Latest / Auto Collabs / Bridging the Gap with Brian Singh

Transcript

Bridging the Gap with Brian Singh · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  I've been following Brian Singh on LinkedIn for quite some time. [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs.
• 0:14
  And what I knew early on was his insight, specifically as, uh, a fixed ops director, were very, very poignant and, and nece- and had a, a big impact on our industry, and it was necessary to understand his perspective.
• 0:32
  And I think that that's what we need more f- in the entirety of the, uh, the industry, is a perspective that doesn't just come from the sales environment.
• 0:42
  Because the majority of our leaders, the majority of, um, the, the trainers or, uh, the, the corporate leaders even, actually come from the variable- Yeah... and/or marketing- Yep... side of the business.
• 0:54
  And what I love about Brian is he's someone that's gone from fixed ops to general manager to now running a, a national sales organization, um, that, that's starting up.
• 1:05
  And so I'm, I'm really interested to see how he kinda perceives and portrays that journey from a fixed ops perspective, because I think our industry needs more of that. I mean, you hear it all the time,
• 1:19
  um, folks saying, just highlighting the amount of opportunities you have to deliver a good customer experience in the service lane. Right. And it is exponentially greater- Yep...
• 1:29
  than what seems like very few opport- opportunities you have in the sales, in the sales arena. So, um, I agree.
• 1:36
  Like, thinking, bringing some more of that fixed operations experience into the forefront, saying, "Hey, this actually could be more the front door than the sales department."
• 1:45
  So, um, I also am intrigued just by, I just haven't seen that before. I haven't seen- I haven't seen someone go from fixed ops- We've made references too... to GM. Yeah, exactly. I, it's very rare.
• 1:55
  Um, I, I can't think of many that I've seen climb that ladder, specifically from that perspective.
• 2:03
  But, you know, we've talked about it on past episodes, kind of this parallel to that TV show, Undercover Boss, where it's like he has that, like you, you both have said, he has that unique perspective that so few will understand, especially those coming into it.
• 2:16
  Um, maybe they just buy a store and they, they tend to focus, right? The emphasis is always on variable. So to be able- Mm-hmm...
• 2:22
  to bridge that gap, um, I think will be interesting to learn about in this episode with Brian Singh.
• 2:33
  [upbeat music] So there's a joke in here somewhere, 'cause there's a fixed ops guy that turned into a national retailer for an online business, and I don't know where the bar comes in, but it's somewhere between Brian and Singh, and that's his full name.
• 2:52
  Brian, welcome to the podcast today, man. Thank you. Thank you, guys. [laughs] Appreciate you having me. Yeah, definitely, man.
• 2:58
  Uh, well now the, I think, technical title, president of EverDrive, uh, which is a new and up-and-coming and about to be launched, uh, online retailer of vehicles.
• 3:10
  Um, but, uh, you have a, quite the history on the retail side of the automotive industry and I'd, I'd love to just kinda let you, let you t- pull back the curtain on, on where it all started from, man. Yeah.
• 3:24
  Yeah, no, appreciate it. Again, thanks, thanks for having me, guys. So started in retail. Um, started off in fixed ops. Started as a parts guy. Worked my way up to service advisor,
• 3:36
  parts and service director, fixed ops director of a five-rooftop dealership group in South Florida.
• 3:44
  Made my way to Texas, and was fixed ops of a three-store group, and then made it to general manager right from fixed operations. So never sold a car before. Obviously, been around the industry my whole career.
• 3:56
  Always aspired to continue to move up in the industry, and so went straight, straight to GM at a Mazda Kia store here in Houston, Texas.
• 4:06
  Did that for quite some time, and then made my way up to Shomp Automotive Group up in Denver, Colorado. Some good friends up there. And there became a managing partner of a Nissan store, and then here I am now.
• 4:18
  All right. All right, so I gotta, I gotta track this, 'cause that was, like, the fire hose of however many years you've been in the industry. Which is how many? 16 years. 16 years. Okay.
• 4:28
  So you started in the parts department, kind of in the, the, like as a, as a parts employee? Uh, d- uh, working- Yeah... working the desk? So I actually started, uh, in shipping and receiving.
• 4:39
  So I was the guy that was checking the parts in and putting them on the shelves. Okay. So here's what...
• 4:45
  This is, uh, this is what I love about the, the, the automotive industry is, is a lot of times when we look at general manager and, and, and the track to getting there, you wouldn't normally say, "You know, what you should probably start as is a shipping and receiving clerk in the parts department."
• 5:02
  That's not where [laughs] people kinda like- [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] It's not like everyone's like, "That's gonna be the next general manager of-" [laughs] No. [laughs] "... of the store.
• 5:08
  He's gonna run the national retailing chain for Foundation Automotive. Get him." Right?
• 5:13
  Um, so I, you know, I think that your perspective for the industry is probably a really, a really key one, because a lot of times when we see general manager, executive leadership, or even ownership- Mm...
• 5:24
  is it comes through the variable operations'- Yeah... uh, perspective on the industry.
• 5:29
  Um, so I think I'd like to kinda, like, d- break that down a little bit as, uh, and a- and then pull that all the way forward at some point.
• 5:36
  But as you were heading, you know, from that fixed ops, especially the transition from the fixed ops director to the general manager role, what did you see as you were communicating with a lot of other general managers in the industry, probably at that point in 20 groups or things like that, where did you see the opportunity that maybe you had that, that others didn't have, or, or the, or the perspective that you had to be able to dial in both sides of, of, of the dealership?Yeah, no, it was, um, you know, obviously th- there's always the fear of the unknown and the excitement of it.
• 6:10
  So the first one was really bridging the gap between a lot of operators. So 97 plus percent of GMs come from sales, never touched fixed ops.
• 6:19
  So it was really helping bridge the gap of this mystery- I love it that you have the stat. Yeah. [laughs] He's got the data to back it up. Yeah. I, I think it's, it's- That's fantastic.
• 6:29
  It, it was when I became a GM, so it's still a very, very small number now.
• 6:33
  But it's really bridging the gap between the guys that felt like fixed ops was the unknown, and it's a mystery, and they, they can't get too close to it, but they just gotta manage the guy that's doing it.
• 6:44
  And being able to bridge that gap for a lot of guys. I was part of a 20 group. Um, obviously I reached out to a lot of GMs 'cause I wanted to learn variable, right?
• 6:54
  And so I think getting over the hump for them that fixed ops isn't this crazy mystery that you need to stay away from, that it's, it's good processes and people, and then me learning the same as well, right?
• 7:06
  Trying to figure out this mystery of variable and, and what it takes to sell a car, and really simplifying it, now doing both at a high level, just boiling it down to something so simple of treating your people right, being a good leader to, to people, and always being a, a student of the business, and putting in good processes.
• 7:26
  And, and living proof today that doing those same things, but just different. You know, treating a tech different than you'd treat an, an F&I, uh, treat an F&I director, right?
• 7:38
  They're obviously different guys, but they do have a skill set. They need to be given the tools. They need to be given the, the processes to follow, and, and the mystery can, can be unraveled.
• 7:49
  [laughs] So that, that was probably the coolest thing for me when working with other GMs while I was learning from them. They also learned from me, um, you know, as I, as I came up, so.
• 8:00
  I worked in restaurants for, you know, from when I turned 15 all the way through college, and I was always struck by the difference in the operation of the overall restaurant when what in, in the restaurant business you call the front of the house and the back of the house.
• 8:16
  Front of the house being hosts, host, host staff, servers, um, people in the, in the alley getting the food together to pass out, and then the back of the house, cooks, prep cooks, sh- uh, you know, dishwashers, et cetera.
• 8:28
  And there was always, in most restaurants, there's this great divide between the two, both, both literally [laughs] and metaphorically, right?
• 8:36
  There's this big kitchen alley that separates the front of the house and the back of the house. But also, that tends to literally separate the ranks of people, and it's a very big- Yeah... us versus them mentality.
• 8:47
  And in fixed and variable, um, I've seen a lot of dealerships where there's a lot of contention between the two.
• 8:54
  Um, and when you really can get those two sides to work together, there's, an amazing thing starts to happen for the consumer experience.
• 9:01
  Um, what would you say is the key to keeping both the front and the back of the dealership, both fixed and variable ops?
• 9:08
  What, what is the, the main kind of friction point, do you think, that if you can overcome that, you can have a really cohesive, uh, operation? Yeah.
• 9:16
  Well, his first one is like- Yeah, so- His first one is something like this. "Well, actually, everyone just needs to realize that fixed is actually the front of house, right?" [laughs] See, let's get around.
• 9:25
  [laughs] I was gonna ask- Sales is in the back... who do you think works harder, right? Let's actually... [laughs] Yeah. No, go ahead. Sorry. You know, um- That's great.
• 9:33
  So I would say first you bridge the gap between, and I did it for years, bridging the gap between parts and service, right? Service department and parts. Parts doesn't have the part, service de- whatever. The...
• 9:45
  You, you just bridge the gap there. And so I think you take a lot of those same principles and theories that you do, and re- really, at its most simple form, you find the pain points and work on those.
• 9:58
  So when, when, when the used car manager and the service manager are getting into an argument, or the salesman walks in and just dis- wants everyone to stop what they're doing, and, you know.
• 10:09
  What, what are all those pain points that exist?
• 10:12
  And then bridge that gap with, with good communication continuously, and making people understand that everyone has a job to do, and maybe you don't have the full scope of what that individual does, right?
• 10:23
  And, and same for, you know, I think fixed people, some of them early on, wanted me to tell a salesman, like, "Hey, you know, you can't do this. You can't come back and...
• 10:35
  We, we won't drop everything, what we're doing, and just work on the car." And I'm like, "Actually, we will, guys." You know? Mm.
• 10:40
  I think, I, I think you wanted me to defend you because I'm a fixed guy, and I think you were looking for that. But it's not about defending anyone. It's about taking care of the customer.
• 10:48
  And if we need to get a car in, and get it taken care of, and get it ready, PDI'd or whatever we need to for a customer, let's do that, right? And so I think it's realizing it's not about picking sides.
• 10:59
  There's no enemy or hero in this. It's all about the customer, and it's all about those pain points that exist within that.
• 11:07
  And if we can drop the ego out of the way and not think that our particular job is more important than anyone else's, and realize that there's a customer on the other end of it, I think when you're able to continually remind your employees and folks of that, they start to realize, "Okay, let me pump the brakes a little bit.
• 11:24
  And if this salesman's coming back here and needs a car done, and get it...
• 11:27
  and needs, needs to get it ready for a customer delivery, let's, let's maybe figure out if we can find out how to get this done and get it taken care of, and stop worrying about some of the other items."
• 11:35
  So it, it takes time. It's a culture shift. Mm-hmm. There's no doubt about it. It doesn't happen overnight. You don't go tell your employees, "Hey, you need to work together," right? [laughs] It's just not gonna happen.
• 11:44
  It's like, it's one scenario, one situation at a time, and you start to realize, or like, "Okay, there's no, there's no reason fighting this.
• 11:52
  We're gonna take great care of our customers and, and, and have a happy customer at the end of it." Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You bring up something that intrigues me, because
• 12:02
  it, it's like one of the-It, it's like one of the roads to recovery from addiction is admission. I think that's the first step, like admitting you have a problem.
• 12:16
  And I find that so few organizations are willing to admit they have a problem because then they know they've gotta do something about it. They can't just sweep it under the rug.
• 12:26
  So I find it really intriguing that you're willing to go into a problem head-on. How do you navigate
• 12:32
  admitting you have a problem, pinpointing it, to your, to your point, but keeping morale high so that the team doesn't get depressed over the realization that there's a problem that needs to be fixed? Yeah.
• 12:47
  No, that's a good one, 'cause you don't wanna damage egos, and you don't wanna steal someone's confidence.
• 12:53
  Especially, you're walking in and they feel like things are great, and they don't wanna maybe address the problem. They just swept it under the rug, and someone's bringing it up.
• 13:01
  So I think that I take the same approach on how I manage and operate and treat myself. And especially coming in, if you keep that student sort of mindset, and I'm always learning, I'm not perfect. I don't...
• 13:12
  You know, I have this saying that I'm not perfect. The company's not perfect. So why, who are we to demand a perfect employee, right? Mm.
• 13:21
  And when you say that to people, they, they, their d- their guard drops a little bit, right? And it's like, "Okay, cool. I'm not gonna be disparaged. I'm not gonna feel like I'm gonna get fired.
• 13:29
  I'm not gonna feel like I'm gonna get passed over for pro- 'cause I'm not perfect." Like, it's okay. If you are perfect, or you think you're perfect, that's probably not gonna get you very far with me, right?
• 13:39
  [laughs] 'Cause I'll be the first to admit I'm not, and the company's not. We'll always need to get better. And I think when people can let their guard down and realize, "Okay, you know what? I am good.
• 13:47
  That's why I'm here, and that's why I've gotten to where I'm at. But I can improve without feeling the fear of the GM or whoever coming down on me and making me feel like I'm inadequate in my role."
• 13:59
  And I think once you do that, p- people start to listen a little more. I love how you position that.
• 14:04
  You've created a central point by which the entire team can rally around, which is doing the right thing for the customer.
• 14:11
  Starting with, how do we want the customer to feel, what kind of experience do we want them to have, and then rallying everyone, creating agreeable, an agreeable environment for everybody.
• 14:22
  "Hey, we might disagree on the minutiae." Right. "But what we can agree on is this central point." So I love the way that you position that.
• 14:29
  Also, I would submit that I'm sure technicians are like, "You can pick a fight with us, but I'm the one holding a crescent wrench." Yeah. [laughs] So. Yeah, just hope when that happens. What do you got, a plastic chair?
• 14:40
  Um, I have a drill. You're like, "Can't wait for your car to come in for an oil change," right? Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. "I don't like that one." [laughs] They're loading up drill bits.
• 14:48
  [laughs] You know, just, like, tighten 'em in. Yeah. [laughs] I love it. I, I, I do. I wanna draw... Because now I'm, there's, there's a really straight line.
• 14:57
  There's a li- I, I, I love drawing these straight lines in, like, someone's story to what they're doing right now, especially as they start to explore, like, the, the, the, the next a- part of their career.
• 15:08
  And what you've been brought on, uh, with the Foundation group to do is begin this journey of what's being called EverDrive, which is, um, really a new perspective on retailing.
• 15:20
  And it's, i- i- uh, I'm guessing it has at its core a very customer-focused energy. And so tell us a little bit about...
• 15:31
  Because we're seeing a lot of these groups kinda g- create their, you know, car shops and their, their l- their driveways and their click lanes and, you know.
• 15:40
  And then you got Carvana and CarMax, and so we all realize this, this other brand has the potential to be exploratory and create new inroads and create customer experiences.
• 15:50
  So what, what's EverDrive's take on that that, that you're bringing your experience to? Yeah. So I would say definitely we're building this with the customer at the center, right? We're not doing it easy.
• 16:05
  We're not doing it to make it convenient for us, so much so that Foundation's decided to split this off completely, right? Mm. This is a whole separate entity.
• 16:15
  We'll have a few pieces that will be, continue to be connections, but from a consumer's perspective, it's completely separate. Mm. So we're not...
• 16:25
  The, the dealership is not the main source, and then this afterthought of e-commerce is there, which works for a lot of people. It, it works for, like, like, to your example, a Lithia driveway.
• 16:38
  Um, this model is just saying w- we're building.
• 16:42
  What do we need to do to build around the customer and provide this, this indust- this segment of the, of the industry that continues to grow every single year in e-commerce, and how do we build that?
• 16:53
  What do we need to do to build it the right way? And that is to have our own reconditioning center, to, to k- con- keep it completely separate from the dealership model.
• 17:04
  Now, we don't need to build this, and we're not gonna build it by disparaging the dealership model either, right? Yeah.
• 17:10
  We believe we can coexist with the Lithia driveways, with the Carvanas, and with new car franchise dealers.
• 17:15
  I mean, I grew up in the new car franchise dealer, so I love a lot of things about it, and there are a lot of great things about it, but in order to, to meet the customer of that with this e-commerce solution, you've gotta take it and separate it, um, while still coexisting wi- with, with all the others out there.
• 17:32
  So what do you think will be, uh, uh, o- outside of the separation and the, and, and the, the attention to e-commerce, what do you think... Or, or maybe you've already done this work.
• 17:42
  What's gonna be kinda the thing that sets it apa- set it ap- sets it apart from a consumer or an employee perspective in the engagement of, in both of those mediums and, and how you approach consumers?
• 17:56
  So I think we're bridging a lot of the best of both worlds in the staffing that we're bringing on. So at, at the head of the table is a car guy, but my COO, she came from TrueCar.My, my chief marketing officer came.
• 18:10
  She spent her entire career on the OEM side- Mm-hmm... of the business.
• 18:14
  And we're bringing a lot of things that, um, maybe, maybe some dealerships don't do and don't focus on when you talk about employee engagement, employee satisfaction.
• 18:24
  Um, we're gonna build a leadership academy for our employees. Love that. Has nothing to do with selling cars, but we wanna make sure that we can give them the tools to succeed, um, as well.
• 18:35
  And then from the consumer's perspective, um, I, I think the culture that we create will be a big part of it.
• 18:42
  But outside of that, we're also doing customer experience centers where you can still engage with, um, an associate of Everdrive. It's still an e-commerce platform.
• 18:53
  You still transact that way, so it's not like you start the process in one area and then have to start it all over again. So we feel like we're bridging the gap between no human interaction and e-commerce. Right?
• 19:05
  Pe- Can you explain, can you explain what a, a customer experience center, like, looks like, and, you know, feels like? Yep. So it's, the, the inventory won't be there.
• 19:16
  Uh, we're finding every year the stats go down with, for test drives, right? Customers- What kind of a location would it be in? We're, we're gonna be in high traffic areas, malls, shopping centers.
• 19:29
  So small footprint, but high traffic areas that people can get to very easy. Very boutique style type environment.
• 19:35
  So, like, like, from a square footage standpoint, give me a, like, comparable of a store that people might be familiar with. We're not like- You're talking ab- Go ahead. Yeah, I was gonna say 2,500 square feet-ish.
• 19:47
  Um- Wow. So, so, so not a lot. So, like, a pretty small, like, you know, I don't know, in, in, in, you know, my, the big mall here. There's, like, a sm- like a, I think it's a, it's a Casper mattress store.
• 20:00
  It's, like, one of the mattress brands and it, it's, it's just, like, a, I don't know, it's just, like, a small retail spot, right? Yeah. Like, no, there's not gonna be a single car in there. Exactly. Right? Yep.
• 20:12
  N- no cars. Um, and you know, we're not everything to everyone, so test drive is not part of it. But again, that stat seem, p- people don't seem to care about test driving as much anymore. Mm-hmm.
• 20:21
  They do want the interaction. They do wanna ask questions. Mm-hmm. Although we're simplifying buying a car, it's still a complicated process.
• 20:29
  And working in the dealerships, people have a lot of questions, and sometimes they don't wanna do that over the phone. Mm-hmm.
• 20:36
  Um, w- and we, we get numb to some of the questions people have 'cause we're doing it every single day. We know the process like the back of our hands. But people wanna communicate, they wanna interact- Mm-hmm...
• 20:46
  and they wanna ask questions to feel comfortable about making this purchase. So
• 20:51
  w- we wanna lean into e-commerce because you should be able to buy a car on your phone from start to finish, you know, g- outside of any state requirements that, that need a, um, an actual signature. Sure.
• 21:04
  Y- you should be able to buy a car that way. But you don't wanna get so extreme you alienate folks and, and not have the human interaction and that presence as well.
• 21:13
  You know, you know what, you know what's interesting about this? I'm, I'm clenching to the air right now because I'm so intrigued by this concept. Because you've used the word now, Brian, three or four times, alienate.
• 21:29
  And maybe, here's my controversial statement of the day. Great marketing does exactly that. It alienates a certain audience that it's not positioned for, and it attracts the right audience. You know what I mean?
• 21:43
  Like, I'm never gonna buy the Skechers shoes that tone my buttocks because I'm not interested. [laughs] You know what I mean? Just not. Like, they- Just not. Uh, look. They, I coulda told you that.
• 21:57
  [laughs] [laughs] But, like, you know, Skechers- 'Cause you obviously don't need it, Michael. I don't. I mean- Come on. Uh, th- these glutes were made for walking. I see you, human man. [laughs] Recording has stopped.
• 22:09
  Stopped. Right. [laughs] [laughs] Okay, well, that took a turn. But you know what I mean, though? Like, like, the, great marketing attracts the right audience and it repels the wrong audience. Mm-hmm.
• 22:20
  And I think for too long- Yeah, totally... in our industry, the narrative has been you're either pro-dealer or you're anti-dealer. Well, no, not, not necessarily so black and white or cut and dry, lukewarm, whatever.
• 22:32
  It, you can actually be pro-dealer, but recognize that there is a segment over here who perhaps just wants a different option. Sure. And so you enter the market catering to that option.
• 22:43
  And so, you know, I wouldn't even position as, as it alienates other than you, you've found a market segment who, you know, you believe is wanting this type of an experience.
• 22:55
  And it goes back to, gosh, I f- I feel like all of us have had conversations at some point alluding to this idea that, that we believe showrooms, the footprint might shrink, right? Service departments- It is...
• 23:09
  might grow, right? And we've, we're, we're starting- There it is... to see that narrative a lot more.
• 23:14
  I don't know how you guys feel about that, but I'm, I'm certainly seeing it a lot more that the, the footprint, the showroom is gonna shrink, floor plans shrink.
• 23:23
  And, uh, there might be even one of each vehicle with, like, an iPad type kiosk thing where you can customize. To your point, what you've created is a visitor center, right? This, this experience center- Yep...
• 23:33
  it's a visitor center. [laughs] Like, I'm going to a landmark that I wanna learn more about. I'm coming in a low, nice-smelling environment that I can learn more about what I'm interested in- [laughs]...
• 23:44
  and, and get the information I need. So I think that's, this is really interesting. And it's, we're starting to- Well- We're starting to round out that full circle. Well, [laughs] there you go.
• 23:56
  Well, and also, I'm just thinking about this. It's like-They're pro- you know, how many times is it like, "Well, I left my trade at home." [laughs] It's like- Unless it- If you're shopping- [laughs]...
• 24:08
  you're probably in the car. Oh. You know, like, you, it's just, it's, it's just there, right? And so if you have the, the, like you have- Yeah...
• 24:15
  that piece too, so you can do the trade appraisal and, and see the vehicle in person, like, there, there's just a lot of things that if you think about the way that people engage a shopping center or a mall or, and any of those, like, high traffic corner areas, I'm thinking, like, how do we, you know, how do we become- Yeah...
• 24:32
  the new Walgreens- Yeah... right, as an industry- Mm... where it's like we're just on the corner. Well, I, I, I remember when- You know, all we need is a corner- You know, you can have car dealers- So-...
• 24:39
  and strip clubs. They would, they would lump them together. The city would say, "We don't want them in there." And- Yeah [laughs]... I think we're changing that, right?
• 24:45
  We're changing the same- It's 'cause they got confused about the terminology. Like, what headlights are we talking about here? Yeah. [laughs] Exactly.
• 24:52
  And it's like, you know, we, we could be with any other retail shopping. As long as we give the customer the similar experience that they expect and, and deserve,
• 25:01
  I, I think we, we shouldn't have to be afraid to, to, to mix with any of those. Man, this is a really compelling, interesting conversation. Brian, thanks so much for joining us on the Auto Collabs podcast. Absolutely.
• 25:15
  Appreciate you guys having me. [upbeat music] I think a lot about this idea in business. I think even guys like Grant Cardone talk about this, where it's like you gotta be agreeable.
• 25:29
  It's kinda like the first rule of business, be agreeable. Hmm. And I know a lot of people have a problem with that because they're like, "But what if I don't agree?" And I'm like, "Ah, th- there's..."
• 25:38
  I see that there's a- Or what if it makes me look weak or something like that? What if it makes me look weak? Mm-hmm. What if I don't agree with their position?
• 25:43
  Well, it's like you don't actually have to agree with their position. You have to agree that they have a position. Right. Mm. And the minute that you can become agreeable on that level, like, nobody can get you.
• 25:53
  You're like, you're like Doc Rivers. It's like, it's, it's not Blake's fault. It's everybody's fault, you know? It's like, "We all did it," you know? Mm-hmm. You can't get them.
• 26:01
  I love how Brian framed creating an agreeable environment for everybody.
• 26:07
  You might disagree with me fundamentally as a technician because you don't understand me, or a technician might disagree with sales because you don't understand me or whatever, but what we can agree on, this point of agreeableness is- [laughs] New word...
• 26:22
  customer experience, what we want them to feel and what we can agree on is the right thing to do for them. That was a huge takeaway for me from Brian. Yeah. Well, and speaking- I love-...
• 26:30
  of, of the customer experience, this idea of... Yeah, we can't hit the button in this podcast, Paul. Um, but [clears throat] the idea of creating these centers that are oriented around the customer experience.
• 26:42
  And, you know, the, some would argue, "Hey, look, the showroom does that. It allows for test drives. It allows for sitting down, having that conversation."
• 26:51
  Um, but I think going closer to the customer, getting closer to their, their regular everyday interaction, and creating an, an experience that is altogether different than the showroom experience will attract a, a, another type of buyer that, as an industry, we need to be ready to attract.
• 27:07
  It's... Like, I know people that have never ordered food off of DoorDash. Like, they will only go and grab the food themselves, or they'll only- Mm-hmm... eat out or things like that. And that's okay.
• 27:19
  Now, my wife and I, we DoorDash things like it's going out, like they're about to go out of business, right? [laughs] And it's just, it's, it's trying to figure out what avenue and what lane
• 27:29
  different customers are looking to, to interact with businesses with.
• 27:32
  And I love the approach that they're taking is saying, "Hey, look, this is the part of the customer experience that we're trying to solve, and we know that there are others that will solve it in different ways, and that's okay."
• 27:42
  That's, I mean, that's the whole principle of why, um, all of these, you know, new entrants, whether it's a Carvana or a Vroom or, you know, products like Driveway that have been born out of, you know, the franchise side of things, um, and now Everdrive trying a, a different way.
• 27:58
  That's the beauty of the whole thing is that no one's going to get the whole thing right. Yeah.
• 28:03
  And everyone's going to take learnings from everyone's attempt, and they're gonna put them together and hopefully make the customer experience better and better as we move through it.
• 28:12
  So, um, I, I love that there's someone else trying a different approach.
• 28:16
  I happen to think, uh, they're gonna find a few things that no one else has found before, and it's gonna make everybody, uh, execute better, um, especially as it, it pertains to the customer experience.
• 28:26
  And I think it's gonna tie back to the view of franchise retail automotive in a positive way. So on behalf of Michael Cirillo, Kyle Mountsier, and myself, thanks for listening to Auto Collabs. We'll see you next time.
• 28:37
  Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U dot com.
• 28:49
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 28:56
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet?
• 29:15
  Not yet.