From DSP: a 20 group for multi-store owners

Oct. 21, 2013

The inaugural 20 group multi-store meeting from Dealer Strategic Planning Inc. (DSP) was a success, according to the participants.

The new group recently met for the first time from Sept. 30 through Oct. 2 in Asheboro, N.C. The meeting was hosted by Sally Thomas Cox and her brother, Bryan Thomas, who run Thomas Tire (J.P. Thomas & Co. Inc.), a retail, commercial and wholesale operation with four locations in the Asheboro area.

The first meeting adhered to a typical 20 group format, with two and one-half days of best practice sharing, financial benchmarking, a host dealer visit and discussions among the participants to help solve business challenges for multi-store owners. In order to belong to this group, a store must have at least three locations. The new group includes nearly 190 locations with dealers from Mississippi, Virginia, California, Oklahoma, Florida, New Jersey, Hawaii, Georgia, Ohio, North Dakota, Illinois and Massachusetts.

Here are some comments from two group members following the inaugural meeting.

Peter Greenberg, president of City Tire Co., with 11 locations in the Springfield, Mass., area. “Two thumbs up for the inaugural meeting of DSP’s Group 600 for multi-store tire and automotive service business owners in Asheboro. The environment that was created to allow for the free exchange of best practices and winning ideas that improve profitability and productivity was unprecedented. The takeaways have already positively impacted our business. We look forward to many more meetings.”

Craig Tate, co-owner of Tate Boys Tire & Service, a five-store chain based in Bartlesville, Okla. "We walked away from the inaugural meetings impressed with the professionalism of the facilitators (Pat Brown, Norm Gaither, Paul Chizeck, and Patrick Smith) as well as the other members of our group. The collective experience in that room was staggering!

"We enjoyed the executive discussion and the chance to hear how some of the most dominant players in our industry tackle the same challenges that we face. We are excited to have the opportunity to put into practice in our own business some of the best practice advice we gathered from the meetings, and expect that we will see great results in the coming months. An unexpected bonus we enjoyed were the friendships we formed with some of the other business owners."

Based on the success of this group, which already has its maximum complement of 20 members, DSP President Norm Gaither intends to open another multi-store group in early 2014.

“We were astonished at the demand for a forum for multi-store owners," he says. "It is evident from the popularity of this group that we need to add another multi-store group as soon as possible.”

Multi-store owners who are interested in learning more about this new group can contact either Brown, vice president of marketing, at (419) 420-5915 or [email protected]; or Chizeck, vice president of operations, at (910) 409-7293 or [email protected].

For free business support and upcoming DSP meeting information, visit www.dsp-20group.com.