About Hopkins Ford

Hopkins Ford is an Illinois dealership focused on finding creative ways to generate service revenue and strengthen customer relationships. Rather than relying solely on traditional service discounts, Service Director Ryan Baum saw an opportunity to use targeted fixed ops marketing to bring high-value repair customers back to the dealership.

Winning Back Lost Service Customers

Hopkins Ford faced a challenge common to many dealership service departments: customers with major repair needs were taking their vehicles elsewhere. Independent repair shops and competing dealerships were capturing high-dollar repair orders, particularly after customers had already left the dealership.

Instead of accepting those customers as lost business, Ryan identified an opportunity to give them a compelling reason to return to Hopkins Ford.

A Transmission Rescue Campaign Built to Stand Out

Hopkins Ford partnered with FixedOPS Marketing to create the “Transmission Rescue” campaign, a targeted service offer that provided free towing for customer vehicles already located at other repair shops or dealership service departments.

Rather than relying on a traditional discount, the campaign focused on convenience, trust, and giving customers a clear reason to bring their vehicles back to Hopkins Ford. The campaign included dealership-branded video content, mobile-optimized landing pages with local SEO targeting for transmission repair, and conversion tools that allowed customers to call, text, or schedule service.

One Campaign. More Than $200,000 in Revenue.

The Transmission Rescue campaign generated more than $200,000 in revenue from major repair orders. Instead of attracting customers primarily for lower-dollar maintenance such as oil changes, the campaign brought back vehicles requiring transmission repairs and other high-value work.

• $200,000+ in revenue from one campaign
• Major repair ROs brought back to the dealership
• Free towing offered to customers at competing repair facilities
• Multiple conversion options through call, text, and scheduling

The campaign demonstrated how targeted messaging and a specific value proposition can turn lost customers into significant service opportunities. By combining a compelling offer with branded video, SEO-focused service pages, and multiple ways for customers to convert, Hopkins Ford created a campaign designed around a real customer pain point rather than another generalized discount.