COLUMN: A Big Easy way to help your business

Tire Business file photo
Dave Zielasko, editorial director and VP/publisher of Tire Business

AKRON — The Rubber Manufacturers Association has just released its latest forecast for U.S. tire shipments and surprise, surprise, it's predicting minimal growth again in 2017.

So the only way for tire dealers, distributors and manufacturers to grow tire sales and boost profits during the coming year will be to take market share from someone else. Either that or find new sources of revenue and ways to operate more efficiently.

In such a business climate, tire dealers will need to innovate to improve their dealerships' financial results. That's not easy to do when scrambling to serve customers during the busy work week.

But there is a way to get the creative juices flowing, and that's by stepping away from the daily grind to learn, to think and to network with other tire dealers.

This year's educational program, developed by Tire Business, at the North American Tire & Retread Expo (NATRE), April 19-21 in New Orleans, provides that opportunity.

• This column appeared in the March 13 print issue of Tire Business.

For retail tire dealers, the educational track offers seminars on how to improve revenue and profits via parts sales, through better communication with women customers and by knowing the types of equipment that will be needed for tire shops of the future.

Additional sessions will cover tire selling in today's online culture and how to shape up a dealership's financial performance for peak profits and for when it's time to sell.

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Still others will address making money and keeping the peace in the service bays and finding ways to improve the bottom line by recognizing and measuring marketing ROI and developing a measurable game plan.

For the commercial track, seminars will cover telematics, how to profit from industrial tires, how a tire management program can reduce tire and fuel consumption and how to reduce financial credit risk. Speakers from a large commercial dealership and a tire maker entering the truck- and bus-tire business also will share their views of the market.

Retreaders will hear from experts in a retread panel and will learn in another seminar how to manage envelopes used in the retreading process.

Finally retail and commercial dealers and distributors will hear how to make their operations safer and comply with OSHA regulations during a Safety Panel featuring presentations from several tire dealers.

Joseph Saoud, president of the North American truck, bus and retread business for Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations, will deliver the keynote address.

In addition to the educational program, attendees will have a chance to visit vendors on the expo floor and network throughout event, includes at a networking party.

With a flat market and intense competition, tire dealers and retreaders need to find new ways to boost sales. Stepping away from the business to attend the NATRE show in New Orleans just may be the answer.

Mr. Zielasko is editorial director and VP/publisher of Tire Business.

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