Latest / Auto Collabs / Transfer of Emotion with Rick Ricart

Transcript

Transfer of Emotion with Rick Ricart · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  This is why all old people get grumpy. [upbeat music] This is AutoCollab. This is my thesis, because- It's huge [laughs]... they had to mow their lawn with, like, barber shears,
• 0:18
  and then we have self-propelled lawnmowers. And also for the fact that y- we were just talking and Paul's like, "No, he wasn't a player. He's a YouTuber." Like, I think that infuriates old people- [laughs]...
• 0:31
  'cause they're like- Are you a- you are an old person at heart, for sure. I'm an old person at heart. But you're, like, the- You're the best grumpy old man...
• 0:38
  we've arrived at a place in the world where we're like, "No, they, they do YouTube for a living." Like- For, for money. For money, in their underwear, at home- S-... opening boxes.
• 0:47
  Like if you said to somebody that made it through the Depression- [laughs]... that they open boxes- Presents... and make 25 million a year- With three cameras...
• 0:55
  they're like, "I made my- I opened and closed boxes for 10 cents an hour." [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] That's unbelievable. That's so frustrating.
• 1:02
  I don't know what this has to do with Rick Reichardt, but I'm excited to, like- I'm frustrated right now. [laughs] Yeah, Kyle's frustrated, as a resident non-old person. So- I'm a millennial and I'm mad.
• 1:12
  [laughs] I open boxes every day, but I gotta pay for those boxes. Yeah, but I pay for them on Amazon. I do Amazon. He's complaining about Amazon delivery, right?
• 1:21
  [laughs] People like, "Wait, they send stuff right to your house and you just order it on your, your thing?" Well, look, today's guest is anything but a grumpy old man. Rick Reichardt- Without a doubt...
• 1:31
  in my mind, is, is just a progressive, fun, tell it like it is, right? Not afraid to get in a little bit of trouble, right? We tend to gravitate toward those people. But l- honest people are gonna get in trouble.
• 1:45
  That's the bottom line. If you're honest these days- Yes... you're getting in trouble. You're getting in trouble. Absolutely. You know, I, I've seen a lot of, of Rick kind of around social media and what they're doing.
• 1:54
  I can't wait to ask him about the stuff that they're doing with NIL.
• 1:57
  Uh, I, I remember one of my, m- my, my only s- like, interpersonal story of, of Rick is at Digital Dealer this year when we asked him to kind of be, like, on video. We were doing some video recording.
• 2:09
  And, uh, and he didn't have time to do it, but he was wearing a button-up shirt. And he saw both of us wearing, like- At a time, yeah. [laughs]... ball caps and, and a, and a, and a, and, and T-shirts.
• 2:19
  And he was like, "Huh." I'm a little late to the time. [laughs] And so, like, he shows up later in the day for his keynote with a T-shirt.
• 2:25
  And he's like, "Yeah, I just figured if you guys could do it, I could roll it too." "I get this." "Let's go." Right? [laughs] "I get this." You know- So that's the kind of troublemaker we're all about...
• 2:32
  so I, I met, I met his uncle, Rhett Reichardt, who- which- who might be a more familiar name to, to some people in the industry as the chairman of NADA during the pandemic and, you know, just kind of like a legendary personality.
• 2:42
  So we, and, you know, Rick is his nephew, so, uh, we need to ask some Uncle Rhett stories is what I'm most excited about. [laughs] There you go. There you go. All right.
• 2:51
  Grumpy old men aside, we hope you enjoy this interview with Rick Reichardt. [upbeat music] Hey, Rick. It's been a while coming, and it's here now.
• 3:06
  Thank you so much for giving us some time today, uh, the AutoCollab's audience. It's gonna be great. Absolutely, Paul. Great to see you as always, Kyle, everybody. And, uh, it's a pleasure to be on. Yeah. All right.
• 3:16
  So there, uh, the, the Reichardt name has, like... It's kind of like gives shockwaves through the industry, I feel.
• 3:21
  I feel like, you know, between what you're doing with the stores now, um, you know, r- between what Rhett has done as chairman, like, during one of the most tumultuous times in the auto industry, um, I feel like I see and hear the name everywhere.
• 3:34
  Can you tell us a little bit, we like to talk about, like, the beginnings of everyone's experience in the industry.
• 3:39
  How, like, what is your earliest memories of getting into the car business, and kind of when did you feel like you fully adopted it as your own? When I first got into the car business, like legit
• 3:52
  was, felt, it felt like I was working for the company not until I was 21 years old. And I say that because I had spent some time before I turned 21, um, working as punishment. [laughs] Like,
• 4:07
  you know, I'd be like in high school, you know, like I'd break curfew, right? Come home after midnight. And my dad wouldn't know what to do with me.
• 4:14
  He'd be like, "All right, you're gonna get up tomorrow morning and you're going down to the maintenance department and you're checking in at 9:00 AM." And like, I'd, I'd like paint the light poles on a Saturday.
• 4:22
  Like- Right. [laughs]... put me to, like, the manual labor side. And what was really cool about my dad is he didn't, uh, he didn't bring work home. Like, his, my, my grandpa did.
• 4:32
  So my grandpa founded the company in 1953. Yeah, Paul, right? My dad told stories. Yeah, Paul. Paul, Paul Reichardt Sr. My dad's technically Paul II. I'm Paul III.
• 4:41
  And I actually have a son, Paul IV, who was born on my grandpa's birthday. Wow. So really cool. Which is April 27th, or 427, or the greatest engine ever made, so- [laughs]...
• 4:51
  I guess I was kind of, I guess we were kind of born for it regardless. It was meant, yes. It's in the blood. It was meant to be.
• 4:57
  Actually, I didn't know it was meant to be until I, until I started, uh, getting my feet wet. But when I was young, um, like my dad didn't come home and talk about his day at work or the day at the shop.
• 5:06
  I know my grandpa did and he didn't like that growing up. So when I grew up, my dad would talk about math and science and music. He played guitar a lot. I know. He rode motorcycles, dirt bikes.
• 5:15
  I saw so many guitars in all of your old ads. I was gonna ask again- Yeah, I mean, guitars-... what's with the guitars? Like, yeah, it was his thing.
• 5:20
  So in the early '80s, he came up with kind of the tagline, the moniker, the we're dealing, all the marketing stuff he was doing.
• 5:26
  And he would write jingles, and he would play guitar to whatever the popular song was at the time. And back then, you could kind of rip off a song and put it on the broadcast TV stations.
• 5:37
  It would run for four to six weeks before you got a cease and desist letter saying- [laughs] "Hey, yo" That's troublemaking right there. "No, Aaron Reichardt" Yeah. There is troublemaking. "Aaron Reichardt stole..."
• 5:46
  That's actually part of our secret sauce.
• 5:47
  Even my grandfather was in Automotive News in 1961 being called an instigator by other Ford dealers in Columbus for selling so much outside his PMA, 'cause you weren't supposed to back then.
• 5:58
  [laughs] So we've always kinda had that push the envelope- Oh, this is all making-... let's break some of the rules... so much sense all of a sudden.
• 6:04
  [laughs] And, uh, [laughs] so my dad taught me how to break the rules early.
• 6:08
  And he got, uh, you know, he, he, he'd put a commercial on the air, but it'd play so many times it'd already have-So much impact before we had to go change one note in the song and re-record it, put it back on the air and- [laughs]...
• 6:19
  went through that whole process.
• 6:20
  So I, I had to figure out with today's media, with the world of YouTube and the internet, and, but you, you, you can't upload a song that you don't have the rights to and it, it, it, it won't play for 30 seconds before it just automatically- Yeah...
• 6:33
  algorithm and the bots take it down, you know? So, um, so a little bit- So at 21-... little bit different... so you're saying 21 you adopted- So at 21...
• 6:41
  So, so, so 21 is when I really figured out, I was going, you know, I think it was my second summer, so actually it was the su- I was 20. I was about to turn 21.
• 6:50
  And it was that kind of second summer and I decided not to stay in, I was going to school in Dallas.
• 6:55
  The first couple summers I stayed in Dallas and worked, and then I decided, "You know what, I'm, I kind of wanna go home for the summer and work." And I asked if I could go home and sell cars.
• 7:03
  And I, and it's of course, you know, sure, whatever. We just had bought a Chevy store.
• 7:06
  They had, um, sales consultant positions for the first time and, and so I went and, uh, and, and what I found out is in three months I could sell enough cars, make enough money, I didn't have to have as mu- as I could have a fun job or not really work w- th- through the rest of the time of the, uh- Yeah...
• 7:23
  school year. And I didn't know that that's what I wanted to do the rest of my life yet. Um, you know, I was, I was decent at selling cars, but I didn't know anything about the whole rest of the industry.
• 7:34
  And, you know, part of me was thinking I could, you know, those pipe dreams a 20-year-old has. I didn't make it to the NFL. College football didn't quite work out.
• 7:43
  [laughs] Uh, no one called from Hollywood to see if I wanted to take a leading role, so I'm like- [laughs]...
• 7:48
  you know, going like, like I'm, I'm like, I'm like majoring in marketing at, at this point kind of realizing maybe I need to figure out what this family business is all about.
• 7:56
  And I've always loved cars and trucks and motorcycles and everything. So, um, that's when I decided after I was gonna sell cars I'm gonna take it more serious. And I took my last year of school at Northwood University.
• 8:07
  Yeah. Back then, back then you had a choice. You didn't just have the Midland, Michigan campus. There was also a West Palm Beach campus. Hey, now. So I was also smart enough to realize- Easy...
• 8:16
  I could milk the post-grad year. [laughs] yeah. Yeah. So I, so I milked the post-grad year in Palm Beach- [laughs]... getting a wonderful year education of the car business in a textbook before I came home.
• 8:28
  And then that's when, you know, I was 22, 23, came home, started back in sales, worked my way through sales, finance manager, secondary finance, assistant new car manager, sales director, um, GM eventually, um, GSM.
• 8:45
  So, um, yeah. That was, uh... And that was a fun journey 'cause you think about the bulk of my journey, it was 2003 to 2012, uh, to work my way to get to that kind of where I felt like I made it.
• 9:00
  And so a lot of those years were economy declining, recession- Oh, yeah... gas price stuff. You're right in the middle of it. And I felt like that, yeah, so I felt like that was a big advantage for me.
• 9:10
  Like I learned how to be a manager in 2005, '6, 7, 8, 9, like- Yeah, wartime training... used car manager. Right, wartime. Buying cars, so yeah. And my, my uncle always says, he says, "You're battle-hardened."
• 9:20
  Because now, all of a sudden 2012 comes, I get a m- I finally get an executive seat and I've got a position in the company to where I can influence the whole thing.
• 9:29
  The economy's coming back and this business got really easy. Right. Yeah. And all of a sudden 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, I just look like a hero. So- [laughs]... it was fun. It was fun. But then- Yeah, I loved it...
• 9:40
  right, but then, right, the battle-hardened all of a sudden comes back around, right? And now you're, you're actually prepared.
• 9:46
  You've seen times of, you know, less and then times of more, and then times of extreme challenge. And like- Yeah...
• 9:53
  that, that is, uh, the, the seasoned dealers have gone through this, the pandemic really with this mentality of like, like, "We're gonna navigate the situation for what it is," right?
• 10:05
  And then even in the season of profit, they're like, "Yeah, we're gonna get the money now," but no one's really saying like, "It's not gonna get hard again," right?
• 10:12
  Like, everyone kind of knows, the seasoned ones, that we're going back and forth. Oh, absolutely.
• 10:17
  I mean, you, uh, you think about the, you know, tough decisions we had to make in March of, March of 2020 when we didn't really know what to do. And honestly, that was such a big impact of,
• 10:27
  how, how are, how are we gonna handle this?
• 10:29
  That the, the first thing I did when I found out this whole, like, the COVID pandemic is going to significantly impact businesses and they're talking about shutting stuff down, I went and bought a leather cowboy hat I call my bandit hat, and I, I became the character.
• 10:43
  Like- [laughs]... I don't really know how to fight this thing either, but we have all these people looking at us, the families in our community and our, and, and everyone that works for us going, "Are we gonna be okay?"
• 10:53
  And I'm, I'm gonna throw on this leather bandit hat and put the face mask on and go, "We're gonna be just fine. The bandit's here. It's not messing with us." I love that.
• 11:01
  And that kind of mentality- That guy, that, that's awesome... that kind of mentality, you know, you gotta create that, like, like, character. 'Cause at the same time, my, my uncle was the...
• 11:09
  I mean, he, he got, uh, inducted into the, um, chairman role for NADA in February of 2020. I was there. We had just- I was there... we had just been in Las Vegas. [laughs] He gets the role. He's all excited.
• 11:20
  He's supposed to travel 200 days that year, and within 30 days, boom, COVID hits. And he calls me and he goes, "You got it back home? Are you good?" And I'm like, "We got this."
• 11:32
  And he's like, "'Cause I gotta go, you know, to DC and try to help the rest of the dealers." And- Wow... um, yeah. He's... And that's, and I'll just tell you something about my uncle.
• 11:40
  He, uh, of course my uncle's my idol, everything like that, but, uh, he, he's, he's a, he's awesome. He absolutely was the right person to have in that seat at that time. The dude doesn't sweat.
• 11:49
  Like, he's one of those guys, ice water's running through his veins and a smile's on his face all the time. I love it.
• 11:53
  And if he, and if I didn't think that being a real politician would put so much stress and strain on him that he'd be miserable, I'd vote for him to run for president. No, he's too young.
• 12:02
  Like, he's really that, that, like he's, he's that, he's that type of cat, so. At least a senator. Yeah. Right? Yeah. [laughs] No doubt. Yeah. He has that plenty about him. He does. Well, since, since you- He does...
• 12:11
  brought him up, we were gonna ask if you could just tell us one Uncle Rhett story from growing up. [laughs] I know there's gotta be a great one in there Oh, my gosh. [laughs] How many do you wanna hear?
• 12:20
  I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm gonna pick- [laughs] I'm gonna pick one that he won't be mad because, uh- Right, you're like, "NADA just called" [laughs] Yeah, 'cause there's, there's... Yeah.
• 12:26
  [laughs] 'Cause he says all the, um- 'Cause you're still very serious about representing NADA as an o-, o-... He really is. S- so I used to take out, uh, cars quite a bit. And my uncle- [laughs]...
• 12:39
  lived right down the... So my uncle lived right down the street from us. We lived in the same neighborhood.
• 12:42
  So, um, you know, I, my, my cousin, my, my cousin Jared, who's my business partner now, he's co- co- co-president with me, Rhett's son.
• 12:53
  You know, I'd go down to his house all the time, and I remember being, I don't know, we were 16, 17 years old, and, um, he always drove.
• 13:00
  So if we took something in on trade, some sports car, something hot, he would bring it home and put it in his garage for a couple days, like most dealers do. Right. And I drive by it.
• 13:09
  There's a black Z06, so it would've been the late '90s when that first run of, you know, Corvette Z06 has come out, and I see this black Corvette in there, and I walk in the house, and the keys are on the counter- [laughs]...
• 13:19
  and he's out of town. [laughs] And I look at my cousin, and I'm like... And we used to have this, and we used to have this, this loop. So you head out into the neighborhood, you make a right. It's about a 2.3-mile loop.
• 13:30
  We literally thought we were helping MotorTrend- Scorchin' 'em... by like... Yeah, 'cause you remember in the back of Road and Track, it always had the quarter-mile times- [laughs]... the zero to 60 times. Yeah.
• 13:39
  [laughs] We would find what the numbers were for the cars- Oh, yeah... and then go out and verify. Yeah. [laughs] Like, we were helping the media. You, you were doing market research.
• 13:46
  So- Third-party- Full-on third-party market research... verification. Perfect. [laughs] So yeah, so I'm legit. I'm 18 years old, back country road, black Z06.
• 13:54
  I'm flying down this road, wide open, fourth gear, and some little rodent of some kind was crossing the street, and it, and it, and it got the front clip of the car, like cracked that little front clip spoiler.
• 14:06
  And, you know, we get back to the house, and I'm like, "Oh, crap." Like, the one thing I... Like, I can't let him know I took the car, especially can't let him know I wrecked the car. Not wrecked it, but- Yeah...
• 14:15
  damaged. And we had this, um, little body shop that was around the corner that, that, that the, um, s- that the kids went to the same high school as my cousins, were buddies with them.
• 14:24
  And I snuck the car around the back, and I was like, "I need you guys to fix this, fix this car by Monday. Like, Rhett's coming back in town. I'm in big trouble." And, um, so sure enough, they didn't fix the car in time.
• 14:35
  He gets back in town. He finds out, and I remember my dad being like, "Hey, you need to come to my office to talk to me," in the office in the basement of his house. And I go down there, and my uncle's sitting there.
• 14:45
  And I look at my dad, and I'm like, "What's going on here?" And he's like, "Don't look at me. You need to talk to him." [laughs] And Rhett starts ripping me apart. [laughs] I mean,
• 14:52
  "I know you've heard stories of us doing this stuff in the '60s," 'cause they told us about how in the '60s- [laughs]...
• 14:57
  early '70s, they were taking Cobra Jet Mustangs and stealing tires out of my grandpa's parts department to put them on the cars to drag race- Smoking...
• 15:05
  and then taking the tires off before the next morning, before the, before the store opened, and they were doing that stuff, too. [laughs] And he's yelling at me about, "You can't do that these days.
• 15:13
  You can't do these things." And I remember looking at my dad, and I'm like, "Is he allowed to yell at me like this?" [laughs] You know, and for the first time in my life- "You gonna do something about this?" [laughs]...
• 15:21
  my dad... Yeah, like, "Come on, Dad. This, like you should be yelling. Why is this guy doing this?" And then he looks at me, and he was like, "No. In this situation, you're, you're listening to him."
• 15:29
  And, and then it's funny 'cause I didn't realize at that moment that that was gonna be something that became a pattern in my life. [laughs] Because when I was, when I was 21 years old, when I...
• 15:39
  That first summer I sold cars, my dad had, had moved to Florida, and he was living in South Florida. I actually never worked a day with my, with, with my dad. Wow. But, but he said, uh...
• 15:49
  But he basically was like, "You're, you're, you're, you go home and you listen to your uncle. Your uncle's your boss. Your uncle's your dad back home."
• 15:56
  Like, and so, uh, that was kind of a weird adjustment at 18 to being like... Man, like my, my dad was kind of hard on me. He would yell at me, but man, Rhett ripped my ass. Like, that was not fun.
• 16:05
  Oh, I would not want- So there's, there's certainly- I can, I can imagine when he shifts into that gear- So... Yeah, so-... it's like blast radius mode, right? [laughs] Yeah, so I think he only...
• 16:13
  So I, I think it also scared me enough that over the next 15 years, he only caught me, like, once or twice. [laughs] He just got better. I learned how to get- He just got better. [laughs] I was, I was so sneaky.
• 16:22
  I was so... I've driven everything. [laughs] And I've driven everything, like I'm in Grand Theft Auto to me. Oh, my goodness.
• 16:28
  Now I look back, like when people are like, "You know, how do you drive some of these cars on a day and you don't really drive that fast?" It's like, "I've done it all." Well, this is what- "I'm good"...
• 16:35
  See, this is what I love, though- "I'm good"... about automotive. Like, you know, y- like you're in a, at, you're in the top level executive seat at the auto group, and it's like, no, we in auto, we have fun.
• 16:45
  I'm thinking back. You're like, this is just- Yeah... the extension of, you know, your dad- Yeah... you know, using the songs and, and four to six weeks, and it's like- Yeah...
• 16:54
  it's finding the nooks and crannies to be, like diligent, understanding. Like, that gave you a lot of industry- Yeah... understanding. You understand all those cars.
• 17:02
  You, like you were doing market research even though it's fun, right? Um, I- Yeah. I mean, at the, you know, the, the, uh... And I'm gonna kind of interrupt you real quick, Kyle- Yeah...
• 17:11
  because you know Simon Sinek's book, W- What is Your Why? Yeah. Yeah. I, I, and I, I went through that whole process and, and I, obviously it can't be income, and it can't be family, trying a family business.
• 17:23
  My why is the Ford GT, the car.
• 17:26
  Because what it, what it represents from competition, from what Ford versus Ferrari in the '60s, to the three gen- different generations of, of technology in the engines, to the fact it's a commodity we can buy and sell.
• 17:39
  We can service it, ma- uh, customize it, modify it, race it, you know. It, it creates so much emotion. We're an emotional business. Mm-hmm.
• 17:47
  Um, I don't remember who said it, but sales is nothing more than the transfer of emotion from one person to another. Oh, wow. And at the end of the day, that's... The whole car business is nothing but selling.
• 17:55
  We're always selling. The dealership, selling ourselves, selling the cars, selling the parts, selling the service, selling our community.
• 18:01
  It's a nonstop transfer of emotion, and those, those cars that bring that additional emotion to our marketplace are what wakes me up every day. I love it. I'm 42 years old, and I play with Hot Wheels every day.
• 18:13
  Well, and we've been talking about this a ton- And the truth, you know, throughout the day- We've been talking about this a ton recently.
• 18:17
  That this is actually, like, when you look back in automotiveLike, when the, when the, the, the combustion engine, when the, when a motorcar first came out, it was like this thing to be seen, and it was something that, that positioned you.
• 18:31
  And then in the '70s and '80s, you saw it come back with, like, the muscle car and, and the car was really something to be sought after. And then we're seeing that trend actually happen again, right?
• 18:41
  Where because of, like, EV transitions- Yeah... and all this new technology, we're seeing the pop culture narrative be driven by automotive again, which is a really... Like, it's a new thing.
• 18:52
  I mean, I'm looking at, like, what you're doing in, uh... 'Cause I think you're, you're doing some, like, NIL stuff even with, with- Mm-hmm... with Ohio State. Yeah.
• 19:01
  And it's like, yeah, pop culture is, is again realigning with automotive in a way that it maybe it didn't in the '90s and, and 2000s, right? It, it didn't. Yeah. No, easy it didn't. Yeah. Well, there- I mean, Nightrider.
• 19:12
  Yeah. Right? Like- I mean, there weren't too many... I mean, the late '90s, like, I mean, the cars were, you know, the, the fastest stuff was, like, 300 horsepower, and they were kinda bland. Right.
• 19:21
  It's not even- Like, there was just, like, the economy was good... everything kind of got weird in the '90s. Everything got, like- Everything was-... domesticated- Which is weird 'cause-...
• 19:27
  is what happened in the '90s... like, the car scene sucked, but music was incredible. [laughs] Like, there's so many parts of the '90s that we look back and we're like, "Man, we thought the '90s..."
• 19:35
  So I grew up in the '90s. I thought the '90s sucked as I was growing up in them. Now I look back like that was the funnest decade, actually. Yeah, you're like, you got Jordan- With no worries, with more freedom...
• 19:42
  and great music. We didn't have enough time for auto. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, the, I mean, the immersive hip-hop- None of it... grunge... the Cowboys win in Super Bowls and, yeah, like- The... I'm sorry.
• 19:50
  What'd you say? [laughs] All of it. Yeah. All right. No, we'll, we'll go back to that another time. [laughs] But if you think about it, now we've, we're...
• 19:56
  Yeah, like, but like you said, we're in this land of the hybrids and the EVs, and there's all this emotion, and we're also in this big resurgence of the four-by-four and off-road world. And- Yeah...
• 20:05
  I mean, every dealer in the country's got lifted, lifted pickup trucks on their lot, and we're all fighting to get as many Wranglers and Broncos as we can.
• 20:13
  And there's this new sense of adventure in America, and I think COVID helped accelerate our great interstate system, our national parks, the hills in our backyards, the w- you know, the, all the drives that we have and the rides, and you, you know, the power sports industry, boats, RVs, and especially motorcycles are doing fantastic for us 'cause everybody wants to get out and ride.
• 20:34
  They want that freedom, that adventure. You know what's crazy? If you can do it- On Sunday-... awesome... I got a text from somebody that was like, "Hey, sorry, my wife and I, we're out for a drive."
• 20:42
  Like, that was the text. Not like- Yeah. [laughs]... "We're going to lunch." Yeah. Oh, that makes me feel sad. It was, "We're out for a drive." I was like, "Whoa." Yeah.
• 20:48
  People are going out driving now to then find their destination. Where five years ago it was, "Hey, we gotta get on Google Maps and let's go get ice cream at this place," now it's like, "You know what?
• 20:58
  Let's just head to that area that w- that we wanted to see, and we'll see if we can find something to eat." And you, you worry about the destination at the end, and it's all about the journey.
• 21:07
  And that- That kinda loses its luster- That's everything for me... if you're on autopilot, doesn't it? Yes. [laughs] Yeah. You know, I, I don't wanna... I don't want the autonomy.
• 21:15
  I don't wanna go in and say, "Here, I'm gonna set my address," and just sit back, and it takes me there like I'm on a train, right? Like I'm on the rail. Like you're in the movie WALL-E. Just forget that, bro. Right?
• 21:23
  [laughs] Yeah. Forget that. Just kinda, mm. [laughs] Forget that. I wanna, I wanna downshift by accident and hear the transmission do something it shouldn't, and- Hey, what do you think of that new-...
• 21:32
  oh, I gotta remember how to drive. What do you think of that new Dodge EV concept with the, with the echo, with the resonance chamber and the sound coming through it? I'm cur- Can't do it...
• 21:42
  I'm curious, 'cause you're, like, a purist. I can't do it. I can't do it. I can't do it. I mean, I, I listened to it. I turned it up.
• 21:47
  Um, I'm gonna have to listen to it in person, but, uh, it's, uh, I don't think that's the direction that we wanna go.
• 21:52
  Well, Kyle- I think the biggest mistake- Kyle was like, "What if you put a rumble pack in the seat and in the steering wheel, and you can flip it on and off?" Yeah. Like, that's pretty visceral.
• 21:59
  I mean, so- I mean, you have an electric Harley, right? I've got an electric... So we got the LiveWire. I'm also driving a, um, F-150 Lightning now.
• 22:06
  I just got my, uh, Platinum Lightning yesterday, and it's got this propulsion sound button that on the interior when you hit the accelerator, it gives you that kinda jet engine propulsion noise- Huh...
• 22:19
  to let, to let you know you are accelerating. Going, going faster. If you turn that off, it's dead quiet. But it doesn't make any noise on the outside yet.
• 22:25
  I have a feeling Dodge is gonna have the option to turn that on- They have to... turn it off. Oh, yeah. Do you wanna...
• 22:30
  Like, do, do you wanna increase the intensity of the cat sound, or do you wanna make it, you know, just still have a little rumble? Yeah. Throat.
• 22:37
  Uh, I think the biggest mistake they made in the whole thing, and I'm not, and I'm not downing Jeep or Mopar, 'cause we don't sell 'em, I, I want to one day, but they, they should have not put the all-electric Charger as the trim.
• 22:50
  They should've done something different with the Charger. The Challenger, okay. 'Cause now what are people gonna Google? Electric Charger. Oh. [laughs] What are they gonna find? Oh, man.
• 23:00
  [laughs] They're not gonna find the car. A wall pack, right. [laughs] From a mark- yeah, from a marketing standpoint, epic fail. Come on. [laughs] Wow.
• 23:08
  [laughs] Dude, that's the first thing I thought of, like, oh my gosh- Electric charging charge point, right?... I'm gonna Google, "I want a new electric Charger." [laughs] That's unbelievable.
• 23:17
  Electrify America, Apple, Google, the, the, V- Verizon, Samsung, they're gonna dominate those searches. [laughs] Dodge, you're done. [laughs] Oh, my gosh. That's amazing. All right.
• 23:27
  We have to, we had, we, we needed to ask you before we got on- Yeah...
• 23:30
  because we're marketers at heart, and, like, we've been begging people to, to, like, work within these new NIL regulations, and we just had to- Explain what NIL is for a minute- So-... just for people who don't know...
• 23:40
  so NIL is name and, uh, uh, name in, in- Image likeness... name, image, likeness- Yeah... right, where college professionals can now seek sponsorship dollars from any type of business, right?
• 23:50
  And, and that there's such an opportunity because automotive is so baked in the community, and many of these college communities are so baked into the fabric of the community. So I'd love to...
• 24:00
  Like, we just wanted to pick your brain on what, what that's been like partnering with.
• 24:05
  Have you partnered with, uh, Ohio State and other colleges before, or is this kinda new since NIL, and, and how's that, like, been in the relationship with the community? I'll take you back.
• 24:16
  July 1st, 2021 was when NIL rules went into effect. Yeah. So the NCAA deemed in May of last year that the-It's unconstitutional to not let these players use their name, image, and likeness to benefit for themselves.
• 24:29
  July 1st, the law went into place and the world completely changed, because prior to July 1st, uh, even the Ohio State University will tell you that the biggest enemy to the NCAA that they have to look out for is relationships with car dealers.
• 24:43
  Because it's the most obvious low hanging fruit. Everyone remembers- Ah... all the players throughout the years, that they'd see the car roll into the practice facility with the dealer tag.
• 24:51
  Somebody snaps a picture, next thing you know the team's losing bowl games, right? [laughs] So they gotta be very, very careful. When Urban Me- So we did have a relationship when, um,
• 25:01
  um, Jim Tressel was the coach of Ohio State, just with the coaching staff- Right... help, h- helping them with a couple cars, but not to the players.
• 25:08
  And then when Urban Meyer was hired, the very first thing he did was say, "Call every car dealer and tell them to come get their cars back." We, there are no relationships.
• 25:15
  So we were totally cut off, we buy our tickets like everyone else, everything was like they're, like we couldn't be connected at all.
• 25:22
  July 1st hits and then, you know, at first I'm just sitting back going, "What, what's gonna happen with this? This seems kinda goofy. I hope, you know, they don't expect us to be giving cars away."
• 25:32
  Um, and I don't even know if that makes sense necessarily. And then I start thinking about it, and we started looking at, you know, well, wait a minute, no- nobody is doing anything yet, could there be an early adopter?
• 25:44
  Is there a way to make a media splash? And, and the other unique thing, I, I, I'm in a very unique situation because Columbus, Ohio, um, we don't have a lot of big influencers here.
• 25:55
  When you think about influencer marketing, we have some. They have okay numbers of followers, but anybody that's a real big-time influencer, they're in Miami, they're in LA- Yeah... they're in New York, they're in Vegas.
• 26:06
  They're not in... If they, in fact, most people that become celebrities or professional athletes that come from Columbus, Ohio- Yeah... end up living somewhere else anyways. They, they don't even come back.
• 26:16
  So we don't really have a talent pool to choose from that's very deep in the influencer world. We had an opportunity, the very first NIL deal that we, um, put together was actually with a, a, a high schooler from Texas.
• 26:29
  His name is Quinn Ewers, and he'll be the starting quarterback for Texas this year. And I got hooked up with Quinn's dad, and, uh, he had just announced he was coming to Ohio State.
• 26:37
  He was gonna, he was gonna not go to his senior year of high school in Texas to enroll early. And there was a chance he was gonna compete for the starting job, 'cause Ohio State had not announced that C.J.
• 26:46
  Stroud was the starting quarterback yet. And I reached out to his dad and I said, "What does, what does Quinn drive back, back, back home?" He said, "Well, he's got a older, uh, Ford F-250."
• 26:56
  I said, "How would, how would he like a new F-250 to drive while, while he comes here?" And he says, "I think he'd, I think he'd like that." [laughs] Right. [laughs] So he comes in- I think he'd be okay with that...
• 27:04
  we put this, so, and literally I, I had this white Super Duty that I was driving as a demo. I, I built this truck for myself. It was, um, you know, an F-250 Tremor.
• 27:13
  The cool part about the Tremor is you don't have to put a lift kit to put, to put 40-inch tires under it. You can just do a little couple body modifications. So I had lifted the truck, big, big tires.
• 27:23
  It was that big seven three big block gas engine- [laughs]... so I supercharged it. So I had this 650 horse, right, badass truck. And I'm like, yeah. We'll trust this to a 19-year-old, not a problem.
• 27:34
  [laughs] But listen, it's killing me on gas. I'm spending 200 bucks a week on gas. Right. So it didn't bother me to get out of this truck. So I'm like, "Here, and it'll be your big spot."
• 27:42
  So plus he's not driving anywhere, 'cause they go from the apartment complex- Yeah, yeah... to the practice facility and- And you're not gonna tell him where that race loop is either. So, um- Right. [laughs] Which, yeah.
• 27:51
  So, uh, so [laughs] so, um, so we end up putting the, um, you know, deal together.
• 27:55
  At the same time, this, um, Quinn was also working with a kombucha company in Texas and a sports marketing agency that were putting together m- m- I mean, million-dollar deals for, for, for him.
• 28:07
  In fact, he s- he signed this million-dollar autograph deal in, in, in the conference room of our, of, of, of our offices. So, um- Wow... so, so needless to say, because of the vol- because of that,
• 28:22
  uh, big national media started, started paying attention. Those companies refused to comment, but when the, you know, New York Times and some of these other- It was you...
• 28:32
  um, you know, Forbes reaches out to me, I'm like- Heck... "Heck yeah, I'll give you a quote." Let's talk about us. Put me in articles everywhere.
• 28:37
  So now all of a sudden- Make sure you get my last name right, R-I-C [laughs] Yeah, exactly.
• 28:42
  So I'm thinking, we're just gonna get impressions like crazy, and sure enough I got pe- friends calling me from all over the country. I'm in their local newspaper 'cause there's this big NIL deal.
• 28:51
  [laughs] And it read like we gave him a million dollars, but it was really- Yeah... up to him. And the crazy part is, Quinn unfortunately, four months into the season when, when C.J.
• 29:02
  Stroud was not only the starting quarterback but was a Heisman Trophy fi- Right...
• 29:05
  you know, ca- candidate and all that stuff, um, he basically realized that he would have a better opportunity to en- enter the transfer portal and leave. No hard feelings at all. We had it in our contract.
• 29:15
  He simply, you know, we terminate the contract, he gives the truck back at that point, and we get to resell the truck and he moved on to Texas and didn't cost us anything. In fact- Amazing...
• 29:25
  if you know what the truck market was like last year- [laughs]... the truck actually went up in value. Without a doubt, right? [laughs] We didn't even have to write it down. It was an appreciating asset, right?
• 29:32
  [laughs] And then we got to sell it in December of last year and make a little bit of money on the truck. Oh, man, what a play.
• 29:38
  And, and I still chat with Quinn and his dad and, you know, every- It's just a great, great family. I wish them all the best in Texas. But because of opening that door, um, I, I got to go to a practice at Ohio State.
• 29:50
  I got to find this running back, number 32, that blew my mind. And I'm like, "Who's that kid?" And they go, "That's TreVeyon Henderson." And I reached out to TreVeyon the next day. He was the second deal I put together.
• 30:00
  Um, he's one of my favorite people in the world now. We just, we just re-signed him for this season. I got him in a red Camaro ZL1. Um, he's the baddest running back in the country. Oh, without a doubt.
• 30:10
  He's one of the smartest, most humble, cool kids you've... I mean, he's not even a kid, he's a man. What a great representation. And he's awesome.
• 30:16
  Um, we got Garrett, Garrett, Garrett Wilson in a truck, who's now on the New York Jets. Um, he's a unbelievable guy also. And then now this year, uh, we have Jackson Smith-NjigbaHad a pretty good Rose Bowl.
• 30:29
  He should have a breakout season, a wide receiver. Not that he didn't last year with 2,000 yards, but, um, and then, uh, uh, DeJuan Jones is coming on board.
• 30:36
  He's a, he's a lineman who's, man, he's 6'8", 400 pounds or down to 370 now. He's leaned up. But he's, uh, got the biggest smile. He's great for the commercials, for the acting.
• 30:47
  Um, Jack Sawyer, who's a local guy- [laughs] Well, but this-... who's a defensive end... this is what's cool about this, right? It's awesome. Is, like, I, I think- Yeah...
• 30:52
  I think some people probably have a hard time drawing a straight line. Like, you get the opportunity to obviously have them in commercials, and the smile, and there's a local representation. Yeah. But, like- Yeah...
• 31:00
  the fact that these guys are gonna be in national news multiple times over the next four to five months, and probably the next two to three years, like, just, like, just on, like, the blocking and tackling of SEO, if you don't know what's happening here- Yeah...
• 31:16
  for the Reichert stores, right? Every time you get tagged, every time you get mentioned, every time... Like, it, it goes so much past just, like, dropping a car.
• 31:26
  And, and, and it does wonders, I'm sure, for your staff to be associated.
• 31:30
  Like, there is probably exponential things that you probably can't draw a straight line to revenue to, but at some point will, will, will turn, like, massive numbers in for the stores. I'm, I'm...
• 31:41
  Maybe you can draw a straight line to revenue, I don't know. No, no. In fact, the greatest marketing you can do, you can't measure ROI. Right. And, and that's why so few people do it. Mm.
• 31:51
  That's why when digital marketing became a thing 12 years ago in the automotive industry, that so many people immediately cut traditional media budgets.
• 31:59
  They cut TV, they cut doing branding things, and they're like, "Well, we're just gonna put our money in this direct ROI."
• 32:06
  Tier three and four where people are literally in the act of trying to buy a car, and that's when they're finally coming at 'em. You snipe 'em off, yeah. Yeah, and you have to... And it doesn't work that way.
• 32:16
  It has to build upon itself. So we truly believe in a four-tier marketing system, where at the very top is that stuff that really isn't, isn't immeasurable.
• 32:23
  It's the PR, it's the community-based, it's the giving back, it's telling our story, it's, it's help- it's making our world a better place, and it's making that, those emotions race.
• 32:34
  And I'm, and I, and I'm sure we could look at impression shares, and there is way, there are ways to quantify is there a certain impact happening?
• 32:41
  In the world of social media, you think about likes, follows, engagements. You can watch that total kind of- Rising tide... social media clout, clout score rise when these types of things happen.
• 32:52
  You can see, um, and I just, from a focus group standpoint, um, I can tell you in the past two years since we've been doing a lot more community stuff through the, through COVID, through, you know, NIL and getting...
• 33:04
  I'm, I'm getting recognized a lot more. But not just people recognize who I am, they know what we're doing. Yeah. They're telling me about it, and they're mentioning players by name.
• 33:12
  And I'm using those players' platforms, with their 25, and 50, and 200,000 followers, to help promote our local non- nonprofits and charities that have been growing exponentially at the same time.
• 33:26
  In fact, as soon as we get off this podcast, I'm the chairman of a group called A Kid Again here in Central Ohio. We provide l- monthly adventures to children with life, with life-threatening conditions.
• 33:36
  Um, those players made appearances at an event on Monday night to raise money for the foundation.
• 33:42
  This is an NIL foundation that I sit on the board of with Cardale Jones and Brian Schottenstein, which is one of the big families here in Columbus, and we're helping raise funds to give to these players to help Ohio State cont- you know, I'm a Buckeye fan, obviously.
• 33:55
  Love Ohio State football. Season taken hold of my whole life. Great. Love the fact that if, if fact, if they win the national championship this year, I'm gonna straight up ask Coach Day for a ring.
• 34:03
  Like, "Bro, you know what I've been doing." [laughs] "I think I'm part of recruiting now." I'm coming. [laughs] "Can I get one of them rings?" Yeah. [laughs] Yes. You know what I mean?
• 34:11
  Like, as a super fan, it feels awesome.
• 34:13
  And then at the same time, to be able to use those platforms and watch our world become a better place by helping our community, because all car dealers know we have a responsibility
• 34:23
  with, for what we do, the amount of revenue that we create, the tax money that we generate, the people that we employ, the lives that we change, to continue to give back and be stewards of our community, and to make them a better place every day.
• 34:35
  And if you're not, your business isn't gonna thrive for a long time. Because just like how we talked about the emotion of automotive's back, and people like power, and off-road, and adventure, and all those things,
• 34:45
  p- they're getting their driver's license again. These younger generations, they care more about how a business gives back and how they help their community than how many records- Yep... they've won and how many- Yeah...
• 34:55
  years that they've been number one. They don't care what your selection is. They care about what you did for their neighbors. Wow. Remember that, too. Yeah.
• 35:01
  Well, man, look, I couldn't think of a better way to end and, like, tie that all back together. It's like you've done this before. It, R- Rick, I am just- Right...
• 35:12
  I'm pumped up to, to learn more about what you've done and the way that you're passionate about community, because it, it feeds the drive- Mm-hmm...
• 35:20
  in me and what we're doing at ASOTU, and what I think our industry really needs to tell a better story.
• 35:25
  So I'm glad that you're telling that story from a PR perspective, at least locally, but also nationally, because that's the truth. That's what retail automotive is, without a doubt, through and through, all about.
• 35:36
  Uh, so Rick, thanks for joining us today- Love it... and, and can't wait for the next conversation. Thanks, Kyle. Appreciate it. Paul, great to talk to you also, my man.
• 35:45
  [upbeat music] Literally, do not ever let anyone tell you that automotive is not a fun industry. No kidding. That's the takeaway. Ever.
• 35:54
  Because look, we got owner-operators that are caring for multi-million/billion dollar businesses that as they were growing up at age 19, were drag racing the trade-ins.
• 36:06
  [laughs] Now, that doesn't happen these days anymore, I don't think. But, like, that's the type of stories that I think you could probably ask anyone in automotive, and that's the reality.
• 36:16
  But here's the, here's the cool thing is, like, that's the same energy that he's bringing to the NIL deals that he's doing right now, and the way that they are giving back to the community with- Oh, so good...
• 36:27
  the Ronald McDonald House and all.
• 36:28
  It's that same energy, ingenuity, kind of like play out- the, like, color outside the lines energy that I think so many in automotive, and Rick is a great example of that, that he's, like, transitioned that into being an incredible businessman, but still coloring outside the lines enough.Michael, I have a question for you.
• 36:47
  What's the dumbest- It better be insightful. [laughs] What's the dumbest... No, I'll tell you when you're gonna be insightful. Um [laughs] I'll tell you, sonny. Uh, uh, yeah. Right now, this is not for insight.
• 36:58
  What is the dumbest thing you've ever done while driving a car? [sighs] Can I contest this? Or the most irresponsible thing. Yes, you can. Yeah. Just, just you, me, and Kyle.
• 37:08
  Uh, me and my buddies used to do what we call McBoarding. So this is where you would go and- Has this been canceled? This, this is being... Yeah. Okay. If, if I found out my kids were doing this, I would- [laughs]...
• 37:19
  laugh behind the scenes, but also be very- Destroy them [laughs] Yes. So this is where you go and borrow a tray from McDonald's. [laughs] McBoarding. I know.
• 37:30
  And then while one of your friends drives, th- th- like, they roll down their driver's side window. Oh. [laughs] And while they drive, you hang on, on the outside. That's so good.
• 37:38
  And you go street surfing on the Mc- That's an amazing invention... McBoarding. Is that- I wonder if that was invented in Canada. Well, so we had an idea once. My buddy Sam had this idea.
• 37:49
  He's like, "You know, the trays aren't, you know, durable enough." So we went to [laughs] a grocery store. Much time to modify. 'Cause it was the only thing open this late, late at night.
• 37:58
  We go into a grocery store, and he's like, "Dude, if we get a cookie sheet, then it'll last longer." [laughs] He had these brand-new pair of shoes, these brand-new Adidas shoes that he had just bought that day.
• 38:10
  And of course, we were, you know, kids, so, like, he probably had his life savings into these shoes. He hops on. We go McBoarding. Uh, we come to a stop. [laughs] Um, and- Hi, officer... a split second later, he's like,
• 38:24
  "Ah, ah, ah!" That's- And we just see all this steam coming from his shoes. Burn your, uh, your feet because metal and the- They just melted to this cookie sheet. So there you go. That's my most- [laughs]... dumb thing.
• 38:32
  That's not what I expected. I didn't know what I expected. Yeah. But it certainly wasn't that. [laughs] Certainly unexpected. You, you were expecting the Canadian, "I did five over the speed limit once."
• 38:41
  [laughs] Once upon a time, five kilometers over the speed limit. [laughs] Okay, well what was your follow-up gonna be to that? But, hey, I, I, enough of that. There wasn't any. There wasn't one. [laughs] Enough of that.
• 38:50
  But, hey, look, if, if, if you, if you haven't done yourself the favor of following Rick and his store on LinkedIn or any social media just to get some ideas on how you can press back into the community, run your business at a very high level, be, be v- very on the leading edge of things like NIL or, or caring for your community or caring for your employees, like, I would highly encourage you to do so.
• 39:14
  We hope you've enjoyed this conversation with Rick Recker. On behalf of myself, Kyle Mounts here, Paul Jay Daly, and Michael Cirillo, we'll see you next time.
• 39:23
  Sign up for our free and fun-to-read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U.com.
• 39:36
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 39:43
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collapse. [laughs] Why are we recording? [laughs] Are we rolling yet?
• 40:01
  Not yet.