Latest / Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers / Ep 93 "The Price of Being the Name on the Building"

Transcript

Ep 93 "The Price of Being the Name on the Building" · Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

0:00
SPEAKER_00: If you've ever watched anybody that's been bedridden, their muscle just deteriorates so fast.
0:08
SPEAKER_00: And that's no different than building trust and reputation.
0:12
SPEAKER_00: It takes one customer at a time, one day at a time, years and years and years, one block, one block, one block at a time, but a wrecking ball takes it all down right.
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 hosts, 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.
0:46
SPEAKER_00: And maybe even throw in a plug for you to do business with us.
0:50
SPEAKER_00: Hey, episode 93 of Crossroad Conversations.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: Taylor and I are in the studio today.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
0:56
SPEAKER_00: And man, do we got a good one to talk about?
0:58
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
0:59
SPEAKER_00: The price of being the name on the building, we got 80 years worth of history of doing this.
1:05
SPEAKER_01: Got a lot of stories.
1:06
SPEAKER_00: Even if Taylor and I don't look that old collectively, we got a lot of grain.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: It's just ingrained into us.
1:12
SPEAKER_00: I mean, think about this.
1:14
SPEAKER_00: When your name is literally on the building, you know, there's no clocking out.
1:19
SPEAKER_00: Every interaction in town is a reflection of the business.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Most people can leave work at work, but when you're the brand, the line in between personal and profession disappears.
1:31
SPEAKER_00: For leaders and business owners, your reputation and the company's reputation, they're the same thing.
1:37
SPEAKER_00: They really are.
1:38
SPEAKER_00: You can't blame it on the owners of the business.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: Nope.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: Whether you like it or not, for everyone else, this is a win to window into what actually costs to carry a family name in the business.
1:48
SPEAKER_00: The weight nobody sees.
1:50
SPEAKER_00: The question underneath it all is the name or the position of owner.
1:54
SPEAKER_00: A privilege, a pressure, or both.
1:57
SPEAKER_01: And that will unpack today.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: Before we do that, we've got to dive back to 92.
2:02
SPEAKER_01: They bought once.
2:03
SPEAKER_01: Now what?
2:04
SPEAKER_01: The retention machine.
2:05
SPEAKER_01: This drives your business.
2:07
SPEAKER_01: This drives your business.
2:08
SPEAKER_01: If you're not focusing on repeats referrals, retaining that customer that we talked about costs so much to acquire right off the bat, knocking on the door of in our business, over$1,000, you are missing the boat.
2:23
SPEAKER_01: Go back and check that out in 92 previous episodes.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: Always check us out at Lewis Superstore.com for all the specials and crossroads conversation podcast for all the relevant stuff we've been going over there.
2:36
SPEAKER_01: But Matt, what's in the garage?
2:38
SPEAKER_00: Hey, today we're going to talk about how we put things in the garage.
2:41
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
2:42
SPEAKER_00: And that's how we acquire vehicles.
2:43
SPEAKER_00: We're always talking about selling vehicles, but we have to have the vehicles to sell.
2:47
SPEAKER_00: And one of the amazing benefits that we have being a family-owned, locally operated business, is the way we go about some of our processes.
2:57
SPEAKER_00: And one of those is how we acquire vehicles.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: So we buy the majority of our vehicles from individuals off the road right here in Northwest Arkansas.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: We have a lot to come from trade-ins too.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: But we buy anywhere from 40 to 70 vehicles a month from local people right here that are selling their vehicle because they've got an extra car, or they had bought something else, or they got a company car and they need to turn it into cash.
3:23
SPEAKER_00: We cash those vehicles.
3:25
SPEAKER_00: And a couple things, Taylor, that I think we got to tell our audience is why should they sell our car to us versus somebody online like a Carvana or a Carmax or this or that?
3:36
SPEAKER_00: And here's the reason: how fast we get you your money, how easy the process is, and then what we do to ensure that you get the most for your vehicle.
3:46
SPEAKER_01: You know what I love about our buying process?
3:47
SPEAKER_01: We have a whole team that's over that.
3:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: That some of our salespeople partake in it, but it's a complete different process.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: Like it's real deal.
3:57
SPEAKER_01: We're looking at your car, you bring it in.
4:01
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
4:02
SPEAKER_01: And we go through the whole process of valuating your car.
4:05
SPEAKER_01: It's not trading your car in like any other dealership, and they're like, oh, XYZ is wrong with it.
4:11
SPEAKER_01: We see everything you have with a car, look at the service history.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: And the big deal about it, we get you the most money and we write you a check today.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: What I'm going to talk about on the check today is I would say over half of the vehicles we buy, they have a loan on them, a payoff.
4:26
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
4:27
SPEAKER_00: So a lot of people out there that aren't familiar with the business are like, well, yeah, but I still owe the bank$15,000 or however much it may be.
4:34
SPEAKER_00: How do we go about that?
4:35
SPEAKER_00: We handle all that for you.
4:36
SPEAKER_00: There's a couple simple forms you fill out that gives us access to be able to process that with the bank.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: We pay the bank directly, where other people may make you go pay them and then they'll reimburse them, or you got to wait till you get the title, which is 30 to 45 days later, before they'll cut you the equity check.
4:53
SPEAKER_00: We simultaneously, let's say your car's worth$20,000 and you owe the bank$15,000.
4:59
SPEAKER_00: You have$5,000 worth of equity.
5:01
SPEAKER_00: We will cut you that$5,000 equity check instantly when we acquire the vehicle and simultaneously take care of paying the bank off, get the documents and the title sent directly to us.
5:13
SPEAKER_00: So when you walk away, you truly walk away, we take all the heavy lifting.
5:18
SPEAKER_00: Nobody in our area does that.
5:21
SPEAKER_00: I mean, nobody.
5:22
SPEAKER_00: If you go try to say, hey, if I drop my car off today, can I get an equity check today?
5:26
SPEAKER_00: They'll say no.
5:27
SPEAKER_00: They'll say, hey, will you handle everything with the bank so I don't have to worry about any of the other title processes?
5:32
SPEAKER_00: They'll say no.
5:33
SPEAKER_00: So I'm telling you, it is the best, the easy exp the easiest experience you've ever seen.
5:38
SPEAKER_00: If you want to know more information about that, go under our website.
5:41
SPEAKER_00: You can go into way, what's my car worth, our trade appraisal tool, and one of our team members will get in contact with you and we'll show you how easy it is to do business.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: All right, let's dive in today.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: Accountability doesn't clock out.
5:56
SPEAKER_00: And Taylor, that that's extremely true when your name's on the building or you're in a family business.
6:02
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
6:03
SPEAKER_00: Because you never know who you're gonna bump into.
6:06
SPEAKER_00: You never know who's watching.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: Today, you never know who's recording, you know, or what's gonna go on social media.
6:14
SPEAKER_00: And so you have to really think through how you act, what you say, and what you do.
6:22
SPEAKER_01: That that's a hard lesson that we probably learned growing up that didn't really make sense until you got into it.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: No, Taylor, you can't do this, you can't do that, you can't go out and do X, Y, and Z with friends, you can't do this.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: Because of the reputation, because of what the name, our business, our business that everything was built on, what that would portray if something was seen or you were doing something else.
6:54
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times I've seen it, especially I know with my wife, and I'm sure it's uh the same with yours, that they come on and they're like, what do you mean we can't do that?
7:03
SPEAKER_01: And it's taken years to be able to ingrain into them.
7:06
SPEAKER_01: And they've really learned there of, no, hey, we need to stay and doing this.
7:10
SPEAKER_01: This staying as far as being on track of not getting out of bounds, but really there's a weight that comes with that.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: There's a huge weight.
7:20
SPEAKER_00: And we, like Taylor said, we we grew up with that being ingrained to us, so it's second nature now.
7:25
SPEAKER_00: And because it does, I mean, it takes a lot to have muscle memory to go, whoop, stop, think, pause, what am I getting ready to say?
7:33
SPEAKER_00: What do my actions look like?
7:34
SPEAKER_00: And now listen, I've messed up plenty of times, okay?
7:37
SPEAKER_00: Plenty of times.
7:38
SPEAKER_00: But I know, and I now see that through a different scope.
7:42
SPEAKER_00: And I'll see somebody at a uh at a kid's ball game and a parent at an eight-year-old T ball game or basketball game or football game, just going absolute irate, okay?
7:55
SPEAKER_00: And complaining about the refs that I mean, come on, it's peewee sports.
7:59
SPEAKER_00: Volunteering volunteering, it's Pee-Wee sports.
8:02
SPEAKER_00: And I look at it through the scope of going, okay, they know who we are, we're on TV, we're on this and that.
8:09
SPEAKER_00: So we have to watch what we say and how we act.
8:13
SPEAKER_00: Now, it doesn't mean that we're not supportive, it doesn't mean that we don't get excited, we don't get wound up, but we understand the line to not cross, to still have fun and live a life, but to not be on the headline news.
8:26
SPEAKER_00: You know, we've had some companies locally that have been on the headline news not for growth in their business, but for things that family members have done or got in trouble for.
8:39
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yes.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: Big, big.
8:40
SPEAKER_01: I mean, the other day I can think about one.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: We we try to go and do some stuff every now and then.
8:47
SPEAKER_01: It is very rare, but that we're not here on a working day.
8:51
SPEAKER_01: This happened to be on a Sunday, but it shows you people are always watching.
8:55
SPEAKER_01: We were out at the lake with the whole family coming back from eating and walking down, and had a whole group that had called us out and said, I thought there's always a Lewis brother on site whenever we were out there.
9:07
SPEAKER_01: And we looked and we're like, Come on, man, it's a Sunday.
9:11
SPEAKER_01: We're out here.
9:13
SPEAKER_01: And he was just busting our chops and giving us a hard time.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: But you know what?
9:18
SPEAKER_01: We were with our family, we were doing everything we were supposed to, and so it didn't catch us off guard at all.
9:25
SPEAKER_01: We said, Absolutely, you know, we gotta take a break every now and then.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: It's on Sunday.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: We give the team off a day to spend with their family.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: But had we been just going reckless off the cuff, right there is an example, right?
9:37
SPEAKER_00: Right there, and then that would have so that there's two things that happened there is that then the kids later were asking, like, well, why is that guy asking why you weren't at work and this and that?
9:47
SPEAKER_00: So it was a great example for me.
9:48
SPEAKER_00: Go, hey guys, somebody's always watching, and when you're in a family business, uh-huh under a microscope, oh yeah, and constantly, like Taylor said, no big deal because it was Sunday, and we could just throw a back at him, like, well, yeah, it's Sunday.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: We give our employees Sunday off.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: We're out here enjoying with our family.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: But fortunately, too, it wasn't just this huge party on the boat, you know.
10:10
SPEAKER_00: No, were we having fun, the kids were cutting up?
10:12
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, sure, but not out of control, reckless.
10:16
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
10:17
SPEAKER_00: Where then it was a bad reflection, not just on us, but on the business.
10:21
SPEAKER_00: And what we have to think about, some of y'all are sitting out there going, well, you know, I work hard, I should be able to play hard.
10:28
SPEAKER_00: Okay, but you need to figure out the atmosphere you do that in.
10:32
SPEAKER_00: And you're now not just in charge of your destiny, you're in charge of your destiny plus all of your employees.
10:39
SPEAKER_00: And if you do something to deter somebody from doing business with you, you may be able to take that financial hit.
10:47
SPEAKER_00: But what about the rest of your employees?
10:49
SPEAKER_00: What about that extra job you didn't sell because something happened because of something you did in public, and now they didn't turn as many hours.
10:57
SPEAKER_00: Their commission check wasn't as big, and then they can't provide for their family.
11:01
SPEAKER_00: That's what you've got to think about.
11:03
SPEAKER_00: It's not about you anymore.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: No, it it's about everybody in your company, what that represents.
11:10
SPEAKER_00: It's about strategically all your alliances with everybody you've sponsored.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: Think about that.
11:17
SPEAKER_00: We've heard that in the news before.
11:18
SPEAKER_00: When somebody's been sponsored by a big name company, athletes, this gets talked about all the time, and then they get in trouble in the news for something, and then all of a sudden the sponsors are dropping them left and right because they don't want to be associated with that.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
11:32
SPEAKER_01: And you got to think whenever your name is out there more, we always see an uptick in this during Ultimate Challenge that we sticker all of our employee vehicles.
11:42
SPEAKER_01: We don't really have, we have our service vehicles that are our direct vehicles, we go to repair customers.
11:48
SPEAKER_01: So certain employees drive them, but we don't have all of our cars stickered up, lettered up on the side.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: So think of this if you're a business owner of hopping in your vehicle and going and doing whatever.
12:00
SPEAKER_01: During that month, we get calls all the time of our defensive drivers that are in personal rigs.
12:06
SPEAKER_01: But since they have a sticker on the back, we get a call and they say, Hey, you need to fix this.
12:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, if you're in your personal rig and you're going out driving recklessly at a bar whenever you don't need to be, doing something that's going to reflect bad on your company.
12:22
SPEAKER_01: People, even if they don't call in, they're going to take that note and say, Hmm, I saw them doing that.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: I'm probably not going to recommend them or call them because of this.
12:31
SPEAKER_00: That's so true.
12:32
SPEAKER_00: That's so true.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And it just takes, and you're like, well, I don't I don't really want to do that.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: That's not what I signed up for.
12:39
SPEAKER_00: Well, maybe you don't need to own your own business.
12:43
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you need to change the name that doesn't so it doesn't have your name on it.
12:47
SPEAKER_00: If you're proud enough to have your name on the business, that comes with additional responsibilities.
12:53
SPEAKER_00: And those responsibilities is you have to watch how you act and what you do.
12:58
SPEAKER_00: Now I'm going to flip it a little bit here, too, is let's then talk about the internal portion.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: And I'll start with when we were growing up.
13:09
SPEAKER_00: I can remember the company sponsoring a baseball team I was on or a basketball team I was on.
13:16
SPEAKER_00: And then all of a sudden the chatter was, well, the reason Matt's on that team is because his family sponsored the team.
13:24
SPEAKER_00: So that's the other part it comes with.
13:26
SPEAKER_00: And I can remember dad talking to me about this, and he's like, son, you people are always going to say that.
13:32
SPEAKER_00: They're always going to bring that up.
13:34
SPEAKER_00: It's your job on how to respond.
13:36
SPEAKER_00: And he always taught us the response wasn't with words, the response was with actions.
13:44
SPEAKER_00: And the actions were you have an opportunity to prove that that's not the case.
13:50
SPEAKER_00: And the way you do that, no matter your talent level, is you show up.
13:55
SPEAKER_00: You show up and you give it 110%, he'd say.
13:58
SPEAKER_00: So every single time, no matter what it was, and I wasn't a good basketball or baseball player, but I was there, I was on time, I wasn't goofing off, and I was working my butt off, you know, in practice.
14:10
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
14:11
SPEAKER_00: And that transferred over when it came into business.
14:14
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: It really did.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: So then, you know, people were watching, well, he's in he's in this position because of his last name, because of his family business.
14:23
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm in that position because I've done the work and I work twice as hard as anybody else.
14:29
SPEAKER_00: And I'm here before them and after them, so on and so forth.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: So it's twofolds when we're talking about the family name here and being part of it.
14:37
SPEAKER_00: Amazing opportunity.
14:39
SPEAKER_00: Oh, absolutely.
14:40
SPEAKER_00: Amazing opportunity, but it comes at a cost.
14:43
SPEAKER_00: It does.
14:44
SPEAKER_00: That a lot of people think they want, but they probably don't.
14:48
SPEAKER_01: No, and a lot of people that get into it don't realize my goal becomes my employee.
14:54
SPEAKER_01: Like my employees' goal, I said that backwards.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: My employees' goals become my goal because I want them to be successful.
15:02
SPEAKER_01: My ultimate success is seeing the others around me be successful.
15:06
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
15:07
SPEAKER_01: And whenever you're a true business owner, your name's on the business.
15:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm going to get enough accolades from all of my employees achieving their goals.
15:18
SPEAKER_01: I don't have to go around pounding my chest saying, I own this, look at me, I'm doing this.
15:24
SPEAKER_01: So that shifts there, and the weight is probably lifted a little bit knowing you're helping, but there's definitely a weight there having your own name on it and having to work differently.
15:35
SPEAKER_00: That's very true.
15:36
SPEAKER_00: Now, on the other side of it, the upside is instant trust and credibility.
15:42
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
15:43
SPEAKER_00: Which a nameless competitor can't even buy, no matter what they spend.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot we give up to have that reputation and that trust in the Lewis name that others can't even come in town and buy.
15:57
SPEAKER_00: The Carvana can't come in town and buy.
16:00
SPEAKER_00: Carmax up the road that just put in a store, they can't come in town and buy.
16:04
SPEAKER_00: You know, they haven't put in the hard work.
16:07
SPEAKER_01: Oh, I was talking to a uh local business friend the other day, and he was telling me, he said, Taylor, because they've grown a whole lot.
16:14
SPEAKER_01: And he said, listen, he said, y'all, y'all have culture that no one else can touch.
16:22
SPEAKER_01: He said, that's lost in our business.
16:25
SPEAKER_01: We've gotten too big and we can't ever get it back.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: He said, never lose that.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: Never lose that.
16:30
SPEAKER_01: That's the different edge you have.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: And so we've had to fight, especially with growing over close to 100, 300 employees, that we're doing it the right way because it has to be scaled differently, but we're still involved because that is our roots of what has built our company and what's important to us.
16:49
SPEAKER_00: That's right.
16:50
SPEAKER_00: You know, but let's go back the other way.
16:53
SPEAKER_00: The cost is, though, one bad experience becomes the Lewises did that to me.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: Oh, they they just destroy you.
17:03
SPEAKER_01: Nothing, nothing probably stings us worse as brothers than whenever it's just our name.
17:12
SPEAKER_01: And we have to sometimes drag customers through it.
17:15
SPEAKER_01: I had one here that they were so wound up slandering us on every social platform that could be, all from a misunderstanding.
17:25
SPEAKER_01: And I had to slur down and say, hey, look, we are people.
17:28
SPEAKER_01: We are people.
17:30
SPEAKER_01: I am family.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: I have to go home at night after you've done this and you don't even care.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: And at the end of it, she said, Well, I had never thought of it that way.
17:39
SPEAKER_01: I said, Yes, we are, because a lot of people will say, Well, Lewis Ford did it.
17:44
SPEAKER_01: Guess what?
17:45
SPEAKER_01: We're Lewis Ford.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
17:46
SPEAKER_01: That's us.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: It's not Ford the company or anything else.
17:50
SPEAKER_01: That is us.
17:51
SPEAKER_01: So customers, and I'll even talk to some.
17:54
SPEAKER_01: They're said, Well, we we come to y'all and we did that.
17:58
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry we did that, but a corporate store would just tell us to get out.
18:02
SPEAKER_01: So they take advantage of it, knowing we're gonna do something and we're human.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think so.
18:08
SPEAKER_00: And we've we've gotten better about having our radar on for that.
18:11
SPEAKER_00: And the other thing we've developed is a better, what's called elevator speech of knowing how to handle it and knowing when somebody's trying to take advantage of us and walking them through that because they will.
18:24
SPEAKER_00: It's we are in this unique target area that we're big enough that people see, well, oh, they're big enough.
18:30
SPEAKER_00: Look at those fancy new stores.
18:31
SPEAKER_00: They can afford to do this, yet they're not corporate enough that I don't have to go through three floors of lawyers and legal to be able to get something done.
18:40
SPEAKER_00: But you know, you've had a couple instances on that that nicely and respectfully, you just called them out.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
18:46
SPEAKER_00: It said, hey, slow down for just a second.
18:48
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
18:49
SPEAKER_00: We didn't build the car, we want to fix the car, because if we don't fix it, we don't get paid from Ford or Jeep or Ram or any of that stuff.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
18:59
SPEAKER_00: We want to get you your paperwork.
19:01
SPEAKER_00: We're not the state, we're not the revenue department.
19:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to hold on to it.
19:05
SPEAKER_00: We don't print the titles, okay?
19:08
SPEAKER_00: We want to try to help you do that, but just just hang on a second.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
19:12
SPEAKER_00: You know?
19:13
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
19:14
SPEAKER_00: That they everybody wants a one-stop atmosphere.
19:16
SPEAKER_00: And we've now a little bit, we've created that because we want to be different.
19:21
SPEAKER_00: Sure.
19:22
SPEAKER_00: Hey, come to us, we'll get you fixed up.
19:24
SPEAKER_00: If you got a problem, we'll help you out.
19:26
SPEAKER_00: But then that there, there's a man, there's a line that's close.
19:30
SPEAKER_01: There is, and you have to shut it off.
19:32
SPEAKER_01: You have to shut it off and be able to you have to delegate it to your management team that you have empowered because it'll will it will run your wheels off in a hurry if you let it.
19:42
SPEAKER_00: And and the reason that is, is because of the standards.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: And we hold a line differently because our name's on the building.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
19:51
SPEAKER_00: If our name's not on the building, here's what you see happen with corporate why then they come ask us is it's easy for them to be one way or the other.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
19:59
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's easier for them to just say, no, no, no, no, no, no.
20:02
SPEAKER_00: It's policy, it's policy, it's policy.
20:03
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
20:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, because they're big enough.
20:06
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
20:07
SPEAKER_00: They the owner of that company could be out in public and people don't even know that they're the owner of it because it's a different name.
20:13
SPEAKER_01: I have no clue because you could be Joe Smith general manager of whatever store it is.
20:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: You tell the customer X, Y, and Z, and I don't care, and there's the door.
20:23
SPEAKER_01: Great.
20:24
SPEAKER_01: They're going to say X, Y, and Z Motors did this.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, X, Y, Z Motors is going to get the battery out, not Matt or Taylor Lewis.
20:34
SPEAKER_00: So then you may be sitting out there going, okay, guys, I'm listening to this and I'm I feel for you guys, and I'm thinking about changing our business name just so we don't have to go through this.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: On through that.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: Bump the brakes.
20:45
SPEAKER_00: Bump the brakes.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: Why do we put ourselves out there like that?
20:50
SPEAKER_00: Why are we on TV?
20:52
SPEAKER_00: Not because we're movie stars, not because we're the best on TV.
20:56
SPEAKER_00: Because I and I can remember our media team coming coming to me and talking to me about us being on TV.
21:02
SPEAKER_00: And I was like, man, that's just not really my gig.
21:04
SPEAKER_00: I don't want the spotlight to be on me.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: It's about the business.
21:07
SPEAKER_00: And they said, Matt, I need you to rethink this.
21:11
SPEAKER_00: It's not about you and the spotlight being on you.
21:14
SPEAKER_00: It's about the difference that you guys are versus any other corporate.
21:20
SPEAKER_00: It's about utilizing till what you're talking about is our culture and our family owned as a competitive advantage to draw more business to sales and service.
21:31
SPEAKER_00: Others can't come in and buy what you guys have the platform to do.
21:36
SPEAKER_00: And when he told me that, I was like, okay, I'll get my hair cut.
21:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh I'll, you know, I'll press my shirt and I'll get on TV.
21:44
SPEAKER_00: So it's worth it.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: It's worth it because we get to leverage off what others can't buy.
21:51
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
21:52
SPEAKER_00: And can't do, but it comes at the cost of being up and under a microscope.
21:56
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't.
21:57
SPEAKER_01: And trust me, as being a family owned business.
22:00
SPEAKER_01: I love, and I know both Matt and Shelby are exactly the same way.
22:05
SPEAKER_01: Love whenever we have a vendor that we use, whether it be HVAC plumbing, anything else, and it's family owned, it's not a corporate story.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: We love pouring back in.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
22:16
SPEAKER_01: Those are the ones we want to use.
22:19
SPEAKER_01: And you think of it.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: Think of your handyman.
22:21
SPEAKER_01: Think of your plumber.
22:23
SPEAKER_01: Think of your electrician.
22:25
SPEAKER_01: Do you like calling any of the corporate chains?
22:28
SPEAKER_01: No, you love calling the guy that your dad used, your uncle used, your whoever it is, family member or friend used.
22:35
SPEAKER_01: You love using the person that is family owned, that they own their own business.
22:40
SPEAKER_00: You know why that is?
22:42
SPEAKER_00: Because you can answer the three questions.
22:43
SPEAKER_00: Do you know them?
22:44
SPEAKER_00: Do you like them?
22:45
SPEAKER_00: Can you trust them?
22:45
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
22:46
SPEAKER_00: And we talk about that in selling.
22:47
SPEAKER_00: We talk about that in doing business with other people.
22:49
SPEAKER_00: And it's those three questions that if you've been listening to the podcast for a while, you'll recognize them.
22:54
SPEAKER_00: But it's do I know you, do I like you, and can I trust you?
22:57
SPEAKER_00: And I got to answer those three questions before I'll do business with you.
23:01
SPEAKER_00: So that's big.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: All right.
23:02
SPEAKER_00: What's our first fun fact?
23:04
SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely.
23:04
SPEAKER_01: And I think this rolls straight into this.
23:06
SPEAKER_01: Customers hold a named family business to a higher standard than a corporate chain.
23:12
SPEAKER_01: I think absolutely 100%.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: I think so too.
23:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I do want to talk about something here.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
23:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
23:20
SPEAKER_00: We went through this before we moved.
23:25
SPEAKER_00: And we recognize that a family business name will hold a higher credibility with local customers.
23:37
SPEAKER_00: However, it's a fine line on yes, that holds credibility, but are you offering the products and services that they could get elsewhere?
23:50
SPEAKER_00: And when we looked at it, and guys, we took on a massive, massive project with these new dealerships.
23:59
SPEAKER_00: And it really, it was like, do we really do this?
24:05
SPEAKER_00: We got the whole farm on the line here.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: Do we really do this?
24:09
SPEAKER_00: And what it came down to is when we looked at other small local businesses that had more family that had been highly successful, and large corporations came in here, whether it's in sporting goods or in gas stations or in other type stuff, and we said if they didn't adapt and they didn't offer up all the options and resources and processes, even though everybody loved that small town family deal, eventually they got bought out or went out of business.
24:41
SPEAKER_00: Yes, absolutely.
24:42
SPEAKER_00: So we said, we've got to go down the tracks at offering facilities, processes, and the products that they would find at a corporate owned, maybe somebody that owns 50 dealerships or 100 dealerships in this big corporation, yet integrate in the family name.
25:01
SPEAKER_00: And if we can merge those two, we think we have something really special.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: Um, so I think when you think about that, is it's not just the family business name allows you the opportunity and an advantage over corporates, but you still have to deliver.
25:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I can't sit in the corner and be old Uncle Sam's shop on the corner and do the same old things I've continued to do because you will become irrelevant.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: That's where family businesses don't evolve and move forward.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
25:31
SPEAKER_01: They do the same old thing without developing and evolving.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: Like we continue to use some of the same principles our great-grandfather used to be able to buy into the business than our grandfather, then our father, our uncle, and then to ourselves.
25:46
SPEAKER_01: We use those principles, but we've evolved on them.
25:48
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: We haven't sat and just stayed the same old way.
25:52
SPEAKER_01: So it's so important to remember.
25:54
SPEAKER_00: I can I can remember sitting in multiple times, but I'm going in front of the board before we were on the board and saying, hey, here's the idea.
26:04
SPEAKER_00: We should move.
26:05
SPEAKER_00: Here's how much I think it's going to cost.
26:07
SPEAKER_00: And this, sorry, about 15 years ago, we were having this discussion.
26:11
SPEAKER_00: And then them looking over at me, going, We're about to retire.
26:16
SPEAKER_00: The last thing we want to do is we've built the business then to retire.
26:20
SPEAKER_00: We understand you guys are then going to run it.
26:23
SPEAKER_00: But um, why would we want to take on this large liability when we want to retire?
26:30
SPEAKER_00: So then a couple more years went on, and I said, okay, I still think it's a great idea.
26:34
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I got a little bit of bad news.
26:36
SPEAKER_00: Uh, construction costs have increased.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: So I still think we should do this, but it's gonna cost more.
26:42
SPEAKER_00: And then about five years ago, when we started turning dirt, I said, we're really excited.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: This is the perfect plan.
26:49
SPEAKER_00: But uh, due to COVID inflation of prices, the building costs have gone up about another 15%.
26:55
SPEAKER_00: And on 156,000 square feet, that's a lot.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: Fortunately, we we uh had a great board of investors at the time, you know, which were family, um, that said, we understand, and this is not just about us and retiring, but this is about how does this get to fifth, sixth, seventh generation?
27:12
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
27:13
SPEAKER_00: How do we keep on going?
27:15
SPEAKER_00: And that is an infrastructure, and that is a vault.
27:18
SPEAKER_00: So that was a big description on your fun fact of the day.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: It is, but I love unpacking that and diving into the thing.
27:25
SPEAKER_01: We always ask ourselves, can you ever really go home?
27:29
SPEAKER_01: Um, yes, I do go home.
27:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh, I do go home.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: I now it says there's a blur here.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
27:35
SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot, and we each handle this different.
27:38
SPEAKER_00: Now we're we're all brothers and we're family, but we each handle this a little bit different.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: And you you have to determine that of what do you talk about outside of business and what do you not talk about?
27:52
SPEAKER_00: Um who do you vent to and who do you not vent to?
27:57
SPEAKER_00: And the higher up you get, the less options you have.
28:01
SPEAKER_00: But strategically, you need to really think about this before you put it in place.
28:08
SPEAKER_00: And mine has adjusted over the years.
28:10
SPEAKER_00: I'm sure yours has too.
28:12
SPEAKER_00: And anybody to say they can leave it all at the curb when your name is on the business, that that's that's now I I could tell myself that, but but at the same time, I don't go home and unload on my family everything that happened during the day.
28:29
SPEAKER_00: I just they don't need that.
28:31
SPEAKER_00: They don't need that.
28:33
SPEAKER_00: And I also have to read the situation of my family and my wife.
28:37
SPEAKER_00: Of I I never want my family in the dark.
28:41
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, there's different stuff I share with my kids and my wife, okay, because I want them to know what's going on with the business.
28:46
SPEAKER_00: But same thing with my wife.
28:47
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what kind of day has she had?
28:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, what what's on her plate?
28:50
SPEAKER_00: What's she going through?
28:52
SPEAKER_00: You know, and as the man of the house, I've I've got to decipher through that.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
28:56
SPEAKER_00: I don't ever want her to feel like that she is not involved and doesn't know what's going on.
29:01
SPEAKER_00: But at the same time, I don't ever want her to have a feeling of the roof is caving in.
29:06
SPEAKER_00: What the heck are we doing?
29:07
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
29:08
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and that's where we can, I I agree 100% there.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: You you can take temperature whenever you're going home, and you know, it's the phone call of hey, I'm headed home.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: So you know already of driving home what I'm gonna be able to unload and do.
29:23
SPEAKER_01: And I'll find myself that I'll go several days out saying, you know, the question's always, hey, how'd y'all do today?
29:30
SPEAKER_01: I mean, did you sell?
29:32
SPEAKER_01: And it's either wow, it's really great, or I love the point that gets the point, like, well, you bet better tell them to get after it.
29:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: But getting to it that you get past the threshold of, hey, how are you?
29:43
SPEAKER_01: How was the day?
29:45
SPEAKER_01: That every now and then it gets broke down into that I was laughing yesterday, that I probably went on a 30-minute rant of why we're dealing a little bit differently with pricing and and salespeople and the workforce we have now and the industry as a whole.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: And I stopped, I was like, Are you even listening or saying anything?
30:05
SPEAKER_01: She said, No, I am.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: I said, Great.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: Thank you for being a good sounding board.
30:10
SPEAKER_01: So just sitting there, not really even saying anything, but letting it letting me unpack it.
30:16
SPEAKER_01: That's all we really ever need is just somebody to unpack it.
30:20
SPEAKER_01: Because where we do really good as brothers, whenever we go and do something, we can talk about things back and forth.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: But whenever we get into family atmosphere, we may touch on it here and there, but the dinner table conversations aren't there.
30:39
SPEAKER_00: It's not the dinner conversations are not about the business.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: No.
30:42
SPEAKER_00: Now, will somebody bring up a new fun car that's coming out?
30:46
SPEAKER_00: Sure, they will.
30:47
SPEAKER_00: Or an event we've gone to, yes.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: But the the we spend enough time in the business.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: So it's my intention, I'm sure yours too, that when that conversation comes up, it's about, hey, what sports are the kids in?
31:01
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: What about that trip you went on?
31:03
SPEAKER_00: What's that exciting that's happening in your life?
31:05
SPEAKER_00: What are you growing in the garden right now?
31:07
SPEAKER_00: Like, like all these, plus, we need that.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
31:10
SPEAKER_00: You know, we need that non-automotive stuff to talk about.
31:14
SPEAKER_00: Um, so can you completely shut it off?
31:18
SPEAKER_00: No, but you need to filter it.
31:20
SPEAKER_00: That also comes down to what I want to talk about here is who you can dump on.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
31:26
SPEAKER_00: Because we're all human, and now listen, I bottled stuff up for years.
31:31
SPEAKER_00: And at some point in time, it's why I run quite a bit.
31:34
SPEAKER_00: That helps, but it doesn't, that might help 90% of it, but there's still another 10% I need to unpack.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: Now, I'm not, even though I talk on this podcast, I don't have to talk a lot.
31:44
SPEAKER_00: I just I'm not.
31:45
SPEAKER_00: I can process whole stuff internally, deal with it, so on and so forth.
31:50
SPEAKER_00: But there's only a couple people that I can vent to.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, maybe three.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: And if I go past that three, now when I first started my career, there was a dozen.
32:04
SPEAKER_00: There's two dozen.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Because they were at the same level as I was.
32:09
SPEAKER_00: But then as you move up, if you find yourself complaining to your warehouse manager or your office manager about something that doesn't have to do with their department, they're they're really questioning a lot of things.
32:25
SPEAKER_01: They're questioning things, but then also you nonintentionally are starting a humongous gossip chain that will just spread like wildfire through your business.
32:40
SPEAKER_01: You wonder how things get around and do anything.
32:43
SPEAKER_01: It's because you installed your receptionist at the front door.
32:47
SPEAKER_01: I mean, because you're sitting there talking to her of going through.
32:51
SPEAKER_01: Make sure that's so important.
32:53
SPEAKER_01: Now, don't be a closed door that people run away from and you can't even talk to them.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that to you.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that to you.
33:03
SPEAKER_01: You but I feel like that was directed.
33:05
SPEAKER_01: No, you become a whole lot more presentable.
33:08
SPEAKER_01: I don't talk personal stuff, but I will sit there and accept anyone.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: I've changed that a little bit now as I continue to grow and become older.
33:18
SPEAKER_00: I would say, and you know, Taylor calls me out on that, and that's correct.
33:21
SPEAKER_00: You know, some of the feedback from employees that they wouldn't tell me, but they would tell Taylor is like, man, I just never, never talks to anybody or this or that.
33:31
SPEAKER_00: I did, but it was a hundred percent business.
33:33
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
33:34
SPEAKER_00: And one of those things is my mind just works in a weird way of like, am I doing the most productive thing right now?
33:40
SPEAKER_00: I could have been making another decision, what else could I get done?
33:42
SPEAKER_00: It drives my wife nuts because we won't be 30 minutes early to somewhere because I could have got two more things done.
33:47
SPEAKER_00: Um, but that was like where that was a benefit, it was also a downfall, and Taylor was able to bring it to me, and he's like, hey, like just every once in a while, they got to feel like that you're human and you're real.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
33:59
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, okay, okay, I can do that.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: And and it's still I'm not the best at it, but I'm better than I was.
34:05
SPEAKER_00: On the flip side, when Taylor was getting in the business, there were a couple people, and not he wasn't at the level and in the position that he's in now.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: He was just starting in management areas.
34:16
SPEAKER_00: He was an inventory manager, finance manager, and there were plenty of people at his same level that he would go talk to.
34:24
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
34:26
SPEAKER_00: And I started hearing it through the grapevine of him talking to so-and-so, just venting about something.
34:34
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
34:35
SPEAKER_00: And it would get back, and I'm like, oh shoot.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't realize that he's got to have his guard up, even if somebody's at the same level as him.
34:45
SPEAKER_00: Not only do they have to be at the same level as you or greater to be able to dump, it has to be a trusted source that you know is then not going to gossip about.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
34:54
SPEAKER_00: And that individual I'm thinking about, they're not with the company anymore.
34:58
SPEAKER_00: And it's not because of that.
34:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
35:00
SPEAKER_00: But it was a great example of like Taylor, that this is nothing earth-shattering.
35:04
SPEAKER_00: It's not going to hurt the business, it's not going to hurt you.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: But it's a great learning lesson of, hey, when you go vent that to that person you thought that was a safe place, they are now telling the rest of the entire company.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: You're like, Are you serious?
35:17
SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
35:18
SPEAKER_01: And that took a couple times to learn.
35:20
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, it's going to sting you.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: And you've got to learn that.
35:23
SPEAKER_01: It's no different than us working through all the different is you as a business owner working from the ground up, from the books to the sales to the hands-on pieces of it that run your business.
35:37
SPEAKER_01: There's no easy, fast track way of learning a business, learning what you say, learning what you don't do, if you're not open to learning of others around you and you experience it yourself.
35:49
SPEAKER_00: And if you'll really think, if you'll just sit and think, and I want you to have just do this over the next few days or maybe the next week.
35:56
SPEAKER_00: Just have your eyes and ears open and listen and watch people.
36:00
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you're going to be at a sporting event, maybe you're going to be at a church event, maybe you're going to be at a concert, maybe you're going to be on the lake.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
36:07
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to watch other people.
36:09
SPEAKER_00: Some of them you're going to know, you're either going to see that they have a shirt on that's got a business logo on it, or you're going to know that they're business owners.
36:16
SPEAKER_00: How do they act, how they represent themselves.
36:18
SPEAKER_00: And then watch the other people around them.
36:21
SPEAKER_00: Watch next time that a fan gets gets rowdy at something that really is a bystander, you can see is not that big of a deal.
36:29
SPEAKER_00: And then what everybody else looks at them as.
36:33
SPEAKER_00: Because you're influencing and you're either promoting a brand and who you are, or you're discouraging people to do business with you.
36:42
SPEAKER_00: And it's like, man, that doesn't sound like very fun.
36:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, this is what you signed up for.
36:47
SPEAKER_00: And you've got to make the sacrifices if you want the benefits and the rewards.
36:52
SPEAKER_00: When you look at, I know I talk a lot about professional athletes, but it's so easy to follow their story because there's so much documentation and they're really naked to the world out there on what they make, what their stats are, how they're held accountable.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: Um, there's a lot of us that are armchair quarterbacks, but if we were out there like that to the world, we'd be going, oh shoot, I'd really improve some stuff.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: And the ones that are the best of the best, they're not on social media with pictures on how they were at the bar or at this club or this or that.
37:25
SPEAKER_00: They're back in the gym working, they're working on the reputation.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: When they're pictured up, it's it's with charities, it's with local support, it's with self-help things.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: It's it's all it's different.
37:35
SPEAKER_00: They got to sacrifice something to get something different.
37:38
SPEAKER_01: It's something constructive that is gonna lead to success, whether it be on the field or another image that's going down, because that's somebody that's really bought into there.
37:47
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: That's a big you know, and there's a flip side to this.
37:50
SPEAKER_01: Some of y'all are listening on here, and some of it at certain levels, I guess this work it would not work for us because we have to have a point to unpack, decompress.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: But there's some that there's no wanting to separate it.
38:05
SPEAKER_01: It's business, it's the family, it's the point.
38:08
SPEAKER_01: If that's you and you're working in that atmosphere, good for you.
38:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
38:15
unknown: Yeah.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying at that point of it, because and there's just a separation, there's different levels of business, and some of them are small enough or don't have as much frequency, so that can be done.
38:31
SPEAKER_01: But there, I'm telling you this if you're listening, there is great benefit.
38:35
SPEAKER_01: There is great benefit in growth that can happen if you allow yourself to be able to separate it.
38:43
SPEAKER_00: My caution to you, if you're listening, going, these guys just don't understand.
38:49
SPEAKER_00: We've mixed it both in there.
38:51
SPEAKER_00: I would just ask you a couple questions.
38:55
SPEAKER_00: How long and how many generations have you been in business?
39:00
SPEAKER_00: And then if you say, Well, we've been in business for two generations, we've been in business for 25 years, I would then say, How many family events, not just you and your kids, but extended family, do you have?
39:16
SPEAKER_00: Do you get along?
39:19
SPEAKER_00: How do you guys interact?
39:22
SPEAKER_00: And is there animosity built up between the family members?
39:27
SPEAKER_00: And the reason I ask that is I think a true key to our success, and we can't take credit for it, we just took it and ran with it, is the ability to stay tight-knit as a family.
39:40
SPEAKER_00: And and the way we're able to do that is to allow each other to disagree without anybody getting upset.
39:49
SPEAKER_00: You know, don't bring things in that that don't need to be brought in, okay, and don't start any gossip.
40:00
SPEAKER_00: You know, we have to be very careful about that too, and we've talked about this, but even to the point of, and and this one's gonna sound weird to everybody, but I'm gonna throw it out there.
40:10
SPEAKER_00: I I am very protective, and and Taylor Shelby and I have had these conversations too of when I do start unloading or talking to my wife about a situation, I make sure even if there's times where I'm frustrated with one of my brothers, and and understand this, like the three of us always get frustrated with each other, okay?
40:31
SPEAKER_00: But we walk through it.
40:32
SPEAKER_00: I am very protective to not talk about that individual situation with her because her job and role, no, I don't say her job, her role as my wife is supporting me and protecting our family.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: And and she's amazing at it.
40:52
SPEAKER_00: If I tell her something that's frustrating me about Shelby or about Taylor, what that could do is start to build up some animosity or frustration toward Taylor's whole family or Shelby's whole family, not even knowing the true facts.
41:08
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
41:09
SPEAKER_00: But I was just dumping about it.
41:10
SPEAKER_00: And, you know, so that's one of the things we grew up with is like that didn't happen.
41:15
SPEAKER_00: Now, if it's frustration about the business, but if I'm frustrated with with Taylor or Shelby, I'm bringing that up with them, we're just gonna work through it.
41:22
SPEAKER_00: Or I'm gonna yell at the trees running through the forest.
41:25
SPEAKER_00: Because I understand, and you're like, dang, Matt, that's like so many steps deep.
41:30
SPEAKER_00: That's how you've got to think.
41:32
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
41:33
SPEAKER_00: And that's how you have a multi-generational family that gets along.
41:36
SPEAKER_01: So that leads straight into, and I know you uh love Tony Robbins, you listen to a whole lot of things.
41:41
SPEAKER_01: I love this quote.
41:43
SPEAKER_01: When people ask us, how do you make it 80 generations or 80 years?
41:47
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry, four generations, not 80 generations, but 80 years, four generations, because we continue to do those hard things that you don't want to do.
41:59
SPEAKER_01: His quote here is easy times create weak men, weak men create hard times.
42:04
SPEAKER_01: Hard times create strong men, strong men create easy times.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: You see the cycle there.
42:11
SPEAKER_01: Normally it will go grandfather or father to son.
42:15
SPEAKER_01: Grandfather's worked very hard.
42:17
SPEAKER_01: He wants to bless his son, and so his son gets in there.
42:21
SPEAKER_01: And if it makes past a second generation, a grandchild comes into it and they're handed everything.
42:30
SPEAKER_01: There is nothing wrong, and I know that probably hurts some of y'all's feelings that are listening.
42:35
SPEAKER_01: There is nothing wrong with helping them be able to move in the right direction, but still holding them accountable.
42:43
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: That is the difference of why us as brothers, I know one, we have respect for each other, and two, we work hard in the business because there are more, and we can go back to other previous episodes.
42:55
SPEAKER_01: There's multiple times that you going up, that me coming up through the business, I'm like, okay, I've done it long enough.
43:01
SPEAKER_01: Come on, please.
43:02
SPEAKER_01: My other buddy over here is already the president of the United States.
43:05
SPEAKER_01: Can I get a new demo?
43:06
SPEAKER_01: Like, please, no.
43:08
SPEAKER_01: I asked Matt so many times growing up, and I didn't realize now.
43:12
SPEAKER_01: Well, now I'm just like, ah, I'm driving a used truck and I don't care.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: But I'm like, please, can I get something else?
43:18
SPEAKER_01: I drive the oldest truck.
43:20
SPEAKER_01: My friends all have newer vehicles.
43:22
SPEAKER_01: I mean, come on.
43:23
SPEAKER_01: He's like, nah, nah, keep driving it.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: Said, okay, I understand.
43:28
SPEAKER_01: That's not fun to do, but it is so beneficial.
43:31
SPEAKER_00: Because what you didn't know, because dad had done it to me.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: You know, what you didn't know is behind the scenes, whether anybody ever said it or not, every employee saw that you were driving that 2005 extended cap two wheel drive truck that had 105,000.
43:47
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
43:48
SPEAKER_00: Every time it went into service, gossip started.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
43:52
SPEAKER_00: But the gossip was you know, Taylor's not driving a brand new car.
43:56
SPEAKER_00: It's got a hundred thousand miles.
43:59
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yeah.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
44:00
SPEAKER_00: Man, and then somebody else is like, well, do you look at what everybody else drives?
44:03
SPEAKER_00: Nobody's driving the Raptor or the GT500.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: The Lewis family, they're they're humble.
44:10
SPEAKER_00: They work hard.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
44:12
SPEAKER_00: They don't just get whatever they want.
44:13
SPEAKER_02: Yes.
44:14
SPEAKER_00: So so you can start gossip in the correct way and influence people.
44:19
SPEAKER_00: Exactly what we're talking about here.
44:22
SPEAKER_00: And and you weren't ready, nor was I ready at that stage to actually grasp and understand the depth of that lesson.
44:30
SPEAKER_00: And it's no different than with my kids now.
44:32
SPEAKER_00: It's like they won't understand a lot of it until later on in life, but you're ingraining that into them.
44:37
SPEAKER_01: It's no different financially, um, spiritually, uh, health-wise.
44:43
SPEAKER_01: Why I love I want you to go through the trenches a little bit.
44:48
SPEAKER_01: You have to go through some hard times in any of those segments to be able to appreciate it and never want to go back there again.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: You have to go through and wade through the waters, be in the mud a little bit, get banged up a little bit because that's what makes you resilient to where you can overcome obstacles in any area of your business that you're at.
45:09
SPEAKER_01: I agree.
45:09
SPEAKER_00: I agree.
45:10
SPEAKER_00: All right, here we go, myth busters.
45:11
SPEAKER_00: What do you think on this one here?
45:13
SPEAKER_00: Owners of family-named businesses have it easier because of the reputation is already built.
45:19
SPEAKER_01: If they don't know you, absolutely 100%, they think that is the truth.
45:23
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: That's what you hear so many times outside of it.
45:28
SPEAKER_01: Depending on the business, in our case, no way.
45:31
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no way.
45:32
SPEAKER_01: It was that's busted.
45:34
SPEAKER_01: You had to work a whole lot harder.
45:35
SPEAKER_00: You have to work a whole lot harder.
45:37
SPEAKER_00: Now, I will say if they're talking about the retail side of it, I think if a business if a family name business has a great reputation, it gives you the opportunity to use that as a leverage.
45:48
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
45:48
SPEAKER_00: And I would say this, like in we we're not ready to wrap this up, but if we had to wrap it up, I would say being in a family business and having your name on the building amplifies the opportunity.
46:01
SPEAKER_00: It amplifies the opportunity to be able to use that to move the business forward, or the opportunity of to drive it into the ground.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: It's it's either or.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: It's either or.
46:15
SPEAKER_00: It's not this middle ground where you can just say, well, let me be like the big corporations out there, and then just not care, and policy is policy, and here's what it is.
46:24
SPEAKER_00: You can't live in that.
46:26
SPEAKER_00: And I guess that's what we're really trying to drive home, is you can learn from the policies and the processes that big companies put in place.
46:34
SPEAKER_00: But if your name's going to be on the building, okay, and it's gonna be a family business, and that is part of the brand, you're not a silent investor, then you can't live in that middle ground.
46:46
SPEAKER_00: You either use that, and the whole reason your name is on there is to use that as leverage, but that comes at a cost that you have to watch the things you say you do and how you act.
46:57
SPEAKER_00: You just you can't have both.
46:59
SPEAKER_00: You can't have both.
47:00
SPEAKER_00: You can't.
47:00
SPEAKER_00: All right, the other side, and you started tipping into this, but when the name takes a hit, a public mistake, a bad review, a rumor around town, how you protect a name you didn't build alone.
47:15
SPEAKER_01: You have to dive into it and you have to make sure, obviously, the facts.
47:18
SPEAKER_01: You have to oh, we've talked about this with managing a customer, managing our employees, managing a mistake, a drop, anything else.
47:25
SPEAKER_01: We always get the facts.
47:26
SPEAKER_01: We don't overreact until we get there.
47:28
SPEAKER_01: But then you can go to work on it being as far as your name, and that's in an instance in I've been into that you can get pretty rigid about it of I'm factually staying here, and this is why I'm defending this, because you have to know who you're calling out.
47:46
SPEAKER_01: Like it's me, it's my family, it's my brothers that we've built on where 80 years of business, this is what you're calling out.
47:56
SPEAKER_01: And so then you get a little bit past a keyboard warrior or somebody that's trying to just get a whole lot of fuss in the in the um in the whatever, it's on social media or anything else, you get past that, someone starts to calm down a little bit.
48:12
SPEAKER_00: They do.
48:13
SPEAKER_00: So we do have we have the exposure, is it we're going I'm not gonna say be attacked, but we're gonna become at quite a bit more.
48:24
SPEAKER_00: But we also have the ability that when it when a customer gets to us, and like once we let them, you've go back to the other episodes if you hadn't listened to it before about letting them get it all out, asking questions.
48:35
SPEAKER_00: You you've got some more teeth.
48:37
SPEAKER_00: You do, you got some more teeth.
48:38
SPEAKER_00: And I want you to think about this, like, and we've all been there, we've all been hot about something, and we're running our mouth.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: And then when we finally get to the person highest up, even in school, you might have been running your mouth to the teacher, okay, and you know, the hall monitor, but when you finally get in front of the principal, your tone changes.
49:00
SPEAKER_00: You know what I mean?
49:01
SPEAKER_00: And I'm not saying the customer's tone changes, but once they get all their frustration out, and once you let them know, Taylor, like you did, of like, hey, listen, we're here to help you.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: I I am a Lewis.
49:14
SPEAKER_00: This is important to me.
49:15
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
49:16
SPEAKER_00: So let's slow down and let's figure this out.
49:18
SPEAKER_00: But I didn't build the car.
49:20
SPEAKER_00: No.
49:21
SPEAKER_01: Now, if we can both talk civilly, let's figure this out.
49:24
SPEAKER_01: And I've called it out in some circumstances as well and said, you know what?
49:29
SPEAKER_01: I'm standing here helping you.
49:30
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
49:31
SPEAKER_01: And I want to help you.
49:34
SPEAKER_01: Any of the other businesses in our our world, they would have told you there's the front door and leave.
49:39
SPEAKER_01: They would.
49:40
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, oh, okay, hold on.
49:42
SPEAKER_01: No, I'm sorry.
49:43
SPEAKER_01: And I said, I need you to know that and appreciate that and know together that we're gonna work together to find a solution.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: And it normally will slow them down, like, whoa, I'm sorry, like we called their bluff.
49:55
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yep.
49:56
SPEAKER_01: Of going, and you can do that as long as you do it correctly.
49:59
SPEAKER_01: I'm not, don't ever take this as me say you go out there and you be arrogant, you be um anything about it, you cuss a customer, any of that other stuff.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: We never do that, and you'll never see us do that.
50:10
SPEAKER_01: But will we stand firm and hold them accountable?
50:14
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
50:15
SPEAKER_00: And Taylor is a hundred percent correct here.
50:18
SPEAKER_00: And if you're trying to put this in place, don't forget you got to first let a customer get it out.
50:24
SPEAKER_00: Because Taylor never takes that action, because I watch him live in person doing this multiple times.
50:29
SPEAKER_00: That he asks them and he allows them to dump it all.
50:32
SPEAKER_00: Is there anything else?
50:33
SPEAKER_00: And why we get everything so the customer feels heard first.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: It's a little heard.
50:37
SPEAKER_00: You know, you just can't come out with your baseball bat and start swinging.
50:40
SPEAKER_00: No.
50:40
SPEAKER_00: Um, but then you really define it.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: And it's not a PR deal.
50:45
SPEAKER_00: That's what I want to get across here.
50:47
SPEAKER_00: This is not a PR.
50:48
SPEAKER_00: There's no cameras, there's no how many times have you, and we got awesome social media pages.
50:53
SPEAKER_00: How many times have you seen a social post about a situation that we turn from bad to good?
50:59
SPEAKER_00: How many times have you seen a story out there, a customer testimony, when somebody's, you know, they their wheel fell off and we ended up fixing it, and then everybody was good and we sent a loaner car and all these things when we covered a$700 mistake that really wasn't our mistake, but the customers bought five cars from us.
51:17
SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not a PR.
51:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't think any anybody can say that because we're not posting it and using it as PR.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: Why we're doing it is because it's the right thing to do, and it's because we want to take care of a customer when applicable to make sure our business continues to bring back repeat customers so our employees can have a great career and make a great living.
51:43
SPEAKER_00: And that seems backwards to so many people, but the best of the best out there, that's how they do that.
51:50
SPEAKER_00: That's how they do that.
51:51
SPEAKER_00: I I was reading a post last night, and you may know this, but everybody always talks about Chick-fil-A.
51:59
SPEAKER_00: Okay, they're a fast food restaurant, and they talk about the great service and experience they have at Chick-fil-A.
52:05
SPEAKER_00: Well, Taylor, I don't know if you know this or not, but back in, I think it was 2001 or 2003, okay, so 20 years ago, Chick-fil-A was not at that level.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: They had a decent chicken sandwich, and and their food's not the best.
52:18
SPEAKER_00: I mean, it eats, um, but they weren't at the level that everybody talks about now.
52:23
SPEAKER_00: Do you know what they did?
52:25
SPEAKER_00: They hired Ritz Carlton.
52:28
SPEAKER_00: They hired Ritz Carlton, the pinnacle of luxury and customer service and hospitality, to come in and help them develop the processes, the training programs, and help implement that level of hospitality into fast food.
52:44
SPEAKER_01: That's a great example of being able to be humble enough of saying, hey, I think we've got a good product, and I think this is the vision that I want to do.
52:54
SPEAKER_01: But let me go ahead and take from the best the pinnacle of hospitality, and how can I get better?
52:59
SPEAKER_01: That's yeah, I know.
53:01
SPEAKER_01: And now you fast forward to they work six days a week and outdo what another fast food chain does on seven days a week.
53:08
SPEAKER_00: You got it, you gotta love it.
53:09
SPEAKER_00: Okay, owning it versus defending it.
53:11
SPEAKER_00: When to apologize as the family and not the business.
53:15
SPEAKER_00: I think that's too and the same, though, because we're not really ever, I don't say ever.
53:19
SPEAKER_00: That that's bad, but apologizing for saying, hey, our family messed up here.
53:25
SPEAKER_00: But you we apologize as the business, as a family member.
53:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and when we say, hey, we apologize it went this way, you know, as one of the Lewis's and this being our family business.
53:38
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: I probably say, yes, I'm human.
53:40
SPEAKER_01: We're family, we're not corporate.
53:42
SPEAKER_01: I don't ever say, hey, the family is is sorry, because the Louis, I I in listen, I have family members that will go through and forget, and they say, well, Lewis Ford needs to take care of this.
53:59
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, myself, Matt, and Shelby are Lewis Ford, so you want us to take care of it?
54:08
SPEAKER_01: No, Lewis Ford needs to.
54:10
SPEAKER_01: So we never go out there and say the customer blurs the line between Ford Corporate and Lewis Ford.
54:17
SPEAKER_00: And Jeep and Lewis Jeep.
54:19
SPEAKER_00: Okay?
54:20
SPEAKER_00: We're the distributor of the vehicles.
54:23
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we don't make the determination on whether your warranty is approved or not, or when your car's built, or if it got damaged in transportation, or if they misbuilt it.
54:32
SPEAKER_00: Now we're here to walk you through the process, but just know that.
54:37
SPEAKER_00: Rebuilding trust that took generations to earn and a moment to shake.
54:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's it's no different than muscle.
54:47
SPEAKER_00: And y'all that are into fitness, you know how long it takes to build muscle, how long it takes to build endurance.
54:56
SPEAKER_00: And in and really, if you've ever watched anybody that's been bedridden, their muscle just deteriorates so fast.
55:07
SPEAKER_00: And that's no different than building trust and reputation.
55:10
SPEAKER_00: It takes one customer at a time, one day at a time, years and years and years, one block, one block, one block at a time, but a wrecking ball takes it all down like that.
55:21
SPEAKER_01: That's probably real where, real quick in management.
55:24
SPEAKER_01: We are forgiving, we bend a whole lot, but if something goes against our morals or anything else of our business principles, we snap quick of uh-uh, no way.
55:36
SPEAKER_01: Because all it takes is that one time, yep, and that was a small it, and then here comes the Mac truck down, and it's right through the middle of your business.
55:44
SPEAKER_00: So we're the first, if somebody, if a technician makes a mistake and they want to try to get their hours up and they recommend work on a vehicle that doesn't need to be done, just to up their hours, and the customer that we've built trust with says yes, but that really didn't need to be replaced.
56:01
SPEAKER_00: When we get wind of that, not only do we deduct the technician, we write them up.
56:07
SPEAKER_00: They maybe let go depending upon the severity of it.
56:10
SPEAKER_00: But then, two, we reach out to the customer and we write them a check.
56:13
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
56:14
SPEAKER_00: We write them a check.
56:15
SPEAKER_00: Hey, this was wrong.
56:17
SPEAKER_00: Here's your$1,100 back just to let you know through an audit of ours, we found this, and this is what we'll periodically do to make sure that our customers can trust us and that we're offering you recommended, actual needed services.
56:30
SPEAKER_01: And on the sales side, we'll say no amount of money, no amount of money made makes difference of morally not doing things correctly, of changing income or address or whatever, misrepresenting our customer to the bank that we have it in there, no amount.
56:46
SPEAKER_01: So you have to do business correctly.
56:48
SPEAKER_01: And you have to go, that's not a set it and forget it.
56:52
SPEAKER_01: Oh no, you have to go and inspect that because in this day and age, somebody real quickly, and they may be a pinch of something else that they want to be able to move forward and they'll try to slide it in.
57:04
SPEAKER_01: You've got to catch it and to be able to coach and build them up.
57:07
SPEAKER_01: But if it's something that's so severe, you have to be able to move on from that.
57:10
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
57:12
SPEAKER_01: So so that was really big there.
57:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, diving into uh questions here at the end, I'll ask you one there.
57:19
SPEAKER_01: Has it ever been tough to live the business name?
57:23
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
57:24
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
57:24
SPEAKER_00: I think even from a young age, it was always of until people got to know me and they saw my work, it was just, hey, Matt's getting to do this because of the family.
57:37
SPEAKER_00: Um, he is in that position because of the family or his last name.
57:42
SPEAKER_00: And those that are around me that are still around me and that have grown up, they will know that I worked harder than everybody else did because at a young age, that's what was ingrained into me is don't run your mouth about it.
57:56
SPEAKER_00: Just prove that that's not the case.
57:59
SPEAKER_00: Don't come crying to me, and this is my dad saying this.
58:02
SPEAKER_00: Just prove that that's not the case.
58:05
SPEAKER_00: You have an opportunity to show them that that's not the case or that what they're saying is correct.
58:14
SPEAKER_00: And you know it's not correct, so go to work.
58:17
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
58:18
SPEAKER_00: All right, and then on your side, Taylor, how do you keep the pressure of legacy from burning you out?
58:25
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a deep one.
58:26
SPEAKER_01: That is, I think you have to know that you're building, you can't let it weigh too much on your shoulders.
58:34
SPEAKER_01: I and I talk to Matt and Shelly about this all the time, that we we take the business from where it was, but we know we're taking it to different levels that we have our dreams set forth of.
58:47
SPEAKER_01: And we were already talking about which I love at this time, but where we're gonna be at whenever we hand it off to our kids, of where we're wanting to build it to.
58:56
SPEAKER_01: So knowing that I know the last 80 years, but the 80 years is where it got us to right now.
59:03
SPEAKER_01: How are we gonna build it that much more in the next 25 to 30 years before the next generation takes over and goes through?
59:11
SPEAKER_01: So that's what really keeps me uh burning and going through it from it just being, hey, you're doing exactly what they've been doing.
59:18
SPEAKER_01: No, we're doing what we want to do now.
59:21
SPEAKER_00: Man, it's been a great episode here on the price of being the name on the building.
59:25
SPEAKER_00: I hope you enjoyed this episode.
59:27
SPEAKER_00: Now remember, this is episode 93, so you can find 92 other episodes on running a business.
59:33
SPEAKER_00: You know, the ins, the goods, the bads, everything else at Crossroad Conversation Podcast dot com, and then all of our inventory at Lewis Superstore.com.
59:42
SPEAKER_00: Hey, thanks for joining us today, and we hope you enjoyed this episode.
59:45
SPEAKER_00: Make sure to give it a like, share it with your friends and family, visit our website, and send us some questions.
59:50
SPEAKER_00: We want to know what you'd like to hear, who'd 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.