Lou's News - what is your retention strategy?

Lou's News - what is your #retention #strategy?

Years ago, I had the pleasure of working with a Dodge dealership in Cape Cod that employed a unicorn of a salesman named Lou. He had a following so loyal that he never had to take an up – customers would come in and ask for him all day, every day, and the rest of the sales staff were his (begrudged) personal greeters. Lou would find his customers in the service waiting area most mornings and exchange pleasantries for regular referrals and trade-up opportunities.

Lou spent a lot of time building his customer base. He had been with the store for 10+ years at that point and had processes for staying in front of his customers. One aspect was a seasonal newsletter called "Lou's News." He would stuff and lick envelopes, handwrite addresses, and send it out with recipes, maintenance tips, and other friendly messages. With minimal effort Lou would single-handedly produce 20+ deals every month and work banker's hours.

Those results came from a single salesperson’s database of customers. What do you think the results would be if you had a solution that treated your entire sales and service historic customers with the same intent? Or if every one of your sales guys was a Lou?

In my many decades of experience, I've seen this level of loyalty only a few other times, and it was almost always when the salesperson was directly tied to a particular market. For example, there was Vlad, a Russian salesman who sold Toyotas exclusively to customers from the Russian neighborhoods in Philadelphia. Then Leo, a salesman at a store in Miami who had a monopoly on Cuban customers. If they needed a car, they came to see Leo. If Leo was busy, they would wait patiently, sometimes for many hours.

After moving from retail to the CRM world, I drank the Kool-Aid that great CRM usage could yield similar results to the prior examples, but it rarely did. Unfortunately many dealerships assume this is a process that is in place and it almost never is. Nowadays, few dealerships would deny the massive cost savings of catering to and retaining existing customers, versus acquiring new ones, but many still focus and invest a majority of the budget on new lead sources and expensive BDC departments to work those leads.

There is a better way! What you are missing and in need of is a retention partner. At Vicimus, we can make your entire staff "Lou's, Vlad's, and Leo's." Unfortunately, in this connected digital age, the seasonal newsletter no longer cuts it. It takes omni-channel delivery of relevant content, personalized campaigns micro-targeted to the correct customers. We provide all this and more on dealers' behalf, and we do all the heavy lifting so you and your team can focus on what you do best: selling and making customers happy.?

Ping me anytime to discuss retention strategy and benefits. Let us show you just how easy it is to work with professionals that take you and your business success personally!?

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