Dealership's aggressive advertising push gets results during pandemic

During the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Vera Cadillac-Buick-GMC in Pembroke Pines, Fla., actually boosted its advertising spend.

And the gamble paid off.

For the first time since he opened the Cadillac outlet in 2004, Louis Vera's dealership ranked No. 1 in General Motors' Southeast region for retail new Cadillac sales, in April and May, jumping from No. 5 in March.

"We were No. 1 because we played offense," said Vera, dealership CEO. "We didn't do defense. And so we just kept selling, selling, selling cars."

The aggressive push, in fact, vaulted his store to No. 5 on Cadillac's retail new-vehicle sales ranking for all of the U.S. in April out of about 880 locations. That was a jump from 22nd in March, and the store ranked No. 7 nationally in May. During that period, stores in many other states were affected by government shutdown orders that restricted vehicle sales to a greater degree than Florida dealerships experienced.

A GM spokesman confirmed the dealership's national rankings and its top regional ranking for those months.

Vera credited the store's advertising push for helping it crack the top 10.

"We did not cut TV schedules," he said. "We actually added TV schedules. This first commercial was not about payments. It was a PSA that was about, you know, we're here for you."

That message met a large and receptive audience.

"Everybody was watching TV at that point, and everybody was watching the news," Vera said.

Vera said he spent an extra $70,000 on radio and cable and ABC affiliate TV spots, beginning in late March. An ad airing the last 10 days of March and through mid-April let customers know the dealership was open as an essential business and could deliver to customers' homes — or even send technicians to make vehicle repair visits.

Vera said he received several texts about the ad from people who indicated it hit the right tone during a tough time. "It was probably the best response we had in a long time, a long time, for a commercial," Vera said.

In March, the dealership retailed 44 new Cadillacs, a 42 percent jump from the year before. Its new Cadillac sales slipped 22 percent in April but soared 91 percent in May and were up 15 percent in June and 74 percent in July. The store retailed 82 new Cadillacs in August, nearly double its volume a year earlier.

Working longer hours than the competition also helped the dealership move up the Cadillac rankings, Vera said, adding that the store picked up leads on Sundays when some rivals were closed.

"We were not closing on Sunday. We did not close at 5 o'clock when we normally closed at 9," he said. "We closed at 7 for two weeks. Then we went to 8 for a week, and then we went to 9, back to schedule."

During the summer months, after shutdown restrictions across the country eased, Vera's store dropped some in Cadillac's national rankings but was in the top 15 as of July. In August, the dealership retailed 136 new vehicles across its three brands and 59 used vehicles. It sold 1,256 new vehicles and 652 used vehicles for all of 2019.

An ample supply of 2020 Cadillac Escalades contributed to the sales success, Vera said. With GM transitioning to a redesigned 2021 model, the dealership sold some of the big SUVs to people as far away as New Orleans and Ocala, Fla., nearly 300 miles north of Vera's South Florida market.

In mid-May, the dealership bought more than 30 Cadillacs from dealerships in Georgia and other states.

"Once we saw that we were selling and all these dealers were freaking out because they were playing defense and they were getting rid of inventory thinking it was going to be another year before we sell anything, we were buying," Vera said.

In June, the dealership hosted a seven-hour socially distanced event showing off the 2021 Escalade and sold 27 of the luxury SUVs that day. Among the Escalades ordered were two for singer-songwriter Jason Derulo, Vera said.

"I've never sold 27 of anything in one day," Vera said. The store also retailed 12 Buicks, GMCs and used vehicles that day.

Despite the Cadillac surge, the pandemic hurt the dealership financially. The store was profitable in March, but sales for its three brands combined fell 25 percent in April. Fixed operations gross profit dropped by about a third in April and May from the same months in 2019 before rebounding in June and July to be down just 2 percent from the same months a year earlier.

The dealership lost more than $450,000 in April and about $220,000 in May before again turning a profit in June and July. It made an estimated $350,000 in August, according to Vera.

Vera, a Cuban American, became a GM minority dealer in August 2000 with a Saturn outlet and the help of business partners Ed Williamson and Tommy Williamson. It was Williamson Cadillac in Miami — owned by those partners — that Vera's store unseated to gain the No. 1 sales status in the Southeast for two months. Williamson Cadillac regained the top regional spot during the summer.

"If it wasn't for the Williamson family and General Motors, I would not be where I'm at," Vera said.