After more than 50 years in the tire industry, Joe Tomarchio may have retired from Monro Inc. in 2023. But he showed he hasn’t lost his zeal as he took to the stage at the 2024 Point S USA dealer meeting.
Here are nine takeaways from Tomarchio’s talk.
- What’s the most important piece of equipment in your tire dealership? (And hint, it’s not your people. They’re assets.) Tomarchio’s take: the telephone.
- Four things you can’t teach or train, but are critical to business: Enthusiasm. Attitude. Work ethic. Moral compass.
- Thoughts on wages: “I believe if you’re paying peanuts, you get monkeys.”
- How to deal with an issue with an employee: “I was polite, honest and direct.” Some people aren’t meant to work in a tire dealership, but that's OK. “I want to promote them to customer.”
- First line item he studied: Gross profit dollars per store compared to the previous year, quarter or month.
- How to identify ticket takers from salespeople: Create a gap report and look at what the customer came in for, and what the final ticket included. He wouldn’t stand for overselling, but wanted to see additional services that the customer needed, such as alignments, wheel balancing, etc.
- Philosophy on price increases: When he received a notice of a price increase of any kind — whether from the utility company or a tire supplier — he and his brother Fred Tomarchio, co-founders of Mr. Tire — found something to attach a price hike to. It might have been to valve stems, which customers would never price shop by telephone.
- What’s a fair price? “The highest price I can charge.”
- Items he’d bid or price shop on a regular cadence: Insurance, oil, uniforms, shop towels. “You do not get what you deserve. You get what you negotiate.”
Read more about the Point S USA annual meeting, including the group's record growth in 2023.
