New Honda Dealer Surpasses over 1,030 Dealers Reaching #9 in the Country in Only 12 Months

  

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December 2010

Over 600% Increase in Repair Orders Written

Hamilton Honda opened its doors in May 2009 and never looked back. Within 12 months Hamilton landed a coveted spot among the Nation’s top 10 Honda retailers. Founded by automotive executive Mike Saporito, a 24-year veteran of the automotive industry, and Jessie Armstead, a 5-time Pro-Bowl line­backer, Hamilton Honda is one of the fastest growing Honda dealer­ships on the East Coast.

From the ground up Saporito and Armstead built a phenomenal 65,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art facil­ity on 12 acres complete with all the bells and whistles, including an internet café that offers breakfast, lunch and free refreshments, as well as, a mini-museum with an exclu­sive Jessie Armstead collection high­lighting his 11-year NFL career.

Saporito and Armstead attribute Hamilton Honda’s extraordinary growth to a comprehensive strategy that includes their active commu­nity involvement, a discounted vol­ume pricing approach which gives consumers guaranteed low prices, free oil changes, loaner cars and car washes for life, and their virtual deal­ership, www.HamiltonHonda.net, that makes it easy for consumers to shop, buy and service their vehicles online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Hamilton has become an important member of central New Jersey’s lo­cal business community, employ­ing more than 100 individuals and generating more than $90 million in sales revenue in its first year selling over 4,600 new and used cars and servicing over 27,000.

Hamilton Honda combines tradi­tional advertising with digital mar­keting, targeted email and direct mail, publicity, social media market­ing, reputation management, niche marketing, point of sale merchan­dising and a complete retention pro­gram to keep customers loyal to ser­vice and sales. “We have a consistent message throughout all of our mar­keting and our team has one focus – exceeding our customers’ expec­tations,” said Saporito. “We are pas­sionate about customer satisfaction and our team does whatever it takes to make our customers happy.”

One key part of Hamilton’s strategy was the execution of a smart target­ed marketing strategy. “We identi­fied Honda customers who had the highest statistical probability of pur­chasing and/or servicing a vehicle with Hamilton and we sent targeted email and mail with attractive offers and Hamilton’s advantage of free car washes, oil changes and loaner cars,” said Budd Blackburn, owner of www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com, the targeted marketing company Hamilton uses.

One of the campaigns Hamilton promoted was the “2010 Hamilton Honda Vehicle BuyBack Program.” The program targeted Honda own­ers who were in equity and had a high probability of being in the market for a new vehicle. “The BuyBack Program offered cus­tomers additional trade-in value to “buy-back” their Honda and pro­vided additional incentives toward the purchase of a new Honda,” said Sean Wolfington, owner of www.Tier10Marketing.com, Ham­ilton Honda’s marketing company. “Hamilton also included service offers for the customers who may not want to get a new vehicle but needed a major service.” Like all of Hamilton’s integrated marketing campaigns all the materials had a consistent message, look and feel. “The program was a great success and brought in a lot of quality, low mileage, single owner, late model Honda’s that are not easy to find and can be very expensive at auc­tion,” said Saporito.

Another successful marketing initiative created by Hamilton is a unique Teacher Appreciation Purchase Program, where teach­ers received special pricing and service from Hamilton. “We like to get involved in the community and help in any way we can,” said Saporito. Hamilton has created several other specialty vehicle purchase programs including one specifically for the military for ac­tive, reserve and Guard Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps military at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. All military person­nel and their families are eligible for special pricing and service through Hamilton Honda.

To ensure every customer gets 5 star service Hamilton hired a company to monitor every inbound call and to alert management whenever a customer is mishandled or has a customer service issue that can­not be resolved. The management team also reviews daily, weekly and monthly call monitoring reports to improve their processes and the customer experience for the grow­ing number of customers that pre­fer to call before coming into the dealership. “We use the reports to track our advertising sources, em­ployees, processes and to make sure we exceed our customers’ expecta­tions,” said Saporito. “Hamilton’s managers respond immediately to alerts and do a great job respond­ing to their customers’ needs,” said Chip King of www.CallRevu.com, the company Hamilton uses for call monitoring. “Whenever there is an issue with a customer our managers get and respond to the alert within minutes by calling and resolving the customers concerns. Many custom­ers are pleasantly surprised that a manager contacted them so quickly and addressed their issue,” said Sa­porito.

It was not sheer luck that Hamilton Honda surpassed over 1,030 Honda dealers to reach the #9 spot in the country in only 12 months. They implemented a comprehensive marketing strategy that promotes all their profit centers, New, Used, Service, and F&I. Their marketing strategy is targeted to in-market consumers and their message, look and feel is consistent across all mediums: TV, radio, print, direct mail, web site, digital marketing, publicity, retention and even the point of sale merchandising. In addition to Hamilton’s integrat­ed marketing strategy to attract ready-to-buy consumers they de­liver a world class customer expe­rience that has earned them high cus­tomer satisfaction and will certainly translate into loyalty down the road. “We want to make sure that every cus­tomer’s expectations are not only met, but exceeded,” said Saporito. If year one is any indication, there is no doubt that Hamilton Honda will have many more successful years in the future.

In a Nutshell

• Hamilton Honda generated more than $90 million in sales revenue in its first year, selling over 4,600 new and used cars and servicing over 27,000.
• Hamilton Honda experienced a 600% increase in service ROs written on combination sales and service marketing initiative.
• Hamilton Honda uses www.Tier10Marketing.com and www.TeamVelocityMarketing.com to implement targeted marketing campaigns that attract, sell and service in-market consumers.
• Hamilton Honda’s call monitoring program, www.CallRevu.com, sends alerts to their management team whenever a customer is mishandled so they can save a deal and a customer for life.

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