Dealership Business Development Centers Debated

To BDC or not to BDC. That is a question many auto retailers ask these days about what’s also known as business development centers.

They’re essentially telemarketing operations staffed by people who handle phone calls and sometimes also field emails from consumers. The goal is to drum up dealership business.

BDCs are not new to auto retailing, but they’re a topic of renewed interest. That’s in part because the Internet has increased the number of inbound calls to dealerships. Car shoppers make good use of smartphones’ click-to-call function.

Some dealers rely on standalone BDCs. Others don’t see the need for a separate unit with a dedicated staff. Debate also centers on whether BDCs should be in-house or farmed out to service providers.

Duties include fielding queries from vehicle shoppers, following up with prospects, setting up service and sales appointments and calling to confirm those appointments.

For many large dealership groups, BDCs represent a standard operating procedure.

“Most sales are moving to the BDC model,” says Wayne Ussery, director-digital marketing for the Atlanta-based Jim Ellis Automotive Dealerships. His group has an active BDC and Internet department that ranks No.2 on this year’s WardsAuto e-Dealer 100.

“They can handle 30 phone calls in an hour,” he says of the BDC. “It’s people who can multi-task in a short amount of time.”

But other dealers think BDCs are superfluous. Mike Johnson doesn’t have one at his store, Hickory Toyota in North Carolina. On the other hand, his partner at a Honda dealership in Virginia does have one.

“The biggest issue I have with BDCs is that they cost a lot,” Johnson says. “You are paying for phone calls to be made and received at a time when profit margins are tight.”

Proponents say a BDC’s strength is that staffers with good phone skills systematically follow up with sales prospects, something busy showroom salespeople may fail to do on a regular basis.

Johnson rebuts that. “I’d rather teach and train salespeople to do what they are supposed to do,” he says. “But there’s nothing really wrong with BDCs, except for the cost involved.”

Many salespeople do well in face-to-face customer encounters. But without proper training, “some people are scary on the phone,” Johnson says.

Bobbie Herron agrees. She’s the digital and marketing director of the 3-store Garber Automotive in Michigan

“If you want to spin yourself out of control, listen to a particularly bad phone call at your store,” she says at this year’s DrivingSales Executive Summit.

Poor phone skills aren’t the only issue. Whoever responds to customer emails should demonstrate good writing skills, says Bryan Armstrong, e-commerce director at Volkswagen Southtowne in Sandy, UT.

“You want people who can type, who read what they write before sending it and who do spell checks,” he says of dealership email responders. He doesn’t think people who handle emails should also handle phone calls, and vice versa.     

Herron describes herself as a BDC advocate. “But if you have the right sales process or if you are a smaller store, maybe you don’t need a BDC,” she adds.

She quotes Larry Bruce, an automotive digital-sales expert, who said, “Average people with an extraordinary process will produce incredible results.”

A successful BDC depends on buy-in from the rest of the dealership staff, Herron says. Otherwise, expect a disconnect.

Advertising consultant and WardsAuto contributor Adam Armbruster says:

“If a BDC rep’s response to a customer calling about an advertised vehicle is, ‘I didn't even know it was on sale,’ don't expect a lot of shopper confidence.”

Dealerships should keep BDC staffers informed of promotions and specials, just as if those employees worked on the sales floor, he says. “It’s too easy to assume ‘those guys upstairs’ will know. You’ve got to tell them.”

Some stores run partial business development centers.

“I run a hybrid BDC,” says Armstrong. “The Internet person also is a salesperson. People answering the phones have the product knowledge that’s needed. There’s no handoff, and the costs are lower.”

Herron isn’t a fan of the hybrid model. “I disagree with it. There are limits on the number of leads that can be handled and there are response-time issues,” she says. “What if they leave leads hanging?”  

Dealerships should limit the role of the BDCs so staffers don’t overdo it, says Joel Riley, business development manager of Findlay Honda in Henderson, NV. “You are not trying to sell the car over the phone. You are trying to get them in the store for an appointment.”

He offers seemingly obvious but still important hiring advice: “People who hate making phone calls are not the ones you want making phone calls.”

Among the debate topics over BDCs is whether to even call them that. Armstrong says no. “I prefer to call them customer-care centers.”

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