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. Hey, good morning, everybody. Happy Wednesday. Yeah. Welcome to a white hat Wednesday. I'm just still getting adjusted over there. Trying to get all adjusted over there. I can't hear myself very well, but I think it's probably, it's fine. Yeah. Yeah, a lot, a lot. Election last night, results are kind of in, so there's that. There was an election yesterday? Right. And those of you who knew that my brother has ALS, um because I've kind of shared that um for those of you who have loved ones um in support uh he passed away on saturday so um we we will be right after our show on friday be heading um to idaho for the funeral and and uh just lots and lots of love and really fun stories and All the social media has been ablaze with memories that are really pretty awesome. It's an unfair disease. It was a difficult thing to watch Ron get sort of trapped in that. I've used the word imprisonment, but it's just awful for those who haven't seen it. I feel really grateful because we had the privilege of having him here for years. about six weeks from the middle of August towards the end of September. And it was really good. It was really, really good. So I really am too. It was good memories. And so ALS sucks. Yeah, for sure. Okay. So a couple of quick announcements. If you are a dealer out there that's interested in our opportunity to compare and connect with V-Aid, please reach out right away. We're actually, because of the holiday, We're turning out numbers early in the month of November. So we'd just like to hear from some folks who want to get in a group. And pricing will be changing at the beginning of the year. So if you've been kind of kicking around the idea and waiting for a good time, this is going to be the best time to do that before the end of the year. So get, get in touch and I'll post the, yeah, how to get in touch a little bit later. Okay. So, um, today, uh, other quick announcement before I would just want to put the thing up for, uh, the super forum that starts on the tent. So just a few more days and, uh, So be aware that's happening in New Orleans. It's not too late to get a flight and get down there. And so that's an opportunity for dealers to sit at tables with other dealers and bounce around hot topics and so on. So that should be a good event for buying your paper. Exactly. Okay. All right. So the topic of the day is, you know, we have... Jim's never been a real fan of like firm talk tracks because scripts, um, you know, they have, uh, for those that don't have the ability to be able to, to walk through something, you know, it's, it, that's, that's, uh, an alternative. Um, it's, uh, it's not ever been really one of the ones that you have, um, leaned into or it's yeah well let me explain about that like I think if if you're a large operation and you have a you know a high flow of leads with ads and and then I can see how you could end up in a place where scripts are going to be probably your best friend your best solution I tend to and keep in mind, most of the listeners on the morning show are going to be typically smaller, typical dealers doing fifteen to thirty a month or whatever. And so their method of managing leads, whether it's on the lot, on the phone, through Facebook thread, it's going to be different. Right. And so what I typically would be recommending and you'll hear it today is I like for us to hire people who we can train them, give them the big picture, and then they can bring a certain tone and attitude to all the conversations and have the ability to navigate within that. Of course, they've got certain objectives. So that's one of the big things too with us is we always have to figure out what is our business approach? What is our objective? One of our coaches, a moderator trainee that sat in with our meeting last month talked about This idea of, you know, you have to know what your objective is. And we've had dealers who come from a franchise background and led big BDC teams. I mean, is the goal an appointment? Or is the goal of a BDC agent to get an app and then somebody else takes it from there? We have to be clear about what our objective is, right? I agree. And so now when you think about what tone should I bring? Because that's what today is about. I'm going to give you some language. And people over the years have said, wow, Jim, your phrasing is really helpful. I wish I could say it or I wish I could get our people to say it the way you phrase it. And I think it all boils down to you can kind of get there by just First, I mean, not everybody's just going to be naturally diplomatic, right? I mean, but you also just kind of have to care. And you have to, if you're thinking long term, of course, you're working to win the customer today. And you're going to do everything you reasonably can to make sure that if the customer doesn't buy today, it's not because we quit trying. Well, and you said, and I think you said, or at least I heard care. Yeah. And, you know, there is a, I've observed, there are those that genuinely care about their customer. And then there are those that care about a sale. And commission. And commission. And yes, there can be a marriage of both. But I see frequently, well, actually, no. Yes, you want to be able to create more contracts. That's business grow. But I observe sometimes when I am looking through social media and all of that, that there is a... distinct energy of really not caring about the customer but caring about the straight line things it's you know I have a job to do I have a job to do my box says I'm supposed to say this and yeah and and so you know part of this is it's it is it's about bringing heart and that's One of the things that Jim, in all of the coaching, when we've put new dealers into business and coached dealers that are newer or needing to improve their processes or whatever, is one of the first things that Jim always asks is, is how do you want to be known by your customer? And, and that, that is like, you know, when you talk about, um, yeah, your why, whatever it's, it's how do you want to be known? And, and if, if you want to be known as like no nonsense, get to the point. And that's great. But we also understand that our customers are, um, uh, They struggle. They struggle with a lot of things that we have the privilege to not have to struggle with. They struggle with, I got to buy coats and I can barely afford groceries. They struggle with, I don't have the first idea how to fix a car, all of that. The struggles that they have are frequently around money. or resources. And we're about ready to step in with a purchase that is as big as their rent in a lot of cases I mean it's like it's it's big um as their rent and so it's it's like livelihood a lot of things attached to it and so you know how do we want to be known by our customers yeah so I think about it as not being known by the community how do I want to be known by the community even those people who don't become our customers today and then so that's about long game and that's what makes a white hat approach different like The other thing about Jim in particular is I'm just really a patient person and I would step into business and I would step into any dialogue today with a lot of patients now. So we see dealers who, so this is important distinction to kind of make as we step into this dialogue today, because some dealers want to really qualify their customers online and they want to only invite in the customers who meet their criteria, right? That's just in the interest in their idea. It's in the interest of efficiency. So with me, I'm okay with investing time in customers who won't ultimately buy. And there's various reasons for that. But I think this is about being patient. It's about also recognizing that if I'm If I'm a salesperson, you know, just put me in any buy your pay your dealership here in Utah and let me just be a salesperson for two months. Then I recognize that the time that I spend is, you know, there's a whole lot of time that I'm not with a customer. Right. And so I have time. And so if I can invest that in. winning the customer that I missed today. I can maybe have a chance to win them next week or next month. And this is not about a be back. This is about, because I mean, a be back can be, you can be all straight lines and it's like, I'll be, you know, the be back. We, that's like a four letter word in this industry. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Four letter phrase, a four word phrase, um, whatever. Um, but, when you take the time to listen, to care, um, to, to work towards a solution. I mean, and that's the thing is that, that I, that I, you know, a lot of, um, prequalifying before people land on the lot. Um, and there's not a, that it's hard to do a face to face, um, let's find a solution on the phone or with AI chat or, you know, or a BDC. It is harder to, to, to create that kind of caring and environment where it's like, we're on the same side of the table. Come on in. Yeah. And you're right. It is about kind of the caring element is really about, I, I'm going to try, I'm going to be persistent. Like that's one of the things, if I, if I think about what are the, there's lots of them. There's like four pages. Yeah. But when I think about the, the attitude, so let's talk before we talk about phrasing, let's talk about the attitude and, And the approach that as a salesperson, BDC agent, underwriter, anybody on our team, this is the approach and attitude that I would bring to every customer interaction. Now, do we sometimes get frustrated? Of course. Take a break. Come back. Our approach has got to be, you know, on this kind of wavelength, so to speak. Okay. We want to be diplomatic. So what's that even mean? How are we diplomatic? That's like courteous. That's like... being willing to listen, that's, I mean, there's just, being diplomatic is, to me, it means you're not rushing and you're like, let's sit at the negotiation table. You can't be diplomatic without negotiating. Yeah, and you can't be diplomatic if you're unbending. You can't, and also part of diplomacy for me is choosing the right words or saying nothing at all like if we if we respond out of frustration anger um impatience then that's that's not really being diplomatic it's not serving this long-term objective so again if I if every conversation I approach a customer I'm expecting I'm gonna if I don't win I'm gonna try hard I'm gonna do everything I can reasonably do to help them solve their problem today and if I don't win the customer today I'm expecting that I will win Then next week when they're ready next month, when they're ready, their friends and family, like that's the tone I'm bringing. And, and so, you know, when we really try to help them solve the problem of, you know, uh, uh, getting the vehicle that they need with a contract that everyone feels good about, that when you're really putting in that time, even if they don't purchase, that caring is remembered. And that caring can be like, because you know that most of our customers, most of their friends are also our customers. And so they talk. They talk and they talk about the bad stuff. But they also will talk about the good stuff because they're going to talk to each other and about, hey, my car, meh. And it's like, oh, you know what? go talk to so-and-so or such-and-such, you know, that, that they were really, and they might say, well, they, you didn't get a car. It's like, I know, but I'm, I'm working towards it. Or they were really, they were really kind and they helped solve, you know, help me solve a couple of problems or whatever that, and I've got a plan or whatever it is that you're, yeah. But they do talk. Yeah. So then the other elements that I would say in terms of my my approach to every situation, every customer, I'm going to be diplomatic and courteous and helpful. Right. I want to be empathetic. So that's an easy thing to say. And it's harder for some. And I would say if we got people in our BDC team and our sales team, underwriting team. who aren't very good at practicing empathy for this customer that we serve. There's a difference between empathy and sympathy. That can be a whole separate podcast. What I'm really suggesting is we need to be able to relate to what the customer is dealing with. and be willing to step in and try to help solve a problem. Sometimes it can be really, it can really test our patience because the customer lacks the understanding. They're simply not educated around these things and they don't understand why they can't do what they did. And when we get to our, I prepared some questions and by the way, you can hit me with all the follow-up questions on those you want. But I did prepare some common questions that happen in a chat thread or it doesn't matter whether that's in the on the, on the lot. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Now, yeah, go ahead. So let me continue with this. So I want to be cooperative, right? I want to be flexible. I hope our approach to underwriting and approvals is flexible because if we're just going to finance the customers who fit in our rigid box, then that's obviously going to limit our volume. And we're obviously trying to do volume. And as I said, in one of our V eight meetings last month, like, You know what? Volume matters. We got to do volume. We got to create car payments, cash flow. And so volume matters. So I think we just got it. One of the ways we can do that would be cooperative and flexible. Obviously, we said helpful. We want to be respectful. I've already said that's being mindful of tomorrow. I'm going to be respectful of the customer, even when they frustrate me, even when they, you know, they lack the knowledge. I'm going to be respectful. They they they deserve respect and they would get nothing less from me. I'm going to be persistent. This is a big one for me because I believe our BDC agents and salespeople What I look for if I'm hiring in that position and underwriting, I wanna be a problem solver. I gotta enjoy a puzzle and I gotta be persistent in finding ways to piece the thing together. And I think that sometimes when you are leaving, one thing you didn't put down here is an open mind. Yeah, good. But when you're persistent and you have an open mind, sometimes you can come up with a solution between the two of you. And that you might end up coming up with a solution that is not something you've done before, but it's like, oh, okay, yeah, we can do that. That would work. In the traditional, if you think about, and the phrase I use sometimes is like, when you think about a traditional four square. So for those not familiar, four square would be if I were sitting with you and negotiating to buy a car. Or finance a lawnmower. Like it's basically all the same components. It's like there's the selling price. There's the down payment. There's the payment amount. And then there's the length of the loan, really. So those four. But you can see that if I increase one, I could lower the other. And you're working within those four boxes. Squirrel kind of possum. Possum means it's kind of related. Is understand the... A lot of people out there that are our customers don't understand all the language that we use. So when you say term, it's better to say, how long will you be paying this loan? Truth is, it almost never comes up. That's really us as the lender-dealer kind of working with it. in that part of the box, but we can show them. I want to be transparent and help them understand kind of what we're working with. So there are phrases that we can use around that piece too. We wrote down soft and gray edges, not black and white. And that is something that, I don't know, the older I get, the more I understand that there's very little in life that is black and white because there are always exceptions. There's always exceptions. Well, And the more flexible we are, the more true that would be. Yeah, exactly. So the, the great, and, um, you know, last one, listen and inquire. I want to go back to one. And, and this is, uh, it's, it's around that empathy and, you know, we, yeah. Uh, caring, empathy, kindness that, um, You know, we get so busy with our day to day and the like, we have to go through all of the things that this, you know, the check the boxes, do the stuff, all of that, that we sometimes forget what it feels like. Because we're so busy in the other side of this. So what I'm talking about is what it feels like. Most of us out there that are listening know what it feels like to be pushed in a corner. How that feels and how you react to that. Most of us know what it feels like to have a financial hiccup. Right. And the stress that is involved in that. Most of us know what it feels like to get late fees or I mean, it's just because things happen. And so leaning in on. remembering how you felt in those situations, remembering how you may have reacted in those situations, and then give people the grace to to experience those emotions because they it's because you know when you when you like you're I need a car or whatever and and you know the panic or the whatever it is or feeling like I I I don't know what you know everyone everyone reacts differently when they're in a corner some people are out and other people just you know they they melt or they you know they'll say yes to anything to get themselves out of the corner or whatever But remember what it's felt like in your life. And so, you know, we've, we've, we've had dealers that some of the best stories that I love hearing when you, because we, when we do like an opening exploratory meeting with them is, We'll ask, why did you get into the business? And those that get into the business because they've been where their customers are now at one point or another, it's just like, because it's like, we want to help people. And I, it's like, we want to help people get through this and not have the experience I did. Yeah. And I can say, you know, it doesn't people don't have to actually have lived a bad credit experience to be able to be empathetic to somebody in that spot. It helps. Right. It helps to make it real, which kind of leads me to think about something I added was the sincerity and authenticity piece. And here's why you can say to me, you're empathetic. but if I don't hear it in your tone of voice, I don't see it in your eyes, which obviously this is part of the reason that chat thread is problematic for me. Like I know that I know, look, I'm not naive. The world is changing, especially our younger generation. They prefer chat. We're obviously going to meet the customer where they are and we're going to try to fulfill what they are looking for in the way they want to buy. And I think we're, when we are on a chat thread, Everybody knows when you, when you text and when you're in a chat thread, things can get interpreted the wrong way. Oh, my gosh. So much so. Yes. And it's hard for me to convey any real, genuine authenticity. We've all been in that thing where it's like someone's mad about something and they're like, read this. Right. You know, a conversation, read this. Right. And it's just because all of their emotion and their story is coming out in how they're interpreting it. And so, yeah. And emojis don't cut it. Yeah. So, you know, we're quite a ways into this and we haven't even gotten to the actual word track. So let me let me kind of back just cover one quick thing. I think what I want to be able to do is when you hear these responses that I'm going to give to these frequently asked questions. I want you to recognize that, and you will in my responses probably, that I'm working to get the customer in the building. I want appointments. So understand that the main objective is getting them in the building. And we can ask dealers, if someone is in the building working, What's your close rate? Yeah. And if someone, I mean, so it's like if you can not do any of the pre-qualifying as close as you can prior to them landing in the building. Right. You know, yeah. The world has changed in a lot of ways. Mm-hmm. in a lot of ways it hasn't changed at all so I would say I haven't been in dealerships as a manager supervisor it's been a few years as a dealer yeah for since right but if I were to be in a dealership tomorrow the approach would be exactly the same because it hasn't changed The part that I would be doing hasn't changed. Okay. So what I'm saying is I want the customer in the building. Why? Because my success rate, once they're in the building will be very high. Why? Because I'm flexible. I'm going to work hard to find solutions. Are there going to be some that go away? Cause I can't help them. Sure. I can't change somebody's income. I can't, you know, can't, there's some, I just can't help. I won't not today. Maybe, you know, maybe their income changes and I'm able to help them next month. But again, But the reality is I'm going to opt for and everything you're going to hear in the phrasing that I'm going to choose. I'm going to opt for getting the customer in the building off a chat thread, off the phone, off the lot. I want them in the building. Yeah. Oh, there's there's a whole those of you who have access to Buy Here, Pay Here Institute. There's a whole sales track on that. get them off the lot, get them off the lot and in the building, off the lot and in the building. And, you know, this, this kind of goes into that. So let's go to the questions, if that's okay. All right. So I'm the customer. And so I need a car, but I have to keep my payments to three hundred and fifty or less. That's all I've got budgeted. Can you do that? Or not budgeted. I won't use that word. That's all I can afford. Okay. As, as, um, as I answer this, I want you to think about that. That question came, doesn't matter if it was chat thread on the telephone. And those of you that are listening, you've heard this. It's like, I only have two hundred fifty dollars. What can you do for me? Yeah. Yeah. So the customer says, you know, three. So I think I actually wrote up the questions. Let me put them on the screen so people can know which one we're answering. So this one was, um, I'm going to keep my payments at three hundred fifty dollars or less. So my answer would be of the nature of, Well, let's see what we can do. I can meet you today. Can you come at one fifteen? So I think a key thing that happened there, I said very little, which I didn't I didn't explain. That's part of also my strategy. I find that when we talk a lot, we end up saying too much. And we need to start to direct the questioning. And so this is about leading or steering the conversation. So this is why I try to always end with a question. And so I said, you know, I can meet you at one. That's key. Those of you who are listening is try to end in a question because it does. It continues the conversation. That's right. The customer feels somewhat obligated to try to not. Yeah. Especially when it's a non-threatening question. Yeah. you know and so I'm just going to say well so you know but I don't want to come in if I know you can't help me no I understand so we've got we can do online applications or whatever I can just tell you that most folks qualify So what are you what are you wanting to learn? Are you wanting to learn whether or not you qualify? If we assume that you qualify, then the truth is we can't really finalize everything until we've chosen a car. You're going to want to drive it and then we can just try to get the deal finalized. So, you know, it's best if you can come in. So, you know, I've got I've got an appointment right now coming in just a few minutes, but I can meet you after lunch. How's one fifteen? Okay. Yeah. So you're going to see me do that again and again. I'm just going to try to end the thing with an appointment. I'm going to come back and say, what time's good for you? I'm going to answer any direct questions. I'm going to. But in this case, you can see if you read my answer again, the customer asked me, can you get me in a car for three fifty or less? I said, well, let's see what we can do. I say yes or no. Yes. And and you have it in red. And I'm assuming that's because that's like this is what we hear. But this is this is. probably not the best approach because you're roaming. Let me tell you what else we hear. Very low closing rates. Yes. Is, is, well, I don't know, fill out this application and send in your steps. Yeah. That's, that's, yeah. And then we'll be able to tell you whether or not we can. And it's like, I can't, I can't go any further until I have this information. And so I'm just saying, I'm going to still collect that information. And, and part of, part of this too, an underlying theme is, um, salespeople will, will say I'm too busy. okay and I have talked to dealers that are like I don't know what my sales people are doing yeah they're playing tiktok they're watching youtube videos it's like no your sales people have the time and they just let me tell you when a salesperson is too busy when they're they're doing so many deals that they can't really follow through with the customers who bought. And it's time to get another salesperson, a second one. Yeah. Yeah. So that's, but otherwise, so some dealers will say that this is a natural thing that evolves because of just time management and whatever. And people are always striving to be efficient, right? It's not that we're looking to be inefficient here. It's just that, they will try to qualify the customer and only bring in the customers who qualify, as I said earlier. So in this case, I'm, I'm always looking to tweak the sales process to allow more customers to come farther into the process. Often we call it a sales funnel. If you want to think about like a funnel, I'm working all the time to try to get more customers because why I want the dealer principle to be the ultimate underwriting under chief underwriter and which means I want that dealer making the decision. Again, back to our small fifteen to thirty store sales a month. I want the dealer to make the decision. I don't want the salesperson and the BDC agent sweeping the customers based on they decide who's approved based on some rigid box that we've got. And we're just missing so much business. Yeah, we're missing so many. You can tell by the number of leads these dealers are, you know, in our V-Eight thing, they report the number of leads. Their closing rates are very low. Yeah. And so this is part of what I think has to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Cause we just, we gotta, we gotta invite people in and we gotta quit asking so dang many questions on the front end. Because when I ask you a question, even I don't care if it's on the thread or if it's in your application, I ask you your job time and you say, Oh shoot, I have to be honest. I've only been on my job, you know, two months. Okay, well, how long have you been in the industry? You'll get there. The question is, when is the time to ask those questions? And for me, I'll ask them in the building. And there is, we all kind of know this, it's human nature, it's kind of psychology, is that the further you can get them into the process, the better chance you have of completing it. Not to mention their own investment, their own commitment to the process. So now they're engaged. They're counting on getting a car. They're hopeful. But I'm saying the inadvertent disqualification, when you ask me in a chat thread, hey, how long you been on your job? Well, why would you even know that? Why would you need to know that? Well, because that's apparently qualifying, right? I can run this through in my head as a customer. Why are you asking me about my job time? Well, it's only two months, so you're probably not going to be able to help me. So I don't need to bother to call you back because the other people over here, I'm going to go see them because they said they could help me with five hundred down. So I'm going to go see them instead. It's just my point is, the more we ask, the more questions we ask on the front end, the more we either disqualify or we. run the risk of the customer disqualifying themselves and choosing not to move forward. Yeah. Okay. So I just want to know as little as possible. I'm going to, ignorance is bliss. I'm going to be as green as they come. I mean, just to say you guys, uh, Jim was really successful and his dealership and, and management and as a salesperson and as a salesperson before that. And, um, and you know, many, uh, the, the places where he's had a dealer, uh, that he was not the dealer principal they're like I don't know how you do it I mean you're spending so much time but you've got the best you've and and you've got the best um uh the least hot or what do they call um heat cases or rewinds um because people understood all of the stuff so I had And my entire career as a salesperson, sales manager had so few customers come back unhappy on Monday, that buyer's remorse thing. Why? Because we're stuffing customers in a box and we sell them and we get a commission. Yeah. But if the customer's back on Monday, unhappy and giving us bad reviews and But I mean, part of that is, is that you listen and you, you develop a rapport. And so it's like, as a customer, it's like, we already talked about all of this stuff and, you know, we've, and, and you've, you've gone through, so we can move on to, I think you too. Yeah, sure. Okay. So can you get me into a car for five hundred dollars or less? um all I got is five hundred bucks okay well let's let's see what we can do what what time's good for you I uh I've got an appointment now but if I could meet you just after lunch what I'm trying to do is give the impression that I'm I'm like the dentist's office I have bookings I have certain slots and I'm trying to give the customer the impression why because I think when they perceive that they'll be more likely to show up so I'm gonna say well let's let's see what we can do come on and come on in let's figure it out how about one fifteen And I'm going to say almost nothing. I'm going to ask for the appointment. Now, I'm not going to be surprised to get a follow up question, right? Because often they don't agree right away to come see me. But so you might have a follow up question. If you ask that question, can you think of something that you might? Well, it's like, you know, I was told no, that they someone wanted fifteen hundred. I don't have fifteen hundred dollars. So I get it. And everybody's program can be a little bit different. Here's what I can tell you. We just try to always operate on the idea around here that if there's anybody in the area that can do it, whatever it is, if anybody can do it, it's us. So so I say, come on in. Let's let's figure it out. And often the customer will persist. Well, what about this? What about this? You know, I had a bankruptcy two years ago, whatever they may they may start kind of doing follow up questions. And I will typically at some point in the process, often it becomes necessary to tell the customer, well, unfortunately, I can't really say for sure. Like this is where I'm kind of trying to stay in the gray. I can't really say for sure until we've got you here and got a full application and we've chosen a car. So if they're sweeping themselves, disqualifying themselves, would you suggest that you just say, oh, we've done. We've been able to make deals work for these things. My phrasing on that is something like, oh, I've seen that happen. Yeah. Yeah. Under what conditions? Under what circumstances? What time can you be here? I've seen that happen. I've seen that deal. I've seen that work out. Crazier things have happened. What time is good for you? Right? I'm just staying general. The less I know, the better. Because now I can't have the customer upset with me saying, I told you I only had two months on the job. And, uh, you know, in the red, you're like, I don't know. Cause it, can you get me into a car for five hundred dollars down? I don't know. Send your application and your steps. I also have seen and heard, um, salespeople BDC. It's like, um, we don't accept anything under X or, um, yeah. And so they will, it's like, if you don't have at least this much down, then we're not going to be able to help you have a good day. And, um, And it's interesting. One of the things that Jim's always talking about is you'd be amazed at what can be Procure. Yeah. Procure. Procure. I can't. Yes. I'm just trying to help you out. I don't know where you're going with that. What can be pulled together. Yeah, yeah. To make it work. Yeah. And so. But I say my chances of doing that, accomplishing that, are best done in the building. Why? Because now I've established a little bit of rapport with the customer through my sincerity and authenticity. They know that I'm really working and I really want to help them solve their problem. Uh-huh. And so I'm, I'm continuing to work and they, they now trust in me to, to, you know, do what's, you know, what's possible to try to help figure this out. So I think I, I, the less I know about down payment, like, again, this is kind of going back to fundamentals. If I, I'm just going to be, I'm not going to be asking for steps and apps and everything else. If I'm the dealer or the salesperson, I'm going to bring the dealer down. you know deals every day hey I'm working with mary jones she's got a hundred down today she can do this she's got a free and clear trade blah blah blah and I'm just I'm just trying and I'm just trying and the dealer may say no the underwriters may say no but my job as a salesperson bdc agent underwriter is to try to find a way to make the deal so this is what happens I think when you we know the dealers want to do the deal but when you're in these chairs and you're not the dealer do you still, yeah, we got pay plans and people work their pay plans and they got, we hope a commission structure is, is, uh, you know, incentivize people. But what I'm really saying is I would be bringing a dealer's mentality and I would be bringing more committed buyers to the desk of the underwriter dealer. And they may say no, but the customer's going to know I'm, I've tried. And tomorrow, if this person, we don't get to help them today, uh, If this customer is chatting with a coworker tomorrow at lunch, you better believe they're going to say, go see Jim down at so-and-so. Right? Yeah. Because what they're going to see. They will talk about it. That our customers do talk about their experience, the good and the bad. Are they going to say, go see those people who ask you to send in a web application? I don't think so. It's still a human thing. And our colleague, Crystal and Luis, they talk about the emotional element of the purchase. You know, sometimes it's sometimes it's got financial parameters. Like it can be I can I can engage with the customer emotionally and I can get them I can work to help try to solve the problem. But if if the company won't do financing for a customer with less than X amount of income, then I may not be able to get their emotion or not. Right. So we still have a financial box that we work within. And I have to make that happen. But because I'm kind of I got this whack-a-mole game and maybe I can make up a little bit more on down payment or maybe I can stretch the term a little bit or whatever. You know, I'm just thinking like a problem solver and I'm thinking like a dealer and I'm just trying to make something happen and help this customer out and win them for, because back to the tenure approach. I know as a dealer, if I can win this customer, they may be with me for ten years, referring friends and family, sometimes twenty and thirty years. And we all know how valuable it is to have a happy customer. customer who is willing to refer friends and family. Let's go to number three. What's the lowest down payment you have? Yeah, that's a good question. It happens a lot that people ask that. I can tell you that we suggest a down payment of about ten percent of the selling price, but it's important to know that It can be done sometimes for less than that. We would want to get you in here and select a vehicle and just see what we can figure out. But unfortunately, I'm going to be with a customer for the next little bit. Can I meet you after lunch? How's one fifteen? I like what you said, too, on this is they that offer, you know, if they're like, well, I don't have a lot down. It's just is it's it's solutions. It's creating solutions. We've got our friends, coffee guys, solutionaries. Yeah. um, coming up with solutions. And so it's like, do you have a trade in, do you have a, you know, and, and, and so like be thinking about that when you come. So can, we'll see you at one fifteen. Um, was it, will that work for you? I kind of think, but I'm just, you know, be thinking about those things. I'm going to ask as little as I can get away with. I want to talk as little as I can get away with. I'm going to inquire about, And I'm going to be kind of back to the... Shoot, I'm forgetting his name. The Ted Lasso. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Curious, not judgmental. Curious, not judgmental. So I'm just curious. I'm curious all day long. I'm just going to ask a question, inquire. But I'm mostly going to inquire Ask a question. I'm going to get an answer, but I'm going to be, my main question is what time's good for you? When can you be here? And I'm just going to stay after that, stay after that. Why? Because I know my attitude needs to be, I believe I can solve your problem when you come in. And I don't, the less I know, the better. I mean that like, so I'm going to see, I'm going to have more turndowns than maybe the other salespeople, but I'm also going to have more sales and happy customers because I'm persistent. I'm working the deals. I found solutions and, um, and ultimately the dealer underwriters got to say yes or no. But my job is to just get, um, buyers who are committed to do business in front of them and they can make the yes or no decision. So this is part of what we credit. The last one, you didn't have it written as an FAQ, but it's like, my credit's not good right now. Do you work with bad credit? And it's like, We work every day. Every day we work with people in all kinds of circumstances. And this is a part of a business approach that some would adopt and others wouldn't. Throughout my career, whether it's a dealership I owned or those that I managed, the phrasing was often of the nature of, look, if we can't help you with financing today, it won't be because of your past credit. Okay. That's a pretty strong thing. It is. It won't be because of your past credit. Right. And I know that there's words, because we, without telling the customers, we will, based on your current credit, But not your past credit. That was kind of the out for me. With some dealers, they can't say we won't. Because I don't want you to say it if you don't mean it. So I don't want our BDC agents to say we would never turn you down based on past credit. And then two hours later, they're going to turn down because of past repo. Uh-huh. Right? That doesn't work. You've got to be genuine. You've got to be honest and sincere in what you're doing. So I don't want to misrepresent what we do. And I want to say as little as possible. And I want to get the customer in the building. And so this is kind of what you're referring to. It's like when I can say... Um, yeah, we, we work with folks in all kinds of credit circumstances every day. And when we, we pride ourselves in being flexible and we believe if anybody can help, it's us. What time's good for you? Right. It's just, just get off the phone, get off the chat thread. Let's get an appointment and figure it out when you get here. And, and you never know. I mean, um, you know, someone who is trying to be responsible, um, does a voluntary repo, and it doesn't show up as a voluntary, it just shows up as a repo. I mean, that's because it's like, I can't afford this right now. And so I have to repo. Wouldn't you appreciate a customer like that? And so it's like just having some black and white, yes, no, yes, no. Mm-hmm. it's like find out what you can about the circumstances that that you're looking at and and you know we we deal with custom um we deal with dealers all the time that it's like if they have more than one repo no or if they have you know and it's just it's let's figure out what the circumstances because there are circumstances and I know that a dealer is going to, we hear a song and dance and story, and it's like, yes, you are. Yes, you will. And part of the process that we teach is, you know, pull that credit report. and use it as a barometer to truth telling. And so that just like, it's like, let's, what was the circumstance? How did the, and how many dealers do we hear right now? I, I, the car got wrecked. what does that become? Um, you know, it's, it becomes on their credit, a repo. Um, but the car got wrecked and I got to get in a car and they're not going to help me. And, and the stories. So I think the real thing here is, does the story matter, Mr. Dealer? Like if you're, if you're, it's your business and, and you're willing to overlook past credit mistakes, which is the nature of our business. So I'm a dealer. If I want to be a dealer for a minute, then I'm going to say the story matters. I want to hear the credit story. If I see, that, you know, there's a past repo on the history, then I want to have a chance to have a conversation about it. I don't want to just say, well, I can't help them. They got a past repo. Well, I need to be able to find out what the story is. So this kind of Gets into a whole different track that we probably ought to save for a different conversation because I personally, if it were my own dealership today, I would certainly be working with at least a supplemental application. I've recommended this to lots of dealers. Not everybody adopts it, but I like an interview. I think an interview is helpful. I want to know more about the customer, their credit circumstances, kind of their background, kind of what's been happening with them. Because, you know, our dealer friend in Pennsylvania, Tommy Brandes, talks about, you know, wants to know if the customer's spinning up or spinning down. I kind of want to know their story. I want to know what's happening with them. Yeah, and that's his underwriting. Most of it is, are they spinning up or are they spinning down? Are they, yeah. Let me, if you ask me about a past repo and I come in, that's one of two stories. I'm going to come in. I'm going to tell you, yeah, I had a, had a repo with the dealership across town. They, um, you know, they wouldn't, they wouldn't honor the warranty or whatever they, they, it was as is and they wouldn't help me. And so I just told them to stick it in the left of car, you know, on their part on their lot. Okay. That's one story. Another story is, yeah, I was a co-signer on that car for my son and unfortunately he wrecked the car and the insurance had lapsed. And so, you know, I wasn't aware, but, um, and he went to jail and I'm, but I'm, I'm paying two hundred dollars a month, but it does show as a repo on my credit. very different stories. Right. And so I don't, and there's, there's a myriad of others that they're like, okay. So the dealer gets to decide, but I would just want to know the story. I don't, I don't want to trust the check boxes on the, and look, again, when you get to be a certain size, there's, you transition to that place. But I think we pay a price for that because we can't get, you know, into the weeds and have a conversation, really know the customer that we're stepping into a business relationship. You can't do that when you are doing online applications and online steps. And that's like, yes, no. That's your yes, no. That's your deciding factor. It's, I mean, obviously, if that's a practice and it's like, yes, yes, then it's a yes. If it's that and it's a no, invite, you know, it's like invite them in because there may be a lot more that you don't know. Mm-hmm. that was not on the application or is or the story behind what's happening on their credit or whatever yeah so um I have to pause for a moment and do a quick disclaimer um jim and michelle rhodes are not attorneys they are podcasters and coaches on the buy here pay morning show we don't offer legal advice I bring that up because There's a lot of compliance stuff in play here, right? And so we're certainly not advocating for anything that would violate compliance. Everything that I'm advocating for here is in the context of trying to help the customer, which is what I believe the CFPB wants us to do. I think they want us to help more customers. So I'm simply saying, let's certainly be... Cooperate with clients. I'm going to channel Steve Levine for a second here. Okay, let's try that. And from conversations we've had is you have your written policy and then you have your book of exceptions. And when exceptions become frequent, it becomes new policy. Right. And that's how you keep ahead of people saying, well, why did you hear and why did you not hear? It's like keep documentation about exceptions in. And then when it becomes frequent, it needs to become the new rule. Right. And so I would hope that that means an expanding policy that can serve more people. Because I think, again, it's back to volume. I'm trying to help more people. I'm trying to obviously I got to protect my business. I'm taking a tremendous amount of risk here and I got to make good business decisions. So we got to do that. and I want to do more business so it means I got to adjust my underwriting I got to keep an eye on what's happening I got to see what's working and ex I hope I'm expanding um my underwriting at least you know every other time and maybe adjustments in both directions but I'm just simply saying When we bring an approach, we want to try to help. And I really mean that thing that I say about, I believe if anybody can help, it's me. Like I'm bringing that sort of mindset to work every day. And so I'm not giving up. And I don't want to just, here, I'll shoot you a stip link. And then stuff comes in and now you get a score and I'm done. Unfortunately, you didn't meet our score. So sorry, I can't help you. And I'm going to drop you and go focus on the others. So that's where we're missing opportunities. Those applicants who don't initially meet the box, if they don't fit black and white, we tend to move on. And I'm just saying, you know, when we recognize that the nature of what we do is way more gray than black and white. And so we got to, we got to get comfortable in the gray. It is really, really is. Um, you know, we it's, and we're, we're, it's, it's a blessing to people out there that we don't work in black and white. because they've already exhausted all of their options that are black and white. And so sometimes we are the last option. And so it's, yeah, we work in gray a lot differently than a bank or whatever would. Hey, everybody. Thanks so much for joining us this Wednesday. If you'd like a copy of the stuff, like I said, it's a few pages of all the different things that Jim wrote down. Just don't follow the word for word. Don't follow the word for word. But to give your team ideas, to do some training, whatever, just reach out to us and we'd be happy to, you know. send you a copy of it um it's it's not it's not trademarked or any of that so it's just just just ideas email you at jim at white hat way hey um again thanks everybody for joining us we'll be back on friday and um yeah it's a good week it's cold it's clear it's ready to go so have a great rest of your day and we will see you in a couple days
