An automotive BDC is a dealership’s frontline communication hub that ensures every customer inquiry and follow-up gets a fast, professional response. BDC, meaning “Business Development Center” in the United States, is built from two vital, parallel components: sales and service. Sales BDC draws customers to your store, while service BDC fills your service bays with vehicles.
Some dealerships rely solely on an in-house BDC representative and CRM, which might save money in the short term but could cost thousands in missed leads. Other U.S. dealers outsource their automotive BDC needs to professionals like Strolid for faster, scalable results. You’ll know if an internal or external automotive BDC model works best for your business if you notice red flags like faltering customer satisfaction, low appointment-to-lead ratios, or inconsistent customer follow-ups.
What Does "BDC" Stand For?
In the automotive industry, BDC stands for Business Development Center. As its name suggests, a BDC furthers the reach and productivity of a business – in this case, your dealership. BDCs, whether internal or outsourced, handle everything from inbound calls and internet leads to customer follow-ups and appointment setting.
What Does a BDC Do?
BDCs can be as simple as a small team within a car dealership that handles customer communications and lead management or as robust as an outsourced partner like Strolid that handles everything but in-person customer interactions for you.
Think of an automotive BDC like a car’s electrical system and engine control unit combined. Electrical wiring makes sure signals from switches and sensors reach the right places, while the ECU takes in and organizes inputs, then sends out correct responses to keep the car running smoothly. Similarly, an automotive BDC receives customer leads, processes and organizes them in a CRM, and provides consistent customer engagement.
Sales BDC vs. Service BDC
Sales and service BDCs are not competitors; they’re two important players on the same team working toward a common goal. Both provide quick customer responses and reliable information to keep patrons happy, loyal, and spending money at your dealership.
Sales BDC
Sales BDC generates and nurtures leads for the sales team. Sales BDC representatives answer inquiries about vehicles, pricing, and availability; they also follow up with internet leads, phone calls, and showroom visitors, as well as re-engage past customers and lease-end clients.
BDC Sales Goal: To fill your showroom with qualified leads.
Service BDC
Service BDC tasks include booking oil changes, repairs, and maintenance appointments, reminding customers about recommended services or overdue visits, following up on declined service work, and calling no-shows to reschedule. In short, a service BDC keeps your service department busy.
BDC Service Goal: To maximize service department traffic and retention.
In-House vs. Outsourced BDC Models
Chances are, your dealership is running multiple outreach campaigns as we speak. Email blasts, promotional mailers, website lead magnets, and maybe even a trendy social media video, all capturing new leads at lightning speed. You clearly don’t need more leads – but you might need support converting the ones you have.
Where Internal BDC Falls Short
With an in-house-only BDC, automotive sales staff are likely feeling the burn. There aren’t enough hours in the day for even the best associates to keep tabs on every email, phone, social media, and website interaction. If your staff can’t keep up, and they start leaving customers unanswered, you’ll lose far more than you’ll gain.
Leveling Up With Outsourced Automotive BDC
An automotive BDC partner like Strolid can be your dealership’s performance engine. Our BDC agents will optimize your current customer opportunities, leverage AI-powered accountability, guide your internal team in real time, and prioritize high-converting leads. Strolid partners with you to lighten the load so you can outsell your competitors.
AI + Human Agents: The New Standard for Automotive BDC
The auto industry has shifted from prioritizing lead volume to valuing lead quality. Many dealerships have handed BDC responsibilities over to bots, losing the human touch.
Strolid approaches artificial intelligence differently. We see AI in automotive BDC as one tool of many, not a one-size-fits-all substitute for live customer engagement:
- CRM data interpretation
- Predictive analytics
- Streamlined sales and service operations
- Increased staff productivity
- 24/7 customer support
- Mass personalization
- Increased customer retention
- Instant scalability
How To Determine Your Need for Outsourced BDC
Dealerships usually turn to an outsourced BDC partner when their internal teams are stretched too thin. These are telltale signs:
- Unanswered or late-answered inquiries
- Low appointment-to-lead ratio
- No standardized customer experience
- Inconsistent customer follow-ups
- Empty service bays
- Missed revenue from customers who decline add-ons
- No-shows aren’t rescheduled
- Conversion data is ignored or unanalyzed
- Customer satisfaction plummets
- Low profits don’t justify ad spend
If multiple factors from this list are true for your dealership, we’re certain you would benefit from an automotive BDC company like Strolid.
Rest Easy With Strolid's Auto BDC Best Practices
Strolid was built on a foundation of automotive BDC best practices to help dealerships like yours reach and surpass KPIs:
- CRM Integration: We leverage your existing CRM but expand upon its influence by analyzing its data and extrapolating insights. Say goodbye to data silos and hello to profit growth!
- AI Tracking: Via compliant AI call, email, and text tracking, we bank valuable customer information that enables your dedicated BDC agent to personalize each customer interaction.
- Skilled Representatives: Strolid removes any need for dealerships to spend thousands on internal BDC representative training. Each member of our highly trained team has an average tenure of seven years for optimal performance.
- 24/7 Support: No inquiry will ever go unanswered thanks to 24/7 Strolid agents who are there when customers need them most.
Strolid reps are continually upskilling their product knowledge and training to provide our dealership clients the best possible guidance.
Pros and Cons of Automotive BDC
Pros
- Builds customer connections at every touchpoint: phone, email, chat, etc.
- Focuses on warm and hot leads to increase appointments and sales.
- External BDC support frees up dealership staff for in-person customer interactions.
Cons
- Internal BDC representatives take extra time and money to train.
- BDC tasks can take sales staff away from more pressing work.
- Mismanaged customer connections produce underwhelming results.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does BDC mean in the automotive industry?
Automotive BDC, or an automotive Business Development Center, is a hub of highly trained customer representatives who focus on generating, nurturing, and following up with sales and service leads. An automotive BDC can be internal or external, depending on your dealership’s needs.
What's the difference between a sales BDC and a service BDC?
Sales BDC is the branch of automotive BDC that handles lead generation and loyalty building. Service BDC doesn’t compete with sales BDC; it complements it by filling your service department’s schedule with oil change, repair, and maintenance appointments and rescheduling missed appointments.
How is AI changing automotive BDC?
Artificial intelligence, when properly utilized, presents an exciting new opportunity to reach even more interested customers, build deeper relationships with past patrons, and make every person who reaches out to a dealership feel seen, heard, and understood. At Strolid, we harness AI power to securely and compliantly log personalized customer information so that every future interaction is as customized as possible.
Ready to Transform Your BDC?
See how Strolid’s human-powered, AI-enhanced BDC can help your dealership convert more leads into appointments and sales.