A weekly outsourced BDC report should fit on one page and show calls offered and answered, leads received and worked, contacts, and appointments set, shown and sold, each split by source and by sales versus service, with the denominator printed beside every rate. Add three recordings to hear and a short note on what changed.
What the One Page Is For
The weekly report has one job: to let a manager who was not on the calls see, in five minutes, whether the phones were answered, whether leads were worked, and whether the appointments were real. It is a check on the vendor and a check on your own store, because half the lines on it (shown, sold) depend on what happened after the handoff.
It is not the monthly return-on-investment review. Cost per sold unit and the wider argument about what the department is worth belong in the monthly view described in measuring BDC ROI beyond appointment count. The weekly page is narrower. It asks: did the work happen, and is anything drifting?
The Lines It Must Carry
Every line below is a count. The rates are built from the counts, using the same definitions as our dealership BDC benchmarks, where the targets we manage to are listed. We are not repeating the targets here. A weekly report is about your trend, and the first comparison is always this week against your own recent weeks.
| Line | What it counts | Rate built from it |
|---|---|---|
| Calls offered | Every inbound call presented to the team, including the ones that rang out or were abandoned | Denominator of answer rate |
| Calls answered | Inbound calls answered by a person | Answer rate: answered over offered |
| Leads received | Every internet, chat and form lead that arrived | None by itself. It is the raw input |
| Workable leads | Leads received minus the ones removed, with the reason for each removal counted | Denominator of contact rate and overall close rate |
| Leads worked | Workable leads that got the agreed first response and are in the follow-up cadence | Should equal workable leads. A gap is the finding |
| Contacts | Leads where a two-way conversation happened. A voicemail is not a contact | Contact rate: contacts over workable leads |
| Appointments set | Firm appointments with a date and a time | Set rate: appointments set over contacts |
| Appointments shown | Appointments that arrived | Show rate: shown over appointments set |
| Sold | Units sold from shown appointments | Sold rate: sold over shown. Overall close rate: sold over workable leads |
Two notes on that table. First, "workable" is where reports get quietly improved. A vendor that removes every hard-to-reach lead as unworkable will post a fine contact rate. So the report should show how many leads were removed and why (duplicate, bad phone number, not a sales inquiry), and you should spot-check the removals.
Second, shown and sold lag. An appointment set on Thursday for the following Tuesday cannot show this week. The clean way to handle it is to count shows against the appointments that were scheduled to arrive during the week, and to say so on the page. Sold lags further. Treat the weekly sold line as early information and settle it in the monthly view.
If any of these terms is used differently in your store, settle the wording with the dealership BDC glossary before the first report, not after the first argument.
A Sample Layout
The table below is a layout, not a result. The cells say "your number" because the only figures that belong there are your store's. Four weeks is a sensible comparison window because a single week at most stores is too small to read by itself.
| Line | This week | 4-week average | Denominator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Calls offered | your number | your number | (count) |
| Calls answered / answer rate | your number | your number | Calls offered |
| Leads received | your number | your number | (count) |
| Workable leads (and removed, by reason) | your number | your number | (count) |
| Contacts / contact rate | your number | your number | Workable leads |
| Appointments set / set rate | your number | your number | Contacts |
| Appointments shown / show rate | your number | your number | Appointments set that were due this week |
| Sold / sold rate | your number | your number | Appointments shown |
| Do-not-call and opt-out requests passed to the store | your number | your number | (count) |
| What changed this week | two or three sentences from the account lead |
The last two rows are easy to leave off and worth insisting on. Opt-out requests taken by an outside agent have to land in your CRM, so a count of them each week is a cheap way to confirm they do. And the note on what changed (a new lead source, a staffing gap, an event, a talk-track edit) is what turns a page of numbers into something you can act on.
Split It by Source and by Department
One blended line tells you very little. The same page should repeat the lead lines for each source that sends meaningful volume: your own website, each third-party lead provider, OEM leads, chat, phone-ups from each tracking number. Sources differ so much in quality that a drop in the blended contact rate is often just a change in the mix.
Sales and service need separate blocks. They are different work with different endings, as laid out in sales BDC vs service BDC. A service block usually stops at appointments booked and appointments that arrived, with outbound work (recall calls, declined-service follow-up, confirmations) counted separately from inbound scheduling. Do not carry sales expectations across to service lines or the other way.
If the vendor covers only part of your hours, ask for one more split: inside store hours versus after hours. An after-hours layer should be judged on the calls and leads that arrived in its window, not diluted into the day's total.
Three Recordings to Hear Every Week
Numbers say what happened. Recordings say how. Fifteen minutes a week is enough if you choose the calls with a purpose.
- An appointment that did not show. Listen for whether it was a real appointment: a date, a time, a reason to come, a named person. A soft "sometime Saturday" that got logged as set will show up here first.
- A contact with no appointment. A two-way conversation that ended without a date. Was the appointment asked for? Was there a store-knowledge gap, such as wrong hours or a vehicle the agent could not confirm?
- One you pick at random. Choose it yourself from the call log, not from a list the vendor sends. Rotate it: an after-hours call one week, a service call the next, a warm transfer after that.
Our article on answered calls versus quality calls explains why an answered call and a good call are different measurements. The three recordings are how you keep track of the second one without building a scoring department.
When a Number Moves: What to Ask
A weekly number that moves is a question, not a verdict. Small weekly counts swing by chance, so look for two weeks in the same direction before you act, and then ask about the inputs first.
- Answer rate falls. In which hours? Did calls offered rise (a mail drop, an event, a recall notice) or did coverage drop? Is the rollover timing still what you agreed?
- Contact rate falls. Did the source mix change? Are more leads arriving with bad numbers? Is the follow-up cadence being completed, or are leads getting one attempt?
- Set rate falls. This is the one to answer with recordings. Is the appointment being asked for? Has pricing or inventory changed so that callers hear "it just sold" more often?
- Appointments rise while shows stay flat. Check the definition of an appointment. Check whether confirmations are going out and how far ahead appointments are being set.
- Show rate holds and sold rate falls. That is mostly your side of the handoff. Was the promised person available? Was the vehicle there? Did the salesperson read the notes?
- Workable leads fall while leads received hold. Read the removal reasons. Someone has widened what counts as unworkable.
If you coach an in-house team alongside the vendor, the same lines work for both. Data-driven BDC performance management covers the coaching side for your own agents.
What Pinnacle Says About Reporting
Everything above is what we think a dealer should ask of any vendor. On Pinnacle's own service, the published commitment is short: BDC On Demand launches with call recordings, performance metrics and regular reporting. The cadence and layout are set in each store's plan, which starts with a complimentary consultation. If you want the one-page weekly format described here, ask for it in that meeting and have it written into the plan. More decision-stage articles are in the Dealership BDC Guide, including how to pilot an outsourced BDC using this report as the scorecard.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often should an outsourced BDC report to the dealership?
Weekly is a practical rhythm for the one-page view, because a day is too noisy and a month is too late to catch a broken call flow. Many stores also want a daily appointment list for the sales desk and a monthly review with sold results and cost. Agree on the rhythm in writing before launch.
Should the BDC report come from the vendor's system or from my CRM?
The counts should be reproducible from your own CRM and phone system, whoever builds the page. If the vendor's report and your CRM disagree on appointments set or calls offered, the difference needs an explanation. A report you cannot check against your own records is a marketing document.
What is a workable lead on a BDC report?
A lead that can be pursued: a real person with a way to reach them and a sales or service reason for the inquiry. Duplicates, test leads, bad contact details and inquiries that are not sales or service are usually removed. Because the definition affects contact rate, have the vendor list removals by reason every week.
Why does my vendor's set rate look higher than my own?
Usually because the denominators differ. A set rate measured over contacts will always be higher than one measured over all leads, since not every lead is reached. Put both reports on the same definition before comparing them. If a gap remains, check whether the two sides define an appointment the same way.
Summary
Ask for one page a week: calls offered and answered, leads received and workable, contacts, and appointments set, shown and sold, each with its denominator, split by source and by sales versus service, with opt-out counts and a note on what changed. Compare this week with your own last four. Listen to three recordings chosen with a purpose. When a number moves, ask what changed in the inputs before deciding what it means.
