Latest / CBT Live / 29% of Financed Trade-Ins Underwater, Baddie in a Benz Returns, GM Hybrids (10.22.26)

Transcript

29% of Financed Trade-Ins Underwater, Baddie in a Benz Returns, GM Hybrids (10.22.26) · CBT Live

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: From viral videos to real world sales, how do you turn social media fame into dealership success?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_02: And why is success sometimes the most dangerous time for a leader?
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_02: And how does how to spot complacency before it costs you business?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_02: Hey everyone, Jim Fitzpatrick with CBT Automotive Network for CBT Live.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for joining us today, October 22nd, Thursday.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_02: Just one more day and then the weekend.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_02: I'm joined by my lovely partner, Bridget Fitzpatrick.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_04: And I'm joined by my lovely partner, Jim Fitzpatrick.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think we just we just made the auto industry sick with that.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, guys.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_02: We'd rather see us fighting.
• 0:49
  SPEAKER_02: They're not really married.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna really marry.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_02: You know, they they just do the show.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_02: They go off to their own families.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_04: No, yeah.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_02: That's not the case.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_04: And we are so happy you're all with us today.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: We have a great show coming up.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_04: The baddie daddy returns to us on social media.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_04: Jeremy Raymaker, now the Van Fleet specialist at Mercedes-Benz Country Hills, joins us with an update on operations and everything in his world.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_04: Plus, Dave Anderson talks to us about how complacency seeps in when times are good.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_04: And Jim and I, we talk about this all the time.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_04: Prosperity drains urgency is one of the famous lines from Dave Anderson.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_02: And we're he talks about that too in in this particular segment.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: He's really good.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Great, great, one of the best, I think, leadership coaches out there in the auto space.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: Happy to have him on.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_04: So we've got, like I said, a great show.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_04: We've got a few things.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_04: Let me thank our sponsor first.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_04: That'd be a good idea.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_04: This is free for our dealers and our community here.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_04: So thank you so much to the Joe Verdi group, the industry leader for online sales training with content that covers every step of the sales process.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_04: Your sales team will sell more units with better gross and greater customer satisfaction.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_04: Get your new hires up to speed fast, keep your entire team sharp, and sell more cars.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_04: Because that's what it's all about.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you, Joe Verdi.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: I won't go off on my sermon like I did yesterday about sales.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: No, no, you don't need to do that every day.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_04: But if you missed it, go back and watch yesterday's show and you can hear what Jim thinks about training and if you should do it.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_02: You need to train.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_02: Your people want it.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, here I go again.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_02: Oh no, okay.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_04: Just go back and watch yesterday's show if you would.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_04: Because I've got a couple news stories.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_04: We've got some people to talk to.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_02: Not a very not a real busy news day today in the automotive uh uh landscape out there.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: So but yeah, go read it.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_04: So I won't be long.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_04: So according to a new report from Edmonds, nearly three in ten customers trading it in a vehicle with an outstanding loan toward a new car purchase owe more than the vehicle's worth.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_03: Shocker.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_04: That's 29.1% in the third quarter up from 28.1 a year ago.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_04: So the amount they owe is growing.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_04: Average negative equity has reached$7,107.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_04: So for buyers rolling that debt into their next vehicle, the average amount financed is now more than$57,000.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_02: Really?
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_04: And they're doing this for uh 72 months or longer.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, the we we don't know where all of this is headed.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_02: I know there's some people out there, some economists and such, that say look at the automotive space because there's some delinquencies on some of the uh subprime funding out there.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_02: And uh that's always an indicator that's kind of like the you know the the canary in the coal mine, as they say.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_02: And uh there are there are some concerns out there, but um we'll see.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you know, I think now just uh about 20% of the of the payments are now over a thousand dollars a month.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: And uh, you know, eight hundred bucks is now the norm.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's I don't know where this is going, but we will be watching and yeah, but people are still pouring into showrooms wanting their wanting their cars.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: That's the good news.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_04: And more good news out of GM, they're making a bigger commitment to hybrids.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_04: Shocker, really.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_04: Why would they do that?
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's a great idea.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god, why would they why would they do such a thing?
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know, Dory.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_03: Because they don't have any?
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well they do have one.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, they do have one.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_04: We should talk about that.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_04: The Corvette.
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_03: Yep.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_04: Which is the so the the E-Ray Corvette is being replaced by the Grand Sport X next year.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_04: And right now that's the only hybrid in the lineup, but um, it's a heck of a hybrid.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_02: But not not necessarily the car out of the out of the fleet that you would think would be a hybrid, right?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_02: The Corvette.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: But uh Yeah, they're it's it's about time.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_02: These guys are late to the game on the hybrid deal.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so this was during their call on Tuesday that Mary Barra confirmed that the automaker plans to introduce hybrids across multiple vehicle segments.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_04: She did not say which segments would get the hybrid options, um, but she did say um they will be where it already competes.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_04: So didn't say when they'll arrive.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_02: You think they feel Toyota nipping at their heels there on taking the number one spot for the largest auto manufacturer?
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, they definitely are.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, absolutely.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_04: So anyway, that's good.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_02: Are we showing it toyota right now?
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_02: Is that was that is that what that happened?
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_02: That's that's the new RAP 4 that is uh so popular here.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_04: Four-day supply.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Four-day supply.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, it's crazy.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, I know.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_04: It is crazy.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_02: Who do they think they are?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_02: Mercedes-Benz dealer, for God's sakes.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_04: Well, let's talk to our Mercedes Benz dealers.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_02: Those guys, those guys have a name.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_02: You don't even have to be a salesperson to be at Mercedes-Benz.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_02: You just they own the car.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_02: I hope Jeremy's listening because he might have something to say about that.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_02: It's that that that was uh that was the the the spot you wanted to be.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_02: I remember back when I got into the business, we used to talk about it because we were selling Toyotas, and it was like, what would it be like to sell Mercedes Benz?
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_02: Oh my god, you know, you don't even have to sell them, just kind of offer them, you know?
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_02: You just go, yeah, they're right there.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_02: Give me your checkbook.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_04: Did you ever sell Mercedes Benz, Jim?
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_02: No, never did.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_02: I wish I did, though.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_02: You just stand around these beautiful showrooms and rich people walk in and all right.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_04: We gotta get Jeremy on to talk about this.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_04: He's gonna have a totally different take on that.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_02: He's gonna go, yeah, that's actually not the way it is, but okay.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_04: All right, Jeremy Raymaker has built a massive following online.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_04: We first met him as the popular Batty in a Benz videos that went viral.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_02: Now, as Van Fleet specialist at Mercedes-Benz Country Hills, he's expanding his role while taking his social media presence in new directions, which we're anxious to talk to him about.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: So he joins us now here on live.
• 6:28
  SPEAKER_02: So welcome back.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks so much for joining us.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Welcome.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Jim, good morning, good to see you again.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hi Ridget.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hi.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_02: Good to see you as well.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's easy to sell Mercedes, right?
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, everybody knows.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_02: You just walk the customer over, you don't even have to crack the door, right?
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's they sell themselves.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I heard that lead.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if you guys were able to record my end when before was on camera, but uh yeah, let's leave it at that.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_01: It is pretty easy.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_01: No, okay, good.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Of course, when I was uh you know on the showroom Florida Toyota dealership, you guys did not have the competition in Lexus and uh in and Infinity and uh you know all of the others out there, and uh it was either Mercedes-Benz or BMW, those were the two leaders in luxury vehicles.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_02: That was it.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_02: So but different story today.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, but still just an incredible car for sure.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_02: For sure.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_04: So, Jeremy, you took some time away from social media and your team recently teased your return.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_04: What can our viewers expect from this next chapter?
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Uh well, um a little bit of uh what made it so popular before, um, having a lot of fun with the social media side of it and uh taking a little bit of the um, you know, the kind of the pretentiousness out of car sales in general, and especially uh an amazing brand, um a luxury brand like Mercedes-Benz.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and we'll we'll keep pumping that.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, the time away was uh it was unexpected and uh just super happy to be back.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, we were showing a little bit of it while you were talking.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_02: It was a cute video that you guys did.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sure you'll get a ton of views on that.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_02: You emphasize being a true professional salesperson rather than a vending machine.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_02: What does that distinction uh look like in practice?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_02: And who are you going on?
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_01: So it's essentially like you can walk into a dealership, really any business that is selling something, um, and come in there knowing kind of what you want and really like push some buttons, um, ask a couple quick questions and away you go.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas the the true selling part of it that I think people really, really want, especially in in such a competitive area like like vehicles, and you referenced BMW and Lexus and these you know other luxury brands, um, but that's not who everyone competes with.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's Mercedes still, I have um customers coming in saying, you know, I'm looking at a Genesis or a Kia or a Ford or any brand really.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it comes down to developing that that rapport and and really finding out what they want uh in a vehicle, feature-wise, size-wise, um budget-wise, everything, and delivering that entire experience.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_01: Whereas um, like a vending machine, it's like, you know, B7, boom, done, um, and you're at the door, but there's there's no value in that, you know, and right down to service too.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like one of the big things that we do that's it's just it's imperative, is um you see our entire dealership, which is amazing.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's 80 cars inside the showroom.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're in Calgary in January shopping for a car and you don't have to go outside in Linus 35, which is not always that temperature, but it's sometimes um that's amazing.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: And you, you know, you meet the service team and you go by our bistro, and and really that experience is uh is the opposite of a vending machine.
• 9:33
  SPEAKER_01: You're you're helping the client get exactly what they want.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think that because of the digital world that we live in now, especially as the leads come in uh through you know third-party lead providers or through uh your own website or what have you?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_02: And then of course there's uh the AI, maybe it there's a chat uh bot that talks to them and then they move over to a BDC operator.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_02: It all becomes uh very digitized, it seems, right?
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_02: And it it almost seems as though uh we've taken the art of this of selling out of this equation and um really haven't you know injected our personality and our relationship-building skills with those customers as they come in today.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know, to some degree, I think that's kind of true, but uh I think it's more so for the people that don't care about the business or don't really have a passion for doing it or aren't necessarily, you know, a people-person type of person.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, where before all of this digital stuff, and people used to have to drive to attend dealerships or pull out a newspaper or an auto trader and flip through pages and go, oh, there's a car and you know, all that kind of stuff.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_01: They actually now walk into a dealership more armed than half of the salespeople with information on the vehicle.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they've already researched five other dealerships within or outside that brand.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: And now it makes it even more important to develop that relationship because they already know exactly 90% what they want.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Now they just want some rapport.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: They want that relationship built.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: They want to have their, you know, their car person.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and so if it's me at Mercedes-Benz or you know, you over at Toyota or Sally over at Key or whatever it is, um that's I think that's the difference maker is still those relationships and building those.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's right.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_04: So speaking of that, your videos have generated enormous attention, like we said.
• 11:22
  SPEAKER_04: What did that teach you about the relationship between entertaining content, the dealership's brand, and actually earning a customer's business?
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh that's another good question because it it brought people in the door, it got people on the phone.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Um, uh like I had phone calls coming in, and then this as soon as you know I would be in front of this person, they were actually in the market for a vehicle.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and there were some that were just kind of you know, maybe kicking tires, maybe they were six months or a year down the road.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but the ones that were ready to make a purchase and they saw a video and they're they were entertained by it, they had a laugh and they they felt some kind of connection, they still wanted to confirm that you know this persona or this character on their their Instagram um uh is you know legitimate, that it was, you know, and actually that came after convincing people that I actually sell cars there.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people just thought, oh, this guy does the you know the chatting, you know, and uh you people all heard about uh my colleague Shy who created this whole thing and films it and writes the scripts and does all the stuff, and uh just assume that it was like some sort of production thing, but not actually sell cars.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_01: So um yeah, it it's still it was even more important to to say, hey, this is me.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_01: Let's let's chat.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, do we have a connection?
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Great.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_01: And more times than not, we did, which was nice.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_02: What's your advice to others that are listening that uh that have that are might be right on the cusp of jumping into uh using social media to sell vehicles and connect with their consumers in their market?
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I and I remember how I think we I think we kind of uh talked a little bit about this last time we chatted.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, I still wholeheartedly 100% believe it's uh it's a must.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um and I think even for the people that aren't comfortable with the camera, because like it is, it's a little bit nerve-wracking.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I catch myself, you know, talking myself up to do the thing, and then like when it's done, I'm like, did we do it?
• 13:11
  SPEAKER_01: And and away we go.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, 100% get involved with this and let your your niche kind of find you if you're you know kind of funny or if you're a little bit more serious, uh, you know, if you're a little bit awkward, it's it's endearing to somebody.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, there's you know, take Canada, for example, alone, which you know, I'd love to be able to sell vehicles everywhere, but you know, we're kind of stuck with a 41 million person population, and you know, that's enough people to buy into whatever your little spiel is.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've seen so many personalities that I follow myself through different accounts that I just uh they're great.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_01: They really are.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: I haven't seen, you know, a really, really bad one.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_01: They're all kind of charming in some way.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: That's why I think people should always do it.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_02: And there's been a number of Mercedes-Benz uh managers and leaders out there, bow ties and Benzes, uh, or Benzes and Bowties comes to uh comes to mind.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_02: And there's a number of other managers out there where they, you know, are basically showing how they worked the whole deal right there at the tower or the desk, which is very interesting to me.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I I think it's interesting.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's uh I would call that getting ahead of the curve.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, again, you go back to this digital world and how accessible all of this information is to people.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, this that next step of just you know sliding the curtain over and and sharing that experience of somebody negotiating a deal, or uh, you know, in that segment earlier, you're talking about uh negative equity in vehicles and people trading up and whatnot.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, that's a big part of what uh even we do at our dealership.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: And to see how that goes down, that takes a little bit of the fear out for somebody who's like, I kind of need a car, I want a car.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then they see that and they're like, Well, yeah, I just saw that person do it.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: And you're right, it was a sales manager or a salesperson or whatever.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's just it makes it a little bit more inviting, especially when they're genuine.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: Sure, sure.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_02: Um, you've now expanded into van and fleet sales and and uh and lacing, as we mentioned, alongside your usual passenger vehicles.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_02: Talk to us about that.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: So that was an opportunity that came with.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: So while I was away um uh doing some recovery stuff, the opportunity to expand, we have two great guys that handle our van sales at the dealership.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and again, it's a massive dealership, but our fleet opportunity was kind of wide open.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_01: So in Calgary alone, let alone Edmonton Red Deer throughout Alberta and across Canada, which you know we we can sell vehicles there, um, all of these industries are they're bustling again uh to some degree, whether it's plumbing, drywall, um tile, home building, passenger shuttle, uh everything that could make use of the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Band.
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_01: So this new role, I'm just I'm super excited.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_01: It's only about a month and a half in, kind of, you know, introducing myself to these potential clients who I didn't know before.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, taking a demo and going to meet them, but uh, right down to camper conversions to something for your your food service, catering, whatever it might be.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Cool.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: Uh it's a great challenge.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: I'm enjoying it so far.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_02: Very good, very good.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, have you seen uh any uh maybe it's too soon?
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think they're in the process now of opening up dealerships as we speak, but uh any Chinese vehicles that uh either you've driven into the dealership or people wanting to trade them?
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: Or what does that look like?
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: No, not yet.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think uh my personal experience with it so far is just what I've seen on the news.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um I know that's out there.
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_01: And we uh Amher Cities bands are trying to be extremely competitive in that market, whether it be on the passenger car side.
• 16:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um like I was in Germany to do a baddie and a bends bit on the the new uh all electric TLC, which is phenomenal.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_01: Wait till you see this thing in action.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, there's the new CLA that's all electric.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_01: We've got one in our showroom.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and then even on the van side, we've got the eSprinter, which this thing performs incredible.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Uh but again, it's gonna be the same conversation.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna have to show people the benefits if it suits their, you know, what they need kind of thing.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but for the Chinese market, I haven't seen a lot of it.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't had trade-in requests, that kind of thing yet.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: But um I I feel that sort of the Ontario and Quebec markets might see that stuff a little bit quicker than we do, but it's it's on its way for sure.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_02: Is it a concern of yours?
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, we hear so much about Chinese uh vehicles just decimating, you know, the market once they get in it uh with the can with the competition.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_02: Is do you think about that at all?
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh of course that crosses uh crosses my mind, I'm sure it crosses the the manager's mind at our dealership because they're you know responsible for running our business.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, and to take it a step further, which I I don't think we have time to do it, but if you look at the political landscape and what the leaders in Canada are doing to you know help that industry, I don't know exactly how it's gonna affect us, but I know that we've got uh you know a wonderful brand that's been around for a long time and some very smart people in uh in their positions making the decisions to navigate that.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_01: But um, yeah, I'm not too worried about it.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_01: I think we've got an answer for for anything that comes our way, um, just because we've got these wonderful vehicles.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_01: How is business at your store today?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, it's good.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_01: We uh we've been very fortunate.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_01: Uh I don't know if you know there's there's five Mercedes-Benz dealerships in uh in Alberta, so the competition is certainly there.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um and we hang our hat on uh the the pride of service.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, we've got the same GT63 and GLC 300 as the as the next store, but uh you know, if you ever get a chance to visit our dealership, come in and you know, turn to the right, meet a couple of the salespeople there, go to the back, meet the managers, you know, meet that whole team, and and you you see why I think we've enjoyed the success we have right from the from the top down.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, that's great.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_02: It's and like you said, 80 car showroom.
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_02: Man, if you were ever gonna have a big showroom, it would be in Canada because of the weather, right?
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that's huge.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_01: And if you look at our parking, I think we've got 60 stalls out front.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So, like if you're shopping around and you don't have to park on a side street or you know, two blocks away or whatever, it's uh it's very handy.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, the other thing people love about what we do um that I think uh contributes to that service is we're about a seven-minute drive door-to-door to the airport.
• 19:03
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're a Mercedes-Benz client at Mercedes-Benz Country Hills, you park your car there, we drive you to the airport for your business trip, your your vacation, whatever.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, that's a good thing.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_01: And we can pick you up when you get back.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
• 19:13
  SPEAKER_02: And probably your car wash involved in that too, right?
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_02: Uh see, you know, I mean, it's really fun.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, that's a good deal.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_03: That is a good deal.
• 19:21
  SPEAKER_03: That's awesome.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_04: So customers can do so much online research, compare prices, watch endless videos before they ever contact a dealership.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_04: What do you think great sale a great salesperson can bring to the experience today that a customer simply can't get online?
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I think it's the energy for sure.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: If you um, let's say you see this, you know, this great GLE and the pictures are nice and the detail teammate are all shiny and the photos are great.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, that's certainly one thing.
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, and even if you've driven it before, but if you come to the dealership and you have that connection with uh the salesperson, the brand specialist um that you're working with, that energy just radiates.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_01: You get out on the test drive, you connect a little bit, maybe you bring up a few things they didn't know exactly about the vehicle.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's that's the big game changer for sure.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, hands down.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that makes sense for sure.
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_02: So um you got the Chinese vehicles, it business is good.
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_02: You're back out there on social media.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, do you feel as though the social media will will resonate with your uh uh fleet buyers on the van and truck side as much as it has on the passenger vehicles?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I think so.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_01: There's uh, like I said, I work with a very clever and talented team that uh that you know comes up with this stuff.
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_01: And they've got some some really fun ideas that uh you know fit well within our brand, but still um within the you know, kind of the fun energy that the whole Batty and a Benz um series was all about.
• 20:49
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that that time away, like it um it doesn't necessarily create the the pent-up demand, like if you know a vehicle's out of stock for a year sort of thing.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but just looking at some of the comments and and the warm welcome back into that uh I guess that element has been amazing.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's really, really nice.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_01: So I think the translation, adding the Vans component to it, I think we're gonna have a lot of fun with it.
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_01: You're gonna see some things that you know you're gonna sit back and you know have a good laugh for sure.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_02: That's awesome.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_02: Something tells me we'll have you back on again, dude.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_02: Once those uh once those spots hit for sure.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_02: So we have a comment, uh one from one of our viewers.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_02: Uh it says, Since so many salespeople are turning to social media, what would you recommend to uh to stand out?
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, um it's funny because some people might try and think up of a gimmick, but really whatever the thing is, it's already there.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_01: And you know, you referenced uh Doug the the um Benz and bow ties earlier.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's amazing.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_01: You think of uh anybody in our industry now, you you think of a bow tie and and uh you know it's been around for I don't know how many years, and people automatically like, oh, that Doug from the North Olmstadt uh in Ohio there.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_01: And it's like, no, it's a bow tie, I'm on my way.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: an event.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: No, that's the Ben Zabowtai guy.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um that's funny.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: What I would what I would recommend is you uh take something that's already you and and just let it amplify.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Like if you you know kind of wear like a loud colored um shirt to work or you know if it's uh let's say you're you know you wear a top hat or I mean that might be a bit much but whatever it is it's already there you might have like something on your desk that draws people in but just amplify it and and you know exploit it in a positive way.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah it'll make you memorable yeah no no question you do you do a great job with social media that's for sure.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_04: Jeremy Raymaker van Fleet specialist at Mercedes Benz Country Hills.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for joining us today this has been great.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks Bridget take care nice guy yeah and he does a great job he does yeah yeah we had him on um early on you know when he when we saw the videos that he was doing we one of them was a girl he was doing something about a the the vehicle being like a girl's a girl's dad's car or something oh yeah yeah he was really good yeah no question they're um they're all they're all great and yes he does a great job he and his team there because we know it takes a village right yes it does so we have had a few people write in and we we do we have people um ask to ask Jim questions to ask me questions I thought we should share the segment um on camera so we've got a few questions yeah which we should start doing questions feel free to send them to live at cbtnews.com and email them to us and some of these if you want them to be anonymous that's fine we can say who you are that's fine too but um anyway so I have a few questions for you.
• 23:32
  SPEAKER_04: Do you yes okay now that's great you were in the you've been in the business for a very very long time.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_04: Very long time held or managed or led every position in the dealership.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_04: So you know this this business like the back of your hand yes I think that's probably why I'm asked a lot of questions is because that's why you're asked a lot of questions and I love that you spend time with people answering them.
• 23:51
  SPEAKER_04: Even you know we pe we meet people out and we met someone that worked in a dealership at the wedding the other day.
• 23:57
  SPEAKER_04: That's right and two two actually two great hubs work for fiances Morgan automotive group and could not say enough good things about the employment there.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_04: It was a group that Morgan had purchased so they worked for them and then that they said the transition was great.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_04: But anyway they were just great people but it was so nice that you spent that extra time with them at your niece's wedding and talked to them about you know the business.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: The business.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_02: So we love it I I it's it's a you know I you know I love the auto industry and it's been very good to us and our family and uh and it's the you know to help anybody in the industry is my way of giving back.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_02: It was really the impetus behind CBT news as you know.
• 24:34
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know it was a an opportunity when uh you know I exited force marketing and John took over we said well what do you want to do?
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_02: Let's let's do something.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_02: And uh that that's really was the driver behind CBT news was to give news and information and content and training to the retail side of the business.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: And we've been doing that for 14 years.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_04: 14 years and it's been a lot of fun.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_04: So let's get to these questions.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 25:02
  SPEAKER_04: So first question is from Colin Jay at a Ford store in New Jersey and he asks I sell cars at a dealership in New Jersey and I'm putting in about 55 to 60 hours a week I missed miss most of my kids' events and it's beginning to cause a real issue at home.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_04: Don't you think dealerships can still be successful if the employees had a normal 40 to 45 hour work week yes this is a really tricky question.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: It is a tricky and there's going to be dealers right now that sent me something so I would say to you Colin yes and no so and and let me let me quantify that by saying there are stores out there where you can work 40 to 45 hours a week I I know of them where they actually encourage that they set that read they set that uh schedule up much like uh a um Best Buy you know Best Buy sells big screen TVs and appliances and everything else but you are not going over 40 hours a week I know that because you know the managers that we've met over there they're like oh no no no there's no overtime you're you're out of here that's a little bit different for car sales because you're on a commission basis you don't want that person to come in when you're not there and then it becomes a split deal and it costs you money.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_02: So I would really put the question back on you, Colin to say how successful do you want to be in the industry?
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_02: What I mean by that is that you can come in and sell you know your 10 to 15 cars a month on a 45 hour work week.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_02: I know you I know you can.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_02: And there are dealerships out there that will allow you to do that okay but if you want to get to the 2025 cars a month okay that's going to take a little bit more time.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_02: You're gonna have to be at the dealership doing deliveries taking ups taking phone calls working deals working with F and I it's just one of those industries that requires a lot of time.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_02: For those of you out there that are thinking about getting into the industry because you want a work life balance this is not the industry for you.
• 26:52
  SPEAKER_02: I'm just telling you right now you so you might as well save your time and the manager's time and the dealer's time to think that oh I'm gonna be able to make my kids games and I'm gonna be able to you know get get to the school functions and be able to do all these things or if you don't have kids I'm gonna be able to play golf on the weekends or whatever.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_02: That's not the deal that's not the dealership business.
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_02: Now here's what I will say about here's the good news when you work hard in the industry chances are you're gonna move up you're gonna become a sales manager if you stay in the industry long enough and you keep your nose clean and you're a good employee.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna give you a shot, right?
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: Especially with all these conglomerates now that have multi-dealerships.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_02: They need people from a manager standpoint you go to become the GSM and then maybe you become the GM.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well the next level is maybe a partner of a dealer okay there's a lot of opportunities out there.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: In fact there's so many opportunities that there's dealers out there that can't get more stores until they find general managers to run them.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_02: So they're constantly looking for new talent.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: The reason I point that out is because when you enter the business in let's say your 20s and 30s, you could become a dealer principal, okay, which is a piece of the action all right in your 40s or 50s.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_02: The old adage is work hard now, work hard life now, easy life later, okay?
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_02: Easy life now, hard life later okay that applies to the car business.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah so it's the industry it is it one of those industries where you gotta suck it up and just say to yourself look if I'm gonna make myself six figures in this industry and then I gotta be prepared to come in and work sick at least 60 hours a week 55 to 60 hours a week.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_02: And and but the good news is is that you could be making you know really big money and I mean you know using the M-word the million you could be I there are friends of mine that started out selling cars and in 10 years they become a general manager and they're making an excess of$1 million a year.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay that's pretty cool.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_02: And not with a big fancy education or not you know because not because their mom and dad own the store or anything else just because of hard work.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_02: When you get to that level and you guys know the GMs know what I'm talking about, you do get to take weekends off.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_02: You do leave at five o'clock or six o'clock at night because all of your generals are running the running the deal.
• 29:01
  SPEAKER_02: In fact little truth the tower or the desk the sales managers don't even want the GM there.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_02: And you know when I would walk in as a GM and I know because I was a sales manager you're like what are you doing here?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: What why are you in this this this this desk area right now you know what do you need?
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because you just don't want the GM hanging over you.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_02: Well why'd you make the deal well why'd you put that in the trade well how come you didn't put that in you're like just get out of here boss let me sell cars you know so um so it's kind of a you know you can have it either way in the industry but you're gonna have less success on that 40 to 45 hour work week.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_04: So we were talking to somebody the other day I forgive me for not remembering who it was but they said that they still were going to their kids games and they still were leaving at five they had appointments set up they were killing it in their the marketing of their own brand I think it might have been a social media person but yeah so what does that look like what would when someone able to do that.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: I'm glad you brought that up when a salesperson gets to a certain plateau in their in their career and they've got that success and they they're selling 20 cars a month north of 20 but you know basically north of 20 cars a month and you can sit down with the general manager or the standard sales manager and say look here's the deal I will sell you my 20 cars a month or 25 cars a month or more you talk to Dawson he's like 20 I we we've got guys selling 30 and 40 cars a month great yeah when that's the case you can then design your own schedule so that's that's like I'm glad you you brought that up because yes there are those dealerships that will say look Bob Johnson over here gets me 25 cars a month if he wants to play golf two days a week and he can still get that kind of volume out he's he's my guy.
• 30:43
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_04: So Colin I'm I'm glad you brought that up you can work less than 55 to 60 hours a week.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: You can do that.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_02: There are a couple of ways to do that.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: More than likely.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah success it's all about success.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah now the first time you sell 20 cars a month don't run in to the manager's office and go, okay Jim Fitzpatrick so when I sell 20 cars a month I can design my own schedule.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_02: No no no no don't don't put that on.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_02: But um but if you are consistently able to deliver that kind of productivity and you don't have to be there more than 45 hours a week you know then the manager I am sure will say just get get me that kind of volume and you know you you can make your kids uh events.
• 31:23
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: And make sure your customers are happy too.
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_04: So Brian A from a Toyota dealership in Fort Lauderdale has a question.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: Ah I probably know the Toyota dealership if but we don't want to mention that on the air we won't uh working in a Toyota dealership and we don't get paid on the F and I the back end do you think salespeople should get paid on F and I you're really putting me on the spot here aren't you Brian So this is one of those uh the one of these questions and one of these answers that I'm gonna be making 50% of the audience mad at me and I'm gonna be making 50% happy with me.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_02: Okay?
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_02: The salespeople are going to be very happy with my answer.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_02: You know where I'm going here.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: I happen to think that salespeople should get paid on the back end.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 32:05
  SPEAKER_02: Um then but there's many dealers out there many stores that go, oh no no no no no you you you pay the people on the front end that's their job.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_02: We pay F and I managers on the back end that's their job and that's the way that is okay uh I think no I think that the way a deal is structured could have a lot to do with what the desk manager uh sales manager thinks is though look we're gonna we've got to give this car away so we're gonna make it up on the back end.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_02: That happens a lot okay where you say look I'm I'm making we're making five hundred bucks on the front end or maybe break even okay so they lean on the financiers or over whatever they're gonna do to say look we're gonna make a three pounder, four pounder on the back end.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: Well the salesperson should be in on that because the salesperson's not working that deal they don't have control over the deal structure.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_02: What they had control over was selling that customer on themselves the product and the dealership and that's what the customer committed to so if there's money being made in the deal because of the way it was structured the salesperson should get paid on that.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_02: Now maybe not at the same rate of 20% of the of the gross profit.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: I understand that um but it should be something there should be something there in my humble opinion dealers that entices that salesperson because I will tell you this there's negativity that spreads throughout the showroom when the salesperson gets his commission voucher and goes wow that that's too bad.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_02: That was a mini deal okay I got paid 200 bucks but I understand that on the back end they made a five thousand dollar gross profit okay you want to get a salesperson negative for the rest of the week let them find that out yeah so get that that's my right that's my take and like you said it doesn't have to be 20%.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: No it doesn't have to be the 20% maybe it's maybe it's 10% of the back end maybe it's five percent maybe it's uh hey if you hit a certain number then you get uh you know a bonus of two grand or whatever whatever the case is but give them something so that they're in on that in on that deal you know yeah yeah I like yeah I'm okay with that we have a funny comment we have a comment about that we'll see how funny it is my team is great what job can I do for easy life now and easy life later I want to know that the answer to that one too Jim that's that's uh that's a great you can get into the broadcast business you can get into easy life now easy life we make it look easy but that that is a funny that is a funny comment yeah and who doesn't want that right right easy comment whoever sent that in thank you for that comment we're all we're all looking for that one you know we are all looking for the easy life now but that always seems to be the case you know easy easy life now hard life later you know when you you you don't want to turn around and be 55 60 years old and go uh oh you know I'm looking for a retirement and there's not gonna be any so oh so we've got one more and then we'll get onto our next cycle okay great I've been selling cars for eight years and I'm getting a little burned out I'd like to get into management but they say there's no opportunities open right now any suggestions?
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: Yes yes that that that is a very that's a great question yes that's that who's Chevy dealer and Jackson B.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah from Reading Pennsylvania so um that's a very common thing there's a lot of people right now that I'm talking to out there in uh the auto space uh that fall into that same category okay they feel as though okay I put in my time I busted my you know butt and I'm selling cars and my customers like me and the dealership likes me and I'm in on time and I meet go to the meetings and I'm doing everything right but I'm kind of hitting that burnout stage.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_02: You know there's gotta be something else.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: And burnout comes very quickly in the car business because of the number of hours that you're doing.
• 35:46
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 35:47
  SPEAKER_02: But those individuals feel as though they have a lot to give to the dealership operation because they know so much and yet they want to go into finance or they want to become an assistant you know manager or maybe the desk manager or a closer or um a used car manager or something like that.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: And they feel you know it's like okay this is the the I'm being told there's nothing open right now.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: It's a dead end.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_02: There's nothing wrong with walking into your general manager's office and making it very explicit and I say general manager not your sales manager in this case because the sales manager might be intimidated by you.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_02: So um I would sit down go to lunch say hey can we go have coffee real quick if you're a good salesperson you've been there eight years a general manager go absolutely let's go what's on your mind okay I want you to know Mr.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_02: General Manager okay or dealer there's a lot of dealer operators out there what my goal is my goal is to further my career with this automotive group okay it's been selling cars for in this case eight years and I want to be on a track and a path where I can get into management okay and uh and I want your guidance your help to help me get there and to achieve that goal you will be amazed.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_02: But Jackson we have nothing for you that's right that's what I was getting I I'm getting to that point.
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_02: Does your wife do this to you?
• 37:04
  SPEAKER_02: No so land the plane I'm getting that here's what happens the dealer goes I'm glad you brought it to my attention okay because I love to hear that people want to stay with the organization and while we do not have opportunities now okay I do want to put you at least on the short list before we hire anybody else from outside the dealer group because that happens too you know you'll be there and say well wait a minute they just hired an FI manager from outside the dealer group and meanwhile I'm waiting for my opportunity.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_02: Well maybe the general manager didn't know that because you never made it clear to them okay so make it clear to these individuals I'll tell you something else that they might do it happen to me.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_04: I think Jackson's making it clear I'm just want to make sure you answer his question.
• 37:44
  SPEAKER_04: What do you mean what he's making it clear he said that but they are saying we don't have any opportunities for you right now.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_03: I well so I guess they just don't if that could be true they don't have any opportunities.
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: Who did Jackson talk to okay that's what I'm saying make sure make sure you talk to you let's say a sales manager goes into a sales manager okay and says hey I I really want to do what you're doing you think that sales manager is going to be real aggressive to go oh gee yeah take my job okay no I got you not so fast.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_02: Okay so go into the dealer because the dealer knows all of the opportunities they might also have other stores in the dealer group because when those GMs all meet together under you know with the dealer uh and uh for the whole group somebody says hey we need a we need an FI guy right uh over at the Toyota store I'm at the Chevy store hey I've got an eight year employee well I don't want to lose him for on the sales but he's looking he might leave anyway but he's looking to get into FI.
• 38:33
  SPEAKER_02: F and I you can go to F I school okay and uh sometimes they'll they'll send you to that even before there's an opening and they'll say great we got somebody I will tell you this too that there's many times that a general manager or a dealer says you know while we don't have an opportunity um there's three guys in FI the third guy is delivering some pretty weak numbers okay now you just planted a seed in my mind as the deal what are you laughing at?
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_04: Nothing.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_02: Oh that's the only guys in the F and I department that's no men and women men and women so there's men and women in the F and I department and that female's doing a really poor job.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_02: No no kidding no kidding so the the the third person okay is is their PVR is really weak okay and maybe Tom here that just told me no in this case Jackson Jackson over here that just told me they want to get into finance maybe we send Jackson to FI school it's a couple of weeks see what they're made of and all of it guess what you walk out with what was no no we have no opportunities to you know what maybe we do have an opportunity for Jackson.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah so try it on for size doesn't work every time but it but tell the people at that dealer group what your plans are and the fact that you want to move up through the organization and you want them to help you with that path I can guarantee you they're gonna say sit down I love this conversation let's map this out thank you Jim you're welcome I love all of your answers they were great calling Jackson in any other way please let me know for sending in your questions.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_04: If you have a question for Jim or anybody that we have on the show feel free to send it to live at cbtnews.com and we will try to get to all of them.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 40:15
  SPEAKER_02: Or a comment on what I just said.
• 40:17
  SPEAKER_04: I'd love to hear your feedback if you're a manager listening and you think I'm crazy with this I want to know that if you're or if you have additional advice or if you have additional advice we would like to share that we are open to it all because we're all here to help everyone in the industry that's what we do at CBT News every day and we will continue doing it as long as we can.
• 40:35
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly right.
• 40:36
  SPEAKER_04: Oh oh sorry are you gonna go to the next segment I was going to but if you've got something more to say what uh we want to answer a little a little bit more of these questions.
• 40:43
  SPEAKER_02: It gets me going here.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_02: It reminds me of running the dealership we love it.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_04: Yes go ahead we love the passion.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_04: Okay so when business is good it's easy to take your foot off the gas but what does that do to your team?
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_04: Dave Anderson, CEO of Learn to Lead says success can be when complacency starts to creep in in this clip from Dave's show on CBT News Lessons in Leadership, he explains why dealership leaders need to stay in attack mode even when the numbers look great.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: Take a look can I can I just make one I love this segment and and not to jump in here too much but no it's so here's what happens in the industry okay we take we have a really good month or we have a really good week okay and then we take too much of a you know big like ah okay that was great that was a great week that was a great month unusually happens at the end of the month and then all of a sudden you turn around you go oh my God it's the seventh of the month and we don't have enough cars burning so you can't rest on your you know on your laurels and you can't rest on your success.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: Anyway sorry so forget about Dave Jim Jim's gonna take it no no no I love Dave and he he really puts a perfect bow tie on this so check it out don't settle for success and many people do.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_00: You've heard me probably say in the past that as prosperity rises urgency falls as prosperity rises the work ethic diminishes as prosperity rises intensity can wane focus can scatter some leaders they cannot survive success they don't keep going they lose their killer instinct they get up at the top of the mountain and they build a retirement instead of staying in a tech mode and looking for that higher mountain and let that become a level victory lap to turn into a marathon and the people pick up because the speed of the leader is the speed of the pack that goes all the way back to the first commandment we've got to stay in the tech mode high level to survive six minutes is to get up the scoreboard and stay in the game.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: If we're doing really well on the scoreboard that can take urgency away from today we've got to continue to manage the game identify and train people consistently to hit those key activities every day to keep the scoreboard lighting up and manage those rigorously vigorously daily holding people accountable for those things.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_00: That's how we continue to move forward and we don't let the scoreboard put us to sleep and get us in a coast mode where we're shifting into neutral thinking we've arrived and then waiting to see a little bit later all of a sudden that momentum is gone.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_00: What happened to it we stopped so did the momentum don't settle for success.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: When you're rolling keep rolling baby he nails it he does there's no question I love that before we go don't get up there and build a retirement home.
• 43:29
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah he always he has those funny one liners in all of the all of his videos he really does he really one of one of the ones that you and I love is is um if you don't get rid of the dead wood you're the dead wood and we all know what we're talking about there.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_04: Yes right be ready to get rid of this dead wood no no I think that you offered some great advice with your questions.
• 43:48
  SPEAKER_04: I think Dave just offered some great advice as well he's he's awesome.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah he really is and and uh it's it's so true that people get up they they sell so many cars and they're like okay this is great and then they back off that accountability with their team.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's true.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah that's true.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_04: All right be sure to head over to cbtnews.com for more CB more great conversations like we had here and be sure to sign up for our newsletter to get these great shows delivered right to your inbox and so much more.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_04: Like I said yesterday we have so much great content that we can't have on the live show every day so be sure to check it out including Dave Anderson's series he's got 15 commandments on leadership and they are great just like the one you just saw.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: You thought Moses had his commandments Dave Anderson's got his commandments too he's got 15 of them remember history of the world when he's got 15 he drops one like 10 he's got 10 anyway Dave Anderson's got 15 and uh he's he's the real deal he knows that he guys runs highly successful dealerships and he knows the deal he does so um yes and by the way please uh if you if you're on our social media uh like us follow us it means more than you know to us and uh helps us grow our uh reach out there in social media and uh so it means a lot yeah but uh so thanks very much for watching see you right back here tomorrow at noon eastern nine o'clock on the left coast or the west coast and uh for another edition of CBT live see you tomorrow