Magazine for the professional tire industry
Issue link: https://mtd.epubxp.com/i/714120
67 www.moderntiredealer.com wear all the hats instead of just the one you're carrying that day, or your role that day. Jake Burt (manager of the Coonwood, Utah, store): We are only as strong as our weakest link. It changes. It's a revolving door there, but we know that. at's what brings us our own strengths. I strive harder every day to make it happen for my whole team, not only my 20 employees, but also our 250 employees as a company. It's something that we try to do on our own levels in our own individual stores, but when the five of us go out, we're examples in all of our other stores, too. We all know that we probably could do it alone, but as much fun as we're having doing it all together, why would we want to do that? We're way stronger as five, and it's fun. Jason: e rising tide raises the whole ship, or something of that nature. MTD: What are your individual business strengths, starting with you, Jake? Jake: I think my strength is a good, positive aitude, and keeping everybody chipper and on track. I'm excited with everything I do. I have an enthusiasm level that is very contagious. I love to teach and train. Jeremy: My strength would be organization. And inventory, and keeping control of our cash flow, because you can tie up a lot with inventory. And I've enjoyed doing the marketing. It's been a lot of fun. Brandon: I think my strength is being able to be a good sound- ing board for everybody's ideas. I think a lot of these guys like calling me for an idea they've had, and then once we bounce it off each other, we're then able to decide the right way. Not that their way wasn't the right way, but we come up with a good solution. I think that's because of my role (as general manager). I think it brings us all together. I like being able to do that. Jason: I definitely agree. I love bouncing ideas off of Brandon. He's definitely good at that. Cory: I really think that from a young age, we've been taught to really care about our customers, and I feel like I have a passion for customers and sales. I love selling stuff, whether it's tires, wheels, accessories, whatever it is. And I have a passion for customer service. I love it and I love taking care of good people. We couldn't do it without really good customers, and we have to find a way to take care of those customers every day. Jason: I like to get out of that traditional way of thinking. What we've been learning in these meetings (at the Goodyear Dealer Conference) is the traditional way is not going to work tomorrow. As the five of us grow up, we are breaking through those barriers Ron and Wendell went through. It wasn't a bad thing. It's just the business has changed so drastically since we've goen heavily involved. So I don't know if I want to take the "work smarter, not harder" approach, but there are processes that we follow. I'm the operations guy who wants to make the processes streamlined. With my love of computers, I guess I would say I probably fall into the IT support group, if we had one of those. at's one of my strengths. Just geing our processes streamlined, bouncing ideas off each other, and making sure we make the correct decision going forward, that's important to me, that we've thought about it from an operational and execution standpoint before implementing it. I want it to be dialed in before it becomes a flop. Burt Brothers, the next generations Less than one third of family businesses survive the transi- tion from first to second generation ownership, according to Forbes. Another 50% don't survive the transition from the second to third generation. The second generation Burts don't see that happening at Burt Brothers Tire & Service, a nine-store dealership based in Bountiful, Utah. "I think we've all been instilled that we don't want to let (founders) Ron and Wendel down," says Brandon Burt, general manager. "I think we, as the second generation, get a bad rap, especially in this industry. We have an uphill battle the whole time. "We're going to kill it. That's what we're going to do. We want to prove we're not the average guys." "We're going to beat the odds," adds Cory Burt, manager of the Farmington, Utah, store. All five of the second-generation Burt children have their own kids. Jake Burt, manager of the Cottonwood, Utah, store, has an 11-year-old. They all agree, however, that it's too early to think about the third generation. And if any of the kids are interested, Jason Burt, manager And if any of the kids are interested, Jason Burt, manager of the Riverton, Utah, store, knows how they will break into the business. "I imagine they'll be pushing brooms. It worked well for us." Ron, left, and Wendel Burt have grown Burt Brothers Tire & Service into a nine-store, $36 million operation based in the greater Salt Lake metro area in Utah along the Wasatch Front. Wendel began his career with Goodyear in 1977.