To BDC or Not To BDC

"Should we put in a Business Development Center (BDC)?" This question has plagued the automotive industry since the early 2000's. The biggest issue with this question is that it gives the appearance that the BDC is an easy plug and play option that can quickly fix all of your underlying personality and process adherence problems. This is not the case.

"Implementing a dealership BDC is a top down, all-encompassing belief. If it isn't, it fails EVERY TIME!" -Joe Ingram

First off, let me start by stating that I have worked in and trained many successful stores without implementing a BDC. I know that sounds odd coming from the guy known in the automotive industry as "The BDC Genius". I assure you that training a sales person or training a BDC rep is the same. It’s the execution and accountability of that training that generates the drastically different results.

Can you change the culture of dealership and ultimately increase both fixed and variable net profit with the addition of a BDC? YES, you can, or you can KILL a cohesive team and cause massive turnover (something we already have a lot of in this industry).

Why a BDC? A well run BDC becomes the nerve center for the dealership and generates you traffic that can be converted into NET PROFIT. With the BDC in place the first thing you will notice is that all the good news and unwelcome news either originates there or will end up emerging from there. What do I mean? A BDC that takes all the sales and service inbound calls will have the ability to consistently convert that traffic into revenue generating shown appointments (originating). Conversely, when all the traffic is funneled into one area, all the issues that would have died in someone’s voicemail box unresolved will now be brought into the light for the dealership to see (emerging). Therefore, I call it the nerve center, feelings of joy and frustration come out of it every day, and what you focus on you get more of. 

Do you need a BDC? This is going to take some soul searching on the part of management. If you have a sales or service department that fails to consistently follow policy, or the procedures outlined by the company, then putting a BDC will do nothing but aggravate that situation and suck out any remaining profit from the bottom line. If you have a core group of managers that aren't currently running from or hiding from accountability and they possess the passion and desire to move more units, and/or service more vehicles, then let’s discuss this further. The first step is to find your A-player manager. This person must understand what it means to be the BDC. I know that sounds corny, but when I was a BDC Director I personified the BDC to all the managers at the dealership. I was the one that drove the BDC's desire to be better than the last call/email, I made sure that my relationship with sales and service management was a good one to prevent the sabotaging that always comes when you change something, or when you add a level of accountability that was never there. I also knew that I had to justify the existence of the BDC and ultimately my own job every month. When you hire a manager and 4-8 people into a department, any downturn in business highlights the immediate savings in personnel by obliterating the department and going back to "like it was before". This approach happens a lot in our industry. 

"Realistically, every quarter has that down month in it. Judging a BDC based on that month alone is not reasonable and will result in lost profit because of the expenses incurred to get it equipped and staffed!" - Lila Jahangiri

BDC Alternative: What we do is train the sales associates to act like a BDC. When I was recently GM at a Nissan store here in So Cal, the owner had a different view of BDC than I did. In his mind, the service department needed a dedicated team specialized in converting phone traffic into appointment. The sales department however, was on its own.

Be Flexible enough to get your results: I bent to the owners wishes, because he is the owner. I then trained my sales staff people:

• how to use the CRM
• how to speak script
• how to read and reply emails and text messages.

I won’t lie to you and say they were grateful for the training or were appreciative of the lessons and techniques being passed down to them. They thought they were great already. When asked most sales people tell you that if they get 10 sales calls they will set 2-4 appointments. Those numbers SUCK! Let’s look at the real root of the problem. Understanding that the nature of a sales person is one that seldom likes to be placed into a box. That is why in sales we have such insane bonuses for achieving goals (cash spiffs for doing a write up), and such drastic punishment for failing to follow procedures (half deal for not putting the trade in the bullpen). Since sales people don't want to be "on script" because they sound "robotic" you have to show them how robotic they sound answering every customer question exactly the same way. The only difference is that the "script" they are using in their heads and written by them, and often it fails to overcome the objections to the prospects inquiring. A well thought out, written script that is practiced until it is internalized will yield you 6-8 appointments for every 10 sales calls. That will double your appointments, shows, and sold deals. Training isn't all that it takes. I eluded to it before, its management that holds the team accountable to what is learned and expected. 

The Secret Weapon: Knowing that sales managers tend to get into the boat and row with their sales team, instead of guiding and motivating from the bow. I put a Process Manager in place.  This person’s job was to keep the sales team and sales managers adhering to my process. The process manager had the ability to remove any salesperson from receiving leads or phone calls. This manager alerted sales managers to any of their team’s failures to follow the process. This alone provided us with a lift in closing percentage in phone and internet leads.  Results are attached in this image.  

Conclusion: Either way you slice it, there needs to be a strong trainer that trains and helps you to implement the best practices. Then you must have someone within the dealership that will ensure that the training you paid for gets implemented and either the new BDC or the existing sales people are held accountable to the results. When you do this, then training dollars spent will have a significant Return On Investment (ROI). That return will be seen in the bottom line.  

"Without accountability and continued follow through, training becomes a warm and fuzzy waste of time " -Joe Ingram