If you run a dealership, one of the primary issues that you may encounter is the collection and following up of leads. Lots of people may call your shop and inquire about their dream cars, but, often, these potential customers are still comparing prices from different stores.
An Automotive Business Development Center (BDC) serves as a solution to this problem. This provider offers specialized technical and managerial assistance for dealerships. In particular, they handle phone calls and emails that you get from customers.
Here are the reasons why you should utilize an automotive business development center as a dealership:
1. Boost Your Sales
The bottom line of outsourcing your customer service operations is always to increase your dealership’s profits. A business development center can help you accomplish that goal by providing focused customer care.
The primary role of a BDC is to boost the number of viewing appointments to your store. It supplements your sales efforts by having potential clients confirm the schedule of when they can check out the cars.
Then, your salespeople can meet them in-person at the designated time and persuade them to purchase a vehicle from your shop. A BDC takes advantage of the foot-in-the-door phenomenon where you gain the compliance of a customer for a significant request by having them agree to do a small task first, which, in this case, is coming to your store.
These are the ways you can make your company can complement your BDC’s efforts:
- Have a Click-to-Call Function on Your Site – In today’s Internet age, you must take advantage of your website and install a click-to-call widget on it. When visitors click on this button, they are immediately redirected to your BDC to schedule an appointment. Moreover, make sure that your site publishes useful content like infographics that contain practical information about cars. Companies like Venngage Infographics have templates that can be edited with ease.
- Disseminate Information about Promos – Another way to boost your profits is by ensuring that your sales department passes on the details about your exclusive discounts to the business development center. This way, the two teams can work hand-in-hand to entice potential buyers to purchase from your dealership.
- Assign a Coordinator from Your Store – Designate a person from your sales team to coordinate with someone from the BDC about client issues that need to be addressed, such as follow-ups and retention. Communication between the two departments is crucial for seamless customer service, so facilitate this process by establishing a point of contact in your company.
2. Gather and Follow Up on Leads
When you start a car dealership, you need to expend your efforts to gather leads and persuade them to have a look at the vehicles you offer. One of the primary issues that most companies encounter is that their salespeople don’t always know how to collect contact details from potential buyers and follow up on them.
The people hired by a BDC are skilled in extracting information from callers without the latter feeling as if they’re being coerced to do it. These representatives have the negotiation and communication skills to entice customers to schedule an appointment with your in-house team.
A lot of salespeople are more adept at convincing potential clients in-person. With this, a BDC can help guide shoppers through the sales funnel and make the lives of your sales team easier.
3. Improve Customer Engagement
Customer engagement begins the moment that a potential buyer calls your company to inquire about a particular car model. Outsourcing this process to a BDC ensures that you create an excellent first impression on your customers.
4. Recapture Declined Clients
For some reason, there are times when you have to decline services to a few clients. A lot of salespeople think that the professional relationship is already severed after this process.
However, a BDC can still salvage the connection by explaining to the customer why their request was denied. Then, they can provide alternative solutions to retain the client.
5. Personalized Market Research
Most BDCs keep a recording of their calls for auditing and quality checks. This means that they can gather valuable market information for your company, which you can use to improve your products and services.
Conclusion
A business development center provides a valuable service to car dealerships. They can boost your sales by gathering and following up on leads. These companies also help improve customer engagement, especially with recapturing declined clients and retaining them.
Moreover, you can get personalized market research through the information that they collect from calls by your customers.
