TAKE POLL How Many Leads Per BDC Rep Each Month?

[William Bryant]

That's a fantastic outlook.

Humans are messy and saying they're not doing their job at <300 is too.

In your math I find it odd that you don't consider time for training, meetings, conversations with the desk or management on price presentations, coaching time with a supervisor, product research, strategy development, template creation, etc...

I could force the list to go at least 100 items deep but the point is this, these are human beings, not robots.

Does this make me weak in not being able to lead my team to that level? I HOPE SO, i'd love to take them there, truly!

I would love to align with you and have them effectively work 300 leads however I've never seen it done even close to what I would consider an OK closing percentage (15%) let along good (20%).

I've have seen more than a few stores who cram 300/leads/mo end up around 5%-7% closing.

At this point all I smell is a bullshit argument that hasn't been battle tested.

I hope this is like the 4 minute mile and you can invoke the Bannister effect!

Although I have been able to achieve and maintain above a 15% closing ratio with our BDC, it definitely wasn't with handling 300 fresh internet and phone leads a month! Quantity vs quality IMO...

I will say that the ELEAD call center is able to achieve some crazy numbers through lots of technological adaptations and whatnot over the last couple decades that strength in a large number of agents allows. Otherwise, I haven't walked in a BDC to date that that could handle 300 leads per agent every month unless it's campaign leads with a low amount of contacts per lead. It seems like quality of lead handling, and therefore appts set/shown/sold decreases with that large number of fresh phone and internet leads.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

@Jerry Thibeau - do your statistics include emails & chats that the BDC handles? With chat & emails my BDC reps still average 75-100 phone calls per day.

I was talking strictly Internet leads. In addition to 300 Internet leads, one could potentially be taking other types of leads as well. Phone leads and chat leads are easier converted on first contact.

 

[joe.pistell]

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

In your math I find it odd that you don't consider time for training, meetings, conversations with the desk or management on price presentations, coaching time with a supervisor, product research, strategy development, template creation, etc...

If you recall Mitch, my math said that to handle 300 leads, one would only be using 1/4 of their available phone time to do so. There's plenty of time for other stuff.

 

[joe.pistell]

Auto dialer in action...

58 dials per hour.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

A BDC rep taking 15 leads per day should be a walk in the park. When I managed a BDC I use to take more than that as the manager.

 

[sryan]

100 to 150 fresh leads each month (depending on the agent) with a spirited 90 day follow up... Our BDC agents only set appointments and don't work deals womb to tomb.

Going to have to agree here.

It really all depends. Do you have a dedicated BDC manager that has 3-4 BDC reps? Is that BDC manager working deals with the sales desk for their reps or are the reps doing it themselves?

Myself. I am a 1 person BDC. I handle 150-200 leads a month. I manage the entire website, the entire marketing budget, change prices on new vehicles, work deals with sales reps, work deals online by myself. I try to rely on my other sales management staff but it seems the "do it yourself" approach works out a lot better when you have a desking manger just telling you "just get em in"

I asked that desking manager to switch jobs with me for an entire month for him to get a better grasp on what I do and he said he would rather quit than do my job duties. I think that's hilarious.

 

[skeetle]

I think the number varies - some BDC reps will be great at multitasking (like it sounds like SRyan [above] is) - but if you had someone else, and you didn't have to do everything else by yourself? Would your lead conversion ratios be higher? Would less leads fall through the cracks?

I also think the specific number a BDC rep can handle on their own is highly contingent upon how well your CRM is set up. And also how helpful your BDC Manager is.

 

[Alex Magnan]

Going to have to agree here.

It really all depends. Do you have a dedicated BDC manager that has 3-4 BDC reps? Is that BDC manager working deals with the sales desk for their reps or are the reps doing it themselves?

Myself. I am a 1 person BDC. I handle 150-200 leads a month. I manage the entire website, the entire marketing budget, change prices on new vehicles, work deals with sales reps, work deals online by myself. I try to rely on my other sales management staff but it seems the "do it yourself" approach works out a lot better when you have a desking manger just telling you "just get em in"

I asked that desking manager to switch jobs with me for an entire month for him to get a better grasp on what I do and he said he would rather quit than do my job duties. I think that's hilarious.

@sryan are you desking your own deals that come through the BDC?

 

[sryan]

@sryan are you desking your own deals that come through the BDC?

Yes. I've come to the conclusion for the most part, the less I talk to internet customers about the vehicle the more likely I am to see them step foot in to the dealership. Of course, if I HAVE to desk a deal/give value on a trade/run credit, etc. I will. But I consider that a hail mary.

It sounds crazy to think the less I talk to the customer about the vehicle the better chance I have them at coming in. But it's true. Our dealership is in a rural part of Maryland and if I can bring up a conversation about anything going on in the community it seems I can have the customers attention. If I can spark up a conversation about anything going on out there besides buying a car the more likely when I ask for the appointment they will show; plus it gives us something to talk about when they get here. I do have family in politics that are highly respected within our small community and literally anyone in the county our dealership is in knows them. If somehow they get brought up in conversation the level of trust is up there.