Latest / Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers / Ep. 75 - AI Won’t Fix Your Business: The Real Way to Pick Tools and Systems That Work

Transcript

Ep. 75 - AI Won’t Fix Your Business: The Real Way to Pick Tools and Systems That Work · Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

0:00
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you something else there, and I heard somebody say this, and it's just it makes so much sense.
0:05
SPEAKER_00: Buying new technology, integrating in AI, any of these things, if you don't have your process and your people doing the correct thing, all it's gonna do is amplify and magnify the problems you have.
0:20
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
0:24
SPEAKER_00: 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.
0:36
SPEAKER_00: 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.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: And maybe even throw in a plug for you to do business with us.
0:49
SPEAKER_00: Hey, welcome back to Crossroads Conversation with the Lewis brothers.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: We got everybody in the house today, and we are just fresh off going to the NADA conference, which is the National Automotive Dealer Conference.
1:02
SPEAKER_00: And man, did we get exposed to a lot of information, a lot of cool systems.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna wade through that today.
1:08
SPEAKER_00: Okay, we'll tell you a little bit more about that conference coming up.
1:11
SPEAKER_00: But we're gonna really go into how to make business decisions for tools and systems within your business.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be a great discussion today, but before we go into that, Taylor, what did we go over last week?
1:23
SPEAKER_01: 80 years in business.
1:24
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we're celebrating 80 years in business, four generations.
1:28
SPEAKER_01: And last episode we talked about the past, present, and future, how we've changed, how we've learned, how we've continued to evolve so that 80 years we continue to build on top of that.
1:39
SPEAKER_01: So that was a really good episode.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: Go back and check it out.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: You bet.
1:42
SPEAKER_00: Hey, what's in the garage today?
1:44
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're getting some, I think it's today it's supposed to be 70.
1:47
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: We're getting some warmer weather, and when that is, people want to get outside, and in the Ozarks, they want to explore.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: And one of the great ways to explore is in a Wrangler.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: Perfect.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: And where today's price of vehicles continues to go up, I heard the other day the average price of a new vehicle transaction was over 50,000 now.
2:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was it was well up.
2:09
SPEAKER_00: Well over that.
2:10
SPEAKER_00: We have ordered just what you need in a Wrangler.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
2:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
2:16
SPEAKER_00: So the two-door Wrangler, like the old school two-door Wrangler, but this one's got hard doors, it's automatic, it's air conditioner, it's got the big screen on it, okay?
2:25
SPEAKER_00: Now it's got a soft top.
2:27
SPEAKER_00: Let me just call it out.
2:28
SPEAKER_00: The reason it's got a soft top, it's easier to take the soft top up and down.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: If you're out cruising with the soft top down and a rainstorm comes through, you just put it back up.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: You just put it back up.
2:38
SPEAKER_00: We have these on sale for under$34,000.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: So$33,900 for a brand new 26 Wrangler two-door automatic air conditioner, big screen with a 10-year,$120,000 mile warranty on it.
2:56
SPEAKER_01: That's that's big.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: You talk about hitting a price point there.
2:58
SPEAKER_00: I know there's a lot of people that have bought side-by-sides or other pre-held vehicles that are way more than that.
3:03
SPEAKER_00: And Wrangler is one of the number one holding resale values out there.
3:10
SPEAKER_00: So uh we've got multiple of those to choose from, so come by and see us there.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: Or if you need the whizbang Rubicon with the 35-inch tires and the 456 gears, or a 392 of 470 horsepower, we got you there too.
3:21
SPEAKER_02: And in every different color you can imagine, right?
3:24
SPEAKER_02: That's what I always loved, is just like Skittles.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: And we're not talking traditional Skittles, we're talking the purple bag, the red bag, if there's other color bags, they get all of them, they have fun names.
3:33
SPEAKER_02: It's just a fun, like kind of relieves the pressure of the everyday.
3:38
SPEAKER_02: Let's give them a Wrangler and go hit dirt road or whatever, you know?
3:42
SPEAKER_02: All right, NADA conference.
3:44
SPEAKER_02: Okay, let me set the setting for you.
3:46
SPEAKER_02: Uh they meet in four different places.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: This year was in fabulous Las Vegas.
3:50
SPEAKER_02: It is in their uh main convention center.
3:53
SPEAKER_02: It's not theirs, but it's a Las Vegas Convention Center.
3:56
SPEAKER_02: Let me lay this out for you.
3:57
SPEAKER_02: Tell them how big.
3:58
SPEAKER_02: 4.6 million square feet.
4:01
SPEAKER_00: I knew we walked a lot.
4:03
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, over a hundred thousand steps.
4:05
SPEAKER_02: So starts on Tuesday afternoon.
4:09
SPEAKER_02: Uh so we get all our normal stuff done here, hop on plane, head out there, and uh kind of get set up for what we're gonna do, what we're gonna look at.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: So it's a Tuesday uh afternoon, full day Wednesday, full day Thursday, and then Friday's a wrap up there.
4:27
SPEAKER_02: Uh so 4.6 million square foot of vendor setup.
4:31
SPEAKER_02: Uh so what do you do?
4:35
SPEAKER_02: What's going on?
4:36
SPEAKER_02: Like where what's the point of this?
4:38
SPEAKER_00: So let me take the square footage because that's what you said there.
4:41
SPEAKER_00: And there's a lot, and and one of we've been fortunate enough to learn this from our father on structure and and direction.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: So we had eight people we took out there.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: We took a core group.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: So the largest we've ever taken.
4:51
SPEAKER_00: Largest we've ever taken.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: And we had a mission.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: We went out there with a mission.
4:54
SPEAKER_00: And the two main things are the expo, which you just talked about.
4:58
SPEAKER_00: I saw that there were registered a little over 300 people on the expo, and I think it was probably more than that.
5:04
SPEAKER_00: And then the workshops.
5:06
SPEAKER_00: So the breakout workshops, you go to industry top speakers to talk about things like we got to bring it up, AI, you know, or managing inventory or word tracks or communicating with a customer or service or retention or HR.
5:19
SPEAKER_00: It goes on and on.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: So we met as a team before then.
5:23
SPEAKER_00: Here's what we're after.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: Here's our number one, here's our number two, here's our number three, here's how we're gonna communicate before and after, and the texts are flying.
5:30
SPEAKER_00: And I think everybody thought we were joking when we said, just be prepared that you're gonna look up at four or five o'clock and you've not eaten lunch.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: And it happened every day.
5:40
SPEAKER_02: Every single day.
5:41
SPEAKER_02: Not a big deal, right?
5:42
SPEAKER_02: Every single day.
5:44
SPEAKER_02: Get you a banana or an apple on the way out the door bright and early, and uh and it happens because generally everyone out there loves what they do, and I mean our team and the people selling the stuff, but also you are able, so picture this if you are looking for a new uh software to manage inventory, a new software to do payroll, a new software to reduce downtime, if there's any software or hard product, it's there.
6:13
SPEAKER_02: And so you're able to go look at all of the competition under one or possibly a second uh Westworld rooftop.
6:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so you can quickly, you don't have to set up a demo.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: You can literally walk into the booth and say, Hey, your product, you've got five makes, give me a quick demo.
6:33
SPEAKER_02: Uh and then you can quickly and politely just exit if you don't like it, right?
6:37
SPEAKER_02: Uh or at least that was my theory, right?
6:39
SPEAKER_02: And so I'd say, hey, uh talk to Matt real quick, and I'd just run to the next one.
6:42
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
6:43
SPEAKER_02: Right?
6:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so it allows you without it would take months and months and months to get this type of uh experience and be in front of all these tools.
6:52
SPEAKER_02: And the good thing about it is you generally almost always have the CEO or the president or the founder of the company, you have the head engineer, like uh Roush Performance.
7:03
SPEAKER_02: Not only were all the salespeople and the head guys there, but one of the engineers was there, and I was like, Why don't you install the supercharger from the factory?
7:13
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Well, let me talk you through this.
7:14
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Well, Schrod does it, SCA does it, Fox does it, Fox does it, and they're like, Yeah, I was like, Well, if they can figure it out, you should figure it out.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: And he was like, Yeah, I know.
7:25
SPEAKER_02: And then I was like, Why don't you have a center console in your red cap?
7:29
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Well, I was like, aftermarket does it, and they sourced it from Ford Parts, so you get to talk to all the people, which is you could press zero and say operator on your phone a million times and never get these people.
7:41
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I'm I gotta give a tip for a convention before we get because we're all wound up, we're we're back off of this.
7:46
SPEAKER_00: If you go to a conference, and just just please listen up, because naturally you will not do this, and we were fortunate enough to be taught this.
7:53
SPEAKER_00: When you go to a conference and you've got a group of two, three, four people, split up.
7:58
SPEAKER_02: Do not travel together.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Like in the conference.
8:01
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, in the conference.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: Like now there were times on day two, day three that both of us would have gone back to study something, but day one, I was busting them up.
8:10
SPEAKER_00: Like if I saw my employees together in the same booth, because there was too much.
8:14
SPEAKER_00: There was how many million square feet?
8:16
SPEAKER_00: 4.6 million square feet.
8:18
SPEAKER_00: 4.6 million square feet.
8:19
SPEAKER_00: So if we didn't split up to go through all these presentations, because if you'd let them, they'd last an hour.
8:25
SPEAKER_00: No, we cut people off before that.
8:26
SPEAKER_03: Oh my gosh.
8:27
SPEAKER_00: But but split your group up.
8:29
SPEAKER_00: It's no different than if we go to an event uh and they're they've got lunch and they do a breakout session and they've got all these round tables.
8:37
SPEAKER_00: Split up and don't sit at the same table.
8:39
SPEAKER_00: Gain knowledge from everywhere and then get back together and share all that.
8:43
SPEAKER_00: That's how we multiply.
8:45
SPEAKER_00: We took eight people and destroyed that thing.
8:48
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it was so good.
8:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh tip number two, take notes.
8:52
SPEAKER_02: Like when people were talking, I would I would stop them and I I had a Google Doc that's now eight pages long.
8:58
SPEAKER_02: And I'd say, your name again, if it was something I like.
9:01
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: Right.
9:02
SPEAKER_02: And it it's okay to be direct, I think, right?
9:05
SPEAKER_02: But I was.
9:05
SPEAKER_02: Uh your name again and your f your cell phone number if I directly need to go home with you.
9:10
SPEAKER_02: Okay, and that product was how much?
9:11
SPEAKER_02: And is that a standalone product?
9:13
SPEAKER_02: Or and is it month to month?
9:15
SPEAKER_02: Right?
9:15
SPEAKER_02: And so I said, okay, carry on.
9:16
SPEAKER_02: So then maybe I just hit voice recording and it starts recording them.
9:19
SPEAKER_02: And so for my notes.
9:20
SPEAKER_02: Because you will not remember.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
9:22
SPEAKER_02: So then when we would reconvene uh later that night or the next morning, I'd say, Hey, you need to go to this booth and check this out.
9:30
SPEAKER_02: In our text chain, you gotta go see John.
9:32
SPEAKER_02: Like you've cut through all the crap.
9:34
SPEAKER_02: John's the point person, go see them, ask them about this morsel.
9:37
SPEAKER_02: Don't ask about the whole thing because you just got to hyper focus.
9:41
SPEAKER_02: It's like you really got to see behind the curtains and all this stuff.
9:45
SPEAKER_02: No frills.
9:46
SPEAKER_02: There was plenty of frills, right?
9:48
SPEAKER_02: But if you got through it, then you could see that.
9:50
SPEAKER_02: So then within those notes, you could circle back.
9:52
SPEAKER_02: Because then when I got back to the store, I was like, okay, let me comb through all this, clean all this up, delete some of that, add this to it.
9:59
SPEAKER_02: So then I could go back to the people and say, hey, here's what I found, here's the people you need to call back out to, here's who you need to schedule a demo with.
10:06
SPEAKER_02: So kind of tr strategically be able to get your money's worth.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: And I think at a point in part there is, and you don't get access to that unless you go to a a show like this, is you know, if if you're what let's just say you're the VP or you're the CEO of your business, you're looking for business partners.
10:23
SPEAKER_00: So you ought to be able to talk to that level of person to at least get all the details worked out, just like somebody would if they're doing a big deal with you.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: And and yesterday I had some a system we were interested in, somebody else reached out from that company.
10:38
SPEAKER_00: I had the information just like you said, because I had taken the notes, putting them down, boom, I claim on the cell phone.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: I just get another text from him just a minute ago walking into here, says, hey, our whole team can come, including myself.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: Here's the dates.
10:51
SPEAKER_00: The value in that is amazing.
10:53
SPEAKER_02: And and on top of that, the value of the people in your industry, whether you're brand new or you've been there for a while, of networking at this event is so large.
11:05
SPEAKER_02: And like generally we're pretty closed off, like introvert, not talking to people.
11:10
SPEAKER_02: And it was like, get out and talk to people, right?
11:13
SPEAKER_02: It's now your time to start pushing some weight uh and connecting.
11:17
SPEAKER_02: So the networking of anyone in the industry, you know, you're like industry influencers, sure, all the social media people, they were all there.
11:25
SPEAKER_02: And the big wigs and the companies and these people that are making big moves, and anybody would talk to you.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
11:31
SPEAKER_02: Oh wait.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: Right?
11:32
SPEAKER_02: Like anyone would talk to you, whether they're selling something or not.
11:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh so here's the funny thing.
11:36
SPEAKER_02: Let me set the stage that so you're in this huge, uh, huge, huge, huge convention center, and everyone has to have a name tag that allows you in.
11:43
SPEAKER_02: Uh and it says your name, where you're from, and then your title.
11:47
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
11:48
SPEAKER_02: So it kind of allows them to see what's your buying power, right?
11:53
SPEAKER_02: Uh and you do set buying power within your credentials, and then it has an RFID chip that they can scan you.
11:58
SPEAKER_02: And so their goal is to scan as many people as they can, vendors, to be able to collect data.
12:03
SPEAKER_02: So when they get back, they can hit the phone and say, Hey Taylor, hey Matt, hey Shelby.
12:08
SPEAKER_02: Uh we connected in Vegas, I'd like to schedule another demo.
12:11
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so a lot of times what would happen is they'd come up to you and your name tag would flip over, and they were like, Who am I talking to?
12:18
SPEAKER_02: Uh do they have the ability of power?
12:20
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so oftentimes, funny enough, you talk about dad long ago.
12:25
SPEAKER_02: What would Uncle Tommy do?
12:27
SPEAKER_00: So our uncle, who did not now dad was in the middle of it just like we were talking about.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: Our uncle, and if you've met our Uncle Tommy, he would do one of two things.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: He either flipped his badge over because he didn't want anybody to talk to him.
12:37
SPEAKER_02: Because you had to have it.
12:38
SPEAKER_00: You had to have it.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: But then it would like flip back over somehow, somehow.
12:42
SPEAKER_00: So he went back to registration and swapped out his badge for one that said spouse.
12:48
SPEAKER_00: Because he didn't want anybody to talk to him.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh and if that's you, great.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
12:53
SPEAKER_00: Just make sure with every yin you got a yang.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Because he was working all the structure part of it.
12:59
SPEAKER_02: Um so of that, you know, the structure was okay, we're not probably not gonna eat all day.
13:04
SPEAKER_02: And we joked about that with our team of eight.
13:07
SPEAKER_02: We said there's gonna be if you need a snack, get a snack.
13:09
SPEAKER_02: But chances are a booth is gonna have about every four booths had uh Maybe a cookie.
13:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, had a cookie.
13:17
SPEAKER_02: They had uh coffee, right?
13:19
SPEAKER_02: Uh but said you can get that.
13:20
SPEAKER_02: Don't go anywhere to lunch, don't leave the campus.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: Like you only get a short window.
13:25
SPEAKER_02: Um sometimes.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: Taylor, were you impressed with their food they had at the booths?
13:28
SPEAKER_01: No, they weren't good at all.
13:29
SPEAKER_01: But that's okay.
13:30
SPEAKER_01: That's not what this person is.
13:31
SPEAKER_02: So then we would uh challenge Taylors like, hey, find and see if somebody has a dinner.
13:35
SPEAKER_02: Find a vendor that's interested in earning our business and see if they'll pay for our dinner.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: And so that was always the goal.
13:41
SPEAKER_02: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
13:42
SPEAKER_00: So let's talk about like I think y'all some of y'all are going, man, that's fantastic.
13:46
SPEAKER_00: I wish they had that in my industry.
13:48
SPEAKER_00: Newsflash.
13:49
SPEAKER_00: They do.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: I've seen every HVAC, I've seen plumbers, it's a new thing.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: I've seen construction, I've seen electronics, I've seen aftermarket.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: Funny enough, four of our customers before uh in the concrete world.
14:05
SPEAKER_01: So there's a concrete world show, there's an HVAC show, there's a CS, there's an electrical.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: There were four of them within the whole month that when we went the same month.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: So yes.
14:15
SPEAKER_02: Well, funny enough, we were walking, you know, in Vegas, you should walk the whole way.
14:20
SPEAKER_02: And it seems just around the next corner, eight miles away.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: Uh but we were walking from hotel to hotel, and we were, they were like, You're going the wrong way, you're going the wrong way.
14:29
SPEAKER_02: And then there was because there's a lot of convention centers that aren't that size but are still really large inside the resorts.
14:35
SPEAKER_02: Uh and so we walked into another conference because it was a car audio conference.
14:40
SPEAKER_02: Kicker was there.
14:41
SPEAKER_02: Everyone was there, right?
14:42
SPEAKER_02: And you could hear it from was like, Good night, what's that?
14:45
SPEAKER_02: I was like, see, I'm going in.
14:46
SPEAKER_02: So we had our badges.
14:47
SPEAKER_02: Well, we used a couple of the other guys as decoys because they got through we got through because we had badges, and they're like, Whoa, you might be in the wrong conference.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: Heard that and we just scattered.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: See ya.
14:56
SPEAKER_02: So there is a conference for every single I think that's the point.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: And if you're sitting there going, I'm too busy, and I just I can't go to that, you can't afford to not go to that.
15:08
SPEAKER_02: And that that we would be the first to say that.
15:10
SPEAKER_02: Right?
15:11
SPEAKER_00: If you guys know us, we are nose to the to the ground, grinded out.
15:16
SPEAKER_00: And we don't go we we've been a lot of times.
15:18
SPEAKER_00: We don't go every single year.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Trevor Burrus, Jr.
15:20
SPEAKER_02: You kind of got to give it some time.
15:21
SPEAKER_02: Last year I had they had a hard time because of the storms.
15:24
SPEAKER_02: It was in New Orleans.
15:25
SPEAKER_02: I don't know that people really wanted to go there, but then uh storms and travel weren't good.
15:29
SPEAKER_02: So this year was completely sold out.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: It was.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: Your best to maybe like skip a year, skip two years, and then you can really hone in on all the things.
15:37
SPEAKER_00: I love two things you talked about there.
15:38
SPEAKER_00: Like we're talking about the vendors and we're talking about the event.
15:40
SPEAKER_00: There was over 20,000 dealers registered, and if if each dealer, like we had eight, you know, probably the average dealer had two or three, you're talking about 40 to 50,000 people.
15:51
SPEAKER_00: That they're all open, like Shelby said.
15:54
SPEAKER_00: One, you got the vendor world talking to you about things, but then you're connecting with like-minded people that newsflash are going through the same struggles you are.
16:02
SPEAKER_02: That's the important part of the networking to say, man, what are you guys using for your CRM or what are you using for your website?
16:08
SPEAKER_02: I've just been struggling with this company.
16:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:11
SPEAKER_02: And so I guess that leads into a little bit about so before we went, we did a full breakdown of our systems that we currently have and had a huge eye opener because we kept asking the office.
16:22
SPEAKER_02: It gives a list of all of our payables, the people we pay money to that is a system.
16:26
SPEAKER_02: And we're talking about from the basic of the basic all the way to our DMS, which is not basic and very expensive.
16:33
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
16:33
SPEAKER_02: And it was eye-opening.
16:34
SPEAKER_02: It was close to two million dollars a year that we spend.
16:37
SPEAKER_02: It was nuts.
16:39
SPEAKER_02: And so it was good to do that before, so you don't go to the show and say, hey, I want to sign up for six more.
16:46
SPEAKER_00: Hey and I think we'll we'll get to breaking down vendors here in a little bit of kind of like the filters we go through on when to cut, when to hire, when to bring new ones on, and and you know, when to sunset somebody.
16:56
SPEAKER_02: So that was kind of a setup of just to make sure you were ready so you fully know, because the last thing you want to do is walk into one of those and they say, you know, if you're in the concrete and they say, uh, hey, what kind of slump, or, you know, hey, where do you get your wire from, or whatever it may be.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: You know, H V A C they say, hey, or where are you sourcing your thermostats or your wire, whatever, right?
17:13
SPEAKER_02: You need to know all those things.
17:15
SPEAKER_02: It might not be in your daily uh what you go through, your routine, thank you, uh, so that you're super educated going into it.
17:23
SPEAKER_02: Even if you just have your office say, hey, run these numbers for me.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Uh so let's let's go around the room real quick and don't do a deep dive on what it does, but just name off some systems you use, like what you use them for.
17:33
SPEAKER_00: So Taylor, let's let's start there.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: My biggest is gonna be obviously in in um CRM and our V Auto, our appraisal management tool.
17:42
SPEAKER_00: All right, so you at least got two there.
17:43
SPEAKER_00: You got a CRM and then you got a V Auto for your appraising.
17:47
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
17:48
SPEAKER_00: Uh then I'll I'll go off of that.
17:50
SPEAKER_00: I'll say, hey, we got a website to show the vehicles.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, we we've got somebody locally taking pictures that's then pushing it to V Auto.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: So then we've got that as well.
17:58
SPEAKER_00: And then we've got our hub, which is the DMS, which is dealership management solution, that then controls all of that.
18:05
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not even including in there, but I'll say it like our phone system, like our internet providers, like our chat, and then you take it from there.
18:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so fixed stops, think about this for service.
18:16
SPEAKER_02: Uh we have our write-up system for the smart and Y visor.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
18:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then we have our text communication platform of Numa.
18:24
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
18:25
SPEAKER_02: Um and then we have our shoploader, which organizes all of our technicians' times.
18:30
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then we're gonna get into Pencil Wrench to help write stories, then we're gonna get into the Snap-on catalog.
18:36
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
18:36
SPEAKER_00: Then we're gonna get into um Oh Lord, there's there's so then from that, so we're at 14, and we have at least another six other partners that we use then for advertising and marketing.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
18:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, and diff.
18:53
SPEAKER_00: So so we're at a minimum, and I'm just telling you, you have more than you think you do.
18:57
SPEAKER_00: We're at a minimum of 20 different providers.
19:00
SPEAKER_00: So some of y'all out there are going, holy cow, Matt, you're you're too smart to not just combine some of those, cut those down.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: We've tried.
19:07
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the the problem is there's not one company that does it all.
19:11
SPEAKER_02: And if they do, they're not very good at a lot of those avenues.
19:15
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
19:15
SPEAKER_02: You know, so you start cutting those up.
19:17
SPEAKER_02: You know, so you look at deal tracker, you look at Route One, you look at 700 credit, you look at NCC, uh, then those are all ones that we use.
19:24
SPEAKER_02: And then you start looking at Cuddle, and then you're like, okay, well, those are those fashions there.
19:29
SPEAKER_02: So then you look at credit acceptance, and then you start looking at Stone Eagle, and then you start looking at Brown and Brown, and so then you have all these, and it's like, why do you have some?
19:37
SPEAKER_00: And then we're trying to extract the data, and none of the systems will talk to each other.
19:41
SPEAKER_00: So then we have a company like Fortellus, and then we've got another one called Target, and you've just tried to eyes, and then they're putting all this stuff together.
19:48
SPEAKER_02: Um you're trying to stay relevant and trying to be on the edge of like, okay, I have all these systems, I need the data, so I can you know think about this.
19:56
SPEAKER_02: If you walked onto a very large ship or an airplane, like you've looked in the cockpit of an airplane, you'd be like, what in the world is all that, right?
20:04
SPEAKER_02: So you have all that that's super important of how do I get a hold of a customer, how to customers schedule an oil change, how to appraise a vehicle, how do I get a deal approved, how do I know if this is good or bad.
20:14
SPEAKER_02: And then you have to somehow try to mesh some of those so you can operate functionably during your day.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: You know, and I think uh one of the parts we jumped over, but man, it was it you just rolled right into it, was really what was our goal on going there?
20:26
SPEAKER_00: And it's to try to get that to mesh together.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: We want a better customer experience, and we also want our employees to be better educated on where their customers are.
20:36
SPEAKER_00: So if you're setting an appointment in service and you filled it out online about like what's going on, we got to get that to communicate with our software we use to write up the repair order and that we use to communicate.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: If you're trying to buy a car and you go online and you do a credit app and you and you do a trade appraisal and you do all this stuff, we need it communicating with our internal system on with our CRM.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: And a guy talked about it in really well there.
20:59
SPEAKER_00: He goes, automotive and healthcare are so much alike.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: And this really resonated with me, and y'all have heard me already say this probably a hundred times.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: But you go online for an appointment to go to the doctor.
21:10
SPEAKER_00: You upload your insurance card, you upload your driver's license, you fill out all the questionnaires and all the yes-nos and all the rest of it.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: You show up at the doctor's office, and I'm not picking on the doctor's office because our ours is broken the same way.
21:22
SPEAKER_00: And when you walk in, they hand you a clipboard and they want you to fill it out.
21:25
SPEAKER_02: It's turned back over.
21:26
SPEAKER_00: And you're like, I already did all that.
21:27
SPEAKER_00: And then you get back to the doctor, and the doctor says, Tell me what's going on.
21:30
SPEAKER_00: And you've already filled it out online, you've already done it there, you've already told the nurse you're on number four, and it's not a great customer experience.
21:37
SPEAKER_00: So our goal going out there was how do we get these to communicate with one another so we we have a more seamless transaction and communication with the customer.
21:48
SPEAKER_02: And let me uh the last bit on the launch of this, of the convention.
21:52
SPEAKER_02: So, of the eight people that went in the thousands of different business pitches, let me explain something to you.
21:58
SPEAKER_02: Do not just Start signing up for stuff.
22:02
SPEAKER_02: Did you guys sign up for anything?
22:03
SPEAKER_02: Nothing.
22:04
SPEAKER_02: Okay, so keep that in mind.
22:05
SPEAKER_02: We had eight people that saw a thousand different pitches and not one and we did say this, but didn't have to say this.
22:12
SPEAKER_02: Do not sign up for anything while you're there.
22:14
SPEAKER_02: You have to let the new wear off a little bit, and you come back with your game plan and then you completely decompress that and say, okay, you know, I I sent this text yesterday to one of the managers, and it's funny, and I'll and I'll find it and read it here, but um you have to do a little bit of analysis into so I said, what problem does this solve?
22:37
SPEAKER_02: Are they the best at solving this the problem?
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Is it a month-to-month contract?
22:44
SPEAKER_02: How much is the monthly expense?
22:46
SPEAKER_02: What's the setup cost?
22:47
SPEAKER_02: And are we, this is the most important, are we already paying someone to do something like this?
22:52
SPEAKER_02: That's right.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
22:54
SPEAKER_02: So those were the questions that I asked one of the managers that said, Hey, what information can I get y'all to get an approval so we can get the ball rolling on this new vendor?
23:02
SPEAKER_02: That's good.
23:03
SPEAKER_02: You know, so that those were the and that didn't happen.
23:06
SPEAKER_02: Like, you don't need to break that down while you're there.
23:08
SPEAKER_02: Just collect the data, get the information, and then when you can re-go from there.
23:11
SPEAKER_02: So and they were trying to sign you up, right?
23:14
SPEAKER_02: There were people giving away stuff and signed up.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that's what they're there for.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: Right?
23:18
SPEAKER_02: But just you don't have to sign up while you're there.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
23:21
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
23:22
SPEAKER_01: Well, myth, and this kind of rolls into everything we're talking about.
23:25
SPEAKER_01: So mythbuster time.
23:26
SPEAKER_01: The new thing is always the best thing.
23:32
SPEAKER_01: No.
23:32
SPEAKER_01: No.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: No.
23:33
SPEAKER_01: So, truth, the newest tech or gadget for your business isn't always the best thing for your business.
23:38
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the tried and true stuff can be better than the new tech.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: And I think that goes back to exactly what y'all were just saying.
23:45
SPEAKER_01: A lot of times their systems, whether it be the salesperson, your rep, they're not fully vetting and letting you know, hey, your system does this and you're already paying for that.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of times people won't uncover a system that they're already paying that does exactly what they're wanting it to do, and they're not using it to its full potential.
24:06
SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you something else there, and I heard somebody say this, and it's just, it makes so much sense.
24:11
SPEAKER_00: Buying new technology, integrating in AI, any of these things, if you don't have your process and your people doing the correct thing, all it's gonna do is amplify and magnify the problems you have.
24:26
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
24:27
SPEAKER_00: AI is not gonna fix that you don't have employees doing X, Y, and Z.
24:32
SPEAKER_00: You know, AI is not gonna fix X, Y, or Z.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're doing great things, it can help amplify that in a great way.
24:40
SPEAKER_00: So you you the basics are the basics, just like you talked about, and those have still got to be tried and true.
24:47
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
24:48
SPEAKER_00: Next, we kind of talk about what systems do you use in your business.
24:50
SPEAKER_00: We did the round table on that.
24:52
SPEAKER_00: Shelby led into this next subject on what we went through to make sure we make the right decisions.
24:58
SPEAKER_00: Now, we went out there to collect data to upgrade some systems.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
25:02
SPEAKER_00: So while we didn't sign up for a single thing out there, that doesn't mean that we won't.
25:08
SPEAKER_00: Correct.
25:09
SPEAKER_00: Um, what we went out there to do is to gather all the information, have the right contacts to bring it back as a team and talk about it.
25:17
SPEAKER_00: Well, now, there was everything you can imagine to get the emotions high out there.
25:22
SPEAKER_00: So we you have to weed through that because we all get excited.
25:24
SPEAKER_00: We're in sales.
25:25
SPEAKER_02: Let me frame, before you go any further, frame the reference here.
25:27
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever gone to go buy a cell phone and you go in the store, Best Buy ATT Verizon, T-Mobile, whatever, and they ask for your phone number, they pull up your plan and they say, What plan is this?
25:40
SPEAKER_02: Right?
25:41
SPEAKER_02: Like, has that happened to you guys?
25:42
SPEAKER_02: Oh yeah.
25:43
SPEAKER_02: And you thought you were on the unlimited, unlimited, unlimited, but it's been superseded by another plan, and you're still with the same carrier, they're like, we have to upgrade you.
25:52
SPEAKER_02: And you're like, no, no, no, I don't want to pay anymore.
25:53
SPEAKER_02: Like, no, no, no.
25:54
SPEAKER_02: It's not going to cost you any more, but you're still on the version 2.1 and we're on 4.6 over here.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
26:00
SPEAKER_02: And you could upgrade four times your gigabit speed.
26:04
SPEAKER_02: So we talked to even our same vendors to say, what do you have new that we're not part of.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: And that's a point of it, too, is we went out there and saw our existing vendors to figure out how they are performing, because we got to talk to the higher level up people that maybe our regional rep wouldn't have access to the internet.
26:19
SPEAKER_00: Or struggles.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: Or struggles.
26:22
SPEAKER_00: But anytime and we had we had some new people we took out there, and I can remember one of them.
26:26
SPEAKER_00: And they were this isn't their fault.
26:28
SPEAKER_00: And they were just excited to the convention.
26:29
SPEAKER_00: New to the convention.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: They were just excited to be there.
26:32
SPEAKER_00: They called me, and it was in the middle of day two, and they say, Hey, Matt, we need to meet right now.
26:37
SPEAKER_00: I was like, Okay, cool.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: What's up?
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Is everything okay?
26:40
SPEAKER_00: Is your family all right?
26:42
SPEAKER_00: He's like, No, we need to meet right now to figure out if if we're going to do this.
26:46
SPEAKER_02: That's probably because I diverted the people.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: So I said, What I need you to do right now is capitalize on the opportunity we have to exposure to everybody.
26:56
SPEAKER_00: You collect the data, the information.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: We don't need to let an hour be taken for something that we can do next week when we get back in the store.
27:06
SPEAKER_00: Right now, gather all that information because there may be somebody better than it.
27:11
SPEAKER_00: That's your new baseline, but there may be something better.
27:14
SPEAKER_00: Redirected that person.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: They completely understood afterwards why that was.
27:20
SPEAKER_00: So how do we make the right decisions?
27:22
SPEAKER_00: One, we look at it, we let the dust settle and the emotions settle and go, is this going to enhance what we're currently doing?
27:29
SPEAKER_00: Does it solve a problem, or was it just a wow system?
27:34
SPEAKER_02: Most of it is a wow.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Most of it is.
27:36
SPEAKER_00: And then even if it is a wow system and it solves a problem, if the interaction with the employee, the userability of it's not there, it won't work.
27:49
SPEAKER_00: If it's not easy to use, and here's what, and you guys will know this.
27:52
SPEAKER_00: Here's the number one rule with any software.
27:55
SPEAKER_00: Any I don't care what industry you're in, how's the support?
27:59
SPEAKER_02: That is so important.
28:02
SPEAKER_02: Where is your support at?
28:03
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
28:04
SPEAKER_02: Uh how do you reach it?
28:06
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
28:06
SPEAKER_02: You have to submit how quick is your rebuttal time?
28:10
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
28:10
SPEAKER_02: You know, and is it is it speak your language?
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Because in our business, when the system broke is broken, we don't have days to wait.
28:19
SPEAKER_00: We don't have hours to wait.
28:20
SPEAKER_00: Somebody's sitting in finance and they're trying to sign and the system's come undone.
28:24
SPEAKER_01: Well, we figured that out.
28:25
SPEAKER_01: We talked about a little bit ago.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: We're probably three, four months into our new key systems.
28:32
SPEAKER_01: And as much as we've edited, as much as we went through, there's been problems.
28:36
SPEAKER_01: Software isn't uploaded, drawers haven't opened up, different pieces.
28:39
SPEAKER_01: I was talking to him out at the convention.
28:40
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, hey, I appreciate y'all doing what you said you were going to with your customer service.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: So I can either call you or one and you've helped.
28:48
SPEAKER_01: Obviously, we're still new, but it's a breath of fresh air to be able to see that whenever you went through with a business system and they're actually doing what they said they were going to.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: No, that's good.
28:58
SPEAKER_00: That's good.
28:59
SPEAKER_00: So you gather the information first.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: Does it solve a problem?
29:02
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
29:03
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
29:04
SPEAKER_00: Uh what can it replace?
29:06
SPEAKER_00: Because the easy thing to do in this business, especially when uh something's$5.99 a month,$9.99,$19.99, is you keep adding them on.
29:15
SPEAKER_02: It adds up to$2 million.
29:16
SPEAKER_00: It adds up really fast.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: So if you're going to add something, what can you delete?
29:21
SPEAKER_00: And that's why we went through the whole exercise of building all the different sheets of the current providers we had.
29:27
SPEAKER_00: Who could we replace?
29:29
SPEAKER_00: What problem does it solve?
29:30
SPEAKER_00: And do you get that feeling that they're a business partner with you?
29:34
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
29:35
SPEAKER_00: A business partner.
29:36
SPEAKER_00: And if you look at it through that scope of, are they a business partner, meaning do they care about helping me reduce downtime, increase revenue, reduce expenses, whatever it may be, then maybe it's a good fit.
29:50
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
29:51
SPEAKER_02: You know, I think the um when you do a if you've signed up with one of these vendors and you do a performance call, which you should have a minimum monthly of a performance call, when you can tell if they're really in it to help you or they're really in it to check a box and move on to the next, is when they if they ask you, do you have any questions, like they lead out with that, and there's nothing wrong with that, right?
30:12
SPEAKER_02: They need to know.
30:13
SPEAKER_02: It's just like when you go to the dentist to say, hey, are you having any issues?
30:15
SPEAKER_02: Right?
30:15
SPEAKER_02: That's their segue to say, oh yeah, I forgot this tooth was hurting.
30:19
SPEAKER_02: Um but then if they never again point out anything else aside from the normal travel rate or the normal traffic, they don't they're not okay to ruffle your feathers a little bit to say, hey, do you mind if I share with you where I see there's a scope gap or where you are missing some business?
30:37
SPEAKER_02: If they are too comfy with just saying, like, well, holler at me if you have any questions, I'm here for you.
30:42
SPEAKER_02: And it feels so good, country club and this, this, and this, if they're not calling you out saying, You're missing right here, then it's not a good business partnership.
30:52
SPEAKER_00: No, I I would agree with that for sure.
30:55
SPEAKER_00: One of the questions I'll just share with you guys that this kind of developed after we were out there, and then we sent it out and talked to us about it as a group, is here was a filter to ask any of these vendors.
31:06
SPEAKER_00: If it's gathering information or if it's a lead or if it's a chat or if it's an AI, is it taking that information and writing back to our DMS and updating the customer record?
31:18
SPEAKER_00: And why that's important is they may have an amazing tool, but if your team who's interacting with your customer does not get access to that or has to log into a different dashboard to get it, the chances of them actually using it go way down.
31:33
SPEAKER_00: If it can write back to your central hub, which is our DMS, it's right there in there.
31:38
SPEAKER_00: So a service advisor, when they're talking to the customer, they can see that chat.
31:41
SPEAKER_00: They can see that information.
31:42
SPEAKER_00: They're buying a vehicle, they can see that information, the salesperson can.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: So does it write back to the original records?
31:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
31:49
SPEAKER_02: You know, and that's a problem with some of our systems, is it's really good in service, and we do nothing with it in sales.
31:56
SPEAKER_02: Like it doesn't have a it's not a 360-style approach.
32:00
SPEAKER_02: And so then there's no like parts might have a really good relationship with this customer because they're wholesale parts and they have a huge fleet, or the same thing with service or the same thing with sales.
32:08
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
32:09
SPEAKER_02: They don't get that because that salesperson is not going to help in service.
32:12
SPEAKER_02: They might introduce them to them and then all the way around.
32:14
SPEAKER_02: So if that system cannot, which to be frank and honest, there's very little that can be a 360 platform there, then that customer relationship that you've built often falls off because they don't know all the details.
32:30
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
32:30
SPEAKER_02: You know, think about that customer that you've worked super hard with uh to build that relationship, and you always give them a little bit above and beyond in the experience when they get to service, do they get that until they build their own relationship there?
32:43
SPEAKER_02: You know.
32:44
SPEAKER_00: And I think let me help some of you out there going, well, why does service need to know what sales is doing?
32:48
SPEAKER_00: Why does sales need to know what service is doing?
32:50
SPEAKER_00: If you're trading in a vehicle and you've only serviced it with us, and it can pull up in the file right there, and I can thank you.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: I can say, Hey, Shelby, thank you for keeping your vehicle up to service.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate all your business.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: I see all your service records you've done here.
33:04
SPEAKER_00: Thank you for being a loyal customer.
33:05
SPEAKER_00: That makes you feel good, helps justify the the value of the vehicle.
33:10
SPEAKER_00: Same thing if you're in service and you could see how many vehicles they've bought and they originally bought the vehicle from us.
33:16
SPEAKER_00: Say, hey, Taylor, thanks for buying that F-150 from us.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: We appreciate all the business you and your family have done with us.
33:22
SPEAKER_00: Let's roll you straight into this and make sure that F-150 stays on the road for a long time.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: It's just just working together and it's being a joint team.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: That's really what makes the that's the the key to makes the process different.
33:34
SPEAKER_01: Now, I will tell you this.
33:37
SPEAKER_00: We haven't found a perfect solution for all that yet.
33:39
SPEAKER_02: No, but there, you know, there's some basic and simple things that help you allow to tag that customer.
33:45
SPEAKER_02: You know, think about that.
33:46
SPEAKER_02: If you're in the HVAC world, when sales sold them this system, they said, hey, let me upgrade to uh 12-ton, six-seer system because it's more efficient.
33:58
SPEAKER_02: When service comes out, if they said, Hey, I see you upgraded your system, I think you did great.
34:03
SPEAKER_02: It makes you feel so good inside about spending more.
34:06
SPEAKER_02: The same thing, you know, uh at a at a spa.
34:09
SPEAKER_02: If they're like, hey, you upgraded to get the quad pump and it's gonna filter so good.
34:14
SPEAKER_02: You haven't had to blow through products, have you, Matt?
34:16
SPEAKER_02: No, I haven't.
34:17
SPEAKER_02: And he's like, Yes, I bought the phone.
34:19
SPEAKER_02: You're like, right?
34:19
SPEAKER_02: And that was a key point to why he bought.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: Now, if service knows that, you're like, oh, I made the right decision.
34:26
SPEAKER_02: I love this team.
34:28
SPEAKER_02: They come to me, they take care of me.
34:30
SPEAKER_02: You know, if I'm able to put a note on a customer that says, hey, they would love mobile service or pick up and delivery, and I establish that at time of purchase, and then it's like, hey, it's time for your service.
34:39
SPEAKER_02: Can we come pick it up from your work today?
34:41
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:41
SPEAKER_02: And they're like, oh my gosh, these people know me, right?
34:44
SPEAKER_02: You won't talk about customer for life.
34:46
SPEAKER_02: That's what it's about.
34:47
SPEAKER_00: Makes them feel good.
34:48
SPEAKER_00: Everybody's got that sign on them that says, make me feel special.
34:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: They really do.
34:52
SPEAKER_00: And you got to flip it on.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: You know, you got to flip it on.
34:55
SPEAKER_00: Okay, if if you guys had to say one word, one word that you saw everywhere that was the buzzword on the expo floor, what would it be?
35:05
SPEAKER_00: AI.
35:05
SPEAKER_00: It was AI.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: So AI is being talked about everywhere.
35:09
SPEAKER_00: And even though we like AI.
35:12
SPEAKER_00: AI, by the end of the day, two were like, we don't want to hear about your AI.
35:17
SPEAKER_00: And so that was an overused buzzword.
35:21
SPEAKER_00: And it, I'm telling you, of the 300 vendors, 299.9 of them said AI.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: I think Ron at Broadway said AI.
35:27
SPEAKER_00: The people with the keychains somehow.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: It was like design.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: What is going on?
35:32
SPEAKER_02: And here's the problem because there was so much fatigue of it, some of them that were necessary never had never stood a chance.
35:41
SPEAKER_00: But if you're getting into AI, so one of the things that we've talked about before, but we really learned out there, is whatever system is saying they have AI integrated, have they taught the AI platform to think like that industry?
35:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: You know, because if not, you're gonna have to do that.
35:58
SPEAKER_00: And AI is great, but if you don't train it and you don't teach it what you want, it's not gonna be any good at all.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: It's no different than raising a kid.
36:06
SPEAKER_02: It was also important if it lived internally or if it was an add-on.
36:10
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not I don't expect everyone to build their own AI or their own LLM system.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: You're not going to.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: But the way that it's integrated in, was it collecting all the notes that we're talking about that makes people feel special, or was it starting fresh?
36:24
SPEAKER_00: That's for that's really good.
36:25
SPEAKER_00: That's really good for sure.
36:27
SPEAKER_02: So rapid fire here.
36:29
SPEAKER_02: Speaking of AI, what is something that AI cannot replace?
36:33
SPEAKER_00: Ooh.
36:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'll go to I'll go to a vehicle.
36:36
SPEAKER_00: AI cannot replace walking around a vehicle that Mrs.
36:41
SPEAKER_00: Smith had bought from us that's really low mileage, that has a story that is worth more than book value.
36:47
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
36:47
SPEAKER_02: So in a vehicle demonstration and a walk around, it can't replace that.
36:51
SPEAKER_02: Can't replace that.
36:52
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
36:52
SPEAKER_02: What's something AI can't replace?
36:53
SPEAKER_01: Uh I'm gonna say the human factor of it that is like the feelings that whenever a situation doesn't go as planned, it it can try to pivot, but it becomes very computer generated at that point.
37:05
SPEAKER_01: There's certain circumstances that whenever you're dealing with uh a service fault or a sales fault that actually happens, that you have to sit back and think, oh, this isn't of the normal, I have to make a different decision here.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: That in AI, they can give you a response, but it's not gonna have a meaningful response.
37:27
SPEAKER_00: If I had to summarize it, AI has a very hard time living in the gray area.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
37:33
SPEAKER_00: You can train it for the black and the white, but what about the gray area?
37:36
SPEAKER_02: And if you try to teach it in the gray, it it will it will navigate through it, but it's either it's gonna go like okay over here, then you're like, no, that's wrong.
37:45
SPEAKER_02: I was thinking here.
37:46
SPEAKER_02: It's like over here, okay, and it gets lost, right?
37:49
SPEAKER_00: It does get lost.
37:50
SPEAKER_02: It's it's just basis of the X's and O's and or the commas and the dots, and you know, it's going through that.
37:55
SPEAKER_02: So it's like, eh.
37:56
SPEAKER_00: So I think you you gotta have both, you know?
37:58
SPEAKER_00: You gotta have AI that can respond quicker.
38:01
SPEAKER_00: They never call in sick.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: They're always here, they're here available 24-7, so we can answer basic stuff.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: But then when somebody wants to go beyond that, you gotta have the human interaction.
38:11
SPEAKER_02: But I think that's important there.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: All right, Taylor, let's talk vendor fatigue.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: So going into it there, vendor fatigue, which it definitely happened.
38:21
SPEAKER_01: Uh it happened to the time.
38:23
SPEAKER_01: We probably had fatigue.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: We probably had of going through the your head was welded just like, I don't want to hear anything else.
38:30
SPEAKER_01: I'm not meaning to be mean, but vendor fatigue, what is it?
38:36
SPEAKER_01: What where do you see that?
38:37
SPEAKER_02: So it was on both sides, I'll say, from us that you're like, man, I want to talk to another vendor.
38:42
SPEAKER_02: You know, after that while that happened after a couple days of walking 100,000 steps and hearing the same AI pitch.
38:48
SPEAKER_02: But also we saw vendor fatigue on the vendor side that they lost their luster.
38:53
SPEAKER_02: They were sitting down, kicked back on day two, maybe into day one, uh, and they lost their luster of their pitch there, uh, or they were showing up a little bit later.
39:02
SPEAKER_02: So you kind of got to see, it gave you a little under the hood of how deep is this company and how really well they are committed to this.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: And were they just in Vegas to party and then to try to sell something, or were they really committed to their product and that customer?
39:18
SPEAKER_00: I can tell you this on the last day, there's about an hour and a half left before the the Expo 4 closed at five.
39:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and and Taylor and I are walking around Westworld, he's like, okay.
39:30
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, no, we gotta make another loop.
39:34
SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know what I was making a loop for.
39:37
SPEAKER_00: But I told myself, I'm like, you gotta stay in the game.
39:39
SPEAKER_00: There may be something else.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: You're fatigued, you your mind's fogged, you're toast, but get back in there.
39:45
SPEAKER_00: And I would just make another loop.
39:46
SPEAKER_00: You were on principle at that point.
39:49
SPEAKER_01: I had already released some of the other team to go do some.
39:51
SPEAKER_01: They were released.
39:53
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, Trey I wasn't in the group tag.
39:55
SPEAKER_01: No, Trey was signed up for so many, I mean, he was signed up for meetings after the meetings that you were in the world.
40:00
SPEAKER_01: And to structure that little fella.
40:02
SPEAKER_01: Of going through.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: But I'll tell you why, and I loved hearing this, and we talked about this a little bit.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: Matt set up that he had learned from dad of going through, and this is the only way you can um efficiently and effectively go to a conference or meeting.
40:21
SPEAKER_01: You cannot go and say, hey, I'm gonna check things out.
40:23
SPEAKER_01: Go, it will eat your lunch.
40:26
SPEAKER_01: You'll think you ran a marathon and you didn't make it a quarter mile.
40:31
SPEAKER_00: Now we we did open up, it stayed very structured at first.
40:34
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
40:35
SPEAKER_00: The first day there was tons of text flying on check-in, where are you going, who'd you see?
40:39
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
40:40
SPEAKER_00: Because we we had to keep everybody structured.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
40:42
SPEAKER_00: Now then towards the like, okay, if you've accomplished one, two, and three, now go back through it and see what your eyes may be open.
40:49
SPEAKER_00: Like like you found a system that we weren't even looking for.
40:51
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's funny.
40:52
SPEAKER_02: So uh the point of just like super structured, we had uh a service person and we had an office person, we had uh a management overall sales, and so we said you need to be specific to this.
41:06
SPEAKER_02: Seek it out.
41:07
SPEAKER_02: There's an app, you could find it, and just go this to this to this to this and these workshops.
41:11
SPEAKER_02: But then somehow I would end up like, hey, did you see those robots over there?
41:15
SPEAKER_02: It's like, wait, what did those do?
41:16
SPEAKER_02: And it's like, well, this and this is like that has nothing to do with your department.
41:21
SPEAKER_02: Get out of there.
41:22
SPEAKER_02: Uh but you want to talk about vendor fatigue.
41:24
SPEAKER_02: So I was in Westworld, which is the lesser size, just smaller size, vendors that aren't even.
41:30
SPEAKER_02: Startup vendors.
41:31
SPEAKER_02: Startup vendors, and there was a bunch of them, and they were aggressive, and I love it.
41:34
SPEAKER_02: I do too.
41:35
SPEAKER_02: Um but I was at the end of one of the rows and I was on my phone trying to find a vendor.
41:41
SPEAKER_02: And on the app I could search it, and I couldn't find it.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: So I was and I was at the very end, you know, and you get pretty used to like blocking people out.
41:49
SPEAKER_02: And this lady was like, hey, can I tell you about AI?
41:51
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, no.
41:52
SPEAKER_02: And so I kept going through it.
41:54
SPEAKER_02: She's like, golly.
41:56
SPEAKER_02: I was like, my bad.
41:57
SPEAKER_02: I didn't mean to be rude.
41:58
SPEAKER_02: I was like, it's day three, uh, and I've gone through a lot.
42:01
SPEAKER_02: She's like, hey, do you have a whole lot of data and spreadsheets that you guys put in a system?
42:05
SPEAKER_02: It's like, yeah.
42:07
SPEAKER_02: And I was like, okay, you've got 30 seconds.
42:11
SPEAKER_02: She's like, okay, very good.
42:12
SPEAKER_02: Well, do and so it was an AI-style platform.
42:16
SPEAKER_02: That the coolest thing is it screen records you doing these processes.
42:19
SPEAKER_02: So you download this report out of this system, you pull this out of this system.
42:24
SPEAKER_02: And so we have a bunch of spreadsheets that allow us to manage what's currently going on, this heavy data input that we're silly enough that we don't have assistants that are helping us do that.
42:36
SPEAKER_02: And so she was like, Well, you can do this, and it's an unlimited amount of automations that you do.
42:40
SPEAKER_02: It's like, huh, okay, I'm done.
42:42
SPEAKER_02: Let me like, not like I'm done, sign me up.
42:44
SPEAKER_02: Like, that was the end of your 30 seconds.
42:46
SPEAKER_02: I kind of like it.
42:46
SPEAKER_02: Let me get your card, I'll follow up with you.
42:48
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: Right.
42:48
SPEAKER_02: I didn't need to hear any more there.
42:50
SPEAKER_02: And so then yesterday set up a call.
42:52
SPEAKER_02: So we were back fresh, feet didn't hurt quite as much, sitting in a chair, we could take some notes.
42:57
SPEAKER_02: And so then we really got to ask some of the hard questions there.
43:00
SPEAKER_02: So it is in the fourth quarter that, like you still get there's still one to be found, right?
43:05
SPEAKER_02: And that's why I headed back down the aisle.
43:07
SPEAKER_00: I've had there might be something we missed, Taylor.
43:10
SPEAKER_00: We've got to make another circle again.
43:11
SPEAKER_02: The cool thing about these conventions uh is that they have, you know, you think about when's the best time to buy a car, you know, you might be at truck month, might be end of the year, when a big sale's happening.
43:22
SPEAKER_02: Most people, now whether it be a a target style market up so they can market down so you feel good about it, they have big sales out there.
43:29
SPEAKER_00: They do.
43:30
SPEAKER_02: Right?
43:30
SPEAKER_02: So you're able to find, if you do find a vendor or a product, or a system, then you're able to reduce some costs or waive some startup fees or and you've got the people there to negotiate with.
43:40
SPEAKER_02: So you can negotiate all you want, as we did, but just don't sign the contract till you get home and just ask your team, hey, do we have something that already does this?
43:48
SPEAKER_01: And then like, let them keep stewing and guess what?
43:50
SPEAKER_01: They get hungry and hungry.
43:52
SPEAKER_01: The price gets a little bad.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: More and more he's like, hey, what if I did this?
44:02
SPEAKER_01: Hey, what if I did this?
44:03
SPEAKER_01: So know that.
44:04
SPEAKER_01: Be reserved.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: And it's okay, like Shelby said, to either be intrigued a little bit and get some information and recircle back around, but just don't get sticker shocked to where you're just dying, dying into it is on do not disturb.
44:18
SPEAKER_01: I knew it.
44:19
SPEAKER_02: Charles Russo, it's not on Do Not Disturb.
44:21
SPEAKER_00: Russo, get to work, Sam.
44:23
SPEAKER_00: I'll say, and this was really from a previous segment, but I'll bring it up here.
44:26
SPEAKER_00: Um one of the checks and balances that you need to do is make sure your team has buy-in.
44:33
SPEAKER_00: So if if people are using it, like if we went as the three brothers and we just decided on a DMS, came back and said, hey, we found the perfect DMS, they're coming in the next couple weeks to implement it.
44:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, we've got 270 users on it.
44:48
SPEAKER_00: And if you don't get buy-in from your team, it's like everything else we talked about on this podcast.
44:53
SPEAKER_00: And systems are the same way.
44:55
SPEAKER_00: You need buy-in.
44:56
SPEAKER_00: So our DMS is we we narrowed it down to two DMs that are possibilities.
45:00
SPEAKER_00: So we did the heavy lifting of will they actually work?
45:03
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
45:03
SPEAKER_00: Then we're gonna bring them in and all department managers are gonna be in there.
45:07
SPEAKER_00: We need their buy-in.
45:08
SPEAKER_00: So when it comes time to install and their employees are moaning and groaning about learning new software, they're our catalyst that say, no, we vetted them all.
45:18
SPEAKER_00: This is really good, it's gonna enhance.
45:21
SPEAKER_00: You guys need to jump on board.
45:22
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
45:23
SPEAKER_02: That is so important that 99% of people miss.
45:26
SPEAKER_02: You have if you get caught up in, no, no, no, I have the ability, I can make this decision, I'm just gonna do it, you're gonna miss out on the buy-in factor of they feel like they're a part of it.
45:38
SPEAKER_02: Like, yes, you should make that decision, but that's something we've learned along the way from the basic and simple thing.
45:45
SPEAKER_02: It's no different than if I make a decision and don't include you guys and something goes wrong, you guys are looking directly at me and he's like, Shelby, where'd you come up with these people?
45:54
SPEAKER_02: You know?
45:54
SPEAKER_02: And so the way that you can kind of check it out is like, hey, I found this company.
45:58
SPEAKER_02: Will you guys just put your eyes on it real quick and see?
46:01
SPEAKER_02: And so you guys might ask different questions and you're like, All right, looks good, looks good.
46:05
SPEAKER_02: And so when something goes wrong, we're together trying to figure it out.
46:09
SPEAKER_02: Instead of like, I don't know, Shelby signed up for this system and everyone's just mad about it because it doesn't work.
46:14
SPEAKER_02: Because reality check, something's gonna go wrong.
46:17
SPEAKER_02: Oh, it's not gonna be perfect.
46:18
SPEAKER_02: Right?
46:18
SPEAKER_02: So you need some more leaders in that to say, no, this is our system, it is good, we're just working them bugs out.
46:25
SPEAKER_01: That was really big.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: And I love Matt actually yesterday hit in a uh, just to hammer this home, hit in an email going back to a vendor that he loved a system.
46:36
SPEAKER_01: He was 110% on board for this system.
46:39
SPEAKER_01: He wanted to go ahead and sign the people up, and we got him in a manager meeting and they blew it.
46:45
SPEAKER_01: Blew it terrible.
46:46
SPEAKER_01: And even though he didn't want to, he didn't have internal buy-in from employees, and so we didn't go with that system.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: We didn't go with them.
46:52
SPEAKER_01: We didn't go so it's so it's almost more important than actually the system you liking and everything else, because uh buy-in from internally, if they're working harder, can outweigh some of the bugs and glitches of a system whenever it it doesn't necessarily perform as good as something else, but you have better buy-in, that's that's good to look at.
47:13
SPEAKER_01: I would agree.
47:13
SPEAKER_01: I would agree.
47:14
SPEAKER_02: One of the cool things, one of the last things we'll talk about in NADA is being able to see all these things.
47:19
SPEAKER_02: And it allows you to see into the future a little bit of if you don't adapt, someone else out there is going to.
47:26
SPEAKER_02: And so all these systems, you know, and so for years it's been talking about how to do kind of direct to consumer but without coming to the store.
47:35
SPEAKER_02: So then how those things adapt.
47:37
SPEAKER_02: So everyone, there was tons of podcasts uh that were popping up and people were having discussions.
47:43
SPEAKER_02: And so it was, you know, this person from this side of the industry and this person from this side of the industry talking about, hey, how to stay relevant for Gen Z, you know, for the shoppers and what that looks like.
47:53
SPEAKER_02: And so in those workshops, and they were talking about, hey, how to make your mobile service department the most relevant, and here's how you schedule it, and here's where you go.
48:00
SPEAKER_02: And so you're able to learn years worth of stuff and research just by going and being around it and just taking notes and implementing and come back.
48:10
SPEAKER_02: You know, it some of the of the training and the things that you see allows you to be able to bring back and add some spark back into your team of like, hey, here's where the industry is going, here's where we're gonna go in our take on it.
48:22
SPEAKER_02: And it allows you to stay relevant, that you're not in your same circle in your same.
48:27
SPEAKER_02: You know, we talk about where the average of the five people were around.
48:29
SPEAKER_02: Well, we had to get around some big heavy hitters that have big ideas.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: Sure.
48:33
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
48:33
SPEAKER_02: You know, that's like, ooh, okay, all right.
48:35
SPEAKER_02: So that's where we were able to find some of those, some of those connections.
48:38
SPEAKER_02: And I've had text messages since then.
48:40
SPEAKER_02: It's like, hey, love that we got to meet up.
48:42
SPEAKER_02: You know, hey, here's this connection, here's this connection.
48:45
SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, let's go somewhere with that.
48:47
SPEAKER_02: Right.
48:47
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I agree.
48:48
SPEAKER_02: So that that's a good thing there.
48:49
SPEAKER_02: All right, frequently asked question, then we'll wrap this thing up.
48:51
SPEAKER_02: If there was one thing you could bring back from NADA, whether it was something you learned, whether it was a system, a software, something you see you should never do, what do you think that would be?
49:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh my encouragement to the team is to slow down and look at the customer record.
49:10
SPEAKER_00: Now, right now, that's to have the salesperson or the service advisor live in multiple different systems, but to collect all the information before you proceed forward with writing the customer up in service or with that sales transaction.
49:25
SPEAKER_00: Because customers are taking the time to have conversations online, to fill out information, and the last thing you want to do is ignore that.
49:35
SPEAKER_01: I really like that, and it kind of transitions over into I saw a whole big void of in our CRM, our customer management tool, that the lack of use of even some of the current systems we have that would be much better with the different ones we were looking at there, but just fully utilizing the system and really diving into it, not saying necessarily doesn't have it or turned a blind eye to say, Oh, I didn't really dive into that, but fully utilizing the systems that we currently have, it's always a great reminder to, hey, squeeze it a little bit harder, there's more in there.
50:11
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
50:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
50:12
SPEAKER_02: So one of the things that I saw that uh I was talking about in our meeting this morning, but your digital footprint and so you could have the greatest culture within our store, which I would put our culture against anyone, right?
50:26
SPEAKER_02: Uh and you could have the best transactional process, but does your digital footprint show that?
50:32
SPEAKER_02: Now, none of us are TikTok influencers, uh, let alone YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, whatever all the stuff is, you know?
50:42
SPEAKER_02: Uh, but that's where the people are.
50:45
SPEAKER_02: And then then that feeds to your website, because that's where they collect more data, right?
50:50
SPEAKER_02: They get influenced in those channels, then they end up on your website to then figure out is the place, is this the place, right?
50:57
SPEAKER_02: And so does your feeling of your social, hopefully it's there, and how do you build that, to feel like your culture internally, and then does that transact to your website?
51:06
SPEAKER_02: Because in one of the seminars they talked about that of how that needs to be your feeling across all platforms.
51:12
SPEAKER_02: It needs to be the same.
51:13
SPEAKER_02: It doesn't be like, oh, that's wild and crazy over here on X, and then you get over here on Facebook and it's completely different, and then you get on your website and it's like hold music.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: The message has to be consistent.
51:28
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not saying people are gonna buy all their cars online.
51:31
SPEAKER_02: The fact is it proved the other way, but did it allow them to start and be super clear and transparent in all your pricing?
51:37
SPEAKER_02: I'm not just talking about cars like forget cars for something, your service price and is your service menu price online and how to transact through parts and maybe finance via a maintenance plan at half price or those things.
51:49
SPEAKER_02: So, does your digital footprint look like what your store does?
51:53
SPEAKER_02: And I'm not talking about blocks and pieces, I'm talking about that transactional style thing.
51:58
SPEAKER_02: And does it have that feel of the warm and fuzzy and what your culture looks like?
52:02
SPEAKER_02: So that was I took a bunch of notes on that.
52:04
SPEAKER_02: That's good.
52:05
SPEAKER_02: You know, like our service scheduling, we talk about all the time that no appointment needed, and in our service meetings every single week, we talk about hours left unsold.
52:14
SPEAKER_02: Yet in one of the workshops, I tried to schedule an oil change for our own dealership online, and it was 12 days out.
52:21
SPEAKER_02: And so as soon as I got on that, I was like, why isn't this opened up more?
52:26
SPEAKER_02: This side we're complaining that we don't have enough and the hours go unsold.
52:30
SPEAKER_02: And this side we're saying, no, no, no, no.
52:32
SPEAKER_02: And and there was good intentions of trying to manage expectations, but to get that footprint to feel like it is, I think is a big takeaway that we'll definitely work on there.
52:41
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
52:42
SPEAKER_00: Hey, another great episode, episode 75 today, where we got to talk systems, conventions, and then ones to bring on, ones to let go, and hopefully some tips to help you guys.
52:52
SPEAKER_00: As always, go check out our inventory on Lewis Superstore.com and get this episode and then many more at Crossroad Conversations Podcast.com.
53:01
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for joining us today, and we hope you enjoyed this episode.
53:05
SPEAKER_00: Make sure to give it a like, share it with your friends and family, visit our website, and send us some questions.
53:10
SPEAKER_00: 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.