This Zoom video call is a discussion between Todd Smith from 360Converge and David Kain discussing how dealership can embrace this difficult situation to become stronger. We discuss the overall state of the industry and specifically dive into process development for dealerships and the need for true leadership during this stressful time.
Video Transcript
Captions
00:01
hey Todd smithy our CEO of 360 converge
00:04
and for my awesome conversation partner
00:07
today it is one of my greatest and best
00:10
friends David Kane president of Kane
00:14
automotive who I’ve known for I don’t
00:17
even know how long now but a long long
00:21
time I think before I was definitely
00:24
gray so with that I always say thank you
00:28
so much for spend a few minutes today
00:31
David and we’ll do a little intro and
00:34
then we’ll kind of start guessing some
00:36
fun questions you bet
00:38
so so Todd knows this and I’ll kind of
00:42
share this my family’s been in the car
00:45
business since 1952
00:47
and I came along in 1960 and like my
00:50
siblings I was carried into the
00:53
dealership I’ve got eight brothers and
00:55
sisters and we were put to work as baby
00:59
props when salespeople would need to
01:01
close the deal they would say hey don’t
01:03
you see mr. Cain has nine children so
01:06
you know don’t you’re not you know ho
01:08
tight and not negotiate too much harder
01:12
so I like to say I was selling cars even
01:14
as a picture on my dad’s cadenza and so
01:18
working my way up through the ranks was
01:20
janitor a lot of ten that worked in the
01:22
parts department sold cars and ended up
01:25
running our store for twelve years as a
01:27
general manager and still am a partner
01:30
in the dealership but in 2000 actually
01:33
1999 you know all the world was into the
01:36
Internet the bubble was fully inflated
01:40
and hadn’t burst yet and I was on dealer
01:43
council and as a member of Ford’s dealer
01:46
council we created a company that was
01:49
designed to give dealers a leg up in
01:52
digital and it’s called for direct calm
01:55
and it’s 20 years old now so I’d like to
01:57
go back and my hair was brown then and
02:00
maybe had a little bit flecks of gray
02:03
but that was fun I flew all over the
02:07
country I left our dealership and became
02:09
chief operating officer flew all over
02:11
the country and set up Internet
02:13
and BTC operations for Ford and
02:15
lincoln-mercury and Jaguar Land Rover
02:17
mode dealers all part of the Ford family
02:19
at the time and then wanted to move back
02:23
to the general bluegrass of Kentucky and
02:27
started came out a motive 17 years ago
02:30
and it’s hard to believe that it’s been
02:33
that long and you and I met at the very
02:36
first digital dealers a long time ago
02:40
and we started teaching the 101 and 102
02:43
courses and a microscope put us together
02:46
and was matchmaker and we’ve been really
02:49
good buddies all the way through and and
02:51
now I’m coming to you from the land of
02:54
my grandson and my daughter moved to
02:57
California and like a lot of
02:59
grandparents we followed our kid when
03:02
the baby was born we moved to California
03:04
and that’s where I’m coming to you from
03:06
today but still thrilled to be able to
03:09
help dealers and and particularly during
03:11
this crisis I think that’s the essence
03:13
of you giving to the people who are
03:17
viewing this is you’re you’ve always
03:19
been notable and how you’ve provided
03:23
good learning experiences for dealers
03:26
and you have traveled a lot with
03:28
different motor companies and taught for
03:31
years and I think you’re a great teacher
03:33
and I’ve learned a lot from you and I’m
03:36
really excited to be here with you today
03:38
Thank You Man but this is all about you
03:41
I’m really curious
03:44
first off I know you put together a
03:46
kovat 19 like like sheet for how to like
03:54
disaster-proof your business which I
03:56
thought it’s really cool so I want to
03:58
make sure I get a copy because or I want
04:01
you to post it to like the first day as
04:04
we’ll put it in the first comment on
04:07
here or I can put a link right into the
04:09
thing I just wanna make sure everyone
04:10
has that resources I think it was really
04:12
good so yeah part of the reason why we
04:15
created that what we just called the
04:18
crisis mitigation guide and we’re on
04:20
version three so far
04:23
no telling what else we’ll need to do
04:25
maybe some elements of how you come back
04:28
from this will be added eventually but
04:31
you know what we’ve wanted to do was to
04:33
first off let people know that we have a
04:36
lot of people going through this and
04:38
your Co join with all of your
04:40
compatriots in the automotive industry
04:43
the women the men the young and the old
04:45
and the in-between who are struggling to
04:49
make sense of this worried about their
04:51
health their safety their viability and
04:54
and I think what we saw was an
04:57
opportunity to pull together good
05:00
resources some best practices not
05:04
necessarily and I think you know this we
05:06
like to give proven practices but right
05:09
now we’re just identifying as best
05:11
practices I will know by the end whether
05:14
they really worked but you know good
05:16
resources and and we’ve also got a with
05:20
all kinds of great information scripting
05:23
templates videos that people are doing
05:26
point of sale the Paycheck protection
05:29
program so man you talk about like
05:33
monster learning in just moments I feel
05:38
it’s like learning from like the fire
05:40
hose right now yours like so let’s jump
05:45
in which I think this is interesting and
05:48
I’m gonna set you up here I don’t really
05:52
want to talk about the tech I want to
05:54
talk about the process and people know
05:58
so everyone is now jumped on digital
06:01
retail which it’s good at a very surface
06:06
level and and my opinion is that is the
06:10
tech isn’t the driver of the success of
06:13
that type of tool I think its leadership
06:17
people in process so with that being
06:21
said you know I I assume you’re getting
06:24
tons of calls from your existing clients
06:26
as potential clients as well right now
06:28
who are saying hey I’m moving a digital
06:32
retailing finally you know I’m being
06:35
drugged by the market
06:37
I used to go do this I don’t want to
06:38
because it’s just I’d rather just get
06:41
him in um how I mean I hey I see you’re
06:46
seeing that but you know what are you
06:49
seeing in that regard and how are you
06:51
going to coach that from the you know
06:56
leadership people in process because
06:59
honestly I think that’s 90% of it
07:02
I think only 10% the actual tech and
07:05
that’s my my personal like feeling and
07:09
I’m a tech guy because I’d rather say
07:11
it’s 90% tech but I don’t think it is I
07:14
think the tech supports the process
07:16
really so because I find the dealers and
07:19
another reason I say that is the only
07:21
dealers I’ve seen very successful with
07:23
it are insanely process driven like Todd
07:26
Kabuto store right that’s all in to
07:29
digital retail a 100% they’re drinking
07:32
the kool-aid you know they live and
07:34
breathe it like you walk into the store
07:36
they walk you to a roadster kiosk I mean
07:39
that’s like embedded so what are your
07:42
thoughts on this and how can dealers
07:45
best take advantage of yes so Todd do
07:49
you and I both know this for all intents
07:51
and purposes
07:52
every dealer is a digital dealer and
07:55
there have been let’s let’s call it
07:59
digital retailing Solutions for well
08:02
over 10 years maybe even 20 years what
08:06
we’re saying is the express opportunity
08:11
the streamlined digital and retailing
08:14
and I like to equate it to like when I
08:16
go to the grocery store I can go to cell
08:20
service which is self-service grocery
08:22
shopping I walk in don’t have to
08:25
interact with anybody and I check out
08:27
and I go to the car that’s what digital
08:32
retailing could be an automotive if in
08:34
fact the consumer could get access to
08:36
the keys and do their own test drive and
08:39
be able to move that forward heretofore
08:43
we’ve always had where the customer
08:46
could get price get payment it’s a
08:48
trained value
08:49
apply for financing all of that has
08:52
always been chunked out on the website
08:54
the the trouble was it wasn’t all put
08:57
together so you and I are both good
08:59
friends with Todd Caputo and in fact
09:01
spend a lot of time with him when he had
09:03
a business development sooner and I’ve
09:06
often said I’ve been to more BDC
09:08
funerals and in Todd’s case we did a BDC
09:14
funeral and and bdc director became
09:17
their training manager who’s teaching
09:19
all of the sales team how to actually
09:22
work with customers who shop online I
09:24
want to do this so interesting thing is
09:27
digital retailers great if you as a
09:29
manager can come in the next morning
09:31
saying how many did roadster sell how
09:34
many did not oh if I sell how many did
09:36
you know the digital retailing on all
09:39
the platforms because all of them have
09:41
it did we have any deals last night now
09:45
would it be great you said there in you
09:46
drinking your cup of coffee and you’re
09:48
like whoa the website showed 12 cards
09:51
worth last night let’s get those ready
09:52
right and but we don’t have that yet so
09:56
digital retailing still needs the human
09:59
component the consumer can work their
10:01
way through so largely it’s all driven
10:04
by the instincts and the ability of your
10:07
team and their ability to communicate
10:09
and understand what’s driving the
10:11
consumer because consumers get kind of
10:13
tangled on the axle when they go through
10:16
a website even if it’s really
10:19
well-prepared and it makes total sense
10:23
they’re trying to move in a linear
10:24
fashion that you and I both know when we
10:27
go online it’s like I mean I’m gonna and
10:31
then next thing you know we bounce
10:33
everywhere that we’re in these digital
10:35
retailing platforms so consumer will put
10:38
five minutes in and they’ll say that
10:40
they’ll put 10 minutes in and they’ll
10:42
save it so you know that still requires
10:45
a human component driven by process and
10:49
you don’t have talked about this if it’s
10:52
not working check the process and then
10:55
if it’s still not working
10:57
check the process oh and then if it’s
11:00
still not working check the price
11:02
it’s always about the process whether
11:04
it’s the technology or you know the
11:07
people they have to hover around this
11:10
process and you’ve taught me that we’ve
11:13
seen it work and that has to really be
11:16
the overlay and the protector of any
11:19
good digital retailing process yeah I
11:21
agree I think it’s definitely a process
11:23
game but even ahead of the process I
11:27
think it’s a leadership game and it’s a
11:29
commitment of mental and leadership not
11:33
what the leader says but what the leader
11:36
continues to do in action in support of
11:40
these programs to put in because my fear
11:44
just like all fear you know doers will
11:46
jump to digital retailing right now and
11:50
then soon as we get back to the new
11:53
normal whatever that looks like it’s
11:55
gonna go right back to now just get them
11:58
in the door well we’ll deal with them
12:00
because my fear is just installing
12:04
digital retailing as is will create just
12:08
as much friction as not having it I mean
12:11
because without the right leadership
12:13
communication people in process you know
12:17
tech it text not doing all the lifts for
12:19
you there so yeah you know compared to a
12:23
well-run fixed operation service
12:26
department in the dealership the
12:28
technicians have all the education they
12:30
have all the diagnostic tools they have
12:32
all the tools to be able to prepare it
12:35
or repair the vehicle but they need a
12:38
leader to assign the work properly and
12:41
to supervise in to coach and support and
12:45
that’s got to happen when it comes to
12:47
digital retailing to a large degree is
12:49
you’ve got to have a leader and we’ll
12:52
say here it’s a long haul this is not
12:55
through the crisis this is the way we
12:58
want to do business and be willing to
13:01
pivot as the roadblocks occur because
13:04
inevitably there will one of the key
13:06
roadblocks you and I’ve talked about is
13:08
what about the guy hasn’t financed and
13:11
they’re gone whoa what about us guys you
13:13
know where the closers
13:15
the ones that you know had to do the
13:17
payment it come is reminiscent of that
13:19
movie office space where the guys in
13:22
front of the team and they’re there
13:25
trying to understand different roles and
13:27
he goes I’m a people person and the
13:30
turns out he didn’t greet the customer
13:33
he didn’t greet the N and there’s he
13:34
just forward of the emails and stuff so
13:37
you know ultimately if finance is going
13:41
to be reshaped through this and I
13:44
suspected will ya see a lot of sales
13:47
managers be converged into the F&I
13:51
process consumers trust what they’re
13:54
seeing on iPads on laptops in their own
13:58
smartphone to where they’re doing their
14:00
own deal and I believe we’re gonna come
14:02
out better and we’re gonna come out with
14:04
a more streamlined operation inside and
14:08
potentially have a greater fulfillment
14:11
level for these salespeople who who will
14:15
say you know I can do it all and we’ve
14:17
talked about the the shop Automotive
14:19
Group and you know they for years have
14:21
said one price one person one hour and
14:26
and I think that’s kind of where we’re
14:29
moving and and you know I’m really
14:32
blessed your clients my clients have all
14:34
been on the cutting edge or the leading
14:36
edge of this so the lesson I give them
14:40
when I start up any type of training
14:42
class right now is you’re ready for this
14:45
you’ve been training for this for ten
14:47
years
14:47
this is your time to shine and they
14:50
really feel great about it
14:51
yeah that’s interesting so looking at
14:54
that you know the progressive dealers
14:57
there’s their set of those that are
14:58
always going to take advantage of
15:00
marketplace tools looking for to me that
15:02
that one to five percent edge right and
15:06
now you’re you have this new flux I
15:08
think everyone is crossed a chasm at
15:10
this point into now we’re gonna get
15:13
everyone’s gonna do digital recounting
15:14
so the competitive advantage of it per
15:17
se will not be as great and I think it
15:20
will lead more into the dealers unique
15:23
process and implementation of it so
15:26
obviously a lots of dealers have lead
15:28
people off
15:29
to lots of stores that had like either
15:32
destroyed their entire sales team only
15:34
left managers in place furloughed huge
15:37
amounts of staff and then all the big
15:39
groups have obviously let go between
15:41
I’ve heard six thousand ten thousand
15:43
I’ve heard giant numbers of people that
15:46
have lost their jobs unfortunately which
15:48
is terrible will because of digital
15:51
retailing and if they actually put these
15:54
processes in place
15:55
do they need to bring everyone back or
15:58
if you have a better sales person who
16:02
can do the whole deal through digital
16:04
retailing can you get away with less
16:07
people and more efficient processes in
16:11
tech well so let’s be human about it
16:15
right so first off would it be great if
16:18
the stores I talked to Kevin Riley today
16:23
long-term friend he’s Alexandria Hyundai
16:26
and he’s twenty years in business and
16:30
he’s not laid off our family dealership
16:33
is not laid off anyone and when you when
16:37
you’re in a situation like that and you
16:39
know you know how long our store has
16:41
been in business it’s always the people
16:43
and when you think about thinking from a
16:45
human standpoint yes technology is great
16:48
but if you do personal business
16:52
development something you know I’ve been
16:53
telling for a long time as a business
16:55
development dealership so if you teach
16:58
yourselves people who literally do not
17:00
cost you any money if they’re on
17:03
commission and even if they are paid
17:05
salary and smaller amounts you’re in a
17:08
position where their earnings will
17:10
offset the base cost of having them
17:12
around and if you teach them how to do
17:15
personal business development you can
17:17
actually grow your business so what I’m
17:20
saying is first off bring as many people
17:23
back as you as you can afford to and and
17:26
make sure you give everyone the new
17:28
rules of engagement it’s not about your
17:32
good if you get someone to the floor no
17:35
not today you got to be great on the
17:37
phone you got to be great at texting you
17:39
got to know
17:40
anymo Diaz you got a no but a give is
17:43
you got to be able to be modern in your
17:46
approach and and I’m sorry for the guys
17:49
who have been resistive to this new
17:51
modern way of communication and stay off
17:54
the social media and don’t have a
17:55
Instagram or Facebook or even a LinkedIn
17:58
account time for you even rise up and
18:01
have someone teach you or right now just
18:05
go to youtube and take a class but 78%
18:08
of sales people are those people who are
18:11
active on social media how so their
18:13
peers by 78%
18:15
Wow so we gotta give everybody this
18:21
opportunity to say here’s the new
18:23
reality if you’re gonna be here we don’t
18:25
have waiters we’re not sitting at a
18:28
hostess stand waiting for people to come
18:31
in we are proactively in the community
18:33
we’re joining clubs were building houses
18:36
with the habitat we are out in it so
18:39
that people know that when they see that
18:41
brand on your shirt you’re part of the
18:44
fabric of the community and I think
18:47
we’ve got to engineer that into our
18:49
future along with the technology
18:52
orientation and the boost and if they
18:54
can come in with that kind of enthusiasm
18:55
and recognize that that’s what it’s
18:58
going to take I think we should keep as
19:01
many that are willing to come back yeah
19:03
I agree I think right now any sales
19:05
person listening to this or manager
19:08
triple down in training even if you are
19:12
furloughed or let go trained because you
19:17
you’re gonna need to find that
19:18
opportunity when it comes back and the
19:20
more training you have the more the more
19:23
you’ve beat on your craft right is what
19:25
it is right the more you’ve perfected
19:27
your skills that will pay you no
19:30
dividends in the future and right now I
19:33
feel like since we’ve hit this global
19:35
pause button I call it you know now is
19:38
that time that we can really help
19:40
ourselves become better I mean I you
19:42
know me I read a book a week so that’s
19:44
never gonna change but I I definitely
19:47
upped like now I’ve had more time so my
19:50
writing and other things where you know
19:52
I just didn’t I
19:53
I didn’t have the time and I could I
19:55
couldn’t afford to make the time because
19:57
I’ve been trying to work on things but
19:58
it’s very interesting so now I feel it’s
20:00
like learn those skills
20:02
I mean learn that you know those closing
20:05
engagement skills learn the digital
20:07
retailing platforms as a salesperson
20:10
that you understand them how they work
20:12
what the benefits I think I think
20:14
roadster even has a university don’t
20:16
they that roadster of all of them has
20:20
done the best job of providing resources
20:22
online
20:24
you know auto-fire has done a really
20:26
exceptional job our friend Joe st. John
20:29
he does webcast each week there’s so
20:33
much free learning available even to
20:36
viewers of this we’re gonna give anybody
20:38
access to King University online so that
20:42
they can pick up some of the strategies
20:44
that are proven in today’s environment
20:47
and the interesting thing with is where
20:50
we’re refreshing all of our content to
20:52
be more modern you know one of my
20:55
favorite books is this author Phil Jones
20:58
exactly what to say and I think it’s
21:00
great and and you know you can say what
21:02
you want about you reading Todd but dr.
21:06
Seuss and shel silverstein really don’t
21:08
count except for a couple of books and
21:11
one of them the dr. Seuss wrote that you
21:14
and I’ve talked about before which is
21:15
green eggs and ham
21:17
which is a lesson the lesson and
21:19
persistence and keep trying and the
21:22
little engine that could so you know
21:24
where we will get absolutely right yeah
21:28
I’m gonna break them out too man I’m
21:30
ready still I have a 10 year old those
21:33
books are still in my brain and look I
21:38
mean there’s still a sense in that so I
21:40
think I mean looking at it right now you
21:43
know you’re talking to dealers what what
21:46
are they thinking about well what’s
21:47
going on in that cause you’re having
21:49
yeah so just all last week and last we
21:54
can have is cash flow then the to a
21:59
person every dealer wants to keep their
22:02
employees every dealer doesn’t want to
22:04
do furloughs or
22:05
nobody I’ve talked to said oh we’re
22:08
gonna use this as not opportunity to get
22:10
rid of the bad performers know the truth
22:13
of the matter is most everybody was
22:15
running and gunning we were in the midst
22:17
of a really good year and you know March
22:20
the flowers and the rain and everything
22:22
you know we have another spring upon us
22:25
and everybody was all fired up for that
22:27
and now we’ve got this April law and and
22:30
it’s not the customers aren’t interested
22:33
but dealers are now struggling with just
22:37
cash flow and you know dealers run on
22:41
really wafer thin margins and when we’re
22:44
not turning contracts and thank goodness
22:47
for the OEMs and their good judgment and
22:50
giving floor plan relief and pulling
22:54
back on the crushing interest rates that
22:57
could have occurred and and you know
22:59
you’ve been a Chevy dealer I’ve been in
23:01
the for business my whole life we live
23:03
by inventory turn we’re all students of
23:07
the Dell Pollock velocity program when
23:10
you got to turn that capital so that
23:14
were able to bring more more
23:17
opportunities back in for service and so
23:19
on so forth so dealers are struggling
23:21
because they they were used to that cash
23:23
flow and now they’ve got to apply for
23:26
payroll protection the cares Act and
23:29
they’re helping a lot of dealers through
23:31
that we’re helping them to understand
23:33
the dynamics of how do you account for
23:36
that money if you want to get
23:38
forgiveness for that loan so there’s
23:40
there’s so much going on from a business
23:43
dynamic so if you’re a midline manager
23:45
take the pressure off the boss and be
23:48
spectacular and working the leads taking
23:52
the inbound phone calls I was talking to
23:54
a big group this morning the chief
23:57
operating officer the group and he goes
23:58
it’s so wonderful to see our frontline
24:00
sales managers selling cars because it’s
24:04
necessary and he says I’m running the
24:07
business parts of it and they’re doing
24:09
what they’re paid to do which is to
24:11
cause us to sell cars and not
24:13
surprisingly they had a good weekend
24:16
even though they’re in a state that’s
24:18
had some
24:19
most rigorous shut down box yeah see
24:23
that’s good to hear you know I like I
24:25
feel like news is doom and gloom I like
24:28
to hear the positive stories that guys
24:30
are still selling cards I talk to people
24:32
every day they’re selling cars they’re
24:34
just they’re just grinding through this
24:37
stuff right now and you know definitely
24:39
I heard all the stats like oh well all
24:42
these people are still shopping online
24:43
but the real question is what’s in
24:46
tension like how many of them are
24:47
actually pushing through the process to
24:50
any deliverable point of hey a weed was
24:53
actually created a chat was engaged a
24:55
text message was sent a phone call was
24:58
initiated those types of true metrics I
25:01
think that’s fallen off the cliff as he
25:02
said but there are still opportunities
25:04
there you know talking with Todd
25:07
last week he literally directed all four
25:10
phone all four stores all their numbers
25:12
to his cell phone yeah
25:16
and then he’s getting the first call and
25:18
then he moves it out to he’s got like
25:21
two guys in each two people in each
25:23
store and he’s dancing and you know I
25:26
think that that’s just entrepreneurial
25:29
you know most guys wouldn’t think that
25:31
way he’s like no no no I want to know
25:33
what’s going on with these customers and
25:36
I think as a leader you want to know
25:38
what the customers are saying to you
25:41
thinking then how those interactions are
25:44
different than they were a month ago
25:47
well yeah so let’s roll the tape back to
25:50
1996 when we became the odd about tell
25:53
dealer in the state of Kentucky and you
25:56
could have the host day that was great
25:58
and so I didn’t have an internet manager
26:02
I was the only one that had a laptop and
26:05
so I worked the late because there was
26:08
no job description there was no how to
26:11
take the phone call how to make the
26:13
phone call how to send an email you
26:15
could send an email through the out of
26:18
Motel CRM and ten minutes later I would
26:22
finally so by doing that by being like
26:26
Todd in making you know learning the
26:29
experiences so then you can go to the
26:31
managers and you can say okay
26:33
I got the lay of the land I’ve done the
26:36
scouting here’s here’s the process of
26:38
want to put in place and then stay
26:40
involved as a low enough level where you
26:43
can say here’s the changes I’m gonna
26:44
make so like for example people say to
26:47
me how come you’re so good with tech
26:49
well when you spend hours upon hours
26:52
with the Dale grip the Mac Mac rep the
26:55
Apple rep on the phone and you watch the
26:58
YouTube videos and all that you learned
27:01
it because it’s a necessity our dealers
27:03
today need to use this as an opportunity
27:06
you and I are friends with Jeremy
27:09
Anspach with pure carbs and the CEO of
27:12
the company sells his company and he got
27:16
back into the grind just last week
27:18
because he says I want to be right there
27:21
feeling the impact of what our company
27:25
is going through and what our frontline
27:26
teammates you know you and I just you
27:29
know that’s our nature so it’s easy for
27:32
us but imagine you you’re you get this
27:36
big payout I think what we’re seeing is
27:43
great leaders as you as you call that
27:46
earlier are re-emerging and if they want
27:49
the challenge they want to climb this
27:51
next hill and and I think from a health
27:54
standpoint from a community support
27:57
standpoint from let’s take care of our
27:59
employees standpoint this is a great
28:02
opportunity to really stand up and be
28:05
recognized so we’re seeing women and men
28:07
all over the universe really step up
28:11
yeah I feel like this is like rocky for
28:13
the ultimate comeback right I mean you
28:17
know put me in the ring I just let me
28:19
Adam
28:20
so let’s talk a little bit about you
28:25
know also I think it’s so we’ve met
28:28
we’ve talked about training we talked a
28:30
little bit about you know as you said
28:34
you said dealers right now focus on cash
28:35
flow that that’s what you’re seeing have
28:38
you seen this transitioning meaning like
28:41
three weeks ago was it a different
28:43
conversation now it’s become cash flow
28:45
and then
28:46
it’s gonna migrate into the next piece
28:48
because I think all these pieces will
28:50
have to evolve right you mean we’re not
28:53
gonna stay in cash flow forever because
28:56
once we figure it out they’re numbers
28:58
right I know my burn I know my structure
29:01
what what next do you think that a
29:04
dealer would a smart dealer will dive
29:08
into yeah I think awakening of the
29:11
marketing machine sitting here insane as
29:15
everyone has retrenched are we going to
29:18
be the aggressor in the market are we
29:20
going to go out there and buy the
29:21
keywords and are we going to pay
29:23
attention to those little increment
29:26
opportunities where everybody else is
29:28
saying not ready and I was starting to a
29:31
dealer the other day and I was
29:32
suggesting that salespeople go back in
29:35
the service lane and greet customers and
29:38
do equity mining and things of that
29:40
nature and he was like oh no that’s a
29:43
little too pushy and I was like well you
29:45
know if I’m a customer and I’ve got an
29:48
opportunity to get six month payment
29:50
dd4l I’ve got an opportunity to
29:53
potentially get 0% financing and you
29:56
missed an opportunity when I was in
29:58
there for service to present that
30:01
comparative opportunity I’m mad at you
30:04
so if we’ve done a good job and I
30:07
learned this years ago and you’ll
30:08
appreciate it
30:09
I remind you of a phrase that we talked
30:11
about from time to time
30:12
the point of cell is the point of resale
30:15
and what we’ve got to realize is when we
30:18
delivered those vehicles a year ago two
30:21
years ago five years ago we should have
30:23
ceded the ground for that future
30:25
business so every time someone comes in
30:28
they should get used to getting an
30:31
update I love the opportunity for me to
30:36
be able to go out there today Todd
30:38
thanks so much for coming in for service
30:39
I see you’re getting your maintenance
30:40
done by the way I ran an update here’s
30:43
your current position here’s what your
30:45
vehicles value is here’s what you owe on
30:47
the vehicle looks like here in about six
30:49
months or whatever your going to be to
30:51
the point where you might be the earning
30:53
equity we can start taking look at
30:55
things like that for you so hey listen
30:57
have a great
30:57
a they’re gonna take wonderful care of
30:59
you back here and then you turn to walk
31:01
away and the guy goes hold on we just
31:04
have a baby or I just got a new job or
31:06
tell me about that so we can’t be
31:10
fragile consumers are fragile they’ve
31:13
been stuck in their home they’ve been
31:15
thinking about budgets they’ve been
31:16
thinking about this and when we present
31:18
a better opportunity to them and we
31:20
position ourselves in alignment with our
31:23
manufacturers and we say you know your
31:26
health and well-being is really critical
31:28
we’ve got great processes in place we’ve
31:32
got to your door type strategy so you
31:36
can drive at home or drive at work
31:38
customers are gonna say food thank
31:40
goodness I’ve got the wherewithal I’ve
31:42
got a good job I’ve got good savings
31:44
I’ve got good ability yeah I’m ready to
31:47
take advantage of this and and I was
31:49
trying to a big group in Dallas and I
31:51
said so we’ve identified that most
31:54
customers are needs customers or
31:56
opportunist or maybe they’re just
31:58
explorers so if their needs yeah help
32:02
them out and get them in a new vehicle
32:03
if they’re opportunist they’re probably
32:05
sitting going to hell yeah now it’s my
32:07
time to get out of this car and get into
32:09
another one and the Explorers give them
32:12
an opportunity to give them information
32:13
and nurture them till they come around
32:16
and buy and I think that’s what we’re
32:18
starting to see with the good dealers is
32:20
they’re segmenting their approaches
32:23
based on the mindset of the consumer
32:26
yeah I agree and I thinking on that it
32:29
comes down to I think any fertile long
32:32
sales people as a dealer I would have
32:35
them in my crm cleaning it up right now
32:37
I would I would have cleaners cleaning
32:41
like and I would probably send my data
32:43
out and how really cleaned up my DMS CRM
32:46
get a unified customer view I think it’s
32:49
critical and with as much data around
32:52
that customer so when you as you say
32:54
when you’re coming back into the market
32:56
you can be much more aggressive and
32:58
accurate for deliverability for not
33:02
sending you know Todd Smith for emails
33:05
or six direct mail pieces on a car I
33:09
sold five years ago
33:11
I think now is the time to like this
33:13
pause button so let us clean things up
33:15
to back into the market you know with a
33:19
with your messaging and I think that to
33:22
me is just smart business you know yeah
33:25
and think about the high achieving
33:27
salespeople the ones who they show you
33:31
their smartphone then they go Todd Smith
33:34
here’s a picture
33:35
here’s the vehicle he was interested in
33:37
and his wife’s name and this kid’s name
33:40
and here’s the colors that they want to
33:43
have and here’s the motivators they the
33:47
UPS or you know eCos fans and they get
33:51
veteran stadium seats and their office
33:54
and you know that kind of stuff so
33:57
that’s really the enrichment that we can
33:59
go through and and we start to build
34:01
good habits while we’re coming out and
34:03
that personal business development where
34:06
we really get all the information on
34:08
their family their occupation you know
34:11
the the things that they’re into or the
34:14
scares or the hunters are they you know
34:17
opera fans I want to know all that stuff
34:20
and as we clean out the database let’s
34:24
enrich the database and when you look at
34:27
your 360 tool where you’re talking about
34:30
lead appending the things that really
34:33
motivate me when we can have one of our
34:36
clients go into the CRM and actually do
34:38
that appending of social data there
34:42
picture the things are into that’s
34:44
exactly playing to what we’re trying to
34:47
accomplish I agree and that’s where I
34:49
feel like somehow sales was an art like
34:54
when I mean I start selling cars in
34:56
ninety and the guys who trained me they
35:00
are like master chefs of you know
35:04
customer relationship I mean you know
35:07
everything it’s like a they go to church
35:09
on Sunday they have three children
35:11
he buys cars at this author this is
35:14
where he’s worked his wife his name is
35:16
book she makes a great apple pie they
35:18
have a dog named Bojangles like ding
35:22
ding everybody knew the top
35:24
I knew their customers liked and they
35:26
kept great relationships and somehow
35:29
like the internet came in and jostle all
35:33
this those practices disappeared from
35:36
the business and then everyone said CRM
35:40
is the it remembers it all for you well
35:42
it only remembers what you put into it
35:44
and when you don’t put nothing into it
35:46
it doesn’t remember anything and then
35:50
you’re actually worse off than you were
35:52
before you relied on that type of tack
35:55
like and that was like I can tell you
35:57
like Warren who sat next to me this guy
35:59
crush he was at that time a 35 car month
36:02
gone every month like clockwork
36:04
like he just he was a machine Jerry who
36:08
sat on the other side
36:09
super alcohol lived in her trailer it
36:11
didn’t matter that guy was still 35 40
36:13
cars a month and that’s I got those guys
36:17
were my like oh this is how you do this
36:21
it’s a people business and I think
36:24
somehow we lost that but here’s that
36:26
time where we should be thinking that
36:29
way again and making it personal
36:32
right so it’s so true and and I have
36:37
part of the presentation when we talk
36:40
about this personal business development
36:42
I show this young man
36:45
Brad Butler who works with the Furman
36:47
organization not far from you and Brad
36:50
every day nearly every day has a picture
36:54
of a delivery and that’s thank you and
36:56
customers are posting back this is not
36:58
well this is you know my friends and
37:01
family about 40 vehicles from you he’s
37:04
giving of himself you know you look at
37:06
marks Sanders who has all of his
37:10
customers from 2006 forward in his
37:12
smartphone and you know that kind of
37:16
information bill may who worked with me
37:18
at the dealership bill every morning he
37:21
would come in around 10 o’clock and I
37:23
thought you lazy son of a gun and I
37:25
didn’t know from 8:30 until 9:30 or 8:00
37:28
until 9:30 he was down at a coffee shop
37:32
scooping up opportunities and I just he
37:36
was sleeping in
37:37
so you know we’ve got to get away from
37:40
this put your nose against the glass and
37:42
look on the lot and start making sure
37:45
that our team members really create
37:47
create their own business opportunity so
37:50
if you have a BDC working well with a
37:53
personal business development sales
37:55
person you truly create a business
37:58
development culture and this becomes a
38:01
business development dealership as a
38:03
result of that yeah I love that and also
38:07
thinking on that do you feel we’re gonna
38:09
well I look every dealer operates
38:11
differently and there’s no single way to
38:14
operate successfully in this industry
38:16
that I’ve realized there’s no like you
38:18
have to do it this way mr. Cain
38:20
otherwise it just doesn’t work it just
38:22
doesn’t work that way you can you can
38:24
carve up like the pizza pie a hundred
38:27
different ways that being said do you
38:31
feel there’ll be more of the
38:33
cradle-to-grave structure coming out of
38:35
this meaning training sales people
38:38
bringing the ones back that are gonna
38:40
handle more or do you think we’ll still
38:42
the pendulum will swing more back to the
38:45
older way to do business and just kind
38:48
of grind it where do you think we’re
38:50
gonna end up it’s really curious so
38:53
first off during this crisis let’s
38:56
change it from cradle to grave to cradle
38:59
to sell or grew I prefer A to Z okay
39:04
okay don’t think like hey the time he’s
39:07
born until he dies I’m gonna sell him
39:09
every car he’s ever gonna do that yeah
39:11
and that makes sense so but the point
39:15
Dean is I think it all comes down to one
39:19
word leadership and if you’ve got
39:23
leadership in the Opera on the operation
39:25
leadership is gonna sit here and say am
39:28
I better off having my a dizzy or
39:31
cradle-to-grave salespeople really doing
39:34
their business development activities on
39:36
their own all I’ve got another team that
39:39
is doing customers inequity lease
39:41
returns business development and other
39:45
true growth opportunities stirring them
39:48
up working inbound calls inbound leads
39:50
and the 40
39:51
an opportunity to at least have that as
39:54
a safety net so I think gray a disease
39:57
sales people should be hyper capable of
40:01
doing internet leads handling inbound
40:03
phone calls and then a BBC is able to be
40:07
a safety net during times of you know
40:10
Saturdays or hi-hi appointment times to
40:14
where they might work the leads as a
40:16
backstop but then they also do the
40:18
business development activities which
40:20
we’ve talked about this you and I’ve
40:22
given presentations on there are they a
40:25
BSC a business survival centre where
40:29
they be DC which is a Business
40:32
Development Center and fully 90% of all
40:36
be DC’s or beat SCS meaning all they do
40:39
is handle things that sales people
40:40
aren’t good at and our calls and inbound
40:43
leads some people are good at that we
40:46
know that they just aren’t trained to it
40:48
so what if we what if we did that hybrid
40:51
and we had sales people handled leads
40:54
hema calls and then when they can’t it
40:56
flows over to a BBC team that all their
41:00
day is spent you know developing
41:02
opportunities and generating true
41:04
business opportunities so I think they
41:06
can coexist but I think that the roles
41:09
and responsibilities need to be
41:10
rewritten does that need to be in-house
41:13
or outside and look I’m just saying like
41:19
and I don’t have the answer I just know
41:21
it’s just costly right BBC’s are not a
41:24
cheap unit to have right I remember a
41:28
community how much was computer spending
41:30
it’s like oh my god it’s ridiculous
41:32
amount but here’s the thing is if you if
41:34
you create the right environment the BBC
41:37
doesn’t have to be this duplicate of
41:39
stat they’re set up as the sales floor
41:43
however you look at some of the
41:45
economies of scale that come when you
41:47
have 10 rooftops or 20 rooftops and
41:51
you’ve got a big business development
41:53
center may be centralized opportunity I
41:56
think there are some some benefits that
41:58
but you have to overcome the cost of
42:01
that so some of our big groups have said
42:04
look
42:04
but I’m a factor in the cost of the BBC
42:07
I’d have to sell twice as many cars so
42:09
we’re not going to do it and even if
42:11
we’re not so good with handling leads
42:13
we’re still not going to have that cost
42:15
structure so I think we need two white
42:19
white board this thing and make the
42:22
decision at your dealership what do you
42:24
want to accomplish and be able to sit
42:26
here and say the only way I’m truly
42:28
going to get out from under the cost of
42:30
a BDC is to streamline it and make sure
42:33
that all of my team is a BDC right
42:37
blipping in to train your staff up yes
42:42
in skill tools and set vers fractional
42:46
izing your team with hyper skill sets
42:49
like I’m a master of phone calls around
42:52
the master of equity money or I’m the
42:54
master this which to me anytime you
42:57
individually eyes them out you create
42:59
chinks and armor because if you lose
43:02
that guy you got a plug another guy in
43:05
first having people cross train which is
43:09
an interesting you know thing and I I
43:11
totally feel like you kind of want that
43:13
well-rounded dying person now yeah let’s
43:17
let’s call it what this mean to learn
43:20
degree there are some really great
43:21
business development centers I like to
43:25
say that the ones that we set up are
43:27
really well operated and are generating
43:30
exceptional results for the dealerships
43:33
but you can’t hide from the fact that
43:36
they are expensive if they aren’t doing
43:38
more than just inbound leads and then
43:41
bell calls
43:41
you’ve got to expand the roles and
43:43
responsibilities to make them pay for
43:45
themselves handling service scheduling
43:49
handling and so children prospects
43:51
handling lease returns handling
43:54
customers and equity all things that get
43:56
shoved to the back burner
43:57
except for events like this and then all
43:59
of a sudden and I can do customers and
44:02
maybe give me all the lease return to
44:04
under the guy you can’t haphazardly
44:07
achieve success and and I love that this
44:11
Preston farrier with Furman Automotive
44:14
Group I went in there their store about
44:17
years ago and I used the word hope Todd
44:21
I hope you’re enjoying this conversation
44:23
I hope that you’re comfortable and about
44:26
halfway through you took a break and he
44:28
goes dude we don’t use the word hope
44:30
here at Furman but I’m saying I’ve
44:33
probably said it 50 times because I know
44:35
and it’s hurting me every time he says
44:37
when the downturn occurred in 2008 we
44:41
lost all hope and from this point
44:44
forward we make plans and we have
44:46
expectations so if a manager comes into
44:49
meaning they have to say here’s my plan
44:51
and here’s our expectations guys we’ve
44:54
got to get to that point we’ve got to
44:56
sit here and say you know look as little
45:00
as we want to do in the last 12 years
45:01
since the last downturn we fattened up
45:03
we got a little careless with their
45:06
marketing we got careless with their
45:07
hiring we got careless with about
45:09
everything a lot of fat we got exercise
45:11
trim it off and we’re gonna start over
45:14
but we can’t hope our way out of this
45:16
we’ve got to make plans and have
45:17
expectations that’s a really good point
45:20
I love that that yeah there’s no hope
45:22
there’s plans expectations and and
45:24
deliverables right I mean that’s really
45:27
what it comes down to I love that man
45:29
let’s see that’s like this gems that we
45:32
get when we come that’s why I love our
45:33
conversation so much I always feel like
45:35
I like walk away I’m like yeah that was
45:38
really good
45:38
I’m picking up something I’m like
45:40
learning through cane cane tree man
45:50
however the cake goes I don’t know but
45:52
now you’re like West Coast guy we’re
45:55
cool you’re cool now man you got a hand
45:57
simple you’re like yeah and no that’s a
46:01
really awesome man
46:02
I appreciate us as we at least get to
46:04
talk and I hope others will get the
46:07
benefit from it now one last question
46:10
cuz I always like to have a you know fun
46:13
question a grandparent advice how is it
46:19
being a grandparent which I know is
46:22
crazy because I know you have a new
46:24
grandson so how is it and how have you
46:29
been handling it during this code
46:31
of it 19 because I know you move to Cali
46:33
to spend time with them so yeah so you
46:37
know it’s it’s all about the technology
46:39
right yeah so multiple times during the
46:43
day I could see my grandchild there’s
46:51
Todd Smith where I’m a conversations
46:54
with Ty and there’s my grandbaby all the
47:13
way out there now I mean you’ve changed
47:16
up a lot of stuff man
47:17
Kane has become progressive got into a
47:19
co-working space you know I think
47:23
there’s a lot of changes going on at
47:25
Kane automotive she’s back yeah
47:32
so yeah it’s so Todd this is exactly how
47:35
it works and I get to see that little
47:37
rascal multiple times during the day and
47:41
introduce you to our viewing audience I
47:44
Duncan happy for you and it’s been great
47:55
and yeah man I look I feel like this is
47:58
such a big time for leadership training
48:01
for process training get your people up
48:07
to speed training training training
48:09
training training training and you know
48:11
it’s one thing a lot of times it gets
48:13
thrown to the side when things happen
48:16
right yeah we gotta cut back so we cut
48:19
training and then they cut marketing and
48:23
then we cut other things and I feel that
48:26
you know the better trained guys are
48:29
gonna come out this stronger and I read
48:32
a it was a think Harvard Business Review
48:36
did after the 2008 turndown they
48:39
reviewed something on range or like a
48:41
thousand companies and the companies
48:43
have fired
48:46
first of companies that either
48:48
furloughed or cut back pay the people
48:53
that furloughed and cut back pay came
48:56
out of the recession any much faster
48:59
rate than the people that cut and had to
49:02
start over because it’s getting those
49:03
grinding those wheels to get them
49:05
started you know it’s like starting a
49:06
train all the energy and intensity is
49:10
getting that wheel to turn one and then
49:12
it you know picks up but that takes a
49:14
long time verse never letting your train
49:17
stop
49:18
so it’s interesting I have for our
49:22
progressive clients we booked every
49:26
month with the optimism that we’re
49:31
coming back so you know suburban
49:34
collection in Detroit April actually
49:42
work for March been going away March is
49:44
supposed to go to their February booked
49:47
into actually a later week we moved back
49:50
then moved in April and now we’re
49:53
looking at me honor guard for best parts
49:56
and ones who are really crushing it
49:57
during this downtime and doing quite
50:00
well despite the circumstances all have
50:03
already set up the training and each day
50:06
we get calls from prospective dealers
50:09
saying hey you know we’ve been on the
50:12
fence now we’re ready to commit that
50:13
we’ve got to bring this back in you are
50:15
absolutely right you know if you look at
50:17
that 2008 downturn where we have to be
50:19
OAM bankruptcies and and stuff and chair
50:23
Motors and Chrysler shut down a lot of
50:25
stores remember when it came back and
50:27
all those little towns and lost their
50:29
stores chair Motors and Chrysler and
50:31
like we gotta bring those dealers back
50:34
in a really advantage themselves at the
50:38
time because they didn’t close look
50:39
close points in that level yeah I think
50:42
you look at you employees the same way
50:44
if you can keep the people who trust and
50:46
can honor the relationship with the
50:49
dealership keep them if you can and and
50:52
certainly times you and I can’t be
50:53
probably in and say here go that’s just
50:55
what you should do when
50:57
wherever their life and livelihood is on
50:59
the line and they’re about to lose the
51:00
family store or the big corporation that
51:04
doesn’t have any choice that’s reality
51:06
and we appreciate that but if you’re
51:09
able to it certainly will truncate your
51:12
growth back yeah I agree
51:15
so thank you so much now I know you can
51:18
have some resources that I guess your
51:20
any links for those – yeah and then you
51:22
can share them out awesome well thank
51:25
you so much I really appreciate your
51:27
time today man yeah it was great
51:29
see you later
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