This is the continuation of the mini case study focused on the objectives and challenges of building a process to measure and manage OTDBs in the operating departments of an NCM client dealership group. Today I’ll be focusing on the vehicle sales departments in general.

The sales management staff had decided that OTDBs needed to be first divided into five major categories: (1) first-time walk-ins; (2) Internet leads; (3) blind phone inquiries; (4) proactive salesperson appointments; and (5) reactive CRM contacts. Each of these categories was then divided according to new vehicles and used vehicles.

First-time walk-ins were assumed to have virtually no relationship with the dealership or its employees. By definition, they had never done business, or tried to do business, with the dealership.

Internet leads were defined as: (a) any hard electronic lead received; (b) any telephone inquiry that could be matched with one of the “800”’ number Internet lead sources; or (c) a walk-in identified within the CRM system as an Internet prospect.

Blind phone inquiries did not request a particular salesperson. The prospect had only asked for “new cars” or “used cars.” This was the most difficult OTDB category to track; although all calls were recorded and automatically input to the CRM, many calls to the service, body shop and parts departments had to be culled out of the system.

All proactive salesperson appointments were logged into the CRM by one of 15 sources including be-back, current owner, owner referral, bird-dog referral, non-current prospect, etc. Senior management expected each floor salesperson to generate 50% of his business from this category. This performance expectation was further enhanced by management’s requirement that each salesperson log at least three confirmed appointments per week.

Reactive CRM contacts were OTDB’s listed as owners or prospects in the dealership database, but they became an OTDB of their own volition…not because they were prospected or followed-up by the sales staff. Typically, OTDB’s in this category were thought to be first-time walk-ins or blind phone inquiries until an attempt was made to re-enter them into the CRM. Management wanted this category established in order to track the number of OTDBs that should have been appointments, if the salespeople had been on top of their game.

Each dealership within the group operated with a combination sales staff. There were no BDCs or Internet departments. Every salesperson scheduled for floor time was expected to become proficient at handling any type of OTDB. Some veteran salespeople worked only their own database, and did not take any fresh OTDBs unless they were referrals. To ensure the most accurate OTDB tracking and management, salespeople scheduled for floor time worked within a conventional “Up System.” The Up System was monitored and managed by the Sales Production Manager on duty. All first-time walk-ins, blind phone inquiries and Internet leads were distributed through the Up System. Management made every attempt to maintain a staffing level of floor salespeople so that each could interface with 45-50 fresh OTDBs per month.

In future articles, I will discuss how this traffic management initiative was applied specifically to the new vehicle department, the used vehicle department, the service department, the collision center, and the parts department.

Measuring and managing OTDBs is a topic that is discussed in the management training courses offered by the NCM Institute Center for Automotive Retail Excellence. Visit www.ncminstitute.com to learn more.