November 2011 Success Story

Manly Honda Santa Rosa’s Sales Up 31% YTD While Honda is Down 6% Nationally Since opening its doors in 1970 as the first Honda dealer in the continental U.S., Manly Honda Santa Rosa has pioneered many ground-breaking strategies for growth and success. Earlier this year the dealership implemented a new targeted marketing system that has boosted new vehicle sales 31 percent year to date, while Honda, still recovering from inventory issues as a result of the devastating tsunami earlier this year, is down 6 percent nationally

for the same period. Manly Honda’s service department has also seen an increase, up 117 percent with approximately 8,095 more ROs written so far this year compared to the same period for 2010. By using an integrated marketing strategy that combines sales and service messaging to positively promote and affect all its profit centers – new, used, finance, service and parts – Manly Honda is experiencing positive gains in a not so positive market.

Like many dealers, Manly Honda faces ongoing challenges of how to grow its sales and service business in an uncertain economy surrounded by tough competitors.

With well over a hundred thousand consumers in their immediate primary marketing area, only a fraction of which are in the market for what they sell, Manly needed to figure out how to reach the right consumers in their local market with the right message.

Success Story Manly Honda began by performing a comprehensive five-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions to determine customer trends. The findings were then compared to leading third-party and industry data to determine consumer patterns within the local market to help identify consumers with the greatest probability of purchasing or servicing a vehicle with the dealership.

The goal is to consistently reach consumers who are most likely to buy a car or service with them before the competitors do, and then take those customers off the market before they buy or service

elsewhere. Manly Honda targets current customers and prospects with a combination of custom messaging that fits the status of their vehicle. Customers who visit the service department less frequently receive more aggressive service promotions to lure them back for service. Likewise, vehicles in an equity position receive valuable sales promotions to exchange or upgrade their vehicle to a brand new vehicle for a lower payment.

The Manly Honda BuyBack Program is one of Manly’s more successful campaigns that offers consumers 130% of Kelley Blue Book for their trade-in and

promotes the $0 Down, $0 First Month, $0 Deposit sales offer and includes an Oil Change coupon that reflects the consumers’ service activity ranging from $39.95 for active customers to $19.95 for same brand conquest customers who have never done business with the dealership.

“Manly Honda is having great success with their strategy because they know exactly who to target and when” says Budd Blackburn, owner of www.TeamVelocityMarketing. com, the company that Manly uses for their marketing strategy. “Manly pinpoints in-market consumers at the right time with the right message,

In a Nutshell Manly Honda Santa Rosa’s service is up 117 percent and new vehicle sales are up 31 percent YTD, while Honda is down 6 percent.

• Manly Honda conducted in-depth market research that included a five-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions, the local area market and emerging industry and market trends to identify their perfect market.

• Manly Honda works with a targeted marketing company, www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com, to target customers who have the highest statistical probability of purchasing or servicing with their dealership.

• Manly Honda sends quality mail campaigns with custom offers and messages with clear calls-to-action that positively cross-promote all their profit centers.

• Manly Honda consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Honda, resulting in a healthier overall trade pattern.

• Manly Honda uses 800 numbers on all their advertisements to track and monitor their in-bound calls to ensure leads are handled properly by staff and customers receive quality care and service.

• Manly Honda successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while affecting all their profit centers – new, used, finance, service and parts more profitably by implementing a dynamic new targeted marketing program.

Success Story

Promotional Materials

Success Story like offering top-dollar trade value exactly when a customer’s vehicle becomes in-equity.”

“We also send aggressive targeted mail campaigns to same-brand owners and prospects who drive off-brand vehicles with a historical probability to cross over and buy the vehicles we sell,” adds Brian Manly, Owner and General Manager of the Manly Honda Santa Rosa store.

The results are evident. Sales are up 31 percent year-to-date, service is up 117 percent, and Manly now has a much healthier trade pattern.

“With auction prices at their highest, especially for pre-owned Honda’s, my Used Car Manager is happy that we have been taking more one-owner, family driven trades than ever before. We’d rather overpay for a customer’s vehicle whose history we can verify than one we buy at auction,” says Manly.

An important part of Manly’s strategy is consistent and cohesive communication. Not only does the dealership identify and target the right consumers, they carry out a comprehensive communication system that talks to every customer throughout a 60-month life cycle of their vehicle that includes welcome messages to recent purchasers, regular maintenance reminders, and ongoing variable mail and email communications that always include both a sales and service message based upon the status of the customer’s vehicle.

“By combining our service marketing message with our sales campaigns we are able to reach more in-equity Honda owners with a message that is bringing a greater return on investment for both sales and service,” Manly says.

“We also wanted to heighten the level and quality of what we were sending out into the market. We used to have different vendors contacting our customers with different offers and messages and it began to confuse the customer and even our sales staff,” says Manly. “Today we make sure that everything we send is top-notch and builds our brand image.

Our materials have a high-end look and feel that helps to build recognition and credibility with our customers.”

advertising generate the best results while allowing them to monitor all their sales and service calls to ensure that customers are handled properly.

The right marketing strategy is key to the success of a dealership, but without excellent customer service to follow through, marketing dollars could be wasted.

“We have been serving the Sonoma County area for over 50 years and nothing is more important than satisfied customers. We look forward to seeing our customers and we want our customers to look forward to their experience in all our stores,” says Manly.

“Having a clear picture of our market has also allowed us to shift our advertising from more expensive mass marketing, like radio and television, to more costeffective targeted marketing that generates better returns,” says Manly. “Now we spend less money, but definitely get a better response – can’t go wrong with that.”

Equally as important as delivering the right message is following the response and listening to the customers. Manly Honda tracks their marketing campaigns with toll-free 800 numbers on all their mail and email. This helps them assess what campaigns and

New Start Program