Author: Luke Thomas

By: Dennis Johnson

Do you ever wonder why the tag on John Paul’s car reads NVRSTOP? It’s because he doesn’t. Holly Schneider asked me to tell a story from my years with SAM. And this is John Paul at his “never stop” best.

The agency was working on picking up a Toyota dealer in Florida. This dealer was just stuck on a music jingle they had come up with, and wouldn’t let go – even after John Paul told them it just sucked (his words). To prove his point, John Paul and I flew to the dealership’s town with the agency mini-camera in tow, $1,000 in $50 bills, and a plan to do on-the-street interviews asking normal people if they had heard the jingle, or even put this dealer in their top-five choices. Keep in mind, this is the late 2000s, so people were still open to doing this kind of thing.

After not having much luck in the first location we were shooting on a beautiful spring Saturday, John Paul suggested going to the local Walmart and catch people coming and going. Great idea, but lacking just one thing Sam Walton must have been big on – permission! Wasn’t long before the store manager comes out and runs us off, but we still had gotten a handful of interviews.

Sitting in the car, I asked “Where now?” John Paul didn’t hesitate, “Home Depot!” And down the highway, we went and set up in their parking lot. I was both shooting the camera and doing the interview while John Paul wrangled the next interview. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a man in a Home Depot shirt with a security cop. We would find out Wal-Mart had called area stores to tell them about the vagabond interview crew, and when they spotted us out they came. John Paul gave me a ‘keep shooting, I’ve got this’ nod as he walked toward the manager and officer.

Their conversation lasted long enough for me to finish one interview and get started on the other. I was still watching John Paul working his magic when he reached for his wallet. If $50 was good for an interview, he would say later, maybe a $100 passed to each of the Home Depot guys would buy us some time. Well, it didn’t. After an apparent misinterpretation of ‘talent fee’ and ‘bribe’, when John Paul got to the camera, he picked up the tripod and off to the rental car we went, in a hurry. We had worn out our welcome in South Florida – at least as on-the-street movie makers.

What we did get though was about a dozen people just dogging the jingle, the store, and their advertising. Then, we got the account. Even better, this interview technique was branded as ‘Guerilla Marketing’ (by Connie Marefka), and it became a part of Strong Automotive Merchandising’s bag of tricks to get a second major store in Florida. Nope, John Paul never stops, and that my fellow workers, is a good thing.

Strong Automotive Merchandising recently received two significant awards. Both represent hard work by management and employees to create a positive working environment.

SAM Named Among the Best and Brightest Companies

In early 2020, SAM submitted an entry for the Best and Brightest contest. Employees took a satisfaction survey, similar to those we have done in the past for Birmingham’s Best Places to Work. When all was said and done, SAM was named one of the Best and Brightest Companies to Work For at the national level.

The 2020 national winning companies were assessed by an independent research firm which reviewed a number of key measures relative to other nationally recognized winners.

The spring Best and Brightest national winners honored 183 winning organizations from across the country out of 1,700 nominations.

The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For competition identifies and honors organizations that display a commitment to excellence in operations and employee enrichment that led to increased productivity and financial performance. This competition scores potential winners based on regional data of company performance and a set standard across the nation. This national program celebrates those companies that are making better business, creating richer lives, and building a stronger community as a whole.

SAM Recognized in the Birmingham Business Journal’s Building Contest

The S4 Office Expansion has been named an honoree in the Birmingham Business Journal’s second annual Building Birmingham Awards, which recognize excellence in the Magic City’s construction, architecture and engineering industries.

These awards will recognize the team that made the project possible. It will be featured in the August 28 edition of the BBJ, both in print and online.

Congratulations to the team that helped design S4 and gave us an incredible space to work in!

When you hear the term “mystery shop,” the first image that may come to mind is a shopper in disguise, checking a store for cleanliness and clandestinely quizzing staff on product knowledge. At SAM, we have an entire team of these incognito shoppers ready to help our dealers. But in our case, fake mustaches aren’t required.

Origins of SAM’s Secret Shopper Club

Sr. VP of Advertising Services Sheila Grandy is at the helm of SAM’s telephone mystery shopping operation. In an interview, Sheila recounts that it all began with sporadic requests for mystery shops by clients. These would funnel through Account Team and would always get handled one way or another.

In February of 2018, Sheila spoke with John Paul about leading up the effort for an organized team and process for mystery shops. After outlining the procedures and recruiting volunteers, SAM’s Secret Shopper Club (SSSC) was born.

How Mystery Shops Work

What is a mystery shop, you ask?

Mystery shops are calls that SSSC makes to clients’ dealerships and to their competitors to gather insights that would be otherwise unavailable. This information ranges from how well a shopper is greeted to how knowledgeable the dealership representative is about the dealer’s product.

Calls to a client’s dealership are typically geared toward assessing customer service. Competitor calls can also asses service, but they provide added insight into local market pricing, helping our dealers stay competitive.

With the new process, AT receives a shop request from a client. Then, Sheila handles assigning a shopper and adding the details to Podio via the new app Ivan created for SSSC. The shopper then researches the product online, takes an alias, and performs the call from a spoofed number local to the dealership. The recording is then sent to AT and the client for analysis.

How Our Clients Benefit

Mystery shops give clients insight into both internal and external market data that would be unavailable without SSSC.

“We’ve received feedback from some of our clients saying this was a great training tool for their staff and that the feedback continues to provide great intel,” Sheila said. “To date, we’ve completed over 300 phone shops.”

SSSC Today

Currently, the mystery shop team consists of Bentley, Casey Q., Chris, Holly B., Lindy, Liz, Luke, Marderius, Mimi, Tina, and Zack. Holly L. and Brad will begin training to join the team as well. Karli aids with tracking number setup, and Courtney B. creates aliases for the team.

“I enjoy this because it gives me the chance to work with team members from several other departments,” Sheila said. “Everyone is always so willing to help.”

The Digital department handles another form of mystery shop that is conducted online. Data from these shops include insights on form submissions, response time, email sales processes, and online pricing.