Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/567620
MTD September 2015 Tire Dealer of the Year how Benton has built up the company, and they respect the fact he gives others the opportunity to move up the ladder. David Holmes manages the store in Loris, S.C., and has been with Black's Tire for almost 16 years. "A lot of his management never went to college," he says. "Tey're just hardworking people." Benton doesn't recruit employees from other tire stores or any other competitor. He prefers to train from the ground up, even bringing in people who know noth- ing about the tire industry. Keith Noble spent 20 years working for Coca-Cola Co. when he fnally got tired of corporate life. At family holiday gatherings (Benton and Noble's wife are related) the two men would talk about business, and Benton ofen asked Noble to consider joining the family business. In the spring of 2007 Noble fnally made the jump. "I tell all the mechanics you've forgoten more about this than I'll ever know." But Benton knew Noble's talents, and he works as a regional retail manager. It's hard to be more of an entry-level employee than Kyle Bias was when he joined Black's Tire. He was about to turn 16 and in trouble at school. His punishment from the principal included answering the telephone, and one day Benton called and asked to speak to someone from the school's shop program. Bias transferred the call but nobody picked up, so he started to take a message. Benton was looking for a young guy to help clean up the shop, someone who might be interested in learning the trade afer school. "I said, 'I think I know someone,'" Bias says. He met Benton afer school and started work the same day. "I first started out helping clean- ing, sweeping. I didn't know anything about a tire, but I knew I could clean and straighten up, so I did it to the best of my knowledge." One day Bias was the only person in the shop with a driver's license, so he drove the crew to respond to a commercial service call. "Tat's how I started learning how to change tires." First he watched, then he got to help, and eventually he answered those calls on his own. "I loved it." He learned to do other things in the shop, and later got the chance to learn the counter side of the business. He became the manager of the store in Shalotte, N.C., in 2011. W hen talking to new or potential employees, Rick Benton repeats a refrain that sounds like something his dad might say. "It's what you want to make out of it. It's all up to you." 'Te most traumatic year' Benton says many employees take that advice to heart. Some take it to the extreme. Kenny Bullard had another job ofer in 1988 to work at the Georgia Pacifc plywood plant where Benton had once worked. Bullard was going to make $6.99 an hour, plus a 15-cent shif diferential. His job ofer is framed and hanging on the wall of Benton's ofce. Bullard came to work for Benton instead. "He worked with me for 25 years. He was district manager. He was the best manager this company's ever had. He's the one who helped me build this story." Bullard tracked every expense at every store he managed, organizing receipts into white business envelopes and marking them with the store number. Benton keeps a box of those envelopes underneath his desk, and says he wouldn't part with the box for a million dollars. To anyone else, it looks like papers ready for the recycling bin. To Benton, it means much more than that. "Kenny Bullard is the BTS Way," he says. Bullard died of pancreatic cancer on May 3, 2014. The two had been best friends since they were young boys. Bullard worked hard and was loyal, even throughout his illness. He wasn't happy when store managers who reported to him were trying to keep things from him and lighten his load during his illness. He arranged meetings with employees who weren't performing. He didn't want cancer to get in the way of the business As part of its commercial truck division, Black's Tire operates a 24-hour road service. Answering road calls is a rite of passage for employees learning the tire business. 42