FF_LOGO_HORZ_white
GET IN TOUCH

How Scaffidi Sold 90 Additional Cars In 6 Months While Saving $5k Per Month

Imagine sitting there as the month comes to a close. It’s another month that you’re behind your competitor(s) AND it’s another month of confusion as you sit there trying to figure out how to take market share. You’re sick of being behind, because those dealerships really aren’t any better than your dealership. 

You need something to start chipping away at those competitors. But how? Your marketing channels are tapped out. You’re doing all of the marketing that you are supposed to be doing, but you still aren’t getting enough lead volume or ups! 

Then, you start to spend your money right and eat up market share with all three of your franchises while also selling the most amount of used cars in the history of the dealership. 

No matter what way you spin it, you’re taking over. The roles have flipped, YOU are now the big dog. Now YOUR DEALERSHIP is the store that the “other guys” are worried about. 

This is exactly what happened to Scaffidi Automotive in Stevens Point, WI. Scaffidi hit the highest pool percentages and record new sale months on all their brands by spending less money. 

Here’s how they did it.

CLAIM MY NO COST STRATEGY CALL

When Don Scaffidi reached out to Fountain Forward in September of 2018. He wanted us to figure out exactly where the dealership was spending inefficiently. 

The dealer felt that it was over-exposed at the halfway point in 2019.  After analyzing the budget line by line, Fountain Forward cut ad spend and focused the budget around what was working by utilizing the platforms and channels that were driving sales. 

By analyzing dealerships across the country, we have learned that dealerships can only fail at 3 different levels. 

If a you choose to fix one that isn’t failing, you not only don’t fix your problem, you waste in excess. 

Scaffidi was failing at the 1st and 2nd failure point.

After locating, isolating, and taking care of Scaffidi’s failure points, the dealership sold 90 additional vehicles in the second half of 2019, a 14% increase, while spending $5,000 less per month on advertising. 

1st Failure Point: Failing To Find In-Market Buyers

Scaffidi was not effectively finding in-market buyers as their marketing budget was one dimensional. Their budget consisted entirely of Google Ads, 3rd party lead providers and some traditional TV and radio advertising. 

If you’re trying to reach an increased sales goal, you’re probably not going to reach it just spending money on Google ads and 3rd party vendors. 

Rather than continuing to dump advertising dollars into busy, saturated marketing channels like TV and radio,  Scaffidi was a great candidate for our proprietary Facebook ads strategy. 

After testing thousands of different ads in the marketplace, we found brand awareness and brand engagement ads were not converting into sales. 

Demand was high enough in the marketplace that we needed to focus solely on in-market consumers. Scaffidi’s new advertising budget was focused on finding and converting in-market consumers into leads. Our spends focused on increasing KPIs that strongly correlate with car sales like CORE Leads and VDPs. Not brand awareness. For example, after cutting ad spend Fountain Forward drove 22,000+ more VDPs. 

In addition, Digital marketing channels were being underutilized throughout the market place. This was Scaffidi’s chance to gain an edge on the competition. 

Over time, Facebook has done a better job finding in-market buyers at a lower cost per buyer than other channels. Scaffidi was able generate a return of nearly 12 – 1 in the first year of running ads on Facebook.

In addition to our Facebook ads strategy, Fountain Forward launched an aggressive SEO strategy taking over Scaffiidi’s SEO efforts from Dealer.com. The SEO strategy focused on ranking for the highest volume search terms in the marketplace where Scaffidi then ranked organically for these search terms so they wouldn’t need to buy them from Google. 

In the second half of 2019, Scaffidi increased organic traffic by 25% as their SEO strategy had started to yield results. Scaffidi no longer needed to continue to buy keywords they now ranked for organically.  Scaffidi was able to reduce their SEM spend without any adverse effect on the dealership.

CLAIM MY NO COST STRATEGY CALL

2nd Failure Point: Inventory and Merchandising

We realized the vehicles were merchandised well but the website structure resulted in a poor user experience. 

Scaffidi had separate websites for each brand and a combined website where used cars were shown. Prior to working with Fountain Forward, they were driving traffic to 4 different websites. How was the customer supposed to know where to go? 

We compared a variety of significant metrics for Scaffidi to our database of dealerships across the country. Conversion rates signaled  that users were defecting from becoming leads at a higher rate than normal. 

As we started running ads, it was quite evident that we had a leaky funnel and had to tighten things up on the website. 

We centralized the website to one URL. Now consumers could go to one site, shop all brands AND used vehicles, while seeing the best offers available.  Then, we optimized the site for conversions by changing call to action buttons to use correct verbiage, worked on lead forms, and analyzed traffic.

After isolating and optimizing the consumer experience, Scaffidi’s lead volume increased by 490 leads (20%) and Scaffidi’s cost per car dropped by 11%. 

3rd Failure Point – Lead Handling

Once a lead is submitted, how are those leads nurtured? How many appointments should you be setting? How many people should you get into the dealership? How does that compare to other dealerships? 

We track these statistics for each dealership we come into contact with. Working with over 50 dealerships across the country, we can identify key strengths and weaknesses based on how a dealership compares to these averages. For the purpose of this blog, we have focused our content around other failure points. 

In conclusion

After locating, isolating, and taking care of Scaffidi’s failure points, the dealership sold 90 additional vehicles in the second half of 2019, a 14% increase, while spending $5,000 less per month.

In addition, Scaffidi was able generate a return of nearly 12 – 1 in the first year of running ads on Facebook.

These results for Scaffidi are similar to other dealerships around the country. If you’re curious to see if we can help grow your dealership in a similar way as Scaffidi, click the button to claim your no cost strategy call. 

January 27, 2021 / 5 minutes of reading

CLAIM MY NO COST STRATEGY CALL

Check Out Our Other Blogs!

Oct 02, 2021

Read Now >>

How To Become The Top Dealer In Your Sales Region In Two Months

Oct 03, 2021

Read Now >>

How Bayside Mitsubishi's New Marketing Mix Helped The Dealership Become The Number One Mitsubishi Dealer In Houston Texas

Oct 01, 2021

Read Now >>

How To Take Over A New Dealership And Double Sale In Under 60 Days

Useful Links

Get in Touch

If you ain’t first, you’re last.

GET IN TOUCH If you ain’t first, you’re last. “I wake up in the morning and p!ss excellence.” – Ricky Bobby   First place. Winner. Champion. The Best. No...

Is Website Speed Important?

Guide To Improve Website Speed

GET IN TOUCH Guide To Improve Website Speed How to Increase Website Speed Website speed is crucial, so it’s important to find and implement website optimization techniques to improve...

Podcast

How to Market Your Podcast

GET IN TOUCH How to Market Your Podcast We live in an era where the future of entertainment is reliant on streaming. The direction in which we approach our...

How to work on brand sustainability 

GET IN TOUCH How to work on brand sustainability Businesses today are never just about selling products anymore. If you want your business to survive and thrive, you’re going...

You Have a New Logo—Now What?

You Have a New Logo—Now What?

GET IN TOUCH You Have a New Logo—Now What? You’ve just created a fancy new logo with a fresh, clean look for your business. Now, what do you do...

The Power of Branding

The Power of Branding

GET IN TOUCH The Power of Branding Your brand is the heart and soul behind your corporate image. It’s what consumers can relate to and what turns them into...

8 Benefits Of Content Marketing

8 Benefits Of Content Marketing

GET IN TOUCH 8 Benefits Of Content Marketing 8 Reasons Every Small Business Should Utilize Content Marketing The question is not whether content marketing works, but, “What are the...

Google My Business Optimization Checklist

Google My Business Optimization Checklist

GET IN TOUCH Google My Business Optimization Checklist The first step of Google My Business optimization checklist is to claim or verify the business in question. This single step can boost...

Is Website Speed Important?

Is Website Speed Important?

GET IN TOUCH Is Website Speed Important? Is Website Speed Really Important? It is challenging to overstate the importance of website speed to your user and customer experience. It...

3 Tips For Marketing Your Brand On TikTok

3 Tips For Marketing Your Brand On TikTok

Are you considering marketing your brand on TikTok? If so, you’re not the only one. While TikTok may still be in its infancy, it’s getting enough attention that marketers...

Is Your Google My Business Optimized?

Is Your Google My Business Optimized?

GET IN TOUCH Is Your Google My Business Optimized? What Is Google My Business? Google My Business is an online directory of businesses that helps customers find and compare...

What Is Inbound Marketing?

What Is Inbound Marketing?

GET IN TOUCH What Is Inbound Marketing? What Is Inbound Marketing? And Why Should I Care?  The odds are it has happened to you. In fact, we would bet...

© 2021 All Rights Reserved

Scroll to Top