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 many years of experience changing truck tires and he was great at this and that. Really tooting his own horn. Boy we thought we had hired a winner! We welcomed him right in and immediately put him to work knowing he would have a thing or two to show our less experienced employees. I walked away to let him work on changing a truck tire with duties of my own to attend to. About 15 minutes later I walked back to see the shock of my life. Mr. Experience (not real name) was in the cage himself with the tire on the outside. He was stretching through the cage with one arm trying to change this tire like a monkey reaching for food at the zoo. “What in the world are you doing!” I asked. “Boss I was being safe so I got in the cage. If the tire explodes I don’t want to get hurt.” I thought I was going to die laughing. Just goes to show that if you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

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 them to your website. It is important to have an easy to remember web address since they are not always able to stop and write it down.

Another benefit of advertising your tire business on the radio is your tire dealership can become comparable to larger competitor’s ads, since there is no cost of competing visually with them, such as with television ads.

To be continued…

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; anything to get you out of the world you’re in…If just for a little while.

So, good service + good social media feedback = more customers

To learn more about steps to ensure a positive experience with social media, read the following article published by Modern Tire Dealer:  http://www.moderntiredealer.com/Article/Story/2010/07/Keep-the-social-in-social-media.aspx