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But the reality is a lot of these owners are just eating those increases, but they're not increasing anything themselves.

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And the biggest fight I have is on labor rate.

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And it's funny, it sometimes takes me one hour to convince somebody to raise their labor rate if it was too low.

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And sometimes it takes me three months to get them off the schneide to say, okay, I'm tired of hearing from you.

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I will raise my labor rate.

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And inevitably I always hit them at the end of that week after they've had their labor rate increased.

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And I said, did one customer say anything?

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And they go, no.

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Nobody said boo.

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Well, it's a miracle.

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Welcome to the Gain Traction Podcast, the official podcast for tire business.

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I am Mike Edge, your host and I have the privilege of interviewing the tire dealers, shop owners, counter sales reps, technicians, industry executives and other thought leaders of our industry.

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This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners.

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Tread Partners is the leading digital marketing agency that specializes in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops.

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Tread Partners works with clients that have hundreds of locations down to job locations.

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Get a professional unbiased opinion and let Tread Partners review what you're doing.

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It starts with a simple conversation.

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To contact tread partners, visit treadpartners.com so let's get started.

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Hey folks, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast, the official podcast for tire business.

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Tony Abilovich is our guest today.

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He is the guy that leads the master shop program for Point S Tire usa and I couldn't be more excited.

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Tony, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast.

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Hey, thanks for having me.

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I really appreciate you having me on here, Mike.

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It was a great podcast and it's a privilege for me to be here.

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Well, you and I always talk easily, so I know that our challenge is going to be to keep it within the timeframe, but we'll do the best we can.

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You know, you and I touched on several important factors, but I think it's important people know a little bit about your background because you've run a lot of stores before.

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You want to tell us about that or just tell me a little bit about your career when you how you got into the tire and auto repair.

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Yeah, I got into out of college and when I was done with football I was just basically working in a warehouse and a family friend told me that there was a retread company looking for an outside salesperson.

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It was a family friend we knew.

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I grew up near him and so I went to work in the giant tire retreading industry for about five years.

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And then shortly thereafter I went to work for that gentleman's son who started opening retail locations.

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At the time it was Tire factory that eventually evolved to Point S. And when I started for him, he had five locations in the state of Oregon.

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And when I was done working there in 2021, I was overseeing 18 locations in Oregon and then helping his expansion out in the northeast of the country and so on and so forth.

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So I've been a part of a, a team that grew very quickly to the locations that we had.

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And overseeing a lot of retail on the day to day operations of that was.

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It was an incredible experience for me.

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Well, you guys run this masterclass and so a little bit about Point S. Point S is like a co op, right?

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That you share.

40
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It is a co op.

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Yeah.

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And you share a big name.

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And it doesn't mean that the independent has to get rid of their old name, it's just that they incorporate it.

44
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Yeah.

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If you were Mike's Tire and then you joined Point S, you'd be Mike's Point S Tire and Auto.

46
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Yeah.

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And so that's basically what would happen is if you joined, you would change a few colors and you would keep your name, but just add the Point S to it.

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We try and make that very seamless for people so they don't lose.

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Because many of the people that are in Point S are second, third generation people.

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They don't want to lose that name.

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They work so hard to build up.

52
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Amen.

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And what's cool about it though is because there's a lot of different groups that, you know, let's say deal organizations that try to create, you know, buying power basically.

54
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But you guys are trying to also put a little bit of a brand with it.

55
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Right.

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Nationally so that there's leverage.

57
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But then at the same time, I think it's so cool that you guys have you as an instructor to literally go in and I'm here to make your job easier and help you make more money, basically.

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And it's all part of the gig.

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The deal.

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Well, I think between our CEO and CEO Walter Liebeck and Clint Young, they realized very early for us to be a co op.

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And probably part of the reason that we're growing as fast as we are, we're one of the fastest growing chains is we have leadership like that says let's not just be something that you paint your store and you get maybe some better buying power.

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Let's offer other services like in house Consulting.

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Because the reality is some of these second and third generation owners, they did it as their parents did it, and they never went outside of their bubble to learn any different techniques, new techniques, and it's not wrong.

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They don't know those other techniques.

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That's just how they've done it for a lot of years.

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And so to be able to bring someone like me in to help advise people on maybe a different way of doing things, but it's only in house for Point S. I think it's been a great thing.

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I can tell you right now, the customers that I've dealt with have been exceptionally happy.

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And you've got a great story.

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There's, there's one of them I want you to share without mentioning names, but there's a, a lady that basically took over a store that her dad had, right?

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And he had run it for years.

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He had been a member of Point S or the tire factory for a long time.

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And then all of a sudden, boom, it's in her hands.

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And, and not that she didn't know the business, but now since she had to run the business, right, and you were able to come in and basically tell her, hey, everything's gonna be all right.

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You get, you got this.

75
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Yeah, it's scary.

76
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I mean, you have a parent die, obviously, and it's one thing when you're sitting next to the captain's chair, it's a different thing to be sitting in the captain's chair.

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And she was afraid at that time because her dad had worked very hard to build this great business.

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He really invested his time to her people, into his people at the time.

79
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And Mickey was nervous about that without saying names.

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Right.

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Oops.

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Anyhow, she's a saint of a lady.

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She was nervous about what direction she was going to be able to take it.

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And she very quickly realized, I think I was able to show her that you've got this, you're fine, you know, more than you think.

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And then we just implemented some basic changes in there on the infrastructure of what people need to have and what expectations they need to live to.

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That's the best way for an owner to do it.

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People get very wound up in personalities and stuff.

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We still have expectations for the job.

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Yeah.

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And so when she set those expectations, she actually has exceeded everything her dad has ever done financially.

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Man, that is so phenomenal.

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And she's a great person, so she deserves it.

93
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Well.

94
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And I think the other thing that you bring to the table that you really it's kind of like what you said, you know, when you get into business, sometimes, man, you just get into business and you doing it and you're making it work and everything.

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But the advantage that you bring to the table is the fact that, look, you've been all over the country, you've run a lot of stores.

96
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I'm sure you always learn from other folks.

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But at the same time, you're able to bring that back to somebody individually, one one, and say, hey, listen, here's some best practices that I've seen that you're not doing that.

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If you just did them, man, it's going to make a world of difference.

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And you got to trust me here.

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That's, you know, the biggest thing I. I stumble into.

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That's.

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That's a pineapple in the world around is troubling employees.

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Most owners get it in their head they can't live without this employee, even though that employee might be a total headache.

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And.

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And inevitably, every time they finally make a decision or part ways with that employee, all this weight is removed off their shoulders.

106
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That's probably the biggest thing I see time and time again is the fear of dealing with a problem employee.

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Yeah.

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And how to deal with that problem employee.

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And maybe they have family ties to that employee, or maybe that employee's been there a long time.

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And we want to give every employee every opportunity.

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But on the flip side of that, we can't hurt our own business because of this employee or one employee.

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Doesn't make sense.

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No.

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And I think it's cool that they get to hear it from your perspective, because you get to come in, you see it over a little bit of time, and it's like, hey, you want my honest opinion?

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I'm here to help.

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I think it's cool, too.

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You and I talked about the other big factor that you see when you walk into locations and let's say people are struggling with profitability is how many times people don't have their prices set right.

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Oh, it's.

119
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It's Mike.

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I don't even know where to start on that one.

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The small business owner, as a general statement, seems to have it in their head that if I raise prices, all my customers are going to leave.

122
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And especially right now, in our current economic times, things are starting to stabilize a little bit, but not a ton.

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This is the time that we have to be raising our prices, because who else isn't raising their prices in your world right now, in your personal world, when you go to the grocery store, you go Buy a car, you go to a movie theater.

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I feel like, I feel like I'm getting skinned everywhere.

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I mean, you know, it's just, like, it's just a reality.

126
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But the reality is a lot of these owners are, are just eating those increases, but they're not increasing anything themselves.

127
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And the biggest fight I have is on labor rate.

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And it's funny, it sometimes takes me one hour to convince somebody to raise their labor rate if it was too low.

129
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And sometimes it takes me three months to get them off the schneide to say, okay, I will.

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I'm tired of hearing from you.

131
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I will, I will raise my labor rate.

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And inevitably, I always hit them at the end of that week after they've had their labor rate increase.

133
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And I said, did one customer say anything?

134
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And they go, no.

135
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Nobody said boo.

136
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Well, it's a miracle, you know, so, you know, just getting to charge.

137
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I'm not telling people to go out and gouge.

138
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I'm not telling you to be under.

139
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I'm telling you to be competitively priced in your marketplace.

140
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And if you don't know if you're competitively priced, then you haven't price checked your neighborhood.

141
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You need to do that, right?

142
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And I think it's important, like even just from the employee salary or pay structure or.

143
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And benefit side it.

144
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All of, all of that's in that equation right there.

145
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It makes you feel better and more confident to pay the better rates to your employees so that they feel good about being there.

146
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And nobody's really, you know, feeling like they're being dogged a little bit, I guess.

147
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Don't feel guilty about profit.

148
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As an owner, you should never feel guilty about profit because your extra profitability allows you to buy new equipment, give raises to people, hire extra bodies if you need them.

149
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Profitability is a healthy thing.

150
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You just gotta make sure you're sharing that with your team.

151
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And I'm always telling people, look, you gotta get everybody in your company winning.

152
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Not just the owner and manager can win.

153
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You need your lowest level employee winning.

154
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That's where we start building teams.

155
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Everybody's got to win.

156
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What's the.

157
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Any other big significant things that you see when you walk into a store or locations?

158
00:11:31,620 --> 00:11:36,260
I think a lack of a basic courtesy inspection is probably the second biggest thing I see.

159
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Because, look, you've got swings at the plate with customers is kind of how I look at them.

160
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And if you've got a swing at the plate and they give you a bat swing the dang thing, you might strike out.

161
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That's reality.

162
00:11:49,000 --> 00:11:53,880
But the reality is if you don't swing at all, you for sure have no chance of getting on base.

163
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And so I tell everybody, if you're doing a courtesy inspection, there's three reasons you do a courtesy inspection.

164
00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,320
Number one, to inform the customer of the safety of their vehicle.

165
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Number two, to drive business to your mechanical side of your business, which is generally your highest profitability side.

166
00:12:09,400 --> 00:12:14,760
And number three, it helps you educate your customers on the services you provide.

167
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You walk into a store that doesn't do courtesy checks, and let's say, for example, they do oil changes.

168
00:12:21,330 --> 00:12:27,570
You could ask every customer that walks through the door, including all your long term customers, and tell them you do oil changes.

169
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Half of them will say, I didn't know you did oil changes.

170
00:12:30,370 --> 00:12:36,530
You're not educating your customer base because I want those customers to come to me for all those services.

171
00:12:36,610 --> 00:12:40,770
But if they don't know you provide that, how would they know to come to you?

172
00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:43,200
And you got it right there at the captured market.

173
00:12:43,760 --> 00:12:45,560
It is strange that you do that.

174
00:12:45,560 --> 00:12:54,240
I had a, I had an owner tell me one time, he said a guy was leaning on a set, like a stack of tires he had, and he literally asked the question, do you sell tires?

175
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And he's like, you know, I just assumed everybody knew.

176
00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,240
And he said at that time we didn't have it in our name.

177
00:13:00,320 --> 00:13:07,280
He said, but I still thought I just took for granted you knew because I mean, we got tires around here, you know.

178
00:13:07,720 --> 00:13:14,480
But the guy asked me and he said, then I realized I'm not doing a good job of, you know, messaging here.

179
00:13:14,480 --> 00:13:24,800
Something's not connecting, you know, and I, we need to do a better job at the counter, but we also need to make it maybe more aware with signs or whatever, but in a marketing.

180
00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,840
But the guy was literally leaning on a stack of tires and asked, do you guys sell tires here?

181
00:13:28,840 --> 00:13:30,560
Your point so well taken there.

182
00:13:30,560 --> 00:13:34,400
Because people could have all kinds of stuff on their walls.

183
00:13:34,400 --> 00:13:36,280
You know, we sell this brand of oil.

184
00:13:36,360 --> 00:13:38,040
Oil changes are this price.

185
00:13:38,470 --> 00:13:40,390
And people go, do you guys do oil changes?

186
00:13:40,470 --> 00:13:42,550
And you got all this stuff up there.

187
00:13:42,870 --> 00:13:46,790
So again, it comes down to you speaking to that customer.

188
00:13:46,790 --> 00:13:52,550
So a courtesy check is just the fundamental way to start that conversation.

189
00:13:53,350 --> 00:14:01,430
And it is so important because, you know, when you're in a stressful situation, which, let's face it, a lot of customers are, they don't want to spend money.

190
00:14:01,430 --> 00:14:04,590
They didn't wake up today saying, man, I can't wait to go buy a set of tires.

191
00:14:04,590 --> 00:14:07,110
Today or I can't wait to get this check engine light fixed or whatever.

192
00:14:07,110 --> 00:14:14,310
They, they're literally dialed in on that one issue and they got another major issue that they have to take care of at the same time.

193
00:14:14,310 --> 00:14:26,030
And most of them, at least I feel this way, are not going to feel bad if you, if like you say, if you bring it up the right way and you present it the right way, they're going to be glad you brought it up.

194
00:14:26,030 --> 00:14:28,470
They don't, they don't want you not to tell them something.

195
00:14:28,550 --> 00:14:29,030
At least.

196
00:14:29,030 --> 00:14:29,470
I don't.

197
00:14:29,470 --> 00:14:30,470
I know, I know.

198
00:14:30,470 --> 00:14:38,270
If I'm getting my wife's car inspected, please just tell me what we got to do because she's going on a road trip with friends or the, or my kids or something like that.

199
00:14:38,270 --> 00:14:39,650
I want it all ch out.

200
00:14:40,850 --> 00:14:41,210
Yeah.

201
00:14:41,210 --> 00:14:46,050
I think the biggest thing is at Point S we really try and push the One Stop shop.

202
00:14:46,050 --> 00:14:48,210
Heck, I'm in the business and I hate car day.

203
00:14:48,450 --> 00:14:55,570
You know, it's, you know, I get 5% of the planet can't wait to go wash, wax and change zuo on their car on the weekend.

204
00:14:55,570 --> 00:14:57,090
That, that's really fun to them.

205
00:14:57,410 --> 00:15:10,310
The bulk of people to do car day to go over here for your oil change and over here for your rotation over here because you met a mechanic to get One Stop Shop makes those people's lives quicker and easier.

206
00:15:11,350 --> 00:15:19,110
It's just more efficient because to go spend half my day going to all these places to do something that, you know, I've worked hard all week.

207
00:15:19,110 --> 00:15:22,350
I want to go to the beach or go to the camping or whatever.

208
00:15:22,350 --> 00:15:27,350
I want to golfing, whatever I want to go do instead of car day.

209
00:15:27,670 --> 00:15:33,430
And so we really like to promote that One Stop Shop that we can provide all those services, a competitive price.

210
00:15:34,440 --> 00:15:36,120
Let's talk about Point S and the brand.

211
00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,040
It's, it's a great brand.

212
00:15:38,600 --> 00:15:40,120
I've really gotten to know you guys.

213
00:15:40,200 --> 00:15:46,400
You guys do such a great job of it appears to me of just picking the right people to be part of the brand.

214
00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:52,200
I mean you, I know you get inquiries here and there and you're always interested in more and you're interested in growing the name.

215
00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:53,800
But you are selective, aren't you?

216
00:15:54,680 --> 00:15:58,440
Yeah, I mean we, look, we are, we're a family.

217
00:15:59,330 --> 00:16:00,290
And what a lot of people.

218
00:16:00,530 --> 00:16:05,570
I think, Mike, you got to see it because you got to go to your first annual owners meeting back in January.

219
00:16:06,770 --> 00:16:11,330
What people outside of our bubble don't understand is what a family we are.

220
00:16:11,970 --> 00:16:19,010
You Might join groups, you might join different buying groups, you might join that stuff, but it's really not family.

221
00:16:19,410 --> 00:16:27,500
And I can't tell you how many people I've watched that came from different buying groups that joined with Point S and went to that first annual owners meeting.

222
00:16:27,740 --> 00:16:33,100
And this camaraderie and friendship they get because we're all in it together.

223
00:16:33,100 --> 00:16:35,100
Look, they're all owners of the company.

224
00:16:35,820 --> 00:16:43,340
I work for all the members because they own the company, they own the real estate, they own the company, they own everything about it.

225
00:16:43,660 --> 00:16:55,780
And that's what makes us so great is that family camaraderie that we make moves as a group to better our owners because they own the company and we work for the owners.

226
00:16:55,780 --> 00:16:57,900
And I think that's what makes us very unique.

227
00:16:57,900 --> 00:17:02,820
From every other buying group in our country that I'm aware of, we're a family.

228
00:17:03,220 --> 00:17:04,619
Well, I open every.

229
00:17:04,619 --> 00:17:05,660
I do a lot of videos.

230
00:17:05,660 --> 00:17:06,420
Sorry to cut you off.

231
00:17:06,420 --> 00:17:14,980
I do a lot of videos, just promotional stuff internally for Point S. And I always open it with hello family.

232
00:17:15,700 --> 00:17:17,819
Because that's how we all see each other.

233
00:17:17,819 --> 00:17:24,470
Whether I'm an employee at Point S, I'm a member owner for Point S, you're a corporate officer for Point S. We're family.

234
00:17:24,869 --> 00:17:26,230
That's what's unique to me.

235
00:17:26,630 --> 00:17:27,670
It is interesting.

236
00:17:27,670 --> 00:17:28,470
And what's.

237
00:17:28,470 --> 00:17:38,230
What's very interesting too is that you guys do a really good job of making sure, you know, one shop's not one set of owners within the group is not cannibalizing another set.

238
00:17:38,230 --> 00:17:42,710
So I mean, it's like, you know, you're selective about your geographic positioning as well.

239
00:17:43,270 --> 00:17:54,280
Yeah, I mean, when we became Point S in 2015, Tire Factory at the time was tasked with growing east in the United States.

240
00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:59,000
And Walter, our CEO is just a great person.

241
00:17:59,640 --> 00:18:05,160
Walter and Clint put together a plan that were going to have a warehouse on the east coast within four years.

242
00:18:05,480 --> 00:18:07,400
Well, they had that warehouse in two years.

243
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:09,720
We have expansion.

244
00:18:10,120 --> 00:18:11,480
We have a goal right now.

245
00:18:11,480 --> 00:18:13,520
It's called, we call it 55 5.

246
00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:16,480
It's 500 stores in 50 states in five years.

247
00:18:16,480 --> 00:18:20,900
And we're three years into it and we're at 450 in 35 states.

248
00:18:21,380 --> 00:18:23,780
I mean, we are ahead of schedule.

249
00:18:23,780 --> 00:18:30,340
Our outside sales team does an incredible job of showing people as best they can what we are all about.

250
00:18:30,740 --> 00:18:32,500
But we're growing like a weed.

251
00:18:32,500 --> 00:18:40,500
And how else is an independent owner going to stay relevant globally in business if you don't join a team?

252
00:18:41,060 --> 00:18:43,380
And this is a team of member.

253
00:18:43,620 --> 00:18:47,070
Owned people that's what's cool about it.

254
00:18:47,070 --> 00:18:51,230
And I think it's kind of like, you know, the word cooperative.

255
00:18:51,230 --> 00:19:03,270
If people know how they work, you know, there's a reason why farmers do it and other groups do it because you end up being a team within, like, I, I think of some farmer groups I knew that were cooperatives or whatever.

256
00:19:03,270 --> 00:19:05,350
But, you know, you got to have that buying power.

257
00:19:05,350 --> 00:19:07,550
But you also learn from each other constantly.

258
00:19:07,630 --> 00:19:17,560
And one of the things I noticed about at your conference was the interaction just on the side of people that knew each other, but maybe not see each other once a year.

259
00:19:17,720 --> 00:19:23,360
And I mean, it was like a love fest of hugs and then they might share ideas right there.

260
00:19:23,360 --> 00:19:28,840
I mean, you know, hey, man, I had this problem and what you said to me, it helped, you know, or I got that fixed.

261
00:19:29,640 --> 00:19:31,600
And, and here's, I think here's.

262
00:19:31,600 --> 00:19:32,920
I'm going to expand on that.

263
00:19:32,920 --> 00:19:36,360
Here's the beauty of Point S to your point, exactly.

264
00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:47,430
A couple weeks ago, we just started our mentor program, and myself and one of the fellow owners of Point S got together.

265
00:19:47,430 --> 00:19:49,670
We've been working on this idea for three months.

266
00:19:49,910 --> 00:19:52,670
We just rolled it out at our new member orientation.

267
00:19:52,670 --> 00:19:58,390
So anytime we have new members join three times a year, we do orientation for those members to come.

268
00:19:58,390 --> 00:20:05,430
And they get to hear from our CEO, cfo, coo, they get to hear from people like myself, other people within the group.

269
00:20:06,180 --> 00:20:15,900
Well, what was amazing is by starting this mentor program, everybody, anytime they join a group or kind of drinking through a fire hose, essentially, there's a lot of things that change.

270
00:20:15,900 --> 00:20:17,060
They've got to paint their building.

271
00:20:17,060 --> 00:20:18,260
They got a lot of things going.

272
00:20:19,060 --> 00:20:24,100
So now what we're doing is we're hooking them up a new member up with a longtime member.

273
00:20:24,100 --> 00:20:32,020
So not only will a new member have our new member on border sit there and hold their hand for a year, but now you're going to have a buddy.

274
00:20:32,750 --> 00:20:40,030
You're going to get introduced to a buddy right out of the gate that's going to a confidant that you can talk to, you can ask questions to.

275
00:20:40,190 --> 00:20:42,030
That's a fellow, it's a peer.

276
00:20:42,030 --> 00:20:44,030
It's a fellow business owner just like you.

277
00:20:44,350 --> 00:20:47,750
So we're doing these things to show people, hey, it's easy to.

278
00:20:47,750 --> 00:20:50,270
Come on, it's easy to make those changes.

279
00:20:50,270 --> 00:20:52,350
And here's why you made those changes.

280
00:20:52,670 --> 00:20:53,550
That's awesome.

281
00:20:53,790 --> 00:20:59,470
I think you bring that confidence that an owner needs to make that leap.

282
00:21:00,150 --> 00:21:04,950
And, you know, I'm just thinking, like, if you're Sitting there as an owner out there, and you're listening right now.

283
00:21:05,910 --> 00:21:14,550
I could tell you right now, just from a personal standpoint, Tony, I told you this, so I'm not blowing smoke, but I thought you were a football coach at one time because you're so enthusiastic.

284
00:21:14,550 --> 00:21:17,750
Now, I know, you know, we're both football fans and we talked about that.

285
00:21:17,750 --> 00:21:24,870
You played and everything, but it's like you bring that level of coaching and you make it fun.

286
00:21:24,870 --> 00:21:26,790
Hey, I'm not here to.

287
00:21:26,870 --> 00:21:29,230
I'm not here to tell you to change your business.

288
00:21:29,230 --> 00:21:37,000
I'm here to help you know, make a better pass, you know, or make a better catch or whatever, and using football terms or make a better tackle.

289
00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:42,480
I'm just going to teach you some things that are going to work for you that we see across the board, and you're going to make more money.

290
00:21:42,480 --> 00:21:43,200
One of the story.

291
00:21:43,200 --> 00:21:49,040
One of the stories incorporated in the previous one we talked about was you talked the lady how to.

292
00:21:49,200 --> 00:21:50,960
She's working less and making more.

293
00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:53,720
And, And I think you taught.

294
00:21:53,720 --> 00:21:58,080
You've taught owners how to get their time back and be able to make the business.

295
00:21:58,560 --> 00:22:01,840
Hey, I'm gonna show you how to operate it versus it operating you.

296
00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:03,120
Yeah, those.

297
00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:06,160
You know, it's funny, a lot of us, it, it's.

298
00:22:06,400 --> 00:22:09,520
I can see how people become micromanagers.

299
00:22:09,760 --> 00:22:10,320
Oh, yeah.

300
00:22:10,320 --> 00:22:12,640
You know, we've done it their way for a long time.

301
00:22:12,640 --> 00:22:13,040
But.

302
00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:19,120
But I'm here to tell you, I think being a dictator nowadays is a tough way to lead people.

303
00:22:19,600 --> 00:22:21,200
But, you know, I'm going to interrupt real quick.

304
00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:23,400
Sometimes I don't know if it's being a dictator as much as.

305
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:29,060
It's just that, man, I've always done it this way, and this is the way my family has survived for, you know, 30 years.

306
00:22:29,380 --> 00:22:34,300
And it's just hard to get off of that horse because I'm scared, basically, is what.

307
00:22:34,300 --> 00:22:34,580
There's.

308
00:22:34,580 --> 00:22:37,620
There's a fear factor of change because I'm profitable.

309
00:22:38,020 --> 00:22:38,900
But I can.

310
00:22:38,900 --> 00:22:40,780
Can I really be that much more profitable?

311
00:22:40,780 --> 00:22:44,740
And you're telling me just by doing these little things, you know, I can.

312
00:22:44,740 --> 00:22:45,300
That's a.

313
00:22:45,300 --> 00:22:46,580
That's a big leap, you know.

314
00:22:47,140 --> 00:22:53,260
Well, I fundamentally believed you can make more and work less because that means you have to delegate to your people.

315
00:22:53,260 --> 00:22:55,460
But the critical part of delegating to your.

316
00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:00,560
Is you have to show them how to do it and you have to be patient on that training.

317
00:23:00,880 --> 00:23:12,800
Remember, most of these owners, they learned it over years of whether they were a young kid and they were just spending time in their parents shop or whatever it was, and they learned that over many years of time.

318
00:23:12,880 --> 00:23:21,200
Well, you're asking someone to learn something yet we're not willing to invest in the training of that person or the patience that it takes to train that person.

319
00:23:21,200 --> 00:23:30,910
But nobody will argue me that if I took all your employees up one level and made them one level better, does your life get easier?

320
00:23:31,070 --> 00:23:32,750
Yes, it does, 100%.

321
00:23:32,830 --> 00:23:40,670
Because you have more responsible people around you and you've gotta, that's why you set expectations, that's why you train, is to grow your people.

322
00:23:40,990 --> 00:23:49,710
And that's the biggest thing I encourage in my program that I run Master Shop is if we grow our people, your life gets easier.

323
00:23:49,790 --> 00:23:59,810
And one of my most proud moments was, and I've got a lot of them with people I've worked with, I was able to see a PNL over the previous year.

324
00:23:59,810 --> 00:24:07,210
So the time that person was with me, from the time before, they actually kicked out $30,000 more in bonus money.

325
00:24:07,610 --> 00:24:11,130
And yet their net profit was up 180,000.

326
00:24:12,490 --> 00:24:14,650
And so that's what made me excited.

327
00:24:14,650 --> 00:24:21,100
They actually made more money, kicked out more bonus money, everybody won and their life was easier.

328
00:24:21,500 --> 00:24:23,020
Like you can't argue with that.

329
00:24:23,260 --> 00:24:24,300
And it can happen.

330
00:24:24,380 --> 00:24:28,940
You know, you got a really cool motto that you like to live by or throw out.

331
00:24:28,940 --> 00:24:29,980
Do you want to share that?

332
00:24:30,700 --> 00:24:32,220
Polite, honest, direct.

333
00:24:33,580 --> 00:24:36,540
Like you don't need to tear someone down when you're talking to them.

334
00:24:36,540 --> 00:24:45,020
You don't need to be animated if you're going to have a real conversation with someone in particular, you're trying to get someone to improve or whatever.

335
00:24:45,580 --> 00:24:47,980
You don't need to sit there and tear them down as a person.

336
00:24:47,980 --> 00:24:49,340
You don't need to yell at them.

337
00:24:49,580 --> 00:24:52,140
Be polite, be honest and be direct.

338
00:24:52,300 --> 00:24:55,780
Because if you're polite, that always comes across nicely.

339
00:24:55,780 --> 00:24:56,300
And care.

340
00:24:56,540 --> 00:25:12,260
If you're honest and you tell them directly and you're direct on that conversation, it's important because if you beat around the bush delivering your message to somebody, they might not make take your message directly and they might go do something else.

341
00:25:12,260 --> 00:25:14,140
And that's really not on them, that's on you.

342
00:25:14,140 --> 00:25:19,800
Because your message wasn't direct and it wasn't honest because you were afraid of being directly honest.

343
00:25:20,120 --> 00:25:22,440
You can do that in a polite fashion.

344
00:25:22,680 --> 00:25:25,240
Be real with people and they'll be real back with you.

345
00:25:25,800 --> 00:25:27,320
Same thing with customers, right?

346
00:25:28,120 --> 00:25:30,920
I mean, absolutely.

347
00:25:31,799 --> 00:25:34,600
I think this is an old mantra, but I like it a lot.

348
00:25:34,600 --> 00:25:36,040
Clarity is charity.

349
00:25:36,680 --> 00:25:39,320
And if you could be clear with people and.

350
00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:41,120
But you got to preface it.

351
00:25:41,120 --> 00:25:41,960
You got to be polite.

352
00:25:41,960 --> 00:25:43,560
You can't be, you know, a jerk about it.

353
00:25:43,560 --> 00:25:44,670
But it.

354
00:25:44,830 --> 00:25:47,710
People in the long run respect that much more.

355
00:25:47,710 --> 00:25:50,430
I mean, from my days of just being on the road about.

356
00:25:50,750 --> 00:26:00,470
Back in the day when I sold more and I was on the road, you know, I flat out tell owners that, you know, they were him hauling around about a program I was introducing or something like that.

357
00:26:00,470 --> 00:26:02,590
I said, well, let me ask you when you're going to make a decision.

358
00:26:03,310 --> 00:26:04,030
I don't know.

359
00:26:04,190 --> 00:26:05,550
Well, let's put a time frame that.

360
00:26:05,550 --> 00:26:09,950
Because I want you to know my time's just as important as your time to me.

361
00:26:09,950 --> 00:26:17,050
You know, I mean, and if we can be clear with each other, I've given you everything you need to know, and no is the best answer you can give me.

362
00:26:17,050 --> 00:26:21,610
So I just, you know, I want to be upfront with you that I want to help you, but if you don't want the help, I.

363
00:26:21,610 --> 00:26:23,930
Hey, you know, you're not going to hurt my feelings.

364
00:26:24,330 --> 00:26:27,850
And it's the number one thing salespeople are afraid to do.

365
00:26:27,850 --> 00:26:29,410
Ask for the sale at the end of the.

366
00:26:29,410 --> 00:26:30,250
Of their pitch.

367
00:26:30,810 --> 00:26:43,510
It is, you know, nobody wants to hear the word no, but that's really, essentially, it's okay you and, you know, and I think in dealing with employees, it's just be upfront with people.

368
00:26:43,670 --> 00:26:49,590
And like you said, if you're not direct and they make a mistake, you made a wrong assumption that they knew it.

369
00:26:49,590 --> 00:27:00,070
You know, in a lot of years managing stores, I. I learned very quickly that, look, if you're going to blow up or, you know, go that road with people, you're going to churn through people.

370
00:27:00,390 --> 00:27:07,600
And the best way to get the most out of people is be straight up with them, help them get where they're going and.

371
00:27:07,600 --> 00:27:10,440
And you just get a positive experience and.

372
00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:12,720
But you got to invest in their growth, too.

373
00:27:12,720 --> 00:27:18,000
You can't just invest in the company's growth and forget about the individuals that are your team.

374
00:27:18,320 --> 00:27:18,720
Yeah.

375
00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:20,320
You know, that's the critical thing.

376
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:22,240
Don't always focus on numbers.

377
00:27:22,240 --> 00:27:26,160
Focus on growing your people because they're the ones that are going to get you there.

378
00:27:26,560 --> 00:27:27,600
And it'll get there.

379
00:27:28,560 --> 00:27:32,480
Just to let the audience know a little bit more about you, we're running up on our stop here.

380
00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:33,240
What.

381
00:27:33,720 --> 00:27:35,320
What's one of your favorite foods to eat?

382
00:27:35,320 --> 00:27:36,280
Because you travel a lot.

383
00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:38,400
Oh, I travel a lot.

384
00:27:38,400 --> 00:27:40,600
I've got to go to the South a lot lately.

385
00:27:40,600 --> 00:27:45,160
And I got to tell you, going to and my daughter actually lives in the south now.

386
00:27:45,480 --> 00:27:50,680
Crawfish boils are when you're from Oregon, you don't have crawfish oils.

387
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,640
You don't have any of those flavors or anything.

388
00:27:53,640 --> 00:28:00,040
I got to tell you, going to a crawfish boil and, and then I've got to go to New Orleans a couple of times, have those char.

389
00:28:00,040 --> 00:28:03,430
Grilled oysters are just insanely good.

390
00:28:03,750 --> 00:28:04,870
It is, it is.

391
00:28:05,350 --> 00:28:09,070
And you just touched one of my favorite for Cajun food in general is one of my favorite.

392
00:28:09,070 --> 00:28:19,790
But crawfish, I mean it is, it's a little work like if you eat them, you know, just steamed or whatever and you're pulling the tails off and everything, but it's well worth it.

393
00:28:19,790 --> 00:28:23,310
But then you can order dishes like you know, the old crawfish had to say.

394
00:28:23,310 --> 00:28:23,910
I mean that.

395
00:28:25,030 --> 00:28:26,710
Yeah, sign me up for all of it.

396
00:28:29,510 --> 00:28:33,970
We, we need to hit the road so Tava do the diners drive is dives.

397
00:28:36,610 --> 00:28:38,890
That might crush our diets but I'm in.

398
00:28:38,890 --> 00:28:40,810
Oh well, you know, once in a while.

399
00:28:40,810 --> 00:28:42,770
Tony, I think we'd have a good time doing that one.

400
00:28:42,930 --> 00:28:43,570
Yes, sir.

401
00:28:43,810 --> 00:28:46,050
Well, I can't thank you enough for being part of the podcast.

402
00:28:46,050 --> 00:28:47,330
This has been a great podcast.

403
00:28:47,970 --> 00:28:48,370
Mike.

404
00:28:48,370 --> 00:28:49,930
Thank you so much for having me on here.

405
00:28:49,930 --> 00:28:50,930
I really appreciate it.

406
00:28:50,930 --> 00:28:55,490
And, and if anybody ever considers Point ask, you're making a good choice.

407
00:28:55,810 --> 00:28:56,370
I agree.

408
00:28:56,610 --> 00:28:59,090
And to all audience out there, you know we love you.

409
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:00,680
Till next time, be safe.

410
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:01,760
Thank you for being here.

411
00:29:02,720 --> 00:29:06,000
To all our listeners, thank you for being part of the Gain Traction podcast.

412
00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:07,120
We are grateful for you.

413
00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:24,320
If you'd like to find more podcasts like this, please Visit Gain Traction podcast.com if you'd like to make a guest recommendation, please email me@mike treadpartners.com this episode has been powered by Tread Partners, the leader in digital marketing for multi location tire and auto repair shops.

414
00:29:24,320 --> 00:29:27,610
To the learn more about tread partners visit treadpartners.com.