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CASE STUDY #1 Car Dealerships

Shaganappi Chevrolet Oldsmobile Uses Travel Incentives to Support Effective Travel Themed Promotions

Customer Profile: Founded in 1976 by Italo Sartorio. Taken over by son, Gary Sartorio in 1994. Shaganappi Chevrolet Oldsmobile is Western Canada’s #1 Chevrolet Dealership.
Industry: Retail and Fleet Auto Sales and Leasing
Corporate Travel Incentives Products: Cruise for Two

Customer Profile
Shaganappi Chevrolet Oldsmobile is an award winning dealership based in Calgary, Alberta that sells new and used cars to retail customers and fleets. For over 25 years, the firm has provided a superior level of customer service and has been recognized over 9 times by industry for its dedication to customer satisfaction.

Business Situation
Shaganappi has a large new and used car inventory and promotes aggressively to sell over 325 units/month. Gord Pidde, General Sales Manager, has been using the CRUISE FOR TWO incentive program since 1999 as the underpinning of his cruise based promotional campaigns. The incentive programs were introduced to help increase foot traffic and generate excitement within the showroom.

Solution
Since Shaganappi began using the incentive program in 1999 to increase floor traffic and sales conversions, the dealership has experienced amazing growth. Shaganappi has moved from 4th in Calgary to number one in Western Canada within a few years. The CRUISE FOR TWO Travel Incentive was used effectively in a variety of promotions, including most recently – a Christmas time promotion that contrasted the warmth of the Caribbean Sun with a Winter promotion in Calgary. See the newspaper ad* Shaganappi used to advertise this promotion. *attached
"We’ve been running the promotion since 1999 and since then, we’ve jumped from #4 in Calgary to #1 in the city, to #1 in the province and now, #1 in Western Canada . . . You run these incentive programs right and you’ll sell more cars."

Gord Pidde, General Sales Manager

Secret to Success with Travel Incentives:

Leasing Companies have always had successful promotions, and increased their sales when using vacation premiums. We at Coastal Vacation Incentives, plan to serve our clients in such a way that your customers and your employees always win and your profits always increase. Always check applicable laws and regulations of industry for rules about providing rewards and incentive programs.

What are the key reasons for Shaganappi’s success with the travel incentive?

1. Good Staff - "A well trained, motivated staff is essential. We hold 2 sales meetings per week, 52 weeks/year to ensure that any sales push we make, any promotion we run, is executed effectively. We have to ensure employees will buy into a promotion to make it effective." Pidde has blended the methodologies of different sales trainers and motivators to focus his staff. He regularly trains sales consultants to keep these sales methods top of mind. Shaganappi uses a "non-confrontational" selling style, popularized by motivators like Anthony Robbins and combines it with event-based promotions, which works very well.

2. Motivated Staff - Pidde also used the cruise to create excitement within the dealership. "Did we give out cruises to employees?? Absolutely. We held a general meeting and watched the Carnival Cruise video to create a sense of excitement around the promotion. We supplied cruises to employees in other departments of the dealership. I took the Mexican Riviera cruise myself and really enjoyed it.

3. Good Advertising - "We compliment our sales training with promotions that are inventive, consistent, and hard-hitting. We do it all: Radio, TV and newspapers, advertising the sales incentive and the dealership. Since we started using the travel incentives, our floor traffic has really increased. We promote the cruise package with everything: new cars, used cars, leases. Doesn't matter. We decorate the showroom to create a cruise type atmosphere. When people come in, we say to them, 'You're here about the cruise, right?"

4. Dedication - "Perseverance is also key. Stick with it. Don't quit. We've been running the promotion since 1999 and since then we've jumped from #4 in Calgary to #1 in the city, #1 in the province and now, #1 in Western Canada. Shaganappi is growing rapidly. Our service department has had to grow to accommodate the demand. We've added 8 more service bays as well as 2 more body shop bays, due to increased demand. It's simple. You run these incentive programs right and you'll sell more cars."

CASE STUDY #2 Leasing Company

Auffenberg Automall uses cruise and sports incentives to energize auto sales

Customer Profile: Auffenberg Dealer Group is an Illinois based auto dealer that provides a cross section of retail auto brands to the Illinois market. Auffenberg St. Clair Automall, a retail footprint of the auto group in O'Fallon Illinois, consists of a network of dealers that market the Chrysler, Jeep, Kia, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Suzuki and Volkswagen brands. Since April of 2002 the Auffenberg St. Clair Automall has regularly used incentives to create promotional energy and excitement.

Customer Challenge: Charles North* of the Auffenberg St. Clair Automall, recognized the need for promotions that rewarded customers and drove traffic to the dealership. The highly competitive nature of auto sales drove North to find incentives, which would provide the unique difference his automall dealers needed to push sales.

Incentive Program Goal

• Motivate Customers and Energize Sales Staff
• Generate increased traffic with strong incentive program.
• Use incentive with tremendous motivating potential

Solution Overview: As Marketing Director of the Auffenberg St. Clair Automall, North needed promotions that had broad customer appeal. North elected to the Silver Cruise Collection incentive to bolster consumer awareness of the automall and reward customers for the purchase of a new vehicle. The cruise incentive that Auffenberg employed grew out of a partnership with Carnival Cruise Lines. This relationship permitted North's GM's to leverage the brand equity of Carnival, the worlds largest cruise line, supercharging the Auffenberg promotion with an affordable family oriented incentive. The 4 day/ 3 night cruise offered to purchasing clients provided Auffenberg with a product with high perceived value that lured customers with the promise of a free cruise. Additionally, the physical presentation and design of Carnival Cruise brochure allowed GM"s to quickly establish credibility with clients and ease them into the purchase of their new car.

In March of 2003, Auffenberg put together a newly launched incentive, the "Pro-Sports Roadtrip", an incentive package that provides a professional sport vacation that includes tickets and a hotel stay for the recipients. North recognized that this incentive could generate huge appeal, feeding on the rivalry between the Chicago Cubs™ and the St. Louis Cardinals™, fierce National League rivals in Major League Baseball. Participating dealers ate up the promotion and were able to create a unique brand of excitement that has resulted in superior sales performance. "No other incentive company has been able to provide this high level of promotional energy with a premium. Some of the dealers swear it's the best promotion they've ever run."

* Names have been changed to preserve privacy

Media Campaign included

• Radio
• Print advertising in Newspaper
• POP signage

Leasing Companies have always had successful promotions, and increased their sales when using vacation premiums. We at Coastal Vacation Incentives, plan to serve our clients in such a way that your customers and your employees always win and your profits always increase. Always check applicable laws and regulations of industry for rules about providing rewards and incentive programs.

CASE STUDY #3 Lottery Company

BC Lottery Corporation uses Retailer Rewards to stimulate product sales.

Customer Profile: British Columbia Lottery Corporation (BCLC) is a $1.61 billion dollar company that provides high-quality gaming entertainment to the citizens of British Columbia. BCLC, a crown corporation, markets its lottery products through a private sector network of over 2650 retail locations who receive an "industry standard commission rate" and additional bonuses for superior sales performance.

Customer Challenge

"The introduction of a travel and merchandise reward program proved to be a much needed motivational tool that not only increased sales and participation from retailers but also created excitement."

Joseph Crivici, BC Lottery Corporation

Joseph Crivici of BC Lottery Corp, recognized the need for a program that drove performance in the retail sales group. "Every year, starting in the fall after our year end, we begin a series of monthly promotions that concentrate on specific products. Starting last year, we decided to motivate and focus individual retailers with a corporate store challenge, but we'd never done anything like that before. We believed that a pay or reward for performance program would generate loyalty and improve focus and we're looking at new, innovative ways to grow the business. We settled on a phased points program that used a variety of incentives, including travel incentives."

Incentive Program Goal

• Motivate Retailers and Staff
• Generate increased loyalty and focus with reward programs supported by the Retail Stores Group.

CASE STUDY #4 Leasing Company

Centennial Leasing increases referrals and web site traffic

Customer Profile: Centennial Leasing is an independent auto sales and leasing company that provides personal auto buying service to participating Credit Union members and the general public.

Customer Overview

"The consumer never has to go to a dealership when they use Centennial… the customer contacts us, tells us what they want - new or pre-owned, we find the vehicle(s), have them available at our facility for the customer to test drive, customer makes their selection with no pressure from a car salesperson or any influence from any specific brand/manufacturer, customer drives home in their new vehicle (with a smile on their face)! Centennial has sold over 40,000 vehicles by making this service available for people who don't have time to car shop or are intimidated by having to deal with a "dealership".
David Pope (General Manager)

Incentive Program Goal

• Increased word of mouth advertising through satisfied customers
• Increased website traffic (Lead generator)