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Clint and Clay Watts are the third-generation owners of Gerald’s Tires & Brakes in Charleston, South Carolina. Their grandfather, fondly known as “Big Daddy,” instilled in them the ethos of hard work and adaptability. From their humble beginnings transforming old gas stations into tire stores to evolving with the market’s demands, Clint and Clay exemplify a commitment to learning and improving. Their dedication to customer service, ingrained from a young age through teachings of good morals and influential figures like Zig Ziglar, reflects their business philosophy: they’re in the customer service business; they just happen to fix cars.
In this episode…
Every tire and auto repair shop prides itself on something — often, it’s a dedication to serving the customer. How can a shop make it clear to its customers that their patronage is important?
For Clint and Clay Watts of Gerald’s Tires & Brakes, an unwavering commitment to customer service permeates every aspect of their family business. Drawing from the wisdom passed down by their grandfather and influential figures like Zig Ziglar, they have cultivated a philosophy that extends beyond mere transactions, emphasizing genuine care and respect for each customer. From small gestures like placing roses in customers’ cars to engaging in meaningful conversations, the Watts family’s dedication to service shines through in every interaction. These thoughtful touches and a culture of trust and honesty ensure that every customer at Gerald’s Tires & Brakes feels valued and appreciated.
On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge welcomes Clint and Clay to discuss their multi-generational journey in the tire business. They explore marketing insights received from their grandfather, the evolution of their business, and their commitment to understanding and meeting customer needs through meaningful conversations and honest advice. The brothers emphasize the importance of hard work, continuous learning, and prioritizing customer service.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Clint and Clay Watts talk about how they were born into the tire business
- The lessons of hard work, resilience, and perseverance that they learned from their grandfather
- Why recognizing your limitations and seeking outside expertise is important.
- Clint and Clay emphasize the significance of continuous learning, regardless of age
- How prioritizing customer education and providing tailored solutions demonstrates concern for clients’ well-being.
- The small gestures that exemplify a dedication to customer service at Gerald’s Tires & Brakes
- Outdoor activities Clint and Clay enjoy for bonding and relaxation
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Transcript
Announcer:
Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast, where we feature top automotive entrepreneurs and experts and share their inspiring stories. Now let’s get started with the show.
Mike:
Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast. I am Mike Edge, your host. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners, our parent company. Tread Partners specializes in PPC marketing for multi-location tire dealers and auto repair shops. I know everybody knows how to do it or they got somebody doing it well for them already, but are you sure? Could it be better? Do you have a particular partner that specializes in this industry only and specifically. Tread Partners discovered tens of thousands of dollars per month in wasted spending with Google for its clients. Many of these shops were very successful already in making money, but basically Tread showed them how to spend less and do more. So what are you waiting for? Go to tread partners.com and take a look.
Also, folks, I’d love to encourage you to listen to an interview I just did recently with Charles Vickery, store manager at Begs Tire in Albany, Oregon. He shared a fun story. It was a great interview. Check it out at gaintractionpodcast.com. So today we’ve got two guests, a different format, and these are two of my favorite people in the industry, and I tell you that just because I have a lot of fun talking to them over the years. It’s Clint and Clay Watts of Charleston, South Carolina. They own and operate Gerald’s Tires with seven locations. Clint, Clay, welcome to the Gain Traction podcast.
Clint:
Thank you. Great to be here, Mike.
Mike:
Well, let’s get started about your all’s business down there because you guys sell a lot of tires. You’re in a beautiful part of the country, you got great food. That’s where I met you guys down there maybe two years ago. But tell me how you got in the industry. Tell the audience how you got in the industry because you’re kind of born and raised in it, right?
Clint:
Yeah, I guess I’ll start out. I’m Clint. We didn’t get a choice. We were born into it. I remember dad asking me when I was getting ready to go off to college, he said, “Are you sure you want to be in the tire business?” And I said, “I am.” And he goes, “I think you’re crazy for doing that,” but we’ve made a good living at it and it’s a good business to be in if you work hard. And so I think we’re at least a third generation dad’s dad. I’m pretty sure my dad’s dad’s dad was in it. I don’t know what he did in the tire business, but we called dad’s dad, Big Daddy. I named him that. He was a big man and I was the first grand kid.
Mike:
Oh, that’s awesome.
Clint:
He died in ’97 and his tombstone says, “Big daddy.” And he didn’t want to be Big Daddy. But anyway, he went broke twice in the tire business and the third time he tried to get into it, my grand mama said, “What are you doing?” And he said, “I know how not to do it two ways now. So I got to run out of ways to not do it.”
Mike:
I love that spirit though. That’s awesome.
Clint:
He graduated from the fifth grade, so he was a really, really neat guy. And that’s kind of how-
Clay:
Marketing genius.
Clint:
Yeah, marketing genius.
Mike:
Oh really? He knew how to touch the market and draw them in?
Clint:
Well, he told me is something that stuck with me. He said, “I’m not smart enough to do everything in the tire business, but I’m smart enough to find people who are.” And then he was famous for saying, “It’s 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration.” You’ll just get out there and work hard. You can be successful. And that’s true. And I think Clay will say the same thing. We’re just country boys that dad and granddad said, “Hey, if you’ll get in this business and work hard, you can make a good living for your family.”
Mike:
Man, I love it.
Clint:
Lord’s really blessed us.
Mike:
That’s really cool. I like to share things once in a while. And my granddad, he had an eighth grade education and he was really good. As I got older and found out more about him, everybody talked about how good he was with people. And I think those kind of guys that just had to learn how to survive, they were just good. They learned how to be good with people the hard way and he ended up being very successful in his businesses. But you think eighth grade education, you’re not going to go very far, but it’s really about hard work and desire.
Clint:
That’s right.
Mike:
Yeah, that’s awesome. So you guys knew you were going to be in it, and then after that your granddad dies in ’97, I guess your dad took over and I got to meet your Uncle David as well, and I know he’s retired now. They took over after that after Big Daddy?
Clint:
Yeah, so Big Daddy was in the recap business and the recap business started going away in the late seventies and the gas prices were up and they started closing gas stations and we bought all these old gas stations, transformed them into small tire stores and we were selling recaps out of them and it just went from there. But when the recap business started going away, the guy that was running our stores, Gerald, it was actually his stores, my granddaddy started those just so that we would have a place here to sell our recaps.
And Gerald decided he wanted to go back to Alabama and work for the TVA and that’s when dad got it. Dad was running the recap plant at the time, but they were shutting it down. The recap business was going away and he bought the business from Gerald and said, “Hey, let’s try selling new tires.” Gerald didn’t think that was possible and dad thought we could make it work, so he bought the stores and started selling new tires and then we started doing brakes and started doing CV joints and just a little bit here and there and it’s grown into what it is today.
Mike:
That’s awesome. Well, one of the things that I really enjoyed getting to know David over is that David, he expressed it. He’s a constant learner and you guys have that attitude that, hey, if somebody’s got a good idea and they’re not competitors and they’re across the country somewhere, we’re going to get on a plane and take them out for a steak dinner and see if we can learn anything. And I’m throwing that on the table right now for the listening audience just because you guys are the same way. You’re willing to share information and learn from each other in the industry. And I’ve always heard this, and Neil, my boss, he’s always bragged about, “Man, Gerald just knows how to sell tires, man, you guys really go through some volume.”
Clay:
Yeah, Mike, when you stop thinking you can learn, you stop growing. You can learn all the way up into your seventies. He’s 73, he’s still learning and of course I’m in my late forties and Clint’s in his early fifties, and we still learn stuff every day.
Mike:
Man, that’s beautiful. But it was so reflective in an older gentleman like David, to hear him say that, he’s like, “Man, I’ll jump on a plane today. If somebody’s got a better idea or a way to sell tires than I do, I want to know how.
Clint:
That’s right. Dad told me when I was young, he said, “You don’t have enough time in life to make all the mistakes I made, so learn from my mistakes and you’ll be that far ahead of me.” So why reinvent the wheel if you can find someone who’s doing even an aspect of our business better than we are, let’s go see what they’re doing. We’ve changed. We hired a guy that worked for another company and he brought so much to the table with processes in our tire departments just counting steps, being efficient. He doesn’t work with us anymore. He’s retired, but he really opened our minds up to a different way of doing things and we thought we were really, really, really good and we were, but we got better. So we don’t think we have to reinvent the wheel. We’re not too prideful. Again, we’re just country boys, so we’re open to, I’m sure there’s a lot of people out there smarter than we are.
Mike:
Man, I love the attitude towards that. Well, let’s talk about customer service. You guys have always brought that up. That’s a singular focus for your company, Gerald Tires that, I know everybody says customer service, but give us a little idea of how that was ingrained in you.
Clint:
Clay, you want to?
Clay:
We tell everybody we’re in the customer service business. We just happen to fix cars.
Mike:
I like that.
Clay:
It was ingrained as a kid. I remember being about 14 years old and my grandfather that Clint was talking about earlier gave me, back then it was the cassette tape, but it was a preacher named Mid McKnight and he preached five biblical principles of success. So it was being ingrained in me before I was even 15. We listened to all Zig Ziglar stuff. You’ve heard of Zig Ziglar, he was out of Texas and we went and saw him speak. So from a young age, we just were entrenched in it. I guess that’s how we learned it. I look back and people ask me, “How’d y’all get into customer service?” And I thought, that’s all I’ve ever done. That’s all I’ve ever known, and it’s all that I’ve ever been taught.
It used to drive me crazy as a 16, 17-year-old guy sometimes, you’re a know it all kid. Of course, I had made the decision also that I was going to be in the tire business, that I was going to skip out on college and just go straight to work. But you’d get annoyed by your dad and granddad giving you these tapes and CDs and you’re thinking, yeah, okay, yeah, I understand it, but that’s just a thing. And you look back and it changed my life. It did a lot of things that I wouldn’t have done if I hadn’t been listening to them.
Mike:
Well, been like, you’ve been trying to reinvent the wheel. They gave you a platform that they had learned and said, “Hey, here’s a good foundation.”
Clint:
Yeah, absolutely.
Clay:
And that makes all the difference in the world. Having that added and knowing that you’re going to take care of the customer first. Everything else kind of falls into place.
Mike:
So I’ve known you guys for a couple of years now, and that’s the first time I heard that story. I love that one, the five biblical principles, et cetera. But what’s cool about that is you really learn customer service and then tires just happen to be the product that you apply it to.
Clay:
That’s right.
Clint:
Yeah, we could do it any business. It’s the same principles for anything that you do.
Mike:
Yeah. No, that’s awesome.
Clint:
We try to go above and beyond and then some is our mantra. We want to give you what you expect when you come to a tire store and then some, which is small talk. We put a rose in every lady’s car that comes through the shop, every one over a hundred thousand roses last year.
Mike:
That is cool.
Clint:
We small talk with the customers at the counter. We teach our guys to treat every customer they would their own mother or grandmother. We don’t ever want to take advantage of anyone. I think we’ve gotten more business from telling people you don’t need something right now than telling people what they do need because they develop trust with us.
Mike:
Yeah, that is awesome.
Clint:
It really is embarrassingly simple, how simple it is to be successful. And it’s the golden rule. It’s treating people like you would yourself, but man, you’re honest. And in our industry, we’re not looked at upon as being an honest industry.
Mike:
No, you’re right.
Clint:
And then we focused on women. We had a show here in Charleston called The Women’s Show, and you would go there, and I don’t want to get in trouble these days. You can’t specifically say women are into this or that or whatever, but there weren’t tire stores. I’ll just tell you that at the women’s show. And one year dad decided, “Hey, we’re going to go to the women’s show.” So we set up a booth and we just said, “Hey, we’re going to help educate on the basics of tire changing.” Women are just as smart as a guy. They just need to learn and it was such a hit. But it’s little things like that just go above and beyond with the customers, and we’ve created a lot of just unbelievable relationships over the years with the customer.
Mike:
You nailed it. And I don’t think me and you’ve ever talked about this before, but when you say the golden rule, I’ve read a lot of different business books, Zig Ziglar, all the stuff, and then How to Win Friends, Influence People, anything to give you an advantage. But it’s funny when it really comes back to that one simple principle. If I wouldn’t do it for myself, then don’t do it for somebody else.
Clint:
That’s right.
Mike:
A buddy of mine, he’s a sales trainer, he’ll tell me, he said, “Look, all the sales books out there now are basically regurgitated information just presented it in a different way.” And he goes, “There’s only so many principles that work.” We’re humans. We get it. This is the platform, but we keep trying to create this new way of dealing with people.
There’s no new way. It’s just treat them the way you want to be treated and the rest takes care of itself. And I love the fact that you say, because this really drives it home for people, treat them like you would your mom, treat them like you would your grandma. You know how you would, I know how I would, and that actually elevates my game now. When grandma came over or grandma came over, I felt like my game had to be up because my parents expected us take care of them, get them something to drink, eat, whatever, make them feel at home.
Clint:
That’s right.
Clay:
Yeah.
Clint:
Mike, it’s simple as how you sell things. A leaky rack and pinion is a bad rack and pinion that you can go to a person and say, “You need to replace your rack and pinion.” Most people don’t even know what that is. I got a rack and pinion and this leak and that sounds really bad, but how would you go and sell that to your grandma? “Grandma look, it’s leaking a little. Might drip some drops on your cement at the house. It’s not a safety issue right now. It’s a pretty expensive repair. Let’s monitor it and you can run it a little bit longer or you can go ahead and replace it now.” It’s how you sell things. We don’t want to scare people, educate them, educate your customers.
Mike:
You just did a live sales lesson right there. That is the perfect way of presenting it to grandma.
Clay:
Right.
Clint:
Right. That’s right. Let’s focus on selling to grandma.
Mike:
I love it, man. Well, we talked about this a little bit too, and I loved your answer on this, but I want the audience to hear it. What’s your favorite tire to sell?
Clint:
My favorite tire to sell is whatever the customer needs. I didn’t plan that when you asked me. We grade all our phone calls, every phone call is recorded. We go through a bunch of phone calls and we listen to how our people are selling and we use it for training. And part of that grade is defining the customer’s needs. Did we define the customer’s needs? And maybe Michelin, they’ve done a great job on marketing and they’re one of the better at that. Let’s say we decide they’re the best tire that you can buy. That doesn’t mean it’s the best tire for the grandma who’s going to, I’m bringing up grandma again, that drives, what, 2000 miles a year. She’s driving just down the road to the grocery store. Her tires are going to rot off her car before they wear out. They’re never going to wear out. Michelin’s not the best tire for her. We need something more economical for her. So to me, the best tire out there is what the customer needs and you just need to ask questions and define what those needs are.
Mike:
I think that’s a great example though. Why spend all the money on a high end tire when grandma’s not even driving that much? Yeah.
Clint:
And you sure don’t want to put highway tires on some guy who’s planning on going to the deer club and spinning around trying to get out in the woods. So of course we do that. So you’re going to need mud tires or all terrain tires. It is just defining, it’s as simple as that. “What do you need these things for? Are you looking to get a lot of mileage out of them?” “No, I barely use the car. It’s a show car.” Who knows? You just got to figure out what they’re looking for.
Mike:
That’s awesome.
Clay:
Lots the good tires nowadays.
Mike:
Well, and that’s true. That’s what I’ve heard from a wide range of tire folks that there’s a lot of these. I don’t know if you saw the article, I thought it was Tire Business, but it was like what is a tier one, tier two, tier three? There’s no real clear definition.
Clint:
No.
Mike:
And it was a pretty good article and I may have gotten the wrong publication, but I think I’m hitting that right. But I think it was a few months ago. But anyway, I just thought the article was in a sense, it was kind of humorous because we call them different levels, but how do you get there? It’s in the eye of the beholder.
Clay:
I think it’s in the eye of the holder. I think it’s also based on marketing. These companies that put all these commercials out, they become tier one tires because they become the most popular or they’re at the racetracks and you see in places though.
Mike:
And I would agree with you there. For me, that seemed to be the most defining characteristic is who markets the most.
Clint:
That’s right. I went to a national sales meeting for a large manufacturer that was considered to not be a tier one tire company, and of course it was on a beach and we just had our sales meeting for a couple hours one morning and I came home and dad said, “How’d it go?” I said, “They’re going to raise our prices.” And I said, “What?” And he goes, “They’re considering themselves a tier one tire company now.” So they just decided they were going to be a tier one, but I don’t know how else. It’s like Clay said it’s marketing.
Mike:
That’s funny. Yeah, it’s pretty.
Clint:
I don’t think it worked out real great for them though.
Mike:
It usually doesn’t when you do that, when you name yourself the king of the hill or whatever.
Clint:
That’s right.
Mike:
Well, let’s talk about something else. You kind of alluded to it when you’re talking about outdoors and everything, and I already know the answer, but what’s your favorite hobby, Clint?
Clint:
My favorite hobby is I just want to be in the woods. I love hunting and fishing and being outdoors. I have three kids. Two of them are married and out of the house, but my youngest likes to hunt and fish too, so it allows me time with him, and it’s what I do when I’m not in a tire store.
Mike:
Well, because I already know the answer, but you like to white tail hunt. I know that.
Clint:
I love white tail hunting. That’s what I do the most of. I’m not opposed to hunting anything really, but I’m a bow hunter and I love bow hunting whitetail deer. That’s what I like to do.
Mike:
I think it’s funny how our worlds have crossed and after we’ve gotten to know each other, you literally drive about an hour for my house to get to the destination.
Clint:
Oh yeah, at least once a year.
Mike:
A year at least once in a year in southern Illinois where you go where they have a lot of big deer.
Clint:
That’s right. For sure.
Mike:
Yeah. That’s cool. One of these days you need to quit speeding through here and let me get you some open Kentucky barbecue.
Clint:
I’m telling you, we’re going to do it. We talked about it this year. I’m like, “Man, it’s just not good timing this year,” but we’re going to get there. We’re get there on of these years. I’m going to call you last minute and say, “Hey, we’re-“
Mike:
Oh, I know how you’ll do me and then you’ll hold me to it like, “Well you said. You said-“
Clay:
We tried. You gave 15 minutes notice, Clint.
Mike:
All right. Well Clay, I got one for you. What’s your favorite place to visit?
Clay:
Man, that’s a hard question, but like Clint said, we grew up hunting. We grew up in the woods. We grew up on a small farm. Love to hunt. We have some leased land that we hunt at now. I’ve got four kids, two almost grown and two younger ones that I’m able to spend a lot of one-on-one time with them, teach them about the outdoors, teach them about the noises they hear in the woods. Absolutely love it. We also try to slip away, go hiking in the mountains just to be outdoors. We just love being outdoors.
Mike:
Your place to visit is outdoors. That’s what you like.
Clay:
Outdoors.
Mike:
Yeah.
Clay:
Yeah, I just love outdoors.
Mike:
When you say mountains, where are you guys going?
Clay:
We try to go everywhere, but Smokies the most, mostly Tennessee, North Carolina, up the northern part of South Carolina. We have a lot of places we like to go. But something we do every year, we’ve done it now for 18 years, is Clint’s family, myself and my family and my mom and dad, we all go to a little beach that’s not in a touristy area. It’s like in a fishing town, there’s very little phone service. There’s nothing to do but swim in a pool and swim at the beach and fish at the beach. And that’s something we’ve done for 18 years. We make sure we all do it and that we’re all together as a family and we get to spend time. It can be tough being family and working together at the same time, so it’s nice to be able to get to the beach and just enjoy fishing with one another.
Mike:
Man, I love that. That’s awesome. Is there any words of wisdom that you would give anybody in this industry that you’ve learned over the years and through your Big Daddy and your dad that either one of you can pass on?
Clay:
Pray a lot and trust in God. That’s really-
Mike:
Oh, that’s-
Clay:
I’m not educated as far as what people say education is, but with God’s grace and hard work, you can do whatever you put your mind to.
Mike:
Man, that’s awesome.
Clint:
Yeah, I’m with him on that. We always say-
Mike:
Clint, I was about to interject. I don’t think you can give a better answer than what Clay just said.
Clint:
No, I can’t. It’s a hard business. It’s not getting easier. Just keep in mind the 10% inspiration, 90% perspiration, pray a lot and be willing to work and know that your competitors are dealing with the same trials and tribulations that you are, so you just got to be better than them. It’s like out running your buddy when the bear’s chasing you.
Mike:
Yeah. When people say how fast you want to be, I just want to be faster than the guy next to me.
Clint:
Faster than my buddy. That’s right. So that’s what I’d say.
Mike:
I like it. Well, guys, I really thank you for being on Gain Traction. It’s been awesome.
Clint:
We sure enjoyed it, Mike. Thanks for having us and we appreciate what you guys do and we appreciate your friendship.
Mike:
Thank you. Well, to all our listeners up there… Go ahead, Clay. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to cut you off.
Clay:
I just was saying thank you.
Mike:
Absolutely. To all our listeners out there, thank you for being part of the podcast. If you’d like to recommend a guest to us, please email me at [email protected]. Until next time be safe and have a great day.
Announcer:
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