"8 Hours To 2 Minutes" — The Response Time Fix That Sold More Cars Across 100 Dealerships | Paul de Vries, Founder DCDW
Is your dealership struggling to convert online leads into showroom appointments? You’re not alone. Many automotive professionals focus on getting leads, but miss the critical step of engaging them effectively to drive sales.
Here’s what you’ll get from this episode:
Implement Paul de Vries’ 6-step lead-handling process to increase appointments.**
Understand the crucial role of speed and human connection in online lead conversion.**
Learn how to best integrate AI to support, not replace, human sales efforts.**
Discover how to build a team that excels at lead follow-up and customer engagement.**
Paul de Vries, founder of the Digital Car Dealer Workshop and BDC co-owner, shares his proven methodology for dramatically improving lead response times and, most importantly, turning those leads into sales.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
03:27 AI vs Human Connection
06:22 Six Steps to Better Calls
09:49 Speed to Contact Results
11:05 Hiring and Coaching BDC Teams
12:36 EVs and Chinese Brands in Europe
15:03 Wrap Up
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Episode Transcript
[0:13] — Intro
Michael Cirillo: Alright gang, here we are. Dealer Playbook Podcast. I have my dear friend — there's not many in this industry, actually there's not — I don't think anyone in this industry I refer to as my dear friend. Paul de Vries, thanks so much for joining me.
Paul de Vries: Thank you, thank you Michael.
Michael Cirillo: Paul, you are the founder of the Digital Car Dealer Workshop. I've had the privilege — I consider it truly a privilege — to have come to Holland and to Belgium to speak at your events. One of the things that I love, and you might not know about this beautifully dressed man, is your love for country music.
Paul de Vries: Yeah.
Michael Cirillo: In between sessions, country music. And the European contingent — I call them the European contingent — looks completely lost.
Paul de Vries: Yeah.
Michael Cirillo: But you're enjoying yourself?
[1:03] Paul de Vries: Absolutely. Zac Brown Band and all the other stuff. I went to two concerts — no, three concerts actually. Every major country star coming to Amsterdam, I will be there.
Michael Cirillo: Is country music popular in Europe?
Paul de Vries: It's getting there. Getting better. But America is not getting more popular in Europe, so.
Michael Cirillo: That's right. And you always bring a much more global perspective. But before we get started — I asked you specifically about country music before we began because I've been wanting to do this for a year. Your dear wife helped me pull this off.
(Michael retrieves a gift)
From Cara and from myself — this is for you. I feel like to truly listen to the Zac Brown Band, you need an authentic Texas cowboy hat.
[2:17] Paul de Vries: Amazing. It's amazing.
Michael Cirillo: Now you probably know why your wife measured your head.
Paul de Vries: She did it when I was asleep.
Michael Cirillo: Of course she did. Tell me he does not look like a Texas Ranger.
Paul de Vries: A Texas Ranger, right?
Michael Cirillo: That is a Stetson cowboy hat directly from Texas. That's as real as it gets. I've been thinking about it ever since we were last together. I said Paul needs a Stetson.
Paul de Vries: I really appreciate it. Thank you.
Michael Cirillo: I'm so glad you like it.
[3:28] — AI vs. Human Connection
Michael Cirillo: Now, you've been in the room in so many conversations with OEMs, big companies, data companies, and your own businesses. You have a tremendous amount of data on lead handling, call handling, and speedy response. Everyone right now is talking about AI. What I love about your position is this idea of speeding up human connection — getting people connected to a real human being. So what are you seeing out there as you walk the halls? What's your vantage point?
[4:05] Paul de Vries: My vantage point is that if you have a real problem — and the real problem can be finding a solution for your transportation — you want a real person handling that problem. Having a conversation only with AI is not giving you the solution you want or the conversation you want. AI is tremendous, it's great, and it has a lot of advantages. But I just walked the entire expo and found only five booths without AI. It will not work out. It is completely over-exhausted right now. The human touch still works — like our relationship. You cannot do that through AI.
Michael Cirillo: So what do you think the appropriate balance is? How do you use AI responsibly?
[5:06] Paul de Vries: Responsibly is more about data and privacy. But when it comes to lead handling, if you don't have the dialogue yet and you have to follow up, that's something you don't want to do with a human. A human cannot repeat those tasks day in, day out without getting bored or burning out. AI can do that perfectly. But the moment you have a hand raiser — someone who reacts to the email or WhatsApp or text — I need a real human interacting with that person. I will never let AI do that.
[5:52] Michael Cirillo: You have solved speed to connection. Emer, who was just here off camera, said it perfectly — first to contact is first to contract.
Paul de Vries: Yes, but speed is selling you the dialogue. Dialogue sells you the appointment. And the appointment sells you the car.
Michael Cirillo: People always say if they could just get someone into the dealership they'll sell them.
Paul de Vries: And I will say — if I get them into a dialogue first, I will win.
[6:22] — The Six Steps to Better Calls
Michael Cirillo: You have a series of steps you teach for perfect call handling. Is it twelve steps?
Paul de Vries: Six steps.
Michael Cirillo: Six steps. And why six?
[6:35] Paul de Vries: I represent a company from the US, and because of my stutter I cannot always pronounce the name correctly. So I created a presentation with six steps that never mentioned the name but still sold the product.
Michael Cirillo: Is that real?
Paul de Vries: That is exactly how we came up with six steps.
Michael Cirillo: That actually forced you to streamline the process.
[7:23] Paul de Vries: Exactly. I do the whole presentation about six steps, and then they come up to me asking what they need. And then I can tell them — because by that point I'm already in selling mode.
Michael Cirillo: Is anything going to change about those six steps?
[7:43] Paul de Vries: I don't think so. Step one is speed. Step two is scripting and training. Step three is making the salesperson the most important person — not the AI, and not the BDC. Step four is the data layer — one data point is never a data point. Step five is inspect what you expect. Like a basketball coach with four quarters and four timeouts — if you don't know the score, you cannot change the tactics. That's the 60% rule. And step six is coaching. All five steps exist to serve step three — the salesperson. Give me the tool and train me how to use it. It's all about the people.
Michael Cirillo: That's why I love your phrase and your company's philosophy — love people more than cars.
Paul de Vries: It is. And that's why I love that phrase. We all start talking about technology and we always end up back at the human experience. It's what we all actually desire.
[9:59] — Speed to Contact: The Results
Michael Cirillo: I know you as the person who took a twelve and a half hour response time average down to two minutes. Is that right?
[10:09] Paul de Vries: Eight hours and twenty minutes with a Toyota OEM down to two minutes and thirty seconds — across 60,000 leads and 100 dealerships.
Michael Cirillo: What happened as a direct result of speeding up that connection?
[10:14] Paul de Vries: More dialogues. And even if you don't improve your process, more dialogues still means more cars sold. But the key is the salesperson — not the BDC. The BDC is like heroin. It makes your life better for one second and then it gets worse. If you train your salespeople to follow up online leads, they will also follow up showroom traffic and proposals that didn't close the same day. They become better salespeople overall. And online leads are the only leads where you know exactly what they cost and what the return on investment was. Get better at them.
[11:05] — Hiring and Coaching BDC Teams
Michael Cirillo: You brought up coaching as the final step. You've worked with thousands of BDC agents. Not everybody has the knack. How do you identify who will be good at this?
[11:28] Paul de Vries: Most of the people we train in the Netherlands are salespeople already in the dealership. And I always tell them — selling is not something you learn through experience. You learn it by learning the craft. You can have twenty years of experience where you did it incorrectly for nineteen of them. What I need is empathetic people. People who love connecting with others, who are patient. I can train anyone on the sales process. What I cannot train is genuine care for people.
Michael Cirillo: What does your vetting process look like?
[12:17] Paul de Vries: We have our own BDC. I am a co-owner of a BDC with about seventy people. And the philosophy is hire a lot and fire fast. Because in the first conversation, you either have it or you don't. And I cannot always tell immediately.
[12:36] — EVs and Chinese Brands in Europe
Michael Cirillo: When I was in Europe last, you mentioned there are around thirty Chinese EV brands in the market?
Paul de Vries: Thirty-five, I believe.
Michael Cirillo: What are you seeing in Europe happening at a pace that America hasn't caught up to yet?
[13:00] Paul de Vries: First of all, boycotting EVs the way it's being done here is not making anyone better. If the market is demanding electric vehicles, you should sell them. The leaders will sell them. The Chinese brands are very good at EVs, but they are very arrogant in how they want to sell them. Direct to consumer models, online-first models, do-it-yourself models. But after three years in the market, most of those brands are returning to the dealer model — because that is the only model that actually works. The brands doing well, like BYD and MG, are the ones working with dealers.
Michael Cirillo: So we need to rethink how we approach EVs entirely.
(Tom Cruise spotted at the booth)
Michael Cirillo: What is next for you? Going deeper on your current model or is there an evolution coming?
[14:21] Paul de Vries: I want to expand across Europe. We are currently in five countries. A lot of Americans think Europe is one market — it is actually 32 different countries, more than 40 languages, and more than 50 cultures. You have to find your way in every single one. We are going deeper into Germany next, which is actually seven different cultures within one country. We are culturally close to the Germans. We are the obnoxious little brother who thinks he knows better — and we want to earn more market share there.
Michael Cirillo: I love it.
[15:03] — Wrap Up
Michael Cirillo: You know how much I love you, your wife, your whole family. I love having you on the show. I love how matter of fact you are. How can people connect with you and learn more about what you do?
[15:16] Paul de Vries: The best way — and this is the coffee machine of automotive, especially in the Netherlands — is LinkedIn. We talked about this twelve, fifteen years ago on our very first podcast conversation about why it matters so much. Find me at Paul de Vries 1972 on LinkedIn.
Michael Cirillo: Paul de Vries, thank you so much for joining me on the Dealer Playbook.
Paul de Vries: Thank you, Michael.
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