July 17, 2025 • 24 mins
In this episode, my guest is David Pulla, President of Dynamic Tire, one of Canada’s largest tire distributors. We dive into a part of the business that most dealers overlook—tires—and explore how they’re not just rubber on a rim, but one of the most practical tools for increasing retention, profitability, and service traffic.
We talk about how dealers can rethink their parts and service strategy, use data to move inventory smarter, and turn something as simple as a tire rotation into a reason customers come back again and again. David also shares what the rise of EVs means for the tire industry and the surprising ways innovation is showing up in a category that most of us don’t give a second thought to.
If you’ve ever said “tires aren’t my thing” or “it’s not worth the time,” this episode might just change your mind.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
MC (00:00):
This episode is brought to you by FlexDealer.
Hey auto industry, welcome tothis episode of the Dealer
Playbook.
Sitting down with David Pula,the president of Dynamic Tire,
(00:22):
we're going to be talking aboutinnovation in the tire industry.
Let's go.
Hey, David, thanks so much forjoining me on the dealer
playbook happy to be here.
David (00:29):
Thank you for having I've followed you for a long time.
Linkedin followed the boss.
An absolute pleasure to be here.
MC (00:36):
So thank you, awesome man.
I appreciate the support.
No pressure, right?
I want to ask you you're goingto be the first person I think
I've ever talked to in the autoindustry, in the tire industry.
I'm looking at your LinkedIn.
Usually it's some sort ofpathway through a car dealership
or something like that, yours,I mean.
(00:58):
You did work at a dealership,yeah, a couple of years through
co-op, and then you, you went tomy favorite guys I don't know
if it can get more Canadian thanthis my favorite store in the
entire world.
You went to Canadian tire andthen shopping cart.
Yeah, I was going to ask, like,how does one get into the tire
(01:19):
industry, cause?
Then you went on to Yoko,yokohama and Salemire and I
don't know if I said that rightNow you're the president of
Dynamic Tire.
What is your journey in thetire industry?
Look like, how did you even getinto that?
David (01:31):
Yeah.
So I stumbled across tires inmy path.
Born and raised by a civilengineer, so concrete and
construction was the childhood,and I quickly determined that
wasn't for me.
Nonetheless, I started changingtires at a young age at an
independent retailer here inOntario and fell in love with it
(01:52):
immediately.
Once I finished high school Iwas able to find the automotive
business program at GeorgianCollege, so I studied in the
diploma program, took the bridgeinto the degree program.
Nothing but high end praise forGeorgian and the automotive
business program that they puton.
But in that timeframe it'sabout a four-year period you
(02:12):
have four different co-opcourses.
So that's actually where mydealership experience comes from
.
I was able to spend some timein sales parts service advising,
but was actually reached out toby a recruiter once I graduated
for canadian tire corp.
So spent just over a year therewith them was managing catalog
content in terms of productassortment within their offering
(02:33):
.
Few different areas that Icovered, but the majority of
which was tires and wheels weremy passion.
Life, and then again same thingwith yokohama.
MC (02:41):
So I think one of the things , that one of the reasons I love
Canadian Tire so much and Iknow this is not about Canadian
Tire transition, I promise, butyou remember in the 90s dude,
everybody nicknamed CanadianTire, Canadian trash.
David (02:56):
Yeah, or it was intro word.
MC (02:59):
Canadian trash, you know, because everything seemed to
fall apart.
And I think, as a marketer, oneof the things that I love so
much about this brand is somehowsomeone, somewhere maybe it was
you, david was like hey, let'swrite the ship.
And now the brand presence.
There's a flagship store inEdmonton two stories, beautiful,
(03:23):
state of the art, this and thatI want to move into that store.
The sheer turnaround of thebrand is nothing short of
spectacular, which I think is sointeresting.
I recently brought our CRO toToronto and I'm like he said
what do we got to do in Canada?
And I said you have to walkinto a Canadian tire.
I can't explain it to you.
Where else can you buy potatochips, a coffee filter and new
(03:46):
tires?
David (03:47):
And new tires.
Again, your tires change andthey're Canadian at heart and do
an amazing job.
Truly, canadian Tire was thefirst organization that I worked
at in a corporate environment,so having the experience with
them in terms of forwardthinking and common business
practices, operationalefficiencies and just truly
departmental flow because of howlarge they are and how many
(04:10):
different departments they haveTailored to even just automotive
is extremely impressive.
So they are forward thinkers atthe box, absolutely.
But, like you said, how manyplaces can you go that you're
dropping your car off to get anoil change, change your tires,
and in the meantime you'repicking up some groceries or,
you know, grabbing some pots andpans, household goods, so forth
(04:32):
.
Right, truly a.
MC (04:34):
Canadian staple.
Absolutely Every ornament on myChristmas tree I think is from
Canada.
Yeah, the Americans listeningright now, dude are thinking
what is this place?
You just have to go experienceit.
David (04:45):
Yeah, you know what?
This time of year is probablythe worst timing for me to enter
there where it's.
You know all of the tools andyou can have some pretty good
fun in there.
MC (04:57):
So I'm curious about this, because I know you're an
individual that's big intoleadership and personal growth
and development.
You mentioned that your timethere, you learned a lot about
operational efficiency.
What's an example that you'renow taking into your role as
president of Dynamic Tire?
David (05:14):
I would say because of the size of that organization,
especially when I was there,going on close to probably 12
years ago now, give or take.
But their reporting inautomation infrastructure was
well ahead of the norm in theindustry.
So there's a lot of redundantflows that you find in common
(05:35):
businesses that you can expeditethrough automated reporting,
scheduled calls, things of thatnature.
So here at Dynamic T dynamictire, we're really focused on
improving our efficiencies.
We're in because we sellpassenger car tires, yes, but we
sell nine other categories ofproduct off the road mining,
agricultural, so forth.
(05:56):
So in order to be efficient inour day, like we, we simply
don't have enough manpower totruly execute without automation
and having those efficienciesright.
So ensuring our sales team hasthe necessary sales and product
information at their disposal ona regular basis is crucial.
But more importantly I wouldsay the efficiencies comes on
(06:19):
the supply chain side.
Providing visibility into leadtimes, back order, fail rates,
production capacity of thefactory right.
Using AI and technologynowadays makes that a more
seamless process right,Especially as we kind of exited
out of COVID here.
Right.
For the last three years,especially during COVID,
(06:42):
everyone you know, the mostcommon question in the industry
was where are my tires or whereare my parts?
Where are my cars?
So that's a big focus of oursright now.
MC (06:51):
I imagine, and then you have something that's perishable,
you have a consumable vehicleproduct in a tire that people
it's funny Like.
First of of all, how big theopportunity in automotive
consumables are.
I don't have a better way,there's probably a better term
for it, but I think, well, atire is definitely one of those
(07:13):
elements of a vehicle, of atractor, of a airplane, of a
mining vehicle that has to beswapped out regularly.
But you're talking about supplychain and all of those sorts of
things and I'm wondering alsothe impact or how you're looking
at how do I make sure that myproduct is not also sitting on
(07:33):
the shelf and dying or becomingobsolete?
David (07:36):
Yeah, From an inventory position, from a retail
perspective or even a wholesalerat that, it's having visibility
into the granular data.
So, for example, here atDynamic with our inventory,
we're able to segregate ourinventory in six-month cycles so
we know the timestamp that theproducts come in and we know how
long it's been here.
(07:56):
So we're regularly monitoringthat.
That goes back to the automatedreporting where, whether it's a
biweekly or a monthly cadencethat we have this report being
spit out to our product team toview, we're able to take action
on some of the slower moverswhen they're visible right.
Without that sort of analyticsand that data insight, you'll
(08:16):
never know and oftentimes,especially even in my retail
days, I recall you're searchingthrough inventory to find a set
of tires.
Meanwhile you find somethingelse that you weren't looking
for.
That's been there.
You know, almost a museumartifact right that we like to
joke around with, but it's trulythe visibility to it and what
that does.
(08:36):
It allows you to take actionWhether you need to liquidate
because it's simply too long inyour stock or if it's not moving
as fast as you had projected.
It allows you to put theeffective marketing solutions in
place to drive awareness tothat product.
MC (08:50):
Interesting.
I mean you really.
It's funny to me I'm going tosound like the dumb guy here,
because I'm just so fascinatedby the scope of everything that
goes into our industry, ofeverything that goes into our
industry, and I think oftentimesI'll speak from a dealer's
perspective.
A car dealer does not putenough attention on, I think,
(09:17):
their parts department as awhole, realizing how big of a
business just something liketires is I mean, they're the
only thing that keep the driverseparated from the road
realizing how big of a businessjust something like tires is,
absolutely.
David (09:25):
I mean, they're the only thing that keep the driver
separated from the road and incontrol on the road, right?
So it should be a pretty bigfocus point.
But when you also look at therevenue that it can generate by
changing the tires right, youknow, change that alignment,
you're pulling the tires and thewheels off the car full brakes,
suspension checks, so forth.
So there's opportunity toservice and add value to your
(09:49):
customer.
And it may not mean you'renecessarily changing the brakes
or the suspension at the sametime you're changing the tire.
But you're allowed to have thatvisibility to the customer.
So isn't thicker shock in thefuture, you know?
Hey, your breaks are, you know,30% remaining.
So just an FYI on your next oilchange, you may need to look at
replacing those type of deal,right, being a little bit more
(10:10):
proactive.
MC (10:14):
Hey, does your marketing agency suck?
Listen, before we hop back intothis episode.
I know you know me as the hostof the dealer playbook, but did
you also know that I'm the CEOof FlexDealer, an agency that's
helping dealers capture betterquality leads from local SEO and
hyper-targeted ads that convert?
So if you want to sell morecars and finally have a partner
that's in it with you, thatdoesn't suck visit FlexDealercom
(10:37):
.
Let's hop back into thisepisode.
You talked about efficiency andoperational efficiency, which
is a topic I love, and now I'm,as I'm writing notes here and
listening to you, I'm realizingwell, there's a huge
inefficiency right now inbusinesses especially.
(11:00):
I was just having thisconversation this week with my
buddy, kyle and Paul my buddiesKyle and Paul about how
something as I don't want to sayoff the radar, I think every
buddy knows they're sellingtires, but not the top of their
priority list, how big of aretention place, something as
(11:21):
there I say, as simple as tirescan be for a business.
Like, and I'm starting to thinkabout hey, come in, we will
repair your tires for free, or,you know, we will fix the flat
for free, or we will rotate themfor free, like.
These are all mechanisms, usingthe tire as the vehicle no pun
intended to bring people back tothe business regularly and give
(11:43):
you that leg up and thatopportunity to build rapport.
So I'm thinking about that.
What's your view on how youthink about that?
I mean, you said I love the wayyou said this, so I'm going to
go out on a limb here with anassumption.
The fact that you said, davidwith a smile on your face, by
the way, I don't know if youknow you said well, tires, the
(12:03):
passion.
Tires are the only thing thatseparates you from the road and
keeps you on the road safely.
I thought, okay, here's a manthat's passionate about tires.
David (12:13):
That's real.
That's real which.
MC (12:15):
I mean, I never.
Now I can say I know somebodythat's passionate about tires.
That's fascinating in and ofitself, but that tells me that
you're thinking about theposition of what you do for a
living in the broader ecosystemin a much more broad way than I
think most people are thinkingabout it.
Thank you.
David (12:32):
So, circling back into your retention portion, speaking
on behalf of the Canadianmarket at least, I think we're
starting to see more of it nowin the automotive dealership
world.
I think the distributorbusiness has changed that
mindset, or is starting to.
In the past, when distributorsweren't necessarily around and
(12:54):
you're focused with yoursupplies coming more from our
regional partner as opposed tonational, national conglomerates
, dealerships were forced tokeep higher inventory levels of
products, which raises youroperational expenses.
Right, cash flow so wasn'tnecessarily, and then at times
you're not turning that productfast but convert it to cap.
(13:15):
So I think there was a negativelaw there.
Nowadays we call it pizzadelivery.
You can get tires delivered toyour store, sometimes within an
hour, if not multiple times aday, right.
So, depending on where you'reat, if you're buying product
from us, you can see multipledeliveries a day, or sometimes
the next day or a few days later, again, depending on your
(13:35):
location.
Winter tire mounted programsnowadays that's not just a fall
selling feature or addition tobuying a vehicle in September,
october, november, right, if I'mselling you a vehicle today,
I'm encouraging that winterpackage and guess what?
We'll keep them here for you,we'll store them and when you're
(13:57):
ready to come back in September, we'll do your bolt on for free
.
Right Encourage.
I was kind of raised with themindset someone in my early
dealership days giving me someadvice that every time that
person walks out the doorthey're less inclined to return.
But give them a reason toreturn.
So by providing incentives likesuch where hey, we'll store
(14:18):
your tires here, tell you whatit's your first set, we'll cover
that cost.
Come back in September, we'llbolt up your winter tires.
You're then automaticallyallowing yourself to potentially
have an oil change, do thebrake inspection before the
winter, where safety is a higherpriority in terms of the
consumer, and then you're alsoleading them down the path to
(14:39):
potentially store their allseason or summer products as
well, which again continued thatretention cycle.
MC (14:46):
I don't think people understand, generally speaking,
the power of the statement youjust made.
Give them a reason.
Now I know people listening andwatching are like well, duh,
you got to give them a reason.
No, peel back the onion layersbecause, yeah, it's one thing to
hear that and be like we hearthat, I get it, duh, okay.
(15:11):
Then the question becomes wellthen, what is the reason you're
giving people?
As we peel back the onionlayers and try and discover well
what separates thrivingorganizations from those that
perpetually struggle, and tryand discover well what separates
thriving organizations fromthose that perpetually struggle,
those that are struggling here,give them a reason and go.
Duh David, thanks, duh Michael.
Why are you making such a bigdeal out of this?
I'll tell you why Because youare not yet giving people a
(15:33):
reason.
David (15:34):
Yeah, exactly what's your value add right.
MC (15:37):
What's your value?
David (15:38):
add If you're selling that oil change because of price
or if you're selling thosetires strictly due to price,
it's not a sustainable businesspractice.
All it takes is one personthat's $5 cheaper than you to
(15:58):
lose that sale.
Maybe a five dollar gap betweenyou and you know the
independent retailer down thestreet, for example.
They'd be more inclined if theysee the value in that service.
Right, hey, we're not justchanging your tires like that
tire shop, here at thisdealership, we're full
mechanical.
That's where we're going toprovide you a brake inspection,
(16:18):
provide you an alignment screenright top of your washer.
X, y, Z.
Little value adds that all.
Yes, they do raise the costthing that you're charging, but
again, it's peace of mind forthe consumer right.
MC (16:30):
Right, and I'm thinking about it in conjunction with
this, I think and I know you seethis all the time, I see it all
the time which is businessesare simply just not giving
themselves enough at bats.
They are expecting the customerto do so much, and maybe the
internet has made us believethat the customer is doing so
(16:52):
much more work than theyactually are.
But to your point about givethem a reason, provide and build
a process around the value add.
In so doing, like you'vebrought up, rotation you brought
out breaks, oil changes,storage.
All these examples areproviding your business one more
at bat to delight the customer,to deepen the relationship, to
(17:16):
make it more meaningful and topush out, like you said, I love
it because you're right $5 andI'm choosing somebody else if I
don't have those things.
But each one of these thingsyou brought up create a
compelling story for me as theconsumer, about why I would
never want to think of or chooseanother dealer.
I want to ask you this, thoughas we start to wind down, people
(17:40):
think of tires, and I wouldventure to say that majority of
people, myself included, go.
Tires are rubber.
Why is David so excited aboutrubber?
You know what I mean?
Well, tires.
But being in it the way thatyou are, you're seeing
considerable innovation insideof this industry.
What's an example of what doesthat even look like?
(18:03):
Because for a guy that goes,tires are rubber and they're
round.
What are you seeing from aninnovation perspective?
What's the tire industry doingthat you're really interested in
, that you're saying, oh, that'sgoing to be something that
materializes in a big way.
David (18:17):
Absolutely.
I think before I get there onthat, the guy that's saying
tires are only rubber andthey're rubber yeah, I would
want to ask him that questionwhen he's going 120 on the
freeway and then see what he hasto think about his tires.
But, jokes aside, I thinkthere's a few different avenues
I could go down in terms of thatquestion EVs, top of mind the
(18:45):
day, no matter what category oftires you're talking, whether
it's for transport trucks orconsumer cars, agricultural
construction everything nowadaysis getting bigger, heavier,
faster, while looking to be morefuel efficient.
So typically in the tire world,what we call the magic triangle
, where you're looking forlongevity, traction and then
(19:08):
durability.
So in order to have additionaltraction, you need to sacrifice
longevity typically, and ifyou're sacrificing to make
something more durable, it'sgoing to be a harder tire,
harder rubber.
So again, you are sacrificingyour traction because you need a
softer compound for traction.
(19:28):
So I think it's pretty coolwhere our organization we're
part of a global group, ceylonTire, number 10 in the world Our
group has what we call EcoPoint3.
So essentially, you've taken allthe dry ingredients and
components that go into a tire,so your silica, your carbon
black, so forth.
So when you disperse all ofthose into the tires themselves,
(19:50):
they're being dispersed evenly,but at a microscopic level, not
truly even.
As opposed to a liquid phasemixing, which is what the Eagle
3 technology is Best way to lookat.
It is like chocolate milk,right?
You can have two differentforms of chocolate milk.
You can have the powderedsubstance and you put a scoop of
(20:12):
your chocolate powder into milk, you stir it, you're still
going to get chocolate milk.
You're going to get a littlebit of clumping at the bottom, a
little bit of clumping at thetop.
Or you have, like your N,liquid form, where it disperses
much more evenly across, whichis a more consistent blend.
So, long story short, with thatis and technology like eco,
(20:33):
point three allows manufacturersto pull different levers and
expand that triangle whereyou're able to have a more
durable tire that lasts longer,that's more fuel efficient.
MC (20:45):
Which is interesting.
You brought up EVs because Ican see.
Now I'm taking all these notesbecause I feel like I'm in
school a little bit.
I'm like I don't know.
I'm like I've never had so muchfun learning everything I don't
know about tires, tyresabsolutely EVs.
David (21:01):
It's, you know, heavier vehicle, high torque, heavy
weight.
Right, it's a recipe to cooktires, naturally.
MC (21:09):
Right, and are we seeing I'm picturing people in lab coats
somewhere playing around withall sorts of different compounds
to say, well, how can we, withall of those known factors like
you talked about, where thevehicle is getting heavier and
faster and more torque and allthese sorts of things, do you
think we'll see in the near terma tire that can last more than
(21:30):
a year or two on an EV?
David (21:33):
Absolutely.
I mean, it comes down to somany different factors, right
Air pressures, the environmentthat's being driven in, the
person behind the wheel drivingit, right.
So.
But at the end of the day, Iabsolutely think there are a ton
of focus points on that, and itgoes back to like being able to
build a reinforced sidewall inorder to handle the weight right
(21:55):
and then combining thatstructure with a contact patch
that has to handle the instanttorque that comes from an EV.
Right, I think that's the toughpart in terms of having the
magic recipe.
I do think there are a lot ofbrands out there that have
accomplished a lot of greatthings.
The R&D never stops, though,right.
(22:17):
The R&D never stops, thoughright, and we've gotten to a
point where there are tiresperforming well on EVs, where
they're seeing their secondseason and you know potentially
entering into their third, but Ithink there's still a long way
to go.
Especially as EVs really in thewhole light truck segment.
Right Like we're just startingto see the Ford Lightnings out
there and the Tesla Cybertruck,yes, right Like that's a whole
(22:39):
new avenue, that in Ninja Tires.
MC (22:42):
It's.
You know, it's interesting tome because I mean, I've been
doing this show for so long andthere are.
You know, just when you think,man, I think I've got my head
wrapped around this.
A guy like David Pula comes onthe show and says, but you
didn't think about it from thisangle, and so here we are.
This has been a delight, man.
(23:06):
I'm just thinking about all ofthe implications on that and
just the connectivity betweenthe plans that an OEM has to
develop a new vehicle like aCybertruck or a Ford Lightning
or the new Sierra or the HummerEV, and how that could
potentially set out a triggereffect of oh crap, well, there's
now right back to R and D.
We go because we got to figuresomething out on the tire side,
and what does that mean for roadproduction and what does that
(23:28):
mean for steel production andwhat there's?
Just there is no two ways todice it.
This industry is so connectedon so many levels for those that
are listening and watching.
How can they get in touch withyou?
David (23:41):
You can find me on LinkedIn, David Pula, or you can
visit us at dynamic tirecom.
MC (23:46):
I love it, man.
Dynamic tirecom.
We're going to link to it allin the show notes.
David Pula, thanks so much forjoining me on the dealer
playbook podcast Amazing, thankyou so much for having me.
Hey, thanks for listening tothe dealer playbook podcast.
If you enjoyed tuning in,please subscribe, share and hit
(24:06):
that like button.
You can also join us and theDPB community on social media.
Check back next week for a newdealer playbook episode.
Thanks so much for joining.
This episode is brought to you by FlexDealer.
Hey auto industry, welcome tothis episode of the Dealer
Playbook.
Sitting down with David Pula,the president of Dynamic Tire,
(00:22):
we're going to be talking aboutinnovation in the tire industry.
Let's go.
Hey, David, thanks so much forjoining me on the dealer
playbook happy to be here.
David (00:29):
Thank you for having I've followed you for a long time.
Linkedin followed the boss.
An absolute pleasure to be here.
MC (00:36):
So thank you, awesome man.
I appreciate the support.
No pressure, right?
I want to ask you you're goingto be the first person I think
I've ever talked to in the autoindustry, in the tire industry.
I'm looking at your LinkedIn.
Usually it's some sort ofpathway through a car dealership
or something like that, yours,I mean.
(00:58):
You did work at a dealership,yeah, a couple of years through
co-op, and then you, you went tomy favorite guys I don't know
if it can get more Canadian thanthis my favorite store in the
entire world.
You went to Canadian tire andthen shopping cart.
Yeah, I was going to ask, like,how does one get into the tire
(01:19):
industry, cause?
Then you went on to Yoko,yokohama and Salemire and I
don't know if I said that rightNow you're the president of
Dynamic Tire.
What is your journey in thetire industry?
Look like, how did you even getinto that?
David (01:31):
Yeah.
So I stumbled across tires inmy path.
Born and raised by a civilengineer, so concrete and
construction was the childhood,and I quickly determined that
wasn't for me.
Nonetheless, I started changingtires at a young age at an
independent retailer here inOntario and fell in love with it
(01:52):
immediately.
Once I finished high school Iwas able to find the automotive
business program at GeorgianCollege, so I studied in the
diploma program, took the bridgeinto the degree program.
Nothing but high end praise forGeorgian and the automotive
business program that they puton.
But in that timeframe it'sabout a four-year period you
(02:12):
have four different co-opcourses.
So that's actually where mydealership experience comes from
.
I was able to spend some timein sales parts service advising,
but was actually reached out toby a recruiter once I graduated
for canadian tire corp.
So spent just over a year therewith them was managing catalog
content in terms of productassortment within their offering
(02:33):
.
Few different areas that Icovered, but the majority of
which was tires and wheels weremy passion.
Life, and then again same thingwith yokohama.
MC (02:41):
So I think one of the things , that one of the reasons I love
Canadian Tire so much and Iknow this is not about Canadian
Tire transition, I promise, butyou remember in the 90s dude,
everybody nicknamed CanadianTire, Canadian trash.
David (02:56):
Yeah, or it was intro word.
MC (02:59):
Canadian trash, you know, because everything seemed to
fall apart.
And I think, as a marketer, oneof the things that I love so
much about this brand is somehowsomeone, somewhere maybe it was
you, david was like hey, let'swrite the ship.
And now the brand presence.
There's a flagship store inEdmonton two stories, beautiful,
(03:23):
state of the art, this and thatI want to move into that store.
The sheer turnaround of thebrand is nothing short of
spectacular, which I think is sointeresting.
I recently brought our CRO toToronto and I'm like he said
what do we got to do in Canada?
And I said you have to walkinto a Canadian tire.
I can't explain it to you.
Where else can you buy potatochips, a coffee filter and new
(03:46):
tires?
David (03:47):
And new tires.
Again, your tires change andthey're Canadian at heart and do
an amazing job.
Truly, canadian Tire was thefirst organization that I worked
at in a corporate environment,so having the experience with
them in terms of forwardthinking and common business
practices, operationalefficiencies and just truly
departmental flow because of howlarge they are and how many
(04:10):
different departments they haveTailored to even just automotive
is extremely impressive.
So they are forward thinkers atthe box, absolutely.
But, like you said, how manyplaces can you go that you're
dropping your car off to get anoil change, change your tires,
and in the meantime you'repicking up some groceries or,
you know, grabbing some pots andpans, household goods, so forth
(04:32):
.
Right, truly a.
MC (04:34):
Canadian staple.
Absolutely Every ornament on myChristmas tree I think is from
Canada.
Yeah, the Americans listeningright now, dude are thinking
what is this place?
You just have to go experienceit.
David (04:45):
Yeah, you know what?
This time of year is probablythe worst timing for me to enter
there where it's.
You know all of the tools andyou can have some pretty good
fun in there.
MC (04:57):
So I'm curious about this, because I know you're an
individual that's big intoleadership and personal growth
and development.
You mentioned that your timethere, you learned a lot about
operational efficiency.
What's an example that you'renow taking into your role as
president of Dynamic Tire?
David (05:14):
I would say because of the size of that organization,
especially when I was there,going on close to probably 12
years ago now, give or take.
But their reporting inautomation infrastructure was
well ahead of the norm in theindustry.
So there's a lot of redundantflows that you find in common
(05:35):
businesses that you can expeditethrough automated reporting,
scheduled calls, things of thatnature.
So here at Dynamic T dynamictire, we're really focused on
improving our efficiencies.
We're in because we sellpassenger car tires, yes, but we
sell nine other categories ofproduct off the road mining,
agricultural, so forth.
(05:56):
So in order to be efficient inour day, like we, we simply
don't have enough manpower totruly execute without automation
and having those efficienciesright.
So ensuring our sales team hasthe necessary sales and product
information at their disposal ona regular basis is crucial.
But more importantly I wouldsay the efficiencies comes on
(06:19):
the supply chain side.
Providing visibility into leadtimes, back order, fail rates,
production capacity of thefactory right.
Using AI and technologynowadays makes that a more
seamless process right,Especially as we kind of exited
out of COVID here.
Right.
For the last three years,especially during COVID,
(06:42):
everyone you know, the mostcommon question in the industry
was where are my tires or whereare my parts?
Where are my cars?
So that's a big focus of oursright now.
MC (06:51):
I imagine, and then you have something that's perishable,
you have a consumable vehicleproduct in a tire that people
it's funny Like.
First of of all, how big theopportunity in automotive
consumables are.
I don't have a better way,there's probably a better term
for it, but I think, well, atire is definitely one of those
(07:13):
elements of a vehicle, of atractor, of a airplane, of a
mining vehicle that has to beswapped out regularly.
But you're talking about supplychain and all of those sorts of
things and I'm wondering alsothe impact or how you're looking
at how do I make sure that myproduct is not also sitting on
(07:33):
the shelf and dying or becomingobsolete?
David (07:36):
Yeah, From an inventory position, from a retail
perspective or even a wholesalerat that, it's having visibility
into the granular data.
So, for example, here atDynamic with our inventory,
we're able to segregate ourinventory in six-month cycles so
we know the timestamp that theproducts come in and we know how
long it's been here.
(07:56):
So we're regularly monitoringthat.
That goes back to the automatedreporting where, whether it's a
biweekly or a monthly cadencethat we have this report being
spit out to our product team toview, we're able to take action
on some of the slower moverswhen they're visible right.
Without that sort of analyticsand that data insight, you'll
(08:16):
never know and oftentimes,especially even in my retail
days, I recall you're searchingthrough inventory to find a set
of tires.
Meanwhile you find somethingelse that you weren't looking
for.
That's been there.
You know, almost a museumartifact right that we like to
joke around with, but it's trulythe visibility to it and what
that does.
(08:36):
It allows you to take actionWhether you need to liquidate
because it's simply too long inyour stock or if it's not moving
as fast as you had projected.
It allows you to put theeffective marketing solutions in
place to drive awareness tothat product.
MC (08:50):
Interesting.
I mean you really.
It's funny to me I'm going tosound like the dumb guy here,
because I'm just so fascinatedby the scope of everything that
goes into our industry, ofeverything that goes into our
industry, and I think oftentimesI'll speak from a dealer's
perspective.
A car dealer does not putenough attention on, I think,
(09:17):
their parts department as awhole, realizing how big of a
business just something liketires is I mean, they're the
only thing that keep the driverseparated from the road
realizing how big of a businessjust something like tires is,
absolutely.
David (09:25):
I mean, they're the only thing that keep the driver
separated from the road and incontrol on the road, right?
So it should be a pretty bigfocus point.
But when you also look at therevenue that it can generate by
changing the tires right, youknow, change that alignment,
you're pulling the tires and thewheels off the car full brakes,
suspension checks, so forth.
So there's opportunity toservice and add value to your
(09:49):
customer.
And it may not mean you'renecessarily changing the brakes
or the suspension at the sametime you're changing the tire.
But you're allowed to have thatvisibility to the customer.
So isn't thicker shock in thefuture, you know?
Hey, your breaks are, you know,30% remaining.
So just an FYI on your next oilchange, you may need to look at
replacing those type of deal,right, being a little bit more
(10:10):
proactive.
MC (10:14):
Hey, does your marketing agency suck?
Listen, before we hop back intothis episode.
I know you know me as the hostof the dealer playbook, but did
you also know that I'm the CEOof FlexDealer, an agency that's
helping dealers capture betterquality leads from local SEO and
hyper-targeted ads that convert?
So if you want to sell morecars and finally have a partner
that's in it with you, thatdoesn't suck visit FlexDealercom
(10:37):
.
Let's hop back into thisepisode.
You talked about efficiency andoperational efficiency, which
is a topic I love, and now I'm,as I'm writing notes here and
listening to you, I'm realizingwell, there's a huge
inefficiency right now inbusinesses especially.
(11:00):
I was just having thisconversation this week with my
buddy, kyle and Paul my buddiesKyle and Paul about how
something as I don't want to sayoff the radar, I think every
buddy knows they're sellingtires, but not the top of their
priority list, how big of aretention place, something as
(11:21):
there I say, as simple as tirescan be for a business.
Like, and I'm starting to thinkabout hey, come in, we will
repair your tires for free, or,you know, we will fix the flat
for free, or we will rotate themfor free, like.
These are all mechanisms, usingthe tire as the vehicle no pun
intended to bring people back tothe business regularly and give
(11:43):
you that leg up and thatopportunity to build rapport.
So I'm thinking about that.
What's your view on how youthink about that?
I mean, you said I love the wayyou said this, so I'm going to
go out on a limb here with anassumption.
The fact that you said, davidwith a smile on your face, by
the way, I don't know if youknow you said well, tires, the
(12:03):
passion.
Tires are the only thing thatseparates you from the road and
keeps you on the road safely.
I thought, okay, here's a manthat's passionate about tires.
David (12:13):
That's real.
That's real which.
MC (12:15):
I mean, I never.
Now I can say I know somebodythat's passionate about tires.
That's fascinating in and ofitself, but that tells me that
you're thinking about theposition of what you do for a
living in the broader ecosystemin a much more broad way than I
think most people are thinkingabout it.
Thank you.
David (12:32):
So, circling back into your retention portion, speaking
on behalf of the Canadianmarket at least, I think we're
starting to see more of it nowin the automotive dealership
world.
I think the distributorbusiness has changed that
mindset, or is starting to.
In the past, when distributorsweren't necessarily around and
(12:54):
you're focused with yoursupplies coming more from our
regional partner as opposed tonational, national conglomerates
, dealerships were forced tokeep higher inventory levels of
products, which raises youroperational expenses.
Right, cash flow so wasn'tnecessarily, and then at times
you're not turning that productfast but convert it to cap.
(13:15):
So I think there was a negativelaw there.
Nowadays we call it pizzadelivery.
You can get tires delivered toyour store, sometimes within an
hour, if not multiple times aday, right.
So, depending on where you'reat, if you're buying product
from us, you can see multipledeliveries a day, or sometimes
the next day or a few days later, again, depending on your
(13:35):
location.
Winter tire mounted programsnowadays that's not just a fall
selling feature or addition tobuying a vehicle in September,
october, november, right, if I'mselling you a vehicle today,
I'm encouraging that winterpackage and guess what?
We'll keep them here for you,we'll store them and when you're
(13:57):
ready to come back in September, we'll do your bolt on for free
.
Right Encourage.
I was kind of raised with themindset someone in my early
dealership days giving me someadvice that every time that
person walks out the doorthey're less inclined to return.
But give them a reason toreturn.
So by providing incentives likesuch where hey, we'll store
(14:18):
your tires here, tell you whatit's your first set, we'll cover
that cost.
Come back in September, we'llbolt up your winter tires.
You're then automaticallyallowing yourself to potentially
have an oil change, do thebrake inspection before the
winter, where safety is a higherpriority in terms of the
consumer, and then you're alsoleading them down the path to
(14:39):
potentially store their allseason or summer products as
well, which again continued thatretention cycle.
MC (14:46):
I don't think people understand, generally speaking,
the power of the statement youjust made.
Give them a reason.
Now I know people listening andwatching are like well, duh,
you got to give them a reason.
No, peel back the onion layersbecause, yeah, it's one thing to
hear that and be like we hearthat, I get it, duh, okay.
(15:11):
Then the question becomes wellthen, what is the reason you're
giving people?
As we peel back the onionlayers and try and discover well
what separates thrivingorganizations from those that
perpetually struggle, and tryand discover well what separates
thriving organizations fromthose that perpetually struggle,
those that are struggling here,give them a reason and go.
Duh David, thanks, duh Michael.
Why are you making such a bigdeal out of this?
I'll tell you why Because youare not yet giving people a
(15:33):
reason.
David (15:34):
Yeah, exactly what's your value add right.
MC (15:37):
What's your value?
David (15:38):
add If you're selling that oil change because of price
or if you're selling thosetires strictly due to price,
it's not a sustainable businesspractice.
All it takes is one personthat's $5 cheaper than you to
(15:58):
lose that sale.
Maybe a five dollar gap betweenyou and you know the
independent retailer down thestreet, for example.
They'd be more inclined if theysee the value in that service.
Right, hey, we're not justchanging your tires like that
tire shop, here at thisdealership, we're full
mechanical.
That's where we're going toprovide you a brake inspection,
(16:18):
provide you an alignment screenright top of your washer.
X, y, Z.
Little value adds that all.
Yes, they do raise the costthing that you're charging, but
again, it's peace of mind forthe consumer right.
MC (16:30):
Right, and I'm thinking about it in conjunction with
this, I think and I know you seethis all the time, I see it all
the time which is businessesare simply just not giving
themselves enough at bats.
They are expecting the customerto do so much, and maybe the
internet has made us believethat the customer is doing so
(16:52):
much more work than theyactually are.
But to your point about givethem a reason, provide and build
a process around the value add.
In so doing, like you'vebrought up, rotation you brought
out breaks, oil changes,storage.
All these examples areproviding your business one more
at bat to delight the customer,to deepen the relationship, to
(17:16):
make it more meaningful and topush out, like you said, I love
it because you're right $5 andI'm choosing somebody else if I
don't have those things.
But each one of these thingsyou brought up create a
compelling story for me as theconsumer, about why I would
never want to think of or chooseanother dealer.
I want to ask you this, thoughas we start to wind down, people
(17:40):
think of tires, and I wouldventure to say that majority of
people, myself included, go.
Tires are rubber.
Why is David so excited aboutrubber?
You know what I mean?
Well, tires.
But being in it the way thatyou are, you're seeing
considerable innovation insideof this industry.
What's an example of what doesthat even look like?
(18:03):
Because for a guy that goes,tires are rubber and they're
round.
What are you seeing from aninnovation perspective?
What's the tire industry doingthat you're really interested in
, that you're saying, oh, that'sgoing to be something that
materializes in a big way.
David (18:17):
Absolutely.
I think before I get there onthat, the guy that's saying
tires are only rubber andthey're rubber yeah, I would
want to ask him that questionwhen he's going 120 on the
freeway and then see what he hasto think about his tires.
But, jokes aside, I thinkthere's a few different avenues
I could go down in terms of thatquestion EVs, top of mind the
(18:45):
day, no matter what category oftires you're talking, whether
it's for transport trucks orconsumer cars, agricultural
construction everything nowadaysis getting bigger, heavier,
faster, while looking to be morefuel efficient.
So typically in the tire world,what we call the magic triangle
, where you're looking forlongevity, traction and then
(19:08):
durability.
So in order to have additionaltraction, you need to sacrifice
longevity typically, and ifyou're sacrificing to make
something more durable, it'sgoing to be a harder tire,
harder rubber.
So again, you are sacrificingyour traction because you need a
softer compound for traction.
(19:28):
So I think it's pretty coolwhere our organization we're
part of a global group, ceylonTire, number 10 in the world Our
group has what we call EcoPoint3.
So essentially, you've taken allthe dry ingredients and
components that go into a tire,so your silica, your carbon
black, so forth.
So when you disperse all ofthose into the tires themselves,
(19:50):
they're being dispersed evenly,but at a microscopic level, not
truly even.
As opposed to a liquid phasemixing, which is what the Eagle
3 technology is Best way to lookat.
It is like chocolate milk,right?
You can have two differentforms of chocolate milk.
You can have the powderedsubstance and you put a scoop of
(20:12):
your chocolate powder into milk, you stir it, you're still
going to get chocolate milk.
You're going to get a littlebit of clumping at the bottom, a
little bit of clumping at thetop.
Or you have, like your N,liquid form, where it disperses
much more evenly across, whichis a more consistent blend.
So, long story short, with thatis and technology like eco,
(20:33):
point three allows manufacturersto pull different levers and
expand that triangle whereyou're able to have a more
durable tire that lasts longer,that's more fuel efficient.
MC (20:45):
Which is interesting.
You brought up EVs because Ican see.
Now I'm taking all these notesbecause I feel like I'm in
school a little bit.
I'm like I don't know.
I'm like I've never had so muchfun learning everything I don't
know about tires, tyresabsolutely EVs.
David (21:01):
It's, you know, heavier vehicle, high torque, heavy
weight.
Right, it's a recipe to cooktires, naturally.
MC (21:09):
Right, and are we seeing I'm picturing people in lab coats
somewhere playing around withall sorts of different compounds
to say, well, how can we, withall of those known factors like
you talked about, where thevehicle is getting heavier and
faster and more torque and allthese sorts of things, do you
think we'll see in the near terma tire that can last more than
(21:30):
a year or two on an EV?
David (21:33):
Absolutely.
I mean, it comes down to somany different factors, right
Air pressures, the environmentthat's being driven in, the
person behind the wheel drivingit, right.
So.
But at the end of the day, Iabsolutely think there are a ton
of focus points on that, and itgoes back to like being able to
build a reinforced sidewall inorder to handle the weight right
(21:55):
and then combining thatstructure with a contact patch
that has to handle the instanttorque that comes from an EV.
Right, I think that's the toughpart in terms of having the
magic recipe.
I do think there are a lot ofbrands out there that have
accomplished a lot of greatthings.
The R&D never stops, though,right.
(22:17):
The R&D never stops, thoughright, and we've gotten to a
point where there are tiresperforming well on EVs, where
they're seeing their secondseason and you know potentially
entering into their third, but Ithink there's still a long way
to go.
Especially as EVs really in thewhole light truck segment.
Right Like we're just startingto see the Ford Lightnings out
there and the Tesla Cybertruck,yes, right Like that's a whole
(22:39):
new avenue, that in Ninja Tires.
MC (22:42):
It's.
You know, it's interesting tome because I mean, I've been
doing this show for so long andthere are.
You know, just when you think,man, I think I've got my head
wrapped around this.
A guy like David Pula comes onthe show and says, but you
didn't think about it from thisangle, and so here we are.
This has been a delight, man.
(23:06):
I'm just thinking about all ofthe implications on that and
just the connectivity betweenthe plans that an OEM has to
develop a new vehicle like aCybertruck or a Ford Lightning
or the new Sierra or the HummerEV, and how that could
potentially set out a triggereffect of oh crap, well, there's
now right back to R and D.
We go because we got to figuresomething out on the tire side,
and what does that mean for roadproduction and what does that
(23:28):
mean for steel production andwhat there's?
Just there is no two ways todice it.
This industry is so connectedon so many levels for those that
are listening and watching.
How can they get in touch withyou?
David (23:41):
You can find me on LinkedIn, David Pula, or you can
visit us at dynamic tirecom.
MC (23:46):
I love it, man.
Dynamic tirecom.
We're going to link to it allin the show notes.
David Pula, thanks so much forjoining me on the dealer
playbook podcast Amazing, thankyou so much for having me.
Hey, thanks for listening tothe dealer playbook podcast.
If you enjoyed tuning in,please subscribe, share and hit
(24:06):
that like button.
You can also join us and theDPB community on social media.
Check back next week for a newdealer playbook episode.
Thanks so much for joining.
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