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. Good morning. Is it time to do the show again? It is time to do the show again. What day is it? It's a Wednesday, right? It's a Wednesday. It's a white hat Wednesday. Yeah. Welcome, everyone. It's like the third Wednesday, isn't it? Yeah. Is it? I don't know. I don't keep counting like that, but happy to have folks here. Announcements from your side? Not a dang thing. I know that there's a lot of... I'm on the email list for Steve Levine and Ignite and their compliance stuff they're talking about. Again, I'll plug both of these things. They're different, but there's Winning the Fight, A Guide to Protect Car Dealers from Steve Levine from Ignite. It's a good one. Just reach out to the folks there and you can get yourself a copy. And then this one is the F&I Legal Desk Book, 9th edition, and this one's more of a resource book. So it's like if you've got a question, you just find the question in the thing and then find the answer. So I know that, you know, like I said, I get the emails all the time from the folks at Ignite. And, you know, there are lots of, they're always talking about the cars rule and this. And so it's just really a good idea to be aware. And so sign up for that email. I'm not sure that the folks here do that. I've not seen that Hudson Cook has. like an email thing that they send out but steve levine does it's free gives you good information then you can you know kind of keep track of that and it's also usually in the publications for uh the niada publications that he'll have an article in there there'll be things that talk about that so it's super good idea to to have something like that so the email that I saw from them yesterday had kind of like a rolling blog post like it had the latest blog entry and then yeah you know more recent yeah blog posts and probably linked to the whole thing so yeah it's good information there's not an awful lot about compliance that's sexy no that's like oh oh yeah I want to talk about how unless unless it's like the only time I hear that is when it's like someone went down And then people are interested in the after effects of someone not doing the things that the FTC has asked you to do. But it's like even more important because that is kind of like sensationalism, all that kind of stuff. And I do notice that like Steve and others, when they do articles, it's fear-based, but that kind of gets people's attention better than just saying, here's compliance. They actually did an article around the – they took on the topic of fear-mongering. Because I've been around this 20-plus years, and I've always seen that that's kind of the tactic that attorneys have to – uh use like say this is the worst worst case scenario and it would suck if it were you let's keep you from that happening yeah if they can scare you into taking action to you know what else can they do to get you to take action too and you know you don't you don't think most businesses might have like a attorney or something on retainer for in case something goes sideways someone that can look at contracts Our industry is so different because there's a lot of governmental pitfalls, things, holes, things that you can get caught up in. So it's always a good idea. And I didn't mean to do like the whole announcement thing around compliance, but it is, it's like really important. Yeah. I have to tell a fun story, a Michelle story this morning. I don't know that we've talked about it in the past, but one of the most enjoyable things about hanging around with Michelle is she, one, she can be theatrical. And that could be fun. It's entertaining. Like, I don't have to buy a ticket. Are you talking about my... You'll get there. It's my story. So this morning, we're having our coffee time as usual. We have hummingbird feeders on the back patio. And so it's fun to have our coffee out there. No, this is my story. You just sit patiently. And so I... Over the years, Michelle is like, she speaks animal speak. I think in the past, or at least she has her own version of animal speak, right? And so... This morning, I cracked up because there was a hummingbird buzzing around. In the past, I've known her to kind of speak to flies in the room or at least try to communicate with them. Whether she's trying to lure them over or shoo them away, she kind of speaks in fly speak. This morning, I said, do you not have a hummingbird? Voice that you could use to call them over because she was kind of using a human voice to summon the hummingbirds. And she broke into her hummingbird voice. I've been laughing all morning. It's hilarious. So, yeah. Fly voice is... So, I... You know... You know you found the right person that you can like... Well, you know you found the right person for you when all of your stupid, goofy, childish, whatever stuff can come out and there's no judgment attached to it. It's just humor. It's just fun. Except for the fact that it can be broadcast to the entire buy here, pay here world. Yeah, for sure. but that's okay. It's all good. It is all good. Well, on the hummingbird thing, I know we're running a little bit long, but a couple of my girlfriends, we've all been on this really pretty in-depth personal development thing. And I've got three girlfriends, the ones that I go to Mexico with or we do things. And so that's when I leave Jim to his own devices and when he eats corn dogs and Yeah, it's a big mistake. It's a really, yeah, it's like I could leave things in the freezer. They still wouldn't get eaten because, yeah. So the two of them, when we were having a group conversation a few weeks ago, both said, it's the weirdest thing, but hummingbirds just come right up to my face and then look at me and say good morning or whatever and then fly away. So I'm out on the deck and I'm like, Jim, I think one winked at me for a moment. so I've been trying to lure a hummingbird yeah because you know for some reason that's like I don't know it's guru level I have no idea but it's just like look at how they love and feel safe around me but I i think I talked to them in a way that is really is creepy yeah so okay okay done we'll keep you posted on thanks for hanging in there we'll be snapping photos and see how close they get if I could get one to land on my finger because I've seen that where people can do that um and that would just be like it it's it to me it's a reflection of how still And I'm not someone that can just be internally still and physically still for very long. So I'm trying to master this, everyone. What I'm going to do is I'm going to get a stuffed hummingbird and stick it on my finger. No, it's not being still. What you don't see before the video starts is they've really perfected their hummingbird voice. And so you've just got to keep working. Oh, I'm going to spend some time outside talking to the hummingbirds. Okay. On to our business of the day. Thanks for everyone hanging. Yeah, yeah. Appreciate your patience. I want to take on this subject that came around yesterday. And obviously, we've had two V8 meetings already this week. Have another one on Thursday. Great meetings. Like, again, every time you come out of that room, because he's in his office, door shut, all that, he comes out and he's just like, great meetings. that was such a good meeting. Every time. Well, and the meetings get better. Like, both of our meetings this week have been almost no reference to the comparative report. I mean, you know, we have some. Because they all understand it pretty well, too. Well, they understand it and they're getting to know each other. And so they kind of get to know each other's operation and they know what questions and what stuff they want to talk about. And so... And yeah, for me as a moderator, I'm able to just kind of prime the pump and let them go and talk and chat. And so it's been good. And I think another quick thing I want to mention, I started reaching out to some people to serve as, even just fill in guest moderators on occasion. I want to start to, especially now with some of these groups where they're getting kind of, you can't call it autopilot, but they're kind of getting to a place where you just drive a conversation. And I wanted to add just a little side kind of note on this, is that one of the reasons why we chose eight is because our business coach, when we first started working with her, she was talking about focus groups and boards of some kind. Advisory boards. Advisory boards. And she's like, you do not want to get more than eight because... It's more difficult for someone to sit back and not participate or for someone to, it's easier for everyone to, okay, eight keeps it easier for everyone to be able to have their opinions be heard and be drawn into a conversation. When you get a lot more than that, It's a lot easier to just disappear into a woodwork or that kind of thing. So she's like, it's most effective because you can have the really rich conversation with eight or less. She was saying six to eight. And when you get more than that, it's hard to have rich conversation as a group. You can break off into other groups and have rich conversation, but it's really hard to for the human brain, the human psyche, all of that, to have a conversation that's rich, if it's more than eight. I think that, and I find that that's even more true in a virtual environment, because you already have, in a virtual environment, you have the problem of people starting to speak at the same time, and you have that, and so, yeah, that's a good group size. Yeah, that six to eight works well. And so we, because you, like I say, you want to have richer, deeper conversations, really flesh out the topic. And, you know, if you want to keep it superficial is one thing, but if you want to really dig in. And then you've got enough variety of, you know, experience and all of that in there. If it was three, it would just, it might get lost. Okay, so to the topic. To the topic. To the topic. So I wanted to, in the conversation last night, coming off of the heels of two V8 meetings and some of the stuff we've been working on, I'm just, I'm returning to this subject of the DMS providers. You know, we've already made the request months ago. And DMS providers, we're not picking. You know, our intent is not to. It's just, it's like dealers need to be aware and know these kind of things too. Yeah. And we are working on behalf of dealers to make sure that they know where this information lives. We've covered that in the past. And when we had that conversation many months ago, you could tell that dealers were chiming in like, I think I know, but this kind of troubles me to think about, I don't know for sure where the data is. lives and who owns it. And so when I put the post out this morning on the podcast, I tagged Alison Harrison, who's an attorney, who's providing some legal support, just in kind, by the way, that's a courtesy from her. Yeah, she's donated time. She's donated time to the mission that is White Hat Way. And so So I tagged her this morning and said, you know, I wanted to make you aware that these may come to your inbox because I wanted our dealers who were, you know, for whatever reason, they don't know me. And they don't need to come to us. It's just like go directly to an attorney who is, she's representing in that capacity, white hat way and the betterment of dealers. Right, and so she's gonna, you know, for right now, she's just fielding the emails and we'll decide as soon as what happens there. But the real key here is, We want to make sure that we understand the nature of the agreement between dealers and their providers, in this case, DMS and probably CRM, because we're really focused on the ones that who possesses especially sensitive customer data. And especially I'm thinking about the data from a customer standpoint in a buy here, pay here context. What data do we need to make sure we have access to as dealers? to be able to mine the data in a, in a way that is going to be helpful to their business. So DMS, um, your, your brother asked me this morning, what does DMS stand for? Oh yeah. My brother's visiting. Yeah. So I've heard three different things. I've heard document management system. I've heard data management system. I've heard dealership management system. In our line of work, we can call it dealership management system, right? And so it's really because the DMS typically, for anybody not familiar, would be that system that is Typically in Buy Here Payer, it's managing inventory and sales and collections. And it's probably, it's the most, there are some dealers that don't have a DMS, but it is the, it's predominantly the software that every dealer is going to have to choose who they want to go with. Yeah, and let me explain why this is done in the context of a White Hat Wednesday and under the banner, so to speak, of White Hat Way. It's because, you know, as a party who works with dealers and kind of gets in there and looks at their operational data, we recognize kind of the limitations. We recognize the challenge that some of them have in getting to some of the information they need, first of all. But also, you and I talk about, we recognize there's tremendous opportunity in this industry and we need to move beyond. And I said this to our group last night in our virtual meeting, like, it's time for us to move past the 80s and 90s in terms of our technology. Yes, artificial intelligence is out there. There's a lot of new stuff. Coming on the scenes, our industry and buy here, pay here, we're typically behind. We're certainly behind the franchise segment. We're even sometimes behind the tools and solutions available to the independent retail dealer. But I'm just saying I want to march ahead. And the response in that virtual room last night was very affirmative. Like, yes, it's time for us to go out and harness technology better for our benefit. Yes. And, you know, this actually also weaves into, you know, we're working right now with some reporting through DMSs, and we've had some really great conversations with different DMS providers and the ones that are working currently on it, you know, different levels of being there. And one of the DMS providers said, DealPack suggested that we do a DMS forum. Now, a DMS forum is not going to have any kind of value to a dealer if they don't have something that they can look at that compares. And it's just almost like, you know, spreadsheet that this, this, this, this, this, this. And so this is one of many things that we are examining and putting together for dealers to be able to look and see. You know, this is just one of the columns. Right. And I think we haven't decided on the format. One thing that's happened, first of all, I think we're going to do it in October is what we last talked about. But I don't want to calendar it until we have all the kind of the foundational pieces in place. So I had some conversations this week because I'm trying to find people who can help us as moderators or facilitators to address the tech stack side. And so I talked to Corey Morrissey at Seymour Solutions, and he's agreed to play a role in that. We've got things to figure out. But I'm just trying to make sure that we have something comprehensive. I didn't say that When Jonathan Heddy at DealPack asked us, he said, I think it would be nice if you guys would host. A forum. And I said, within days, I said, we will do that. And I have also said to our founding sponsors since then that White Hat Way will do that. And we will make sure that we create a level playing field. And I don't want to calendar it until we feel like we have the right kind of information together. Infrastructure, too. Yeah. To be able to, like I said, offer something that's meaningful and valuable and fair. And because doing that is going to not just, it'll be about DMSs, it'll be about GPSs, it'll be- Only about integrations. I'm going to keep it to DMS. No, no, no. But I mean, we're going to do a DMS forum. Okay. And then we may have other ones. Opportunity exists to do others. Opportunity exists to be able to just really get to know the providers out there. And so part of it is not just... what can you do and what do you integrate with? But it's for, it's an opportunity for dealers to get to know their options and, you know, and, and be able to make a very educated choice for, you know, whatever it is that, that that's needed because, you know, we talk about all the time that dealers all have very different business models. And so not every software is going to work as well as another one might for what they're, what their model is. So I think, yeah, for today it was just around the DMS. And CRM too. Yeah, because CRM also has customer records. There's a lot of data in there. Yeah. So we'll focus first on DMS and if dealers, you know, we have relationships with lots of dealers and so... And when I finish up here, we'll be sending a copy, a link to the podcast along with an email, making sure the dealers know what to do. But you did say in the description it was DMS and CRMs. Right. Yeah. So both. So some of them are both in one, and then there are some that are separate. Right. I don't know of anybody that's... Well, I guess there are some independent... There are some softwares out there that have the CRM baked in. Most of them have it a separate module. So just so in my experience, but they may have it in the same company, but it's like a separate subscription. But either way, it's like really I'm focused first on DMS because it's really all that data. If you think about these dealers... We had a dealer in our meeting last night who's been with the same DMS company for 20-plus years. And when they engaged with a CRM and underwriting software to be able – they couldn't source the records from those 20 years of performance history, of contract history. And so it's a shame. It's like this is an example of where – lost opportunity it's a missed opportunity lost opportunity well it is and it's just been interesting as we've had these conversations with multiple dealers how you know it's getting everyone to work nicely with each other for the benefit of dealers is sometimes a very expensive proposition and frequently is wrought with frustration sure So let me just be as clear as I possibly can about kind of what the long range motivation would be here. Why it is that Jim and Michelle and White Hat Way would pioneer such an effort. Well, if you see that in the long range, the opportunity here is when we can learn where data lives and we can work through dealers and providers where necessary to get to a place where we can... harvest data mine data in a way that is because you know people are nervous about the artificial intelligence element right and so right now ai is kind of at work in our industry doing chat bots and talking to customers on behalf of the dealer and that's where I'm kind of seeing ai be deployed so far But where I see an opportunity, and this is for the entire industry, so this is why I say what we're talking about here is about more than money. It's about more than dollars and cents. It's about more than your financials and your profit and loss statement. This is about how do we ultimately get to data, mine it while wearing a white hat, in terms of you making sure that we're a trustworthy steward of the data that we aggregate. And then we use that aggregated data to be able to one, help dealers create efficiencies, right? So they help them be more successful. And then ultimately, most people know that White Hat Way also has an interest in the success of the consumer, which closely, directly ties to the success of the dealer. If the consumer is successful, then the dealer is successful. Sure. It's that simple. So I think what we do is we recognize the opportunity to do both. So when we can get in there and when dealers can trust us, which every indication is that they are trusting us. And so now we're simply creating the opportunity for us to aggregate data with, again, through dealers and their providers to be able to aggregate data and be able to mine that and and bring back information that will be so beneficial to dealers and so beneficial to um ultimately to the consumers that they serve and and I just am saying that we're we're doing that under the white hat banner which is supported by our founding sponsors lhph capital dealer re and pastime gps provider they support the mission of white hat way yeah they've stepped in as our founding sponsors will always be our founding sponsors yeah so just know that when we're any agreements that we enter into with anybody and by the way we're going to be issuing updated dms access agreement because some of our dealers in v8 are granting us dms access to be able to validate to validate data right and so that we can confirm that the numbers are legitimate and so we've got that access so we're going to update that and we will have an appendix w attached to that agreement so that everywhere we go people can know and I think we shared before uh people can look up the appendix w episode um I revisited that appendix w a week ago and I don't know that I would change yeah well and if you're if you're wondering what appendix w is Go to whitehatway.com and it's the trust, transparency. It talks about all of those things. And so we have a document that every contract we sign, we attach that. Because that's, that's our pledge to whoever it is that we're working with, whether it be a vendor or a dealer, or, you know, just it's that that's, that's our pledge. And, you know, that we're that we're going to be all of us. of those things, so yeah, whyhatway.com. So we sign it, we don't ask the other party to sign it, but that day will come that others will be able to be licensed to them as well. Yeah, we're gonna, yes, and there's some great things coming from that, that we've already had some initial conversations. Can I jump to a question? Okay, so Dennis Wood, and I don't know that I know you, Dennis. I don't know Dennis either. I think I've seen his name in social media. Okay, so do you feel that many DMSs have limited integrations? With those available, many of those integrations are with businesses underneath the parent company. Example, Solera, and there's a second part to this. Even with those integrations, many of the time, many of... many of the times, you still have to re-input the data across the platforms with limited data that can be moved from one to the other. So most of it is, I think there's a two-part question in here, is that are you finding that it's, that it's, it's, there's like some friction about integrating, so a seamless movement, push-pull, you know, pushing data in, pulling data out, that that's happening. And then second is, you know, is understanding that there are, you know, you may have an agreement with X, but X is owned by Y. And so, you know, that's kind of part of also contracts. And he just followed up with it with a third way and says, what are the chances you can get the data you need out of the platform? It depends on how charming Michelle is when she asks. It's really the question. I am not the one you, oh my, I have, I have city inspectors from when building a house years ago that my contractor asked me not to be around when they came around to inspect. So I'm probably not the one. She's not going to. I'm just not. I mean, coffee and donuts will only get you so far. So let me, let me answer Dennis in a very specific way. Okay. Um, For as long as there have been DMSs and API internet connections, there have been integrations. Now, there might have been some before that in some other fashion, but I'm familiar mostly with those. This is one of the separators, Dennis. Whenever you see, you go out there and we ask dealers, when somebody's new and they're asking about a DMS, you'll see a lot of people chime in. I like this one, I like this one. I'm like, okay, well, please take time. We can't tell everybody every time. It's like, please take time to understand who your DMS is integrated with so that you can understand what options you've got. So pick one, pick a DMS. Who do they integrate with on the GPS side? Who do they integrate with in terms of payment processing? What about accounting? Like there's all these different pieces that you really have to look at. And I think to answer the questions is, A good software, in my mind, the best software would grant their users the ability to integrate with multiple providers. And so they need to play nice with the other providers in the space. And that keeps the dealer from being locked into. So if I'm on a DMS, let me be a dealer for a minute. If I'm on DMS, and if I have this DMS, I have to use this payment processor. Well, What if somebody else comes along with a new way to do payment processing that's more advanced, more sophisticated, has other features associated with it, and I want to move? Let's say it's even more affordable. I want to move. I'm locked in. I have to really drop my whole DMS, which means all these accounts I've been managing in this one place is locked in. If I want to change that, yeah. So this is, you know, this is the part where Dennis, you know, as a former dealer myself and somebody who's been around this kind of thing, I think this is where you start to separate. And this is why we're happy to do the dealer forum, because we want to be able to lay this stuff out for dealers in a way that is fair, is transparent and is accurate. And that dealers can make that decision for themselves because there's a lot of considerations around this. And I think for today. The integrations are significant. That's a significant piece. I think for today, I just really want to work with dealers to make sure that we know where their data is. I'm talking about the critical customer interaction data payments or otherwise. What is our notation in the system and all the stuff that is important? But I think ultimately, you know, from a from an AI intelligence standpoint, If you think about what data could do, if you imagine white hat intelligence or analytics, being able to go to work on behalf of dealers and help them find out, hey, this is a dealer that you could actually charge a few points to. You could charge less interest to this customer or you could afford to do whatever. It's like being able to create those efficiencies for dealers and help them better understand get access to real-time information that is going to better drive their decision-making. And I'm not talking about just in underwriting. I'm talking about all the parts of their business, right? But I think first and foremost, it's about getting to the place where we can aggregate data on behalf of dealers that will then benefit consumers. Yeah. And those who listen see just the V8 data because we've been asking for access to some of this rich data so that we can use it to help benefit all dealers in real time. Yep. um and so we've been asking and so we now that v8's around we're we're outside of our client base we're able to start bringing data together and so you know you're gonna see as as um as we continue with these conversations and and you know who owns the data and if if the dealer wants to give access for us to be able to get in there and mine data that's going to help all dealers great and you know dennis I'm so great to have you um he's like thank you I'm new to the group love the group um thank you uh there's a couple of things that I was just kind of thinking about as you were as you were talking about this data thing um you know first off we've we've had conversations in the past and so you know you can look through youtube and and maybe find some some of the stuff in there where dealers have been going through the struggle of, what do they call it when you're moving from one to another? And either a migration. Migration, thank you. There's another word. Yeah, migrating their data from one DMS to the next. And we've seen some that, I mean, it's always, it's just when you change DMS is gonna be a headache. Be prepared, it's gonna be a headache. but some that are able to or will do that, and others that are unable to or unwilling to. And so, you know, that's part of the question that we're just, dealers need to be aware. And then there's another layer to this, I think. And, you know, especially when you're like, there's multiple layers below, and how is the DMS provider aware capitalizing personally on your data. is that data being used to financially benefit them too? And I think that's a really good question because it's like dealers, and I'm not saying that's bad. I'm just saying dealers need to be made aware if it is. And that dealers need to be able to say no If they choose that, I don't want, you know, it's kind of like when you get into Facebook, do you want us tracking this? This is like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Apple does this, you know, same thing. It's like, have an option, say, no, my data is not for you to use outside of this business relationship. And also for dealers to allow that data to be sent to, you know, in aggregate. And cause I would love to see that kind of data in aggregate being sent to our state associations so that, you know, if they knew what to do with it, but you know, how that could help like everyone in Texas, you know, If they're, you know, able to look and just kind of mind the stuff, it's like, what is happening with dealers across the board? And then the national, and also us, you know, we have a voice three times a week. So it's like, if there's something that is going to help a dealer, you know, we have the luxury of being, like, able to do it really quickly and get stuff to people. Yeah, I think there are a couple different. layers to all of what you just talked about. I think the, first of all, going back to the actual location of the data. So you touched on this idea that some DMS providers are unable or unwilling. I think what you're mostly talking about is historical data. So let's say I'm on a software for two years and I don't like it. I found something shinier and I want to go a different direction. So it's easy enough to export your data, like a current inventory, current receivables, and move the account balances over to the new software and your inventory over to the new software. That's pretty easy. The question becomes the historic transactions. Do all of them save that or do they dump it? Well, it's there because otherwise I wouldn't be able to go in and look up a customer's record, payment history. They all have it. It's a question of what they can make available to move to a new system. So are they playing cat and mouse game? Are they really literally limited in how they can maneuver that data? I don't know the answer. It's something we'd love to understand. Yeah, and I think for me, we're not attorneys, so we're not coming at this from a compliance standpoint. There are certainly compliance elements to what we're talking about, but just I think for any DMS provider that's listening, we're not out to pick on you from a compliance standpoint. That's not our... We don't have a dog in that fight. Like we're just trying to make sure that we know on behalf of dealers, all dealers, and this is best done transparently in all systems. So no, we're not picking on anybody. So it's like we want dealers to know, okay, where does my data live? So especially in light of the big breach that happened, now that is kind of compliance related, but I think as a dealer, I still want to know who's responsible for it. And this morning when I chimed in with Allison Harrison, she said, yeah, there's like three reasons that dealers... want to have that information. One is, she mentioned, in typical legal fashion, it's like, we want to know who's culpable, who's responsible. And then the other part was, who owns it? So this will be by having those agreements, we can start to look at that and say, okay, who owns this data? And then who's the gatekeeper? Like who has the authority to share this data? This is the part that I want to get to because if my dealer is willing to share access to their data with me, then, or anybody else that they view as trustworthy, then I want to know how that works. Well, and if, if, your dealer is willing to share his data with you, then a migration should be easy. Good point. Yeah. Well, and we do with some of the DMS providers that we have relationships with through our clients, we do have methodology now to be able to download monthly. Let me add a little layer to this. When I say easy, I mean... you can get access to it, but it's also another one of these things of standardizing A goes to A, B goes to B, C goes to C, D goes to D. And DMSs are built in different ways. And so they're obviously, and I come from a little bit of a tech background, is getting DMSs to be able to create those pathways so that the information is going in the right place. That is a little bit tricky. That takes some time. And so there's that to consider as well. And, you know, kind of back to a little bit of Dennis saying something that I was thinking about is that what we find, like I said, there are some that don't have the ability. Or it's just like, this is too hard. There are what we see as well. And to understand, you know, integrating... with a DMS is, and this is like that tech stack kind of thing, is that the DMS has like all their Xs and where they put their Xs and their Os, where they put their Os and all of that. Another software like a CRM that comes in is not built the same way and so there is a lot of work that needs to happen between and a cooperation between other providers to be able to communicate X's to X's, O's to O's, all of that kind of thing. And some DMSs are willing to carry the burden and the expense of creating the, you know, bringing everything into sync. And with many DMSs though, once that's done, they're gonna have you pay extra to turn that on. It's integrations typically are not free. And so just be aware of that. And then what we find too is that there are some that it's like that whole ability and process and with, you know, integrating with something is or a new report or whatever is on the cost of doing that is on the back of the dealer. Yeah. So there's just there's lots of factors in there. But just understand that an integration isn't just about like, yes, I will do it. Check the box. Yes, I will do it. Check the box. And then it magically happens. There's a lot of work, a lot of collaboration, a lot of and it's time and money and it doesn't happen quickly. But once it does, it does have value. And so most DMSs will charge you for that integration. And with some of them, it is easy now because all of the work was done. Yeah, and I think, gosh, as I see it from my perspective, and Dennis, just speaking to you as somebody who's newer to it, I mean, what I see from somebody who's done what I do, keep in mind, I was a manager in the late 90s. I became a consultant in the early 2000s, and that consulting company was partly a software company, so I worked very closely with the software and development team. Then I started working in the dealership side, and I became a dealer from 05 to 2011. Since then, consulting and I have had over the years DMS access. You could walk to my desk now and see that I have DMS access with multiple providers on behalf of clients because the dealer grants me access so that I can get in there. So primarily lately, I'm working in the reporting side and accessing data and trying to help them get to operational data. And I can tell you that it's so frustrating with some of the providers to get to the information. And, you know, some dealers have some kind of more complex operations. But this is not 1995. We have the ability to... some systems have the ability to access all the information and so we can get to it in raw form and then we can do with it what we need to do with it over here we don't need the software to do all the stuff for us but we need to be able to get to the raw information and this is where it just becomes really frustrating and challenging and I'm not even that's a whole side subject for today like that's not the thing I'm just trying to make sure that dealers first for today let's figure out where the data lives is it on some server in Bangladesh or is it on a server in the US? And who are the gatekeepers for that? And in the event of a divorce between me and my DMS provider, let's call it a DMS divorce. That'll be our next White Hat Wednesday. What did the DMS divorce look like? you know and so we can get into what is what is exactly because I think we have to we have to know that and this is where all alice is going in terms of you need to know so our ask is is if you're listening and you know in in the stream of we'll post it again alison's email address we're not asking we don't want you to send it to us yeah Um, you know, that's that you can copy me. I mean, if you trust me, but I mean, we're not, we're not the ones that are going to be going through it. And so this is an attorney that, you know, it's, it's going to be it. They'll handle it the way an attorney handles the information. And so please, if you are interested in helping get that understanding across the board that we can say, this DMS, this is the way that the contract states. This DMS, this is the way the contract states. Please, you know, help us by sending your contract on to Allison so that she can look at and what she's only looking for. What she's only looking for is for who owns the data. Yeah, that's the only thing that we're looking at. I didn't think to prepare this in advance, but I remember her email, and I'll just double check it. Okay, so we're going to wrap it in the thing here. Just know that this is your BHPH actionable from today's session. If you're a dealer and you wish to have us examine your contract with your DMS provider, you first have to find it. So you have two actionables. One is find your contract. And for some dealers, as we've gone through, it's like, I don't know. I've been with them for forever. Delegate. Delegate. Find somebody on your team. And be aware that, I mean, make sure that it's as most current that you have, because a lot of DMSs will re-contract as good for X amount of years or whatever, and so you re-up on that contract. Right. And knowing that this is, it's gonna help you individual dealers understand, but it's gonna help dealers across the country better understand that data piece. And if you're living in the 21st century, which we all are, we understand that data is gold. It really is. And data, and it's so important to, um, to have an understanding of where it's at, how it's being protected, who owns it, all of that, um, for your peace of mind. Um, and I know with the, with the CARS rule and everything that so many of the providers that there's, you know, they've had to create their own safeguards and all of that to try to keep data, keep data, um, safe. But, um, This is White Hat ways we're trying. What we're doing is we are answering that question for dealers when we've asked them, who owns your data? And it's like, I think I do. Well, we're getting to the bottom of definitively who owns your data and how that data is being used or can be used. And what does it look like in a breakup? And what does it look like in a divorce? Yeah. So we'll get to that. I think I did confirm. I'll put Allison's information on the screen. There's her. Whoops, I didn't share it. Oh, that's BHPH Actionables. It's Allison at ALH Law. Can you put that in the chat stream? And then it'll go to all of the social things too. I can do that. But I think the main thing to be aware here is we're just asking you to locate the contract. if you don't find it in your email, because some people signed these contracts years ago and they might have had an update, but if you can't find the most recent version of your contract, reach out to your DMS provider. And then if you're not getting a response from your DMS provider to give it to you, let us know. I mean, just let me know. We're not out here to beat anybody up. We're just trying to make sure we get to the agreements. And for the most part, DMSs have just really been really, really receptive when we've talked to them. So this isn't about bad on anything, but it's just so that people, that there's a really clear understanding. Yeah. And also, I would just say, talk is cheap. We don't have that White Hat Way portfolio summary for dealers yet. A lot of people have said, yes, we'll do it. We're working on it, but we don't have it yet. So that either tells me- We started asking- Early June. Early June. So, you know, we are a couple of months in. And like I said before, is when you're doing an integration or whatever, it takes time and dollars. And so the DMSs that are doing that for us now, it is on their own dime. They're not doing it for us. They're doing it for DMSs. Well, they're doing it at our request on their own dime. And so we want to put a huge kudos out there to all DMSs who are actively working on getting those things done. Yeah, of course. Absolutely. We just really, really appreciate it. We want to keep that moving. And I would just say, yeah, we want to make sure that we can help dealers get to that information. Absolutely. It's all part of the work that White Hat Way is doing on behalf of dealers. We're trying to get them more information so that dealers can make better decisions for themselves. Did you drop that in the chat? I haven't yet. Drop it in the chat while I'm saying thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you, everyone, for listening today on our White Hat Wednesday. We will be back again on Friday. It's the middle of the week. Usually a slower time and lots of... for collections and everything, but it's a big time for buying cars this time of the week. So... Enjoy the rest of your week. Thanks again so much for joining us. And we will see you on Friday. All right. Don't forget, send those contracts to Allison. We appreciate you, everybody. Thanks. Yeah.
