At John Nolan Ford, sales buck the trend
Presenting the 2007 Deloitte Cincinnati USA 100 Motorcycle sales played a big role as the company opened a new Thoroughbred Harley-Davidson store on Dixie Highway in Florence and continued to market another Nolan-owned Harley-Davidson dealership in Norwood. “Another part of the reason the revenues are up in a down market is that we increased our used-vehicle inventory,” said Barb Nolan Jones, vice president at John Nolan Ford.
“We maintained a diversified mix of price, make and model with imports and domestics in lots of different price ranges.” Other efforts included: Shifting media dollars away from traditional outlets toward the Internet and the company’s two Web sites: www.johnnolan.com and www.iwantaride.com . A rapid response to Web queries from potential customers. Sales staff received additional training on implications of Web sales. Two used-car operations - in Florence and Crittenden, Ky.
- that offered used cars “certified” as quality vehicles by Nolan mechanics. “The market for certified used cars has just taken off,” she said. Embracing a broader trend of “Conquest Customers,” that is, former import drivers who decide to buy a new Ford vehicle, particularly the Edge or Fusion. “And what that says to me is that the message is getting across that the quality of Ford is as good if not better than the competition,” Jones said.
The revenue rise came in a year when Ford found its car sales had plummeted by 25 percent over 2006 sales levels - from 1.01 million units to 763,000 cars, according to Morgan & Co., a West Olive, Mich., consulting company that tracks U.S. auto sales.