Hero Covers sees 60% jump in replies with Linq Blue
“With Google Voice, everyone’s sending the spam text response ‘STOP,’” said Cody Brdar of Hero Covers, a custom car-cover designer. “With Linq, all day long we’re getting responses, replies, and really positive customer engagement.”
By J.R. Williams at Linq
They said ‘STOP’
Hero Covers, which makes premium covers to order, is no newcomer to SMS marketing. The company used Google Voice to communicate with clients, and while it served a purpose, it didn’t reflect Hero’s white-glove approach.
Customers were put off by the impersonal nature of green SMS messages, which are required to include the same boilerplate opt-out language as the extended car warranty guys. Hero’s products are custom-made and require customer input and feedback that SMS can’t facilitate.
When Hero made the switch to Linq Blue, which enables mobile-optimized blue-bubble iMessage conversations inside leading CRMs, replies immediately jumped 60 percent, said Cody Brdar, who leads the company.
“With Google Voice, everyone’s sending the spam text response ‘STOP,’” Brdar said. “With Linq, all day long we’re getting responses, replies, and really positive customer engagement.”
Premium product
Hero Covers are the “highest prestige form of what a car cover should be,” Brdar said. The covers are meticulously designed in-house for exact fit. The outside of the cover is printed to look like the car underneath, a dramatic visual improvement over standard, loose-fitting black or gray sheets.
Linq CEO Elliott Potter said Brdar is an ideal partner.
“These are great guys with a great business,” Potter said. “They stand behind their work and treat people well. Linq’s premium CRM messaging and team-management solutions are a natural complement to their operation.”
Photos provided by Hero show premium materials draped over exotic sports cars and sedans. Hero makes indoor and outdoor covers for planes, boats, motorcycles, trucks, and SUVs, and recently began to offer ATV coverage.
“We need good photo and video content from the customer, and they’ve been loving it,” Brdar said. “They just send us videos like they’re our friends now, which is super cool.”
Tuning out noise
With SMS outreach, miscommunication was common. Now customers can correspond with their personal account representative. The value and personality of Hero’s customer service gets through. Brdar said his clients vary, but most are “high caliber, high-network, high priority, highly sensitive” people who expect the best.
“Sometimes we get people with 2002 Dodge Chargers, and they still want our amazing Hero Car Cover,” Brdar said. “Then we have a gentleman in Malibu who has a $40 million car collection, and now he won’t touch any other type of cover. You would think these are just car covers, but people take them very seriously.”
Team fit
A Linq Blue subscription comes with all the benefits of Linq One, Linq’s mobile-optimized CRM. In addition to iMessage capabilities, team leaders can view message threads, listen to conversations, and manage contacts for teams of any size.
Brdar said that’s changed the way he manages employees.
“The biggest plus of Linq so far for me, other than clients responding, is the ability to record calls,” he said. “I onboard a new employee, and I’m able to track and manage how they talk to customers and what they’re doing day to day.”
Brdar said he’s spreading the word about Linq Blue.
“It’s been really useful for me,” he said. “Now it’s time to grow.”
