Tire sales can be the road to future success

Tire banner programs — a rather catch-all term to describe the wide rage of tire sales and promotion programs offered by tire distributors and manufacturers — are often not high on a lot of independent service providers’ list of things to consider for their shops. Independent services providers often don’t have room to showcase many tires and if a car owner needs tires, it’s not hard to call a local tire provider to get what is needed. So there seems to be little need for signing onto such programs.

Increased sales through better buying power

Frank Bongiovanni, business development manager with Superior Tire and Auto in Toronto said tire banner programs are something independent service providers should give serious consideration too. Such programs are great way for an established independent service provider to increase their shop’s exposure to potential clients and growing the business through the sales of tires and tire services.

And Bogiovanni is quick to point out tire banner programs are not only for operations that deal with tires exclusively, as the tire banner program name might seem to imply.

In fact, most tire banner programs are now made to be part of an independent service provider’s larger business operation. The tire banner program is meant to compliment an existing set of repair and maintenance services, with tires being another part of an independent service provider’s set of services offered to customers.

“Let’s say a person has an existing garage and they do a lot of mechanical (repairs), but they don’t do a lot of tire sales,” Bongiovanni continued. “They can use our program to increase those (tire) sales and thereby increase their customer base and potential revenue.”

One of the first advantages of joining a tire banner program comes from the improved purchasing power when buying tires for the shop. All tire banner programs offer some kind of preferential pricing on the tires offered in the program, often pricing the tires much lower than what would be available to an independent service provider if they tried to source the tires on their own without the program. For example, Superior Tire offers its Superior Tire Franchise Program participants tires at-cost as well as offering a wide range of tires from all major tire manufacturers, so a participant is not locked into a particular brand of tire.

Ray Geleta, director of dealer development for Canada with Tirecraft Auto Centers in Sherwood Park, Alberta added Tirecraft’s over 200 stores across Canada offers participants in its Tirecraft Associate Store program, “consistent access to an extensive range or products without making large volume commitments. The Tirecraft organization also has some exclusive tire lines from major brand name manufactures.”

Geleta added Tirecraft dealers also get preferred pricing on products and equipment supplied by Tirecraft’s approved suppliers and access to some exclusive product lines as well.

Larger, international tire manufacturers as Goodyear Canada and Bridgestone Firestone Canada Inc. also offer pricing and volume pricing discounts for their tire banner participants.

In addition to the better pricing on tires, tire banner programs also offer programs that can be used by an independent service provider as an extra incentive for clients to buy their tires from them than a shop that is not part of a tire banner program. For example, Superior Tire offers to its franchise program participants a tire protection warranty that can be passed onto customers and Tirecraft offers its own a national warranty program.

“As of January 1, 2005 most tires do not come with any road hazard warranty,” Bongiovanni said. “So through Superior Tire and its dealers we offer our own tire protection plan. It is a coverage that a customer can purchase so they can insure their tires for any problems they may encounter down the road.”

Bridgestone Firestone Canada Inc. and Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire launched in early February the “Buy & Try 30-Day Guarantee” program for tire dealers and independent service providers carrying Bridgestone Firestone tires. The program gives buyers of tires a 30-day guarantee that allows them to get a refund on the purchase of Bridgestone Firestone tires if they are not satisfied with the performance. This program is not available for a select number of performance or Run-Flat specialty tires.

“In addition, Tirecraft has a Tirecraft Credit Card,” added Geleta. “This is an exclusive credit card that allows our customers to buy their tiers and services when they need them. It gives the customer flexible payment terms, the dealer’s receivables are minimized and the processing fee is below Visa, MasterCard and American Express.”

Geleta adds one of the unique aspects of the Tirecraft program is Tirecraft owns some stores so Tirecraft understands what the dealers need to succeed and is prepared to share their success and failures with the Tirecraft Associate dealers.

Advertising gets people into the shop

The biggest advantage of a tire banner program is the advertising and marketing support such a program offer to participating independent service providers. Many shops do not have time to put together advertising or marketing campaigns for their operations or services. More importantly, many independent service providers lack the resources any kind of advertising — except on the most basic of level, say placing a small ad in a local paper at most.

Michael Rutherford, manager of franchising and dealer development in Ontario for OK Tire Stores Inc. in Toronto said being part of OK Tire’s banner program gives dealers increased advertising and marketing leverage as the independent service providers can tap into OK Tire’s regional advertising groups and the head office’s advertising and marketing support programs.

The regional advertising groups can be used by independent service providers to help the service providers create individual advertising programs, such as flyers advertising their services and tires, to radio advertisements. In addition, OK Tire can create, with the input of the independent service providers in the program, regionally-based advertising campaigns to showcase OK Tire tire sale specials, seasonal sales or tire programs happening in several OK Tire-affiliated shop locations, thereby raising the profile of the independent service providers in the region and driving traffic to the locations.

Lou Monico, national manager of TireStarz Canada with Bridgestone Firestone Canada in Mississauga, Ont. said not only does Bridgestone Firestones Canada’ TireStarz tire program offer such marketing programs as turn-key flyer and newspaper advertising campaigns, but TireStarz also has a variety of different on-site selling and marketing tools for independent service providers.

“The TireStarz program offers a variety of what we call Sell-Out tools and consists of additional advertising and marketing support programs, education programs and supplier programs on parts for example,” added Monico. “The TireStarz program also has two-full time people whose job it is to help our dealers with the (marketing) tools. We want to make sure the dealer has all the resources they need.”

Many tire banner programs also help in improving the store front and displays of tires, by offering signage to advertise to customers that the independent service provider is part of a program, signage and displays for the tires.

Tirecraft’s program also offers to host within its Tirecraft Web site dealer’s individual Web sites so as to advertise their specific services.

Goodyear Canada’s Gus Liotta, director of consumer tires in Toronto, said the long-term goal of any good tire banner program is to help build a partnership between the tire providers and the independent service providers, a partnership that will produce extra revenue and business growth for the independent service providers. That is why when a customer sees a banner outside an independent service provider’s shop saying Goodyear Select or Goodyear, the customer will know that shop will have the right products and an experience and trained staff that knows what to do to help the customer with their tire purchase and questions.

“Our objective with our programs is to have the right product for our customers,” Liotta added. “We have an obligation to help you be successful.”

Resource List

Bridgestone Firestone Canada www.bridgestone-firestone.ca/

Goodyear www.goodyear.ca

OK Tire www.oktire.com

Superior Tire and Auto http://superior.ca