Reaching Goals By Building An All-Star Team

Of all the iconic landmarks in the St. Louis area – the Gateway Arch, the Union Station Train Depot or even the ice at the Scottrade Center where the Blues skated to the 2019 NHL Championship – only one structure consistently amuses, educates and inspires passersby.

The signpost outside Combs Tire Auto Service Center is a familiar sight to drivers in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood. While some may see it as just a sign, second-generation shop Owner Scott Combs sees it as much more. It’s a valuable brand ambassador and member of his team.

Replete with puns, jokes and witty sayings, Combs says the creativity comes from his brother Rob, who regularly updates the sign with new sayings. “It brings people in who’ve never been here before,” says Scott. “It’s a great way to reach the community and build our presence. We’ve found it can be the talk of the town.”

Maximizing the tools at your disposal to build a successful franchise is something Combs learned at an early age. His father, Bill was Chief Financial Officer for the St. Louis Blues during the first 10 years of the franchise’s existence. 

“We’re big fans and I grew up playing hockey, so it was just a huge part of our life,” says Scott. “When he left the corporate world, he decided to get involved with an industry that people would always have a necessity for. He got involved as the accountant and part owner of Clark Tire and Auto in October of 1985, with the intention of being a hands-off owner.” 

The shop expanded a bit too aggressively, says Combs, so his father made a more serious commitment to the job. 

“He decided to be in the store all day, take control and make sure from top to bottom – the employees to the customers to the cars – that everything was handled correctly. They shuttered the other four stores in 1987 and kept this one. In about 1988, he bought out the other owner,” Combs explains.

His father had no automotive experience but was skilled at managing the operation, even trying to get Scott involved.

“I would come in on weekends during high school and college, but I’d never really held a wrench before. It was kind of laughable,” Combs says. “I was the owner’s son – I was more in the way than I was anything else. I’d change somebody’s oil or rotate tires and somebody have to come in behind me and fix what I screwed up.” 

After graduating from college with a marketing degree, Combs admits he wasn’t interested in the family business. “I spent about two years working for The Sporting News, but when that opportunity ran its course in 1992, Pop said, ‘Just come and try it. I’ve been here for about 32 years now. Except for marrying my wife, it was probably the best decision that I ever made in my life.”

The biggest secret he learned? “We’ve surrounded ourselves with knowledgeable car people, and that’s made us exceptionally successful to this day.” 

Combs believes that, as much emphasis that is placed on “Auto” in his shop’s name, even more should be placed on the word “Service.”

“It’s first about the people – our customers,” he says. “It has to do with taking care of people and their needs, which, of course, is their car.”

When Scott joined the team in the early ‘90s, the timing coincided well with the advent of computer technology.

“When I first got here, we were handwriting job tickets. We quickly realized, from a business standpoint, that we had to change. You had to have paper receipts; you had to look up labor times in printed manuals – it was archaic,” Combs recalls.  

“Computerization really did change the game for us, and it allowed us to shop parts more competitively and to stay in contact with our customers more easily. That was a win-win for us,” he says. 

Of course, wins seem to come easier at home and Combs believes the St. Louis area offers his shop a distinct home-ice advantage.

“The St. Louis market is great for us when it comes to sourcing auto parts,” he says. We have many major distributors here in town for both auto parts and tires with multiple opportunities to buy from different vendors. Again, a lot like our customers, we’re buying on relationships. We have long-time suppliers who know us very well.”

In addition, Combs says his shop equipment needs are also handled locally. “All of our major alignment equipment, tire changers and balancers come from Hunter Engineering, right in our backyard. They are next level when it comes to not only their product, but their staff, their representatives, all the way down to the people who come out and maintain that equipment. They are above and beyond when it comes to the capabilities, the knowledge about and the reliability of the product. I can’t say enough great things about that organization – having them here is a winner for sure.”

Combs Tire Auto Service is a nine-bay facility that handles nearly every aspect of auto service, except collision repair.

“We have 11 techs – both male and female – in the shop who are actively working on cars. Coupled with our service advisors and counter personnel, we have one goal: listen to our customer. That starts and ends with asking the right questions. If we schedule you for service but don’t find out why, the first thing the tech is going to say before he or she goes on a test drive is what are the symptoms?” Combs says. 

“If we didn’t ask the right questions about what it’s doing, when and under what conditions, we’re really doing everyone a disservice, both customer and tech. 

Luckily, Combs has an extremely skilled team. 

“A lot of our guys have their ASE certificates in air conditioning, engine repair or other segments of the industry. But I want to emphasize their true value is doing the job and getting the experience.  

“We have at least two techs who have been here 30 years, and another two or three who are approaching 15 years. When you have that type of continuity and longevity, you’re very vested,” Combs says.

“I tell my guys all the time, ‘When you step into a customer’s car, you have to think that this is your family’s car. If you’re putting on a new set of tires and you notice that the oil sticker is overdue by three months, write it down. Say something.’ We can let the customer know and, if they’re not passionate about doing it all that day, they know it’s needed. We’ll schedule it another day.”

Combs says, ideally, customers and techs don’t commonly interact; in reality, lines get blurred. “Our service writers and service managers are constantly discussing issues with customers at the counter. At the same time, techs may be at the counter relaying information about repairs in the back. 

“Customers often feel comfortable going directly to the techs with questions. It’s not necessarily part of their job description to interact with the customers, but there’s a lot of layers to those relationships.”

When it comes to pricing jobs, Combs says, the shop follows established hourly book labor rates. “Yet, we’re not a flat-rate shop, so techs get paid hourly,” he says. “This allows flexibility when there’s a problem in the shop, so that the techs can help each other. The guy next to you isn’t afraid he’ll be admonished for stopping and helping. We encourage them to work together to solve the problem.”

At the same time, if there are procedures that can help complete a job quicker, the customer will benefit.

“If we can do it quicker, we can always typically come in less than what we quoted on the phone,” Combs says. “And what happens then? We create a ‘wow’ moment for a customer who was expecting to pay $1,500 and instead only paid $1,350. They’ll make sure their family and friends know what happened. That’s how we continue to grow year in and year out.”

Of course, all that is in a perfect world, Combs acknowledges. “We don’t live in that world. So as much as when things go right and the customers are excited and ecstatic, brand-new parts fail and human error occurs. It’s all how you handle it. When that happens, that separates you from everybody else. 

Keeping The Family In The Family Business

“My father taught me at a very young age that being present is vital,” Combs says. “It can lead to long days, but we’re only open five days a week. Originally, it was six days a week, but as a family-owned and operated shop, we feel like if we can’t get it done Monday through Friday, then we’re doing it wrong. 

“We’re open from 7:30 am – 5:00 pm, though our techs go home at 4:30 pm. We feel this shows a lot about our character and that we also care about their time away from here.”

Combs encourages his team to spend time with their families and be involved with their kids. 

“I know that may sound cliché, but if you get sick, if you’ve got a kid that’s sick, we expect you to stay home. As long as you’re communicating and keeping us in the loop on what’s going on and what’s happening, we’re very, very flexible,” Combs says. “It’s important that they understand that family comes first.”

That empathy, coupled with a generous holiday schedule and covered healthcare for employees, is paramount to Combs’ attention to retention.

“Combined with things that we’re doing with the holidays, little things like celebrating their birthdays, anniversaries, a milestone here at work, we try to go the extra mile and make sure they understand that they’re really what makes us tick at the end of the day,” Combs explains. 

The Combs family remains involved. In addition to brother Rob’s creativity in sign development, Scott’s wife Wendy ensures that the “human” aspect of HR remains vibrant. 

“I do everything that Scott doesn’t want to do,” she laughs. “Scott and I bought the business from his parents, Bill and Sunny Combs, about five years ago. Since then, I keep the shop organized, pay the bills, deal with HR, deal with insurance, drive customers around, pick up parts…whatever is needed to help the operation.” 

Putting people in places they can excel is one of his strengths, Scott admits. “Wendy worked in the insurance industry for a long time before she became a mom and raised our kids. She’s good with people, and her HR and insurance experience goes a long way in allowing me to stay focused on other things. I couldn’t imagine being a shop owner who must deal with just the insurance aspect of what she handles. What she does is huge for our company.”

The benefits are outlined from Day One. “One of the things we talk about in a job interview is that, because of the way we’re set up, if there’s a problem or an issue, you can come right to Scott and me,” Wendy says. “That’s where the decision gets made. You don’t have to run it up the flagpole to corporate.” 

Because of this open-door policy, the Combs say the team operates smoothly. “Whether you want to call it being generous or just good shop operation, they know that if they have a problem, we can sit down and talk about it. We will work through it. That’s kind of part of how we keep a talented, hardworking staff.” 

The Combs’ son, Cameron, has been with the shop for about two years and, like his father and grandfather, brings a different skill set to the team. 

“He works as a service advisor and he’s learning the ropes about how to sell,” says Scott. “With a biology degree from the Missouri University of Science and Technology, he, too, comes from a different angle as a future shop owner. But, he understands how to treat people right. 

“It makes Wendy and me proud and comfortable knowing that there’s going to be a Combs here as we get into the final 10 years of our involvement, that he will be able to carry that baton and make a career from this for his family. He’ll be a huge part moving forward for us.”

The founder of it all, Bill Combs, is still involved as well. “At 85 years old, he still comes into the shop almost daily. If we’ve got something that’s rolling around our heads, we still bounce ideas off of him. He is a great resource and we tap into his expertise often,” Scott says.

“From the beginning, it was important to us as a family to be involved in our community,” Combs says. “This is a great place to raise kids. The school districts are strong. And, we have multi-generational customers – the grandparents have come here, then the parents and now the kids. 

Despite their history with professional sports teams, the Combs family today plays more at the amateur level. “I know some of the big players in town support the Blues, and that’s great. But, that doesn’t help my kid when he travels on his travel team. So, we got involved at a very grassroots level,” Combs says.

“When I got here, I was very involved with our children’s sports. Now, we’re still committed to the local level of all sports. Hockey, baseball, softball, even if you’re a dance kid, we give a little bit of money to everybody,” he says. “If somebody’s doing a trivia night, if somebody’s having their spring festival, we’re sponsoring that. We don’t give a ton of money to any one person, but we try to help everybody a little bit.”

That’s not to say benefits don’t require effort, explains Wendy.

“We have nervous kids every year who come to the shop trying to get a sponsorship and they must talk to Scott or me and explain what they’re doing. It’s real-world training, but he always says yes!”

Combs continues to embrace technology, allowing customers to opt in to receiving text messages for service reminders and sales opportunities.

“Thirty years ago, there was no way to be so connected, unless you were keeping copious notes and hand-dialing the phone to reach these customers,” says Combs. “We’ve experienced some really great strides with marketing technology. Obviously, there’s still room to grow.”

Combs says that, ultimately, when it comes to a purchasing decision, it comes down to who you know and who you trust. Whether it’s word of mouth from friends and family or Google reviews, the relationships matter.

“Look, I know what we do can be a grind,” Combs says. “My team is out there hustling. But, we find a way to make it fun and reward our people for their hard work. And that’s it.

“At the end of the day, whether you’re an employee or a customer, I want you to be excited to come in here. Keeping those relationships makes it easy, I think, for us to shine,” Combs says.