Digital Dealer - June 2018 - 40

By Jesse Miller

COMMUNICATIONS

BDC/Used Car
Manager,
Courtesy Chevrolet

APRIL 21-23, 2015 * TAMPA, FL
APRIL 21-23 * TAMPA, FL

Broken Links Lead to Broken Relationships
When I had the
opportunity to move
into the role of internet
director at a Ford
dealership in Escondido, I
was excited about the
responsibility, and of
course, the pay raise. Not
wanting to screw things
up, I spent a good
amount of time learning
from the approach of
other successful dealerships, specifically their
email templates, phone
process, and follow-up
routine.
My first week was
a blur of meeting staff,
learning a new CRM,
setting up the structure,
and revamping all follow-up templates. After a
month, I felt I had crafted
a creative campaign, and
our store soon became
number one in closing
percentages on the West
Coast region of our dealer
group's 16 stores! Metal
was moving. Paychecks
grew fat. We worked
customers until they told
us to get lost. I'm not a
braggart, so I'll get to my
failures next.
Looking back on this
scenario after moving
from a dealer group of
167 to 4, there were
tons of resources at my
disposal. And there were
managers managing
managers who managed other managers.
The responsibility to the
shareholders of a public
40

JUNE 2018

BY ALL BIRD'S EYE VIEWPOINTS, WE WERE DOING A MUCH
BETTER JOB THAN MY PREVIOUS STORE. I THOUGHT TO
MYSELF, WE SHOULD BE KILLING IT!
corporation to improve
the bottom line was at
the forefront of everything
that happened in and
around the dealership.
If I wanted a fully coded email blast sent out to
customers that owned a
purple hat, it was a few
mice clicks away and part
of the services provided
the dealership. If training
on the CRM tool was
needed, an in-house guru
was flown in to train the
staff. Daily reports of lead
response time, closing
percentages, ROI, etc.
were circulated up to the
president of the corporation. This was a well-oiled
machine that needed very

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

little grease, and I was
simply a cog contributing
to the movement. Sure, I
had a hand in its success,
but not without a lot of
help.
When the GM changed
the manager's pay plan
for the third time to our
detriment, and I realized
that I could make more
back on the sales floor, I
realized it was time for a
change. So, back I went
to my original dealership
- Courtesy Chevrolet in
San Diego - in the role
of internet director, which
has grown to now include
used car manager. I am
treated fairly, enjoy coming to work, and the only

change in my pay plan
was a huge raise. Life is
good!

ONE LITTLE
PROBLEM - I hadn't

been happy with the
results since being here.
I am used to a four to five
percent higher closing
percentage on internet
leads.
Although our closing
percentage was lower
than where I felt it should
be, I couldn't put my
finger on why. We have a
highly trained three-person BDC to handle
appointment setting and
lead response, in addition
to an all internet sales
force who work all leads
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - June 2018
