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Driving Improvement

Tire Review’s Tire Industry Benchmarking Study – a comprehensive, objective look into the inner workings of a modern tire business – provided quantitative and actionable data for tire dealerships to drive improvement. Driving Improvement is a monthly analysis of those practices that separate Platinum Performer tire dealerships from everyone else. Click a link below to download.

Driving-Improvement
Tire Safety Starts with Tire Selection

The Tire Industry Association’s latest consumer education video, “Tire Safety Starts with…Tire Selection,” explains tire sizing and the importance of following the placard, as well as the basic differences between all-season, summer, winter and all-terrain tires, said the association. “The best practice for selecting replacement tires is to follow the information on the placard, so

Sullivan Tire Offers Drivers Winter Driving Tips

New England-based Sullivan Tire has issued a list of winter driving tips for its customers to follow this winter driving season. A team of “Sullivan Tire experts,” according to the tire business, developed the tips, which are posted below. Get a Winter Check Up Check your tires, brakes, lights, windshield wipers, battery and antifreeze. Consider

Meet the 2014 Tire Review Platinum Performers

Not only did our Benchmarking Study set standards of performance against dozens of real-world business measures, the results also allowed us to grade the actual results of participating dealers against the group. The end result is 10 tire dealers – some are pure retail, some with a mix of vibrant wholesale and/or commercial elements –

Platinum-Performers
Platinum Performers: Conclusion and Tire Brands Carried

This is just a snapshot of the mass data collected in our first Tire Industry Benchmarking Study, and we expect going forward as more and more dealers participate, the level of information and analysis will only improve. Download the Tire Review Platinum Performer Awards feature here. Establishing clear-cut benchmarks that all dealers can use as

Platinum-Performers
Personnel: Make Up of Platinum Performers

As we noted, Platinum Performers posted higher retail tire sales ($800,000 vs. $614.000) and higher service sales ($1 million vs. $570,000) for 2013. This is likely driven by a greater emphasis on practices and programs that make Platinum Performers better operationally and more attractive tire dealers with which to do business. Above all, Platinum Performers

Employee-Benefits-Package
Marketing: Make Up of Platinum Performers

As we just saw, Platinum Performers, on a median basis, devote 5% of their revenue on advertising and marketing in 2013, and they spent that money primarily on traditional forms of advertising: TV, radio, newspaper and direct mail. Reaching customers digitally is key as well – despite the majority of budgeting going towards traditional forms

Operations: Make Up of Platinum Performers

As a percentage of all customer visits, Platinum Performers are 200% more likely to schedule appointments (50% vs. 25%), which allows their businesses to optimize schedules and workflow, forecast trends and quote more jobs. In quantifiable terms, scheduling more appointments equates to a greater likelihood of increased cars per bay per month, as Platinum Performers

Sales: Make Up of Platinum Performers

Compared to other dealers, service sales make up the majority of a Platinum Performer’s overall sales compared to tires. Platinum Performers reported a median tire/service sales mix of 40/60; other dealers reported a 57/43 mix. Simply put, Platinum Performers do more service jobs (168 median total more service jobs), make more on service and justify

Tire-Showroom-Sales-Display-POP
Building/Equipment: Make Up of Platinum Performers

When it comes to the physical location, Platinum Performers are more likely to dedicate more space to service bays than any other portion of their physical building. The additional square footage equates to, on a median basis, two more service bays than other dealers. Having more service bays does not equal more equipment though; Platinum

Introducing the Tire Review Platinum Performers Awards

Opinions are subjective. So is your interpretation of something you saw or heard. The objective represents cold hard facts, like numbers in an account ledger or the size of a building or the service revenues generated for a year. While we often get to visit with tire dealers and see their facilities at work, rarely

Platinum-Performers
Benchmarking 2014

Yardstick. Target. Scale. Level. Standard. These are all nice synonyms for the word “benchmark.” “Benchmark” itself is as simple word as the others, unadorned and uncomplicated. It is only when the word is applied does “benchmark” gain real meaning. In business terms, “benchmarking” is the act of determining a standard, a data-drive means of “measuring