Tire Pros seeks continued growth, consistent buyer experience

SAN DIEGO (March 15, 2016) — Tire Pros is “soaring” into 2016, intent on growing its U.S. footprint both in terms of store count and consumer awareness.

American Tire Distributors Holdings Inc.'s (ATD) retail tire franchise program ended 2015 with 704 stores — 69 more than it had at year-end 2014 — and 504 individual owners across 44 states, Tire Pros President Dan Brown told dealers during the group's sixth annual National Dealer Business Conference, which took place Feb. 21-24 in San Diego.

The firm's goal in 2016 is to end the year represented in every state within the continental U.S.

“Back in 2009, we were in 18 states, and I'm confident in '16 we'll pick up the other four here in the Lower 48 states, so we'll truly be border-to-border, coast-to-coast with the Tire Pros franchise,” Mr. Brown said.

• This article appears in the March 14 print edition of Tire Business.

The theme of the conference, “Soaring with the Pros,” permeated every aspect of the event, from a guest presentation by retired Air Force Lt. Col. Rob “Waldo” Waldman to a farewell dinner at U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Miramar.

More than a catchy tagline, “S.O.A.R.” also serves as an acronym representing a call for dealers to continue to embrace the Tire Pros identity:

• Shout it loud and proud in everything you do;

• Get On board;

• Activate and Actualize the leads; and

• Remember your Reputation.

While store growth continues to be a top priority for Tire Pros, the main message at this year's conference was providing a consistent experience and brand message for consumers. Mr. Brown told Tire Business that last summer the company initiated a branding study with the help of Luquire George Andrews Inc. (LGA) — a Charlotte, N.C.-based advertising and brand strategy development firm — to help create a brand message that would be motivating for consumers and differentiating from the competition.

Out of that study came two marketing focal points: providing consumers with a hassle-free tire-buying experience and the good feelings that come with buying local. During a breakout session at the conference, Stephanie Spicer, vice president and director of brand strategy for LGA, told dealers that a consistent brand message — and delivering on that message — is key to growth.

“Our customers are constantly changing. This industry is constantly changing,” she said. “By having a really strong, forward-looking, aspirational brand promise we're making sure that as these things change our brand can stay consistent and still deliver on what our consumers and what our industry needs.”

Hootie Gibson, outgoing chairman of Tire Pros' National Dealer Council, urged attendees to get “on board” with the Tire Pros identity and deliver a consistent experience for customers.

“We have to have Tire Pros' identity on the outside of our stores and the inside,” he said. “It's what ties all of our advertising together. Retail is detail guys, and every customer interaction should be seen as (potentially) the last one.”

Bob Bittner, director of store operations for Tire Pros, echoed the message of consistency.

“We need to think about what it's going to take to continue to build this brand, and when you compare Tire Pros to any other company that you would label as a successful brand it involves consistency,” Mr. Bittner said. “We need to think the same, we need to do things the same and we need to go to market the same to be able to leverage the resources that we have that puts the independent dealer in the same conversation with the large regional and national chains.

“It involves building a culture. We have a very unique, a very powerful and a very compelling story to tell the consumer—we need to craft that story and make it as strong a message as we can possibly make it.”

Success in '15

Tire Pros executives highlighted a number of program successes from 2015 during its meeting.

In May of last year, Tire Pros kicked off its first national advertising campaign, integrating multi-level sponsorships and advertisements with six of the nation's top collegiate athletic conferences and networks. The company managed a record level of advertising spend of $15 million in 2015.

Mr. Gibson said the national ad campaign generated more than 212 million impressions.

“Out of those impressions, it's not only telling our compelling story to millions of consumers, but its turning heads,” he said. “It's creating demand from other independent tire dealers that are knocking on our doors to join the Tire Pros family.”

Tire Pros will continue its advertising campaign into 2016, said Quick Chadwick, director of marketing for Tire Pros, with a refined marketing mix emphasizing broadcast and digital and utilizing the results of last year's brand study for a more unified message.

Tire Pros began its national advertising campaign in 2015 with a $1 million contribution from ATD, which has opted to add another $1 million to the pool of dealer funds in 2016. Wes Stephenson, vice president of operations for Tire Pros, told Tire Business the contribution is indicative of ATD's strong support for dealers.

“The franchise agreement lays out the obligations of both the dealer and our side, the Tire Pros side, of what we have to do if they buy a certain amount of tires, but far beyond that ATD supports the Tire Pros dealers,” he said. The announcement that “they were going to give $1 million again this year, it's not an automatic and it's also not contractual. ATD didn't have to do that.”

The company also claimed Tire Pros dealers out-performed non-Tire Pros dealers in overall unit purchases through ATD in 2015, increasing 6 percent compared with flat growth from the rest of the industry.

Furthermore, the group provided upwards of 7,400 hours of training to its dealers in 2015 through its new dealer orientation program, Tire Pros Universities, PROS training modules and new Think Tank discussions, which Mr. Bitter called “easily the biggest success” the training team had last year.

Tire Pros offered two such sessions—one in the spring focusing on recruiting and retaining key employees and another in the fall focusing on sales growth, gross profit and expense control. Tire Pros has continued the program into 2016, with a yet-to-be-scheduled spring Think Tank focusing on operational efficiencies and best practices.

Other highlights included:

• Tire Pros credit card sales grew 26 percent for the year;

• Overall dealer engagement increased, as well as participation through its dealer councils;

• Tire Pros held its first Local Dealer Days tiered rebate promotion; and

• Enhancements to its affiliated vendor program, including new vendors and improved pricing through existing ones.

Program updates

Heading into 2016, Tire Pros announced a number of updates and enhancements for dealers during the conference.

The group launched its first-ever national charity partnership with The Independence Fund (See story from the Feb. 29 print edition of Tire Business) in an effort to support wounded veterans and provide all its dealers with an opportunity to join the same cause.

Tire Pros also made strides to improve its online presence, relaunching its consumer-facing tirepros.com and announcing an upcoming overhaul of its dealer portal, tireprosonline.com.

The updated consumer website is now optimized for mobile features improved functionality along with updated product photography, the company said. Similarly, tireprosonline.com is being redesigned to be less cumbersome than the previous iteration and will feature an updated dealer hub.

“It's going to be basically modeled after a social media platform like Facebook, which most of us are very familiar with,” Mr. Chadwick said. “It'll help us to engage with each other easier and it'll let you have private conversations among each other or through different threads, such as your council thread. There will be threads where you can converse with corporate, much like the existing one.”

Tire Pros launched its PROformance training agreement and assessment process, which is designed to track business metrics impacted through training.

“If you're going to invest time and effort into training, there should be a mechanism in place for you to — at the end of the training — say, ‘Well, we moved the needle from here to here,'” Mr. Bittner said. “If you can't measure the training, then it's not really training, so this year we really wanted to make sure there is a greater commitment and greater engagement from the dealer in the training process.”

Dealers can request training through a Tire Pros Retail Business Consultant (RBC), who will conduct a training assessment with the dealer to identify results the training is meant to improve, current performance level in that area compared to an accepted benchmark and a measurable target goal/objective, the company said. Following the training, the RBC will share results of the assessment with the dealer and specify their responsibilities going forward.

According to Tire Pros, post-training results are to be monitored and reported by the dealer and shared with the RBC 30, 60 and 90 days after training.

Other program enhancements for 2016 include increased marketing support through Hercules Tire & Rubber Co.; an expanded approved vendor network; Tire Pros' Elite Dealer Text Club, which provides monthly text reminders about key initiatives; and the ability to rent Tire Pros' new “Hootie” mascot costume for community events.

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To reach this reporter: [email protected]; 330-865-6148; Twitter: @Will_Schertz