Latest / Auto Collabs / Transactional vs Relational with Scott Simons

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Transactional vs Relational with Scott Simons · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  Do we have any sponsors yet? [upbeat hip hop music] This is Auto Collabs. [laughs] I don't know if that's the best way- I-... to start an episode I've never... We're keeping this episode rolling. We're keeping... Yes.
• 0:16
  That's perfect. Because my- we have not even talked about sponsorship [laughs] of this show ever. [laughs] Does the Dealer Playbook have a sponsorship? No. [laughs] Man, did your wife just text you to ask me that?
• 0:28
  [laughs] Yeah. "So what are you getting for that trip to Maui?" [laughs] That's too good. Fantastic. Well, and on that note [laughs] Well, let's talk about building something from nothing. Yes.
• 0:38
  [laughs] 'Cause that's the first thought that comes to my mind when it, when it pertains to our guest today.
• 0:43
  Scott Simons, one of the most caring individuals in the auto industry, and I, I, I hope listeners are, and, and viewers are picking up on a theme here on the people- Mm...
• 0:51
  that we're bringing on the show, um, that they, they have common character traits. Mm. And, and Scott Simons is no exception to that. But this whole idea of
• 1:03
  starting from nothing- [laughs] He, he thinks this is hilarious. He was like- I thought, I thought you were gonna say people of substance. [laughs] We- there's an inside joke. You'll have to watch it on past episodes.
• 1:12
  I'm so sorry. So sorry. No, but, but he, he always impresses me because he is the American dream. Mm. Yeah, he really is. Yeah. Right?
• 1:22
  Like, started from nothing, had a, had a very impoverished upbringing, a very rough upbringing. Put- puts himself through school, gets a degree.
• 1:30
  His brother, I don't know if many know this, his brother, I think, is a surgeon in Texas. Put himself through school. Wow. Wow.
• 1:35
  Like, they came from nothing and proved that with determination, focus, vision, like all the things you read about in the books, you can absolutely achieve the life of your dreams. And, and now seeing him, like, the...
• 1:49
  It- it's guys like him and, and the other individuals that we've had on the show that paint a very clear picture for me of what success actually looks like. Oh, man. It's not bling, bling, bling, sta- stacks on stacks.
• 2:00
  It's once they achieve a level, they desire nothing more than to have others join them at that level. Oh, they do. I- Mm-hmm...
• 2:07
  I w- I got to see it firsthand in this way that when he was around his people, there was this genuine, like, I- It's like responsibility. Yes... it was like a dad. Right.
• 2:20
  It was like, "No, you're under this wing and you're under this wing." That's right. "And you better come on in close."
• 2:26
  And then I, I could imagine, like, if anybody tried to talk about one of his people- Oh, it would be on... in one of his stores- On... right? You'd see all the guns come out, right?
• 2:35
  [laughs] You'd be like, "So I got this rack right back here." [laughs] Literally and figuratively. And it's in every facet of his life. It's not just business. It's not just school.
• 2:43
  He'll tell you his story, and I'm sure we'll hear a little bit about it, but, like, he was like, "I'm overweight and I'm out of shape and this is disgusting," and he snapped himself into the gear, and the guy's just...
• 2:53
  He, he exercises, he takes care of himself. And, and, and to me, that always impresses me, 'cause those are the harder things. Mm. And he'll say it, too. He'll be like, "I'm not doing this so I can be on Instagram."
• 3:02
  He's like, "I hate it." Right. "I hate eating healthy." Right. "I hate exercising, but I'm doing it because people depend on me-" Right... "and I need to be in good shape." It...
• 3:10
  Literally, back to your point, to take care of them. Yeah.
• 3:12
  You know, the other thing that, that strikes me about Scott, and, uh, this is, this is actually really tied in with Asotu, 'cause, uh, many of you, if you, if you're listening, know that he is an investor in Asotu, one of our dealer investors.
• 3:24
  But, um, you know, I think Scott knew both of us kind of from Clubhouse from a distance. Mm-hmm.
• 3:30
  Uh, but you got the opportunity to go on Glenn's Clubhouse show and just share what we were doing with Automotive State of the Union, and he, he's, he also doesn't mince actions or words. Right. Right.
• 3:40
  He heard something that he believed in, took quick action on it, connected, and now, you know, it, like, this... He's consistently encouraging us and f- and feeding back- Oh, yeah... and giving.
• 3:52
  And there's, there's no shortage of, like, intentionality around everything that he does. That's right. So we know you're gonna love him if you haven't met him already. We hope you enjoy this interview with Scott Simons.
• 4:03
  [upbeat music] Scott, thank you so much for spending some time with us. I've been looking forward to this one, um, just because of your personality. I never know what's gonna come out of you. [laughs] Right?
• 4:19
  'Cause you tell it like it is, right? Yeah. But also, like, the, the real world experience is always something that I know people bring a lot of value for. So thanks for being here with us today. Hey, guys.
• 4:29
  Thanks for having me on. And, uh, you know, I need a black hat and a beard. [laughs] I, I'm just... I mean, I'm an oddity to have. We can handle the hat. We can get you the hat. Yeah. I, I- I've got the hat.
• 4:37
  I should've wore it today. I've obviously- That's right. I know you have a hat... I wear it, but, I mean, y- y'all got the best swag, I mean, out there. [laughs] I mean, no one can even compare. Yes.
• 4:45
  I have one right here. Do you have, do you have it? Paul, are we gonna... And this is the first- I have a-... time that anyone has seen this. Are you ready for this?
• 4:51
  You're about to s- Okay, so we always try to level up with swag. And so this year for Asotu Con, the only way you can get one of these is by being there. It's legit. It's a soccer Scott. Whoa. It's so legit. I love it.
• 5:04
  I love it. We got this. That's awesome. We got this. There you go. It goes like this.
• 5:08
  Yeah, so you're the first one to see that, that isn't within, uh- If, if you're listening to the audio version of this, you gotta go find something on social or YouTube or LinkedIn and go find the way it looks because it's, it's a real fun thing.
• 5:19
  So yes, thanks for the swag. All right, Scott. Thanks. [laughs] That's so good. All right.
• 5:23
  So we've been asking this question to, to a lot of people, and I think it's a very valid one because you, you understand more about the person and what they're doing if you understand where they came from.
• 5:32
  So, uh, how did you find your way into the automotive industry? How did that even happen? Yeah. So I'm originally from southern West Virginia, and my parents weren't in the auto industry.
• 5:42
  My, my dad was a, uh, pupil personnel specialist. He would, he would literally work for the county. And in southern West Virginia, if you didn't go to school, your parents could go to jail, so he was a truant officer.
• 5:53
  My mom worked in a, uh, she was a lab supervisor. And we were a very conservative, kind of lower...
• 6:01
  The area we were at was a, you know, lower income area.And I remember one day I saw a guy with really nice clothes driving a really nice car, and I said, "What's that guy do?"
• 6:11
  [laughs] And, uh, they're like, "He sells cars." And I'm like, "Damn, I'd like to drive a nice car like that- [laughs]... or wear nice clothes like that." Okay. I love it. So then they're like...
• 6:19
  Then I started finding out that the, you know, to enter the auto industry, you know, pretty much y- anybody could enter, and anybody could go sell cars. So I said, "Damn, that sounds like me."
• 6:30
  So anyway, uh, I c- I went to college, got my master's degree, said I'd like to own a car dealership one day, and I said, "I'm gonna-" Wait, so you went to college with the intention of owning a dealership? That...
• 6:40
  I've always had a goal of... At one point, maybe I had a dream of being, um, a sports agent, and then I saw how much school that takes. And law school- [laughs]... was not me.
• 6:50
  So I- You'd be an awesome sports agent, though. You would be a great sports agent. Yeah. [laughs] That's no doubt.
• 6:54
  [laughs] So, you know, so I, I think, uh, I went and got my master's degree, was supposed to go to law school. I finished six years of school in four.
• 7:02
  So I got my undergrad in two and a half years, got my MBA in a year and a half, and then said I'm gonna sell cars. And my dad said, "Why did you go to school?" After all that? What a winch.
• 7:11
  [laughs] You know, like, he's like, "What, what is wrong with you?" And, um, you know, actually said, "This is, this is dumb."
• 7:19
  And I said, "Well, Dad, if I'm ever gonna, you know, own a car dealership, I need to go sell cars." Like, I don't get to go own a car dealership 'cause I got a master's degree.
• 7:26
  So I started at Saturn of Richmond for a guy named Huddy Hyman and, uh, Johnny Cates, and they kinda looked at me and they were like- Mm... "You want to sell cars?" "Yeah, yeah."
• 7:36
  I got made fun of by some people I graduated with. They're like, "You're gonna go sell cars?" "Yeah." So Johnny, I said, "I'd like to own a car dealership one day," and both the guys laughed at me.
• 7:44
  They l- they literally laughed at me. Wow. They said, "Well, does your parents own a car dealership?" I'm like, "No." "Do you have any money?" "No." "Boy..." Exactly what they said, "Boy, we'll see what you got."
• 7:55
  And that's when I started working for Saturn. Uh- You're like, "I'll show you, then"... yeah. I said, "Hey, give me an opportunity." So I was in sales. Short amount of time, went into finance.
• 8:05
  Finance, finance director to general manager. Was never a sales manager at GSM. General manager to managing partner. So I was a general manager, see I've been here for 11 years.
• 8:16
  Let's see, 19 years ago, 49, 28, 29, I was a GM. Wow. [laughs] Yeah. That's a s- Yeah. I just love the story where you're like, "We're gonna do this college thing, but it's really just a facade.
• 8:29
  I'ma go over here- Yeah... and own a dealership, everybody. [laughs] You cool with that?" You know, I was never a good test taker. Like, um, and if you check my intelligence, I'd never score high on any of those.
• 8:40
  Uh, I just got a lot of hustle and was blessed with a lot of common sense. Um, but I didn't test well. Like, even my SATs, I don't think I cracked 1,000. Um, you know, the LSAT I didn't score well.
• 8:50
  The GMAT I didn't score well on. And a lot of times through college I even just memorized stuff. I just, like, literally through the MBA, I memorized, which- Mm...
• 8:58
  I just wanted to prove that I could do it and, um, you know, no one could ever take it away from you. There's a lot of life experiences you get in college, um, that I, that I needed. Definitely.
• 9:08
  Uh, learn, you know, my, my, my roommate in, when I got my master's degree, was from Sri Lanka, which is a little island off India. Wow. So I taught him how to shoot pool and drink beer, and he taught me...
• 9:20
  He made spicy food. So it was a perfect, you know- [laughs] You know, best of each. That sounds like a crazy night. [laughs] Yeah, yeah. It was, it was- It was a long morning. His name is...
• 9:30
  I still keep in contact with him. His name was Budhi Athuda. And, um, I learned a lot about culture. 'Cause from being from southern West Virginia, you know, I didn't get to experience a whole lot of culture.
• 9:41
  So- Right... it was a good thing. Started working for Huddy. Great guy. You know, I still stay in contact with him. Went to work for a guy named Steve Bayard as a finance director. Per- real good guy in Richmond.
• 9:53
  Left that market and went to Harrisonburg, Virginia, for a guy named Nelson Schwartz. Was there nine years and then teamed up with Liza Borsis and Carter, uh, 11 years ago.
• 10:02
  So they bought a Honda store neighboring the Honda store I ran, and they used to come and check out our store to see how we sold so many cars in a much smaller market.
• 10:10
  And I kept in contact with them, and when they bought the store, they made me a partner. Scott was like, "I'm how. I'm how they sell so many cars" Right here. [laughs] Yeah.
• 10:18
  No, I know I said it- I, I wanna fast-forward, because you said something about that you, that you kept in contact with your original employer at that dealership. And- Mm-hmm...
• 10:27
  you know, uh, so we were out at your store and got to hang out, see your team, and meet you, and there was this moment that I will literally never forget.
• 10:35
  We're all sitting around and, and you're talking, we're talking a little bit about marketing, a little bit about operations, and, and then you're like, "You know, what we really do is we ask our people to make sure they're contacting everybody in their phone every year."
• 10:48
  And we were like, "Oh, that can't be that crazy difficult. Everyone's probably got a few hundred contacts in there. They go at a couple a day." And then you dropped how many contacts you have- [laughs]... in your phone.
• 11:00
  6,000. Good. Yeah. [laughs] So if I... At 365 into 6,000, if I contact 60 people a day, just touch them with a text message, that means I'll contact everybody in my phone, and that's what we teach.
• 11:13
  Because that's your, that's your network. That's your circle of influence. If anybody contacts you, save their phone.
• 11:19
  And another trick is, if I go to a meeting with y'all and I want, and I connect with you, I'll say, "Hey, Paul, what's your cell phone? Kyle, what's your cell phone?" Even before you think, you just spit it out. Right.
• 11:28
  And then I take my, I store my, um, contact in with everything, text it to you, and say, "Hey, just click that and save my contact," and then I've got your cell phone.
• 11:38
  That's how I've gotten, uh, a lot of influencer cell phones, and, you know, that's how... Like, Grant Cardone did my Saturday morning sales meeting. He texts me and is like, "Hey, man, what have you been up to?"
• 11:47
  I said, "Hey, Grant, I'm doing great, bro." I said, "Hey, would you, would you talk to my team this morning?" He did a 15-minute sales meeting to my team from- This last Saturday? This, this past Saturday. I love it.
• 11:56
  You know, so Scott, we have, there's so many conversations going on ad infinitum in automotive right now between-... processes and technology, specifically technology and CRMs and how everything's communicating.
• 12:11
  You seem like somebody who understands the, the value of doing the, the foun- the fundamentals and the principles. Like, basic groundwork on the sales game. Yeah. Am I getting that right? Yeah, yeah.
• 12:23
  And when, when everybody's going in automation,
• 12:26
  I, I, I agree it's important, but I wanna build a model to where my team, I teach them how to brand, teach them how to promote themselves, teach them how to build relationships.
• 12:36
  There's some dealerships that buy every lead that's out there, and they have a really good BDC, and they turn and burn, and it... There's nothing wrong with that. Mm.
• 12:43
  I wanna build relationships to where, when we first started tracking a relationship sale, a relationship sale means that Kyle brought Paul in and bought a vehicle. Right. He brought in that lead.
• 12:55
  That, we start tracking it. Transactional versus relationship, and if you're transactional, we wanna turn you into a relationship where you don't shop with anybody else.
• 13:02
  So, when we first started tracking that and before we started training, we were at 5% relational. Now we're at 45%.
• 13:09
  [whistles] So that means almost one out of every two cars we sell is generated through social media by the sales rep, not by the dealer. My goal is to ge- get it close to 100%, not even hardly advertise at all.
• 13:21
  That's my goal. Now- That's amazing... yeah, I mean, it, it, it, it works, but you gotta work, you know? You gotta- Yeah, right. It's a grind, yeah... and, and, yeah. Like, you gotta put- Yeah...
• 13:29
  everybody's gotta be bought in, period. Yeah. From me down. For the long term. Yeah. Right? That doesn't happen in 6 months or 12 months, right? Yeah. That happens over a long time.
• 13:39
  You know, I have this, this mentality of, um, I call it brand conversion versus sales conversion, and a sales conversion equals one sale, ring the bell, everybody's excited.
• 13:47
  But when you make a brand conversion, it means people actually have integrated you in the way they think about things, and you just become a part of their regular flow of life.
• 13:55
  It sounds like you're saying the same thing. When you have a relationship, like a real one, right? Mm-hmm. Everyone's like, "No, I want a relationship." That's not a sale.
• 14:01
  It's like, I don't know, ask the customer if they feel like it's a relationship. [laughs] This, this is what we train. You know, get... If I, if I'm on the sales floor, I'm gonna get here at 7:15.
• 14:10
  I'm gonna meet the customers coming in. I'm gonna find out why my customers are coming in that morning, 'cause most people drop off at 7:30.
• 14:15
  And then any or- any orphans, anybody that doesn't have anybody assigned to them, I'm gonna make sure I, I say hello to them. And then I'm just gonna help service, check 'em in, you know, just be there. "Hey, how can...
• 14:25
  Let me show you where our waiting area is. Oh, by the way, you know, hey, Paul, I'm, I'm Scott. You know, um, um, I noticed that the sales rep that you had is no longer here. I would like to help you.
• 14:35
  If you contact me directly, if the service department's really busy, I can, I can squeeze you in. Oh, also, Paul, nobody really likes to come sit at a car dealership.
• 14:44
  I'll go pick up your car for you, bring you a loaner till next time, and I'll bring it in for you." "You'll do that for me?" "Of course I'll do that for you."
• 14:52
  And then you build your relationships there to build up your funnel, and then that customer's gonna be loyal to me. I'm gonna touch 'em after they leave. I'm not gonna try to sell 'em anything.
• 15:00
  I'm not gonna try to give 'em a free appraisal that day. I'm just gonna touch 'em.
• 15:03
  Next time they come in, I'm gonna pick up that car, I'm gonna give 'em a free appraisal, and then I'm gonna say, "Hey, you don't contact them. Text me. Text me and I'll set your appointment for you." Right.
• 15:11
  Then I'm gonna go out at 8:00, and I'm gonna do a Facebook post of, "Hey," Scott Simons in front of a car. "Hey," I'm gonna check in Facebook every single day, and I'm gonna make a post every single day.
• 15:22
  And people say, "Well, Scott, people know where you work." I know that, but I need to stay in front of them. If I got 5,000 friends on Facebook, only 15% of people see that post, so I'm gonna do it every single day.
• 15:30
  I'm gonna be... Every single day I'm gonna make that post. At 10:00 I'm gonna go, and I'm gonna find out a unique used car, and I'm gonna post that used car. "Hey, just traded in, you know, uh, please contact me.
• 15:42
  It's not gonna last long." It's gonna be something unique about it. I'm gonna tell a story.
• 15:45
  When I sell you a car, I'm gonna friend you, I'm gonna tag you in the post, and then if you got a trade, I'm gonna post your trade. I'm gonna say, "Hey..."
• 15:52
  And I'm also gonna ask you, "Hey, Paul, do you know anybody that's rode in your vehicle lately that would be interested in purchasing your car? They'd ever said to you if you ever sell this car to let them know?"
• 16:00
  [laughs] It's, it's like boom. Yeah. Sold before it hits the lot. Let's go. Yeah. We're turning cars so fast, we're not even getting...
• 16:08
  They're posting, my team is posting and selling before they're even making the websites. That's unbelievable. So they can get that. So, because here's what's, here's what most dealerships have a struggle with.
• 16:16
  They're like, "Yeah, but I can't hire a marketing team because, you know, I don't know what their ROI is, and are they gonna put out enough videos? And we got a creative team."
• 16:24
  And you're like, "Actually, actually, I have 223 employees across seven dealerships, and so every single one of them every single day is making me seven pieces of content.
• 16:35
  And I am literally the mayor of the town- Yeah, yeah... as a group," right? And they're, they're now...
• 16:41
  So now Paul is hurrying up and posting that car before I post it, before you post it, Kyle, because whoever posts it first, based on the amount of customers you have built up, is gonna sell that car first. Right.
• 16:52
  [laughs] So now we're competing to sell that trade before someone else sells it. Yeah.
• 16:57
  And then we also train, if everybody posts the used car and then everybody shares that post, m- then you don't have to go grab that car. You don't, because everybody's sharing it. Right, right.
• 17:06
  And, you know, now you can just grab it off the internet. But if you can take a picture of it- It's just a spider web. It's a big- Yeah... old spider web, man. Yeah.
• 17:12
  But it takes- So you said- It takes time, and we have daily worksheets.
• 17:17
  If we, if I ask them to do it, and then if I don't go back and do it myself and lead by example, and if I don't make sure they're doing that process, after a couple days they'll stop doing it.
• 17:25
  The good ones you'll tell once, and I know those are gonna be our future leaders. They'll take what I suggest and they'll, they'll do it 10X. They'll make it creative.
• 17:34
  They'll, instead of doing a picture, they'll do Facebook Live. That's when I know I've got somebody. Yeah. I've got somebody to pour into.
• 17:39
  The ones I have to remind, I know they're there just to, just to, just to have a job. They're not there for a career. Yeah. Trading time for money. That's it. Yeah. Yeah. So- We, we, yeah, we train on that...
• 17:48
  gonna put you on the spot for a second. Yes. You said, uh, Grant Cardone spoke to your sales team- Yeah... on, on Saturday. Obviously you and he have, go back a little ways. About 20 years. Oh, [laughs] just 20 years.
• 17:59
  That's it. Yeah. Yeah. That'd be... Um, he w- he, his life was a little different 20 years ago. Yeah, yeah. [laughs] I knew he was gonna be...
• 18:05
  You know, you meet people, when I met y'all, too, there's something special about people, and Rio recognizes that. I knew something, there was gonna be something special about Grant.Actually, I got a funny story.
• 18:14
  I snuck him into at a NADA Honda reception. [laughs] He wanted to go. He's like, "Hey, man, all the Honda dealers are gonna be at the Super Bowl party in Vegas." This was years ago. Years ago.
• 18:25
  You gotta say it like Grant. You go like, "Hey, man" Yeah, yeah. "Hey, hey, hey, Bert, can you get-" "All Honda dealers are gonna be there. I need to be there too." I gotta go. Yeah.
• 18:33
  [laughs] So, and I wanted him to meet with Eliza back then, so I actually put him on as an employee on our roster. [laughs] So while he interviewed everybody and, and yeah, Honda was like, "Don't ever do that again.
• 18:44
  Like, ever, ever do that." [laughs] 'Cause I got, I got talked to after that, 'cause obviously they knew- [laughs]... that he didn't work for me- Right [laughs]... and I snuck a vendor in. He's in a back room- Yeah...
• 18:52
  in a Vegas- Yeah... in a Vegas casino- Yeah... with a light on him. Yeah. [laughs] And everybody's like, "Who brought Grant Cardone?" And I'm like, "The..." [laughs] Says he works for... [laughs] Yeah. Yeah.
• 19:05
  So I got in a little bit of trouble over that one, but it was fun. That- A lot of people talked about it for a while... that's a great story. Definitely. So he spoke to your team on Saturday. What- Yeah...
• 19:12
  do you remember what he, he told your team? About building relationships. Okay. Which is perfect. You know, I learned it from him a long time ago.
• 19:19
  I learned it from Grant about building relationships and branding yourself. I mean, remember back when sales reps started and we didn't go and want them to put their cell phone on their business card? Yeah. Mm.
• 19:29
  Don't you- Yep... dare be bigger than the store. Afraid of that. Don't you dare go and brand yourself. Yeah.
• 19:34
  I mean, I- I hear that today too, especially, you know, we were at your stores and we've seen, like, hey, people... Who is it? Uh, Lucy? Yeah, Lucy. Who... So- Had the banner.
• 19:43
  Had the, had the, uh, like- Yeah, it's amazing. Like, there's a whole, like, pull-up banner in her little office in, in the Subaru store. Yep.
• 19:48
  And I think there is definitely this hesitancy to say, like, "Hey, if I'm gonna let my salespeople build their brand, that makes the dealer vulnerable." What's your position?
• 19:58
  I mean, obviously you, you encourage your people to do that, but why do you think that that's the winning formula? It, it's, it's... Well, it's two ways. They can... They're, they're both are successful, right?
• 20:07
  The ones that build it big and buy every lead that's out there, and they get a ton of leads and have a r- a hammer BDC, and then- Right... and then they have a delivery coordinator that delivers them.
• 20:18
  I told my team, "Listen, if you don't brand yourself, and if you don't build relationships, you're gonna become extinct. Mm-hmm. You're gonna become extinct.
• 20:26
  So you have to brand yourself, or I'll go to the model where I'll buy every lead, I'll have a rockstar BDC, and I'll just hire people, hourly people, to go over the tech- the technology. Y'all don't want that.
• 20:38
  I don't want that. Mm. I want to see y'all make really good money. Yeah, you don't build relationship that way. Right. So pl- plus, plus no one's bigger than our team. Not me, not them.
• 20:49
  We, uh, together we make Valley, we make CMA what it is. And I tell 'em all the time- That's the culture right there... I tell 'em all the time, "CMA will be here and Valley will be here long after Scott Simons is gone.
• 20:58
  But my legacy is gonna be the people that I train and coach and the impact they make long after I'm gone." And I just truly believe it's the right way to go. Plus, guess what?
• 21:08
  If I am selling half the cars through them and I train 'em and it takes their time, I can maybe can spend a little bit less in advertising or maybe reallocate it to...
• 21:18
  We call all the local high schools and gave 'em all money. And they were like, "What?" Like, "What money?" No, we, we have to call you.
• 21:25
  [laughs] They were like- Track you down and get through the gatekeeper and- What did, what's the ca-... So we called every high school in our county and said, "What program needs money?"
• 21:33
  So we took some of the advertising budget that we saved and donated it to local schools. Wow. And it was the weirdest phone call ever.
• 21:40
  My assistant's like, Laura, my assis- she's like, "Scott, they, they're like, 'What do you want from them?'" I'm like... It, we bought cheerleaders. Uh, cheerleaders needed new outfits, right?
• 21:51
  So instead of giving them a check, if we do that, we want them to come here. So out in front of the Honda, we built, like, a pyramid and shot a picture- [laughs]... of them with the cheerleaders.
• 22:00
  [laughs] You know, because if you want to give that check and make an impact, we want them to come by and see our stores. Yeah. We want them to come and see us.
• 22:08
  And then, you know, a little bit of PR out of that isn't a bad thing. No. 'Cause they look at those crazy guys up there doing a, a cheer, you know? So- Well, it goes around, right?
• 22:17
  Because the, the bottom line is the, the more successful you are, if your mindset is how do I sow into the community, right?
• 22:23
  The more the community supports you, it just, it's, it's very cyclical and they feed each other. Ab- absolutely. But just giving a check, anybody can just give a check. I mean, we- Absolutely...
• 22:32
  we wanna make a difference, and we wanna capture that and tell our story. I mean, you gotta, we gotta admit, you know, on the trust scale there, we're, we're...
• 22:39
  I think we're climbing, you know, with good dealers, but we're still pretty- Absolutely. You know, attorneys are down there. Right. Maybe ambulance chasers. I don't know. Politicians, yeah.
• 22:48
  [laughs] Politicians are down there somewhere. [laughs] It's not, it's not the, the, the stellar group we'd all want to affiliate with openly, so- Yeah... no, no doubt there. Yeah.
• 22:55
  No, I think a few years ago, I think it was Acura or Lexus that did a study, and a perfect sa- stranger, uh, ranked 57 or something on a trust scale, and a dealer, uh, a salesperson was nine. So- [laughs] Hey.
• 23:07
  You know- Hey, you know what?... I'm just not a perfect stranger. [laughs] You know what? Our, our, our industry did it to ourselves, right? Right. Yeah.
• 23:12
  You know, bad credit, no credit, push, pull, or tow, all the smoke and mirrors, and all the things that we don't do, the pirate sales. We used to make... When we first came here, we kind of dialed it back.
• 23:22
  We used to make fun of traditional car dealers. 'Cause, you know, we're, we're, we're a retailer. We're a partner. We don't consider ourselves a car dealership. Um, and we made fun of 'em.
• 23:31
  So we actually made fun of the pirate sales and the scratchers you never won. [laughs] And Eliza said, "Scott, you kinda gotta tone that down a little bit." Get too far. We don't want to make fun of our industry.
• 23:39
  But- Right. Right... I said, "I would, but it's pret- it's pretty fun." [laughs] Like, we did a, like, we did- I was like, "I know. I know." I don't know, but I laughed- It's funny, isn't it?... really hard at that run.
• 23:49
  [laughs] But you know what? We did one where, you know, you had the key that would start the car? Yeah. Yeah. And we gave a skeleton key. You know, like, the big old-school skeleton key? Yeah. Right. Yeah.
• 23:57
  It did nothing. So they came in, like, "We think we won the car," and we're like-Uh, this won't fit a car. Yeah.
• 24:03
  [laughs] Like, this, it's like telling my things that- [laughs] She's like, "Hey, Scott, you gotta kinda tone down the rhetoric a little bit." [laughs] She's getting a lot, a lot of phone calls, I'm sure. Oh, no.
• 24:10
  Oh, yeah. For sure. She's the eternal diplomat. Real quick, I wanna get a little bit personal as we kinda wrap this up, because- Yes...
• 24:16
  I, I know that you have a little bit of a story on a personal level that I think would be impactful. And, and you, you talk a lot about, you know, just what you've done.
• 24:23
  And I, I know that, uh, like, you are, you're this guy that on Instagram and, and Facebook, a l- a lot of your content is around, uh, is around, um, car sales and what you're doing at the dealership.
• 24:36
  But I see photos every single day, or almost every single day, of you playing racquetball. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. And I just met one of your buddies that also plays racquetball with you. Yeah.
• 24:49
  I gotta know, like, how did you get into playing racquetball? And it, like, was that, like, part of a transformation, or have you always played racquetball?
• 24:57
  Where's that, where does that come from in, in Scott Simon's life? Yeah. So when I worked at a gym, I would go work the front desk in high school. And if a, uh, people had...
• 25:11
  They would show up and say their, their partner wouldn't show up. They would say, "Hey, young man, come play with us." Well, I was on the clock getting paid to play racquetball. [laughs] And I'm like- Sounds awesome.
• 25:20
  That's great... I'm, I'm like, I'm like, "The member asked," and so I got my butt kicked for a lot of years. I just enjoy it. There's a lot of chess. It's kind of, um, it's a fast-paced game.
• 25:32
  Um, I also, through CrossFit, hurt my left shoulder, so I'm right-handed, so I can play racquetball and it doesn't affect my left shoulder. Ah.
• 25:40
  Uh, but I, at one point, I'm not that way now, I'm about 190 pounds, but at one point I was 265 pounds, terrible health. Uh, I was winning in business. This is before I came to work at CMA. Mm.
• 25:53
  But I just wasn't a good dude. You know, I just wasn't. I wasn't a good husband. I, I lost, uh, I lost who I was.
• 26:01
  And I remember it, it got to so point so bad that I shaved in the dark, because I didn't even like what I looked like. Wow. And my wife talked to me. I was on all this blood pressure medication.
• 26:12
  I almost had a heart attack or stroke. I, I think they said I had one or the other at the dealership I worked at before.
• 26:18
  And the reason w- I lost myself, because I was, I was so hell-bent on being a car dealer that I was gonna do whatever it took to be a dealer, to, to be a dealer and partner in a dealership, that it engulfed my life.
• 26:31
  And I wasn't a good husband, wasn't a good dad, wasn't a good friend, wasn't a good leader.
• 26:34
  And it took me almost having a heart attack and dying, and shaving in the dark, and my wife looking at me and saying, "Hey, you know, if you don't change and you die, which you're going to, um, you know, when...
• 26:44
  I want you to think about something. I want you to think about another man, and he's gonna be much younger than you. He's gonna walk your daughter down the aisle when you're dead." And I said, "Oh my God." Oof. Mm.
• 26:54
  That pissed me off. And after once I, I... You know, when you're, when you put on a bunch of weight, and you have people telling you that you need to make changes, I was... Hey, I was such a bad person.
• 27:07
  I would get off work, I had a 15-minute ride home, I would drink a 40 ounce before I was home. Wow. In 15 minutes, 40 ounce. Mm. And my wife was like, "W- what's going on?" Like, "You been at a bar?"
• 27:19
  And I'm like, "No, actually I've been at work." I'm like, "I drank this between here and there," because I just wasn't a happy, I wasn't a happy person. I'd lost who I was. Mm. And I started working out, did 75 Hard.
• 27:31
  I play racquetball twice a day, in the morning and the evening. And if I can't do that, I'll go to the gym, hit the heavy bag.
• 27:37
  Uh, but I work out probably twice on Monday, twice on Tuesday, twice on Wednesday, twice on Thursday, and once on Friday, and once on Saturday, and once on Sunday. Wow. Wow. So whatever that works out to be.
• 27:46
  Let's see, four- A lot. [laughs] 11, 11 times a week. Yeah. [laughs] Wow. But it, it helps me with my, I'm an aggressive person, aggressive profile. Mm-hmm. It helps me. Right. You know, I get up at 4:00 every day.
• 27:57
  I put a post out there. And if I don't post- Joe Rogan does the same thing. He says when he works out, that's when it, that really helps him be so, like, dialed in and focused. Mm.
• 28:06
  Because he has all that energy, he has all that focus, and has all that drive. Yeah. Um, so there, you're among, you're among some, some other greats. Well, I turned 50 this year.
• 28:15
  You know, I turned 50 in December, and I've worked really hard to get to where I'm at. And why would I wanna throw all that away? Now, I could die tomorrow, you know, any of us could.
• 28:24
  And we're not, none of us are promised tomorrow. Mm-hmm. That's right. But damn, like, I, I wanna try to be the best version of me in all aspects of life, knowing I'm nowhere close.
• 28:32
  And I mean, I, when I looked in the mirror and we're shaving in the dark, man, I looked like Jabba the Hutt. I'm like, "Bro, like, I gotta do something here," you know? [laughs] And, uh, like I, and, and I was fat.
• 28:42
  Like, people say, you know, I still could lose some weight. But they're like, you know, I was fat. So I had to make some changes.
• 28:47
  And I just happened to enjoy racquetball, and uh, it's a, you know, it's a competitive sport and it's high, you know, high velocity. So that's the reason why I play. I love it. I, I absolutely love that story.
• 28:57
  And I think that what I love so much about it is that you, you figured out how to be even more successful spending more time taking care of yourself, right?
• 29:08
  That, that those actually s- it, it actually sped up your success, and you're able to pass that on to others, and pass that on to the work ethic of your people.
• 29:17
  And, and, like, a lot of people might hear this kind of regimen of like, "Get in at 7:00, and do these things, and make sure you post this," and it, it sounds probably exhausting to a lot of people.
• 29:27
  But you've set yourself up, and probably your team up, outside of their workday so that they are ready to go, and dialed in, and can execute on these things because of how you care for yourself, and you probably pass that on to, to your people so that they're caring for themselves.
• 29:42
  Oh, we've got people here, they work together in groups, and they hold each other accountable. And I mentor my team, and this comes up in mentorships about, hey, what's your...
• 29:50
  You know, one thing, and y'all, y'all have heard this, and, uh, you know, we ask each associate what's your three personal and three professional goals, and then we review those with them.
• 29:58
  And Liza liked it so much she incorporated it with CMA.So- Yeah... you know, goal would be, "I need to lose weight." Now, how much weight do you wanna lose? The goal is, "I wanna, you know, make more money."
• 30:07
  Okay, how much do you wanna make? A goal may be, "I wanna pay for my kid's college," you know, or, "I wanna buy my first house." Okay, specifically, what, what, you know, how much money- What house are you gonna buy?
• 30:17
  [laughs]... do you need to save up? Do you know what your credit score is? So in those mentorships, we, we tell them, "Hey, everybody write down your credit score. The next week, everybody print out free credit report.
• 30:26
  Go print it and bring it in. We're gonna give 50 or $100 to whoever's closest." One person was two points away, one person was 250 away. Wow.
• 30:34
  So this person looks at his and knew he w- he, he thought he was a 600, he was a 602, which he used to be a 450. One guy thought he was a 500, he's a 750 'cause his parents put him as an authorized user on an account.
• 30:45
  Wow. But those are, those are things that we do here. I don't mentor people- That's like real life stuff. Yeah. 'Cause we're trying to help 'em in all aspects of life. I love it.
• 30:54
  But let me ask you, how much loyalty do you think we have? Absolutely. You know- Well, you're back to, you're right back to relational versus transactional. Yeah. Like, you're right back to that, right?
• 31:05
  You're building a relationship and not just an employment transaction, right? It's an employment, but it's relationship. So it's just the consistent thread through everything you do. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
• 31:14
  It's automatic to you at this point. Absolutely. Yeah, I've been really fortunate. You know, I, I've, uh, you know, get, you know, Liza Carter. Liza's been so good to me.
• 31:22
  She helped me realize a dream, and it's paying it back, you know? It's giving back to others because it's been given to me. And I'm a flawed individual, guys. I'm not perfect by any stretch of imagination.
• 31:32
  But I'm much better than I was. I, I know that, so. Well, Scott, I'm grateful you're a friend and a partner in this, in this thing that we're doing with ASOTU.
• 31:42
  I can't wait to hang out with you at ASOTU CON and just- Yeah... hear some of these thoughts and others that you have.
• 31:48
  And, um, m- man, I, I think our industry is well-served just to have you in it and amongst it, and I can't wait for more people to, to hear about what you're doing, uh, through the year.
• 31:58
  So thanks for joining us here on Auto Collabs, and, and, uh, yeah, can't wait to see you soon. Hey, grab your tickets to that event. That's gonna be a fun event.
• 32:06
  We're gonna get to go to see a great dealer, a very progressive dealership. It's in a great city, it's in a great venue. You're gonna have, of course, these two awesome gentlemen there and their whole team.
• 32:17
  You're gonna have a bunch of superstars in the auto industry, and somehow they let me in there, and, uh- [laughs]... I think I'm gonna be speaking a little bit, so I'll be- Yeah, you are.
• 32:24
  [laughs] Yeah, I'll be there pouring in. So if you have not got those tickets, I would love to see you there, and come up and shake my hand while you're there. So I'm, I'm terribly excited about that event.
• 32:34
  We're gonna have a lot of fun. Awesome. Sounds good. Yeah. Can't wait. Yeah. Talk to you soon. Thank y'all, gentlemen. [upbeat music] All right, that was our conversation with the man, Scott Simons.
• 32:46
  Um, I mean, the guy never lets down. He's clearly so passionate about everything that he does.
• 32:52
  And in particular, the thing that stands out to me about him is he does not, from a leadership perspective, does not ask or require his team to do anything that he is not willing to demonstrate, teach, do with them, and then set them free and let them do on their own.
• 33:10
  And certainly, that's a huge, uh, takeaway for me. Yeah. You know, uh, actually, before... I- it was either right before or after the interview, he, he said, "You know, I've got this office in..."
• 33:21
  'Cause he's, he's a managing partner over five Valley stores at CMA. He's like, "I got this office at the one store," and that's where he did the, the interview. But he's like, "I don't really have an office.
• 33:30
  I just kinda find where I'm at, 'cause I'm not really good at sitting down." [laughs] "I just like to be among the people and do things all day."
• 33:36
  And I can see that in the way he communicates, the way he's a part of his team, even the way he asks. He, he, he, he's around social media, he's pressing into his community.
• 33:47
  Um, and, and then you go to his store and you're like, "Everybody else is that way, too." I think I saw, like, three people sitting down when we went there.
• 33:56
  You know, all the general managers are up, they're, you know, they're looking around, they're trying to find exactly what's going on, and that's a, that's a testament to that type of leadership. And I think, um,
• 34:06
  you know, he, he's not, he's not an armchair analyst of how to run his dealerships. He's, he, he gets in the dirt with his people. It's pretty amazing how he said he wanted to be a car dealer from kind of early on.
• 34:19
  I don't know what age he was when he, I mean, when he started that story. It was probably, like, in his late teens, I'm guessing. Late teens, early 20s when he real- realized, like, "I wanna be a car dealer."
• 34:29
  And it was b- you know, the fu- it's a funny story. But at the same time, he said he wanted to go to college as well.
• 34:36
  So he went to college with the intention to become a car dealer, and said, "I wasn't really good at the education thing." [laughs] So he basically outworked everybody by memorizing so much, right?
• 34:47
  You can, you can, if you don't understand the concepts and principles, you can get really far by memorizing, especially in, like, a formalized education scenario.
• 34:55
  And I felt like that just carried through in his auto dealer career, where, like, he just knows he can outwork everybody.
• 35:04
  And he just knows if he trains his people, that it's worth putting in the work and watching the reward on the other side.
• 35:10
  Like, he does have that critical mass now, you know, that they've gone from that 5% referral sales to 40% referral sales, on their way to 100% referral sales. So he doesn't have to worry about leads ever again.
• 35:25
  Um, I think that that is- You know, you know, what, what I would encourage people is to go...
• 35:28
  If you're like, "I don't know how that works," literally follow Scott and then follow all of the 25 people in his, uh, uh, in his stores that are all doing the exact same thing on a daily basis, and you can watch it in motion.
• 35:44
  And so, um, when, when you think about, uh, the thought leaders and the people that are, that are communicating within automotive, look for the practitioners, and Scott Simons is definitely a practitioner.
• 35:55
  Well, thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Auto Collabs. For Paul Jay Daly, Michael Cirillo, and myself, Kyle Amatsua, we'll see you next time.
• 36:04
  Sign up for our free and fun-to-read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U.com.
• 36:17
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 36:25
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording? [laughs] Are we rolling yet?
• 36:42
  Not yet.