DIAMOND BAR, Calif.—Eighteen months after it was established, Nexen Tire Americas Inc.'s Next Level associate dealer program now boasts more than 3,000 dealer members, according to Nexen Director of Marketing Kyle Roberts.
Next Level is gaining about 30 new members a month, Mr. Roberts said, and the tire maker is satisfied with that level of growth.
It is truly a nationwide program, he said. “In the four regions of the U.S., the percentage of Next Level dealers in each region is 27, 23, 24 and 26, which is about as evenly distributed as you can get.”
Announced at the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas in November 2014, Next Level was officially launched Jan. 1, 2015.
The idea behind Next Level, Mr. Roberts said at the time, was to create an associate dealer program that was easy, simple and lucrative while also maintaining loyalty between Nexen distributors and dealers.
Dealers sign up for the program through any of Nexen's 35 distributors nationwide, according to Mr. Roberts. In signing up, they agree to meet a sales volume average of 100 Nexen tires per quarter and 400 per year in order to receive cashback awards.
If a dealer does not sell any units during a calendar year, he or she will be cut from the program, Mr. Roberts said.
The cashback awards work as follows:
c $1 extra per unit for sales of 400-799 units annually;
c $2 extra per unit for 800-1,399 units;
c $3 extra per unit for 1,400-1,999 units;
c $4 extra per unit for 2,000-2,999 units; and
c $5 extra per unit for 3,000 units or more.
Dealers may combine sales from all their locations to attain as high a volume bonus as they can, Mr. Roberts noted.
As well as the volume bonus, Next Level dealers get exclusive listings on the dealer portion of the Nexen website, he said.
To differentiate Next Level from other dealer programs and build excitement for the program, Nexen offers a quarterly sweepstakes for participating dealers. Prizes at the lowest level are $250 gift cards or two-day trips to Las Vegas or Los Angeles, Mr. Roberts said.
The big prizes are cash winnings of $75,000 to $1 million.
“Every unit sold is an entry in the sweepstakes,” Mr. Roberts said, adding the company caps all entries at 1,500 per dealership, to give smaller dealerships an equal chance at winning.
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