By Jim Boldebook, Founder, CBC Automotive Marketing
Ricky Nelson was a big rock and roll star in the ’60s, but when he got on stage in the early ’70s with long hair and a beard, his faithful fans went nuts. This was not the Ricky they remembered. He just didn’t ‘look’ the same! Frustrated, Nelson wrote about being booed at a Madison Square Garden concert and had his first hit record in quite a while with Garden Party. “You can’t please everybody… so you might as well please yourself!”
Several dealers have written to me, frustrated and confused over advertising direction. I always share a cartoon someone emailed me that says, “You can’t make everyone happy… you’re not tequila!”
Of course your showroom doors and website are open to anyone and everyone, and each customer is an important part of your overall success, but the reality is, you’re not going to make everyone happy, and attempting to do so often handicaps your efforts in satisfying your very best customers. Customers that truly like what you’re doing; tell friends and family and everyone they meet; write about their experience with you on neighborhood social sites; service their vehicle with you; are most likely to at least give you first shot on their next vehicle; and understand you have to make money to keep the doors open.
Buddy G. is a second-generation Chevy dealer who has been reading my columns for several years. He recently wrote to tell me that an article I wrote last year, titled “Your Best Advertising Target,” changed his way of thinking, not only in his marketing investments, but in his entire brand strategy (email me if you’d like a copy). Buddy said he had just finished a two-hour marathon of trying to put a deal together for a couple who had shopped every dealer in the state and every deal on the Internet. When the couple finally walked, he looked at his sales manager and said, “What the heck did we just do? We were bending over backward trying to satisfy a customer who will never be satisfied even if we just gave them the car! And in the meantime, I haven’t been able to return a call to an electrician who has bought four trucks from us!”
Last summer, Buddy sat down with his top managers and advertising people, crafting a marketing plan that would become their brand strategy. “Everybody is talking about us.”
Here are some of the ideas from their strategy:
The dealership now does marketing surveys with every customer ‘scoring’ deals based on gross, finance, repeat/referral customer, service, and overall satisfaction of the interaction. The media habits of highest scores are weighted heavily in advertising efforts.
Top-scoring customers are called by Buddy and four of his managers with questions on what the customer liked most about the shopping/buying process and how a dealership might improve the process.
When the team comes across an ‘extremely pleased’ customer, they ask the customer to take part in their “Everybody is talking about us” campaign, in radio and television ads, as well as social postings.
The dealership has created an ‘Ambassador’ recognition program for customers who participate in marketing efforts, as well as advertisements that spotlight area businesses and services that do business with the dealership.
“Everybody is talking about us” ads incorporate some of the dealership employees, many who have been at the 60-year-old dealership for 15 years or more.
It’s not just all price and promotion anymore at Buddy’s dealership. “Everybody is talking about great deals, great service, huge selection, trade values, and trust.” The ads are not scripted. During testimonial interviews, customers talk about what’s important to them and why they recommend the dealership. Editors grab highlights and key phrases to drive home the ‘Everybody’ theme.
In one ad, a salesperson who left a competitor to work at Buddy’s dealership talks about why he joined the team. “I had to come to work for the dealership everybody is talking about, and now I know why!”
Every dealership has customers who would rate satisfaction on five tiers. Buddy says he wants to sell everyone on all five tiers, but he is focusing his marketing and sales efforts on the top two tiers of highly satisfied.
Today, one year after embarking on his quest to satisfy ‘best customers’ who are talking about the dealership in glowing terms, Buddy says new and used sales are up, average ROs on customer paid labor are up, and the dealership just had it’s best overall EBITDA in 10 years. But best of all, employee turnover is down, and “Everybody is talking about us!”
If you’d like a copy of the May 2018 article “Your Best Advertising Target” and/or the brand survey template, just email me.
About the Author
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: [email protected]