The late Wayne Williams was passionate about sharing his industry knowledge and selling skills with independent tire dealers to help them attain success. In his final Counter Intelligence column, he stepped Modern Tire Dealer readers through the GPS method of selling to today’s tire buyer.

I’m tired of talking about the internet, but I might be the only one. It’s a subject that tire dealers talk about all the time, and it doesn’t appear the internet is going out of business anytime soon. There aren’t any future plans to turn it off.

Time magazine included Ray Kroc in its Time 100: The Most Important People of the Century. You might say, “Wayne, what does that have to do with me?” Well, I’d like to peer into your tire store and McDonald’s through a branding perspective.

Because customers don’t understand tires, their perception of our representation is askew. In others words, they hear what we’re saying at the sales counter, but they often don’t understand.

We must never forget that we are retailers. Consumers have never demanded more from retailers than they do today. To win at retail today, you must deliver more, period.

Have you ever read something that just hit you like a ton of bricks because its truth and potential impact were immediately understood? When I run across material like this, I save it. When I refer to it later, I’m often amazed that the truth is more relevant now than when I first read it.

Customers can be confusing. I don’t like to be confused, so I’m a little pushy. I want to know what a customer is thinking. I like to assume the sale. I assume from the start that my chances of making any sale are great right from the get-go. I know that this attitude has won a lot of sales for me over the years, and it continues to do so.

We all have customers who are friends, probably many; however, we can’t trade on relationships alone, we must be better than that. If the customer standing in your store is a friend, don’t be offended if he or she has used their smartphone to do a little pre-shopping before they stopped in.