The Five Absolute “Musts” for a Successful Automotive Sales BDC, from Dealer Elite.
If you’re like most dealers I speak with lately, you’re either looking to add a Business Development Center (aka BDC) or trying to find ways to make your current BDC more successful? If so, then there are just a few simple “must haves” that are truly non-negotiable if you’d like your BDC to succeed today and over the long term.
MUST #1: BDC’s Must be Profit (not Cost) Centers
The primary reason BDCs failed in the past is they simply weren’t very successful at driving what I call “plus business.” I saw it played out again and again: a dealer would return from a 20 Group or an industry conference and announce “It’s time to move our internet sales efforts to a BDC!” So the store would hire a few BDC agents, give them computers, telephones and headsets; and send all the inbound leads and calls their way.
The problem was that whatever volume the store was selling before the addition of the BDC, they pretty much were selling the same amount after the BDC was added. The only difference was that the dealership now had additional compensation costs to deal with each month.
