Studies and surveys show the lack of appreciation and encouragement among the top reasons employees leave a job. In an economy going through rocky times, it is very important for everyone in the workplace to recognize and look for opportunities to encourage one another. Webster describes encouragement as: The rising of one’s confidence especially by external agency or to spur on. Motivating employees requires providing support and feedback to let them know the company values their efforts. Unfortunately, employees may only get negative feedback on a day-to-day basis. Supervisors tend to focus on what an employee is doing incorrectly, and miss opportunities to let them know what they’re doing well. All too often, the annual review is the only time an employee gets positive feedback.

Showing appreciation and encouragement should be a continual process, not just an “employee of the month” program. Lack of appreciation can lead to lack of morale, and moti ...[more]

We have added many new features in ePower to give our customers even more flexibility and encourage their customers to buy from them over their competition.

• Sell Rate/Markups – Users of your website can now create a markup off of their cost.
• Add-Ons – Allows user to save predefined add-ons that will display on the customer printout.
• Part Inventory Display Settings – Allows you the control of default settings to your website.
• Specials Page – Now you can dynamically add a Specials Page to your site.
• Activity Logs – You can see who is logging into your site and when, what they are searching for and what they are doing.

With ePower the wholesale tire dealer has an eCommerce website designed for the industry. For a demo of all of the new features please call 888-449-8473.

One of the things we at Tire Company Solutions really want for our customers is for them to get the full experience, or ‘power’ if you will, from their Tire Power software.  As I mentioned in my last blog, it can be fun discovering and using some of the lesser known features in the software.  With that in mind, here is an overlooked feature, this time for you accounting people.

A widely used and very powerful feature in Tire Power is the ‘Query’ option available on all history windows.  This feature is especially useful in the accounting areas of Tire Power.  It is inside one of these account history windows where you will find this hidden gem of a feature which really is a complement to the query feature.  In Office Manager, go to the View | Accounts section where you would normally find your GL accounts.  Pick an account, and go to its history.

...[more]

Leaders understand that people represent an organization’s most appreciable assets. No resource is more valuable than your people. Therefore, a leader’s people skills and how he grows relationships are his most important attributes. The following are principles gleaned from Proverbs and present some fundamentals on relationships. At the core is if people are esteemed, relationships are redeemed and people will be inspired.

1. Don’t brag – Leaders understand how little they get from self-promotion.
2. Don’t envy – Leaders sabotage themselves if their motive is to keep up with others.
3. Be forthright – Leaders don’t fear confrontation, but speak the truth in love.
4. Don’t forsake your roots – Leaders understand the power of relational heritage.
5. Stay close – Leaders work at maintaining each relationship and understanding needs.
6. Add value – Leaders sharpen those with whom ...[more]

The holiday season is upon us and there is no more important time to prepare your employees to handle any situation that may arise. Customers are a bit more stressed this time of year and can be especially reactive to a bad customer service experience. You cannot do enough to plan ahead and prepare your employees to prevent a situation before it starts.

There is an enormous pool of information to pull from out there but one has stuck with me from my years in college is a book by Dr. Stephen R. Covey, titled “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”. The book has several chapters and leads you through each of the 7 habits.  However the resounding theme of the book is we need to strive to be proactive and not reactive. This is true in almost all situations of life and especially with an upset customer.  When I was in the industry as a service advisor at a Ford dealership, I found that my customers were not always happy about bringing their vehicles in to get service. ...[more]

The internet is continuously making it easier to both access, and promulgate information.  The costs of communicating and sharing one’s ideas, thoughts, feelings, opinions, and experiences have never been lower; all that’s required is desire, a computer, and an internet connection.  And with further advances in communication technology, this trend is only likely to continue. 

The good news is that it’s easier for your customers to share their opinions about your business, products, and services with others than ever before.  A happy customer is not only likely to be a repeat customer, but if happy enough, they’ll probably tell others, and generate new business for you in the process. 

The bad news is an unhappy customer will likely not return, but they can (and if unhappy enough, WILL) share their experience with others, and in doing so, either persuade current customers to stop giving you their business, or convince people that have never ...[more]

The phrase doesn’t always mean “low profile tires”.  In business software this refers to the time it takes to get the data you request to your screen. This is a key factor in customer satisfaction, as well as your satisfaction with Tire Power desktop software or our ePower websites from Tire Company Solutions.

So how can you as a end-user, get the best results? 

First a bit of background, after 25 plus + years in SQL databases, what worked years ago still works today, and will work in the future; “Be as specific as you can!”.

When you search for a product, part or name, the more information you provide the faster the information or data can be found; for example when searching for a name:

1. Entering “S” will search for all names starting with S.
2. Using “ST” will be faster as it will find only those with ST
3. Using “STA” will be the fastest to gain what you’re looking for.

Using a ...[more]

Programming applications and modules for the tire and automotive industry keeps me familiar with all the specifications and options for tires, wheels, and other special equipment. Attending trade shows like SEMA is great because I get to see the products that my projects help to move through the market. Here are a few favorites of pictures I took:

Beautiful painted flames – and whitewalls!

Check out the sweet tires on this mini. I’d love to ...[more]

To succeed, you must know the market you are a part of. Part of that market is your competition. Do you truly know how you stack up against them? Knowing your competition should be a key ingredient of your market strategy. Most think of “knowing” their competition simply as “I sell x tire for this price and they sell the same tire for that price.” While price shopping is necessary, it should only be a portion of your overall strategy. Below are some questions to ask yourself before you feel comfortable that you “know” your competition.

• What services are offered by your competitors that you don’t offer? Are you and your employees as well qualified to serve as specialists or customer problem-solvers as your competitor?
• ...[more]

I just spent a great business building week at SEMA.  We had more interest than ever before in our suite of solutions and in just the few days since we have been back, have already brought on many new customers due to the great efforts of our staff.

I was reminded at SEMA how having the right people on board is the surest way of growing into a GREAT company.  As I saw how much potential business is closer to becoming a customer of ours through the great efforts of everyone with TCS, I also witnessed something different happening in many other booths.  Employees sitting at the back of their booth, not actively talking to potential customers as they lingered or stopped, preferring to let displays, posters, and “rented” booth personnel handle the important relationship building aspect SEMA week provides.

In a day and age where there is more competition than ever before, it is your employees that will determine success or failure.  Spending the time to get the righ ...[more]