Latest / Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers / Ep.57 - Breaking the Rules: When Leaders Shouldn't Follow the Playbook

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Ep.57 - Breaking the Rules: When Leaders Shouldn't Follow the Playbook · Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_05: You know, the unwritten rules leaders should challenge.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_05: So as you guys think about that for just a second, unwritten rules that leaders should challenge.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_05: We started tipping into that earlier on in here is, you know, when you're in a meeting and somebody says, Well, that's how we've always done it.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_05: Say, well, you can ask them the next question.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_05: We talk about questions in here.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_05: Well, why do you think we do it that way?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_05: What is the result?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_05: Why do we do it that way?
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_05: If they don't have a good answer, you need to challenge that.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_05: Hey everyone, welcome to Crossroad 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 door open.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_05: We're your host, Matt Shelby, and Taylor, and we bring you relevant local business advice and automotive insights that are sure to change the way you look at running a business.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_05: And maybe even throw in a plug for you to do business with us.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_05: Welcome back to Crossroad Conversation with the Lewis Brothers.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_05: We are the Lewis Brothers, and this is episode 57.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_05: This one's gonna be fun today.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_05: Breaking the rules.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, so you want to break the rules?
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_02: Can you get this done?
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_02: Because it's the last day of the month and 30 minutes are left.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_05: Strap in, put it in drive, open the nitrous tank, and here we go.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_05: Because today we're talking about rule breaking, not reckless rule breaking, okay?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_05: But the times of business and leadership when the following the playbook, it might hold you back.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_05: You gotta say, hey, hold this and watch this.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_05: Most leaders are taught to follow best practices, and we've talked a lot about that in this episode or in this podcast, but best practices aren't always the right practices for your business.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_05: Rule-breaking moments often create innovation, trust, and growth.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_05: You know, great leaders know when to play by the rules and then when to write their own.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: I love that.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, if you didn't already tune in to last week's episode, episode 56, we talk about the slow death of success, how to spot complacency as it's happening, as it's been happening, and what to do before it's time to pull the cord.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_02: So check that out.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_02: As always, uh, our last episode.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Mm-hmm.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, check us out at Lewis Superstore.com for the French specials, everything we've got going on in company wise.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: And as podcast-wise, check us out at Crossroads Conversation Podcast.com online.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: Subscribe of whatever your listening channel is, of um podcast, YouTube, anything else like that.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, in the garage this week, I love this vehicle.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: It is like a billiger.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: We talked about the Ranger last week, but the Ford Bronco Sport is the best of both worlds.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: It gets you the optimal fuel economy without sacrificing any off-road capability.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: You're talking about being able to go drive every single day, get 30 plus miles a gallon, then on the weekend go and engage the goat modes, which everybody doesn't know that.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's a Bronco, so I'm gonna go over any terrain.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Go over any terrain.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: So they have everything from a big bin starting out at the$29,000 mark all the way up to the bad lanes.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_01: It is your rugged, capable front rear locker, sasquatch package, off-road ready.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: It is an awesome unit, and you got to come check them out.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_05: I tell you what I love about the Bronco sport, it's just it's fun.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: It's just fun.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_05: It's an everyday driver, it's easy to maneuver, it gets great fuel mileage, visibility's great out of it, but it's fun.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it injects fun back into an affordable, capable vehicle.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_02: That's what it is.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's not a stripped version of a Bronco or a cheater version.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's a smaller, more compact, just as capable.
• 3:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's no different between the Jeep Wrangler and the old box Cherokee.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_02: Just as capable.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_02: And new for this year, it's got modular front bumper.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_02: It's got tie-downs on the side for your canoes or kayaks, which is just genius.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_02: It has new tech, so it's got a huge big screen.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_02: So it's not like you didn't get the technology of the wireless Apple CarPlay or all those things.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_02: And it's an affordable, so you can get into that Bronco segment for under 30 grand.
• 4:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_02: It just makes sense.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_02: It just does.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: It just makes sense.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_02: I was gonna say it just makes sense.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_02: So let's take a Bronco sport from our garage and put it in yours.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_02: That's where it is.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_02: All right, this week we're talking about rules that hold businesses back.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_02: You'd be like, no, no, no, no, I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_02: Like, no, no, no.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_02: There are some rules that needed to be there, but in certain times you need to know when to hold them and know when to fold them, right?
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_05: I think there's there's two categories in my brain, and I want to get y'all's take on this, but there's two categories in my brain about like when you break the rules that you've done or you sway from them, okay?
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_05: And here's two categories.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_05: And I think the first one I say is where most people are gonna go to in their mind of when they've not followed the rules, but they've had a good outcome.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_05: I don't mean about not following the rules and it got you in trouble.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_05: You know what I mean?
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_05: Whether it's financially, legally, or whatever it may be.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_05: No, we're talking about where you actually had some success there.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_05: The the first category is there, it's when you're in the middle of a situation or an issue, and it's more of a fight or flight decision.
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_02: With a customer, with an employee, just a situation that needs attention right then.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_05: Right then.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_05: And you actually, you've heard us talk about on this podcast where you got to slow down and listen, make sure your emotions aren't involved.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_05: But I'm talking about a real situation where you're not even looking for the rule book.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_05: You're just making decisions based upon, you know, your gut.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_04: Goes back to the gut we talked about.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_05: It does.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_05: So I think that's where most people go when we talk about, hey, breaking the rules, because they think about a situation where they had to act immediately and they didn't even look for the rule book.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_05: I I want to then go to the second category, and I think that's where we'll talk about here, is where you start talking about the rules of that's what the way the industry is, or that's the way we've always done it.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_05: And and that's the area that I think may be holding businesses back.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_05: And we've heard us talk about this before, but we've been in business for 79 years, and we've sat in many meetings, and the three of us have looked each other at each other when employees said something, they're like, where did that come from?
• 6:13
  SPEAKER_05: When another employee says, Well, this is how we do it, it's how we've always done it.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_05: I'm like, says who?
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_02: And that's that's important understanding layers deep, right?
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_02: We've talked about it about sitting in different areas and kind of seeing like, and just asking, hey, where'd that come from?
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, I hadn't heard that in a while, where'd that come from?
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, that's always how it's been done.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_02: So I think that's important there of understanding that gut feeling breaking the rules or that this is how we've done it.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_02: And I think both of those, when done uh correctly, can be good.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_02: But when done incorrectly, because a lot of times, like you said, if they go with a gut feeling but they don't have the production, then it was a lose lose.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_02: So that's important that you understand that it's okay to call that audible, but if you're that quarterback calling that audible, or that sales manager or that manager calling that audible and it didn't turn out well, then you better learn from that.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_02: Don't waste that.
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_02: But do not repeat that because it was not good.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_05: And I would say, so on top of that, when you identify a rule or I'm gonna say a process too, because uh, you know, the word process is used a whole lot more business than rules.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_05: And but your process is kind of like the rule, the way you do business.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_05: Um so if a process, if the explanation from your employees or your management is we do that because we've always done it that way, or that's the way this industry does, it's time for you to reevaluate that.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_05: And one, maybe it still is a good process, but nobody knows the meaning and the purpose anymore.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_05: They're now saying, hey, let's we're doing this because I was taught 20 years ago to do it this way.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_05: Well, but it's not just because you were taught to do that, it's because it equaled a great result.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_05: Or maybe it's not getting a great result anymore, and you need to break that rule, and we've got to develop a new one that actually accomplishes what we're after.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_02: And the biggest thing there is changes, right?
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_02: Industry changes, people changes, process changes will change what your process needs to be there.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_02: So think about that.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_02: Rules that sound safe, policies that sound safe to cover you, which some are necessary, oftentimes will cap growth.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_02: Thinking grow slow and steady, which is very important.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_02: We see vendors all the time that we sign up with, we like because they're a niche market.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_02: Then they're like, hey, if two people are good or if 20 clients are good and if 50 clients are good, then 150x are revenue, then they can't handle that, right?
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_02: So that's where slow and steady is good.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_02: But think on the other side, if you don't take risk in your marketing or you only hire people with current industry experience, you may never know.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_05: I I think an easy way to relate this, Shelby, maybe for our audience to understand this, is first, and I know we're gonna get to this later, but don't put all your eggs in one basket.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_05: And I want to relate that to the investing world.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_05: All right.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_05: So when you look at somebody's portfolio of investing, it's not, hey, put all my money in one thing.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_05: It's put, depending upon what stage you're at, put some of it in safe, putting some of it in risk, and putting some of it in high risk.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_05: Now you define that however you want to, but you're not putting it all in high risk, which high risk would be like breaking the rules.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_05: There could be great upside to it, but you don't want to bet the entire farm on it.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_02: So with the employees, do not get all the same type of person.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_05: That's a great point.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_02: You're not just getting the run of the gun, I follow no rules, and like you can keep them in the bounds.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_02: Like, that's okay to have one or two, right?
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_02: Because when they hit, they hit big.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_02: You're like, whoa, you turned 400 hours.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like, I know it was crash, boom, bang, but the job got done correctly.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_02: It was a little uh unorthodox ish, but you did it correctly.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_02: We didn't really break any industry rules.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, but if you have all of those, it's a scheduling nightmare, it's a where are my people at nightmare.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_02: But if you have multiple different ones and you got the soul and steady gray mare, you've got the crazy racehorse, you've got the long shot you don't know anything about.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then that helps kind of diversify.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_05: It really does.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_05: So then it allows you to do both because then on your risk side over there, if you see the upside potential, you move over in and that becomes then steady growth there, you move more over that way.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_05: Uh one of the things uh in our industry we need to talk about that were the rules forever, but we've needed to break, and we've talked a lot about this recently, is when we give customers figures on buying a vehicle.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_05: You know, if if you look at how the rules were forever in the automotive industry, it was hey, don't give people values on the vehicle they're buying, on their trade and monthly payment, down payment until they're ready to buy.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_05: You know, so it was in the past, it was like, hey, they're just gonna take your numbers and they're gonna go shop with everybody else.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_02: And so let me, I have to stop you and point this out.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_02: I just saw this this morning about giving numbers.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_02: This seems basic, but in our industry, it's a lot of school hard knocks.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_02: It drives us nuts because we know what we know, but getting a team.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_02: So this comes from car dealership guy.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_02: This came across this morning.
• 11:32
  SPEAKER_02: Says one of the this year's biggest wins for car shoppers is clarity at the deal table.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_02: Says nearly half of dealers reported higher customer satisfaction.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_02: In 84% of those cases, buyers pointed to clear deal details as the reason.
• 11:50
  SPEAKER_02: The biggest operators aren't burying fees in fine print anymore.
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_02: Like all the details up front.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_02: Like we just, I think we're the only person in the state of Arkansas that has our dock fee on the website.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_02: There will be no other dollar added to the deal.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_02: That's what you for.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_02: That's exactly what you can see at online, everyone qualifies for.
• 12:11
  SPEAKER_02: And the payoff to this is more trust and more repeat business, which everyone wants.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right?
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_02: A clear deal.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, you know, I go to the real estate industry on that when you bring that up, and nobody likes this, but they understand it because it's clear before you go close on a piece of property or on a house, you get, you know, you got you get your HUD settlement, and it's gonna, there's eight gazillion fees on that.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_05: But they're all listed out and it's clear.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_05: And before you go close, you know exactly to the penny how much you're doing for that.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_05: That's a major shift in our business that we've been talking about.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_05: Give everybody figures.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_05: Meet them where they are, give them the trade value, give them your best price, give them estimates on monthly payments, so on and so forth.
• 12:57
  SPEAKER_05: So that's a rule that we've broken because there needed to be a new process put in place for today's customer.
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's no different than we said don't mark up the rate.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_02: Or if the bank gives us the rate for, we'll give it to you.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_05: And how many people looked at us like you are nuts?
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_05: They still do.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_02: In our 20 groups, uh, any industry person's like, you're crazy, you're throwing away money.
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_02: And we said, clarity and transparency, transactional units and operation is our goal.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's when you're you're able to have these multiple hats on and visions of short-term gain and long-term gain at the same time.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_05: Because when we made that massive decision, not only did we do that, we still um bonused our finance managers on loss of income there because we knew it was worth the investment from our perspective.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_05: We could get more deals because customers were getting lower rates because we didn't mark up the rate at all.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_05: It was a buy-sell.
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_05: And in turn, we got more customers, then it would keep them in our cycle more because nobody else was beating the rates.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_05: They're more likely to come back to us the next time.
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_05: So, again, there's another great, great example on how we broke the rules.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_02: All right, that was 15 minutes.
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_05: That's not bad.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_05: I got one more for you though before we got to go on to the next part.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_05: Let me tell you where else we broke the rules.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_05: Tell me.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_05: We stopped scheduling oil changes.
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_02: And when the kickback was so deep from that, the manufacturer was here and said, Why are you not because they had a tool, right?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_02: And they were like, you need to open up more availability and said, Why don't you come down here and let's show this to you?
• 14:30
  SPEAKER_05: Absolutely.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_02: And so we showed them that we could do like 50% more than their scheduler would ever allow by saying, and then here's a secret that they didn't want to know that if one was full, we had double the capacity 28 steps away.
• 14:45
  SPEAKER_02: They didn't want to see it, but we didn't care.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_02: And so we broke that industry rule.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_02: Because we saw other people doing it.
• 14:52
  SPEAKER_05: We saw other people do it.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_02: There were not specifics not OEM.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's what's important is you always we talk about it all the time, like rise above so you can see the entire forest.
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_05: We saw everybody else that was out there doing it great.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_05: We said, why are we following this 1970s procedure from the OEMs?
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_05: Break those rules and let's go here.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_05: And if it blows up, if it blows up, we can go back to scheduling.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_02: And which it did a little bit uh that there was people like, no, I we'd created the habit of scheduling, so we had to go back to team and say, hey, no appointments necessary, but if they want to make one, make one make one.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_02: Stand out there with bells on and say, Welcome, Mr.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_02: Smith, for your appointment.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_02: We have a bay waiting for you.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_02: And they were like, What?
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_02: We are or aren't?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_02: What are we doing?
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, yes.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_02: Both.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_02: People probably hate us for that because I'll say, look, I need you to not do anything else except do this, unless you see somebody that needs something.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, what?
• 15:46
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm like, I need you with a trucker headset out on the lot, greeting people and making all your phone calls.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_02: And like, so you want me to make my phone calls or you want me to greet people?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_02: I said, both trucker headset.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_02: Microphone up means that you're ready to talk to the people, microphone down means you're talking to people.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_02: And you might take your headset off and hand it to someone else and you talk to them and you talk to them.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_05: The championship teams have the ability to do that in the moment.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_05: That's where we're going.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_05: And we hold high level of accountability.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_05: We're not there yet, but we are for sure pushing to that.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_05: All right, which automaker nearly collapsed in the 2000s because they ignored key safety and quality rules.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_05: That's a big one.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_05: They ignored key safety and quality rules.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_05: Was it A Ford, B, Chrysler, C General Motors, or D Toyota?
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_05: I'd like to throw out the first two just because there are brands.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_05: Ford and Chrysler.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_05: You know what I mean?
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_02: Selfishly.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: Then that leaves you General Motors or Toyota.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to remember which one was probably the last that you saw metal keys, because that's what they're talking about, that the key didn't have the correct programming or safety features or anything else.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: But it's General Motors.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_01: It's General Motors.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it's General Motors.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, absolutely.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, dive into when rule breaking backfires.
• 16:58
  SPEAKER_01: So when rule breaking backfires.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So when you go past the threshold of what you really need to do in the moment there, so bold versus reckless line between smart risk and shortcuts.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_05: I'm going to say right there, this is what stands out in my mind.
• 17:15
  SPEAKER_05: When it backfires is when you leverage too much and you put too many eggs in one basket.
• 17:20
  SPEAKER_05: We started talking about it before.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_05: But if you're going to try something new, like no appointment scheduling or this or that, if it blows up, you still have to think, okay.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_05: If it blows up, is it gonna bury our business?
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_05: No.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_05: We could have lost a little bit of customers in the short term.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_05: We can pivot, put scheduling back in place, and keep rocking on.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_02: I think the important part is learning when to pivot and adapt.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not from the noise, right?
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_02: The noise is important of like this will never work, this will never work, the naysayer noise, but of just actually like being in the field and talking to customers and then being able to, you know, it's kind of like the EV, like, oh, should we buck this trend?
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_02: Should we buck this trend?
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_02: What should we do?
• 18:02
  SPEAKER_02: Like, okay, we're gonna go in.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_02: We're not gonna go all in.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_02: We're not saying, hey, Ford, let's just make electric vehicles, but then being able to quickly adapt.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER_02: Same thing on the appointments for the old changes versus not needing those, and then saying, hey, we're gonna adapt.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_02: And it's okay that we were wrong or we missed it a little bit, but you can't just the bold and reckless.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_02: Sometimes people start taking shortcuts because it's easier.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_02: And then the results aren't there, like we talked about.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_02: And it's like, hey, so you need to have your systems check along the way, you know, at midway through the day or into the days of the month, and you're going, hey, in the first quarter, in the second quarter, and then third quarter, like, hey, how's this going?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, we let this guy set his own schedule so that he can come and go as he pleased, but he had to hit 20 units this month.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, it's halfway through the month.
• 18:45
  SPEAKER_02: We're at four car deals.
• 18:46
  SPEAKER_02: Let's have a checkup.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_02: We're not reeling him all the way back in, but we're saying, hey, here's what's going on.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_02: Then three quarters of the way through the month, we're saying, hey, here's where we're at.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_02: You were supposed to be at 16.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_02: We're now at seven and a half.
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_02: Here's what I want to do.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_02: And you're not gonna say, you be here tomorrow at eight, you stay through seven, what you're gonna do because you need some buy-in and say, hey, let's try this.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_02: I see some opportunity, and I just sent out a mail piece and I just did a bunch of direct mail that's going to the customers and they're coming directly to this building to see you guys.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_02: Do you think it would be okay for the next five days?
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_02: I could get you somewhere from an eight to a 630 to 645 if I was able to show you how to go from eight car deals to 20 car deals.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_02: And then after whatever happens there, you're like, hey, that was bold that we changed that a little bit.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you for being adaptable.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_02: Now, what's our hybrid system for you to be able to work your own schedule, but also get your units in production?
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, and I think like when you when you talk about this about backfiring on bold versus being reckless, with the amount of information out there on podcasts just like ours, or you're talking about a car dealership guy, with all that stuff out there, you probably can learn from somebody else to put this in place.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_05: And your team still thinks that it is revolutionary-wise.
• 20:04
  SPEAKER_05: It might not have been in automotive, you know, but another industry did it.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_05: So you can be bold with doing something that the other OEMs are not doing up and down the road, but you're not reckless because you saw the case study at Procter and Gamble or at XYZ.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_02: And let me tell you, even the brass tags that sometimes you think you lose credibility if you say, if you don't say this is my idea, it's the other way around.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_02: If you'll say, hey guys, I've been studying this for the last six months and Procter and Gamble has spent$8.4 million on this, or hey, this industry or Chevy's been doing this, or hey, we saw this over at Walmart, they've already worked this out.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_02: Now we're gonna adapt it to automotive because no one's done it.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_02: And you think like, no, you're the leader, you need to bring the idea.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_02: Copy somebody else's idea that's already proven, and they're like, Walmart's doing it, it's gotta be proven, right?
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_05: I I think you hit on the the next point, too, there is in order for it to not be reckless, you still need your team's buy-in.
• 21:05
  SPEAKER_04: No doubt.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_05: And again, we're not talking about the situation where the building's on fire.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_05: We're talking about going a new way, but you still need buy-in.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_05: Because when it becomes reckless is when you're on the island by yourself and you're hollering at the team back on shore instead of explaining to them, we're all going to the island together and here's how we're going to do this.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_01: And probably how you keep that in line is is processing controls, kind of going areas you shouldn't bypass.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_02: So areas you shouldn't bypass of talk about, you know, quality, finance, uh, logic or legal and ethical thoughts, um, kind of how you That's all of those areas, whether it's your quality, like in your repair stuff, or you're doing what you said you're gonna do, uh, even when no one's looking, uh, finance, uh, your legal, your ethics, or your safety.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_02: There's no shortcut or there are no rule breaks to any of those.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_02: And your team needs to know very clearly, like, hey, we're gonna be adaptable, we're gonna be nimble, and we are gonna pivot when necessary.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_02: And when we find something that works, we're gonna go all in.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_02: But nowhere is it okay.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_02: And you've heard us talk about it before.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_02: Even if it says it makes a couple extra million dollars, like haven't seen one of those ideas yet, but even if it makes a couple extra million dollars to go against any of those things.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_02: The quality, even if you find a shortcut on a recall and it says, hey, it takes eight hours to do this, but you can pop the valve cover and look underneath this cam phaser and you can see it's okay.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_02: So you button it back up, absolutely not.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_02: You do the whole job.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_02: In finance, if you could fudge the income so it was an auto-approval, absolutely not.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_02: And legal of putting this person's name on it versus that person, absolutely not.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_02: So, in all those things, your ethics and your safety without putting your harness or your helmet or your safety glasses on, absolutely not.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_02: And that has to be very clear.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_05: And those are the filters you just put in place.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_05: And and you can have your meeting, everybody can be wound up and brainstorming, and you just know we will pause and we will run it through the filters you just talked about before we will proceed forward.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_05: So you cannot lose contact with the ground on that.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_05: And if it legally doesn't work or it messes and it tarnishes your name or what you're about, that's one of those bad eggs like on Willy Wonka.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_01: You know what I mean?
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where you'll always find, especially one of us in there, that we're happy, go lucky, everything else.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_01: But as soon as it gets over that threshold, now I'm not gonna embarrass somebody and just whip them out in front of everybody, but you better believe that there will be a conversation of hard line, don't do that again or bad at.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't matter who, and it doesn't matter what, right?
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_02: The rules are the rules.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_02: And if you see somebody that's that's flirting with the idea, then you're like, no, here's what we said we would do, and we're going to do it.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care what the deal looks like.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_02: We already committed to it.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_02: You know, we already said we would do this.
• 24:04
  SPEAKER_02: I don't care where you messed up.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_02: You get out there with your smiley face.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_02: Tell them congratulations.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then you and I are gonna sit down and see where the heck did we mess up.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_02: We, i.e.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_02: you, but we're gonna say we uh and go through that because that's a judge of their character.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_02: And if if their character slips by doing it one time, yeah, just like we talked about it in the clear process, then that's not your people.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_05: And we have a radar out for that pretty high, especially if we hire somebody that has an experience at a different store.
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_05: Because we see that.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_05: And and we even talk about that, you know, during an in view or during onboarding, but we know at some point in time it's gonna be tested.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_05: Oh.
• 24:41
  SPEAKER_05: Especially on a day like today when it's the end of the month and they're a couple car deals away from their goal, that's when it'll poke its head out.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 24:49
  SPEAKER_05: And that's when emotions are gonna get involved, but then that's when you really get to lay it down, going, nope, it's not worth it to hit that.
• 24:55
  SPEAKER_05: That does not line up with our ethics and legal and what we said we would uh uh hold.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_02: Putting those policies in in place, having guardrails up to let you experiment, go past those rules without lighting the business on fire, without going past the threshold is really And oftentimes what's really helped us from our CFO to our controller to our office manager to deal clerks to finance managers, there's multiple layers of backstops that are non-biased, that don't care who you are, what your job role is, and it's not I'm trying to hurt your feelings or not trying to call you out, not because I've already called you out four times today.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_02: It's the rules are the rules, and this was not followed.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_02: So what's going on?
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_02: And those people help you have no emotions evolved to say this was wrong, this was right, we have a pattern, let's look at this.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_02: That's super important there.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_02: All right, mythbuster time, you guys ready?
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Let's do it.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_02: Tradition is always safe.
• 25:54
  SPEAKER_02: If it worked before, it'll keep working.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_02: Tradition is always safe.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_02: If it worked before, it'll keep working.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_02: All right, what's your thoughts?
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's a trap.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_05: I I really do.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_05: And what that does is it keeps you from evolving and moving forward.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_05: Um, I I think that's just really the reason I pause there is because it's it's a touchy subject for a lot of businesses that have been highly successful.
• 26:22
  SPEAKER_05: And you never have to lose sight of what you're about, what your ethics, the way you do business, your morals.
• 26:31
  SPEAKER_05: But then there are things that do need to be adapted and changed because industries change.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_05: So I actually think it can hinder you and keep you from moving forward.
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_02: Uh I totally agree with that.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_02: Like traditions are are very good.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_02: And it's what you're from, it's what you're about.
• 26:47
  SPEAKER_02: But just the same way that people update logos with with good feedback from people, not just your inner circle, right?
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_02: It's okay to update those things, but just do a little bit of inspection there.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_02: We saw that with the cracker barrel thing.
• 27:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, whoa, hang on.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_02: Like, let's let's really ask all the people, not just a few niche people, uh, but be willing to adapt.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_02: Because I'll tell you that with Cracker Barrel, they made a change and said, we ask all the people, they love it.
• 27:11
  SPEAKER_02: Well, the internet said, no way, no way.
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_02: And so then cracker barrel was smart enough, like enough damage had been done that they didn't dig their feet in the ground.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_02: And they said, Um, actually, we've heard you and we're going back.
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_02: We're going back, right?
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_02: To some tradition.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's about having that uh balance.
• 27:28
  SPEAKER_02: So that is busted.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_02: Busted.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_02: Markets, customer needs, and technology constantly evolve or always evolving.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_02: Traditions can become traps if you never change them.
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 27:40
  SPEAKER_05: You know, the unwritten rules leaders should challenge.
• 27:44
  SPEAKER_05: So as you guys think about that for just a second, unwritten rules that leaders should challenge.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_05: We started tipping into that earlier on in here is you know, when you're in a meeting and somebody says, Well, that's how we've always done it.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_05: I say, Well, you can ask them the next question.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_05: We talk about questions in here.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_05: Well, why do you think we do it that way?
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_05: What is the result?
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_05: Why do we do it that way?
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_05: And if they don't have a good answer, you need to challenge that.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_05: And go, okay, what is the purpose?
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_05: You know, and and again, we're not talking about because it's the law.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_05: We're not talking about because it's in contract with the finance companies that we would put the correct income down because it's the legal and the moral, ethical right thing to do.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_05: No, we're talking about things about like dress codes, for example.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_05: We're talking about how to write customers up, how to like a repair order up, how to communicate with them, how we sell a car, when we present figures.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_05: You know, the first one that's on the list here, and I'll bring this up because it's an easy one to talk about, we'll talk about dress codes.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_05: If you look through the years in our industry on what that looked like, there was a time where it was suit and tie every single day that everybody wore.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah, no doubt.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_05: It was suit and tie.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_05: And then it moved to where it was just tie and button-up shirt.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_05: You know, and now it's evolved to more of a polo style, still professional, but more approachable.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_05: Yes.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_05: And that's evolved.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_05: And if you didn't evolve, you know, there's some customers in our industry, and we're streamlined automotive that we sell, that they would kind of fill out of place if we were all in suit and tie every single day.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_05: Oh, yes.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: I think it's just a looking and seeing, you know, you you have to be adaptable.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_02: We haven't gone to just, hey, wear whatever you want.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_02: You know what I mean?
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_02: We're not just saying, hey, wear whatever you want.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_02: I think our unwritten but written rule is you can wear, you know, the dress code that's provided, you know, the button up shirt, white shirt, gray shirt, or black shirt, or above.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_02: So we have to have that the baseline of appearance so that you're professional.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_02: Because what happens if there's no written rule is pure chaos.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_05: You you have to have a written rule because if not, it gets out of control.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you go to Lowe's.
• 30:00
  SPEAKER_02: And you don't know who's there to help you, right?
• 30:02
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm not talking about when we used to have blue shirts, but um you're like, hey, so you have to be clearly identifiable as I work here and I'm able to help you, right?
• 30:11
  SPEAKER_02: And so that's the idea.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_02: And then we said, hey, there is some leisure for our non-customer facing employees.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_02: Let's give them Lewis logo stuff uh that is not a dress shirt, right?
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_02: And so we've just tried to stay adaptable.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_02: You know, like in our um our Friday, our our kickoff events and our Fridays, like we want to embrace, and that's gone from last year, it was the the day before the Super Bowl or the Friday before a Super Bowl, everyone got to wear the game day attire.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_02: Well, this year marketing was like, hey, they didn't know any better.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: I love it.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_02: And they were like, hey, every Friday, and that would normally be Razorback Friday.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: They're like, hey, where are your favorite team?
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_02: And it's been fun, right?
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_02: And then it was like, you can wear jeans.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 30:48
  SPEAKER_02: Wear some joggers that are professional, right?
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: Where are your favorite kick?
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and you can see just the smiles come out in people, right?
• 30:56
  SPEAKER_02: And so there's some adaptability there.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_05: I I think what we got to be careful of there, and we've set a good enough example, but I'm just reminding everybody else, you gotta be careful there is hey, no, that was on Friday.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_05: That doesn't mean now Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, you know, you all of a sudden you have jeans and untucked shirt.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_05: You know, you still have to have rules.
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_05: You just have to adapt as the change of time adapts.
• 31:18
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, because otherwise it loses its luster.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: It does.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_02: And then all of a sudden it's like, well, who works here and who does?
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, right.
• 31:24
  SPEAKER_02: Who's the dude in the Lakers jersey over there on a Wednesday?
• 31:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like, does he work here?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_05: Or it's no different than Halloween when we all dress up in costumes.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_05: Like everybody's dressing up together.
• 31:33
  SPEAKER_05: You can tell that's the culture of the day.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_05: And it's not like, well, I just decided to order, you know, this Hall Halloween costume because it came 50% off and I'm gonna wear it during Thanksgiving.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_02: No, what?
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: No, thank you.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_02: Like you can do that on your own time.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: So you still gotta have those rules.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it's so important to have that.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_01: But then allowing to be structured in that, but then doing those different things really opens it up to the customer, to the employees to have that different type of experience situation.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: And I think you gotta adapt that way too.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_05: What do you guys think about outdated assumptions that stifle growth?
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_05: So when you start thinking about that of assumptions like that people like just assume, here's what I do.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_05: But it's really, and I'm talking about from an employee standpoint, because then it slows growth down.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: I think there's a good part in job roles and responsibilities, you know, that I would say is one of my first go-tos is okay, my job, what does that entitle to me do in a daily, right?
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_02: Like what are my roles and responsibilities?
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_02: Like, if I just went through that.
• 32:37
  SPEAKER_02: So I think there's some outdated assumptions of what a sales manager does, what a salesperson, what a delivery specialist, what a service advisor, what assistant and service advisor does.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_02: So that's something that in the last year we've gone through and slowly updated those positions.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_02: And most of them uh all say at the bottom, and all other things that are seen to be needed in your position or any and all departments.
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: Right?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: Because we realize if it wasn't written down, then it wasn't assumed, and then they were just like, that's not my job.
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_02: Which is not the culture.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_02: I go over that every single cake day of thanking everyone for going above and beyond.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_02: That every time we have an employee of the month, it's hey, this person does way more than their job role says they need to.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: But I think that's one of those things that can be an outdated assumption of no, I'm just to do this.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_05: You know, I'm gonna take the flip side of that and I'm gonna take exactly what you said because we have some people, all different personalities in our business, and some people that are are very strict rule followers.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 33:37
  SPEAKER_05: And if you come out with a new way to do a position or handle a situation, and if you don't tell them you don't need to do the old way anymore, we have found some people following the rules.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_05: Like, why are you still doing that?
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_05: Well, that's what I'm supposed to do.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_05: So you didn't update them to say, okay, here's the new one, take the old one out.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_05: And I've scratched my head before.
• 34:00
  SPEAKER_05: And you know, if you're not that way and you can pivot, which we all can, you logically think if we're doing the new one, I don't need to do the old one.
• 34:08
  SPEAKER_05: But I promise you, you have employees that are still doing both.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 34:12
  SPEAKER_05: They're still doing both.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: You have to be super clear.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_02: And that's something we we're like, what the heck?
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_02: Why is that person still parking there?
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_02: Or why are they not doing this?
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_02: It's because we weren't, we were as clear as mud, right?
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:25
  SPEAKER_02: We just said, here's a excuse me, here's a new game plan, here's what we're doing moving forward.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: If you have any questions, let me know.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_02: They're never gonna come to you and say, hey, I've got questions.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, rarely someone will, but then be like, am I supposed to still do this one and that one?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_02: And you're like, my bad.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_02: Hey, this supersedes the old one.
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_02: So you cannot assume that anyone knows anything.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_05: And so I think that that's when that it'll stifle growth.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_05: And I'll I'll tell a funny story here.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_05: So we have one of our managers that I had consistently sent information to and podcast and books to read and this and that.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_05: And he had latched on to a person that was doing podcast.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_05: This is four years ago.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_05: And he'd latched on to them.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_05: And it's it's not been six months ago that this person came back up to me and they said, So-and-so you sent to me.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_05: Their stuff's kind of getting outdated.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_05: Should I listen to anybody else?
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_05: And and I'm like, whoa.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_05: I was like, Yeah.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_05: I said, Look, can I share something with you?
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_05: At any point in time, I got 10 or 15 different people coming in here because some people don't get on highs and lows, but that was they were stifling their own growth because they were just caught in that one run of a podcast I had told about four years ago.
• 35:41
  SPEAKER_05: And just because I hadn't shown them a new one, they hadn't gotten out of that rut.
• 35:44
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's specifically giving them fish to eat or teaching them how to fish.
• 35:49
  SPEAKER_02: And sometimes we're teaching them how to fish without saying, hey, I'm teaching you how to fish.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: I'm teaching you how to learn.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_02: And so for the next time, I'm not gonna bring you another one.
• 35:58
  SPEAKER_02: You go find one that you like.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_02: Like, here's how you do it, because otherwise, they're just sitting there waiting for the next fish.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_02: And you're like, No, no, no, I taught you how to fish.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, Oh, I I thought you were just putting me down here to receive.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_05: I I think the biggest thing to wrap all this up, and you know, you used a parts terminology of of superseding, you know, in our parts department.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_05: That means when a new part number comes out, it supersedes the old one.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_05: You can no longer order that old part number.
• 36:26
  SPEAKER_05: It actually won't even let you do it.
• 36:28
  SPEAKER_05: It's got a new updated part that the manufacturer has fixed whatever issue was with that part.
• 36:34
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_05: It superseded it.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_05: And I think that's a great reminder to me, too, is when we come out with something new, more than likely, it superseded something that was old.
• 36:45
  SPEAKER_05: And if we don't talk about that, that will stifle growth there.
• 36:49
  SPEAKER_05: You know how questioning norms unlocks creativity and opportunity.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_05: And I love this one.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_05: And this one will not come to life in your business if you don't do it.
• 37:01
  SPEAKER_05: Your employees are not gonna question the normalcy of how you advertise, how your processes are, when when lunch break is, you know, when benefits come out, all these things.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_05: It's your job to question that stuff.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_05: And especially when they see you question something that you came out with, they're like, okay, this person's adaptive and open to changing even what they put in place.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I know that's that's really good.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_02: I think if you uh not always control the things yourself, if you allow to have somebody outside of of your headspace or outside of your department, it's not different than Craig and his marketing team is like hey, I'm gonna let you guys handle this and I want you to get creative control because it's it's gonna be a complete different idea than what you had.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_02: And as long as it's relevant and brings in what you need, then I think that's great, right?
• 37:53
  SPEAKER_02: That's questioning the normal of no, I'm the one that always comes up with this and does this.
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_02: And one, you're bogging yourself down stuff you didn't need to bog yourself down with, and two, they have a complete different outlook.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_02: You know, you said something the other day, and it this is kind of pointless because I I can't remember specifically what it was, but you were talking about it on the kickoff Friday, and you said, Hey, we need to do this, this, and this.
• 38:14
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, Marketing's already done that.
• 38:15
  SPEAKER_02: He's like, Oh, never mind, that was a bad idea.
• 38:17
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, No, what a bad idea.
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_02: Someone else just came up with it and already executed it, right?
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so allowing to get out of the norm of doing this and this unlocks new creative creativity and new opportunity.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: Absolutely.
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_01: The hard thing, and I was talking about this with one of y'all the other day.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_01: You can uh look this back and uh reference it to like your kid growing up.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_01: Whenever you start to not do the norm of I'm doing this every single day, and let your other managers, your other department heads start to run, learn to walk everything through the process of you pulling back, they're gonna trip and fall, they're gonna mess up.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay.
• 38:54
  SPEAKER_01: I had removed myself from a spot that I always sit at, more so just to gauge, not to do anything in there, but just to hear and always know what's going on.
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_01: And I'd remove myself for a couple of days and X, Y, and Z happened.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_01: And I went back and I was like, come on, you're telling me I've sat here for this long and you hadn't picked up and you can't do this.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_01: So you have to know that you have to let them make mistakes.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: Be there to be able to help them and guide them.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_01: But if you want that area to grow, not being the norm, you have to let them grow.
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_05: You know, one last thing I want to bring up here, and it probably should have brought up earlier, but I think it's a great example.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_05: We can all relate to this.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_05: We all live in the whole Walmart country.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_05: And when you talk about breaking the rules, but not letting it really affect your business.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_05: You know, we talked about the investment side, take a smaller chunk and put it at higher risk.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_05: When you look at Walmart, and it's funny because we were at Pea Ridge last weekend, so we were talking about this.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_05: Walmart broke the rules on delivering stuff to houses.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_05: And they didn't know for sure if it was gonna work.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_05: So that that amount of investment they put and they said, if it works, great.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_05: If it doesn't, it's not gonna cripple our business.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_05: And then they opened up a couple different places.
• 40:08
  SPEAKER_05: Out in Farmington, they had the drone that did delivery.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_05: When we were up in Pea Ridge, they had, I don't even know what they call that, the airplane.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: It's like an airplane, it's a slingshot and comes and lands kind of in a net or a cable.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_02: So two complete two same ideas of going to you, right?
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_02: Without a vehicle on the road, but two complete different ways of how to do it.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_05: So then they said, okay, let's break the rules without it breaking the business.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 40:32
  SPEAKER_05: We set this amount aside.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_05: You know, it's no different than if if, you know, if I go to the horse race track, which I don't go very often, I set aside, hey, I'm gonna spend a couple hundred dollars, and when that's out, it's out.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_05: Okay.
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_05: And I had I had fun, but I didn't leverage the house.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_05: It didn't affect my family's well-being.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_05: Well, it's not a mean thing.
• 40:51
  SPEAKER_05: It didn't put us all the way under.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_05: That's the same thing.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_05: It's okay to take risk and break the rules, but just don't leverage your business.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: Nope.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_01: 100% there.
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, going into a question here.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_01: What's one rule you followed for way too long before realizing it was actually holding the business back?
• 41:09
  SPEAKER_02: So I've been racking my brain.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_02: I looked at that and was like, hmm, but I have one, so I'll go ahead and then you can figure out yours.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_02: Um it's actually exactly what you were just talking about.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: Okay.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and so you talked about, and we it's funny because we talk about and seem like we have all the answers figured out.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: We don't, I assure you.
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_02: Most of the time we're just talking about like, whoops, don't do that.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_02: Uh is when we have changed a CRM, when we have changed a service write-up tool, when we have changed anything that's a system or a process, one of our biggest downfalls, because generally we are very committal people.
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_02: When we're in, we are all in.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_02: We have not been very good at, I have not been very good at at sample testing things.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_02: You know, just say, hey, if we're, I'm like Craig, we're gonna do this, let's run this against the whole company.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, then we don't really have alternate options to see was traffic off just as a norm, or was it because the marketing new campaign was just bad?
• 42:10
  SPEAKER_02: So then we don't have those different sample tests.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_02: So the rule that that we have to continue to break is to not put it all the eggs in one basket to switch to this.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_02: The problem was is we wanted to be able to change that, vet it, and then be able to train the entire team on it.
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, and so sometimes that would definitely stun our growth if it was not a good move or if there was a large training moment or a downsize moment for the for the customers as we learned and trained on that.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_05: That's good.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_05: I'll tell you mine, it's a it's a pretty easy one.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_05: And y'all will relate as soon as I said that, as soon as I say this, is the strict rule of everybody in variable has to work every single Saturday.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 42:49
  SPEAKER_05: You know, that that was one.
• 42:50
  SPEAKER_05: And then finally, when we broke that and we said, hey, let's give salespeople at least a Saturday off a month.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_05: Let's give managers at least a Saturday off a month.
• 43:00
  SPEAKER_05: And if somebody's selling enough, let's give them every Saturday off if they needed to be.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_05: And that really held held us back from recruitment side for people that had stuff going on with their family, you know, and retention side.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_05: You know, so once once we changed that, it was business actually went up.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_05: Right.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_05: We thought we were gonna lose it because we didn't have everybody here on Saturday, but it actually went up.
• 43:25
  SPEAKER_05: Our retention of people invariable went up.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 43:28
  SPEAKER_05: Uh, because we broke broke one of the other rules.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it's important to measure that and realize it it it'll be okay, right?
• 43:35
  SPEAKER_02: With proper structure and procedure.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_02: You still have to have the structure.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_02: It is super important.
• 43:38
  SPEAKER_02: And then we got when they come to you and they're like, hey, I only sold 18 last month.
• 43:42
  SPEAKER_02: I was like, okay, yeah, let me help break that down per your time.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_02: Let me put some value on your time.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_02: You left at three every single day and you only worked one Saturday.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_02: And they're like, huh, okay, that was pretty good.
• 43:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's like, okay, just wanted to keep us all in check.
• 43:54
  SPEAKER_02: You have a great day.
• 43:55
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, I'll be here till 7, 7:30.
• 43:58
  SPEAKER_02: But if you need anything, let me know.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_02: Um, right.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, both of those are really good.
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_01: Y'all hit on uh both areas that I think would be something that's definitely held us back there and we we've grown moving forward.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: But great episode today.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_01: Went through a lot.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_01: It was expedited, as Shelby said, last day of the month.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_01: So we're putting it together, but absolutely bringing you relevant content that will make difference in your business if you'll put it in place.
• 44:24
  SPEAKER_01: Always check us out at Lewis Superstore.com to check out the specials and at Crossroads Conversation Podcast.com.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: Hit the like, hit the subscribe.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_01: Please hit us with any questions that you do have so that way we can bring you on the show, bring those on the show and be relevant to you and your business.
• 44:43
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• 44:54
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• 44:55
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• 44:58
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you again, and we'll see you in future shows.