Berlin City Dodge Jeep Chrysler

"Small Town Store -- Big Sales"

 

Small-town store -- big sales

Catalogs, delivery service attract faraway customers

To outsiders, the Berlin City Auto dealership in Gorham, N.H., may seem like it's in a limited market. It's in a rural area with about 13,000 people nestled at the base of the White Mountains, where winters are snowy and cold. And the local economy is reeling from the closure of two paper mills in recent years. But the dealership, with 10 domestic and foreign franchises, mostly has thrived for a quarter century -- currently with a business model developed more than a decade ago and turbocharged by the Internet age. The dealership, run by General Manager Ed Watson, leapfrogs the local market by using color catalogs to build a customer base as far as 12 hours away in Vermont, Maine, New York and Massachusetts. As a result, about 40 percent of vehicle sales are to customers who use phone and e-mail to discuss purchases while never setting foot in the store. Berlin City Auto also combines aggressive pricing with personal services such as delivering cars and picking up trade-ins. A number of long-distance customers who were drawn to the store by word-of-mouth now sing its praises.

"We have lots of car dealers in our area, but none can offer the deals and service of Berlin City," says Gordie Little, 72, a journalist who lives four hours away in Morrisonville, N.Y. The entire five-store Berlin City Automotive Group in New England relies heavily on long-distance sales. It consists of the Gorham store run by Watson; a smaller General Motors outlet a mile away; two dealerships in South Portland, Maine; and one in Williston, Vt. The group's owner, Summit Automotive Partners in Denver, is considering expanding the marketing technique to all 15 of its outlets in Colorado, Tennessee and New England, says Summit CEO Rod Buscher, one of the group's owners. The controlling partner at Summit is George Gillett, an American businessman who once owned the Montreal Canadiens professional hockey team and now owns the Liverpool professional soccer team in the United Kingdom and the Richard Petty Motorsports NASCAR auto racing team.   

  

Crossing the mountains
How Berlin Auto City attracts customers from several states
  * Weekly inserts in 26 regional newspapers
  * Used vehicles posted online
  * Part-time drivers who deliver vehicles * Follow-up contact by phone and e-mail    .

Berlin City Auto, which has 107 full-time employees, relies on an unusual mix of workers. It draws on a free-lance squad of three dozen drivers who deliver vehicles to customers' homes, collect their signatures on the contract, and drive trade-ins back. Little, whose extended family has bought about two dozen Toyotas from the dealership over the last decade, has never visited the New Hampshire store. "You negotiate by phone for a few hours and then they say, when do you want it -- tomorrow?" Little says. "Come on, how can you beat that? They come to your house, you sign the paperwork at the kitchen table over coffee, and they drive your used car away." After the delivery, customers have four days to change their minds and request a pick-up, though that rarely happens, Watson says. Most drivers are retirees from the local area. They are equipped with GPS systems and are given the option of staying in motels on overnight drives. "I do it to keep busy," says Rodney Sawyer, 75, a retired real-estate broker who is paid the minimum wage for driving as many as 12 hours in a single day and 40 hours a week. "Driving to me is simple, and there's usually no traffic to speak of."

The store also has four full-time workers who produce a 20-page tabloid each week that is tucked into 26 New England newspapers, such as the Burlington (Vt.) Free Press and The Conway (N.H.) Daily Sun. The catalog consists of hundreds of color photos of new and used vehicles, along with capsule descriptions and prices. The dealership also posts online photos of every used car for sale.

                                                                                  

Automotive News,

"Berlin City Auto Group donates car to Gorham High School winning student "

Keith Parent, principal Gorham High School, Ed Watson, General Manager of the Berlin City Auto Group and Mike Guay, co-coordinator for the Chem Free Graduation, hand Luke McGillicuddy the keys to the car he won during the Gorham High School Chem Free Graduation event. Berlin City Auto Group donated the vehicle along with many other donation and commitments to the community.

Berlin Daily Sun,