While Toyota was down 6% nation-ally in 2010, Checkered Flag Toyota actually increased their market share by 25%, increased their sales by 22.5% and serviced over 30,000 more vehicles compared to the same 12-month pe-riod the previous year.

“We were looking for new solutions to help us get back in the game,” said Tim Rayfi eld, General Manager of Checkered Flag Toyota in Virginia Beach, VA. “2009 was a tough year for our industry and we needed a new playing strategy. We were looking for something that would help us attract

Up 175% in Service ROs and 22.5% in Sales Checkered Flag Toyota’s Integrated Sales and Service Marketing Program Hits a Home Run

more customers, sell more vehicles, service more vehicles and improve our customer retention without spending more money to do it.”

In the spring of 2010, Checkered Flag Toyota ran an in-depth 5-year histori-cal assessment of their customer data-base; then ran research and analysis on their local area market and emerging industry and market trends. Th e re-sults identifi ed Checkered Flag Toyo-ta’s ideal market and their perfect pros-pects. By comparing their sales and service history against leading industry consumer databases, Checkered Flag

successfully identifi ed where 90% of their business is coming from.

“Th ere are approximately 1.5 million consumers in the Virginia Beach mar-ket, but only 60,800 are likely to buy or service their vehicle with us,” said Rayfi eld. “We know that a sale from a customer who lives outside our local market and has to drive a long distance to buy a vehicle from us will oft en have a lower gross profi t and is even more likely to have a low retention rate for service and repeat sales because they’re not close by.”

In a Nutshell

Up 175% in Service ROs and 22.5% in Sales Checkered Flag Toyota’s Integrated Sales and Service Marketing Program Hits a Home Run

Success Storyand from March ’10 to March ’11 they have serviced 48,321 vehicles. Th at’s 30,778 more vehicles or an increase of 175%. “Needless to say my service department is sold on this marketing program. Plus, we’ve seen a 124% in-crease in customer service retention since implementing this new strategy,” said Rayfi eld.

Another objective of Rayfi eld’s was to grow his active customer base by tar-geting those perfect prospect consum-ers identifi ed by their research. “We’ve been reaching out to prospective in-market consumers driving Toyotas or conquest vehicles that have a histori-cally-high crossover percentage, and the rate of response has been amazing. Our goal is to reach these in-market consumers before our competitors do, so we can take them out of the market before they buy elsewhere and make them a customer of ours for life,” ex-plained Rayfi eld.

“A surprising bonus to this marketing program is that we’re cashing in on a lot of great one-owner trades for con-siderably less than we would have to pay at auction, which has signifi cantly improved our certifi ed pre-owned business,” explained Rayfi eld. “Earlier this year we ran a ‘Silver Bullet’ cam-paign that off ered above market value for trade-ins when they purchased a new vehicle. We took in 107 trades from that campaign and 52% of our new car deals had a trade. It was a very eff ective campaign,” said Rayfi eld. “We have a healthier overall trade pattern. We trade more single-owner, family-driven Toyotas which beats paying for the ‘unknown’ at auctions any day. Last

year our top-traded model year was a 2000, today our top traded model year is 2007. Th at’s a signifi cant improve-ment and I don’t have to tell you that fetches a much better resale price,” added Rayfi eld.

Checkered Flag Toyota also sought to elevate their brand image by pay-ing more attention to what they were putting in front of their customers. “Th ere was a time when we had mul-tiple vendors contacting our customers with diff erent off ers and inconsistent messaging. It began to confuse our customers and potentially hurt our brand,” said Rayfi eld. “We are more cognizant of the messaging that we promote these days. We make sure our marketing positively refl ects our brand image. We have a more sophisticated look and feel that tends to help gain credibility within the brand and gets a more positive response.”

Checkered Flag invested a lot of energy into fi nding a marketing program that would drive traffi c and increase sales and service more profi tably. With the average cost of generating a single lead ranging somewhere in the ball park of $150, Rayfi eld wanted to be certain that their marketing and advertising eff orts produced results and were not lost on missed opportunities. Checkered Flag uses multiple toll-free 800 numbers on all their mail and email campaigns to monitor and track in-bound calls. Th is helps assure that every customer is treated with the best customer care, courtesy and professional service and that appointments are set and followed up on quickly. “We have to seize the moment whether it’s a potential sale,

someone wanting to schedule a service appointment, or a customer who has a concern. We have to be hyper-responsive to our customers, there are too many op-tions out there today and people are quick to move on – we work too hard to let that happen.”

Cohesive, consistent communication is crucial to Checkered Flag Toyota’s success. Th eir marketing program talks to custom-ers from the moment of purchase with welcome messaging, through the 5-year life-cycle of the vehicle with maintenance reminders, mail and email communica-tions that positively aff ect all their profi t centers: New, Used , Finance, Service and Parts. It’s a smart, strategic approach to at-tract, sell, service and retain more custom-ers profi tably for less cost.

“When you communicate with your cus-tomers, you keep your customers,” said Rayfi eld. “Th is works because we are mar-keting more effi ciently to customers that are likely to continue buying and servicing with our dealership.”

4x6 Silver Bullet

Checkered Flag Toyota increased their market share by 25%, increased their sales by 22.5% and serviced over 30,000 more vehicles, up 175%, compared to the same 12-month period the previous year.

Checkered Flag Toyota conducted exhaustive 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Toyota, resulting in a healthier overall trade pattern. Over the last year their top-traded Toyota model year went from a 2000 to a 2007 with much higher resale values.

Checkered Flag Toyota monitors all in-bound calls by using 800 numbers on all their advertising so they can maintain a high-level of customer service and responsiveness that is critical in today’s fast-paced and competitive market.

Checkered Flag Toyota successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while affecting all their pro t centers, New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts more pro tably by implementing a dynamic new targeted marketing program in early 2010.

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Success Story Success Story

In a Nutshell

In a Nutshell

Checkered Flag Toyota’s market re-search has proven invaluable in de-termining their perfect market and identifying consumers with a higher probability of doing business with them now and in the future, thus creat-ing more loyal and frequent long-term customers who have a higher lifetime value because they will continue to ser-vice and purchase from Checkered Flag Toyota. Plus, having a clearer picture of what was happening in their immedi-ate local market enabled them to refo-cus their advertising eff orts, and costs, away from the typically more expensive broad mass marketing platforms like radio and television, to more targeted and cost-eff ective marketing.

“We found that we could talk to more of our current customers, as well as, ‘true’ prospective customers with a more ef-fective message because we know ex-

actly who to target,” said Rayfi eld. “We used to overspend by sending the wrong types of communications to a broad au-dience, and as a result our pitch was less eff ective, and more expensive.”

Checkered Flag sends targeted mail and email campaigns that have a custom-ized message that refl ects the appro-priate status of the customer’s vehicle. Th ey communicate a consistent, cohe-sive message that positively aff ects all their profi t centers: New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts, and has steadily gen-erated better returns. Not only are the customers targeted successfully, but they speak to them with the right mes-sage based on the status of their vehicle.

“Checkered Flag Toyota has been very successful at sending the right message to the right customer,” said Budd Black-burn, owner of www.TeamVelocity-

Marketing.com, the targeted marketing company that Checkered Flag Toyota uses. “In the past, they’d reach out to a customer who had a three-year-old Camry with emails and mailers from sales, service, fi nance, plus the manu-facturer. Now they send one targeted campaign that promotes multiple profi t centers by customizing the message to what the customer needs at that time,” Blackburn explained. “When the three-year-old Camry owner gets one direct mail or email campaign to extend their warranty or trade-in at above market value for their in-equity Camry it’s more eff ective because the personalized mes-saging is exactly what they’re in the mar-ket for.”

Checkered Flag Toyota’s service has seen the greatest impact for this targeted messaging. Between March ’09 and Feb-ruary ’10 they serviced 17,543 vehicles

Checkered Flag Toyota increased their market share by 25%, increased their sales by 22.5% and serviced over 30,000 more vehicles, up 175%, compared to the same 12-month period the previous year.

Checkered Flag Toyota conducted exhaustive 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Toyota, resulting in a healthier overall trade pattern. Over the last year their top-traded Toyota model year went from a 2000 to a 2007 with much higher resale values.

Checkered Flag Toyota monitors all in-bound calls by using 800 numbers on all their advertising so they can maintain a high-level of customer service and responsiveness that is critical in today’s fast-paced and competitive market.

Checkered Flag Toyota successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while affecting all their pro t centers, New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts more pro tably by implementing a dynamic new targeted marketing program in early 2010.

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• Checkered Flag Toyota Promotional Materials

Checkered Flag Toyota increased their market share by 25%, increased their sales by 22.5% and serviced over 30,000 more vehicles, up 175%, compared to the same 12-month period the previous year.

Checkered Flag Toyota conducted exhaustive 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Toyota, resulting in a healthier overall trade pattern. Over the last year their top-traded Toyota model year went from a 2000 to a 2007 with much higher resale values.

Checkered Flag Toyota monitors all in-bound calls by using 800 numbers on all their advertising so they can maintain a high-level of customer service and responsiveness that is critical in today’s fast-paced and competitive market.

Checkered Flag Toyota successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while affecting all their pro t centers, New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts more pro tably by implementing a dynamic new targeted marketing program in early 2010.

•

•

•

•

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Up 175% in Service ROs and 22.5% in Sales Checkered Flag Toyota’s Integrated Sales and Service Marketing Program Hits a Home Run

Success Story Success Story

In a Nutshell

In a Nutshell

Checkered Flag Toyota’s market re-search has proven invaluable in de-termining their perfect market and identifying consumers with a higher probability of doing business with them now and in the future, thus creat-ing more loyal and frequent long-term customers who have a higher lifetime value because they will continue to ser-vice and purchase from Checkered Flag Toyota. Plus, having a clearer picture of what was happening in their immedi-ate local market enabled them to refo-cus their advertising eff orts, and costs, away from the typically more expensive broad mass marketing platforms like radio and television, to more targeted and cost-eff ective marketing.

“We found that we could talk to more of our current customers, as well as, ‘true’ prospective customers with a more ef-fective message because we know ex-

actly who to target,” said Rayfi eld. “We used to overspend by sending the wrong types of communications to a broad au-dience, and as a result our pitch was less eff ective, and more expensive.”

Checkered Flag sends targeted mail and email campaigns that have a custom-ized message that refl ects the appro-priate status of the customer’s vehicle. Th ey communicate a consistent, cohe-sive message that positively aff ects all their profi t centers: New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts, and has steadily gen-erated better returns. Not only are the customers targeted successfully, but they speak to them with the right mes-sage based on the status of their vehicle.

“Checkered Flag Toyota has been very successful at sending the right message to the right customer,” said Budd Black-burn, owner of www.TeamVelocity-

Marketing.com, the targeted marketing company that Checkered Flag Toyota uses. “In the past, they’d reach out to a customer who had a three-year-old Camry with emails and mailers from sales, service, fi nance, plus the manu-facturer. Now they send one targeted campaign that promotes multiple profi t centers by customizing the message to what the customer needs at that time,” Blackburn explained. “When the three-year-old Camry owner gets one direct mail or email campaign to extend their warranty or trade-in at above market value for their in-equity Camry it’s more eff ective because the personalized mes-saging is exactly what they’re in the mar-ket for.”

Checkered Flag Toyota’s service has seen the greatest impact for this targeted messaging. Between March ’09 and Feb-ruary ’10 they serviced 17,543 vehicles

Checkered Flag Toyota increased their market share by 25%, increased their sales by 22.5% and serviced over 30,000 more vehicles, up 175%, compared to the same 12-month period the previous year.

Checkered Flag Toyota conducted exhaustive 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Toyota, resulting in a healthier overall trade pattern. Over the last year their top-traded Toyota model year went from a 2000 to a 2007 with much higher resale values.

Checkered Flag Toyota monitors all in-bound calls by using 800 numbers on all their advertising so they can maintain a high-level of customer service and responsiveness that is critical in today’s fast-paced and competitive market.

Checkered Flag Toyota successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while affecting all their pro t centers, New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts more pro tably by implementing a dynamic new targeted marketing program in early 2010.

•

•

•

•

• Checkered Flag Toyota Promotional Materials

Checkered Flag Toyota increased their market share by 25%, increased their sales by 22.5% and serviced over 30,000 more vehicles, up 175%, compared to the same 12-month period the previous year.

Checkered Flag Toyota conducted exhaustive 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Toyota, resulting in a healthier overall trade pattern. Over the last year their top-traded Toyota model year went from a 2000 to a 2007 with much higher resale values.

Checkered Flag Toyota monitors all in-bound calls by using 800 numbers on all their advertising so they can maintain a high-level of customer service and responsiveness that is critical in today’s fast-paced and competitive market.

Checkered Flag Toyota successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while affecting all their pro t centers, New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts more pro tably by implementing a dynamic new targeted marketing program in early 2010.

•

•

•

•

•

Up 175% in Service ROs and 22.5% in Sales Checkered Flag Toyota’s Integrated Sales and Service Marketing Program Hits a Home Run

While Toyota was down 6% nation-ally in 2010, Checkered Flag Toyota actually increased their market share by 25%, increased their sales by 22.5% and serviced over 30,000 more vehicles compared to the same 12-month pe-riod the previous year.

“We were looking for new solutions to help us get back in the game,” said Tim Rayfi eld, General Manager of Checkered Flag Toyota in Virginia Beach, VA. “2009 was a tough year for our industry and we needed a new playing strategy. We were looking for something that would help us attract

Up 175% in Service ROs and 22.5% in Sales Checkered Flag Toyota’s Integrated Sales and Service Marketing Program Hits a Home Run

more customers, sell more vehicles, service more vehicles and improve our customer retention without spending more money to do it.”

In the spring of 2010, Checkered Flag Toyota ran an in-depth 5-year histori-cal assessment of their customer data-base; then ran research and analysis on their local area market and emerging industry and market trends. Th e re-sults identifi ed Checkered Flag Toyo-ta’s ideal market and their perfect pros-pects. By comparing their sales and service history against leading industry consumer databases, Checkered Flag

successfully identifi ed where 90% of their business is coming from.

“Th ere are approximately 1.5 million consumers in the Virginia Beach mar-ket, but only 60,800 are likely to buy or service their vehicle with us,” said Rayfi eld. “We know that a sale from a customer who lives outside our local market and has to drive a long distance to buy a vehicle from us will oft en have a lower gross profi t and is even more likely to have a low retention rate for service and repeat sales because they’re not close by.”

In a Nutshell

Up 175% in Service ROs and 22.5% in Sales Checkered Flag Toyota’s Integrated Sales and Service Marketing Program Hits a Home Run

Success Storyand from March ’10 to March ’11 they have serviced 48,321 vehicles. Th at’s 30,778 more vehicles or an increase of 175%. “Needless to say my service department is sold on this marketing program. Plus, we’ve seen a 124% in-crease in customer service retention since implementing this new strategy,” said Rayfi eld.

Another objective of Rayfi eld’s was to grow his active customer base by tar-geting those perfect prospect consum-ers identifi ed by their research. “We’ve been reaching out to prospective in-market consumers driving Toyotas or conquest vehicles that have a histori-cally-high crossover percentage, and the rate of response has been amazing. Our goal is to reach these in-market consumers before our competitors do, so we can take them out of the market before they buy elsewhere and make them a customer of ours for life,” ex-plained Rayfi eld.

“A surprising bonus to this marketing program is that we’re cashing in on a lot of great one-owner trades for con-siderably less than we would have to pay at auction, which has signifi cantly improved our certifi ed pre-owned business,” explained Rayfi eld. “Earlier this year we ran a ‘Silver Bullet’ cam-paign that off ered above market value for trade-ins when they purchased a new vehicle. We took in 107 trades from that campaign and 52% of our new car deals had a trade. It was a very eff ective campaign,” said Rayfi eld. “We have a healthier overall trade pattern. We trade more single-owner, family-driven Toyotas which beats paying for the ‘unknown’ at auctions any day. Last

year our top-traded model year was a 2000, today our top traded model year is 2007. Th at’s a signifi cant improve-ment and I don’t have to tell you that fetches a much better resale price,” added Rayfi eld.

Checkered Flag Toyota also sought to elevate their brand image by pay-ing more attention to what they were putting in front of their customers. “Th ere was a time when we had mul-tiple vendors contacting our customers with diff erent off ers and inconsistent messaging. It began to confuse our customers and potentially hurt our brand,” said Rayfi eld. “We are more cognizant of the messaging that we promote these days. We make sure our marketing positively refl ects our brand image. We have a more sophisticated look and feel that tends to help gain credibility within the brand and gets a more positive response.”

Checkered Flag invested a lot of energy into fi nding a marketing program that would drive traffi c and increase sales and service more profi tably. With the average cost of generating a single lead ranging somewhere in the ball park of $150, Rayfi eld wanted to be certain that their marketing and advertising eff orts produced results and were not lost on missed opportunities. Checkered Flag uses multiple toll-free 800 numbers on all their mail and email campaigns to monitor and track in-bound calls. Th is helps assure that every customer is treated with the best customer care, courtesy and professional service and that appointments are set and followed up on quickly. “We have to seize the moment whether it’s a potential sale,

someone wanting to schedule a service appointment, or a customer who has a concern. We have to be hyper-responsive to our customers, there are too many op-tions out there today and people are quick to move on – we work too hard to let that happen.”

Cohesive, consistent communication is crucial to Checkered Flag Toyota’s success. Th eir marketing program talks to custom-ers from the moment of purchase with welcome messaging, through the 5-year life-cycle of the vehicle with maintenance reminders, mail and email communica-tions that positively aff ect all their profi t centers: New, Used , Finance, Service and Parts. It’s a smart, strategic approach to at-tract, sell, service and retain more custom-ers profi tably for less cost.

“When you communicate with your cus-tomers, you keep your customers,” said Rayfi eld. “Th is works because we are mar-keting more effi ciently to customers that are likely to continue buying and servicing with our dealership.”

4x6 Silver Bullet

Checkered Flag Toyota increased their market share by 25%, increased their sales by 22.5% and serviced over 30,000 more vehicles, up 175%, compared to the same 12-month period the previous year.

Checkered Flag Toyota conducted exhaustive 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota 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.

Checkered Flag Toyota consistently speaks to in-market same-brand prospects, and consumers who drive brands with a historical trend of crossing over to Toyota, resulting in a healthier overall trade pattern. Over the last year their top-traded Toyota model year went from a 2000 to a 2007 with much higher resale values.

Checkered Flag Toyota monitors all in-bound calls by using 800 numbers on all their advertising so they can maintain a high-level of customer service and responsiveness that is critical in today’s fast-paced and competitive market.

Checkered Flag Toyota successfully attracts, sells, services and retains more customers for less cost while affecting all their pro t centers, New, Used, Finance, Service and Parts more pro tably by implementing a dynamic new targeted marketing program in early 2010.

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