John Quirk, president and CEO of VIP Tires & Service, stands in front of their new location in the former Patrons Oxford Insurance Co. on Harriman Drive in the Auburn Business Park off Kittyhawk Avenue.

John Quirk, president and CEO of VIP Tires & Service, oversees more than 500 employees at 56 stores — make that 57 come October. The company will move into its new Auburn headquarters in mid-August.

1. With your grandfather founding Quirk Tires and Service, was there ever a point where you weren’t going to go into the industry?

I grew up in a large family with four brothers and one sister and most of us worked in the family business after school. I started working part time for my dad in 1975 and continued to do so throughout high school and college. However, my dad had a rule that once you graduated college, you had to work outside the family business for at least five years. He wanted us to experience how the larger business world worked and learn how to pay our own way. Right out of college, I worked for Autographix selling computer systems, first in Waltham, Massachusetts, and then in New York City, but I always knew I wanted to come back and be a part of the family tire business my grandfather started in 1926. I became our company’s president and CEO in 1985.

Many people think our business is a transaction business, but it’s not, it’s about relationships. I liked the idea of making real connections with customers and knowing that I could play an important role in helping them solve whatever problem they were having. You can find my direct phone number posted on the wall at every VIP store. Over the years, I’ve made many friends with regular customers and it’s fun to see the different generations of the same family visit our stores. I know that we’ve built a special trust with these folks and that they can count on us to help them.

2. Describe an average day in the office.

A typical day for me starts at 5 a.m. and ends at 7 p.m. I usually begin my morning reviewing the previous day’s sales and then I’m on the phone speaking with store managers so I understand how I can help them serve our customers better. I also spend a lot of time communicating with different vendors by email or phone. When I’m not in the office, I’m on the road meeting with different store managers and engaging with customers. I’m on the road at least three days every week and average about 40,000 miles per year on the road.

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This time out of the office is critical. It allows me to establish strong connections with the different store managers and to address challenges more quickly. Despite being a large organization, we are nimble and I can make decisions relatively quickly to improve the customer experience.

3. One benefit and one challenge to overseeing 56 locations across several states?

One of our challenges is maintaining consistent communication with all store employees and ensuring the right message is received and easily understandable. Because our business is about transparency and helping customers extend the life of their cars in the most cost-effective way, we want our technicians to forge strong relationships with their customers.

A significant benefit of a business our size is that we have scale so that we can purchase and make available a variety of tire options at different price points to our customers. We also have more store density than our competitors throughout Northern New England.

4. What is a policy or issue you’re following this summer at either the state or national level, and what impact could it have on your business?

I’m keeping a close eye on a variety of state and federal issues and potential policy changes. One is the pending overhaul of our country’s tax policies and the uncertainty those changes may bring. Another is import duties. We are sourcing more and more tires, especially our high-performance tires, from North America, so the renegotiation of the NAFTA agreement could be a concern.

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For our lower-cost, value tires, we typically source those globally from factories from all over the world. The current import environment remains uncertain under the new administration, which means where we source our tires could dramatically change, which could impact consumer pricing. I’m also keeping a pulse on those states that are increasing gas prices by instituting additional taxes. Higher gas prices impact the number of miles an individual may drive and that could affect their tire and service purchase history.

5. If you received a $1 million grant tomorrow, no strings attached, what would you invest it in?

I would invest it in leadership development at VIP because what we’ve found is that a strong manager is what makes a successful store. Investing in leadership programs is less common in our industry because many store managers move out of the technician’s bay to the counter. During their career, the majority of these individuals have not been exposed to leadership training and development programs. In the last two to three years, we’ve invested heavily into leadership training and I believe it’s one of the best investments we can make.

6. The burning question: What do you drive, what tires do you have on and do you get an oil change every 3,000 miles?

I drive a 2014 Ford F-150 4×4 truck because I love the versatility of it. I can toss tires in the back when I’m visiting a store or help my wife with various tasks on the weekends. Additionally, it’s a great vehicle, good in all weather conditions and something I’m comfortable driving 40,000 miles per year – the average person drives about 12,000 miles per year.

For tires, I run Arctic Claw winter tires and switch back to the OEM Bridgestone tires that were on the truck when I purchased it in the summer. I run full synthetic oil in my truck and change it every 5,000 miles.

kskelton@sunjournal.com

John Quirk, President and CEO of VIP Tires and Service .

John Quirk, President and CEO of VIP Tires and Service .

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