Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/567620
MTD September 2015 even means training them. In April 2014 Black's Tire opened the BTS Academy, a training center adjacent to the company's corporate ofce in W hiteville. More than a classroom, the 38,000-square-foot center includes a front counter and showroom complete with tire displays and parts shelves to show new and old employees how best to approach a customer and talk with them. Another room of the training center is a fully equipped shop designed for more hands-on training. A conference room and sit-down classroom provide more meet- ing and testing space, and an on-site kitchen gives Benton the means to cook for a crowd and avoid the hassle, and expense, of taking a room full of students to a restaurant for lunch. "It's an hour there, an hour back, and then you lose them," he says. Providing food on site keeps the momentum going, Tire Dealer of the Year The BTS Academy, the dealership's training center, was built in 2014. It's the focus of Ricky Benton's philosophy that a company must invest in and train its people. Benton calls it "the best thing our company has ever done." 30