Latest / Auto Collabs / One of Us Has To Be Right with Tim Cox

Transcript

One of Us Has To Be Right with Tim Cox · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  Every, every single industry needs a preacher. [laughs] [laughs] [upbeat music] This is AutoCollabs. Ah, and we know who that guy is. We found ours. We found ours.
• 0:18
  His, his name is Tim Cox, and, uh, not that he's...
• 0:21
  Uh, now, granted, the man'll pray a, a serious prayer, but he's also a preacher from an encouragement, uh, intentionality, culture, familial aspect of the way, like, every single person should approach day-to-day work in and throughout auto- the automotive industry.
• 0:39
  Tim Cox is, uh, is almost the heartbeat, soul, and passion of the way that should operate within automotive. The first time th- I heard him speak was maybe just a few months ago at time of recording this.
• 0:52
  Um, and we were in Napa, and he got up and he spoke, and the whole room was in tears. Really? Like, I've never seen a room- Full stop... full... Yeah, like, we were all crying. Like, ha- like, motivated- Yeah...
• 1:06
  inspired. Impassioned. Impassioned, but, like, tears visibly streaming down people's faces. How many people were there? There might've been maybe 200 people in the room. Dang. Yeah. All auto folks? Yeah.
• 1:17
  Lip, like, we're talking bottom lip quivering tears, like- What did, what did he talk about? I don't remember, but I remember how he made me feel. [laughs] Mm. That's, that's how it goes. [laughs] That's how it goes.
• 1:26
  I mean- My... I, I hear Maya Angelou has a thing about that. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah, exactly. I don't know. You should coin that. [laughs] Yeah. Something, something, something feel more than something, something speak.
• 1:38
  Very good. I think that's articulate. [laughs] You know, it... I've, I've... Being around him, you realize his humility is genuine, and the success that he's had is really...
• 1:50
  The, the way it follows him from place he's been to place he's been to where he's at at CarNow, you know it's because he cares about the team, and building a strong team, and watching people succeed and grow.
• 2:02
  You realize that that is the secret sauce. Yeah. Like, it's not the common denominate, like, "I'm, I'm a technical genius," right? He's actually a, a human genius, right? Mm.
• 2:11
  He understands the human side of business, and, uh, so I'm excited for everyone to hear this interview with Tim Cox. [upbeat music] There are very few people
• 2:28
  that when you get into a conversation with them, it always, always, always ends in a smile, no matter what, and Tim Cox is absolutely one of those people for me.
• 2:40
  Tim, thank you so much for joining us on the show today, man. Thank you for having me. This is, uh, exciting stuff. Not only am I learning, uh, unfortunately I don't have a c- a cool, uh, colored mood light- Oh.
• 2:53
  In the back. Oh, here we go. But hopefully- Here we go... I'll get a, uh, I'm gonna get a link sent to me on my cellphone device, and, uh, I will call up a little company called Amazon.
• 3:03
  [laughs] And, uh, I will get those shipped directly to here at, uh, CarNow Central in the AL. [laughs] And, uh, the next time you will see Tim Cox Online- Whoo...
• 3:12
  you will see some cool blue, not to steal from people, but blue. This has been Live With. This is Live. That's right. [laughs] I have a new microphone and I'm playing with it right now. [laughs] Good to see you, boys.
• 3:22
  How are you? [laughs] Oh, man. This is good. This is good. Oh, it's so good. So, here's- See what he means. We, we- See what he means. Oh, shoot... yeah, we just, it, it always goes a little sideways.
• 3:30
  I'm, you're already smiling if you're on the other side, uh, of the thing.
• 3:33
  If you h- if you're not watching the video, he's hang- he's holding up a Celsius, which is apparently an energy drink with nothing in it but everything in it you need to have a whole bunch of energy.
• 3:43
  And there's your advertisement. We don't have an advertisement for AutoCollabs yet, but if it was, that's what it would be. Maybe you will get one now. Sponsored. Maybe you will get one now. Sponsored by Celsius.
• 3:50
  It's not. That's right. [laughs] Okay. Uh, you know- It's not. Okay, so I wanna, I wanna say this. So,
• 3:56
  you know, Tim, for me personally, you've been a mentor along my journey the last year and a half since we met for the first time.
• 4:03
  And this is what I love about Tim, is, um, is you always have this ability to be present in the room with what you need it to be, but you're willing to have the conversations that are necessary outside of, uh, you know, general public.
• 4:17
  And, and, uh, and, and I kinda, I wanted to lead with that, because I think that it's important for people to know that, that you are someone that is both a visible personality, which I think a lot of people in automotive see you on stages, and, and out and about, and, and you have a charismatic nature about you.
• 4:36
  But you are a leader that is in the trenches, um, not just with your people, but with a lot of others across the automotive industry.
• 4:43
  Um, and I, I just wanted to take the moment to acknowledge and thank you for that, and, and, like, tell automotive that that's the reality of who you are.
• 4:53
  So if people didn't know that already, uh, which I think they did, they will. Um, but I, I wanna go back, because a lot of pe- you've been, CarNow is, is what? A seven, eight-year-old company now? Is that right?
• 5:05
  Or- Oh, yeah. We... [clears throat] Well, it depends on when you deemed us a company. I left the dealership, uh, there was only four of us at the time, the four founding members of CarNow.
• 5:14
  Uh, I left my dealership here in Atlanta December 1st of '14. So if, uh, you know, that's our official date, then that's our official date.
• 5:23
  It was me, uh, living in my car, and, and showing demos, and getting people to sign up for CarNow. You know, we hired- Is that how you named the company? Uh, no. Actually, that was my partner, Andy.
• 5:34
  [laughs] I'm living in my c- My car now... I'm living in my car now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [laughs] It just fit. Exactly.
• 5:38
  [laughs] And ironically, even the URL, so I won't even tell you, you know, you know, a few months before we launched, you know, we were actually...
• 5:45
  I was carrying a bag, going into dealership after- And by the way, the first several dealerships, uh, the Jeff Smith group, uh, signed up.
• 5:52
  First demo I ever did, seven stores on the spot, and n- we knew we had something when they, they didn't let me get halfway through the demo.
• 6:00
  Obviously, with all the rich content, nobody was doing that, uh, to, to communication or chat at that time. I knew we were onto something when they said, "Not only are we gonna sign up, can we invest?"
• 6:08
  I'm like, "Hey, Andy, we might be onto something here." So, but we went the first six, seven, eight months without even a URL, like, without, you know-There was no carnow.com. Did you have, did you have a name- Yeah...
• 6:20
  where you were called CarNow? We were calling ourselves CarNow and, you know, we tried to buy the URL, you know, months prior, and they wanted some ungodly amount, and it just worked out.
• 6:28
  You know, anybody that spends any time with me, I think everything is divinely appointed. And just so happened, like, there was this window where they just dropped the price, I mean, to a fraction of what it was- Wow...
• 6:38
  and we, we snagged it up for sure. So good stuff. [sniffs] So you went- Yep... for three... This is an interesting part of the story, which I think is, which is interesting to me.
• 6:47
  That you went, what, three or four months you said, without the actual URL of the company, which most people would- Oh, it was longer than that. [laughs] It was longer than that.
• 6:53
  Most people would be like, "If you're gonna have a company, you better have a website," right? And you're like, "Nah, forget that." Yeah. Start with the website.
• 7:00
  [laughs] And then, interestingly enough, you actually went another, what, almost, almost eight years, seven years without hiring marketing personnel. Like- [laughs] Yeah.
• 7:11
  That, you're put- you're- you're- you're- you're uncovering all our dirt. Yeah, that's true. That's true. We just- No, but- It was- But that's- Yeah... that's not dirt. That's ama- that's impressive. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 7:21
  That's just- That's hustle... it's just work. That is hustle.
• 7:23
  You know, it's like I tell my kids all the time, I had the f- my- my- my son, who I'm very proud of, uh, was just in town, a- as- as well as my daughter, but she, she does live here.
• 7:31
  That's what I told him, I said, "To be successful today, most people, they want a job. They don't wanna work." And if you work, and if you, and if you pour into your people and/or around you, I mean, good things happen.
• 7:41
  But yeah, you know, we grew to 5,000 plus dealers with, uh, not one person in, person in a marketing partner. Zero marketing.
• 7:49
  The marketing was going out and preaching the gospel of CarNow and, and pouring into your team and, and, you know, the law of attraction. Something's going on there. They're not perfect, but something's happening.
• 8:00
  And then again, the law of duplication, you know, being able to duplicate that process over and over and over and over again. Do we fa- fall down? Yes. Do we mess up? Yes. Do we screw up? Yes. But it's how you...
• 8:10
  In f- in fact, some of our best relationships have come from our biggest screw-ups and how you handle that stuff. But yeah, that's... I, I appreciate you. You know, it's a...
• 8:17
  Some of that stuff's a little embarrassing, but it worked out. But yeah.
• 8:20
  No, but- Um- But here- We did- I wanna tie that because, you know, most people are, "Ah, that's a cool story," but that's actually, that's something that I think we can take away in business, whether it be from a dealer perspective or an industry partner, that there, that the growth mentality of any sort of business is dedi- is, is directly relational to the type of work that's put in.
• 8:39
  And you led with a relational strategy, and you did, and, and you duplicated that throughout, uh, throughout the company.
• 8:47
  And I think that, um, you know, not that you didn't have a marketing budget, you weren't, not that you weren't going to events and being a part of everything that automotive is doing and, and that type of thing, but that you did it with an intentionality that was, that was led by people first, and not just, like, ad dollars thrown at walls, right?
• 9:04
  Or, or, you know, a marketing team that was just creating content on content.
• 9:09
  But you did it with, like, "Hey, we're gonna just be in the dirt, and we're gonna be a part of the community that we're a part of," which is automotive, right? No, 100%. And, and I, I think the key is...
• 9:20
  And, and I think we, you know, listening to different people, and there's a few companies out there, I think, that have the same, um, culture, but we, I, I don't like the w- I, I is the only time I...
• 9:31
  I don't like the word I. I said we don't like the word, you know, I. Uh, we did this collectively.
• 9:37
  You know, having a partner who now has become one of my best friends in all the world, you know, Andy Park, a very brilliant guy, uh, been in the software space before.
• 9:45
  You know, one thing that he says that I think any company or any organization can really learn from that feeds and I think about almost daily is, "Look, I don't have to be right," you know?
• 9:55
  "But one of us has to be right." Mm-hmm. So pulling your inner, inner circle close to you and, and figuring things out, you know, the things that, that are facing automotive right now. You know, the inventory situation.
• 10:07
  How do you, you know, how do you put a piece of technology together, you know, uh, for particular dealer groups to acquire veh- you know, how, how do we do this?
• 10:16
  You know, again, I don't have to be right, but one of us has to be right. And fortunately, we've been right a lot. What do you... Wait, what do you mean by that? Unpack that for me.
• 10:23
  When you say one of us has to be right. What I mean by that- What do you mean by that?... is, you know,
• 10:28
  unfortunately, especially when success comes, you know, uh, I, I talked about it with Patrick Abad earlier today on, on our, on our podcast and, you know, um,
• 10:40
  he, he put it this way: "We are not as good as our financial m- financial statements say we are right now." Right? Mm. [laughs] Because, because of what's happening in the market. Right.
• 10:49
  And, and sometimes even with companies like ours, you achieve X amount of success, you get the awards, they tell you you're the fastest or one of the fastest grow- all this stuff.
• 11:00
  We start reading our own press clippings and unfortunately, and, and look, I was, uh, guilty of this, uh, when I, when I was in the dealership.
• 11:10
  We start going into board meetings or conference rooms, and no matter what's said in that conference room, uh, we've already come out with our ideas. Like, like, we're the smart...
• 11:20
  Uh, we're not ever gonna say it, but we're the smartest person in the room, right? If the whole world, you know, world hunger and all the drama, if they would just listen to me, you know, everything would be fine.
• 11:30
  Get it. [laughs] You know? Just, just- Li- little bit of that- Yeah, yeah... on the internet these days... little bit of that on the internet these days. We have international policy experts- Absolutely.
• 11:37
  All on social media... medical experts- Yeah, yeah... political experts. Yeah. Right?
• 11:40
  [laughs] So, so I think it's a mindset of, look, I have my ideas from the conversations that I've had, and, and look, we've been right a lot. The ideas that I thought, that I brought to the table.
• 11:52
  So, so being, creating that culture, creating that environment within your organization, I think you guys have that with what you guys are building.
• 12:00
  Um, but, but coming together with ideas and then hearing other ideas, uh, on what you think the solution is, and then collectively coming up with a solution and, and whoever's idea is not so much as important as us getting it right.
• 12:15
  So that's where we talk about when Andy says- Mm... "Look, I don't have to be right. Like, my idea doesn't have to be right. I don't have... But one of us in our circle needs to be right."
• 12:24
  And-That's, I mean, there's so much to take away from that. It reminds me of a story, since you're in Atlanta- Yeah... I'll tell a Chick-fil-A story. Um, there's a...
• 12:34
  I, I don't remember exactly who said it or where I read it, but they were talking about the way Chick-fil-A makes decisions at the, at the corporate level. And, uh, at the, the highest echelon of the company.
• 12:45
  They said, "We can disagree in, in the boardroom. We can passionately disagree. But when we leave that boardroom, we only have one way we're going to do it." That- "And that's whatever way we agree on."
• 12:57
  So it reminds me of that. Yeah, yeah. And, uh, I think they have a bit of a track record of doing that. Yeah. A little bit.
• 13:01
  And, um, you know, and especially, you know, I had the privilege to meet and do some ministry stuff with Dan Cathy for a little bit with my local church, and, um, he is what you get.
• 13:11
  And, and I think, uh, and, and that unpacks another. You got a lot of people that are, that are Sunday school leaders.
• 13:16
  And what I mean by that is what you see, uh, on stage, what you see on podcast, what you see, uh, out in the public is not necessarily what you get, uh, when you talk to their employees, the people that call them boss.
• 13:34
  I think- You know, I think- Ah, geez, I mean... I think, you know, it's easy to say, put on your Sunday-go-to-meetings and say all the right words in podcasts like this and, you know, um,
• 13:43
  you know, I think having a heart of... You know, there have been multiple times where... You know, look, uh, I mean, I could flex. I'm one of the founders of this company. It's a very successful company.
• 13:53
  But there's been, there's been, uh, several occasions where I have handled a situation wrong, where my tone and my delivery was absolutely wrong to an entry-level employee.
• 14:06
  And being able to really think about, you know, "You idiot," I mean, what did you just do? And being able to call that individual and say, "Hey, listen, I just want to let you know I, I handled that the wrong way.
• 14:19
  Should've handled it different. And, uh, just forgive me and let's, let's get better together and, and move on."
• 14:24
  But, but having that type of mentality, I think, understanding it's okay to have, to do things like this, but even when you screw up, I think a lot of times there's more value built and trust built into a leader when they do mess up if they handle it the right way, you know, and move forward.
• 14:40
  And it strengthens that bond with your team member, with your, as we call it, family member here at CARNOW. [laughs] There's like, there's so many ways to take what you just said.
• 14:54
  Um, you know, one of the things that just came to mind was, you know, as far as saying and being one thing, and then actually when you get down to it, actually the, the under the hood is a lot- Oh, yeah...
• 15:04
  different than what, what the exterior- Yeah... looked like. Um, I think there is a... Moving to like talking about automotive tech specifically, you know- Mm-hmm... lots of trade shows. Mm-hmm.
• 15:16
  Lots of demos, lots of, um, words and phrases being thrown around these days, right? Um, when you look a little bit be- beneath the surface, you realize like, oh, they just had on their Sunday best.
• 15:27
  It's not actually doing that. Um, what i- what is your take on the overarching automotive landscape in tech specifically?
• 15:35
  Like, where do you think it needs a little correction, and where do you think it should be going when it comes to how, how they're talking about their products and what they're actually delivering to dealers?
• 15:43
  Uh, when you say they, you know, we're throwing a, a- Let's go general, like any auto- And, and... No, no, no, no, no, no. I, I know, I know what you mean. But what, my- Okay...
• 15:50
  I was gonna say, when you say they, you're also including us, and I'm including us when we say what I'm about to say. And first of all, I, I would probably argue, you know, there's been a lot of disruption in the space.
• 15:59
  There's been a lot of acquisition in the space, and historically ac- acquisition and innovation maybe not go hand in hand, but there are some, some, some, some companies that are doing some, some phenomenal things.
• 16:10
  Um, and I think the next six months, six months to a year, we're really gonna see, uh, automo- automotive move, uh, you know, in the next year.
• 16:21
  Uh, I would argue probably, you know, quicker than it's moved in the last five to six, even with the, the rush to digital retailing that we saw in, in the spring of 2020. Uh, but you're right.
• 16:32
  There's a lot of people that say, and obviously because that's our business, we have a list of, okay, this company says they can do this. Let's go... Can they actually do that? And you're, and you're absolutely spot on.
• 16:42
  So, um, I, I do believe, uh, with what I have seen and where we're at, uh, and some announcements that some companies, wink, wink, pretty close to myself, are gonna be making before the end of the year that are, that are really exciting, um, are really gonna move the nee- You know.
• 16:59
  And that, that... I'm gonna just stop you. That's why they didn't need a marketing department for so long. [laughs] Just buckle up. As we say- Continue. Continue. [laughs] As we say in Kentucky, buckle up, buttercup.
• 17:10
  But anyway, uh, and lead follower, get out of my way. Um, I really believe that, uh, you know, where the industry's moving, I, I... You know, the perce- This is what I'll say.
• 17:24
  With, you know, everybody's talking about buying online and, and, you know, everybody that even finishes the deal, and I've even said that.
• 17:29
  You know, even people that go through our entire process of buying a car online, 70-plus percent, depending on the case- particular case study, still want to go to the dealership. It's because exactly what you said.
• 17:39
  The technology is not there to make it an Amazon type experience, to make it a click, click, click, click, you know, let me get a lot of the things done.
• 17:47
  So are those numbers skewed because what technology companies are saying they can actually do and what they can actually do is, is, is, you know, really show, you know, showing itself in the percentage of people that still wanna come in?
• 18:01
  I would argue yes. Mm.
• 18:03
  And I would argue in the next year, that technology is gonna be, uh, uh, so and so easy and fluid and, and frictionless that, um, that, that, those numbers are gonna change and they're gonna change very, very quickly.
• 18:15
  I tr- I believe that just as s- as much as I believe I'm, I'm, I'm talking to you right now.
• 18:20
  Because we've, again, a lot of people have said they can do X, Y, and Z, but you get there, they can do X, but not maybe Y, and so on and so forth.
• 18:28
  Once that is seamless, once it totally flows, once they're DMS agnostic, once all that stuff happens, it truly changes the game, and those numbers are gonna f- uh, they're gonna fluctuate greatly.
• 18:39
  You know, the Carvanas of the world can't do it. Vroom can't do it. You know, so, so once that tech is out there, I think it's gonna change the landscape and it's gonna change it quicklyThat's a, that's a...
• 18:50
  I'm gonna just call it like I see it. That's a really bold statement, 'cause I probably would've said that about two years ago. I'd have been like, "You know what?
• 18:56
  Probably by the end of the year we're gonna be able to figure it out." But there's been a lot of barriers in the way in both connectivity as well as tech, understanding the process, um, all of that type of stuff.
• 19:05
  But I do agree with you that, that the speed of technology, not just change, but also adoption, is beco- going to become very, very, very fast-paced over the next year in automotive.
• 19:17
  And I think that there are some, you know, that there are some factors contributing to that. Um, especially things like the way OEMs are pressing dealers to engage with customers.
• 19:28
  Uh, and I think that that's, that's probably going to start to break the barrier of, like, that speed of, of collaboration and connection that's been so hard to come by for so long.
• 19:39
  Um, uh, in, in your conversations, uh, specifically, because this is Auto Collabs, right? W- what are, what are those conversations looking like in all of these connected platforms that have to come to the table?
• 19:50
  Because when you think about a retail automobile transaction, it's not as simple as, as, as, as buying a widget on... Uh, like, I just bought a crib for our baby last night on Amazon, right? That's a simple transaction.
• 20:03
  It's like, that's the price. Here's the dollars. That's my bank account. Done, right? There are a lot of partners that have to come together for a single retail transaction in automotive.
• 20:14
  What are those conversations like? Have they...
• 20:16
  Have you noticed a shift over the last few years as, as to how people are willing to integrate or accept new collaborators or, or be involved with, with making this a reality?
• 20:27
  I, I think obviously, you know, we're, we're, we're... Building a DMS is never gonna be on our personal horizon, right?
• 20:33
  I, so I, I think with any company like ours, um, you know, you have to have great DMS partners and, you know, we've had a, we've had, uh, you know, partnership, we have partnerships with Reynolds.
• 20:44
  They do, uh, a great job there. CDK, Dealer builds. Uh, you know, Dan Moore, I, I would look, uh, you know, with some, some, you know, disturbance in, in, in the bigger companies.
• 20:56
  I would look, I'd watch very closely what Dan, just because everything Dan touches does well. Um, plug for Dan, but I mean, it's just facts, facts trump feelings. Mm-hmm.
• 21:07
  I mean, every, e- he, the, everything he touches, every company he touches does very, very well. Dan's one of the brightest.
• 21:12
  So, so him now, uh, I believe, uh, steering the ship or steering a lot of the ship there at Dealer Build, there's gonna be some, some good things. So you need good DMS partners that you have smooth API integrations with.
• 21:24
  And, uh, I think it's the, the, the responsibility of companies like ours to, to kind of put the pieces together.
• 21:29
  I will tell you the encouraging thing on the OEM front, there is one, maybe two, one specifically, uh, OEM that confidentially we're under NDA that we're working in lockstep with, that is looking at it to where, "Hey, let's, let's bridge the gap between tier one and tier three," you know?
• 21:47
  And what does that look like? And, oh, by the way, we'll share the deal- the data with the dealer, and the dealer will share the data with us. And we'll move.
• 21:53
  So I, I really believe once that's out, and that's coming very quickly, um, OEMs will quickly realize that they don't have to have a particular, you know, maybe, you know, and I, and I don't wanna go down that rabbit hole, but they, you know, mandate a particular, uh, DR provider.
• 22:08
  But that'll really open up and really give the roadmap of what can be done when people just wanna figure it out.
• 22:13
  You know, I said last year in November, and I didn't say it, but I quoted it, but it, uh, you know, Reagan, I think it was Ronald Reagan that said, you know, "It's amazing what you can get done when no one cares who gets the credit."
• 22:24
  Mm. Here's the problem. Love that so much. It's the truth. But here, you know, everybody is, "Pick me, pick..." It's like, it's like Finding Nemo- Yeah... with the seagulls and, and that, that...
• 22:32
  Yeah, I'm a- Mine, mine, mine... you know, I'm a hillbilly and I... Yeah. Mine, mine, mine, mine, mine. That's what I picture in my head. You know, I did it, I did it. [laughs] I did it, I did it, I did it.
• 22:39
  But, you know, really la- That's why we partner with Darwin. You know what I mean? You know, Darwin, we were building a menu and, you know, we have 5,000 X customers, whatever.
• 22:47
  Dar- there's a lot of overlap there, obviously. Darwin has whatever it is, 7,500, 8,000. What Phil Batista built is, in my opinion, the best, uh, you know, menu system. Instead of building, man, let's partner.
• 22:58
  You know what I mean? And, and that, uh, you know, the, the, the particular O- you know, bigger dealer groups that have, the numbers are, are not deniable. So, so again, that's the aspect. That's, that's the, the...
• 23:08
  I, I, that's why I can be very confident in clo- landing the plane of 2022, going, taking off in 2023 with the OEM conversations that we are at least having that are confidential in, in the space.
• 23:22
  What we know we're building, uh, the announcements we're gonna be making, the acquisitions that we've made as far as talent and all this other stuff.
• 23:28
  That's why I can be pretty confident as it's gonna be a very exciting close to this year. And, um, you know, next year it's, uh, you know, you better buckle up because it's coming, and it is coming.
• 23:39
  And I think it'll come quickly because, uh, people respond to it. And, and, and, and again, I do believe in the latter part of 2023, you know, mid to, mid to 2023, depending on the OEM, you know, it's gonna change.
• 23:52
  You know, winter is coming. Anybody that knows me knows I'm an optimist, not a pessimist, but winter's coming. You know- Mm... that, that, those, those, you know, in 20, in January of 2020, uh, these are J.D.
• 24:03
  Power's numbers, not Carnal numbers, but, uh, in January of 2020, uh, the average deal gross was 2,200 bucks. Now it's 52 and change, 52.81, right?
• 24:16
  Those, depending on inventory and depending on those trucks coming in and, and what that looks like, those numbers, you're gonna have, we're gonna have to learn how to sell cars again.
• 24:25
  So with all of this- [laughs] With all of this, it's not, you know, you know- Hmm... those CTAs are changing. With, with quite frankly, with GLBA. You know? Right. That, that n- Yep.
• 24:35
  There's so much, and I apologize for just being a fire hose, but there's so much happening with Graham Lea- uh, Leach-Bliley Act that, that says, uh, um, by the way...
• 24:44
  And, and, and I don't hear anybody talking about it other than John Acosta. No.You know, shout out to the guys at VTech and John Acosta, who's really been championing this.
• 24:53
  But, you know, none of our competitors and in the space, I mean, they better be ready. Uh, you know, no longer, uh, you know, Jan- December 9th will you be able to click unlock price. You can't do it anymore. Right.
• 25:06
  Uh, click to unlock price. Oh, by the way, Mr. Customer, your data is now being shared with Shift Digital, uh, Toyota Motor Credit, uh, CarNow, ABC Toyota, blah, blah, blah. Uh, d- would you like to continue? Click.
• 25:19
  Do you think that's gonna skew some numbers? Mm. So- so- Right. Ah... these things are changing, and it- it's going to. It should skew numbers. So- so, you know, we had- I had a two-hour- Deserve it...
• 25:28
  call this morning about that. And- and thankfully, uh, you know, I- I've quoted it a zillion times, my favorite proverb and my favorite verse is very simple, "The prudent see danger and turn from it.
• 25:39
  But the simple keep going and suffer harm." We have to constantly be looking forward, be that lighthouse, be on top of that ship, looking to see what's coming.
• 25:48
  That's what Patrick Gabe at, and Kevin, and, uh, Deutsche, all these people do.
• 25:53
  They, that, they're- they're cranking, but they're looking out ahead over the, over the, over the horizon, seeing what's coming, and we're planning accordingly.
• 26:03
  Those are the dealerships, those are the companies that will continue to be successful, and they will recession-proof their business if they continue to do that.
• 26:12
  Look, you might make something and fix it, and it doesn't work. You- you adjust, you look at the game film, you try it again.
• 26:18
  But to sit and- and think, you know, and look at our financial statements and see how pretty everybody thinks are, those are the companies that are gonna get run over.
• 26:25
  Those are the dealerships that are gonna get run over. And those are the people, the salespeople that are gonna scatter.
• 26:29
  And look for the dealerships like Patrick's, and Kevin's, and all the other, and- and Daniel Bowe at, uh, in- in Columbus, Ohio, and all these amazing leaders.
• 26:38
  Um, you know, they're gonna scramble to go to their dealership. Yeah. So we better be careful. Well, I'll tell you what. If you were coming to a podcast with Tim Cox thinking you weren't- [laughs]...
• 26:48
  getting a sermon, you were sorely mistaken. [laughs] Automotive's favorite pastor is here. Just pastor of the year. Well. Man, I so appreciate that. [laughs] I'll tell you this. The hankies are out.
• 26:59
  Tim is gonna be at- The hankies are out. And he's gonna be at ASOTU CON. He'll probably be at, like, 33 other events this fall. And so you should catch him. You should rub elbows with him. Be around where he's at.
• 27:10
  Because whether or not it's being a part of CarNow or just understanding his philosophy and vision for where our industry is, I think that everybody would be, uh, do well to do so.
• 27:22
  So Tim, thank you so much for joining us, uh, on Auto Collabs. It has been a pleasure once again. Thank you, brother. Thank you, guys. Appreciate y'all. [upbeat music] You know when they say evangelist CEO?
• 27:37
  There's a picture of Tim Cox in the dictionary next to that. [laughs] It is no doubt, no wonder why he didn't have to hire a marketing professional for so long.
• 27:45
  Because he's been out there preaching, but also practicing what he preaches and building a product that follows it up, right? It's not even leading with the product.
• 27:53
  It's leading with the ideas and the culture and having the product that backs that up, which is why I think people just gravitate toward Tim and the CarNow family. Yeah.
• 28:02
  Every time I hear, uh, one of his employees, they always talk about, he- he calls the CarNow family, "La Familia". Yeah. [laughs] 'Cause he- He does... he wants us to not say the family. Yes. He wants la familia, right?
• 28:14
  Yeah, right. You gotta get it right. And, yeah, you gotta get that right. And I think that that's the, that's the type of way that he approaches a culture.
• 28:20
  So s- starting, hearing this, um, I don't have to be right, but somebody does.
• 28:25
  That's- that's another piece of humility and approach that that leadership team is taking to say, "Hey, look, we know that there, we've got the right smart people in the room. We're good.
• 28:36
  Let's just fi- let's, like, take the person that- that we know is probably gonna be the best in that area or that theme, and- and we're gonna run out of this room, and we're all gonna be on the same page.
• 28:46
  And then we're gonna make sure that we ta- we, uh, we attack that as if it was our own idea."
• 28:51
  And- and that type of approach, I think, especially from a team mentality, especially any level of leadership team in any business, is an approach that we should all be looking at.
• 29:00
  Knowing that, hey, look, there are strong people on your team, and trusting them to make the right decisions a lot of the times is- is your best case scenario.
• 29:07
  And- and just going, "Hey, look, we don't have to be all, all be right," but someone does. Right. Humility is the, the best word.
• 29:14
  And it requires a degree of humility for that many people to be able to come into a room and counsel with one another. Like counsel, S-E-L, not- Yes. [laughs] You know what I mean? Right.
• 29:25
  Like, so- sometimes people think they're the same thing. But to sit on a council versus counseling with one another, I think requires a tremendous amount of humility.
• 29:35
  But also means that you're all there knowing that you have to move i- in- in consensus and in the same direction.
• 29:44
  Being willing to try something, and then for everyone in that room to take a level of ownership where you're not like, "Oh, pfft, see? I said yes in the meeting, but Sally screwed up." Yeah. You know? Like- Oh, yeah...
• 29:56
  no. Like, finding that hill. I can't remember who said this recently. I think I wa- I was reading it in a book, uh, or an article somewhere.
• 30:04
  But it was like, you need to be willing to find the hill to die on, and, like, go all in on that.
• 30:10
  And so I love that, and it just speaks volumes to the level of ownership it requires on everyone who's involved part to make an initiative work.
• 30:19
  Well, when we get to ASOTU CON, and this, uh, is being recorded before the first ASOTU CON. Uh, and what's gonna be really cool is that you're not gonna see the CarNow team out there selling digital retailing.
• 30:34
  They're gonna be selling food and service. [laughs] Yeah. Because it's the nature of the company. And so I love to see that they're putting those- those words into actions.
• 30:43
  Uh, and if you're not coming to ASOTU CON, you'll want to 'cause you'll wanna meet Tim Cox and his whole team. Uh, but for this, this has been Auto Collabs. And on be- on behalf- Behalf. Got it. On behead of Cirillo.
• 30:56
  [laughs] Oh. [laughs] He's like... Yes. On behalf of Michael Cirillo, Paul Jay Daly, and myself, Kyle Mountsier. We'll see you next time.
• 31:02
  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.
• 31:14
  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.
• 31:21
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Are we recording? Are we rolling yet?
• 31:40
  Not yet.