TELEVISION COMMERCIALS

TV commercials are a very powerful medium when presenting your business to the public.  The receiver of your commercial will be stimulated both visually and audibly, therefore giving dual perceptions for interpretation.  Just imagine what content could be displayed in your ad; for instance, your place of business, your product line, your employees, etc.  Combine that with the spoken word and you can convey your message quite dynamically, whether creating a first impression, or reinforcing a previous one.

If your ad pictures your place of business, it should have both an inviting and appropriate, appearance.  If included, the product line should be prominently displayed, systematically organized, and eye-appealing.  Any spokesperson, whether management or an employee, should without question, project an image of professionalism and integrity.

Last, but not least, the purchase of air time is a very critical element, due to air time, and ...[more]

Do you know those days where you are at your wits end, everything seems to be going against you, and it just takes one act of reverse brilliance to bring a smile to your face and turn it all around? This is a true story. The names have been changed to protect the … let’s just leave it at that.

If you have ever changed a truck tire or been in a shop that does, you know what a Tire Cage is. For those that don’t, it is a safety cage for dismounting truck tires from their rims. Truck tires are inflated to lethal pressures, and if one explodes while dismounting, serious injury can occur. The idea with the cage is if the tire explodes inside the cage, the cage catches the shrapnel and injury is avoided.

I was working in a retread shop and we had just hired this guy for basic tire changing duties. His claim was x man ...[more]

RADIO ADs

One of the oldest channels for advertising is Radio.

Radio ads can be an effective medium to target audiences with your message. People listen to the radio on the way to and from work, hear it while at work, and also stay up to hear the late-night shows. This medium provides an enormous audience for you to advertise your tire business.

The key to successful radio advertisement is targeting your audience with a message meant for them. Different consumers divide by station as well as listening times. Make sure you do your homework and get the statistics to make the best decision.

There are other limiting factors as well.  Some people only listen to their favorite radio personalities.  Other people only listen during specific times, such as to and from work.  Most often, our attention is focused elsewhere; for instance, on driving conditions, home, work, you need to repeat your company name multiple times so that it sinks in. Make sure to direct ...[more]

We all have those days at work when we stop and wonder what the heck we’re doing, if we’re doing it well, and why are we doing it anyway.

It is these times when you need to take a break!

Taking a break is one way to release the pressure and get back in it. Some companies even provide game rooms where you can play darts, ping pong or just sit out at the picnic table and do a crossword puzzle.

Does this encourage people to slack off?

I don’t think so. It lets the employees know that the company understands that we are not robots and that we do better quality work when we have breaks. It also encourages team building and can be sold to new employees as a benefit to work here.  If your company doesn’t provide such a thing, maybe you can plan to spend some time taking a walk — even a half hour — or just take the time to crack a few jokes with your coworkers, this is a favorite of ours at TCS; anyth ...[more]

Whether you are a bit scared to get going on social media or your social media effort is off to an inauspicious beginning, there are steps you can take to make sure your social media marketing strategy actually propels consumers into your store rather than running them off.  The good news is, this medium of marketing is very well accepted by consumers.  Now there is a truly viable way to interact socially with your buyers outside of them coming into the store;  and consumers are more motivated than ever to share their experiences.  With social media, they have a means to do so – 24/7, every day of the year! We all know that positive experiences are always good for your business but social media allows you the opportunity to address the negative experiences as well. Imagine a customer comes to your tire dealership and is not satisfied. They immediately get on their social network and start talking about it. Now you have the opportunity to show your community how much you value ...[more]

This weekend at the Tennessee Tire Dealers Association’s annual convention and tradeshow held at the Nashville Downtown Hilton, TCS’s very own Bethany Paschal was one of two recipients of the 2010 TTDA Scholarship. Bethany is the daughter of Glenn Paschal, senior programmer at TCS.

Graduating with a 3.88 GPA and ranked 4th in her class at Monterey High, Bethany plans to attend Tennessee Tech University this fall and has declared premed as her major. Honors, AP and College Placement courses were just a small piece of Bethany’s vita while attending Monterey High. She also participated in some capacity over the last 3 years in over 21 volunteer/non for profit organizations, 11 ...[more]

We would like to take a minute to congratulate one of our customers. Recently the 2010 Texas Tire Dealer of the Year award was given at the TTDA show held in Fort Worth, Texas. “This award recognizes a Texas tire dealer for their commitment and service to the tire industry in Texas and their community,” as stated by Bonnie Moreland, TTDA Past President and former recipient.  Moreland goes on to say, “We are fortunate in Texas to have several tire dealers who have demonstrated a strong dedication to the Tire Industry. However, Bill Snelson truly exemplifies what this award is all about.”  TCS could not agree more! Thank you Bill for your dedication and over 30 years of service to the tire industry. It is an honor to work by your side.

Many tire dealers are still doing invoicing, inventory management and accounting without the use of a point of sale complete business management software solution.  Changing to a POS can be frightening and overwhelming; with the option to implement a POS not even considered due to the perception of a non revenue cost item. Based upon our customer input and the personal experience of the people on our staff, we know you can turn your paper into profit.

Consider this.  I believe the most important reason for you to invest in Tire Power, our complete business management software solution, is Control! With Tire Power you have complete control of your:

• Invoicing (no missed transaction details $$$)
• Inventory Management (know inventory levels instantly and create work orders in seconds $$$)
• Accounting (real time GL transactions, receivables and payables $$$)

For many, justifying the cost of a point of sale software solution is shut down ...[more]

Running batch customer statements is easy in Tire Power.  Tire Power gives you many different options for printing your statements, allowing you to have the information on statements your customer’s desire.  Below is a list of the different options you have to choose from.

Customer Type

• Specific Customer
• All Customers
• Or even by a specific Tax Group

Choose from different types of statements

• You can print all unpaid items up to a particular end date
• You can print a summary statement and choose your on date range

Choose from 3 different envelope styles.

Choose from 2 different printing styles.

• Summary style – Which prints transactions in summary mode
• Detailed style – Which prints not only the transaction but also all the detail lines on each transaction in a report style format

The big plus is that you can print additional transaction infor ...[more]

1. Motivating yourself will Motivate employees
Enthusiasm is contagious. If you enjoy your job, it helps others enjoy theirs too. If you do a good job of taking care of yourself and your own job, you will have much clearer perspective on how others are doing. You are setting an example for employees to follow.

2. Work to align goals of the organization with goals of employees
Frequent reviews and strategic goal setting sessions will help to ensure that company goals and personal goals are in alignment. Managers need to make the goals of the company very clear so an employee can be sure the goals they set will contribute to the success of the company. Employees will buy into the goals of the company when they are allowed to have input.  Goals should meet the SMART rule: Specific, Measureable, Action, Realistic and Time oriented.

3. Understand what motivates each employee
Start by evaluating what moti ...[more]