DALLAS-During the Bridgestone/Firestone Inc. annual dealer meeting, Stan Cooper, manager of Firestone consumer products marketing, used an interactive audience response system to learn the directions dealers would like to see the firm go. Using hand-held transmitters, about 800 dealers entered answers to questions posed on a large slide screen. A computer instantaneously tabulated the answers for each question.
Here are some of the results tabulated during the meeting:
53.7 percent of respondents thought Bridgestone should introduce an aqua-channel tire.
44.5 percent said it was not effective to list their stores along with company-owned stores in BFS's Super Event joint advertising programs.
35.1 percent listed other dealers as their major competitors; 29.9 percent said stores owned by tire companies; 25.5 percent said mass merchandisers; and 9.56 percent said warehouse clubs were their biggest competition.
61.8 percent said they were ``very optimistic'' about their sales and profit potential for business in 1995. Only 4.72 percent said they were ``not optimistic.''