Ric Alameddine, VP of Marketing and Engineering, North American Aftermarket, Tenneco
Posted: March 20, 2006, 9 a.m., EST
LAKE FOREST, IL —
Every other week, aftermarketNews offers an interview with a high-profile individual in the automotive aftermarket. We give executives free rein to express their views on anything from the state of their corporations to recent legislative news to future trends in their niche markets. Here you see what matters to the newsmakers themselves.
This week we talk with Richard Alameddine, vice president of marketing and engineering, North American Aftermarket, for Tenneco Inc., manufacturer of Monroe shocks and struts, Monroe premium brakes, Walker exhaust products, DynoMax performance exhaust, Rancho performance suspensions and shocks, and DuPont Car Care appearance and performance chemicals.
Recently, your company held an event in which Tenneco aftermarket team members and WD representatives visited more than 1,400 Southern California repair shops in a single day to talk about Tenneco products and promotions. How did this idea evolve? What precipitated the need for a program like this?
The idea grew out of our plans for the Monroe brand’s 90th anniversary, which we’re celebrating this year. In reviewing the history of this great brand and product line, we were reminded of the unique capabilities that have made Monroe one of the leading names in the aftermarket. One of these capabilities is Monroe’s extensive sales presence at the installer level. Back in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, hundreds of Monroe salespeople would head out in their bright-yellow blazers to canvass local markets and help shops position themselves for increased sales of ride control products. Very few aftermarket manufacturers then or since have focused to this extent on the needs of service dealers and, in doing so, we helped pull product through the distribution channel. Monroe, Walker and our other aftermarket brands continue to invest heavily in resources that support the day-to-day business needs of repair shops, tire dealers and other service locations.
So, as we were discussing the key elements of Monroe’s 90th anniversary celebration, it seemed appropriate to demonstrate that we’re still one of very few aftermarket suppliers that can bring together hundreds of highly trained factory sales professionals and WD representatives for a single-day “lightning strike” that touches more than 1,000 shops. And, as you noted, we outdid ourselves by making more than 1,400 visits to service dealers whom we believe can take their ride control, brake and exhaust sales to the next level with Monroe and Walker.
What kind of a response did you get from the shops you visited?
A lot of them, frankly, were astonished that, in an age when other suppliers are reducing or eliminating their field sales representation, we are stepping up our on-site presence to communicate the benefits of the Monroe, Walker, DynoMax and Rancho product lines. Each Tenneco and WD team was equipped with product and promotion kits and empowered to help strengthen the shops’ competitive position in the ride control, friction, exhaust and performance categories. A few of the shop owners I spoke with have been around long enough to remember those yellow-jacketed Monroe salesmen of years gone by and were happy to see that we’re delivering the same level of service today.
On the whole, the response to our sales and marketing “lightning strike” was good news for the industry; we were met by thousands of front-line professionals who are fully engaged in the challenge of growing their businesses through premium brands and products. As just one measure of our success in Southern California, more than 700 shop owners stepped forward that day to join Tenneco’s 2006 Expert Plus promotional program. They understand that creative, aggressive consumer promotions — combined with great brands – help drive traffic in the ride control, brake and exhaust categories. The response in Southern California was indicative of the growing popularity of Expert Plus across North America; in fact, we’re expecting well over 20,000 member shops this year.
I understand you have more of these events planned. How many and in what regions?
This front-line activity is something Tenneco’s aftermarket team is doing every day in markets large and small. We are absolutely focused on the needs of the service dealer and dedicated to outworking every other aftermarket supplier in terms of driving traffic and helping shop owners and technicians sell our products. While we’ve traditionally been viewed as a leader in products, programs and marketing, we’re also setting the pace when it comes to leveraging all our capabilities on behalf of the service provider.
Our market-specific activities will continue throughout 2006. These include not only shop visits and promotional programs, but also the popular Monroe “Ride & Drive” program. For those readers who aren’t familiar with the Ride & Drive experience, we bring a fleet of vehicles to a specially designed road course in each market and accommodate hundreds – and sometimes more than a thousand – technicians who want to see and feel the difference of Monroe products in a real-life driving situation. That’s a training and selling-skills experience no one else in the industry has been able to replicate.
You mentioned Expert Plus. Tell us more about the benefits of membership in this program.
Expert Plus is the promotional vehicle through which more than 20,000 North American shops tap into Tenneco’s exclusive programs in order to grow their ride control and exhaust businesses. It’s the central component of our ongoing partnership with shop owners and technicians who are targeting increased bay traffic and more profitable customer relationships. Expert Plus has been one of the most successful programs in our company’s history. This success tells us shop owners and technicians are committed to growth in this very competitive industry and that they understand the value of Tenneco brands and products.
The import service marketplace has been an area of focus for the Monroe and Walker brands. How are these brands and product lines positioned to help installers capture more import service opportunities?
We don’t look at the market as domestic versus import. For us, the objective is simply to offer the best coverage of the full North American car parc, regardless of make or model. We’ve addressed the shift toward foreign-nameplate vehicles with extensive coverage expansions of our Monroe and Walker product lines. Monroe, for example, has achieved 98-percent coverage of passenger applications registered in North America. On the Walker side, we’ve added hundreds of premium direct-fit exhaust assemblies, mufflers and converters in each of the past three years. This year, we’re adding more 650 new exhaust part numbers.
Customers who rely on Monroe and Walker products enjoy the benefit of Tenneco’s global engineering and manufacturing footprint. We’re an OE supplier to just about every major global automaker, which means our products are based on extensive insight into the unique requirements of each vehicle. In addition, our global manufacturing capabilities and OE involvement have enabled us to introduce coverage for foreign-nameplate vehicles much more rapidly than some other suppliers.
How can aftermarket brands help independent service providers compete against import dealers for this business?
We can help them compete by providing products that are engineered and built to address the demands of each application, regardless of make or model. A direct-fit Walker Quiet-Flow muffler assembly for a Saab, for example, was developed by the same global engineering team that also designs Tenneco’s Starla and Gillet branded products in Europe. We’re leveraging Tenneco’s global footprint to ensure that every Monroe and Walker product delivers the precise OE-style fit, appearance and performance the vehicle owner expects. OE-style performance is particularly important for the owners of foreign-nameplate vehicles, who are currently more likely to return to their vehicle dealership for parts and service because they might not realize the same technologies are available through the aftermarket. We’re working with our WD and installer customers to change this perception.
With so many strong aftermarket brands to choose from today, marketing becomes a critical element in differentiating yourself from the competition. What is Tenneco’s philosophy on marketing and how do you keep customers faithful to your brands?
Leading manufacturers have mastered every step in the process of putting the right products into the hands of a receptive audience. This process involves developing and manufacturing a great product, optimizing the price/value relationship, providing skilled sales and training support and developing and executing effective advertising and promotional programs. Marketing captures and communicates the key messages represented in each of these steps. Strong companies with powerful brands do a great job at every step of this process, and in doing so have established stronger customer relationships. Both Monroe and Walker have excelled at this process for many years.
In late 2005, the company changed its name from Tenneco Automotive to Tenneco Inc., in what was described as “a move to better represent the expanding number of markets the company serves through its commercial and specialty vehicle businesses.” How has this new focus changed business for Tenneco?
Our growing presence in the commercial and specialty vehicle markets complements our core businesses of supplying ride control, emission control and elastomer products to automotive original equipment and aftermarket customers. Our new name shows the same dedication to customers in adjacent markets as we have demonstrated throughout the years for our automotive customers. You might not be aware, for example, that Tenneco is a leading provider of ride control technologies for commercial vehicles and we’re leveraging our diesel emissions control expertise into the commercial vehicle market where new diesel emissions regulations are creating more opportunities with these customers. For instance, we recently won business with International to supply the diesel exhaust aftertreatement system for their entire line of medium duty diesel vehicles with International engines.
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