EEDC: What is it about Preston Automotive that makes it so unique?
RC: So, Preston Ford is our biggest store. They finished 23rd in the country last year for Ford vehicles sales, and there are about 3000 Ford dealers! When I was at Ford, it was a big deal. People would say: ‘they’re in the middle of a cornfield. There’s like 800 people in the town of Preston; how are they selling 3000 plus vehicles in a year?’ People would drive out just to try to figure out what Preston did that’s so different. It turns out they were doing an excellent job on the internet side and doing a lot of good marketing.
EEDC: How long have you been with Preston Automotive?
Robert Childs (RC): I joined the Preston Automotive Group almost two years ago. Before that, I was with Ford Motor Company for eight years, working out of their Chantilly, Virginia office. Both of my parents were in the automotive industry, so I’ve been around it for a while.
EEDC: What attracted you to the company?
RC: When I was at Ford Motor, my role was to go in as a marketing person and recommend some things. But at the end of the day, it was up to the dealer if they wanted to do it or not. What’s exciting about my role here is that it’s ‘no, you have to get Memorial Day sales event done, because if you don’t, everybody will notice you don’t have Memorial Day sales event.’
EEDC: What attracted them to you?
RC: Preston Automotive didn’t have a marketing director for the group, and they realized there was a need to try to get their marketing messages in-sync across the group with all the different brands and whatnot. So, they brought me on board to do that.
EEDC: How big is the company?
RC: There are 17 dealership locations, and we employ 500 people. Besides Ford, we also represent Hyundai, Mazda, Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram, Nissan, Chevrolet, Lincoln, and Genesis, along with our wide variety of used cars, trucks, and SUVs.
EEDC: What is the secret to this success?
RC: It starts at the top, of course, with Dave Wilson, Sr. And then the apple is not falling far from the tree. Dave Wilson, Jr now runs the group, and although he brings a new mindset, he definitely follows in his dad’s footsteps.
Dave Wilson, Sr constantly reminds everyone: ‘Everybody wants to win, but show the love daily.’ So, it’s about genuinely welcoming your associates and showing them love. And then in return, we’re going to show the love to the customers, because they can feel it.
I think it’s also about the culture and the accountability that the group brings. So, if there’s something that we’re messaging on television or Facebook when someone comes in the store, they’ve got to uphold the promise of that picture that we painted.
EEDC: What’s the connection to iFrog?
RC: How iFrog started was that Preston Automotive had been ahead of the game in a lot of ways on visual marketing, a strong presence on the internet, etc. and as that success grew, Dave, Sr, and Brent Durham recognized an opportunity to help other dealers. They started the marketing company, iFrog, which now represents approximately 70 dealers across the country.
iFrog handles the majority, if not all of our digital marketing primarily, like our Facebook ads, paid searches, YouTube ads, etc.
EEDC: There is a strong ‘frog’ connection, isn’t there?
RC: The frog was a marketing thing that Dave, Sr started in 1984. It was a leap year, and many other dealers were giving out trips and cash and stuff when you bought a car from them. Dave, Sr. and the TV station WBOC got together and tried to think about what they could do. As a joke, they said, ‘hey, it’s a leap year; why not give out a frog?’ That became the commercial. But then someone bought a car and wanted to know where their frog was! They literally thought they were getting a frog.
So, Dave went down to the thrift store in Preston and bought ceramic frogs that they could give out, and so the frog was born; we’ve used it ever since. And that’s how there’s a marketing agency now named iFrog, all because of the Preston store.
EEDC: Preston Automotive has always been very community-oriented. Tell us about some of the things they’ve done?
RC: Right after COVID hit, we launched our ‘Healthcare Heroes Program.’ When I was at Ford, I wanted to establish a program like this, but I never got the buy-in. When I suggested it here, Dave said, ‘let’s do it.’
The program is intended for all healthcare workers and anyone in their household. We did free oil changes, free loaners, and free sanitization for their vehicles. We did that group-wide; every store was in it. And we did it through July, giving out over $200,000 of free services. I was really proud of that.
This commitment to the community isn’t just something we say. We do a donation seven times a year with a frog tie-in, we had a Turkey drive in November, and we’ll be donating to the March of Dimes. Coming up in April, we’ll have a Ford Bronco event, and we’re going to have a golf outing in Easton in October at Hog Neck.
EEDC: What should we be looking for in the future?
RC: Obviously, every year we want to increase our vehicle sales, so we have a target for that kind of growth, for sure. But we’re facing a little bit of headwinds that we can’t control. We have manufacturers that are slowing down production because there’s a chip shortage right now. This means Ford can’t produce as many vehicles as they had planned for, at least for now. We’re anticipating things will change in the third or fourth quarter of the year.
As for me, like I’ll be more focused on a pre-owned message since we, potentially, won’t have enough new vehicles. We want to try to trade as many customer’s vehicles and make it as easy and as convenient for somebody to sell their car to us. CarMax makes a living off of it, with people thinking it’s an excellent option to sell their car to them. I want to try to get people to see that we’re were just like that too.
