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When most dealerships finally open, the staff is usually fresh off the training boat, ready to put their theories and ideas into action. When Quad Cities Suzuki unveiled their facility in Davenport, Iowa, they were opening their doors to a series of already-proven concepts. Quad Cities Suzuki believed it would be successful before they even poured the foundation. They attribute their quick-seeded accomplishments to a carefully selected location, employee satisfaction, extraordinary customer policies and a finely chiseled sales process. Out of approximately 550 Suzuki dealerships in the nation, Quad Cities Suzuki rose to No. 34 in new car sales in less than one year (as of October 2006). |
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| The success began with the location itself. The “Quad Cities” region connects a square around the Mississippi River, which slices through two states. Davenport and Bettendorf, Iowa are east of the river and west of the river in Illinois are Moline and Rock Island. Within this vessel of commerce, John Palmer, dealer principal, and his crew spent six months scouting for the right location to build their compound. They landed front and center of a busy intersection in Davenport, 400 yards from the town’s Super Wal-Mart. “We specifically targeted this location, not only because of its proximity to Wal-Mart, but also because it is one of the busiest intersections in the state of Iowa,” said Palmer. “There’s really no other car dealership within a mile of us.” Palmer and his team chose a Suzuki franchise because, according to him, “Suzuki has got an unbelievably strong lineup of cars. They have the No. 1 warranty in America and the highest percentage of sales increases year after year. They have also been phenomenal to deal with. They take great care of their dealerships.” |
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While waiting for the facility to take shape over a period of six months, Palmer asked, ‘Why don’t we get started out of a double wide trailer selling used cars?’ The staff wasted no time. “We got everyone trained and going, and we were selling 40-50 cars per month,” said Palmer. The dealership’s infrastructure has burgeoned since then. Tested Sales Process On a typical Saturday, the dealership welcomes between 50 and 60 appointments and 25 to 30 on the weekdays. As soon as potential customers walk in, they begin ‘at the top’ with an introduction to the sales manager. This reverse turnover technique helps the customer build rapport with the manager, said Gende. What follows is a consistent step-by-step process that actually kicks off long before the customer ever sets foot in the showroom:
The Appointment Factory The official “appointment factory” is the Business Development Center, containing one manager and five to six “BDRs,” or Business Development Representatives. “Eighty percent of the dealership business is driven by the BDC – all Internet leads, Web site leads, direct mail responses, e-mail responses,” said Rob Pearson, vice president of sales and licensing for ProMax Online. All BDRs work from special phone scripts, based on the type of lead source, that appear onscreen in the ProMax Online software and set appointments for the day. Follow-up with recent and potential customers is also handled by the BDC. The software conveniently triggers a letter or phone call for every lead, depending on its source, and may generate anywhere from 5 to10 follow-ups. The BDRs even consider an applicant’s credit references as potential leads and follow-up accordingly. Surprisingly, they help fetch from 15 to 20 vehicle sales per month based on referrals and credit application references alone. Show and Tell “Quad Cities Suzuki is a true model of some of the most successful car dealerships in the nation,” said Pearson. The facility not only sells cars; it’s also a laboratory to test ProMax Online, a software company created by Palmer which makes the dealership a large scale version of show and tell for ProMax Online clients. “The whole point was to show dealers that if you follow what ProMax teaches, you will succeed,” said Palmer. “What I have discovered in the field is that the most successful dealerships have many of the same processes in place. As a result, the program that has evolved over the last five years is a complete turn-key selling process.” The software, now 11 years strong, blends the best ideas from dealers across the country into a Web based selling system and information stronghold. “Instead of wondering how much foot traffic we had last week, I can pull it up in the computer,” explained Gende. “We can see how many cars we sold, what the gross profit was; it gave us the total foundation and frame for the dealership, as if you were building a house. The only thing we had to do was put up the paint, wallpaper, and ‘furnish’ the house with the people we have at our store.” This means for the software side of Palmer’s business, all software upgrades are tested in their dealership to make sure they are working correctly before rolling out changes to other dealers. Special Finance Quad Cities Suzuki pulls the majority of their leads from an aggressive Special Finance market campaign, fanned out over television, radio, direct mail and the Internet. “Our software is able to retrieve important credit bureau information on the customer before they step into the store,” said Pearson. Because they have partnered with a bank that guarantees credit to every customer, their commercials emphasize “Guaranteed Credit Approval.” They also invest in mailers – roughly 20,000 per month – aimed at the divorce and bankruptcy market and customers within the 500 to 620 credit score bracket. Caring for the Customer The dealership also touts attractive programs like “Tires for Life” and “Oil Changes for Life,” to new Suzuki customers. Their “Like It or Return It” policy evolved from twenty group meetings with other successful dealers. Customers have three days to return an undamaged vehicle that has been driven less than 150 miles. “The customer needs some type of return policy because the cost of mistreating customers is incredibly high,” said Gende. “If they discourage three people not to buy from you, how much did that cost you? Ten years later, they may still be telling people not to go to your store because they felt slighted.” In between the special treatment, customers still enjoy monthly contests and events. “Once a month we try to sponsor a local high school band by donating $25 from the sale of every car,” said Palmer. Quad Cites also teamed with UFC® (Ultimate Fighting Championship) to sponsor Tim Sylvia, UFC heavyweight champion. As the Quad Cities store has continued to grow, a second dealership, Cedar Rapids Suzuki, was added in September (2006). Gende predicts the acquisition of more stores and possibly other franchises to further expand their show and tell presentation. Vol 4, Issue 2 |
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