Party favors Maserati dealer

It's hard enough for dealers to sell expensive luxury vehicles when customers are able to try them out and then drive them home. So how do you sell them when customers can't do either -- and may not be able to for months?

For Steven Wolf, dealer principal of Helfman Maserati in Houston, the answer was surprisingly simple: You have a party.

In May, Helfman Maserati hosted a "launch event" for the Maserati Levante, a luxury crossover that would not be available to deliver for at least four months with a starting price close to $72,000.

With help from the factory, the dealership brought in a pre-production Levante for a full day on May 26 and sent hundreds of invitations to its clients to come see Maserati's first crossover, even if they couldn't drive it. That evening, the dealership was transformed into a high-end nightspot, complete with wine, hors d'oeuvres and music, all for Houston's A-list crowd, Wolf said.

The result: eight immediate sales, even though the first Levantes wouldn't be delivered until late September. And 42 more sales before the first salable Levante rolled off the car hauler at the Houston dealership.

"I've been doing this since 1989, and it's the best marketing program to launch a new vehicle I've ever seen," explained Wolf, 51.

Wolf said the idea for the open bar party at the dealership to launch the Levante locally came, in part, from the three-month lead time that Maserati gave Helfman, telling the store exactly when the pre-production crossover would be visiting. 

"We invited all our Maserati customers, all the people that had expressed an interest in the car in some way," Wolf said. "Plus we had friends, and people from the bank and the community to look at the car." 

Though the Levante that arrived in May could not be driven, the factory sent a team of product specialists to the dealership to explain and demonstrate its features in the showroom, Wolf said. The dealership made a production of the visit, covering it with a cloth at the start of the party and unveiling it to applause after a short time. 

The day of the party, Wolf said, Helfman took five direct Levante orders and booked three more the following day. The remaining 42 Levante sales have come in the interim. 

One of the buyers that night was a longtime friend of Wolf's, Marc Graubart. 

"We were best friends growing up, but that's not why I spent $90,000 on a Maserati," explained Graubart, who purchased a Levante for his wife, Brooke. 

The party at the dealership, Graubart said, "was kind of a Who's Who in Houston. They did a great job of reaching out to their client base. I was there for probably an hour, and I saw a lot of people I knew." 

To follow up on the party, Wolf and his team at the dealership have been tracking the ordered Levantes for their customers as the crossovers are built and shipped from Italy. Wolf said he has been sharing that info with his customers as they wait for the vehicles to arrive in Houston. 

"We spent a lot of money on the party, about $10,000, but it was effective," Wolf said. "I wouldn't have believed it if I didn't see it myself."