Speaker 1: 0:21

Sean, thank you for taking the time to meet with me today and for everybody, sean's a friend of mine and somebody that I've been very fortunate to do some business with over the past number of years Fellow cyclist as well, and anyways, we just wanted to get together and talk about business and just in general what we're seeing outside and different things along those lines.

Speaker 1: 0:43

So you and I the other day we got in a pretty long conversation really about, um, salespeople and why in the industry that we feel that it's sometimes it's just like a bookend or maybe a stop gap for some people and they don't really get immersed in the, the sales side of things. And and how come people don't look at it as a profession rather than just a? Oh, it's a holding place until I find something better. And you and I, I think we had a pretty darn good conversation because you and I are both on the same page as we think as far as maybe it's an education thing, maybe it's that career path thing, maybe something along those lines. But I want to pick up on that conversation that you and I were talking about. What was that a week or so ago really?

Speaker 2: 1:31

educated and really smart people from wanting to enter the space Because financially the space is fantastic. I mean, if you take a look at what average income is for somebody who works in this industry and spends time in this industry, it's very, very good. It's very, very competitive compared to other markets out there. That as a whole, I think the industry is fantastic. I mean I think it's an, you know, an endless opportunity. You know there's really not a cap on what you can earn in the industry. I think the industry's changed significantly over the last 10 to 15 years too, and what I mean by that is a little bit of you know just how, how harsh the industry really is. You know, 10, 20 years ago I think the environment and the climate was a little bit more of a firm or harder to work in type of a.

Speaker 1: 2:30

Oh, I'll agree with you 100%. I mean, you know, being a student of the car business since what? 1984 and to what it is today, I think, frankly, it is a far more friendlier, clearer, better environment. You know we got on that whole subject matter and you know we talk about processes and different things along those lines and I just you know how easy I don't want to say easier but if you look at the exposure in the marketplace, you look at, for an example, the inventory, everybody's inventory is online. You get a perfectly view of it. You come in, the customers come in for a purpose, you know, and it's about that customer's experience. But also, on the same hand, it's like what happens after the customer says yes, what happens after the customer takes delivery of the vehicle and they drive it home. You know that piece of the follow-up piece and why it's so hard for salespeople.

Speaker 1: 3:26

And again, I'm talking about myself. I had the same issue when I was selling cars. That phone seemed to weigh about 10,000 pounds and I couldn't pick it up to make a phone call To save my soul, to ask my customer who just bought a vehicle how everything is going. And I think nowadays, before CSI wasn't as important Today. Csi is everything I mean. We want word of mouth, we're selling used cars, we're going to have an issue, there's going to be something that might pop up, but it's what you do with it that really makes you stand out to your customer. I think, um and I know, I think you've shared that same kind of insight on that or philosophy.

Speaker 2: 4:20

Well, you know the level of. I agree with what you're saying as well. Like I sold cars for a long time too, and when I was selling cars I think I was just so focused on the business in front of me, like that day, that moment, that customer that was hopefully walking through the door, that I can tell you, I know for a fact that I passed up on all different types of opportunity, meaning referral business from a sold customer, follow up from a sold customer, you know, reaching out on birthdays from a sold customer, you know just saying hello. The amount of opportunity that's there, that is missed on a daily, monthly, yearly basis, is just, it's incredible and it is one of the major differences between a real, professional salesperson and somebody who's trying the business out.

Speaker 1: 5:10

No, I 100% agree. I mean, and it is about that path, you know it's. It is amazing, it's if you think about, I mean, if you look at the COVID era. I mean here we had look every up that walk through the door was typically a buyer, it was. You became more of an order taker. We got away from the essentials of really giving a good feature value presentation on an automobile and and we were just basically collecting orders and negotiations went out the window because inventory was hard to find.

Speaker 1: 5:40

And now we're looking at post-COVID. You know increase in interest rates, the slowdown of foot traffic. You know the swelling of inventory, the prices making some adjustments down Kind of got to get back to that tackling and blocking just the basics of sales. That's tackling and blocking just the basics of sales. And I think and I know you do an extremely good job on leading your team in those sort of things. But you've also had the opportunity of working many other different places, no different than myself, and it's amazing and I know we've talked about it, is why other organizations don't have structure or processes.

Speaker 2: 6:23

Yeah, you know, we touched on a little bit of that before and I think that it's really. It really ends up being that there's a couple of different people who end up getting into this industry, you know, and what we see most of the time is people who don't know what else to do and they get into the car business for lack of you know. I know that this will pay me a paycheck. There's usually training pay attached to some of the opportunities and people get in because they don't feel as if they have other options. And you don't need a lot of um school experience to be very good at it, right. School experience to be very good at it, right. You don't see a lot of people get into the business for the right reasons is where I'm trying to get at, you know. And then you'll have a lot of people that come into the business for the wrong reasons and they make a good paycheck but they never want to really own it. They never really want to accept that as what they're going to do. In two and three and four and five years pass and just by being in the dealership doing a good job, showing up to work, you see them excel and climb up through the rankings and then you know you're still lacking in a lot of the different pieces, right?

Speaker 2: 7:34

Because to be, in my opinion, to be fantastic or to be great at something, you have to actually like it. It has to be something that you enjoy, whether it be the sales aspect of it or the product aspect of it. You know I love cars. That's why I'm in this business, right? I mean, I really like them. I like all different times, old and new, but cars I really enjoy and I enjoy people. So for me, it's very natural for me to be in this business because I enjoy the product, I enjoy the people, I enjoy the conversation, and I think that if, instead of it being something that you feel like you just default to because you don't have other options and you actually like what you're doing, I mean, the road to opportunity is just yeah, it is amazing, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 8:21

Because I mean, you know we've been in stores where you've had a salesperson or two or three that have been in an organization for 10, 15 years. They don't have to take it up anymore. You know they get people coming in specifically asking for them, they have appointments. But you also look at what they do to earn it. You know they have a process, they do follow up, they do send birthday cards, they do make phone calls, they actually ask for referrals.

Speaker 1: 8:48

You know, and to me, and that's the earmark of really somebody that is taking on this profession, but you are 100% correct is this is the last bastion of entrepreneurialism and that's what has been really amazing about this business is you don't need a high school education to come in and sell cars. You just need to be a good, authentic individual that generally wants to give somebody a good experience. If you think about it, any organization, they do the advertising for you, they bring the inventory to you, they give you a phone line, they give you a computer, they give you leads. They do everything for you. The only thing you need to do is really go out and do a decent feature value presentation to a customer and then just ask them for the business.

Speaker 2: 9:33

I mean it really is incredible because, like I said, I think it's one of the very few things that you can start off on your first month without any real experience in doing and you can really come in and excel and really make a living for your family. I mean it's really. It really is an incredible industry when it comes to like what you really need to be successful yeah, a good personality and open mind and a good work ethic and I mean that's it?

Speaker 1: 9:58

Yeah. How many times have you seen the green pea come in with really no expectations. They follow, or they follow processes or direction and like the first month or two they're in the business they am sound like 20 vehicles blow it out of the water. They blow it out of the water and then nope, nope, and then the next month you see them fall on their sword. You know, because one of the things I always learned, or was always told me as when I started in the business, is stay stupid, you know, don't think you know everything about it, just you know. Stay naive to it. Just follow. You talk yourself right out of a deal. Yeah, just follow the directions. It's kind of funny.

Speaker 2: 10:45

More times than not. Like I said, I, you know, I mean I'm so passionate about the industry just because I see how it changes people's lives and what you need to really do. And you know, I'm a product of it as well, much like yourself, you know. I mean, I started off in this business. I answered an ad, um for $500 a week to train you how to be a salesperson, and at that time I was transitioning in my life from one career to another and I said you know what? Let's give it a shot. They're going to pay me 500 a week and they're going to teach me how to be a salesperson. I mean, uh, let's see how it goes. You know, fast forward 15 years and you know I have a very good job, I have a career. You know I'm in a business I like and it takes care of me and my family very well, and that's not a huge time span either 15 years.

Speaker 1: 11:26

No, but you've owned it. You got into it, you owned it. You realized, kind of what you had. You saw a path and you stayed diligent and true to it. You know you weren't a grasshopper, you know you didn't jump from lily pad to lily pad. You basically put the hard work in and and earn the opportunity and, like you say, it's uh, you know it's given both of us, I think everything that you can possibly imagine in the business and it's all from all spawned from really selling cars on the floor and it's and and that's, you know, taught myself and I think you're the same is it just all the valuable life lessons, really, kind of what's in it when you put the effort forward and what's the reward when you do put the effort?

Speaker 2: 12:08

forward and that's something I was going to touch on with the earlier statement is why is it not more popular? Why is why is this industry not more more sought after to get into? You know, I feel like that these days that everything is about how you make money the fastest, the easiest, the quickest yeah, and this just simply isn't that industry. You know, this is an industry where you, if you work hard and you're diligent and you show up and you're consistent, there's money and opportunity.

Speaker 1: 12:40

It only grows in time and experience. But in building your customer base you know, and once you build that customer base it becomes easier because, like you say, I mean how many times you've got? You've got people, you know people in other places and they have. They have referrals, come through, they have repeats, come through. You know it's. They don't have to really take an app a fresh up.

Speaker 2: 13:02

They they brand, they market themselves, they utilize some of the I mean, we have such amazing new tools that were never really all market. You know, in regards to social media, in regards to you know, the Internet as a whole, I mean it is, it is where everyone goes to find out what you want to know about the product you're interested in, what you want to know about the people that are selling the product that you're interested in. Who's a good person to go and talk to about the product that you're interested in? And you simply go on and read a few reviews with a good name in there and you know who to ask for when you walk through the door. But if you're not the salesperson who takes that extra step and asks for the review with your name in it, then you don't get to capitalize on those people who are shopping that land.

Speaker 2: 13:46

And, like I said, you see today, I mean everything I buy, and I'm sure you're very similar in that regard. You want to see some reviews on a product, the new product. You want to see reviews on a business that you're going to patronize. How about?

Speaker 1: 13:57

just a restaurant you're going to go to.

Speaker 2: 13:59

Do not read the you know you read the servers.

Speaker 1: 14:03

Eh, jody was fantastic, you know, and you know you read the servers hey, jody, was fantastic, you know, and it's the people who put that extra step in. And, like you said, I have friends that have been in this industry for 10, 12, 15 years and they've just sold cars and they never had any interest in moving into a different position and they've created a profession and a job for themselves where Well, look at, look what Sewell Cadillac in Dallas, texas, has done, you know, and they have pioneered getting, you know, graduates from college with big time degrees to come into the business. Because of their processes and the path and the career path that they give and and they're still there and they're still selling vehicles is, and the path and the career path that they give and and they're still there and they're still selling vehicles. It's, um, it is amazing and and and it's a shame because it's like you say, we're I, we both love this business immensely and, um, really want to see. It is a life changer for people, if you allow it to be.

Speaker 2: 15:01

I agree with you a hundred percent. Um, you know, like I said, I'm a, I'm a product of it and I don't see myself going anywhere. And you know, I know so many people that the business has really just created a life for them. And you know meaning, you know you go from a, you know a minimum wage or an hourly style profession and within you know two to three months you're making us, you can make a six figure income in the business without any question, no question, you know. So you know, like I said, I think what, what keeps people away a little bit, is that it's not going to happen unless you make it happen. And you need to be here and you need to do it and you need to show up, and that scares a lot of people away. And I think that the world and the internet and television, you know, really puts a message out there right now where you don't have to work that hard.

Speaker 1: 15:51

And you know, or just be an Instagram sensation Sensation.

Speaker 2: 15:55

And or you have an Amazon product store. You know, online, virtual. You don't have to manage anything, you don't have to do anything, and then money is just going to go in your pocket. It's mailbox, yeah, and she'll open the mailbox magically and that's just not going to happen for me. So you know, and most other people so you know.

Speaker 1: 16:12

I think hard work beats it out all the time and I love sharing with people you know the fact that anybody can do it, that there's a ton of opportunity and that almost any car dealership you go to will give you an opportunity. I mean for one thing, I mean what you've done here is it just you guys have obviously tons of opportunity and for the right individual that that will fit the culture it's. I think it's a, it's an absolute blessing and a great place to be, with great leadership and ownership and and opportunity, agree, agree. So anyways, all right. Well, thank you, sean, appreciate it, of course. Thank you.