B2E – It’s Common – Is It Right for You?

By far, the most common structure used in Internet departments across most of the U.S. is the ‘Beginning-to-End’ (B2E) structure. This means that incoming Internet leads and phone calls are assigned to a specific Internet salesperson and it is their responsibility to follow that customer through to a sale. A few dealerships go so far as to have the Internet salesperson provide the financing assistance as well.

This structure has many advantages and a few disadvantages.
The advantages are:
A) The customer deals with only one person – providing a consistency of the relationship
B) Easier accountability for dealership management – what we call ‘one throat to choke’ J – managers can use the Internet Lead Management System (ILMS) to monitor and manage the Internet salesperson’s activities
C) In most cases, a dealership receives enough leads to be able to have ‘full time’ Internet salespeople – they don’t need to take floor ‘ups’ to augment their income.

The disadvantages include:
A) Problems with response time – when the Internet salespeople are busy selling a car to a customer, who is answering incoming leads?
B) Number of Internet salespeople – because a B2E salesperson should only handle 65-90 leads per month, a high volume dealership could need 10 or 12 of them
C) Turnover can be a problem – especially when a smaller dealership attempts to have only one dedicated Internet salesperson. If they get promoted or leave, then the dealership has to start over from scratch with someone new.

If you choose to use the B2E structure, we recommend that you follow these guidelines:
A) Limit the number of leads per salesperson to a manageable level – 65 – 90 new, unique leads per month, depending on the salesperson’s experience, prowess with the ILMS, volume of repeat and referral customers, etc.
B) Receive or purchase at least 150 new, unique leads per month so that you can afford to have ate least two full-time Internet salespeople at all times.
C) Delegate authority to your Internet salespeople to maintain the web site, quote selling prices and maintain specials and coupons, etc.