Imagine running a tire dealership and not knowing what is in stock or what sales have been for the month - tirelessly writing up invoices as customers come in and hoping that at the end of the day you’ve made some profit. Sounds ridiculous, right? 

A few years ago, I wrote about an impending “wage war.” The primary driver at the time was a shrinking talent pool at the beginning of the pipeline and an aging skilled workforce. (At the time, the average age of a master certified technician was 55.) When you combine those two factors, it creates a wage imbalance.

If you get 30 tire dealers in a room and bring up point-of-sale (POS) systems, prepare for 45 different opinions and a very long, passionate conversation. This month’s column is not going to endorse any particular POS system. Instead, it will help you learn to drive your POS system like the race car that it is and understand what role it plays at your dealership.

It’s now the second quarter of the new year. As you take your first real deep breath from the grip of COVID-19 and how it has affected your business, I would like to remind you that you are not alone.

Anyone who has worked in the tire and automotive repair business for even a week will be familiar with metrics -  important financial and operational milestones or ratios used to evaluate how efficiently and profitably a store is run.  

It is safe to say that 2020 was a stressful year. Nearly every facet of your business was pushed to the limit, and while 2021 seems to be shaping up as an improvement over last year, the first half is not without its challenges. In this MTD exclusive, Dennis McCarron explains why finding a stress relief valve for your employees is critical.