Digital Dealer - June 2019 - 34

I N T E RV I E W: Continued from pg. 33

10, Maserati of Morris County, Alfa Romeo
of Morris County, BMW of Springfield and
Mercedes-Benz of Goldens Bridge.
Tom has scouted out the best and most
talented individuals in the automotive
industry to work in the organization. He has
put in place women in leadership at all of
his dealerships which is truly unique in the
automotive industry.
DEALER MAGAZINE: The dealership has
earned some notable recognition; can you
tell us about some of those honors?
MELANIE: Since Tom has purchased
the dealerships in 2011, we have won a
few prestigious awards, including BMW
Center of Excellence Award. Lexus is a 7x
consecutive winner of Best in the East,
as well as the defending
champion of The Crown Jewel,
and the Circle of Excellence for
AS LEADERS IN OUR
two years running.
ORGANIZATION, WE ASK
Our Maserati and Alfa
Romeo dealerships of Morris
OURSELVES DAILY, 'ARE WE
County, both run completely
by women leaders in sales,
DOING ENOUGH TO PUT THE
service, and finance, have
EMPLOYEES IN A POSITION OF also tripled gross since
becoming brand new points.
SUCCESS?'"
Mercedes-Benz of Goldens
Bridge continues to grow
exponentially since our ownership took
over in 2017 and won 2018 Mercedes-Benz
Best of the Best - Golden Laurel.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What business
strengths or mentality do you attribute to
Celebrity's success?
MELANIE: Our COO has a background
of 20 years in the high-end hospitality
industry. The mentality of our organization
is if you are not servicing the customer,
you should be servicing someone who is.
As leaders in our organization, we ask
ourselves daily, "are we doing enough to
put the employees in a position of success?"
The strength of Celebrity Motor Cars is
we operate as a team, and this is what sets
us apart from any other auto group or
dealership in the industry. Our chemistry
and culture are very special in an industry
that has always been male-dominated,
very divided, and not well received by the
public. The leadership team, as well as all
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D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

employees, work together for the ultimate
good of the group and especially our boss,
the customer!
Our director of client services is a
unique addition, one that is important to
have in this ever-changing industry. He is
dedicated to handling all of our customer
concerns and issues they may have, with the
philosophy that our most loyal customers
started with a problem. How we are able to
solve their problems shapes how they view
our dealerships.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What areas do you
believe are important for dealerships to pay
attention to today?
MELANIE: With all the competition in
the marketplace, I would say bridging the
gap between sales and service, utilizing
your own data for marketing, improving
the trackability of your marketing, and
streamlining your initiatives.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Please tell us
about your marketing approach, including
how you reach your audience, where you
focus your efforts, etc.
MELANIE: The success we've had
in marketing and advertising is our
adaptability and ability to pivot and make
changes on the turn of a dime, which many
groups cannot do. We understand the
purchasing power of millennials, which is
why we have a significant focus on PR and
social media.
A year ago, we partnered with
SocialDealer on our social media strategies,
which we have continued to reap the
benefits from. We have also worked with
them on a variety of different strategies,
incorporating our own sales and service
data, inactive customer data, our lease
retention portfolio, as well as maximizing
our PMA (primary market area). These
targeting strategies have been an essential
part of our social media efforts. All of
our traditional media is strategically
interweaved with our Facebook and
Instagram ads. All messaging/ad copy is
consistent across the board.
One of the key elements in our targeting
strategy is utilizing our own customer data
for sales and service. For every single form
of marketing and advertising we do, we
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