Latest / Auto Collabs / “I Wouldn’t Buy a Car From Me” (This GM Helped Ford Redesign the Showroom) with JB Burnett

Transcript

“I Wouldn’t Buy a Car From Me” (This GM Helped Ford Redesign the Showroom) with JB Burnett · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  Do either of you remember the first time you ever walked in an Apple Store? [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. Yes. The first time I ever- Tell, tell us about it... went in an Apple Store. Um, I was,
• 0:18
  I, I was still living in Canada, and I was down in the San Francisco Bay Area doing a project, working on a project. And I, I just happened upon this area.
• 0:30
  I don't even know, it, it, somewhere between Silicon Valley and San Francisco, somewhere nestled in there. And there was this cool, vibey, outdoor shopping mall-y type area, and right at the heart of it
• 0:45
  was an Apple Store. And this is gonna sound so cheesy. I don't even know why I'm sharing this. [laughs] Probably because, like, growing up in the sticks in British Columbia, Canada,
• 0:58
  this type of vibe was so f- felt so unachievable. Man, they had indoor bathrooms and everything. Yeah. [laughs] Like, it was... I mean, people wore deodorant. It was like i- it was a thing.
• 1:10
  [laughs] And I remember feeling so elevated walking into that store, like I had achieved- Hmm... something so special. Huh.
• 1:20
  And also probably a part of it was at a time in my life where I could not afford a single thing in there. In the roster. Yeah. Ooh. Even better. And, and it- And they treated you great...
• 1:28
  it was almost like this aspirational experience that I came- Mm-hmm... back home feeling, feeling like I all of a sudden didn't belong where I lived. How about that? Kyle, do you remember? Psh.
• 1:42
  Uh, I think it was pre-iPhone, actually. Um, where I lived, at a mall, we had one, a very early, like, new-ish Apple Store. It was probably, like, a lot of computers, like a lot of desktops.
• 1:58
  Yeah, it was all, it was all des- like- Right... laptop computers. So it was in that first, like, the white, uh, laptop. Yep. Like, the white MacBook- Yeah... uh, laptop.
• 2:07
  So it was- Yeah, that's when they had the iMac that was on, like, the base like a lamp almost. Well, yeah- You move it around... they had that, yeah, the, the, the one on the base. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 2:15
  So the, so that was, like, my first experience into it pre-iPhone, like, late high school it would've been. Like, like, m- late '90s, early 2000s, something like that. Uh, like it's- So I'm, I'm actually- Yeah...
• 2:26
  going somewhere with this. Um, Michael, you and I got... Oh, I think, were the three of us in an Apple Store when you bought the watch? Yeah. Yep. Was that all three of us? Yes, that was all three of us. All right.
• 2:34
  So we witnessed, we witnessed one of Michael's more recent visits to the Apple Store, where he walked in like he owned the place. [laughs] Checked out the big, what's the big Apple Watch called? The Ultra.
• 2:44
  The Ultra or something. Yeah. The Ultra. He looks at it, puts it on his wrist, and he's like, "Yep, I'm gonna get it." And then we stood around for 20 minutes waiting for someone to actually execute the purchase. Right?
• 2:55
  That was right. It's literally- Yeah, that was the most- It's the- That was an anomaly- All right, somebody-... of a, of an Apple Store... take this man's thousand dollars. Anybody? [laughs] Right?
• 3:02
  What a difference from that first visit that you just expressed- So interesting... and to the last visit, my buddy. How poetic. You made it. What? I said- How poetic?... how poetic. I could ring the bell. Yeah.
• 3:13
  Uh, you, you definitely should. Well, today's guest, JB, JB Burnett, is building, uh, a, I guess, what do you call it? A signature concept? Yeah, signature concept. A brand new Ford store- Ford store, yeah...
• 3:22
  because I think Ford understands that consumers expect what Michael Cirillo expects now, and they're no longer, you know, wowed by the environment. They actually expect a very comfortable environment.
• 3:32
  They expect to be treated better. Um, and maybe not if they've never bought a car in a place like that. But, uh, super savvy dealer, super savvy leader.
• 3:39
  Excited to have him on the show today, so we hope you enjoy this conversation. [upbeat music] JB, thank you so much for joining us today.
• 3:48
  I love that there are gonna be a few, like, first-time conversations between the four of us. So welcome. Thanks for being here. Yeah, this is gonna be great, man. I appreciate you guys having us. All right.
• 3:57
  So, um, we always ask this question, and I wanna get through it quickly because it's important, but what you're doing and what you're working on, I think is, is super interesting to a lot of our audience.
• 4:06
  But, uh, tell us how you first got into the auto industry. Like, what age were you? Give us the, give us, like, the 30- to 60-second version. I love that question.
• 4:14
  So I, I got in the car business when I was 20 years old, fresh out of serving tables, right? Somebody, I was serving tables. A guy said, "Hey, I think you should sell cars." Hospitality. Yeah. And I was like, "Sell cars?
• 4:22
  That's commission, right? Like, I can't do that." He's like, "You get tips, right?" And so I got, I got... Yeah. [laughs] I wanted to flip pancakes. Isn't it wait tables, commission? [laughs] Yeah.
• 4:30
  [laughs] That felt more real every day. Yeah. Um, so, so I, I got in.
• 4:34
  I, um, I sold cars for actually a very short period of time, sold cars for, like, a year, and then, um, got into finance because my finance manager left and, and I raised my hand.
• 4:41
  And, and then my GM left, uh, a couple years later, and he went to another automotive group and he called me. He says, "Hey, man. The guy who's running this Hyundai store isn't doing a great job.
• 4:50
  I think I can get you an interview." And, uh, he got me an interview when I was 23, coming out of the box. I took over my first store as a general manager at 23, ran it for- Wow. Good night.
• 4:58
  [laughs] Ran a store for them for, uh, five years, and then had an opportunity to, uh- [laughs]...
• 5:03
  to move from Maryland to Delaware, come over the shore, and, uh, join the Preston Automotive Group, and I found that home for the last 10 years.
• 5:09
  And now I'm currently the general manager of their Hyundai store, their Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram store, their Ford and Lincoln store we're about to talk about. Wow. Just a couple, two, three stores.
• 5:18
  A little bit of a loaded question, but, like, do you have a favorite football team? [laughs] So I was b- I was born in San Diego. I'm still a Chargers fan. Okay. Oh, wow. Well, that's all right.
• 5:26
  Chargers are doing all right. They're undefeated still- Yeah, yeah... as of this recording. [laughs] Not what I expected, though. That's great. I was like, "Is it Commanders, Ravens?"
• 5:34
  I know, I thought- "Hopefully the Eagles." [laughs] I thought we were gonna get an, an East Coast trick bag and he was like, "Nah, Chargers. We're good."
• 5:39
  I was trying to throw- See, that's the cool thing is n- nobody fights me on teams 'cause- No problems with anybody... nobody talks about the Chargers out here. Oh, okay.
• 5:44
  [laughs] Well, the, you can have, you can have an East Coast team too. I recommend the Eagles, but go ahead. There you go. [laughs] That's amazing. That's amazing.
• 5:51
  Uh, I, I always love to know, 'cause we ask, a- ask beforehand and I think it always, there's, there's something that happens when we, when we relate, like, what we do outside of work.
• 6:00
  And you, you mentioned that, uh, that you love cooking, uh, in kinda like a pre-chat before we had here. Get... Are you, like, are you the family chef or are you, like, the grill master?
• 6:12
  Like, what i- what's, what's your vibe on cooking?So, so it's funny. My fiance and I have been together now seven years. And, uh, and at the beginning it was me cooking every night. You know?
• 6:22
  It, it, it was just every night I got home from work, 8:30, 9:00, and then we'd start cooking. Next thing you know it's 11:30. Oh, gosh... because I don't know how to cook small. I can only cook- [laughs]...
• 6:31
  for 10 people. Full meals. And I can't cook for two. And so somewhere along the line she's like, "This is really killing the grocery bill because you're, you're having leftovers and you don't eat leftovers."
• 6:40
  And so she started- [laughs]... she started picking up cooking. And now somehow by default I only cook like two days a week. [laughs] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow. She's like, "No, no, no, no, no.
• 6:48
  We're not doing this whole cook for 10 and then it's- Yeah... I gotta throw it out in two days and that." Yep, exactly.
• 6:54
  Well- Well, but I think, okay, so then I go back to how many stores you're working with and managing and it's like it, it seems like you've got this only go big mentality probably in all of life. Uh, it, it...
• 7:07
  What, what has led... Like, can you recall, like, why that is in your psyche where you're like, "I'm just gonna go after the biggest, the next biggest thing"?
• 7:18
  So I think starting out in life, like in my, my late teens, I, I was, I was real tough just not, not finding the right crowds, not doing the right things. And then I found serving and that wasn't the right crowd.
• 7:28
  And then I got into the car business and, and I think car business there was a guy in that, in that room, he was the top sales guy, plaque on the name every single time.
• 7:36
  And, uh, and I looked, I came to him like my first week and I was like, "Hey, man, I wanna be like you." And he said, "Well, good luck. Nobody showed me how to do it, so figure it out." [laughs] "Oh, thanks."
• 7:47
  [laughs] And I, and I, and I took that as like a challenge and I'm like, "All right. Well, let's go." Uh, and so I, I took that and, and really I excelled, excelled in st- sales.
• 7:55
  I, I beat him my, my fourth or fifth month in. And, and then from there I'm like, "All right. Sky's the limit. I'm actually pretty good at this thing." He should, he should be asking me. Yeah. Right?
• 8:05
  [laughs] So, so then, you know, as that progressed, every time I had an opportunity, I mean, you know, my back was against the wall. I didn't know what I was doing. I was a kid.
• 8:12
  And, and you know, you're 23 years old and you take over your first store, what do you, what option do you have other than success? Like, I gotta work seven days a week.
• 8:18
  I gotta work longer and harder than everybody else. And then eventually I learned the car business. I went through dealer academy a couple of times and, and I really, I learned the right ways and the wrong ways to do it.
• 8:28
  And I've tried to figure out how to make the best right way to do it. And, and now bringing sort of a new era and generation of the right way to do the car business. N- name- That's a great... Go ahead, man...
• 8:38
  name another industry- Hm... where you hear this story- [laughs]... as often as we do. No. Going down the wrong road. It's a disaster. Hanging out with the wrong people. Stumble into automotive.
• 8:51
  And, and we get the benefit here because we get the hindsight look at, JB, your, your, your experience and your life.
• 8:58
  But I mean, I can't think of a single other industry where this story is told and the outcome that we get to see in hindsight m- maps the way that yours has mapped. I mean, like, do you guys know?
• 9:08
  Is there another industry that- I can't... I mean, we should ask every guest this. I could never think of one. JB? I can't ever think of one. I, I see it all the time. I mean, and, and I love the, I love the story.
• 9:17
  In auto, yeah. One of my, um, one of my best finance managers is, I met him, he was the 19-year-old designated driver at a bar for his, his mom who was, who was intoxicated that night, right?
• 9:29
  And he's sitting at the bar drinking water, and I sit down beside him and we just start chatting. And I'm like, "Hey, man. Ever told you to get in the car business?"
• 9:36
  [laughs] And now he is very, very successful young man, just under 30 years old, doing his thing. And he's really taking care of mom now, yeah. B- been with me eight, 10 years now. I mean, really doing his thing.
• 9:46
  That's awesome. And so just seeing those kinds of success stories, especially in, in southern Ca- uh, southern Delaware, I mean, where I don't- Yeah, right. How many... Right. Where it's the land of opportunity.
• 9:54
  Not a lot of big jobs out here. [laughs] Unless you're into, like, filing LLC paperwork for businesses in other states, right? [laughs] It's, you know, chickens are a booming business in southern Delaware.
• 10:04
  Chickens- Really? You see c- you see trucks driving down the roads with just boxes of chickens on them. Full of chickens. Yeah. Okay. Why not? Live chickens just heading somewhere. That's wild. All right.
• 10:11
  I'm gonna pivot us a little bit.
• 10:12
  Um, you're doing some amazing work right now, and the work that you've been working on in a lot of these signature concept stores, and we're gonna talk about one you're working on with Ford.
• 10:22
  A lot of people don't even understand. You've been working on this for a while, and they're about to see these new concepts, um, in this reinvention or rethinking of the retail experience for Ford specifically.
• 10:31
  But tell us a little bit about what you're doing, why you decided to, like, hand raise and say like, "I wanna be a part of that." And then maybe, I think we have, uh, some stuff that you can show us that- Yeah, for sure.
• 10:41
  For sure... we won't tell anybody else. We promise. Yeah. [laughs] For s- So, so I think it started, I was at a Ford event three or four years ago, right?
• 10:49
  And, and I was sitting there in the room and they were talking about Ford guest experience and how to make it different and better and, and, and just starting, starting to build the brand.
• 10:57
  And then from there I, I had this, like, epiphany. And I raised my hand in front of... I mean, this is a room full of dealers.
• 11:03
  I raised my hand and I said, "Guys, I'll be honest with you, I don't think I'd buy a car from me." Hm. S- sit in a car dealership for three, four, five hours, like, that's not me. I, I'm quick, I'm easy. I want it now.
• 11:15
  I'm, I'm Amazon overnight the same day. I want it now and I'll pay the money, right? Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. I don't care what it's gonna cost, just give it to me.
• 11:21
  And, um, and so once I had that epiphany, I really, I got back from that and I really started pivoting all of my business to meet the guests where they're at.
• 11:29
  Like, we already know there's, there's the guy that wants to sit in a showroom for eight hours, right? And he wants to grind and hustle and know he got the best deal.
• 11:37
  But then there's the other one that doesn't ever wanna see our face. They want us- the car to show up in their driveway and them sign a couple of wet docs and move on with life.
• 11:48
  I just feel like if we can meet the customer wherever in that journey they are at, we're heading in the right direction.
• 11:53
  And that's where I think this, this project really becomes a good passion project that fits along with how I would buy a car now. You know? Yeah. Man, I, I'm just hearing that so much more often. You know, when we...
• 12:07
  Especially when, let's call it like the mid-teens, the mid, the mid-20-teens. There was such a pursuit of like-We would just name the customer broadly. We would say, "The customer wants to buy online.
• 12:22
  The customer wants to..." And we, like as an industry- Yeah... we started making these big old blanket s- you know- About this one customer that everyone falls right in the mold with.
• 12:31
  Right Everybody falls perfectly into that. And I'm hearing so often the best operators, it's like, it's actually... Because then we were like, "Well, the, the omni-channel," right? No, no, no.
• 12:42
  There's like three ways that people wanna buy. But the spectrum of what you just said is like somewhere between 72 and 83 different ways to buy, right? [laughs] Yeah.
• 12:53
  And they all come with different flavors, and that's a... I think what, what... If the data scientists, if the analysts, if the consumer public, if Wall Street could sit in the shoes of a salesperson for one month.
• 13:10
  And let's say a salesperson meets 50 people, right? Let's just, between online, offline interactions. And in just those 50 interactions,
• 13:21
  the number of different job titles, backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, like, ways of anything, the ve- the price point of the vehicle that they're buying, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, that makes each transaction that unique- Mm-hmm...
• 13:37
  is something that you can only really experience when you do it day in, day out, and you sit in the shoes and you listen to the stories and you understand what makes people tick.
• 13:46
  And once, until you do that, you, you actually forget that, like, the generalized customer doesn't actually exist, right? 'Cause they are. It's 83 different ways to buy a car, and probably way more than that, right?
• 14:00
  And I think you hit the nail on the head on that, man, because that's... And, and, and you're right.
• 14:04
  They, they, they put it in these little buckets first, and they're like, "Oh, well, they either wanna do it all online, or they do want it all in the store, or they just wanna look at it online but then come drive it and drive it home."
• 14:14
  No, there's some people that wanna get the financing done, the payments done, the, the back end done, everything before they ever step foot in the showroom.
• 14:21
  And there's, there, like I said on the, there's other guys that they prefer to touch, feel, smell, drive, and, and do that to four, five, six, eight different cars. We've all been there, right? Oh, yeah.
• 14:32
  And it's, uh, it's, so you have- On the same lot- Yeah... when the, when the box is in the back. Yeah. [laughs] Two, two different c- two different ca- uh, cars, identical, just different colors.
• 14:42
  "Well, I wanna see if that one drives any different." Yeah. And, you know, you, they run around the, the, the lot for, for a couple hundred bucks for eight hours. Um, I think this is, again, I, I'm, I'm a younger guy.
• 14:54
  I got in this business very young, and I learned from a lot of not young guys, a lot of really old school mentality that said, "Hey, follow me. Come to my desk. And, hey, watch this.
• 15:04
  I can make this guy watch, walk across the entire parking lot and not even know why. Follow me." [laughs] And, and I've been through those trainings. And then you come out of that, uh, right? We've been there.
• 15:13
  [laughs] And so you come out of that and you're like, "Okay, well, would I follow them?" Yeah. Like, eh. Yeah. Right. I, I don't know if I would. No, I know. Right. [laughs] Yeah. For sure.
• 15:23
  So tell, tell us about, tell us, we, we've got this framework of people looking for something different. How different...
• 15:30
  Like, can you give us some details about the, the signature concept in Ford that you're working on?
• 15:34
  Um, what is, what are the biggest differences between how Ford maybe approached stores in the past, and what are some of the biggest differences in how they're approaching this?
• 15:43
  By the way, how far is this thing from opening? Uh, we are, we are within weeks. We should be open beginning- Oh my gosh... beginning of October. Well, this is not here. Okay, great.
• 15:50
  And this will be, this is the first signature 2.0 facility in the world. Um- Wow... the, the next facility's coming up, uh, in South America, and then there's, uh, another facility coming up in the EU, um, within a week.
• 16:02
  Oh, wow. So this is gonna be the first one in the US. We should be the first. Oh my gosh. This will be the first in the US I think for a little while. I don't know of anybody else that's this far progressed.
• 16:09
  And so- We're gonna show some pictures then. Yeah, yeah. Um, what's the first- So let's, let's talk about the showroom a little bit. Yeah. Good. Give us some. We'll put the picture up, but tell us about it.
• 16:17
  So, so the, the showroom in this facility is completely open. It's designed to be more like you're hanging out in your friend's living room, right?
• 16:25
  So there's, like, comfortable seating areas with, like, coffee tables, high tops.
• 16:28
  When you walk in, there's this, this huge barista bar situation where you can stop and get a beverage, and really that's where your journey begins.
• 16:36
  And then your, your sales associate at that point is just saying, "Hey, so where do you wanna begin?" They don't have cubicles. Yeah. They don't have desks. They don't have computers.
• 16:46
  Um, everybody works- I mean, it feels very Apple Store-esque. It, it really does. When you look at it. Everybody works in a i- iPad. And, and you, you know, when you're working a deal... There, there you go.
• 16:54
  So when you're working a deal and, uh, and somebody just says, "Hey, well, you know, that's what it looks like with no money down, but what does it look like with five grand down?" And then you're like, "I don't know.
• 17:02
  Hold on a second. Let me go ask my manager." [laughs] Then you run and ask the manager. The manager's doing two other things. It takes 12 minutes to tell you what the difference in a down payment is gonna be. Every time.
• 17:11
  So I had... Every time. [laughs] So I had to, uh, I had to do some homework on this, 'cause Ford told me, "Hey, this is what we want it to feel like."
• 17:19
  But the coolest thing about this is Ford didn't tell me how I had to do it. And so they said, "Hey, we want a digital retailing lifestyle, but we don't know exactly which tool is gonna be the best for this."
• 17:29
  So I looked at a bunch of different tools.
• 17:32
  Um, I interviewed five different companies, and, and I settled on one that took the digital retailing experience that we've been hearing about for years, right, buy it online, click, and blah, blah, blah, like that part of it, but it tied it into a showroom experience.
• 17:45
  And so if you started it at home and you started picking the car, it grabs your information and when you come in I say, "Hey, you know, Mr. Smith, I see you got this far. Where would you like to go from here?" Yep.
• 18:00
  And so I can change down payment, I can change, uh, term, and all these are, like, parameters that we set behind the scenes obviously.
• 18:07
  And one of the coolest things that I found about this is if you have that, you know, that 800 that comes in, they got five grand down, you know they're gonna go for the best rate.
• 18:16
  You can set the parameters of that deal and the salesperson hits a button, submits it to Route One, it kicks it back within 90 seconds and says, "Hey, Mr. Customer, here are your three options.
• 18:27
  Which one would you like to go with?" And it never lose- AmazingDo you mind, uh, w- a- us asking what technology? Sure. Yeah, can you dis- d- disclose that yet? For sure. I, uh, I went with Autofy. Um- Awesome. Yeah.
• 18:41
  Great, great partner. I, I mean, again, looking at a lot of the programs, they just had it, they just had it figured out for what I was looking for. There's...
• 18:49
  A lot of them are great digital retailing tools, but then getting that translation into the showroom experience where it's seamless is really what I thought would make the difference in how this whole process looks.
• 19:00
  Well, and, and you think about, like...
• 19:02
  And, and if you're looking at this, and you, if you can see it if you're watching the video, you can tell, like, there's a very Apple-esque, like, computer-buying, technology-buying look and feel, and people are so native to that these days.
• 19:16
  And so the ability to kind of walk in and go, "Okay, we're gonna start this," like you said, "in these nine different ways, nine different places, but anywhere, we can pick up, drop off, uh, in the process where you left off."
• 19:29
  And I think that, you know, the, the, like, walking into something like that is h- I... You, you actually, you gave the example of the follow me, right? Which I've led those trainings. I, I was in those trainings.
• 19:42
  [laughs] I know what it's like to... Uh, man, if, if I can't get a room full of brand-new salespeople to stand up, follow me some random place, I, uh, like, I could still do that today. But- I've done it 100 times.
• 19:55
  Done it 100 times. [laughs] But the interesting thing about this, and I think one of the things that as, um,
• 20:01
  just as the industry, is that the showroom has always felt like, well, if I go in there, things could get sideways, right?
• 20:08
  And I think what, what, what the OEMs and dealers are starting to recognize is that if we make that a place that's inviting, people will actually be excited to come to it.
• 20:17
  They'll, they will, they will be destined to go to the showroom because it's a, it's a great place to do business. And so that's a...
• 20:25
  It's just a massive pivot, and I'm proud of Ford for picking up on those consumer signals and kind of taking that, um, as an opportunity. I think that was, that was really their designing factor, right?
• 20:36
  So the sh- the showroom's lines, you can, you can essentially, from the, from the sales management area, you can see the service writers. Um, you know, it's all wide open. And so there's no sales waiting area.
• 20:49
  And now the pictures we're looking at, these are real-world pictures from your concept. These are real life of the showroom from last week. Yep. Wow.
• 20:54
  And so you'll see those open consult spaces with a little bit of glass in between.
• 20:59
  Um, tho- those consult spaces are, are based just to give you, you know, enough privacy but not make you feel like you're locked in somewhere. Um- Mm-hmm...
• 21:08
  and that last picture that just popped up, that's their, that's the guest preparation area. So they... I told you, they don't have desks. They don't have, uh, you know, computers or phones out front.
• 21:16
  Everything runs out of this back room. It's not customer-facing at all. So when you're back here, we're answering the phones, knocking out tasks, doing those kinds of things, you're doing that behind the scenes.
• 21:25
  And so when you're up front, you're almost more of a Ford concierge. You're waiting, sure, for somebody to come in or maybe for a reservation to show up. Yeah.
• 21:32
  But you're, you're messing and, and talking with the guy that just got out of service and just checked in.
• 21:37
  And it, it changes the barrier of the sales waiting area versus the service waiting area and, "Oh, those are service customers. I don't wanna talk to them." We're all just sort of hanging out in the space. Yeah.
• 21:48
  You know what? Paul, you know what I mean by service customers. [laughs] Absolutely. Y- you know what really stands out to me here, too, and I'm about to make all of the architect that watches this really excited?
• 22:00
  Uh, I would pluralize that. We hope. We hope.
• 22:03
  [laughs] Um, the, the relevance and the importance that good architecture and good, good environment design has, like what you were saying, Kyle, on the customer experience- Yeah... but also on the employee experience.
• 22:17
  When they are in an environment that makes them feel something different- Oh, right... then, then that actually translates to, like, "Wait a minute. I wanna, I want to preserve the vibe."
• 22:29
  Like, it elevates, actually, people. And, and I'm even looking at these. I've got them on my phone. I had to zoom in 5X. I, uh, 'cause I just wanna see all the details.
• 22:38
  And, I mean, people don't realize how important that Apple kind of environment, that Apple Store environment,
• 22:44
  how important a role it plays in consumer satisfaction, consumer confidence, employee confidence, and, and culture confidence.
• 22:53
  They know they're coming to a work, uh, uh, to a place every single day where they must behave in a way that actually matches the environment, because if not, then, uh, we're just like every other dealership that has popcorn kernels on the floor,
• 23:09
  you know? It's, I, I agree with you completely. So- Yeah, I- That, that's what I'm feeling when I see it. I think it looks super cool space.
• 23:15
  Are you seeing the excitement around, like, the team kind of getting ready to, to, to move in there?
• 23:20
  Well, it's funny 'cause we're, we're, it's, it's a big move because we're actually eight and a half miles up the street. Oh, interesting. And so coming, coming to this campus, you're not only...
• 23:28
  It's not like a rebuild or, or like you're just upgrading- Right... and moving next door. This is, this is- Whole move... we're moving the whole thing a whole city away. And, and the facility we're in now is...
• 23:38
  I mean, it's, it's outdated. We've had it a long time. Um, we bought it. It was already old when we bought it. And, and so there, excitement isn't even the word. It, this is- [laughs]
• 23:49
  This is, this is such a gonna be a different, a different experience for our associates as much as it's gonna be for- Yeah... our, for our guests, you know what I mean?
• 23:59
  They're gonna walk in there with some swagger day one. I'm just telling you. Well, uh- It's gonna be full swagger. Well, tell me this. How have you been prepping the mindset shift? Because there's so...
• 24:06
  a level where the environment gives you a different mindset shift, but at the same time, this environment is so uniquely catered toward this, like you said, a concierge experience.
• 24:15
  How have you been prepping the team from the old building to the new building? Like, when you step in this new building, this is how we're gonna do it. Or is there no change? No, I'll, I'll give you,
• 24:26
  I'll give Ford a lot of credit.
• 24:27
  They have helped tremendously when it comes to pre-open visits, and meeting with all the staff, and going through the, the guest experience, the Ford Guest Experience Program, which ironically I'm doing today at the Ford Store.
• 24:41
  Um, but that's every single month right now that we're, we're just trying to inundate them with what it feels like to be-To be different.
• 24:49
  And, and we've been using the words guest and reservation for a long time in that store because we knew it was coming. We learned that, um, you know, by, through Lincoln, through Ford.
• 24:58
  And, you know, all of- it's currently a dual point, so all of those sales associates have had a lot of Lincoln training as well, and what that, that Lincoln guest is looking for.
• 25:07
  And that guest is looking for an ele- even more elevated experience.
• 25:10
  And so, uh, between that and shifting technology, trying to make them less reliant on computers, um, you know, I have, I had my whole staff have been on iPads for two years, and so it's not like that's gonna be some crazy new experience.
• 25:24
  Um- That's huge. Yeah. So it's just- Wow... as we saw it coming, we just started transitioning. And, and so all three of my stores, every sales associate works off, off an iPad primarily.
• 25:35
  Um, and so they don't do it with the, with the Audify software, but you know, they do it for showing cars or, or maybe some of the, you know, the connected services that a lot of the manufacturers have.
• 25:46
  They use it for all that stuff. Um, so yeah, it's, it's... I think we've done a good job transitioning, and obviously the real test isn't gonna be till we get there. Uh, but I think we're heading in the right direction.
• 25:55
  Yeah, for sure. Well, I mean, I, I can just tell by your mode of communication, the way that you're thinking about prepping, getting excited for it.
• 26:02
  JB- JB, it's been amazing just hearing your story personally, but also, uh, kind of understanding what's going on here with Ford and the collaboration that it's been.
• 26:11
  Uh, we can't wait to see it open, so you're gonna have to send us pictures. We'll make sure and share those out.
• 26:14
  Uh, but thank you, uh, for giving us a little bit of your time in a busy season and joining us here on Auto Collapse. Absolutely, guys. Thank you so much for your time. We'll talk soon. Okay. I, I...
• 26:28
  This is what was going through my mind while I was listening to him speak.
• 26:33
  The, this idea of, and, and maybe this is a small detail, but I pay attention to this thread, which is when you look at the industry at large, there's a lot of polarizing conversations happening.
• 26:45
  "What's gonna happen to the industry? What's gonna happen to dealerships? Are we going out of business? Are we staying in business? Are we w- trying to replace, you know, dealerships?"
• 26:53
  And, and you see Ford and a dealer making this type of an investment in a physical location.
• 27:01
  And I can't help but think that they are smart enough as an OEM and as a dealer to be looking far enough into the future to say, "Yes, despite everything that's happening and all of the narratives, we have enough conclusive information that com- cu- customers want to go to a place to buy a car."
• 27:20
  Well, I think that, I think that... I'm, I'm gonna give you like a, I'm, I'm gonna give just a little bit of a change to that. Uh-huh. Is I think that customers want to go to a place to buy things that they enjoy. Ah.
• 27:36
  And the pivot for me that OEMs and dealers are starting to see is that not r- is that real estate just in a, isn't a place where transactions happen. It's a place where experiential retail happens.
• 27:50
  And- Ooh, that's good... you know, I was at, I can't wait for the conversation to go, but I was at, um, you know, Alex Lawrence's EVauto.
• 27:59
  And you look at some of the things that he's doing with the big LED screens and the seating areas and things like that, and you look at the way that this Ford Signature is coming out.
• 28:07
  And few years back, Mazda, their redesign. And, and then you look at the boutique shops that a Polestar or a Lucid or some of these have, and it's like people, they make coffee shops in those. Why?
• 28:20
  Because they're places where people just want to be. Wanna be. And, and- Right... that's what I think that OE- OEMs are realizing.
• 28:27
  Whether people buy cars online or in store or some hybrid of both or one of the 83 versions, is they want to go to a place that they enjoy. Yeah. And this is a, this is a move in that direction, for sure.
• 28:39
  That's true, especially as we're in the middle of this, uh, you know, brick and mortar resurgence that is- Oh... just in the beginning of the swing. Yeah. Right?
• 28:45
  Back to bookshops and in-person shopping, and Gen Z really liking and enjoying it.
• 28:51
  Staying ahead of that and, and being a part of reinventing now, that, like, over the next decade is when you're really gonna start to reap the rewards of building a place where people wanna buy things. Look- Yep...
• 29:03
  we hope that this is a place that you like to buy ideas and discuss and think. So on behalf of Calm Mount Sierra- And they're free. [laughs] And they are free.
• 29:10
  On behalf of Calm Mount Sierra, Michael Cirillo, and myself, thank you as always for joining us here on Auto Collapse. [upbeat music] "Welcome to Auto Collapse" "Welcome to Auto Collapse" [laughs] Why are we recording?
• 29:27
  Are we rolling yet?