New Vision Sales Automobile Dealer Sales Training – Article Series

Outsource to In-House:
The Final Stage of Transitioning to
an In-House BDC – Part 4 of 4

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This is the last in a four part series of articles about
implementing and in-house Business Development Center. Up to
this point in the outsource-transition can take up to a year to-
in-house-BDC transition; the bulk of the in-house preparation has
been planning, along with some training. While the entire
transition can take up to a year or longer, the final stage
should be completed in a month or less.

By this stage, buy-in should be dealership-wide, key members of

management are trained, the functions of the in-house BDC are
defined, the actual BDC is set up, and recruiting for BDC
personnel has begun. Now, it’s time for hiring and training.
While still outsourcing business development functions, a trainer
from the outsource provider will assist in hiring and in the
full-scale training of BDC employees. First, you need a business
development manager (BDM), if you haven’t hired one already. BDMs
must lead by example, have strong communication skills, and be
able to take any customer T.O. in the BDC and set an appointment.

A BDM is a coach and must encourage competition while maintaining

unity and teamwork in the BDC. He or she holds BDC employees
accountable and when necessary, documents and addresses less-
than-outstanding performance or attitude issues. While your
outsource provider will assist in the initial staffing, training
and set-up of compensation plans of BDC employees, the BDM will
take over those duties once the department is live.

The two other positions to fill in the BDC are business

development team leaders (BDLs) and business development
representatives (BDRs). After looking internally for good BDC
employees, the best way to locate BDC employees is to run an ad
for customer service representatives on various online listing
services offering a ground-level opportunity with room for
advancement and free skills training.

Once you have applicants, conduct the first interviews over the
phone. The main disqualifier during this stage is an inability to
communicate well on the phone. You need to be particularly
careful hiring in today’s job market; you don’t want people who
have lost their jobs due to the economy and are looking for
holding-pattern jobs. They are likely to move on once something
in their field opens up.

The next stage of the hiring process is the training camp, which
should last about three days. Normally, only about 50 percent of

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applicants who said they would attend actually show, so plan
accordingly. As the days progress, the camp goes from a classroom
instructional setting to an interactive role-playing setting and
ultimately an assessment. I always give everybody all the
information and train them top to bottom. Those who want it badly
enough will go after it. They’ll study it. They’ll practice.
They’ll ask questions, and they’ll begin to weed themselves out
or shine. The first day of the camp covers:

• Commitment, attitude and stress management

• Communication skills

• How to adjust to different personality types and customers

• The importance of tonality while on the phone

• Selling the sizzle based on rapport-building

• Call guides and best practices

• Influence and persuasion techniques

• How to overcome any objection

• Basic job requirements (daily tasks, how to develop a work

plan, etc.)

The second day of the training camp focuses more on BDC processes
and extensive role-playing. The role-playing is, in reality, the
second interview. It allows you to start eliminating applicants
who can’t really grasp what you do. You ultimately want
articulate individuals who can sell the appointment (not the car)
and build rapport. I’m a big believer in information retention
assessment, which is done orally through role-playing and written
exams.

I use a pros-and-cons system for role-playing. I ask for 20-plus

pros and cons to be written down on every role-play session so
people really think about what it takes to “own the phone” by NOT
sounding fake, scripted or insincere. The people who are
listening closely and writing down what is done well, what is

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missed and what needs improvement get more out of the exercise
than the people role-playing. Leaders begin to surface when they
reiterate, encourage and actually begin assisting with the
training discussions.

To end the training camp, give a written exam to see how much the
applicants have retained. Essay questions are best for evaluating
retention, but I also suggest including true/false, fill-in-the-
blank, match-up and multiple-choice questions. After the exams,
you’ll be able to identify the strongest candidates, with BDM and
BDL candidates rising to the top. The makeup and functions of
your BDC will dictate how many BDLs and BDRs you need to hire.
Generally speaking, each BDL can manage three or four BDRs.

Once you have your BDC team assembled, the outsource provider
should provide specific CRM-and process-training on the functions
of the in-house BDC, in addition to compliance training on Do Not
Call and state regulations. Someone in-house should train the new
hires on HR-related matters and dealership policies (the standard
policy/procedural training or orientation everyone in the
dealership undergoes).

Once the post-hire training is finished, it’s time for the in-
house BDC to go live. At this point, you may choose to do all
business development work in-house or you may have the outsource
provider continue to do some work while the new BDC gets on its
feet. Many dealers utilize the latter approach, which I call a
hybrid BDC.

Before the in-house transition is 100-percent complete, the

trainer should follow up with mystery-shop calls and Internet
inquiries for a minimum of one month. And, because 100-percent
employee retention isn’t reality, the trainer may conduct mini-
training camps for any new hires during the first month(s).

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