When growing your business from 16 retail outlets to a current total of 184 outlets, employing over 1600 people, one thing is more important than anything else – a solid brand value position that galvanises your team and our customers around a sense of belonging.
Simon Hiorns, Retail Director at Protyre explains how TyreSafe has become a crucial mainstay in Protyre’s stance and differentiator, as a tyre and autocentres retailer that values customer experience, safety and education to drive commerciality. He believes wholeheartedly that the strong alignment between Protyre’s core values of ‘care, honesty and expertise’ has driven a natural but powerful adoption of tyre safety education and principles that underpin an unmatched customer experience and brand reputation.
Values before commercials
Joining TyreSafe and leveraging our membership to demonstrate that our values are put into action has proved extremely valuable over the years in solidifying our journey, underpinning our commercial thinking with a larger cause that makes a true difference. We knew that to grow our business and differentiate ourselves from the mainstream competition, we needed to do what we do ethically and with a wider purpose.
When I joined as Retail Director, the industry was facing the possibility of an enquiry as a result of poor customer feedback. Customer service was poor at best and customers had lost trust in the process of buying garage services and tyres. Trust had been broken. Vital components to drive loyal customers and referrals were missing.
When I came across TyreSafe, I was amazed by the passion and energy delivered by those running it, and immediately recognised the potential held in partnering as a supporter for our team, but also our customers.
Campaigns with bite
Tyre Safety Month became our core focus to leverage the partnership. We make the most of all the assets available. The opportunity to dual brand them is so powerful and poignant as a means of demonstrating our values without wearing the logo as a badge and not taking action. Every October we use the TyreSafe assets in email communications, social media and print assets in our waiting areas to remind our customers that we are fully in support of tyre safety initiatives.
We’ll also avidly share other campaigns including spring and summer activity and other vehicles including caravans and motorhomes, so that we leave no customer base untouched with these crucial messages.
Shortly into our membership, we quickly realised that the investment in sharing TyreSafe’s assets could be taken a step further to spread the message wider and strengthen our brand’s position. Which is why we embarked on partnering with TyreSafe with radio advertising and other channels. Never advertising Protyre itself, but instead supporting in spreading the Tyre Safety message. Needless to say, for so many reasons, it was and continues to be budget well spent.
TyreSafe works tirelessly to promote tyre safety and retailers big and small can help by providing data and feedback that can be used in discussions with bodies such as SMMT and DfT. By being part of TyreSafe you have a voice and can influence government and road policy.
Even through turbulent times, our TyreSafe membership remained a pillar through thick and thin. Always delivering value and most importantly impact.
If you do the right things, those things become part of your culture and values. Do them consistently and customers will recognise them and also want to be a part of it.
Activating the Protyre brand through purpose
As we grew, we rapidly recognised the merit and value in educating and showing care and attention to customers, rather than focusing solely on sales. Which is where our TyreSafe support played so strongly into our growth strategy.
The quality of the educational material and even the presence of the partnership in our communications underpinned our customer experience approach perfectly.
Instead of working reactively to supply customers in need, we purposefully adopted an approach of education and data driven customer experience to help customers make informed and safety-led decisions about their vehicles. The result? We boast a five star rating on Trustpilot with reviews from over 75,000 customers. While it isn’t directly mentioned in positive feedback, TyreSafe is part of us as an extension of our position as a caring and honest company.
And finally
As a trustee, I am very proactive in activating the campaigns as a retailer, and our membership has been successful because we’ve owned it and made the most of the benefits available. Truly, the more you get involved, the more you will get from your membership. Retailers large and small will see the benefit.
It has been pivotal in solidifying our culture that we repeatedly get feedback from our retailers as being ‘amazing and something that they feel truly valued in and want to be a part of’.
From the technicians and fitters that we kit out with the equipment and tools to provide exceptional customer service to, to the thousands of customers who come back year on year because they know they will get the exceptional service they need, TyreSafe sits at the heart of this culture.
TyreSafe underpins our corporate statement that means we can look people in the eye and say that we honestly care.
Protyre values are: Care, Honesty, and Expertise. Our relationship with Tyresafe supports all these values.