Councils roll out tools, initiatives during Tire Pros National Conference

Business

February 28, 2018

It was a little more than a year ago when four groups of American Tire Distributors’ (ATD) Tire Pros dealers began to meet regularly, each assigned a similar but distinctive task: Figure out opportunities within their group’s topic to provide tools and services for dealers to be more successful.

So it was quite fitting that within short drive of The Alamo, a one-time mission and historical landmark, that these groups — called Mission-Based Councils (MBC) — revealed the fruits of their labors during Tire Pros’ eighth annual National Conference.

Tire Pros officials as well as representatives from each MBC discussed the new tools — including a “playbook” for best business practices, a revamped dealer evaluation program and an online dashboard benchmarking tool — during the four-day event, attended by close to 1,000, at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Resort and Spa, Feb. 8-11.

Tire Pros officials had one unified reaction to the work of these groups: Missions accomplished.

“I’m ecstatic over what they’ve done,” Ron Sinclair, ATD’s senior vice president of retail strategy and partnerships, told Tire Business following the conference, which also featured a trade show with more than 55 vendors as well as several informational sessions on a variety of topics.

“I’m just really proud of the work that those councils have done and the staff has done over the last 12 months.”

According to Mr. Sinclair, the Tire Pros program numbers 715 points of sale in 46 states.

“There is a lot of change happening around us, and we don’t always realize it, but we have to get our hands around it and the implications of that,” ATD CEO and President Stuart Schuette told a sea of red-shirted Tire Pro dealers at the general session.

“How do we thrive, grow, succeed, push through that and create our own destiny and our own future? That’s what this is all about. That’s what the work we’re doing at Tire Pros.”

The work began at last year’s conference, held in New Orleans during Mardi Gras. It was there that Messrs. Sinclair and Schuette and others preached a message of togetherness, unity and consistency.

“Ultimately, at the end of the day, we’re stronger if we work together to be the best franchises in the industry,” said Perry Leonard, president, chief operating officer and owner of Car Concept Inc., a chain of nine Tire Pros locations in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Mr. Leonard is chairman of the National Dealer Council, which oversees the MBCs.

Last year’s theme of “Being One with the Pros” continued this year, emphasizing “the whole concept of unity,” according to Mr. Sinclair. “Ultimately ATD is successful if our core dealers are successful.”

Each of the four MBCs — comprising eight dealers representing various regions of the country — are helping to drive that success. Each presented a course of action pertaining to its core focus: marketing, training, technology and customer experience.

Marketing

According to Quick Chadwick, director of marketing services for Tire Pros, the marketing message from individual Tire Pros dealers was “all over the place.”

In an effort to streamline the message and “build the value of the Tire Pros brand,” Mr. Chadwick said, the mission-based marketing council reallocated some national advertising funds and developed a brand platform that will launch this quarter that delivers the same, consistent message throughout.

“We want a hassle-free experience,” Mr. Chadwick said.

So what can a consumer expect from a hassle-free experience?

“It’s how you deliver a service in a way to make it as convenient as possible for the consumer — what I need, when I need it,” Mr. Sinclair said.

“Most people...really want an element of trust — when someone says you need a set of tires or new set of brake pads or need this work done, they trust that person and that retailer.

“One of the benefits our Tire Pros dealers have is that they’ve been in the market. This is their business, this is their livelihood. And being that local independent gives many of them one-up on the trust component. Now if you can wrap in processes and technologies that enable them to develop and deliver that in a hassle-free manner, that’s a great combination.”

The suite of marketing assets includes elements for television, print, radio, direct mail, digital banners, online video and in-store displays.

All Tire Pros dealers who attended the conference were asked to film a customized tag that can become part of a Tire Pros commercial, called the “Return to Simplicity,” that was previewed during the event.

“It’s about consistency, at a national, regional and individual store basis,” said Lynda Kester of Big Red Tire Pros of Lincoln, Neb. “When we are all singing the same song of music, and we’re all doing it together, we have a strong message we can bring.”

“In 2018, we will continue to work together as one voice, one brand, one team,” Mr. Chadwick said. “We are one.”

Customer experience

Mr. Sinclair said Tire Pros had discussed developing a manual for its members as far back as July 2016. The mission-based customer experience council made the notion a reality, compiling a “playbook” that offers direction and policies on how to operate a Tire Pros facility “in a manner that will maximize customer acquisition/retention; assure operational efficiencies and optimize profitability.

“It’s our playbook to be successful in these key areas that we believe are critical for our retailers, specifically our tire service retailers,” Mr. Sinclair said. “It’s been an idea for quite some time. I credit the (MBC) for making it a reality.”

Mr. Sinclair said the playbook includes a great balance of “gotta-dos” — those elements he said every Tire Pros dealer should and must do — and “oughtta-dos” — those elements he said are recommendations, depending on various factors unique to each Tire Pros location.

“Like anything, you’re going to have varying levels of engagement, but I believe the ‘gotta-dos’ are achievable by all of our franchises,” Mr. Sinclair said. “I think they’ll be well-accepted.”

Pat Fleischmann of Community Tire Pros of Phoenix said the playbook was a much-needed project that “was built from the bottom up, not the top down,” and includes parts of other established manuals that exist within the market.

The playbook, she said, was constructed with the knowledge that not all stores or store owners are created alike.

“We all have different cultures, we all have different opinions,” Ms. Fleischmann said. “Whether you’re from Virginia or Phoenix, there are differences. But you need to have that total experience at each one (that consumers) touch, whether they are traveling or at their home local area.”

The playbook is just a start, according to Bob Bittner, vice president of Tire Pros operations. “It’s a project that’s never going to be completely finished, as our brand evolves, as our network evolves,” he said. “As we grow the number of locations in the franchise, there is every reason to believe the playbook will evolve and expand as well.”

“It’s not good enough to be great,” Ms. Fleischmann said. “You have to be epic. We have to be top of line, be the No. 1 store in our area.”

Training

The mission-based training council developed a new tool that compliments the new playbook: A new, merit-based ongoing evaluation process called ProStars that is designed to push Tire Pro dealers toward operational excellence.

Tire Business photo by Don DetoreSharon (left) and Randall Myers of Randall’s Tire Pros of Greensboro, N.C., take a selfie with Hootie, the Tire Pros mascot.

The program combines online reporting tools and location visits by Tire Pros staff to rate each Tire Pros dealer.

“This is dealer created, from council members and input from other Tire Pros members,” said James Baxter of Neighborhood Tire Pros of Decatur, Ga. “We’ve created a pathway for dealers that can easily take advantage of what’s offered and can really be a success and grow their business and compete with some of the national competition.”

The program features three levels: Rising Star designates a dealer meeting basic expectations; Shining Star is a dealer who goes beyond the basic expectations and is on the path toward the top; and ProStar is reserved only for the top dealers, or “what real engagement looks like,” according to Mr. Baxter.

There are seven areas that will be rated: Tire Pros branding and identity; support of marketing initiatives; vendor support; training compliance; franchise engagement; participation and promotion of Tire Pros credit card and warranty programs; and data submission for benchmarking. A dealer needs to meet five of them in order receive 325 points and the ProStar designation.

Mr. Baxter said that under the previous system, 80 percent of dealers were rated highly. This new program reverses that: he expects just 20 percent of the dealers to be rated as ProStars.

Those dealers that are rated as ProStars in 2018 will be recognized on stage during next year’s Dealer Conference.

“I believe it really is a pathway to success so that it will help you grow your units and your service, your profitability, your customer count and hopefully help with you investing with some of training opportunities to retain your employees,” Mr. Baxter said.

“If the playbook is the gameplan, then the ProStars become the scoreboard, and together it’s a winning combination that helps to becoming one brand, one mission, one with the Tire Pros,” Mr. Bittner said.

Technology

The last piece of the MBC puzzle represents a technological piece designed specifically for the dealer cooperative — an online dashboard benchmarking tool that will enable Tire Pros dealers to measure their performance against others on an ongoing basis. The dashboard includes regional and national benchmarks, as well as annual goals established by dealers in conjunction with Tire Pros representatives.

“The dashboard benchmark will pull everyone in and everyone together, to make sure the power within this room is powerful, not powerless,” said Randy O’Connor, a regional business consultant for ATD.

Manny Geno of Geno Tire Pros of Booneville, Miss., and a member of the mission-based technology council, said his council took “a concept through the total creative process and ended up with functional system in such a short amount of time. It speaks to the dedication and work the dealer council really implements. It wouldn’t be possible without that.”

The tool measures six key metrics — sales; gross profit; passenger/light truck units; alignment units; tire protection plan units; and car count — broken into four comparisons — national average, regional average, current performance and goals.

Dealers can gauge their success against others in the region and across the nation, with similar or varying sizes. Reports available include 12-month performance, current and prior year-to-dates; and monthly and annual projections.

The tool can be accessed with a tablet, smartphone or desktop, from anywhere, anytime. Two views are available: One shows current numbers while the second is more detailed, showing current, historical and projected numbers,

The dashboard is all about keeping score, Mr. Geno said. “The saying what gets measured, gets managed, that’s so true,” he said. “We kept focused on that very thing. We also kept focused on the voice of the dealer, voice of the owner. What did they want?”

A number of dealers are using the tool, with more to follow. Tire Pros will roll out the tool over the course of 2018.

More tools

In addition to the tools outlined by the MBCs, Tire Pros officials also updated dealers about two other initiatives: the Net Provider Score (NPS) and a change in the dealer rebate program.

NPS — a consumer-driven tool that objectively measures customer satisfaction — was rolled out last year. It is in the pilot stage, according to Cameron Chernikow, senior manager, national programs.

Consumers are asked to fill out a survey after receiving service. There is one question: “On a scale of 0-10, how likely are you to recommend Tire Pros to a friend, family member or colleague?”

NPS, which is used in other industries, allows business owners “to gauge customer loyalty, and through that gives you opportunities to improve customer retention, thereby increasing traffic, which ultimately is going to improve your business performance,” Ms. Chernikow said. “It gives you a common thread.”

The NPS score is derived from subtracting the percentage of detractors (0 through 8) from the percentage of promoters (9s and 10s). Nearly 1,000 surveys charted from 13 owners representing 31 locations have garnered a score of 58 thus far. She said any score above 50 is “excellent.”

However, she said Tire Pros needs three times that many responses in order to secure an accurate score. “We want to make sure this is the best tool when we roll it out across all the stores,” she said.

Meanwhile, Mr. Sinclair told dealers Tire Pros would be enhancing its rebate program. Previously, dealers received rebates simply according to sales growth.

Now, the program includes a loyalty component: Dealers who show significant loyalty to purchasing ATD products — which Mr. Sinclair defines as 90-plus percent — will receive a higher rebate.

“We recognize on any certain day, there may be a consumer across the country who wants a specific tire that we might not have,” Mr. Sinclair said. “We believe we’re best in business in product assortment and in our supply chain.”

Overall growth continues to be goal for Tire Pros, but Mr. Sinclair said there is no magic number. Over time, he said, 1,000 locations is achievable, but it may not happen within a year or two

“It’s more about quality than quantity,” he said. “Do we think we’re going to be able to grow that number in the months and years to come? Absolutely. But they have to be the right dealers...that are going to value the programs and technology that we’re bringing to bear. We believe this program has a lot of pathway for growth.”

Dealers, he said, will drive that growth and success.

“It’s really about the success of the mission-based councils to drive initiatives and drive real tools and services that we were able to (unveil) at this conference and will continue to roll out as the year goes on,” Mr. Sinclair said. “It’s a very exciting time.”

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