Managers Corner

A collection of 27 posts

Managers Corner

Here's How We Took the Awkward Out of the Financing Conversation

There's a specific kind of silence that happens at a tire counter. The advisor has just walked the customer through the diagnosis, the pricing is on the screen, and the customer's eyes have gone somewhere else entirely. They're not thinking about tread depth anymore.

Managers Corner

5 Things Teenagers Say That Your Shop Should Steal

Your kids or your front counter's newest hire have said these words to you a hundred times, usually without you catching what they actually mean. Turns out a few of them are better shop management advice than half the seminars you've sat through. Here's

Managers Corner

The Land Grab Is Here - And Most Independents Aren’t Ready

Two headlines. One week. If you run an independent shop and you haven't connected the dots yet, connect them now. Big Brand Tire & Service is buying Belle Tire — 180-plus stores, a century of Midwest history, folded into a platform that just crossed $1.5 billion in

Managers Corner

The Chain Reaction: How One Bad Ticket Wrecks Your Whole Day

A bad day at the shop rarely starts with a bad day. It starts with one moment. A customer loses it over a diagnostic fee. A tech cross-threads a lug and has to explain why the truck's back on the lift. An advisor quotes wrong and has

Managers Corner

STOP. Read This First

Why should someone buy from you instead of the shop down the street? Most owners answer with filler — “years in business,” “competitive prices.” This article unpacks why that doesn’t work and what real differentiation looks like. Read it first; the rest of the blog builds on it.

Managers Corner

Your Invoice Is a Touchpoint Too

The last thing customers see before they leave — and what they look at again when they get home. Most independent tire shops treat the invoice like a formality. Work's done. Here's the total. Sign here. See you next time. The paper gets handed over, the customer

Managers Corner

The Phone Call Nobody Practices

How you answer is already costing you customers you never knew you had Every day, someone calls your shop and decides in about 90 seconds whether they're coming in or calling the next number on the list. You never find out which way it went. That's

Managers Corner

What Your Parking Lot Says Before Anyone Walks In

Curb appeal isn't about appearances — it's about trust The sale starts in the parking lot. Not at the counter. Not when your tech walks out with a recommendation. Not when the customer picks up the phone to call you. It starts the moment they pull off

Managers Corner

Smell Is The First Impression You Can’t Undo

Customers decide in the first 10 seconds — and most of that decision isn’t visual Nobody talks about it. But everybody notices. You walk into a tire shop and within a few steps you’ve already formed an opinion — not from what you see, not from who greets you, but

Managers Corner

The Waiting Room Isn’t a Waiting Room - It’s a Sales Floor

The Waiting Room Isn’t a Waiting Room — It’s a Sales Floor What customers do for 45 minutes tells you everything about what they’ll spend Most independent tire shops have the same waiting area. A row of plastic chairs bolted to the wall. A TV mounted in the

Managers Corner

Your Bathroom Is a Billboard

Your Bathroom Is a Billboard The room you ignore is the one customers remember There’s a room in your shop you probably don’t think much about. You’re not in it. Your staff isn’t in it. No work gets done in it. So it sits there — cleaned

Managers Corner

First Impressions Are the Sale Before the Sale

The Counter Is Your Business — Part 1 of 4 There's a moment that happens in every tire shop, dozens of times a day, that most owners never think about. A customer pulls into the lot. They sit in their car for a second. They look at the building.

Managers Corner

Part 3: The Hidden Profit Centers Most Tire Dealers Ignore

Series: Building a Profitable Tire Shop Model Most tire shops are sitting on money they don’t know they have. Not in a new piece of equipment. Not in a marketing campaign. Not in adding a bay or hiring another tech. It’s already there — in the cars that are

Managers Corner

Part 2: Pricing With Confidence

Series: Building a Profitable Tire Shop Model There’s a moment most tire shop owners know well. A customer calls for a price, you give them one, they say “I’ll think about it,” and you never hear from them again. So next time, you go a little lower. And

Managers Corner

Part 1 - Building a Profitable Tire Shop Model

Why Getting Busier Won’t Automatically Make You More Profitable Let me start with a question. Have you ever had your busiest month of the year… and still wondered where the money went? The lot was full. The bays were full. The phone wouldn’t stop ringing. But when you

Managers Corner

Are Prepaid Service Packages a Smart Customer Retention Tool?

Customer retention has become one of the most talked-about challenges in the tire and automotive service industry. Acquisition costs are rising, competition is tighter, and customers have more choices than ever. In that environment, many shops are revisiting a familiar idea with a modern twist: prepaid service packages. You’

Managers Corner

Part 3: Leadership, Burnout, and Why Good People Leave Anyway

Most tire shop owners don’t lose good employees overnight. They lose them slowly. A great technician starts disengaging. A strong sales advisor stops pushing. A promising manager becomes reactive instead of proactive. Then one day, they give notice — and everyone says, “I didn’t see that coming.” In reality,

Managers Corner

Part 2: Attracting & Retaining Top Talent in Tire Shops

Part 2: The First 90 Days Decide Everything Most tire shop owners think turnover happens at six months or a year. In reality, the decision to stay or leave is usually made in the first 30–90 days. This is where good technicians disengage. Where sales advisors get frustrated. Where

Managers Corner

Attracting & Retaining Top Talent in Tire Shops

Part 1: Fix the Foundation Before You Blame the Labor Market If you ask most tire shop owners why they can’t find or keep good people, you’ll hear the same answers: * “Nobody wants to work anymore.” * “Good techs are impossible to find.” * “Salespeople don’t stick around.” * “Managers

Managers Corner

Should Your Shop Offer Lifetime Alignments? Pros, Cons & How to Structure It

What exactly is a “lifetime alignment”? In most markets, a lifetime alignment means: * The customer pays a higher one-time fee than a standard alignment * In return, they can come back for free checks and re-alignments for as long as they own that vehicle (within the program’s terms

Managers Corner

The Rebound of the Independent Tire Shop: Will 2026 Mark a Comeback?

For the past decade, the tire and automotive service industry has watched consolidation at a historic scale. Large national chains, private equity groups, and mega-brands have aggressively bought out local tire shops—sometimes dozens at a time—hoping to capture market share, streamline operations, and build national loyalty. But

Managers Corner

When Winter Doesn’t Show Up: How Tire Shops Can Thrive Beyond the Seasonal Changeover

For decades, the snow belt has enjoyed a predictable rhythm. Late Q3 and Q4 meant one thing: money season—snow tire sales, stud installs, and a parking lot full of seasonal changeovers. But over the past 10 years, that rhythm has been disrupted. Weather patterns have shifted. Snow is arriving

Managers Corner

Client Advisory Boards: The Untapped Growth Engine for Tire Shops & Auto Repair Shops

How to Attract Bigger Fleets, Farms, Dairies & High-Value Accounts by Listening Better Than Your Competitors Most tire shops and automotive service centers want more fleet business. They want the farms, dairies, municipalities, delivery companies, trades fleets, and commercial accounts that bring in stable, repeatable revenue—year after year.

Managers Corner

How to Manage Spiff Programs the Right Way

Spiff programs are one of the most underutilized—and often misunderstood—tools in the tire industry. Manufacturers create them to incentivize front-counter sales teams, reward product knowledge, and move priority inventory. Yet out in the field, reactions vary wildly: * Some owners refuse to let their people participate because it

Managers Corner

What Tire Shops Can Learn From Formula One

If you run a tire shop, you already know this: customers judge you on speed, accuracy, and communication. They expect the job done right the first time, and they hate waiting around for unclear timelines or disorganized processes. Interestingly, some of the best lessons on operational efficiency don’t come