Tony’s shop is a service company: parts, service, and now sales. After the shop added a golf cart sales department, he says sales revenue went from 10 to 30% of the shop’s monthly revenue to 50 to 75%, with more walk-ins and more calls. He also says he cannot compare apples to apples. This is what he said on camera, in his own words, with nothing added.
Who is Tony?
Tony is a Cart Launch dealer partner. On camera he goes by his first name, and that is all we use here.
What we know about his shop comes from him. “We’re a service company.” Parts, sales and service run side by side, and the sales side is the new one.
This is a golf cart dealer testimonial with the caveat left in.
What was his shop trying to figure out?
Who does the marketing.
We asked what prompted him to sign up. “Marketing is one of those departments that we’re ultimately looking at. We have a question if we want to hire in-house or if we really want to use something different.”
Any owner running three departments knows that one. One more person on the payroll, parked in the building. Or a partner outside it.
He was already looking. “I’ll tell you that we were on the hunt. We just happened to stumble on someone who knows our industry well and we’re pretty stoked to find the right partner that’s working for our shop.”
What had he tried on his own?
The ads and the systems, on his own hours.
He did not dress it up. “I’m a pretty busy dude. This is one of those things that took a lot of time from me. And it didn’t give me a lot of reward back.”
Why did he say yes?
Something he could see for himself.
“What closed the gap on it was the school.”
The school is his name for what Cart Launch gives away for free. He told other dealers to go look at it. “I mean, this stuff is out there for free, man. Take a peek at what this company is offering for free.”
And why that settled it for him: “Take a peek at that and that should kind of show you that’s enough proof in the pudding. Someone’s willing to put in the time to give you this much value.”
What changed once the golf cart sales department was running?
We asked what he had seen so far. He started with the front door.
“More walk-ins, more calls, obviously leads be generated by the website.”
Then the buyers a lead count misses. “There’s sales that happen that didn’t fill out a lead too, right? and they come in and they talk, ‘Oh yeah, I looked through your inventory. It looks like you got a really cool stuff in here and I just decided to come in.’”
No form. She looked through the carts and came in.
Then we asked if he could put rough numbers on it. He gave the caveat first.
The store got stocked at about the same time his shop started with Cart Launch. So he would not call it a clean before and after. “I’ll be honest. I can’t tell you, I can’t compare apples to apples.”
His own read on it: “If we would have done it by ourselves, like we just wouldn’t have been as effective. It just wouldn’t have happened. Perfect storm. All things came together at a great time.”
And then the number. “our sales revenue went from 10 to 30% of our monthly revenue to 50 to 75% of our monthly revenue. It’s a revenue source that didn’t exist before.”
Read it the way he said it: a share of the shop’s monthly revenue, not a count of carts, with the caveat attached.
What did it do for his sales team?
This is the part he brought up without being asked.
“you guys have been more helpful to me than just the ads. You’ve been helpful in the sense of our team. I can say overall, the team has improved and our sales processes have improved and we’re better at what we do.”
He sees starting fresh as the upside. “we got the benefit of no bad habits.”
And: “I would say we got trained by the best when we started our whole sales gig.”
On getting up to speed: “It’s really nice for us to be able to fire up overnight like we’ve been doing this for a decade because the team that we chose has been.”
What does he say about the website and the system?
We asked if getting the website rolling was smooth. Everything in this section is Tony describing his own store, in his words.
“Yeah, pretty smooth and easy. Uploading is too easy. Our staff has been able to upload very easily to Cart Launch, manage that inventory, put in the correct information, manage your flooring time on these vehicles.”
He kept going. “It’s more than just listing units. It’s managing your sales department.”
On his team, still his words: “it helps them know if they’re being successful. We can look at how fast they’re responding to these leads and getting back to them and managing the stages of each lead is super nice.”
On knowing where a sale started: “Everything is lined up. We know from our ad spend to our website to our actual lead where it came from.”
Then he went back to the hire he did not make. “If I were to hire a marketing guy, they come into the business, they’re parked there full-time, and I told them, ‘Hey, look, I need you to just create a whole another website for our sales department, right? And I need you to do this stuff and I need you to list all these units and do that.’ So, that’s basically what I got from you guys.”
What would he tell another dealer?
We asked who this is a no-brainer for. He named two owners.
The first one already pays for marketing in-house and steers every move. “someone struggling with maybe their in-house marketing, right? Like, if you have to tell this person to do every little thing.”
Then, he said, that hire was never adding value.
He has an opinion on what it costs, and it is his: “to be honest, you could probably hire these guys for cheaper than what you’re hiring your in-person marketing for.”
The second owner is doing it all himself. Tony’s question for him: “reach that level of frustration trying to do these ads and build the systems yourself and recognize, can your time be spent elsewhere?”
Last, we asked what Cart Launch has done for him. “brought systems in place that we didn’t have to spend years deciding if they work.”
What can another golf cart dealer take from this?
Three things.
First, a service shop already has the customers. What it lacks is a floor that sells. Picture a Tuesday at 2:15. A customer picks up her cart after a battery job and asks about the four-seater parked out front. If nobody at the counter can show her the photos, the price and a next step, she buys it down the road. The bays are their own subject, covered in our post on growing a golf cart service department. A golf cart service shop selling carts needs every unit to be easy to shop first, which is why we build golf cart dealer websites around the inventory.
Second, no bad habits is an advantage. A new sales side has nothing to unlearn, so start with one process, not five. Our part is narrow: we help owners put one sales process in place for the floor, from the first message to delivery, that everyone runs the same way. It is laid out on our golf cart sales training page. We do not sell his carts or talk to his buyers. His team does that.
Third, before you hire a marketing person, write down what you would have to tell that person to do. Tony did it out loud: build the site for the sales side, list the units. If the list is long and you would be the one handing it out every Monday, read marketing person vs agency before you post the job. Either way, decide how you will know where a buyer came from. Some of his buyers walked in without filling out anything, and our post on golf cart lead tracking shows how to count them.
This is one dealer’s account, in his own words, and no two dealerships are the same. We do not promise a number.
Between the owners there is 14+ years operating in 8-figure golf cart dealerships. How we work is on our golf cart dealer marketing page.
If you are reading Cart Launch reviews before you call anyone, good. More dealers tell it on video on our results page. There is another dealer partner’s story, also in his own words, and the most detailed write-up is the 72 aged golf carts in 45 days case study.
If you run a service shop and the sales side is the part you want to build, book a call.
FAQ
Questions dealers ask about this story
Straight answers to the things you’re probably wondering before we talk.
How did Tony build a golf cart sales department at a service shop?
By his account, the shop added a sales side next to parts and service, stocked the store, and started with Cart Launch at about the same time. He says “we got trained by the best when we started our whole sales gig.” His own team does the selling.
What number did Tony give?
In his words: “our sales revenue went from 10 to 30% of our monthly revenue to 50 to 75% of our monthly revenue.” That is a share of the shop’s monthly revenue, not a count of carts sold. He gave it with a caveat.
Did Tony credit Cart Launch for all of it?
No, and he said so. The store got stocked at about the same time his shop started with Cart Launch, so in his words, “I can’t compare apples to apples.” He called the timing a “Perfect storm.”
Will my dealership get the same result?
We do not promise that, and he did not either. This is one dealer’s account in his own words. Your market, your inventory and your team are your own.
Does Cart Launch sell the carts or talk to the buyers?
No. His team sells the carts and talks to the buyers. We help owners put one sales process in place for the floor, from the first message to delivery, that everyone runs the same way.
What is the school Tony talks about?
It is his name for what Cart Launch gives away for free. He said it was what closed the gap for him, and he told other dealers to “take a peek at what this company is offering for free.”