CRM, ILM, Chat, Desking, Emails, Phone, SMS

# Summary A BDC manager responded to a customer inquiry by impersonating the GM in an email after a week of neglect from sales staff, which upset the GSM who felt it made him look bad. The thread discusses whether this was the right approach, with respondents debating whether to respond as yourself with proper CC chains to leadership versus impersonating higher-ups to minimize confusion. The consensus advice is to use formal communication channels (CC'ing relevant managers) rather than impersonating others, while acknowledging the real issue was the underlying failure to respond to the customer in the first place.

Dealers discuss implementing digital appointment display boards for reception areas to show incoming customers their confirmed appointment times and assigned sales associates, similar to Apple's Genius Bar model. Multiple vendors are mentioned as offering solutions (DealerSocket, Higher Gear, TVPOS, eLead CRM), with Rick Buffkin providing positive feedback on TVPOS and sharing implementation photos from his Toyota store. The thread emphasizes that such boards enhance professionalism and customer experience, though the conversation reveals this feature remains underutilized despite being available through several CRM providers.

A dealer asks whether salesman commissions should be calculated before or after deducting the cost of a complimentary $500 TV included with a car purchase. Josh Seifarth argues the answer depends on whether the salesman had input on the promotion and whether the TV offer actually drives increased sales volume that compensates for the reduced per-sale commission. The key insight is that the fairest approach requires analyzing actual sales data to determine if the promotion benefits the salesman overall through higher volume, rather than applying a blanket policy.

# Summary A dealer asks for experiences with automotiveMastermind, a customer data and sales prediction tool. One respondent (Jeff Kershner) expresses initial positive impressions from a demo and notes the company's Mercedes-Benz connections provide data advantages, though his full response appears cut off. The thread appears designed to gather candid feedback from dealers about the platform's actual performance and ROI.

A newly promoted internet manager at two rural, independently owned dealerships seeks advice on rebuilding underperforming departments, including lead management processes, sales scripts, templates, and staff training. The community offers practical guidance emphasizing the importance of building a strong culture, avoiding overly localized messaging that could backfire, and leveraging existing resources like free training videos and search tools. The key insight is that successful internet department renovation requires balancing local knowledge with professional standards, investing in staff training and coaching, and learning from established best practices rather than reinventing from scratch.

# Summary Dealers are debating the ineffectiveness of having sales consultants double as BDC (Business Development Center) agents, with one poster reporting that this cost-cutting measure dropped their set-rate from 35-41% to 14-18%. Industry veterans in the thread argue that requiring BDCs to wait 10-20 minutes before contacting leads—to give sales consultants a chance to respond first—is counterproductive and defeats the purpose of having specialized lead follow-up, essentially gifting business to competitors.

Bob Hensley seeks advice on whether to switch from VinSolutions to Lead Information Services (LIS), a lesser-known, cheaper CRM that his ownership is pushing via a consulting firm. Community responses suggest LIS appears to be a reseller product with limited industry reputation, and multiple respondents advise against switching from a well-functioning, established system unless there's a compelling business case backed by data. The consensus is that changing CRMs is disruptive and unnecessary if the current system is optimized and delivering results.

# Summary A dealer manager seeks advice on fairly distributing internet leads to salespeople when their current rotation system keeps top performers at the top of the queue (since they're frequently busy), resulting in complaints that other reps aren't getting enough opportunities. Responses suggest bypassing individual salespeople entirely by assigning all appointments to sales managers or department managers instead, who then decide which salesperson receives each lead—a system that adds perceived VIP treatment while giving management flexibility to match customers with the best-fit rep.

Dan Mercurio seeks advice on building a centralized Business Development Center (BDC) for a large dealer group and asks for real-world examples of successful implementations. Carlito Mojica shares his direct experience creating a centralized BDC for LaFontaine Automotive Group covering 15 dealerships, while Steve Stauning recommends focusing on established "Must Haves" rather than copying large existing BDCs that often fail to drive incremental volume. The thread emphasizes that successful centralized BDCs exist but are relatively rare, and practical guidance from experienced practitioners is valuable for avoiding common pitfalls.

# Summary Katie Barth argues that modern car dealers must adopt a strategic social media approach—particularly Facebook—to proactively reach consumers rather than waiting for in-market buyers to come to them. With 1.55 billion Facebook users, 70% of whom are daily active users, social platforms represent a critical channel that dealers can no longer ignore as part of a balanced digital, traditional, and social marketing strategy. The post emphasizes that Facebook's value extends beyond organic reach and reputation management, positioning paid social targeting and retargeting as essential tools for keeping dealerships top-of-mind with potential customers.

# Summary A Midwest dealership's Internet Manager seeks advice on improving sales performance by enhancing email quality from his 15-person sales floor, questioning whether their current BDC structure is effective. Respondents emphasize that sustainable improvement requires tying email quality to measurable sales metrics and consequences rather than enforcing arbitrary standards, while also cautioning that email quality alone won't solve declining sales—he should audit lead quality, response times, closing ratios, and overall rep performance across all channels before assuming the problem is communication style.

Nathan Thompson, a 10-year automotive veteran, introduces himself and seeks advice on building a service BDC for his Honda dealership from scratch. Jeff Kershner welcomes him and suggests that dealers typically prioritize sales BDCs over service BDCs, despite service representing the greater revenue opportunity—implying that a Service BDC should logically be the foundation before expanding to sales.

# Summary A Canadian dealer group seeks recommendations for third-party call and email follow-up services to support their internal campaigns (200-500 contacts per campaign) and inquires about campaign management software beyond their current DMS capabilities. Respondents recommend several providers including EleadOne, CallRevu, Better Car People, DecisionLinks, SunStar Autos, and Conversica, with emphasis on AI-driven solutions and proper script customization as key differentiators for appointment show rates. The emerging consensus is that outsourced call centers should use intelligent automation tools and personalized scripting rather than generic follow-up approaches to maximize results.

# Summary Steve Stauning criticizes dealership process emails for including multiple irrelevant links (to YouTube, Facebook, etc.) that distract from the primary goal of generating a callback, and notes common mistakes like broken links or links to wrong dealerships. Alexander Lau reinforces this perspective, arguing that every call-to-action should have a clear purpose and provide value to the reader by answering what you want them to do, how they'll know what to do, and why they should do it. The key insight is that process email templates should maintain focus on a single goal rather than cluttering messages with tangential links that confuse prospects and reduce conversion.

The discussion examines how dealership pay plans—particularly for BDC and Internet departments—are structurally outdated and fail to reflect the actual value and profitability these roles generate for dealerships. Participants highlight that pay plans are frequently revised without addressing underlying issues of performance misalignment, and debate what modernized compensation structures might look like, with one expert advocating for salaried positions with escalators tied to volume metrics and task completion rather than traditional commission models. The core insight is that dealerships should abandon historical pay structures and redesign compensation based on each position's actual impact on profitability.

# Summary Dealership marketing professionals debate strategies for growing Facebook page engagement, with proponents sharing tactics like liking related brand pages, running contests, requesting customer reviews via post-purchase emails, and offering incentives for social engagement. While some contributors report success with these methods (one dealer grew from 0 to 621 likes through consistent effort), skeptics argue there's no proven ROI in Facebook engagement and suggest dealers focus resources elsewhere.

# Summary Dealership BDC managers debate optimal compensation structures, ranging from tiered base salaries with individual appointment/show/sell commissions to fully variable "at-risk" pay plans to team-based bonuses tied to department-wide metrics. Key tension emerges between individual incentive structures (which reward top performers but risk creating freeloaders) and group-based pay (which promotes teamwork but may demotivate high achievers), with experienced contributors advocating that individual pay plans tied to measurable metrics like real appointment shows ultimately drive better performance and retention.

A dealer with 5 years of Autobase DDS experience raises concerns about tracking failures in the BDC's Loyalty Center module and a critical integration issue where service appointments from their Reynolds DMS system create duplicate customer records, preventing sales staff from seeing existing customers' service activity—a problem they've had open with support for months. Another user confirms experiencing similar Reynolds integration issues across multiple vendors, suggesting the problem may be systemic. An Autobase representative (Anita) offers to work with the dealer directly to resolve the issues.

A dealer asks for recommendations on in-house BDC trainers, and respondents recommend BDC Experts (Proactive Dealer Solutions), a North Carolina-based firm praised for effective strategies, scripts, and training support despite premium pricing. The key insight is that trainer quality matters less than organizational buy-in—successful BDC implementation requires full management commitment regardless of which vendor you choose.

# Summary Dealers debate how to define and credit iLead sales—specifically, what timeframe should elapse between lead submission and sale for it to count as an iLead conversion, and whether BDC/internet team compensation should be based on appointments set or broader "significant involvement." The consensus that emerges emphasizes strict accountability: while advertising credit can be indefinite, team/agent credit should require either a confirmed appointment set within a tight window (typically 45 minutes to 3 days) or verifiable recent contact, as loose standards encourage weak follow-up and cost dealerships sales to competitors.

BillH seeks CRM recommendations to replace Dominion Webcontrol, citing inadequate skating alerts and reporting capabilities, and receives suggestions for DealerSocket, Dealer.com, ELeads, ProMax, and VinSolutions. The discussion reveals that while Dealer.com offers superior user experience for BDCs, ELeads provides more robust reporting, but BillH's primary constraint is ACS DMS integration compatibility, which eliminates several options and ultimately points him toward DealerSocket after learning that DealerTrack's Inventory Plus was recently transferred to them.