Get Your Old Customers Back with Neal Maier, Co-Founder at Tread Partners

Neal Maier is Co-Founder at Tread Partners, a digital marketing agency that helps auto repair and tire shops drive success through coordinated marketing strategies. He is a skilled negotiator, salesperson, and business planner with expertise in Search Engine Optimization and Customer Relationship Management. Tread Partners has designed a full-scale reengagement program called ReTread that brings old customers back into auto repair and tire shops.

In this episode…

If you are the owner of an auto repair or tire shop, have you noticed that you haven’t seen several of your quality, loyal customers in the last 18 months? Maybe it’s time to help them realize they haven’t seen you either! What if there were a way that was almost certain to bring them back to your shop? If you’re ready to start serving your best customers again, you don’t want to miss this episode of the Gain Traction podcast!

Just because it’s been a while since you’ve seen someone who was once a regular customer at your shop doesn’t mean you never have to see them again. According to Neal Maier from Tread Partners, good customers often get sidetracked by traveling, quick oil changes, and coupons. It’s not that they don’t like your shop anymore — they just need a gentle reminder that you’re still there for them.

In this Gain Traction episode, Neal joins Mike Edge to introduce ReTread, Tread Partner’s reengagement program to win back previous customers. Neal guarantees that any shop owner who uses ReTread to bring old customers back through their doors will see an income of ten dollars for every one dollar spent. Tune in to hear how you can serve some familiar faces once again!

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn: 

• Neal Maier explains how the idea for ReTread came about
• How ReTread helps auto repair and tire shops reconnect with customers they haven’t seen for a while
• Why shops that use ReTread are guaranteed a ten-dollar return on every one dollar they spend
• Identifying which previous customers ReTread will target
• The advantages of targeting known, qualified customers over acquiring new, unknown customers
• Why 90 days is a good amount of time for ReTread to bring old customers back

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Neal Maier on LinkedIn
• Mike Edge on LinkedIn
• Tread Partners

Transcript

Announcer:

Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now, let’s get started with the show.

Mike Edge:

Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast. Mike Edge, here. I am host of Gain Traction, where I talk with top automotive business leaders about their journeys and experiences in the tire and auto repair industry. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners and the Retread Program. Tread Partners has designed a product called Retread that is a full-scale, re-engagement program to win back previous customers. It is a one-time, 90-day program that generates a guaranteed 10 to 1 return for your old customers. That’s correct. A 10 to 1 guaranteed ROI. No tricks or gimmicks. Hey, it’s your customers. We just get them back inside your shop for you. So what are you waiting for? Visit Tread Partners at TreadPartners.com or email us at [email protected].

Mike:

So we’re making a unusual presentation today and podcast. Today, I have Neal Maier is a co-founder of Tread Partners and my boss. And so we’ve invited him on the program to talk about this retread product that I just mentioned to you guys. And can’t wait to talk about it. Neal, welcome to the podcast.

Neal Maier:

Thank you, Mike.

Mike:

How’s it feel to be on the other side of the microphone?

Neal:

I was just going to say, it’s a pleasure to be on this side of the microphone.

Mike:

Well, I’m excited about talking about this product, because you and I have been putting it together for a long time. It’s got a lot of legs to it. It’s a very simple product. But when I say legs, I mean enthusiasm, excitement. I mean, it’s just a great way of generating cash that’s really sitting out there for our customers. I mean, it’s their customers. We’re just helping them get back in the door.

Neal:

Mike, the idea for retread started years ago when my great friend, Dave Becker, who recently sold his business, but it was Wheeling Auto Center. Dave came to us looking for an opportunity to reconnect with old customers. And what we’ve learned over the years is in most cases, you simply need to remind them that you exist. So over the years we started getting more and more creative with how we did that, with what types of marketing channels we use and ultimately, how we approach getting a customer back. The key is it’s most successful with shops that do a really great job.

Mike:

Yeah. Explain that a little bit. I know that, but I want our listeners to understand what we mean by that.

Neal:

So the initial argument against any of this is, “Hey, our teams already do excellent jobs. We keep customers forever.” But inevitably, you look around and realize, “Wow, I haven’t seen Paul Smith in here in forever. I can’t remember. Mike, you remember the last time you saw him?” So we look in the point of sales system and, “Wow! We haven’t seen him in 18 months. What happened?” So now, there’s a debate between the two of us as to who should call him. And that’s an awkward call to make, to say, “Hey, 18 months later, Paul, we realized you weren’t coming in anymore.”

Mike:

We really missed you, but it’s been 18 months, right?

Neal:

That’s right. That’s exactly right. When really, it comes across as we might have missed his credit card swipe. So coming up with a way to be able to connect with them is important, but it all builds on that high retention rate. So shops who do a great job, inevitably, have great reviews. They have a great reputation in the community. And they have a really good referral source. Their current customers are their raving fans. So Mike, this program is designed for shops already doing all the right things. They have a really high retention rate. They’re focused on their reputation in the community. Ultimately, that drives really great reviews and customer referrals. Our path to help-

Mike:

Let me interrupt you there real quick, Neal. I mean, this program’s not going to raise the dead. In other words, if their shops are already having trouble just keeping customers, this isn’t for them probably.

Neal:

That’s right. We’re not talking about reputation management in this. What we’re doing is going back to really the cream of the crop. So we’re going back to your best lost customers. Those who have multiple visits. Those who have spent at or above your average repair order. The people who just life has gotten in the way of coming back to visit you. And sometimes that’s as simple as, “Hey, we got busy and ended up at a quick lube for a quick oil change. And then they sent me a coupon right after it.” And just two, three visits go by and they’ve lost some allegiance to your brand.

Neal:

Some, on the other hand, they’ve bought a new car. But even with the free service and free path to getting that car back in the dealership, they’re going to get fed up with that process pretty quickly, too. So we need to remind them that you still exist. And then we also need to give them something that shows you really did miss them. We need to give them a compelling offer to come back in.

Mike:

Yeah. Well, and the other thing about this program, it’s not what people have in their CRM systems or anything else where it sends out a periodic email or text. This is a full-court press.

Neal:

That’s right. That’s right. So most shops have a system to send out oil change reminders. They’ve got something to cover if you’ve got a brakes recommended, to do a follow-up on that side for recommended services. And most also have some system that after a couple of months will send a hey-where’d-you-go email. The trouble is that ends up in email. We all get bombarded. We get busy. And there’s no way consumers see all the emails that come through. As much as you may love them, they may not love your email that much. So we have to find creative ways to come over top of all that noise and just reinforce that, “Hey, we’re still over here. We still love you. We still offer the same great service. Come back.”

Mike:

Well, so I mentioned, it’s got a 10 to 1 return to it. And I know that we’ve had higher ones than that. But we guarantee at least 10 to 1. What gives you the confidence that you can offer this at 10 to 1? One of the folks I talked to out there said to me, “My daddy always said, ‘If it sounds too good to be true, it is.’ So I don’t know if I believe you or not.” And I said, “Well, that’s the good point is that we’re guaranteeing it.” So we’re taking that pressure off.

Neal:

That’s right. There are a few things in marketing that are surefire. And one of them has proven to be this program. We’ve run retread in a variety of markets and circumstances with different offers and different ways of touching people for years now. And we’ve yet to ever have one that falls below our guarantee. So I think that’s a really simple thing to stand behind and say, “I’ll put my money where my mouth is. I’ll stand behind it. And we’ll guarantee that for every dollar you put into trying to reach those lost customers, we’ll guarantee $10 of revenue back.”

Mike:

That’s a fascinating offer. I mean, it’s almost like, how can you not do it? Because look, the reality is you’ve got a list of customers that haven’t been back. We’re going after the cream of the crop. And why not put the full-court press on them? And when I say it that way, I don’t mean we’re overbearing. We’re talking about just dripping in front of them for 90 days. But that awareness gets them back. And speak a little bit to this spike, because I know that you’ve mentioned this is one of the intriguing points to you after running this program so many times, you’re amazed at how many people don’t redeem the offer. But they still come back.

Neal:

Yeah. It’s really surprising, because typical marketing metrics, we look at conversions, we look at phone calls and form fills and offer redemptions. And this system, most of that bypasses it. The proof is in the customer returning. And ultimately, that’s what we’re all most concerned with, is revenue. All these marketing metrics are great, but they’re meaningless if it doesn’t put cash in the cash register.

Mike:

And you’re able to match this back with the name, because the name, obviously, came from the list of six months to 30 months missing customer. And then that name we find comes back to the store and we’re able to see what they spent in the last visit, the last 90 days that they came back through the program.

Neal:

That’s it. So we’ll want to analyze a database. And we’ll want to look at where the greatest opportunities are in here. And typically, that missing customer range, their last visits somewhere in the six to 12 month range plus. And we’ll identify that list. And then we’ll hand it back off to the shops. “Here’s who we intend to go after. Cross off all the ones you don’t ever want to see again.” There’s some people that we’re happy to see them go, even though they spend a lot of money with us. Once we understand who that target list is, now we know who we’re going to market to. But we also know who we need to monitor inside your database.

Neal:

So at the conclusion, we’ll do a matchback. We’ll go do an analysis and determine, did Paul Smith come back in? And if so, what was the offer that we sent him? And then we’ll rely on our clients to say hey, that he redeemed it or he didn’t. But honestly, the redemption doesn’t matter. He came back in. That’s the key.

Mike:

And then add up the dollars of the different customers and there you go. Yeah. What’s the minimum number on the list that you need to have?

Neal:

For this to be effective, we need at least six to 700 missing customers, because by the time we target them and try to reach all of them, that number’s going to come down to somewhere around 500, who haven’t moved out of market and their information’s accurate, that sort of thing. So 500’s kind of our target, minimum.

Mike:

It seems to me this really plays an advantage. I mean, it’s advantageous for multi-location facilities. But assuming a multi-location operation, shops, they want to do this program, how do you ensure that, I mean, I guess, I’m asking this from the perspective of the advertiser, how do I make sure that the person gets to the right store?

Neal:

Sure. So there are a couple of paths. If you have stores that are really close together, we want one, make sure that they just haven’t switched stores, because sometimes, depending on the point of sale, the database may not track them from one to the other. So we want to eliminate that. But two, if your stores are all in a similar market, we want to bring your convenience as one of the reasons they ought to come back. But ultimately, if they cross party lines, if they head over to a different location, that’s a win. Ideally, we’d like to keep them all in that same shop, but if they choose to move, that’s fine. They were a great customer and we’re happy to help them.

Mike:

Yep. Okay. I gotcha. Talk about how long the setup is for this. Or let’s say, for example, the last client we did, how long did it take you to set up, give a price and then to hit the button go?

Neal:

Sure. This is fast. And it’s fast because we have a track record. We have the options already figured out and mapped. So there’s not a lot of deliberation that goes into this process. Really, the time spent up front is the creative process. We need to get your brand and your offer, everything matching up so it’s synonymous with your company. Beyond that, I would say that we’re as little as two weeks in preparation. We ask for 30 days, because this is a lot easier if we start in the end, at the beginning and end of a month. But nonetheless, two weeks is plenty doable.

Mike:

Okay. Do you have very many case studies? I mean, let’s say, for instance, somebody’s listening to this and they want to know about… And then, I realize that some certain customers may not want to be known, that they’re doing a program like this, but…

Neal:

Yeah, we have two really relevant, really recent case studies that we’re happy to share and discuss. And I think they paint two really different scenarios.

Mike:

So what do you mean by that?

Neal:

One is a short run. And we recommend a 90 day period. But we have a case study around a 60 day period. And also one that didn’t include all the marketing channels. So we have one kind of off the a la carte menu. And it exceeded a 10 to 1 return. And then, we have one that’s a full menu item, where we used all the channels and we ran it for a full 90 days. And that one achieved a little over a 19 to one return.

Mike:

So it was worth spending the extra effort and channels, et cetera, to get a bigger return.

Neal:

That’s correct. That’s correct. So Mike, one of the things we spend our time talking about a lot in marketing is on the acquisition side. That’s where most of our clients come to us, is looking for help getting new customers. When we think about acquiring a new customer, we often talk about a cost per acquisition. How much money are you willing to spend to get a new customer? I’ve asked that question a thousand times. And of course, gotten a thousand different answers. But the answer usually is a significant number. We’re willing to pay, to get a new customer in the door, we’re willing to pay a lot of money. We’re willing to pay even more to get someone in who’s qualified. Imagine if we knew they would come in and be at or above our average repair order.

Neal:

So in this case, we’re fishing from a pond that’s already got trophy fish. We know it’s a known quantity. We know everyone in there. We know their spending history and what kind of customer they’ve been. So if you’ve got a customer who has an average repair order of $450 every visit, and they see you four times a year, what would you spend to get them back in? Surprisingly, this becomes really, really competitive with even the numbers we see on the acquisition side.

Mike:

Well, it’s fascinating to me, because it seems to me, and I hate using this term, but it makes sense, it’s kind of easy money. It’s sitting out there.

Neal:

It’s a savings account.

Mike:

Yeah. They already know you. You know them. You want them back in here. And the other reality is you might spark their interests. It’s interesting to me, because I do have a lot of kids. And we have multiple cars here. And it’s kind of funny how I get caught in the rabbit hole, where I’ve taken a car to one shop. Why? Because it just got convenient one day. Well, guess what? The next time I went back, if I had a slight noise in the brakes, or whatever, well, that guy doesn’t want to touch them. Last, I wouldn’t even figure out what was wrong with it. What did you… Sometimes, I mean, they’d be nice enough to cut me a deal and say, “Hey, we may not have checked the rotors last time,” or something like that. Or, “We should have rotated them,” or something. You know what I mean?

Mike:

So I end up taking that vehicle that way. You know what I mean? And it’s kind of funny, but if I got back on track or somebody sent me something, I think I’d end up going home again with that vehicle, back to where I normally go, if that makes sense. And so I think there’s opportunity not only for the automobile that was in there last, but it’s the opportunity of just reminding that person, the buyer, your customer, hey, they may have multiple cars and that rotation of needs is different and you may get them the very next day.

Neal:

That’s right. That’s right. I’m really surprised by how quickly this program shows a return. It’s usually early on that we start to see a lift. That lift progresses over time. And that’s one of the reasons we really like to run it for a full 90 days, is to be able to build on that recognition. So remind me once versus remind me 90 days in a row. It’s a far different outcome. We also see that the results, the returns out of this continue on. It doesn’t just stop once we stop running our ads. That trigger is already set. We’ve already done our job of placing some brand awareness in that person’s mind. So when they are actually due for an oil change, if it’s past our 90-day window, surprisingly, they show up. So it has a much longer effect than just the run of the campaign.

Mike:

Well, I know we’ve talked here for a good 20 minutes, but I want to encourage our listeners to get in touch with Tread Partners. Visit TreadPartners.com. But more importantly, feel free to email at [email protected] and just inquire about it. We’d love to answer your questions. Neal, I know you would, too. Is there anything else that we’re leaving out that we want to say to the folks?

Neal:

Well, I think, especially when we’re talking about marketing, there are plenty of options for websites and for PPC and SEO. And we always hope that we’re the number one option. But in terms of re-engagement and bringing back lost customers, there’s nothing like this on the market. And it’s a culmination of years and years of working with shops just like yours to produce these kinds of results. So I hope you’ll give us an opportunity to tell you a little more about it.

Mike:

I think it’s worthwhile, folks. And just, the reality is it’s your money sitting out there. And these folks are going to need some maintenance issue. They’ve got something going on in the next 90 to 180 days and they might as well use you. They know you already.

Neal:

Mike, I want to leave you with this. Imagine if I brought my car to you and had a significant repair and spent $2,700 having my air condition fixed. And I got a thank you note from you right afterwards. But a couple of months later, it’s time for me to think about an oil change, or it’s time for a new set of tires and I’ve not heard from you.

Mike:

Yeah. That says it. That’s true. Well, folks, we appreciate you tuning in and listening to the podcast. Again, tune in next time. Be safe. And we appreciate you listening.

Announcer:

Thanks for listening to the Gain Traction Podcast. We’ll see you again next time. And be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.

• Gain Traction Podcast
• Mike Edge
• Neal Maier
• Tread Partners

Transcript