Plus Sizing Profits: Managing Your Business and Maximizing Profits is a Numbers Game
Years ago, one of my journalism mentors gave me some advice. “You can’t manage what you don’t measure,” he told me. “That’s a catchy sentence that might work in an article someday,” I thought to myself. I didn’t realize at the time how valuable his advice would become. The concept would ultimately prove useful in
The Ties That Bind: How Do Successful Tire Dealers Cope When Home and Work Collide?
What if your boss is Mom or Dad? What if your closest, most trusted business partner is your brother or sister? Do you need a psychiatrist’s couch or a punching bag? Or maybe – just maybe – you don’t have a problem working with and living with relatives 24/7/365. In fact, what if just the
No Big Deal?
Mallory Eddy’s stop was at the bottom of a long, steep hill on two-lane Peterboro Road in Smithville, N.Y., a quiet little burg near Oneida. It was a sunny and clear late-May day when the school bus pulled up hard against the right berm to let three riders off. The cheerful, chatty second grader was
Bargain Clutter Busters
Boston was invaded in July 2003. Not by aliens or a foreign army, but by strange creatures known as “treadheads.” During that month, six young men cruised the streets of Boston sporting an unusual hair style – a tread pattern on their heads. They also wore red T-shirts bearing the question, “What’s up with my
A Beautiful Thing
Within retailing, and especially the retail tire business, it’s hard to find it. But when you do, you have to take a moment to step back, take a deep breath and say, “Now that’s a beautiful thing.”
Do You Know Us?: If You Don’t, You May be Alienating Your Most Profitable Customers Forever
If you’re like most tire dealers, you’re probably turning your back on the most profitable customers you’ll ever see. Not intentionally, perhaps, but this unique group of customers – tuners, enthusiasts, restylers, whatever you want to call them – is often left frustrated trying to deal with dealers. So, they leave and find another option.
Six Degrees of Separation
Recently, I caught up with a dealer friend I hadn’t seen in some time.
Just in Case
You never know when someone famous is going to clock out, so most newspapers have a drawer full of pre-written obituaries at the ready. We have a similar system here. Below is a sample, though we hope we’ll never have to use this one. WELLSBOTTOM, Va. ®“ Yesterday at 7 p.m., Billy Throneberry turned the
Complete Hiring/Firing Guide
What are the three most important factors in retailing success? Location, location, location? Nope – they are staff, staff, staff. Personnel experts contend that poor hiring decisions are the main causes of absenteeism and poor productivity, which ultimately result in employee turnover and profit loss. The smaller your business, the more important each person. Just
Get Pumped Up: Longer Tire Life, Fuel Savings Claims Heat Up Nitrogen Inflation
The gas from the past is making news again, and this time the story has legs. There’s nothing new about nitrogen inflation of tires. It’s been around since Texan Dr. Larry Sperberg brought it to our attention in 1968. That’s when he pronounced that a tire wears out from the inside out – a process