The main function of a Business Development Center (BDC) is to create showroom traffic. The role that the Business Development Manager (BDM) plays, although very important, is often misunderstood. As a result, the responsibilities assigned to the BDM are not entirely those that will enable your BDM to lead the BDC to realize its true potential and to maximize showroom traffic.

As defined, A manager is the person responsible for planning and directing the work of a group of individuals, monitoring their work, and taking corrective action when necessary. However, in the case of a BDM, the most important responsibilities also include those of a leader, teacher, and coach.

A BDM’s responsibilities should include creating and maintaining a positive, team-oriented culture in the BDC, teaching each member of the BDC proper phone skills, process and procedure, and coaching the Business Development Representatives (BDRs) daily. The responsibilities given to your BDM will determine whether or not you find daily, consistent, top performance and continued growth within the department.

Here are the BDM responsibilities for optimal results in your BDC:

• Creates a positive, upbeat, fun environment in the BDC where each member of the team looks forward to coming in to work.
  
• Represents your dealership with pride and professionalism.
• Leads the team by example.
• Lights the fire within the BDRs, not under them.
• Doesn’t just tell the team what to do, but shows them how. When the phone rings and everyone is busy, the BDM grabs the phone by the 2nd ring and sells the appointment.
• Praises the team on their accomplishments publicly, criticizes privately.
• In an environment where it is all about a positive attitude and pride as a representative of YOUR dealership, this is very important. Negativity, wherever it comes from, will destroy the BDRs’ spirits and it will affect performance.
• Promotes education and hands-on training with the BDC team. Spends more time focusing on creating solutions, training the team to improve, and helping the BDRs realize the goals set for the dealership than chasing old numbers and what was done wrong.
• Turns turnovers into training opportunities.
• If a call is not appointed in 4 or 5 minutes, a turnover to the BDM should happen. The BDM should turn it into a training opportunity by allowing the BDR to listen to the close via a Y adaptor or going over the recording after the call.
• Works for hands-on with each member of your team daily.
• The BDM does their work plan for 15-30 minutes with the BDR monitoring and then has the BDR do the same with the BDM monitoring.
• Works with a daily/weekly agenda. Time management is extremely important in an environment that is always busy and everyone is multi-tasking each moment of the day.
• Tracks the productivity of the BDC hourly, daily, and weekly. Displays the numbers on a whiteboard so that the entire team knows how close or far they are from individual and team goals and expectations.
• Shows the team, first thing in the morning, how to get going on the new leads, confirm appointments for the day, send out emails, and start on their work plans and other daily tasks.
• Cleans up the previous day’s business in the first hour of the day. Reconciles the desk log, completes daily reporting and gets it done so that the BDRs can focus on the present day.
• Schedules call review, one on one BDR monitoring, etc., depending on BDR schedules.
• Inspects what you expect.
• Sets minimum expectations and performance goals for each BDR, especially as a qualifier for any performance-related bonuses. The main expectation is 100+ (bare minimum) outbound dials. As for remaining performance goals, the top two would be the number of shows each week (with a team show goal as well), and the shows/leads week-to-date statistics for each BDR.
• If a BDR is not performing, BDM does not assign that person any more leads until the numbers are where they should be.
• Call recording is vital. If you don’t have it, your BDM cannot help the BDRs to grow. When call review is done, make sure your BDM updates the dashboard for the recording tool and shares the audio file with the BDR, you or your GM if desired, and potentially with a trainer who may have helped you to set up the guides. The second set of ears is always helpful.
• Conducts team meetings.
• At the very least, the BDM should conduct a meeting once a week –ideally Monday and Friday when you should have full staff present in the BDC. Attendance by the GM or whomever the BDM answers to is great at least once a month to show support.
• BDM prepares an agenda with a few topics, white space for notes, and Q&A at the end.
• Works with the team to accentuate the strengths of each member and strengthen their weaknesses. This can be done by getting feedback from the team so that there aren’t a few heavy hitters and the rest weak links.
• Recognizes the different learning methods that each BDR uses, and teaches each person how to grow using their preferred methods. Everyone learns at a different pace.

Remember, the BDC is the first line of communication for your prospective customers and it’s all about attitude! Your BDM should motivate, energize, and support your BDC so that they can maximize the return on every lead/opportunity source available for your dealership.