John Tutino, general sales manager at Henderson Hyundai Superstore in Nevada, recently sat down with CBT Automotive Network to talk shop as part of Cars.com’s  “Connecting on the Road to NADA” partnership with CBT Automotive Network. He gave us insight into his background and how Henderson Hyundai succeeds. Here are a few highlights of the discussion – his rules for success:

Live the 4Ps of Automotive Marketing. He indicated that the Cars.com 4Ps of Automotive Marketing™ — product, price, place, and person – is a bedrock to his operations. “What brings everything together is the 4Ps of Automotive Marketing,” he said. “In particular, our people bring that extra experience to the consumer and let them know they have a friend in the car business. It’s a personal touch in the digital age.”

Respect the power of Salesperson Connect. Henderson Hyundai is a committed user of the Cars.com Salesperson Connect tool, which helps connect a dealership’s salespeople directly to in-market shoppers via salesperson profiles on Cars.com VDPs. The tool creates a more personalized car shopping experience for consumers before they visit the lot. He described Salesperson Connect as “genius” because the tool humanizes his dealership’s brand via digital. “We build a rapport before the customer comes to the lot,” he said. “By the time they arrive, we’re already their friend.”

Embrace digital savvy and nurture your staff. When recruiting and hiring salespeople, John looks for a mastery with digital media – someone engaged in social media, email, and text to complement communications skills on the lot. Henderson Hyundai then nurtures all his people by actively hiring from within, treating everyone like they are part of the management team, and investing in personal training.

Treat leads like gold. When Henderson Hyundai receives leads from sources such as Cars.com, the dealership follows through carefully. “We nurture those leads,” he said. “We follow up by giving our customers a preview of our store and what makes us different. We give them a heads-up on the process of buying a car. We let them know we’ll have a car ready for them to test drive and all department heads ready to appraise their trade-in if they have one. We get everyone ready to maximize the lead.”

“People still inherently want a personal touch,” he noted. “People want to buy a vehicle not only for the price but also for the service. They want to know that someone will be here to service them.”
John, thank you for taking the time to talk on the road to NADA! You can see the full interview here. To connect with Cars.com onsite at NADA, Sign up for a visit now and come on by Booth 4515C.

We look forward to connecting with you at NADA!