Record growth at the Niello Company is built on hyper-fast lead responses and no missed calls

The Niello Company just posted its best sales month ever in May, marking its 28th consecutive record, even with fewer leads than before.

• Basically, while most dealers chase more traffic, Niello’s focused on flawless execution of the basic tactics dealers have been talking about for years.

Here’s what that looks like:

• Breaking down silos between fixed and variable ops.

• Eliminating the gaps that waste opportunity, like missed calls and poor follow-up.

• Tightening the team’s grip on the basics.

This mindset clearly runs deep at Niello.

According to Gingrich: “As Tully (Niello’s fixed ops director) says, we only want to sell our customers things that we would sell our friends and family members…and it’s up to both departments to keep people coming back.”

That mindset created a real feedback loop, one that led Gingrich to bring video deeper into the sales process, from appointment confirmations to walkarounds, using CoVideo.

It started with service. Now the sales department is winning with it too.

Elsewhere, his focus is simple: Close the cracks. And improve the reps. Which is why, instead of flashy new tactics, Niello's playbook revolves around:

• Sub-10-minute lead response times, with missed leads reassigned instantly

• Connection tracking through Car Wars, using the request–invite–set–pursue model

• Regular phone audits to make sure real staff are answering real calls.

“You’ve got to go down the line of what actions we do daily that lead to appointments,” Gingrich said. “For us, it's videos, it's calls, it's answering the phone when somebody calls, and making sure we have the answer,” said Gingrich.

It's almost too simple to work, except it does.

Between the lines: All of this is happening in California, a state many have called one of the toughest retail environments in the country.

• Even now, dealers there are navigating affordability pressure, doc fee increases, regulatory uncertainty, and civic unrest.

However, when we asked Gingrich how he felt about the claim that you can’t make money in California, he only had one word: excuse.

His view: Market conditions are real, but they’re not an excuse to miss the mark. 

Bottom line: The push and pull between fixed and variable comes up constantly on our live show. But the Niello Company is proving that when those teams align (on process, urgency, and execution), they can win big, even in one of the toughest markets in the country.

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