• DD-Square-Logo_resized
  • ATTEND LAS VEGAS
    • Attendee
      • Registration & Pricing
      • Agenda At-A-Glance
      • Exhibitor List/Floor Plan
      • Sponsor List
      • Hotel & Travel
      • Hosted Dealer Program
      • FAQ
      • Mobile App
    • Exhibitor
      • Exhibit/Sponsor
      • Advertising Opportunities
      • Exhibitor Resources
      • Exhibitor Tips
    • Education
      • Overview
      • Show Schedule
  • ABOUT
    • Conference Overview
    • Best Of Awards
    • Become a Speaker
    • Press Inquiries
    • Partnership Programs
    • Health & Safety
    • Contact Us
    • Get Updates
  • RESOURCES
    • Webinars
    • Downloads
  • NEWS
    • Auto Retail News
    • Digital Editions
    • Press Releases
    • Submit Editorial
    • Subscribe
  • .
  • ATTEND LAS VEGAS
    • Attendee
      • Registration & Pricing
      • Agenda At-A-Glance
      • Exhibitor List/Floor Plan
      • Sponsor List
      • Hotel & Travel
      • Hosted Dealer Program
      • FAQ
      • Mobile App
    • Exhibitor
      • Exhibit/Sponsor
      • Advertising Opportunities
      • Exhibitor Resources
      • Exhibitor Tips
    • Education
      • Overview
      • Show Schedule
  • RESOURCES
    • Webinars
    • Downloads
  • ABOUT
    • Conference Overview
    • Best Of Awards
    • Become a Speaker
    • Press Inquiries
    • Partnership Programs
    • Health & Safety
    • Get Updates
  • NEWS
    • AUTO RETAIL NEWS
    • PRESS RELEASES
    • DIGITAL EDITIIONS
    • SUBMIT EDITORIAL
    • SUBSCRIBE

Las Vegas: Oct 17-19, 2023

REGISTER NOW EXHIBIT / INQUIRE
Q

NEWS:

Dealer Management | Dealer/GM News | Fixed Operations News | Service | Trending Industry News
December 19, 2017

Should Your Dealership Utilize a BDC for Fixed Operations?

Posts:
Dealer Management | Dealer/GM News | Fixed Operations News | Service | Trending Industry News
December 19, 2017

Should Your Dealership Utilize a BDC for Fixed Operations?

Successful dealerships know that their service department is imperative for creating customer loyalty and bringing in repeat customers and buyers. It has been found that service departments have been the highest growing in inbound prospect calls and appointments over the past few years, so I want to give you some tips on ensuring that your service department is being as successful as it can be. It is imperative to make sure that you are putting in the required effort to make the customer experience in your service department top-notch.

One way that dealerships find success in increasing their service department profit and efficiency is by incorporating a Business Development Center (BDC). A BDC consists of a manager and customer service representatives responsible for being customers’ initial point of contact, and handling the first-touch of the client relationship and appointment setting duties, inbound and outbound.

A BDC is not one rep who becomes responsible for all of these duties. A BDC is not a receptionist who will answer and forward along calls to other departments or voicemails. A BDC doesn’t have the word “center” in its name for nothing. You need more than one employee to actually have a real BDC.

It may be extra responsibility and money for your dealership to add a Service BDC, but when 66% of service advisors fail to ask the customer for an appointment, what would being able to successfully convert those callers into appointments mean for your business? Service departments are typically busy, and those that have the skills to service a car don’t always necessarily have the customer service skill set to get customers into your dealership.

There is a lot more to inbound call handling than simply answering the phone and passing it along to the correct department, or asking the necessary information from the caller. You have probably already heard about the importance of good call handling and many times already, but it bears repeating. Just because someone is calling into your dealership, it does not mean that they have any special loyalty to you yet—and their first impression will be made as soon as that phone starts ringing.

So what happens if someone answers with a rushed, distracted tone, is unable to answer the caller’s questions, or, even worse—no one answers the phone in time and the caller is either endlessly looped around in a never-ending ring cycle or sent to voicemail?

I will tell you what will happen.

That caller probably isn’t going to put in the time and effort to try to endlessly call your dealership back. It has been found that 76% of people clearly develop a perception of a company’s level of customer service based on the initial phone call, and the amount of consumers who still leave voicemails for a company have been dropping 8-10% per year since 2008. An unknowledgeable or busy person answering the phone isn’t going to leave a good first impression for your service department, and calls that go to voicemail might as well be written off as lost leads as well.

This is where a Service BDC comes in to play.

You want your service department to be busy – that is a good thing. But when they are too busy to put the time and skills necessary into all of the inbound calls coming in (and the busier your service department gets, hopefully the more inbound calls you are receiving), you aren’t going to further your dealership’s success. And that is the point, right? You don’t want to stay complacent and not make any improvements year over year; you want to grow the business and increase your profits.

For the first quarter of 2017, CallSource found that 30% of inbound prospect calls were for the service department—compared to 13% in sales and 11% in parts. Now being in the first quarter of 2018, do you think these metrics will be similar for you? Since service department calls have been steadily increasing year over year, there is a great chance that when data is collected for Q1 of 2018, this number will be even higher.

So, even if you may already have a Sales BDC incorporated into your dealership, there is also a clear need to include a Service BDC as well.

Think of all that your Service BDC employees would be responsible for.

  • Answer inbound calls
  • Answer all caller questions
  • Set service appointments
  • Outbound calling to confirm service appointments
  • Check on parts inventory
  • Order necessary inventory
  • Convince callers to set appointment with your dealership through value statements
  • Customer follow-up

The list goes on! All of these responsibilities will surely not be followed up on if you only have one person with all of these duties piled on, plus others that may take priority such as dealing with day-to-day, in person tasks. A BDC has the time to dedicate their best efforts to make the caller experience the best it can be, so that the customer will have a great impression of your business from the first ring all the way through to their actual appointment, and long after.

About the Author

Cassie Ciopryna is the Marketing Communications Specialist at CallSource, the company that invented call tracking and has over 1 billion phone calls tracked since 1995. As a content writer, she always strives to deliver the most useful and knowledgeable new information to readers. She can be reached via her LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/casandraciopryna/

Dealer Management•Dealer/GM News•Fixed Operations News•Service•Trending Industry News

SHARE

Share on Email
Share on Linkedin
Share on Facebook
Share on Pinterest
Share on Twitter
← Previous Article Next Article →
Posts Industry Press Releases

One View Integrates with Autosoft to Enhance Document Digitization for Auto Dealerships

One View becomes certified partner of Autosoft’s Partner Program – providing seamless integration between both systems One View, an auto industry-specific data solution specialist, announced the integration of its document management system with
Posts Marketing & AdvertisingTrending Industry News

How Does Google Analytics 4 Impact Call Monitoring?

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is here, and Universal Analytics (UA) is a thing of the past. So, what is the big difference between GA4 and UA, and what does it mean for dealerships and their automotive call monitoring solutions? Universal Analytics (UA) o
Posts Industry Press Releases

One View Integrates with Autosoft to Enhance Document Digitization for Auto Dealerships

One View becomes certified partner of Autosoft’s Partner Program – providing seamless integration between both systems One View, an auto industry-specific data solution specialist, announced the integration of its document management system with
Posts Dealer Ops & LeadershipTrending Industry News

Three Key Areas to Focus on for Fixed Ops Success

A well-managed BDC can significantly impact sales, raise service profits, and increase retention, but achieving success in this field requires three key ingredients: Focus, People, and Consistency. Without these elements working in tandem, even the m
Posts Dealer Ops & LeadershipTrending Industry News

Astroturfing: What it is and Why Your Dealership Should Avoid it

Astroturfing is organized activity that is intended to create a false impression of a widespread, spontaneously arising, grassroots movement in support of…something…that is in reality initiated and controlled by a concealed group…or corpora
Posts Uncategorized

Cracking the Code: Driving Team Action Post 1-on-1s

Ever left a meeting whether it’s with your team or a 1-on-1, on cloud nine, believing your team was all set to conquer the world, only to find their enthusiasm fizzling out days later? The challenge lies in converting intentions into actions amidst
Posts Sales & Variable OpsTrending Industry News

How End-Of-Year-Sales May Impact Auto Finance Digital Transformation Strategies

Following a challenging sales environment in 2022, a noticeable recovery in the automotive sector has stabilized in 2023. This year, even as supply chain problems subsided, new challenges emerged, such as the persistent risk of a potential recession,
Posts Industry Press Releases

Mopar and Petra Automotive Products Partner to Launch New Maintenance Products to Dealers Across North America

Petra Automotive Products, the fastest growing premium automotive products manufacturer in the world, is proud to announce 11 of their best-in-class products will be launched under the Mopar® brand for Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep®, Ram and FIAT® dealers

NEWSLETTER

SUBSCRIBE

DEALER MAGAZINE

Dealer Magazine March/April 2023 Issue Featuring an Interview with NADA 2023 Chairman
MAGAZINE
Digital Dealer Logo White
FOLLOW US ON
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
  • Follow
© 2023 Emerald X, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
ABOUT    CAREERS    AUTHORIZED SERVICE PROVIDERS   DO NOT SELL MY PERSONAL INFORMATION   TERMS OF USE   PRIVACY POLICY