Start with what you need fixed
Before you talk to providers, write down the problem. Is it slow response to internet leads? Unworked trade-in leads? Spanish-speaking customers slipping through? A service drive with empty slots? The right BDC company is the one that’s strongest at your specific problem, not the one with the longest feature list.
What separates good BDC companies from the rest
They work in your CRM. If the provider’s work lives in its own system, your managers lose visibility, and you lose the history if you ever part ways.
They’re persistent. Ask for the exact cadence. One call and an email isn’t follow-up. In our own first 30 days on KBB Instant Cash Offer leads for a Central Florida Ford dealership, it took 3,522 outreach attempts to book 38 appointments.
They measure shows, not just sets. Appointments that don’t show don’t sell cars. Ask how they confirm and recover no-shows. (That same month had an 83% show rate on appointments that came due.)
They can prove it. Ask for real results from a real dealership, and whether you can speak to a reference.
They speak your customers’ language. If a meaningful share of your customers prefer Spanish, bilingual coverage shouldn’t be an upsell.
Red flags
- Guaranteed appointment or sales numbers before learning about your store
- Reporting that only exists in the provider’s dashboard
- Vague answers about who the agents are and where they work
- No clear way to measure results in your own CRM
- Pricing per minute, which rewards long calls rather than results
Start small and measure
Start a provider on one lead source, agree on what you’ll measure (appointments set, shown and sold), and review the results together in your CRM. That’s how our Central Florida Ford relationship grew: we started on the store’s KBB Instant Cash Offer leads, and the store later added its sales and internet leads.
Contact us to get started with Call Contact Confirm.