Marketing Communications
How often does Automotive Product Consultants contact customers?
APC’s goal is not to bombard customers with continuous mail. We use a lifecycle marketing approach that targets different customer types at key moments during the lifecycle of their vehicle ownership when they are most likely to buy. For a new vehicle which has the longest lifecycle, we typically market at five key intervals. Customers who don’t respond receive a follow-up 30-45 days later. If there is still no response, the customer data is placed “on the shelf” until the next key lifecycle interval.
We use both mail and email to maximize program performance, employing various letter and email styles to capture attention. Variable messaging driven by data intelligence ensures the right message reaches the right customer at the right time. If a customer doesn’t want to receive additional mail or emails, they can easily opt out.
Does APC cold call my customers?
No, we receive inbound calls thanks to mail and email communication. Our sales and customers service teams only generate outbound calls if a customer requests a callback or follow-up to a quote. We staff our call center with licensed sales agents with extensive training in sales and products. We also record all calls for training and quality assurance purposes.
Experience and Service
Why can’t my dealership do this program ourselves?
APC’s leaders have over 24 years of post-sale marketing experience and comply with all consumer privacy, insurance, and telemarketing regulations. We are SOC 2, Type II certified to ensure we offer the best in data security. We market to the dealership’s customers at strategically timed intervals using the dealership’s name and logo, delivering the right message to the right customer at the right time.
Dealerships often lack the marketing infrastructure to handle creating these timed communications via mail and email. Dealers can also enhance our services with Conquest Marketing to target consumers in your community that you aren’t doing business with. We offer a 0% payment plan option with payment terms up to 36 months and handle all customer service to maintain high CSI scores for your dealership.
Most importantly, our program runs at no cost to the dealership. Costs associated with setup, postage, and data acquisition are all covered by Automotive Product Consultants.
Pricing and Strategy
What is your pricing and strategy?
APC doesn’t compete with the Finance & Insurance (F&I) department. By the time APC covers all program costs, including marketing, DMS fees, postage, sales costs, payment plans, and dealer commissions, the call center pricing is higher than the dealership’s pricing. F&I is always happy to hear we are not selling a service contract for less than them. Our sales agents are trained to sell top-down and never compete with F&I pricing.
If a sales agent learns that a customer already has a price from the dealer, they will suggest that the customer call or return to the store to make their purchase. From the start, we remind agents and F&I that this is a partnership to drive additional sales to the dealership. The call center is not meant to compete with them and will not cancel anything they sell. In return, we ask F&I not to encourage customers to cancel call center sales since those sales pay for the program.
Contact Us Today
"*" indicates required fields
Online Vehicle Purchasing: Pros and Cons
Customer Loyalty, Dealership, SalesThe process of purchasing a vehicle was once to be a major event that involved a specific sales pattern. A customer would go to a dealership, test drive a few vehicles, and repeat until they found a dealership and vehicle they preferred. Today, all of that has been traded in for the ease and simplicity of online vehicle browsing and purchasing.