MEVOTECH WINS BENNETT AWARD • LORDCO SEIZES … · 24 Social Media 101 How Twitter can enhance your marketing program 26 New Products 28 Money & Management Mergers & acquisitions:

MEVOTECH WINS BENNETT AWARD • LORDCO SEIZES NORTHERN OPPORTUNITY • CAPS EXPO

Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Agreement No. 40063170

Jobber NewsServing the Automotive Aftermarket Since 1931

M A R C H 2 0 1 7

SALES STRATEGIESHow to grow online salesEmail: The killer app

MARKET WATCH: PREMIUM STEERING,

CHASSIS COMPONENTS CONTINUE TO DOMINATE

THE MARKET

01_March_cover.indd 1 2017-02-10 1:18 PM

*

* The results shown are based on independent testing conducted by B83 Testing & Engineering, Inc. on ball joints for a 2007 Toyota Camry, 2013 Ford F-150 and 2007 Chevrolet Silverado. Testing was performed on a Multi-Axial Durability Suspension Simulator to simulate ball joint service life on a vehicle.

†IMR Research Study 2015

©2017 Federal-Mogul Motorparts Corporation. MOOG and MOOG Go The Extra Mile are trademarks owned by Federal-Mogul Corporation, or one or more of its subsidiaries, in one or more countries. All other trademarks shown are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.

Independent testing shows that MOOG ball joints outperform the competition by more than 5X. It’s proof that when it comes to durability, our competitors simply don’t measure up. And that won’t surprise professional technicians — they prefer MOOG more than all other chassis brands combined†. They know that when their reputation is on the line, MOOG always goes the extra mile.

#partsmatter

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the competitionBY MORE THAN

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Ford® F-150 Durability Testing

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Chevy® Silverado Durability Testing

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Toyota® Camry Durability Testing

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JN_Mar2017_ad pages.indd 2 2017-02-10 3:13 PM

JOBBER NEWS / MARCH 2017 |www.autoserviceworld.com 3

COVER STORY

SALES STRATEGIES

How to grow online salesAutomotive parts have become one of the fastest growing e-commerce sectors. According to several comprehensive studies, the average online automotive store saw revenue from e-commerce grow as much as 80% in the last two years.

12 MARKET TRACKER |

Will demand for oil continue to grow?

Despite the potential for dramatic changes in the transport sector in coming years, the slow rate of global passenger vehicle fleet turnover likely means the impact on oil demand and key sources of supply such as Canadian oil sands will be gradual.

20 SALES STRATEGIES |

Email: the killer app

While many businesses are guilty of chasing the latest digital marketing craze, good old email marketing is still the killer app to beat when it comes to return on investment for businesses.

contents | march 2017 » vol. 85 no. 02

regular features

departments

7 OVER THE COUNTER CAPS Expo to feature Denise Colby; Ford shifts into the aftermarket; Mevotech wins Bennett award; Lordco seizes northern opportunity; Amazon expands into auto parts.

14

MARKET WATCH

Premium steering, chassis components continue to dominate the marketChassis and steering parts sales continue to show strong growth, offering an opportunity for jobbers to increase profits and sales by focusing on premium aftermarket replacements.

| Twitter: @JobberNews | www.facebook.com/pages/AutoServiceWorldcom/244916465611841

10

12

Jobber NewsServing the Automotive Aftermarket Since 1931

Cover image: loveguli, iStockphoto.com

5 UpFront How sticky is your website?

24 Social Media 101 How Twitter can enhance your marketing program

26 New Products

28 Money & Management Mergers & acquisitions: Digesting what you eat

29 Advertisers Index

30 Business Management Understanding the service provider’s business

in this issue

16

30

28

24

14

26

03_March2017_Contents.indd 3 2017-02-10 1:19 PM

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JOBBER NEWS / MARCH 2017 | www.autoserviceworld.com 5

HOW STICKY IS YOUR WEBSITE?

upfront | with steve pawlett, editor » [email protected]

Association ofBusiness Publishers205 East 42nd StreetNew York, NY 10017

Jobber NewsFOUNDED 1931

ISSN 0021-7050Online 1923-3477

“We acknowledge the financial support of the Government

of Canada through the Canada Periodical Fund of the

Department of Canadian Heritage”.

Regional Office80 Valleybrook Dr., Toronto ON M3B 2S9 Phone: 416-442-5600 Fax: 416-510-5169

Corporate OfficesHead Office451 Attwell Dr., Toronto ON M9W 5C4 Phone: 416-614-2200 Fax: 416-614-8861

Jobber News is published by Newcom Business Media Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in Canada. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form, either in part or full, including photocopying and recording, without the written consent of the copyright owner. Nor may any part of this publication be stored in a retrieval system of any nature without prior consent.

Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40063170

“Return Postage Guaranteed” Send change of address notices, undeliverable copies and subscription orders to: Circulation Dept., Jobber News, 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9

Jobber News Magazine (ISSN#0021-7050) is published monthly by Newcom Business Media Inc., 80 Valleybrook Drive, Toronto, ON M3B 2S9

From time to time we make our subscription list available to select companies and organizations whose product or service may interest you. If you do not wish your contact information to be made available, please contact us.

Editor | Steve Pawlett (416) 510-6839 E-Mail: [email protected]

Associate Editor/Web Editor | Adam Malik (416) 510-6763 E-Mail: [email protected]

Contributing Editor | Martha Uniacke Breen E-Mail: [email protected]

Contributing Writers | Andrew Brooks, Mark Borkowski, Tom Venetis

Art Director | Barbara Burrows

Managing Director, Auto Div. & National Sales Kathryn Swan (416) 510-5221 E-Mail: [email protected]

National Sales | Juan Diez (416) 510-5203 E-Mail: [email protected]

Quebec & Eastern Canada Sales Director Denis Arsenault, (514) 947-7228 E-Mail: [email protected]

Advertising Production Manager, Print/Digital Alicia Lerma (416) 442-5600 ext. 3588 E-Mail: [email protected]

Print Production Manager | Phyllis Wright (416) 510-6786

Circulation Manager | Lilianna Kantor (416) 614-5815 E-Mail: [email protected]

Jobber News is Canada’s longest-established publication serving the distribution segment of the Canadian automotive aftermarket. It is specifically directed to warehouse distributors, wholesalers, machine shops, and national accounts.

With competition increasing on several fronts and e-commerce now a mainstream sales channel, jobbers have more reason than ever

to climb aboard the e-commerce train. For those jobbers still sitting on the fence ruminating whether or not they should invest in an online sales channel, this is your last wake-up call, and for those of you that have made the leap, now is a good time to review and tune up your online offering to insure you are getting your fair share of this burgeoning market. Why?

Amazon just announced it has struck deals with the largest auto parts suppliers in the U.S. to sell their products directly through Amazon, putting them in direct competition with U.S. aftermarket auto parts retail chains like Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, and O’Reilly Auto Parts. You can be sure this will spill over into Canada sooner rather than later.

In addition, Ford announced the launch of Omnicraft, a brand to be sold through Ford dealers and independent repair shops to fit all types of vehicles, including competitor cars.

With these two players entering the automotive aftermarket in a big way, it’s paramount that you ensure you are putting your best foot forward on all sales fronts, especially the e-commerce channel.

E-commerce will truly become the future of retail, as nearly all of the growth in the retail sector now takes place in the digital space.

E-commerce has been on the rise in the last several years, and automotive parts have become one of the fastest growing e-commerce sectors. Several studies show that in the last two years, the average online automotive store saw e-commerce revenue grow as much as 80%.

An easy way to ensure success with e-commerce is to utilize all the data that is available to you. This data will tell you if you are doing all the right things to create a sticky website. A sticky website is one that attracts customers, builds repeat customer business, and converts customers who visited but didn’t make a purchase.

Solid metrics such as Google Analytics will give you the insight to overcome this hurdle of unpredictability. Whether you’re new to e-commerce or you’ve been at it for a while, take the time to familiarize yourself with some of the key marketing metrics.

The first one you want to understand is total visits. Your main website should be a primary target for your customers and potential customers, but you can also measure total visits to any location relevant to your strategy, such as a landing page for a pay-per-click campaign. Measuring your total number of visits will give you an overall idea of how well your campaign is driving traffic.

There is also a metric found in Google Analytics for the total number of new sessions. It tells you how many of your site visitors are new and how many are recurring. It’s a good metric to understand, because it tells you whether your site is sticky enough to encourage repeat customers as well as how effective your outreach efforts are.

Another metric to monitor is bounce rate. The bounce rate shows you what percentage of visitors leave your website before exploring it further. Generally, you want the bounce rate to be as low as possible, because the more time someone spends on your site, the more likely they are to convert and perform meaningful action. For more help developing a new online strategy, turn to our cover story on page 16.

With online sales growing and competition heating up, now is the perfect time to tune up your website and watch your sales grow. nJN

Several studies show that in the

last two years, the average

online automo-tive store saw

e-commerce revenue grow

as much as

80%.

Chairman and Founder | Jim Glionna

President | Joe Glionna

Vice President, Operations | Melissa Summerfield

Controller | Anthony Evangelista

Director of Circulation | Pat Glionna

05_March_Upfront.indd 5 2017-02-10 1:20 PM

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over the counter |

FORD SHIFTS INTO THE AFTERMARKET

Ford wants a piece of the growing automotive parts industry.

The Detroit-based automaker has announced the launch of Omnicraft, a brand to be sold through Ford dealers and independent repair shops to fit all types of vehicles. That includes competitors’ cars.

That means customers can take their non-Ford brand vehicle to a Ford dealership for service.

Frank Toney, president of the global Ford customer service division, told Reuters that the global business for auto parts and service will expand by 70% in the next six years. Reuters reported the parts industry is estimated at more than $500 billion.

Ford currently has the Motorcraft brand for Ford vehicles.

“Omnicraft is a significant benefit to any vehicle owner who needs parts or needs to have their vehicle serviced,” Toney said in a news release from Ford. “Now, owners of non-Ford vehicles have access to quality parts at a competitive price, backed by Ford and installed by Ford’s world-class certified technicians.”

In preparing for the launch, Ford said it “focused on developing the most commonly requested parts at a competitive price.” It listed items like oil filters, brake pads, and rotors as initial offerings.

“Today, 1,500 parts numbers are available, with plans to eventually reach approximately 30 parts categories and 10,000 parts,” Toney said. “We targeted the most requested parts first to provide our dealers with a solid foundation of inventory.”

Ford said it will first sell Omnicraft parts at Ford and Lincoln dealerships before making them available at other authorized distributors later this year.

It is not known when Omnicraft will cross the border into Canadian dealerships. Ford of Canada did confirm that the brand will be available here, but did not offer further information. More details will be made available in the future, a company representative said.

Nonetheless, the feeling on both sides of the border is that this won’t affect business in either country. The prevailing belief is that it won’t have much success.

The aftermarket “is not at all threatened,” says Diane Freeman, executive director of the Automotive Aftermarket Retailers of Ontario, after speaking with colleagues in the U.S, saying the differentiator will be customer service.

“Dealers have never been strong in customer service,” she says. “They’re waiting to see if it even stays around…they’re waiting to see how it unfolds.”

That said, Freeman and others in the industry are keeping an eye on things. “It will be interesting to see how it turns out.”

Art Wilderman, executive director of the Canadian Independent Automotive Association in Calgary, thinks that with Ford developing their own brand, shop owners will see reps knocking on their doors. “(The news) would imply then that they’re going to go out to the shops and try to market those parts, rather than their OEM parts at the moment.”

But, like others, Wilderman “can’t see it making a difference, to tell you the truth,” because of loyalty. Customers are quite comfortable with their independent shop, he says, so it will be hard for Ford to get a Chevrolet owner to come to them.

“People choose independents because they’ve had experiences that make them choose independents.”

And a big trend growing in the industry is to specialize in certain vehicle makes, he adds – one shop may choose to only service Hondas and Toyotas, while another will do Chevrolets and Chryslers.

“It’s surprising they would head down this road,” he said, noting that Ford’s recent consumer ad campaign warned customers of buying “from parts unknown.”

“Everybody’s going to be going ‘Hmm, where are you getting your GM and Toyota parts from, Ford?’” Wilderman laughs.

“It’s a shot at getting more aftermarket business, but it’s going to take quite a bit of time, quite a bit of marketing.”

France Daviault, senior director of stakeholder relations at the Automotive Industries Association of Canada, said the ripple effects of this move are unknown.

“With no details available on the Canadian rollout at this time, we don’t have enough information to ascertain what the impact will be in Canada. We, however, will be monitoring this development closely.” nJN

“

”

The aftermarket “is not at all threatened,” says Diane Freeman, executive director of the Automotive Aftermarket Retailers ofOntario.

Follow us on Twitter.

Get AutoServiceWorld.com news and more by following @JobberNews on Twitter.

07-10_March 2017_OTC.indd 7 2017-02-10 1:21 PM

8 www.autoserviceworld.com | JOBBER NEWS / MARCH 2017

over the counter |

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Mevotech was honoured as 2016 New Vendor of the Year during Bennett Auto Supply’s 60th Anniversary Celebration on January 14, where over 3,000 of Bennett’s customers celebrated their six decades in the aftermarket.

Mevotech became a part of the Bennett family in 2016 when they began selling Mevotech Supreme chassis components. During their first year with Mevotech, the staff at local Bennett stores and some central and south Florida installers at stores received in-depth training from the Mevomobile team. This product “onboarding”

MEVOTECH WINS BENNETT AWARD

proved to be effective when employees of their warehouse and 36 stores voted Mevotech as Bennett’s 2016 New Vendor of the Year.

“We are absolutely honoured to be recognized by Bennett for our commitment to their success,” said Scott Stone, executive vice-president, sales and marketing, at Mevotech, at the event. “Many congratulations to the team at Bennett for 60 amazing years in the aftermarket. We are proud to be a part of the Bennett crew and look forward to partnering with them for many years to come.” nJN

APPOINTMENTS

Roger Reeves Joins Mevotech

Roger Reeves has joined Mevotech as director of sales. He will report to Scott Stone, executive vice-president of sales and marketing at the Toronto-based company.

“In his new position, Roger will be responsible for distribution channel sales support for O’Reilly Auto Parts group,” Mevotech said in an announcement.CAPS

Expo The Canadian Auto Parts & Tires Expo will be held March 9th from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the EY Centre in Ottawa. Participants will be able to meet and greet with Danielle Colby, from the TV show “American Pickers,” and can win a car.

AMAZON EXPANDS INTO AUTO PARTS

In its latest step into the auto market, Amazon has struck deals with several of the largest auto parts suppliers in the U.S. to sell their products directly through Amazon, the New York Post reports.

This will put Amazon in direct competition with aftermarket auto parts retail chains like Autozone, Advance Auto Parts, and O’Reilly Auto Parts.

The U.S. aftermarket auto parts space has showed steady growth in recent years, with more sales shifting to online marketplaces, including Amazon.

The market generated more than $68 billion in revenue in 2015, according to Grand View Research. And The Financial Times reported last year that while U.S. auto sales grew only 1% per year over the previous decade, sales at the major aftermarket auto parts chains grew 7% per year. This is largely due to an aging vehicle fleet in the U.S., which has drummed up business for aftermarket parts sellers.

E-commerce comprises a larger share of that. E-commerce auto parts sales in the U.S. grew 16% last year to reach $7.4 billion, with Amazon and eBay holding the top two spots in terms of online auto parts sales, according to market research firm Hedges & Company.

E-commerce has been on the rise in the last several years, thanks in large part to titans in the industry such as Amazon and Alibaba. nJN

“

”

While U.S. auto sales grew only 1%

per year over the previous decade,

sales at the major aftermarket auto

parts chains grew 7% per

year.

07-10_March 2017_OTC.indd 8 2017-02-10 1:21 PM

T H E C H A N CES O F B A D W E AT H E R

A R E G O O D.

A N D T H AT ’S NOT BAD F O R B U S I N ES S .

©2017 Federal-Mogul Motorparts Corporation. All trademarks shown are owned by Federal-Mogul Corporation, or one or more of its subsidiaries, in one or more countries. All rights reserved.

ANCOwipers.com #PartsMatter

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over the counter |

LORDCO SEIZES NORTHERN OPPORTUNITY

The advice to “go west, young man” is a bit out-dated. In Lordco’s eyes, it’s time to go north.

The B.C.-based parts and accessories distributor and retailer recently announced the opening of its newest location in Smithers, B.C. Just about smack-dab in the middle of the province, it’s about a four-hour drive from Lordco’s previous most northern point in Prince George, which itself is about an eight-hour hike from Vancouver.

Lordco believes the new location in Smithers, whose population is just under 5,500, will better serve customers to the north; the company has been trying to expand its footprint that way for many years.

“We’ve been looking for expansion to the north. We were just waiting for the opportunity. It’s been on our radar for years,” says Samantha Coates, vice-president of operations for Lordco. “We don’t have a presence there at all.”

Before the new location opened, Prince George handled customers to the north. The town is about as far north in B.C. as Edmonton is in Alberta, leaving much of the province underserved. “We were shipping into that small town and other small towns in that region from our Prince George store,” Coates says, adding that demand was there to jus-tify the expansion.

“We believe that there’s good business up there and that we’d have good, loyal support,” she adds. “We feel it’s a good fit for our consumers.”

Customers should expect more expansion in the future, Coates predicts. “The north has been our focus. We have the least amount of red dots out there.”

However, she won’t put a timetable on when, explaining that the northern expansion has been in the works for many years. “We have initiative to open stores all the time (but) it has to be the right combination for us to make it worthwhile,” Coates says. “The north has been on our radar for a couple of years, and as things progress we will look at a few more locations up there.”

What’s bad news for some is good for others, the company found. Coates noted the slowdown of the job market in Alberta is allowing Lordco to make growth possible, as those who went to Alberta look to return home. “We were losing a lot of B.C. work-ers to that market for a lot of years.”

The 13,000-sq. ft. facility will have 11 product divisions, including automotive, chemical, engine parts, import, and welding. It is located at 1260-3364 Hwy. 16. It features a large parking lot to accommodate RV shoppers and tourists passing through Smithers who are in need of parts.

“We’re really happy. The store looks great. It’s beautiful,” Coates says, noting that the owners of the mall they moved into made upgrades to dress up the location. “It’s the right opportunity, right timing.” nJN

“

”

We believe that there’s good

business up there and that we’ll have good, loyal support.

We feel it’s a good fit for our

consumers.

For more over thecounter news

check out

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07-10_March 2017_OTC.indd 10 2017-02-10 1:24 PM

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Despite the potential for dramatic changes in the transport sector in

coming years, the slow rate of global passenger vehicle fleet turnover likely means the impact on oil demand and key sources of supply such as Canadian oil sands will be gradual.

The prospect for dramatic changes in transportation has led to increased uncertainty about future oil demand. But the gradual pace of global vehicle fleet turnover, and the need for significant upstream investment to maintain existing oil production volumes over the longer term, will continue to present opportunities for ongoing expansion of the Canadian oil sands, according to a new report by IHS Markit.

Entitled Where Will Transportation Drive Global Oil (and Oil Sands) Demand?, The IHS Canadian Oil Sands Dialogue report explores the key factors and uncertainties that may shape the future of automotive demand for liquid hydrocarbons – and, in turn, on global oil demand and key

sources of global crude supply, such as the Canadian oil sands.

While IHS Markit and many other prevailing long-term global energy forecasts expect oil demand to continue to grow over the next two decades, the potential for disruptive changes to transportation – a sector that accounted for half of the 96 million barrels per day (mbd) of oil consumed globally in 2016 – has added a level of uncertainty.

The report says that the potential proliferation of increasingly stringent vehicle ownership and use policies, changes in consumer behaviour, new

technologies and the pace of economic growth, as well as the impacts of new mobility models such as ride-hailing services and autonomous vehicles, are key sources of uncertainties facing global oil demand. The combination of these factors could foreseeably lead to a peak in oil demand or, alternatively, lead to it reaching new heights.

Regardless of how these factors play out, the gradual nature of transitions and the long life of the existing on-road fleet means that the impact on oil demand will likely unfold at a measured pace, the report says. Ninety-six per cent of

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market tracker | oil

“When we look at the future of the car, and the impact of key factors such as electric vehicle sales, we see the slow turnover rate of the global vehicle

fleet muting the effect of new technologies on global oil demand.”

– KEVIN BIRN, IHS ENERGY DIRECTOR

oiloiloilWILL DEMAND

FORoilCONTINUE TO GROW?

12-13_March2017_MT Oil.indd 12 2017-02-10 1:37 PM


BY STEVE PAWLETT

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new vehicle sales featured combustion engines in 2016. IHS Markit estimates the average vehicle life globally to be about 15 years, which means that the impact of new vehicle technologies is expected to take time to materially affect the vehicle fleet and overall fuel demand.

“When we look at the future of the car and the impact of key factors such as electric vehicle sales, we see the slow turnover rate of the global vehicle fleet muting the effect of new technologies on global oil demand,” says Kevin Birn, IHS Energy director and leader of the Oil Sands Dialogue. “However, the future of cars, and the sources of energy that propel them, is certainly not predetermined, and the potential exists for the future to surprise – up or down.”

The report also notes that with slower or even flat world oil demand, key sources of oil supply will remain an important part of meeting global oil demand. IHS Markit expects that the world needs to find and replace about 45 million bpd of crude oil by 2040 (more than half of what the world consumed in 2016) to meet demand growth – 37 mbd to offset production from declining fields plus 8 mbd to meet demand growth.

Canadian oil sands are expected to remain one of the key pillars of global crude oil supply growth, due in part to the fact that, unlike most other sources of supply globally, production from oil sands facilities does not decline. The absence of production declines means that each investment in new oil production results in growth, the report says.

“Looking ahead to future automotive

demand for refined prod-ucts, and in turn, demand for crude oil, it is easy to

fixate on one or two fac-tors. But this misses the larger

picture,” says Tiffany Groode, IHS Energy senior director. “More likely, the future for transportation will come from a variety of variables, from economic activity and government policy to shift-ing consumer preferences. Navigating this uncertainty and understanding how numerous variables will interact and influence one another will be pivotal.”

Further Market AnalysisIHS Markit has launched a major multi-client research initiative, Reinventing the Wheel, to further analyze the deep and potentially dramatic changes occurring in the automotive market. To be conducted over the first half of 2017, this project will provide a first-of-its-kind, system-wide analysis of transportation and the potential implications for the oil, gas, automotive, electric power, and chemical industries.

Chaired by Daniel Yergin, IHS Markit vice-chairman and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Reinventing the Wheel will focus on the world’s largest automotive markets – the United States, Europe, and China, as well as India – with projections out to the year 2040.

The study, to be completed in 2017, will consist of two parts. Part I will include the development of scenarios representing potential paths for the future of the car, energy, and chemicals. Part II will assess the impact, investment implications and strategic choices for the automotive, oil, gas, electric power, and chemical industries. nJN

CONTINUE TO GROW?

“The prospect for dramatic changes in transportation has led to increased uncertainty about future oil demand.”

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12-13_March2017_MT Oil.indd 13 2017-02-10 1:37 PM


Chassis and steering parts sales continue to show strong growth,

offering an opportunity for jobbers to increase profits and sales by focusing on premium aftermarket replacements.

“The chassis category is very strong these days,” says Mevotech executive vice-president Scott Stone. “Crumbling infrastructure, roads in need of repair, the light weight of vehicles [with] more fragile designs, and the use of different materials (plastics, synthetic compounds, aluminum), are causing more wear on suspension and steering components. This provides a huge [push] for the category.”

With chassis and steering mechanisms using lighter-weight materials, chassis or steering systems will need more frequent maintenance and replacement. Jobbers will also see a continued move to more modular component assemblies in chassis and steering systems because of the bene-fits they provide to service technicians.

“Modular replacement assemblies continue to gain popularity, a trend

largely driven by the significant time and labour savings associated with these parts,” adds Byron Osterland, Federal-Mogul Motorparts general manager, global steering and suspension. “In 2016, we introduced the first complete steering linkage assembly for Dodge Ram 2500 and 3500 models. The steering linkage assembly is very beneficial in environments where vehicles are exposed to road salt. Technicians have told us the original adjusting sleeves on these vehicles can be rusted solid, adding a great deal of time to the repair. More recently, we launched complete knuckle assemblies for several leading applications. Complete knuckle assemblies reduce labour time, eliminate

the need for special tools, and allow the shop to source everything they need for the repair with a single part number. That’s a huge benefit to a business that might otherwise have a vehicle sitting on a lift for an extra hour or two. We’ve seen tremendous demand for these parts and are preparing to expand our coverage with additional designs.”

Osterland adds that OEMs are also shifting more towards multi-link suspensions, which means a greater reliance in lighter-weight parts with advanced metallurgies, as well as increased rubber-to-metal parts.

“This trend underscores the importance of choosing premium replacement parts from a trusted manufacturer and brand,” Osterland explains. “A part that merely mimics the OE design but doesn’t offer the same or better metallurgical properties can lead to serious safety concerns. We’re already seeing this in recent independent testing, comparing ball joints from multiple suppliers in North America on a multi-axial durability suspension simulator to simulate ball joint service life on a vehicle. It’s important to note that when those other parts failed, they failed catastrophically – the studs fractured. Catastrophic failures can lead to wheel separation and the obvious safety implications associated with that.”

“It is more [important] than ever for jobbers to know what parts to stock, and they need assistance from manufacturers to determine best inventory modelling,” continues Mevotech’s Stone. “We see a growing need for better-than-OE-designed parts and a huge push for premium parts in this category. Having the right coverage, and having the right design, are critical in today’s marketplace. The Mevotech TTX chassis line offers innovated designs that address the issue of fragile OE designs, and offers a legitimate upgrade to the OE designs and

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chassis & steering |

PREMIUM STEERING, CHASSIS COMPONENTS CONTINUE TO DOMINATE THE MARKET

“It is more [important] than ever for jobbers to know what parts to stock, and they need

assistance from manufacturers to determine best inventory modelling.”

– SCOTT STONE, MEVOTECH

14-15_March2017_Steering.indd 14 2017-02-10 1:40 PM


BY TOM VENETIS

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“Modular replacement assemblies continue to gain popularity, a trend largely driven by the significant time

and labour savings associated with these parts. ”– BYRON OSTERLAND, FEDERAL-MOGUL MOTORPARTS

manufacture. Categories that are seeing huge gains are stabilizer links, bushings, and control arms, and the proper stocking levels and designs are critical to gaining share in the market.”

XRF Chassis president John Thody says the jobber’s counter staff need to make sure the service writer chooses a premium component and replacement. While there is a continuing pressure among many to focus on price, the long-term costs to both the vehicle owner and the service writer are too great to settle for a low-end chassis or steering component. “Believe me, when you put a cheap critical automotive part on your car, sooner or later you will have a problem. The ridiculous thing about this is simply that the price difference between a good, safe part and a cheap, poor-quality part is about the same as a cup of coffee. The coffee is gone in ten minutes, but a good-quality part will keep your family safe for ten years.”

Thody adds that he is always surprised at how many jobbers do themselves a disservice by focusing on price alone. Premium chassis parts are a reliable product set that yields solid margins and adds to the profitability of the jobber operation each time one is sold. “Yet every day I see them selling down. The telephone conversation goes something like this: ‘Yup, we have the expensive one, but we’ve got a cheap one too; which do you want?’ It should go like this: ‘Yup, we really have a good fix for that. It costs about as much as a cup of coffee more than the cheap one. I’ll send it out.’”

“[Jobbers] and technicians must understand that chassis work and chassis parts are one of the very few product lines where there is large volume and large margins,” Thody adds. “Pay attention and take advantage of the opportunity.”

Mevotech’s Stone says counter staff need to understand that increasing profits is not a matter of pushing more product out the door. It is a matter of ensuring that technicians working on vehicles are getting chassis and steering parts that are of better quality, even if they don’t at first ask for them. “Technicians are looking for a durable design that gives them the extended wear and stability they want

for today’s suspension systems. Premium is absolutely where it’s at. You pay for what you get, but honestly, the cost of premium isn’t substantially higher, but the cost of not selling premium is very high. Additional repair cycles, additional maintenance, accelerated wear on other system components – these are the costs of choosing something other than premium, and they far outweigh the additional cost of a premium chassis part.”

Federal-Mogul’s Osterland says that what counter staff need to know is that across all of today’s vehicle designs, there is a focus on using chassis and steering components that are premium. So replacing a chassis or steering system or component on an economy vehicle does not mean using a lower-quality, lesser-priced replacement. The opposite is, in fact, the case. “Whereas some jobbers, technicians, and consumers might assume that a lower-priced part is more acceptable for an economy vehicle, we’re seeing OEMs apply sophisticated weight-saving approaches to all vehicles, even their entry-level models. This can mean reducing component material that might traditionally have added an extra margin of safety. They are then offsetting the reduced mass by using higher-strength materials and advanced hardening technologies.”

“Therefore, in a repair situation, it is always important for the technician and shop to select and install a part that at least matches the strength and performance properties of the original part, regardless of the vehicle,” Osterland continues. “The part should feature the same metallurgical properties, at a minimum.”

“The counterperson doesn’t need to be an engineer; he just needs to know that the higher carbon number means higher-strength steel,” XRF’s Thody adds. “He needs to know about bearing types and materials. He needs to know about

low friction; he needs to know about load disbursement and about dust boot sealing. The counterperson needs to hold this knowledge, but the [service writer], as I said earlier, should hear, ‘Yup, we have a really good fix for that. It costs about as much as a cup of coffee more than the cheap one. I’ll send it out; you’ll like it.’”

“The number-one point to make in every selling situation is that the characteristics that differentiate one part from another are often impossible to detect with the naked eye,” Federal-Mogul’s Osterland stresses. “Some suppliers only mimic the visual characteristics of the OE part to encourage the customer to believe they’re making a good choice. What that customer can’t see – and what’s most important – is the quality of the material used by the manu-facturer. Did they select the correct grade of material? Did they heat-treat it correctly? Did they test the part? We have seen parts where the suppliers have taken short-cuts in these areas, resulting in reduced strength as compared to original parts. So, while some suppliers might make a part that looks like the original equipment, the performance is significantly reduced.”

What this really boils down to is safety.“Safety is a real issue, as is wear and

reliability,” Mevotech’s Stone says. “Maintaining a safe vehicle requires that the systems be maintained at as close to off-the-line specifications as possible. The problem we all deal with is that by the time the vehicle finally gets diagnosed for repair, the suspension is not the same as OE; it has sagged and been beaten up, and the ride height and system specs are significantly different. For all intents and purposes, it’s a modified suspension system, with different characteristics, geometry, and pressure points than that of the OE off-the-lot design. That’s why premium parts come into play, and designs that improve the OE characteristics are so prevalent in this category.” nJN

14-15_March2017_Steering.indd 15 2017-02-10 1:40 PM

6

cover feature | successful selling strategies


HOW TO

Automotive parts have become one of the fastest growing e-commerce

sectors. According to several comprehen-sive studies, the average online automo-tive store saw revenue from e-commerce grow as much as 80% in the last two years.

Clearly, there is a growing consumer demand for accessing aftermarket auto parts and accessories online. So how can you go about increasing your store’s sales by reaching more online customers who want what you’ve got?

E-commerce is still relatively new to the automotive aftermarket sector, which means there is still plenty of room for mar-keting improvements. With e-commerce being such a hot market, jobbers can eas-ily increase profits by simply implement-ing an optimized sales funnel that gets results.

Here are steps to

boost your bottom line.1. Optimized Landing PageFor an e-commerce site, having an opti-mized landing page for your products

increases your sales. The easier you make it for a customer to buy from you, the more likely they will click your “add to shopping cart” button, and follow through to your “thank you for purchasing” page.

For an online auto parts store, a good product landing page should:w Show an image of the partw Include a headline with the part namew Give a descriptionw Include the auto part numberw Give the auto part pricew Have a clear, easy-to-see CTA (Call To

Action) such as “Add to Cart”w Have directional cues towards the CTAw Be free of friction (not too many CTAs

or other distractions on the page)

2. Google AdWordsWhen you’re an e-commerce business, it really makes sense for you to spend your advertising dollars where they will work for you. Online advertising drives traffic directly to your site. Research shows Millennials – your new customer base – do a lot of online shopping and respond well to online coupons.

By using Google AdWords, you can reach customers exactly when they are searching for your products. You can tar-get your Google search ad by:w Keywords. To show your ad when pros-

pects search for your specific product words. Keywords are the most impor-

tant part of getting your ad to show to the right people, and increasing your click-through rate.

w Location. To target by country, region, or city. If you have shipping restrictions, or have pick-up-only items, narrow your ad reach to get clicked by the right cus-tomers.

w Device. Target ads to show on pros-pect’s computer, mobile, or tablet.

w Negative keywords. You can exclude keywords to sharpen your audience targeting. For example, if your ad is for front brake calipers, you can exclude searches for rear brake calipers.The highest converting PPC ads have a

strong correlation to the destination land-ing page. An optimized Google ad should include the keywords from the product P

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grow

growONLINE SALES

16-18_Cover story.indd 16 2017-02-10 1:42 PM


BY STEVE PAWLETT

landing page and have the same (or very similar) headline. Making your ad match your landing page increases the trust fac-tor – and conversions – with your market.

3. Facebook AdsIf you’re not using Facebook ads in your online marketing yet, you’re missing out.

Facebook ads are some of the cheapest advertising options right now, and you can target your market using all the massively rich personal data Facebook has on its 1.18 billion users.

Facebook recently added “Automotive Targeting” within its behaviour targeting category. You can actually target your ads based on when someone last purchased a vehicle, the year and make of their vehicle, and the likelihood of someone

buying specific auto parts soon.For auto parts stores, Facebook ads

can be particularly lucrative. For example, automotive targeting will allow you to show an ad promoting air filters or oil filters or brake parts exclusively to people who bought a car 13-24 months ago, or who bought an air filter, oil filter, or brakes two years ago and may need a replacement.

With Facebook ads, you can hyper-target based on:

Demographics. You can reach your market by specific age, gender, relation-ship, education, job title, and more.

Interests. You’re able to reach your consumer based on interests, hobbies, and pages Liked on Facebook (for exam-ple, target to people who like car, truck,

or motorcycle pages, or who have auto-related hobbies).

Behaviours. You can even target based on previous actions, such as likes and devices used to access the platform.

Location. Like Google Ads, you can tar-get to consumers where they live, based on country, state/province, and city. You can also target based on phone number and area code, to reach repeat customers in your database.

Some Facebook ad providers make it super easy to create your ads. All you need to do is create your headline, ad copy, and image. Then select your target-ing and daily budget.

How to make a high converting Face-book ad:w Use eye-catching images. The image

growONLINE SALES

With e-commerce being such a hot market, jobbers can easily increase profits

by simply implementing an optimized sales funnel

that gets results.


cover feature | successful selling strategies


is what grabs attention on Facebook. Make your image match your ad cam-paign and landing page, and use an image that’s easy to recognize.

w Use action words in your headline. The more you can instill a sense of urgent action, the more likely you’ll get imme-diate clicks.

w Be clear in your headline and ad copy. Use the product name in your ad; spell out your unique selling proposition and consumer benefits, to leave no doubt that you’re the best place to get the product from.

4. Ad RetargetingAd retargeting gives you a huge competi-tive advantage. Even with all your highly targeted marketing efforts, most people exit a site they’ve visited for the first time without converting. They’re just not ready to buy from you immediately.

Unlike a bricks-and-mortar purchase, an online buy doesn’t require the time and effort of physically going to your store, potentially meeting with your sales staff, and then making the purchase. In an online environment, it’s easy for visitors to get distracted or just browse and shop around to your competitors. Imagine if there was a way to go and chase after that customer who just left your online store.

There is. Ad retargeting enables you to follow that bounced traffic. You not only get to remind your visitors to come on back to your store, you’re pretty much 100% guaranteed to reach your demo-graphic with people who’ve already vis-ited your site.

In a nutshell, ad retargeting gives your website visitors a cookie. That cookie in their browser triggers your ad to show on websites that are part of the Google Ad Display Network (and there are literally millions of websites in the network).

You don’t have to guess where your potential customer is; your ad shows wherever they are.

Being on sites your customers visit tends to increase your own trust factor

and amplifies brand awareness through multiple touchpoints.

5. Coupon Landing PageWho doesn’t like getting a great deal on auto parts? As a business marketer, you know the power of giving away discounts and deals. Direct your prospects to a cou-pon landing page on your website.

To make an online coupon:w Sign into your coupon app provider.w Click on “create a coupon.”w Make your coupon, with a title, details,

image, and fine print.w Create a unique landing page on your

website and insert the coupon.w Customers get their own personalized

(i.e., trackable) coupon code to redeem at your store.A smart way to implement a retargeting

campaign is with offers and coupons. You can chase your lost customers around and show how much you value their business by giving an exclusive online coupon.

6. Email AutomationOnce you’ve got a conversion or sale, you’ll have the email address of your cus-tomer. Use it, but don’t abuse it. A repeat customer is worth three to seven times the cost of a new one.

The better you can nurture your lead, the more likely they’ll buy your products – and keep coming back for more. An extremely cost-effective way to initialize your relationships is with email automa-tion campaigns. Setup triggered email automation campaigns to send a person-alized thank-you message with the cus-tomer’s name and product details.

Keep the relationship going by sending out weekly updates (if they’ve opted in to your newsletters). Send out deals and new auto products you’re getting in.

It’s pretty simple technically to set up a triggered email automation campaign. You can craft your first email and schedule to send it out, say, one minute after the ini-tial conversion. Then write and schedule more lead-nurturing messages to be sent out over the next few days or weeks.

An email automation campaign gives you the opportunity to stay in touch with customers, and create a super personal-ized message.

A real key to getting your email opened

and read is your subject line. Craft your open enticing line with the following actions:w Personalize your subject line: include

your customer’s name.w Be specific and clear about your mes-

sage.w Ask a question.w Offer another discount or coupon for

repeat consumers.For auto parts stores with the resources

and a large enough customer base, you could look into segmenting your email database list to be more effective. A cus-tomer buying brakes for a Ford F-150 isn’t necessarily interested in the same items as someone needing tires for their Porsche.

Send out segmented, personalized emails to speak to your customers, in the same way you’d connect with them in your brick-and-mortar shop.

Another way to develop leads is to use website pop-ups. Yes, a lot of sites abuse this option, but if you use it wisely it can pay off.

You have to be careful with these. If you use them too much, they’ll backfire and you’ll lose potential customers. But if you’re smart and you set up website pop-ups with your customer user experience in mind – you can build your email list.

A well-planned, comprehensive online sales funnel can increase brand aware-ness, generate strong leads, and increase your bottom line.

Here’s your new online plan in a nut-shell:

Start with an optimized landing page, spread your message with online advertis-ing, and drive bounced traffic back with retargeting ads. Create incentives to con-vert and purchase with coupons. Follow up to nurture your new prospects with well-crafted marketing automation cam-paigns. To really add fuel to your lead generation, incorporate timely pop-ups on your website. Implement this online pro-gram and you will soon be on your way to increased sales. nJN

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sales strategies | 6th annual shop survey

EmailWhile many businesses are guilty of

chasing the latest digital marketing craze, good old email marketing is still the killer app to beat when it comes to return on investment for businesses.

“We’re now working on an aggressive email marketing campaign,” says Joe Belmonte, president, Discountautoparts.com, who says adding email marketing is a response to his customers’ increased use of smartphones and tablets when making buying decisions.

Indeed, a 2016 study released by marketing consulting firm Clutch found that email marketing still has the highest ROI of any marketing channel. Eighty-three per cent of the companies Clutch surveyed said they were using e-newsletters to make new sales. And more than 70% were using stand-alone emails and follow-up emails to nurture nibbles of interest from customers.

Campaign Monitor, an email marketing firm, released a similar study last year. Its study found businesses can look forward to a $38 return for every dollar they invest in email marketing.

And Henry Hyder-Smith, CEO of Adestra, an email marketing service provider,

THEkillerApp

20-22_March2017_killer app.indd 20 2017-02-10 1:43 PM


BY JOE DYSART

confirmed the trend yet again in a study his company conducted with Econsultancy. Those researchers found that 73% of 1,100+ marketers interviewed said email was their number-one marketing channel in terms of ROI.

The study revealed that companies investing at least a fifth of their marketing budgets on email are eight times more likely to see sales attributable to it in excess of 50%, according to Hyder-Smith.

Moreover, the trend illuminates the fact that, as more and more kids nurtured with smartphones cross over into adulthood, autoparts stores need to follow.

“We’re really being forced to add email,” says BS&F Auto Parts owner Joe Ferrer, who recently hired a subcontractor to beef up his marketing using email and social media.

Ferrer says he built his business on personalized phone support – he has customers who have been with him for years who know he’s just a phone call away. Most, in fact, are old school, and prefer the phone or face-to-face over the Web and email.

“But these younger people grew up with social media and email,” Ferrer says. “If I want to keep them as customers, I need to change with the times.”

Another reason behind email’s potency? Despite all the buzz over social media, 58% of Internet users say the first thing they check on their computerized device each morning is email, according to a study by Exact Target.

“Here’s the truth: When you have someone’s email, you’re allowed to communicate with them when you want, how you want,” says Derek Halpern, owner, Social Triggers, an online marketing consultancy.

Halpern says he conducted his own informal test recently, pitting email against Twitter. He sent out a post on Twitter with a link he wanted prospective customers to click on. Then he sent out the same post and link via email. The result: 50 of his Twitter followers clicked on the link, while 1,200 of his email

subscribers clicked on the same link. “Yes, my email list might be twice as large as my social media following, but it gener-ated about 24 times more clicks,” Halpern says. “That’s the power of email.”

Also helping email’s cause has been all the work IT departments have been doing to block spam from getting to company email boxes.

Overall, those safeguards have signifi-cantly decreased the amount of spam businesses users get as compared to just a few years ago. Consequently, email open rates are looking healthy. On average, 17.6% of emails are now being opened by recipients, according to IBM’s 2016 Email Marketing Metrics Benchmark study.

Businesses having the most success with email marketing are ensuring that every message they send out is optimized for viewing on mobile devices like smart-phones and tablets. P

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Done right, this approach is known as “responsive design,” or designing emails so they’ll render well no matter where they’re viewed – desktop, laptop, tablet, or smartphone.

Indeed, 64% of companies surveyed for the Econsultancy/Adestra study said they’re optimizing for mobile.

“Because of the popularity and reach of mobile devices, emails are often read for the first and only time on a tablet or phone,” says Joe White, owner of Cost-Down Consulting, a business consult-ing firm. “If the text and images are not mobile-friendly, there is less chance the desired conversion will take place.”

One way to ensure your marketing emails are optimized for all screens is to farm out the work to a top-notch third-party service provider. All top five email service providers revealed in a 2015 Capterra study, for example – MailChimp, Constant Contact, Vertical Response, Cam-paign Monitor, and Get Response – offer responsive email design to their clients.

Even so, no matter how you solve your email design challenge, the only way you’ll really know whether your emails are rendering properly on mobiles and all other devices is to, as they say, test, test, test.

Fortunately, services like Email on Acid, Litmus, and EmailReach will do that test-ing for you, and they’ll serve as a nice double-check to ensure your designer is doing what he or she is saying she’s doing.

One caveat: Many digital marketing designers working today operate with the mindset that the only screen they need to worry about is a smartphone screen – they like to pretend that other screen sizes don’t exist. Essentially, these design-ers – and there are a lot of them – have become so focused on ensuring their con-tent looks great on a smartphone, they’ve abandoned all responsibility for ensuring that same content also looks good on lap-tops and desktops.

For these designers, today’s email design is not “mobile first,” as the catchphrase goes. It’s “mobile only.”

This is why the Web is currently littered with emails and Web pages sporting images that look bloated on desktop com-puters. It’s also why desktop users increas-

ingly find themselves scrolling through acres and acres of blank white space in some emails and on some white pages. And it’s also why some desktop users regularly come across sentences that are 24” long if they’re using a desktop screen that’s 24”.

Essentially, the “mobile-only” designers behind those experiences couldn’t care less if their content looks good on a desk-top. Word to the wise: Such designers should be avoided like the plague.

That said, getting email marketing right involves more than simply knowing it works, and knowing you need to optimize for mobile. Here are the most popular best practices for email marketing, based on insights from the Econsultancy/Adestra survey:

Engage in basic segmentation. 78% of companies said they’re doing basic segmentation with their email marketing. Essentially, that means they’re creating slightly different versions of the same email marketing message to cater to different segments of a company’s cus-tomer base. Some customers in the East, for example, might get a slightly different message than customers in the West.

2Clean your list regularly. 54% of companies surveyed said their email marketing success also

hinged on ensuring they cleaned their mailing list regularly of emails that were bouncing back as no longer valid. They also are quickly removing email addresses from the list when customers request it.

3Encourage sharing of your email

on social networks. 47% of cus-tomers surveyed said they got

more mileage from their marketing emails after asking their customers to share those emails on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and other social media networks.

4Use your transaction emails for

marketing. 43% of companies said they had a standard practice of

inserting marketing messages into trans-action emails. In practice, that meant

they might pitch another product when confirming a purchase by email. Or they might offer a coupon via email when confirming a sign-up for the company’s e-newsletter.

5Include video content. 42% of companies said adding video content to their email

was critical to the potency of those mar-keting messages. Given that YouTube is the number-two most popular site on the Web, the move sounds like a no-brainer.

6Do re-marketing. 41% of compa-nies surveyed said they regularly use emails to re-market to custom-

ers. A customer abandoning a shopping cart, for example, might be re-marketed with another offer for the product. Or, a Web visitor who failed to confirm their new subscription to the company e-news-letter might be prodded again by email to confirm that sign-up.

7Personalize your email. 37% of companies surveyed said personalization of emails was

also key to their marketing success. The personalization of emails went beyond simply addressing a person by first name. Instead, other personalized data was included in the email, such as the person’s birthday, acknowledgement of previous goods and services purchased by the recipient, and similar qualifiers sending the message that the company truly knew who they were emailing.

8Use query emails for lead

nurturing. 35% of companies said once they received a “nibble” on

an offer by email, they regularly followed up with additional emails to try and close the deal.

9Combine email with multichannel

triggers. 31% of companies said once contact was made by email,

they followed up by reaching out to the customer via other channels, includ-ing Facebook, Twitter, telephone, and old-fashioned snail mail. nJN

Joe Dysart is an Internet speaker and business consultant based in Manhattan.

1

sales strategies |


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social media 101 | brake technology BY LUCIANA NECHITA, AIA CANADA, AND MARTHA UNIACKE BREEN


Anyone who’s been following the news lately can plainly see that

Twitter is matchless as a vehicle for instantaneous communication. In terms of your business marketing, it has some unique advantages that other social media platforms don’t, and can form a very useful adjunct to your overall marketing program.

The techie definition of Twitter is that it’s a “micro-blogging” platform. In other words, its 140-character limit constitutes a kind of blog or update, in contrast to instant messaging or a longer Facebook post (although it can substitute for either of these when desired). A business Twitter account is a great way to send out short, timely messages about your company, drive followers to your website and social media, and raise your profile within your community.

One of the platform’s assets is it’s an effortless two-way communications

Facebook home page. Some of the same rules apply: fill out the various boxes as fully as possible, with company bio, mis-sion statement, and contact information. But remember that the space allotted to Twitter landing pages is smaller. Your main pic should represent your business and give a simple, clear message; and your profile pic should read well on small devices like smartphones. (Faces are almost always preferable to a logo, unless your logo is very simple.) Twitter’s own website gives excellent, step-by-step instructions on how to get set up.

The best way to start building a following is to follow others in your sphere: customers and clients; business colleagues and peers; business and professional associations; suppliers; magazines (including Jobber News, @JobberNews) and other information providers; competitors. (Yes, competitors;

2

HOW

TWITTER CAN ENHANCE

YOUR MARKETING PROGRAM

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medium, meaning you can follow other Twitter feeds and interact with followers in real time (to resolve a customer service issue, answer questions, or discuss a topic of interest). Twitter’s brevity gives it a very high response ratio; while most of us set aside time to sit down and interact with Facebook, human nature dictates that people tend to read Twitter posts as soon as they hear the little bird call indicating an incoming tweet – standing in line at Starbucks, sitting at their desks, even walking down the street. (But not while driving, however!)

All of these unique attributes give Twitter the potential to become a valuable part of both your online and overall marketing. Here are a few tips on how to make the most of it.

When you first set up your Twitter account, you’ll build a landing page, similar in some ways to your

SHARETHE ROAD

LuK has earned a reputation for the highest quality clutch products. What LuK is to clutches, FAG is to bearings.

Building on a 130-year heritage of excellence, FAG products are supported by the same trusted R & D, engineering and manufacturing teams that bring you LuK clutches.

FAG products — setting the standard for quality, durability, and performance.

products. What LuK is to clutches, FAG is to bearings.

24-25_March_social media_ver2.indd 24 2017-02-10 1:54 PM

3

BY LUCIANA NECHITA, AIA CANADA, AND MARTHA UNIACKE BREEN


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Enrich your tweets with links, photos, and videos. Twitter automatically condenses web links into small 20-character URLs, and photos and videos take up much less space than they did a few years ago. These tools allow you to insert a comment that will explain or entice followers to click on the link.

Twitter’s two-way communications, like a 21st century pager, gives you the ability to provide, in effect, 24/7 customer service. Your shop may be closed, but if a customer has an emer-gency, they can communicate with you any time you’re near your device (should you desire, of course). This provides an extra level of reassurance to customers – not only the customer whose problem you solved, but others who may be read-ing the tweets along with them and seeing how you successfully resolved the issue.

Just like Facebook and other social media sites, Twitter provides a full complement of analytics. You can monitor which Twitter topics garner the biggest responses, what time of day people tend to interact the most, and where your biggest responses are coming from. Information like this can guide you to what to tweet, and when.

Above all, remember that Twitter, like all social media, is a public platform. Don’t post anything you wouldn’t want shouted in the middle of the town square – which, electronically speaking, is exactly what all social media is. Avoid sensitive subjects like politics or religion, or taking a stand on something that is not directly related to your business community. Twitter’s ease of communication makes it easy to “tweet in haste and repent at leisure.” Confine personal messages to your personal Twitter account. nJN

Luciana Nechita is director of public affairs

at AIA Canada; Martha Uniacke Breen is

contributing editor of Jobber News.

it’s not only a great way to keep tabs on the other guys, but can give you an idea what topics are popular within your community.)

Be sure to publicize your Twitter “handle,” or user name, in all of your correspondence and other

interactions. Print it on your emails, invoices, and business cards. Include it in all your advertising, flyers, and other direct mail pieces. And of course, list it on your Facebook page and website.

Which topics make the best tweets? The brief 140-character maximum is too short for detailed

marketing, so focus on messages that can be communicated quickly and easily. These can include directing followers to your website for further information on a particular subject; building brand awareness; nurturing and strengthening a sense of community; specials and pro-mos; “breaking news”; providing real-time customer service; or sharing links, videos, and photos.

Twitter is great for sharing sales and promos exclusively for followers. Encourage them to quote

a Twitter-only promo code to get an extra discount or a free gift. Similarly, you can use Twitter to run contests, ask questions, or conduct Twitter polls.

The platform’s instantaneous, informal nature makes it a great way to go beyond simple sales promotion and create a distinct identity for your business. Become a trusty resource for timely information and tips; publicize your firm’s charity or community involvement; or comment on business-oriented news. Do be careful, though, about tweets that do not pertain directly to your business, such as jokes or personal messages. For every one of your followers who enjoys this kind of diversion, there’s another who will be annoyed by the interruption.

America’s leading international trade fair for the automotive service industry targeting trade visitors from the US & Canada

Exhibition: July 26-28, 2017 Training: July 27-29, 2017McCormick Place West, Chicago, IL

NETWORKING IS GOOD.GROWING YOUR NETWORK IS BETTER.

DISCOVER the latest innovations from more than 600 exhibiting companies

CONNECT with suppliers, distributors and wholesalers for new opportunities

LEARN from top industry experts at our FREE training program

www.NACEAutomechanika.comwww.NACEAutomechanika.com/register

24-25_March_social media_ver2.indd 25 2017-02-10 1:54 PM


new products |

Dorman Medium Duty Product GuideDorman’s new 24-page Medium Duty Product

Guide covers parts for Freightliner and

International class 4, 5, and 6 trucks. Dorman

has leading coverage for Freightliner medium-

duty vehicles, with over 35 SKUs to repair

underhood engine components, exterior and

interior body parts, fuel and emissions, lighting,

and more. Dorman’s comprehensive coverage

for international medium-duty vehicles includes

over 80 SKUs, to repair virtually anything that

breaks on your truck.

Dorman

www.dorman.com

Extreme Duty

Poly-V BeltContinental has

introduced the new

Extreme Duty Poly-V

belt for the North

American heavy-duty

aftermarket. This belt

will be offered in 90

new part numbers

designed for class 6-8

heavy-duty trucks in

the aftermarket. The

Extreme Duty Poly-V

straight-ribbed belt

performs better under

higher underhood

temperatures, thereby

resulting in lower

emission standards,

and comes with

a 100,000-mile

guarantee.

This belt has four

times the flex life of

previous belts and

comes in 8-, 10- and

12-ribbed profiles,

packaged in a new

sleeve design. With

advanced EPDM

polymers, the Extreme

Poly-V belt meets

higher performance

standards.

Continental

www.contitech.ca

Coolant Leak Repair

Comes to CanadaK-Seal permanent

coolant leak repair is

suitable to use with

all makes and models

and all types of water-

cooled engines. K-Seal will repair leaks in the

head, head gasket, block, radiator, heater core,

water pump casing, and freeze plug. There is no

need to drain or flush the cooling system, and

K-Seal is safe to add to all types of antifreeze

available today. Simply shake, pour, and go.

Specifically formulated for the Canadian market,

K-Seal is freezeproof to minus 38C.

K-Seal

www.kseal.com

Lithium-Ion 18V Battery Bosch has announced the Core 18V battery,

which it says offers power and performance and

minimizes weight. The battery employs advanced

lithium-ion technology to deliver 80% more

power than previous-generation Bosch batteries.

The cells of the battery are laser-welded and

rail-connected to allow for high efficiency. This

allows the battery to deliver better performance

than competitive batteries that have up to 24%

more weight and are up to 35% larger.

The battery offers optimized cell technology

and an improved power connector within the

10 high-density cells that ensure lower internal

resistance. That means higher currents can be

drawn from the cells over a longer period of time.

Bosch

www.boschtools.com

Re-engineered Power Steering Pump CRP Automotive has added a newly

re-engineered Power Steering Pump to its lineup

of AAE new and remanufactured power steering

components.

The AAE Power Steering Pump, P/N 5760N,

is designed for applications on the 2005-2010

Honda Odyssey, 2005-2008 Honda Pilot, and

the 2003-2010 Acura MDX.

While developing the 5760N AAE Power

Steering Pump, CRP Automotive designed

the pump to solve OE design flaws. The AAE

Power Steering Pump features a pre-installed

return pipe and a special valve design. The pre-

installation of return pipe is made to eliminate

the need to reuse an old return pipe and helps

to eliminate noise issues caused when air enters

the system. The valve is designed to ensure

the valve guide walls do not wear down and

lead to low pressure and low

performance.

CRP Automotive

www.aaesteering.com

26_March2017_New Products.indd 26 2017-02-10 1:55 PM

BE A MEMBERreasons to10 TOP TEN

Your Success is Our Business!

Show Your PrideAs a member, you are part of a 75 year-old organization that is committed to the advancement of the automotive aftermarket industry in Canada. We are your biggest cheerleader as you navigate your path to success!

We Work For YouYou just want to focus on your business, but there are regulations & legislation that get in the way. As your Association, we advocate on your behalf at all levels of government so you can focus on what you do best.

Knowledge is PowerIt’s a vast, dynamic industry out there, thriving in different economic climates. Our cutting-edge industry research provides you with the answers you are looking for to make the best decisions for your business.

Events & MoreOur events provide you with the right venue and networking opportunities so you can talk business while having a good time. Past conversations have ranged from last night’s game to telematics and everything else in between.

You BelongCare deeply about an industry issue? Local divisions, committees and networks provide you with the perfect opportunity to tackle issues hands-on.

Resources to RecruitJob board, career toolkits, employment resources - we ensure that you have the right information so you can go ahead and hire the right people.

Give Some LoveThe High Fives for Kids Foundation works towards children’s betterment across Canada and is designed to facilitate your charitable initiatives.

Consumer AwarenessSharing important information will help you & your customers get the most out of your business relationship. Think ‘Notice to Consumers’ plaques!

Be in the KnowWe have our finger on the pulse of the aftermarket industry. Through timely newsletters, announcements & webinars we keep you in the know!

Special OffersWe are constantly working with businesses to get the best deals. And when we do, we share them with our favourite people - YOU!

The Automotive Industries Association of Canadawww.aiacanada.com | facebook.com/aiaofcanada | @aiaofcanada

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MERGERS & ACQUISTIONS – DIGESTING WHAT YOU EAT

BY MARK BORKOWSKI

Hugh Latif is a highly respected and well-known management consultant, and the

author of Maverick Leadership (Amazon). Latif believes that as we enter the new year, we can expect to read the usual list of the major acquisitions.

Many of you are familiar with the standard benefits offered by mergers and acquisitions: w Acquiring market sharew Diversification of product and service offeringsw Increasing plant capacity or distribution

channelsw Acquiring specific strategic expertise, R&D,

and/or assetsw Reduction of financial risk

In addition, acquisitions are attractive because of the “speed of growth effect,” which comes from owning new assets and resources almost overnight. Instead of waiting to achieve results through regular organic growth, the acquisition route to results is much quicker. You make a one-time investment, which hits your balance sheet just once.

Entering into an acquisition, the major consulting and accounting firms stand ready to help. This includes helping you identify targeted companies; put together a plan of attack; evaluate, negotiate and finance the deal; do the legal paperwork; address fiscal strategy; and obtain government approval (often required for larger acquisitions).

These firms provide all the help you need during the making of the deal. But once the acquisition is consummated and advisors collect their fees, the army of accountants, lawyers, experts and advisors leave. They wish you much success for many happy years, but now it is just you left alone to sort out the new customers acquired, the new employees that are now members of your family, the new assets that were purchased, and most importantly, the new culture you’ve just inherited.

Latif believes that when you need help the most, nobody is around to help you put together these two organizations – or in other words, help you to digest what you just ate.

This is the main reason why acquisitions fail.

Eating (the actual acquisition) is not the problem; it is the digestion that leads to either success or failure.

Post-acquisition planning and execution is the main reason why acquisitions fail. For an acquisition to succeed, there must be a comprehensive plan in place, ideally one that has been researched well and put together by the new team, not consultants and advisors. Many acquisitions have earn-out clauses, meaning that a portion of the agreed-upon price of the deal is paid up front, and a second part is earned and paid as the benefits of the M&A are realized. Why not have advisors and consultants paid in the same manner? This would solve 80% of the problems.

The second big reason why M&As fail has to do with the acquisition price. In the interest of consummating the deal, the acquiring company often ends up paying too much simply because the valuation was made by a non-independent interested party (or parties). Remember that the value of advice is in direct relationship to the expertise of the giver, and in indirect relationship to the degree of their involvement. True advice must come from an expert who is independent; and valuations should be made by an independent party. I suggest separating the brokering from the advice. If your expert advisor fees are directly tied to the value of the deal, then they benefit from a higher price and not a lower one. nJN

money & management |

Hugh Latif, of Hugh Latif & Associates in Vaughan, Ontario, is a management consultant who helps mid-size private companies with strategy, succession planning, and HR. His newest book is called Maverick Leadership.

Mark Borkowski is President of

Mercantile Mergers & Acquisitions Corp.

Mercantile is a mid-market M&A

brokerage. Contact: mercantilemergers

acquisitions.com

28-29_March2017_Borkowski Ad index.indd 28 2017-02-10 1:57 PM


®

advertiser index |

Continental VDO ..............13 www.vdo.com/usa

Federal-Mogul ANCO ........ 9 www.ancowipers.com

Schaeffler Group USA Inc .. 24 www.repxpert.ca

AIA ............................... 27 www.aiacanada.com

Bestbuy ........................... 6www.bestbuydistributors.com

SHADS ........................... 23

Automechanika .............. 25 www.automechanikachicago.com

Federal-Mogul MOOG ....... 2 www.moogparts.com

Mevotech ...................... 32 www.mevotech.com

Promax Auto Parts Depot ...31www.autopartsdepot.ca

YOUR NAME:

YOUR COMPANY NAME:

YOUR COMPANY ADDRESS:

PHONE NUMBER: ( )

I NOMINATE

WHO OWNS

AND IS LOCATED AT THE FOLLOWING ADDRESS:

BUSINESS PHONE: ( )

HE/SHE HAS BEEN IN BUSINESS FOR

APPROXIMATELY YEARS

AND I NOMINATE THIS PERSON FOR THE FOLLOWING

REASONS: (attach a separate sheet if necessary)

BUSINESS SUCCESS:

INDUSTRY INVOLVEMENT:

COMMUNITY SERVICE:

(Your Signature)

(Date)

Email to: [email protected]

also online at www.autoserviceworld.com

NOMINATE SOMEONE TODAY!

JOBBER

Award recipients represent the best in the Canadian automotive aftermarket.

Since 1984, this award has recognized jobbers who epitomize the values of the automotive aftermarket through business excellence,

community service and industry contributions.

OF THE YEAR AWARD

BlueDevil.........................11 www.gobdp.com

Akebono .........................19 www.akebonobrakes.com

Jobber of the Year .......... 29 www.autoserviceworld.com

ContiTech ........................ 4 www.continental-elite.com

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UNDERSTANDING THE SERVICE PROVIDER’S BUSINESS

How does a jobber determine if the garage they are selling to is going to be financially

successful and be around in three years? To start uncovering this, you must invest the time for a solid interview with the owner of the shop, to see if they are on track to growing a prosperous business, and then determine what value your business can bring to the table, to help them meet their objectives or overcome obstacles. Successful service shop businesses have many points in common, and the jobber should embrace these owners’ businesses by strengthening the value and relationship that you offer them.

The successful shops that will be thriving in the years 2017 to 2020 will be the ones whose owners are able to sift through information, identify threats to the business, and devise strategies that turn these threats into opportunities. This involves:

1. Identifying key outside issues affecting the service provider’s shop. The fact is, a service shop will have outside issues arise that will affect it, but the owner is capable of identifying these threats, becoming fully informed, and acting to counteract them. Jobbers who are “on top of their game” can bring great value to these clients by assisting the client in developing an understanding of the issues, and doing research on behalf of the client to separate fact from rumour.

2. Measuring the key trends of the industry. The better shops read Jobber News and other industry journals to keep abreast of what is going on in the industry. They participate actively in industry associations, both to keep their hands on the pulse of their sector of the industry, and to understand the other sectors. They are very aware of future trends, and formulate plans for the next two to five years in order to meet upcoming challenges. 3. Measuring the key trends of the business. The better shops know the facts about their business. They don’t run their business by their bank account balance or gut feeling. They measure their business in detail, often producing a

full monthly operating statement including balance sheet, and analyzing gross profit, productivity, and cash movement within their shop. They charge the correct labour rate, and hire competent technicians for their shop. They focus on quality and service to their client base, not cheapest price. By measuring key business trends, they then can make sound business decisions to meet future industry issues.

4. Developing a plan to shore up weaknesses and build enhanced value into the business. Progressive shops understand their weaknesses and are in perpetual readiness to address the weak points within their business. They also understand the principle of time-frame management. Not all financial or business issues can be resolved over-night, however; a plan to improve their future out-look two, three, or five years from now is either in place or being vigorously pursued. They know who they are selling to; consequently, the value of what they bring to their client base is very important to them. Above all, they do not run their business just on price. They understand and don’t expect their jobber to win on price all the time; however, they do expect value from their jobber.

These common denominators should excite a progressive jobber, because these types of shop owners bring real value to a jobber’s business, and also bring a great way to conduct day-to-day business affairs. nJN

business management |

The first question a jobber should ask him/herself is simply, “Are you doing for your business what the best service shop owners are doing for their business?”

BY BOB GREENWOOD

Bob Greenwood, AAM (Accredited

Automotive Manager) is president and

CEO of Automotive Aftermarket E-learning

Centre Ltd. (AAEC). Bob has over 40

years of business management

experience within the independent sector

of the automotive aftermarket industry

in North America.

30_Mar2017_Greenwood.indd 30 2017-02-10 1:58 PM

®

www.autopartsdepot.ca

Precision BrandPrecision Engineering

Precision Performance

ProMax...leading in durability and great performance.

Premium Brake Rotors Premium Brake Drums

New Brake Shoes

Semi Metallic Brake Pads

Ceramic Brake PadsCeramic PlusBrake Pads

Severe Duty MetallicBrake Pads

High Carbon CrossDrilled Rotors

Rotors and Drums

ProMax Jan 2017 All Product ad:Layout 1 1/12/17 10:08 AM Page 1


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Documents

MEVOTECH WINS BENNETT AWARD • LORDCO SEIZES … · 24 Social Media 101 How Twitter can enhance your marketing program 26 New Products 28 Money & Management Mergers & acquisitions: