Certified pre-owned customers are unique — and have different needs and wants for their next vehicle than new or non-certified used customers. These potential buyers might have more financial resources than someone looking for a car on your budget lot, but they might not want to spend close to MSRP for a vehicle fresh from the factory.

A pair of upper-level managers from Lincoln stores offered some of the best ways their dealerships have discovered to market to and reach this niche audience.

Their anecdotes were part of when Auto Remarketing looked into this topic deeper during our annual “Best CPO Dealers in the United States” special edition earlier this year.

“Our dealership has always invested heavily into reconditioning used vehicles, which has allowed our sales staff to confidently sell,” said Rick Jacobs Jr., general manager of South Hills Lincoln in Pittsburgh.

“Our pre-owned vehicles have been ‘certified’ for years; the Lincoln CPO program has allowed us to offer an increased value to our customers with the extended warranty,” Jacobs continued. “In the words of our pre-owned manager Dan Bonomi, ‘Cheaper is only a price. Value is priceless.’ This philosophy must be established within the dealership to maintain CPO sales.”

And that philosophy is spreading throughout the Steel City by a conventional method dealers have been dependent upon for generations.

“A large portion of our CPO business is by word-of-mouth, because we stand behind our pre-owned vehicles,” Jacobs said. “All of the necessary service work is completed prior to the vehicles going on the lot, to make them ‘like new.’ No excuses are needed when everything is done prior to the customer seeing the vehicle.”

Meanwhile in the Lone Star State, the team at Bayway Lincoln is pulling all the levers at its disposal to promote and move CPO metal. Nathan Dawson is the auctions director at Bayway Lincoln in Houston.

“The best ways we have discovered to market is by utilizing the advertising tools provided by the manufacturer, maximizing CPO exposure with third-party vendors and having all departments recognize CPO vehicles as a third brand between new and traditional used-vehicle sales,” Dawson said.

“At ground zero, our service advisers create value in a CPO for potential clients and renew vehicle confidence to customers bringing in their CPO vehicle for service by reminding them of the peace-of-mind they get from owning a CPO vehicle,” he continued.

“We also maintain a vast selection of CPO vehicles with several option package to provide the customer variety, like they would have within our new-car department,” Dawson went on to say.

The strategies utilized at Bayway Lincoln and South Hills Lincoln certainly appear to be paying dividends since the stores finished 2014 as the fourth- and ninth-leading sales leaders for Lincoln CPO, according to sales data shared by the automaker.

Staff Writer Sarah Rubenoff contributed to this report.