Thank you,
For me, it was going good, even though I had Goodyear sign on my building, my tires sales only counted for 30% of my business. When I acquired this shop in the year 2000, I was only affiliated with NAPA as an Napa AutoCare Center - I wanted my customers to have an umbrella coverage for nationwide warranty but felt too many consumers did not perceive Napa as an auto care center, they thought NAPA and associated it to a parts store.
In 2004, I was looking into other options and I chose Tires Plus. Just when I went through their training and getting ready to convert my building to become a Tires Plus franchisee, everything came to a stop and things dragged out for months, come to find out Tires Plus corporate stopped their franchisee program and they became all corporate owned stores. Then I selected my 2nd option, to become a G3X dealer.
Why I selected Tires Plus first, well within my demographic area, I felt Tires Plus would give me a better selection of tires in respect to price range, a broader spectrum from economy to premium to performance. The G3X program has their fair share of economy line tires but I think in a customers view point, coming to a Goodyear dealer would cost them more than going to a Tires Plus or Tire kingdom.
Again, demographics plays a big role, and Goodyear has the largest OE fitment tires on vehicle's today - but how many consumers stick to those OE tires??? With all these leased vehicles, they just want the most affordable tire's they can get away with and unfortunately I feel very limited when I'm quoting a tire from the Goodyear family. The G3X program changes annually, making it harder and harder to meet quota, especially if you want to be part of their Tire & Service Network, of which I believe is 2,500 units annually.
As for now, I'm currently looking into different options, need to start making changes as we all see the tide has changed in respect to how consumers are buying and spending. you still have a select few customers that are truly loyal but for me, that number is dwindling away. Some have passed away, others have moved, etc... and this new breed of clients have no loyalty, they see something for as little as $5 less somewhere else, they go there.
Just ranting.....
George
