Digital Dealer - May 2018 - 28

A D V E RT I S I N G & M A R K E T I N G

Continued from pg. 26

salesperson, the managers involved, the finance
department and anyone
else touching the deal to
rate the deal on a scale of
1-10, in terms of...
 Ease of doing business
 Front-end profitability
 Backend
 Previous business with
dealership
 Referral of family/
friends
 Overall satisfaction
with the deal
Over the next several
months, rate every deal
in the same fashion. You
know the zip codes of
these customers, and if
you're conducting a brief
'media habits' survey at
some point in the deal,
usually best in the finance
office, you will be able
to get valuable media
attribution of your 'best'
customer demographic.
How much time does your
'best' customer spend on
Facebook? Which radio
stations do they listen to?
Which local and cable
channels do they watch.
If you're 'telling your
story' with testimonial
ads as I've referred to in
past articles there is no
better person to invite
for a comment on your
testimonial than the 'best'
customer who genuinely
likes what you do and can
ad-lib a great recommendation without the use of
cue cards or prompts. My
October article deals with
this (find it here: digitaldealer.com/tell-yourstory/).
I'm not suggesting you
focus only on customers
who like you, however
spending a substantial
portion of your advertising
28

M AY 2 0 1 8

budget fortifying the reasons people DO like you,
and reaching out to potential buyers in the same
socio-economic strata is
a no-brainer. In the retail
business, we have to deal
with everyone who calls,
emails or walks through
the door. Hopefully, your
dealership is looking to
identify challenges and
train and improve consistently to expand that
base of highly satisfied

group asked one of the
customers why, despite
their low CSI rating for the
dealership, they continued to buy cars at this
location. The customer
said this (I paraphrase
a bit) "Look, I don't think
there is a dealer out there
that can satisfy me. I think
the whole car buying
experience is a nightmare
anywhere you go. But at
least at this dealership,
they have the vehicles

...FORTIFYING THE
REASONS PEOPLE
DO LIKE YOU, AND
REACHING OUT TO
POTENTIAL BUYERS
IN THE SAME SOCIOECONOMIC STRATA IS
A NO-BRAINER."
'best' customers. But in
the meantime, going with
your known strengths
makes all the sense in the
world.
In my early years in
the automobile advertising business, I had
the opportunity to sit in
a focus group held by
Ford, where customers
were being grilled on
their experiences and
perceptions of a dealership in the Northeast. The
dealership was a volume
leader and makes very
good money. But Ford
just couldn't understand
why this dealership that
suffered from some of the
lowest customer satisfaction scores in the country,
could not only maintain
its volume but enjoyed
a large percentage of
repeat business. Finally, the moderator of the

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

in stock and they get
the pain over as quickly
as possible. That's why
I come here." The folks
from Ford, sitting behind
the one-way mirror were
speechless. Shortly after
that comment, another
female customer in the
focus group added: "I love
the service department
here. They are the nicest
people. I only wish they
could come out on the
showroom floor and sell
cars!"
So this dealership, despite its flaws, had some
positive brand strengths:
huge inventory, great
location, expedited sale
process, and excellent
service. By the way, the
dealership is no longer in
business today.
Another added advantage of knowing your
'best' customers is the

trust you've built with
them over past dealings
in sales and service. You
are a known 'brand' to
them. Building a database and list of these
'best' customers affords
you the opportunity to
conduct true VIP invitation sales with minimal
advertising expense. A
West Coast dealership
I've been acquainted with
for many years has built
an impressive 'tiered' list
of 'best' customers. Prior
to holding a general sale,
the dealership invites an
'A' list of people who have
bought multiple vehicles
and/or referred customers. These A-listers are
treated to special incentives and first choice of
advertised inventory. The
first day of these sales
has always generated the
highest average grosses
and created tremendous
positive energy for both
the salespeople and the
customers.
Next month, I'm very
excited to be invited back
as a speaker at the annual Georgia Auto Dealers
Association on Amelia
Island. I look forward
to meeting dealers I've
known over the years and
making new acquaintances. In the meantime, if
you'd like a free copy of
the 'Brand Survey' template mentioned earlier,
just email me.
JIM BOLDEBOOK is

Founder of CBC Automotive
Marketing, an advertising/
marketing agency working
with some of America's most
successful dealerships. He
has been in the broadcasting,
advertising and marketing
fields for almost 50 years.
EMAIL: jim@cbcads.com
http://digitaldealer.com/tell-your-story http://digitaldealer.com/tell-your-story http://digitaldealer.com/tell-your-story http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - May 2018
