Latest / Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers / Ep105 "Is the Car Buying Process Broken?"

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Ep105 "Is the Car Buying Process Broken?" · Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

0:03
SPEAKER_03: Hey everyone, welcome to Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers, where we aim to share real stories about running a successful family business, working through adversity, and pouring back into the community that keeps our door open.
0:15
SPEAKER_03: We're your host, Matt, Shelby, and Taylor, and we bring you relevant local business advice and automotive insights that are sure to change the way you look at running a business.
0:24
SPEAKER_03: And maybe even throw in a plug for you to do business with us.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Crossroads Conversation with the Lewis Brothers, episode 105.
0:31
SPEAKER_00: That is 105 relevant hours of stuff that we really break down.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has bought a car and almost nobody looks forward to doing it again.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: Or at least not with you.
0:43
SPEAKER_00: Is the car process broken?
0:45
SPEAKER_00: The buying process broken?
0:47
SPEAKER_00: We'll dive into that and more, but first let's recap last week.
0:50
SPEAKER_03: Hey, let's talk about last week.
0:52
SPEAKER_03: Man, it was a great conversation with our friend Donnie Hubbard of Hubbard Clothing.
0:57
SPEAKER_03: Now, Donnie really unpacked, it's not just about the clothing, it's about the entire culture he's built there and the multiple different businesses he's gone, how he's carved out a niche in the marketplace, how it makes people feel, and what else they do inside their business.
1:14
SPEAKER_03: I'm I promise you you don't want to have missed that episode.
1:17
SPEAKER_03: So go back and take a listen to that to learn all the great tips that he gave us.
1:21
SPEAKER_03: And as always, go to LewisSuperstore.com, check out over a thousand vehicles in stock.
1:26
SPEAKER_03: We have all of them priced to move.
1:28
SPEAKER_03: We make it really simple and transparent to do business, and check out all 104 episodes that we've already recorded at Crossroad Conversations.com.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: All right.
1:36
SPEAKER_01: And what's in the garage?
1:37
SPEAKER_01: What's in our garage?
1:38
SPEAKER_01: What will we want to put in your garage?
1:40
SPEAKER_01: So I want to talk about two things that are right now in people's mind.
1:43
SPEAKER_01: Affordability, right?
1:45
SPEAKER_01: That's important.
1:46
SPEAKER_01: Affordability.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: And constant affordability.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: So it's the cost of buying it and the cost of operating it.
1:53
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
1:54
SPEAKER_01: And one thing that's driving that up is gas prices.
1:56
SPEAKER_01: They're just a little bit average higher than normal, right?
1:59
SPEAKER_01: They are.
1:59
SPEAKER_01: So two vehicles I want to point out the Broncos Sport and the Maverick.
2:03
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: Both standardly will get over 30 miles a gallon, up to 42, 45 miles a gallon, the Maverick hybrid.
2:10
SPEAKER_01: Broncosport, two rows, five passenger, built for the off-road, built for the everyday.
2:15
SPEAKER_01: Might be your first time in an SUV.
2:17
SPEAKER_01: It might be your 18th time in an SUV.
2:20
SPEAKER_01: Super good car that is off-road rated, is tested, ready to go.
2:24
SPEAKER_01: That can be sub-30,000.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: So first affordability, over 30 miles a gallon, second affordability, and then the Maverick.
2:32
SPEAKER_01: If you need a truck bed, you said I need a truck, it's still going to be sub start at sub-30,000 price point there.
2:39
SPEAKER_01: And we have a bunch of these available.
2:41
SPEAKER_01: That's what I love.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: It's not a one-off, hey, come on down$29,995, and I only got one to pick from.
2:46
SPEAKER_01: We have a lot, right?
2:48
SPEAKER_01: And that's strategically because people constantly talk about affordability.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: And we know that both of those vehicles come in at a sub-30,000 price point, which we know is a sweet spot.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: That's where our average used car price is, is a little over$30,000.
3:03
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's about$32,000 or$33,000 on an average used.
3:05
SPEAKER_03: Well, you get a new one, you get a 10-year$120,000.
3:08
SPEAKER_03: Lewis.
3:09
SPEAKER_03: You get the Lewis guarantee, you get to save at the pump, and you get to save monthly.
3:13
SPEAKER_03: You know, everybody always talks, Shelby, that's a great point you bring up.
3:16
SPEAKER_03: Everybody's always talks about how much can I get off this vehicle.
3:19
SPEAKER_03: Well, that just happens once.
3:20
SPEAKER_03: One time.
3:21
SPEAKER_03: Well, we're talking about a saving monthly and maybe even weekly when you're talking about the fuel pump.
3:26
SPEAKER_03: I'm going to throw you a third one in there.
3:27
SPEAKER_01: Hit me with that.
3:28
SPEAKER_03: Just because we offer lots of brands and all different ones.
3:31
SPEAKER_03: Jeep.
3:32
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
3:32
SPEAKER_03: Do you really never put Jeep in fuel mileage or Jeep in affordability in the city?
3:36
SPEAKER_03: You kind of got to look in the depth of Jeep.
3:38
SPEAKER_03: Jeep Cherokee, the new one that is the hybrid.
3:41
SPEAKER_03: So it's a hybrid.
3:42
SPEAKER_03: You don't have to plug it in.
3:43
SPEAKER_03: It's 37 mile per gallon combined.
3:46
SPEAKER_03: Whoa.
3:47
SPEAKER_03: Over 40 in the city, and it's over 500 miles of range in a single tank.
3:52
SPEAKER_01: They updated the technology.
3:53
SPEAKER_01: So it's a technical screen.
3:55
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't seem like it's old.
3:57
SPEAKER_03: It's got they come standard in full-wheel drive.
3:59
SPEAKER_03: So we get full drive capability.
4:01
SPEAKER_03: You still have clearance.
4:02
SPEAKER_03: You can still cross the river, small rivers.
4:05
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
4:05
SPEAKER_03: You can still go camping in it.
4:07
SPEAKER_03: 500 miles per tank.
4:09
SPEAKER_03: We're talking mid-30s price point here.
4:11
SPEAKER_03: So we're still hitting that pre-owned price.
4:13
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
4:14
SPEAKER_03: And you save, save today and tomorrow.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: There we go.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: Three options that are going to be$35,000 or less.
4:19
SPEAKER_01: It's going to save you$600 a month, is what we're talking, payment-wise, and that low cost of fuel where we know that that's important, right?
4:26
SPEAKER_01: And most of those you're going to be able to, at this point, you're going to be 2027 until your first payment's due.
4:32
SPEAKER_01: A lot of those have 90 days no pay.
4:33
SPEAKER_01: So, right, you can make it past Thanksgiving.
4:36
SPEAKER_01: You can make it past Halloween, all the candy you're going to buy again.
4:38
SPEAKER_01: You can make it past Christmas before you have to make that first payment, right?
4:42
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
4:42
SPEAKER_00: That's big savings and a lot of options.
4:44
SPEAKER_00: I love that we didn't just give you one one off and it was purple or pink in color, and this is the only thing we have.
4:49
SPEAKER_00: We've got a whole smorgasbord to be able to do.
4:52
SPEAKER_00: But kicking off first here, the online search.
4:55
SPEAKER_00: Do buyers walk in knowing more than the salesperson now?
4:58
SPEAKER_00: Let me give you a fact before you take off.
5:00
SPEAKER_00: Stats 75% of buyers use third-party websites for research, and 12% now use AI for their initial research.
5:11
SPEAKER_00: Did you throw the brakes on me before?
5:13
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I knew you were gonna see my wheels talking to you.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: Hang on, hang on.
5:18
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, dang right.
5:19
SPEAKER_01: You sit back there, older brothers sit in the back.
5:22
SPEAKER_01: So I saved this from online conversation.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: I saved this the other day.
5:27
SPEAKER_01: It was people versus AI.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
5:29
SPEAKER_01: Okay?
5:30
SPEAKER_01: And so this guy made this whole assumption.
5:32
SPEAKER_01: He said we made a relatively mild change to our process and immediately shot past every competitor around us.
5:38
SPEAKER_01: The biggest takeaway, people still crave interaction.
5:42
SPEAKER_01: I absolutely believe AI become a massive part of our car buying process.
5:46
SPEAKER_01: AI to AI communication will happen.
5:48
SPEAKER_01: So think of how you search versus how we serve, right?
5:52
SPEAKER_01: And it will remove a tremendous amount of friction, but that doesn't mean the human experience disappears.
5:58
SPEAKER_01: Look at the hotel industry.
6:00
SPEAKER_01: You can book online, check in digitally, use a phone as your key, and interact with almost nobody.
6:06
SPEAKER_01: I love that.
6:07
SPEAKER_01: Yet the experience still matters.
6:09
SPEAKER_01: People still want to feel welcomed, valued, and taken care of.
6:12
SPEAKER_01: Car buying is no different.
6:14
SPEAKER_01: Customers want the convenience of AI when it's time to search, when it's time to find something, and the convenience that comes with dealing with people that they trust.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: And once you shop every competitor, you quickly realize how difficult the industry has made it to actually do business.
6:28
SPEAKER_01: People want to be appreciated, they want transparency, they want someone to listen to them.
6:32
SPEAKER_01: That's not AI, they want someone to advocate for them, and they want to know their business matters.
6:36
SPEAKER_01: And here's the question I have we should all ask ourselves: why do people willingly pay more for certain experience than others?
6:43
SPEAKER_01: Well, because of how it makes them feel.
6:45
SPEAKER_03: Right?
6:46
SPEAKER_03: It's how it makes them feel.
6:47
SPEAKER_03: And Taylor, I'll go back to your question.
6:50
SPEAKER_03: 100% a consumer when they walk in our door can know more than a salesperson can.
6:57
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
6:57
SPEAKER_03: And that's not a knock at our industry.
6:59
SPEAKER_03: You guys need to think about this if you're listening.
7:02
SPEAKER_03: If we take a sales professional or one of us or a sales manager, you're talking about over a thousand vehicles in stock.
7:08
SPEAKER_03: We can also then order hundreds of thousands of configurations.
7:14
SPEAKER_03: And a single person has spent 20 plus hours on the internet researching that one model.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
7:21
SPEAKER_03: So they do know they're hyperfixated.
7:23
SPEAKER_03: But here's a news flash.
7:25
SPEAKER_03: That's okay.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: If you handle it correctly, that's okay.
7:30
SPEAKER_03: It's okay when somebody comes in, it actually makes our job easier because they're educated.
7:34
SPEAKER_03: And if you've ever had a conversation with somebody about a subject that's educated in it versus non-educated in it, it's a whole lot more fun because y'all can talk the same lingo.
7:44
SPEAKER_03: If I'm trying to talk to you about football and the Chiefs, and I don't even know the game of football, the conversation is not going to go very long.
7:52
SPEAKER_03: It's not very fun.
7:52
SPEAKER_03: I want to talk about soccer, you're talking about football, and the conversation just doesn't really work.
7:58
SPEAKER_00: Yes, and I think where a lot of people go wrong in this and they take offense to it, whether they do or not, they don't need to.
8:05
SPEAKER_00: But that you get somebody knowledgeable, I bring them in, I start rolling them, and then I start trying to swag.
8:11
SPEAKER_00: That's where some people get themselves in some trick bags of because Matt is the consumer coming in, doesn't care that I don't know absolutely everything.
8:23
SPEAKER_00: He wants some things validated and then wants to find somebody that can walk him through the process.
8:29
SPEAKER_03: Here's a key point, and this is a sales tip, by the way, and it's not even in here, but in any industry, because people are doing their research, each have been an H VAC and plumbing out there.
8:38
SPEAKER_03: When a customer comes in and they've they've been on the internet, they're knowledgeable, you have two options.
8:43
SPEAKER_03: Most people start trying to unpack and figure out what they're saying that's not right, and then they call them out on it, which becomes confrontational.
8:51
SPEAKER_03: It's friction.
8:52
SPEAKER_03: I like to tell somebody thank you.
8:54
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
8:54
SPEAKER_03: Because they've spent 20 hours.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: Well-educated customers, my best friend.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: That's right.
8:58
SPEAKER_03: Their spouses told them, like, hey, get off the phone, quit researching that, just go to the dealership.
9:03
SPEAKER_03: So you can say, hey, thank you for taking the time to gather all that information.
9:08
SPEAKER_03: Like you said, well-informed customer is my best friend.
9:10
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
9:11
SPEAKER_03: And then the wall comes down the green light.
9:13
SPEAKER_03: There, how did it make them feel?
9:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
9:14
SPEAKER_03: Like what you were talking about.
9:16
SPEAKER_01: That's what it comes down to.
9:17
SPEAKER_01: And that conversation, another conversation that I was a part of, talking about all this, does the buyer know more when they walk in than a salesperson?
9:24
SPEAKER_01: The answer is generally yes on that model.
9:27
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing that this guy was talking about.
9:29
SPEAKER_01: Generally, the dealership held the keys to the information.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: 10 years ago, 15 years ago, they hit were the only ability to pull a window sticker, a car fax, a vehicle history report, or what's the current rebates, or what is a trade worth.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: Think about that.
9:43
SPEAKER_01: 15 years ago, there weren't all these platforms.
9:45
SPEAKER_01: So the dealership held the keys to that information.
9:48
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
9:49
SPEAKER_01: And so then it was King of the Castle, King of the Castle, you got to come in, and you can now the consumer holds it because they quickly can say AI.
9:58
SPEAKER_01: And I saw this, and the guy was like, hey, I'm interested in third row SUVs.
10:01
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to spend any more than$55,000.
10:03
SPEAKER_01: I want something that gets 18 miles a gallon.
10:06
SPEAKER_01: I need something that has a five-star crash rating.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: I would need something that has three anchors for car seats.
10:12
SPEAKER_01: I want something that toes 7,000 pounds, uh, and I want to buy locally.
10:16
SPEAKER_01: And it goes, yep.
10:18
SPEAKER_01: And so then they come in with that.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: That was just their search engine, though, because just like that statement that I just read, they now want to say, please validate that is what AI told me correct and it got to you.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: Now you get to say, Welcome to this hotel.
10:35
SPEAKER_01: We're so glad you arrived here.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: Let me take you through the experience, right?
10:39
SPEAKER_01: It's not like you're just staying one night, that's right, like real quick, like, give me the key.
10:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't want to check out, don't want to talk to anybody.
10:46
SPEAKER_01: It's the experience, it's the second largest purchase you make.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: They want the experience, the search AI just got them to you.
10:53
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
10:54
SPEAKER_01: And so now it's like, hey, you you've heard about us, you know what we have to offer, you know what this price is.
11:00
SPEAKER_01: Let me tell you why it's worthwhile and validate that.
11:02
SPEAKER_03: You know, one of the things we put in our sales process for our salespeople to integrate in with a customer is simple, this is so simple, but simply asking a customer where they're at in their car buying experience.
11:15
SPEAKER_03: You know, where are you at in your process of buying a car?
11:18
SPEAKER_03: Because we want to meet the customer, merge onto the road where they are.
11:23
SPEAKER_03: We don't want to make them start over.
11:25
SPEAKER_03: We don't want to get too far ahead if they still have questions.
11:28
SPEAKER_03: We want to merge in there and figure out if they did AI search, here's what I narrowed it down to, but I really need to see these two in person.
11:35
SPEAKER_03: Great.
11:35
SPEAKER_03: Let me pull those two up for you.
11:37
SPEAKER_01: And you get to validate that.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: So you're saying, hey, have you done some research?
11:40
SPEAKER_01: And like, yeah, I've done research.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: Okay, what'd you find?
11:42
SPEAKER_01: And then you say, okay, in our needs assessment, why did you end up landing on that?
11:47
SPEAKER_01: What were the questions you ask AI?
11:49
SPEAKER_01: Not to prove me wrong or prove you right, to say, hey, well, towing is important.
11:54
SPEAKER_01: Seven passenger seating is important, three car seats is important.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: It's like, oh, love that, love that, love that.
11:59
SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, did you go ahead and do a trade valuation?
12:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:02
SPEAKER_01: Like in our industry, you would never ask that.
12:05
SPEAKER_01: Right?
12:06
SPEAKER_01: Did you do a trade evaluation?
12:07
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
12:08
SPEAKER_01: Did you happen to check with Carmax?
12:09
SPEAKER_01: Did you check with Carvana?
12:11
SPEAKER_01: Did you see with any local competitors?
12:12
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay, do you have those offers?
12:14
SPEAKER_01: No, I don't want to show them to you.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: Okay, no worries.
12:16
SPEAKER_01: I just want to make sure that like if you're step 12.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
12:19
SPEAKER_01: I want to pick up right there.
12:20
SPEAKER_01: Right there.
12:21
SPEAKER_01: I want to pick up right there.
12:23
SPEAKER_03: Because if you interview anybody out there and you ask them what their most valuable commodity is, what do they say?
12:30
SPEAKER_03: Time.
12:31
SPEAKER_03: It's their time.
12:31
SPEAKER_03: Time.
12:32
SPEAKER_03: And the way if you want to gain somebody's trust and respect, respect their time.
12:37
SPEAKER_03: And the way you respect somebody's time is figure out where they're at in the process and become a tool for them and go, hey, let's keep going on right down this track.
12:47
SPEAKER_03: You obviously, the reason you came, this is what people need to understand.
12:51
SPEAKER_03: The reason a customer comes to see us is because they got as far as they could.
12:56
SPEAKER_03: Now they need some help.
12:58
SPEAKER_03: So pick up the ball right there.
12:59
SPEAKER_03: And for everybody, that's different.
13:01
SPEAKER_03: But I love you say that about AI.
13:03
SPEAKER_03: I I probably use AI for search more than anything else.
13:06
SPEAKER_03: And what it has done for me is, and I'm a big detail research guy.
13:12
SPEAKER_03: And I would used to research something, and then I would go on the old school forums or now Facebook groups and dig deep into those to figure out what people are saying.
13:22
SPEAKER_03: And now I can use AI.
13:24
SPEAKER_03: I can to put two or three even different parts on there and say, compare these.
13:27
SPEAKER_03: Combines them.
13:28
SPEAKER_03: And it does hours and hours of research right there, and then I can pick the ball up from there.
13:32
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:33
SPEAKER_03: I think the biggest thing, Taylor, to your point here is you must be evolving.
13:37
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
13:38
SPEAKER_03: And you must adapt.
13:39
SPEAKER_03: We're not going to change what the market's doing.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: The quicker that you realize that, the better you are.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: And I'll tell you the tricky thing that we face a little bit is everyone adapts at a different speed.
13:50
SPEAKER_01: And so some of our consumers, you know, they're like, hey, why aren't you one price?
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Why aren't you one price?
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Why aren't you one price?
13:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, it just takes a couple people that are like, I still want to haggle.
13:59
SPEAKER_01: I still want to haggle.
14:00
SPEAKER_01: And so instead of just putting a wall up saying, Nope, we're one price, take it or leave it.
14:04
SPEAKER_01: Here's the price on our car, here's a price on your trays.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Like, we could still make a consumer happy, check the boxes, but have some flexibility.
14:11
SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, are you or are you not?
14:13
SPEAKER_01: It's like, it depends on the customer.
14:16
SPEAKER_01: Like, we a fair deal is different.
14:17
SPEAKER_01: So the same thing with AI style research, it's like, hey, here's what we found, here's what we want to do.
14:22
SPEAKER_01: Not everyone adapts at the same speed.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: So we see our consumers adapt differently as well.
14:27
SPEAKER_01: So our teams are like, wait, what are we doing?
14:29
SPEAKER_01: We're adapting.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: That's what we're doing.
14:31
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, well, so how do you want me to do this?
14:33
SPEAKER_01: Like, we'll get with a customer, do a customer interview.
14:35
SPEAKER_01: And that's a tricky thing that not everyone can adapt as quickly.
14:38
SPEAKER_01: It's like, well, that guy over there who buys, you know, a new tractor every four years and does this thing differently, you need to be different.
14:46
SPEAKER_03: You got to be able to do both.
14:48
SPEAKER_03: And we're in a situation now we feel like that our business has evolved so much on where people are getting their information, how they buy.
14:58
SPEAKER_03: And I was speaking at the university this week and it got Tesla got brought up.
15:03
SPEAKER_03: So we were talking about Tesla and we were talking about the car buying experience.
15:06
SPEAKER_03: And there were a couple of kids in the class that had bought a new Tesla through the Tesla experience.
15:10
SPEAKER_03: And they're like, why aren't all all dealerships like that?
15:12
SPEAKER_03: I'm like, I'm glad you bring that up.
15:14
SPEAKER_03: So I started talking and we were unpacking it all.
15:16
SPEAKER_03: And then I asked the entire class, I said, who would be okay with buying the car with a click of a button, never seeing it, never driving it, and it's dropped off at your house?
15:25
SPEAKER_03: And if there were 20 kids in the in the room, and there were some adults too, because this was a senior level class, there were probably four of the 20 that said, sign me up, I'll click through it all.
15:35
SPEAKER_03: I don't need to test drive it, I don't need more information, deliver it to me.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: I wonder how many of those people had already experienced that vehicle.
15:44
unknown: I don't know.
15:45
SPEAKER_01: So they they had ridden in a test law, their neighbor had a test or they already five percent.
15:51
SPEAKER_03: Cold turkey.
15:52
SPEAKER_03: No.
15:52
SPEAKER_03: So then the other, you know, um, and there was a solid half that said, I still want to go drive it.
16:00
SPEAKER_03: I want to make sure, yes, I did my research and and I trust, but I want to verify that there's not another model that it didn't bring up and recommend to me that you're maybe is better.
16:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
16:11
SPEAKER_03: And same thing, we get to that in trim levels.
16:13
SPEAKER_03: They're like, okay, well, I spec out an XLT with all these options, and the customer ends up coming in, we're like, hey, we actually have this laureate that's less money, it's gonna hold you a better resale.
16:23
SPEAKER_03: And they've been there.
16:24
SPEAKER_03: So then the other part of the class was like, yeah, I'm gonna do all my research there, but I want to come to the dealership just to verify, to make sure and look at the options.
16:32
SPEAKER_03: So when people ask us that, we the three of us have this conversation all the time, like, if we could set in pricing, if we could set in the buying process for everybody the same, our life I wouldn't have any gray hair, I don't think.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: I think that the but it would be so much simpler to us, but we have to adapt to you have different models.
16:52
SPEAKER_03: You know, the the movie industry came out with that for a while, didn't they?
16:55
SPEAKER_03: They had to have DVD and streaming at the same time.
16:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah.
16:58
SPEAKER_01: You too that's part of adapting.
17:00
SPEAKER_00: It is, and that's that's so true of going through and you kind of answered the questions and rolled through, but of of I think modern day salesperson definitely can no longer be the gatekeeper that you had talked about, and they're more of a guide and a validator.
17:19
SPEAKER_01: You know, the one thing as you were saying, stating that question, and we just went down every rabbit hole possible.
17:24
SPEAKER_01: Uh the one thing I would I would encourage and love is not to take that as an excuse to say the consumer is more prepared.
17:31
SPEAKER_01: If you are a VIP customer of mine, and someone asked me that the other day who's VIP, I'm like, anyone that I can make VIP, if I get you as a lead from Instagram or Facebook Marketplace, or just as a phone pop, and I interested see what you're interested in between then and your appointment, it is your sole job and responsibility, me as a sales professional, to then nerd out on anything on their model that they're researching.
17:57
SPEAKER_01: Right?
17:57
SPEAKER_01: You you cannot, as a salesperson, say, Well, they're so much more educated than me.
18:01
SPEAKER_01: Let's get in here and I'll point them and show them the green.
18:04
SPEAKER_01: A good sales professional says, Okay, man, you're looking at a Tesla Model X, Tesla Model Y, uh, Machie, and the new Cherokee hybrid.
18:13
SPEAKER_01: And so then I'm as a good sales professional, then I'm going to AI and saying, hey, please compare these four models, give me three bonuses of each one.
18:22
SPEAKER_01: So then you are educated.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: Like that is the law.
18:25
SPEAKER_01: Start why aren't they using the same tool that they are?
18:28
SPEAKER_01: Because they're like, they know so much more.
18:30
SPEAKER_01: Well, they just learned it 17 minutes ago.
18:33
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
18:33
SPEAKER_01: Right?
18:34
SPEAKER_01: So why can't you?
18:35
SPEAKER_01: That's where I would challenge our modern-day sales professional to say, okay, you need to see, okay, is there anything else that you research?
18:41
SPEAKER_01: Because I want to be up to date on this.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: So when they show up, you're like, hey, I use your style tools.
18:46
SPEAKER_01: Here's the comparison I came up with, so we can hit all these.
18:48
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
18:49
SPEAKER_01: And here's a weak point that I want to look at on this one and make sure it's not a concern of yours.
18:53
SPEAKER_03: That's such basics of selling, and I don't care what you're selling out there, but but to be a student of it and adapt.
19:00
SPEAKER_03: And I can tell you, growing up, I can remember that I gave you, I'll give you two quick stories into one here, is that constantly I like to go into Barnes and Noble because at Barnes and Noble, I could get they had the biggest magazine selection.
19:13
SPEAKER_03: And I could pull up the car and drive or in the motor trend and the truck trend.
19:16
SPEAKER_03: And I wasn't just reading about Fords or Rams, I was reading about the competition.
19:21
SPEAKER_03: Or when we we would go to the grocery store, mom would be shopping around and I'd go hang out in the magazine aisle because then I could look at the competitors.
19:28
SPEAKER_01: That was the early AI.
19:29
SPEAKER_01: Dad taught us that of hey, go look at this, go understand the market, go see what else is out there.
19:36
SPEAKER_01: And so you could go without having to buy that stuff and just learn.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Like I remember anytime we travel through an airport, I'd go through the convenience store and you look at see the magazines and say, What's the fastest car right now?
19:48
SPEAKER_01: Because you'd see it on motor trainer, car and driver.
19:50
SPEAKER_01: And so then you could learn why it was this, why it was that.
19:53
SPEAKER_03: And then we would listen, and you know, the area we grew up in in Prairie Grove, it was a very predominant GM in Chevrolet town.
20:00
SPEAKER_03: You know, it's just generational.
20:02
SPEAKER_03: So when something came out about the suburban or the truck or the Camaro, I was learning about it because I knew that conversation would come up.
20:08
SPEAKER_01: Because that was their hunting point.
20:10
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
20:10
SPEAKER_03: And so right now, when I because I eat lunch at my desk, I'm watching different YouTube videos.
20:16
SPEAKER_03: And the YouTube videos I watch, they're on reviews of competitors' vehicles.
20:21
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
20:22
SPEAKER_03: Just so you understand, just be a student of the business, but that's a great point.
20:25
SPEAKER_03: All right, let's get to factor fiction.
20:27
SPEAKER_03: Most car buyers would rather buy entirely online or skip the dealership.
20:34
SPEAKER_03: You already talked about that in your real world research.
20:36
SPEAKER_03: I did.
20:37
SPEAKER_03: Now let me ask you guys percentage-wise, what do you think the percentage would be?
20:42
SPEAKER_01: Would you like to skip the dealership?
20:43
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
20:45
SPEAKER_01: It's a small percentage, it's a single digit.
20:48
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if you really ask it's sub 10%.
20:51
SPEAKER_03: Okay, well, here we go.
20:52
SPEAKER_03: 86% still choose to see the vehicle in person.
20:57
SPEAKER_03: Only 7% report purchasing entirely online.
21:00
SPEAKER_01: I knew it was a single percentage.
21:02
SPEAKER_03: I mean, and and Cox Automotive did that, Demand Local did that.
21:06
SPEAKER_03: I did it at the university the other day.
21:08
SPEAKER_03: Now that doesn't mean that that won't progress over time.
21:11
SPEAKER_01: Certainly.
21:12
SPEAKER_01: I think if it's you're a frequent buyer, you're buying another side of that model.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
21:16
SPEAKER_01: Then, and you're especially if you're going to lease it, there's not really much risk to it, then click it and do it again.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: You know, they've talked about that people that buy from Carvana, it's a very large percentage that do not return to that style.
21:29
SPEAKER_01: They wanted to try it.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
21:30
SPEAKER_01: Right?
21:31
SPEAKER_01: But then there were some cracks in that process of no, who's my servicing dealer now?
21:35
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: And who's my sales profession?
21:37
SPEAKER_01: Oh, wait, I don't have one.
21:39
SPEAKER_01: And who do I talk to?
21:40
SPEAKER_01: And they were like, it wasn't a bad experience, but there were just some cracks that my local dealership couldn't fill.
21:47
SPEAKER_00: It's a fad that everyone wants to try.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: It's no different than I was standing, uh, I was traveling for work this past week, and I was standing there and I'd seen them going all over town.
21:56
SPEAKER_00: I said, you know what?
21:57
SPEAKER_00: I gotta try this.
21:57
SPEAKER_00: So I pulled up the CyberCab, the two cyber.
22:00
SPEAKER_00: Seat or no drive or whatever, put it in there.
22:02
SPEAKER_00: It was six dollars.
22:03
SPEAKER_00: Thing popped up, doors popped open.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: It was awesome.
22:07
SPEAKER_03: Were you watching the thing the whole time?
22:09
SPEAKER_03: No, just a steering wheel.
22:10
SPEAKER_00: But there's no steering wheel.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: What are you gonna do?
22:12
SPEAKER_00: And I went to roll down the window.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: Yank.
22:14
SPEAKER_00: And the window only goes down the job.
22:16
SPEAKER_00: So you couldn't get out.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: They locked the doors like you're in prison.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but I'm not gonna drive it.
22:20
SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna take it every day.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: That's not gonna be my main meat.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: But it was cool.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: It's an experience.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's an experience of going through.
22:27
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
22:28
SPEAKER_03: Okay, this, and we've hit on this a little bit, but I want to bring it back around for all business owners out there.
22:33
SPEAKER_03: We're talking about automotive, but we talk about business as business.
22:37
SPEAKER_03: And it's you have employees, which are your people, and then you have the process, and then you have the product.
22:42
SPEAKER_03: You really are just changing the product.
22:44
SPEAKER_01: That's all.
22:44
SPEAKER_03: So remember that when you're listening out there, if you have a different type of business, you just change the product.
22:48
SPEAKER_03: You still have people and processes.
22:50
SPEAKER_03: Okay.
22:51
SPEAKER_03: Their journey versus our process, their journey meaning the customer versus the process we're putting them through.
23:00
SPEAKER_03: Does it align?
23:01
SPEAKER_03: Does it align?
23:02
SPEAKER_03: Here's the stat 63% of buyers prefer a mix of online and in-person activities, but only 40% actually get that blend.
23:13
SPEAKER_03: So it's saying the majority of people want to blend, shall be what you brought up earlier, doing the research, but then seeing it.
23:19
SPEAKER_03: But then only 40% are getting that.
23:23
SPEAKER_01: And it's it's because no different than I said, the modern day salesperson has to understand that.
23:29
SPEAKER_01: So many times they're one-track ponies that they're like, no, they want it this way.
23:34
SPEAKER_01: Or no, they want it this way.
23:36
SPEAKER_01: You have to, and that's why we constantly push to do a needs assessment.
23:39
SPEAKER_01: It's not the old school to see can you buy or not buy.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh-uh.
23:42
SPEAKER_01: Where are you at in the process and what's important to you?
23:45
SPEAKER_01: That can get you closer to a 50% to a it should be closer to an 80% blend if we do it their way.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
23:53
SPEAKER_01: Now we talk about all the time that you have to be someone who gives direction.
23:57
SPEAKER_01: We're not order takers because the consumer has already said they want direction from you.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
24:03
SPEAKER_01: But our consumer, the consumer, we are the consumer, has a hard time saying, give me direction.
24:11
SPEAKER_03: You have to ask the consumer questions too.
24:14
SPEAKER_03: And that's what you got to, and we we remind our sales staff, and I wish I could say they did it 100% of the time, but we got to constantly train on it, just like you guys do in your business, is that we have to ask the customer the right questions if we're gonna have a better experience for them.
24:30
SPEAKER_03: We can't expect the customer to walk in and say, hey, here is my timeline, and here's what all I've done.
24:37
SPEAKER_03: Okay, and here's my charts.
24:41
SPEAKER_01: Generally, that only happens if a person really needs something and they get really frustrated or have a bad process.
24:47
SPEAKER_01: Think about that when you've been online, you've been online and you finally get the person's like, done, listen, I've already called six support numbers.
24:55
SPEAKER_01: Here's what I've done.
24:56
SPEAKER_01: I ordered this two weeks ago.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Here's my receipts, here's where I've come back, here's where I've come back, here's where I'm at.
25:00
SPEAKER_01: I know you need this, I know you need that, here's where I'm at.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Help me from here.
25:03
SPEAKER_01: Don't go backwards.
25:05
SPEAKER_01: That's the only time that that gets really laid out.
25:07
SPEAKER_03: I'm sitting here laughing because you know I've done that.
25:10
SPEAKER_03: I mean, you all have, right?
25:11
SPEAKER_03: So, but let me tell you my experience when I do that, and it I'm pretty direct, but I'm nice about that, and I lay it out for them.
25:18
SPEAKER_03: People on the other end are like, whoa, and they don't know what to do with it.
25:21
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
25:21
SPEAKER_03: They're like, oh, this, what is going on here?
25:23
SPEAKER_03: But if they're really listening to the thing, it'd be amazing.
25:26
SPEAKER_01: It's like, hey, I'm not trying to be rude, but I've been through the ringer, like I've been politely listened, you know, because it says right here, the customer did the deal online, then they walk in and we start back at step one.
25:38
SPEAKER_01: And we talk about that, don't we?
25:39
SPEAKER_01: It's like, Lord of mercy, like, come on.
25:42
SPEAKER_03: At that point, I just throw my phone out the one.
25:43
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, you're better.
25:44
SPEAKER_03: Think about how how much is it again?
25:47
SPEAKER_03: Everybody wants to feel special.
25:50
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
25:51
SPEAKER_03: They want to feel like whether whether they did or they didn't, okay?
25:54
SPEAKER_03: If they spent 30 hours on the internet researching the wrong data and the wrong information, at least make them feel good about the time they spent.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: Oh yeah.
26:03
SPEAKER_03: That's stupid.
26:04
SPEAKER_01: You can't believe what you see online.
26:05
SPEAKER_01: Man, there's no way you could buy a car online.
26:07
SPEAKER_03: Just like, no, don't create a lot of people.
26:09
SPEAKER_03: We're in an emotional business that people, it matters how they feel.
26:13
SPEAKER_03: What does the process look like?
26:15
SPEAKER_03: How did the how did you make them feel?
26:17
SPEAKER_03: You can either belittle them and make them feel stupid.
26:20
SPEAKER_03: Guess what will happen?
26:20
SPEAKER_03: They'll go find another dealership.
26:22
SPEAKER_03: Or you can tell them you can flip that light switch on that says, make me feel special and say, hey, thank you for taking the time to research all that information.
26:30
SPEAKER_00: I had a uh Maverick customer, y'all laugh the other day, and he had gone through, and we they are very intelligent, they know the process, they and they're down to the penny of their budget.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
26:39
SPEAKER_00: And so he'd went through a couple other things.
26:41
SPEAKER_00: He'd ordered the whole thing online and his idea of what it would look like.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: And one of the managers called and said, Hey, I need help.
26:47
SPEAKER_00: So I walked over and just I printed off an exact order and walked down through it with him and just showed him non-verbally.
26:53
SPEAKER_00: I said, Man, hey, you'd already done the uh research here, here, here, here, here.
26:58
SPEAKER_00: And we got to the end and he's like, instead of being confrontational on him, he said, Man, your numbers make sense.
27:04
SPEAKER_00: Thanks so much for showing me this over here.
27:05
SPEAKER_01: And he ended up ordering one with us because we'd walked through the whole process instead of me saying because you understood how he wanted to be handled, line item by line item by line item with his options, instead of saying package price, manufacturing rest of retail, and here's what your trade is.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: Like, no, that's old school.
27:22
SPEAKER_00: He had researched a whole thing of friends and family of what the dock fee was going to be.
27:26
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Absolutely, thank you.
27:28
SPEAKER_00: He said, Oh, your number's right.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna go with you.
27:31
SPEAKER_01: You adapted to, you know, and people look to you and they're like, Oh, Taylor Lewis, yeah, I had to get the Lewis in here.
27:36
SPEAKER_01: No, you fools, you fools.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: I saw how the customer wanted to transact, so I went over and spoke in his language.
27:45
SPEAKER_01: Yes.
27:46
SPEAKER_01: People, and I'm not saying our our dealership, our dealership is good.
27:50
SPEAKER_01: They're very good and very adaptable, but sometimes I'm like, it's they don't want to talk to a Lewis.
27:55
SPEAKER_01: They want to be talked to like humans that have researched.
27:58
SPEAKER_03: And they've told you how to do it.
27:59
SPEAKER_03: That's the deal.
28:00
SPEAKER_03: If you got to take a factual person and you try to, there's a difference because of a time of build or packages or whatever, and you try to emotionally, just verbally, that'll never work.
28:11
SPEAKER_03: That's a factual person.
28:13
SPEAKER_03: Yes.
28:13
SPEAKER_03: That doesn't mean that they won't, they won't adapt and see that the facts have changed, but you're gonna have to show them the way they have done their research.
28:22
SPEAKER_01: Most of the problems our industry, and by our industry, I mean this world, what we're currently living in, we've created all of them.
28:29
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
28:30
SPEAKER_01: We we create them all.
28:31
SPEAKER_01: And so I want to tell you at Lewis Automotive and other entrepreneurs, we're changing how you're adapting how the process happens.
28:41
SPEAKER_01: Like, and so that's one of those things is to say, give us a shot, because I assure you it's gonna be different.
28:45
SPEAKER_01: Like, there's this other person I follow that shops vehicles for consumers, and it's hell, it's hilarious how old school and bad a lot of people still are.
28:55
SPEAKER_01: Sure.
28:56
SPEAKER_01: A guy was shopping a raptor R for a consumer, right?
28:59
SPEAKER_01: And if you know those, they trend well over market price.
29:02
SPEAKER_01: That's what the market is, not what dealers are trying to lie still or cheat, whatever.
29:06
SPEAKER_01: And so this guy had all of his raptor R's online for MSRP.
29:10
SPEAKER_01: Well, they were violating every FTC rule whatsoever, and that's what dealerships are getting hammered for, but don't penalize every dealership for that because he was like, hey, I'd like to go ahead and buy this.
29:22
SPEAKER_01: My customer, here's this information.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: He's like, no, sir, it's uh$40,000 over MSRP.
29:27
SPEAKER_01: He's like, no, your price is this online.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: He said, no.
29:29
SPEAKER_01: And so then he negotiated him on the phone.
29:31
SPEAKER_01: The dealership was like, well, I'd I'd give you a$15,000 discount and do it for$25,000.
29:35
SPEAKER_01: He's like, no, your price is this online.
29:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, and so that's like Taylor knows it.
29:40
SPEAKER_01: Like I'm with a tack hammer over his head and all the manager's head every single day.
29:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't care what you sell it for, base it off a market price.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: If that's$20,000 under MSRP or whatever the market says it is, but make sure it is very clearly online.
29:55
SPEAKER_01: And so they can confirm what a consumer sees online.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: And if we messed up, you honor that price, and you better fix it because that just cost us all a bunch of money.
30:05
SPEAKER_01: But be very clear.
30:07
SPEAKER_01: So that the world creates this persona.
30:11
SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying be good at it.
30:12
SPEAKER_03: You're so right.
30:13
SPEAKER_03: And you know, this next question really makes you think which steps are truly required?
30:19
SPEAKER_03: You know, versus which ones because we've always done it that way.
30:23
SPEAKER_03: And it's a great time to kind of reflect in your business as well as go, what paperwork is really required?
30:29
SPEAKER_03: What lenders, what manufacturer, what compliance is really required?
30:33
SPEAKER_03: And which do we keep doing it because we've always done it that way?
30:37
SPEAKER_01: Well, there's no with saying less words, right?
30:39
SPEAKER_01: Because they told us to make this quick.
30:41
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how we ever make anything quick.
30:44
SPEAKER_01: Tesla, Elon Musk, if you've not researched him, forget the idea of a Tesla car.
30:49
SPEAKER_01: But uh he he will cut down all processes.
30:52
SPEAKER_01: He'll sleep on his floor, just create so in the original, those guys in in the college that were ordering it, the original buying process to buy a Tesla was like 72 steps online.
31:03
SPEAKER_01: And it was the only way to do it.
31:04
SPEAKER_01: You had to click and it was 72 steps.
31:06
SPEAKER_01: Now it's gotten down to where it's less than three steps.
31:08
SPEAKER_01: And what they found was uh all this paperwork that you had to keep signing, keep signing, keep signing.
31:13
SPEAKER_01: Really with the lender.
31:14
SPEAKER_01: With the lender, and they he challenged and they said, No, you gotta do it.
31:17
SPEAKER_01: No, you gotta do it.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: And he said, mm-mm.
31:18
SPEAKER_01: Like he's not taking anybody's word for it.
31:21
SPEAKER_01: He went back to him and said, Which of these do we have to absolutely have to have?
31:25
SPEAKER_01: And when we sign it once, can it not go across all of these?
31:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
31:28
SPEAKER_01: And so they took it from 72 steps to three steps.
31:31
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they did.
31:32
SPEAKER_03: They just they eliminated and they questioned it and he eliminated it.
31:35
SPEAKER_00: Because he kept pushing there.
31:36
SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like they just took somebody else's word for it.
31:39
SPEAKER_00: It has to be this way.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: It's not to say everything can be broken down, but what we just forget of whether it's an old process that you do or something you have to stick to, that you'll just die on the hill of we have to do that every single time.
31:54
SPEAKER_00: Always dig into something.
31:55
SPEAKER_01: Well, that's like one of the bills that luckily with FTC and the CARS Act through federal government, they were trying to mandate because there's people just like I was talking about that raptor that are so jicky, but don't penalize everyone because they were saying anytime that you had to present someone figures or any type of documentation, you had to keep all of that documentation and you had to be clear on all those things for seven years, is what they were proposing.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: It's like, no, you were gonna make like the the hill of beans be this tall that every consumer has to go through, whether on the phone or on social media or in person, you had to keep all of that and you had to show them disclosures that every it was like you were making this so much more difficult.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: You thought 72 steps was a lot, it's about to be 380 steps.
32:41
SPEAKER_03: And nobody let's I don't want to get it on the shrabbit hole, but if you have all those disclosures and and all that stuff, number one, nobody's paying attention to it.
32:49
SPEAKER_03: No, number two, the only person that wins in that situation are the different legal teams.
32:54
SPEAKER_01: Oh, that is all I mean on either side, but the consumer didn't have a better process, and the dealer surely didn't have a better process.
33:00
SPEAKER_03: Or the manufacturer didn't either.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: No, and so that's one of those things, and I'm not saying be political, but sometimes you look in those things like, hang on, there's nothing gained here.
33:09
SPEAKER_03: For either side.
33:10
SPEAKER_03: No one for either side.
33:13
SPEAKER_03: All right, before I at before I ask this next question, it'll be our final question here.
33:16
SPEAKER_03: I I do want, I'm gonna share with everybody what we share with our team.
33:20
SPEAKER_03: And I remind everybody I say that the customer is the one that funds our checks.
33:26
SPEAKER_03: Yep.
33:27
SPEAKER_03: Now, your check, I tell our employees this your check may say Lewis on it.
33:32
SPEAKER_03: And it could be signed by one of us.
33:35
SPEAKER_03: But we are just transferring the funds.
33:37
SPEAKER_03: The one that funded the account for us to be able to pay you is the customer.
33:43
SPEAKER_03: So now with this question, is your process built for the customer or for your org chart?
33:51
SPEAKER_01: That that is something that I that I feel like we challenge every single day.
33:57
SPEAKER_01: That's like, okay, I've pushed off enough responsibilities, downdelegated, so now we get to look at the flow of how a customer does business.
34:07
SPEAKER_01: And that's one of those things you go inspect it, you go inspect it, you go try it yourself.
34:11
SPEAKER_01: Was that a good process or not?
34:13
SPEAKER_01: Like, think why are we doing that?
34:15
SPEAKER_01: Why are we doing that?
34:16
SPEAKER_01: And we're at that point now that you get to do that and say, I don't care what anyone said.
34:23
SPEAKER_01: By that I mean within your org chart of why, and it's never because that's how we've always done it or that's how we used to do it.
34:31
SPEAKER_01: But that's how naturally people go.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: Oh, and there's people still in our business that say that and we're like, stop it.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying that's right or wrong.
34:40
SPEAKER_01: What I'm saying is what does the customer currently want?
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: And do we make it simple and easy from getting a car service to applying for financing to getting a trade value?
34:50
SPEAKER_01: And there's just a tool I found just this week on Monday that we thought we're good to go.
34:55
SPEAKER_01: It's in fact, it says get your trade value in 10 seconds.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: That's what it's called.
35:01
SPEAKER_01: Well, there's probably some people that are uh six months still waiting for their trade value because the tool was never even properly installed online.
35:09
SPEAKER_01: That's right.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: And so that it has to be built for the customer.
35:13
SPEAKER_01: It does.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: It really does.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: Yep.
35:15
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I got quick questions here to finish up.
35:18
SPEAKER_00: So one for each of y'all.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: Matt, what would you change about the customer buying process today?
35:23
SPEAKER_00: I'll come back to you.
35:24
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
35:25
SPEAKER_00: And Shelby, what is the most common issue with the buying process today?
35:30
SPEAKER_03: Um if I could make this happen, it would be to make the process uniform and streamline it across all customers.
35:41
SPEAKER_03: I don't think that'll happen because we have different generations and different buying habits.
35:46
SPEAKER_03: But to get it, I think everybody would win, both the dealership and the customer, because the customer will never necessarily let us in their head.
35:55
SPEAKER_03: We're adaptable and we want the car buying experience to be great for you guys, but sometimes it's very difficult to figure out which way you want to go through the process.
36:05
SPEAKER_00: Makes sense to streamlining the process there to be applicable across to everybody.
36:10
SPEAKER_01: I think this is essentially the same question and the same response all in one.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: It funnels down to um the most common issue with the buying process today is adapting to how the consumer wants to buy.
36:24
SPEAKER_01: But just like Matt said, we get false signals from both sides, the buyer and the seller, of you say, here's what you want to do, and we go that way, and then they say, Why did you do it that way?
36:38
SPEAKER_01: Because they say, for example, a customer says, I want your best out the door number, your lowest price possible.
36:45
SPEAKER_01: That is so tricky.
36:47
SPEAKER_01: That is so tricky.
36:48
SPEAKER_01: I would love to give you, just like Matt said.
36:50
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
36:51
SPEAKER_01: And it you know, like a customer doesn't care how much money you're losing.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes you would like to feel like they do, but I could give you my absolute what I feel to be able to do business is my best price, and I give you that number, but then that question comes up when a customer says, Okay, thanks, gonna get a copy of that.
37:09
SPEAKER_01: That means, uh oh, something's not right.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: The vehicle's not right, the price isn't right, or the trade value is not right.
37:15
SPEAKER_01: So we're gonna ask the question, hey, what's keep you from moving forward today?
37:18
SPEAKER_01: And they'll hit you with all these soft objections, and then you say, Hey, if we're sitting down at dinner tonight and your wife says, Why didn't you buy that truck?
37:26
SPEAKER_01: You've been researching for four months and you finally found the perfect one, what would your answer be?
37:30
SPEAKER_01: And they're like, Man, you salespeople are slick.
37:32
SPEAKER_01: We're solution people.
37:33
SPEAKER_03: Just ask them.
37:34
SPEAKER_01: And I'm like, okay, what is that?
37:35
SPEAKER_01: And they said, I wish that the truck had been fifteen hundred dollars less.
37:41
SPEAKER_01: It's like, okay, thank you so much.
37:42
SPEAKER_01: That's the price on our vehicle.
37:44
SPEAKER_01: Okay, that$1,500 is that based on someone else offering the truck for$1,500 less, or you've budgeted for only X amount.
37:51
SPEAKER_01: And so it's like, well, you asked me for your best price, but then that price doesn't fit.
37:56
SPEAKER_01: But you have no facts to base that.
37:58
SPEAKER_01: So it it's so tricky.
38:01
SPEAKER_01: You know, people are like, man, hey, say what your price is and stick with it.
38:04
SPEAKER_01: If we did that, I don't think anyone would sell any cars.
38:07
SPEAKER_01: No, no one would, I mean somebody would, right?
38:10
SPEAKER_01: Because there'd be somebody third down in the line.
38:12
SPEAKER_01: Second or third, they'd be like, oh my gosh, okay, that is a really good price.
38:15
SPEAKER_01: Maybe I should go back.
38:16
SPEAKER_01: That person was really nice and they were honest to me and they stuck to their guns.
38:19
SPEAKER_01: Well, it's hard to stick to your guns when somebody else will cheap sell you a little bit less, a little bit less, a little bit less.
38:25
SPEAKER_01: So that's the issue with today's buying process.
38:28
SPEAKER_01: Agreed.
38:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
38:29
SPEAKER_00: Agreed.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
38:30
SPEAKER_00: Great episode there.
38:31
SPEAKER_00: 105 episodes.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: Hey, always check us out at LewisSuperstore.com for everything we've got going, business-wise, community events, all the fun things that we dive into in Crossroads Conversation Podcast for the 105 episodes that we have done.
38:46
SPEAKER_03: Hey, thanks for joining us today, and we hope you enjoyed this episode.
38:49
SPEAKER_03: Make sure to give it a like, share it with your friends and family, visit our website, and send us some questions.
38:55
SPEAKER_03: 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.