BDC Coordinator Commission

[Christine Plunkett]

Dang! Where's the love, Christine?

Nothin' but love for you, Steve. I don't care who you are that right there was funny!

 

[paulray]

BDCs have outlived their usefulness.

I'm happy to say that at the beginning of the 2nd quarter of 2015 Checkered Flag will finally dissolve the 11 year workaround. The up bus is not physically driving anymore; it is digitally driving. It has been doing this long enough for the traditional sales staff to have interest in the digital world. It is time for the Internet to become traditional.

Alex, we went to an internet selling floor a little while back. So far we have had mixed results and overall a drop in closing ratios and I have attributed it to the following issues I am looking for solutions on. If I cannot find solutions we have been investigating a hybrid approach or moving back to a BDC.

1. Unresponsive leads. Really hard to get the guys to keep going with multiple contacts on someone who does not respond. Especially as the month progresses, it also results in messy task lists where the real quality leads are mixed with 3 times as many who have not responded. We have attempted to curb this with using an outsourced call center that attempts a few hours out, 30 days and 60 days as a safety net with a measure of success.

2. Shift changes. In a BDC everyone is working all leads so if you have a shift change the next person takes over from where the last person stopped. Getting my guys to share leads has been next to impossible.

3. Crazy weekends. When everyone including all managers are going full tilt on a busy day with constant traffic the leads get left behind. Resulting in calls on Sundays or Mondays to find the customer already purchased at our competitor.

4. Lead Volume control. I will have high performers closing an outstanding 19% but the next month when you start gearing back the underperforming staff and if you end up sending just a few too many leads to your performer it tanks his results. I have found our sweet spot for the floor is around 20-30 leads a month per sales consultant.

5. Its a lot easier getting a consistent message and results from a smaller BDC compared to a larger staff of floor salespeople. Your spread of great performers and poor performers is higher and harder to manage or replace. Plus I don't know if its just how some guys are wired but some of my top guys need that down time between customers to put on his full game when a customer arrives. Taking him from his high performance and then saddling him with a ton of calls and interactions actually reduces his productivity.

Just my thoughts on the subject, curious if anyone else has found success in this model and how they handle these hurdles.

 

[Alex Snyder]

Alex, we went to an internet selling floor a little while back. So far we have had mixed results and overall a drop in closing ratios and I have attributed it to the following issues I am looking for solutions on. If I cannot find solutions we have been investigating a hybrid approach or moving back to a BDC.

All good points Paul. Making changes like that requires a lot of looking in the mirror. You have to ask whether the right people are in place to drive the results you want. At the end of the day people make it happen and processes are just a guide.

Have you tried limiting who gets the privilege of selling the "Internet Bones?" Is there a way you can position those leads to be more of a reward structure than a "have to?" It sounds like you're giving all leads to all sales people. With some "old school car guys" around, that might not be the best way to do it.

What I'm talking about isn't a light switch anyone can toss on and off. Hell, it took Checkered Flag nearly 20 years to get this point! And the jury is out on whether it will be the right longterm move or not. But they're also moving to a one-price model with a totally different scheduling system and pay structure. That move alone has paved the way for changing mindsets and/or bringing in a new breed of sales agents/management.

 

[paulray]

We are one price as well and it does seem to blend better in that environment and is why we moved to this model. It is close enough that we are getting the results of an average BDC dept but not an excellent one. The issue is for the added units in a great BDC it barely pencils out for the extra staff needed.

We have removed some guys as needed and have a rolling 90 day requirement. Some of our veterans are the best at it unless they get busy with there own previous clients and then they can tank a month real quick.

 

[BHavican]

Not to change the subject entirely, but I am curious as to how many Leads (Internet, equity, lease return, etc.) would you say is needed per month in order to really consider a BDC? We have one store that closed out 2014 with a 17.2% closing ratio using 5 dedicated, cradle-to-grave, Internet Sales Mangers with roughly 300-500 leads a month. On the other hand, we have another store that is sitting at an atrocious 4% closing rate that receives anywhere from 75 - 125 leads per month. We've tried a dedicated internet team but the follow up was semi-consistent at best and the buy-in was not there. Cannot seem to get the right people in there. The same follow up processes and campaigns exist at both stores using the same CRM.

Getting to the point --> is 75 - 125 leads a month enough to even consider employing 2 - 3 full time BDC reps at a store that sells roughly 70 - 100 cars a on a good month? I realize there are many other underlying issues here but just curious to see if this something that we could even consider?

Take it easy on this first time 'refresher if you would

Hi John,

When comparing the two stores and their closing percentages, have you also compared the lead sources from each one? Are the quality of leads at the under performing store comparable to the better one?

Also, I'd examine how well the under performing staff was trained. Do they have scripts, templates, etc.?

Finally, if you do go the BDC route, 1 rep could be able to handle the 75-125 leads per month and still have time to make other campaign calls. The issue is that only have one rep would leave gaps in coverage and your response time could hurt you. If you bring on 2 reps, that's not enough leads to feed them both. If you can supplement the leads with campaigns, equity calls, CSI calls, etc having a BDC might be worth it.

Normally I'm all for BDCs and believe there's a place for them, but it seems like in your situation it might be better to train up the people at your smaller store. It would probably be more cost efficient to bring in a third party like Phone Ninjas to help train the staff than to add 2 employees.