Michelin’s in motion

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Emphasizing ag

Consumer Tire believes in community service as a means to market to new customers. Four years ago, it created a nonprofit to raise money and help needy drivers pay for tires and vehicle repairs. From left, owners Bruce Kantz, DD Coley and Dave Kantz.

“All of this stuff works together. That’s what makes it effective.

“We advertise a lot and it’s helped us continue to grow our business and solidify it. As we go up with our advertising budget, our sales fall right in line.”

In 2020, Ceniglis spent $148,000 on marketing his two stores and depending on the month, he expects to increase that spend by up to 12% in 2021.

SEEING RESULTS

All of those digital tools are delivering new customers to Tom’s Tire Pros. The proof is in the tally of new customer invoices. Yearto-date, 41.3% of invoices at the dealership’s Abilene store are from new customers. In San Angelo, the figure is 34.1%

“We really feel like we’ve got it dialed in right now,” says Ceniglis. “I’ve never felt as confident with my marketing dollars being spent. We’re very confident. The numbers are proving it.”

And he believes the focus on digital marketing gave his business a leg up during the pandemic. While other dealers — and businesses of every kind — were trying to pivot and find their way online and on social media last year, Tom’s Tire Pros already had a foundation in place.

“We were kind of lucky. If you’re going to have a digital marketing program, it takes time for it to get in place and be effective. It does not happen overnight.” He encourages other dealers to “stay the course.

“We had a little soft spot when we got started, but it’s such a drastic change. You’ve got to be willing to be committed to it … for two years.”

But Ceniglis doesn’t downplay the power of one customer recommending his store to a friend or neighbor.

“We feel like the most effective means is referral and word of mouth,” he says. “It’s taking good care of our existing clientele, genuinely caring about and taking care of their needs and delivering the exceptional buying experience for them.

“If you’re not taking care of your clientele, you’re not doing it right.”

REWARDING CUSTOMERS

Consumer Tire Inc. relies on a mix of digital tools, with a heavy dose of an old standard — community service — to attract customers to its stores in Mentor and Chardon, Ohio.

DD Coley and her brothers, Dave Kantz and Bruce Kantz, own and operate the two-store business their father started.

On the digital side, Coley says the dealership offers a customer rewards program using BayIQ software. The program is featured prominently on the Consumer Tire website and so are the coupons and specials available to members.

Customers can sign up online and use the initial $5 off coupon on their first visit. With every visit, they accumulate points for future purchases.

“They’re being rewarded for their loyalty,” says Coley, Consumer Tire’s president.

She recently saw those points pay off in a big way for a customer.

A woman came in for a seasonal tire changeover at the end of winter and was surprised to learn she needed to replace her all-season tires that had been in storage. She wasn’t prepared for that purchase that day, says Coley, but the woman, a mother of eight, asked if she had any rewards points in the bank.

“She had $157 in points accumulated. She was happy as a clam when she left.”

The same software allows Consumer Tire to reach out to customers by sending monthly emails that usually include coupons and specials. In 2020, the tire dealership used those emails “ to share what we were doing for safety and sanitizing.”

The software also helps the advisor at the front counter be alert for new customers. And when writing up a ticket for a first-time customer, the customer’s name is highlighted in blue.

“Blue is new” and Coley says it’s a signal to every employee, including the technician in the bay, that they’re working with a first-time customer.

GRASSROOTS EFFORTS

In Coley’s mind, digital tools are nice, but do-it-yourself customer programs are worth a try, too.

Bill Pollotta took over as manager of the nine-bay Consumer Tire store in Mentor last July and he’s been putting his feet to the pavement to find more customers.

He’s calling it “Reach Out to the Neighborhood” and he’s visiting neighboring businesses and offering their employees discounts on automotive services, going as far to shuttle their cars back and forth for them.

Coley says Pollotta’s efforts have inspired the company to reach out to its fleet customers. Consumer Tire is offering discounts to fleet employees who have work done on their personal vehicles.

Coley is also a big believer that hometown philanthropy goes a long way in marketing a local business and attracting new customers.

She’s an active member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles and supports the local chambers of commerce in her communities. Consumer Tire supports as many local projects as possible each year.

“The community service — you can’t put a dollar amount on it,” she says. “It’s your time and commitment.

“We don’t have a dollar amount for donations. We do things we think are beneficial for our communities.” Among their favorite causes are projects that support veterans and police officers. ■

GARCIN DISCUSSES LONG-TERM PLANS, THE STATE OF THE MARKET AND WHY DEALERS WILL REMAIN ‘AT THE CENTER’ OF MICHELIN’S STRATEGY

By Mike Manges

In April, the Michelin Group revealed its Michelin in Motion strategy, which calls for 20% to 30% of the company’s total sales to come from “non-tire businesses” by the year 2030.

Michelin also announced that it will

“expand, invest and innovate” in five areas, including services and solutions; flexible composites, such as conveyors, belts, coated fabrics and seals; medical devices; 3D printing; and “hydrogen mobility.”

Where do independent tire dealers fit into the equation? In this MTD interview,

Alexis Garcin, chairman and president of

Michelin North America Inc., explains the role dealers will play.

He also discusses the state of the North

American tire market and why vehicle electrification is “one of the greatest opportunities we have together.” sales to come from “non-tire businesses” within the next 10 years. It also outlines several areas where Michelin plans to invest and expand, including the services and solutions sector. Can you tell us more about the Michelin in Motion strategy, how it will come to life in North America and the role that independent tire dealers will play in delivering that vision? Garcin: I joined the company almost 19 years ago and this is by far the most defining moment I’ve experienced in the group. We (recently) announced the acceleration of our strategy, which we call the Michelin in Motion strategy.

We’re in motion for our customers, we’re in motion for our people and we’re also in motion for the environment around us. And we intend to execute that strategy while focusing on three inseparable criteria: people, profit and planet.

There are three business segments (where) we want to accelerate our growth.

“Our job as a mobility provider is to provide our dealers with solutions that will address the (needs) of the end user today and also tomorrow,” Alexis Garcin, chairman and president of Michelin North America Inc., recently told MTD. Garcin says dealers are “at the center” of Michelin’s strategy.

The first one is our tire business. We believe the automotive market is on the cusp of its largest revolution ever and we see a lot of opportunities to bring new solutions.

The second business field is around tires. This is where we will accelerate our breakthroughs around services and solutions — leveraging our data capabilities that we have on truck tires and passenger car tires.

We want to have all of our passenger tires equipped with RFID by 2023 and then leveraging these capabilities with the great service network we have. This is where we are going to accelerate to deliver new service mobility offerings.

The third pocket of growth is what we call ‘beyond tires.’ Here we have different business segments. We have the medical sector. We have 3D printing. That is also a technology we have been developing in-house, so that we can, for example, use it to design new (tread) sculptures that are self-regenerating, so the more they get worn, the more open the sipes will be — so that grip can be maintained all (during) the tire life. That’s an exciting feature that we are able provide in our tires and it’s born thanks to our homemade technology in 3D printing — and closing that growth ‘beyond tires’ with probably one of the most important ones, which is in high-tech materials.

And (you may say), ‘OK, Alexis, this is far from the tire business,’ but it is not. Yes, it will open growth to new business territories, like aerospace, for example, but it’s also a way for us to have access to new materials that will be much more renewable and much more recyclable and that we will use to bring to the market by 2050 a 100%, fully renewable, recyclable tire.

At the end, everything is connected to mobility and to motion ... but we have to do that with the protection of the environment.

It’s not ‘either or’ — it’s ‘and.’ We have to develop our people, our profit and the planet at the same time.

This is why it’s very exciting and at the core of our strategy.