Berlin City Toyota NH

"Small Town Store -- Big Sales"

 

Small-town store -- big sales

Catalogs, delivery service attract faraway customers

To outsiders, the Berlin City Auto dealership in Gorham, N.H., may seem like it's in a limited market. It's in a rural area with about 13,000 people nestled at the base of the White Mountains, where winters are snowy and cold. And the local economy is reeling from the closure of two paper mills in recent years. But the dealership, with 10 domestic and foreign franchises, mostly has thrived for a quarter century -- currently with a business model developed more than a decade ago and turbocharged by the Internet age. The dealership, run by General Manager Ed Watson, leapfrogs the local market by using color catalogs to build a customer base as far as 12 hours away in Vermont, Maine, New York and Massachusetts. As a result, about 40 percent of vehicle sales are to customers who use phone and e-mail to discuss purchases while never setting foot in the store. Berlin City Auto also combines aggressive pricing with personal services such as delivering cars and picking up trade-ins. A number of long-distance customers who were drawn to the store by word-of-mouth now sing its praises.

"We have lots of car dealers in our area, but none can offer the deals and service of Berlin City," says Gordie Little, 72, a journalist who lives four hours away in Morrisonville, N.Y. The entire five-store Berlin City Automotive Group in New England relies heavily on long-distance sales. It consists of the Gorham store run by Watson; a smaller General Motors outlet a mile away; two dealerships in South Portland, Maine; and one in Williston, Vt. The group's owner, Summit Automotive Partners in Denver, is considering expanding the marketing technique to all 15 of its outlets in Colorado, Tennessee and New England, says Summit CEO Rod Buscher, one of the group's owners. The controlling partner at Summit is George Gillett, an American businessman who once owned the Montreal Canadiens professional hockey team and now owns the Liverpool professional soccer team in the United Kingdom and the Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR auto racing team.   

  

 

Crossing the mountains
How Berlin Auto City attracts customers from several states
  * Weekly inserts in 26 regional newspapers
  * Used vehicles posted online
  * Part-time drivers who deliver vehicles * Follow-up contact by phone and e-mail    .

Berlin City Auto, which has 107 full-time employees, relies on an unusual mix of workers. It draws on a free-lance squad of three dozen drivers who deliver vehicles to customers' homes, collect their signatures on the contract, and drive trade-ins back. Little, whose extended family has bought about two dozen Toyotas from the dealership over the last decade, has never visited the New Hampshire store. "You negotiate by phone for a few hours and then they say, when do you want it -- tomorrow?" Little says. "Come on, how can you beat that? They come to your house, you sign the paperwork at the kitchen table over coffee, and they drive your used car away." After the delivery, customers have four days to change their minds and request a pick-up, though that rarely happens, Watson says. Most drivers are retirees from the local area. They are equipped with GPS systems and are given the option of staying in motels on overnight drives. "I do it to keep busy," says Rodney Sawyer, 75, a retired real-estate broker who is paid the minimum wage for driving as many as 12 hours in a single day and 40 hours a week. "Driving to me is simple, and there's usually no traffic to speak of."

The store also has four full-time workers who produce a 20-page tabloid each week that is tucked into 26 New England newspapers, such as the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press and The Conway (N.H.) Daily Sun. The catalog consists of hundreds of color photos of new and used vehicles, along with capsule descriptions and prices. The dealership also posts online photos of every used car for sale.

                                                                                  

Automotive News,

"Local Dealership Honored for Excellence in Customer Service"

Local Dealership Honored for Excellence in Customer Service
2009

GORHAM, NH - Berlin City Auto Group, located in Gorham, NH
announced today that their Toyota dealership has been
awarded the prestigious honor of the President's Award from
Toyota Motor Sales.
Each year, Toyota Motor Sales recognizes its stellar
dealerships with the prestigious President's Award. It's a
top honor a dealership can receive from Toyota, and is only
awarded to those dealerships that have demonstrated a
commitment to maintaining Toyota's high standards for
customer satisfaction in sales and service.
The Berlin City Auto Group, with dealerships throughout New
England, specializes in the sales, service and parts for
seventeen automotive manufacturers and pre-owned vehicles.
The Berlin City Auto Group ensures their excellence in
customer service with their over the top care by down to
earth people.

Toyota has a hard-earned reputation for innovation, quality
and reliability. One of Toyota's primary goals is to
emphasize the entire ownership experience. Toyota wants to
help ensure that their customers are satisfied not only at
the time of purchase, but as long as they own their
vehicle. Offering top quality cars and trucks is, of
course, the first step - but only the beginning. Toyota
dealerships strive to match the quality of their products
with the finest service in the industry. In order to
qualify as a President's Award winner, dealerships must
excel in each of a series of categories, including Customer
Sales Satisfaction and Customer Service Satisfaction.

BCAG,