An Omni-Channel Business Development Center is a BDC that is not limited to the typical methods of communication, such as phone and email. This type of BDC can communicate using online chat, texting, video chat, Facebook messenger, phone and email.
There are considerable benefits to training your agents and providing them with the technology to converse across a wide range of channels. Benefits including increased level of quality in customer service, leading to an increase in your sales.
Live chat is one of the most popular channels of communication for customers and it’s not surprising why. Almost every website has an option for you to chat with an agent for assistance. Many dealers are opting to have their chat tool run by a third-party online engagement company, instead of their BDC. While this is an option, it does create one problem. When the chat conversation ends, it creates a break in the dialog with that customer. Why not have your appointment setters chatting with your customers instead of a third party handing them off to appointment setters? The customer was right there, on your website and engaged.
This is where you can see the benefit of implementing an Omni-Channel BDC. When your online engagement team and your BDC merge together, the conversation doesn’t have to end when the chat does. The BDC agent can work with the customer all the way up until they walk into the showroom, without any gaps in communication among channels. The same people who are picking up the phone and setting your appointments could also be operating your chat tool, giving your customer a consistent point of contact for any questions or concerns. When your customer sees consistency, it gives you credibility.
When your team walks out the door, your phones are still ringing. No matter how well your voicemails are managed, anyone who calls after closing must wait hours, or even days before their questions are answered. Immediate service is expected… it’s 2021! Not to mention the fact that most callers will not leave a voicemail at all, and many people hang up as soon as they hear your auto-attendant. Then, by the time your sales or BDC team return the customer’s call, chances are they’ve already spoken to your competitors down the street.
The remedy is simple. Your phones need to be answered all day, every day. Inbound sales calls of any kind are the purest form of lead. They are interested, they are calling you, and about 60% of the time they’re setting appointments.
We all know response time is important to your customers and OEMs are monitoring response times closely as well. The problem is, even if your OEM doesn’t penalize you for your after-hours response time, your customer probably will. After-hours auto response emails are often intended to be helpful, but how could one email template possibly be relevant enough to give detailed information to all your leads?
When you have BDC agents responding to your after-hours leads in real time, you can tailor your response to fit your customer’s situation. The human touch is often lost on the late-night browsers, so if you offer concierge-level interactions outside normal business hours, your customers will notice. We all know the early bird gets the worm, and if you can put your prospects in contact with the right person immediately, you’re going to set more appointments and gain a competitive edge.
Contact our MysteryConcierge for a free mystery shop of your store to analyze how leads are handled.
