Latest / CBT Live / Are Dealers Investing More in AI Than People? Car Guy Coffee, Marburger on F&I (10.08.26)

Transcript

Are Dealers Investing More in AI Than People? Car Guy Coffee, Marburger on F&I (10.08.26) · CBT Live

0:00
SPEAKER_03: Hey everyone, and welcome into CBT Live, right here at the CBT Automotive Network.
0:04
SPEAKER_03: Today's Thursday, October 8th.
0:06
SPEAKER_03: I am Jim Fitzpatrick.
0:07
SPEAKER_05: And I am Bridget Fitzpatrick.
0:08
SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much for joining us today.
0:10
SPEAKER_03: Yep, we have got a really special show today.
0:12
SPEAKER_05: We do.
0:12
SPEAKER_05: I'm so excited about today's show.
0:14
SPEAKER_05: And these two gentlemen sitting next to us need no introduction.
0:17
SPEAKER_05: I'm talking about Fred Lenards and Lou Ramirez from Car Guy Coffee and Certified Solutionaries.
0:22
SPEAKER_05: Thank you so much for joining us today.
0:24
SPEAKER_11: I'm so excited to be here.
0:26
SPEAKER_11: Well, we're honored that you're here.
0:28
SPEAKER_11: We are.
0:28
SPEAKER_11: We are feeling is mutual.
0:30
SPEAKER_11: We'd love to show up with some high fives, so I gotta give you a couple of high fives.
0:33
SPEAKER_11: Excited to be here.
0:35
SPEAKER_11: What is the bigger five in my thing?
0:37
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
0:38
SPEAKER_05: Bringing the energy already, which is what we love about you guys.
0:41
SPEAKER_05: Um we have a lot to talk about.
0:43
SPEAKER_05: So I would love to just jump right in.
0:45
SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
0:45
SPEAKER_05: Let's go, right?
0:46
SPEAKER_05: That's right.
0:47
SPEAKER_05: Um, so a lot of people might not know how your your earlier days started.
0:51
SPEAKER_05: You guys have been friends for a very long time and now business partners.
0:55
SPEAKER_05: So can you talk about how you came up with this your whole business solutions, as you as you say?
1:03
SPEAKER_07: Um, well, you know, we for one, working 20 years together in retail on and off and and being brothers throughout the whole thing made it very easy for us to team up.
1:13
SPEAKER_07: I remember when I was thinking before we had came up with the idea, I was like, there's somebody out there that I want to do this with.
1:19
SPEAKER_07: I need an accountability partner, I need somebody that has my back, a battle buddy.
1:23
SPEAKER_07: And the first person, and I have a lot of great car guys that I know, and gals, and and the first person I could think of that can keep up, if not do more energy than me is Lou.
1:32
SPEAKER_07: So I reached out to Lou and I asked him, Hey, are you uh you ever thought about doing a podcast?
1:36
SPEAKER_07: And he was like, I have.
1:38
SPEAKER_07: He was like, actually, yes.
1:39
SPEAKER_07: So from there, that's where Car Guy Coffee grew, and and the the confidence from car guy coffee from being out there, understanding what's really happening in the world outside of the silo we were at in Kentucky at the dealerships we were at, yeah.
1:50
SPEAKER_07: Um, and realizing that there was a demand for what we were able to produce in our home state, sure, everywhere across the country, which gave us the courage to go out and say, let's start certified solutionaries.
2:00
SPEAKER_03: Were were you all working together at the time?
2:02
SPEAKER_11: We were working inside of the same dealership group.
2:04
SPEAKER_11: Okay.
2:05
SPEAKER_11: So there were management and leadership meetings were together.
2:08
SPEAKER_11: We were, in essence, in competition with each other in the management group.
2:12
SPEAKER_11: Okay.
2:12
SPEAKER_11: Uh we were straddling Fort Knox.
2:14
SPEAKER_11: So his dealership was in one city on one side of Fort Knox, and I was on the other side.
2:19
SPEAKER_11: Okay.
2:19
SPEAKER_11: And so we were in slight competition, yeah, you know, team to team.
2:23
SPEAKER_11: Sure.
2:23
SPEAKER_11: But we worked together on and off in different facets.
2:26
SPEAKER_11: But overall, we would say yes, we were with the same dealership.
2:29
SPEAKER_11: Okay.
2:29
SPEAKER_11: But the store to store we were competing.
2:31
SPEAKER_11: Sure, sure.
2:32
SPEAKER_03: And what did you want the what when you came up with the idea of putting uh a podcast together?
2:37
SPEAKER_03: What did you want the podcast to do?
2:38
SPEAKER_03: What was the purpose of it?
2:40
SPEAKER_11: Well, when I first looked into doing a podcast, everybody's saying, Well, talk about what you know and be an expert at what you know.
2:47
SPEAKER_11: You already know something, talk about that.
2:49
SPEAKER_11: And so I was like, Well, that makes sense, but all I know is the car business.
2:53
SPEAKER_11: And I know some coffee, I know a little bit about that, right?
2:57
SPEAKER_11: And I knew about how to take the wordplay and correlate it together.
3:01
SPEAKER_11: Sure.
3:01
SPEAKER_11: And when Fred made the call and said, Hey, I want to start a podcast, I'm feeling this, and I don't want to do this with anybody but you.
3:08
SPEAKER_11: What do you want to do?
3:08
SPEAKER_11: I was like, That's great.
3:09
SPEAKER_11: I want to start a podcast too.
3:10
SPEAKER_11: You got a name for it?
3:11
SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
3:11
SPEAKER_11: And he said, No, I don't.
3:12
SPEAKER_11: I said, Car Guy Coffee Podcast.
3:14
SPEAKER_11: There you go.
3:15
SPEAKER_11: And he said, and because I had a visual for the logo as saying it, right?
3:20
SPEAKER_11: What the pod would be the curic pod and all that, right?
3:23
SPEAKER_11: I just had this vision for it, and the energy of Car Guy Coffee itself was organic from the dealership.
3:29
SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
3:29
SPEAKER_11: We were inside of a store on a Saturday, balloon 30, and the salesperson didn't quite have the energy that early in the morning, and the it was so loud and so much energy, and I was there saying, What are you doing?
3:39
SPEAKER_11: And he said, What are you on?
3:41
SPEAKER_11: And the answer was, Well, I had a cup of coffee in my hand.
3:43
SPEAKER_11: I barely had a sip of it, it was too hot.
3:45
SPEAKER_11: But I said, I want car guy coffee, what do you want?
3:47
SPEAKER_11: And from there I was like, I'm gonna go make you a cup of car guy coffee.
3:50
SPEAKER_11: So I made a stout batch of coffee, brought him some coffee, and he and it was like his first week there.
3:56
SPEAKER_11: So he's asking all the salespeople, is this guy like this every Saturday every day?
3:59
SPEAKER_11: What's going on?
4:00
SPEAKER_11: No, that's Lou, that's that's every day.
4:01
SPEAKER_11: And you better get on.
4:02
SPEAKER_11: Let's go.
4:03
SPEAKER_11: And so that that's where the name came from.
4:05
SPEAKER_11: That's great.
4:06
SPEAKER_11: But the energy's been great.
4:06
SPEAKER_11: Is the coffee good, Fred?
4:08
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, it's the best coffee ever.
4:09
SPEAKER_07: You know, uh, get your son.
4:11
SPEAKER_07: The thing is, it's it's it's we can say it's a coffee, but it's an energy.
4:14
SPEAKER_07: You know, it it literally is it's about how you come to work every day.
4:17
SPEAKER_07: It's how you wake up every day.
4:18
SPEAKER_07: Sure.
4:19
SPEAKER_07: You know, and being caffeinated, bringing that caffeinated culture to wherever you go is so important.
4:24
SPEAKER_07: We are each so responsible for that for ourselves and anybody that we lead.
4:29
SPEAKER_07: So we got to show up like that.
4:30
SPEAKER_07: That's right, that's right.
4:31
SPEAKER_03: So when you first start the the podcast, uh were I mean, did you get listeners?
4:35
SPEAKER_03: There was ever a point that you're like, what are we doing?
4:37
SPEAKER_03: We don't have that many you know, everybody gets to that point.
4:39
SPEAKER_03: We've been I'm still thinking the same thing.
4:41
SPEAKER_11: But we didn't really start off with that to be real, it was just therapeutic.
4:45
SPEAKER_11: We had a couple of coffees in the late time after doing a day in the dealership, our wives go down for the night and we jump in the studio and just start talking car businesses.
4:55
SPEAKER_11: That's cool and start talking about what we know and where we're at.
4:58
SPEAKER_11: And we were at an interesting time in the industry.
5:00
SPEAKER_11: It was uh 2019 and things were starting to make a different transition.
5:06
SPEAKER_11: We wanted to bring encouragement, but we were at a great spot in our career where we were living cushion jobs, things was doing pretty good.
5:13
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, yeah.
5:13
SPEAKER_11: Car business was doing pretty good, then everything shifted, and people want needed positivity, they needed that, and so we started to be the the the cup of encouragement.
5:24
SPEAKER_11: Everybody uh started to jump on and say, Well, that was it.
5:28
SPEAKER_11: Did you get that?
5:28
SPEAKER_05: I used to when I used to grab my coffee when I had a young, he's 30 now, but when my son was young and I would say I had my my don't talk to me until I have my cup of personality because I felt like I didn't have one until I had it.
5:39
SPEAKER_05: I love that.
5:39
SPEAKER_07: I'm still on that one.
5:40
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, the cup of personality.
5:42
SPEAKER_07: It definitely helps me every morning get my personality up.
5:45
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
5:45
SPEAKER_07: You know, uh it it is, you know, and and to your point, Lou, everything he said there is exactly the energy that it's about.
5:51
SPEAKER_07: And I and I love the man, it's good stuff.
5:53
SPEAKER_07: And then this is the only guy that I could ever do anything like that with.
5:55
SPEAKER_05: He's that's cool.
5:56
SPEAKER_05: He's a beast mode.
5:57
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, yeah.
5:58
SPEAKER_07: Guy goes 100% every day.
5:59
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, all these years and still going strong.
6:01
SPEAKER_05: I think that's fantastic.
6:02
SPEAKER_05: Fantastic.
6:03
SPEAKER_03: We saw you in acting.
6:03
SPEAKER_03: Oh, go ahead.
6:04
SPEAKER_03: No, no, I was just gonna say we saw you in action at NAMAD and you just were holding cord for you know, how many, two, three days that you were doing that?
6:11
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it was just incredible.
6:13
SPEAKER_11: We would have done it more.
6:14
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, yeah.
6:14
SPEAKER_11: Uh the energy that is naturally at that event before the coffee shows up is already phenomenal for the industry, right?
6:20
SPEAKER_11: But there's so much great stuff to talk about, there's so many great people, and being able to encapsulate that and then enhance it, that's that's a privilege, and that's that's that's our great honor in the business.
6:31
SPEAKER_11: And and I'm so sad that we've only been present in the the Namad world in the past couple of years.
6:38
SPEAKER_11: Okay.
6:38
SPEAKER_11: And now it's it's getting caffeinated.
6:40
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, exactly.
6:41
SPEAKER_03: It is, it definitely brought some good good energy to the and then I saw you uh open up uh for DC20, which was just incredible.
6:48
SPEAKER_03: And you know, wherever you guys go, you bring that level of energy.
6:52
SPEAKER_03: I mean, I know these event planners gotta love you because that there's no better way to kick off an event than everybody like up on their feet and dancing and screaming and everything else.
7:00
SPEAKER_03: But that's so important today, isn't it?
7:02
SPEAKER_03: Especially for dealerships.
7:03
SPEAKER_07: It sets a tone.
7:04
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
7:05
SPEAKER_07: You know, when you set a tone, then the rest of the day is already set up, you know.
7:08
SPEAKER_07: And if if you come in with that ugly ook and everybody feels it from the night before, that's the rest of your day is gonna be like that, or it's gonna be very slow to get going.
7:16
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
7:16
SPEAKER_07: So if you bring that in right off the rip, it's it's it's phenomenal what you'll see in the reaction you get.
7:21
SPEAKER_07: Um, our energy precedes itself, or everybody knows us for our energy, and then when we drop in what we know and what we can help with, it it's dynamic.
7:29
SPEAKER_07: So it's a lot of fun.
7:30
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, there's no question.
7:32
SPEAKER_11: Energy enters a room before strategy.
7:34
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, and it's very, very, very important that we make sure that we energize the people that are going to go do what they do, just like your favorite barista.
7:44
SPEAKER_11: That's right.
7:44
SPEAKER_11: They're not gonna drink your coffee for you, and they're not gonna go do your job for you.
7:48
SPEAKER_11: That's right.
7:48
SPEAKER_11: But hopefully it starts to get hard.
7:52
SPEAKER_11: It gets you going to do what you do great, even greater.
7:55
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, and that's all we want to be, is that that encouragement to the industry.
7:58
SPEAKER_11: Absolutely.
7:59
SPEAKER_03: The first dealer I worked for had this sign over his desk.
8:01
SPEAKER_03: They had about 25 dealerships across Florida, and uh it said enthusiasm is the one tool for which the customer has no defense.
8:08
SPEAKER_03: He can beat up your price, he can beat up your model, he can beat up your whatever it is.
8:12
SPEAKER_03: But man, if you stay enthused with that customer, and we see it all the time in automotive sales, don't we?
8:17
SPEAKER_03: It's huge.
8:17
SPEAKER_03: When you've got a really positive and enthusiastic salesperson, they can sell anything to anybody.
8:22
SPEAKER_03: They're always winning.
8:22
SPEAKER_07: They're always that's why so many new people who get in this industry have great success really quick and sometimes fade off because they start off with that enthusiasm.
8:30
SPEAKER_07: That's right.
8:31
SPEAKER_07: And then they lose it.
8:32
SPEAKER_07: And when they lose it, they start to see their sales fall.
8:34
SPEAKER_07: So we jokingly always say if we could bottle that enthusiasm from the new guys and gals, oh, we could be billionaires right now.
8:39
SPEAKER_07: But we did.
8:40
SPEAKER_07: We bagged it.
8:41
SPEAKER_07: We did, actually, we bagged it.
8:42
SPEAKER_07: We bagged it.
8:42
SPEAKER_07: We didn't have car guy coffee.
8:47
SPEAKER_06: But you gotta buy some of it.
8:49
SPEAKER_06: Oh my god.
8:49
SPEAKER_05: So I would love to know, because we all have the days.
8:51
SPEAKER_05: We all have the days when we might not feel like being super positive or encouraging.
8:56
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you just didn't have your coffee yet.
8:57
SPEAKER_05: You have your coffee and then you're all better.
8:59
SPEAKER_05: But Fred, talk to us about what do you do on those days, because I know we all have them.
9:02
SPEAKER_07: So that's you know, it's something that um I had to learn to do, um, and that's start my day off every day with gratitude.
9:09
SPEAKER_07: Um and that's something that you have to take the time.
9:12
SPEAKER_07: Before you grab the phone, you know, uh, one of our good friends, Glenn Lundy, he talks about that in his morning five.
9:17
SPEAKER_07: Yes.
9:17
SPEAKER_07: I read that book before we interviewed him, one of our very first interviews, and I remember reading that and being like, he's so right.
9:23
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, you know, it's like that old saying, getting, you know, the right side of the bed instead of the wrong side of the bed.
9:28
SPEAKER_07: And when you sit there and you lay there for a moment, instead of thinking about I have to get up, I have to do this, it's like I get to get up because I have a beautiful wife, I have an amazing son, I have so much to give.
9:39
SPEAKER_07: This world, this automotive industry is given to me so much, I can't wait to give back.
9:42
SPEAKER_07: And you could keep rattling them off.
9:44
SPEAKER_07: You start to start your day off pretty good.
9:46
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
9:46
SPEAKER_07: So no matter how bad it is, you start to have um you really you understand what you have.
9:51
SPEAKER_07: And when you understand you have a lot more than you actually need, then it's easy to go out and give.
9:55
SPEAKER_07: So, and that's and that's how we really I I know that's how I start my day.
9:59
SPEAKER_07: It works with me every morning.
10:00
SPEAKER_07: Yes, ma'am.
10:00
SPEAKER_05: I do the exact same thing every morning before I get out of bed.
10:03
SPEAKER_05: Well, you always get up and say, I'm so grateful that I'm married to an incredible husband.
10:07
SPEAKER_05: I hear you say that.
10:08
SPEAKER_05: It's different every day for me.
10:09
SPEAKER_05: Sometimes it is about family and family and grandkids and all that, but sometimes it's down to something small if I'm just like, you know what?
10:15
SPEAKER_07: You need it, yeah.
10:16
SPEAKER_05: I have a beautiful chandelier in our bedroom.
10:17
SPEAKER_05: We have a beautiful chandelier in our bedroom, and I say, I I get so lucky, I get to look at that first thing when I wake up.
10:22
SPEAKER_05: It's beautiful chandelier.
10:23
SPEAKER_05: You know, so sometimes it might not be most times it's about family, and I'm so great.
10:27
SPEAKER_05: I get to go and create with my husband every day.
10:29
SPEAKER_05: I'm so grateful for that.
10:30
SPEAKER_05: Um, but sometimes it's just something small like that.
10:32
SPEAKER_05: Oh, I've got my cute little dog next to me.
10:34
SPEAKER_05: I'm so happy to have her, you know.
10:35
SPEAKER_07: You know, and I jokingly say things like that all the time.
10:38
SPEAKER_07: You know, I say, like, even as motivation are whys, right?
10:41
SPEAKER_07: Everyone has a why the why gets you through things.
10:43
SPEAKER_07: Yep.
10:43
SPEAKER_07: Sometimes my why is just a new pair of shoes.
10:45
SPEAKER_07: I'm just being honest.
10:46
SPEAKER_07: Like sometimes I'm gonna go a little bit harder because you know what?
10:48
SPEAKER_07: I don't want to spin out of my pocket.
10:49
SPEAKER_07: I'm gonna go work a little harder and make a lot of things.
10:51
SPEAKER_07: That will drive you.
10:52
SPEAKER_07: Nutrients will drive you too.
10:53
SPEAKER_07: The little things do matter, even if it is I just woke up today, because God bless it, many people did not know.
10:58
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, right.
10:59
SPEAKER_07: Right?
10:59
SPEAKER_07: And and it's important to understand the gratitude of having that, the breath in my lungs today, thank you, God.
11:04
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and it's important.
11:05
SPEAKER_07: So it's good that you do that.
11:08
SPEAKER_07: It works.
11:08
SPEAKER_07: There's no question.
11:09
SPEAKER_03: So, and both both of you um have got military backgrounds, so thank you for your service.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: And uh, yeah, that that's fantastic.
11:16
SPEAKER_03: Has has that background helped you in business, do you think?
11:19
SPEAKER_03: Oh, tremendously.
11:20
SPEAKER_11: Tremendously.
11:21
SPEAKER_11: Uh that's really the only thing I truly graduated from is from military training.
11:27
SPEAKER_11: Okay.
11:28
SPEAKER_11: And uh that's been fundamental in helping me mature, know how to walk, talk, take responsibility, do all those things because they they transform you.
11:38
SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
11:38
SPEAKER_11: You go from a kid on the block in New York with a lot of responsibility and no know-how, yeah, to now we're trusting you to help protect other people.
11:47
SPEAKER_11: Here's a weapon, and now you're a soldier and we're thanking you for your service.
11:52
SPEAKER_11: Eight weeks ago, people shouldn't be hanging out with you, they shouldn't know you, it's different, and and they transform you.
11:58
SPEAKER_11: So it's the same thing that happens in the auto industry.
12:01
SPEAKER_11: People come from all walks of life.
12:03
SPEAKER_11: That's for sure.
12:04
SPEAKER_11: They go through a bit of training, they have a bit of interactions with a customer, and now they've they become something different.
12:09
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, they got whether the taste of money teaches them bad things or they're shown good things with it.
12:16
SPEAKER_11: That actual opportunity to feel yourself doing this business, yeah, it's great, but when you have military training behind you, yeah, it helps you know the importance of what you're doing, keep a structure to what it is that you you do every day, and actually go with the way something's supposed to go.
12:32
SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
12:33
SPEAKER_11: Right?
12:33
SPEAKER_11: Stick to the program, pay attention to the orders, right?
12:36
SPEAKER_11: Take orders from headquarters.
12:38
SPEAKER_11: It helped a lot, but it also helped a lot because we had prior service people inside of the dealership we were at.
12:44
SPEAKER_11: Okay.
12:44
SPEAKER_11: So they already had a structure to the way that they did things and they understood how we thought, and they also understood how to give us our marching orders.
12:50
SPEAKER_11: And no, we weren't taking the uh the loudness, they we weren't taking the rushing, we weren't taking any of that stuff to heart.
12:57
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, it was let's get the mission done, sure, let's go.
12:59
SPEAKER_11: And so I think that helped us more than anything is be able to get the orders and know that you're not being mean, you're just in a hurry.
13:06
SPEAKER_11: Sure.
13:06
SPEAKER_11: And so that that is something that I think really helped us uh from the military standpoint.
13:11
SPEAKER_03: Same with you, Fred.
13:12
SPEAKER_07: I couldn't agree more.
13:13
SPEAKER_07: You know, the military taught a structure process, understanding that there's a stand a standard operating process that we all have to do.
13:19
SPEAKER_07: There is no skipping any process, skipping every step.
13:22
SPEAKER_07: You got to do all the steps.
13:23
SPEAKER_07: There's a road to the sale, as they call it, right?
13:25
SPEAKER_07: And it's important that we touch all those pieces of that road.
13:28
SPEAKER_07: If we skip any of those, a lot of times we shortcut ourselves at the end.
13:30
SPEAKER_07: It's no different than the military, except for it could cause a life.
13:33
SPEAKER_07: That's right.
13:33
SPEAKER_07: So if you actually take it that serious in the process in automotive, which we did, I think that's why Lou and I were able to excel, is that we took it that serious.
13:40
SPEAKER_07: Like it's life or death.
13:41
SPEAKER_07: Because it was for us, it was our families need to eat.
13:43
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, yeah.
13:44
SPEAKER_07: Life or death, right?
13:45
SPEAKER_07: Um, so we were blessed to have that training and in and be able to experiment that inside of our training that we teach now.
13:51
SPEAKER_07: So we we make sure that we coach that same way that we wanted to be coached, if that makes sense.
13:56
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
13:57
SPEAKER_03: At what point in time did you guys leave retail automotive and say, hey, let's let's start a company and let's let's in 2021.
14:05
SPEAKER_11: Uh I left the dealership first and we started to gain a few accounts on both sides from the vendors and dealerships that we were going to train.
14:12
SPEAKER_11: Okay.
14:13
SPEAKER_11: So we because we do work in between, we are a bridge in the industry, uh, much like you are.
14:18
SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
14:18
SPEAKER_11: You help the dealer, you also help the vendors.
14:20
SPEAKER_11: Right.
14:21
SPEAKER_11: And inside of that, we've been able to have the opportunity to say what we've been able to do, catalog it, there's the social proof of it, and then when we say we're available, people started asking.
14:31
SPEAKER_11: People started saying, well, come here, come here.
14:33
SPEAKER_11: And it was a it was a very easy transition.
14:35
SPEAKER_11: A couple months later, uh Fred came through and we've just kept going.
14:39
SPEAKER_11: And and we've had our shifts as a solutionary, you need to be adaptable.
14:43
SPEAKER_11: Sure.
14:43
SPEAKER_11: We've been adaptable to how the industry continues to change.
14:46
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, but we're here to help the entire industry be encouraged as they go through the change.
14:51
SPEAKER_11: If there's one thing that we know is going to happen, things are gonna change.
14:54
SPEAKER_11: That's right.
14:54
SPEAKER_11: And we want to encourage people hey, don't worry, don't be scared of the next calamity.
14:58
SPEAKER_11: Figure out how great you're going to be on the other side of it.
15:01
SPEAKER_11: And we want to continue to encourage people with that.
15:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure, for sure.
15:04
SPEAKER_03: Um when you get out there, you've got um, you know, those first few clients are so vitally important, right?
15:11
SPEAKER_03: Because you've got to produce for them because anybody in the future after them are gonna be calling them, maybe to say, hey, are these guys the real deal?
15:17
SPEAKER_03: What's going on there, right?
15:18
SPEAKER_03: So you got to get the clients, gotta make them happy.
15:21
SPEAKER_03: Talk to me about that.
15:23
SPEAKER_07: That's always something that you know I think a lot of people may be nervous about.
15:26
SPEAKER_07: But Lou and I, because we had staffed event experience, we went to other dealerships in the past.
15:30
SPEAKER_07: I worked with companies like Force Marketing and used them for our mailers and things like that.
15:35
SPEAKER_07: And we built confidence knowing that we we definitely know how to bring a process to a store and make it happen in a very quick manner.
15:41
SPEAKER_07: We had to we were there for five days, one day of training before, and then five days of sales.
15:45
SPEAKER_07: Um so, really honestly, we knew that if we had the opportunity that it would work out.
15:50
SPEAKER_07: Um, so when we went in, we learned a lot of things.
15:53
SPEAKER_07: We learned the things that were really working well outside of a place that we were at every single day, because you can't be there every day as a trainer, right?
16:00
SPEAKER_07: Uh so we had to figure out ways to be there every day without being there every day.
16:03
SPEAKER_07: Uh so we learned a lot.
16:04
SPEAKER_07: One of the things we learned during that time, and that really helped us make sure that we didn't have churn, that we were able to retain our customers, which we have really good retention, is that we work with the leaders more than we even do, probably the salespeople.
16:15
SPEAKER_07: Oh, that's great.
16:16
SPEAKER_07: Um it's so much that they need.
16:18
SPEAKER_07: It's not that they need education, they need encouragement.
16:20
SPEAKER_07: They need to be shown things that they weren't taught when they were salespeople.
16:24
SPEAKER_07: So we've been able to transform that, and that's really helped us keep what we uh started and kept that momentum going.
16:29
SPEAKER_07: Oh, that's great.
16:30
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, that's great.
16:31
SPEAKER_05: What would you say the best leaders have in common?
16:36
SPEAKER_11: I would say they they fundamentally they care for people.
16:40
SPEAKER_11: Then they know who they are and they know who they're not.
16:44
SPEAKER_11: And a great leader needs to not know who they are not.
16:48
SPEAKER_11: Yeah and and empower those to be who they're not.
16:53
SPEAKER_11: Yeah.
16:53
SPEAKER_11: At the same time of stand true to who you are.
16:56
SPEAKER_11: Don't shift it, don't let anybody recreate it for you, don't don't uh be misguided by it, know that.
17:02
SPEAKER_11: And and inside of that, we believe that those people that can harness that, they're unstoppable because you you don't make their decision for them about them.
17:12
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
17:12
SPEAKER_11: They they already have that and they're going to become it.
17:15
SPEAKER_11: So those great leaders often have that, and they can help.
17:18
SPEAKER_11: I guess the next piece would be to unlock that in others.
17:21
SPEAKER_11: Sure.
17:22
SPEAKER_11: Because some people can do all that for themselves, but they don't know how to find the switch for the other, and a great leader really knows how to find the switch for whoever it is that they're leading.
17:30
SPEAKER_11: That's right.
17:30
SPEAKER_11: That's right.
17:33
SPEAKER_07: That's right.
17:33
SPEAKER_07: So as a leader, you if you start there and you actually get to know your people and care, um, it it makes a huge impact on them.
17:40
SPEAKER_07: And they will follow you to the ends of the earth.
17:43
SPEAKER_03: Who are your mentors?
17:44
SPEAKER_03: Who do you either read or who do you follow to get uh inspiration and also knowledge about leadership?
17:51
SPEAKER_07: That's such a great question, you know.
17:53
SPEAKER_07: Um there's so many people out there that I that I follow.
17:56
SPEAKER_07: You know, you first thing you want to go to is the Bible, right?
17:58
SPEAKER_07: You know, when you think about that, I'm I'm new to learning about the Bible quite a bit, to be completely transparent.
18:03
SPEAKER_07: But the more I learn about it, the more I see how much leadership is involved in that.
18:07
SPEAKER_07: Um, how to be with people, how to truly love.
18:09
SPEAKER_07: You have to be very unselfish.
18:11
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
18:11
SPEAKER_07: You know, and and if you can be unselfish, you you become very um wanted by people, and you don't, and it's not about you because at the end of the day, if you feed your people, they will feed you so much more than you could ever imagine.
18:23
SPEAKER_07: Right.
18:24
SPEAKER_07: So I think you start there, I mean that's a great Jesus, you know, is what it would be a mentor.
18:30
SPEAKER_03: I thought he was gonna say Tony Robbins.
18:31
SPEAKER_03: He wants to write for the right for the number one open right there.
18:35
SPEAKER_07: But you know, but guys like Tony Robbins, I mean seriously, Tony Robbins is amazing.
18:39
SPEAKER_07: I mean, oh my gosh, one of the first guys that I don't I've never met him, but I have mentors that have been to his classes and they have shared his stuff with me.
18:46
SPEAKER_07: And I've I use a lot of the stuff that Tony Robin talks about.
18:49
SPEAKER_07: Um, the balance of life and understanding the wheel of life and all those things are so big.
18:52
SPEAKER_07: Um, you guys got Grant Cardone, I'll throw shout outs to Uncle G.
18:56
SPEAKER_07: I mean, when I before I was really excited about doing social media, I watched him and hear heard his stories about it and saying you're not doing enough to anybody.
19:03
SPEAKER_07: Oh, you think you're doing tons?
19:05
SPEAKER_07: Gary Chuck, you know, things like that.
19:08
SPEAKER_07: You yeah, you know, you do some big things.
19:10
SPEAKER_07: I appreciate all the stuff that you do for automotive, you know.
19:12
SPEAKER_07: Thank you.
19:13
SPEAKER_07: And so we watch people who lead, you're leading very well and keep leading the way you do.
19:16
SPEAKER_07: So we honor that.
19:18
SPEAKER_07: Thank you.
19:18
SPEAKER_07: And there's I mean, I can keep listing so many people through history.
19:21
SPEAKER_07: Um on the Jesus scale, where would you put me like above?
19:25
SPEAKER_07: Well, you already know.
19:31
SPEAKER_05: So I would love to talk about you all have started a new initiative, MIA, Minorities and Automotive.
19:37
SPEAKER_05: So I would love I I just realized that you all were doing this, and I had to bring this up today because I think it's so important and such an important mission in our industry.
19:45
SPEAKER_05: And Lou, let's start with you.
19:47
SPEAKER_05: Talk to us about that.
19:48
SPEAKER_05: What are you doing there?
19:49
SPEAKER_11: Well, MIA, it was a conversation between a few of us at one of the the big industry events, and we were just highlighting it was a few minorities walking through the hallway, and we said, Yeah, where are the minorities for this particular event?
20:04
SPEAKER_11: Where are they?
20:05
SPEAKER_11: Where's the representation?
20:06
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, and we and we were joking.
20:08
SPEAKER_11: Brian Ortega says, Well, the MIA, where are they at?
20:12
SPEAKER_02: Where are they?
20:14
SPEAKER_11: So the the general term of missing in action, right?
20:16
SPEAKER_11: Well, they're MIA, where are they at?
20:18
SPEAKER_11: And they say, Well, minorities in automotive.
20:20
SPEAKER_11: So on a wordplay, which we love all kinds of wordplays.
20:24
SPEAKER_02: It's a clean.
20:26
SPEAKER_11: And then said, Hey, there needs to be something for this.
20:28
SPEAKER_11: Of course, there are organizations that do unite the minorities in whatever sector they're in, but having something that's by us, for us, and contributed by us uh on a 401c3 nonprofit basis to be able to help bring recognition, to be able to help bring benevolence, to be able to help bring advancement, and to be able to help bring community to people that don't necessarily know where to go or where to grow or be seen.
20:54
SPEAKER_11: So we want to be able to give the attention to the people in the industry that may not be getting the attention.
20:58
SPEAKER_11: And is that website up there now?
20:59
SPEAKER_11: I mean, yes, you can go to join.org.
21:02
SPEAKER_11: Okay, and uh you can jump on and and and be part of the party.
21:05
SPEAKER_11: There's a lot that's developing, you see it right there.
21:07
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, yeah.
21:08
SPEAKER_11: And uh there's so much more to come.
21:09
SPEAKER_11: So stay tuned for that.
21:10
SPEAKER_11: That's great.
21:10
SPEAKER_11: And we're just so thankful for the the outpouring of love that we've already received.
21:14
SPEAKER_07: We we have, and you know, it as funny is where they at because we feel like we don't see them.
21:18
SPEAKER_07: There's a lot of us minorities out there doing a lot of amazing things.
21:21
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, and you know, you were at Naymad, you are there shining bright.
21:24
SPEAKER_07: Thank you all for being there, Naymad, of course.
21:26
SPEAKER_07: And they were happy to have you there.
21:27
SPEAKER_07: You guys did some pretty cool interviews.
21:28
SPEAKER_07: I got to see some of those.
21:30
SPEAKER_07: Um, but that being said, you know, it's it's something that does need to be talked about more.
21:35
SPEAKER_07: More help needs to be.
21:36
SPEAKER_07: I I think there's a lot of great organizations out there.
21:38
SPEAKER_07: We're not there to say we're trying to take their lane.
21:41
SPEAKER_07: You and I, we we believe that we're not in any lane, that we are intersection of of all the lanes to help connect everyone.
21:46
SPEAKER_07: I love it.
21:47
SPEAKER_07: And we want to keep connecting minorities to any organization that they should be part of.
21:51
SPEAKER_07: Yeah.
21:51
SPEAKER_07: And whether it's NAMAD, whether it's WOCAN, whether it's women in automotive, wherever they need to be, I want to be able to make sure that they find those places.
21:58
SPEAKER_07: And we're not talking about just Management or even sales.
22:01
SPEAKER_07: We're talking everyone.
22:02
SPEAKER_07: If you're in the cleanup bay, we want we want to teach you and show you and help you, right?
22:06
SPEAKER_07: And we want to share and share you.
22:08
SPEAKER_07: Because you probably have some great ideas.
22:11
SPEAKER_07: Let's talk about that more.
22:12
SPEAKER_07: So we're going to start doing that with MIA.
22:14
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, I love it.
22:15
SPEAKER_07: I love it.
22:15
SPEAKER_07: And there can't be enough organizations.
22:17
SPEAKER_03: I mean that's that's one of those things that I I think there could, you know, there can everybody can live and and uh have their own audience, but at the same time, you know, there's gonna be crossover and there's gonna be people that say, Yeah, I'm a member of all of them.
22:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, right.
22:30
SPEAKER_03: You know, then that happens with more support.
22:32
SPEAKER_02: So that's all right.
22:33
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, there's there's no question.
22:34
SPEAKER_11: Like in patches or a bunch of stickers on your bag, right?
22:36
SPEAKER_11: That's right.
22:38
SPEAKER_11: That's right.
22:38
SPEAKER_11: That's exactly right.
22:39
SPEAKER_03: And there's some huge opportunities for minorities in retail automotive.
22:43
SPEAKER_03: I mean, every OEM has got a minority type program.
22:45
SPEAKER_03: Many minorities in the industry don't even know about it.
22:48
SPEAKER_03: Don't know about which is what we want to bring that together.
22:50
SPEAKER_07: We've had so many owners that didn't even know about name ad.
22:53
SPEAKER_07: It's like, yo, isn't that crazy?
22:55
SPEAKER_07: It's wild to me.
22:55
SPEAKER_07: So that being said, we want to bring that, we want to break that voice louder.
22:59
SPEAKER_07: We want more minorities to know that there's more support and that they bring value.
23:03
SPEAKER_07: You know, it's not you don't have to just be any dealer.
23:05
SPEAKER_07: You know, everybody brings value, and and a dealer in their community can do so much, yeah, and they do so much.
23:10
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, for example.
23:11
SPEAKER_07: You know, not enough talk about that.
23:12
SPEAKER_03: Let us at CBT News help you guys in any way by featuring those success stories or we will take you up.
23:19
SPEAKER_03: Zoom them in, they could be in the studio, whatever, whatever the case might be.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: But uh, but we're huge behind this, you know, in a very big way.
23:26
SPEAKER_03: And uh I I think it's a great idea.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for that.
23:29
SPEAKER_02: I appreciate that.
23:29
SPEAKER_07: Great question.
23:31
SPEAKER_07: And you know, and we are we're gonna have some more news coming out very soon.
23:33
SPEAKER_07: Just so you all know who's watching this, there is a lot of great news coming out very soon.
23:37
SPEAKER_07: We're developing it all behind the scenes, having meetings, so be ready to hear some uh cool updates.
23:42
SPEAKER_07: Have you back on until I'll definitely make sure we let you all know about it?
23:44
SPEAKER_11: We'll just do a series, that'd be fun.
23:46
SPEAKER_06: Yeah, that would be a good idea.
23:46
SPEAKER_06: That would be great.
23:47
SPEAKER_03: I would love it.
23:48
SPEAKER_11: We can do it.
23:49
SPEAKER_11: So what what's next?
23:50
SPEAKER_11: What's next for you guys?
23:51
SPEAKER_11: Whew.
23:52
SPEAKER_11: Well, immediately next week is visiting some of our favorite people down in St.
23:56
SPEAKER_11: Augustine, the Ozark, Ford and Lincoln team, hanging out with them.
24:00
SPEAKER_11: Yeah, incredible.
24:01
SPEAKER_11: They they are literally the best team on the planet when it comes to wanting and working towards always developing their people.
24:08
SPEAKER_11: So we love being teamed up with that.
24:09
SPEAKER_11: But now we're going overseas.
24:11
SPEAKER_11: Wow.
24:12
SPEAKER_11: The first time ever we're going uh to Europe to speak out there.
24:15
SPEAKER_11: There's a lot that's brewing out there digitally, right, Fred?
24:17
SPEAKER_07: Yeah, we're blessed.
24:18
SPEAKER_07: We get we're gonna be in two different, we're gonna be in a lot of places in Europe.
24:21
SPEAKER_07: We're gonna go visit and have fun too.
24:22
SPEAKER_07: But to speak, we're gonna be speaking in Belgium and in Amsterdam also.
24:26
SPEAKER_07: Wow, that is awesome.
24:27
SPEAKER_07: Very blessed.
24:27
SPEAKER_07: It's a digital conference about digital retail there.
24:29
SPEAKER_07: Uh good friend of ours, Paul uh Dervives.
24:31
SPEAKER_07: I'm here.
24:32
SPEAKER_07: Yes, we know him.
24:33
SPEAKER_07: He invited us out.
24:34
SPEAKER_07: Thank you, Paul.
24:35
SPEAKER_07: We're so excited to come out and honor you and your people out there.
24:37
SPEAKER_07: He's a great guy.
24:38
SPEAKER_07: Oh, yeah.
24:38
SPEAKER_07: And we get to go out there and drop some our knowledge, you know, but also sprinkle in some of the stuff we learned about how they do digital retail there, which is slightly different than how we do it here.
24:47
SPEAKER_07: They have some unique ways of doing stuff.
24:49
SPEAKER_07: It's actually pretty clean.
24:50
SPEAKER_07: I love how they do it.
24:51
SPEAKER_07: I think we can learn a lot from them too.
24:52
SPEAKER_05: So when is that in Amsterdam?
24:54
SPEAKER_07: That is on the 27th.
24:56
SPEAKER_07: 27th.
24:56
SPEAKER_07: 27th and the 28th.
24:57
SPEAKER_07: Okay.
24:58
SPEAKER_07: Okay.
24:58
SPEAKER_05: Our daughter's out there, so we'll tell her guys.
24:59
SPEAKER_05: Oh my goodness.
25:00
SPEAKER_05: Oh, yeah.
25:01
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
25:05
SPEAKER_11: That's great.
25:05
SPEAKER_11: But now Car Guy Coffee is going international.
25:07
SPEAKER_03: And last time we talked, talked to me about your grand your grandchild.
25:10
SPEAKER_03: Oh, so three weeks in comments.
25:13
SPEAKER_11: Tomorrow, my youngest grandchild, my granddaughter turns one year old.
25:17
SPEAKER_11: Ivy James.
25:18
SPEAKER_11: That's great.
25:18
SPEAKER_11: And that is, she is the youngest of the three girls that are right now, but there is a fourth that is on the way.
25:23
SPEAKER_11: Wow.
25:23
SPEAKER_11: So my daughter is pregnant with her third, and I am excited about it.
25:28
SPEAKER_11: Our first one.
25:29
SPEAKER_11: Uh she's up, she's up in heaven.
25:30
SPEAKER_11: And uh I'm just thankful that the three that we have here are excited to hopefully bring in the boys.
25:35
SPEAKER_11: So the gender reveal is gonna be pretty soon.
25:36
SPEAKER_11: Oh, yeah, that's great.
25:38
SPEAKER_11: That's gotta get my core dude uh to come.
25:41
SPEAKER_11: But I but I love I have the most incredible little grandbabies, and they make me younger every one.
25:46
SPEAKER_11: So keep them coming, kids.
25:47
SPEAKER_11: Keep them coming.
25:47
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, congratulations.
25:48
SPEAKER_03: And you've read any no grandkids yet?
25:50
SPEAKER_07: No, that's some great news, not yet.
25:51
SPEAKER_07: Um my son's still in college right now, he graduates this December, so when he graduates, he will be getting into the automotive industry.
25:58
SPEAKER_07: Oh, cool.
25:58
SPEAKER_07: And I hope he gets married soon enough and has babies.
26:00
SPEAKER_07: But take his time.
26:01
SPEAKER_07: Take his time.
26:02
SPEAKER_07: I do, I will be honored to have as many grandkids, I hope, and I'm blessed to have as many grandkids that he has right now.
26:08
SPEAKER_07: If I have one, I'll be honored.
26:09
SPEAKER_07: But um, you know, they're the best.
26:10
SPEAKER_07: No rush at all.
26:11
SPEAKER_07: They're the best.
26:12
SPEAKER_05: A little time.
26:12
SPEAKER_07: The absolute best.
26:13
SPEAKER_05: I think they are.
26:14
SPEAKER_05: Well, guys, thank you so much for joining us today.
26:16
SPEAKER_05: This has been a real treat for us, and we look forward to catching up with you again about all the exciting things that are going on in your world.
26:22
SPEAKER_05: Thank you.
26:23
SPEAKER_05: And um, please.
26:24
SPEAKER_03: Thank you all.
26:25
SPEAKER_05: Stop by again soon.
26:26
SPEAKER_03: I appreciate you all for having us in.
26:27
SPEAKER_03: And let us help you with all your initiatives.
26:29
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
26:30
SPEAKER_07: Keep watching CBT News, folks.
26:31
SPEAKER_07: The best show in automotive.
26:33
SPEAKER_07: Focus.
26:34
SPEAKER_07: You heard it here, folks.
26:35
SPEAKER_07: You heard it here.
26:36
SPEAKER_07: Let's go.
26:36
SPEAKER_07: There you go.
26:37
SPEAKER_06: Thank you all.
26:38
SPEAKER_06: Thanks, guys.
26:39
SPEAKER_05: We appreciate it.
26:40
SPEAKER_05: All right, everyone, check out this clip with Lauren Fix, Car Coach Reports, and one of our CBT News contributors.
26:45
SPEAKER_05: This is her exclusive with Jose Munoz, CEO of Hyundai.
26:49
SPEAKER_05: We'll be right back with Adam Marberger.
26:51
SPEAKER_06: That's right.
26:52
SPEAKER_04: Hyundai Motors has revealed the newest Tucson, and it's their best-selling SUV worldwide.
26:57
SPEAKER_04: With a larger body, a revised hybrid system, Android auto system-based infotainment system.
27:03
SPEAKER_04: This is the all-new generation, and Hyundai didn't just change the styling.
27:07
SPEAKER_04: The Tucson is larger, roomier, more technologically advanced, and more capable, including the new XRT Pro design to take this SUV well beyond the pavement.
27:17
SPEAKER_04: We spoke with Jose Munoz, president and CEO of Hyundai Motor Company.
27:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, this is the moment we all have been uh waiting for because this is the um representation of um uh our brand and the company and the group uh for the future because this is the most popular uh model in the world.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: So we have about 10 million people already uh driving this model.
27:42
SPEAKER_01: So it is the best selling, uh it is the seventh uh best seller in the industry, and we are bringing the uh the best ball design uh rocket as the as the consumers like in the number one market in the world, the the USA, in the largest uh city sales in the world, which is uh New York, and we are bringing also the best hybrid technology, which is the most demanded technology uh today for our vehicles.
28:11
SPEAKER_01: And as we have said, we are really focusing on delivering uh what the customers uh want.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: And also, last but not least, we're bringing the best uh AI technology, the the playoffs, uh, which always uh also bring the uh Gleo AI, which is able to interact with the consumer.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: So, all together, I think it's a fantastic uh representation in just one shot of everything that the company is doing right now.
28:39
SPEAKER_05: Hello, everyone, welcome back.
28:41
SPEAKER_05: Sitting next to us now is Adam Marberger, president and CEO of Ascent Dealer Services and host of the training camp right here on CBT News.
28:49
SPEAKER_05: Adam helps dealers strengthen their FI departments and develop their teams, and we've got plenty to talk about with Adam.
28:55
SPEAKER_05: Adam, welcome to the show.
28:56
SPEAKER_08: Thanks for having me.
28:57
SPEAKER_08: It's an honor and a privilege.
28:58
SPEAKER_03: Love hanging out and chatting with you as always.
29:00
SPEAKER_03: So as we've said on social media, uh today is Adam Marburger Day.
29:05
SPEAKER_03: The team gets excited because you bring in like a dozen dealers from all over the country.
29:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
29:09
SPEAKER_03: So it it uh it gets us going.
29:11
SPEAKER_03: It's like whoa, all these dealers are in in our offices and studios, and uh it's fun because we have many little 20 group sessions out there.
29:18
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, it's the brainstorming and that's right.
29:22
SPEAKER_05: So I look forward to that.
29:23
SPEAKER_05: Yeah, absolutely.
29:24
SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
29:25
SPEAKER_09: So what have you been up to?
29:27
SPEAKER_09: Well, I've been up to a whole lot lately, you know.
29:30
SPEAKER_09: I've been uh so acquisition.
29:32
SPEAKER_09: Um, I would acquisition's a difficult thing in what we do, but that's we're on fire.
29:38
SPEAKER_09: I mean, we we can't keep up with our leads.
29:40
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, uh, so acquisition is I mean, we're crushing acquisition.
29:44
SPEAKER_09: My focus over the last month or so has gone towards the training and development side of the business.
29:50
SPEAKER_09: I wanted to enhance things and make things better for our current clients and then our future clients.
29:54
SPEAKER_09: So right now we're working on our online academy.
29:57
SPEAKER_09: Okay.
29:57
SPEAKER_09: Uh, we've created a weekly mastermind on Fridays, which I'm hosting, I'm kicking it off tomorrow, uh, to where we just share best practices.
30:05
SPEAKER_09: We bring in guest speakers.
30:06
SPEAKER_09: Instead of me sitting there speaking for 30 minutes, it's time with a five-minute opening, 10-minute conversation with some takeaways, but then a 15-minute open floor so everybody can have a voice, everybody can share things and talk, and we're we're gonna have a lot of fun with this.
30:22
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
30:23
SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
30:23
SPEAKER_09: And you also have a podcast.
30:24
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, talk to me about that.
30:26
SPEAKER_09: So I decided it was my goal to launch Humans That Build.
30:29
SPEAKER_09: So last year, I set a goal.
30:31
SPEAKER_09: My my coach Danelle Delgado, she's like, Why you why are you waiting so long to get this to the market?
30:35
SPEAKER_09: You're you're you can do it now.
30:37
SPEAKER_09: So I put a plan in place, I got it to market earlier this year.
30:40
SPEAKER_09: I've recorded 40 episodes already.
30:43
SPEAKER_09: I have another 20 that are recorded that are in edit, yeah, and I've got about 30 on my board.
30:49
SPEAKER_09: Wow.
30:49
SPEAKER_09: So out of all of the things that I do, and you I've already told you guys this, but the two things that I do that I love the most are these days here in CBT, because I just love sharing stories and interviewing people.
31:01
SPEAKER_09: But these podcasts, I have an absolute blast.
31:03
SPEAKER_09: It's good.
31:04
SPEAKER_09: The selfish side of it is I'm learning things.
31:07
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, I mean, the marketing that comes from it, the the you know, the the knowledge is everything.
31:11
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, what I get to learn is it I just really love it.
31:14
SPEAKER_09: Love it, love it.
31:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's great.
31:15
SPEAKER_03: That's great.
31:16
SPEAKER_05: So talk to us about some of the what the types of people are you talking to?
31:18
SPEAKER_05: Is it all automotive?
31:19
SPEAKER_05: Are they outside of the stuff?
31:21
SPEAKER_05: All walks of life.
31:22
SPEAKER_09: If to qualify to be on humans that build, you have to be a human that's doing something that's making an impact.
31:29
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
31:29
SPEAKER_09: I mean, I all walks of life.
31:31
SPEAKER_09: You know, I've got you know different types of coaches, I've got medical background.
31:36
SPEAKER_09: Of course, I'm a car salesman for I'm a car salesman for life.
31:40
SPEAKER_09: So, yes, I bring on automotive executives, but all different, you know, doctors.
31:44
SPEAKER_09: Uh Brandon is here at Navy SEALs, I bring on high-level uh Marines, like I bring on all walks of life onto the show.
31:52
SPEAKER_09: That's crazy.
31:53
SPEAKER_09: That's fantastic.
31:54
SPEAKER_03: The uh and and what are you learning from them?
31:56
SPEAKER_03: What what's kind of the what's kind of the common thread there that you walk away with going, I mean, what what impresses you the most?
32:02
SPEAKER_09: Well, the okay, the common thread is we're almost we're all very similar.
32:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
32:07
SPEAKER_09: Super achievers have non-negotiables and high standards, and the way they structure their day is very, very similar.
32:14
SPEAKER_09: I'm finding this with every conversation I have.
32:17
SPEAKER_09: The reason they're winning is because they've read the books, they've got the blueprint, they're taking action on the blueprint, they're very structured, they're very disciplined, and that's why they win.
32:26
SPEAKER_09: So that's kind of that's a common theme that I'm learning with these people that I'm interviewing.
32:29
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, it's so true.
32:30
SPEAKER_03: Because discipline is it's got it's got to get taught in the schools more.
32:33
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
32:34
SPEAKER_03: Because if you've got discipline in your life, it's almost the rest of it takes care of itself.
32:38
SPEAKER_03: It really does.
32:39
SPEAKER_05: And you know a little bit about discipline with your black belt and jujitsu.
32:43
SPEAKER_05: That requires a tremendous amount of discipline.
32:45
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
32:46
SPEAKER_05: Talk to us about how that carries into what you do every day.
32:49
SPEAKER_09: Uh I I'll tell you right now.
32:51
SPEAKER_09: I'm gonna give you a lesson from last night, Bridget.
32:53
SPEAKER_09: Okay, good.
32:53
SPEAKER_09: So I go to my jujitsu academy and I decide to tr train with some of my team.
32:58
SPEAKER_09: I'm 46 now.
33:00
SPEAKER_09: It's not that easy to keep up with the 20, 22, six-year-old.
33:03
SPEAKER_09: So what I learned last night is I need to kind of maybe pick and choose some of my training partners.
33:08
SPEAKER_09: So I don't need to go with the guy 40 pounds heavier than me.
33:11
SPEAKER_09: But what it's taught me in business is it gives you indestructible confidence, martial arts does, but it also allows you to problem solve differently.
33:21
SPEAKER_09: Like when I've got these collegiate athletes wrapping me up into a pretzel and almost putting me to sleep, I have to think through how to escape.
33:29
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
33:29
SPEAKER_09: So when the real world in business throws me a problem, I can sit and analyze that problem, not overreact to that problem and solve that problem with clarity.
33:40
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
33:40
SPEAKER_09: So that's what jujitsu has brought into my business life.
33:43
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
33:43
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
33:43
SPEAKER_09: Right?
33:44
SPEAKER_03: That's fantastic.
33:45
SPEAKER_03: What are you hearing from dealers out there right now?
33:47
SPEAKER_03: Um, obviously, we're in um a unique stage, you know, uh in the economy with gas prices and what they are, and a war in Iran and and uh and interest rates and what have you.
33:58
SPEAKER_03: What are you hearing from dealers?
33:59
SPEAKER_03: What are some of the pain points that they're experiencing?
34:01
SPEAKER_09: So, pain points are we're looking for profitability and other areas other than sales, right?
34:06
SPEAKER_09: I mean, so you know, the affordability crisis is a real, real thing.
34:11
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, okay.
34:12
SPEAKER_09: And you know, front-end margins, we're not getting it done like we want to right now.
34:17
SPEAKER_09: So we're focused on our fixed ops, we're focused on F and I higher than ever before.
34:22
SPEAKER_09: My dealers specifically are paying more attention to F and I now more than ever.
34:27
SPEAKER_09: And on top of that, not just F and I, the other side to F and I.
34:32
SPEAKER_09: We experienced record highs in loss ratios in reinsurance positions over the last several years because of COVID.
34:40
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
34:41
SPEAKER_09: We, not we, as an industry, we were not increasing premium appropriately.
34:46
SPEAKER_09: So a lot of these lifetime programs blew up.
34:49
SPEAKER_09: I'm not gonna say names of companies or whatnot, but there were a few companies out there, lifetime just programs just blew up.
34:55
SPEAKER_09: Um, so now the name of the game is increasing reserves appropriately, so their uh reinsurance positions are profitable.
35:02
SPEAKER_09: So that's an area right now dealers are really paying attention.
35:04
SPEAKER_09: Okay, they're paying attention to putting the right products that perform in their profit participation structure, and they're focused on guys like me and teams like me helping their team sell enough products to go into those programs so they're profitable.
35:18
SPEAKER_09: Right, right.
35:19
SPEAKER_03: So and all those products um are they selling?
35:21
SPEAKER_03: Is it still uh I mean, uh, you know, the F and I department, the back end of the deal, it was kind of like the last frontier.
35:28
SPEAKER_03: As there was a race to the bottom on front and gross profit.
35:31
SPEAKER_03: It was like, you know, every every sales manager is looking to the FI guy going, please get me a three-pounder on this.
35:37
SPEAKER_03: You know, we need it.
35:39
SPEAKER_03: And uh how is how is that today?
35:41
SPEAKER_09: Is that I I would say it's easier than ever before, and I'm gonna tell you why I think it's easier than ever before.
35:46
SPEAKER_09: I think people past COVID, I hate even using the word COVID.
35:50
SPEAKER_09: I really don't like talking about it, but it was a thing that had happened.
35:52
SPEAKER_09: But post-COVID, consumer behavior changed a little bit.
35:57
SPEAKER_09: And the chip shortage did did a number on us.
36:00
SPEAKER_09: We paid a little too much for cars.
36:01
SPEAKER_09: Consumers are gonna keep cars a little longer than they did before.
36:05
SPEAKER_09: And with inflation and all the things in the world, consumers actually want to protect themselves.
36:10
SPEAKER_09: They want to purchase F and I products, but they don't want to be sold F and I products.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
36:14
SPEAKER_09: So we have to deliver those products in a manner that allows them to make the decision and not us to sell.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
36:20
SPEAKER_09: Right?
36:21
SPEAKER_09: So, but consumers want to be protected now more than ever, more than I've ever seen ever before in my past.
36:26
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
36:27
SPEAKER_03: There's some providers out there in your space that have set up these remote FI manager situations.
36:34
SPEAKER_03: Is is that working?
36:35
SPEAKER_03: Is that is that a viable option for a dealer?
36:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it is.
36:38
SPEAKER_03: It is.
36:39
SPEAKER_09: It depends on your market.
36:40
SPEAKER_09: Okay.
36:41
SPEAKER_09: Uh it depends on your process, depends on your buy-in, depends on your technology partner.
36:46
SPEAKER_09: It all starts from the top of the dealer.
36:47
SPEAKER_09: If the dealer makes the decision, I want to go all in a remote, I'm gonna invest in the technology, I'm gonna hold a process accountable, I'm gonna have the right people.
36:55
SPEAKER_09: I have one store right now, I'll give a little shout out to Amy Hitch and my team.
36:59
SPEAKER_09: Amy, uh, she was the finance director for one of the largest dealers in the country, but she specialized because half of their deliveries were people coming in, picking cars up.
37:10
SPEAKER_09: They would shuttle people to the airport to pick people up off a plane to drive their new trucks home.
37:14
SPEAKER_09: Wow.
37:15
SPEAKER_09: She would do the delivery before they would ever come in.
37:17
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
37:17
SPEAKER_09: So she has a process dialed in remote, right, or she sold products at a very, very high level.
37:23
SPEAKER_09: You can still sell products remote.
37:24
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
37:25
SPEAKER_09: You can still sell products.
37:26
SPEAKER_09: Right.
37:26
SPEAKER_09: If you do it the right way, you schedule the virtual conversation, you get all the information you need.
37:32
SPEAKER_09: Consumers, they actually like it.
37:33
SPEAKER_09: It's quicker, it's easier.
37:35
SPEAKER_09: I've got a dealer right now in Ohio.
37:37
SPEAKER_09: He's convinced.
37:38
SPEAKER_09: I'm not gonna say his name because I'm not gonna call him out.
37:40
SPEAKER_09: He's an awesome guy, he's a brilliant guy.
37:42
SPEAKER_09: He's convinced in three to five years that 70, 80% of his transactions will be done remote.
37:47
SPEAKER_09: He prefers it that way.
37:48
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
37:49
SPEAKER_10: Yeah.
37:50
SPEAKER_05: So you touched on it a little bit, what the customer wants and how to make them feel more comfortable, the customer experience overall in the FI office.
37:59
SPEAKER_05: Talk to us about what you're telling dealers that they can do with while with the customer there.
38:03
SPEAKER_09: So I think it all starts at the beginning when the consumer walks through the door.
38:08
SPEAKER_09: If there's two FI managers, well, no, it's not FI.
38:11
SPEAKER_09: There's an FI manager, and I just did a meeting on this, so this is fresh.
38:14
SPEAKER_09: You're gonna get me fresh here.
38:16
SPEAKER_09: Then there's an FI professional.
38:17
SPEAKER_09: The FI manager sits in his office all day long watching YouTube playing around, takes an hour and a half lunch, wants to leave early, dodges cash deals.
38:26
SPEAKER_09: Sure as heck, sure as heck, not helping the desk facilitate a transaction.
38:30
SPEAKER_09: The FI professional already met the consumer up front at the beginning of the transaction to let him know hey, I'm Adam, I'm one of the finance managers here.
38:39
SPEAKER_09: Just wanted to quickly introduce myself.
38:41
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
38:41
SPEAKER_09: In the event that you purchase from us, I'm the one that handles all the legal paperwork.
38:45
SPEAKER_09: Right.
38:45
SPEAKER_09: I just want to let you know some customers have some questions.
38:48
SPEAKER_09: I'm the guy that answers those questions.
38:49
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
38:50
SPEAKER_09: If you need me, my office is right there.
38:51
SPEAKER_09: I have an open door policy.
38:53
SPEAKER_09: So that right there, if the F and I professional is involved early in the transaction to act like us, what do we do?
39:02
SPEAKER_09: So, okay, we sell and service cars.
39:04
SPEAKER_09: I don't care if you're a dealer principal or you're a porter.
39:05
SPEAKER_09: Right.
39:06
SPEAKER_09: We sell and service cars.
39:07
SPEAKER_09: So if the F and I professional humble themselves to understand that you're just there to help facilitate a transaction and help sales, help the sales desk get involved early with the retail customer.
39:18
SPEAKER_09: When it's time to select protection products, ooh, it's so much easier.
39:23
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah.
39:24
SPEAKER_09: So much easier.
39:24
SPEAKER_09: Right, right.
39:25
SPEAKER_09: And that seems like right now, I would I think the three of us would agree that sounds like common sense.
39:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
39:30
SPEAKER_03: It does.
39:30
SPEAKER_03: And and everybody was always, you know, told, you know, boy, when you got it, you get into that back office man, that FI manager or that business manager, whatever the dealership's calling them, beware, you know, say no to everything.
39:42
SPEAKER_03: That's the big bad boogeyman back there.
39:45
SPEAKER_03: But to your point where you're early and often in the transaction, then they're like, no, this guy's a nice guy, or this girl's a nice girl or woman or what have you.
39:53
SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, they came out, they introduced themselves, they opened up their office and said, if I can answer any questions, to your point, that that makes perfect sense.
40:01
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, and to offset your statement, too, you know, the days of the boogeyman, those did exist.
40:06
SPEAKER_09: But if an FI professional grabs his salespeople once a week, twice a week for a five to seven minute huddle and explain to them the value of these products, right?
40:16
SPEAKER_09: Because what salespeople don't understand, the job of FI is to get the customer happily engaged in the service department with FI products that wed them there.
40:24
SPEAKER_09: So they come back and buy another car from the salesman again.
40:27
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
40:27
SPEAKER_09: So when you explain the products and what they actually do and how they benefit the reach of the salesperson, great idea.
40:33
SPEAKER_09: You get buy-in and everybody's best friends in the store.
40:35
SPEAKER_09: 100%.
40:36
SPEAKER_09: Now you're gonna go, hey, yeah, Johnny, you're gonna go see Mr.
40:38
SPEAKER_09: Fitzpatrick here a little bit.
40:40
SPEAKER_09: He's got a really nice suit, and he's gonna go ahead and show you some options.
40:43
SPEAKER_09: You need to listen to what he has to say.
40:45
SPEAKER_09: He's a really good guy.
40:46
SPEAKER_03: So conversely, we were in a showroom one day, uh purchasing a vehicle, and I heard this salesperson say, you know, he goes, Okay, we gotta put the deal together here, and I'm gonna, you know, bring you back to meet the business manager.
40:57
SPEAKER_03: And the woman goes, Oh, I don't know if I want to meet them.
40:59
SPEAKER_03: I, you know, what did that mean?
41:00
SPEAKER_03: You know, what where are we going?
41:02
SPEAKER_03: He goes, Listen, folks, don't worry about it.
41:04
SPEAKER_03: He's gonna go over a bunch of stuff.
41:06
SPEAKER_03: You don't have to buy any of it.
41:07
SPEAKER_03: If you don't want it, just say no, no, no, no, no.
41:09
SPEAKER_03: We're training the customer to say no just so that salesperson you know what I'm talking about.
41:16
SPEAKER_03: I know I had one of those.
41:17
SPEAKER_03: This happens.
41:18
SPEAKER_09: I had one of those at my school.
41:20
SPEAKER_09: Okay, I real quick story.
41:21
SPEAKER_09: This will be real quick.
41:22
SPEAKER_09: So I had a repeat salesperson who did that all the time.
41:25
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
41:26
SPEAKER_09: He quoted a rate to the customer that was impossible to get to.
41:29
SPEAKER_09: So I told my GM what I was doing.
41:31
SPEAKER_09: So I page, and I'm not gonna say his last name, Rick.
41:33
SPEAKER_09: Please come to Finance, please.
41:34
SPEAKER_09: Rick, finance.
41:36
SPEAKER_09: So Rick comes in, sitting in front of, just say Mr.
41:38
SPEAKER_09: and Mrs.
41:39
SPEAKER_09: Johnson.
41:39
SPEAKER_09: I stood up and hey, Rick, have a seat real quick.
41:41
SPEAKER_09: So Rick just sat down.
41:42
SPEAKER_09: I go, hey, I go, the rate that you quoted them, I can't get anywhere near that rate.
41:48
SPEAKER_09: I've already disclosed my rate to them.
41:49
SPEAKER_09: They know my my my best option for them.
41:52
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, go ahead.
41:53
SPEAKER_09: I think you know something I don't know.
41:55
SPEAKER_09: They never did that again.
41:56
SPEAKER_09: So Rick said that Rick never he left so mad Rick never did that again.
42:01
SPEAKER_09: Oh my gosh.
42:04
SPEAKER_03: Let me ask you this, because this kind of ties into that.
42:06
SPEAKER_03: Um, if you were a dealer today, would you pay salespeople on the back end or not pay salespeople on the back end?
42:11
SPEAKER_09: I would I would absolutely do so.
42:13
SPEAKER_09: It needs to be fair for all parties.
42:15
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
42:15
SPEAKER_09: And what I would be doing too, though, is grading salespeople monthly.
42:19
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
42:19
SPEAKER_09: There would be a board, you know, your sales board, but then it would be your sales FI board.
42:23
SPEAKER_09: So you can rank all the product sales by F and I.
42:26
SPEAKER_09: You got to hit certain quotas.
42:27
SPEAKER_09: Yep.
42:28
SPEAKER_09: And if you hit certain quotas, you deserve to be participate.
42:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:31
SPEAKER_09: I think it's a great idea to include ID.
42:34
SPEAKER_03: Because if those products, as you know, can start to be sold out on the showroom floor, when somebody says, Well, you know, we drive the car, we put a lot of miles on it, oh, then you're gonna definitely want to ask about the service contract that we offer here.
42:45
SPEAKER_03: It's amazing, you know, just to start to plant the seed on some of these things.
42:48
SPEAKER_09: A simple phrase, Jim.
42:49
SPEAKER_09: When you're, you know, if I'm a salesperson and you two are getting ready to go back into the finance office, I can say, hey, listen, you're gonna see Johnny.
42:56
SPEAKER_09: You met Johnny earlier, you're gonna see him in a few minutes.
42:58
SPEAKER_09: Now, listen, he's gonna go over a couple optional protection programs with you.
43:02
SPEAKER_09: We don't sit here and try to sell you guys a bunch of stuff you don't need.
43:05
SPEAKER_09: We don't do that here.
43:06
SPEAKER_09: We only offer products that our consumers actually use and like.
43:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
43:10
SPEAKER_09: So if you have questions, ask him.
43:12
SPEAKER_09: He's the expert, but you're definitely gonna want to pay attention.
43:14
SPEAKER_09: Right, right.
43:15
SPEAKER_09: If you do that, then it just sets me out.
43:16
SPEAKER_09: It's a great TL.
43:17
SPEAKER_09: It's a great TL.
43:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
43:18
SPEAKER_03: Rather than just say no to everything.
43:21
SPEAKER_03: Um I do have uh you wrote the book on servant leadership, which was phenomenal.
43:25
SPEAKER_03: And uh we highly recommend that you all get that book.
43:28
SPEAKER_03: We're we'll show it on the screen here, but uh, and it's certainly on our homepage.
43:32
SPEAKER_03: But that that being said, talk to us a little bit about what servant leadership means to you.
43:37
SPEAKER_09: You know, here, servant leadership, here.
43:40
SPEAKER_09: I was told years ago by a mentor, be more urgent to serve than you are to sell, and you will sell much more.
43:47
SPEAKER_09: And servant leadership just isn't to the retail consumer.
43:50
SPEAKER_09: For me in the store, uh servant leadership culture is sitting down with the desk every single morning saying, Hey, what can I do to serve you today?
43:58
SPEAKER_09: How can I help you?
43:59
SPEAKER_09: Do you have Deals that I need to prep for you.
44:01
SPEAKER_09: Do you need to leave today at any point?
44:03
SPEAKER_09: I'll sit your chair and desk your deals for you.
44:05
SPEAKER_09: Right.
44:05
SPEAKER_09: Going back to the office, talking to the office manager, the biller.
44:08
SPEAKER_09: How are we doing on paperwork?
44:10
SPEAKER_09: What can we do better?
44:11
SPEAKER_09: Going and talking to the service writers.
44:13
SPEAKER_09: Hey, listen, how are claims?
44:14
SPEAKER_09: What can we do to do a better job?
44:17
SPEAKER_09: Having conversations with salespeople, letting them know they're greatly appreciated, and you've got their back.
44:22
SPEAKER_09: Oh, by the way, if you've got customers that you're having a hard time get coming back in the store, I'll call them for you.
44:27
SPEAKER_09: Let me let me get involved.
44:29
SPEAKER_09: That's servant leadership from my standpoint in a store is doing things that are not on your job description.
44:34
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, going out of your way to serve and help and love on other people throughout the store.
44:38
SPEAKER_09: That's servant leadership.
44:39
SPEAKER_03: And the book is fantastic as a former uh dealer principal and GEM and FI manager.
44:46
SPEAKER_03: It's almost like a textbook.
44:47
SPEAKER_03: It is a textbook.
44:47
SPEAKER_03: I wrote it to be a textbook.
44:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it really is.
44:49
SPEAKER_03: I wrote it when I was reading it.
44:50
SPEAKER_09: I even wrote a chapter.
44:51
SPEAKER_09: This is I wrote a chapter in that book to deal with my old self.
44:55
SPEAKER_09: See, I was a pre Madonna.
44:56
SPEAKER_09: I'm recovering.
44:56
SPEAKER_09: I'm recovering.
44:57
SPEAKER_09: You mean as a as an FI?
44:59
SPEAKER_09: I was a pre- Madonna my first year, so I wrote a chapter on how do you identify prima donnas, how do you manage effectively pre-Madonnaas?
45:07
SPEAKER_09: Because they're out there still.
45:08
SPEAKER_09: Absolutely.
45:08
SPEAKER_09: There's F and I people could be divas sometimes.
45:10
SPEAKER_09: Oh, yeah.
45:11
SPEAKER_09: Sometimes.
45:12
SPEAKER_09: Yeah.
45:12
SPEAKER_05: How do you create the team with that servant mindset?
45:15
SPEAKER_09: I know the leaders you're talking about, but how do you create the team to have the same the team has to have the same vision and mission and everybody has to be a part of the build.
45:24
SPEAKER_09: If if people want to be a part of it, if if everybody's included, then it then they're gonna support it.
45:30
SPEAKER_09: But if you're lukewarm with maybe a couple of managers or bought in on something we're trying to do, and maybe two or three salespeople, it won't work.
45:36
SPEAKER_09: But if the entire sales staff believes in the mission and the culture and what we're trying to accomplish, that's how you got to do it.
45:44
SPEAKER_09: Everybody has to be bought in, it has to be their idea as well.
45:48
SPEAKER_09: So that's how you got to do it.
45:49
SPEAKER_09: And I will say this too it does come from the top down.
45:53
SPEAKER_09: The dealer principal has to be the one that says, you know what?
45:57
SPEAKER_09: I want to kind of enhance this culture.
45:59
SPEAKER_09: I hired this consultant or this company, or I'm working with this group.
46:04
SPEAKER_09: I want to instill this in the store.
46:07
SPEAKER_09: Right.
46:07
SPEAKER_09: We have to embrace it.
46:08
SPEAKER_09: They're gonna hold us accountable.
46:10
SPEAKER_09: Oh, and by the way, as a dealer, I'm gonna be held accountable too.
46:13
SPEAKER_09: So together as a team, we're gonna grow, and it has to come from the top down.
46:17
SPEAKER_09: Because if it doesn't come from the dealer principal, it will get lost.
46:21
SPEAKER_03: I agree.
46:21
SPEAKER_03: I agree.
46:22
SPEAKER_03: Well, um, I'm told that we have a question for you from one of our viewers.
46:25
SPEAKER_03: How would how would you get um how would you get an experienced employee to embrace coaching when they feel like they already know what they're doing?
46:35
SPEAKER_09: That's a very great question, and I shake my head sometimes.
46:39
SPEAKER_09: There are a very there there is a small percent of individuals that just feel like they know it all and they're not gonna embrace training.
46:47
SPEAKER_09: I will give you an example.
46:48
SPEAKER_09: I went into a small percentage individual.
46:50
SPEAKER_09: I have okay, maybe I'm trying to be kind.
46:52
SPEAKER_09: It's larger, it's larger.
46:55
SPEAKER_09: It is.
46:56
SPEAKER_09: I'm trying to be kind because I believe you're being too kind.
46:59
SPEAKER_09: I believe we're moving in the right direction.
47:00
SPEAKER_09: So I was doing a workshop for a massive dealer group in the DC market.
47:06
SPEAKER_09: And I started my my meeting with, I mean, all these hot shots in the room.
47:10
SPEAKER_09: I said, listen, there's a lot of you in this room that volunteered to be here today, and I'm excited to spend some time with you.
47:17
SPEAKER_09: There's a couple of you that were voluntold that you had to be here today, and you don't want to be here.
47:23
SPEAKER_09: We call it pretty much.
47:25
SPEAKER_09: I equally look forward to spending time with you as well because I can promise you, you're gonna leave here with a different mindset.
47:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
47:30
SPEAKER_09: And so what I do is I lean into those a little bit more.
47:33
SPEAKER_09: I'll ask questions.
47:34
SPEAKER_09: You know, let me ask you a question.
47:36
SPEAKER_09: How far are you away from retirement?
47:38
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
47:39
SPEAKER_09: Are you on your way?
47:40
SPEAKER_03: Makes them feel a little bit, uh take a little bit bigger.
47:42
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah, because when you find a guy or gal that's I don't, you know, that's been doing this 30 years and they still have to do it every day for another 30, they're not doing something right.
47:53
SPEAKER_06: That's right.
47:53
SPEAKER_09: So they don't have it all figured out.
47:55
SPEAKER_09: A lot of people just need a mentor to level them.
47:57
SPEAKER_09: And I ask, I will just ask thought-provoking questions to these individuals until I get them to somewhat like and trust me.
48:03
SPEAKER_09: And then I work on them and I explain.
48:05
SPEAKER_09: There's just different levels to this game.
48:07
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, there's just so many different levels.
48:09
SPEAKER_09: I mean, I'm in a mastermind, you know, Danelle Delgado, she's been on the show.
48:12
SPEAKER_09: She's amazing.
48:13
SPEAKER_09: I'm in a mastermind with her, and it's just humbling because you look around, there's 30 of us, and the levels are absolutely insane.
48:20
SPEAKER_09: There's just always another level.
48:21
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, and so it does.
48:23
SPEAKER_09: I was being too nice a minute ago, it drives me bananas when I run into a manager, sales manager, GM, GSM salesman.
48:33
SPEAKER_09: Oh, I don't need training.
48:34
SPEAKER_09: I've been doing this forever, I know what I'm doing.
48:36
SPEAKER_09: It's like, oh yeah.
48:37
SPEAKER_09: Sounds like you're pretty average.
48:38
SPEAKER_09: Yeah, yeah.
48:39
SPEAKER_03: You know, right, right, exactly.
48:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
48:41
SPEAKER_03: And then you ask them, what's your P VR?
48:44
SPEAKER_09: Oh, you're running 35% VSC pen?
48:47
SPEAKER_03: Fantastic.
48:49
SPEAKER_09: Keep doing what you're doing, buddy.
48:51
SPEAKER_03: You don't need anything.
48:52
SPEAKER_03: But you know, from the dealer's perspective, and you're right.
48:54
SPEAKER_03: It's got to come from the top down because what we allow, we teach.
48:57
SPEAKER_03: If that individual is allowed to uh survive in that uh environment, then you're kind of teaching them.
49:03
SPEAKER_03: It's okay.
49:03
SPEAKER_03: I tell everybody we get in life what we tolerate.
49:05
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
49:06
SPEAKER_03: Period.
49:06
SPEAKER_03: No question about it.
49:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, without a doubt.
49:08
SPEAKER_03: I like it.
49:09
SPEAKER_03: Adam Marberger, thank you so much.
49:11
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
49:12
SPEAKER_03: Love hanging out with you guys.
49:12
SPEAKER_03: Thank you.
49:13
SPEAKER_03: Well, we love all the content, we love the show and uh doing it there, training camp with Adam Marberger.
49:18
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and uh you got it such a great group of uh individuals today, dealer principals and and uh some vendors in there.
49:24
SPEAKER_03: And so you got a Navy SEA here, too.
49:26
SPEAKER_03: Got a Navy SEAL, yeah.
49:28
SPEAKER_03: There you go.
49:28
SPEAKER_05: So stay tuned for all of those great episodes.
49:31
SPEAKER_05: We'll be airing with Adam Marburger coming up.
49:33
SPEAKER_05: That's right.
49:34
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
49:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you so much.
49:36
SPEAKER_05: Thank you guys.
49:37
SPEAKER_05: All right.
49:39
SPEAKER_05: That is it for our show.
49:41
SPEAKER_03: I think that's it for our show.
49:43
SPEAKER_05: I would like to, before we go, just thank our sponsor.
49:45
SPEAKER_05: This week's CBT Live sponsor is Force Marketing.
49:48
SPEAKER_05: Turn your data into more dealership opportunities with automotive marketing technology built for the entire customer life cycle.
49:54
SPEAKER_05: Reach in market shoppers, reconnect with website visitors, acquire inventory, and keep customers coming back to the service drive.
50:00
SPEAKER_05: You can learn more at forcemktg.com.
50:04
SPEAKER_05: Thank you, Force, and thank you again, Adam, for being here with us.
50:07
SPEAKER_05: This has been a really fun show.
50:09
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
50:09
SPEAKER_03: Be right back here tomorrow, folks, at 12 noon on the East Coast, nine o'clock on the West Coast for CBT Live.
50:16
SPEAKER_03: We'll see you then.
50:17
SPEAKER_03: CBT Live.
50:20
SPEAKER_00: CBT Live.
50:24
SPEAKER_00: CBT Live from Page Drive, breaking news with the Chrome still shine.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: Interviews in the glass wall boom, price tags up in the laptop, leaders top when the margins breeze, supply chain choking the buyers freeze, new car left, used car blight, every number stings on a Thursday night.