Monteith's Best-One: Culture drives business growth

ELKHART, Ind. — Monteith's Best-One Tire & Auto Care finished in first place in this year's Tire Business Best Places to Work survey. The business, founded in 1966, believes its family culture is the key to everything — from retaining people to providing the quality service that allows them to grow.

Based in Elkhart, aka the 'RV capital of the world,' Monteith's Best-One operates 13 brick-and-mortar locations (10 retail, three commercial), and recently launched mobile service, in a competitive Indiana market.

Tim Wolfe, Monteith's president and managing partner of the ownership group, said they have increased employment to around 170 people. Last year, the business employed 156, but Wolfe indicated at the time they were looking to grow.

"There are 100 different tire shops in this county they could work for. So, it's about how we separate ourselves from our competition," Wolfe said. "We believe if we invest in our employees, we'll retain them. If we retain them, they'll get better and attract more good people."

And that adds up to great service for the customer, he said.

Monteith's team has many years of experience. Wolfe said 22 of their 24 managers were developed within the company.

"A lot of us started in the tire bays," Wolfe said. He joined Monteith's in high school in 1994. He took over ownership in 2011.

Mike Wortinger, vice president of retail sales, started working with the company as a tire changer and rose through various positions during his 29-year career.

"I've been here nearly 30 years, and that's not even close to the longest," he said, referencing a handful of people with 40-plus years of experience.

Wortinger said while the opportunity to build his career was a reason to stay with the business for so long, it wasn't the main reason.

"It's the people," he said.

Wortinger recalled a decade ago, when he was seriously injured in a crash during a race at the New Paris Speedway.

"I woke up (in the hospital), and Paul Zurcher (founder of Best-One) was sitting right there," he said. "The CEO of the company, … he cared that much."

Wolfe said the focus on a strong culture was started by Zurcher and carried on by Ray Monteith (founder of Monteith's Best-One).

"We make important to us what is important to employees," Wolfe said. "Ray Monteith used to always talk about how he ran his business with his heart, not his wallet, and we still try to run the company that way."

The business stays true to the Best-One core values created by Zurcher:

• Live with integrity, character and passion.
• Possess a servant's attitude.
• Commit to the pursuit of perfection.
• Accept the urgency of accountability and the necessity of change.

"When we're in meetings, we try to keep the core values in mind with any decisions we're making," Wolfe said.

Wolfe has been known to randomly quiz employees on the core values and reward correct answers with gift cards.

Valerie Ingle, head of human resources at Monteith's, credits Wolfe for setting the tone for the culture.

"Tim really does a good job having a presence, and that plays a big part in everyone realizing this is bigger than themselves," she said. "Most places don't have a president who shakes your hand and makes you really feel like you're a part of the team."

Last year, Monteith's Best-One finished second in the Best Places to Work survey.

In order to participate in the survey, which is conducted by independent research firm Best Companies Group, a business owner submits a survey detailing company policies, practices, benefits and demographics. Employees, meanwhile, are asked to complete, a series of questions, rating the company.

Heading into this year's contest, "sure, we wanted to win after taking second place, but we really appreciated the amount of feedback through the employee survey," Wolfe said. "One of our core values is 'commit to the pursuit of perfection,' so we used that as an opportunity to take back what we learned and apply it to help the company become better."

Since last year, the business launched Monteith's Culture Committee, a group of employees from various parts of the business that meet once a month to brainstorm ideas to facilitate a better place to work.

Esther Espitia, Monteith's marketing manager, previously had the business as a client when she sold radio advertising.

"Tim had been trying to hire me for a while, and I loved my job so much, I wasn't trying to leave, but he convinced me," Espitia said. "The culture here is unlike anything I've experienced, and it totally won me over.

"They live it day in and day out, they'll reward you for living the core values," she said. "They see a problem, they want to fix it."

Andy Peters, vice president of commercial, has been with the company for 13 years. He said Monteith's — and Best-One as a whole — "really is a family business." He said the business is supportive and nurtures growth.

"That's one of the best things, the trust to do it — 'we'll give you whatever you need, but you have the reigns.'

"Tim's always said, 'hey, you may make the wrong decision, but I'm going to support you. Then, we'll sit down and figure out how to do better in the future,' and that's what we really try to do everywhere."

Jason Staples, vice president of operations, has been with the company for 22 years. He said there are multiple avenues for careers with Monteith's — "the sales side, or the mechanical end, or big commercial truck and farm or even mobile" — and that is a big draw to retain talented people.

"It's been a great place to work, where you feel like you're wanted and needed," he said. "It's always felt like family, and there's always felt like an opportunity for growth."

Wolfe said the business places a premium on training.

"Any type of training that's available, we'll pay for the training and the classes, and we pay our people to go to the training."

Wolfe said it really depends on an employee's personality when it comes to training.

"Some of our techs are hitting us up all the time, 'hey, when's the next training?'" he said. "And some of the other techs are content with where they are at, and they've got the certifications that they want and need, and that's OK."

The same is true for training managers, Wolfe said, adding Best-One offers a lot of opportunities.

"Best-One does a great job of having leadership training for up-and-coming people we think have potential leadership qualities, and we're happy to invest into that," he said.

"Paul Zurcher always talked about 'getting the right people on the bus,' and when they're on the bus, 'getting them the right seat,'" Wolfe said. "We focus on getting good people in the company and then figuring out what is the best seat for them."

One of those people is Joe Klawiter, the mobile manager and a nine-year employee of the business. He said he jumped at the chance to run the mobile service — "It's my calling," he laughed.

The service launched with two vans last August.

"The response from the community has been really positive," he said, adding, "Monteith's is such a well-known family name around here, people are really starting to take notice."

Klawiter keeps quotes from satisfied customers on the wall in his office, "so everyone can be reminded of the good work we're doing."

Monteith's has added employees this year but hasn't had to do much recruiting. This is due largely to a downturn in RV sales and the impact on manufacturers — and ensuing layoffs. Ingle said they have been "flooded" with new applications this year.

"The economy has slowed down, and this is RV-driven country and a lot of them have been laid off at the factories. Sort of by default, they've come our way for work," Wolfe said.

In the past few years, Wolfe said they have really leaned on employee recommendations for finding new talent, "good people attract good people," he said.

"Every employee is different, different wants and needs, and we try our best determine what those are," he said. "We just try to do our best, we place a premium on relationships, and we encourage our upper management and managers to get to know their staff."

The more comfortable you make the staff, the more likely they are to communicate, he said.

"If our employees are happy, they will go out of their way to make our customers happy. That's how we grow our business."