Paul Sansone, Jr. tells Michelle Rivera that providing value beyond the price of his product has kept his company on top since inception.

It’s near impossible to get the opportunity to own 26 acres of land in the New Jersey Metropolitan area, but that’s what Paul Sansone, Jr. operates his auto dealership business from. His father, founder Paul Sansone, who bought one parcel of land at a time near a major highway 25 years ago, helped to make it the empire it is today.

“We have a unique physical structure that no one can match,” explained owner Sansone, Jr. “Although many competitors can say they have an auto mall, they can’t say they have an on-site car wash, restaurant, and test-driving site on their property.” Add to those features a used-car showroom and the franchises of Toyota, Hyundai, Suzuki, Nissan, Lincoln-Mercury, Mazda, and you have an auto-dealing hotspot.

But the company’s unique physical structure that also ends up as a challenge for Sansone. “Marketing-wise, do we sell the idea that we’re an auto mall, or do we sell our individual franchises? Or do we sell both?”

Paul Sansone

In previous years, Sansone’s marketing strategy was to sell the auto mall, but last year, he started marketing a combination of both, which has vastly proven successful. “We’re selling the auto mall, but I’m giving the individual franchises the attention they need for their customers.”

Ahead of the curve
Sansone’s Auto Mall is one of the largest car dealerships in the Northeast, with an estimated 2,000 vehicles on the property. Sansone is projecting to sell more than 10,000 cars next year. “Collectively, I don’t know of an auto mall that’s bigger,” he said.

According to the owner, it’s now becoming a trend in the industry to redesign facilities to cater to customer service. “My father was very much ahead of the curve,” he said.. Sansone Auto Mall features a 100-seat restaurant where customers can await the delivery of their cars. This was designed to speed up the process and make customers feel more comfortable.

“Instead of waiting in a service lounge, customers can wait watching TV and have a meal in a nice restaurant,” explained Sansone. Customers also enjoy an on-site car wash. “If you buy a car from us, you can come in and show us a copy of a repair order or a car you had serviced, and we’ll send your car through the car wash, free of charge.”

Another unique offering at the auto mall that complements Sansone’s philosophy of friendly selling is a 48-hour money back guarantee for a customers if they aren’t completely satisfied with their purchase—an idea that’s not common in the industry. “If someone isn’t happy, we take their car back. There are dealers who say, ‘You bought it, you own it,’ but that has never been our style or the way we do business.”

Located in the melting pot region of New Jersey, Sansone Auto Mall focuses on niche marketing to minorities. “We’ve had our own Asian selling department for six years, and it does remarkably well. We do a lot of other niche marketing to the South Asian community—Indians and Pakistanis. We have a huge community here.”

Sansone is constantly thinking of ways to keep customers coming back to his business. “Value beyond the price of the car is huge, whether it is free loaner cars or rentals at a discounted rate for customers. It comes down to some of the tangible or little things you offer customers that give them a positive feeling about you.”

Info source
Sansone invests heavily in the company’s business development center (BDC), located right next to his office. “We spend a significant amount of time, money, and energy developing processes to stay in touch with the customer. It opens up more opportunities for network selling,” said Sansone. The company is also working to capitalize on the Internet and turn its Web site into a massive information source where customers are immediately offered price quotes.

But at the end of the day, Sansone said success in this industry boils down to three things. “You need the right marketing plan, the right people, and enough inventory—it’s what my father taught me. If you can do that, you’ll be successful in selling cars.”