Marketing Wheels
Over the last several months, you’ve learned a great deal about new products. That’s good, but if you don’t have the right product or, worse, too much of the wrong product, you can’t close a deal. Now, it’s time to develop your business and selling skills. In this first of a two-part segment, we’ll discuss
Get Hitched!: Selling Specialized Trailer and RV Tires Easy Money for Dealers
Trailers and RVs are hot right now, and selling specialized tires for them can mean easy money for dealers Rick Coffey is feeling pretty good these days. As product manager for the high-speed division of Carlisle Tire and Wheel Co., which offers trailer tires, Coffey has watched his sales skyrocket. All high-speed tire plants are
Tires and Towing: Before Your Customers Hitch Up, Check Weights, Load Capacities
Are your customers trailering boats, cars, horses or campers this season? They are? Well, are they checking the lug nuts on their trailers on a regular basis? Do they know how much air pressure their towing vehicle tires need? The most likely answer: an emphatic “No.” You are the one these people should be talking
Tuning In: How a Pennsylvania Dealer Tapped into a Growing Market
You wouldn’t expect the northeast quadrant of Pennsylvania to be a high performance hotbed. Four-wheel drive pickups and SUVs would be more like it. But from Scranton and Wilkes-Barre south to Allentown and Harrisburg, the high performance market did grow, aided by the emerging tuner segment and the proliferation of high-end sports cars. Well-heeled customers
More Than Shocks: Tap Into High Performance Suspensions
More Than Shocks If you think high performance suspension components are only for the performance shop in town, think again. You can tap into this market as well ®“ if you know which products to offer. And, you probably already have all of the equipment and skill you need to get started right now. We’re
The Big Question
It happens a lot to tire people, sales people and engineers alike. It can happen at the end of a training class, in the middle of a presentation to a maintenance group, even in discussions with engineers of other truck components. And it especially happens face-to-face with a potential customer when trying to sell a
Easy Performance Upsells
be diluted with distilled water and applied in a very specific manner. The process takes longer than most but can offer solid protection against dulling for up to two years. The product can be applied to aluminum, brass or stainless steel. You can become a dealer for ZoopSeal and earn a 25% to 30% gross
Ready for TPMS?: Final Rulemaking Will Happen Soon, and it Pays to Be Ready
Before the end of the decade, every vehicle you work on will be equipped with a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). Right now, every OEM in Detroit is putting a TPMS on at least one car line, and import models will also be suitably equipped. As much as the tire industry really didn’t like NHTSA’s
It’s Good to be Green: Lawn and Garden Tires
Lawn and garden tires offer a good diversification strategy for tire dealers ®“ who learn about the market first What could be better than the smell of freshly cut grass in the springtime? How about the sound of your cash register racking up another sale? Many say lawn and garden specialty tires offer tire dealers
Telling Men From Boys
More than a few times, I’ve heard people explain that the basic difference between car tires and truck tires is their obvious relative size: truck tires are bigger! This fact is certainly true in the majority of cases, but even that explanation is becoming a bit marginal. While overall outside diameters remain quite different (at
Spring Fever
Spring will be here before you know it. And that means a spike in your custom wheel and tire sales. Tax refunds, big auto events and military homecomings will soon be coming, and people will be ready to spend. Here are some tips on how to leverage spring fever and make the most of new
OTR Market Climbs
As the OTR market starts to rebound, dealers need to focus on the value they bring to these demanding customers. "A lot of our dealers think we’re in the tire business. We’re not," says Manny Cicero, vice president, North American OTR sales for Bridgestone/Firestone North American Tire (BFNAT). That’s an interesting sentiment for someone who