Press for CallRevu

Teddy Nissan Boosts Sales from 30 to 225 in Only 9 Months

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 11:02:00 GMT

How did the same dealership with the same brand in the same location increase their sales from only 30 cars a month to nearly 300 cars per month in only a half year’s time during the recession? Teddy Nissan, formerly Cox Nissan, was purchased in August 2009 by Ted Bessen, formerly a partner of Potamkin Automotive Group, and Steve Risso, an automotive veteran who ran multiple stores and NADA 20 groups. This story explains how these 2 guys bought and paid for the cost of the entire dealership within 9 months of reopening a closed point and creating close to 100 new jobs for the local economy in a economically challenged environment.

“We saw the peak of the recession as the perfect opportunity to reopen this point,” said Bessen. “Timing was good with the revitalization that Cash for Clunkers brought to the market.”

Bessen and Risso updated the facility and opened their doors August ‘09. “We both have run multiple stores but this was the first time we had to start from scratch so we had a lot of work to do without a lot of time,” said Risso. “Getting the facility right, buying equipment, hiring and training the right people and bringing in enough customers to pay for it all. Generating traffic and revenue was our primary goal because the dealership was out of business for about a year and there was no customer base. With all we had in front of us, we hired www.Tier10Marketing.com to help us create and implement our marketing plan for sales and service.” Below is a summary of the strategy Teddy Nissan implemented to grow their sales by over 200 vehicles a month in the first 9 months of being in business.

Marketing Plan

Teddy Nissan is located in one of the largest markets in the world where everything is expensive, especially advertising. “New York city has 11 million people and traditional advertising costs a lot, and generates too little, because most consumers watching TV and listening to the radio are not in the market for a Nissan this month,” said David Boice from Tier10Marketing.com. “We identified 56,000 prospects in the Bronx that had the highest statistical probability of buying and servicing with the dealership so we could execute blended marketing campaigns that had a higher return. We used less expensive, higher impact campaigns that blended the internet, search marketing, email, text, direct mail and point of sale merchandising at the dealership so everything was connected.”

Teddy Nissan’s marketing is not like your typical car dealer. Their logo is a teddy bear and the design of their materials look more like manufacturer ads than local car dealer advertising. “Customers have a hard time trusting dealers and we wanted to soften the edge and increase the credibility of our brand with high-end designs that build trust with consumers,” said Bessen. “When a customer sees an offer on our banner ads they will see that same message and campaign integrated on all our advertising, our websites, emails, direct mail and the point of sale materials in the dealership. Many dealers will have one ad on tv, another message in the paper, another on a mailer, nothing about their sale on their website and emails sent with a completely different message. That is why we hired a marketing company who specializes in digital and traditional advertising, so we could have one strategy that is completely connected and consistent…. and it works.”

The Web

“Since most of our customers shop online we have an in-depth strategy for search engine optimization and marketing, email marketing, banner ads on popular websites and positive online reputation management. In a short time, we have built a big following on top social media platforms including Facebook and twitter. Now we can communicate with thousands of customers for free and we drive them to a campaign micro-site where the message, offers, look and feel are consistent with our current campaign. One of our sales micro-sites is www.TeddyNissanInfo.com and ww.TeddyExpressService.com is a micro site with all of our service offers. We also use www.AutoTrader.com to promote our used cars online but the closing ratios and gross profits of our own leads are much higher.

Online Reputation Management

Teddy Nissan has made a lot of progress improving the reputation of the dealership after taking it over. When consumers google Teddy Nissan’s name or the name of the dealer principles they will discover positive reviews from satisfied customers and news and information about Teddy’s positive involvement in the community, like the fact that Teddy Nissan recently sponsored a Bronx Youth Basketball team that competed in a national tournament in Las Vegas and placed 2nd. “We also try to take pictures of all our customers with their car, send them the photo and ask them to post it on Facebook so we can get positive exposure to all their friends,” said Risso. Additionally, “all our satisfied customers receive post cards that give them instructions on how to share their positive opinion on popular review sites like Google Place Reviews and Dealer Rater amongst many others.”

Niche Marketing

We built and advertised a Nissan Vehicle Purchase Program to all our eligible employees and companies that qualify for Nissan’s program. In addition, we build our own program for companies who want to give their employees an additional benefit. Our Corporate Vehicle Purchase Program offers eligible employees special pricing and service and it has helped us attract and sell a lot of customers who otherwise were not considering a Nissan. “We built and sent an information package to the HR departments of the largest organizations in New York to ask them if they would like to offer this free benefit to their employees and we give them a campaign kit to promote it internally,” said Scott Fletcher from Tier10Marketing.com.

Targeted Marketing

“One of the highest impact parts of our strategy has been to send targeted email and direct mail to consumers who are in the market now,” said Bessen. “A lot of dealers send multiple emails and mailers from sales and different ones from service, but that costs too much and it overloads the customers to the point where they pay less attention.” Teddy Nissan only sends one set of emails and mailers a month that promote all of their profit centers in one communication and they customize the offers based on the customer’s vehicle, miles and position in their ownership cycle. “If a customer is driving a 3 year old Maxima with 30,000 miles they may want to trade-in their vehicle or they may need major service and would benefit from buying an extended service agreement,” said Budd Blackburn, co-founder of TeamVelocityMarketing.com, Teddy’s targeted marketing company. “We send a custom email and mailer that includes a sales offer to trade-in their vehicle and we include a service offer along with an option to extend their service agreement all in one contact. It costs less money than sending 3 separate mailers and it is easier for the customer.” Risso added, “we track all our ads with dedicated 800 #s and listen to every call that comes into the dealership to help us identify which targeted marketing campaigns work the best. For instance, we know direct mail generates the most phone calls for sales and service and is most cost effective because everything is more expensive in a big market, like New York, but the cost of email and postage is the same here as it is in the smallest market in the country.”

After a customer buys a vehicle Teddy Nissan has a complete communication system to thank their customers, welcome them to service, remind them when they need to come in, when they need an extended service agreement, how they can buy accessories and when they can upgrade into a new vehicle all over again.

Every Customer Counts

No one knows the value of a customer better than dealers who open a new dealership without any current customers. To make sure our customers are being treated right, we use a company called www.CallRevu.com to monitor every single call that comes into the dealership to track the advertising and to make sure every customer is treated properly. “We spend a lot of money to make the phone ring and we want to make sure we convert as many calls into customers as possible,” said Bessen. “We use www.CallRevu.com to monitor and transcribe all our calls and they send real-time alerts to our managers when a customer is mishandled on the phone so we can respond and repair the relationship within minutes. “We get daily and weekly reports that identify what marketing is working, our appointment rates and closing ratios by ad source and representative. It is a great tool for our daily “save a deal” meetings and for our ongoing training to improve our team’s phone skills.

Facility & Customer Experience

“We go through a lot of effort and expense to bring customers into the dealership so we do our best to make their experience at the dealership a pleasure,” said Bessen. “Part of that is having the signage, clean showrooms and service areas, friendly staff and the right ambiance. We spend a lot of time training our team so we can provide exceptional customer service.” Teddy’s facility is first-class and the point of sale posters, brochures, table tops and balloons are professionally designed and consistent with their overall marketing message to consumers.

In a Nutshell

Teddy Nissan increased sales from 30 units to 225 in only 9 months.
Teddy Nissan used www.Tier10Marketing.com to implement a comprehensive marketing strategy that integrates all aspects of marketing including, digital, traditional, targeted direct mail, email, text, publicity, social, reputation management, niche marketing, point-of-sale merchandising and retention.
Teddy Nissan used www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com to target consumers with the highest statistical probability of purchasing or servicing their vehicles with the dealership using email, text and direct mail to consumers who buy more, service more, return more and refer more.
Teddy Nissan increased their leads by putting a new dealer site at the top of search engines.
Teddy Nissan improved dealership reputation by asking satisfied customers to share their positive experience on sites like Google Place Reviews, Dealer Rater, Facebook and Twitter.
Teddy Nissan created a Nissan Vehicle Purchase Program for their employees, as well as, a Corporate
Vehicle Purchase Programs for large corporations to offer to their employees.
Teddy Nissan updated the facility and use point of sale merchandising that is consistent with all their advertising.

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Hendrick Lexus Soars Ahead 14 spots in Market Share in Just 3 months

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 10:58:00 GMT

Hendrick Lexus implemented new marketing strategies across multiple mediums that improved their sales and service profitability and positively affected all their profit centers, while reducing their overall costs per sale.

This flagship Lexus dealership opened its doors in 1989 and has become the #1 luxury retailer for the Hendrick Automotive Group, the largest privately owned group in the country. Located in Charlotte, NC, Hendrick Lexus has grown into a national leader for Lexus in numerous categories and currently ranks as the #1 volume dealership in the Carolinas. In addition, they are the only dealer in the country to win back-to-back awards as the #1 Certified Pre-Owned Lexus dealer in the nation.

“We are consumed with delivering a world class customer experience that far surpasses our customers’ expectations – we want to WOW our customers every chance we get,” said Brian Gendron, General Manager of Hendrick Lexus. “We believe that no one will treat our customers as well as we do, so we owe it to everyone in our market to make sure they know about Hendrick Lexus and have the opportunity to enjoy the experience our employees create.”

To ensure that every eligible customer knows about Hendrick Lexus, Gendron took time to assess and reengineer the dealership’s entire marketing strategy to attract, serve and satisfy more customers for less cost than they spent before. “We need a holistic marketing plan that communicates a consistent message through every touch point with the customer,” said Gendron. “We were spending too much money with too many companies who were sending out different messages to our customers with a different look and feel. This confused our customers and our even own employees.” Hendrick Lexus’ new strategy uses the same messaging, designs and offers across all advertising mediums: TV, radio, print, outdoor, web, search, social, email, mail, publicity, point of sale merchandising and retention. “We work with one company rather than 15 different vendors and we are spending less for a more integrated strategy that delivers a positive and consistent message to the market.”

While Hendrick Lexus continues to provide the award-winning experience that their customers and employees have come to expect, they are now able to let more people know about it through their new marketing strategy that promotes all their departments, New, Used, Service & Parts, and Finance. “Too many dealers focus most of their marketing only on sales despite the fact that their service departments are the life-line when the market slows down,” said Sean Wolfington, owner of www.Tier10Marketing.com, the marketing company that Hendrick Lexus uses. “It is critical for dealers to integrate all 10 tiers of marketing so the dealership has the same message, look and feel in all their advertising and marketing materials,” Wolfington added.

“We now promote both sales and service to customers who have a better chance of doing business with our dealership,” said Gendron, and their dealership has saved a lot of money by shifting their focus from more expensive traditional mass marketing to a more targeted advertising that speaks to consumers who have the highest statistical probability of buying and servicing their vehicle with the dealership.

“Customers that live far away are naturally less loyal, but customers who live closer to a dealership’s “perfect market” have a much higher probability of returning more often, spending more money and referring more of their friends,” said Budd Blackburn, the creator of the “perfect prospect predictor” and the owner of www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com, the targeted marketing team that works with Teir10Marketing.com for targeted email and direct mail campaigns for Hendrick’s sales and service departments. “We use the manufacturer’s research, Polk Market data and the dealer’s historic sales and service trends to target in-market customers who buy and service more often with the dealership over their lifetime,” added Blackburn.

“We are making an effort to spend money more effectively by attracting and retaining customers who spend more with us, not just today but over their life time,” said Gendron. “When the press said we were in the worst market in 18 years, we actually felt some wind in our sails because of this new strategy. We were connecting differently with consumers and it drove them to us. We had moved up 14 spots in YTD rankings over 2009 in only 3 months and it was evident our plan was definitely working.”

Another component to Hendrick’s new marketing strategy is online videos to promote the dealership. Today over 70% of online car buyers initiate their new vehicle search online and Hendrick uses video search engine optimization (VSEO) to appear on top of the search results with hi-impact videos that promote their dealership and the products they sell. Google changed their algorithm so that video results have more search authority than traditional text results so Hendrick uses VSEO to appear on page one for the most popular search phrases in their market. “Google gives advantage to video results over text results and consumers like video more than text because it combines sight, sound and motion,” said Karry Moore, Owner of www.Car-Mercial.com, the company Hendrick uses to produce, optimize and place hundreds of positive videos on top of the search engines.

In addition to attracting new customers, Hendrick works very hard to create customers for life by delivering a world class customer experience. “We want to astonish our customers with extraordinary service. We monitor how our customers are being handled so we can make sure that they receive a 5-star experience at our dealership,” said Gendron. Hendrick monitors 100% of their inbound calls so they can measure their advertising and track how their customers are handled on the phones, the number one entry point for consumers today. “Our managers get instant alerts whenever a customer is mishandled so they can contact them immediately to resolve issues, save a deal and save a customer in the long term. We save multiple deals a week and repair broken relationships that could lead to lost customers and even worse, bad word-of-mouth,” explained Gendron.

Hendrick uses their call monitoring strategy to ensure that every customer is handled properly and their advertising is generating the highest yield. “Within minutes of Hendrick’s management team receiving an alert, they are able to contact the customer directly and resolve their concerns,” said Chip King, president of www.CallRevu.com, the company that provides the call monitoring service to Hendrick. Hendrick uses the reports to measure the effectiveness of their advertising and to monitor all customer phone calls through daily, weekly and monthly reports, as well as, real-time alerts that save deals and prevent potential CSI concerns. “Our team’s compulsive focus on serving the customer has enabled us to become the proud recipients of the ‘Elite of Lexus’ award for several years in a row,” said Gendron. “While we have had a fantastic year, we have a lot of areas we need to improve on so we look forward to improving and growing in 2011.”

In a Nutshell

Hendrick Lexus moved ahead 14 spots in YTD National rankings in less than 3 months by implementing a holistic marketing strategy that combines traditional advertising with digital, social media, reputation management, publicity, targeted marketing, point of sale merchandising and retention.
Hendrick Lexus’ advertising has the same look, feel and messaging so consumers are exposed to a consistent professional message and creative.
Hendrick Lexus executes a highly-effective comprehensive marketing strategy with clear calls-to-action across all marketing mediums.
Hendrick Lexus targets consumers who have the highest statistical probability of doing business with their dealership today and in the long term.
Hendrick Lexus promotes all their profit centers with cohesive messaging.
Hendrick Lexus optimizes their online visibility with search marketing, video search marketing, targeted email campaigns and banner ads.
Hendrick Lexus monitors all customer phone calls to ensure customers are handled properly, examine ad tracking, and assess employee call performance.

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Capital Honda Saves a Deal a Day by Listening to Calls

Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:54:00 GMT

August 2010
Anthony Gomez
Capital Honda

In most dealerships the phone is the primary method of customer contact during and after the sale. Most dealers will readily admit that their phones are not handled the way they would like, but they don’t know exactly what is happening when customers call. Not Anthony Gomez, Managing Partner of Capital Honda, who monitors every call that comes
into his dealership and follows up with mishandled customers within minutes when calls go wrong.

The phone is a blind spot in many dealerships where customers and profits are lost in every department, every hour of every business day. Nationwide call volume has increased, but Sales appointment rates are under 20% and Service appointment rates are under 30%. “We were paying for a lot of 800 numbers to track ad sources and record all our calls, so I had my managers listen to all the calls that came into our dealership. It didn’t work well because they didn’t have the time, and when they found the time it was often too late, sometimes a whole day after the call,” said Gomez. “We signed up with a new program that gave us all the call tracking #s for free and they charge us to monitor all my calls and alert me when anything goes wrong.”

“The instant alerts help me save deals and the ad tracking reports help me spend my marketing money smarter,” said Gomez. “Our previous ad tracking reports were inaccurate because they attributed calls to our website’s 800# that were not created by the website. Many customers, who called the number on our website, were driven there from other advertising, but they used the 800# on the site to contact us. By listening to every call we now know exactly what brought them to our site and what messaging is working best in our ads. For example, by listening to our calls we realized that we received a lot of calls from a direct mail campaign on our website’s 800# rather than the number on the mailer. A lot of people who got the mailer, visited the website, and then called the 800# on the web page. Our daily reports prioritize the important calls from the previous day with recommended actions to take. We also receive weekly and monthly reports with ‘Vital Statistics’ that compares our dealership to national group averages,” said Gomez.

The reports include categories like:

Appointment % for sales
Appointment % for service
% of contact information captured
% of calls forwarded to voice mail

“We conduct save-a-deal meetings every morning for 15-20 minutes where we review all of the high priority phone opportunities from the previous day,” said Gomez.

“We also use the CallRevu reports to identify systemic problems that hurt our business. For example, we had a surprising number of calls forwarded to voicemail and too many customers called to complain that they were never called back… so we fixed it. And last month we made almost 50 appointments from Call Alerts alone. A year ago those represented 50 lost sales”.

The Bottom Line:

Capital Honda uses a company (CallRevu.com) to monitor and measure all call activity at the dealership. They receive free 800#s to track ads and calls. They receive real-time alerts when a customer is mishandled on the phone and their management follows up within minutes to save the deal.

What They Do:

Calls are recorded with ad source, time, department and representative on the call.
Calls are reviewed and transcribed in a few sentence summary.
Dealership team receives instant alerts when a customer is mishandled so they can follow up immediately to save the customer.
Instant text alerts include a short summary of what happened and a recording of the call.
Management receives daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports that identify areas for improvement in marketing, call process, phone system and follow up.
The dealer uses reports to customize training to improve their people, process, and results.

Resources Dealer Uses:

DMS – Reynolds & Reynolds (www.ReyRey.com)
Phone System – Toshiba “KeyPhones Direct”
Call Monitoring and Alert Service – CallRevu (www.CallRevu.com)

Recommended Actions:

Actively listen, monitor and measure call activity to improve your profits by improving how you handle customers who call your dealership.
Spot check calls on your own or divide calls amongst the management when they have time.
Hire a full-time staff to monitor all your calls.
Dealers who don’t want to hire a staff, due to the expense and resources required, can hire a company like Capital Honda did.

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New Honda Dealer Leap-Frogs Over 1,030 Dealers

Mon, 13 Dec 2010 10:47:00 GMT

Dealer Magazine
November 2010

How they reached #9 in the Country in Only 12 Months

Founded just over a year ago by automotive executive Mike Saporito and 5-time Pro-Bowl linebacker Jessie Armstead, Hamilton Honda is one of the fastest growing Honda dealerships on the East Coast. Hamilton jumped into the top 10 of Honda retailers in the nation in only 12 months.

Saporito and Armstead built a state-of-the art 65,000 sq. ft. dealership on a 12-acre lot, complete with an internet café that offers breakfast, lunch, free refreshments and a mini-museum with exclusive Jessie Armstead artifacts from the brightest moments of his career.

Since all Honda dealers sell the same cars at similar prices Hamilton decided to differentiate their brand by giving free oil changes, loaner cars and unlimited car washes to every one of their customers. Hamilton also launched www.HamiltonHonda.net, a virtual dealership that makes it easy for consumers to shop, buy and service their vehicles online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Hamilton Honda implemented a comprehensive marketing strategy that included the virtual dealership message and also combines traditional advertising with digital marketing, targeted email and direct mail, publicity, social media marketing, reputation management, niche marketing, point of sale merchandising and a complete retention program to keep customers loyal to service and sales. “We have a consistent message throughout all of our marketing and our team has one focus – exceeding our customers’ expectations,” said Saporito. “We are passionate about customer satisfaction and our team does whatever it takes to make our customers happy.”

“Since Hamilton started without a customer base we had to identify consumers who had the highest statistical probability of purchasing and/or servicing their vehicle with the dealership, so we could speak to people who were in the market for what Hamilton offered,” said Sean Wolfington, owner of www.Tier10Marketing.com, Hamilton Honda’s marketing company. A particular campaign which Hamilton Honda had a lot of success with targeted Honda owners who needed a major service and were in- equity, thus they could upgrade into a newer vehicle for a lower monthly payment.

The 2010 Honda BuyBack program offered customers additional trade-in value to “buy-back” their Honda and provided additional incentives oward the purchase of a new Honda. “The program worked well and brought in a lot of low mileage, single owner, late model Hondas that are hard to find and can be very expensive at the auctions,” said Saporito. Another unique program that Hamilton ran was the Teacher Appreciation Purchase Program, where teachers received special pricing and service from Hamilton. “We like to get involved in the community and help in any way we can,” said Saporito. Hamilton has also created several other vehicle purchase programs including one specifically for the military that gives military personnel special pricing on new and preowned vehicles. Saporito was honored by the US Air Force earlier this year as an Honorary Commander for his many contributions to the military community.

To make sure every customer is handled properly, Hamilton tracks their advertising, employees, and how their customers are treated by listening to every call that comes into their dealership. “When a customer calls with a concern an alert is sent to management so they can call the customer and address the issue,” said Chip King from www.CallRevu.com, the company that monitors Hamilton’s calls 24/7. “Hamilton Honda’s Managers respond immediately to alerts and do a great Hamilton Honda surpassed over 1,030 dealers to reach #9 in the country in only 12 months by implementing a comprehensive marketing platform that promotes all their profit centers.

What They Do:

They deliver a cohesive marketing message across all mediums.
They have a comprehensive marketing strategy that promotes all their profit centers in sales and service.
They conduct aggressive conquest marketing campaigns to attract, sell and service same brand consumers.
They monitor all customer phone calls to ensure sales and service calls are being handled properly – and act quickly when CSI concerns arise.

Resources Dealer Uses:

DMS & CRM: ADP
Ad Agency: Tier 10 Marketing (www.Tier10Marketing.com)
Targeted Marketing Company: Team Velocity (www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com)
Call Monitoring: CallRevu (www.CallRevu.com)

Recommended Actions:

Assess your marketing efforts. Be sure your messaging is clear and cohesive across all marketing mediums so customers and prospects ‘know’ and easily recognize your dealership.
Target in-market customers and prospects who have the highest statistical probability of doing business with your dealership today and in the
long term.
Define a message that differentiates your dealership from the competition.
Monitor and improve your customer processes and get managers involved early when a customer has concerns. job responding to their customers’ needs.” Hamilton uses the daily, weekly and monthly call monitoring reports to improve their people and processes, and to adjust their advertising to what is generating the most appointments.

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New Honda Dealer Surpasses over 1,030 Dealers Reaching #9 in the Country in Only 12 Months

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:44:00 GMT

December 2010

Over 600% Increase in Repair Orders Written

Hamilton Honda opened its doors in May 2009 and never looked back. Within 12 months Hamilton landed a coveted spot among the Nation’s top 10 Honda retailers. Founded by automotive executive Mike Saporito, a 24-year veteran of the automotive industry, and Jessie Armstead, a 5-time Pro-Bowl linebacker, Hamilton Honda is one of the fastest growing Honda dealerships on the East Coast.

From the ground up Saporito and Armstead built a phenomenal 65,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facility on 12 acres complete with all the bells and whistles, including an internet café that offers breakfast, lunch and free refreshments, as well as, a mini-museum with an exclusive Jessie Armstead collection highlighting his 11-year NFL career.

Saporito and Armstead attribute Hamilton Honda’s extraordinary growth to a comprehensive strategy that includes their active community involvement, a discounted volume pricing approach which gives consumers guaranteed low prices, free oil changes, loaner cars and car washes for life, and their virtual dealership, www.HamiltonHonda.net, that makes it easy for consumers to shop, buy and service their vehicles online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Hamilton has become an important member of central New Jersey’s local business community, employing more than 100 individuals and generating more than $90 million in sales revenue in its first year selling over 4,600 new and used cars and servicing over 27,000.

Hamilton Honda combines traditional advertising with digital marketing, targeted email and direct mail, publicity, social media marketing, reputation management, niche marketing, point of sale merchandising and a complete retention program to keep customers loyal to service and sales. “We have a consistent message throughout all of our marketing and our team has one focus – exceeding our customers’ expectations,” said Saporito. “We are passionate about customer satisfaction and our team does whatever it takes to make our customers happy.”

One key part of Hamilton’s strategy was the execution of a smart targeted marketing strategy. “We identified Honda customers who had the highest statistical probability of purchasing and/or servicing a vehicle with Hamilton and we sent targeted email and mail with attractive offers and Hamilton’s advantage of free car washes, oil changes and loaner cars,” said Budd Blackburn, owner of www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com, the targeted marketing company Hamilton uses.

One of the campaigns Hamilton promoted was the “2010 Hamilton Honda Vehicle BuyBack Program.” The program targeted Honda owners who were in equity and had a high probability of being in the market for a new vehicle. “The BuyBack Program offered customers additional trade-in value to “buy-back” their Honda and provided additional incentives toward the purchase of a new Honda,” said Sean Wolfington, owner of www.Tier10Marketing.com, Hamilton Honda’s marketing company. “Hamilton also included service offers for the customers who may not want to get a new vehicle but needed a major service.” Like all of Hamilton’s integrated marketing campaigns all the materials had a consistent message, look and feel. “The program was a great success and brought in a lot of quality, low mileage, single owner, late model Honda’s that are not easy to find and can be very expensive at auction,” said Saporito.

Another successful marketing initiative created by Hamilton is a unique Teacher Appreciation Purchase Program, where teachers received special pricing and service from Hamilton. “We like to get involved in the community and help in any way we can,” said Saporito. Hamilton has created several other specialty vehicle purchase programs including one specifically for the military for active, reserve and Guard Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps military at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. All military personnel and their families are eligible for special pricing and service through Hamilton Honda.

To ensure every customer gets 5 star service Hamilton hired a company to monitor every inbound call and to alert management whenever a customer is mishandled or has a customer service issue that cannot be resolved. The management team also reviews daily, weekly and monthly call monitoring reports to improve their processes and the customer experience for the growing number of customers that prefer to call before coming into the dealership. “We use the reports to track our advertising sources, employees, processes and to make sure we exceed our customers’ expectations,” said Saporito. “Hamilton’s managers respond immediately to alerts and do a great job responding to their customers’ needs,” said Chip King of www.CallRevu.com, the company Hamilton uses for call monitoring. “Whenever there is an issue with a customer our managers get and respond to the alert within minutes by calling and resolving the customers concerns. Many customers are pleasantly surprised that a manager contacted them so quickly and addressed their issue,” said Saporito.

It was not sheer luck that Hamilton Honda surpassed over 1,030 Honda dealers to reach the #9 spot in the country in only 12 months. They implemented a comprehensive marketing strategy that promotes all their profit centers, New, Used, Service, and F&I. Their marketing strategy is targeted to in-market consumers and their message, look and feel is consistent across all mediums: TV, radio, print, direct mail, web site, digital marketing, publicity, retention and even the point of sale merchandising. In addition to Hamilton’s integrated marketing strategy to attract ready-to-buy consumers they deliver a world class customer experience that has earned them high customer satisfaction and will certainly translate into loyalty down the road. “We want to make sure that every customer’s expectations are not only met, but exceeded,” said Saporito. If year one is any indication, there is no doubt that Hamilton Honda will have many more successful years in the future.

In a Nutshell

Hamilton Honda generated more than $90 million in sales revenue in its first year, selling over 4,600 new and used cars and servicing over 27,000.
Hamilton Honda experienced a 600% increase in service ROs written on combination sales and service marketing initiative.
Hamilton Honda uses www.Tier10Marketing.com and www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com to implement targeted marketing campaigns that attract, sell and service in-market consumers.
Hamilton Honda’s call monitoring program, www.CallRevu.com, sends alerts to their management team whenever a customer is mishandled so they can save a deal and a customer for life.

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Hendrick Lexus Leap Frogs 14 spots in Market Share in only 3 months

Wed, 01 Dec 2010 10:33:00 GMT

December 2010

Hendrick Lexus implements new marketing strategies that improve their sales & service profitability while reducing their overall cost per sale.

Hendrick Lexus is a flagship Lexus dealership and has become a luxury leading retailer for the Hendrick Automotive Group, one of the largest privately owned groups in the country. Located in Charlotte, NC, Hendrick Lexus has grown into a national leader for Lexus in numerous categories and currently ranks as the #1 volume dealership in the Carolinas, and is among the top Lexus dealerships in Certified Pre-Owned category for Lexus Nationally.

“We are consumed with delivering a world class customer experience that far exceeds our customers’ expectations – we want to WOW our customers every chance we get,” said Brian Gendron, Vice President and General Manager of Hendrick Lexus. “We believe that no one will treat our customers as good as we do, so we owe it to everyone in our market to make sure they know about Hendrick Lexus so they can enjoy the experience our team members create.”

To ensure customers know about Hendrick Lexus, Gendron re-engineered the dealership’s entire marketing strategy to attract, serve and satisfy more customers for less cost than they spent before. “We want a holistic marketing plan that communicates a consistent message through every touch point with the customer,” said Gendron. “We were spending too much money with too many companies who were sending different messages to our customers with a different look and feel. This confuses customers and our own employees.” Hendrick Lexus’ new strategy was to use the same message, design and offers across all their advertising mediums: TV, radio, print, outdoor, web, search, social, email, mail, publicity, point of sale merchandising and retention. “We work with one company rather than 15 different vendors and we are spending less for a more integrated strategy that delivers a positive and consistent message to the market.”

Hendrick Lexus continues to provide an award-winning experience that their customers and employees have come to expect, but they just let more people know about it through their new marketing strategy that promotes all their Hendrick Lexus Leap Frogs 14 spots in Market Share in only 3 months departments, New, Certified Pre-Owned, Service & Parts, and Finance. “Too many dealers focus most of their marketing only on sales despite the fact that their service departments are the lifeline when the market slows down,” said Sean Wolfington, owner of www.Tier10Marketing.com, Hendrick Lexus’ marketing company. “It is just as important to integrate all 10 tiers of marketing so the dealership has the same message, look and feel in all their advertising and marketing materials.”

“We are promoting sales and service to customers who have a better chance of doing business with our dealership,” said Gendron. The dealership saved a lot of money by shifting their focus from traditional mass marketing to a more targeted advertising that speaks to consumers that have the highest statistical probability of buying and servicing their vehicle with the dealership.

“We are making an effort to spend more trying to attract and retain customers who spend more with us, not just today but over their lifetime,” added Gendron. “Customers that live far away are less loyal but customers who live closer to a dealership’s “perfect market” have a much higher probability of returning more often, spending more money and referring more of their friends,” said Budd Blackburn, the creator of the “perfect prospect predictor” and the owner of www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com, the targeted marketing team that works with www.Tier10Marketing.com for targeted email and direct mail campaigns for Hendrick’s sales and service departments.

“We used the manufacturer’s research, Polk Market data and the dealer’s historic sales and service trends to target in-market customers who buy and service more often with the dealership over their lifetime,” added Blackburn.

“When the press said we were in the worst market in 18 years, we actually felt some wind in our sails because of this new strategy. We were connecting differently with consumers and it drove them to us,” said Gendron. “We moved up 14 spots in YTD rankings over 2009 by the end of September and our plan was definitely working.” Hendrick also started to use online videos to promote the dealership. Today over 70% of online car buyers initiate their new vehicle search online and Hendrick uses video search engine optimization (VSEO) to appear on top of the search results with hi-impact videos that promote their dealership and the products they sell. Google changed their algorithm so that video results have more search authority than traditional text results so Hendrick uses VSEO to appear on page one for the most popular search phrases in their market.

“Google gives advantage to video results over text results and consumers like video more than text because it combines sight, sound and motion,” said Karry Moore, owner of www.Car-Mercial.com, the company Hendrick uses to produce, optimize and place hundreds of positive videos on top of the search engines.

Hendrick monitors 100% of their inbound calls so they can measure their advertising and track how their customers are handled on the phones, the number one entry point for consumers today. “Our managers get instant alerts whenever a customer is mishandled so they can contact them immediately to resolve issues, save a deal and save a customer in the long term. They will save multiple deals a week and repair broken relationships that could have led to lost customers and bad word-of-mouth.”

Hendrick uses the call monitoring strategy to ensure that every customer is handled properly and their advertising is generating the highest yield. “Within minutes of Hendrick’s management team receiving an alert, they contact the customer and resolve their issues,” said Chip King, president of www.CallRevu.com, the company that provides the call monitoring service to Hendrick.” Hendrick uses the reports to measure the effectiveness of their advertising and to monitor all customer phone calls through daily, weekly and monthly reports, as well as, real-time alerts that save deals and prevent potential CSI concerns. “Our team’s compulsive focus on serving the customer has enabled us to become the proud recipients of the ‘Elite of Lexus’ award 13 years running,” said Gendron. “While we are having a fantastic year, we have a lot of areas we need to improve on so we look forward to improving and growing more in 2011.”

THE BOTTOM LINE

Hendrick Lexus moved ahead 14 spots in YTD National rankings in less than 3 months and their New car sales are up 27% over 2009 as a result of implementing a holistic marketing strategy that combines traditional advertising with digital, social media, reputation management, publicity, targeted marketing, point of sale merchandising and retention. All of their advertising has the same look, feel and messaging so consumers are exposed to a consistent professional message and creative.

What They Do:

They execute a highly effective comprehensive marketing strategy with clear calls-to-action across all marketing mediums.
They promote all their profit centers via cohesive messaging.
They optimize their online visibility through VSEO.
They monitor all customer phone calls to ensure customers are handled properly, examine ad tracking, and assess employee call performance.

Resources Dealer Uses:

DMS: Reynolds & Reynolds (www.reyrey.com)
Ad Agency: Tier 10 Marketing (www.Tier10Marketing.com)
Targeted Marketing: Team Velocity (www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com)
Video Search Engine Optimization: Car-mercial (www.Car-Mercial.com)
Call Monitoring: CallRevu (www.CallRevu.com)

Recommended Actions:

Re-evaluate your current marketing strategy to see if you have a clear strategy that integrates all the mediums of advertising with a consistent message, look and feel.
Target consumers who have the highest statistical probability of doing business with your dealership today and in the long term.
Increase your online presence with search marketing, video search marketing, targeted email campaigns and banner ads.
Monitor call activity for tracking your ads, employees, process and to protect and save customers who are mishandled by your staff. well as, real-time alerts that save deals and prevent potential CSI concerns.

Click here to Download this PDF

CallRevu Call Monitoring Essential to Paragon's Record Year

Mon, 01 Nov 2010 09:28:00 GMT

Dealer Magazine
Special Edition Magazine
November 2010

Paragon Honda and Acura Sky Rocket to #1
This Is How They Did It In Just 6 Months.

By Cliff Banks

Paragon Honda and Acura grew from #17 to the #1 New & Certified Pre-Owned Honda & Acura Dealer in the U.S. in a short 6 month period. This document provides an overview of what they did in that time period.

“Overall, it was our best year in business despite being the worst year in the industry,” said Brian Benstock, GM and partner of Paragon Honda and Acura. “We had a record year for volume and profitability during a record low year for the car business.” The biggest thing that impacted Paragon’s growth was changing their marketing, sales and service strategy last June. “We had an in-house ad agency but decided to bring on an outside company to help us build and implement a new plan to grow our business,” said Benstock. Below is a summary of the strategies that had the biggest impact on Paragon’s business over the last year according to Brian Benstock himself.

Leadership

Paragon’s mission-driven leadership team is passionate about astonishing their customers by delivering a Ritz-level customer experience in all their departments. The leadership of Paragon is known for its commitment to customer service and extraordinary work ethic. “Paul and Edith Singer founded the dealerships years ago and they set the bar high by their example and extraordinary work. Since Paul passed away, Edith has infused the culture of the dealership with her passion and tireless work ethic but also has added the heart that is essential to premium customer care,” said Benstock.

Consolidation

“In the past our in-house ad agency worked with 12 different companies to execute every part of our strategy and the vendors didn’t work together so the campaigns were not integrated. It was confusing for our customers because our TV and radio commercials had one message, direct mail had another, my internet manager was sending emails with different offers and none of it was on my website or point of purchase materials in the dealership. Our advertising strategy improved dramatically because we consolidated our marketing vendors and hired one company to develop and implement one integrated marketing strategy that is completely connected and consistent.”

Market Research

“Paragon uses extensive market research to identify consumers that have the highest statistical probability of doing business with their dealerships in the future,” said Sean Wolfington, Owner of Tier10Marketing.com, the marketing company Paragon hired to help them create their strategy. “We use the manufacturer’s Paragon search, Polk Market data and the dealer’s historic sales and service trends to plan which customers to target in the future,” said David Boice, Co-founder of Tier10Marketing.com.

“In the past we spent more money on mass marketing through TV, radio and print, but the research showed that over 90% of our business came from less than 10% of the city, so we targeted our marketing to the consumers that live in those areas and that are in the market to buy or service their vehicle in the near future,” said Benstock. “This saved us a lot of money that we used to waste on advertising to people who were either not in the market for what we offer or who were not in our geographical market and therefore had a low probability of coming in for sales or service,” added Benstock. “There are over 11 million people in New York City but there are only 87,500 consumers that have a high probability of doing business with Paragon so they are the primary target of their marketing plan,” said Boice.

“With intelligence and boldness, Brian thrives in an urban environment where few could survive,” said Dale Pollak, chairman and founder of vAuto. Paragon uses vAuto to get accurate used vehicle market pricing to implement an intelligent strategy for buying, marketing and selling used vehicles. “Before we would price our cars very high in the hope of making a very large gross profit and we would slowly reduce the price as time went on,” said Benstock. “Now we market price our pre-owned vehicles to move them fast so we can increase the frequency of our sales and get a better internal rate of return on our capital. In short, we make a lot more money by making less money more often.” When a customer wants to shop, Paragon shows them similar vehicles in the market that cost more money so they can see they are getting a good deal without leaving Paragon’s showroom to prove it.

Traditional Advertising

Traditional advertising on TV, radio and print is expensive in New York, like other major metro markets. As a result, Paragon shifted a lot of their traditional ad budget to more targeted marketing that generates better returns. However, since Latinos make up half of Paragon’s market, they have leveraged some good buys on Spanish radio, as well as, print ads in the New York Times where they include QR technology, a barcode that links consumers’ mobile phones to Paragon’s website where they can learn more about the offer and contact the dealership. “We recently did a radio buy that promoted a film premiere we sponsored in Queens,” said Benstock. “We invited people to our website and Facebook pages to enter to win tickets to the premier and provided additional entries for people who shared the promotion with others on Facebook and Twitter.” Paragon has integrated technology into their traditional advertising to build their database and to multiply the reach of their promotions through viral strategies that incentivize consumers to share their promotions with their friends.

Online Marketing

Over 90% of Honda consumers use the web to shop so Paragon has an in-depth strategy for search engine optimization and marketing, email marketing, banner ads on popular websites like Facebook, social media marketing, online reputation management and mobile marketing. “We have a lot of friends and followers on the top social media platforms including Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and Bebo,” said Benstock. “As a result of our digital marketing campaigns, we increased the size of our database by approximately 50,000 in the last 6 months and we are sending out professionally designed emails that have credible themes and clear offers that generate leads from consumers who will buy and others who need service.”

Lead Providers

“Our best source of leads are our own websites because the closing ratios and average gross profits are much higher than the typical lead providers, as most 3rd party lead generators sell the same lead to multiple dealers,” said Benstock. “We only work with lead providers that generate a good return and have a lower cost per sale compared to our other marketing. We use AutoTrader.com, Cars.com and AutomotiveAdvertisingNetwork.com because all three of them deliver exclusive leads which means they don’t resell the same leads to all of our competitors.”

AutoTrader and Cars.com have long done a good job with pre-owned and they give dealers exposure to clients they may not otherwise reach. The Automotive Advertising Network promotes Paragon’s vehicles on the most popular search engines and social networks and sends them unlimited leads for a flat membership fee of $995. AutoTrader and Cars.com are more expensive but often generate more leads.

“Now that AutoTrader.com has bought vAuto we are eager to see what Dale Pollak and Chip Perry will do together, I am sure it will be big,” Benstock said.

Search Engines

Since the majority of consumers use search engines to find their next new vehicle, Paragon uses organic Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Video Search Engine Optimization (VSEO) and targeted pay-per-click search marketing campaigns to attract in-market consumers their websites and dealerships.

As a result, Paragon appears on top of the search engines for the most popular search phrases in their market “New York Honda” and “New York Acura”. Paragon tracks what consumers are searching for on Google and they implement search strategies to appear on top of the results for popular search phrases. For example, during cash for clunkers Paragon generated over 5,000 leads in less than a month through Paragon’s website, CashForClunkersNY.com, which was the #1 result when customers typed in “NY Cash for Clunkers”.

When Toyota’s recall was announced, Paragon received leads from the Automotive Advertising Network which optimized a website called ToyotaRecall.org that appears on top of the results when consumers search for information about Toyota’s Recall. “The Automotive Ad Network also provides thousands of inbound links to our website, which increases search authority and position on the search engines,” noted Benstock.

Video SEO

Television advertising has worked well for dealers in the past because consumers can experience the sight, sound and motion that other mediums don’t deliver. Now Paragon is using video to promote their dealership but they are optimizing the videos to appear on top of the search engines for the most popular search phrases their consumers use to find an Acura or Honda. “We hired a VSEO company, to produce and position hundreds of positive videos about our dealership on top of the search. They also post comparison videos for consumers who are searching for competitive brands like Toyota and Nissan, so they can see the advantages of the Honda and visit our website to get an instant price quote,” said Benstock. “Google gives advantage to video results over text results and consumers like video more than text,” said Karry Moore, Owner of Car-Mercial.com, the company Paragon uses for their VSEO strategy.

Pay-Per-Click Search Marketing

“Our primary strategy for pay-per-click is to improve our organic search results so we don’t have to pay a lot of money on our pay-per-click strategy. So far this year we have generated 10 leads organically for every 1 lead from pay-per-click, and that has dramatically reduced our cost per lead and sale. We only use targeted pay-per-click search marketing campaigns for the search phrases where we don’t appear for free on the search engines and that have the highest closing ratios at the dealership,” explained Benstock.

Micro Sites

All of Paragon’s digital marketing efforts drive consumers to a campaign micro site where the message, offers, look and feel are consistent with every other part of the campaign. The campaign micro site is designed to convert the maximum number of visitors into email, phone and showroom leads. Some examples of micro sites we currently use are ParagonHondaInfo.com and ParagonExpressService.com.

Public Relations

Paragon realizes that a free five minute story on a major TV network that appears online forever has a bigger impact than an expensive 30 or 60 second TV ad that runs out when the budget expires. “Our marketing company creates and distributes relevant press that generates interviews with local press and we have received exposure in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, NY Post and hundreds of stories on national outlets, including CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX and MSN,” said Benstock. As a result of his public exposure, Benstock was recently invited to host an Automotive Advice call-in show on the top radio station in New York every Saturday at 4pm and he is piloting a similar car show on Fox TV to give consumers advice on shopping and servicing their vehicles. When you google “Brian Benstock” and search for “Videos”, two pages of video interviews on national TV shows appear as a result of Paragon’s effective publicity campaign.

Reputation Management

Today’s consumers rely more on other consumers’ reviews than advertising, so Online Reputation Management is a top priority for Paragon. “When consumers google our dealership or my name they will find out about all the things we are doing in the community and they will be able to read positive reviews from satisfied customers,” said Benstock.

“Our marketing company automates a process to ask all our satisfied customers to share their experience on popular consumer sites like Google Reviews, Dealer Rater and many others. By asking our satisfied customers to share their experience on the internet, our online reputation dramatically improved in a few short months and we are always working to make it better,” said Benstock. Paragon also has an active social media marketing strategy through Facebook, Twitter and their dealership blog ParagonHondaInfo.com. Paragon takes pictures of all their customers with their new car, sends them the photo and asks them to post it on Facebook and share their positive experience on the review sites. To increase the chances, Paragon also gives customers step-by-step instructions on “how to” post their review on Google, Dealer Rater and the other popular review sites.

Targeted Marketing

Paragon communicates with all in-market Honda and Acura consumers by sending custom offers based on their vehicle, miles and position in their ownership cycle. Paragon sends custom campaigns via mail and email to promote all their profit centers, New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts. “We dial into Paragon’s DMS to target in-equity customers and we use variable printers to send a custom message to each consumer that shows them how they can get a newer vehicle for a lower payment,” said Budd Blackburn from TeamVelocityMarketing.com, “we also include offers that promote the service the customer needs, extended service agreements and accessories.“

Niche Marketing

Paragon’s marketing company promotes a corporate purchase program to employees of large organizations in their market that gives them special pricing and service when they do business at Paragon. “Our marketing company sends an information package to the HR department of the largest organizations in our area to ask them if they want to give this free benefit to their employees,” said Benstock. If a company wants to join the program they receive a communication kit from Paragon that explains the program to their employees. Companies have the option of having brochures customized with their logo and sent to their employees directly so they don’t even need to stuff their payroll envelopes.

Merchandising

When you walk into Paragon Honda and Acura, it is obvious something is going on. Even if consumers don’t know about their sale the merchandising quickly reminds them that they are lucky they stopped by at the right time. “We want our customers to see a consistent message through our advertising and our in-store posters, tri-folds, balloons, hang tags and brochures,” said Benstock. The dealership has extensive POS Merchandising that promotes the Paragon Guarantee and Paragon’s Certified Pre-Owned Vehicles.

Retention

Paragon implements a detailed loyalty strategy to bring back customers for service and to re-sell their customer base more often. “We have a 360° customer communication process from the moment a customer buys to the time they renew into a new vehicle and everything in between,” said Benstock. Paragon uses email, phone, voicemails and direct mail to communicate with their customers when they need service, accessories, an extended warranty or a new vehicle.

“According to our ad tracking phone numbers, we have had the most success with the variable mail campaigns because the response rates and closing ratios are higher than other mediums,” said Benstock.

“Most dealers will send multiple campaigns to promote all their profit centers,” said Budd Blackburn, Owner of TeamVelocityMarketing.com, “Paragon’s custom mailers promote all their profit centers in one campaign that has multiple offers for sales, service and finance,” added Blackburn. “While most advertising is a lot more expensive in New York, the cost of mailers and postage is the same here as it is in Nebraska so direct mail has proven to be our best return on investment,” said Benstock.

Paragon Certified Pre-Owned

Paragon is the #1 Certified Pre-Owned Honda and Acura dealers in the world. Actually, Paragon Honda sells more than twice the certified pre-owned vehicles of the 2nd place Honda Certified retailer and broke Honda and Acura’s all-time record by selling over 300 Certified Hondas and over 100 certified Acuras in one month. “We source most of our certified vehicles from trade-ins because we have increased our new vehicle sales to customers who trade in 2 and 3 year old vehicles as a result of our targeted marketing,” said Benstock. “Our Certified team inspects, repairs, and reconditions our vehicles to make them nearly-new and we get them front-line ready in days so we can maintain a fast turnover of our inventory.” As a result, Paragon has zero 60-day vehicles, not due to wholesale policies but due to better retail marketing. Paragon promotes their Certified pre-owned vehicles with posters, brochures, table tops, hang tags and window clings so it is easy for consumers to learn about the value of their Certified pre-owned vehicles. “We give every customer an ‘autobiography’ that includes the vehicle’s history, lemon check, service history, and pricing information on competitive vehicles so our customers have a lot of confidence when they buy a Certified pre-owned vehicle from our dealership,” explained Benstock.

Trade Cycle Management

Over the last few difficult years, Paragon has learned that the loyalty and frequency of their customer activity is essential to survive the ups and downs of this business. That is why Paragon launched a loyalty management strategy centered on trade cycle management and short-term leasing. “We educate our customers on the benefits of a short-term lease and we are implementing a renewal process that dramatically increases our loyalty rates at lease-end,” said Benstock. “Our goal is to build a large bank of loyal lifetime customers who buy a new or used vehicle every 2-3 years rather than every 6-8 years.” Paragon’s trade cycle business plan forecasts the dealership being able to double their business every 6 years by increasing the loyalty and frequency of their customer base without generating any increase in volume from new prospects. “The best part is that this strategy will ensure we have a lot of low mileage, late model pre-owned Hondas that we can sell through our Certified pre-owned program which is always in need of these hard to find vehicles,” said Benstock.

Tracking Advertising, Employees & Customer Care

Paragon tracks their advertising, employees, and how their customers are treated by listening to every call that comes into their dealership. “We use a call monitoring company called CallRevu to monitor all our calls 24/7 and they send real-time alerts to our managers when a customer is mishandled on the phone,” said Benstock. “Our managers save a lot of deals because they contact customers immediately before it’s too late. We also review daily and weekly reports that tell us what marketing the customers responded to, the appointment rates, show rates, and closing ratios by ad source. With this information we adjust our marketing to spend more where we get the results and less where we don’t.”

Click here to Download this PDF

CallRevu Named in the Top Ten to Watch in 2010- says AutoSuccess Magazine

Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:23:00 GMT

“The accuracy of the reports gives us the confidence to take quick action to save opportunities and correct process issues,” said Jack Jackintelle, Rick Case Automotive.

Today the phone is the primary method of initial contact, subsequent contacts, and post purchase experience for every department in the dealership. Most dealers have 800 Trackable Phone Lines that track ad sources and allow them to listen to the calls, but no one has the time to listen to every call. CallRevu is a company that listens and reports on all dealership calls, and gives their dealers all the 800 call tracking numbers they need for free.

Recent customer experience studies show that more than half of a dealerships phone contacts are mishandled which results in lost customers and profits. Sales appointment setting rates are under 20% nationally and Service appointment setting rates are under 30%. A surprising number of calls are forwarded to voicemail, and are too often not checked or followed up with. The phone is a blind spot in the dealership where customers and profits are lost in every department, every hour of every business day.

The Solution: Call Monitoring & Reporting

CallRevu, is a service that monitors all customer phone calls and sends real-time alerts whenever a call is mishandled, as well as, provides daily and monthly reports to dealers.

Real-Time Alerts

Dealers receive a “Real-Time Alert” that is sent to the management team via Text and Email whenever there is a time sensitive customer issue. “When my team gets an alert they contact the customer immediately to save a deal, mitigate a CSI or legal issue or to just save a customer that otherwise would be lost forever,” said Brian Benstock, one of CallRevu’s clients. “The accuracy of the reports gives us the confidence to take quick action to save opportunities and correct process issues,” said Jack Jackintelle, President, Rick Case Automotive Group.

Daily Reports

Dealers who use the service review daily summary reports from the previous day’s calls each morning in less than 15 minutes. Their call summaries are prioritized so it is easy to quickly identify and help mishandled customers before it is too late. The report recommends an action for each customer including Appointment Confirmation, Follow Up, Follow Up on Promise Made, Call to Set an Appointment, Sales or Service Follow Up, CSI Alert, Legal Alert, etc.

“After I got alerts for a week I realized that our phone was a black hole causing profit leaks in every department of the dealership, every hour of every day.”

Monthly Reports

Dealerships also receive a monthly report with “Vital Statistics” compared to national group averages in critical categories like percentage of sales and service appointments set, contact information captured, and percentage of calls forwarded to voice mail. “CallRevu focused our team on our CSI issues and mapped the ‘fix’ for us. We increased our CSI by 65%,” said Robert Hess, GSM of Jerry’s Toyota. “We received Toyota’s President’s Award for the first time, after a disqualification in 2007 for CSI status. According to management, Jerry’s also increased their sales appointment percentages from 16% to 45%, with a 25% increase in appointment “shows”.

Autosuccess 2010 Special Edition

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:19:00 GMT

CALLREVU

Today the phone is the primary method of initial contact, subsequent contacts, and post purchase experience for every department in the dealership. Most dealers have 800 Trackable Phone Lines that track ad sources and allow them to listen to the calls, but no one has the time to listen to every call. CallRevu is a company that listens and reports on all dealership calls, and gives their dealers all the 800 call tracking numbers they need for free.

The Solution: Call Monitoring & Reporting

CallRevu, is a service that monitors all customer phone calls and sends real-time alerts whenever a call is mishandled, as well as, provide daily and monthly reports to dealers.

Real-Time Alerts

Dealers receive a “Real Time Alert” that is sent to the management team via Text and Email whenever there is a time sensitive customer issue. “When my team gets an alert they contact the customer immediately to save a deal, mitigate a CSI or legal issue or to just save a customer that otherwise would be lost forever,” said Brian Benstock, one of CallRevu’s clients. “The accuracy of the reports gives us the confidence to take quick action to save opportunities and correct process issues,” said Jack Jackintelle, President, Rick Case Automotive Group.

Daily Reports

“After I got alerts for a week, I realized that our phone was a black hole causing profit leaks in every department of the dealership, every hour of every day.”

Monthly Reports

Click here to Download this PDF

Call Revu rolls out “Profit Saver” in the Northeast

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:03:00 GMT

January 7, 2007: CallRevu, LLC is serving dealers in Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. “Profit Saver is actually the offspring of a service we developed to help dealers monitor their sales staff’s performance during marketing events”, say David Boice, a co-founder of CallRevu. “Our dealers measured significant call volume increase during concentrated marketing such as large mail campaigns….but often found that sales did not increase commensurately”. Boice goes on to describe the Profit Saver report as an actual summary of every inbound call to the dealership for the previous day. “Our dealers found they could read a summary of their inbound toll free calls to all departments in 15 minutes or less, each morning.”

Soon, he says, these dealers found this report a critical part of the management of their dealerships. “We now have dealers all around our office in Dulles, and we are staffing up to take on the many referrals we are getting daily”. Dave Perno, GM of Priority Toyota in Richmond, is CallRevu’s first client. “The CallRevu Profit Saver report is a vital part of our daily meetings—it can’t be beat for saving deals and solving problems. It’s logical, it’s easy to use, and it works!”

Sandra Lee Takes CallRevu 24 / 7 / 365

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:02:00 GMT

Feb, 2008: CallRevu, LLC has engaged Sandra Lee as Director of Operations. “Sandra brings tremendous talent and experience to our company” says Chip King, Managing Partner. “Sandra has developed BDC’s in dealerships all over the country, and has a unique ability to build ‘team’, we are very excited to have Sandra join us”. Under Lee’s guidance, CallRevu now has staff all over the country and is engaged around the clock in monitoring and summarizing dealership’s inbound toll free phone traffic.

“The call volume in dealerships is increasing exponentially, and we know that more than half of the phone calls for Sales, Service, and Parts are mishandled!” says Lee. “Our focus is to give the dealerships we serve the chance to react to sales and CSI opportunities quickly and to more easily see where the training opportunities lie”. Lee says the Profit Saver Report not only gives fast reaction to important customer situations, but offers a “10,000 Foot” view of the dealerships core personality… “If you listen from above the trees, you will hear exactly what your customers tell you they want in order to do business with you”. CallRevu now serves dealerships in 21 states, and will soon be able to support 100,000 monthly inbound calls.

CallRevu Releases “Real Time Alerts”

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:00:00 GMT

August 2009: CallRevu has announced a new level of service that includes free call tracking numbers, and “Real Time Alerts”. “We know that 90% of CSI issues start on the phone”, says David Boice, co-founder of CallRevu, LLC. “We needed to give the dealer the chance to react to these issues in real time”. Sean Wolfington, also a partner, adds “Every day, we see sales calls that end with no contact information taken, callers told the car they asked about is not available with no alternatives offered, service calls with excessive prices quoted with no appointment set, and most common is the Sales or Service call that goes to Voice Mail—often repeatedly!”

CallRevu now sends email and text alerts to the Dealer and the department manager each time there may be a lost sales opportunity, or potential CSI issues that require quick action to resolve. Brian Benstock, DP of Paragon Honda/Acura in New York, averages over 5000 inbound calls on toll free numbers monthly. “This team is focused on my business 24/7… Now a 20 minute read each morning, as well as instant alerts when required let us ‘hear’ critical operational information in real time. We have never gotten more for our investment” says Benstock.

Press for CallRevu

Teddy Nissan Boosts Sales from 30 to 225 in Only 9 Months

Hendrick Lexus Soars Ahead 14 spots in Market Share in Just 3 months

Capital Honda Saves a Deal a Day by Listening to Calls

New Honda Dealer Leap-Frogs Over 1,030 Dealers

New Honda Dealer Surpasses over 1,030 Dealers Reaching #9 in the Country in Only 12 Months

Hendrick Lexus Leap Frogs 14 spots in Market Share in only 3 months

CallRevu Call Monitoring Essential to Paragon's Record Year

Dealer Magazine Special Edition MagazineNovember 2010

Paragon Honda and Acura Sky Rocket to #1 This Is How They Did It In Just 6 Months.

CallRevu Named in the Top Ten to Watch in 2010- says AutoSuccess Magazine

Autosuccess 2010 Special Edition

Call Revu rolls out “Profit Saver” in the Northeast

Sandra Lee Takes CallRevu 24 / 7 / 365

CallRevu Releases “Real Time Alerts”

Dealer Magazine
Special Edition Magazine
November 2010

Paragon Honda and Acura Sky Rocket to #1
This Is How They Did It In Just 6 Months.