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How to sell more alignments Big O tire dealers channel expert advice to reach their service sales goals By Ann Neal
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ow can dealers get more cars on the alignment rack? Matthew Greco and Jose Perez answered that question in a seminar at Big O Tires LLC’s annual dealer meeting last April. Greco is an owner of Golden West Tire Centers LLC, which operates 24 Big O Tires stores in California and Colorado. Jose Perez is the company’s director of operations. (The seminar also included a presentation by Kent Coleman, who owns five Big O Tires stores in the Salt Lake City, Utah, area, on equipment-related issues.) Greco and Perez shared ideas franchise owners could use to reach Big O Tires’ alignment service sales goals. The company wants every Big O Tires store to reach an alignment-to-car ratio of 25% in 2016. At 32% alignment to cars in 2015, Greco’s Chino, Calif., store was performing well above the company’s benchmark. But could it sell even more alignments? Greco offered his Chino store, which he had purchased in the summer of 2015, to Big O Tires’ Best Practices committee to find out. “Our goal is to really focus on developing a profitable tire department,” said Greco. “With tire margins compressing every year, offering our Tire Protection Package and alignments are two ways to develop a profitable tire department.” The Tire Protection Package, or TPP for short, is Big O Tires’ warranty program. The Chino store is managed by Sarf Bawa. “We didn’t want to take someone who was crawling and have him sprint. We wanted to take someone who was already running at a pretty good pace and see how fast they could go,” said Greco. “We picked Sarf and his team. In 2015 they were running at 32%. In a three-month test of best practices, he ratcheted that up to 41%. That increase is impressive, but what I think is
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Jose Perez (left) and Matthew Greco explained how they increased alignment sales at their Golden West Tire Centers stores at a seminar for Big O tire dealers.
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MTD October 2016
