasant experience. Prevent this from happening to your customers by identifying your customer at the very start of any interaction. 

Sometimes the only information that you know about that customer is what they immediately tell you. It’s up to you to find out the rest of their story. Proper identification goes hand in hand with effective questioning. Asking questions is not only a way engage the customer, but a way to gather more information from them so that you can strike up better chemistry. 

Get the first step right by identifying your customer and the rest of the steps become easier. You will have more meaningful conversations, build rapport and set more appointments that show. 

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For years, dealerships have used the “we need your trade” line to drive traffic into the showroom, feigning a shortage of used vehicles. While dealers have always had a need for quality trades, COVID-19 has created a real shortage of both new and pre-owned inventory. With the new car shortage, there is nothing to do but wait for the factories to catch up. The used car market is a different thing entirely. 

The best source of quality used cars and trucks are the cars and trucks you sold new. Your best prospects are in your own back yard – your database and it takes a strategic approach to properly mine your database and your customer trade-cycles. 

Why are they your best prospects? 

You know the history of the vehicle

You have all their service records

You know how they were closed the first time

You will see higher grosses

You will see a higher CSI

They are not shopping you against another dealership

No marketing costs

If you already have an upgrade system in place, you are likely using an equity mining tool (RevenueRadar, AutoAlert, DealActivator, etc.) to slowly feed your prospects into your CRM. We like to call this the “drip method,” because of the daily drip of prospects from the equity mining tool. 

 AllCall has found that although the “drip” can produce good results, a firehose is much more effective.  

When marketing to customers who are not shopping, creating urgency is key. Instead of reaching out to notify prospects that they are in a good position to trade, make your customers feel like you need their vehicle immediately.  

Stage a three-day private event solely for your database customers with a high conversion potential and invite them in to upgrade into a new vehicle. In order to ensure your event is a success, make sure you observe these guidelines: 

• Build a rich list of customers with high conversion potential 

• Create a script and review common objections with agents 

• Build and deploy an invitation email or mail flyer 

• Call every customer on the list and leave a voicemail if you do not connect 

• Designate someone to host the event and greet customers 

• When possible, schedule customers with the sales rep they purchased from 

• Be prepared to work some deals over the phone 

What to Expect 

You can expect a 20-25% connection rate from the phone calls and a 20% appointment conversion on contacted customers. This will produce forty to fifty appointments leading to thirty to forty showroom visits. You can also expect to generate hot leads from the calls and emails. These are customers who are interested, and need follow up.  

Many customers will just show up. Their reception process is just as important as a kept appointment so be prepared to make them feel welcome. 

The upgrade process is a win-win-win. The customer gets a new car, and you get a great trade-in for the next customer. You have renewed an existing customer and gained a new customer as well. 

So, need used car inventory? Look no further than your own back yard. 

Outsourcing your BDC is a big decision. It takes an immense amount of trust to allow a third party to handle your customers and make calls on your behalf, and sometimes the logistics and onboarding can be a daunting project. Whether you’re considering an outsourced service as a supplement to your BDC or handle all of your BDC processes, there are a few standard practices to make sure the BDC has in place. Here are our top ten MUST HAVE features for a standard virtual BDC: 

1. Automotive Only 

This one is pretty self-explanatory. The automotive Industry is a large and complex market, and outsiders struggle to keep up with the competitive and fast paced nature in dealerships. Working with an automotive-specific BDC, you have experienced experts representing your brand. You avoid any confusion about the little things that you may take for granted, such as an understanding of vehicle features, familiarity with CRMs, and insight into automotive-specific customer objections.   

2. Project your Value Proposition 

Your dealership’s culture and values are very important to you, and they should also be important to any partner you have a working relationship with. Your BDC should work directly with your sales team, whether they’re 10 feet away, or 10,000 miles away. Anyone representing you should be an extension of your team, remain consistent with your message, and project your core values.

3. Technology 

Your CRM is the foundation of your operations, past, present, and future. It is necessary that the CRM be utilized and updated with any correspondence between agent and customer. If you neglect your CRM, you’re neglecting your pipeline. Your BDC should be able to provide regular reports on call tracking, results, and progress. This data should line up with CRM reporting, ensuring your BDC is operating consistently and effectively.  

4. Dedicated & Experienced Agents 

As previously mentioned, anyone who has not worked in the automotive industry will require extensive training before they will be able to work leads or answer customer questions. Make sure any prospective BDC service has agents who have automotive experience and are familiar with life in the dealership. This way, you avoid training costs, personnel costs, overhead costs, and employee turnover.  

5. Dedicated BDC Manager 

A BDC manager is typically responsible for daily operations within the BDC. Aside from confirming appointments and reviewing employee performance, it is also management’s duty to provide a positive work environment and offer coaching to constantly move agents in the right direction. In an outsourcing scenario, it is essential that your dealership has a dedicated BDC manager as their point of contact, so that your team has a resource for all BDC operations. Also, it is beneficial to look into the culture management has cultivated. Happy agents make happy calls and deliver you happy customers.  

6. After-Hours Services 

These days, coverage is important. Your customers are in transaction mode, and often the full customer experience is lost on the late-night browsers. 24-hour coverage is nearly impossible to duplicate in the dealership, but if you’re already outsourcing, it’s smart to expand your potential. After-hours capabilities allow you to be competitive and give your customers concierge-level service any time.  

7. Quality Assurance Program 

In a working relationship, trust is essential to success on both sides. When handing over the reins to an outsourced BDC, you must be sure your customers are being handled the way you want them handled. Call recording, call scoring, and time management should be standard practices, and detailed notes should be left on any interaction. An internal certification and training program heeds excellent results, especially when employee pay is dependent on performance and completion. 

8. Real-Time Communication 

An in-house BDC agent is capable of face-to-face interaction within minutes, able to ask questions or relay information instantly. The best way to replicate this in an outsourced model is to designate a chat channel that includes all agents on the account, the BDC manager, sales managers, and the “BDC Champion,” the BDC’s point of contact at the dealership. This channel should be used to communicate any special circumstances, customer concerns, hot leads, and most importantly, appointments. In addition to the team chat, live email alerts should be sent to sales managers to allow them to prepare for showroom traffic and preparation.   

9. BDC Champion 

 You will need an on-site bridge between your BDC and your sales team to help facilitate changes, receive regular reports, and correspond with your remote BDC manager. This person is typically a sales manager, but could also be a BDC manager, sales rep, general manager, or anyone else you deem appropriate. The remote BDC manager and the BDC Champion will have a close working relationship and should be able to contact one another effortlessly.   

10. Written Process 

In order to ensure your BDC is operating transparently, you should inspect all processes before going live. If your BDC is unable to adhere to your pre-written processes, or unable to provide you with a written workflow of their standard processes, there is no accountability or order of operations.  

Conclusion 

In the age of COVID, interest in outsourcing has grown. During the bulk of the pandemic, many dealers heavily relied on outsourced BDC services to cover absences and facilitate the transition from in-person to virtual car shopping. Now that some sense of normalcy has returned to the world, dealers are expecting a return to the “just get them in” mindset, but customers have grown fond of the convenience that COVID protocols allowed. With the rising need for supplemental BDC staff, dealers need to understand that not all BDC services are created equal, and there’s no shame in being picky! Whether you choose to outsource with AllCall or not, these ten must-haves should be the standard of service in any BDC.