An automotive BDC agent manages leads for car dealerships. BDC lead handling requires constant fine-tuning and pressure-testing to get the best lead conversion rate for clients. An effective automotive BDC strategy should blend lead-handling best practices to tailor the BDC lead routing to the client. Strolid offers a free assessment with no strings attached.
How Many Leads Does a Dealer Need?
A common question about automotive leads we receive is, “How many leads do you need to get the right amount of appointments?” But instead of focusing on the number of leads coming in, we tell clients it’s more important to focus on the process.
The reality is that dealer CRMs could be better. Hiring and training someone to use a CRM consistently and effectively is difficult. A consistent process will tell you how your marketing, pricing, and merchandising work.
Automotive BDC can tell you if your appointment set rate is too low or if your pricing, inventory mix, and marketing plans need adjusting. From there, BDC lead tracking and analysis can help you make the best decisions for your marketing dollars.
How Many Leads Are Enough to Justify Automotive BDC?
Clients often turn to automotive lead analytics, looking for that 10% lead-to-close magic because getting it is not easy. A consistent, holistic approach is where automotive BDC can help.
When researching BDC lead follow-up options, people probably tell you, “Your appointment set rate is too low. You aren’t getting enough appointments. Your show rate is too low.” While those statements could be why lead volume is low, it could also be your current pricing, inventory, and marketing, or the sales processes within the dealership are limiting lead scoring and prioritization.
Using BDC to pressure-test the dealership can tell you how many leads you need to deliver the conversion rate you’re after. Book a demo with Strolid to learn more about the automotive sales leads, lead handling strategies, and lead response best practices we utilize to distinguish our automotive BDC provider from the competition.
When Is a Lead a Lead?
BDC appointment setting and delivering the appropriate lead response time are key functions of automotive lead generation. Automotive leads appear in many ways. The following are all examples of automotive lead qualification:
- Walk-in customers
- Your existing customer base
- Phone ups
- Chats that come in
- Texts that come in
- Lead form submissions
BDC Customer Engagement
BDC customer communication is crucial to delivering the engagement rate that converts leads to sales. Direct communication and engagement with the customer lead to appointment setting 60% of the time. Pressure-testing a dealership determines what’s working and what isn’t. Constant analysis and fine-tuning are needed to deliver the best result. Once that process is consistent, you can easily eliminate variables impacting engagement rates.
A Strong and Solid Assessment: That’s the Strolid Way
The current onboarding assessment includes eight pages of detailed information. One of the biggest service appointment scheduling hurdles dealerships must overcome is answering the phone when customers call.
We are there to ensure a call is never missed, and we have accurate information in front of us, so when customers call to schedule a service appointment, we quote the correct price. To learn more about how Strolid can pressure-test your dealership and use automotive BDC to ensure you never miss a lead, please feel free to contact us at your convenience.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does an automotive BDC agent handle leads?
Automotive BDC agents handle leads in many ways, including responding to all phone calls, chats, emails, and lead form submissions. Automotive BDC agents will also contact previous customers to remind them it’s time for their next oil change or factory-recommended maintenance. Lead response best practices and appropriate lead response time are key to BDC appointment setting and improving conversion rates.
How does an automotive BDC qualify leads?
Automotive BDC agents have different qualifications for what makes a lead a lead. Walk-in customers, phone calls, and chats that come in are all automotive leads. Texts that come in and lead form submissions, such as service appointments, are also leads. One of the biggest automotive leads that are often overlooked is a dealership’s existing customer base and the people in the dealership.
What are some effective follow-up strategies for automotive BDC?
There are many effective follow-up strategies for automotive BDC agencies to incorporate into a client’s strategy for boosting customer engagement and lead conversion. The most significant follow-up strategies for automotive BDC include responding to every communication the dealership receives and being there to answer the phone for appointment scheduling and service requests. Other strategies include service appointment reminders and reach-outs.