Conti tapping sales staff influence in the US

In an article published July 7, Bloomberg Business reports that Continental Tire the Americas spends around 15 per cent of its annual marketing budget influencing a group that holds significant clout with US consumers – tyre salespeople. Every year Conti invests around US$1 million inviting some 950 tyre salespeople to its proving ground in Uvalde, Texas in order to familiarise them with the company’s product and give them a good time into the bargain. And the tyre maker says these events pay off.

“We track sales before and after, and we know it pays off,” Travis Roffler, Continental’s marketing director for North America told Bloomberg. Continental believes the Uvalde events have helped it gain market share in the US over the last five years and boost average selling price by 20 per cent. The company’s leading dealers, whose salesman are invited to Uvalde, have increased unit sales by 30 per cent each year since 2007; an increase the tyre maker says has largely come through its salesperson programme in Uvalde.

“We’re a huge company that basically is lacking brand awareness in the US,” Roffler added. “We have the technology and the capability. We just need the recognition of these products and to grow this brand to the point where people on both sides of the counter will give us a shot.” Bloomberg shares that point of sale staff recommendations still matter in as many as 80 per cent of retail tyre purchases – a market that, according to researcher IBISWord, is worth $13 billion this year, a 6.6 per cent increase on 2010. And as former Continental Tire the Americas CEO Matthias Schönberg stated, “in the end, the counter person is the person who’s going to recommend the tyre for the consumer, independent of all the advertising money you spend.”

Bloomberg sates that Continental holds a 5.5 per cent share of the US tyre market, behind Bridgestone, Michelin, and Goodyear, who together sell account for 50 per cent of the US passenger car tyre replacement market.