Wake up, Buy Here, Pay Here people. It's a beautiful day. Go grab yourself another cup of Joe and say hello to Jim and Michelle Rhodes on the Buy Here, Pay Here morning show. Take it away, you two. well good morning good morning from utah happy wednesday we got a white hat wednesday topic for today it's a loosely white hat it's um it's something that um That non-white hat, too, also experienced. Yes, absolutely. We also were like, I got this thing happening right here. Okay, there we go. Now it's fixed. I mean, it's, you know, like... It's a different thing. When we've had guests on, they're fussing and they're just primping and making sure that everything just looks okay. And for the most part, we're just kind of like, it's time to start. Let's go. But every once in a while, if there's something that's really obvious, it's like, I'm going to have to do this on camera for everyone to observe as I go. Yeah, of course. And, um, and we were talking this morning, I know we're a couple of minutes late starting and almost 10 minutes, a couple of minutes late starting. And, um, you know, we, we, uh, we recognize that most of the people that listen to what, listen to the morning show or are not watching live. So that's no excuse. There's about three people sitting out there waiting. When are they going to start? When are they going to start? Exactly. Exactly. So what do we have coming up? Well, we have V8 meetings all lined out. I can say that our groups that meet near term are full. We do have one seat available in group two, which is the group of dealers that are 500 or more accounts. So if anybody has an interest in that, please reach out. Those meetings start next week. And then our group three for beginners meets at the end of the month. So we've got time to get in there. And there's a few spots available for that one, too. And so it does include some minimal coaching, group coaching on that, too. So if you're new and have under $100. Yeah. We spend a lot of time on KPIs, which numbers to measure, which numbers matter and typically show them kind of averages from the other groups. So they get a feel for what people are doing. So that's kind of how that works. And we're really enjoying the whole V8. Yeah. It's been really well received. We had a meeting yesterday that was kind of a bonus meeting. We're calling V8 plus and, uh, So we were able to have a specific thread of conversation with some of our group members and it was quite good. It was very well received. People were appreciative and we had a really rich conversation. We're actually going to be that topic that you guys talked about yesterday is actually coming up on our daily roundup on the 18th. And so it is April Thursday, April 18th, starting at 6. 10 a.m. Eastern Standard Time. Yep. And yeah, so we will be having, there's three, and actually, okay, I'm going to, Jim made banners for those that are watching via video. Dealer Roundup, virtual panels, Thursday, April 18th, 10 a.m., One topic is, can you teach an old dog new tricks? This is about old car dogs. Right. Can they adapt to buy here, pay here? And that's a really, that's going to be a great topic because we hear that a lot. And it kind of ties to our topic for today because, you know, my topic today was about buyer's remorse. So what happens when we oversell the customer, right? When we, you know, sell them into something they really weren't ready to buy. Exactly. So that'll be part of it. So the second topic is outsourcing BDC. Is that a good option for you? And and that can also be there's outsourcing options for collections as well. So it's going to be kind of along the broader topic of outsourcing. But, you know, that BDC is going to be one of the topics. And then the third one is private money, the answer for me. That's the one that that's what they talked about in the V8 Plus meeting yesterday with a few dealers and really great conversations. So we're looking forward to bringing that to a larger audience and, you know, breaking down with a panel on that subject as well. Yeah. And quickly, I just want to say we also got a call yesterday about I'm going to moderate a panel. Oh, yeah. Yeah, Jeff called. Yeah. And so we just want to wait and see. I don't know exactly where on the agenda it is. He told me that to the three dealers and I know two of the three dealers, it's going to be a really great panel. So we'll share more about that. Yeah. Yeah. We were planning on being there anyway, and we're asked, we're going to be opening up the, uh, the expo with doing a live broadcast. And, um, so, you know, we were, we, Jim didn't, Jim's topic that he submitted didn't get chosen. So we're like, okay, you know, we can, I cried for a couple of days. Eventually, I came out of it. It was over the weekend, so no one really had to witness that. But Jeff gave us a call yesterday and asked Jim to moderate. It's going to be a pretty good topic. You called him, didn't you? You told him that I was upset. I did not. Well, maybe. Did you tell him? Yeah, because Jeff and I were like this. And I texted him and said, hey, dude, I did not. Yeah, I did not. So we're looking forward to that, those of you who are going to be there. One other thing, lots of announcements, but don't forget the Neo Users... User Summit. User Summit. Thank you. I was like the last word. Tuesday, April 23rd at the Bellagio. It is free. It is free. Which, by the way, I got a couple of introductions to make. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it is free. If you're coming to the Buyer Payer United website, You know, see if you can get an extra night. Come to that. Be here for, you know, get your airline tickets. And I'm pretty sure, well, I'll have to verify with Scott, but if you're thinking about using Neo and it's something that, you know, you'd like to learn a little bit more about, I'm pretty sure you can get into that too. Yeah, that's what I'm understanding. So the other piece too is I don't want to forget to mention for those Neo users that might be tuned in, don't forget there's a webinar. I think it's inside the Neo user group. Yeah. So if you're not a member already, you know, get in, get on it. On a buzz topic. On a buzz topic. We should probably move on to our subject. Yes. Well, I mean, I know that people love listening to us banter, but yes. Do they? We've been told that a couple of times. Some said they do enjoy that. But they really came, many of them came to hear about buy here, pay here. In buy here, pay here, lease here, pay here, how hard should we sell? And we kind of talked about this a little bit a couple of weeks ago, but there's some things we wanted to be able to add. And it really does tie into this. Can you teach right? Right. Remember this one? Can you teach an old dog new tricks? Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So I think it's, it's, it's a question. So for today in the comments, I said, look, today's more about questions than answers because we, we look forward to having this conversation. As Michelle said, we'll kind of have a thread of this in our, our dealer roundup in a few weeks, but we, that it's really a question for me as a former dealer myself and somebody who even before that let's go back before that when I was in sales I had really high um they called it ssi like sales satisfaction index and so as a salesperson and later as a sales manager had really high scores and that was mostly because Like I didn't have, they called them comebacks or, you know, these customers who were, they bought on Saturday and they're in, they're mad and upset on Monday because they got sold something they weren't happy with. And that was, that was just never me. Okay. So this is, this is my nature anyway. So maybe it helps to understand that. So to understand though, that part of that nature is that Jim is, talks about all of the things and make sure that the people buying understand all of the things. And that they feel good about their decision. I don't want to stuff somebody in a car because it means a commission to me today. Like if I'm going back to my salesperson days, I don't want to stuff somebody in a car and have them be unhappy because they weren't really sure they were kind of on the fence. And, And I wanted people to feel comfortable with their decision because I was still going to be here on Monday. And even though that's counter to a lot of sales approaches that might be taught and trained, because really traditionally, especially in the new car world, we want to close them now. Yeah, any issues are not going to be your problem at all. And they're going to go to this, but then it's like it's closed. It's done. I was familiar with all the techniques. Look, if I could, would you? Or, you know, all the stuff is like, you know, and close the deal now. But I just wanted the customer to be satisfied. I didn't want a customer unhappy next week because I oversold them. So this is my nature. So maybe it helps to kind of frame the conversation that I want to have here because I want to ask the question. It's always struck me as curious. That we, in our line of work, and I think this is generally more true in larger markets. Let me just say that part first. But I think it's generally true in larger markets that you see people get real competitive. Now, of course, we're going to compete for business. We have expenses and we have a certain risk of being in business. You mean dealership to dealership to dealership competitive? Yeah. But I also see a lot of competition in⦠Teams. Teams. Inside teams. And not healthy either. Yeah, that can be good healthy competition, can be fun, and can help increase productivity. It can also be unhealthy, but that's really not kind of a⦠Well, it is, it is, and it is, and it is, but it's also about like the kind of the thought process that an old dog would bring to a dealership. And, you know, it's like when we bought, we bought a car brand new off the lot a couple of years back and we talked to someone on the phone. And then we landed there and that person wasn't there. And so they had to pass us over to someone who actually worked the deal. And then there was a lot of like, it was just kind of weird how when we purchased our car. Yeah. And they also oversold us. They way oversold us. On the BDC side, they promised something that was not available when we got to the dealership. And they will. Yeah. And so. So that's the recipe you're starting in with a bad taste, right? Yeah. I mean, loved the car. It did not have Apple Play. And it was a brand new. Why would they? I mean, who wants Apple Play? But, you know. But it was, it was like, it was, it was a, it was a nice vehicle and, and we were confused and even went back and said, we can't figure out how to hook it up because we were told it has it. That's a different. Yeah. Yeah. And then they even had the man, they had the original guy that would talk to us. And then the, the service manager come out and the service manager came out and says, it doesn't have it. And the salesperson was as confused as we were because we were told it had it. And it's, we don't need to get up on that whole tangent, but you ended up unsatisfied, you know, and it wasn't, it wasn't a deal breaker kind of dissatisfaction, but we were, it was misrepresented and it's a pretty significant, you know, piece of the technology for, for Michelle. And so it's like, it's something that was, you know, immediate disappointment. But I think the real thing, if we move to the buy here, pay here side, it's like, How hard should we? So it's just weird to me on the surface, like we've got a customer who's got credit trouble. Yeah. And we're all out there like it just looks funny to me to see dealers saying, come do business with us. Your credit is a problem. Come do business with us. You know, it's like it's it feels strange to me that we're competing that hard for a customer who. has credit trouble. And sometimes I think the competitive environment that can be buy here, pay here, especially in larger markets is created by us, not the consumer. Like I hear about customers, oh, they really beat us up on price and blah, blah, blah. I'm thinking, well, I feel like we would have created that as dealers. Because in my experience with customers all across the country, they're not price sensitive. They're not in a position to be price sensitive. Like, yes, they can decide who they want to do business with based on how you price your cars. But as far as you know, being price sensitive, it's that, that I really only see in larger markets for the most part. And so it's, look, it's a changing world. I could be wrong and please jump in there and tell me if I'm, if I'm dead wrong. Do you think price sensitive and inventory sensitive is kind of the same thing too in bigger markets? Um, perhaps I'm just saying that if, if a consumer with poor credit is, is shopping us hard against somebody else. Well, so-and-so over here has got a little better interest rate or so-and-so over here has got a car with less miles. That just, I think that we as dealers have created that environment. And so I'm not saying we're going to fix it. I'm not saying that we're, but I'm saying we, we sort of created an environment where we, you know, we're competing with one another based on certain factors. And we've kind of created that environment, I feel like, where the consumer now, you know, can see that we're competing against one another and we're we're going to compete. Don't misunderstand. We're going to compete. Yeah, we have a business to build. We have to attract customers. I guess the real part I'm trying to get to again for today, it's just questions like I just wanted to open the dialog and I look forward to bringing panelists and bringing experts to the conversation. We can start to analyze what we can analyze. And I just think it's a curious thing to say, how do we how do we attract customers? And maybe it's easier to say it this way. When I was a dealer and before I was a dealer, I was a salesperson. I wanted the customer to want to do business with me. Yeah, I wanted them to want to be my customer. Go ahead. Tyler Simmons. And I really, really appreciate your comments, Tyler, because they're just... Well, and he's a sales manager in a pretty active dealership. Yeah. He says, buyer's remorse with us comes from more from hard-selling reality versus what the customer thinks they can afford. They actually come to... come down to reality and understand we have their best interests in mind but initially they want all the bells and whistle vehicles instead of what they can actually afford and so I mean I appreciate I really do appreciate that um you know that it's it's Because like what you said, it is a used vehicle, one. So it's going to have things that might not be working right or that might whatever. And so for me, the question too with this hard sell side would be if you are like out there pitching cars and pitching down payments and pitching interest rate and all of that, You know, there's a lot of others out there pitching those things, cars, interest rate. This is why you can come, come, come. This is why you need to come to us. And it kind of boils White Hat Wednesday. I mean, the differentiator in a big market is a program. It's who you are, how you treat your people, your reputation, all of those things. And that's where you compete. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Um, I think for me, I'd like to separate it from the actual sale of the car. Like I think our car dog conversation at the roundup will be more around the car sales. And so there's, there's different elements to this. To me, there's, there's the car being happy with the car. There's the, the actual closing of the deal. Like, you know, the, the whole thing about, you know, clothes, ask him to buy, ask him to buy. And now they, now they're ready to buy and they agreed to buy. So I'm going to assume that we've reached an agreement on terms on the car they're going to buy. But really, even before that, it's like choosing where they're going to do business. Like, you know, we're stepping into a long relationship and a buy here, pay here situation. So that makes us different. Just that alone makes us different. When the customer steps in, if they step in unhappy. then we're in this unhappy marriage with a customer for as long as it's around. I mean, if we start unhappy, it's pretty hard to get happy. Oh, yeah. It's sometimes expensive for the dealer to get happy. So when you look at, like, again, this... Old car dog, that has never been something that they... It's not an issue that really doesn't... Because my relationship is done, they're moving on to the next one. Yeah, and we should break that down. Some people who are listening today might not be familiar with the phrase car dog. So car dog, the way it's always been shared to me in context is... These older, more seasoned, experienced car people who are, you know, obviously skilled salespeople because they've made a career in sales. And I wonder if the reason they call them car dogs is because they're either like a bulldog, they're very persistent and work in the customer or they're. they're like dogs that chase cars. Like, you know, there's the chasing cars kind of thing where you chase them and get them out of the car, you know, as they pass through the lot. So either way, it's like the idea is it's representative of a car person who's highly experienced and has, you know, the sales experience and they're kind of just generally often called car dogs. What we see frequently with the clients that we have is that the old car dogs are typically ones that have been working franchise for a long time. We all know the hours and what you're expected to do in the franchise world is pretty, pretty rigorous. It's, you know, they're open seven days a week. They're open until eight or nine. You know, they're open, they open up regular business hours. And so it's a lot more rigorous. And there's also this really high expectation of, you know, sell, sell, sell, sell, sell. And so what we've seen with some of our clients is that they want to hire someone who is looking at kind of taking it a little bit more easy. They don't want to have the same stringent schedule. They don't, you know, they maybe don't need the same amount of money that they were making working on a franchise lot. And, you know, there's a lot of pieces to joining Buy Here, Pay Here that is really, you know, it looks very appealing. Jim, when he started working Buy Here, Pay Here, he started in franchise, had the high, you know, the high index. And then they asked him to open up his Buy Here, Pay Here lot. And he's like, okay. holy, I get a life. And so there is a lot of appeal to old car dogs. You were talking about when I stepped into management with a buy here, pay here story. So yeah, I think I'll let you read that while I kind of explain. When I stepped into management, yes, when I first started, I worked with a franchise group that asked me to open what turned out to be their sixth buyer-payer store. This was in 1997. So when I stepped into that, I had a couple of years under my belt of car sales. I had plenty of years of sales. I had my own retail stores and sporting goods stores before that. And so it wasn't new to me in that regard. It's just a different... you know, getting familiar with the product, whatever. And so I, I enjoy it. I had some success, but yeah, when I stepped into buy here, pay her side, it was a different environment and I just could see right away. And this is part of what drives my purpose behind this question. When I stepped into buy here, pay her, the paradigm shift was significant. Like the customers coming forward is asking for help, right. For the most part. I mean, of course there are exceptions. And I, again, I think in the larger markets, it's a little bit different environment, but most of our dealers are in small and medium sized markets. And it was always my observation as customers were coming forward, asking for help. The conversations typically opened with, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm trying to get a car. My credit's not great. And you know, I can only do about 800 down. Can you help me? You know, that was kind of where the conversations tended to start. And so that's a whole different environment than somebody come in and said, you know, what do you got in a red V8? You know, you know, So that's just a different environment. So it's a different paradigm thing. So I think it's buy here, pay here. I'm just curious. Like, I just want to hear from dealers and I want to flesh it out. I want to go out and ask the questions because it's all the pieces. It's marketing. It's how we market ourselves out on the front end. How hard do we sell in marketing? What are we choosing to sell on the front end? And then when we attract the customer, what kind of tone have we created in our own marketing environment? in terms of what the customer's expectations are how we've set expectations going into this relationship and now the actual uh process of follow-up and closing the customer like how hard are we working this poor credit customer don't we don't we just want them to do business with us don't we want to create us because for me it's more about attracting them than selling them Okay, so that's kind of where I'm going from. And you know what's interesting to me is as we've worked with some of our dealers and BDC and those kind of things is that the average buyer is like been in the system for a month. Mm-hmm. um, you know, that they first reached out and like a month, how many franchise car dogs would, it's like, no, it has to be now. It has to be now. It has to be now. It has to be now. It has to be now. And, um, you know, that's, that's, uh, and they, they don't know how to follow up. Um, Yeah. And listen, we can't cover today this whole thing about commissions, like where we choose to put commissions. Because obviously, if I'm a salesperson, I'm motivated by a commission today or, you know, I need three more sales by the close of the month. But obviously, that's going to affect people's salesmanship and how much they turn on the salesmanship. And so I think it's, it's definitely, and I see somebody said, you know, marketing is a precursor. It is. And I think for that reason, we wanted to be congruent. We want the marketing process to be consistent with the dialogue at the lot, which would be consistent with the closing language, which would be consistent with the collections team, right? It's kind of all, we're trying to start a relationship with somebody for years. So is the closing and is the collections and is that whole relationship we have with a customer about a car? So someone piped in, Facebook user, don't know who you are, but good comment. in my opinion facts tell stories sell sell the financing not the car we've helped so and so and we can't wait to help you too speak to your potential customer they typically don't think long term it's about the now and your job is to set them up for success in the future example selling them a vehicle they can actually afford and making timely affordable payments, et cetera. So I hear you. I think I still have a problem with using the word selling them a vehicle. It's just like I think in my approach, I'm not selling them a vehicle. If I'm coaching a dealer, I'm not asking them to sell a vehicle. I'm letting the customer choose a vehicle. I'm selling them on our program, and I'm working with them on what kind of financing fits, and then I'm letting them choose a car that fits their budget. So I'm not selling them on this green car runs better than the red car. Like that's not, that's salesmanship. And so some people may say semantics, but it's, is it? It's not. I mean, I think if we have to adapt that language in the dealership, like it's, it really. Oh, and that was Anna Maria. Okay. Yeah. So it's like, you know, and of course I just, I think that's one of the things that's different. And look, this is Jim, there'll be, you put line up five by here, pair coaches. And I may be the only one with this, this outlook, but this is again, based on my own thing about underselling. If I, even if I just infer, so this is something that we can make a whole separate topic, Michelle, this whole thing about when we infer that, She knows when I say that. I'm taking notes. Otherwise, we're up at 7 a.m. figuring out topics. Gracious we are sometimes. So it's like this whole thing about when you infer just because you imply that this car runs better than this car. Let me go back. Back in the 90s, when I was trained to handle sales, the program, which was really that Rick Reeves program that we just kind of paid tribute to, that program was basically, it was grounds for termination to tell someone they were buying a good car. Now, keep in mind, I felt that way before I ever heard that. from the Rick Reeves training. But the idea is the same. It's like, why, why are we selling the customer on a certain car? And this is a good car. This is one. I drove this one to the bank yesterday and it drives great. The air's cold. If I were you, I would pick that one. What happened there? We just, we just basically accepted a lot of responsibility when that customer buys that car and the AC is not working in two days. How did that affect my language and selling the customer on that particular car? I have basically inferred some responsibility that didn't need to be there. And so this is where I sometimes have to pull people back from selling and overselling. In my experience, it's not necessary. It's something we step into a hole and we create our own headaches. Would you suggest... that there be some kind of like documented written somewhere in the dealership. These are the 10 points that we check every car. So every car on the lot is going to, you know, it's been reconditioned. These things are done or these things that, you know, that there, would you suggest doing something like that? Um, yes, but it's a question of when I pitch it, like, again, that's really pitching the car sale. So that's the condition of the car. And of course I'm going to have a warranty or service contract or some commitment to support the customer. So that's a separate matter. I'm really saying, so if, to answer your question, if I had a 10 point checklist or whatever it looks like, I would have it early on in my get to know us poster that says, these are all the things you should know about doing business with us. And so it's really program related. We do this with all cars. But when it comes time to choose a car, it's you. It's going to be on the customer. Like, I just want the customer to have some ownership, take some responsibility. Of course, I'm going to help frame the conversation in the selection process by budget. Right. So and we do that based on down payment and then ultimately by total payment terms or financing terms. But. I think the key piece here is just salesmanship. It's like, when do we turn it off? Like, or what do we use those skills to sell? So, you know, we talk often about the whole sell the program, not the car. And I think you either mean that or you don't, if you sell the program and not the car, you sell people on, you sell people. So, so let's do the Jim Rhodes way for two minutes. Um, I'm going to sell. If I go out in marketing, I'm going to sell myself. I'm going to have customers get to know me. I'm going to be on video. I'm going to let them get to know me and feel comfortable with me. And whether I'm a salesperson or the dealer principal, like I just want the people to get to know me. And then I want them through that. They will get to know the business. I will help them understand the business and kind of how we do business. And I want them to just get to the place where they feel comfortable. Like they just want to get to the place where that's who I want to do business with when it's time for me to choose my next car. Those are the people I want to do business with. And now I go down and just choose a car from their inventory. Like it's, it's a whole different approach. And so my marketing on the front end, it's really going to be about me and the company. It's not about cars. And so this is something that, you know, we're working through this with a lot of our clients and we'll have a chance to go out and AB test it. And I think it's not so much about whether we sell them today. It's how do they perform in the long run? Like, are they, is this customer really stickier in the expressions that we've used in the past? It's like, Is the customer really stickier? Because again, in our buy here, pay here business, we get a little wrapped up in sell, sell, sell, push, push, push. And then once we've sold a bunch of cars, the customers are unhappy and we've got all these headaches. And boy, buy here, pay here is not very fun this week. It's like, okay, well, I wonder what we could have done to avoid that. You know, and so that's the coach in me, right? And the analyst. And so now we're going to go forward and measure. And we're working with some clients who will be able to help measure those kind of things and see, you know, if we, when we win, It's like that we did our story about Red Hanger some weeks ago. Like it's it really becomes a scenario where I wouldn't dream of doing business anywhere else. Like I feel comfortable with you folks. I feel comfortable with the way you do business. I like the way you're so transparent. I just I want to find out how it's easy. Yeah, it's like people have good things to say about you and I just want to do business. Now, does that mean that if they like us and they like the way we do business and they buy a car today that they won't have problems with it in three days? No, that's not what that means. They could still have a problem with that car. But hopefully we've we've stepped into that relationship with enough relationship equity. Right. That we we can navigate that thing. Whatever's got the customer unhappy in three days, we're going to have a better chance to. navigate that instead of being in a situation where that's the car I'd buy, that car runs great, you know, and now three days from now it's missing and it's, you know, it's got a number three cylinder misfire and like, what's the deal? You know, like, why did I have to go there? Why did I have to sell the car? Yeah. Um, there's, I have a couple of questions. Um, You know, you said to, to first get to know me, is that like you as the dealer or is that okay? So you as the dealer and the team or the, or is you the program or is when you talk about first thing I'm selling is me. What do you mean? Well, okay. So I actually saw a video from Anna Maria shared some stuff, some content about, you know, how we should get used to doing video. And of course we advocate for the same thing. So it's like, and I know Anna Maria is always putting things out there on most of the social platforms that we broadcast too. So take a look at some of those cause there's, there's great ideas about, yeah. And so I think for us, it's like, so you asked me, would I be selling meat? The short answer is yes. I mean, I think it's allowing folks to get to know me. So again, that's true of whether I'm a salesperson or a dealer. I'm just trying to get them to know me. Now, this is tricky because if you're a dealer, how comfortable do you feel with your salesperson going out? Yeah. Well, I mean, how comfortable do you feel being in front of a camera? It's because we brought this up to, we were having a, went to Nick Markosian's, one of his dealerships and met with him like, I don't know, a year ago, something like that. And Nick, those of you who know Nick, he runs one of the most successful lease here, pay her operations in the state of Utah. And, you know, we were talking to him about, you know, we're trying to teach people, dealers to get in front of the camera and And, you know, Nick's response was, oh, not everyone can do it like I'm doing it. And that is true. Nick is very comfortable in front of a camera. Let me clarify what you said. I don't, not everyone can do it the way I do it. The way that I do it. He's very, he's fun. He's animated. He just has no problem getting in front of a camera. He makes it funny. He makes it enjoyable. He's, you know, it's like he's selling Nick Markosian's personality and all of that in the process. And he's like, I don't know that you could do that. And it's like, that's not what we're talking about. It is. If you've got that kind of personality, great. Have fun. I mean, Jack Carter's another one that he's just hilarious. He's out there, people getting to know him. He's doing the stuff. But not everyone feels like I, you know, I'm not funny or, you know, I just I'm just I'm just doing this. So so what is it that we mean when we say get to know you? It can be really, really, really simple. It's just like, hey, you know, and this this is who I am. This is what we're doing. This is why I'm here. Yeah, I think as a dealer, if I had salespeople where I was encouraged to go do that, the reason that makes me uncomfortable is I'm just thinking about compliance. I can't have people out there doing live videos and stepping into holes about triggering terms. Look, buy this one for $800 down. Well, guess what? Just because it's not in print, it's still advertising and you just violated triggering terms. And now I'm in trouble as a dealer because... So you got to have some boundaries here. So again, stay away from cars. Talk about your program. Go to your poster and talk about all the ways that people enjoy doing, why people enjoy doing business with you. Maybe even talking about the people that have entered into a contract with you. It's like the success. Show the success stories if you're the salesperson because then you're not selling. That car's already gone. And so the temptation is gone. It's like this one is or, you know, that they we just got them in this. This is their story. And and look, I just think we should clarify. I'm not saying that there's never a time to promote cars in marketing. We know that historically that has worked, but that's us. That's us as dealers choosing to make it about cars. That's what I'm saying. That's one thing that I look forward to testing and hopefully we can prove out to many folks in the coming months and years that when we can avoid selling cars and we can attract a customer who just wants to do business with us and now they choose a car, I think the The satisfaction level is going to be higher. The stickiness is going to be higher. The friends and referrals are going to be higher. All these kind of things are going to be different. And so this is the part that I think, you know, it's easy to talk about today. Today's more about questions and asking dealers what their experience is in the trenches of this thing. But I think sometimes the whole car thing is like, that's us. That's us deciding to make it about cars. And look for some dealers, They're in a competitive market. That's the right strategy. Like you got to, you know, catch people where they're shopping. And I just know that, you know, we I've had a lot of success in marketing over the years and it was not car driven. So, so it's like, I just know that, you know, and so you're going to tell me, well, it's different, Jim. Well, it is different, but I'm still reaching a customer who's in a difficult spot. And, you know, it's a different platform. Yeah. There's all different platforms and there's ways that we communicate with customers different. But the reality is, it's still the same in terms of, you know, I have a solution. The customer has a problem. I'm trying to connect with them on a level that they can feel comfortable doing business with me for a long time. It's not just about today. It's not about today. So you're selling success and the program. Yeah. And selling yourself. And one of the things that we just want to really... Well, I, because I haven't told... clarify is that every you know we we talk to dealers all around the country and they're like our customers different our customers different our customers different your market may be a little little bit different like competition but your customer is the same from coast to coast it's the same as the customer that's in the middle of the panhandle of oklahoma just there aren't any people there that's true um as it is in chicago it's the same customer I mean it's they have the same that's why they're coming to talk to you is because they can't they can't if they can't buy from an independent dealer or a franchise Yeah. So, yeah, I think, you know, we kind of talked around it. I think we I think we addressed the key pieces that I wanted to get out there for the record. It's like, let's have a conversation. Let's continue this conversation. Let's bring dealers to to really break it down and let's and try to just really dig into what we know works. And and then back to the thing about, you know, the car dogs are just. If they're going to come in, yeah, can they produce sales? Yeah, of course they can get somebody to agree to buy something they really didn't have in mind to buy. It's like the old joke, just quickly, we can wrap up. Like when I got in the sales business and the new car business, you know, the thing was, you know, I've been working with this guy to buy a three quarter ton four wheel drive truck and the sales manager is working with me and we call the person. the next day on a Monday and said, hey, we want to talk to you about that three-quarter ton truck. And he said, well, when I left your dealership, I went down the street and I ended up buying a Ford Mustang. What? What happened was they ran into a salesperson, right? So that's the old thing about you. So that's salesmanship, right? It's just that now, how happy is that person who bought the Mustang when it's time to go haul a load of two-by-fours? you know, did they really solve their problem or did they just run into a salesperson? And now they're, they're stuck with something that, you know, they're not so thrilled about. I'm sure they're enjoying it. You get the point though. It's like, it's like we, we, we, we sell them and yes, they'll get them to sign the contract, of course. But now where are we? You know, we're, we're stuck in this relationship where we've got a customer who doesn't like us very much. And that's, I don't want to be in a three-year relationship with somebody that doesn't like me. I agree. Well, We're, yeah, we're like, we're five years now. So it's been, you know, it's like a really long by her pay her note. success she got me on low payments so it's a long-term deal yeah absolutely you do lots of fun we always have fun here and then it's uh you know one of these days we're gonna have to just kind of keep the camera rolling and and and for like the conversation after a morning show just for inside the world of jim and michelle maybe even like even 10 15 minutes before when it's like honey you really should button your shirt up oh yeah she's talking about me yeah exactly hey everybody thanks for joining us today and making us part of your wednesday um we uh we'll be back on friday for regular probably a straight line topic so have a great day everybody thank you
