At the age of 27, Bob Tasca Sr. opened his first Ford dealership with a completely new mindset: one-price selling and unparalleled customer service, both of which were unheard-of concepts in the industry at that time. In fact, customer service was so important to his way of doing business that Tasca Sr. literally wrote the book on customer satisfaction, a work titled, “You Will Be Satisfied.”

Today, that single-point store, which was founded in the late 50s, has grown into a multi-franchise auto group with locations in Rhode Island and Massachusetts that still maintains its family business roots. Second- and third-generation Tascas have taken the helm, helping drive growth and CSI scores that are among the highest in the nation.

Tasca’s growing family of loyal customers has been able to experience customer satisfaction in new ways as well, through a powerful combination of the Internet and customer relationship management (CRM). Tasca Auto Group, a pioneer of e-CRM, took advantage of all the Internet has to offer 10 years ago, fusing technology and “the Tasca way” to offer high performance e-satisfaction. Tasca BDC Manager Eileen Aquilante noted that Tasca has been able to successfully implement their tried-and-true customer satisfaction processes with new, different strategies designed for the Web over these last 10 years.

Tasca’s Internet department, a highly trained staff of three, handles all inbound phone and Internet leads and is responsible for setting appointments. The Internet specialists have achieved an appointment set rate of 50 percent to 60 percent and close about 60 percent of the leads they have direct contact with. “When a lead is generated, our response is immediate, with both e-mail and phone follow-ups. Our staff will stay to return phone calls until 9 P.M.,” explained Aquilante, who will personally return phone calls on Sundays from her BlackBerry when necessary.

“What gets measured gets done,” concluded Bob Tasca III, who ensures management consistently measures the vital statistics of how a lead is progressing, enabling the team to make any needed adjustments. As a result, the Tasca Auto Group has seen increases in profits, ROI and customer loyalty, while reducing turnover too. “Our Virtual Dealership is specifically designed to carry out our mission to serve our customers, and in so doing, we’re generating massive amounts of Internet leads and phone traffic,” noted Tasca III. “Our customers rave about our Web site because there they can do their research, build and compare cars, view new or pre-owned vehicles, buy parts, schedule service appointments, and more.”

Tasca’s commitment to e-satisfaction has led them to success; they are currently selling about 100 units per month online. Recently, the dealership conducted customer surveys, which showed that the Virtual Dealership influenced as many as 80 percent of Tasca customers’ buying decisions.

Having happy customers certainly has its own rewards, and top-performing dealers like Tasca will continue to thrive and excel by extending e-satisfaction strategies to customers for generations to come.

Vol 5, Issue 9