HyperDrive Technologies, Inc

Handling Communication Between Employees in the BDC or Internet Department

The key to maintaining sanity within a dealership that has a rapidly growing Internet department or BDC is to structure a firm set of standards regarding “flow of communication”. In short, what we are trying to establish are the rules surrounding who talks to whom about what and when.

This is an area that is often overlooked with respect to an up and coming Internet department or BDC. Make no mistake, however, about its importance. This is an area that can single-handedly cause the destruction of the department from within. As the Internet department grows and expands, you will find a wide variety of conflicting emotions coming from staff members that were mentally unprepared for the results or who may perceive these departments as a threat. When this happens, you will be glad that you established a firm set of rules regarding lines of communication.

By having a solid communication policy in place regarding the Internet department and BDC, you create an environment where you can hold each member of the organization accountable for what they say and do to a degree that otherwise not be possible.

Third party communication

Third party communication is what happens when one individual communicates to another individual on a subject that is not directly related to their position within the organization. For example, if John the floor sales person enters into a sales cycle only to discover that the prospect is actually an Internet customer, and then later discloses his frustration about this to the Service Manager, John then may very well have entered into an unauthorized third party communication. This communication may have pulled the Service Manager off of his task, and caused him to become interbulated about the dealership’s Internet sales or BDC operations.

When policies regarding communication become an integrated component of an employee’s job description, the dealership can greatly improve the relations between these departments and the rest of the organization. Doing this effectively will have a direct and dramatic effect on the dealership’s success.

Here are some questions typical of situations that will require advanced routing instructions among staff members:

• Who does a retail sales person report to with a grievance relative to Internet customers?
• Who does an Internet manager report to with concerns regarding the dealerships’ advertising policies?
• When the service department fields a complaint from an Internet customer, who is the information routed to?
• When a Dealer Principal observes something that is disturbing relative to Internet sales or the BDC, what is the protocol for correcting the problem?
• When the General Manager fields an unauthorized third party communication from a sales person regarding the Internet department or how someone was handled on the phone by the BDC, what is the handling for dealing with the sales person’s break in policy?
• When a floor sales person receives a comment about the dealership’s Internet department or who they spoke to on the phone in the BDC from a prospect, who is this information relayed to and how?
• Who does the F&I Manager discuss his/her Internet sales related frustrations with when they feel like all the back end is getting sucked out of their deals because of poor customer set-up?

Deciding how to handle these types of concerns in advance will not only increase the morale of all staff members involved, both directly and indirectly, but will also dramatically increase the level of certainty of everyone involved in the BDC or e-sales arena.

Deciding On the Right Direction To Go With The Internet or a BDC

Deciding on where you want to go should, for all intents and purposes, be the fun part of the process.

Some dealerships are looking to integrate the Internet and BDC as a whole into the day-to-day operations of the dealership. These dealerships’ greatest concerns are in keeping up with technology for both sales and fixed operations.

Other dealerships decide that they would like to create a specific Internet related niche through which they can increase the total volume of vehicles delivered through the dealership. This can be done by creating unique website addresses with specialized content that produce unique sales channels in the dealership’s immediate market. This is usually expressed in niche new car pricing, concept pre-owned offerings or the infamous third-part special finance approach

Of course, there are some dealerships that will settle for nothing less than total market domination on the Web. These dealerships want total and absolute top-of-mind awareness and desire to take out the competition on all fronts using the net and more and more a BDC as the bat. When you think of buying your next vehicle from this type of dealership, you don’t think of anything other than a solitary entity that carries with it an Internet related edge that is perceived to be truly revolutionary. This type of dealership fully intends to capitalize on the ignorance of its competition and to fully leverage the power of the Internet and the compound interest that comes along with it.

Which direction you decide is best for your organization is, of course, entirely up to you. It should, however, be based on factual research and a unique understanding of both your organization and the public you’re attempting to emotional reach and propel into action on a daily basis. Your course should be based on certainty and not guesswork. When this is accomplished, your dealership will experience a seamless and successful transition from its current state and condition of existence to the end result that represents your end goal.

Remember that getting excited about the Internet or a BDC doesn’t move the needle. I see so many testimonials talking about how this dealer or that dealer moved the needle using the Internet or a BDC. Unfortunately the reality is that most of these dealerships are simply routing existing volumes from one existence to the next. If you want to know how a dealer is doing look at them from one year to the next in terms of volume, which equals market share and net profit, which equals the bottom line.

Regardless of what anyone else is doing, remember that as a dealer you are either shrinking or growing regardless if you’re on the internet, using BDC or have a new Blackberry synced to your new DMS and desking software.