How To Make Your Business Development Center

Successful

By: Alan Ram

Let’s talk BDCs. There are many different types of BDC models, and what might work for one dealership may not work for the next, but there is one critical rule that applies to every type of BDC: They need to work cohesively with your sales staff.

The BDC disconnect

One mistake I often see Dealers making with BDCs comes into play when they have a BDC of non-salespeople taking sales calls. They tend to treat the sales staff and BDC as two entirely separate entities, rather than ensuring that everyone is on the same page.

This creates a problem when the customer comes into the dealership with information from a BDC representative they had previously talked to rattling around in their head. Then the salesperson, who is unaware of exactly what the BDC representatives are telling customers, meets that client in the showroom. The salesperson then ends up saying something along the lines of, “Oh, that’s just someone in the BDC, those guys don’t know what they’re talking about.” Even if the BDC representative has the latest and greatest training, things will go off the rails. When your salesperson doesn’t know what the BDC has told the customer, and openly admits it, your dealership’s credibility is shot, and you are stuck trying to dig your way out of a hole.

One team, shared success

1. The first is what we just discussed, in that they need to know exactly what the BDC is telling clients to ensure everyone is on the same page.
2. Secondly, it’s all about phone skills. Even if your people are not taking inbound sales calls, they should still be putting a phone to their head hundreds of times every month in outbound calls.