Nissan of Chantilly builds dealer-ship in tough market; sales up 40 percent and 3,500 more ROs writ-ten over same period last year

Since opening its doors in early 2008 Virginia’s newest Nissan deal-ership, Nissan of Chantilly, has been paving the way with innova-tive strategies for growth and suc-cess. Most recently the dealership implemented a new targeted mar-keting strategy that has boosted sales 40 percent and increased ser-vice revenue by over half a million dollars for the same period last year

Fast Start, Staying Strongby using an integrated marketing program that combines sales and service messaging to positively promote and aff ect all its profi t cen-ters, new, used, fi nance, service and parts, for less cost.

Like many dealers, Nissan of Chan-tilly faces ongoing challenges of how to grow its sales and service business in a recovering economy surrounded by tough competitors. A family owned and operated busi-ness, Nissan of Chantilly has taken great strides to build a successful dealership in a short amount of

time during one of the toughest pe-riods for the automotive industry, and consistently ranks in the top 5 for the state of Virginia. Th is article highlights some of their strategies for success.

Nissan of Chantilly set their plan in motion with a comprehensive 5-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions to de-termine customer trends. Th e fi nd-ings were then compared to lead-ing third-party and industry data to determine consumer patterns within the local market to help

In a Nutshell

Success Story“Nissan of Chantilly does a great job of consistently communicating with their customers which helps keep customers active,” says Budd Blackburn, owner of www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com the marketing company Nissan of Chantilly uses.

“Th ey send Th ank You and Wel-come messaging to recent purchas-ers, regular maintenance reminders to customers for the fi rst 24 months of ownership, and then once a cus-tomer’s vehicle is in an equity posi-tion they send combination mes-saging that includes a sales message, as well as a service message that fi ts the service status of the customer’s vehicle,” explains Blackburn.

“By combining our sales and ser-vice campaigns with custom mes-saging, we are able to reach more customers with the right message; bringing a greater return on invest-ment for both sales and service,” said Danchulis. “I like knowing we’re not over-couponing our cus-tomers and we can customize cou-pon pricing which really helps us entice the not-so-frequent service customer back into the shop,” ex-plained Danchulis.

Nissan of Chantilly promotes unique ad campaigns like the New Start Program. “We reach out to credit-challenged consumers by off ering a special ‘New Start Pro-gram’. We work closely with local

banking institutions and lenders to help consumers who may not have Tier-1credit have the chance to buy a new car that’s aff ordable,” Danchulis says. “Th is program has been very successful and customers really appreciate the extra eff ort we take to help them buy a car.”

“We are very mindful of our im-age. Whether it’s our New Start Program, or a BuyBack Program off ering above fair market value for trades, we keep the look and feel of our advertising consistent. We want customers to think of us as their Nissan dealer,” says Danchulis.

“In the early days, we used diff erent vendors for mail, email, and mer-chandising because we didn’t have one solution, but quickly realized we were confusing the customer and even our own staff because the messaging was not consistent,” explains Danchulis. “Today we make sure that everything we send is clear, consistent, and builds our brand image.

Our materials have a cohesive look and feel that helps to build recog-nition and credibility with our cus-tomers.”

Implementing the right strategy has had a signifi cant impact on Nissan of Chantilly’s growth and success. Equally as important as de-livering the right message is track-ing the response and listening to

the customers to ensure that inbound calls are handled properly. Industry estimates show that the average dealer invests approximately $150 to generate one lead.

To make sure that their marketing and advertising eff orts turn into results, Nissan of Chantilly uses toll-free 800 numbers on all their advertising to monitor and track in-bound calls to make certain that every customer is handled with the attention to detail and honest, reliable customer service that they pride themselves on.

“If we get them through the door we want them to be customers for life,” says Danchulis. “Th e customer is our lifeline. We can do all the advertising and special promotions to get them here, but if we can’t provide exception-al products and services we won’t keep them.”

New Start Campaign

Fast Start, Staying Strong

Nissan of Chantilly builds dealership in tough market; sales up 40 percent and 3,500 more ROs written over same period last year.

Nissan of Chantilly conducted in-depth market research that included a 5-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions, the local area market and emerging industry and market trends to identify their perfect market.

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

Nissan of Chantilly sends quality mail and email campaigns with custom offers and messaging that positively cross-promote all their pro t centers.

Nissan of Chantilly consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive off-brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Nissan.

Nissan of Chantilly uses 800 numbers on all their advertising to track and monitor their in-bound calls to ensure leads are handled properly by staff and customers receive quality care and service.

Nissan of Chantilly successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while positively promoting all their pro t centers, new, used, nance, service and parts.

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Success Story Success Story

In a Nutshell

In a Nutshell

identify consumers with the greatest probability of purchasing or servic-ing a vehicle with their dealership, including off -brands with a pattern of crossing-over to Nissan.

“Our goal is to reach consumers who are most likely to buy or ser-vice with us before our competitors do, and then take them off the mar-ket before they buy or service else-where,” says Kim Danchulis, Gen-eral Manager of Nissan of Chantilly. “We also focus a lot of attention on owners driving off -brand vehicles that have a historical trend of cross-ing over to Nissan,” says Danchulis.Th e results are apparent. Nissan of

Chantilly’s sales increased 40 per-cent in 2010, their active customer database doubled in the last calen-dar year and their customer sales retention is up over 107 percent.

“With a clear picture of our market, we are able to dedicate more of our marketing dollars where it really counts, and spend less on expen-sive mass marketing, like radio and television. We’ve found that targeted marketing generates better results and is more cost-eff ective,” says Danchulis.

Nissan of Chantilly’s service busi-ness has also steadily grown, and

last year they wrote over 3500 more ROs than the previous year, generat-ing close to $700,000 in additional revenue. “We improved our service department customer retention by 44 percent over the previous year, and we’re already on track to beat that for this year,” he notes.

“Early on, we off ered unbeatable service off ers like $1.99 Oil Change Coupons to same-brand owners driving Nissans,” says Danchulis. “We knew if we could get customers here, they would be customers for life because we pride ourselves on our attention to detail and honest, reliable customer service.”

Fast Start, Staying Strong

Marketing Materials

Nissan of Chantilly builds dealership in tough market; sales up 40 percent and 3,500 more ROs written over same period last year.

Nissan of Chantilly conducted in-depth market research that included a 5-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions, the local area market and emerging industry and market trends to identify their perfect market.

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

Nissan of Chantilly sends quality mail and email campaigns with custom offers and messaging that positively cross-promote all their pro t centers.

Nissan of Chantilly consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive off-brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Nissan.

Nissan of Chantilly uses 800 numbers on all their advertising to track and monitor their in-bound calls to ensure leads are handled properly by staff and customers receive quality care and service.

Nissan of Chantilly successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while positively promoting all their pro t centers, new, used, nance, service and parts.

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Nissan of Chantilly builds dealership in tough market; sales up 40 percent and 3,500 more ROs written over same period last year.

Nissan of Chantilly conducted in-depth market research that included a 5-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions, the local area market and emerging industry and market trends to identify their perfect market.

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

Nissan of Chantilly sends quality mail and email campaigns with custom offers and messaging that positively cross-promote all their pro t centers.

Nissan of Chantilly consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive off-brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Nissan.

Nissan of Chantilly uses 800 numbers on all their advertising to track and monitor their in-bound calls to ensure leads are handled properly by staff and customers receive quality care and service.

Nissan of Chantilly successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while positively promoting all their pro t centers, new, used, nance, service and parts.

•

•

•

•

•

•

Success Story Success Story

In a Nutshell

In a Nutshell

identify consumers with the greatest probability of purchasing or servic-ing a vehicle with their dealership, including off -brands with a pattern of crossing-over to Nissan.

“Our goal is to reach consumers who are most likely to buy or ser-vice with us before our competitors do, and then take them off the mar-ket before they buy or service else-where,” says Kim Danchulis, Gen-eral Manager of Nissan of Chantilly. “We also focus a lot of attention on owners driving off -brand vehicles that have a historical trend of cross-ing over to Nissan,” says Danchulis.Th e results are apparent. Nissan of

Chantilly’s sales increased 40 per-cent in 2010, their active customer database doubled in the last calen-dar year and their customer sales retention is up over 107 percent.

“With a clear picture of our market, we are able to dedicate more of our marketing dollars where it really counts, and spend less on expen-sive mass marketing, like radio and television. We’ve found that targeted marketing generates better results and is more cost-eff ective,” says Danchulis.

Nissan of Chantilly’s service busi-ness has also steadily grown, and

last year they wrote over 3500 more ROs than the previous year, generat-ing close to $700,000 in additional revenue. “We improved our service department customer retention by 44 percent over the previous year, and we’re already on track to beat that for this year,” he notes.

“Early on, we off ered unbeatable service off ers like $1.99 Oil Change Coupons to same-brand owners driving Nissans,” says Danchulis. “We knew if we could get customers here, they would be customers for life because we pride ourselves on our attention to detail and honest, reliable customer service.”

Fast Start, Staying Strong

Marketing Materials

Nissan of Chantilly builds dealership in tough market; sales up 40 percent and 3,500 more ROs written over same period last year.

Nissan of Chantilly conducted in-depth market research that included a 5-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions, the local area market and emerging industry and market trends to identify their perfect market.

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

Nissan of Chantilly sends quality mail and email campaigns with custom offers and messaging that positively cross-promote all their pro t centers.

Nissan of Chantilly consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive off-brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Nissan.

Nissan of Chantilly uses 800 numbers on all their advertising to track and monitor their in-bound calls to ensure leads are handled properly by staff and customers receive quality care and service.

Nissan of Chantilly successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while positively promoting all their pro t centers, new, used, nance, service and parts.

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Nissan of Chantilly builds dealership in tough market; sales up 40 percent and 3,500 more ROs written over same period last year.

Nissan of Chantilly conducted in-depth market research that included a 5-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions, the local area market and emerging industry and market trends to identify their perfect market.

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

Nissan of Chantilly sends quality mail and email campaigns with custom offers and messaging that positively cross-promote all their pro t centers.

Nissan of Chantilly consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive off-brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Nissan.

Nissan of Chantilly uses 800 numbers on all their advertising to track and monitor their in-bound calls to ensure leads are handled properly by staff and customers receive quality care and service.

Nissan of Chantilly successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while positively promoting all their pro t centers, new, used, nance, service and parts.

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Nissan of Chantilly builds dealer-ship in tough market; sales up 40 percent and 3,500 more ROs writ-ten over same period last year

Since opening its doors in early 2008 Virginia’s newest Nissan deal-ership, Nissan of Chantilly, has been paving the way with innova-tive strategies for growth and suc-cess. Most recently the dealership implemented a new targeted mar-keting strategy that has boosted sales 40 percent and increased ser-vice revenue by over half a million dollars for the same period last year

Fast Start, Staying Strongby using an integrated marketing program that combines sales and service messaging to positively promote and aff ect all its profi t cen-ters, new, used, fi nance, service and parts, for less cost.

Like many dealers, Nissan of Chan-tilly faces ongoing challenges of how to grow its sales and service business in a recovering economy surrounded by tough competitors. A family owned and operated busi-ness, Nissan of Chantilly has taken great strides to build a successful dealership in a short amount of

time during one of the toughest pe-riods for the automotive industry, and consistently ranks in the top 5 for the state of Virginia. Th is article highlights some of their strategies for success.

Nissan of Chantilly set their plan in motion with a comprehensive 5-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions to de-termine customer trends. Th e fi nd-ings were then compared to lead-ing third-party and industry data to determine consumer patterns within the local market to help

In a Nutshell

Success Story“Nissan of Chantilly does a great job of consistently communicating with their customers which helps keep customers active,” says Budd Blackburn, owner of www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com the marketing company Nissan of Chantilly uses.

“Th ey send Th ank You and Wel-come messaging to recent purchas-ers, regular maintenance reminders to customers for the fi rst 24 months of ownership, and then once a cus-tomer’s vehicle is in an equity posi-tion they send combination mes-saging that includes a sales message, as well as a service message that fi ts the service status of the customer’s vehicle,” explains Blackburn.

“By combining our sales and ser-vice campaigns with custom mes-saging, we are able to reach more customers with the right message; bringing a greater return on invest-ment for both sales and service,” said Danchulis. “I like knowing we’re not over-couponing our cus-tomers and we can customize cou-pon pricing which really helps us entice the not-so-frequent service customer back into the shop,” ex-plained Danchulis.

Nissan of Chantilly promotes unique ad campaigns like the New Start Program. “We reach out to credit-challenged consumers by off ering a special ‘New Start Pro-gram’. We work closely with local

banking institutions and lenders to help consumers who may not have Tier-1credit have the chance to buy a new car that’s aff ordable,” Danchulis says. “Th is program has been very successful and customers really appreciate the extra eff ort we take to help them buy a car.”

“We are very mindful of our im-age. Whether it’s our New Start Program, or a BuyBack Program off ering above fair market value for trades, we keep the look and feel of our advertising consistent. We want customers to think of us as their Nissan dealer,” says Danchulis.

“In the early days, we used diff erent vendors for mail, email, and mer-chandising because we didn’t have one solution, but quickly realized we were confusing the customer and even our own staff because the messaging was not consistent,” explains Danchulis. “Today we make sure that everything we send is clear, consistent, and builds our brand image.

Our materials have a cohesive look and feel that helps to build recog-nition and credibility with our cus-tomers.”

Implementing the right strategy has had a signifi cant impact on Nissan of Chantilly’s growth and success. Equally as important as de-livering the right message is track-ing the response and listening to

the customers to ensure that inbound calls are handled properly. Industry estimates show that the average dealer invests approximately $150 to generate one lead.

To make sure that their marketing and advertising eff orts turn into results, Nissan of Chantilly uses toll-free 800 numbers on all their advertising to monitor and track in-bound calls to make certain that every customer is handled with the attention to detail and honest, reliable customer service that they pride themselves on.

“If we get them through the door we want them to be customers for life,” says Danchulis. “Th e customer is our lifeline. We can do all the advertising and special promotions to get them here, but if we can’t provide exception-al products and services we won’t keep them.”

New Start Campaign

Fast Start, Staying Strong

Nissan of Chantilly builds dealership in tough market; sales up 40 percent and 3,500 more ROs written over same period last year.

Nissan of Chantilly conducted in-depth market research that included a 5-year historical analysis of their sales and service transactions, the local area market and emerging industry and market trends to identify their perfect market.

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

Nissan of Chantilly sends quality mail and email campaigns with custom offers and messaging that positively cross-promote all their pro t centers.

Nissan of Chantilly consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive off-brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Nissan.

Nissan of Chantilly uses 800 numbers on all their advertising to track and monitor their in-bound calls to ensure leads are handled properly by staff and customers receive quality care and service.

Nissan of Chantilly successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while positively promoting all their pro t centers, new, used, nance, service and parts.

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