Wilhelm credits 90 years of growth to effective marketing
For almost a century, Wilhelm Automotive has weathered all the challenges a small business in the auto care industry faces. 2018 marks the 90th anniversary for the nine-shop operation based in Peoria, Ariz. Marketing director Phil Jackson and owner/operator Chris Garman attribute much of that success to the right marketing tools that have enabled the shop to adapt to industry changes with every passing decade, stressing old-school customer service paired with modern marketing ideas and practices.
Now, using Kukui Dashboard to track marketing spend strategies—direct mail, internet ads, Google Adwords, and more—they look forward to reaching the century mark. Another 90 years, after all, isn’t so far away.
“We’ve been a family-based business since 1928,” Jackson says. “If you treat people right and stand behind the work, that’s what gets you through the tough times.”
In an industry dominated by small businesses but often answerable to industry and government regulations, knowing how and where to put your money is crucial to looking ahead to profits (and not behind at what might have been).
Of course, being a pillar in the community helps, too—one of the core values of Wilhelm Automotive has been philanthropic outreach throughout the central Arizona region. For years, Wilhelm has contributed to food banks, art programs, the Girl Scouts, the American Cancer Society, and more. It all falls under what Garman refers to as “mindful marketing.”
And that’s where Kukui comes in.
Spend Money Wiser
Mindful is a word that gets thrown around a lot these days. But what does it mean for a small business? For Wilhelm, it means directing its marketing budget toward where it will work the hardest. And for Jackson, Kukui, and its data-rich system that integrates with his point-of-sale system, helps light the way.
“It allows me to see true ROI over all nine shops,” he says, as the system provides real-time, accurate numbers on everything from ad spend to customer retention, ROI of each individual shop’s ad campaigns, projected and net growth, and more. Using Kukui Dashboard, Jackson has a complete vision, access to, and control over Wilhelm Automotive’s major marketing goals and campaigns, as well as the ability to tweak the monetary minutiae from one shop to the next. With Kukui, he’s both conductor and pit member, maestro and musician.
Wilhelm first integrated Kukui roughly four years ago, and Jackson credits the Kukui Dashboard tool as a “major part of our success over the past few years.” Wilhelm hasn’t just grown—it’s exploded. In 2012, it counted five shops in the Peoria area. Just six years later, it has nine.
“Our annual gross sales have grown by 10 percent each year over the last five years,” Garman says.
The Kukui dashboard has been a big part of that.
In the last few years, for example, Wilhelm has allocated more time and money to the hybrid vehicle market, training technicians to understand the new challenges and opportunities this burgeoning vehicle market provides for repair shops.
“I can set a marketing budget for hybrid repair,” Jackson says. “I can see the direct return that the hybrid market provides the shop. I can find out how much ad revenue we have made for the past week, month, or year. Finding out where my leads have come from helps me prepare the overall marketing budget. I can put a value on that, and it justifies our spend.”
It’s all visible through the Kukui Dashboard, and if Garman wants to initiate a new task or campaign, “I can work with Kukui to get what the boss wants.”
Before integrating Kukui, Jackson mentions using postcards, magazine placements, and Yellow Pages ads.
“We still do a lot of postcards to our return customers that Kukui helps us with as well,” Jackson says. “It’s great to have a solid point of contact for pretty much all our marketing needs.”
Behind Every Good Tool is a Better Team
But it’s not just the software; Kukui has an incredible support team. Looking ahead as 100 years approaches, Jackson reveals the ease with which he works with the support team.
“When I send Kukui a job to do, it gets done. If I have a question, it gets answered. They have a knowledgeable team and they have the answers for us,” he says.
He cites Kukui as more of a partnership between brands than a strict client/vendor relationship. And the work doesn’t go unnoticed from the vendor side, either. In 2015, Kukui recognized Wilhelm Automotive with its annual Superior Customer Service Award.
“We constantly strive to be the absolute best automotive repair shop in Arizona,” Garman says. “We are especially proud that we have accomplished this as a family business for three generations.”
With the right tools in the office and on the shop floor, Garman and Wilhelm Automotive looks forward to several more generations of superior customer service, integrated marketing strategies, and serving the community Wilhelm calls home.
