Looking Back on 100 Episodes With Neal Maier, David Christopher, and Mike Edge of Tread Partners

Episode 100

Neal, David, and Mike

Tread Partners

Neal Maier and David Christopher are Co-founders of Tread Partners, a digital marketing agency focused on using SEO, marketing, and branding to help tire companies and auto-repair shops grow and thrive.

Neal was previously a Partner at 3VE and COO of TexTivia, which rebranded into 3VE. He has worked for multiple automotive companies, such as Autoshop Solutions and Auto Pro To Call.

David was previously a Partner at 3VE and the Founder of TexTivia, which rebranded into 3VE. He has over 20 years of experience owning and operating businesses, including his family’s auto repair shop.

Mike Edge is in business development at Tread Partners. He has had a lengthy career in his field, previously being the Owner and Business Development expert for Resource Connection, Inc., Director of Business Development at Upright Communications, and Owner of T.M. Edge, Inc.

In this episode…

When Neal Maier, David Christopher, and Mike Edge from Tread Partners first decided to do a podcast featuring guests from the tire and auto repair industry, Neal says they never imagined they’d make it to their 100th episode — especially since it took what seemed like forever to land their first guest. But after a little trial and error, dozens of Zoom calls, and all kinds of interesting and informative conversations, they are now in a position to look back on 100 episodes of Gain Traction!

On this 100th episode of Gain Traction, Neal, David, and Mike join Rise25’s Chad Franzen to reminisce about some of their most memorable podcast interviews. They discuss what they enjoy most about hosting the show and the relationships they’ve built. They also look back on valuable information and insights they’ve received from guests on topics such as sales, culture, training, tire and repair legislation, and having fun at work.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Mike Edge, David Christopher, and Neal Maier each share what they most enjoy about hosting Gain Traction
Mike looks back on a particularly funny story he heard during one of his interviews
The longest amount of time Neal and a guest have spent talking before hitting the record button
David highlights the importance of the Right to Repair and tire registration for anyone in the industry
The most important criteria for being an effective salesman
Why culture eats strategy for lunch
How often does Neal learn something new from a guest, despite having worked for decades in the industry

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Transcript

Mike:

Hey, folks, Mike here. I want to invite you before we get started today to join us in Durham, North Carolina, September 28th through the 30th at the ASTE Show. That’s the Automotive Service and Technology Expo. You can find out more about it at asteshow.com, that’s A-S-T-E-S-H-O-W.com. Look for me there, Mike, with the Gain Traction podcast. Hope to see you there.

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 today, along with Dave Christopher and Neal Meyer. The Gain Traction podcast is where I talk with top tire and automotive business leaders. Today our sponsor is our parent company, Tread Partners.

Tread Partners is in the business of designing and developing custom websites for tire dealers and auto repair shops with more than five locations. What Tread has learned over the years is that when you have five or more locations, your business is really like five businesses under one name, so the website needs to do a good job of promoting each location’s strengths. To learn more, visit treadpartners.com.

So today, we’re doing a little bit of twist. We’ve got Dave, Neal, and myself, but we’ve also added another gentleman, Chad Franzen of Rise 25, who has done hundreds of interviews with successful entrepreneurs and CEOs, and we have flipped the script and he will be interviewing us today. That’s Dave, Neal, and myself, and Chad, welcome to the program.

Chad:

Hey, thanks so much. It’s great to be here. It is my privilege to be here as part of your 100th episode. Congratulations, guys!

Neal:

Thank you, Chad.

David:

Thank you.

Chad:

Hey, tell me, Mike, you’ve done a lot of these episodes. What have you most enjoyed about being a part of this podcast?

Mike:

Well, number one, it’s the people. I mean, we get to meet just such a wide variety of people in this industry and you would think the industry itself sounds like it’s so niche or narrow when you say tires and automotive repair, but there’s just such a vast knowledge and vast group of people in the industry from manufacturers to distributors to folks that serve as vendors to the industry. So, that’s been the most intriguing to me, just to meet the wide range of personalities.

Chad:

Dave, any thoughts on that?

David:

Yeah, yeah, I think what I’m most proud of is it’s an industry that often gets overlooked on how complex the space actually is and how smart the people in it are. So I think we’ve been able to shine a light on that fact of just how brilliant the people are in this industry.

Chad:

Neal, when you first started, did you think you’d get a hundred episodes under your belt?

Neal:

No, no. It took us forever just to get that first one.

Chad:

Really?

Neal:

I think our industry, the tire and automotive aftermarket industry is the biggest little industry out there. I’m always amazed at how one, most of our guests know each other in some form or fashion, and it’s a pleasure to get to meet people we’ve heard about, names that have come up through the years, and get to dig a little deeper into their background, how they got here.

Chad:

I’ve had the pleasure of listening to a lot of your episodes, and they seem like really salt of the earth type guys. Really fun to listen to. Why don’t we get into a few of your most memorable episodes? If you could, we’ve got this first one here, Increasing Sales Through Effective and Thorough Training with Robert “Sonny” McDonald from Toyo Tires Corp. What can you tell me about that episode?

Mike:

Well, I did that one Chad, and what was really cool about that, just speaking about how we network in this, so Sam Felberbaum with Prinx Tire was the one that recommended me to contact or introduced me to Toyo Tires. It was funny because he introduced me to Mike Graber, the President of Toyo Tires, and I’d gotten in touch with Mike and he said, “I’m not the guy,” but he goes, “I got the guy.”

He goes, “You’ll understand why I’m passing the buck here when you meet him.” Well, I immediately did, because Sonny has just an unbelievable personality, and he’s a trainer for Toyo. What was interesting when we were trying to schedule it, he was all open about doing the podcast, so we were going to schedule one. He goes, “Man, I can’t do it yet. I got to do this training down in Jasper, Indiana.”

I was like, “That’s like 45 minutes from my home.” He was just like, “Oh, why Don’t you come to my training and we get to know each other a little bit better?” So I did that, and it just put in motion of great friendship. So then when we did the podcast, we just hit it off, and he does train people in regards to tires completely different than anything I’ve ever sat through. Most are extremely boring.

He makes tires just almost like it’s exciting to listen to. The other thing that was neat about him was he had a funny story relating… I’ve asked my guests to create a funny story or tell us a funny story from something that’s happened in their past, and he had one of the funniest. It happened to be about his car that he pulled out of a bay, and he forgot to pull the four lug nuts on one of the wheels, and it fell off in front of a customer and it was just outstanding in regards to making you laugh, an embarrassing moment. So yeah, Sonny was memorable.

Chad:

Love it. How many of your guests would you say you had met in-person prior to recording an episode?

Mike:

Oh, I’d say that it’s… I mean, less than 10% of them prior to recording.

Chad:

Sure.

Mike:

Less than that, probably. Yeah, so that was an unusual circumstance, but it made for a neat opportunity.

Chad:

Yeah, that’s great. Next one here, Implementing a Strategic Process with Randy O’Connor of MTD TEN. Who’d like to talk about that one?

Neal:

Chad, this is Neal, and I had the pleasure of recording this episode with Randy. Randy and I, sometimes you meet someone for the first time over the phone or in preparation for an interview and gosh, we just hit it off. I feel like Randy and I probably talked an hour and a half before we ever decided to go ahead and record the podcast. The thing that’s so interesting is Randy, just like most of us, he spent his career in the tire business. He’s worked for some of our clients, he’s worked with some of our clients, and worked with half of our guest list already.

So at the same point he was moving back to North Carolina, that’s where I’m based and we realized that gosh, we’re just a couple miles apart. So fantastic meeting him, but also getting a good understanding, a big part of why I think I found success in both the tire business and in the agency business is involvements with The 20 group, with a coaching group, and Randy has since acquired a group. Gosh, they do a tremendous job, and just we all see eye-to-eye on the importance of having coaching and training in your business.

Chad:

Very nice. The next one here is with Roy Littlefield of the Tire Industry Association on tire registration and right to repair legislation. What can you tell me about that one?

David:

Yeah, I’ll take that, Chad. This is Dave. So, I really liked two things about this conversation. One was the right to repair, the legal right for owners to choose where they want to go to have their vehicles repaired. I think It’s a very important conversation to follow for auto shops. The dealers are trying to push it to go to the dealerships and that’s a big deal. Then Roy talked about the BBB survey, asking some consumers who they trusted and tire dealers were the top eight trusted. Service repair was high, and car dealers were the worst at number 100. So the consumers don’t want it, and they should have the right to choose where they want to go.

Then tire registration, I think another big deal for auto shops is if you’re not a registered dealer, you can be fined $23,000 per tire, up to 113 million per location, and dealers need to take that seriously. Obviously, I don’t think they’re going to get levied a fine that much, but TIA is really trying to reduce those fines significantly, and they talked about if there’s two written warnings, maybe you wouldn’t have any penalties. And a third and fourth violations would earn some smaller penalties, so I just think it’s very important for tire dealers to be up with that. If you’re not a member, join the TIA.

Chad:

Yeah, very valuable episode, valuable information. The next one up is Creating a Work Happy, Values-Based Culture with Marc Pons of Chapel Hill Tire.

Neal:

I did that interview with Marc, and it’s cheating when you have known someone as long as Marc and I have known each other. I met him right as I was entering the tire industry a long time ago, and one of the reasons I really wanted to point it out is two things. Chapel Hill Tire has a noteworthy commitment to their culture.

They place a tremendous value on it and it shows. It shows in their marketing, it shows in their stores and it shows in their customer reviews and feedback. The other big thing I want to point out is just this past weekend, they celebrated their 70th anniversary. Been open for 70 years, and they had a huge festival in Chapel Hill. They closed streets, had bands come and I mean, it was a big party for the whole town, so I want to wish them congratulations.

Chad:

Absolutely. Sounds like a good time. The next one up is Selling Tires Without a Sales Pitch with Ron Dolan, President at Sailun Tire in North America. What can you tell me about this one?

Mike:

Yeah, I had that one, Chad. This is Mike. Ron and I just literally hit it off. I do a preliminary interview where I want to make sure the guest is comfortable, and you tell him what to expect in the interview. He and I, much like Neal’s experience with previous guests, we just probably talked for an hour before we even decided to record anything and we just got to know each other real well and just were very like-minded, actually at very much the same humor level. So when you take that into a podcast, it just flows, so the information’s much easier to just come out in a conversation.

But Ron is a sales guy through and through, and I say that very complimentary. He doesn’t like to sell what a customer doesn’t need. He likes to be present, and what I picked up on him the most was he’s dedicated to the relationship, regardless of what it may cost him in the long run or the short run that is, because the value to him is the long-term relationship. He just seems to exude customer service. It’s less about selling to him and more about just conveying that “Hey, I’m present and I’m here to take care of you, Mr. Customer.” I guess that’s what stood out to me about Ron, but also his just his good sense of humor, and you could see why people are drawn to him or that he’s magnetic.

Chad:

Sounds good. I like the title here of this one, Culture Eats Strategy for Lunch with Kim McMahon, President at McMahon’s Best-One Tire. What can you tell me about that one?

David:

Yeah, I loved that too. So Kim, she comes from a financial background and hearing that she spends 12 days a month on finances, but also sees the value on building the company culture and she spends the other 12 days cultivating their culture, that really spoke to me.

I handled the finances and culture at Tread Partners and to me, having a great culture is a competitive advantage and I truly appreciate when somebody spends time focusing on it and that quote on the wall, “Culture eats strategy for lunch,” it’s such a profound statement because you can have the greatest strategy in the world, but if the team doesn’t understand it or buy into it, good luck moving that strategy forward. So, I really have to give her big props on spending so much time in making sure that everybody’s on the same page, and they just have a great culture over there at Best-One Tire.

Chad:

What’s more difficult to develop, a great culture or a great strategy, or is it just two different things entirely?

David:

A great culture.

Chad:

Why do you say that?

David:

A strategy is… Again, you put the strategy down on paper, and We’ve made hundreds and hundreds of great strategies, but executing and implementing it is a whole different beast. That’s why you need the culture behind it, pushing it forward.

Chad:

The next one is called Do the Right Thing and Have Fun with Joe McDonald, vice President of Sales at Jasper Engines & Transmissions. What can you tell me about this one?

Mike:

Yeah, so this is Mike. I had that one, and Joe, it’s one of those companies that I have personally always admired, and their quote or their motto is, “Do it right, have fun.” When you think about any complication you may get into as a company, whatever your position is in the company, and you just refer back to your company motto, it breaks it down pretty simple. In order to have fun, you obviously have to get along with the people around you, but if you’re going to do it, you might as well do it right.

So it basically says to me don’t cut the corners and make sure that everybody’s on board so we can all enjoy this process, and whatever the fix is, so the company culture is something that attracted me. So when I reached out to Joe, I already knew a little bit about the company and he was willing to do the interview, but I thought it was cool because just because of our name, we may lean a little bit more towards tire folks in general, and Jasper Engines, their product is in I’d say 90% of the tire dealers that we work with.

So they’re doing service work, and they’re doing high-end service work and Jasper Engines provides engines and transmissions and just the cultural experience that Joe has experienced at Jasper Engines, I think he’s been there 20, 20 plus years. So they don’t have a lot of turnover, and he came up through the ranks, and it’s a cool episode from that perspective.

Chad:

Very nice. The next one we’ll talk about is Offering Affordability and Impeccable Service with Jared Kugel of Tire Agent.

Neal:

Chad, when I got introduced to Jared, I felt like I had already known him. I had heard a podcast he was on in 2018 where he was trying to raise money to start Tire Agent, and I remember listening to that podcast and thinking, “That’s a good idea, but I don’t know.” I dismissed it, but it was so odd to hear a pitch-style startup podcast that had anything to do with tires in it. So, it stuck in my mind. So when I finally got to meet him and interview him, I of course had a tremendous number of questions along their ride.

They are one heck of a success story. One, being a startup in the tire business and two, they’re also on this year’s Inc. 5000 List. Jared has grown Tire Agent like crazy, so he’s a really inspirational guy. He is full of good ideas, and just a pleasure getting to talk to him.

Chad:

Is it hard to burst through as a startup in the tire business?

Neal:

It is, and especially in an industry that’s so rooted in the way it does business. Consumers are so used to taking their car into a shop and just doing business the same way they have for 50 years. It’s really difficult to disrupt it. I think COVID helped a lot, helped some of these different service styles get a little better footing, but it’s still very much a brick and mortar business.

Chad:

Sure, I bet. Last one We’ll talk about here with any depth would be A Voice for Independent Tire Dealers with Jason Rook, President and CEO of Independent Tire Dealers Group. What can you tell me about that one?

Mike:

Yeah, that one, I mean, look, he was automatically just a good fit for us because… or even inviting him to be on the podcast, because I mean, he represents so many tire dealers. As a whole, they’re a very respected organization. Jason just got the new position I think in January of this year, so he’s been just on the road a ton going to different conferences, trying to meet as many of his members as possible. He just gave great insight about where he came from and how he got to ITPG, and then where he wants to take it, and we just ended up networking real well together. I mean, one of the fun things about this podcast is that I can help folks with networking when they listen to the podcast.

I’ve had people reach out and say, “Hey, how could I get in contact with that guy?” I’ve already put people in contact with Jason that may want to join the organization or just simply have questions. So, that’s been a fun part about this as well. That’s why I thought Jason might be a good one to talk about, and just ITDG in general is a good organization.

Chad:

These all sound like fantastic episodes. Are there any other guests or episodes that you want to just give a quick shout out to?

Mike:

Yeah, I’ll start with that. Lance Bullock, OE Wheels down in Sarasota, Florida, just because they’re wheels, and 4Play Wheels, is another brand of theirs, but great interview. Another one would be Angie Oleson with Firestone Direct, she’s leading their mobile unit team, Kent Coleman with Big O Tires, Larry Sutton with RNR Tires, Judd Shader leads West Group, they’re just growing exponentially.

I think you read about them in the news every week. Michael Mathis, Atturo tire, Tim Winkeler, who is a big advocate for the right to repair up in Maine, and he’s just been a good spokesman for that issue at VIP Tires. Then another one a long time ago was Jarid Lundeen with Trusted Tire, he’s out of North Dakota, but just a great networker in the industry. Belongs to… or seems to know a lot of people in the industry, and has a lot of fun networking and went to visit him, and had a good time getting to know him better. But yeah, that rounds out some of the names I was thinking about.

Chad:

Very nice, very nice. Hey, as we wrap things up here, I’ve listened to a lot of your podcasts, and you can tell your guests have great insights and expertise. You guys clearly have plenty of experience in the tire industry. How often do you hang up from the conversation and think, “I really learned something from talking to that guy?”

Mike:

All the time. All the time. I am so fascinated at how people enter the industry, for one. I mean, there are a lot who grow up in it, but the people who come from other industries and end up in the tire or the auto repair business, the interesting thing is they don’t seem to leave. I think that has a lot to do with just what wonderful people we all get to work with. It’s a terrific industry and it’s fun to hear people tell about spending 10, 20, 30, 50 years in this business. It’s really rewarding.

Chad:

Very nice.

David:

Yes, and I want to give a quick shout out to our hosts, Mike and Neal as well. I’m a weekly listener. I really enjoy it, and every Wednesday it comes out, that’s the first thing I listen to. Get to my desk and pop it on in the background, and they do a great job. It’s been a hundred, which is great. I don’t enjoy the three that I’ve been on, because I don’t like hearing my voice, so I probably won’t listen to this one. But just wanted to say a shout-out. You guys do a great job and keep it going.

Neal:

Thank you, Dave.

Mike:

Thank you, Dave.

Chad:

Yeah, hey, it’s been great to talk to you guys. Congratulations on your 100th episode, that’s quite a feat. It’s a privilege, like I said, to be here. I will look forward to talking to you guys at 200.

Mike:

I’m very much looking forward to it, Chad.

Neal:

Yeah, thank you, Chad.

David:

Thank you, Chad.

Chad:

Thanks so much, guys. So long, everybody.

Announcer:

Thanks for listening to the Gain Traction Podcast. We’ll see you again next time, and be sure to click subscribe to get future episodes.

Transcript

Contents hide

1 In this episode…

1.1 Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

1.2 Resources mentioned in this episode:

2 Transcript

In this episode…

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Transcript

Transcript

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