Latest / Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers / Ep.56 - The Slow Death Of Success: How to Spot COMPLACENCY Before It's Too Late

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Ep.56 - The Slow Death Of Success: How to Spot COMPLACENCY Before It's Too Late · Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to mind blow some of y'all when I say this because I've only heard the best of the best leaders talk about this.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_01: They say when times are really good and business is booming, that's when I'm looking at my expense accounts and trying to cut expenses.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_01: That's when I'm looking at where can I cut the fat on the advertising, the marketing, not people, but the advertising and the marketing.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: Where most leaders, when things are rolling, they're like, man, we're doing all the business.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_01: Don't sweat that stuff.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_01: And they get very complacent in that area.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, the best of the best go, where can we shave?
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_01: Where are we overspending?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then when business is going down, they actually go, where else could we spend more money to generate opportunity?
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_02: Hey everyone, welcome to Crossroads Conversations with the Lewis brothers, where we aim to share real stories about running a successful family business, working through adversity, and pouring back into the community that keeps our doors open.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_02: We're your hosts, Taylor Matt, and Shelby, and we'll bring you relevant local business advice and automotive insights that are sure to change the way you look at running a business and maybe throw in a plug for you to do business with us.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_02: Welcome to Lewis Brothers Crossroad Conversation, Epirode Epipher.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_02: Epiro, episode 56, where we're talking about the slow death of success, how to spot complacency before it's too late.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_02: Most businesses don't fail because of one huge mistake.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_02: They fail because of complacency.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_02: They stopped paying attention, they stopped adapting.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_02: They do.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just going to tell you this is one don't cut out early for because we're going to start talking about complacency.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: And a lot of times it's harder to identify while you're getting into it, but easy to identify once it's happened.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_01: Our goal today is to bring you some tips on how to identify that early on before it gets too far down the tracks.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_04: Complacency.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_04: Let me break this down real quick.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_04: Definition a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_04: That's real.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: That's what we're talking about.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_04: That is what we're talking about for sure.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_04: So hopefully you understand we're talking complacency and how it creeps in, what's going on.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_04: And that's today's episode.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_01: Before we go farther than that, I just do need to recap last week, episode 55, innovation versus tradition, finding the balance.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: And I gotta say, it's hard to argue whether we have the credentials to go over that or not, because we've been in business for 79 years.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: And we've really gone through that the past couple years of keeping true to our roots and our vision and mission, yet making sure that we don't fall into the trap of just because we've done it for 79 years this way means it's the right thing to do going forward.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll just give you just a quick tip and then you gotta listen to the rest of the episode.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: But just because something got you to where you are right now does not mean it'll get you to where you want to go.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_01: And we unpack that fully at episode 55.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: So make sure to check out that episode and many more.
• 3:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and absolutely.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_04: Make sure you always dive in.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_04: Whether you're looking for a car, just want to browse, see what's new, what's going on at Lewis Superstore.com.
• 3:22
  SPEAKER_04: You can schedule your service, you can see the latest and greatest deals and kind of see what's going on over a thousand vehicles in stock.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_04: And then pertaining to the podcast, Crossroad Conversations Podcast dot com.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_04: Not too long, not too short.
• 3:36
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• 3:37
  SPEAKER_04: That's where you can see the latest and greatest episodes, whether you want to watch them.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 3:41
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• 3:43
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• 3:51
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• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_02: Talking about what's in the garage today, I love this truck.
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_02: This is probably my go-to, go-to most favorite truck.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_02: It is the Ford Ranger, and it is like a mule.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_02: It is the perfect hybrid size that people don't think about because they always want an F-150 or a RAM or whatever it would be, the truck that has it all.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this truck has it all.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_02: It tows probably more than your full-size truck does, has more payload.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: And guess what?
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: Because of its size and efficiency, it gets better gas mileage than most small cars get.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_02: And it's all in a truck.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_02: And they start at a great price point in the mid-30s, giving you all full-size truck capabilities.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_02: And we have ranges of XLs that get you in the door in that mid-30s, all the way up to the coveted Raptor Edition Ranger that is full-blown Bahaw, best bang for your buck off-road vehicle that you will find bar none.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_02: We have the best selection of those.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_04: It's no longer a tiny truck.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's no longer, and I loved them.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_04: We grew up in them of the seats that folded down sideways in the bonus cab, right?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_04: It was perfect size when you were a kid.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but now it's uh it's a full-size, mid-size truck.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_04: And so you're four doors, five passenger, the technology is amazing, the power, eco-boost, three different engines there.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_04: Uh it toasts 7,500 pounds.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: And it, man, you hit on exactly, Shelby, what I was gonna hit on, and I was just gonna take people down memory lane.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: Is you can talk to about anybody, and you can say, hey, by chance, was one of your first vehicles a Ranger?
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_01: And how many people?
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Or one of their buddies they rode around with, it was a Ford Ranger.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: And you're like, man, that was such a great truck.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_01: It was dependable, it was tough.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_01: So you take like the roots of that, and then you take what Shelby talked about is it's now it's an actual crew cab and it has all the technology, has more power, can tow more, but still has the dependability and the toughness that the ranger came from.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_01: It it's really you brought a good one today.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I I love that truck.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_02: It uh has a lot of value in it from all different aspects.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_01: So complacency.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_01: What complacency looks like in leadership?
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_01: And Shelby, I'll ask you again for that definition so we can remind everybody, but what complacency looks like in leadership?
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_01: And let's start at the root again.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_01: Tell them the definition of complacency.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_04: Satisfaction within oneself or one's achievements.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_01: Now, you know what the slippery slope is here is usually complacency does not happen necessarily to underachievers.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: And so where it comes into place is for those that have had some success or even a lot of success, and usually that's a type A personality that's a very driven person.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_01: That's why we're talking to you about this.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_01: It's entrepreneurs that have hustled and have gotten after it and have built a business or their book a business or their awareness and they've gotten to a certain level.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_01: Some people call it plateauing, um, but we're calling it complacency, where you're like, you know, I'm doing pretty good.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_01: I've worked really hard at this.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's the tough part where it creeps in.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_01: If you've had all this success and then all of a sudden it's on cruise control, but it's not, because we talked about it before.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_01: You're either getting better or you're getting worse.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: Never staying the same.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_01: They're like, hang on, how do you never stay the same?
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: Here's why.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_01: Because the outside people around you, your competition, they're coming for you.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: So as they erode at your market share, you may be doing the same thing, but the results are different.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_01: And that's why it's so important.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_01: And I wanted to break that down as some people think complacency, well, those are just the people that haven't been successful.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_01: That's not true.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_01: We all can slip in, and we've all slipped into that too of getting to a level of success in an area, and then just kind of like, okay, whether it's okay, this is good over here, let me go work on another area, or I've got some other things going on.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_01: And then slowly it happens.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_01: You slip into that, and market shares, goals are missed, improvements start going down, so on and so forth.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_01: What's your initial thoughts?
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_04: You know, initial thought, you talk about that of uh achievers, overachievers.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_04: Probably a quick example, and I don't know if you would directly call it complacency because it's past the earning point, but it's if you look at someone who's been an entrepreneur or a leader or a manager and they go to retire, they don't want to just retire and do nothing.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_04: Oh yeah.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_04: Because they feel like they're becoming complacent or lazy or non-productive and just their whole life they've been hustling.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_04: And so they have to figure out something to task themselves to keep going, whether it's a hobby or it's a I start consulting, or something where they don't feel like they're completely tied down to the schedule, but it still allows their mind to stay in the I'm productive because I I've felt complacency before and I don't want that, even in retirement.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_01: But but that really doesn't happen overnight.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_01: No, like it's slowly, like all of a sudden, you're like, okay, because you either take your your foot off the pedal or you know, you delegate to others, which is great.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you know, and then you see some success happens, so then you go work on another area or do whatever else, you know, that you've earned the right to do, but then slowly it slips in there.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_01: What what what are your thoughts, Taylor?
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_02: You hit the nail on the head, and I I see it more so whenever we've pushed so hard to get to a goal in the store, and we're doing all the right things.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: And because we're doing all the right things and we're pushing all the right, it becomes easy because the machine is just rolling the way it needs to and has to be tuned up every now and then, but it keeps moving forward.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: So more times than not, I'll see myself, other managers in the department, that it's hey, you're not doing what you used to do.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_02: You're not going and talking to your team the way that you need to that got us to where we are.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because just as fast it does happen slowly, it's not abrupt, like you pulled the emergency brake, but just as fast it can start going the other way if you're not maintaining.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_02: No different than your car if you're not taking care of changing the oil on it and you keep driving, it's gonna start slowing down.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: No, no, it it will.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: It will go the other way.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Here's another definition when we go through leaders that fall into complacency.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what they say a leader that falls into complacency by becoming satisfied, think about that, satisfied with the status quo, losing their drive for innovation and growth, and failing to challenge themselves or their team.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna take us down a road here for a second so we can kind of relate.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_01: Let's take before when we were in the old buildings.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_01: There was a level of complacency that got there that we grew the business and we're like, we've grown it.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, could we squeeze out one, two, five more souls or a couple more oil changes?
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe so, but we're constrained by the building or the traffic or the accessibility or who it recruited.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_01: And it was, it was multiple times where then we had to talk and go, oh no, hang on, what can we do with the situation we're in versus falling into that complacency?
• 11:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there's plenty of doubt or reason to say you're fine with where you're at.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_04: You know, you're talking about infrastructure complacency or staff capability uh complacency, but there's plenty of reasons because when you're at the top or when you're in the area to say, hey, I'm not in the daily operation, so you see it from a higher view, and you're saying, hey, I see a hole there.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_04: Offensive coordinator says, Hey, that right guard, he's not catching that inside linebacker.
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_04: He's gonna let him through.
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_04: I can see it.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_04: And so then when you do that, the right guard's like, I'm swamped.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_04: I'm having to pick up the inside guy, and sometimes the outside lineman is coming his way in, and he's like, No, the center's picking him up, the tackle's picking him up.
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_04: And so when you do that, then your team's gonna give you feedback.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_04: And newsflash for you, it's very rarely positive.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be negative feedback, and they're gonna say, hey, here's what I'm seeing, here's what I'm seeing.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_04: It's like one of our shop efficiency reports that shows X amount of bays versus X amount of text versus eight hours a day.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_04: Here's the amount of hours that we should be able to generate out of our shop.
• 12:40
  SPEAKER_04: But then if you see that on an Excel spreadsheet or in a document or a report, but then you go out in the shop and you're like, well, this text's got three different bays with cars in them, tore down.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_04: You're like, hey, who's working on those three?
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_04: It's like Larry, Larry, and Larry.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, is Larry turning eight, sixteen, twenty-four hours today?
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_04: He's like, no, he's turning 16.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_04: We keep five, five, and tell him, good job.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_04: Like, well, you're down eight hours.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_04: You know, so a lot of times, uh it's the negative feedback that if you can't take that and say, I hear you, I understand that.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_04: Let me look and show you from a different lens of where there's opportunity.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_04: So in old building, there might have been, well, that's where he always parks, or that's why he's always done that, or that's the only schedule he can work.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_04: There are some other opportunities.
• 13:28
  SPEAKER_04: But it easily happens that if you just take that, like, okay, I get it.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_04: I just wanted to see if there was opportunity.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe you could pick up that inside linebacker, and you just take it for Grouchy is gonna be grouchy, then you're gonna get complacent sleeve.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_01: You've heard us talk about uh the different groups we're in and the different people outside of our organization that have helped us grow, that have helped us identify opportunities.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_01: And some of them haven't even directly said that to us.
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_01: No, but you sit and you look at what they're doing and you get your mind going.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_01: Hang, are we doing that?
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: Are we in the same stuck rut?
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and no matter what industry you're in out there, there's plenty of associations you can get involved with, even if it's just a chamber association or if it's a state association.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: Almost every single business needs some type of affiliation or license, and they have groups or a national group.
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_01: I just I encourage you to get around those people.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_01: And especially if you can get around like-minded people in the same industry, but they're not in your trade area, they're a lot more likely to be able to share ideas.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the only way we're able to identify what you just said, because you're you're far enough up.
• 14:38
  SPEAKER_01: There's a reason when we're in football season, you talked about offensive coordinator.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_01: There's a reason most offensive coordinators are up in the press box.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: They're not down at the field.
• 14:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't know if you guys knew that or not, but head coach is down there.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_01: Offensive coordinator has removed himself from all the noise going on.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: He doesn't want to hear the excuses from the tackle or the guard or the snap or the quarterback or the receiver.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_01: He wants to see it from a high level up where he can quiet the noise and see the opportunities then to fix.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: And then he'll relay down to another coach to help him or talk in the quarterback's ear on what adjustments need to be made.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_01: But he's got a clear mind so he can see that.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_02: You know, and I was thinking about this as we talked and previously since we moved over here, and I love this.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_02: This will all make sense whenever I say it.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_02: But, you know, previously, whenever we were at the old location and complacency would come into effect, we always used to do these things of off-site sales and everything at different, and there are different rules and regulations of manufacturers of where you could have vehicles and here and there.
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_02: But I feel like we always did that to a point that where if you were back gauging the situation, you're like, hey, it's time to insert Ether.
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_02: We got to get this going.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's this time of year.
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_02: Because somebody asked me today, like, well, you don't ever do that anymore.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_02: I said, we have it every single day because the way we built this location is all together, and we can do tense events, whatever we want to do, like we would always do off-site sales.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_02: So it's so important of your analogy, like of an offensive coordinator, stepping back to see, hey, yeah, there's a hole there.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_02: We got to insert ourselves and move forward.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_02: So that's been really fun of seeing it evolve into this location of, hey, we don't have to do the other because we built it into our process every year.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's that that's so good.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so y'all talked about a few dealership examples on how relying on one sales process, service process, or or marketing way or whatever it may be, and and it's easy then to start blaming it on that.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the marketing's not working.
• 16:45
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the ad campaign didn't work.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_01: Well, there's not as many people on the lot.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_01: That's a sign of complacency as well.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, you can easily blame it on certain people or certain lead sources, but that just allows you for opportunity.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I'll tell you, when you were talking about outside sources, and sometimes it's from the people, and sometimes it's just being around the people and your mind being clear, no different than the offensive coordinator.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_04: I remember, and we we looked at this every once in a while, not with like a magnifying glass, was like, man, that's an expense.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_04: Man, that's an expense.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_04: I remember sitting and looking at our credit card expenses and pulling reports and pulling reports and pulling reports, and we looked and it was over$14 million worth of transactions.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_04: And so we were looking at the fees that we were absorbing and chalking it up to a cost of business.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_04: And so then I was like, okay, this is the next project, you know, to dive into and to see like, okay, if if revenue stays the same, and if production stays the same and expenses continue to grow, that's not a sustainable model.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_04: And hiring more people, expenses continue to go up.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_04: And sure, you gain a little bit of revenue, uh, but so I I start looking at that and researching what everyone else is doing.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_04: And it just happens to be that I'm I'm at a 20 group, and so I'm I'm not here.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_04: And we were walking through the town that afternoon, and uh someone bought a shirt and they asked me, cash or card.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_04: I said, No card.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_04: And so they said, You want a receipt?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, No, I don't need a receipt, you know.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_04: I don't I'm not coming back, don't plan on returning it, try it on.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_04: And so then I just paid for it.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_04: Then I said, Hey, was was there a surcharge on that?
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, Yeah, it's a 3% surcharge because your payment card is okay, perfect, thank you.
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_04: Then we got something to eat at, like a food trailer or something, and said, cash your card.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, Card.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_04: Pulled out my phone and tapped a paid.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_04: And then I happened to get a text receipt and I see 3% surcharge.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_04: So then I keep looking, I keep looking, and we've talked about this for a while.
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_04: And so it equated to a little over$350,000 of dead expense.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_04: Dead expense that if you know in our business world, if you take what your net profit is, I'm talking about after you paid everything and do this calculation of whatever percentage that is, it would blow your mind if you knew how low it was.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_04: And took that and calculated what it takes to earn back$350,000.
• 19:15
  SPEAKER_04: It is an astronomical, it's millions of dollars.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and so I started looking at it, started looking at it.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I don't I don't have to be the pioneer, but I don't want to be the skeleton.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_04: Uh and so we look at that and say, hey, what can we do?
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_04: So we go with our current credit card company, then we look at other credit card companies.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_04: So we ended up now we have cash discounted our services that if you pay with cash, if you pay with a check, if you're on one of our ARs, you get that benefit of that discount.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_04: But if you're paying with a card, like majority of the world is, it's a convenience factor.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_04: And that fee then transfers to you.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_04: And we got so much pushback because it was changed.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_04: And I said, hey, when you drive by the gas station, look at the marquee.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_04: Just park and look at the marquee.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_04: It's 10 cents per gallon that it changes.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_04: When you buy ice cream, when you buy dog food, when you buy, and they're like, oh yeah, I didn't know.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: But what about the government?
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: What about when you go to the DMV or you go to pay personal property?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_04: They make me feel silly for using a card.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_04: News flash, majority of the people are earning 5% plus plus by using their credit.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_04: They don't care.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_04: They don't care.
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_04: It's your convenience of being able to pay it and roll on from there.
• 20:29
  unknown: Yeah.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_04: What's your calculation?
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, I first want to teach them the calculation, okay?
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_01: Because this is this is business talk, okay?
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_01: So if you don't know this calculation, just I don't know, earmark it or something, because hopefully you're driving or running, and then you can write it down later.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_01: If you ever want to know how much it you have to generate in revenue to cover an expense, most people think if I've got$100 I spend, I just need to make a hundred dollars.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Make a hundred dollars.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: That's okay, that that's elementary math.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's not correct.
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_01: So what you do is you take your PL or you take your income statement and you look at the very bottom.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_01: What is your percentage of net profit before tax?
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: What is your percentage of net profit?
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: You take that percentage, and if your expense was$10,000, I want to spend on this item, okay?
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_01: You take$10,000 and you divide that by the percentage, and it will give you the amount of revenue you have to generate, not profit, but revenue you have to generate to cover that expense.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_01: So for example, your calculation on the$350,000 that we were spending in credit card fees.
• 21:38
  SPEAKER_01: Credit card fees, we would have to generate in our business, because we have a very low margin business, high-ticket items, low margin, we would have to generate$10 million in revenue.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_01: Told you it was a lot.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: $10 million in revenue to cover the$350,000.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_01: And I hope if you don't know that calculation before you neck make your next uh decision on spending money.
• 22:01
  SPEAKER_04: What do you buy pizza for the crew again?
• 22:03
  SPEAKER_01: You know, and some of the expenses are necessary, but stop thinking.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll tell you the other common mistake, and I'm getting on a tangent here, but the other common mistake most people make is they say, well, my gross profit, my margin is 35% or 30%.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_01: That that's variable gross, selling gross before you take in any expense.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_01: Paying somebody, paying utilities, paying benefits, pay for the building, paying yourself.
• 22:29
  SPEAKER_01: Bottom line.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_01: That's why you got to get to the bottom line.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: You use that as the percentage to divide into.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_04: But let me tell you this that of 270 employees, I didn't hear one person high-five me and say that's a great idea.
• 22:39
  SPEAKER_04: They're not going to be able to do that.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_04: And a lot of people are paid after some expenses.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_04: So had I taken their advice, I just had to properly, properly everyone train, understand, show them how this thing makes sense and how this is what the rest of the world does.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_04: But if I stayed complacent, I'd be I would just be absorbing it, trying to be the nice guy.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_04: And once again, I would still never get a high five for like, man, Shelby, I appreciate you guys doing good business and not charging me for this.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_04: So I wasn't gonna get dang if you do, dang if you don't.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_04: So might as well make it make sense.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_04: So we continued to, I mean, we sponsored 10 more teams last week.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 23:17
  SPEAKER_04: 10 more local jerseys and fields, and went out to for this cheerleading program and uh helped out this academy.
• 23:25
  SPEAKER_02: By you making that small, very large decision that you did a lot of research, but very small in other people's mind that they don't know, allows your business, allowed us to be able to pour back more into the company.
• 23:37
  SPEAKER_01: Which then generates more opportunities for our service advisors, our salespeople, our business.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_01: So by not being complacent, but the only way you were able to do that is step outside of the business, clear mind, hear from others.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: Because if you just guys don't ever don't ever go ask your employees what they think about something like that.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_04: Especially if it has anything to do with their pay or income or anyone around them.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_04: Because they will give you very biased opinions.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: It it will.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: Because it, like you said, they're not gonna thank you for absorbing it.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_01: They're not gonna thank you for for charging it.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what I'm not saying is don't ever go ask your employee for any feedback.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_01: You know, if we're talking about employee benefits, if we're talking about events to do, if we're talking about this, that, don't mess up what I'm saying here.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_01: But that that's a great example, Shelby, of where if you had not stepped outside the business, got around others, doesn't have to be like industries.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_01: You didn't say the dealerships you went to to see what is going on and just not become complacent of it's a cost of doing business.
• 24:43
  SPEAKER_01: How many people say that?
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_01: It's just it is what it is, it's a cost of doing business.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah sometimes that's the case, but not always.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_01: But not always.
• 24:52
  SPEAKER_01: Any other takeaways on that?
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_02: No, always adapting change.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_02: I love this yesterday when we talk about stats and data, and you'll always dive into data.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_02: You like data, but I love of yesterday of not being complacent with the times of going on.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_02: As your year changes, your business changes of when it comes in, when it's different.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_02: And we talked about this yesterday of how this time of year of fall, our busy day from a Saturday and Monday switches to midweek because if you're a parent and you're listening on Saturdays, you are booked, solid with things going on.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_02: So everyone in the industry says, hey, things are slower, everything else.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_02: Well, you pull the data, and I love this yesterday.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_02: And I went over in the meeting, I said, There are over 400 opportunities of people in here that wanted to do business, and changing to the middle of the week made all the difference in the world.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_02: So you have to be able to step back, whatever it is, step back and see a change of that is so small that amounts to so much, and then don't let your ears be flooded with, hey, everything's bad.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_02: This is there, this day isn't working anymore.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: Step back, make the adapt, change, and move forward.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_01: You've got, I just, this is my biggest encouragement here.
• 26:07
  SPEAKER_01: You've got to get around like-minded people that are willing to share with you.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's the great thing about America, though, is the amount, you know, there's way more small businesses out there than anything else.
• 26:19
  SPEAKER_01: And it's the lifeblood of the economy in America.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_01: And and those people they've been in the trenches with you, they want to share information.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: They do.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_01: You got it now, you need to share with them first.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta be the first one to go, hey, here's what I've learned here.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_01: What have you learned?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_01: You get around those people and it'll keep moving your business forward.
• 26:38
  SPEAKER_01: And then don't forget about the data.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_01: The data, it's not the end-all be-all, but it sure as heck fire cuts through the emotions to show where opportunities are.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_01: It really does.
• 26:49
  SPEAKER_04: No doubt about that.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_04: All right, automotive fun fact quiz of the week.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_04: Ooh.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_04: What year did the airbags, not this, yeah, but the airbag first become standard in cars sold in the U.S.?
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_04: 1984, 1990, 1998, or 2005.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_01: No way it was an 84 or 90.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying, because I can remember growing up in the mom airbag.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: Whoosh.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_01: Just like you said.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 27:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know where I think that that came from?
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_01: That came from before you had the diagonal belt coming down.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_01: When it was just your belt and you could hinge like.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_01: So somehow mom's arm became like a steel post.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Whacked you straight up.
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_01: Holding you right there.
• 27:34
  SPEAKER_01: You know, holding onto the steering wheel at the same time.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, people.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_02: I would have gotten this wrong because my my car that's an 88, it has an airbag.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_02: Maybe.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so I guess that's the difference.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_04: First became standard standard.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_02: It's like regulatory.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_04: There was innovators.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's kind of like the backup camera.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, when they said you have to have it.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_04: There were people that had it before.
• 27:55
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so when it became standard, the correct answer is 1998.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_04: It took decades for the auto industry to make airbags standard.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_04: I'm sure they had a lot of pushback for expenses, so forth, even though the technology existed long before.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_04: Why?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_04: Because they were complacent and resistant to change.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_01: So were people about the seat belts.
• 28:18
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so that this is a perfect subject to talk about.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, if you go back to the same thing there.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's like, can you imagine how many people were complaining when they said you can't smoke on the airplanes anymore?
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_04: You'd like that one better than the series.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well, it it's in my rights and it's blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_01: Well, hang on.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_01: Hang on.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_02: Imagine sitting on one of those small planes.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, Lord.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_02: It can be done the goods ready.
• 28:41
  SPEAKER_02: Someone has right next to a couple of years.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_02: And they're just ashing on you.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_02: Just ashing on you.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I'd rather walk.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_02: I'd go sit.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'd rather sit in the bathroom.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_02: You ever sit in the Hotel Transylvania when the gremlin jams his head out the window?
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_01: That would be me flying down the I think my point in that, and whether it's the seatbelts, because you know how many people complain, well, it's my right to whether a seatbelt or not.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's just changed.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_01: And it's been the same, and everybody says it's because of social media these days.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's always gone on.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: Anytime there's change and you move somebody's cheese, and we talked about the book, it's a great one to read.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta be willing to put your emotions down and go, okay, this changes for the better.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_01: I think the airbag's gonna give me a black eye, but it's the same a lot.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, what's the dash gonna do?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_01: Give me the black eye.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, bust my nose, but save my brain.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's when they integrated the good seat belts that were like on the escort that turned on the track.
• 29:40
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, automatically.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_02: That's what they had first.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: Whether you like it or not, it's coming back.
• 29:46
  SPEAKER_01: So to get people to change, this is a good one.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_01: But to get people to change in the EXP and the tempo growing up, it had it had the belt, the diagonal belt that when you close the door went just.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_01: And straight across, you have an you're in.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_04: But sometimes you gotta do that.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you gotta force you into it.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_04: You gotta force things into it.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_01: If you know what's good for you.
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_04: If you don't charge them the 3%, I'm charging you the 3%, right?
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_01: Hopefully that made sense to somebody.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_01: Tune back in.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_04: Chord number two, how complacency creeps into teams.
• 30:24
  SPEAKER_04: So not just from the leaders.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_04: Not just from the top.
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_04: From the press box of the offensive coordinator all the way down to the field, to the snapper, to the quarterback, to the kicker, to the tackle, to the water boy.
• 30:38
  SPEAKER_04: Signs.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_04: Staff stop offering new ideas.
• 30:42
  SPEAKER_04: This is a tricky catch 22.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_04: Good enough becomes the norm.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_04: And morale drops when there's no challenge.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_04: What's your thoughts?
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_01: So I'm going to give you some identifiers here on how to figure out when complacency is starting to creep in.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_01: And every one of your businesses has this, whether you think you do or not.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_01: And you may have heard me talk about this the meeting after the meeting.
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_01: So they always happen.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_01: You can't stop them from happening.
• 31:10
  SPEAKER_01: The meeting after the meeting is when management or middle level management or shift leaders have had a meeting with the team.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_01: The meeting's over, and then team members huddle up outside on their smoke break or walk in the lot or whatever else they're doing.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_01: They dissect what was gone over during the meeting to then talk about it and go, are we actually going to do that?
• 31:32
  SPEAKER_01: Are they going to follow through this time?
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: What did y'all think about that?
• 31:36
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of times complacency will start creeping in by core catalyst and influencers within your business.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna I'm gonna tell you a quick story about this.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: So when I first got back into the business, um, I was in my young 20s as a sales manager, GSM and mid-20s.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_01: And at that point in time, GSM is over the sales managers, the salespeople, and the finance managers.
• 32:03
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't have a single salesperson on staff that was younger than me.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_01: Everybody was older.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_01: In fact, most of the veteran salespeople had been in sales as long as I am old.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_01: That that's a tough situation because they're like, what are you gonna teach me about sales?
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I started selling when you were in diapers and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_01: So what you have to do to not let that complacency or that negative talk come in, you better go after the catalyst.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Now, the catalysts are not usually your top performers.
• 32:40
  SPEAKER_01: Now, I had one, his name was Tommy.
• 32:42
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not gonna tell you his last name.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, not my uncle Tommy, but his name was Tommy.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: And when it when I got there, Tommy was the only one that had an office upstairs at the Ford building.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_01: All the rest of the salespeople had an office downstairs.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_01: Tommy was the only one that had a cost sheet.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all know our process on cost sheets.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: There's the cost is irrelevant.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_01: He had a process sheet.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: So the only way I could get, and Tommy was the, he headed up the meeting after the meeting.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: The only way that I could squash that was to get Tommy on my team.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: So it was my goal to help Tommy be more successful than he had ever been.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_01: What I did for him is I helped him get paperwork together.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_01: I helped him get his car washed, blah, blah, blah.
• 33:21
  SPEAKER_01: Not his personal one, but the ones we were selling.
• 33:23
  SPEAKER_01: So he became more efficient.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: He sold more cars, made more money.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Once I proved myself to him there, then he allowed me to get in.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll land this plane.
• 33:31
  SPEAKER_01: But once he allowed me to get in, then I was able to start turning the ship of the person leading the meeting after the meeting and squash the complacency that was going on in the teams.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_04: I think it's super important to realize how you turn the ship.
• 33:48
  SPEAKER_04: So if you realize that team members are getting comfortable, they're not it's funny because it's their money, but it's not funny.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_04: But uh they'll be okay with selling a few less and a few less and a few less, which means they make a little less and a little less and less.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_04: And in the end, they will blame solely on you, not on them.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but they'll be okay with it.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_04: And their activities will continue to dwindle down, and their lack of try or hustle will start to dwindle down.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_04: And so seven times out of ten in today's industry, and it's funny, we just came back from a four-dealer meeting um three weeks ago, and I was on the shuttle bus to the airport, and I heard a general manager behind me on the phone, and he was one of the three, or one of the seven out of the ten.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_04: And he was talking to a guy phone, he's like, How's business today?
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_04: And it was like 7 a.m.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe they're on the East Coast and they were already going, but uh, this is gone.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_04: And he was like, Tell those MFers, I saw their stats yesterday, and they're gonna have to get their blankety blanks out of the chair.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_04: He said, I'm on my way home and I ain't coming in today.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, Yeah, I can tell.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_04: But when I show up Thursday, they better have their blank blank in gear.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_04: He's like, tell them they can't sit in their chairs today.
• 35:13
  SPEAKER_04: They gotta get out there and find a car deal and make a car deal.
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_04: I don't care what they have to do.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_04: This was his pump-up conversation.
• 35:22
  SPEAKER_04: It was way before seven.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know why I said that.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_04: I know it was like five, and so maybe it was seven there.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_04: I was like, dang.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_04: And he was just like, and so then he continued to talk to the guy like, hey, so man, what you what are you doing this weekend?
• 35:35
  SPEAKER_04: Like maybe this was his GSM he was talking to, or maybe this guy was the dealer principal or the owner, and he was talking to the GM.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_04: One of the two.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_04: And then he was like, he was talking to him about the dogs and you know what's going on and where they're going for this weekend, like so, which means they were used to it, right?
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, yeah.
• 35:50
  SPEAKER_04: That it wasn't like something overly earth chattering.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_04: So then he was like, No, I'm serious, round them up right now.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_04: He's like, get on that speakerphone, page them, and get them all in there.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_04: I want everybody.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_04: He said, And you wear their blank blank out.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_01: And he just got and I was like, oh my gosh.
• 36:08
  SPEAKER_01: Their team is not, I mean, I can already tell you they're not gonna have a good day.
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_04: No, like, and so what it means is by the end of it, the customer, they're gonna be like, Look here, Jimmy, you ain't leaving without a car.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_04: Saddle in chewed my ear off, right?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_04: And threatened me that I was gonna lose my job if I don't sell a car today.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna take a car home today.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_04: So CSI out the window.
• 36:29
  SPEAKER_04: I was gonna say, so even if he did take the car, then on Friday a bad survey comes in.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's in another meeting.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_01: The whole thing again.
• 36:37
  SPEAKER_04: So what you said is because how we were taught, and I don't know if you guys have ever held this rule, but treat others the way you would like to be treated.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know anyone that raised their hand and says, hey, just just dog cuss the fire out of me.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_04: Just threaten me.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_04: But a lot of people, seven out of ten leaders, will lead that way, and they think intimidation is gonna rise people out of complacency.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_04: Not gonna happen.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_04: You can do it completely backwards.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_04: Matt had to completely get in with the in-person, the snitch, or the person that leads the meetings and convince them.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_04: And we have to do that every single day.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_04: It's like, hey, can I help you make a couple phone calls?
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_04: I realize you're so busy.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_04: So why how about I make one, you make one, I make one, you make one, I make one.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_04: And so then you're setting appointments for this guy.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_04: And so then slowly that creeps the productivity up.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_04: And then you just said, hey, you are underperforming, and I want to help you perform at the metric you're able to perform at.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 37:32
  SPEAKER_04: And then they're like, man, look at Steve.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_04: He's getting all the cheese.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_04: The boss is sitting over there helping me making phone calls.
• 37:38
  SPEAKER_04: He's like, no, he was helping me this, this, and this.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_04: He realized I was behind a little bit and helped me cut up.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_04: He's coming to you next.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_04: And then they just run.
• 37:45
  SPEAKER_04: But there's a complete different way to do it, and it's very rare that somebody does it that way.
• 37:50
  SPEAKER_04: And you get a whole lot more respect.
• 37:51
  SPEAKER_04: And I think the the shout or the motion lasts so much longer.
• 37:56
  SPEAKER_01: I was gonna say, and the reason I picked Tommy because he was the loudest, most influential.
• 38:03
  SPEAKER_01: He was the hardest one.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, so a couple mistakes that leaders make.
• 38:08
  SPEAKER_01: Couple mistakes.
• 38:09
  SPEAKER_01: Number one, they go after the easy ones to influence.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the ones that started the same day you did.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_01: But they have zero influence over the rest of the team.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_01: So everybody else is just gonna shoo-shoo them.
• 38:19
  SPEAKER_01: You gotta go after the hard ones.
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: And then number two, what a lot of people what you didn't hear me say is I took him to lunch every single day.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: I invited him over to my house.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: I did this, I buddy buddied him.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: No, I was nice to him, respectful to him, but what he really cares about is how much do you care about me hitting my goals?
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's that's what it was after.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_01: So as a as a leader, don't manage by by threatening, okay?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_01: Don't manage by buddy buddying, okay?
• 38:50
  SPEAKER_01: And and don't go after the weakest person so you can feel like you're accomplished.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_01: Go after the toughest one and help them become more successful.
• 38:59
  SPEAKER_01: Because what do you think the rest of the team said when Tommy's like, man, I was reluctant that I gave this dude a shot.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: I thought he was just in the position because his last name was Lewis and because his family owned the business, but I've never made so much money.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_01: What'd the rest of the team start doing?
• 39:14
  SPEAKER_05: Listen, it was an easy end.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: The multiplication factor we talk about about delegating, that same thing happened right there.
• 39:20
  SPEAKER_01: That same thing happened.
• 39:21
  SPEAKER_02: You just hit the nail on the head, and I don't know that everyone really understands how much that ties back into previous episodes of real deal leading, proving you're supposed to be in that position.
• 39:36
  SPEAKER_02: And I love it because dad taught it to you.
• 39:39
  SPEAKER_02: You taught it to Shelby.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: Shelby's taught it to me, and I've learned in there, and you can see it through our whole managing.
• 39:45
  SPEAKER_02: Could you have walked in because of who you were and said whatever you wanted to and made that guy sit down and do?
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, absolutely.
• 39:54
  SPEAKER_02: You could, and people think you could have done that, but that wasn't taught to you that way.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: And in turn, and this is for anyone listening out there that has come up as a second generation or anything else, do yourself a favor and act like you're on the chopping block and you got to prove yourself daily.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so many times we'll have new employees come in and like, why are you doing that?
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: Why why are you going out of your way to do that?
• 40:22
  SPEAKER_02: Why are you helping them that way?
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: It's because being taught from brother to brother, from dad, and going through of it's so much more effective.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_02: Whenever you'll take the time, show them your work, show them you care that they're successful.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_02: Not necessarily that you're successful and hey, I've got to make a name for myself, but that you're successful and you're gonna help them move forward.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, this is a quote from Theod Roosevelt, okay?
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I really like this one.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_01: He said, employees do not care how much you know until they know how much you care.
• 40:57
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_01: You know, employees do not care about how much you know until they know how much you care.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_04: Which is not a telling, that's a showing.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_04: You know?
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_04: So thinking about that, you know, oftentimes we tell employees, bring us ideas, bring us ideas, bring us ideas.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_04: And you have to be able to properly let them down if it's not a good idea.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_01: Sure.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_04: We you know, our our good buddy Wayne used to, he was, he knew, he'd been like dropped in the bucket so many times that he'd said, Hey, I'm just gonna keep bringing you ideas.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_04: And if if you slowed down for a second, listen to his ideas, it'd be about 10 to 40 ideas at once.
• 41:37
  SPEAKER_04: And so then you're just like, What in the world?
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_04: You kind of keep doing what you're doing, but you're listening.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_04: And then if something hit you'd say, Well, hang on, say that again, and you'd write it down.
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_04: Uh but he's like, Look, I know I'm gonna say a whole lot, and then like if I come across something good, then like we'll roll with it.
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_04: But these are just on my mind.
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_04: But and he was okay that if like one out of a thousand stuck and Which was amazing.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_04: Which was amazing, right?
• 41:59
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, some other people have a really hard time just bringing you one thing.
• 42:04
  SPEAKER_04: And unfortunately, that one thing is generally not gonna be something that in that season or in the way that they pitch it is not gonna be something you can implement.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_04: So you have to be able to properly let them down and show them an opportunity still for them to be a part of a new idea that necessarily wasn't theirs because otherwise they will be complacent, like, I'm just gonna go back to what I was doing.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's such a good point, Shelby.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_01: You bring up because like we were used to Wayne and Wayne understood what was going on, you know, very, you know, had very wise and had a big track record.
• 42:39
  SPEAKER_01: But you got to think about how much courage does it take for an employee to come into your office or to give you an idea.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_01: It takes a lot.
• 42:47
  SPEAKER_01: And and more than likely, their first idea is not gonna be one that hits it out of the park.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_01: Nope.
• 42:52
  SPEAKER_01: But you you gotta slow down.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_01: I gotta remind myself this too, because I run and gun wide open, is the influence you have on others, and you're either encouraging or you're pushing somebody down.
• 43:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that first time they bring you something, even if you're thinking in the back of your mind, there's no way this will work.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_01: This is a stupid idea.
• 43:11
  SPEAKER_01: We've tried this a thousand times.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_01: You still have to emotionally walk them through it so it encourages them because five more ideas down the road, it could be something that pivotally changes your business.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_04: And I'll tell you, there's a couple things that I always do when someone brings me an idea or someone comes to me wanting a raise.
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I will always task it back to them.
• 43:34
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_04: So they can see it through.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_04: And generally, when they see it through, they'll realize it doesn't have legs.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_04: And and so hear what I say there.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_04: When they come to me with an idea or ask for a raise and they have a specific thing for me, I will task back to them.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_04: That's an idea.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_04: Sure.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_04: I think that's something worth checking out.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_04: Here's what I want you to do.
• 43:56
  SPEAKER_04: I want you to help me out.
• 43:57
  SPEAKER_04: And there's a delegation here, but there's also some self-firing a little bit here.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_04: So then they realize one, maybe they don't even have the initiative to do it.
• 44:06
  SPEAKER_04: They just like to be the idea person.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_04: And if it's a good idea, grab a hold and help it have legs.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 44:11
  SPEAKER_04: But in order to allow them to fire their self from that idea, say, hey, I want you to do a little research, find three or four different companies that offer that right now, even if they're not in the automotive industries.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_04: And I want you to do research and see what they went through, what works, what doesn't work, what the cost of that is, and what the ROI is on that.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_04: And if you'll do that and bring that back to me, then we can go from there.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_04: Nine times out of ten, they'll never bring it up again.
• 44:38
  SPEAKER_01: And what that does is then it's on them.
• 44:43
  SPEAKER_04: It sh it shows that you care.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_04: Shows that you care.
• 44:45
  SPEAKER_04: And then it's on them because they let it fail.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_01: And then if they didn't bring it back to you, they can't blame you.
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_01: You know, we do the same thing, and you know, we love sponsoring teams and events and this and that, but we get bombarded with requests on that.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_01: So it's like, how do you navigate through those waters?
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_01: Well, same thing.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_01: If somebody just says, hey, I need$1,500 for the sponsorship of this, so man, that sounds like a fantastic program.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what I need you to do: get the details together for me, how long the season lasts, where are y'all gonna play, how many players will be there, average of attendance, you know, all those numbers, how this will be used, and then email that over so then our board can take a look at it.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_04: You have to think about it like a shark tank pitch.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_04: You do.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_04: Like you can't just like, well, he didn't like me, he didn't give me$100,000 for 30%.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_04: Like, no, you didn't bring any relevant information.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: What it also tells us, too, is even more than the data that the sponsorship people are bringing back, what I care more about is will they take the time to do that?
• 45:48
  SPEAKER_01: Because if they won't take the time to do that, how good of a job are they gonna do promoting that we were our sp their sponsors?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, if someone says, Man, I love your jerseys this year, like they look different, and they're like, Oh, thanks, man.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_04: Lewis Automotive actually stepped up and sponsored us this year.
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_04: They're a local company, you should check them out.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_04: If they didn't bring you that information back and you did sponsor them, you were just like, Yeah, I got an extra$1,500 this month, let's throw it at them.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_04: Then they'd be like, Hey, I love your jerseys.
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_04: Like, yeah, aren't they sweet?
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh Rose jerseys down the road made them and they're legit.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 46:17
  SPEAKER_04: They would completely leave out the fact because they're just not that people.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_04: And it's okay.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_04: Like, they not all coaches or marketeers are brand people, right?
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_04: No way.
• 46:28
  SPEAKER_04: Or we can't sponsor them all.
• 46:29
  SPEAKER_04: So we're gonna pick the ones that are.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 46:31
  SPEAKER_02: Uh to you.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, mythbuster time.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_02: Myth, if it isn't broken, don't fix it.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I I don't agree with that one.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_01: Okay.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_01: And here's why.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's it's because what I started this off with is some of our processes that got us to where we are were not broke.
• 46:52
  SPEAKER_01: But they don't line up with achieving where we're going, which then they might as well be broke.
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's what to look at is what you're doing, it may not be broke, but is it aligned with where you're trying to go?
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_01: Does it have the capacity?
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_01: Can it scale?
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_01: Does it line up with where you're going?
• 47:12
  SPEAKER_01: And if it doesn't, then you need to change it.
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_04: So I I think that kind of goes with like the pace and the speed that you are and that you're going.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_04: You know, your 200,000 mile Toyota Corolla, you're probably not going to take the engine apart and check the valve clearance.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_04: You're not going to check the ring gap.
• 47:31
  SPEAKER_04: You're not going to check the cylinder balls for scoring.
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_04: You're hopefully you're going to change the oil, but that's just your average everyday going to get around.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_04: You're not generally going to hop in it and drive to California.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_04: You know, it's just, it just works.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_04: It's like the Ford Ranger.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_04: Now, start looking in motorsports of how they provide a living for their family and how they want to rank high.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_04: They're tearing that engine down multiple times through the season.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_04: In fact, top fuel dragsters that do zero to 300 in less than three seconds in a quarter mile pass, they tear the entire engine apart in between every single pass.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_04: So they are hyper inspecting.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_04: It ain't broken.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_04: And they do break, right?
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 48:15
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, but they're inspecting every single time because they got a lot on the line, a lot of people counting on them.
• 48:21
  SPEAKER_04: So they're going to be way more diligent to inspect things and fix it theoretically before it's broken.
• 48:29
  SPEAKER_01: I got to relate this a little bit of now personal life and habits.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, because we just talk businesses in here.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_01: But in all, guys, especially sports overlap with business so easy.
• 48:38
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when you first start running, okay, you're gonna get around like-minded people that are running or local groups or people in your business, whatever it may be.
• 48:48
  SPEAKER_01: And you start off and you're like, hey, I just gotta get around some people that won't drop me.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_01: I know you're really fast.
• 48:52
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, I'm gonna find somebody else.
• 48:54
  SPEAKER_01: And you're around the 10 to 11 minute mile people.
• 48:57
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's not broke, but your goal is to be able to average a seven-minute mile.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_01: So, okay, you get comfortable and you can run that.
• 49:06
  SPEAKER_01: Well, then you might find the next group up that runs that eight to nine minute mile.
• 49:11
  SPEAKER_01: And then all of a sudden you get comfortable there, and then you got to go find the faster people.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_01: So none of those were broke, they just were all stepping stones to be able to get to where you're actually going.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, so I think that's the same in business.
• 49:23
  SPEAKER_01: It is.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_01: You just got to align that up.
• 49:25
  SPEAKER_01: And are you challenging yourself?
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it aligns right up with complacency.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_02: So that's definitely busted.
• 49:30
  SPEAKER_02: By the time it's broken, it's too late.
• 49:32
  SPEAKER_02: Great leaders fix things before it breaks.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, so we got that on right.
• 49:35
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: You're on it.
• 49:36
  SPEAKER_02: You're dead in, busted.
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_02: You hit it before I even finished, but I've gone through there.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, breaking out of complacency as a business.
• 49:44
  SPEAKER_02: We've kind of talked about this, but using your practical tools of diving into this.
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_02: So regularly auditing your processes and results, looking in, looking underneath the hood before there's an issue with the machine, the business, before it's throwing red flags up, um, inviting outside perspectives in.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_02: Kind of what have y'all thoughts?
• 50:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, examples of that, how you would bring them to business?
• 50:11
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think you know, we're actively going through this right now.
• 50:15
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, we we've been talking to managers about this is hey, our processes right now, do they scale where we can get way beyond what we're selling right now?
• 50:26
  SPEAKER_01: Now, what do you say?
• 50:27
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we want to sell more.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, are we duplicating the best experience?
• 50:31
  SPEAKER_01: And the way I look at this is if you take your most raving fan, the one that talked about that the sales process was so easy.
• 50:38
  SPEAKER_01: They gave me upfront pricing, the amount was there for my trade, everything was there for me to make a decision.
• 50:44
  SPEAKER_01: They listened to me.
• 50:45
  SPEAKER_01: It was hassle-free.
• 50:46
  SPEAKER_01: There wasn't pain points, it's not what I expected when I came in here.
• 50:50
  SPEAKER_01: It was far better.
• 50:51
  SPEAKER_01: And I'll tell all my friends and family, how do you take that situation, put a process in place and scale it to sell 500, 600, 800, or a thousand cars?
• 51:03
  SPEAKER_01: That's what we're going through.
• 51:04
  SPEAKER_01: Because it seems like we're hit and miss on it.
• 51:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like if somebody's done business with us forever, that's the case.
• 51:10
  SPEAKER_01: But you know, then when I remind the guys is you take our database of of of 40 to 80,000 people, okay, 40,000, that's not a drop in the bucket to 650,000.
• 51:21
  SPEAKER_01: So there's more people that haven't experienced it with us.
• 51:24
  SPEAKER_01: But then there's this gap of how do I get them to have the same experience as somebody that's bought three to five cars from us?
• 51:31
  SPEAKER_01: And so that's we're actively going through that.
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_04: I'll tell you another way that um that we are able to audit process uh to get real world, hey, how is it?
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_04: How's it working?
• 51:44
  SPEAKER_04: What's wrong, what's right, is all most of our staff is very cross-trained uh from store to store.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_04: So all of our processes generally are the same, no matter what store you're at.
• 51:55
  SPEAKER_04: So if we have a finance manager that we need coverage from the Chrysler store to the Forge store, if we have a service advisor from one store to the other, even some technicians, salespeople do it every single day.
• 52:06
  SPEAKER_04: Uh in the office, uh our team has done an amazing job cross-training there.
• 52:12
  SPEAKER_04: And so what that allows to is when someone does go on vacation or someone is out of pocket and they coverage there, you might uncover, like, hmm, should they have been coding these invoices to this account?
• 52:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 52:26
  SPEAKER_04: You know, and it's generally not a stealing or a cheating situation, it's just an improper reconciliation of something, right?
• 52:35
  SPEAKER_04: Or why are we giving these people X plan?
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_04: Or why were these people getting a courtesy vehicle every single time?
• 52:43
  SPEAKER_04: And so our internal audit systems, while we have lots to grow on, uh, would continue to look at that.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_04: And so if you get a different person in that position, they'll give you a different perspective, and respectively so, they'll say, Hey, I'm not writing on this person, but I'm just saying there's something to be looked at here.
• 53:03
  SPEAKER_02: That's good.
• 53:04
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that of diving into there, and I think this hits the the nail on the head of just always staying involved with your team and knowing this is what's going on, because if you're not involved with them, you're not gonna see that.
• 53:18
  SPEAKER_02: You're not gonna notice and acknowledge that that that process needs to be changed.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_02: We need to to move from that and step over to this process to make it better, scalability, and be better for the the overall experience for the customers.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_04: I think there's a big thing that you said there to not skip over, you said being involved with the team.
• 53:39
  SPEAKER_04: And we we try super hard to do that, right?
• 53:42
  SPEAKER_04: To be down in the department uh of our every morning manager meetings, to be relevant for it to make sense.
• 53:48
  SPEAKER_04: But as we continue to teach people to delegate, or we delegate, teach them how to delegate.
• 53:52
  SPEAKER_04: Sometimes if something miniature implodes or there's an issue and you're like, what the heck?
• 53:57
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_04: You know, what the heck?
• 54:00
  SPEAKER_04: You have kind of taught them not to bring you everything, which you need to, right?
• 54:04
  SPEAKER_04: Every angry customer shouldn't have to end up in your lap.
• 54:08
  SPEAKER_04: One, they should have to deal with the wrath of the angry customer because it was generally what they didn't do.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_04: That's their fault, right?
• 54:14
  SPEAKER_04: Uh now you're happy to help and have to give some direction.
• 54:17
  SPEAKER_04: But so, anyways, what we've taught and we've created is the delegation of them handling some things, but it will remove you from understanding the true pulse of your business.
• 54:27
  SPEAKER_04: And so being involved means actually sitting on the front line.
• 54:31
  SPEAKER_04: The offensive coordinator says, Okay, I can see what I can see up here, and I continue to run this play and it ain't working.
• 54:38
  SPEAKER_04: And at halftime they're down, he said, I'm gonna come down to the field and actually see what I can see from plain view.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, and I'm gonna actually see what the other side's saying, right?
• 54:49
  SPEAKER_04: And and so then that allows you to see, and you're like, Okay, got it.
• 54:54
  SPEAKER_04: That's where it is, right there.
• 54:55
  SPEAKER_04: I can see it right there.
• 54:56
  SPEAKER_04: Little Jerry's supposed to be doing it, but we've got him over here doing this.
• 55:01
  SPEAKER_04: And so there's a humongous hole right there.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and and you see that when you really get involved.
• 55:06
  SPEAKER_04: So it's not like the phone call, like the one guy in the bust, is like, hey, how's it going?
• 55:10
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he ain't gonna like he just got hollered at.
• 55:13
  SPEAKER_04: He's not giving you anything else.
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_04: You're gonna have to go find it yourself.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_01: I think that's uh that's a great suggestion there.
• 55:21
  SPEAKER_01: And at the same time, I hope I hope what you heard though is you gotta have a balance.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 55:26
  SPEAKER_01: And it's easy to get sucked into one or the other.
• 55:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's easy to get sucked in at this C-suite level of just looking at the data and hauling like the guy on the bus.
• 55:35
  SPEAKER_01: Or it's easy to get sucked in on when you're in the trenches a hundred percent of the time and you're not up in the press box and you can't see.
• 55:42
  SPEAKER_01: It takes both.
• 55:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, because I had a manager the other day who's like, hey, I'm done with it.
• 55:46
  SPEAKER_04: He said, I'm going back in.
• 55:47
  SPEAKER_04: I'm this and this and this.
• 55:48
  SPEAKER_04: I said, Okay, that's good.
• 55:50
  SPEAKER_04: What's your end date on that?
• 55:52
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I was like, because it it can't be if it's is to be, it's up to me, because then there's no need for all the other people.
• 55:58
  SPEAKER_04: You can go help them see the problem, show them how to solve it, and then manage it from a level up, but you can't be the one handling it all.
• 56:06
  SPEAKER_04: Otherwise, that was pointless.
• 56:08
  SPEAKER_04: That's not our scalability.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: It doesn't help at all.
• 56:10
  SPEAKER_02: I love this takeaway part.
• 56:12
  SPEAKER_02: Completency dies whenever leaders say curious and push for growth, even during good times.
• 56:18
  SPEAKER_02: If you're constantly staying ahead, no different than you made the reference of running, of always, even whenever running's easy, of pushing yourself a little farther, finding that next group, finding the next challenge.
• 56:30
  SPEAKER_02: Don't ever stop growing, even whenever it's easy.
• 56:34
  SPEAKER_02: And you've gotten to that point because complacency, no matter what level you're at, of in business and fitness, health, whatever it is, if you aren't always changing, adapting, moving forward, we always talk about this, and I love you never stay the same.
• 56:49
  SPEAKER_02: You either get better or worse every single day.
• 56:52
  SPEAKER_02: And that stays true to in business as well.
• 56:54
  SPEAKER_01: This is going to mind blow some of y'all when I say this, because I've only heard the best of the best leaders talk about this.
• 57:04
  SPEAKER_01: They say when times are really good and business is booming, that's when I'm looking at my expense accounts and trying to cut expenses.
• 57:12
  SPEAKER_01: That's when I'm looking at where can I cut the fat on the advertising, the marketing, not people, but the advertising and the marketing.
• 57:19
  SPEAKER_01: Where most leaders, when things are rolling, they're like, man, we're doing all the business, don't sweat that stuff.
• 57:25
  SPEAKER_01: And they get very complacent in that area.
• 57:28
  SPEAKER_01: Instead, the best of the best go, where can we shave?
• 57:31
  SPEAKER_01: Where are we overspending?
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_01: And then when business is going down, they actually go, where else could we spend more money to generate opportunity?
• 57:42
  SPEAKER_01: Most people do it the opposite way.
• 57:43
  SPEAKER_01: They don't worry about expenses when business is great, and then they cut expenses when businesses are going down.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the opposite way to think about it.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_02: That probably provides opportunities you wished you were able to capitalize on whenever the script flips there.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_02: So that's huge.
• 58:01
  SPEAKER_02: That's really good.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 58:03
  SPEAKER_04: All right, solid summary there.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_04: Now, question for you.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 58:07
  SPEAKER_04: Diving in and seeing what you guys' thoughts are.
• 58:10
  SPEAKER_04: How do you keep yourself from getting comfortable as a leader?
• 58:13
  SPEAKER_04: How do you keep yourself from being complacent as a leader?
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_01: I love this question.
• 58:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and and here's why I do because once you've been there, and I'll answer it, but once you've been there, it's in your brain forever.
• 58:28
  SPEAKER_01: Once you make the shift on getting around the correct people and listening to the correct people, your business and outlook will never be the same.
• 58:38
  SPEAKER_01: Now it's important that the way I make sure that I don't get comfortable and complacent as a leader is I'm listening to and talking to people that are at a position greater than mine, that have had more success than I have, and that have accomplished things that I want to go to.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not listening to other peers that are at the same level or lower.
• 59:01
  SPEAKER_01: And you can define that success in many different ways.
• 59:03
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not just talking about monetary, but you gotta make sure if you don't want to get comfortable and complacent, who are you around?
• 59:10
  SPEAKER_01: Show me your five.
• 59:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm gonna tell you guys this, and you guys know this, but the majority of people that have poured into me that have helped us get to that level, they have no clue who I am.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_01: No clue.
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_01: I've never met them.
• 59:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 59:23
  SPEAKER_01: I listen to them on podcast, and then all of a sudden it's like, oh, dang, we're not doing that.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_01: I've read a book by it, I've been to a seminar, I've been to a live meeting, whatever else it may be.
• 59:34
  SPEAKER_01: You have to surround yourself from others that are at a different level, like where you're wanting to go to if you want to consistently be uncomfortable in moving your business forward.
• 59:45
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 59:46
  SPEAKER_02: I, you know, I find myself and probably of moving forward, and people have a really hard time with this.
• 59:53
  SPEAKER_02: But realizing that you can have a group of friends that you could hang out with, and it may be a group that you've Around, but staying on that who are the five closest people to you, you have to check and look and see who's pouring into you all the time.
• 1:00:09
  SPEAKER_02: Because if it's not beneficial to you, have a great group of friends that you can go and hang out with, but don't let that be the majority that is pouring into you.
• 1:00:19
  SPEAKER_02: Because as a result, if you're the top of whatever that group is, guess what?
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_02: You're only getting drained.
• 1:00:26
  SPEAKER_02: You're never getting refilled with anything else good.
• 1:00:30
  SPEAKER_02: So whenever it comes to the next person, you have nothing to offer because you've been drained the entire time as everyone's pulling from you.
• 1:00:40
  SPEAKER_02: Which doing that to your team is good, but you've got to be able to go over to the other side and get someone to fill you back up.
• 1:00:47
  SPEAKER_02: That's so good.
• 1:00:49
  SPEAKER_04: Those are super solid uh answers there.
• 1:00:51
  SPEAKER_04: And I want to throw this in as a last piece of complacency of being never staying the same, getting better or worse.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_04: So many times, if you've achieved something in life, whether whatever it may be, in business and running or anything physically, you know, just like, hey, I wanted to get where I could bench 225.
• 1:01:10
  SPEAKER_04: I wanted to get where I could run a sub six-minute mile, whatever it was, many time, many times have I been humbled after I had ran a marathon or done a Iron Man or ran a hundred miles and then went to go do it again and hadn't put the work in.
• 1:01:31
  SPEAKER_04: This is not Uncle Rico saying back in 74 I could throw the ball a mile, because if you have not put the work in every single day as a leader, it will show up and it will show out and it will humble you.
• 1:01:45
  SPEAKER_04: I have death marked for 80 miles for many reasons, or for 26 miles through a marathon through the mountains, and thought, you idiot, you thought you could just come out here because you did it once, you could do it again.
• 1:02:01
  SPEAKER_04: You idiot.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_04: You thought in business you could still be best of the best.
• 1:02:04
  SPEAKER_04: You thought you could still sell over a hundred cars, you thought you could do a thousand ROs, but you haven't trained your staff anymore, and you haven't poured out anything extra, and then you've been in your office just reading the reports and you haven't been involved, now you're gonna suffer.
• 1:02:20
  SPEAKER_01: So true.
• 1:02:21
  SPEAKER_04: Now you're gonna suffer.
• 1:02:22
  SPEAKER_04: And I've been there many more times than I care to wish that I care to share about, but it will tell you like each day, live it on its own.
• 1:02:31
  SPEAKER_04: You gotta show up that day and fully pour in to not being complacent, to be the best leader, to be the best version of yourself.
• 1:02:39
  SPEAKER_04: And it's gonna hurt a little bit.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_04: It is, but at the end, if it hurts so bad, like some of the fastest marathons we ran hurt the worst.
• 1:02:47
  SPEAKER_04: And your heart rate was 185 beats per minute for over three hours, and then you hit that and you ran a little faster, and you're like, it was worth it all.
• 1:02:56
  SPEAKER_04: It was worth it all.
• 1:02:57
  SPEAKER_04: The ones that hurt the worst are when you don't put the effort in and you're like, I'm an idiot, right?
• 1:03:02
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, like so keep that in mind.
• 1:03:05
  SPEAKER_04: However, you relate complacency and business, don't be complacent.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_04: Just because it worked yesterday doesn't mean it'll work today.
• 1:03:11
  SPEAKER_04: Find the next angle, find the next thing, challenge your team.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_04: As always, check us out lewis superstow.com, crossroad conversations, like, subscribe, follow, share.
• 1:03:20
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• 1:03:21
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• 1:03:25
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• 1:03:26
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• 1:03:28
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• 1:03:30
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• 1:03:32
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