All about balance

While Mac Tools distributor Tim Lyons doesn’t have any automotive repair experience, growing up he gained a basic understanding of tools from his family. When Lyons was younger, he assisted his grandfather while working on John Deere tractors, and helped hand wrenches to his father during repairs.

“My dad could fix anything in the world. I got none of that DNA,” says Lyons.

Lyons started running his Renton, Wash.-based route during the Great Recession, in September 2008. Prior to becoming a franchise distributor, Lyons spent more than two decades in the corporate management setting, selling office furniture.

Lyons ultimately got his start with Mac Tools while researching different franchise opportunities, including fast food restaurants. He learned through his research that he didn’t want to be responsible for hiring and managing personnel, and considered the independence running a tool route would afford him.

“All the business acumen that I’ve acquired over the years, in one shape or another, I get to put it into test. I get to practice it. That’s kind of fun,” says Lyons.

Business philosophy

When Lyons first got started, the U.S. economy had taken a downturn. Lyons prides himself on sustaining through these first years, and even growing his business. “I took care of warranties. I struggled for two years when the economy was terrible. I was learning, and we got through it.”

Lyons attributes his continued success during the harsher economic environment to the introduction of Mac truck credit for distributors. This way, he was able to provide customers a way to hold onto balances, without having to front the money on his own.

“Mac put together the financing program at Tool Fair, and that’s what really allowed us to grow. (Four years ago) I wouldn’t be in business if it weren’t for that.”

Lyons analyzes his progress through a figurative daily score card, to keep track of how his business is performing. He learned this through his previous position in management in the furniture industry, where he would complete actual evaluations for others.

Lyons will review his weekly reports and receive some help from his wife, Cheryl, in keeping his business on track. She also provides feedback on Lyons’ monthly reports.

By analyzing and assessing himself on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, it helps Lyons balance his business.

“It isn’t sunshine every day, and it isn’t cloudy every day. But every day you get up. So yesterday may have been a $5,000 day. You still get up the next day and go out. Or, if it was a $500 day, you still get up and go out again,” he says.

“You measure yourself. Don’t congratulate yourself too much, don’t beat yourself up too much.”

Working his way up

Lyons is motivated by goals, and has worked to reach each achievement he’s set for himself.

The first year Lyons attended the Mac Tools Tool Fair, he realized other distributors were receiving recognition based on sales. He wanted in, so he figured out a way to make it happen.

Lyons worked his way up through each tier of the Mac Tools sales goals. In 2014, he reached Platinum status with Mac Tools. The Diamond-level distributor is now Lyons’ next goal.

Along with achieving sales milestones, Lyons became more active in other groups within Mac Tools. He was nominated to participate in the Masters Program his second year in business, working with a mentor distributor to help Lyons guide his own business. With the Masters Program, “They take a group of distributors and basically help them get to the next level,” says Lyons.

Lyons says when he got started, he held the mentality “Mac should be helping with my business.” While the organization supports Lyons, he has found it’s his network of others that has really helped his business thrive.

In his third year, Lyons was invited to join the Mac Tools Dealer Summit Group, a focus group that discusses different issues and tactics among the select group of distributors to help make the organization and business better.

“Your peers are the ones that are going to help you.” With the Dealer Summit Group, Lyons explains, “I participated in the group for two years and was able to achieve Gold status level. The best part of the Summit Group was the great relationships that were created with other dealers.”

Now that Lyons has reached what could be considered veteran status in the distributor industry, he has continued his involvement by working with a mentorship program for new dealers getting started.

Mentoring four distributors so far, Lyons likes the aspects of networking and learning new things from others to help with his business.

For his mentorees, he sometimes likes to get a text going in the morning among all the distributors, where they can keep tabs on big sales throughout the day and text everyone to share that information. He finds it motivates everyone to keep pushing themselves.

“People still take care of people”

Lyons approaches his business with the mentality of helping his customers succeed, and he focuses on building relationships with those customers.

Referring back to his time in the commercial furniture business, Lyons explains “Part of our philosophy was that each sales group was responsible for an architecture firm. We made sure that those (firms) that weren’t busy, we were out helping get new opportunities or projects going, so they remember you.”

“I knew I could do the same thing in the tool business by helping customers out with warranties and information even though they may not have needed new tools. They remembered me when they did need some tools at a later date,” says Lyons. ““Because people still buy from people.”

While Lyons says one of his favorite parts of the job is delivering tools to help his customers, he relishes the independence of having his own business.

“I’ve never worked as hard as I do now, physically. But I don’t have a problem getting out of bed in the morning,” he says. “You’re in control of it. There’s no excuse, and there’s full blame.”

Lyons’ favorite part of his job can also be his most challenging.

“The number-one challenge would be to stay healthy and take care of yourself. As crazy as that may sound.” In addition to taking care of himself mentally and physically, Lyons has to be proactive in taking care of the business based on the decisions he makes. Lyons explains that because “you’re a one-man show,” every action can affect the business. This means being conscientious of the food he eats and activities he does on weekends.

Because Lyons has been established with his business for a number of years, he explains another challenge can be becoming too routine in his approach.

“Your challenges are that your processes are always sound and you’re doing the right things. Don’t get lazy or let your business practices get loose,” says Lyons. He explains that thinking “I don’t need to do these things because I’ve been around” can get some distributors stuck in a rut.

Selling and stocking strategies

Lyons’ father, and father’s brothers, all grew up turning wrenches. While Lyons helped in the shop when he was younger, handing off different wrench sizes, he never developed the drive to take on repairs.

What Lyons may lack in vehicle repair experience, he makes up for by educating himself on new products and getting the word out to his customers. He makes sure to attend any available training events, to keep himself up-to-date on the products available.

“I’m a big believer in training. I will go to any training event available. You know what happens in baseball to the MVP? He goes back to spring training,” says Lyons. “He was the best baseball player in the world this year; he still goes to spring training next year.

“You need to keep that edge, or you’re going to lose it.”

Lyons totes and promotes at nearly every stop. He brings in tools to show customers, and walks in with a clipboard that includes a built-in storage compartment where Lyons keeps extra notes and flyers. He uses this clipboard religiously, and has a printout of each day’s stops. He takes notes on orders and keeps track of balances/payments on this sheet.

“As long as you’ve got something to carry in, you’ve got a chance for an opportunity. The funny thing is, everyone always thinks it has to be on sale. We have to have a promo,” says Lyons. “Just walk in and hand them something.”

With that, Lyons isn’t always selling tools, either. A frustrating element he encountered early on, Lyons has learned to accept that a sale is a sale – even if it’s not specifically a tool being purchased by one of his customers.

“It drove me crazy; when I first got into this business, I wanted to sell tools. Guys would come on the truck and order T-shirts. That would make me so mad,” says Lyons. “I would tell my wife, ‘I try to sell this guy a tool, and he buys a t-shirt.’ She said, ‘Well, is he buying something?’”

Building momentum

Lyons runs his route five days per week. He’s up at 5 AM daily, and on the truck by 7 AM, working 12-hour days.

Lyons sets up each day to ensure he has a prime stop to kick off his morning. This way, he gets momentum started for the day.

“I’ve got to get the energy flowing,” says Lyons. “I don’t care if it’s a $24 test light, I just have to get that first deal. I need that.”

Nearly 90 percent of Lyons’ stops are automotive; 20 percent of those are dealerships with the rest being independent repair facilities. The remaining stops include some heavy duty stops, automotive restoration shops, body shops and a few audio shops.

For dealerships, Lyons makes sure to break those stops up to have a few each day throughout the week. He finds that they can be “feast or famine” – and if dealerships are having a bad day, it can bring his entire mood and motivation down.

“You need a blend, because if the dealerships are down, or they’re dead in the water and there’s no business there – then you’re going to get down and out, right?” says Lyons.

Lyons will also make it a point to talk with every dealership service director or service manager at least once a month. He discusses broader business for the dealership, because he’s comfortable talking about numbers. Lyons looks to stay on the dealership’s radar not only for shop equipment purchases, but also to raise the comfort level of management personnel approaching him if there are any issues with techs in the shop; his customers – say late payments, or the tech spending too much time on the truck.

Lyons is a big numbers guy, and he strictly keeps his terms to five weeks for customers. He likes the LTP (Long-term payment accounts) for larger purchases, because those won’t affect his term numbers. He always asks for a down payment on a new purchase, to help lower that term as well.

Tips and tricks on the truck

As a way of communicating with his customers, Lyons has adopted new technologies. He explains that it’s important to not let his ego, or “old-guy syndrome” get in the way of looking at new opportunities for his business.

“The one thing I can thank my 30-year-old daughters for? They made me start texting. I’ve started talking to everybody saying, ‘Just text me,’” says Lyons. “(Customers) don’t know what emails are, and they’re not calling when they’re 30 years old. They’re texting.”

Lyons gets assistance from his daughters and his wife on helping to reorganize the truck to “get a 30-year-old perspective; and get a female perspective.”

He also receives some assistance from his wife, Cheryl. While she works full-time as a CPA, she still attends Tool Fair every year, and offers advice on the business.

"She also gives me good feedback on cash flow and how my financial numbers are looking,” says Lyons.

Lyons, who has Wi-Fi on the truck for Internet access, also utilizes Facebook to communicate with his customers. He’ll post some specials, and also humorous or interesting car-related photos on his page throughout the week.

He’ll encourage customers to like his page by offering a small giveaway, like pocket screwdriver.

“I know some guys are really heavy into it, and I just probably won’t be that guy. But I’ll be a guy where that’ll be part of my overall piece.”

Work/life balance

Lyons makes sure to take a vacation every couple of years, because of his wife. He was raised in Nebraska, and his father engrained in him the importance of working hard to show your value. Cheryl showed him that it’s also important to find respite and re-energize by getting away from the business for a while.

“Now that we’re both in our 60s, we’ve pretty much made that commitment that you have to start doing those things,” says Lyons. “We try to find the right balance where you can do a few things while you still can.”

“The thing I like about this job, for me, is I work pretty hard. But when I walk away and go on vacation? I go on vacation. I was never able to do that in some of my other roles.”

He now makes sure to take a vacation for his sanity, and employs this idea of balance with his approach to his business as well.

For instance, Lyons sometimes has to make unscheduled stops to deliver a tool or pick up a payment from a customer.

“It can throw your schedule off. Then you’re chasing money. Part of what I have to sell is being there at this certain time,” says Lyons. “You just have to find a decent balance, that’s all.”

This year alone, he’s worked out a number of personal milestones, including selling his home in downtown Seattle to move closer to his route. This will allow Lyons the opportunity to have easier access to his truck on weekends for stocking and inventory.

“The other aspect we've always talked about was having the truck on-site to eliminate having to drive to a storage facility to do work on the weekend.”

He currently drives a used 2003 18’ Freightliner truck, which he purchased used from Ohio and drove out to Seattle upon purchase, to “learn how to drive it.” Lyons also recently purchased a new custom truck, which he anticipates will arrive late-summer 2015 (see sidebar).

For the future

Lyons took on a franchise opportunity with a set timeframe in mind before retirement. His lucky number? 13.

“I just said to myself that we’re working until 68. The first week at Toyota, a guy goes, ‘Well how long are you going to be doing this?’ I looked him square in the eye and said, ‘13 years.’ He said, ‘Are you sure? A lot of guys don’t make it.’ I repeated, ‘13 years,’” says Lyons.

He’s on base to achieve his goal, already putting 5-1/2 years in.

“You can make what you want to make, depending upon how hard you want to work, and how smart you are,” he says. “It’s no different than anywhere else.”

To assist with continually improving his business and help with operations, Lyons enjoys reading a number of business books. One book that Lyons drew a number of items from was “The Energy Bus” by Jon Gordon. In the book, Gordon explains the importance of choosing just one word to describe what drives him, so he can focus on that.

“Instead of these six goals – what are my goals, what are my tactics, etc. I just focus on one word. And that’s what I did,” says Lyons.

When Lyons first read the book and started his business, his word was “Gold.” Once Lyons achieved this, he changed his focus word to “Platinum,” when he was trying to continue achieving sales success. His word at the moment? Wisdom.