Follow Up Until They ‘Buy or Die,’ Says Determined Car Dealer

Hare Chevrolet traces its roots to 1847 when 19-year old Wesley Hare started building carriages and wagons.

Today, Hare is the largest General Motors dealership in Indiana. It ranks No.153 on the WardsAuto Dealer 500 with $132.6 million in total revenue. The store in Noblesville, IN, just north of Indianapolis, last year sold 4,604 vehicles, about a 50-50 split between new and used units.

“We’ve been trending upward big time,” says Wesley Hare’s great-great-great granddaughter Courtney Cole. She co-owns the dealership with her sister Monica Peck.

Cole credits store success to good marketing, database management and marketplace growth. “And the product is a whole lot better than it used to be.”

The store maintains separate in-house business development centers for sales and service in an effort to build customer relationships and to stay connected.

“The outgoing calls, follow-ups, and appointment-setting have been huge in getting people here and then following, following, following up until they buy or die,” Cole says.

Use of customer-relationship management technology “that lets us see when people are in an equity position has been a huge advantage too,” she says.

“If we can get everyone to be a raving fan, so to speak, it makes our job a lot easier,” Peck says.

The dealership has carved out a niche business with local fleet and business owners by servicing all makes and models, including medium-duty trucks. 

A big challenge is controlling growth, or making sure “not to get sloppy as the business grows,” she says.

That includes avoiding compliance pitfalls, says her sister.

“Sometimes it’s something small,” says Cole. “If GM comes out with a rebate or loyalty program, and you don’t have the correct documentation and you get audited, it can get expensive.

“We’ve gone to auditing all our own deals. One of our finance managers audits all the new-car deals to make sure they comply.”

Alan Batey, president of GM’s North American operations and GM Chairman  Chairman Tim Solso, recently visited the Hare Chevrolet to meet personally with Cole and Peck.

“The biggest thing we discussed was how to create a culture where we all feel like we’re on the same team,” Peck says.

She adds: “Sometimes, you get into a culture of feeling like it’s dealer against manufacturer. Nobody wins in those scenarios. We want (to support) each other’s victories through their products and our efforts at customer satisfaction.

“We discussed how we can be better partners, and really get a feeling that we’re all on the same team.”

Cole offered some constructive criticism to the visiting GM executives: “We told them we don’t know how they choose vendors, but it sure would be nice sometimes to (get feedback from dealers) before choosing some of the vendors.”

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