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Transition for internet person to salesperson

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Green Pea
Jan 14, 2011
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John
Started handling internet leads differently this year, I now have an individual responding to the leads and contacting them to attempt to set appointments. How do we make a smooth transition from the internet person to the salesperson when they come in and/or set an appointment. Any thoughts?
 
John,

That's a great question, one that comes up often for dealers that have a BDC. It's such an important part of the process but unfortunately one piece many dealers struggle with.

There are several reasons for the break in this particular process but it usually comes back to two, "buy-in of the BDC" and "communication".

Here are a few ideas I've implemented over the years that help with the transition...

1. An email introducing the sales person as your co-worker / product specialist. Include a photo of your product specialist or better yet a video in this email introduction. Video can be very powerful here.

You want to reinforce that you're a "team". Show that you have great confidence in your "product specialist" and that both of you are here to help.

2. A follow up phone call or appointment confirmation from the product specialist / sales person. If you can, make it a 3 way call phone call.

3. Every appointment made in the BDC is a VIP appointment where you pull the car of interest around to the front of the showroom, showcasing the customers last name and the first names of the sales person and BDC rep. on the car in some manor.

4. A photo of you and the other sales person standing beside their vehicle of choice. You can use this in the introduction email I mentioned above.

5. Given the set up at the dealership, whenever possible, I encourage BDC personnel to do a face to face meet and *greet (the customer is usually expecting). At this time you can do another but formal introduction of your sales person. While you're at it, offer the customer a beverage.

IMO this is huge part of the transition and one that makes for a better overall customer experience. I believe this transition is so important is can help make or break the deal from the very beginning.

The BDC personnel can also be used on the close after presenting numbers. Things aren't going quite right and the sales person is struggling with the close. This can be a great time for the BDC step back into the process with the customer to see how things are going. Remove the sales person from the equation at this point and find out what the real objections. You may be surprised on how open the customer becomes.

The BDC process needs to be baked into the sales process.

Suggestion. Tie a percentage of the sales / desking managers pay based on the performance of the BDC and their lead to close ratio.*
 
Great ideas Jeff!

Also, John speaking from experience, and in coordination with Jeff's ideas on tying the pay plan, it's important to make sure your reporting structure (whether it be manual spreadsheet or through your CRM) support these statistics. It varies from tool to tool in the form of BDC support but things to think about in the process are:

- When the leads first arrive are they being assigned to a Sales Rep, with initial follow-up performed by the BDC?

If Yes, will your automation and reporting support multi-dealership contacts, rather, "can there be lots of hands in the cookie jar"

If No, most likely the customer will be assigned/ flipped after the appointment is set, and will your report metrics maintain proper "activity credit" of who set the appointment, and then give credit if the customer is sold even if the BDC doesn't own the customer.


- You also mention an "individual" answering the leads now, is there a possibility this team may grow in the future?

As Jeff suggests, having the BDC involved to soft close the customers, or even perform follow-up if the customer has to, "think about it" is a best practice. So when your team grows, will you assign BDC Reps to an individual Sales Person, or will you want them performing follow-up collectively (e.g. BDC Pool), where the BDC is responsible for all follow-up once the customer leaves the store.


Just a couple other things to keep on your mind as you're structuring your new process for a smooth BDC to Sales hand-off.
 
All salespeople SHOULD be savvy enough to handle internet customers and vice versa. Most of the people regular salespeople talk to on the lot, were internet educated, so you are already dealing with them. We killed our old style internet department right after I came back from DD this Spring and have BDC work all leads and when an appointment is set, the salesperson isn't known usually until they get to the dealership to ascertain who is free to help them. BDC does all post visit follow up.
 
I agree with what everyone else has suggested and I'll add one idea that might be easier for you to implement. Set the appointment for a manager. We set new car appts for the new car manager and used car appts for the used car manager. Then we make them aware of anything they need to know. This builds value in the "VIP appt" because you can tell the customer they will be meeting the manager when they arrive. Then, he or she can assign a salesperson to help the customer. This is easier because management gets involved early, the customer feels special, and you only have to chase down 1 or 2 people to see if your appointment showed.