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Kate Speelman is Brand Management and Talent Acquisition Specialist at Rice Tire, a fourth-generation family-owned independent tire dealership that began as a gas station in 1929. She previously served as Rice Tire’s Marketing Coordinator for 10 years. Before joining the automotive world, Kate worked as a Graphic Design Specialist for Engage USA.
In this episode…
How does a tire dealer stay in business for nearly a century? How does that business, with 12 different locations managed by 12 different people with 12 potentially different branding messages, stay united over the long term? To hear from Kate Speelman, who manages branding and talent acquisition for Rice Tire, check out this episode of Gain Traction!
On this episode of Gain Traction, Mike Edge sits down with Kate to discuss the challenges of finding talented employees to work at 12 different tire locations. Kate shares how each location employs different branding and messaging while staying united through the core values espoused by the company. You’ll also hear about the ownership history of the company, which has been in business since the late 1920’s. Don’t miss it!
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
- Kate Speelman explains how she broke into the tire industry with Rice Tire
- The biggest challenges Rice Tire currently faces in its market
- Kate talks about her role as a drummer in her band, Always Magnetic
- How Kate approaches brand management
- Kate describes the ownership of Rice Tire, which has been in business since 1929
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Transciption
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 Edge:
Welcome to the Gain Traction podcast. Mike Edge here, I am the host of Gain Traction, where I talk with top automotive business leaders about their personal journey and experiences in the tire and auto repair industry. This episode is brought to you by Tread Partners and the ReTread program. Tread Partners has designed a product called ReTread that is a full scale re-engagement program to win back previous customers. It is a one time 90 day program that generates a guaranteed 10 to one return on investment. That’s correct, a 10 to one guaranteed ROI, no tricks or gimmicks. They’re your customers, we just get them back inside your shops and bays for you. So what are you waiting for? Email Tread Partners at infotreadpartners.com or to learn more go to treadpartners.com.
So today my guest is Kate Speelman and she is the brand management and talent acquisition specialist at Rice Tire. She was previously the marketing coordinator for 10 years. Kate Speelman is a native of Colorado but has called Maryland home for most of her life. She loves to learn new things and enjoys being challenged. She frequently seeks out new goals to accomplish. Her passions include sports, photography, art, and playing the drums. She has been in the tire industry with Rice Tire for 10 years. Rice Tire is a fourth generation family owned independent tire dealership that began in 1929 as a gas station. They currently operate a network of 12 tire stores and service centers and two ReTread plants in the Mid-Atlantic region. Kate, I’m excited to have you here. Welcome to the podcast.
Kate Speelman:
Hi. Thanks for having me.
Mike:
Yeah, well, so real quick on a personal note, tell the audience here, so you’re just read your introduction, you’re a drummer, so tell us about your band.
Kate:
Yeah. Well right now I’m in a progressive rock originals band right now. We just started this summer, but we’ve all individually been in different bands over the years. But it’s fun. It’s definitely a good hobby to have. We’ve been playing drums for a long time and it’s definitely a good way to unwind and have some fun.
Mike:
That’s awesome. So what’s the name of your band?
Kate:
The band is called Always Magnetic.
Mike:
Awesome. Cool name. And so if someone’s in the Maryland area, is it Fredericksburg? Is that where you’re located?
Kate:
Frederick County, Maryland, Yeah.
Mike:
Yeah. All right, so you got to check out the band folks. So tell us a little bit about how you got in the tire industry and got involved with Rice and then what ultimately became brand management manager and acquisitions.
Kate:
So my background, I went to college at Salisbury University and my background, I majored in graphic design. And when I got out of college, I was having a little bit trouble finding a job in that industry and I started to expand my search a little bit and I included marketing in the search and right away Rice had contacted me and I went in and interviewed and the rest is history. And tire industry’s not something I ever really expected to be in, but I really enjoy it and it’s a great industry to work in. So yeah, I did marketing for the last 10 years. Just a little bit of background on Rice, we’re mostly a commercial tire dealership, not so much retail, but we can do retail and some of our locations do more of it than others. So a lot of the marketing is usually focused on the retail side of the business, even though the majority of our business is commercial, we have a strong outside sales force that handles all the commercial business.
Mike:
Just curious, how many sales reps do you guys have for…
Kate:
I believe right now we have 20.
Mike:
Oh wow. Yeah. You guys really are knocking on doors then.
Kate:
Yeah.
Mike:
Yeah. That’s awesome. And what do you find are the biggest challenges that you face in your market and the conditions right now for a 12 store chain that you guys obviously run with two ReTread plants?
Kate:
So it’s a mix of things, the product availability can be a challenge.
Mike:
Has it gotten better for you guys at all?
Kate:
Yeah, it has gotten better as of late. Finding good employees, new employees because we’re growing so much that we need to expand our workforce as well and that’s been a challenge. But my recent title change, part of that is for me to go out and start helping to figure out some ways to bring in some new talent and focus a little bit more on employee retention.
Mike:
Yeah. So they’ve given you that role along with branding. Tell me a little bit about the brand management. Because prior to the show we were just talking about, one of the challenges I’ve always seen with multi-location dealers is they have say 12 locations you guys have, but in a sense it’s like having 12 independent businesses, but you’re all under one brand and yet the personalities are uniquely different in certain areas.
Kate:
Right. Yeah, so we have individual management freedom at each location because each location is so unique and they’re all in different markets. But I think what holds us together is our core values. We stand very strongly with those and we operate under the same values and mentalities.
Mike:
Yeah. So when you run into problems, just revert back to what’s our core beliefs and stick with it.
Kate:
Right.
Mike:
And we do that with our company. We’ve had to narrow down our focus. It’s easy to get lost in the space, I guess you’d say in general of marketing. And we’re strictly tires, automotive repair, and we work with manufacturers as well as dealers, and distributors. But yeah, it’s always important, I think you bring up a great point, to get back to what’s your core value, what’s your purpose, and stick with that.
Kate:
Yeah.
Mike:
So when you got in the industry, what year was that?
Kate:
Oh, it was 2012.
Mike:
Okay, so it was thriving pretty good then.
Kate:
Mm-hmm.
Mike:
Yeah. Where were you guys in store count at that point?
Kate:
In 2012, we had nine stores.
Mike:
Okay.
Kate:
So in the last 10 years we’ve added three stores.
Mike:
Now did you build new ones or did you acquire?
Kate:
No, they were existing buildings that we acquired.
Mike:
Okay. And were you buying out a business or were you just [inaudible 00:07:36] somebody had gone out business and you took over the…
Kate:
A little mix of both.
Mike:
Okay. Since you’re in commercial, when you think about expanding, what are the key indicators that excites you about expansion?
Kate:
The market, just looking and seeing if there’s opportunity there that hasn’t been tapped into yet.
Mike:
Could some of that be maybe seeing if some of your existing clients need service in those areas as well? Is that…
Kate:
Yes, absolutely.
Mike:
Yeah. Do you guys… What’s some of… In your career and what you did with marketing? Because I’m in marketing, but what would be one of your big milestones that you felt like you crossed in the tire industry that you felt, “I’m really making my way in the industry now, even though I didn’t intend to get in the industry I’m here now.” Is there anything that comes to mind that might have been a big milestone or a big accomplishment?
Kate:
Not necessarily.
Mike:
Any particular, say a client or somebody that you guys acquired through marketing, anything like that maybe that benefited you guys?
Kate:
No, I can’t really speak to that.
Mike:
Tell us about the ownership of the company. It seems like it’s been… I love these generational businesses that are still there. And obviously it started out as one gas station and now you guys are… And that was what, 1929?
Kate:
Right.
Mike:
So that was right during or right at the beginning of the Great Depression.
Kate:
Yeah.
Mike:
So that’s an accomplishment.
Kate:
Yeah.
Mike:
That they [inaudible 00:09:27] and then all these generations. So now they’re fourth generation. And if I understood it right, it’s run by the son-in-law of I guess the third generation. Is that correct?
Kate:
Yes. So originally Donald B. Rice Tire and then Donald’s son, Ken, was President of the business for a long time, and Ken’s daughter, Angela and her brother Ken Rice II, and Angela and her husband Chris. And Chris Chase right now is the current President of the company and their son, Brian Chase, he entered the company a couple years ago and is now Executive Vice President.
Mike:
Oh, that’s fabulous. Okay.
Kate:
Yeah.
Mike:
So what was Chris’s background before he got in tires? Or did he get in tires right…
Kate:
I think he’s been in tires for a long time. I think he worked in retail locations and he’s been in the tire industry for a while.
Mike:
It’s the best way to do it, from the ground up.
Kate:
Yeah.
Mike:
Yeah. Learn it from the hard way. Well, we’re coming up on our hard stuff here, but given our time here, if I could ask you a real tough question, what’s one of your favorite hobbies?
Kate:
Well, drumming usually takes out most of my time.
Mike:
Yeah. And how big is your band? I didn’t ask you that one.
Kate:
Just a trio.
Mike:
Oh really? Okay.
Kate:
Yeah.
Mike:
Do you sing very often or they…
Kate:
Just some background vocals here and there.
Mike:
Play little, doing little harmony or something like that.
Kate:
Yeah.
Mike:
There you go. Well, if somebody’s in the Mid-Atlantic area and they want to look up Rice, what’s the easiest way for them to get in touch with the company?
Kate:
Just ricetire.com.
Mike:
That’s easy enough. That’s R-I-C-E [inaudible 00:11:27].
Kate:
We’re on Facebook too.
Mike:
Awesome.
Kate:
But yeah, the website pretty much has everything.
Mike:
Well, Kate, I can’t thank you enough for being part of the Gain Traction podcast. It’s been a pleasure.
Kate:
Yeah. Thanks for having me.
Mike:
Yeah, I’m going to have you back hopefully someday. 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]. Till next time, have a great day and stay safe.
Announcer:
Thanks for listening to the Gain Traction podcast. We’ll see you again next time. And be sure to quick subscribe to get future episodes.
Transcript
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