5 Habits of a Successful BDC Manager

BDC Managers understand the importance of their role and cultivate habits that push their agents to succeed. More than ever, internet and phones are the new showroom, making your BDC a direct channel to your brick-and-mortar store. BDC Agents now have the critical role of converting online shoppers into showroom appointments. Is your BDC Manager up to the task of properly training, motivating and incentivizing agents to maximize opportunities?

Here’s how they do it.

1Lead by Example

The best managers create a picture of what’s expected through their own behavior. They’re on time or early every day. They’re smiling and ready to greet their teams. They know how to properly and consistently use call-handling software and the CRM. They’re experts at every type of phone script and have extensive product knowledge. They make it easy for agents to follow their example.

2Get the Metrics That Matter

A good BDC Manager needs to start each day with an operational review. They should review lead reports and compare metrics for dials-per-day, contacts, set appointments, shows and sold against each each agent's performance. They also need to have a good training plan for underperforming agents and incentives for those hitting it out of the park.

3Rally the Troops

The best managers start each day with a quick 10-minute stand-up meeting. The content varies, but can include discussing successful calls or analyzing what could have gone better. Effective managers don't hog the stage — they encourage agents to share their successes and struggles.

4Work With Other Departments

If you’re marketing Sales specials, OEM incentives or Service campaigns to customers, BDC agents need to know the details. The best BDC Managers know this and ask for weekly meetings with the Sales and Service Managers to get up to date. Customers will call for more information about deals. Ensuring agents are prepared to answer questions is one hallmark of a good manager.

5Encourage Camaraderie

The job of a BDC agent isn’t easy. It’s alternately very boring and very stressful. Couple that with relatively low pay, and it’s easy to see how the agent turnover rate is between 30 to 45%. That’s a lot of coming and going — and wasted time and money spent on training. The best managers can significantly cut that churn with tactics that encourage camaraderie and pride in a job well done. They have contests and rewards to motivate agents to perform above benchmark. For example, a contest could have agents work together to book 10 additional appointments over an established standard for the day, with a $20 gift card for everyone if the group meets the goal. Another way to encourage camaraderie is through a mentoring program where more established agents earn bonuses for taking less experienced employees under their wings.

There are many things a BDC Manager can do to be highly effective and push agents to succeed. These top five habits are a great place to start and will help your BDC increase productivity and ROI while slowing employee churn.