Defining your mobile tire shop service area/territory could make or break your business. Choose wrong, and you’ll struggle with having the WRONG clients, wrong pricing, and limited scalability.
Choose right, and you’ll find great clients who don’t nickel and dime you, appreciate your service by paying your higher prices, and refer you to their friends and family – enabling you to scale and grow.
Let’s dig into it.
Define WHO your mobile tire shop serves: B2C/B2B (demographics)
With mobile tire operations, your business can service consumers (B2C), and other businesses (B2B).
Mobile tire shops can arrive at a consumer’s driveway, or an HVAC company’s business HQ where they store their fleet of work vehicles and complete tire work safely and effectively.
In both scenarios, it’s extremely important to target those prospects who have a strong need/benefit for mobile tires, signaled by a HIGH pain point.
Target prospects with HIGHEST PAIN points
What a prospect is willing to pay for mobile tire service, is directly proportional to the PERCEIVED PAIN of the alternative (going to a service center).
- More Pain = More Value
- More Value = Higher Market Price
*key point: PERCEIVED PAIN is 100% subjective in the customer’s mind.
Business to Business (B2B)
A business that needs a fleet of vehicles to generate revenue has a direct correlation between vehicles able to operate on the road & revenue they can generate.
Businesses with a fleet of vehicles
Most home service operations are losing around $150-$300/hr depending on the service they provide – when a vehicle is down.
Most rental car agencies are losing roughly $99/day for each vehicle down for service & unable to be rented.
Every time a vehicle is down for service – they are losing money by taking a vehicle off the road or by paying a lease/loan on a standby/extra vehicle. Either way it’s costing them.
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For your mobile tire shop service territory, you need to cover areas where business fleets operate & that have a high chargeout & therefore a HIGH perceived PAIN point.
Having said that – here’s a quick breakdown of the Pros/Cons of mobile tire fleet work:
- Pros
- dependable cashflow (stable accounts)
- easier effort on the job (not nit-picky on scratches, dings, etc)
- customer acquisition can be easy if you’re good at soliciting to businesses
- Cons
- payment terms can be long (Net30/60)
- fleet vehicles can be harder to work with (older/ rusty/ stripped lugs, missing parts, large tires, etc)
- your mobile tire shop may need to qualify as a trusted vendor if your client uses a fleet management service
- purchase approvals can be a nightmare due to old fashioned purchasing software from the client’s side
- you may spontaneously lose the account to a larger tire vendor that makes a “back-door deal” with favorable terms (Firestone, DiscountTire, etc)
For tips on how to protect your fleet accounts from being poached by the big boys, read “3 Tips on Acquisition & Retention of Fleet Clients for your Mobile Tire Shop“.
Business to Consumer (B2C)
Work from Home / At Home Parents
30% of the white collar workforce who used to commute to the office everyday are now either 100% remote, or commuting only once or twice a week. At home parents these days are busier than ever – working part time from home as well as home-schooling.
Having to spend 2-3 hours of their day highjacked at a service center is a HIGH PERCEIVED PAIN signal.
- Pros
- You can charge more for service
- The vehicles are typically higher value & better condition so easier to work on
- Clients can be flexible on arrival time
- Cons
- Gated communities need a gate code or approval
- Treadcommand makes this simple by giving clients a “Notes” section to enter gate codes, instruction, etc
- Apartment complexes can be tricky to find the vehicle location
- TreadCommand is working on a clever solution for this
- Sometimes customers don’t tell the whole truth and you end up seeing issues on the wheel/tire assembly that weren’t clear at the beginning.
- Gated communities need a gate code or approval
For tips on how to handle unplanned issues while on-site, read “How to deal with on-site surprises when operating mobile tire services.“.
Retired Seniors who don't like tire shops
Seniors who are retired, and have money to spend are a perfect target demographic for mobile tires. They retired for a reason – they don’t want to be bothered. Being held hostage at a service center while the sales clerk strong arms you into buying things you didn’t plan – doesn’t feel relaxing either. Seniors want to enjoy the time they have left doing what they love – not sitting at a tire shop. PERCEIVED PAIN signal – HIGH.
- Pros
- Seniors have money to spend and see high value in the mobile tire service
- Cons
- Some seniors are very tight on money – and would rather sit at Walmart for 3 hours blissfully unaware of their life force fading away
Picky Car Enthusiasts
Everyone knows someone who is a car nut. They won’t let anyone touch their vehicles, they try to do most of the service work themselves, and believe they are the world’s best mechanic.
Great – because the thought of a half-trained grease monkey at a service center scratching his Enkei TE-37’s will signal a VERY HIGH PAIN POINT and drive him to find a higher quality alternative. These are perfect candidates for mobile tire service where quality, transparency, and convenience are valued – with dollar signs.
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- Pros
- Tend to have high-end vehicles which are great for posting on your business social feeds
- Willing to pay more for service
- Typically have a great network to drive referral business
- Cons
- They can be very nit picky if you’re not thorough at what you do
- They may ask for favors ( give a deal and I’ll tell my friends, etc ) – I would advise against it.
Target household income
This one is pretty much a no-brainer. Higher-income households usually mean their time is money. And taking time away from work or family – is a no no. Think gated communities, doctors, lawyers, engineers, etc. Save them time, and they will reward you for it with paying higher rates and providing referrals to their gated community neighbors.
- Pros
- willing to pay more
- high-end vehicles are better for your business social feeds
- Cons
- gated communities can sometimes be a hassle to get into due to gate codes, etc (don’t worry TreadCommand has a fix for this)
Target lifestyle & comfort with tech
Consumers who are tech-forward are a great prospect for mobile tire service. If they order everything online, have subscription meal kits, every device in the home is a smart device, and they are constantly looking for new tech – these are all signs point to a great fit for mobile tires.
GeoFencing (Area of Operation)
Step 1: Map out 2-3 zones containing high value prospects
Draw zones for where there are high densities of the target demographics we went over earlier. Typically you’ll end up with 2-3 zones. Each zone should take around 10-15 minutes driving time to get from one end of the zone to the other. Notice I didn’t say DISTANCE…I said TIME. (think about congestion, traffic, etc).
Consider how you will RECEIVE your tires from suppliers
Think about where your tire suppliers are, and how you’ll get tires into your possession.
- Supplier Route Delivery Trucks: (ex. ATD has daily route trucks which will deliver to your business warehouse/storage location). This is great if you can’t be close to your supplier’s depot.
- Will-call pickup at supplier depot: (you will go to the depot and pick up tires from the loading bay) – this can be helpful if you’re extremely near to your supplier and don’t want to wait for the next Route truck delivery.
Or you can do a hybrid approach where you have some suppliers deliver to you, while you go and pick up from another (TreadCommand has a clever solution for this)
Where to put your HQ/warehouse/storage facility
To optimize your HQ/warehouse/storage location in relation to your High Value prospects and your tire suppliers, you’ll want to limit driving distance to 30 minutes between them.
To confirm this, you’ll need to open up Google Maps:
- Note the average driving time between your suppliers, and your HQ (should be 30 minutes or less)
- Note the average time between your HQ and your high value territories (should be 30 minutes of less)
When suppliers are farther than 30 minutes from your high value territories
Typically tire suppliers work out of massive warehouses which are located in industrial zones of your city- and these zones are usually far away from your high value territories (gated communities, etc).
In these scenarios you’ll need to pic from two scenarios
- Make your HQ closer to suppliers for quicker receival of tires (tire delivery and will-call tire pickup)
- Make your HQ closer to high value territories (faster to get from HQ to jobs, faster to run to HQ to reload and back to jobs)
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Routing & Scheduling hack
There’s two ways you can provide for customers to book service appointments.
- Exact time (Monday 2:30pm)
- Flexible time windows (Monday morning 9am-11am, etc)
This can be a nightmare to manage via phone calls and manual schedule entries, and cookie-cutter website templates.
If you don’t have up-to-date integrations with your supply chain logistics, you can’t accurate account for tire receival as part of your scheduling calendar availability.
But don’t worry, TreadCommand has taken this off your to-do list and automated it completely – saving you time & making you more money. Click here to learn more
Put your Territory Management on AutoPilot with TreadCommand
Say goodbye to clunky & cookie-cutter tire shop management software. Grow your mobile tire shop confidently with the best-in-class automated e-commerce tire platform that customers & operators love.
Closing Remarks
Choosing your mobile tire shop service territory is super important.
It starts with identifying your high value clients, creating territories around where they area, and then situating your HQ where it fits your needs in relation to your suppliers.
Now open up Google maps, and get to calculating! 🗺️