Ken Garff Success Story
Garff Auto Chooses Dealer.com as its Growth Partner
Looks to Powerful Internet Marketing Capabilities as it Expands
Ken Garff, founder of Utah's Ken Garff Automotive Group, got into the business by accident—literally. Ken was an attendant at a Salt Lake City service station in the 1930s when it caught fire and blew up. Still employed by the service station during its reconstruction, Ken was left with little to do. In his spare time he began fixing up and selling cars and never looked back.
Today the Ken Garff Automotive Group is a driving force in Utah's automobile market. This third generation family business now has 41 locations in Utah. Their numbers are impressive: 24 vehicle brands, an inventory of more than 5,000 new and used vehicles and annual sales topping one billion dollars.
The company's success is the result of a multi-pronged effort to excel in all aspects of business: First-rate customer service and satisfaction through its unique “Back-U-Up” promise that provides 24/7 roadside assistance 365 days a year, a ten-year 250,000 mile limited warranty and a “best price” guarantee; a reputation for giving back to the community; and aggressive growth and marketing strategies.
Needed: An Internet Marketing Partnership
The Ken Garff Automotive Group is not one to rest on its laurels. The company has an aggressive strategy to expand by 25 to 30% over the next couple of years. Garff Automotive has a thorough understanding that smart, assertive marketing, especially when it comes to the Internet, plays a crucial role in the company's future plans. That is why it chose Dealer.com to help take it to the next level of Internet marketing.
“Our existing site provided basic functionality, but it was time for us to move forward with cutting edge vision and technology,” explains Matthew Garff, vice president. “We sought a vendor that was ahead of the curve and willing to push its technology even further by working with us to meet our specific needs.”
The existing site met industry average lead conversion rates of 2 to 2.5 percent, but that was not enough for Ken Garff Automotive Group. Visitors to the site needed to go through many steps to locate a suitable vehicle. In fact, customers were required to go through three steps just to view inventory in each franchise site.
“That website generated a disappointing number of leads,” Garff explains. “Tracking statistics showed that visitors were spending a lot of time on the site—18 to 30 page views per person. However, the site was not designed to encourage customers to submit their information and give us a lead to follow up on. We did not know if customers weren't finding what they wanted or just kept searching because the navigation was too complex.”
Keeping the site fresh was also a challenge. Some of its franchises embraced the Internet, and some did not. As a result, Internet specials did not always mirror newspaper and other advertised specials. As Garff put it, “Some stores just failed with the Internet experience.” Garff Automotive took centralized control of Internet marketing to correct the problem. That solution had its shortcomings because it required franchises to keep inventory current, and that requires full-time focus.
“We swung the pendulum more toward corporate support of the Internet, and that clearly was not the answer,” Garff explains. “With the capabilities we'll have with Dealer.com, that pendulum is swinging back, giving much more needed control to our franchises.”
A Thorough Search
Garff Automotive conducted a diligent, thorough search of the marketplace before selecting Dealer.com. The search committee quickly discovered that each vendor had its particular strengths. One had strength in inventory management, another in search engine optimization and another in lead management, but it was Dealer.com that brought the most to the table.
“It was a very interesting, enlightening process,” Garff explains. “We listened to a lot of people, considered many factors and made sure we fully exhausted all possibilities. It came down to this: Our search committee felt that Dealer.com was the vendor that could take the site to the next level. Dealer.com is the best match to meet our requirements today and as we move forward.”
The first requirement was functionality: a site that meets its design standards and can be easily updated to reflect current inventory and advertised specials as well as one that welcomes customers and prospects and rapidly gives them the information to take the next step, which is to send an inquiry for more information. Dealer.com met the challenge by designing a group site and more than 20 dealership sites that give customers seamless access to all of Garff's franchises through a single portal.
“Customers want to get to their answers immediately,” explains Steven King, vice president of advertising and creative director. “The old site required three steps to reach the inventory of just one of our franchises. The customer then had to back out to the homepage and do it all again to reach the inventory of another store. Now it's a one step process across all our franchises. The customer simply enters their search criteria to receive updated vehicle information across our entire inventory.”
“In addition,” King continues, “the inventory and advertising management capabilities will ensure that inventory is always up to date and that Internet specials match other advertised specials and campaigns.”
Search Engine Marketing
Site functionality was just one key requirement of Garff Automotive. Driving traffic to the site is another. Garff Automotive has confidence that Dealer.com's DOMINATOR™ search engine marketing solution can do the job.
“We are confident that DOMINATOR's keyword targeting abilities will drive customers to the site,” Garff says. “And more importantly, it will help us reach our benchmark of a 6 percent conversion of traffic to an email lead from our current 2 to 2.5 percent.”
The Garff websites, www.kengarff.com, went live on January 3, 2007. The launch coincides with a major marketing initiative to commemorate the company's 75th anniversary. Matthew Garff is looking forward to the coming year.
“As we continue to grow, we are confident that Dealer.com is the right Internet marketing partner for us to get to the next level,” Garff says. “During the design and build process they were right there with us, helping us to think out of the box to build the best solution. I look forward to more of that kind of thinking as we move ahead together.”