Brave new world

Rich in history, Graham Tire succeeds most at not becoming a part of it. Let’s walk that statement back a bit. Started nearly 60 years ago, this particular Goodyear franchise has spread its stores throughout Iowa and along the Minnesota border until it now has 11 locations, even a retread factory. Naturally they’re tops in the service industry, having built an outstanding reputation with both their customers and the franchiser.

But they are more concerned with the future than the past, hence their hiring of Jen McCann as marketing coordinator, a new title slowly taking hold in the industry. Utilized by a growing number of shops big and small, this position, sometimes billed as marketing director, has long existed with larger companies selling goods and services. But with the advent of the internet, specialized personnel are now needed to sort out a shop’s online presence.

“Unless you have a lot of time to devote [to the internet], I think it’s very vital,” McCann comments. “I certainly keep myself busy, so I don’t know what they did before me.”

McCann is the first person to have this job at Graham, hired right out of college where she was majoring in business marketing. Her responsibilities include maintaining Graham Tire’s website, which is more complicated than it sounds. The site itself was designed “to deliver an easy customer journey for the visitor; anyone that visits our site should be able to find what they are looking for in a matter of minutes,” says McCann. “This includes an easy to use navigation bar, a ‘smart’ search option, and all of our deals and promotions prominently displayed on the homepage.”

But you can’t just set up a website and let it go at that. While the site itself may be easy to use, how easy is it to find? “Every couple of years Google comes up with an algorithm that says in order to surface organically in a search, meaning at the top of the list when somebody searches something like ‘service in Worthington ,’” McCann patiently explains, “ your website has to have new content, it has to be updated at pretty regular intervals. Having a mobile site helps, so basically we try and add new coupons, new banners, rotate our tires, highlight our service as often as we can so we can be on top of Google’s searches.”

Rather than a catch-as -catch-can effort from random staff members, McCann’s time is devoted solely to making the website and all of Graham Tire’s marketing efforts work together and drive business. “With that time I can research what we need to be doing, why something is not working rather than try and throw something at it because I’d found a couple of minutes during the day,” she reports. “(Advertising) is very expensive, so it needs to be a coordinated effort.”

For McCann utilizes a variety of marketing modes; social media like Facebook and Twitter, direct mail, email marketing, billboards, local radio and newspaper, and local events within each store’s community. Because Graham Tire has plenty to advertise.

Founded in 1951 by Bill Graham, in 1965 his son Bob began developing the eastern half of the company (the western half run by his brother Tom in Nebraska and South Dakota), which is now run by General Manager Kelly Monthei (pronounced ‘monty’). Under their collective auspices the company has grown to 10 retail stores--seven in Iowa, three in Minnesota, with headquarters at their Worthington, MN branch-- as well as one commercial store and the aforementioned retread plant.

And how does one get a retread plant? Short answer: volume. And that volume derives from quality work. The lube techs alone are required to fill out a 37 point inspection sheet on each vehicle.

“Each of our locations has the ability to reprogram and reflash on-board computer systems,” McCann reports. “We incorporate the use of scan tools from Snap-on, Ease and OTC, (and) have made large investments in not only equipment but countless hours of training.”

At each of the stores employees utilizes online training available through ASE and Goodyear; for the latter this not only includes technicians but sales and management. “All of our mechanics are ASE certified at least to some degree, while probably over half are ASE Master certified,” cites McCann. “All of our parts stores have their own training websites, and we try to utilize that into the program, making sure everybody is current.”

Over the past five years technicians have also attended numerous training classes put on by Automotive Training Group, Inc., a company specializing in advanced technical information and training. “We attend lots of training shows,” McCann affirms. “We just sent something like eight people down to Vision Hi-Tech Training & Expo in Kansas City, which is a big deal for the automotive industry.”

Each store holds monthly meetings to track problems and chart progress; a district service manager visits each store to ensure quality is maintained and lines of communication are kept open. Factor in location, logistics and loyalty (Graham has been a Goodyear retailer for more than 50 years), and you get rewarded with a warehouse distribution network and a factory, which recaps tires for semi-tractors and agricultural equipment.

A lot of these recaps are distributed throughout Goodyear’s regional network, while some supply Graham Tire’s own commercial tire center, located in Des Moines, Iowa. Besides offering and installing these tires, they also service fleet accounts. “We do alignments, small engine work,” says McCann, “it’s specifically geared toward commercial applications like semis.”

Recently McCann had posted on the website that the company had proudly sponsored a 150-mile K&N Pro Series race at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, as well as purchased a cup car with Graham Tire livery from Hendricks Motorsports for display purposes. Who says marketing has to be all work and no play?

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