July 2011 - Cover Story
Dealer Eliminates BDC, Creates Hybrid Department
Eliminating the business development center could be the death knell for any dealership in today’s Internet age, but not for Honda of Tenafly. In fact, it’s had the opposite effect.
By Gregory Arroyo
At 79, Sanford Dorf (center), flanked by sons Jeffrey and Norman, still comes to the dealership every day. The family leaned heavily on Arthur McCracken and Cory Mosley to map out a plan to eliminate the dealership’s BDC.
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Filling the Gaps
The work McCracken put forth to create Honda of Tenafly’s BDC wasn’t all in vain. When the salespeople came online, having advanced systems in place allowed management to identify several procedural gaps that additional technology could fill.
The first new solution was installed by Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Response-Logix Inc., which Mosley recommended. The company’s lead-management experts equipped the dealership with software that automates responses to price-quote requests. In fact, customers can receive multiple price quotes within 10 minutes, the baseline Mosley set for the store.
Mosley also wanted to optimize the dealership’s merchandising strategy, which meant working closely with the store’s Website provider, San Diego-based Autofusion Corp. “It was about putting as many mousetraps in place as we could,” Mosley says. “I just wanted the Website to give customers every reason to buy from the dealership.”
Site visitors are quickly engaged by a chat feature provided by Activ-Engage Inc. Todd Smith, CEO of the Orlando, Fla.-based company, once managed Dorf’s Chevrolet store, so he knew exactly what the challenges were and how his company could help. The software gives customers information about dealership specials and store hours, and can even connect them to a finance manager.
“Here’s a dealer not located on a main highway, doesn’t have a 40-acre facility, yet is highly competitive,” Smith says. “And that’s because they’re good at connecting with their local audience and because they know that success goes beyond the sale.”
Weaving everything together was DealerSocket’s CRM offering. McCracken was on the phone with the company at least once or twice a day during those first few months to get the system to mesh with the dealership’s process and the sales team’s skill set.
“Ultimately, the CRM is what connects all these dots and maintains a history of all those dots,” he says. “And they wove it all together, which was critical to getting salespeople onboard with everything.”
The dealership’s hybrid sales department is still a work in progress, and Jeffrey Dorf says he and his brother are always on the lookout for more effective solutions. He is quick to point out that the decision he and his brother made may not work for everyone or in every market. However, he believes that the connection between reaching more customers and selling more cars is a universal truth.
“Everyone in the dealership has to be ready to handle e-mails, texts or whatever medium our customers are using,” he says, “and that goes for service and sales.”
Things are smoothing out for McCracken and his hybrid team. In fact, he’s already moving on to several new projects, such as a new series of walkaround videos the dealership is creating for its online marketing ef-
forts. After that, he’ll begin integrating the hybrid Internet processes he created for the sales department into the service area.
“When the BDC didn’t quite work out, that could have been my demise right there,” McCracken says. “But the owners stuck with me and I appreciate that.”
Mosley also is amazed at what Honda of Tenafly was able to accomplish. “Nine times out of 10, eliminating the BDC is a bad idea,” he says. “But these guys did it and those efforts have now translated into 50 cars a month consistently.
“To me, dealers need to realize that you don’t have to have the premier highway location or an unlimited, mega-group-supported advertising budget to be successful. You can change the rules and still win.”