• Stop being a LURKER - join our dealer community and get involved. Sign up and start a conversation.

I prefer ISMs working cradle to grave

ddavis

Boss
Jun 28, 2011
1,491
496
First Name
Doug
Any organization is only as good as it's people. I prefer ISMs working cradle to grave. I want the very best people answering the phones, email leads and selling my customers. Having an ample number of leads that close at a high percentage rate allows you to be able to attract, retain and motivate the highest quality people.
 
Doug, I respect your position. I can get better ROI and much more stability with a BDC/Appointment Setter set-up.

John, I'm in a large metro market where turnover, on the floor, is a serious problem. Every store is hiring. The clerks in your BDC have to turn the appointments to somebody. It will likely be the green pea that is hiding in the back.

If your leads close at 20+ percent, you can have very eager, talented sales professionals on the phones and there is no switch when the customer comes in. My guys sold a lot of cars with very little turnover.

I want someone, answering the phone, with skin in the game. I have seen salesmen run from BDC people because they knew that they would tell a customer anything to get them in.

Under your system, you have to pay the clerk and a salesman. I only paid the ISM.
 
John, I'm in a large metro market where turnover, on the floor, is a serious problem. Every store is hiring. The clerks in your BDC have to turn the appointments to somebody. It will likely be the green pea that is hiding in the back.

If your leads close at 20+ percent, you can have very eager, talented sales professionals on the phones and there is no switch when the customer comes in. My guys sold a lot of cars with very little turnover.

I want someone, answering the phone, with skin in the game. I have seen salesmen run from BDC people because they knew that they would tell a customer anything to get them in.

Under your system, you have to pay the clerk and a salesman. I only paid the ISM.

Doug -- the BDC saying "anything" is a silly argument and quite honestly I expect better from you.

The quite simple math of the subject is that the best Appointment Setter architecture can set twice as many appointments as the best cradle-to-grave system. Or in ROI terms, a team of 6 $10 per hour people can bring-in as many as 12 cradle to gravers.

It's not personal, it's not even opinion, it's just math. With the right process, metro, agro, or the moon, the math says it's more efficient.

And we don't set appointments for salespeople. We set appointments for Managers; salespeople foam at the mouth to land one of these Ups.
 
Just curious, because my stores have tried both processes-when your BDC rep makes the first call to customer and the customers asks a bunch of questions, how do they handle it.

-Are they certified and knowledgeable on all makes you sell?
-How do they handle pricing questions?
 
Doug -- the BDC saying "anything" is a silly argument and quite honestly I expect better from you.

The quite simple math of the subject is that the best Appointment Setter architecture can set twice as many appointments as the best cradle-to-grave system. Or in ROI terms, a team of 6 $10 per hour people can bring-in as many as 12 cradle to gravers.

It's not personal, it's not even opinion, it's just math. With the right process, metro, agro, or the moon, the math says it's more efficient.

And we don't set appointments for salespeople. We set appointments for Managers; salespeople foam at the mouth to land one of these Ups.

Math???? That must be Obama math. I would put my weakest ISM against your two best clerks on appointment setting. You just don't get pros at $10/hr. All of us were in the same room. I heard every call going in and out. I saw every email. My guys knew every car and could describe it in detail. They are salesmen and closers. My guys worked like rented mules but were well compensated.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 person
Math???? That must be Obama math. I would put my weakest ISM against your two best clerks on appointment setting. You just don't get pros at $10/hr. All of us were in the same room. I heard every call going in and out. I saw every email. My guys knew every car and could describe it in detail. They are salesmen and closers. My guys worked like rented mules but were well compensated.

I hear ya, Doug.

But I also know that a worm who lives in a jar of sauerkraut all it's life thinks it's the sweetest thing in the world. :)