BDC

[Gerry Laughlin]

A few years back it seemed as though everybody was talking about the necessity of a BDC. Then it seemed as though talk about them just went away. Did BDCs disappear, or did they just become a normal part of business? If you are running a successful BDC would you mind sharing some of the secrets of your success? If you gave up on a BDC would you mind sharing your reasons for shutting it down?
Thanks,
Gerry

[bterbo1]

Hi Gerry:

We have a very successful BDC. We average about 120 RO's per day, of which 65% are CP. Our BDC handles ALL customer interaction.

They handle:
1. All incoming phone calls to the service center
2. They schedule, confirm and follow-up on all appointments, including missed appointments.
3. They contact all SOR customers upon complete receipt of the SOR. We use ADP, and Websuite has an automatic email system that you can use to send the customer an email notifying them of the receipt of the SOR to schedule an appointment (we currently have 24 SOR's receipted without appointments scheduled). We use almost none of our parts return allowance on unsold special order parts. (We have 30,242 customers in our database and 24,794 valid email addresses. Email collection is a primary responsibility of both the service advisor and the BDC).
4. They contact all campaign / recall customers to schedule appointments.
5. They coordinate the work schedules and team appointments for each team - they consult with the Team Leaders to keep track of what techs are at training, on vacation or not at work for other reasons (they do the same for the advisors) so they can schedule accordingly.
6. They receive all incoming status calls: they contact either the team leader or the advisor for status if the status is not current in ADP - and follow-up with status phone calls if the advisor is busy with another customer or away from his desk in the shop.

7. All of our customers received an email CSI survey within 24 hours of our closing the RO - we receive over 500 surveys per month. Our BDC coordinates follow-up with the advisor on any customer who scores us below our minimum treshhold (which is 95 out of a 100) to resolve any open issues and do whatever it takes to make the customer happy and keep them as a customer.

Our goal is to prevent as many incoming calls into the serivce drive as we can so our advisors have the correct amount of time to do a good write-up; walk-around; and present the menu. By having all incoming calls go to the BDC, our advisors have become more proactive with their follow-up phone calls. My service manager and I walk the drive during the day and review follow-up and active delivery phone call logs each advisor maintains.

Our cashiers keep a log that tracks all of our customers when they pick up their car to see if the advisor reviewed the invoice with them either by phone or in person today. Each advisor is dinged for any "no" answers.

We are a highline store; our advisors make very good money compared to the market place (but only about 10.5% of Service GP); and we are a Top 10 dealer in national customer satisfaction every month for over 2 1/2 years.

We maintain excellant grid penetration, menu utilization, and ASR inspection metrics. Our repair mix is approximately 68% maint and 32% repair. We have 43 tecsh and 9 advisors - with the newest advisor being on our team for over 2 years. We have 2 who have been here for over 35 years, 2 over 12 years, 2 over 8 years and 2 over 5 years.

[jazdale]

bterbo
WOW!
I love hearing stories like this where you utilize the features within Websuite to keep CSI as high as possible.

Obviously, your team has worked hard to get to this level of follow-up and automation.

Back to Gerry's question -
It has been my experience lately that dealers are looking for ways to cut expenses, and the BDC may be one of the victims. The other cut is trying to put the work of 3 people on 2. Sure personnel expense is cut by a third, but things like good presentation and good follow-up start to fall apart because of the time crunch.

[TheOne]

I thought bterbo1 answered Gerrys question exceptionally well. A well run BDC working effectively, and creating measurable profits.

Gerru I too have been a part of stores using a BDC effectively. Good investment for the right store....

None of will expense our way to a profit will we? Seems to me its time for good car people to turn off the TV and go back to selling and servicing cars. Our business has been on hard times before, and it showed us who the ral car people were. Anyone remember the green Chrysler cordoba, or the peach Ford Fairmont. Lets get back to work.

Hope all is well with you Gerry, and by the way how is the matrix working for you?

[cantfind12]

I too love bterbo's post because I think lots of us on this site are reminded of why we are in this business (as corny as that sounds). We are Car Guys and we need to be reminded why we do this. We want people to walk away from their "car experience" with a good taste in their mouth. I fly every week and I can tell the difference between a pilot who loves the craft and one who is earning a paycheck. I often think of a reference in John Muir's book "How to Keep your Volkswagen Alive." The statement was "Come to Terms with your Ass for It Bears You".

[calgm988]

bterbo1

Wow. Congratulations on the success of the BDC for your fixed operations. I'm curious, do you use the same procedures for the sales dept.?

Maybe you can explain how your sales dept. utilizes the BDC as well. We use a person to handle the fixed operations (we don't call her a BDC rep) and have similar results. I've been contemplating using someone for sales and like some of your feedback.

I agree with "theone" and "cantfind12", we must get back to work. Clearly the market is forcing change. Those ready for the change will survive, those not ready well...

Thanks


------------------
"focus on the purpose, not the outcome."

[gmservice1]

Wow bterbo1, I'm really happy to hear someone is thriving in this market. Just curious to know how you can turn a profit on 120 RO's per day and staffing of 9 service advisors and 43 techs? I average about 120 RO's/day with half that staff (5 advisors and 22 techs) and struggle to be profitable. Does that 120 include quick service???

[This message has been edited by gmservice1 (edited 03-05-2009).]

[bterbo1]

Hi GMService1:

We are a Mercedes dealer. Service and parts shows a significant profit - runs over 118% absorption every month for over a year. This allows us to sell some cars at the end of the month that are skinny PVR deals to increase our car count for service.

Thanks,
Bob

[gmservice1]

That makes more sense.... Thanks for all your help, I now know what I need to do to become more profitable. Switch carlines......

[bterbo1]

Also, the RO count does not include Internal. We do another 15 or so per day of internal RO's that the internal team leader manages.