Latest / CBT Live / Is Mindset Holding Your Store Back? Winning Today's Car Buyers (10.12.26)

Transcript

Is Mindset Holding Your Store Back? Winning Today's Car Buyers (10.12.26) · CBT Live

0:00
SPEAKER_00: When the business gets tough, how do you keep your mindset from getting in the way?
0:04
SPEAKER_03: And what does it take to turn your today's customers or as to say stop shoppers into customers?
0:09
SPEAKER_03: I can't talk on this Monday morning.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Coming up right here on CBT Live.
0:16
SPEAKER_03: Didn't quite hit it.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: Hello everyone and welcome to CBT Live.
0:26
SPEAKER_00: Today is Monday, October 12th.
0:28
SPEAKER_00: I'm Bridget Fitzpatrick.
0:29
SPEAKER_03: I'm joined by And I'm Jim Fitzpatrick.
0:31
SPEAKER_03: I got that line right.
0:33
SPEAKER_03: I missed the uh cold opener there.
0:35
SPEAKER_00: Look, it's Monday morning that we're all feeling a little bit.
0:38
SPEAKER_03: I'm still amazed with that call that they made with Alabama, or should say no call in the Alabama Georgia game.
0:44
SPEAKER_03: It was like it took the entire world, we all saw it.
0:47
SPEAKER_03: Even the guy said he goes, Oh, I guess the flag's coming.
0:49
SPEAKER_03: Well, there's no flag.
0:50
SPEAKER_03: No, no flag.
0:51
SPEAKER_03: That was unfortunate.
0:52
SPEAKER_03: Listen, we're in Georgia and we've got kids that went to Georgia, so I guess we're okay with it.
0:57
SPEAKER_03: I guess we're going to be able to do that.
0:57
SPEAKER_03: But I mean But that was un that was unfortunate for uh for Alabama.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: Unfortunate for UGA.
1:03
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
1:03
SPEAKER_03: And we've had you know, we've interviewed uh coach Nick Sabin, great guy.
1:07
SPEAKER_03: He's been on CBT News, and uh we had him speak at one of our conferences, and uh so but uh but that was that was tough to watch.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: I know it was interesting for sure.
1:17
SPEAKER_03: It was no question, no question.
1:20
SPEAKER_00: But onward and upward.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's or as Nick Sabin would say, so what now what?
1:24
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
1:25
SPEAKER_00: All right, that's what he says.
1:27
SPEAKER_00: All right, so we've got a great show coming up for you today.
1:30
SPEAKER_00: Um, we are gonna be joined by Marsh Beiss from Mark Dodge Chrysler Jeep.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: He's the host of the podcast, What's Your Problem?
1:39
SPEAKER_00: So we're gonna be talking to him about mindset and what it takes to lead through challenging times and um what keeps you moving throughout these times, right?
1:47
SPEAKER_00: And then we're gonna talk to Matt Easton, founder of Easton University, on connecting with today's car buyers and what it takes to earn their business.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: So great show coming up.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:55
SPEAKER_03: And by the way, the two the two individuals that we have on kind of look a little bit alike.
1:59
SPEAKER_03: Did you see that?
2:01
SPEAKER_00: I guess they you could say they're of the same font.
2:04
SPEAKER_03: They're both very, very handsome men, I might add, too.
2:07
SPEAKER_03: But uh but Yes, yeah.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: All right.
2:10
SPEAKER_03: Um for yeah, so for dealers that have been affected by we should talk a little bit about the hurricane, right?
2:16
SPEAKER_03: You know, for dealers that have been affected uh with this incredible hurricane.
2:19
SPEAKER_00: So we would like to begin today with the aftermath of the hurricane that hit the southeast late last week.
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Communities across the region are now dealing with flooding, storm damage, power outages, and the difficult process of cleaning up and rebuilding.
2:34
SPEAKER_00: And while the storm itself has passed, the recovery is just beginning for many families and businesses.
2:39
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
2:39
SPEAKER_03: For dealerships in the affected areas, there are several challenges.
2:42
SPEAKER_03: Some may be dealing with damage uh to their facilities or vehicle inventory, others may have employees who are unable to get to work or customers who are focused on getting their homes and lives back in order.
2:54
SPEAKER_03: As we, you know, we've seen uh following other major storms, dealerships often play really an integral part in helping the communities recover and get back on the back on track, back on the road, literally.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: That can mean everything from providing transportation to helping customers replace damaged vehicles.
3:11
SPEAKER_00: Our thoughts are with everyone affected by the storm, especially those families who have lost loved ones.
3:16
SPEAKER_00: We'll continue following their recovery and what it takes and what it means for dealerships throughout the Southeast.
3:22
SPEAKER_03: Yep, for sure.
3:23
SPEAKER_03: Unless uh our hearts and minds and prayers go out to them.
3:26
SPEAKER_03: So uh coming up is March Bice uh with uh Mark Dodge Chrysler Jeep, and he's the host of What's Your Problem podcast.
3:34
SPEAKER_03: I love that name.
3:35
SPEAKER_03: Joins us to talk about uh mindset and uh what it takes to lead through challenging and tough uh times moving forward.
3:42
SPEAKER_03: So uh Plat plus also Matt Easton is coming up as well from uh Eastern University to talk to us about uh what some of the things are people are going through to buy when they buy a car.
3:53
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
3:54
SPEAKER_03: He just bought a car with his son, so he says I'd love to get on the show and talk about that.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
3:57
SPEAKER_00: No, it'd be it's gonna be a good conversation.
3:59
SPEAKER_00: Two good conversations.
4:00
SPEAKER_00: We don't have a whole lot of news this morning.
4:02
SPEAKER_00: I did want to mention though that Volkswagen um dropped their global deliveries.
4:07
SPEAKER_03: Um they dropped them, they dropped them.
4:10
SPEAKER_03: They said that's it.
4:10
SPEAKER_03: I don't want to want our struggles.
4:12
SPEAKER_03: They fall by 14.3 percent.
4:14
SPEAKER_03: Is that what you want to do?
4:18
SPEAKER_00: This was announced.
4:19
SPEAKER_00: So the group delivered about 1.89 million vehicles in the third quarter, down 14.3 percent from a year ago.
4:25
SPEAKER_00: And that's its biggest quarterly decline in more than four years.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: So China was a big factor in that deliveries there fell 38.5 percent, but North America also saw a decline with deliveries down five point eight percent.
4:38
SPEAKER_00: So and there's more on this.
4:40
SPEAKER_03: Did you see where it was in China?
4:41
SPEAKER_03: China was down thirty-eight point five percent.
4:43
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
4:43
SPEAKER_03: We know that the that's it's still down thirty percent.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: I thought stay with me.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Stay with me, Jim.
4:52
SPEAKER_03: No more bloody Marys in the conference room while we're getting ready for the shape.
4:57
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we should have a Bloody Mary in the conference room.
5:00
SPEAKER_03: You look very nice at In Pink, by the way.
5:02
SPEAKER_03: It's this uh it is.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: So it's it's you know, for a good cause.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: October is breast cancer awareness month, and it um affects one in eight women are affected with invasive breast cancer in their lifetime, and that's a lot.
5:17
SPEAKER_00: Um so the campaign is nice, it's been running since 1985.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: Since its beginning, it um deaths in the US for bre from breast cancer have dropped 44%.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: So it's making an impact.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: So for those of you watching, um, men and women, we all have women in our lives that we love.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: So make sure that they're taking care of themselves, talking to their doctor about what they need to do.
5:37
SPEAKER_00: It affects it has affected me personally.
5:40
SPEAKER_00: My sister um went through it last year and as a survivor, my grandmother had it.
5:44
SPEAKER_00: I am high risk.
5:45
SPEAKER_00: So um can't say much about how important it is to make sure that we're all on top of this.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Um, once if it's caught early, like it was with my sister, it she is cancer free now, and it's saving lives.
5:57
SPEAKER_00: So um, be sure to do that.
5:58
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
5:59
SPEAKER_03: That's fantastic.
6:01
SPEAKER_00: So let's let's talk to Marsh.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: How about that?
6:04
SPEAKER_03: Let's bring Marsh in.
6:04
SPEAKER_00: I think we should talk to him.
6:05
SPEAKER_03: What you by the way, what's your problem, Bridget?
6:08
SPEAKER_03: What is your problem?
6:09
SPEAKER_00: Right now, my problem is I actually don't have a problem right now.
6:12
SPEAKER_00: I'm there's zero problem.
6:13
SPEAKER_00: I have no complaint.
6:14
SPEAKER_03: Well, there's a podcast.
6:15
SPEAKER_00: If you do have a problem, let's your problem podcast with Marsh Beis.
6:20
SPEAKER_03: So look at that face that he's made.
6:21
SPEAKER_03: I know.
6:22
SPEAKER_03: He means business.
6:22
SPEAKER_03: I don't know if the guy has got the answer.
6:25
SPEAKER_03: If you have a problem, there's the minute you want on your side right there.
6:29
SPEAKER_03: I know.
6:30
SPEAKER_00: So running a dealership takes more than just knowing the business, that also takes the right mindset to handle the challenges that come with it.
6:37
SPEAKER_00: Joining us is Marsh Beiss from Mark Dodge Chrysler Jeep and the host of What's Your Problem podcast to talk about that side of leadership.
6:45
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for joining us, Marsh.
6:46
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate it.
6:47
SPEAKER_03: Hello, Jim and Bridget.
6:49
SPEAKER_03: Thank you uh for having me.
6:50
SPEAKER_03: I appreciate it.
6:51
SPEAKER_03: Sure.
6:51
SPEAKER_03: Thanks so much for joining us on the show.
6:53
SPEAKER_03: Before we jump into it here, how's business at Mark Dodge Chrysler Jeep?
6:58
SPEAKER_02: We are very fortunate.
7:00
SPEAKER_02: You know, these are tough times that we're we're experiencing, all of us in the car business.
7:04
SPEAKER_02: But I always say, you know, if there wasn't a crisis in the car business, then we wouldn't know what to do.
7:09
SPEAKER_02: You know, so I mean, uh, we would be very bored.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: So there's always something uh that comes up, but that's where the opportunity is uh as well.
7:19
SPEAKER_02: So we have a unique story that, you know, we uh back in December of 2019, we really uh declared ourselves a digital uh uh dealership.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: And not knowing that COVID was gonna was gonna hit, uh, but we started doing uh all of our transactions, a majority of our transactions online.
7:42
SPEAKER_02: And then when COVID hit, we were already four months into it.
7:46
SPEAKER_02: And so where other dealers were scrambling trying to figure out how to do this digitally, we were already doing it.
7:53
SPEAKER_02: So saying all that to say, about 70 to 75 percent of our business is done online, where people, uh very few people actually, we have very little foot traffic and we do it, we do it all on what you and I are doing right now.
8:07
SPEAKER_03: No kidding.
8:08
SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's fantastic.
8:09
SPEAKER_03: That that's a huge percentage for online transactions.
8:12
SPEAKER_03: Are as a result of that, uh, Marsh, are you selling cars way outside your PMA?
8:19
SPEAKER_02: We uh we have titled in uh in all 50 states uh for the last three years uh running.
8:26
SPEAKER_02: So just to give you an example, Jim, we we sold 300 in Florida last year.
8:31
SPEAKER_02: We so we titled 18 uh in Alaska, and then we sell a bunch of them in Hawaii, believe it or not.
8:37
SPEAKER_02: So Hawaii.
8:38
SPEAKER_02: And this is out of Lake Charles, Louisiana.
8:40
SPEAKER_02: We're the largest ram dealer, largest Stellantis dealer in the country, and Lake Charles is about 80,000 people.
8:47
SPEAKER_02: It's not very big at all.
8:48
SPEAKER_02: I know, I know.
8:49
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and so it's like the you know, it's the sheriff, the postman, and also the priest.
8:54
SPEAKER_02: He's all one person, and so it's it's not very big at all.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: So although it is home to Grant Cardone, I believe.
9:01
SPEAKER_03: Yes, right?
9:02
SPEAKER_03: Yes, it is.
9:03
SPEAKER_03: That's right, that's right.
9:04
SPEAKER_03: He mentions that a number of times in his presentations.
9:07
SPEAKER_03: And uh, for those of you that don't know, Grant's doing very well on his jet, his Rolls Royce's and he's doing great and and comes from the car business.
9:15
SPEAKER_03: So let me ask you this while I've got you and I've asked this of many other Stillantis dealers, how are you feeling about the Stillantis and its turnaround?
9:26
SPEAKER_03: I mean, it obviously we're not there yet, or the Stillantis isn't there yet, but how are you feeling about the leadership and the direction that it's headed?
9:34
SPEAKER_02: We're very optimistic, Jim.
9:36
SPEAKER_02: Um we they're internally they're doing some good things.
9:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, and we're starting to see blips of that, uh, which is really good.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: They're they're curious, they're asking us questions, they're asking, you know, dealer, the dealer body how to improve.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: Um, and uh we're we're we're really positive about uh the the future.
9:58
SPEAKER_02: They've got a lot of great models that are coming out, um, and they're gonna continue to work on on quality as well.
10:04
SPEAKER_02: So it's just we're we're optimistic.
10:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
10:07
SPEAKER_03: And and that's that's pretty much what we hear from around the country from other Stellanus dealers that they like the direction that it's headed.
10:14
SPEAKER_03: That's not the case, you know, from two years ago.
10:16
SPEAKER_03: There were a number of stores that I would talk to and they'd say, Oh, we're trying to sell our Stellanus store.
10:21
SPEAKER_03: And and that was actually one of the most uh transacted brands out there in the last couple of years has been Stallanus stores.
10:28
SPEAKER_03: However, I've spoken to a number of Stellanus, or I should say, dealer groups that sold their store and said, you know, looking at things now, I wish we could buy the store back what we sold it for, because we're feeling pretty good about the direction that Stallanis is headed.
10:41
SPEAKER_03: So that's good to hear.
10:42
SPEAKER_03: That's great.
10:42
SPEAKER_03: We're playing the loan game for sure.
10:44
SPEAKER_02: We're we're committed, they're great partners to be with, and uh, and whatever we can do to help contribute to that, we certainly will.
10:50
SPEAKER_02: That's great.
10:51
SPEAKER_02: Wow.
10:52
SPEAKER_00: All right, Marsh, you talk a lot about mindset on your podcast.
10:54
SPEAKER_00: So we've got a few questions for you about that.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: We understand how important mindset is.
10:59
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the things that we put off take more out of us than actually doing them.
11:04
SPEAKER_00: What, and I know I struggle with this.
11:06
SPEAKER_04: Me too.
11:07
SPEAKER_00: What do you think?
11:08
SPEAKER_00: Um, what do you think we can do about that as leaders?
11:12
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, there's there's three problems we all face, which is why I name the podcast, What's Your Problem?
11:19
SPEAKER_02: Because the three problems we all face are adversity, uncertainty, and complacency.
11:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so there are five skills uh that we all have learned in sales that you can apply to your life.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: And those skills all start with the letter C: it's communication, curiosity, creativity, continuous learning and action, and productive confrontation.
11:40
SPEAKER_02: One more or all.
11:41
SPEAKER_02: And so anytime that you feel that will slippage and something's not quite right, uh, it's sometimes in one of those.
11:47
SPEAKER_02: It could be in communication, it could be a lot of times, you know, Bridget, like in sales, if you're not curious and you're just flat footed, then that's gonna get you into a rut.
11:56
SPEAKER_02: If you're not creative, we're never going to have the perfect vehicle for the customer.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:01
SPEAKER_02: Can you be creative and uh and curious and offer you know other ways of them looking at it?
12:08
SPEAKER_02: And then you got to be a continuous learner.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: You know, it it's it's funny because so much of the industry, we sell cutting-edge technology in these vehicles, yet the industry, by and large, at times, I swear, it's like we're still in the 80s.
12:22
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
12:23
SPEAKER_02: And it's just like we have to let's let's let's go about doing that.
12:27
SPEAKER_02: And so, you know, I put out an episode uh yesterday that's that the habit of ferocity.
12:34
SPEAKER_02: And um, you know, that's that's from uh uh Stephen Kotler, uh the art of impossible.
12:40
SPEAKER_02: And the habit of ferocity is basically it's developing an awareness.
12:45
SPEAKER_02: So when you see, you know, when when something needs to be done, you get it done right then and there.
12:52
SPEAKER_02: Because if you think about it, it's not the things we we're not frustrated about the things we we did we've done.
12:58
SPEAKER_02: We're frustrated about the things that we didn't get around to doing.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: Right.
13:01
SPEAKER_02: And so with that mindset that I try to I try to teach is when something needs to be done, do it right then and there.
13:08
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
13:08
SPEAKER_02: Um, you either do it yourself because it actually moves the needle for you, or you delegate it because me as a GSM, I can't run around doing everything.
13:17
SPEAKER_02: So if I don't, I then I delegate that, but you delegate the ferocity to someone else, and then that way it empowers them, you set the expectation, and then you coach them up from there.
13:28
SPEAKER_02: So, you know, you mentioned Nick Saban earlier, always say, you know, you got to be the Nick Sabin of the dealership itself, and then you develop a bunch of assistant coaches under you that then become coaches as well.
13:40
SPEAKER_02: And so as you delegate that and empower them with that, then they have that opportunity to to to be those those leaders as well.
13:48
SPEAKER_03: Right, right.
13:49
SPEAKER_03: When when you see someone uh that feels stuck in their business, how can you tell whether they need to change what they're doing or how they're thinking about it?
14:01
SPEAKER_02: It really first off, it comes to communication with yourself.
14:05
SPEAKER_02: And that's the hardest thing.
14:06
SPEAKER_02: Like you have to confront yourself.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: And you know, we could with sales, you can you can rationalize anything, Jim, and you can rationalize it all away versus we're versus looking at that and and being honest with yourself and saying, hey, this is what's going on, taking ownership of it, and you've got to change.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: You've got to constantly be changing.
14:27
SPEAKER_02: Anybody who's been any amount of time in the car business realizes that what worked last month, 30 days later, it doesn't work at all.
14:36
SPEAKER_02: And so you you have to resist the urge to hold on to that and rationalize it all away, but then look at it using those five C's and then saying, okay, am I not being curious?
14:47
SPEAKER_02: Am I not being creative?
14:48
SPEAKER_02: Have I stopped learning?
14:50
SPEAKER_02: Am I just coming in, kind of dialing it in?
14:52
SPEAKER_02: It really, it really starts with you.
14:54
SPEAKER_03: What what do you do with that individual, uh Marsh, that is um top of the leaderboard and uh not necessarily the most positive person in the room or in the in the meeting room or in the training, and has got kind of a negative attitude towards the dealership or maybe even the product?
15:12
SPEAKER_03: Um, although, you know, they're getting you north of 20 units a month delivered.
15:18
SPEAKER_03: Um, but they're causing, you know, this upset uh or at least this negative cloud among the the sales team.
15:26
SPEAKER_03: And you probably know the individuals that I'm talking about, right?
15:28
SPEAKER_03: We've all had those in dealerships.
15:30
SPEAKER_03: What do you do with an individual like that?
15:32
SPEAKER_03: Do you do you keep them and let and take their 20 cars a month and say, oh, that's just the way Bob is or Tom is or whatever, and or do you or do you get rid of them?
15:41
SPEAKER_03: What do you try to change?
15:43
SPEAKER_02: It becomes a cancer.
15:45
SPEAKER_02: Um and you try to give them a chance um and you try to help them see it because you know I do believe there are some good things in there.
15:54
SPEAKER_02: Um, but if if they're not willing to see that and it's not a part of the big picture, uh then unfortunately we just have to part ways.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: And I hate that, but we're just we're just not gonna hold on to somebody.
16:06
SPEAKER_02: I don't care how many units that you sell, if it's becoming cancerous, it bleeds on to the other, uh, you know, to the other product specialist and also to other people around.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: And it just we don't want to set that precedent.
16:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, boy, that's for sure.
16:20
SPEAKER_03: I'm told that we've got a uh question for you, actually, that that's coming up here.
16:24
SPEAKER_03: Um, what habit helps you reset mentally after a bad day or a difficult month?
16:30
SPEAKER_03: Good question.
16:32
SPEAKER_02: Uh you know what?
16:33
SPEAKER_02: I'm gonna tell you the habit that I have practiced since 2017, and it's gonna sound kind of corny.
16:40
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I I I I call it a millionaire mindset, is what I do.
16:45
SPEAKER_02: So basically every morning I pick up a random book um and uh I read for 15 minutes from a random book.
16:53
SPEAKER_02: And the reason why I say there's nothing in the Constitution that says you have to read a book cover to cover.
16:58
SPEAKER_02: Um you don't.
16:59
SPEAKER_02: He's my guy right there.
17:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I mean, and so what I do is is I pick a book.
17:04
SPEAKER_02: If you'll see on the podcast, I got a bunch of books behind me, and I pick a random book off the shelf.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: I go to the table of contents, whatever, whatever that chapter stands out there at me, I read that one chapter however far I get in 15 minutes.
17:18
SPEAKER_02: When the timer goes off, then I write about it.
17:21
SPEAKER_02: I have hundreds and hundreds of these of these legal pads.
17:25
SPEAKER_02: What is my perspective?
17:26
SPEAKER_02: How do I see it?
17:28
SPEAKER_02: And then I go live it.
17:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, and so my mind is primed as something new every day.
17:33
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I have unpacked it.
17:34
SPEAKER_02: So you got to struggle with that thought.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: You can't, you can't record it.
17:38
SPEAKER_02: You actually have to write it out because you have to think these things through and write at least one page.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: That's what I tell everybody.
17:44
SPEAKER_02: Write at least one page or set your timer for 10 minutes.
17:48
SPEAKER_02: And at the end of that 10 minutes, win, lose, or draw, it doesn't matter.
17:51
SPEAKER_02: Um you go out there and you go live it.
17:54
SPEAKER_02: So when you get to work, Jim, you're just you're primed.
17:57
SPEAKER_02: Your mind is primed, you're ready, and then you're receptive to so much more versus everybody else trying the blues.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, for sure.
18:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: So there's always gonna be those difficult times when when you're leading a business.
18:10
SPEAKER_00: How do you recognize when the discomfort is something that you actually need to work through rather than assigned a stop?
18:18
SPEAKER_02: Ooh, that's a good question.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: Um I I think the first thing you have to do, Bridget, is work through it.
18:27
SPEAKER_02: You know, uh the there's very little in this business that I would say stop.
18:32
SPEAKER_02: I think I think the stop part is what we stopped doing, um, which has probably led us to where we are at this point.
18:40
SPEAKER_02: And so I think I think it stopped maybe months ago.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: And now what you have to do is you gotta you gotta get it, you know.
18:47
SPEAKER_02: The only way to is through.
18:49
SPEAKER_02: Uh, I was just talking to one of my one of my product specialists Saturday, and he's, you know, just the month's not starting off right, and he's already in his head.
18:56
SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, man, I I wish I could do it for you, but the only thing I can do, man, is I can be there for you.
19:02
SPEAKER_02: I'm your caddy, but ultimately you got to play the game.
19:04
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can show you the club to play with, but at the end of the day, you got to go out there and do it.
19:09
SPEAKER_02: And he ended up selling two that day.
19:10
SPEAKER_02: Well, I'm very, uh, very proud of him.
19:12
SPEAKER_02: But you gotta go through it.
19:14
SPEAKER_02: But that's where the opportunity, that's where the lessons are.
19:17
SPEAKER_02: If it was easy, none of us would have been hired because nobody would have ever left, right?
19:21
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
19:21
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
19:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh so it's the it's the tough things, and the reason why people leave is because they just they just gave up on it.
19:28
SPEAKER_02: The opportunity is always gonna be there.
19:30
SPEAKER_02: You just have to be bigger than the situation.
19:32
SPEAKER_02: Sounds cliche, but it's such a mental game.
19:35
SPEAKER_03: There's no there's no question.
19:36
SPEAKER_03: You know what's amazing to me, Marsh, is are those salespeople, and I've been there myself when I was selling cars very early on in my career where you know you had a bad week in the beginning of the month, so all too often you're right off the whole month.
19:49
SPEAKER_03: You go up.
19:50
SPEAKER_03: This isn't my month, right?
19:51
SPEAKER_03: But conversely, you can put an entire month together in 10 days.
19:55
SPEAKER_03: You can sell a car every single day in the last 10 days of the month, sometimes a couple, or maybe you got a hot a hat trick on a Saturday or what have you, and and have no cars delivered on the 15th and have 15 cars delivered on the 30th.
20:07
SPEAKER_03: And we've all seen it.
20:08
SPEAKER_03: But all too often you've got salespeople that go, ah, it's forget it.
20:12
SPEAKER_03: Let's start looking at November.
20:13
SPEAKER_03: You know, this isn't my month.
20:15
SPEAKER_03: I can't get arrested.
20:16
SPEAKER_03: Everybody I talk to is not wanting to buy a car and what have you.
20:19
SPEAKER_03: And it could change with the very next customer, can't it?
20:23
SPEAKER_02: It can, but you gotta get in front of that customer.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, you have to have the memory of a dryer race board.
20:28
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
20:29
SPEAKER_02: And so you you can't, you, you really have to.
20:32
SPEAKER_02: And it's just like you wipe it clean, you go to the next one.
20:35
SPEAKER_02: So true.
20:35
SPEAKER_02: We're in a rejection-based business.
20:37
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
20:37
SPEAKER_02: And you know, if we do everything right, Jim, most of the time we're gonna fail.
20:41
SPEAKER_02: I mean, there's no other job in history that I could go to Apple and say, or go work for SpaceX and say, hey, tell you what, you hire me and I'm gonna get it wrong 80% of the time.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: It's not gonna happen.
20:54
SPEAKER_02: But with sales, you get rewarded for the rejection.
20:58
SPEAKER_02: You just have to keep going and get in front of those customers.
21:01
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
21:02
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
21:02
SPEAKER_03: As a good sales manager that I worked with for a while, he'd always snap me out of that attitude by saying just that.
21:08
SPEAKER_03: He goes, now listen, you got all the no's out of the way then.
21:11
SPEAKER_03: If it's the tenth of the month and everybody said no to you, that means that all the others are probably gonna say yes to you.
21:16
SPEAKER_03: You know, that's sometimes that's the way it works.
21:18
SPEAKER_03: So go out there and just be just, you know, make the decision to yourself that you're gonna sell a car to this next customer.
21:24
SPEAKER_03: And of course, mindset, as you talk about, is so much a big part of it.
21:27
SPEAKER_03: Hey, before I let you uh get out of here, and I appreciate all the time that you've given us, talk to us about the podcast.
21:33
SPEAKER_03: Not every uh automotive uh leader and manager out there of dealerships has enough time to even put together this pod or put together a podcast.
21:41
SPEAKER_03: You have you you've been doing a great job at it.
21:44
SPEAKER_03: It's what's your problem for those that are for the for those that are watching, which we highly recommend you you check them out.
21:49
SPEAKER_03: Um but talk to us about that.
21:51
SPEAKER_03: What was the impetus behind uh starting this?
21:54
SPEAKER_02: So the I originally called it the sales life because I believe the skills we learned.
22:00
SPEAKER_02: In sales are parallel to life, so you can apply those.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: And uh so, but so many people outside of the industry were like, Well, I'm not really in sales, so I changed it to what's your problem, which is the three problems we all face adversity, uncertainty, and complacency.
22:16
SPEAKER_02: And so I I don't believe by and large, there's enough managers that are still teaching in the car business today.
22:24
SPEAKER_02: And so what I like to be able to do is is I like using the methods that I use.
22:29
SPEAKER_02: It's something that I read, it's something that I write about, and then I share it.
22:33
SPEAKER_02: And then if I the more I share it, the deeper I learn it.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: But then also I leave it behind because there are people out there that are in the same industry I'm in that need some help and they need some mindset, you know, some some some hope and some optimism.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: And so I try to give you some real tangible skills that you can take into each and every day.
22:52
SPEAKER_03: I love it.
22:53
SPEAKER_03: I think it's I think it's fantastic.
22:54
SPEAKER_03: How long have you been doing it?
22:56
SPEAKER_02: Since uh it's funny, October uh of 2017 is when I've started.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: So I'm at uh 1,028 episodes.
23:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh, that that is fantastic.
23:06
SPEAKER_03: Getting a lot of good feedback from it, I bet.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
23:09
SPEAKER_02: And they're short episodes too.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: They're only about 15 minutes because A, that's all the time I had to give, and B, that's probably all the time you have before you need to start selling cars.
23:20
SPEAKER_03: Get back to unless you're watching CBT News, Marsh.
23:22
SPEAKER_03: If they're watching CBT News, that might go a little bit longer than 15 minutes.
23:26
SPEAKER_03: The interviews are 15.
23:27
SPEAKER_03: That's why we designed it at lunch, though.
23:29
SPEAKER_03: You know, you can have your lunch, you know, you can and also watch us.
23:32
SPEAKER_03: So, Marsh, thank you so much for joining us on the show.
23:34
SPEAKER_03: Very much appreciate it.
23:35
SPEAKER_03: Love to do a follow-up with you.
23:37
SPEAKER_03: Congratulations on all your success.
23:39
SPEAKER_03: For those uh that are watching, check this podcast out.
23:41
SPEAKER_03: It's called What's Your Problem?
23:43
SPEAKER_03: And uh, so Marsh, thank you so much for joining us.
23:46
SPEAKER_03: Really appreciate it.
23:47
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Jim.
23:47
SPEAKER_03: Thanks, Bridget.
23:48
SPEAKER_02: Y'all take care.
23:49
SPEAKER_00: You too.
23:50
SPEAKER_00: That was great.
23:51
SPEAKER_03: Yes, what a nice guy.
23:52
SPEAKER_00: I could talk about that all day.
23:54
SPEAKER_03: And and I I know, and I think that's it's in this case, it's uh the as he was kind of alluding to there, maybe he said it where it's kind of therapeutic for him to be going over these things that he talks about in the podcast, but to be doing a podcast that long, that's fantastic.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: I know.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: And you all were talking about having a bad month, but I think even starting if it's the fifth of the month, you can't say I'm having a bad month.
24:13
SPEAKER_00: We used to be even we narrow that down to your day if you say I'm having a bad day and it's 10 a.m.
24:18
SPEAKER_00: Actually, I try to never say I'm having a bad day because you might have some challenges throughout the day, but you're really having a bad day.
24:24
SPEAKER_03: Come on, you know, you you are definitely my my mental coach for sure.
24:28
SPEAKER_03: Because I can get into I work on it.
24:29
SPEAKER_03: I can get into a tizzy and a rut, and you're like, hey, snap out of it.
24:33
SPEAKER_03: We we can't afford this, we can't afford this way of thinking.
24:36
SPEAKER_00: Will you help me too?
24:38
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
24:39
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and you know, I love funny videos.
24:41
SPEAKER_03: Yes, I'm so glad you brought that.
24:44
SPEAKER_03: That's exactly right.
24:45
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
24:46
SPEAKER_03: So um, so in the car business, this is interesting, but it it and this has been around for a long time.
24:51
SPEAKER_03: I think by nature, technicians are kind of introverts.
24:55
SPEAKER_03: You know, I'll probably get some emails about this one or text messages.
24:58
SPEAKER_03: I'm not an introvert, and I'm a technician.
24:59
SPEAKER_03: But they they like you know to be working with their hands and underneath a car, and it's just that's what they do, that's who they are.
25:05
SPEAKER_03: So when you ask them to talk to a customer, you know, they're like, there's no like talk to a customer because they will convey the problem of the car to the service advisor.
25:15
SPEAKER_03: You know what I mean?
25:16
SPEAKER_03: It's probably a good segue to our next conversation.
25:18
SPEAKER_03: And they'll they'll have that, hey, go tell the customer this, and this is what the problem is, and what have you.
25:23
SPEAKER_03: And um uh it but they definitely don't want to talk to the to the customer.
25:27
SPEAKER_03: So check out this video, which I thought was funny.
25:30
SPEAKER_02: Are you sure you want to talk to one of the techs?
25:32
SPEAKER_02: Because I mean, I can answer any questions you have.
25:34
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I want to talk to the tech.
25:41
SPEAKER_03: That's what it's like.
25:44
SPEAKER_03: All right, I got them right here.
25:47
SPEAKER_03: That is what it's like right there.
25:48
SPEAKER_03: They do not want to talk to the customer.
25:51
SPEAKER_03: No, I know.
25:52
SPEAKER_03: And it's so funny because they're like, no, I don't want to talk to the customer.
25:54
SPEAKER_03: And uh and then they'll clam up, you know, and they sometimes they don't know, or they'll give the band in the bad news right up front, you know, smack the customer right in the face with it.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: You know, your car is screwed up.
26:04
SPEAKER_03: It's like, whoa, calm down, you know.
26:07
SPEAKER_03: But um, but it is funny because a lot of times customers do want to talk directly to the technician.
26:11
SPEAKER_03: Like, well, I'd like to talk to the tech about it, you know?
26:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
26:13
SPEAKER_03: So it's funny.
26:14
SPEAKER_00: I know that was funny.
26:15
SPEAKER_03: That was funny.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: So next up, we're joined by Matt Easton, founder of Easton University, to talk about what it takes to connect with today's car buyers and earn their business.
26:24
SPEAKER_00: Matt, welcome to the show.
26:25
SPEAKER_01: Hey Matt Easton.
26:27
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much for having me.
26:28
SPEAKER_01: I need a life coach too, Bridget.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: Can you do you?
26:32
SPEAKER_00: I'm here for you.
26:33
SPEAKER_03: She's mine.
26:34
SPEAKER_03: She's mine.
26:35
SPEAKER_00: No, there's there's plenty.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: There's plenty to go around.
26:38
SPEAKER_00: I'm happy to do it.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: But it take it would take all three of us to be, you know, it depends on the day, right?
26:43
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
26:44
SPEAKER_01: Love it, love it.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: Well, I I would love to uh spread some positivity, spread some uh excitement, and and make the stores high if you're watching this.
26:56
SPEAKER_01: Um they're watching make the teams a lot more money by pointing out uh uh some of the good things that we're doing so we can maybe do more of it if it's okay with you guys.
27:07
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
27:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and and uh we talked a little bit earlier, and uh, you know, you you mentioned to me that you recently have been in the auto market uh auto market uh helping your son buy a car or buying a car for your son.
27:20
SPEAKER_03: And uh that was uh an education uh to say the least, especially if you're talking about when when a salesperson is selling to a master sales leader or sales coach as you are.
27:31
SPEAKER_03: So uh I wouldn't want that pressure on me if that was the case.
27:35
SPEAKER_01: I'll tell you, you know, sales coaches and salespeople, and I think uh anybody who works in sales at a dealership will probably agree with me on this.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: We're actually the easiest buyers in the world.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I agree.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: I agree because we have to deal with all the nonsense on the other side.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: We're like I just want to make it easy for you.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
27:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, and you know, were there some some bumps along the way in my process of of buying my 16-year-old son a ridiculous uh car that no 16-year-old should have?
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Why don't we all start off by saying that?
28:10
SPEAKER_03: Let's just not let's just not buy the cars.
28:13
SPEAKER_00: No, we want our kids to have that better than we did.
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Right.
28:17
SPEAKER_01: But there there was some good stuff too, like shout-out um Shu X U is how he spells his first name.
28:23
SPEAKER_01: Shout out uh Shu.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: I got in touch with somebody that was great.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: But I I just for our audience today, I just want to share a perspective because a lot of times in business we think too mechanical.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: We think about the tools, we think about all the great stuff we've got at the store, um, all of the great tools that we have.
28:42
SPEAKER_01: And it's really easy for us to forget that there's another person on the other side of this.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: And it's really easy for us to forget there's some easy things that we can do that will not only make the customer more happy, will not only make the sale go faster, um, but have those people raving about working with you.
29:04
SPEAKER_01: And and and if I could, and I know I'm older than dirt, I'll go back uh to the 1980s on a couple examples here, if that's all right for you.
29:12
SPEAKER_01: Um I the Back to the Future movie.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: Who hasn't watched the Back to the Future movie?
29:16
SPEAKER_01: Right.
29:17
SPEAKER_01: You guys, of course, yeah, yeah.
29:20
SPEAKER_01: So I grew up, I had a single mom, my mom made$4,000 a year, so there was no like awesome cars at the 16th birthday.
29:28
SPEAKER_01: For me, I bought the car for my son Anderson as much for myself as I did for Anderson because I still remember the scene in that movie after uh Marty uh fixed everything, and there was the uh the the Toyota pickup truck with the big ass wheels in front of his house, and and all things were good.
29:50
SPEAKER_01: I wanted to have that experience um with my son, and of course, my son wanted a Bronco, two-door bronco.
29:56
SPEAKER_01: He wanted the seven-speed manual, impossible to find, and he wanted some big wheels and tires and all that great stuff.
30:03
SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to live vicariously.
30:05
SPEAKER_01: There's the Bronco.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: Holy cow, who's that producer Chris man on it?
30:10
SPEAKER_03: I know Chris is on it.
30:12
SPEAKER_03: He and his team don't mess around.
30:14
SPEAKER_03: He did not know you were even gonna mention that.
30:18
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Russ, too.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: Shout out to Russ.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: The reason why I'm sharing this with you guys is if you're running a store, if you're working at a store, it's 2026, it's not 86, right?
30:28
SPEAKER_01: We have a lot of tools.
30:29
SPEAKER_01: We've got the ability to text people, to send them videos, to send them all of this.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: I want you to think of that more of a turbocharger on that vehicle and less of the engine.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: What is the engine?
30:42
SPEAKER_01: The engine is you.
30:43
SPEAKER_01: The engine is you being excited.
30:46
SPEAKER_01: Even if you sell 60 cars a month on your own, realize the person that you're selling to is not buying 60 cars a month.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: This is a special experience for them.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: And as I searched the country for this Bronco, um, my choices were pretty limited because I was looking for a pre-owned with the seven-speed transmission and a little bit of upgrades and all of that stuff.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: A lot of the stuff I got back was just a simple text message, right?
31:12
SPEAKER_01: And no, no real personal connection.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: I called a few people.
31:16
SPEAKER_01: They just gave me numbers on the car and didn't set a next step with me.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: One person, the lowest of the low, just texted me a photo of their business card.
31:24
SPEAKER_01: Um, I don't know what what strategy that was.
31:27
SPEAKER_01: Right.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: But in what I'm saying, even if I haven't coached the people or they've been through no coaching uh sales professional, like where I go out and do a live event, even if you've never been through coaching, use some common sense, right?
31:40
SPEAKER_01: Ask questions like what's your biggest reason for wanting this, and then build that excitement into your communication with that customer.
31:51
SPEAKER_01: And this is this guy's shoe, XU, my man's shoe, he figured out that I wanted this for my son.
31:56
SPEAKER_01: He let me ramble a little bit about the back to the future.
31:59
SPEAKER_01: And then when he went out, because it was a remote sale, I had ordered the car, they shipped it to me.
32:05
SPEAKER_01: When he went out and took a video of the car, like his first words were, Oh my gosh.
32:11
SPEAKER_01: Like I knew this thing was awesome, but how much is your son gonna freak out when he sees these big wheels and tires, right?
32:20
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, that's all I wanted.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:22
SPEAKER_01: That's all I wanted was somebody to be excited about it.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: That's all I wanted was somebody to figure out what was interesting to me, guys.
32:30
SPEAKER_01: And if if you are doing this right now, if you're doing any derivation of this at your store, if you're excited, if you're figuring out what their biggest reasons are, if you're not afraid of the telephone and you're calling people, um, ideally, if you're sending them a video of the vehicle, get excited.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: Focus on the stuff that's important to them.
32:49
SPEAKER_01: Like you're gonna make your clients really, really happy.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: And even if you're working at a store that has, you know, fixed pricing, right?
32:57
SPEAKER_01: To where, hey, we don't mess around, we've got transparent pricing.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: Be skillful when you communicate to them.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: Let them know it's not that that's not a hindrance to buying, right?
33:05
SPEAKER_01: Like if they ask for a discount, hey, the likelihood that this vehicle is gonna get sold is 100%.
33:11
SPEAKER_01: I don't know when it's gonna get sold, but the probability with these big wheels and these tires and this winch, the probability that this thing is gonna get sold very, very soon is extremely high.
33:21
SPEAKER_01: As long as you're okay with that, I'm okay with that.
33:23
SPEAKER_01: If we miss out on this Bronco Matt, I will work with you.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: We'll find the next best option that exists out there.
33:29
SPEAKER_01: Like be interested in that person.
33:32
SPEAKER_01: Have a sales process that helps them, have a sales process that helps them make a decision.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: And I did see you guys played the video of the service tech video.
33:42
SPEAKER_01: Can I talk a little bit about that for a second?
33:45
SPEAKER_01: Because as a sales coach, I think that's something so important and so vital.
33:50
SPEAKER_01: And I realize we don't want a technician talking to customers, um, not because they're not great, they're awesome, um, but they've got a lot of stuff to do and they bill out to the store pretty high.
34:01
SPEAKER_01: Um, I the the Bronco had some transmission issues when we got it, brought it into service.
34:06
SPEAKER_01: I did get, as I do get with most of my cars, that video of the technician, you know, hey, everything looks good here.
34:13
SPEAKER_01: Again, using the technology.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: I love videos like that.
34:19
SPEAKER_01: Like, I'm just gonna tell you, as a consumer, even if the technician is not putting their face on camera, right?
34:25
SPEAKER_01: Like them walking around and actually talking to you is amazing.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
34:30
SPEAKER_01: As the consumer, that is great.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: Um, I do want to give a tip to the service advisors out there if I can.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: Go right ahead.
34:39
SPEAKER_01: I I want to go back to the 80s.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: All right.
34:42
SPEAKER_01: So again, broke mom, not a lot of money.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: I think the year was 19.
34:46
SPEAKER_01: It was either 86 or 87.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: I saved up all my money from washing dishes and picking up dog poop uh to order a Powell and Peralta Lance Mountain skateboard.
34:56
SPEAKER_01: I still remember how much I spent on it.
34:57
SPEAKER_01: It was$106.47.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, there was no internet back then, right?
35:03
SPEAKER_01: Where did I order the skateboard?
35:04
SPEAKER_01: I bought a skateboarding magazine, and in the back of the magazine, there was a mail order, check the components that you want, right?
35:12
SPEAKER_01: Send in your check, add up how much it's supposed to cost, send in your check.
35:16
SPEAKER_01: I sent in my check for this Lance Mountain skateboard.
35:19
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: Again, mail order, no internet.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: I waited a week.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, okay, after about a week, I was like super excited for my skateboard to show up.
35:29
SPEAKER_01: Every day taking the school bus home, right?
35:32
SPEAKER_01: Running to the mailbox, running to the front door to see if there was a box there.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: And it took two months for that skateboard to finally show up.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: Wow.
35:42
SPEAKER_01: That was one of the worst experiences of my life.
35:45
SPEAKER_01: Not because I I got the skateboard that I loved and I was disappointed in the skateboard.
35:50
SPEAKER_01: I loved the skateboard, but every day I was running home going, is my skateboard there?
35:56
SPEAKER_01: Is my skateboard there?
35:57
SPEAKER_01: Is my skateboard there?
35:58
SPEAKER_01: Why am I telling you guys this?
36:00
SPEAKER_01: If you are a service advisor, realize this.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: There is a skateboard, not a skateboard, a car that is important to somebody.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: That is essentially a major component in their life.
36:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: Some people, their car is like their family member.
36:16
SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid to pick up the phone.
36:19
SPEAKER_01: If that skateboard back in 86, when I mail ordered it, I know they didn't have the ability to do this, but if they had just called me and said, hey Matt, we're super excited.
36:28
SPEAKER_01: We're waiting on some parts for your board, should get those in about, you know, five weeks because they're back ordered, then we're going to send it out to you UPS.
36:37
SPEAKER_01: That's going to take another eight days.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: You can expect the skateboard in eight weeks.
36:41
SPEAKER_01: I would have been slightly disappointed, but I wouldn't have every single day ran checking to see where my skateboard is.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: And if you are a service advisor, guys, like, and I realize you're busy, I realize that you're overworked, some of the greatest value that you can provide to your clients, to your customers that you have their vehicle is just call them.
37:04
SPEAKER_01: Use all those tools that you have, send them a text.
37:07
SPEAKER_01: But what I want to talk about is if you don't have any information, still send them something and say, hey, we're waiting on parts.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't have an ETA on this.
37:16
SPEAKER_01: When I do, you'll be the first person I let know.
37:21
SPEAKER_01: We're losing a little bit our ability to connect with people and we're leveraging too much of the technology, the turbochargers, right?
37:31
SPEAKER_01: And we forget that the engine is us.
37:33
SPEAKER_01: The engine is us as a person.
37:35
SPEAKER_01: And I'm telling you, if you manage a store and you have somebody that's calling people, you have somebody that's not afraid of the phones, you have a service advisor that is not afraid to call their customers, that is somebody you need to walk up to right now and give them a big hug or a high five and thank them.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:54
SPEAKER_01: Because that is the real magic.
37:57
SPEAKER_01: It's in that communication.
37:58
SPEAKER_01: It's the little things like, wow, your son is gonna be shocked when he sees these big tires.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: It's also the little things of, hey, just wanted to let you know we're waiting on parts on the transmission.
38:09
SPEAKER_01: It's probably gonna be two weeks because they're on back order from Ford.
38:12
SPEAKER_01: I'll let you know, whatever the situation is, guys, communication is what's gonna make that store double, triple, quadruple in sales volume.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: It's it's all about the little things.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: It's all about that little human interaction.
38:26
SPEAKER_03: And there's no question, and it's a timely conversation because everything is focused on AI right now.
38:32
SPEAKER_03: I think in in many cases, we lean too hard into the technology to your point.
38:37
SPEAKER_03: And we're just like, well, AI will give him a text message or an automatic uh automated uh phone call to you know say whatever.
38:44
SPEAKER_03: And you you're right.
38:46
SPEAKER_03: I think that the uh the art of conversation has been lost in all of this uh with uh customers and and uh companies, businesses, dealerships, what have you.
38:55
SPEAKER_03: And uh it is, it's it it makes everybody feel better.
38:59
SPEAKER_03: You're right when the phone rings and it says, hey, here's an update, here's what we can do, here's what we can't do, here the it set the level of expectations, and it just makes everybody feel that much better, even to your point, if it's gonna be you know four weeks or eight weeks before you get your skateboard, in this case, the skateboard, the car.
39:16
SPEAKER_03: But uh for sure.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
39:17
SPEAKER_01: And AI, AI is great, guys, but I want to make sure, and we're all guilty of this.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: We give AI no latitude, latitude, right?
39:26
SPEAKER_01: And here's what I mean by this: when we're being updated by a server, a system, an automated text message, us as the consumer, if it's good news, fine.
39:38
SPEAKER_01: But if it's bad news, we get more upset.
39:40
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, right.
39:41
SPEAKER_01: And if there's just a human being on the other end, hey Matt, it's Chris over here at XYZ.
39:47
SPEAKER_01: Just wanted to let you know.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: Yep, we're still waiting on parts in the transmission.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm on it.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: If you need anything, feel free to call me.
39:54
SPEAKER_01: I'm sure the system is gonna be updating you, but I wanted to let you know I'm on this, I know this is important to you, and we're working on an R end.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: The delay could be three times longer, but if there's a human being attached to it, all of a sudden in your head, you're like, man, Chris is my guy.
40:12
SPEAKER_01: Like, he's he's he's looking out for me, and you're gonna give the store more latitude.
40:17
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
40:17
SPEAKER_01: It's amazing when we add that human factor to things, how people will buy, they'll push back less on price, they'll be more reasonable with us, with their expectations.
40:31
SPEAKER_01: But if we just use the internet, it's no different than back in 87 when I was dealing with a catalog, it's a nameless, faceless entity on the other end, and you just can't help but get angry.
40:45
SPEAKER_01: When there's a person associated on the other end, we that's where we build those connections.
40:51
SPEAKER_01: And I think that's how we get repeat business, that's how we get referral business.
40:55
SPEAKER_01: It's the little things and it's that human connection.
40:57
SPEAKER_01: Don't I know the text have to be dragged, um, but don't be afraid of of of these.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid of the phone.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid to make that call, uh, even if it's bad news.
41:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
41:08
SPEAKER_01: Well, I couldn't agree more.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: Right?
41:10
SPEAKER_01: No question.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: The little things, like you said, communication is key.
41:13
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
41:14
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
41:14
SPEAKER_00: And it's hard sometimes.
41:16
SPEAKER_00: You don't want to give bad news, but like you said, as long as they're getting something, ghosting them is not the answer.
41:21
SPEAKER_00: So you gotta call them.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and it here's the problem.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: If we don't give them any news and it's bad news, they just think we're trying to take advantage of them, which we're not.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: Right.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: Right?
41:32
SPEAKER_01: But if we give them the news, now we're both looking at the problem together and we're both focused on the problem.
41:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's right.
41:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, but no communication is always interpreted as you don't care about me, you're being anept, which we're not, right?
41:47
SPEAKER_01: You're not, you you, you, you're not being skillful with the repair of my vehicle.
41:52
SPEAKER_01: None of that stuff is happening.
41:54
SPEAKER_01: Nobody that never gets an update is like, oh, they're great, they're awesome, they're on it.
41:58
SPEAKER_01: We think the other thing.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: It's exactly where your mind goes.
42:01
SPEAKER_03: Right.
42:02
SPEAKER_00: Matt Easton, sales coach and founder of Easton University.
42:05
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
42:06
SPEAKER_00: This has been a great conversation, and we really appreciate all that you're offering.
42:10
SPEAKER_03: Very, very timely.
42:11
SPEAKER_03: When when do you get the Bronco?
42:13
SPEAKER_01: I've I've got it.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: As soon as I get the transmission fix, it's there.
42:16
SPEAKER_01: But he loves it, it's great, it's awesome.
42:18
SPEAKER_01: And by the way, guys, if you have a if you have a shoe like that sold me the car, or you have a service advisor that's communicating with their people, please go give that person a high five.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: Please go, you know, what's right.
42:30
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you can give hugs, but give them a hug if you can give a hug.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: Like that.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: That's the it's the little things that make all the difference right now in 2026.
42:38
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
42:38
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
42:39
SPEAKER_01: Matt, thank you so much.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
42:40
SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
42:41
SPEAKER_01: All right, great seeing you.
42:43
SPEAKER_00: I think it's cool.
42:44
SPEAKER_00: His son Anderson wanted a manual.
42:47
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:48
SPEAKER_03: Is that what that was?
42:50
SPEAKER_03: Seven speed or yeah.
42:51
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:51
SPEAKER_03: That's yeah.
42:52
SPEAKER_03: Nobody's right about that.
42:53
SPEAKER_03: I mean, because all too often we'll just sit and text or we'll send an email or the uh the automated machine or the you know, whatever we'll send them a you know, an AI prompt uh prompt and say, you know, here here's the update or what have you.
43:06
SPEAKER_03: Not that that's terrible.
43:13
SPEAKER_00: So now we don't even really have the skill set to do it.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: You you know, the younger generations are are missing out on the the times that we had, where we I mean we had to because we didn't have all of the technologies.
43:25
SPEAKER_03: No, we didn't they had.
43:27
SPEAKER_03: He was talking about the middle the mid 80s there.
43:30
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
43:31
SPEAKER_03: I remember them.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: I do too.
43:33
SPEAKER_03: You don't remember the music.
43:34
SPEAKER_03: I do so.
43:35
SPEAKER_03: I was a teenager.
43:36
unknown: Okay, good.
43:38
SPEAKER_00: Of course I do.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: You know, before we go today, I would like to thank our sponsor.
43:43
SPEAKER_00: Who's that?
43:43
SPEAKER_03: Who is our sponsor?
43:44
SPEAKER_00: Auto AI's radar.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: Yes, could your dealership's online ads be putting your business at risk?
43:50
SPEAKER_00: Radar by Auto AI scans your vehicle listings and Facebook and Instagram ads to flag potential pricing issues, missing disclosures, and advertising compliance risks.
44:00
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44:06
SPEAKER_00: Don't wait for a customer complaint to find out something was missed.
44:09
SPEAKER_00: Visit autoai.inc slash radar for a free compliance scan.
44:14
SPEAKER_03: I am so glad that this company is within our family of advertisers.
44:19
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
44:19
SPEAKER_03: Because they do such great work.
44:21
SPEAKER_03: And I can't say how important it is, dealers, that you've got a program a product like radar to make sure that your store is compliant.
44:32
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
44:33
SPEAKER_03: I I guess that's why they named this product radar, because you actually want to stay off the FTC's radar.
44:38
SPEAKER_03: But uh, but but this is a phenomenal product.
44:40
SPEAKER_03: I think it's like 299 bucks a month or something, some crazy low number.
44:45
SPEAKER_03: But man, if I were a dealer today and I could sleep so much better knowing that the vehicles that are on my website are all compliant and with social media, they cover that as well.
44:55
SPEAKER_03: Um, rather than getting that knock, knock, knock, FTC is here, and guess what?
44:59
SPEAKER_03: You're gonna get a million-dollar fine because you're not compliant.
45:02
SPEAKER_03: And uh, and especially if you have no defense to say, well, we don't have any program, we just don't even care.
45:07
SPEAKER_03: You know, yeah, and it it seems like every other week we wake up to CBT News or Automotive News and we see a headline that says, guess what?
45:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I know there's another, you know?
45:18
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: And we've had a couple conversations with Vince from Radar, Auto AI's radar.
45:22
SPEAKER_00: Um, so if you want more information, you can go to CBT News and check out those interviews or reach out to them, like we said, autoai.com.
45:29
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
45:30
SPEAKER_03: They do great work.
45:31
SPEAKER_03: Can't say enough about them.
45:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, that's all I have for today.
45:34
SPEAKER_00: But be sure to check out our newsletter, head over to cbtnews.com for more great conversations like we had today.
45:40
SPEAKER_00: And while you're there, sign up for the newsletter.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: It's free, and you'll get all of these great stories delivered straight to your inbox every day.
45:46
SPEAKER_03: Yes, you will.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: Thanks, everyone.
45:48
SPEAKER_00: We hope you have a great day, and we'll see you back here tomorrow at noon Eastern.
45:52
SPEAKER_03: Go sell some cars.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: From Facebook, breaking news of the constitution, interviews in the glass wall, boom, price tags up in the laptop.