Would you schedule your entire sales team to be on the floor at opening time on a weekday? Probably not, because it just doesn’t make scheduling sense to have a full staff when you’re not all that busy. The same scheduling decisions need to be made for your BDC, whether virtual or in-house.

When it comes to scheduling for your reps in your BDC, peak times for inbound calling will require analyzation of your dealership’s habits. However, as a baseline, there are some tried and true times that are going to require further staffing than others.

Obviously, during the early morning hours, many car buyers are at their workplace, just getting their day started, and probably not making calls about vehicles. While this is not necessarily the rule, you’re likely not going to get as many calls in the morning. As a result, you’ll likely need a smaller amount of BDC reps manning the phones.

In turn, you’re likely to have higher than normal call volume during the lunch hour. Consider the amount of people surfing the internet during their hour-long lunch breaks and prepare to arm your BDC agents for an influx of calls. There may not be an insurmountable volume of calls, but the volume will obviously increase during the hours from 11 A.M. to 1 P.M.

The highest calling hours you’re going to see are during the commute home from work, before dinner hours, and following the family meal. At these times, you’ll want to staff accordingly. No dealership owner or manager wants calls being missed by the BDC, so you’ll want to ensure you have more than enough agents on hand to handle the volume.

As a former virtual BDC agent, the number of calls that came in from the hours between three and seven required three to four different reps to ensure proper fielding. Obviously, the volume of your dealership will sway these numbers. For example, if your dealership gets a total of 20 BDC calls a day, this won’t require four agents. However, if you’re tackling close to fifty calls per day, you’re likely a high traffic dealership.

The scheduling of BDC agents, again whether virtual or in-house, will be dependent on the size of your dealership, the emphasis placed on internet sales, and the functionality of your BDC. For concerns about overstaffing until the trends emerge with individual dealerships, BDC reps can use the downtime to make outbound calls, field overflow from the sales team or service, and catch up on internet requests for more information.

There will most likely be a learning curve when it comes to learning the ins and outs of the BDC peak hours, but for the time being focus on the recommended times and staff accordingly. Your agents won’t want for work during those hours. However, overstaffing simply doesn’t make fiscal sense, so some planning will be required from the start of your BDC.

If your dealership is maxed out on calls that can be handled by the sales team or the internet department, it may be time to consider opting for implementing a BDC. Phone Ninjas offers an expertly staffed virtual BDC to assist in meeting the needs that aren’t being met for your potential customers. Contact us today for more information on how we can help increase your customer base and field more calls.