AKRON, Ohio – On the first full week of National Car Care Month 2009, Tire Review, the leading business-to-business magazine serving the North American tire industry [and sister publication to aftermarketNews], has announced a new partnership with AskPatty.com Inc., the premier automotive advice website for women, to develop and offer an extensive educational and marketing program developed specifically for tire dealers.
The multi-dimensional program will help tire retailers and their staffs to improve their marketing and sales skills and become “Certified Female Friendly” through a high-level, market-specific training program. In addition, the AskPatty.com for Tire Dealers Program will assist dealers in reaching and building lasting relationships with women tire and vehicle service customers through a unique marketing support program.
With this new joint venture with Tire Review, AskPatty.com will expand its education and information services to tire retailers across the U.S. and Canada. The complete training and marketing package includes:
• Initial and ongoing training and certification
• Private labeled co-branded AskPatty website
• Premier listing in AskPatty.com Certified Tire Dealer search engine
• AskPatty-branded showroom kit
• Use of AskPatty logo in retailer advertising (print, Web, newsletters, e-mail campaigns)
• Joint press release to local market
The multi-step training program – both initial and ongoing – will be delivered via webinars and online interactive programs to allow tire dealers to involve as many employees as they wish and at times most convenient to dealers and their staffs. The co-branded website, Certified Tire Dealer search engine and other marketing activities will draw women customers to the dealer.
An AskPatty.com Certified Tire Dealer creates a safe and comfortable environment where women feel welcome and where a dealer makes the experience of purchasing tires and maintaining her vehicle a pleasant one. AskPatty.com trained and certified tire dealers are held to a high level of customer satisfaction for women consumers.
The new AskPatty.com for Tire Dealers program will also include enhanced consumer education on tire buying, care and maintenance, provided to AskPatty.com’s traditional female web audience by Tire Review. Conversely, AskPatty.com will provide Tire Review with exclusive content as an additional educational opportunity for tire dealers.
Research shows that women purchase more than 65 percent of all vehicles sold in the United States and Canada each year and heavily influence 85 percent of the vehicle, tire and service buying decisions. Women spend more than $80 billion on new/used vehicles, tires, maintenance and service each year. Yet shopping for and buying tires and vehicle services can be a challenge for women, who may be first-time purchasers, feel intimidated or have suffered a bad experience with a prior purchase, according to AskPatty.com CEO Jody DeVere.
“Selling to today’s women customers means more than just having a clean restroom,” DeVere said. “That was the old way of doing business. Today, women judge businesses on a different set of criteria from male consumers, with buying decisions based on confidence, comfort, convenience – and they will seek out and maintain relationships with tire retailers that consistently deliver those things. Most importantly, women are active, busy consumers who value trust, and readily share their experiences with others.
“AskPatty.com started out as an educational forum to help women through the car-buying and repair process,” DeVere continued.” “We found, though, that it was best to address the issue from both sides, and our car-dealer training program became one of the largest, most successful in the industry.
“Partnering with Tire Review was an easy decision,” said DeVere. “The magazine is obviously a leader in the tire industry, is highly focused on helping tire dealers improve their businesses and has earned the respect of readers and tire industry executives. Our combined efforts on this program will bring meaningful, full-featured education to tire dealers to help them win – and keep – customers.
“While the point of this program is to help retailers become more conscious of the unique needs of female customers,” said DeVere, “the skills learned in AskPatty.com for Tire Dealers Program will improve their marketing and sales skills for any customer, regardless of sex or age.”
“In today’s market, building and maintaining a loyal customer base takes a lot more than just delivering good tires at competitive prices,” said Jim Smith, editor of Tire Review. “In recent years, we have seen consumers become more demanding, requiring tire retailers to pay greater attention to detail and develop specific strategies to engage and maintain relationships with different types of customers. We are thrilled to be able to bring this type of program to tire dealers across the U.S. and Canada, and are confident that this will be an indispensable dealer tool.”
The program is being rolled out this month across the U.S. and Canada. As part of the joint venture, Tire Review and AskPatty.com will provide each others’ publications and online services with feature stories and information targeting dealers and women tire and service customers.
For more information on the AskPAtty.com for Tire Dealers program and pricing, contact 888-745-1928 or visit www.askpattymarketing.com/tiredealers/tiredealers-email.htm.
