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How a Small Town Dealer Dominates their State

C Dorman

Bone King
Aug 7, 2018
63
51
First Name
Chip
Dealer Magazine did a great article with Phil Mitchell of Sunset Chevrolet and how they have been the #1 selling Chevy dealer in the state of Washington for the past 15 years.

I love articles like this because they show other dealers text book examples of how they could run their dealerships with concrete examples and strategies for Branding, Sales, Marketing and Customer Retention.

They also prove that if a small Chevy rural store can do it, any dealer can. You just have to be willing to do it!

Below are my takeaway briefs. You can find the link to the full article below.

Chevy Dealer in Summer Washington, population of 9,700.

#1 volume Chevy Dealer in the state of Washington for the past 15 years.

#1 or #2 most years for both Customer Retention and Service Retention.

Branding – Introduce Warranty Protection for Life.

Branding – Grow Sunset brand by acquiring more dealerships in same geographic area. Purchased Ford, Kia, and Mitsubishi stores as well as a Used Truck Dealership in less than 6 Years.

Branding – Treat customers like family. Tie in Sunset Auto Family.

Branding – Financial commitment to their customers.

Branding – Oil changes for life. They do not want their customers to go anywhere else for their automotive needs.

Branding – Right from the Start clinics. Quarterly clinics at each store for new owners on a Saturday morning in the service department. Sign up for Free Oil Changes and get a Continental Breakfast. Have had as many as 500 to 600 people show up.

Education – Upper Managers are sent to NADA and to Digital Dealer every year to stay on top of everything new.

Training – Training is done every day. They take the attitude that training is where you put your education to use.

Hiring – They look for passion, integrity, character and a willingness to serve.

Sales Process – They work with video companies to send video responses to text, email and phone requests about specific vehicles whenever they can.

Sales Process – Transparency. Give customers the MSRP, invoice on new cars and show customers what it costs for them to acquire a used car, including the cost of reconditioning, and what they did to the car in the service department. They feel that this sales philosophy combined with their Warranty Protection for Life value proposition allowed them to acquire a Ford, Kia, Mitsubishi and Used Truck store within a 36-month period.

Sales Process – They sell on added Value, not Price. Warranty Protection for Life, Oil Changes for Life, and disclosing what work was done along with costs on used cars all build Value and differentiate them from other dealers.

Marketing – Facebook is a big part of their marketing plan. They target customers with look-alike audiences based upon their social media behavior.

Marketing – Even though they work with third-party vendors, they have a “Sunset Marketing” team in-house that includes social media directors, digital experts in SEO and SEM, and a full-time web analysis expert.

How to Add More Value – Invest in your customers. Stay humble, stay hungry, and be honest. Serve your customers and your community. Always do the right thing.

If you're a dealer who thinks they can’t afford their own in-house team of SEO, SEM, Facebook and Website Analytics experts I'd be happy to speak with you about how you can.

Full article can be found on Dealer Magazine Online at: http://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/digitaldealer/201808/index.php#/28
 
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