Tire Pros, a subsidiary brand of American Tire Distributors (ATD), has unveiled a new strategy to support its nationwide network of franchisees and position the brand to thrive in the evolving tire industry.

Tire dealers and Franchise owners joined Tire Pros and ATD leadership at the annual 2019 National Business Conference in Orlando, Florida to review new initiatives designed to increase store traffic, improve the efficiency of their operations and maximize business profitability.

“Consumers will drive our future,” said Ryan Marsh, Chief Growth & Innovation Officer at ATD. “The choices we make today will ensure that Tire Pros and our franchisees are ideally positioned for the ways that consumers shop, including how they select their tire and automotive service retailer. We believe that there is so much at stake, but importantly, we believe that we can’t do this without one another. We are choosing to invest and to win together.”

Stuart Schuette, ATD’s President and CEO, provided all franchisees an overview of a number of initiatives the distributor will launch in 2019 to leverage technology and data in order to support its customers, especially its loyal Tire Pros franchisees.

Keynote speaker Brian Billick, former Super Bowl winning head coach of the Baltimore Ravens, shared the important message of working as a team. “There are three things that may up any team or organization: people, structure, and chemistry,” said Billick. “You have a winning combination in place when you combine the best players – all of you franchisees in the audience – with the winning game plan that Tire Pros is outlining today.”

Throughout the remainder of the Conference General Session, members of the ATD and Tire Pros leadership team, along with dealers leading the Tire Pros Mission-Based Councils, unveiled new tools and technologies to drive store traffic, enhance store operations and improve franchisee profitability. Highlights in each category included:

Driving Traffic Nationally and Locally

· Continue Successful “Hassle-Free. Guaranteed” National Advertising Program: In 2018, Tire Pros launched it’s first-ever national advertising campaign supported entirely by digital and online paid media. The campaign delivered over 50 million targeted impressions, TirePros.com visits were up over 6x year over year, and “Find a Dealer” page views were up over 7x year over year. In 2019, the campaign will continue to be an important part of the national and local marketing strategy with an emphasis on targeted, paid media strategies designed to surpass last year’s results and drive even more traffic to its franchisees.

· Integrated Consumer Tools: Tire Pros is making it easier for franchisees to connect with their consumers. The Tire Pros marketing team and Mission Based Council described a platform that will allow franchisees to easily manage and engage with online reviews, communicate with consumers through text messages and get valuable insights about their consumers’ experiences through an integrated NPS module.

· Relaunch TirePros.com with full e-commerce capabilities: Tire Pros also announced an all-new TirePros.com website with full e-commerce capabilities that will be launching in Q3. The new dealer pages will be significantly enhanced beyond those on the existing website, as each location will have the ability to personalize their location’s site to be authentic to their community and region. The Tire Pros team also announced plans to enable appointment-setting functionality for consumers who purchase on the site, in order to create a simple hassle free buying experience.

Enhancing Franchisee Operations

· Introduction of world-class learning and development platform: Tire Pros University will be revamped in 2019, to help franchisees grow their employees’ knowledge. A new learning and development tool, developed and delivered in partnership with the Training Mission-Based Council, will be available to all franchisees at no cost, making it easier for them to onboard new employees and retain quality employees. Through an industry-leading micro-learning tool, franchisees and their employees will be more competitive in an industry where the labor market has become even more challenging.

Maximizing Franchisee Profitability

· Leverage profit maximizing tools: Helping customers thrive and drive into the future is core to the Tire Pros mission. During 2019, Tire Pros Retail Account Managers will continue to collaborate with franchisees to analyze the key metrics in their business and identify areas of focus to enhance profitability. Branded as the Pros Partnership Analysis, each participating franchisee receives these valuable business metrics multiple times per year.

· Strengthened vendor partnerships: Tire Pros leadership announced a number of new products and a robust, exclusive promotion plan from long-time partner Continental Tire. In addition, Tire Pros announced a new exclusive program for all franchisees, the Tire Pros Edge Program driven by Cooper Tires. Franchisees will have the opportunity to earn multiple program and promotional benefits on their Cooper brand and select Hercules brand purchases with this new, valuable program.

Celebrating Tire Pros Dealers’ Accomplishments

Every year, Tire Pros and key partners of the program celebrate dealers that achieved great results. A few of the key awards presented during the Conference Awards Breakfast included:

· Big Discount Tire Pros earned the Hercules Tires Strongman of the Year Award

· Carson City Tire Pros earned the Continental Tires Rookie of the Year Award

· Van’s Tire Pros earned the Synchrony Rookie of the Year Award

“We work together day in and day out to make the Tire Pros organization better. For a franchise program to work well, it must be a partnership with a common set of objectives,” said Steven Moss, chairman of the Tire Pros National Dealer Council and owner of Wilson Tires Pros & Automotive. “One of the resounding themes I've heard at this Conference is [that] we're all family. When we work together, we can win together.”

Tagged: tire dealer strategy

Tire Pros unveil new strategy to support its network of tire dealers