Latest / CBT Live / How One Hyundai Store Sold 606 Vehicles In September (10.13.26)

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How One Hyundai Store Sold 606 Vehicles In September (10.13.26) · CBT Live

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Hello, everyone, and welcome back to CBT Live.
0:02
SPEAKER_00: Today is Tuesday, October 13th.
0:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm Bridget Fitzpatrick.
0:05
SPEAKER_03: And I'm Jim Fitzpatrick.
0:07
SPEAKER_03: Welcome back, by the way.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: It's Wednesday.
0:09
SPEAKER_00: I didn't go anywhere.
0:10
SPEAKER_00: We didn't go anywhere.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Well, welcome back anyway.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back.
0:14
SPEAKER_00: Welcome back to you.
0:15
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us today.
0:17
SPEAKER_03: What?
0:18
SPEAKER_03: We've got a really great show.
0:19
SPEAKER_03: Yes, we do.
0:20
SPEAKER_03: Coming up, uh Parth Donda, who's the store manager at Hyundai of Newport Ritchie, joins us to break down an impressive September with 606 vehicles sold and also a top-ranking volume sales number.
0:32
SPEAKER_03: Plus, Porsche is facing a lawsuit over vehicle allocation and dealership facility requirements.
0:37
SPEAKER_03: This is a very interesting story.
0:39
SPEAKER_03: Chris Hunsicker, who is the author, podcaster, and president of Hunsicker Coaching International, joins us to discuss this case and his year-end recommendations for dealers.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: So, two great conversations coming up.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited about both of those.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Yes, I know.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: I know.
0:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: That's really exciting.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
0:56
unknown: Yeah.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: But I do have a few stories to go over.
0:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, let's do it.
0:59
SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
1:00
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:00
SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
1:01
SPEAKER_03: That's cool.
1:02
SPEAKER_03: I think that's cool.
1:03
SPEAKER_00: All right, we're starting today with something that's affecting just about every dealership, and that's affordability.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Really?
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Affordability?
1:09
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: According to new research from Cox Automotive, more buyers are looking at hybrids, smaller vehicles, and older used cars as they try to keep up with the monthly payments.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: Make them manageable.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: Cox says household expenses have risen faster than income since the pandemic, putting even more pressure on consumers.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: And that pressure is showing up in the used vehicle market.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: Prices for older used vehicles are climbing.
1:33
SPEAKER_00: But here's what is interesting.
1:35
SPEAKER_00: Um, customers haven't necessarily stopped shopping for vehicles, they're adjusting their expectations and looking for something that fits their budgets.
1:42
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:42
SPEAKER_03: So that makes sense.
1:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that's a lot of the dealers that I talk to, which is amazing to me, they're keeping vehicles now that are let's say four or five years old, and they've they've got maybe eighty, ninety, a hundred thousand miles on them.
1:56
SPEAKER_03: And uh typically in the industry, we would we would wholesale that vehicle and uh never put it on the lot for sale.
2:02
SPEAKER_03: But in l in recent years, they're saying no, there's that car's got a whole lot of life left.
2:07
SPEAKER_03: Obviously, the vehicles are getting they are being built better, they've got great technology in them, and the cars do have a whole nother hundred thousand miles for the most part.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Yes, which is a great lead-in to this next story.
2:18
SPEAKER_03: Go ahead.
2:18
SPEAKER_00: This is a report from Reuters saying that rising um concerns about America's$1.7 trillion auto loan market.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: The average monthly payment on a new vehicle loan has climbed to$765.
2:33
SPEAKER_00: So more are financing older vehicles for longer periods of time.
2:37
SPEAKER_00: According to the report, the average used vehicle loan now stretches nearly 68 months.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and among subprime borrowers, more than 30 percent of loans originated during the first half of this year.
2:48
SPEAKER_00: So they won't be paid off until the vehicles are more than twelve years old.
2:52
SPEAKER_03: Wow.
2:52
SPEAKER_03: That's but again, uh it gets back to you know, everyone's building a better car, the imports, the domestics.
2:58
SPEAKER_03: It's just it's it's just incredible how and I think that's also which also is is leading to these vehicles being on the road longer.
3:05
SPEAKER_03: I think the average AC is now in excess of twelve years.
3:08
SPEAKER_03: Um it's just you get into a 12-year-old car and it's like this is still a lot of car left.
3:14
SPEAKER_00: You know, then it'll keep going.
3:15
SPEAKER_03: I know.
3:16
SPEAKER_03: Amazing.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: So moving on to Stellantis, where third quarter US sales show a big difference between two of its major brands.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: The company sold just over 324,000 vehicles, essentially flat compared to last year.
3:29
SPEAKER_00: Ram sales jumped 29% with retail sales of the Ram 1500 up 42%.
3:35
SPEAKER_00: Jeep, however, saw sales fall 20%.
3:38
SPEAKER_00: Grand Cherokee sales dropped 30% while compass sales fell 62%.
3:43
SPEAKER_03: Not good news for Stillannis.
3:45
SPEAKER_00: But there were some bright spots, including the 5% increase in the Wrangler sales.
3:50
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
3:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
3:52
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:52
SPEAKER_03: So it's tough.
3:53
SPEAKER_03: They're still having there, they're they're not definitely not out of the woods yet.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
3:58
SPEAKER_03: Right.
3:58
SPEAKER_03: But they're getting there, I guess.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:01
SPEAKER_03: Trying to figure it out.
4:03
SPEAKER_00: So you had an interesting conversation recently with um Mr.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: Bachelor at Open Road Capital.
4:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Sure did.
4:09
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: So I don't know if you want to talk about that or when we tell everybody about that.
4:12
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's airing today on CBT News.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:14
SPEAKER_00: And he is the co-founder and managing editor of Open Road Capital.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: And he joined you.
4:19
SPEAKER_03: Managing managing partner or editor?
4:21
SPEAKER_03: You should say editor.
4:21
SPEAKER_03: I'm sorry.
4:22
SPEAKER_03: Managing partner.
4:23
SPEAKER_03: Director.
4:24
SPEAKER_03: Director.
4:24
SPEAKER_03: Managing director.
4:25
SPEAKER_03: Yes, director.
4:25
SPEAKER_03: You said editor.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Is I managing editor?
4:27
SPEAKER_00: No.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: He's not an editor.
4:28
SPEAKER_03: I don't think they publish anything.
4:31
SPEAKER_03: But you're right.
4:31
SPEAKER_03: It was a good interview.
4:33
SPEAKER_03: And uh it was it was enlightening because uh what's unique about what open road does, different maybe from some of the other brokers out there, is they actually invest in dealerships.
4:43
SPEAKER_03: And um, so in the event that you've got maybe, maybe you even have a son or a daughter that wants to buy out the family business or buy out the siblings, you know, often we see that where a son will go into the industry and maybe the daughter doesn't.
4:57
SPEAKER_03: I know, don't write any messages, but this this is very common.
5:01
SPEAKER_03: The son goes into the business, and then maybe the daughter or the daughters are not in the business.
5:07
SPEAKER_03: Uh, or even, you know, you've got sons that don't want to get into the business, you know, but maybe one or two of the children do.
5:13
SPEAKER_03: His company will come in and say, Great, we'll fund you to go ahead and buy your siblings out.
5:18
SPEAKER_03: That's just one of the many different aspects that they have.
5:20
SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
5:21
SPEAKER_03: But it's a very cool concept, and they've got a lot of success stories.
5:24
SPEAKER_03: I was uh that to your point, that uh interview is up on cbtnews uh dot com.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they currently have it looks like 53 dealerships and they expect to reach 60 um as these additional transitions close for them.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that that's a lot of interesting.
5:40
SPEAKER_03: It's definitely providing a very unique solution uh that's has been needed in the in the market for short.
5:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I agree.
5:49
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: All right, September is in the books, has been for a few days, and Hyundai of Newport Richie had a pretty impressive month.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: Store manager Parth Donda says it starts with the people and the culture that you build around them.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Parth, welcome to the show.
6:05
SPEAKER_01: Hey Jane Bridget, thanks for having me.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: Um appreciate you guys.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: You know, um a lot of people are familiar with us, and you know, ours our success story probably goes out two decades, and then we were acquired by Libya back in 2021, and we continued that.
6:21
SPEAKER_01: The recipe is very simple.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: Even after the acquisition, we've kept the same people, same managers, same salespeople.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: Our turnover has been next to nothing throughout the years.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: You know, uh our average tenure at the dealership is about seven and a half years.
6:38
SPEAKER_01: And I mean that just tells you everything, right?
6:40
SPEAKER_01: Anytime you look at a store from outside, and if you're looking at the financial statements or, you know, their success stories, you know, you could put two and two together.
6:48
SPEAKER_01: And if they have a good stability at the store level and, you know, they control the turnover, take care of the people, and build around their people, usually those stores are extremely successful.
7:00
SPEAKER_01: And that's us, you know, we've taken care of our people.
7:04
SPEAKER_01: And after a marriage with Lithia, you know, it's even got better for our people, right?
7:09
SPEAKER_01: It's given us the world-class benefits, you know, the ecosystem, you know, all the tools that we needed to take it to the next level.
7:17
SPEAKER_01: And as you guys just talked about, you know, what everyone's talking about right now is affordability, right?
7:22
SPEAKER_01: An average new car, you're close to$1,000.
7:25
SPEAKER_01: Used car, you're close to$700.
7:28
SPEAKER_01: Now, how do you how do you sustain your business?
7:31
SPEAKER_01: How do you step in?
7:32
SPEAKER_01: And that's where we came in and we switched things around a little bit.
7:35
SPEAKER_01: So two years ago, I kind of took over our used car campus.
7:38
SPEAKER_01: Now, what we did was I said, we're not gonna wholesale anything.
7:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't care if it's a$1,000 car or$5,000 cars.
7:45
SPEAKER_01: Our exit strategy is going to be retail 100% of the time.
7:49
SPEAKER_01: And um, this deals, now keep in mind, these are not the deals that you're gonna go out and make money on, but these are the deals you're gonna, you know, capture market shares.
7:58
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's so many people that I run into at the gym, you know, at the grocery stores, that you know, we end up selling their kids, their daughters, their first cars.
8:07
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know,$2,000,$3,000 out-the-door cars.
8:10
SPEAKER_01: And last month we sold about 40 vehicles under$5,000.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: You know, that's good.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: You're doing vehicles under$5,000 and under 60 vehicles under$12,000.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: You know, so that's where our success story comes in.
8:26
SPEAKER_01: Yes, we don't make money on this deal, but someone said to me long time ago that sometimes bad deal is better than no deal, right?
8:35
SPEAKER_01: So when you when you have that deal, you know, it's the word of mouth.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: We are so strong in our community where you know, we're not just selling that$3,000,$5,000,$7,000 car.
8:45
SPEAKER_01: We are setting ourselves up to sell them, their family members, their friends, a new Hyundai, a lease a new Hyundai, or whatever the case might be.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, so most of these vehicles, we have a great turnover by selling them, you know, two, three, four more cars.
9:00
SPEAKER_01: And their next few vehicles are necessarily not your value vehicles.
9:04
SPEAKER_01: They're your, you know, two, they're your leases and they're your certified pre-owns.
9:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
9:09
SPEAKER_03: So, Parth, let me ask you, um, 606 vehicles is a lot.
9:12
SPEAKER_03: Is that a record for your store?
9:14
SPEAKER_01: It's not a record, um, but it's it's a consistent growth year over year.
9:19
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
9:20
SPEAKER_01: And um we're just consistent throughout the years.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: We're at our peak, we were selling, as you can see, there's a new um, there's a new facelift on our new car location.
9:30
SPEAKER_01: We just uh finished our facelift in 2021, um, which you know we lost some of our business.
9:36
SPEAKER_01: And then last year we kind of rebuilt and we're still growing, we're consistently growing, and we're having a record used car year, which we're gonna sell north of 3,000 used cars.
9:46
SPEAKER_01: So it will be a record here selling north of 3,000 used cars this year.
9:50
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that that's fantastic.
9:51
SPEAKER_03: And uh uh in terms of you uh you've spoken before about putting the emphasis on your people.
9:57
SPEAKER_03: What are you doing differently when it comes to developing and retaining your team?
10:01
SPEAKER_03: To have very little or no turnover is just unbelievable in this industry.
10:06
SPEAKER_03: As you know, it's as high as 70% on many showrooms around the country.
10:10
SPEAKER_01: Jim, that's a great question.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: Um, like I said, you know, after getting married to Litia, we've had so many tools and so much, so many resources at our fingertips.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: One of the things that um, you know, I I was actually just on a Medford trip to our corporate headquarters, and one of the things that I got out of it was they have this phenomenal program.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: It's called Dart, which is uh developing you know automotive automobile retail talent.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: What we do there is we go after, you know, we partner up with our local universities and also universities like Northwood, and we retain, we bring this talent in to the showroom and reutilize them.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: We, you know, we'll spend six months in service, six months in, you know, sales, six, you know, we'll we'll rotate them around the dealership and see where we work out the best.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: I have four finance managers that I've just promoted in between 2025 and 2026, they all got promoted from the floor, you know.
11:03
SPEAKER_01: So it's going after the people that's never sold cars before, retaining them, and the people who've been with this for a long time, making sure they still have opportunities to make respectable living.
11:17
SPEAKER_01: You know, people don't usually look for jobs, they're made to go out and look for the job, right?
11:22
SPEAKER_01: So you had to keep your arms around your people and see why is it that they want to live here, why is it that they're looking for a job.
11:28
SPEAKER_01: And most of the time, you know, we have to look at ourselves as leaders and figure that out.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: You know, and when you figure that out, you it the rest of the problems will solve itself.
11:38
SPEAKER_03: When you hear about all of the news out there about affordability and about payments and about uh even delinquency, delinquencies are up, and of course, gas prices are what they are, and all that is going on around us, and you come out of you know, September with 606 vehicles, that kind of flies in the face of the negative media that we hear out there, either about the auto industry or about business in general.
12:03
SPEAKER_03: Do you think you'd be at like 850 or a thousand cars if the economy was as strong as it was a few years ago?
12:12
SPEAKER_01: We would probably be selling more cars, um, but you know, then so so would everyone else, right?
12:17
SPEAKER_01: It's what percentage of market shares are you going to take out of your market?
12:21
SPEAKER_01: And that's what it comes down to.
12:23
SPEAKER_01: So, yes, I'm sure.
12:24
SPEAKER_01: You know, just in 2020, um, 2023, we had a record year where we sold, you know, uh 7,500 cars that year.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: You know, it was and it was a record new car year, also.
12:35
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, but the thing is that, you know, we're one of those stores where we just don't have all our ups and downs.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: We pretty we when it's bad, we stay consistent.
12:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, wow, that's great.
12:45
SPEAKER_00: So, Parth, you've said that leaders can't keep using the same playbook that worked during the COVID years.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: Can you talk to us about what you mean by that?
12:53
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
12:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, when uh at the time of the you know, every deal people were playing, you know, your market adjustments, your, you know, your your over MSRP, you know, you basically, if the deal didn't make sense or if you were not getting the bump you wanted, you most of the leaders they parted ways with those deals.
13:12
SPEAKER_01: You know, some leaders have transitioned into today's market with similar tactics, right?
13:18
SPEAKER_01: They're looking at deal-by-deal situation, you know, um and they haven't changed their pay plans from the COVID years, right?
13:26
SPEAKER_01: We're not making the money we were making at the time of during the time of COVID now, but your pay plans are very similar to what it was during COVID years.
13:36
SPEAKER_01: Well, how are you gonna retain that talent?
13:38
SPEAKER_01: How are you gonna keep that talent?
13:39
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
13:40
SPEAKER_01: So you had to adjust yourself to the market accordingly to ensure that you could retain your talent and your people are given opportunities to make a healthy living.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
13:52
SPEAKER_01: You know, the times have changed, and you had to change, you had to set up your expectations uh to the time.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, and then you know, in our business today, you know, when those expectations are set out of the parameters and they're so far out of reach, that's when you run into this legal jams where you know you're gonna see lots of dealerships and auto groups and whatnot, you know, sometimes, you know, do certain things that you know they might not necessarily do if everything was within the reasons.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
14:21
SPEAKER_01: And I've seen that all the time happen.
14:23
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
14:24
SPEAKER_03: Now you've had success across three rooftops with very different teams and challenges, but you keep coming back to that same recipe of people, process, and execution.
14:34
SPEAKER_03: What does that look like in practice?
14:36
SPEAKER_01: Um so been with Litia since the acquisition um and of Litia coming to Florida back in 2020.
14:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh Williams Auto Group were one of the first um dealerships acquired by Litia at the time.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: Um that Honda store was a struggling Honda store, you know.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Once once Litia took over, I was actually assigned a task to go to Tampa Honda and help them sc grow that store.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: The store was, you know, not as successful as we'd want that store to be.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: And it was the same thing, you know, we kept most of the people, most of the talent.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: All it is was all we did is we tweaked up our processes.
15:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, we assigned our sales managers to get up, you do an early EMI, meet and greet the customers up front, ensure all the vehicles were merchandised properly, make sure all the vehicles are through, you know, the shopping timely manner, make sure, you know, your new car merchandise that standing, you know, tall, making sure you're hands-on involved throughout every single step of the sale.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: And out of nowhere, in 2024, you know, we were rated, um, we we won the LPG Award, which is Lithia's one of the most, you know, prestigious awards that gave it that's given to um the top performing stores now coming from a you know struggling year.
15:50
SPEAKER_01: And pretty much the same thing at Undy Fnip Ricci when I took over 2020 in 2025.
15:56
SPEAKER_01: In 2024, we sold about 1700 used cars.
15:59
SPEAKER_01: We sold 2800 last year.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
16:02
SPEAKER_01: We're trapped more than 3,000 this year.
16:04
SPEAKER_01: Right?
16:05
SPEAKER_01: So and and all of this happened without a single turnover.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: Same sales managers, same finance managers, same salespeople, same fixed stops people, not a single turnover.
16:16
SPEAKER_01: Um, we actually reallocated some of the position to make people more efficient, and and in return, their earning potentials went up.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: And um, as a store, we're more successful now than ever before, especially when it comes to the used car matrix.
16:32
SPEAKER_03: That that that's fantastic.
16:33
SPEAKER_03: Are you using social media?
16:34
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if you watch our show, but you know I'm I'm crazy over all these social media uh clips that uh salespeople are using in the car business that I think is great, is great.
16:44
SPEAKER_03: Do you guys uh do you encourage your salespeople to use social media?
16:47
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
16:48
SPEAKER_01: One of the things we do um, if you actually were to go on our um, you know, Hyundai from Newport Regist Certified Use.
16:54
SPEAKER_01: So we have two rooftops.
16:55
SPEAKER_01: We have the Certified Used and we have the new car store.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: I oversee day-to-day operation at the Certified Used.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
17:00
SPEAKER_01: Um what we do is after every customer, you know, when they buy a car, you know, if they want to, if they're comfortable, we do a little testimonial video and then we do a picture shoot.
17:10
SPEAKER_01: And it's part of our sales process, right?
17:12
SPEAKER_01: Get a five, get a five-star review if we're if we deserve it.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: Um, take a picture with the customer, make sure it's exposed, it's posted, and make sure they, you know, it's uh it make sure they're giving you some friends and family referral.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: And it and it's every sale, every deal, that's the same process.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: Kind of give you an example.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: In 2025 of February, when I took over the store where Google ratings were 4.1, today we're at 4.6.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: You know, nice.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: And we're we're more exposed now to ever before because we're selling more value cars.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: We're selling cars for$2,500 out the door.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: You know when this car breaks down, the customers will be upset.
17:49
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, and leave us a review.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: But you know, it the name of the game is you just gotta you gotta take care of your customer before it makes it that far.
17:56
SPEAKER_03: Sure, yeah.
17:58
SPEAKER_03: Without a doubt.
17:59
SPEAKER_03: And um, so what's what's next for for you guys?
18:02
SPEAKER_03: I mean, what what do you got cooking for 2027?
18:05
SPEAKER_03: Because you keep in mind in the car business, as you know, you start hitting those numbers, and whoever you answer to says, Well, that was last year, right?
18:13
SPEAKER_03: And Farth, what do you got for us this year?
18:16
SPEAKER_01: How do you keep topping this?
18:18
SPEAKER_01: I think Litia's got a great ecosystem, you know, with that, you know, drive it finance, drive it.com.
18:23
SPEAKER_01: I mean, you know, we're competing against Carvana and our um you know e-commerce platform.
18:28
SPEAKER_01: So I'd like to contribute more towards um our ecosystem, number one.
18:32
SPEAKER_01: And number two, I think there's so much money left on the fixed ops side, right?
18:36
SPEAKER_01: I think fixed ops, uh, fixed ops is about a hundred billion dollar industry right now.
18:40
SPEAKER_01: And I think, you know, it should be they're projecting for it to be a trillion dollar industry by 2035.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: And um we I I think we're we lost some of our um business to independence.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and the goal is to capture that that business back, you know.
18:56
SPEAKER_01: So we're we we have infinite amount of opportunity on the fixed stop side of it.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: And in 2026, we'd like to attack that, you know, of 2027 I meant, you know, go after the lost business to independence, to Jiffy Lubes and Tire Plus.
19:11
SPEAKER_01: What can we do?
19:12
SPEAKER_01: How can we become more efficient?
19:13
SPEAKER_01: How could we compete better?
19:15
SPEAKER_01: How can how can we recapture our customers?
19:17
SPEAKER_01: Because let's just be honest, we've lost those customers to walk away.
19:21
SPEAKER_03: You know, hey, let me ask you, you're also you're also number one, is it number one in the world for CPO volume or in the United States?
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: We are number one certified pre-owned um dealership in the world.
19:33
SPEAKER_01: That's huge.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
19:35
SPEAKER_01: There's plenty of hundred dealerships out there.
19:38
SPEAKER_01: Um, again, it goes back to the strategy saying we keep every single car.
19:42
SPEAKER_01: You know, I have a great fixed ops team that I work extremely, you know, close with.
19:47
SPEAKER_01: You know, we don't cut any corners when it comes to a certified pre-owned.
19:51
SPEAKER_01: And and we have people from all oh, I give you an example.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: I had a gentleman yesterday flying from North Carolina, you know, for a 2026 Hyundai Santa Fe that there's probably thousands in between North Carolina.
20:03
SPEAKER_03: I was gonna say, yeah, yeah, gentlemen flew over a few uh a few of them.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:07
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, they they and his word was, you know, hey, we I looked you up online, we saw your reviews, we saw what people said about you guys, we heard about you, that's great, and we just decided to just come in.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, uh we try not to we try to capture every and and here's the deal if you're gonna be a number one new car Hyundai store, you're gonna acquire lots of Hyundai's, and you've got to figure out to retail out of those Hyundai's in a timely manner, you know, with proper merchandising, marketing, you know, all of that stuff.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, a great new car department will also always allow you to run an efficient and a high-performing new car department.
20:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Parth, congratulations on all your success.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: Very exciting.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: Um, Parth Honda, um, Parth Donda, sorry, store manager of Hyundai of the Archie.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
20:55
SPEAKER_00: I know you worked at a Honda store before, so thank you for joining us.
20:59
SPEAKER_03: Thank you guys.
21:00
SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much.
21:00
SPEAKER_03: Continued success.
21:02
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, thank you.
21:03
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, for sure.
21:04
SPEAKER_03: Wow, 606 units.
21:05
SPEAKER_00: That's fantastic.
21:06
SPEAKER_03: I mean, as you can tell from his enthusiasm.
21:08
SPEAKER_03: I know just talking to him.
21:09
SPEAKER_00: I know, very exciting.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
21:10
SPEAKER_03: That that is fantastic.
21:12
SPEAKER_03: Um what were we gonna say?
21:14
SPEAKER_00: I was gonna thank our sponsor.
21:16
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
21:16
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21:17
SPEAKER_03: Thank you as well.
21:18
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22:00
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22:00
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22:03
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22:07
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22:16
SPEAKER_03: No.
22:16
SPEAKER_03: And uh and is uh by the way, I spoke to the president.
22:19
SPEAKER_03: Uh there's no long term contracts.
22:20
SPEAKER_03: No, so as you know, as a dealer, a lot of companies want to sign you up to a long-term contract, and if it's not working, tough.
22:26
SPEAKER_03: You're you're in it.
22:26
SPEAKER_03: You can't get out of it.
22:27
SPEAKER_03: Not these guys.
22:28
SPEAKER_03: Right.
22:28
SPEAKER_03: They're like, hey, come on on a month-to-month basis if you want.
22:31
SPEAKER_03: So they they earn their keep every month.
22:33
SPEAKER_03: So and it keeps you out of trouble.
22:35
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: So a Florida dealership is taking Porsche to court over vehicle allocation and the cost of facility upgrades.
22:43
SPEAKER_03: Porsche to court.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: Who takes Porsche A Court?
22:46
SPEAKER_03: Everybody wants a Porsche dealership.
22:48
SPEAKER_03: Chris Hunsicker, who's author, host of the dealership war room, and president of Hunsicker Coaching International, has spent decades coaching dealers and joins us now to break down what dealers should be thinking about before signing on the dotted line.
23:02
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much for joining us today.
23:07
SPEAKER_02: Hello.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: I uh I can't hear you guys uh coming through.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: I apologize.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, that's okay.
23:13
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully we can do that for you.
23:15
SPEAKER_03: Hopefully we can Did we fix it?
23:16
SPEAKER_03: Are we good to go now?
23:18
SPEAKER_03: Yes, sir.
23:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:19
SPEAKER_03: It seems like when you take the mute off, things all of a sudden work.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: So that's good.
23:23
SPEAKER_00: Well, thank you so much for joining us today.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate it.
23:26
SPEAKER_03: Thank you so much.
23:26
SPEAKER_03: It's my pleasure.
23:27
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: So let's start.
23:28
SPEAKER_03: I mean, who saw who sues a Porsche dealership?
23:31
SPEAKER_03: Everybody wants a Porsche dealership, Chris.
23:33
SPEAKER_03: What's going on here?
23:35
SPEAKER_02: Well, I think it's a dilemma that you see just about everywhere, which is in you have any partnership, whether it be a marriage or a business relationship, there's always give and take in it.
23:44
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
23:44
SPEAKER_02: And if one, if you have to give too much or take too much, the relationship doesn't work anymore.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
23:49
SPEAKER_02: And so in this situation, you have a dealer group, the collective, that has a whole series of luxury brands, Porsche among them, McLaren and others, and they have a single location where they're creating almost like a one-stop shop for luxury.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: And Porsche is basically saying, if you don't build a new building, then we're not going to give you discretionary allocation.
24:10
SPEAKER_02: Now, that sounds really great and it has a lot of fun to it.
24:13
SPEAKER_02: There's two sides to this as you go through, but basically what the collective is arguing is that that discretionary allocation affects my turn and earn.
24:22
SPEAKER_02: You don't have to give me, just not giving me the cars causes me to not sell less, which lets me earn less, which creates a downward spiral.
24:29
SPEAKER_02: And Porsche is saying, yeah, and this is a great franchise.
24:33
SPEAKER_02: As you said, everybody wants a Porsche franchise.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: They're wonderful.
24:36
SPEAKER_02: They make great money.
24:37
SPEAKER_02: And to do that, as a business partner, we expect certain facilities and certain options that we want.
24:42
SPEAKER_02: And the big thing for them is a separate location.
24:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, for sure.
24:46
SPEAKER_00: And you've coached dealers on these kinds of negotiations for decades.
24:49
SPEAKER_00: What are your recommendations with a situation like this?
24:54
SPEAKER_02: First is simply that all truth is found in proving contraries.
24:59
SPEAKER_02: Look before you leap, he who hesitates is lost.
25:02
SPEAKER_02: Out of sight, out of mind, or absence makes the heart grow fonder.
25:06
SPEAKER_02: And it's the same thing when I coach dealers is you gotta run the math.
25:09
SPEAKER_02: Business is business and math is math.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: Politics can do amazing things, math never lies.
25:14
SPEAKER_02: And looking at, okay, what's the cost of taking action?
25:17
SPEAKER_02: What's the cost of not taking action?
25:19
SPEAKER_02: If I build a building, if I put the thing through, how many more cars will I sell?
25:24
SPEAKER_02: How much more gross profit will I get?
25:25
SPEAKER_02: What's the amortization of that over 10 years?
25:28
SPEAKER_02: And is it a smart business choice?
25:30
SPEAKER_03: But let me jump in here for a second.
25:32
SPEAKER_03: So many dealers will tell me, look, you almost can't pay enough for a Porsche franchise because it's just the premiere that you know what they make in fixed ops and the vehicles.
25:41
SPEAKER_03: And so sometimes the even the math doesn't necessarily add up.
25:45
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you might say, okay, we're gonna average, you know,$10,000 a copy and we're gonna get maybe another hundred cars sold or something like that if we build a new facility.
25:54
SPEAKER_03: But I've spoken to dealers over the years and they're like, let's throw that off the table.
25:58
SPEAKER_03: I just want to get a Porsche dealership, you know, and because it means so much in the long run.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: And uh so so what do you what do you say to those dealers that when the math doesn't add up, but they want they want that store anyway and they're willing to pay crazy blue sky to get it?
26:13
SPEAKER_02: Secondary tertiary effects.
26:16
SPEAKER_02: So there's not there's simple math.
26:18
SPEAKER_02: One plus one is two, but in any calculation, there is a secondary effect.
26:22
SPEAKER_02: So take a look at the collective.
26:24
SPEAKER_02: For them, they have all these other brands that are there.
26:27
SPEAKER_02: And so people that might come in to shop for a Porsche might buy a McLaren.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: There's a secondary and a tertiary benefit to decisions, and we see that in all businesses.
26:36
SPEAKER_02: So part of it is having math that is not simplistic but is dynamic and looks and says, okay, yeah, it's worth getting the Porsche franchise because over the 10 years, even if I pay the blue sky, there's secondary and tertiary benefits economically, financially, and to the brand.
26:51
SPEAKER_03: Sure, sure.
26:51
SPEAKER_03: How much leverage does a dealer really have when an OEM controls something as critical as vehicle allocation?
26:59
SPEAKER_02: Limited.
27:00
SPEAKER_02: I would say, and I let me put it in the perspective of a salesperson to a dealer, so you can see a dealer to an OEM.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: I tell salespeople all the time, you're never gonna have$20 million to buy a store.
27:10
SPEAKER_02: But this dealer that you work for does.
27:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:12
SPEAKER_02: And he's gonna give you a franchise agreement.
27:14
SPEAKER_02: We call it the pay plan.
27:15
SPEAKER_02: Some things you like, some things you don't.
27:17
SPEAKER_02: But you're never gonna have$20 million.
27:18
SPEAKER_02: And I say to a dealer, you're never gonna have$20 billion.
27:21
SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna be able to manufacture your own cars.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: And luckily, Porsche and Ford and everybody else, they can't sell cars.
27:27
SPEAKER_02: They proved it.
27:27
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
27:28
SPEAKER_02: They need you to sell them.
27:29
SPEAKER_02: Right.
27:29
SPEAKER_02: They're gonna give you a franchise agreement.
27:30
SPEAKER_02: But your wife can't come up to you after you get a Ford store and say, Yeah, I don't like blue and I don't like ovals.
27:36
SPEAKER_02: Let's do a red triangle.
27:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
27:37
SPEAKER_03: You don't get that choice.
27:38
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
27:39
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
27:40
SPEAKER_03: And uh today, uh, you know, so many OEMs, especially Porsche, want to make sure that that facility and that customer, that guest experience is world class because they got some heavy competition breathing down their back for that hundred, two hundred, three hundred thousand dollar car.
27:55
SPEAKER_03: And they want that experience to be first class.
27:57
SPEAKER_03: Because as you know, a lot, you know, when consumers walk in, uh that dealer is Porsche to them.
28:03
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
28:04
SPEAKER_03: And and uh and and the experience is so vitally important today because you walk into a Lexus store, you walk into even a Cadillac store, but obviously Mercedes-Benz, uh Porsche, uh, you know, Cadillac, uh BMW, they all are spending a tremendous amount of money to win that customer over and win over that that customer experience, right?
28:25
SPEAKER_03: So as an OEM, I'm building these cars and I'm and these these dealers are making a fortune on them.
28:30
SPEAKER_03: I kind of have the right to say, look, if you want to keep the franchise, you gotta step up, right?
28:36
SPEAKER_02: 100%.
28:37
SPEAKER_02: And and it's that give and taken relationship.
28:39
SPEAKER_02: I've lived in the mountains of Utah, up around Park City at a ski resort, love skiing, and I've lived on the beaches of Florida and I love the beach.
28:47
SPEAKER_02: But each has a trade-off.
28:49
SPEAKER_02: I have really hot summers that are not that beautiful in uh Utah, and I have beautiful winters in Florida and I get a beach, but I have no mountain and I can't ski.
29:00
SPEAKER_02: And when I'm living in Utah, I have no beach and I can't go to the water.
29:03
SPEAKER_02: Every time you enter into a relationship, you make a choice.
29:07
SPEAKER_02: If you move to Minnesota, it's gonna snow.
29:10
SPEAKER_02: Buy a coat.
29:11
SPEAKER_02: Don't complain.
29:12
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
29:12
SPEAKER_02: And that's kind of a lot of dealers when I get done with the math, it's is the good outweigh the bad.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: Right.
29:19
SPEAKER_02: Because you have to deal with the world the way it is, not the way you wish it would be.
29:22
SPEAKER_03: Right.
29:23
SPEAKER_03: If you were a guessing man and you were you were maybe the judge on this, how do you think this case will turn out?
29:30
SPEAKER_02: I have no idea.
29:31
SPEAKER_02: One, I'm not a lawyer.
29:33
SPEAKER_02: And two, I think it has become increasingly difficult to predict legal cases in any regard.
29:38
SPEAKER_02: I never would have thought McDonald's could get sued for hot coffee.
29:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: So on something this big, I would say any guess would be specious at best.
29:46
SPEAKER_03: Is this Porsche dealer committing political suicide and almost ensuring he or she is never getting another Porsche dealership?
29:54
SPEAKER_03: Because as you I've worked on all sides, OEM and retail, and let me tell you, that check mark goes, oh, we got a troublemaker here.
30:01
SPEAKER_03: And all of a sudden, if in the event this dealer were to win this case, well, that's that kind of sets off a whole domino effect with other dealers that go, oh, they won that case?
30:10
SPEAKER_03: Okay, I'm gonna file suit here, and all of a sudden you got a major troublemaker uh amongst the dealer body that is not does not play well with the OEMs, especially if you want to get approved on other stores.
30:24
SPEAKER_02: 100%.
30:25
SPEAKER_02: And I if I look back, I would have to say there's a bridge that's burning, and that bridge is gonna be gone.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: When you go to litigation, it burns bridges.
30:34
SPEAKER_02: Right.
30:34
SPEAKER_02: And it does.
30:36
SPEAKER_02: I would look with really good dealers that I've spent years with getting close and intimate.
30:41
SPEAKER_02: I think they would all say the same thing.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: And I would say in my own life, when I've made decisions based on ego, I tend to pay a much higher price than even a normal bad decision.
30:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
30:52
SPEAKER_03: Good point.
30:52
SPEAKER_03: Good point.
30:53
SPEAKER_03: What do you always say?
30:54
SPEAKER_03: If it feels good, don't send the email.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, I always say if it feels good, don't say it.
30:57
SPEAKER_03: No, if it feels good, don't you?
30:59
SPEAKER_03: When you're in a heated situation, knock off some email.
31:03
SPEAKER_03: Look, I get really mad at this vendor or whatever the case might be.
31:06
SPEAKER_03: And she'll say, Okay, that how do you feel?
31:08
SPEAKER_00: Now don't send it to end well.
31:12
SPEAKER_03: It's not gonna end well.
31:15
SPEAKER_02: What's really important, Jim, is that teenagers, the struggle that parents have with teenagers is they are not looking for wisdom or relationship, they're looking for a lifestyle sponsor.
31:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:26
SPEAKER_02: And I have found there are some dealers that are not looking for a business partner, they're looking for a gross profit sponsor.
31:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: So as long as I benefit, it's good.
31:35
SPEAKER_02: Anytime you ask anything of me, I'm out.
31:37
SPEAKER_02: Not all dealers, there's no group that's all dealers feel this way.
31:41
SPEAKER_02: Right.
31:41
SPEAKER_02: But there's a group of dealers that I think they get in trouble when they are looking for a gross profit sponsor and not a business partner where there's give and take.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: Right.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
31:48
SPEAKER_03: I gotta tell you though, the with the new facilities that Porsche's building, that new destination uh store, they're they're gorgeous.
31:55
SPEAKER_03: I don't know why they're not building a facility for uh for that Porsche store.
32:01
SPEAKER_03: But uh, you know, the new the new buildings are you know, there's one right there.
32:04
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
32:05
SPEAKER_03: Um they're they're beautiful, they're absolutely beautiful.
32:07
SPEAKER_03: And um, you know, now Porsche sales are off.
32:10
SPEAKER_03: There's no question about it.
32:12
SPEAKER_03: And uh, you know, there there's uh dealers that are I don't want to say they're hurting because they're making a ton of money in fixed stops, and it's an incredible brand and car and everything else.
32:22
SPEAKER_03: Right.
32:22
SPEAKER_03: Uh and they're going up in price both.
32:24
SPEAKER_03: Right.
32:24
SPEAKER_00: And they're doing, yeah, the strategy is changing a little bit there.
32:27
SPEAKER_00: So let's change gears for a minute here.
32:28
SPEAKER_00: Your book Unstoppable.
32:30
SPEAKER_00: Is that a Porsche reference?
32:33
SPEAKER_00: Your book, Unstoppable Culture, focuses on building stronger dealership cultures.
32:38
SPEAKER_00: And can you tell us how do dealers balance maintaining a good relationship with their OEM while also standing up for their own business interests and making decisions that are really right for their teams?
32:50
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I would say two things would be most valuable in that balance between the OEM and what I need to do to take care of them and my team and what I need to take care of them.
32:59
SPEAKER_02: The essence of every dealer is competing needs and relationships.
33:03
SPEAKER_02: He has limited resources, she has limited things that she can use and do, and there are competing resources.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: Everybody needs more than they have the ability to give.
33:13
SPEAKER_02: And so the first thing is being able to decide for your team what is non-negotiable.
33:18
SPEAKER_02: It's very that's the essence of culture is this is where I'm gonna plant my fag and what I'm gonna stand on.
33:24
SPEAKER_02: And then the second is how do you then build enough what I would call discretionary effort?
33:30
SPEAKER_02: So I can pay you so many dollars an hour or salary for your hands to do work.
33:34
SPEAKER_02: I might even be able to pay you a few ideas, but for you to give me your heart and your passion, you have to do that willingly.
33:40
SPEAKER_02: And everybody has a line of behavior that if you stay above this in performance, you won't get fired.
33:45
SPEAKER_02: But there's discretionary effort that goes beyond that.
33:49
SPEAKER_02: And my ability to really build in you, make you feel seen, heard, and understood, and you will give me your discretionary effort.
33:57
SPEAKER_02: That is how I balance the demands from the OEM.
34:00
SPEAKER_02: Because now I have enough of a connection, enough in that bank account with you, I can go to you and I can say, Hey Bridget, listen, this and this are changing in the CPO, and we got to do these two things, and it's gonna be negatively affected.
34:11
SPEAKER_02: It's a little more stuff.
34:12
SPEAKER_02: Whether you're in the office or you're on the desk or you're in F and I, I can have that conversation with you, and we are gonna fulfill that, even though it's a constraint that we didn't create.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: But if I don't have that emotional bank account, if I don't have that culture set, then all I'm doing is basically saying you need to do it, and it's not my fault, it's the manufacturer's fault, hate them, not me, which is just weak leadership, weak parenting, and a really terrible way to build a culture.
34:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: So looking beyond the lawsuit, as we head toward the end of 2026, what are the biggest challenges that you're helping with um helping when you're coaching dealers?
34:49
SPEAKER_02: So probably number one is what do you do with AI?
34:52
SPEAKER_02: Because it's coming.
34:54
SPEAKER_02: There's, and I would say this is cynical, but 90% of the people that are hawking AI have no idea what they're doing and saying it's just something new and shiny and it's a great way to extract some dollars from a dealer.
35:06
SPEAKER_02: Okay, honestly, truly, I believe that.
35:08
SPEAKER_02: There's uh 10% of the people that are doing amazing stuff.
35:12
SPEAKER_02: So having an intelligent strategy about how you're going to use AI to do two things improve employee efficiency and improve the customer experience.
35:21
SPEAKER_02: If your AI doesn't do those two things, you're you're it's cool and it's fun and you're wasting your time.
35:26
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:27
SPEAKER_02: And then the second is how are you gonna deal with the fact that margin compression is going to increase, that the economy is going to have its bumps and difficulties, there's nothing on the horizons that tells us we're gonna have interest rates go down tremendously.
35:41
SPEAKER_02: So so many dealers I find are ideally suited to compete in a market that no longer exists.
35:47
SPEAKER_02: And they're struggling to accept this is a new market in a new day, and that's what you have to do.
35:53
SPEAKER_02: You have to look and say, knowing this, what am I gonna do differently?
35:57
SPEAKER_02: And I I would share this with any dealer I ever talked to.
36:00
SPEAKER_02: Number one rule of business in order for things to get better, you need to get better.
36:04
SPEAKER_02: You got to become a better leader, or you will get left behind.
36:07
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, agreed.
36:08
SPEAKER_03: Agreed.
36:09
SPEAKER_03: Although that that's very, you know, uh challenging to a lot of leaders.
36:13
SPEAKER_03: They're like, I need to get better, I need to get better as a leader.
36:16
SPEAKER_03: No, we just need to hire better people.
36:18
SPEAKER_03: I mean, come on.
36:21
SPEAKER_03: That's what it's all about, right?
36:23
SPEAKER_03: I mean, th there's so many people out there uh in the in leadership positions that first have never been trained on how to be a been uh be a leader in a dealership setting.
36:32
SPEAKER_03: They learn from the manager before them.
36:35
SPEAKER_03: And uh, I've been talking about this for the last 14 years, I think, on CBT News.
36:39
SPEAKER_03: It's just something that our industry suffers from greatly.
36:42
SPEAKER_03: Very few managers have ever been taught to be a manager, especially a leader.
36:46
SPEAKER_03: And uh and and then of course we don't want to take that responsibility on our ourselves.
36:52
SPEAKER_03: If a dealership's not doing well, it's got a high turnover, if the grosses aren't where we want them to be, if the sales aren't where we want them to be, if the you know uh fixed ops isn't then it's all of these outside problems.
37:04
SPEAKER_03: It's it's the it's the fault of all of these outside elements.
37:08
SPEAKER_03: And rarely do you say, no, it's probably something we're doing.
37:11
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
37:12
SPEAKER_03: And uh it takes a big person in the industry to admit that, because to your point, you can't change something that you don't recognize first, right?
37:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, no, the the two things I think dealership leaders fall into is if you came up in a commission-based environment, technician, service advisor, salesperson, then you got paid by your performance and you were driven and focused, and now you get promoted, and now you're paid on the performance of everybody else.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: But you will never manage people like yourself.
37:42
SPEAKER_02: Most top performers get to manage one person like themselves for about a year until they get promoted.
37:47
SPEAKER_02: The rest of the time you're managing people that do not have the drive, discipline, and motivation you have.
37:53
SPEAKER_02: And I share this with every manager that I coach.
37:56
SPEAKER_02: Your job as a manager is to build habits, mindsets, and beliefs that currently lie just outside of the comfort zone of your people.
38:05
SPEAKER_02: But that's where all the gross profit customer experience and growth is.
38:08
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
38:09
SPEAKER_02: Revenue, gross profit, and experience are there.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: So my job as a manager is to day by day, week by week, build in you those habits, beliefs, and mindsets necessary.
38:19
SPEAKER_02: Yet most sales managers, when I work with them, they spend their whole time doing power and control when they spent their life on persuasion and influence.
38:27
SPEAKER_02: And I tell them, if you sold cars the way you sell ideas, you'd have starved.
38:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
38:32
SPEAKER_02: But your job as a sales manager is not to sell cars, it's sell ideas.
38:36
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:36
SPEAKER_02: And they close terribly as managers.
38:38
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
38:38
SPEAKER_03: So not all.
38:40
SPEAKER_03: And but but in so many cases, and I agree with everything that you just said, uh, it's almost not their fault.
38:45
SPEAKER_03: I mean, they they just don't know how they haven't been taught on uh on good leadership skills or or uh or even you know, a lot of managers out there think they're great trainers, and they're uh oftentimes terrible trainers because they've never even been taught on how to be a trainer of their own people.
39:01
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
39:02
SPEAKER_03: And they've never attended a train the trainer workshop or anything like that.
39:05
SPEAKER_03: And I know I'm painting with a broad brush, but I feel very comfortable doing that because I think it's still a major issue in dealerships today.
39:13
SPEAKER_03: And it's unfortunate because every day they're managing five, ten, fifteen, twenty-five individuals with multi-million dollar inventories and huge ad budgets, and yet they've never really had any formal training for the position that they're in.
39:26
SPEAKER_03: And uh maybe we need more, you know, Christopher Hunsickers out there helping dealers, right?
39:31
SPEAKER_02: So I'm a fan.
39:33
SPEAKER_02: I I I don't think my kids, when they look at they're adults now, but when they look at the dealerships they go to, they're like, Dad, you're never gonna run out of business.
39:42
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
39:42
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
39:43
SPEAKER_03: But you agree, agree, Chris, that uh that dealers are successful in spite of themselves, right?
39:49
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it's just that they'll they'll do things and say things and you'll, you know, why did you do it that way?
39:55
SPEAKER_03: And they'll say, well, at the end of the day, we're having a record-breaking, you know, net profit month, and we can't even get more units to sell, especially if they're a Toyota dealership.
40:04
SPEAKER_03: But um so sometimes they just don't see the need to even change, right?
40:10
SPEAKER_02: I see that a lot, and let me give you real give you a really good distinction.
40:14
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I've done this with probably a few thousand dealerships over the years.
40:18
SPEAKER_02: Every single dealership has a certain amount of their success, profit, customer experience, employee retention, that's because of the way they lead and manage, and a certain percentage of their success that is in spite of the way they lead and manage.
40:30
SPEAKER_02: And I love to have people put a number is it 50-50, 60, 40, 80, 20?
40:35
SPEAKER_02: And then I would sit down with the leadership team and say, okay, if 25% of your success is in spite of, what are those in spite of behaviors?
40:42
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
40:43
SPEAKER_02: And then put them out.
40:44
SPEAKER_02: Now let's denominate them.
40:46
SPEAKER_02: What if you address those?
40:47
SPEAKER_02: That number is never under a million dollars.
40:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
40:50
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: Wow, that's incredible.
40:52
SPEAKER_03: It's an eye-opening.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: Well, there you go.
40:53
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
40:54
SPEAKER_00: Chris Hunsiger, author of Unstoppable Culture and president of Hunsager Coaching International.
40:59
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us today.
41:00
SPEAKER_00: This has been great.
41:01
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: My pleasure.
41:02
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Bridget.
41:03
SPEAKER_02: Thank you, Jim.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: This is a great day.
41:04
SPEAKER_02: Thank you.
41:05
SPEAKER_03: Yes, thanks so much.
41:06
SPEAKER_03: Appreciate it.
41:06
SPEAKER_00: See you next time.
41:08
SPEAKER_03: Good.
41:09
SPEAKER_03: He's a good guy.
41:09
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
41:10
SPEAKER_03: He knows what he's talking about.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: Yes, he does.
41:11
SPEAKER_00: And there at the end, y'all were talking about um, you know, being successful in spite of themselves.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: And one thing that Dave Anderson has said that we say a lot is prosperity drains urgency.
41:20
SPEAKER_00: So when you are doing well, you think, oh, there's no urgent need to do anything different.
41:26
SPEAKER_03: So yeah.
41:27
SPEAKER_03: It's so hard to get through to somebody uh when they're selling cars the way they are.
41:31
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you you know, when uh when we've got um when we start to do the calls in here, you know, a call around to dealers and um and I forget the guys.
41:40
SPEAKER_03: Kyle Disher.
41:40
SPEAKER_03: Kyle Disher, right?
41:41
SPEAKER_03: He's gonna kill me for that if he's watching Kyle Disher.
41:44
SPEAKER_03: He does such a great job.
41:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, he calls around to dealerships, they never call him back, they don't set an appointment, they don't do all of these things, and yet if you were to ask any one of those sales managers, how come we're not hitting the numbers this month?
41:55
SPEAKER_03: They'll tell you we need more advertising dollars.
41:57
SPEAKER_03: And yet sometimes they don't even pick up the phone.
41:59
SPEAKER_03: But if they do, they mishandle the call, they don't follow up, they don't do any of these things, you know?
42:04
SPEAKER_00: So lots of work to do.
42:05
SPEAKER_03: That's right to Christopher's point.
42:07
SPEAKER_03: It's it's it's tough to get them to you know realize that.
42:10
SPEAKER_03: So absolutely.
42:12
SPEAKER_00: Well, everybody, thank you so much for joining us.
42:14
SPEAKER_00: Be sure to head over to cbtnews.com for more great conversations like we had today.
42:19
SPEAKER_00: And while you're there, be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get these stories delivered right to your inbox every day.
42:25
SPEAKER_00: So thank you so much for watching today.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: We really appreciate you all.
42:29
SPEAKER_00: And we look forward to seeing you here tomorrow at noon Eastern.
42:32
SPEAKER_03: Make it a great day.
42:50
SPEAKER_01: Interviews in the glass wall, boom, price tags up in the laptop floor, leaders top with the marches, breeze, supply chain choke in the bias, please.