Situation
Dorsett Mitsibushi serves the Terre Haute area and a 70-mile radius. It offers new and used automotive sales as well as automotive repair services on all types of vehicles. Mitsubishi offers a variety of models that appeal to a range of drivers. Dorsett would like its clients to include all new and used automotive buyers.

Dorsett competes directly with all other import and domestic automotive dealerships. Indirectly it competes with all other used car dealerships. The automotive sales industry continues to be incentive-driven with a traditional retail sales atmosphere.

Dorsett Mitsubishi feels its strengths lie in its staff, systems and service.

The vision for Dorsett is to grow automotive sales, automotive service sales and facilities. This vision is supported by its mission, which is to provide service excellence to its customers. Dorsett Mitsubishi values integrity throughout its organization.

Problem
The tagline used by Dorsett Mitsubishi had been "Catch a Dorsett Deal." Two key factors were evident in this tagline: 1) the honesty and integrity of the owner, and 2) the fact that incentives are going to be a part of the automotive industry from this time forward.

This positioning focused around the unique background of the owner, who played professional baseball, as a catcher. Though the positioning statement was unique to the dealership and owner, one key word used in the phrase, “Deal,” could tend to be viewed as a negative, or at least not to represent the above-board and/or integrity intent that the owner desired.

The word “Deal” could be construed as one individual getting more incentives, money back for trade-in, etc. than another person. Though this may be true, it could create the perception that it is not always a level playing field. It tends to resemble the old “wink” from a salesman that implies he has a special offer or “deal” only for you.

Solution
Dorsett Mitsubishi and MillerWhite, LLC partnered to create a positioning statement by utilizing the proprietary protected formula known as “Unlocking the Power of Your Pledge®.” The pledge and tagline, as well as the suggestions for implementation, were developed as a collaborative effort between Dorsett Mitsubishi and MillerWhite to support Dorsett’s business goals. A pledge would not only pull the two revenue streams of automotive and service sales together into one “active” thought, but would also provide the foundation for creating a strong and positive culture for the dealership – which also mirrors the leadership of the owner.

Results
Based on the business goals of increasing automotive and service sales, the two key factors (the honesty and integrity of the owner and the fact that incentives are going to be a part of the automotive industry) seem to align strategically and/or appropriately with the two goals in the following ways.

First, honesty and integrity seem to align nicely with the service department, in that repairs, selection of parts and the actual service of the automobile will be performed at the highest level. Secondly, honesty and integrity align with the trustful assurance in the incentives offered – they are legitimate and consistent from one buyer to another.

Based on this strong alignment, and in an attempt to capture the personality of the owner, the following pledge was suggested: At Dorsett, “we pledge to earn your business by providing integrity in our service and trust in our incentives.”

This pledge not only pulled the two revenue streams together in one “active” thought, but provided the foundation for creating a strong and positive culture for the dealership – which also mirrored the leadership of the owner.

The suggested tagline, which played on Brian Dorsett’s Major League Baseball experience, is “Drive it Home with Dorsett.” When paired with the logo, this tagline would simply read “Drive it Home.”

While the client was happy with the tagline, “Drive It Home,” he expressed a desire to revise the proposed pledge. A revised pledge, “we pledge to focus on giving you the driving experience you want, backed by the service you can trust” was thought to align more with Dorsett's business culture.

There was a concern that this statement was not actually a pledge, but was more of a mission statement, recognizing that a pledge should be active and create a foundation for the culture of the organization. While the pledge may not be strong enough to serve as a positioning statement to set Dorsett apart from other car dealers, it will be utilized because the owner feels more comfortable with it.