German auto maker is using corporate and dealership data to better target customers and enhance service promotions.
BMW of North America LLC is trying to keep it simple as it uses customer relationship management systems to supercharge dealership parts and service sales.
“We want to move auto parts, not come up with new programs that complicate the world,” says Grant Paullo, the German auto importer’s manager-aftersales marketing and communications.
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He cites three objectives for leveraging data to increase revenue and build brand loyalty:
- Transition dealership customers from the showroom to the service department.
- Strengthen customer relations. “But what we see as strengthening the relationship, and what the customer sees, sometimes differ,” Paullo says.
- Reconnect with ex-customers. “This is where we’ve had the biggest success,” he says. “We’ve spent a lot of time on it. Sometimes we’ve lost customers because of a bad experience, sometimes not.”
Paullo says BMW is using corporate information and “data from dealers that they are comfortable giving us” to better target customers and enhance promotions.
“The owner of a ‘99 BMW should not get the same service reminder as the owner of a ’08 BMW,” he says. “Their needs are different.”
