Latest / Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers / Ep102 "Freaking Brilliant or Absolute BS"

Transcript

Ep102 "Freaking Brilliant or Absolute BS" · Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: Hey everyone, welcome to Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers, where we aim to share real stories about running a successful family business, working through adversity, and pouring back into the community that keeps our door open.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_01: We're your host, Matt, Shelby, and Taylor, and we bring you relevant local business advice and automotive insights that are sure to change the way you look at running a business.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe even throw in a plug for you to do business with us.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Crossroads Conversation, episode 102 with the Lewis brothers.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: You've got Matt and Taylor in the office today.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: Shelby is out getting uh trained up, getting going, so we're gonna dive into one today.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: Freaking brilliant or absolute BS.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love that.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, everybody's met the leader team or business that seems almost too polished.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's a real deal, but sometimes it's a really good coat of paint on the whole thing.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: That and a whole lot more we're gonna dive into.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: But Matt, recapping last week.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can't wait to dive into that subject.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_01: Have we got some great things to talk to you about there?
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_01: But before we do that, let's go back to episode 101.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, in episode 101, we had our buddy Parker Dodson for podcast videos in the studio.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_01: The conversation was amazing.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if you didn't get that episode, go back and check it out.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about how one idea turned into something totally different.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_01: And Parker's journey on how he started with underwater camera work, ended up into photography, but then turned into podcast.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: What I loved about that conversation is hey, you get started on something, and maybe a totally different door opens, and you got to be willing to walk through it to find the opportunity that's out there in the marketplace.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: So go check out that one and all of our other episodes at uh Crossroad Conversations Podcast.com.
• 1:54
  SPEAKER_01: All right, what's in the garage today?
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: As we get into the fall season, we got to talk commercial.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor hit on it a little bit last week, but section 179, section 179 talks about accelerated depreciation.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Now we have the top two heavy-duty trucks there is out there in the marketplace.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_01: So whether you're looking for a Ford Super Duty or you're looking for a RAM, and whether that's a 3,500, a 450, if we get to the 550s, even a 650, I saw you driving around that 650 the other day.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, or a 5,500 cabin chassis, or the transit or the ProMaster vans, you can take up to 100% of the purchase price year one.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_01: So that means if you spend$100,000, you can deduct$100,000 from the taxes you owe.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: You can take advantage of that Section$179 and reduce your liability that you owe in taxes this year and upgrade your fleet at the same time.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: So, Taylor, a lot of times, and again, I'm not an accountant, so see your tax professional for full details, but a lot of times that's like taking another 40% off the vehicle price.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's huge.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that's really big.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's you're looking at the end of the year, your business has had a great year, you you've made the money, and your accountant's sitting there saying, Hey, we've got to spend this money, or you're gonna send a check back to the government.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: So now not only are you able to take that additional 40% off of what savings would be with tax savings put in there, that's right.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: You're you're gaining an asset instead of just paying that back to your tax to the government.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: Not only are you doing that, when your workers or yourself show up at sites or to do house calls or whatever else, you've got a clean, newer looking, more professional fleet out there.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: So come see us for all the details on that and and many more.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, diving into just that good or just fluff?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: It's a CEO, director, team, or business actually that good, or is it just presentation?
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Stat.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: I got a stat for you because I know you love stats.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: I do.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: In 2025, the FTC received 3 million fraud reports from consumers who reported$15.9 billion in losses.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, that that's nuts.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that they were doing that good, but not really.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Not really.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: Because if the report comes in there, and we see that more times than not that that people do too good at painting the perfect picture.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Taylor, and I feel like we're gonna have to do a good job painting the picture, like you just said to the audience.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're pretty callous to this.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: Now, something unique of me, you're like, okay, yeah, I am too, Matt.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no, hang on.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_01: We have a unique perspective that somebody comes in running their mouth about their business and how good they've done and this and that, and then it comes time to buy the vehicle.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, guess what?
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: To buy the vehicle, uh, we kind of get to look behind the curtain because they have to fill out the credit app or they don't have the funds for it.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Now, obviously, we don't call them out for it.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_01: We want to be able to find a solution and help them sell a car, but we get to look at both sides.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_01: You know, whether it's an individual or a business, we hear what they're saying and then we see the facts as well.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And it and it's not something, now if you're listening on the other end, this is not something we have a meeting about and we tell everybody what we found.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: But we've always used it kind of internally too to keep ourselves humble, is go, hey, don't say one thing and be doing something totally different.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's a little bit of a backstory on why we have the credibility to talk about this subject.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: And and we, like I said earlier, are really callous too when somebody says something, and and people give me a hard time sometimes about facial expressions I have.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's because I'm studying what you're saying.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to figure out are are they telling me the truth?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: Or hmm.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_01: That just that kind of seems off.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: And I probably get that from dad.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you'd tell dad something, and he'd just look at you, and you'd be like, oh.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: I already messed up.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: What did I say wrong?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: Hold on, wait, let me let me back up.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't mean that.
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh he's like, hmm.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_01: I'm looking at the report card right here, son.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: Doesn't look like you got to be in that class.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: You had a full scenario that would be lined up like, I've rehearsed this.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I'm going to talk about.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: This is what I'm going to do, and just blown up.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_00: And he wouldn't even say anything to you.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_01: First, he'd just look at you, just like stare deep into the facts of your soul.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And it would just be- Don't you remember that?
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: And it you didn't have to say anything.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: You're already done.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: You're already done.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: So then that was just implemented into us.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: That was in 10.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: I talked to them in the meeting the other day about having to stew about things and not liking it.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: And and really that it's changed the whole outlook of how we manage and go forward now.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_01: I can remember about the age of maybe I was 11 or 12, and I wanted to buy a Honda 90 full wheeler.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd saved up a little bit of money.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_01: I think I'd saved up five or six hundred bucks.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point in time, it was, I don't know if it's twelve hundred or fifteen hundred dollars for this used red Honda 90 full wheeler.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: I found so I went to dad about it, and he said, Okay, put me a plan together on how you'd pay me back.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now remember, I'm 12 at the time.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I can remember kind of like putting it together.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm like, I have no clue what I'm doing.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all are laughing out there, but this is true.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: This is a true statement.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: Next time you see him, ask him.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_01: And so I put down like I could, because I got$10 per horse stall that I clean.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: All right.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: So then I'm calculating in my mind, and I'm writing this down probably in crayon, all right, on a sheet of paper.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I can do 10 horse stalls a day at a hundred.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember then presenting it to him and then him kind of giving me that look.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the look was this isn't accurate.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: So you can't clean 10 stalls a day because I'm going to come inspect them and they got to be all the way down to the dirt.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_01: So then I'd have to redo that.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_01: And get it accurate and truthful on something that could be accomplished.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: And that was at 12.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So that was definitely implemented early on.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how we're never, like Matt pulled out earlier and said, we never have the meeting afterwards.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: We're never going back and we're going to find a solution.
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: But we have a pretty good track record and we have a pretty good feeling.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever we're talking to somebody, we can always kind of look at each other whenever they start saying something like, that's not real.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's not real.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you a um, if you just want some tips on the other end, whether you want to or not, I'm gonna give them to you.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: Is if somebody just won't shut up, and I'm not talking about during the presentation.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_01: No, I'm talking about like if you're talking to somebody and they just talk and talk and talk and talk about how good they are and how good business is and this and that, they're so nervous about their current situation, the only thing they know how to do is talk.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_01: And they don't even know what they're talking about.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: They're just making things up to try to make themselves feel better.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: So if I hear somebody that just keeps talking and they talk and they talk, something I mean, instantly I'm like, that's not real.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: They're verbal vomiting, and that that rolls over into so many different aspects.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's just not real.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you have a real conversation, you'd ask a question, it'd be answered, and you somebody might have more questions about it.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yep, so on and so forth.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh that roll that rolls into, and you can kind of help me define these two.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: What's the difference between confident and polished?
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_00: Ooh, okay, okay.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: So so confident, you must be confident what you're talking about.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_01: But when you're when you're let's first go into confident where I go to polished.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: It when you're when you're confident about it, you're like, here's the game plan we're gonna put in place.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I'm confident this will work.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_01: Here we go.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: There's no hesitation in my voice and this and that.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_01: Polished then has the ability to adjust.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you you start off confident, but some people that are confident will ride it into the ground.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes, or will not stop and adjust.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody that's polished, they're still confident.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: Somebody who's polished has to be confident as well.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: But they also know when to adjust.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: They also know when to say, hey, it's not going as well as we thought it was gonna go.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_01: Here's how we'll adjust.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm very polished in this area, and that comes from seeking out people wiser than you.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_01: That takes from a track record of working through solutions in different areas.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I love the polish aspect, and that's exactly what I was hoping you would hit there.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_00: Think of it and we'll go back to football because we're kicking football off.
• 10:57
  SPEAKER_00: We always love talking about football analogies, but polished is confident, polished are both up.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: Confident you're probably gonna first think is the polish because they're gonna be louder.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna be hoo-hoo, rah-rah.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I'm getting after it.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Polished will still be fired up, but they're honed in.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then where you see the difference is when the first blitz comes.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Whenever the first obstacle comes of business, and the confident guy may bump over it and like, oh, he didn't handle that right.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Polished guy's gonna adapt, adjust, sit back, and then move forward.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the the confident one running their mouth, rocking and rolling, uh, since we're talking football.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Polished really comes out third, fourth quarter.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: So um, I'm not gonna talk about the Razorbacks right here, but uh, who I am gonna talk about is, and I know a lot of people don't like to talk about Texas, but uh, but I want to talk about Arch Manning.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah, is when you look at him in the game the other day, it looked like they had just gotten their teeth kicked in.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_01: And and he's very polished.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: You know, he's got a lot of great mentors and the entire team.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_01: And when it comes fourth quarter, here they come.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_01: Just chipping away.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_01: Chipping away at it.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: They stay consistent, they don't get rattled, they were very polished.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and and then they ended up coming out on top because they stayed in there and they didn't get rattled.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, there's some confident people that that run their mouth and they do this and they do that, and then adversity or something punches them in the face, and that's when it shows its true colors.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_00: And they're gonna shut down.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're gonna shut down.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that rolls right into where does fluff act usually crack?
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_00: Is it pressure, time, money, or the people management side of it?
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna take two of those.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_01: One's pressure, pressure will always crack it.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_01: It will always crack it.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's easy for anybody to be a superstar when things are going well.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: We saw that in our business during COVID.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and honestly, we had a lot of deep programming to do after COVID.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we we had even managers, we had managers, salespeople for sure, that thought they were the best there was out there.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: And we were humble enough to know that like we're we're good.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, but the reason that business is on fire right now, and the numbers are what the numbers are, is because of supply and demand.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: It it we didn't do anything else magic.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_01: Now we put ourselves in this position.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we went out and found inventory, so on and so forth.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: But it was because supply and demand.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_01: We had salespeople that then came off there a year later.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: They didn't know they weren't polished, they didn't know how to rise back up when the pressure came on.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it so then the the other part there is money.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_01: Is money.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: And why I say money, and if you guys haven't listened to a lot of our episodes, one of my favorite topics to talk about is cash flow.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_01: Cash flow deals with money.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Cash flow is what will keep a business afloat.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: You must have cash flow to operate.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_01: I don't care how much you said that you made last month or how much you had in sales, show me the bank account, show me the cash flow.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: That'll show me your survival rate.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_01: So money will start backing people into a corner and really start testing them to see how confident are they?
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_01: Will you crack or will you stay consistent?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Will you be polished when the cash flow gets really skinny?
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's whenever, you know, a lot of people, they either it's not fun anymore during that time, and then they've got into being owning their own business and the hoo-rah-rah fun, all of it stops because it stops.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we have plenty of conversations, us as brothers, that we sit down at the end of the day and there's nothing left.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: Either there's nothing left, either as being a business owner to pay ourselves, to do anything, but then we look and the business is moving in a direction, and we need to be able to adjust a few things, and that's how you become an entrepreneur, just that you are able to dive into certain situations and then step back and polish your policy or procedure that helps you move forward.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: And and we have to make sure, and and the three of us bounce it off each other, and that's a different conversation.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's not a meeting with the entire team.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_01: No, about like, hey, things are moving in the right direction, but it's eating a lot of cash.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's no different than you know, our uh situation where we build all the buildings and we're scaling all the business, and the business is going up, but it's eating cash because it takes capital and it takes cash to be able to develop that additional business, those additional employees, that additional structure.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: And and you can't crack under that.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: And here's what I mean by this, because I'm gonna go back to your original statement about the fraud.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So when people get backed into a corner, especially in cash, that's when fraud happens.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because instead of going, well, we need to look at expenses here, or we didn't budget and forecast correct here, they start with something small.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: And and they don't pay off a customer's vehicle.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Or don't they don't record a cash down payment just to try to help them make payroll or to try to do this or to try to pay for this bill.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then it turns into let's do it twice.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_01: Well, okay, that's really not that bad.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: They get in their head.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's when they start cracking because they needed the money, they felt the pressure.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: And instead of staying true to it, and it'll catch up to them to the point of how many billion did you say?
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: 16.9 billion.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if any of y'all have ever watched the uh the show, the I don't know if it's called American Greed or something like that, some type of cash greed deal.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_01: You you watch that show, and I'll I'll watch it just to understand the other side as well, and you start seeing what money does to people or the position they've put themselves in.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: To make sure, and that's always good to look at, you've gotta stay true.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: You you gotta you've gotta make adjustments, you've got to make adjustments.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: You do.
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_01: Don't fluff it.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: You know?
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta call it what it is, and a lot of times that's not fun and it's not easy.
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's not the easy route to go, but you have to do it.
• 17:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when you start to see the difference in the two.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: The the guy that's fluffing it, he's gonna crack and break and go the other direction.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, he's got a mentor that he can follow up on that'll help him prop him back up and move him in the right direction.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: But then that's why you see so many businesses fail.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing, and this is the business side of me that just nothing irks me more than whenever I see somebody put in, and it's normally a national chain that somebody of a restaurant or anything else puts in, takes the time to put a restaurant in or something else, and you look up, and two months later they're shut down.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: They already pulled the plug because it wasn't working.
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: Like, were you out front?
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Were you running specials?
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: Were you doing this?
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Were you doing that?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: No, these people get into there and don't have a whole lot of buy-in, and then they just crack and they move on.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, it listen, being an entrepreneur and being a business, it's a grind.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: And and I just especially for the people that are looking at the influencers out there, even the influencers on the social channels, that's a grind.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: That you know, they gotta put up hundreds and thousands and hundreds of thousands of videos before they already gotta click on it and a dollar from YouTube or from TikTok or anybody else.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Like to be successful is a grind, and you've got highs and you've got lows.
• 18:27
  SPEAKER_01: You you've gotta stay consistent, you've got to stay hooked up.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I want to hit on another subject here because as we're talking about this, there's the good in business, and then there's the tough and the challenging time, too.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now, our our subject here in this in this subject is just that good, or is it just fluff?
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And there's some fluff in there.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_01: And there and there's good, and then there's times that you've got to adjust.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_01: But here's what I want to make a point of you better make sure that you're giving the right message to the right audience.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_01: And we've had plenty of expense meetings.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_01: The expense meeting is not during our cake day when we have all of our employees there, you know what I mean?
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_01: To to to try to like debby down on about all the expenses.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_01: If if you've got an expense issue or you've got a revenue issue, make sure that you're you're sharing that message, but with the correct department.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: You know, for our salespeople, if we got all 40 salespeople in the room and went over with them for plan expense and um office supplies and utility bills and other things like that that we're currently going through for expenses, they're sitting there going, I have zero control over that.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, why are they dragging me through this?
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing if if if I'm meeting with the entire office and I'm complaining to them about how sales are down or RO counts down, or hours per RO, or gross margin on newer used vehicles.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: They're going, Matt, what I hear what you're saying, but what do you want me to do?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: Why are you talking to me about this?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_01: You need to deliver the correct message to the correct people.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: The other thing there that I was just thinking of in my head of where so many business owners, leaders, managers, whatever they would be, fail is they need they don't have someone in place to be able to release that information to.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: So they're in the office.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: And the office is great.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love the office, and there's service different areas, but you dump that stuff, and guess what happens?
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: It spreads like wildfire, and then you wonder why your team is not working because they're like, oh, Matt was up here, he was talking about that the oil change guys weren't moving fast enough.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: Tammy in the office doesn't need to know about that, and it's gonna stop her from being able to do her job that's gonna spread to everyone else.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: So watch who you speak different things.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_00: Because you know what'll happen.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: We we've all played the game as a kid, is you whisper in the person's ear to your right, and by the time the story gets all the way back, you're gonna be able to do it.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: You're selling the dealership.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: So then all of a sudden it's hey, they're not doing oil changes anymore, and they're firing everybody in the oil change bay, and they're in a bad situation, and they're selling the dealership.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: All you had said is that all you did is you just vented about like hey, you can't even do it.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can't do that.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: You have to have that close together and make sure you're telling someone that is.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm reminded of this constantly.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: There's different levels and pieces you can do, but that certain type of information, it's at your level or above.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's never below of who you're sharing that information with.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: And and we like talking footballers' sports because everybody can relate, and everybody loves to get on the talk shows and talk about how they do things different.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the offense wants to complain about the defense.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Defense.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: The defense wants to complain about the offense.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my son, I I coach his sixth grade football team, and he gets in the truck the other day, and he was like, if I just could get the line to block better, I'd be able to run the ball better.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, Henry, what do you have control over?
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, because I've we've rehearsed this a lot.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_01: He goes, Myself.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: I said, Okay, if you have control of yourself, let's look and see where you failed.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_01: When you were on defense and you were talking with the rest of your linebackers, how many tackles did you guys miss?
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, Yeah.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_01: I was like, shouldn't we use that energy on how we can get better on the areas you can control?
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's so important out there.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_01: Is like, don't be complaining.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Same thing, I'm not bringing something to a department that they don't have control over.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_00: That's really big.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: That's good.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, quick little fun fact for you.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: When the Model T launched in 1908, okay, talking about costs there, it cost$850.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: What was the price by 1925?
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: So in 1908 it launched at$850.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: By 1925, was it A600, B450, C260, or D1100?
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_01: Wow.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I can tell you right now it cost more than$850 to ship the vehicle, much less the actual cost of it.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna take a shot in the dark here.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_01: Because I think sometime between 1908 and 1925 is when Henry Ford really worked on his manufacturing to drive costs down.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I think it went down to 600.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, you are correct.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_00: And where I'm tying this back into, I didn't want to hit you with a crazy I the answer wasn't even there.
• 23:46
  SPEAKER_00: I really did get that right.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_00: Of going through there.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_00: So of going, uh, I'm so sorry.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I was looking at 600, thinking of that.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: So you said 600.
• 23:55
  SPEAKER_00: It actually went down to$260.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Whoa.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I was C and C and thought that was A, because in my mind, and that's exactly what this rolls into.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: Ford's assembly line increased production volume.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Prices fell dramatically from$850 to$260 by 1925.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Where this is going into, it sounded too good to be true.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: It was just that good because of the production increased volume on the assembly line of how Henry Ford put that in there.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it went from initially of$850 down to$260 by 1925.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_01: That is amazing.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_01: And what they don't even talk about in there, I can remember seeing some flyers about how his wages he paid more, and people were trying to go to Detroit because of the wage he was paying his assembly line.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 24:47
  SPEAKER_01: So that's uh that's pretty cool.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: That is.
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_01: All right, let's dive into the next part here.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_01: Do we give that vibe?
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_01: And we're not just talking about just us, but businesses overall.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_01: So let's flip the mirror around.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: And tell her you've heard us talk about this before, but look at yourself in the mirror.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_01: Do people look at us, our stores, or our family business and think too good to be true?
• 25:14
  SPEAKER_00: I I run into that a lot, and uh some of the people with our growing Northwest Arkansas, that's well over half a million people now.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_00: You run into people all the day, and we we just live by our family and going through and that tradition and being all involved and everything else.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so it's tattooed on our hearts of how we do business, how we move forward, how we conduct ourselves.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I still run across the ones that are like, yeah, I mean, it's nice to meet you, but are y'all ever really around?
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, does this really happen?
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we definitely still get that.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: It seems like more and more, but there's plenty of people that know.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_01: There are, there are, and and part of that is part of that you have to accept.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: If you're gonna be in business and you're gonna put your name on the business and you're gonna be visible like we are, and and that's to advantage of us, and we we did a whole episode on that because it it puts some trust and some local feel with a business instead of just like, well, who even owns the business?
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, uh, that that puts more of a spotlight on you as well.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: And there are people that think that when we sell an eighty thousand dollar car, we make eighty thousand dollars on it, you know.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: And and they think when we do this, or you know, they paid for a five thousand dollar repair bill that we didn't have to pay anybody for the parts, and the technicians work for free.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, and so they think we made five thousand dollars on that service repair.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that part you deal with when you have people that don't really know what they're talking about, but make comments like they know what they're talking about, some of that's tough, you know, for them to actually see and actually see what's going on.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: But I do think too, that there are businesses out there that make the perception that business is better than it is.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_01: And unfortunately, that happens with material items.
• 27:27
  SPEAKER_01: So we see that.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm gonna flip it just a little bit here.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_01: Is yes, there is our business, and we just talked about that, but you you guys have also heard us too talk about we don't drive the specialty vehicles.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor and I are both in used vehicles right now.
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, we we we grew up being very humble, humble, and thankful for what we do.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but at the same time, we're we're not buying airplanes and you know, we're not buying vacation homes and this and that.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: We're dumping it back into the business and back into the community.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_01: So we really, we really try hard on practicing what we preach.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_01: And and when we say that we're locally owned and operated, and when you do business with us, not only do you have somebody that after the sale is here for you too, we're gonna reinvest the money into the community.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_01: Community.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: And to the point sometimes where we've gone, hey, are we doing too much here?
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and I know that's kind of like cliche to say, but we we pour a lot back in there.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_01: We do.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: But then on the other side, we you and I have talked about this before.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: There's some other businesses out there that are running, gunning, and acting like it's better than it really is.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll go back to the first part of the podcast.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_01: You remember that we see the other side of it.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: And and what I love about we were at an event the other night.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um and we're intentional about how we go in and we pour into the community.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: Intentional the fact because we want it to make a big impact, whether whether the the shirts are used or the equipment's used or that it's fully used, but it shows up every single time we sponsor an event.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: We were there the other night and we weren't the presenting sponsor, but we want to make sure that we put the most into the event.
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: But the presenting sponsor was on a big banner, but they didn't even really announce them.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: But yet then our tent and vehicles were right by the entrance.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: And I heard from more people whenever I was there of like, hey, those are good looking vehicles.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: They said, Why are you always involved or there?
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: I said, Because we want to be intentional whenever we are not just it goes back to previous episodes.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: We will never be the one that just writes the check and says, see you.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 29:42
  SPEAKER_00: We're always there to work it because we want someone to know who we are, that it's real deal, it's not fluff, we don't just have that vibe.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're actually here helping the community.
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and then that goes into this next statement here.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: It says, Is it okay to give that vibe?
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, when does polish help and and when does it cost trust?
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_01: And more and more of that's getting exposed in social.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And people are starting to get a look behind the scenes of when you see influencers that are on a private jet or in a Ferrari or this high, you know, in this Bugatti, and somebody posts another video and shows, did you know this person?
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_01: One, not only doesn't own this jet, they never even took off in it.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 30:29
  SPEAKER_01: They rented a couple hours on the runway to film in it.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_01: Take pictures.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that car is not theirs.
• 30:35
  SPEAKER_01: They did it all to put a perception out there about that they were more successful and they were somebody that they really aren't.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_01: And that got a lot of clicks and it got a lot of eyeballs, but at some point in time that catches up with you.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_01: At some point in time, you got to face the music.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, your check's not going to cash.
• 30:57
  SPEAKER_00: At some point, you're not going to be able to go left or right or anything else of, oh no, let me try this.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, let's do this, let's do this picture.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_00: Your your check at some point is going to be called upon to cash.
• 31:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that's when the successful polished ones are like, absolutely, let's keep moving.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_00: Let's keep moving.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: They don't even, they're not even like, I see my my check cashed.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_00: They don't even make a big deal about it.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: They just keep doing business.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_00: They keep moving forward.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_00: They're the athletes that keep moving forward.
• 31:26
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_00: They they never, your Tom Brady's, your Patrick Mahomes that's coming up through your Peyton Mannings, all of them.
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_00: They never were, they were wound up at the end of the game that they came back, but they always go back to like, hey, yeah, the team did great.
• 31:38
  SPEAKER_00: We we were together, we put something together, we're moving forward.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: You've probably seen the video.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: Uh this question reminded me of this.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen a couple videos where they're flying the plane.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, they're flying the plane, and they get up in the air, and it's uh it's a plane that requires two pilots.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: So that so the owner's a pilot, but they have to have another pilot with them.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, and that pilot will rotate if they don't have a you know a dedicated pilot.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_01: And they get up in the air and they're cruising, and all of a sudden the other pilot informs them that they're repoing their plane.
• 32:14
  SPEAKER_01: And while they're in air, they repo their plane and take it to a repo landing strip because they've not paid their bill or their current payment on it.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_01: That'll happen fast.
• 32:27
  SPEAKER_00: That's when you've got yourself in a bad situation.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: That'll happen fast.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: And more times than not, it it happens so fast because people are blinded by and bless their heart, but they're blinded by I've got to do this on social media, or I've got to impress this person, or I've got to do this in business, or I've gotten to a point that I have to over there's plenty of sponsorships as big as we are in 80 years in business that we say no to.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: That Matt brings in, that Shelby brings in, that I'll bring in.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, and I think it's great.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, hey, we need to go ahead and do this.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: And they're like, Are you crazy?
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: And they say that to me, so then I can go back to them and be like, hey guys, this just this doesn't work.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: And it's okay to say no.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: Be humble enough to say, hey, this just doesn't fit in my scope, my plan, our budget.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's right.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter what level it is, if it's huge or it's small, because it can be the tiny$200,$100 backpack fundraiser.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: And it's if you say yes to that, and maybe this another one, this other, if it's not in your scope, stay with where you need to be.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's so important that you just, if you're in it for the long term, for your sanity and your peace of mind, and to know what you said the last time so you can say the right thing, just stay in your lane and don't get out of it.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: You know, the one thing I love is like at no point in time do I ever have to wonder what we said we were gonna do last time because we're not living in a pie in the sky thing that we said.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_01: And if Taylor says something and then somebody else asks me about it, I'm confident that I can answer it.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_01: And it might be different words, but we're both on the same page.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: And we both said that.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_01: And he didn't say we're selling 10,000 cars and we're actually selling 4,000.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I I know that we're both on the same page, and we don't have to worry about the last fluff we talked about because it wasn't fluff, it was real.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: And everybody out there knows somebody that they can't remember the last lie they said, and they get themselves into a trick bag.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just telling you, it reduces your stress.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_01: It's the way to live.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_01: Like, just be honest and upfront where you're at.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 34:51
  SPEAKER_01: Where you're at.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_01: And those people get in trouble because of cash flow.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_01: Another plug, go back and listen to the cash flow.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Cash flow is so important.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_01: That is the route.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what they think is they're like, hey, business is up.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_01: We're doing great.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_01: Look how many houses we sold last month.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_01: Look at this, look at this contract we got.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_01: And then they go buy the plane, they go buy the vacation home.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden the cash isn't coming in and kaboom.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love this.
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: And you go, you can go back into Warren Buffett's, you can go into, I've heard uh Dame Martell go through of multiple different things.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_00: The the best business owners that run, they don't trim and scale whenever times get tough.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_00: They trim and scale and fine-tune processes whenever business is up because that's whenever it gets loose.
• 35:39
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, if y'all miss what Taylor said right there, this isn't even what this episode's about, but this is too good.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_01: That sounds totally opposite, Dudden.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_01: Taylor said the best of the best out there, they don't trim expenses when times are tough.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_01: They trim it when times are good.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you said, Well, why would they do that?
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: They do it to have reserves.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_01: So then when times are tough, they can hit the accelerator pedal and invest more to get them back out of that slump.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_01: Instead of the opposite, people wait to start trimming when business is coming down, and it actually moves them farther down instead of pulling them back out of the low.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_00: That takes discipline, though.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's true for sure.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_00: That is hard.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: That is hard.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, here's and we we've kind of hit on this too, but any any other comments you have.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_01: Does the story match what employees say?
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_00: I would say here, yes.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_00: More and the our key employees that really have bought into culture, have been a part of our culture and really know us and have been in meetings with us, yes.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can hear it from them that it goes through.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_00: So it's good that as far as upper level management, and I think it pours down into their people they're managing.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: There's that.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna tell you this story because this just happened to me this past week.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Once our employees get to know us, yes.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, it it that takes a little bit of time.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I had an employee that I was addressing over the past couple weeks that was questioning why a another executive level employee of ours was coming in at nine or nine thirty.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: And I said, what you don't see is 40 years prior, 40 years, 40 years prior to today, they were here 45 minutes early every single day to get everything ready.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: They've now trained to put the systems in place and they've put in 40 years of work.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_01: They've earned the right to come in at 9 30.
• 37:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_01: But that employee had only been here a couple years.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: So they hadn't seen all the rest of it.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_01: So sometimes that that's forgotten a little bit.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 38:02
  SPEAKER_00: We've in in our mind that we continue to think of, oh, they should know that, oh, they see that, they do this.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_00: They don't, they don't see it.
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_01: They don't, and you just keep doing what's right and know that, hey, everything will be taken care of.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, I I I think back too, like just for myself, I can remember in my 20s and then even into my early 30s, tons of time, not taking a single day off, tons of time when the employees that were older than me that had kids for sporting events always covering for them.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_01: Because I knew in the back of my mind, at some point in time I'm gonna have kids and they're gonna have a sporting event.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: My wife's gonna have an event.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: I want to be there to support them.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put in the time now.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: Now, in my mind, I thought everybody would see that and they would never question it.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_01: Well, a lot of those employees aren't still here, they retired, or this or that.
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_01: But in my mind, I know that and I continue to do the right thing.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: Correct.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so so again.
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_01: All right, this one says, Step careful.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_01: How do you question someone who seems too good without insulting them?
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we were talking about this the other day.
• 39:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was listening to two employees going through, and we we talk about this a lot, so you should think it's important.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: We always say you've got two ears and one mouth, you need to listen, you need to listen, you need to listen.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: We talk about listening all the time.
• 39:29
  SPEAKER_00: But a lot of times I can sit and listen to an employee, and no different than you talked about all the way back to this is stemming from uh what dad would do of just studying somebody that is a workhorse bull that will run over somebody, they run out of, they run out of gas.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_00: So whenever you're staring at the person and not saying anything, they're normally like, what's going on?
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, I heard what you were saying there.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe we need to look at it this way.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: Without even raising your voice, because I don't know, I know Matt, but anybody else that's listened to this, if you ever try to fight it while they're running, it's like an angry customer, no different than a good employee.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: They're gonna keep going to get louder and louder and louder.
• 40:20
  SPEAKER_00: You're never gonna hit get through to them.
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_01: You never can add fuel to the fire.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_01: And if you study people on good conflict resolution, they work on how quiet can I talk?
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_01: How low can I keep the cadence?
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_01: And they'll get almost where they're at a whisper because they're trying to calm the situation.
• 40:39
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I'll tell you this.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_01: I want to give you a little bit of insight here, because this question just said, you know, how do you question someone when it seems too good without insulting them?
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: I would first ask, do you need to question them?
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_01: If it's somebody outside your business, there's plenty of people that I've interacted with that I know that they're blowing smoke at me.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_01: Do I need to question them?
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if they've asked me to mentor them and to help them improve, then yes, I will question them.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_01: But if I know that it's just gonna blow up and there's gonna be negative thoughts and it's not a good investment of my time, why do I need to question them?
• 41:21
  SPEAKER_01: But let's say it's somebody internally, or it's somebody that I know is willing to listen, then I will continue.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_01: This is crazy, it keeps going back to this.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_01: I will continue to ask questions.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_01: I'll set them up.
• 41:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'll set them up.
• 41:40
  SPEAKER_01: Because people always have to convince themselves.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_01: They don't ever like being called out.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_01: You know, you'd like to be direct and just call somebody out, but but you have to ask them questions.
• 41:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'll keep asking questions.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_01: Well, tell me more about that.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_01: How did you do that?
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_01: What expense did that come at?
• 41:56
  SPEAKER_01: How did you raise the bar?
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_01: What does that look like cash flow-wise?
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_01: Who else did you have to employ to do that?
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_01: And of that extra 10 grand you had there, how much of that hit the bank account?
• 42:09
  SPEAKER_01: If you could do that 10 more times, could you do it?
• 42:11
  SPEAKER_01: You know, like I'll just keep asking the questions, and then all of a sudden they they run out of steam.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_01: They do.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_01: And they're hung.
• 42:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, because then you can just recap.
• 42:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, let's go back over these.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_00: Let's go over this stuff here.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_01: Well, is is this a good business decision to do 10 more times?
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well, no.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_01: Well, after you break it down like that, it really just doesn't make that much sense.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_01: But I'm only gonna do that when I have somebody that's opened up.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_01: And now you can get a false read here.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_01: So somebody can say, Hey, will you help me with this?
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_01: Tell me what's going on.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: They start talking.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I try to ask a question and they keep talking.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: And then 10 minutes later, they're still talking.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, I'm being patient.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_01: I ask another question and then they just and they just keep going.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_01: They really don't want help.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_01: They just wanted to vent and tell somebody about how they were so right and everybody else was wrong.
• 43:07
  SPEAKER_01: At that point in time, if they're not an employee of mine and they don't want that help, I let it go.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: I let it go.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 43:15
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so there you go.
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_01: What do you think one thing is we do on purpose to show people what's behind the curtain?
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I don't know.
• 43:26
  SPEAKER_00: They're a specific thing.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_00: There's there's multiple things.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: And it just it just falls into of where I'm going back through now.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_00: Of, you know, I told you we were working on processes and policies and everything from every different standpoint of the business on the sales side, on the on the variable side of business, showing them that, hey, we're really gonna do all these things, but it's no different than checking a door, checking a bathroom, picking up trash out on the Out on the parking lot driving older vehicles and not driving a Raptor or a new sports car.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's and all of that follows the same suit.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_00: It follows the same suit of that's just our demeanor.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: We work hard, we want to take care of our employees, and and we want the best for our customers.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna take it a different angle here.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't I'm not gonna say I don't think, I know.
• 44:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't been the best about this.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: About showing people behind the curtain.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: We're very real, we lead by example, I think better than anybody, to your point.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we try to nonverbally show them behind the curtain.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_01: Here's how we live, here's how we do it, you know, um, here's how we stay in our lane.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: I think this podcast has really helped us open up to show people behind the curtain.
• 44:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 44:55
  SPEAKER_01: Because then the people that want to really listen and know, hey, what really goes on with cash flow, what really goes on are the tough decisions you have to make.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: They can listen.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_01: And and they can see.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we've tried to be more transparent with everybody about expenses and about what's going on.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, but there is still more growth that we could do there.
• 45:17
  SPEAKER_01: I struggle with do they care and is there going to be that much positive outcome?
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 45:25
  SPEAKER_01: You know, that's the filter that keeps going through in my mind.
• 45:28
  SPEAKER_01: I I've I I've had some people in the office push me to go, well, you just need to show them that.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_01: You need to show them the other people's pay, and you need to show them this and that.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, is there a positive outcome there?
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I I would say on that one, there's still some area of growth that we could have, but definitely leading by example what you said in nonverbal, I think we do really well.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and I love that because here it is, and you just heard that, of just like us being raw and real, of going through it, of in my mind, of what's always been shown to me, and that's of different levels that Matt's at a different level that I am, that he can be able to call it out and say, hey, no, yes, you are doing good at that, but this is where we continue need to get better at of opening up and showing this and moving forward.
• 46:18
  SPEAKER_00: So you're right, the podcast has helped us a lot there, um, of being able to just show a little bit more of, and that's what people want to see, you know.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_00: In our our mind, we think, hey, they'll follow by example, and some will, some will, but majority won't.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: So that's that's really good.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_01: All right, I'll give you an option on these two, and then I'll take the other one.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_01: So frequently asked questions.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: Here's your options here.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: What's the most too good to be true thing that turned out to be real in your life?
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 46:50
  SPEAKER_01: Or take what's one thing you've learned to trust more slowly?
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll take the trust more slowly.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really have a too good thing to be true.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: And if you want to go over trust more slowly, you can too.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because I Well, you start there.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're very slow to dive into anything that looks like it's too good and stew it.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: You've heard all of that.
• 47:14
  SPEAKER_00: But trusting more slowly, probably in management, really buying into 110% of what they're telling me.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_00: And it's inspecting the whole sales process.
• 47:28
  SPEAKER_00: I have managers that'll tell me real quick that the deals are completed and they're sold of going through, but I've learned more and more that I don't need to call them out at that particular time, but I need to go and inspect it myself and really look into and maybe ask a couple of questions about hey, you had said you were doing this, so I can really talk to people and I get along good with people of going through.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_00: So my insight has really been, hey, I have to hold myself back a little bit and be a higher level manager to be able to, hey, I'm listening to what you're saying.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not calling your BS out, but I'm gonna inspect it.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that's where I've really seen myself of growing of, okay, I'm gonna listen to it, but I'm gonna go inspect it.
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not just gonna say, okay, Matt, thanks for taking care of it and move on.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's that's really good.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm sitting here thinking about all those questions as you're answering and listening to you at the same time.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: And one of the things Taylor hit on is we sometimes too slow to react, but we have never been the person to jump on something real fast because it seems like it's just amazing.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_01: And we've always played that slow, even if we were second to the game.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I know there's a lot of theories out there about you gotta be the fastest, da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da.
• 48:53
  SPEAKER_01: That comes at a lot of risk too.
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I'm gonna take the same question Taylor took.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_01: What's one thing you've learned to trust more slowly that I've trusted initially too much and now I'm slower about?
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's what our manufacturers tell us.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we've got a great relationship with our manufacturers.
• 49:14
  SPEAKER_01: I, you know, I wouldn't trade that for anything, but they're in business to run their business, and we're in business to run our business.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: Now there's a crossroads there.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: But for example, like in inventory, and I drank the Kool-Aid again this past year, and I got ourselves in a situation where we had about a hundred extra new vehicles in stock than we needed.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_01: No, because I listened to them and about their promos and what they thought they had going on in the market and this and that.
• 49:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I've, guys, I've been in the business for 25 years now, and and I drank the Kool-Aid and I trusted that in our relationship.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I should have put it back into my calculations of what I know on our history.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_01: We ended up with a hundred extra vehicles, new vehicles, at an average cost of sixty thousand dollars a piece.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that's an extra six million in inventory at a seven to eight percent floor plan interest rate, and it was costing us lots.
• 50:16
  SPEAKER_01: I'll just tell you, it was cost us an additional fifty to seventy-five thousand dollars a month.
• 50:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 50:22
  SPEAKER_00: Just because you bought on of what, and and Matt's pretty seasoned of going through there, so of buying on to what a manufacturer had said.
• 50:33
  SPEAKER_01: And I like sales, and and I like to get excited.
• 50:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I was, you know, I was all in like, heck yeah, let's sell these.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm even more callous now.
• 50:43
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying no, because we they weren't bad vehicles.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: We just our quantity was too high.
• 50:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it's everything really in business gets down to supply and demand.
• 50:52
  SPEAKER_01: Now you gotta do the right things and the right offers and support it, but we had too big a supply with not enough demand.
• 50:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 50:59
  SPEAKER_01: So again, I was reminded that, and I was I was teaching one of our other managers this that, like, hey, you got to realize, like, trust but verify there are partners here, yes, but it's not the end all be all.
• 51:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 51:12
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's really good there.
• 51:13
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, great episode today, diving into brilliancy or absolute BS, weeding through the fluff, 102 episodes, and make sure you check out all of our specials we've got going on here, end of the year savings, section one seventy nine, LewisSupersore.com, and the 102 episodes, over 102 hours of relevant information rolling through there at Crossroads Conversation Podcast.com.
• 51:39
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, thanks for joining us today, and we hope you enjoyed this episode.
• 51:42
  SPEAKER_01: Make sure to give it a like, share it with your friends and family, visit our website, and send us some questions.
• 51:47
  SPEAKER_01: We want to know what you'd like to hear, who you'd like to hear from, and what you want to see, or maybe even some questions for us to answer about either the automotive industry or just business in general.