Traditional shoppers used to visit three to four dealerships before making a purchase. Now, with the shift going digital, dealership visits have dwindled to approximately one-and-a-half. Shoppers are spending more time researching that when they finally do touch base with your BDC department, it’s for two reasons. Joining CBT today is David Lewis, to educated us on the correct customer approach for your BDC.
David Lewis, a regular contributor and show host at CBT Automotive Network with Straight Talk, explains more on how customers are not only doing research online but also choosing to contact the dealers through mobile platforms like email or live chat. Lewis tells Jim Fitzpatrick how this could be or lead towards issues for dealers. If they do not have the right process in place, “ I think what is happening is a lot of dealers are missing the boat on why those people are reaching out to them” says Lewis, as he goes on to explain, “the first thing we need to understand is that it’s not the BDC departments job to make an appointment, but instead, get someone into the dealership”.
Appointments are useless unless the customer is going to show up. That’s why Lewis says that dealerships need to focus more on making sure their BDC team knows how to get people through the door rather the in the books.
When a customer reaches out to a dealership its mostly because of two reasons. The first, they want to talk to someone at the dealership to figure out if you are who they want to business with. “They are calling to size you up,” says Lewis.
Second, they are looking for information about a certain vehicle on the lot and want to know if it’s still available and if the information they see online matches up with what you’re currently offering for the listing. It’s during these engagements that customers make the decision of whether to do business with you or not. A lost opportunity during the first point of contact could result in the lost opportunity of a sale.
