Welcome to Episode #5 of our weekly podcast here at Miracle Ford! In this episode, we talk with Amy Bryant, the Business Development Manager at Miracle Ford.

Topics Discussed:

• How Amy got into the business
• What is the BDC (Business Development Center) and what is their role
• What are the most Frequently Asked Questions that customers have
• Working with customers who have challenged credit
• How the Internet has changed the marketplace, and why it is a good thing
• What makes Miracle different
• What Amy does outside of work

Transcript

Opening

John Haggard: 00:02 Welcome to the Miracle Ford podcast where each week you will be able to learn the best ways to purchase or lease, maintain and accessorize and how to sell your vehicle for the highest resale value possible, when you’re ready to do it. I’m your host John Haggard and throughout each month right here, as you probably already know, if you’ve been listening, we’ll have different team members join us from Miracle to bring you tips that you can actually use, and answer questions that you probably have in your mind already. And by the way, we will also post a transcript of each podcast so you can easily refer to it. The idea there is if you hear something you want to get the information, not have to listen to everything all over again, just go right to the script and your information is right there. On this podcast we’re talking to Amy Bryant and she’s the Business Development Manager at Miracle Ford in Gallatin. Hey Amy, welcome to the podcast.

Amy Bryant: 00:49 Hi John. How are you doing?

How Did You Get Into The Car Business

John Haggard: 00:51 I’m doing good. Doing good. You know, people always want to know, well, who is the person behind the voice? Who is the person behind the face? So it’s always interesting to know. Amy, how did you get started in the car business?

Amy Bryant: 01:04 Well, John, I have to say back in 2013 I was actually a recruiter and one of my clients suggested that I try the car business… that I would possibly be good at it. I have loved it every day since then.

John Haggard: 01:18 You say a recruiter, what did, who did you use to recruit for? What type of folks were you looking for?

Amy Bryant: 01:23 I was actually a recruiter in the accounting arena, so I worked for Robert Half for many years and that is actually how I even got in the car business. It just kind of fell in my lap and I’ve loved it.

John Haggard: 01:33 Wow, okay. So people who needed anything at all to do with accounting, you would call on companies and say, “Hey, if you’ve got a need for bookkeeping or a chief financial officer, we’ve got folks”, that type of thing.

Amy Bryant: 01:44 That’s correct. Everything from a CFO all the way down to just a data entry.

John Haggard: 01:49 Okay. Okay. So how long have you been doing cars and vehicles?

Amy Bryant: 01:52 Since April of 2013

John Haggard: 01:54 April of 2013. All right. And so now how about Miracle Ford? How did you wind up at Miracle Ford?

Amy Bryant: 02:01 It’s kind of funny. I actually came to have lunch with one of my coworkers that I have worked with for probably six out of my eight years here in the business and I met him at Miracle Ford. He told me what a great dealership this was. I came to have lunch and the rest is history. I just celebrated my one year anniversary here and look forward to many more years here.

John Haggard: 02:24 That sounds fun. That’s how it works. Sometimes it’s all about relationships and who you know and who you get to know. When you hear that title, Business Development Manager, it sounds like a big deal and I’m sure it is, but what does that really mean? What do you really do there at Miracle Ford?

What Is The BDC (Business Development Center), and What Do You Do?

Amy Bryant: 02:41 My team and I develop the business for Miracle Auto Group. We have a whole center that’s designated to this business and we handle all the internet inquiries promptly. We handle all the incoming calls and make outgoing calls to all of our existing customers as well as any potential new customers. But our main goal is to set appointments for all potential customers with our certified professional staff. You know, one of the things is our time is very valuable and when we schedule these appointments, we are doing this for our customer just to expedite their time that they spend in the dealership.

John Haggard: 03:16 Okay. Yeah. Because one of the big complaints of people who come in to try to purchase a vehicle or lease a vehicle, you hear these stories… “it took me all day long to try to try to get something done”. So are you saying that your idea and the way that you do business there is to try to make this a process that doesn’t take very long?

Amy Bryant: 03:36 Absolutely. We want our customer to be able to get as much knowledge and gather as much information as they can over the phone so that when they come into the dealership, we’re going to have their vehicle ready. We’re going to have the used car manager waiting to appraise their trade and we’re going to have our finance managers on deck so that they can go right in there promptly.

John Haggard: 03:56 Alright, so that makes sense. Because, in other words, like if I respond on the Internet and I see a vehicle that I want, really your team or you are going to be the ones who are behind the scene to be sure that I get everything I need so they don’t have to waste a lot of time coming in there asking questions again.

Amy Bryant: 04:12 Absolutely. We want to make sure that that is answered promptly, quickly and give you just as much information as we possibly can. We don’t want to have to wait for a sales person to come off of the floor. We want to make sure that you can reach us each and every time you try to.

What Are The Most Frequently Asked Questions That Customers Ask

John Haggard: 04:29 All right. That makes sense. Cause people really are, I guess there’s a phrase “time starved” today. What are the typical maybe top two, three, four questions you always get? Questions people want to know first?

Amy Bryant: 04:41 Well I think mostly they want to know if the vehicle is still available. Do we still have the vehicle, what is the condition of the vehicle, is it a one car owner, they want to know the history of the vehicle and they always want to make sure that the specs that are featured online are correct. So we always are going to be asked to, is that the best price that’s on the Internet? So those are really the top questions that we get asked. And I would say probably 90% of the time, those are the four questions that are always asked.

John Haggard: 05:10 All right. So the idea is give the customer all of the information you possibly can on the phone, again to cut down all the time that they would otherwise have to spend.

Amy Bryant: 05:20 Absolutely.

Can You Help Someone With Challenged Credit?

John Haggard: 05:21 And what if somebody, Amy, has challenged credit. What about that?

Amy Bryant: 05:26 We have a department here inside of Miracle Auto Group, and they work with so many different lenders that there really is a great chance that we will be able to get you into a vehicle. All of our highly skilled finance managers, they’re going to work very hard. They will work every avenue they can for our customers to leave with a vehicle.

John Haggard: 05:45 Pretty good, strong possibility. You’re saying that they can get financial aid dollars and can that be on a new vehicle or new lease as well? Or is that only on used that you can do that?

Amy Bryant: 05:54 No, that’s definitely up to lender and up to the finance manager to decide what’s the best option for the customer. I have found that we all have highs and lows in life and that includes our financial struggles are no different. And we have lenders that realize that and they will assist in giving people a second chance. Even after bankruptcy. Our finance managers are relentless. John, they’re gonna work hard and do all they can for our customers.

John Haggard: 06:20 Kinda sound like you. You sound relentless, Amy.

Amy Bryant: 06:23 Well… you know, I try. Ha.

What Changes Do You See in the Marketplaces Today Compared To Just a Few Years Ago?

John Haggard: 06:25 There you go. So, what do you think in the market place today, you hear about these companies like Carvana and all sorts of things that are going on. What changes do you see in the marketplace as people go about making a decision to buy or lease a vehicle compared to maybe just a few years ago.

Amy Bryant: