- Dealer Marketing Magazine

Huntersville, NC — June 7, 2018 — Building a successful business development culture at an automotive retail dealership requires planning, training, practice, and data analysis, but most importantly — the right people. Given an unemployment rate of less than 4% and mounting pressure to increase wages to attract quality talent, it is just a good business practice to enlist the assistance of a recruiter to find, engage, vet, and recommend prospective managers and representatives for a business development center (BDC).

Proactive Dealer Solutions, the BDC Experts, has for more than 16 years, engaged in helping its clients and auto dealers across North America find and recommend quality talent to improve the effectiveness of a dealership’s BDC. The firm has assisted more than 8,000 dealership BDCs over the past 25 years. Lisa Owen, Proactive Dealer Solutions Recruiting Services Manager, said over the years the firm has developed proprietary processes for engaging the right kind of people that flourish in a modern business development culture.

“Leadership at Proactive quickly learned that technology, policies, and training weren’t enough to grow a successful BDC,” Owen said. “You needed the right type of managers and team members. And they needed to be on the right bus, in the right seat.”

While Proactive offered Recruiting informally at first, it quickly became a significant aspect of their BDC services. The Recruiting Services team at Proactive is charged with creating a personnel pipeline and keeping it filled.

Recruiting Services has developed a proprietary platform that engages prospects through passive recruiting via social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook and others, reverse searches, paid advertisements on sites such as Indeed and Glassdoor, and other methodologies.

Once Proactive engages a prospect for a specific job opening or fields an inquiry, the Recruiting team gathers information about the prospect and then formally screens each individual. The team uses phone interviews, gathers information through a brief, proprietary, personality assessment, sets up interview scheduling, and follows through to ensure the interview is held.

“These prospects are applying for jobs where their primary responsibility will be to contact and engage automotive customers on the phone,” Owen said. “We spend a good amount of time with them in phone conversation to gauge their skills and comfort levels.”

Automotive dealerships have among the highest turn over rates for most aspects of their operations. Sales associates, for instance, have a turnover rate of 66 percent. While turnover within a BDC is lower, Owen said proper vetting early on in the process reduces high turnover rates, saving time and the high costs associated with replacing and training a new team member or manager.

Owen said keeping turnover rates low is a task that is incumbent upon the dealership leadership, but that Proactive assists with not only finding the right people, but provides intensive call monitoring using artificial intelligence and expert training. “We’ve always taken a complete solution approach to developing a business development culture,” Owen said. “Get the right people on board, monitor their strengths and weaknesses, offer training, and collect data. We do all this with the focus on profitability and continuous improvement.” Reducing turnover requires a multi-faceted approach, Owen said.

Offering a competitive salary for your region is vital, but then so is making sure the manager and representative feel they have an opportunity for both professional and personal growth. “Intangibles are important as well,” Owen said. “If your dealership is located in area with a high-quality of life, you should mention it. If turnover at your dealership is low, and the store has positive customer reviews, note that as well.”

A competitive salary is key in attracting prospects, Owen added, especially when it comes to that employee who is already working and likes their job. However, it is important to, when possible, list benefits such as medical or dental coverage, and such things as vacation policy and any other employee benefits. Owen said the onboarding process is very important, as it is the employee’s first impression of your team and the operation. “Make sure the new employee is introduced to all leadership and co-workers,” she said.

“Be sure their work area is clean and welcoming. The last thing you want to do is set them in front of a computer to watch 15 hours of training videos. They require hands-on training, and they should be made to feel they are part of a team.”

Recruiting services engages employee prospects in a number of ways, and the same tools Proactive uses to assist business development personnel to engage the car-buying public is used to contact, engage, and interview them. The Recruitment Services team uses direct phone calls, emails, text messages, and social media posts to attract and engage prospects. “We may provide three or four solid candidates to a manager looking for just one team member,” Owen said. “When one is selected, we keep in touch with the others to help keep that pipeline full.”

For more information

U.S.: Proactive Dealer Solutions, 16409A Northcross Drive, Huntersville, NC 28078, 704.896.1447, inquiries@bdcexperts.comCanada: 78 Sovereign Drive, St. Catharines, Ontario, L2T IZ7