Smooth-Running Family Business
Running a family businesscan get messy at times. Following are a few tips that will help you avoidarguments and resulting business disruption: • Senior family membersshould work closely with others in the family to ensure they have the chance toassume responsibilities that interest and challenge them. • Family members shouldbecome involved in the family business
Controlling Absenteeism
When a service manager,technician or front-desk employee is absent, it costs you money. That’s not all it costs.Absenteeism also inconveniences customers and other employees, potentiallyleading to bad word of mouth externally or low morale internally. Absenteeism will never goaway completely, but tire dealers can minimize it by following a few simplesteps. Start by advising job
Drug-Free Zone
Did you know that small,independent businesses are twice as likely as larger businesses to employ drugusers? That’s because smallbusinesses frequently lack drug education or drug-testing policies. In fact,statistics show that only 50% of businesses with fewer than 25 employees offerdrug education or policies. Why should tire dealerscare? Because compared to non-drug users, drug users are:
Getting the Most Out of Reviews
A well-conducted performancereview benefits both employer and employee. First, performance reviewsprovide an opportunity to assess the employee’s contribution to theorganization and identify his or her strengths and weaknesses. It’s a greattime to discuss poor performance as well as congratulate strong performance. Remember the following tipswhen conducting reviews: • Set a date. Sticking to aset date
Importance of Training
Educating your employees isnot only extremely important for your dealership’s regular business operations,it’s also expected by customers, who are paying for knowledgeable service.Remember, as an independent tire dealer competing with the big-box stores, youradvantage is in your knowledge and expertise. And study after study has shown thatconsumers rely on tire dealers for recommendations. Providing periodic,specially
Five Retail-Employee Musts
According to managementconsultants, there are five basic skills and traits that all retail employeesneed. If you take the time to develop these five traits in your employees,you’ll be richer for it, as your dealership will attract and keep morecustomers. 1. Familiarity with storelayout. Employees should know everything about the contents and location oftires and other
Turning Over Turnover
For any business, employeeturnover wastes time and costs both money and customers. But tire dealers andstore managers don’t have to stand by powerless watching employees come and go.There are several things you can do to reduce turnover rates. • Use care during the hiringprocess. When interviewing a candidate, think of your best past and presentemployees.
Mightier Than the Sword
As a manager or businessowner, your words are more powerful than you may think. Words can be weapons,delivering psychological blows to their targets. And wounded employees tend todwell on their injuries rather than put effort into doing a good job. On the other hand, words canalso cheer the spirits and lighten the load of employees
Five Affordable Employee Perks
Do you need to improvemorale in your tire shop but can’t afford to spend much? Consider these fivesimple, inexpensive ways to retain employees and increase their productivity: • Recognize major lifeevents, such as marriage or the birth or adoption of a child. • Give employees a paid dayoff on their birthdays. • Offer employees $100
When Employees Leave
The real cost of employeeturnover is much higher than you might expect, since only 10% to 15% ofturnover expense is immediately visible. In addition to direct costs associatedwith recruiting and unemployment compensation, reduced productivity andefficiency and the need for orientation and training contribute to hiddencosts. In fact, some personnel experts estimate the total cost of
Online Learning
Online learning isn’t onlyfor large, high-tech corporations. In fact, the Internet can offer relativelylow-cost learning opportunities for businesses with only a handful ofemployees. By taking online coursesyourself or offering them to your employees, you don’t have to order CDs or payfor the printing of training materials. Other reasons for considering onlinelearning as a method of
Playing For Keeps: Incentive Programs Make Finding, Keeping Employees Simpler
Retaining Good Employees is Hard. Finding New Ones is Harder. Creating Incentives Can Make It All a Lot Easier. In attracting and training qualified new employees, you may be overlooking a valuable resource that you already have in your arsenal: your current staff. In today’s competitive marketplace, retaining current employees is key to the success