Last Veterans Day, four affluent drivers signed ownership papers for a brand-new Porsche largely due to a direct mail campaign. Not too shabby a day's work for Woodhouse Porsche of Omaha, considering that less than 10 months earlier these prospects weren't even in the market for one.
What fueled the sales were 1,300 direct mail solicitations sent in late October, offering refreshments and invitations for a test drive. Roughly 300 went to people who'd expressed interest in new models since the Nebraska dealership's opening in early 2005. But sales manager Mitch Schneringer added 1,000 prospects from Sales Genie, InfoUSA's online prospect file, to the drop. Schneringer ruled out using his personal files for the mailing since the Ford/Lincoln Mercury customers he formerly served were very different demographically from Porsche enthusiasts.
The first data points Schneringer used were families with incomes above $250,000, as well as those with high-value homes. Considering that the featured vehicle, the 2006 Carrera 4, starts at nearly $80,000 for the coupe, the audience is naturally limited.
There also was the matter of geography. Fortunately, Porsche's cachet makes its showrooms “destination dealerships,” according to Schneringer. That, and the fact the next nearest outlet was 160 miles away, allowed Woodhouse Porsche to search for prospect names within a 150-mile radius of its location.
Schneringer says the parent company sets tight limits on the advertising materials each dealership mails, right down to specifying the envelopes (No. 10s, embossed with the Porsche logo). But he insisted that each letter go out with the address handwritten on it, and with live postage stamps, all of which played into Porsche's luxury image.
Woodhouse Porsche sold three of the Carrera 4s during the event, as well as a 911 Turbo. (Schneringer isn't complaining about the Turbo sale: Its sticker price is almost twice that of the Carrera.)
All told, the mailing moved six vehicles since the Nov. 11 event. Schneringer went back to Sales Genie for another thousand names for a late-January event centered on the 2006 Cayman S, which appeals to a slightly younger — yet no less affluent — audience. The number of drivers who will be enjoying the smell of their new Cayman S was not available at deadline.
