‘Fleet queen' proactively seeks buyers

At Peoria Ford, Sandra Gonzalez is known as the "fleet queen." And for the past few years, she's been expanding her kingdom.

Gonzalez, government and commercial fleet sales account manager at the suburban Phoenix dealership, has boosted sales and increased profits with a strategy that involves actively seeking new customers instead of waiting for them to come to the store.

She uses a newsletter — developed in the early days of the pandemic — and a quota of calls and emails assigned to salespeople to stay in regular touch with customers and keep them apprised of what's in stock. She partners with upfitters to give buyers faster access to popular builds and uses her persona as the fleet queen across social media platforms to keep the store top of mind — even for those outside the Arizona market.

"The traditional model is sort of sit back and wait for the business to come to you," Gonzalez told Automotive News. "And what we've done is we're actually touching base and being in front of those customers constantly. We've been real proactive in everything we do in terms of acquiring sales."

The results speak for themselves.

Sales to municipalities have grown particularly fast. Gonzalez said the store was averaging 300 to 400 municipal sales per year before she arrived in 2019. Last year, sales cracked 1,200. She expects to reach that level again in 2023.

Peoria Ford's commercial department is separate from the retail store and includes 10 dedicated salespeople. Drivers deliver orders to customers, allowing sales personnel to focus on what Gonzalez says they do best — selling vehicles.

Salespeople have a minimum number of calls to make and emails to send to keep a steady flow of orders coming in.

"I think more than anything, it's about just asking the questions and having the ability to be confident enough to ask those questions, and not be turned off by hearing no repeatedly," Gonzalez said.

Marketing for Peoria Ford's commercial department and Gonzalez's own persona as the fleet queen across YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and TikTok platforms generates a lot of leads, she said. Other salespeople promote their own brands online as well.

"I get phone calls where people say, 'Is this the fleet queen?' and they don't even know what my first name is," Gonzalez said. "It definitely pushes people to call, and gives people a personality they're working with."

Gonzalez said acquiring inventory has been key to boosting sales. And her partnerships with upfitters means that aftermarket parts can be added to vehicles faster, while popular configurations are always available, enabling customers to drive off the lot with what they need right away.

"Having something that's readily available for the customer where they don't have to wait for the update is huge, especially for business owners," she said. "Because when a unit goes down, that's money out of their pocket. They need to be back on the road."

In recent months, the commercial department at Peoria Ford has signed large contracts with municipalities in Texas, Nevada and California as the store looks to expand its reach and maintain its sales momentum. Gonzalez's social media presence has helped in that effort as well, she said.

"We're actively seeking out bids in all different states around the U.S.," Gonzalez said. "So we're not just staying in our neck of the woods — we're looking everywhere."