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#406 - BHPH Dealer Forum RECAP: Ideas That'll Pay for Your Trip
#406 - BHPH Dealer Forum RECAP: Ideas That'll Pay for Your Trip
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About this episode
The Buy Here, Pay Here Dealer Forum brought together independent dealers to share innovative ideas and strategies for improving their businesses. Key discussions revolved around the integration of AI in operations, enhancing customer interactions, and effective inventory sourcing. Notable guests shared insights on reducing charge-offs and improving service department efficiency. The episode highlights practical advice from dealers on leveraging technology and community engagement to drive success, making it a valuable resource for those in the automotive retail space.
Alright dealers, we just got back from the Buy Here Pay Here Dealer Forum in Nashville, TN—and let me tell you, the ideas we picked up will more than pay for the trip. Here's what we cover:-The "Best Ideas" session—strategies dealers are using RIGHT NOW to win-Man-on-the-street interviews with dealers who are in the trenches just like you-How AI is changing the game for BHPH dealers (and what's actually working)-A few laughs along the way because this business is hard enough without taking ourselves too seriouslyThe Bottom Line: Events like the BHPH Dealer Forum aren't just about learning—they're about connecting with other dealers who get it. The ideas shared in Nashville are worth their weight in gold, and we're bringing them straight to your screen. Whether you were there or not, this recap will give you strategies you can implement today.UPCOMING EVENT:📍 Collections Event with Ai - Dallas, TX - December 10Godwin Consulting Group is putting on a Collections Event in Dallas on December 10, don't miss it! http://www.godwinconsultinggroup.com/trainings
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Term
ACV
"Like we've got to reduce our ACV. Affordability is a huge, we've been talking about it for a while, but it is like we need to find a lower ACV car, a more affordable payment for our customers."
ACV means Actual Cash Value, which is how much a car is worth in the market. Dealerships need to know this value to set the right prices for their cars.
ACV stands for Actual Cash Value, which is the market value of a vehicle at a given time. It's important for dealerships to understand ACV to price their vehicles competitively and manage inventory effectively.
Term
recon
"How do we reduce the ACV, whether with recon or buying a little cheaper car?"
Recon is short for reconditioning, which means fixing up a used car to make it look and work better before selling it. This can involve cleaning and repairing any problems.
Recon, short for reconditioning, refers to the process of preparing a used car for sale by fixing any issues and making it presentable. This can include cleaning, mechanical repairs, and cosmetic touch-ups.
Car
Dodge Omni
"...t history in IDMS, look up the service history in Omni. They already know about the customer right after..."
The Dodge Omni is a small car that was made by Dodge from the late 1970s to the early 1990s. It was one of the first American cars to have its front wheels drive the car, which helped it handle better and save on gas. People talk about it because it was popular and changed how small cars were made in the U.S.
The Dodge Omni was a compact car produced by Chrysler from 1978 to 1990. It was significant for its front-wheel-drive layout and was one of the first American cars to feature this design, which contributed to better handling and fuel efficiency. The Omni is often discussed for its role in the small car market during the 1980s and its influence on future compact vehicles.
Term
CVT
"...you find things like this that I found that a customer bought a CVT and they've never driven a CVT and they bring it in because the transmission's bad. And you got none of this the way it's supposed to be."
A CVT is a special kind of automatic transmission that can change gears smoothly without the usual steps you feel in regular cars. This helps the car use fuel more efficiently and makes driving feel smoother.
CVT stands for Continuously Variable Transmission, a type of automatic transmission that can change seamlessly through a continuous range of effective gear ratios. Unlike traditional automatic transmissions with fixed gears, CVTs provide smoother acceleration and improved fuel efficiency.
Term
curb strollers
"...it was a DMS for curb strollers."
Curb strollers are people who look at cars parked on the street or in a lot, kind of like window shopping but for cars.
The term 'curb strollers' likely refers to individuals who casually browse or shop for cars, similar to how one might stroll along a curb looking at various options.
Term
DMS
"...it was a DMS for curb strollers."
A DMS is a type of software that helps car dealerships keep track of their cars, sales, and customers. It's like a digital assistant for car dealers.
DMS stands for Dealer Management System, which is software used by automotive dealerships to manage their operations, including sales, inventory, and customer relationships.
Term
cabin air filter
"Well, every car that comes in gets new windshield wipers and air filters and cabin air filters. And I'm pretty sure not everybody's a dope smoker. And a new battery."
A cabin air filter cleans the air that comes into your car from outside. It helps keep the air inside fresh and free from dust and pollen.
A cabin air filter is designed to filter the air that enters the vehicle's interior through the heating and air conditioning system. It helps to remove dust, pollen, and other pollutants, improving air quality inside the car.
Part
windshield wipers
"Well, every car that comes in gets new windshield wipers and air filters and cabin air filters. And I'm pretty sure not everybody's a dope smoker. And a new battery."
Windshield wipers are the rubber blades that move back and forth on your car's windshield to wipe away rain or snow so you can see clearly while driving.
Windshield wipers are mechanical devices that clear rain, snow, and debris from the windshield, ensuring visibility for the driver. They are essential for safe driving in adverse weather conditions.
Part
battery
"And a new battery. We have a lot of cabin air filters on everything. And those things add up."
A car battery gives power to start the engine and run electrical parts when the car is off. Without it, the car won't start.
A car battery provides the electrical power needed to start the engine and powers electrical components when the engine is not running. It is essential for vehicle operation.
Car
Honda Cord
"...does someone want to reach out to Susan? She was looking for a Honda Accord."
The Honda Accord is a popular car that many people use for daily driving. It's known for being reliable and comfortable, making it a good choice for families.
The Honda Accord is a midsize car known for its reliability, spacious interior, and fuel efficiency. It has been a popular choice among families and commuters since its introduction in 1976.
Select text to request an explanation
Independent dealer in the wild.
Here, peri-cass.
Peri-cass.
Yeah, to think of peri-andex, but a carry-cass.
Peri-cass.
Peri-cass.
Wait, is yours, is yours, is your lighter than mine?
I'm just more of a man in the US, sir.
Come on.
Oh, it's got, it's got, it's got, it's on it.
I want my back out.
Yeah, we're gonna check one.
Uh, Jeff's new crazy invention of a microphone that, uh...
Did you really invent that or did you buy it?
Yeah, I...
Hello and welcome to the Independent Dealer Podcast.
We have had a great couple of days here at Buy Here, Pay Here Dealer Forum, right, Luke?
Yeah, we have a lot of fun.
I just love interacting with the dealers.
That's the most fun to me.
Yeah.
We had a great time.
We did a bunch of fun interviews with dealers.
We're gonna show here in a minute.
We had a best idea session that went over really well.
And we had a ton of great ideas that were shared by the group.
So we're gonna share that with everybody in just a minute.
What else did you enjoy or what else did you take away from these last couple of days?
Um, just the really interesting, just the interactions with dealers.
Learning what's new out there in the industry that people are doing,
that you don't even think about, right?
You know, you sit out here and you think you know everything.
And like, one little...
You do.
You're right, I do.
But during my session, even Keith Thacker brought up something.
I was like, man, that is a great freaking idea.
Like, I mean, immediately, I never thought about it.
And he shared it with the group.
And I was like, yep, yep, that's it.
That's a wonderful idea.
Yeah, it was so great.
And I really think the themes from this convention and the talk with the dealers
that you'll hear here in a minute with our interviews,
so much of it is still about AI.
And how we're using AI in our dealerships to be more effective,
to be better at our jobs, to analyze data, to communicate with customers,
to help build policies and procedure manuals,
all the stuff we've been talking about for, I mean, 18 months,
we've been talking about this.
It's getting better and better and better.
Yeah, and people just need to not worry about it and just use it.
I mean, that's it.
I just encourage people that aren't using it, just start using it today.
Yeah.
Yeah, if you're not on the wagon, which I assume most people listening to this are already,
what I find interesting is there's new ways.
And so before we used it as like, you know, it'd create emails or it'd write,
make funny pictures or videos or whatever.
But now people are, I mean, they're uploading their entire sales database in there
and asking it to analyze the best cars they've used.
You're uploading all your repair tickets.
And asking it to analyze how much you're spending on cars and where you can find savings.
So they're kind of taking it to the next level with the amount of data.
Chief data officer.
That's what you need to think about AIS.
Yeah, you just got to basically take anything you would do, upload it,
figure out how to prompt it correctly.
That's really the key is learning how to prompt these AIs in a way that is useful.
So don't just throw stuff at it and think it's just going to work.
You got to learn how to prompt it and educate it.
Any other themes you saw outside of AI?
You know, it's the same old thing and you'll see that,
I shouldn't say the same old thing, but, you know, the themes are still,
how do we reduce charge offs, right?
How do we get better at sourcing inventory?
How do we get better at selling CPI and things like that?
And what tools can we use to do that better?
And, you know, the old things that came up to referrals and things like that,
there's always ways to use the old stuff combined with the new stuff
to make your dealership even better.
One thing I saw was old school buying techniques.
Like we've got to reduce our ACV.
Affordability is a huge, we've been talking about it for a while,
but it is like we need to find a lower ACV car,
a more affordable payment for our customers.
Yeah, that 500 plus payment that we've been looking at since COVID or since about 2021,
we've got to figure out a way to get it back below $500.
A lot of people were talking about that.
How do we reduce the ACV, whether with recon or buying a little cheaper car?
Yeah, absolutely.
Well, cool.
Okay, guys, we're going to play some of our stuff, our interviews with other dealers.
We're going to play some of the best ideas that came out of this
so you guys can take away something for us.
And the one thing I would say is next year, don't depend on us to do all the work.
You should be here.
And if you're about here to pay your dealer, you should be here.
You should be supporting our industry.
Thankful for AutoZone for bringing us out here and letting us do that.
But yeah, be here.
Be at association meetings and really interact with dealers.
So that's where you're going to find it.
Okay, here it goes.
Hey, so here we are with John Devache, who is actually the Tennessee president.
Yeah, and he's at home in Nashville.
We are on his turf.
Well, welcome, guys.
This is John Devache, the leader dealer and current T&IDA president.
And, you know, really glad and grateful that you all are out here.
You know, the leader dealer.
Yes, sir.
I love that.
They can plant steel on deals, shaking hands, doing wheels.
I love it.
He's got it going.
That's great.
So yeah, I mean, it's in your backyard.
So of course you're going to be here in Nashville, kind of cold.
I wish you would have consulted us about the weather and warmed it up a little bit.
You had to be here.
Not really, but maybe you had to be here.
But also, what are you here to learn?
Well, I mean, besides being in the backyard and being here, I want to be here.
There's been plenty of times in the whole journey that I felt hungry for some education.
You know, there's not necessarily a college elective class you can take for buyer pay here.
Just kind of working on the business, not in the business, kind of taking a break from it all
and cultivating the game, optimizing the operation.
Head back, revitalize with perhaps a new set of golden nuggets to implement.
Yeah.
What are you hoping to learn?
Like, is there one pain point in your dealership right now you're struggling with?
Like, what's the hardest thing?
What keeps you up at night?
Where's the headache?
So, I mean, by many metrics, it's better than it's ever been for me.
But I believe next aspects of the game that I kind of want to cultivate are CPI,
symptomatic CPI, you know, for customers that drop the full coverage insurance,
which is important for me to have on day one at least.
Just use that as a way to kind of bridge the gap in a system charge office.
We talk about this all the time.
CPI is such a moneymaker that so many dealers aren't utilizing as well as they should.
I was one of those dealers, Jeff, for a long time that didn't trust the process
and didn't listen to Buckeye when they told me, you need to be in CPI.
Put it off, put it off.
That's the biggest mistake I've ever made in my dealership journey.
It took me years.
I started doing it.
We started killing it.
I just know that I missed out probably on millions of dollars by not doing that.
You already there?
You already started this?
I've done a service contract, free insurance and everything.
So it's just really kind of tacking on, you know, one more product to the free insurance gig.
But yeah, I mean, in CPI and also another thing that I began hearing about is the AI chatbots,
especially for collections and what have you, you know, I believe that's definitely a next step
that's going to propel the buyer payer experience for our customers.
For sure.
In my session yesterday, we talked about AI a lot and it's so important.
And in the morning, a dealer came up to me and said, hey, how do I really start using AI?
Because I'm not using.
And I told him, I said, every day, find a new way to use AI.
Just open chat, open Gemini started using it.
Are you already implementing AI in your business?
So I got a website chatbot to be a first line response to leads and whatnot.
What I use it for social media captions.
So if you visit my page, the leader dealers, Instagram or Facebook, I have photos of customers
and during the whole sales process, I kind of ask them, what's your hobby or what do you like?
And I create a caption kind of relating to that post it up.
It's what I use AI for that I hadn't really heard anybody else.
So you're not using it in the business management as a helper in your business right now?
You're not doing any of that?
So I have it like review contracts, like the terms and conditions.
Bring that up.
I kind of use it for that.
And sometimes I've used it to help me format a letter of guarantee for an insurance company
or some legal dispute document or what have you.
A few years ago, I was kind of first opposed to AI anything.
And now it just seems like it's just kind of trickled into a daily operation.
Like Luke said, if you're not on top of it, you're left behind.
It's changing quick.
I was listening to a podcast morning and it said today's use of AI and today's series of AI
and what's going on today is the is the worst one you'll ever use.
That's all fastest changes.
It's changing by hour.
So yeah, John, thanks for being with us.
Appreciate it.
Thanks, chef.
The best idea session.
This is obviously my favorite part of any convention, any 20 group for those that have been in it.
You know that coming away with a list of best ideas is the moneymaker.
The moneymaker.
That's how you pay for your trip.
I thought that was my face.
Now how you're going to pay for your trip this weekend is by taking home these ideas.
All right, so everybody was in a group and you all know what happened in those groups.
One group didn't have a have a best idea, which I'm not excited about.
But here we are.
So, Jeff, do we want to start now?
Yeah.
Okay, let's get into it.
The founder of the idea.
Here we go.
Monthly raffle for Amazon gift cards.
Explain that one to us.
How does this work and how is it going to make us more money?
On our website, you can put in one entry every time you make a payment, every time you refer someone,
or when you get set up on Mac, which all and the purpose of it is we get your name, your address,
your phone number, and your email.
And I can guarantee you over 80% of the time when a customer calls in, they give us the address
and their phone number that is in our system.
But when they put in for the raffle is a completely different address, sometimes a different phone number
and a different email.
We require the address in the email because we say, oh, it's going to be either mailed or emailed to you.
Older customers wanted the $25 Amazon gift card mailed to them because it's in their hand.
The younger customers wanted an email to them and we would actually get their email that they used,
not the one that is just used on whatever paperwork they fill out.
Then at the end of the month, we would pick one we handpicked.
It wasn't random who we did the $25 gift card for.
So once we did customers that paid exactly on time, great to report them other times.
We did ones that are the pain of the butt who never call us back, guaranteed you they called me back
and I said, you want a prize, they paid me the payment, then they got their gift card.
And then we sometimes did the customers who do call us back, but they're just always constantly running behind.
At the end of the 12 months, we, in January, those 12 people we picked and that person would win three months of card payment.
But they had to pay January, we would pay February.
So they always paid those three payments on time because they wanted to make sure the second, what, two, three, four, and six one was paid by us.
We never had any defaults during those few months.
Everyone paid.
We got tons of information on it.
And when we did GPS the cars of the new address, we wouldn't have before because of they were on time or why would you waste your battery or time on it?
That's where the car is located, not with the information we have in our actual system.
I love that idea, Jeff.
Yeah, help me, help me understand that.
And then maybe anyone else has questions, but this is an online entry form on your website.
So how do you gauge who can enter it?
And you could enter it.
So, I mean, if they technically wanted to, they could enter it without making a payment, but I got all the information.
I would still input all their stuff, but they would not be a part of it.
If a customer came into the office called in, we would direct them to our website to do that.
And then again, if they did the referral, they could do it on Mac withdrawal.
That would also get us more on Mac withdrawals as well because they wanted that one more time for that gift card and possibly to win the three months payments.
That's great.
Is this an actual software that's embedded in your website that officially, or is it like a Google form?
We use drop form for our online checks and for our website.
So it was just, we told them what to put on there and it was just a little button.
Yeah, and you would officially run a raffle or did you just handpick the winner?
We handpicked, like I said, because we did experiments of great customers, middle customers and paying the bottom customers
to see what would work.
So I got a question though.
How many accounts do you have?
Okay, here's the little weird part.
At that time, we had over 6,000.
We were a finance company at that time.
We did things opposite.
We were a finance company for 32 years.
We sold our portfolio and now we are a buy here, pay here.
So at that time, we had quite a bit.
How many entries did you get before?
Over 200.
Okay.
I think that's a great idea to get updated information.
You think some people didn't register because they didn't want to give you updated information?
I don't think they were smart enough to figure that one out, that we would input it into the system.
They think it's just computerized and they go, oh, the 15th person is just going to win.
I don't know if they realize that we took it, we input it into our system.
It's very true when you think you're getting something.
We've all been to those raffles, right?
And you put your cell phone number on that raffle ticket.
It's a cell phone number you wouldn't give to anybody normally.
When you think you're going to win something, you're going to use your actual name, phone number, social security, whatever.
You'll get anything for a gift card.
Any questions in the audience?
What was it?
How much were the gift cards?
At that time we did $25 Amazon gift card.
Only one person, and he was an older gentleman, did not understand what Amazon was and did not want it.
So we put the $25 onto his account because that's what he asked.
And then the grand prize was three months of a payment.
That's great.
Yeah, I mean, that makes total sense.
And you could just credit people's account.
It really doesn't cost you any money.
That's how we do referrals to just credit accounts.
Yeah, and we all love free stuff.
Yeah, absolutely.
I have not seen a company so willing to get behind the dealers from an education, from a support standpoint.
I mean, there's a handful that we see in our sphere that are very active and always have our back, but Buckeye really sets the standard.
So when you're looking for a reinsurance company, if you've decided it's time to get into it, you've got to call the guys and girls over at Buckeye.
I promise you will not regret it.
Yeah, reinsurance, forced savings account, wealth building, tax plan, all these things go together, so call Buckeye.
Okay, here we are with Maria Pericaz.
Good job, Jeff.
That's enough.
Grand Prairie, Texas.
So, Maria, you're here paying your dealer for them.
Why did you come?
What are you hoping to learn?
Came because I wanted more excessive training on the new technology that's coming out.
I've been looking into a lot of changing up our service systems, our CRM, our DMS, and I've been trying to compare apples to apples, unfortunately.
In today's market, there's really no apple to apple considering that all businesses work differently.
Their models are different, their expectations are different from their customers.
And so I'm trying to find what's the best fit for us right now moving forward into the technology that we're facing.
So you're interviewing a bunch of vendors, basically.
You're walking the hall in here, you're talking to them, you're trying to figure out who's going to fit best for your dealership based on your needs, types of things.
Yes, I think that as technology coming to the forefront, I find that just this year alone, we were able to increase sales.
I want to say our portfolio went up by 1.5 million this year.
And so I can see where in a lot of that, we used some AI to put towards the advertising and that increased our revenue.
So what I'm seeing now is with the difference of technologies, I'm going to have to enforce it in all aspects of the business.
As you're using AI in all portions of business, I had a session yesterday on AI and that had to be used.
Like you guys are right now, you said you're using some in marketing, what else are you using AI for?
I'm using it to respond immediately to all the gallery emails, so something being able to respond more formal.
To be emotional, you don't curse back at them.
BBB, charge backs, things like that. Just before I would find myself proofing and verifying that I put in all the facts that I worded correctly.
Is it going to be understood the way I want it to be understood?
And so I've been using AI for a lot of those things.
My husband has started using AI for the mechanic shop where we would upload an issue with a vehicle that maybe has come back twice.
And then we're putting it into AI to see if it has recommendations.
That's what else to look at.
And similar to when we're using YouTube primarily as a diagnostic tool.
So we're using it more to assist with repairs as well.
Are there any good softwares that you have found because you're here looking for that really use dealership?
You think we're on the cusp of it? I think we're really soon.
I think we're too early.
I think that right now the one that's playing the most into the thing is more auto matrix.
I see that they're playing more with it.
However, it's not to say that the other ones haven't been playing.
I just haven't came to the surface with it just because they're trying to figure out possibly how to integrate as well.
Unfortunately, there are some softwares out there that just will never try to advance.
And so I'm kind of stuck with one of those.
They've been a great software.
I started with them in my business back in 2008.
But as I'm seeing our growth, I'm seeing that it just is limiting us.
And at this point, I'm going to have to give up some of the good of the old fashioned way of maintaining accounts to bring in that new way of maintaining accounts.
There are a lot of good features with the old way.
A lot of people do like that direct communication.
However, there's too many hiccups, too many misunderstandings.
And that's one of the things I think that hindered business the most is I explained to the rep.
I had an issue with the payment and then the rep didn't give me an option or didn't understand my and I think that's one of the things right now hitting our market.
So what is the biggest struggle you're having in your dealership right now?
Oh, gosh, I can't think I could pinpoint one directly.
I think it definitely is worth with the AI being needed because of the fact that you can only train your employees so much.
Every brain is different.
Every brain responds differently and absorbs information different.
And so with that said is I can react a certain way because that's the way my brain works.
But you can't always train an employee 100% to be like you.
And I think AI is definitely going to allow the training to go into place where the expectation and being able to audit those employees.
In addition, I actually think that it free up a lot of that time from having those customer complaints of the employee was rude or didn't respond properly or didn't hear me or didn't respond to my call.
And I those are definitely hindering the business from being able to grow, especially as you grow accounts.
You have to have structures to grow them.
And then you train them while and you teach them while and then no sudden they got offered double down the street.
It's nice to have a structure where it can't quit.
Yeah, that's the beauty of technology and AI is own it.
It's there.
Right.
Once you train, they're not going anywhere.
It's yours.
All those things.
So let me ask one more question.
You mentioned growth and you mentioned kind of you see what's your opinion on buyer pay here going forward the next 12, 24 months.
Are you excited?
Are you scared?
I think your portfolio is going to still grow another million next year.
I'm excited.
Or do you think you're going to chill out?
No, I think I'm excitedly scared.
One of the things that I'm excitedly scared.
That's a good word.
I'm excitedly scared.
So the beginning of this year, I'm good at forecasting being in the business now almost 18 years seeing different economic issues that have occurred throughout the phases.
And so in January, I actually notified my husband. Hey, I think we're going in a 2008 recession.
And one of the reasons why we succeeded in 2008 when we first opened everybody said, you're nuts.
Why are you opening a business?
I was 25.
I didn't know what the word recession meant, but I was opening a business in that thing.
And so one of the things that made it successful was that my plan was to focus a daily task versus focusing on the overall like my goal is to sell.
No, I was just doing this week.
Our goal is to sell three, four cars.
And we actually succeeded.
We did very well.
And so in January, I expressed to my husband, I see that the market is shifting.
People are not going to go looking for the luxury as much anymore.
They're looking for the, I need to get to work hard.
Yeah.
This, we also had seen the success rate of customers more getting to the finish line on paying off their account and succeeding.
And so I think that our market is shifting back to where we started affordability.
Like that, that's where it is right now, right?
Affordability, people being able just to make it to work, they're taking care of their families again.
They're not playing as many games.
Yeah.
And so we're starting to see a more success rate on the accounts finalizing versus being repossessed.
They're not going down the street anymore.
And I think a lot of it has to do with a lot of people down the street are not willing to help them anymore either.
Yeah.
Tighten up.
Maria, thank you so much for your time and hope you have a great convention.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Good to see you.
Good pleasure.
Our group was, I think we had to have the best group in the place.
Sorry for all the other groups, but we got a lot accomplished.
We had a lot of good ideas, but we had one clear winner.
We did not have AI try to figure out ours.
It was Thomas and it was hands down the best one.
I'm going to turn it over and let him talk about it because he can explain it better than I can explain it.
Yeah.
Sorry about that, Alan White.
So our best idea is an idea that will save you a lot of money in your service department.
So the idea is to reduce the volume of the repairs that are being done on customers who are having non-driveability issues.
So these are issues that do not affect the ability of the customer to get back and forth to work.
But if you're like us, we were fixing a lot of these cars at very little or no cost to the customer.
So the idea is to address that problem and save a lot of money in the service department.
So we accomplished that by having our service advisor test drive the vehicle with the customer before writing up the repair order.
So during this test drive, the service advisor is going to talk with the customer and identify what are the driveability issues.
Once those driveability issues are identified, we will tell the customer that anything that's not driveability is not going to be covered at the cost of the dealership unless the customer can participate in the cost.
So if they want to fix something like a rear window or a lock actuator or something that's not essential for getting back and forth to work, the customer will have to participate in the cost.
And the service advisor is doing this with the customer during that test drive and setting proper expectations.
So any issues that do not affect the driveability, we are not going to repair those unless the customer, again, is willing to participate in the cost.
By implementing this process of having the service advisor test drive the vehicle with the customer, we were able to dramatically reduce our service cost, probably about by 50%.
So that's our idea. Again, have the service advisor drive the vehicle with the customer, set proper expectations, make sure the customer realize that if they're not going to participate in the cost of the repair, we cannot fix the non-driveability issues.
And if you do that, I think you'll find that you're able to turn away a lot of these issues without the car ever even going into the shop.
It's worked for us, we've done it now for probably about a year and a half, so it's been a good solution to that problem for us.
Yeah, it's a great idea. Because how many in here have fixed a warranty problem that the customer bought their car in for and then they go, well, I don't even know what had that problem.
And you still didn't fix the real problem, right? That's a great idea. Jeff, you got any questions there? Anybody in the audience having questions about that?
Thomas, I know y'all have a lot of accounts in this. It takes a lot of manpower to ride with customers or to drive the customer's car. How do you schedule that process when it comes in?
Yeah, so this process mainly works for your waiters, the people who are bringing in their car. We've got two or three service advisors and the process is for them.
They look up the account history in IDMS, look up the service history in Omni. They already know about the customer right after they get there and before they go out to greet the customer at the car.
So these two or three people, they're going to go out, greet the customer at the car, talk about the issues that the customer's having and then just take a short five minute test drive with the customer.
So that's how we do it and having three people doing it is enough for us.
Same route every time when you're test driving?
I assume, but I don't know.
Okay, thank you.
I think that it just goes a long way to say there's verification, right? And it's those little teeny processes that you have in your dealership that are going to keep you from just...
I mean, my guys, the customer throws the keys at them, they grab it and run it to the back and the mechanic just fires the parts cannon at the car.
And you may not even fix the problem that the customer runs in for.
It makes Mike happy and AutoZone's coming and going 15 times, dropping parts off, but yeah, it's a real pain.
And I think what's so smart, you said, you can participate in this repair.
And the customer's like, whoa, wait a minute, I don't really need a windshield if I have to participate. No, thank you.
And you find things like this that I found that a customer bought a CVT and they've never driven a CVT and they bring it in because the transmission's bad.
And you got none of this the way it's supposed to be.
That's the way it works.
Awesome. Thank you so much, Thomas.
A real quick break to make sure you guys know about BlitzPay.
It's who I use to take all the payments at my Buy Here, Pay Here dealership.
We've been with them for almost three years now and it is absolutely amazing. It's great.
Yeah, the product is so simple, even an idiot like me can use it.
But you know, even when my collector's out and I'm just taking a phone call here or there,
no matter where I am, I can log into BlitzPay and I can take that payment.
I can see the customer's texting in and say, hey, can you run this or whatever's going on?
It's always on top of it.
And the money's in the bank almost the next day and that is to me so important.
And the support is great.
If we do have a chargeback or a dispute, we get an email that says, hey, there was this dispute.
And then their team goes to work to help us resolve it.
They don't just dump it back on your table with some random notification or email
that you barely ever see like my previous processors.
Yeah, it's so helpful.
And a lot of times it's because our customers did something wrong.
But when it's not, they'll fight to the end with you and get that money back in your account.
Yeah, so give them a call.
The guys and girls over at BlitzPay, great partner to have.
Definitely an essential tool to have if you're a Buy Here, Pay Here dealer.
Greg, set the room up for us.
What was your room and why'd you guys pick this idea?
All right, so we had a great group.
We had a mix of some very young dealers in our group and some seasoned dealers.
I don't say old dealers, seasoned dealers.
It was able to impart some wisdom to some of these younger guys that have not been in the business long.
And we had a great dynamic group and some guys are eager to learn in there.
And so Jason had a great idea.
We're all trying to source inventory.
See, Mike, we can never find enough holes and resources to find inventory.
So he had a great suggestion of trying to find some additional inventory.
Go ahead, Dave.
All right, so Sunday or Saturday night before I was coming up here,
I followed a guy on TikTok and there's a new app called Swoopa.
It's not Swoopa, it's Swoopa with a A.
S-O-W-O-A.
S-W-O-P-A.
P-A, Swoopa.
So what this solution does, they are scraping Marketplace.
There's different Craigslist.
They're scraping private seller websites, right?
They're scraping Facebook, OfferUp, Craigslist, eBay, Nextdoor, and Auditrader.
Now, I don't know how they're doing this because Facebook Marketplace does not have an API.
Just so you all know, I'm a technology professional 25 years and a dealer of three years.
So I have a lot of technology background.
I focus on using AI for everything that I do.
If you're not using AI, you're already way behind.
Man, one of you said that in a session this week.
Yeah, I think somebody did.
So, the Swoopa, you can set your searches, your filters to whatever you want it to be.
You can search Marketplace.
You can tell it to give you any steal of a deal because they actually have estimated values of those cars
that they're pulling from some different providers.
So, it gives you an instant way so as soon as that car is posted to whatever your search filters are,
you will get an immediate alert as soon as it's posted to Marketplace or Craigslist.
So, it basically as a dealer, it gives you the opportunity to go to the customer or to the seller
and get that car before anybody else gets to it.
So, this is a phenomenal way to source your private retail cars.
And I actually sent a message on Facebook and said,
hey, I'm going to be mentioning your software in this form.
And they made, I actually got a hold of the founder contacted me.
So, I've been talking to the founder for last night for two hours.
Just going over, hey, I think you can improve it by doing this and extremely receptive.
So, they've got a lot of great things coming, more stuff that you, it's going to blow your mind.
So, just keep out on the Swoopa.
It's going to be the next big thing.
Jeff and I looked at it this morning and we made the joke that it was a DMS for curb strollers.
Well, he told me that they initially designed it for flippers.
Yeah, you can see.
But they've determined that the dealer world is where they need to focus on.
So, when you go to the app, you can get, they got a seven day free trial.
There's a Swoopa app and there's a Swoopa for Dillers app.
It's the same app.
They're just, they've only been out for 18 months.
So, they're still in the process of, they're going to migrate to doing only dealers.
Jeff, I think you need to have them at the next conference, buddy.
I see a big vendor.
Well, that may be me.
Yeah, they may hire me to be the USA representative.
There you go.
Paul, you got a question?
That's not Paul.
So, you'll have to see, you'll have to see Theresa about getting a booth there.
Spell it again, Swoopa.
S-W-O-O-P-A.
You can use promo code Jason Holmes for 50% off your first.
You can visit his affiliate link.
He's now a private investor and he'll be here next year running it.
Yeah.
No, sounds like something we need to get in on.
Well, I have it set up on my phone.
So, if I get, I set up a, I set up a notification for any Teslas that come up for sale in my
geographic area, nothing yet this morning.
Is that how it works?
It's going to send me a notification if someone lists a, it, as soon as it's posted in my
search.
So, if I end up buying a Tesla in the next 30 minutes, I'll let you guys know how that
app works.
It's the same, same wavelength.
It's probably a right.
Yeah, it probably picks up uni.
You probably don't need it.
You like it?
Unibrow?
Unibrow.
It's pretty nice.
It's pretty nice.
It's pretty nice.
You do, you do.
He's a...
Memphis, Tennessee.
Another Tennesseean.
A lot of Tennessee things going on.
Yeah.
We are in Tennessee.
Hey, so tell us, you come here to buy here, pay here, dealer for them.
What are you hoping to learn or what have you learned?
I've learned that we're not all in the same market, that's for sure.
Some of us have a little bit more challenging aspects in different things.
I mean, for me, it's crime and there are other factors.
For others, it's compliance.
There's dealers around the country that have heavier burden of compliance in their individual
state.
Yeah, sure.
And Memphis, we all think of...
I think of Memphis and I think of a really inner city, really hard market.
What's different than that compared to a rural market that you hear people talk about?
I think the challenge for us is safety and security.
We've had one of our dealerships hit multiple times as far as cars getting stolen, things
like that.
We face that counter theft many times over the years.
Any time that we're involved in a dealership, it has to have a fence from day one.
We have to have barbed wire.
We take our keys home every night.
So those are some of the challenges that we face.
Yeah, I remember taking our keys home every night.
One night when we moved to a new store, we had to build this door that's like impenetrable
because of things like that.
But having a fence around your dealership creates a whole other...
It's safe, but it's not inviting.
I mean, what do you do to get people into your store with fences around?
Or is that just what it is in Memphis?
I think it is, but sometimes banners help.
I understand, yeah, there's dealers from other markets that visit me and say,
hey, I would take this fence down.
Can it do it?
No, not going to do it, but sometimes banners, flags can help a little bit,
but there's not really much you can do about it.
What's the difference in your collection strategy being in an area like that?
Is it more charge-offs? Is it quicker to repo? What do you think?
So our finance program is a general 15-month finance program.
So we tend to keep it short-term, nice and lean, low ACV.
It allows us to write it a little bit better based on our customer
because a lot of our guys are working for temp companies and warehouses,
especially around the holidays.
Yeah, and all that's right there.
What do you see coming up?
What would you say the next 12 to 24 months is going to bring for us by here, pay here dealers?
I think like you guys said earlier, we're going to see worse before it gets better.
I think that different challenges, whether for us,
a lot of our Hispanic customers are facing some hardship with ICE and stuff,
especially on our street, we're seeing that.
So we've got to be a little bit more compassionate towards our clientele in this busier time.
You know, the people we serve, we've got to kind of look out for them as well
because without them, we don't exist.
That's right.
Yeah, absolutely.
Any other piece of advice you're taking away from this convention?
Like something you want to go home and just like put into practice right away?
Oh wow, there's a lot of, I don't know that one stands out,
but there's some really good ideas that have come from discussing things with other dealers.
One of them was a Starlink idea.
We had an internet outage for several days with our internet provider
and so just keeping a Starlink on hand just to set it up real quick.
I had to do that the other day.
Yeah, I know that Pings, when that big storm happened in North Carolina last year,
they had to bring in a Starlink to get up and run it.
And I get it, man.
And Elon, if you're listening, you can sponsor the podcast.
You want one?
I do.
There you go.
Cool.
Hey Todd, thanks so much for your time.
Thanks for having me.
Appreciate it.
This is the first time I think I'm on a podcast.
Nice.
Hey guys, just real quick, break in, make sure you are signed up for TaxMax.
We are right at the beginning of tax season and the fourth quarter consulting groups are underway.
Yeah, what a great idea to really get you involved in using TaxMax
because anybody can sign up.
The best benefit is when you know how to use it properly.
And those consulting groups can really help you and also help you get that fourth quarter sales.
Sales get a little slow this time of year, Jeff, but not if you're using fourth quarter, right?
Yeah, you want to of course focus in on your great customers that you already have a relationship with.
Get that going and start thinking about the future.
You can reach out to TaxMax and get all the banners put on your website.
That's something that I was tackling this week, was getting the banners put up on my website,
getting social media posts made so that as we get more into first quarter
and I really start cranking it, I don't have to worry about that.
It's already done and in place. Let's go.
Referral programs, is that right? Referral.
So I think I read it once that the Icocas said that if you ask somebody in the first 30 days
if they like the car, if they said no, then it made them look really foolish.
So with that idea, I thought if you ask a person to give you a referral
before the first car payment came due, they're likely to be very enthusiastic about the car.
You have a customer in front of you who just probably shelled out $12 to $1400 on the down payment.
They're struggling for cash. They're worried the first car payment is probably coming due in two to three weeks.
So you say, look, if you can give me a referral before your first car payment comes due, I'll waive your first payment.
And truly waive the first payment. You're going to give them a credit on their account for their first payment
and their eyes light up because now they can save a little bit of money,
probably put a little bit of relief that they don't have to struggle with their first payment.
It's pretty simple process, but you allow referral programs. We always do at least $100,
but this is something that they could save $200 to $300 off their first payment.
So it's pretty simple, but it seems to get some traction.
So we're offering it to everybody and it's right at the end when I do the closing.
We do our closing. We have a window right outside the closing office so they see their car.
It's right there parked outside the window and they're all excited about getting their car,
so it uses them up a little bit. So it's pretty simple, but it's effective.
Any questions on that first payment waived if they bring you a referral set?
That's simple. And the referrals got to obviously turn into a sale.
That's a good idea.
Two to 300 bucks, but you don't feel it.
Just waiting another two or three weeks for your first payment to come in.
I like it. Referrals are so important and referral programs are so important.
If you don't have one, I would recommend you go home the day and start it.
And the theory is all of us probably have a referral program.
I pay $100 for the first, $200 for the second, $300 for the third.
So it's the same thing, but when I think when you package it around their payment,
it maybe is more realistic.
Bringing it forward quick.
Jennifer, Jennifer, in the corner.
That's right. She's a really good dealer out of Alabama.
There are good things in Alabama.
She's the best buy here, pay here in Alabama.
I believe that. I know a couple.
So I guarantee she's better than they are.
But Jennifer, thanks for talking to us.
You're here at Buy Here, Pay Here Dealer Forum.
What are you hoping to take away from being here this week?
I'm just hoping to get a couple of nuggets.
We are here for the AI is the main thing, but collections is always a big thing.
You can never know too much on collections.
So it's been really worthwhile to come.
Did you sit into this wonderful AI session that happened yesterday?
I did. Yes.
Man, I bet it was really great.
It was really good.
All right. So we're going to beat that horse a few more times during this episode.
But Jennifer, so tell us, what is your biggest pain point?
What is the hardest thing about your dealership?
What keeps you up at night?
What do you feel like you guys are struggling with right now?
My shop keeps me up at night.
We can never get things out of the shop quick enough.
If we could figure out that process and just get it fine tuned, it would be great.
And I actually sat into the shop class today too.
And that was really a good thing.
I realize we do way too much to our cars before we put them to the front lines.
You are over-reconditioned.
Really? Like what specifically you think you're doing that you don't need to be doing?
Well, every car that comes in gets new windshield wipers and air filters and cabin air filters.
And I'm pretty sure not everybody's a dope smoker.
And a new battery.
We have a lot of cabin air filters on everything.
And those things add up.
When you're selling 40 or 50 cars a month, like you do, if you're doing cabin filters and wiper blades and air filters in every single one, that's a lot of money in the loan.
My guess is they're all the items that flap really well.
You have an awesome shop too.
It's air-conditioned. It's really nice.
And so she treats technicians good, not like just put them out into the hot weather.
So they want to sit there and turn as many hours as they can.
I'm sure they do, yes, for sure.
That will make me happy, don't they?
The sun attire is great.
So what else have you taken away from this week that you are excited to go home and get going in your dealership?
I think that was the main thing was the shop.
I'm interested in the 20 and the roundtapers we're going to do.
That's going to be a big deal just to collaborate with other dealers and see how they're doing things.
Because this business is constantly changing.
It's always evolving.
And if you can always just get something from somebody else, it's already been through it and knows how to do it, it's a big help to you.
Honestly, one of the things that ever does something really great at Christmas time for her community, can you talk about that for a second?
Oh yes, I would love to talk about that. I could talk about that all day.
So I started in 501c3 back in 2018.
And so basically we started out, we have a thrift store and everything that we sell in that thrift store, we turn around and put it back into a food pantry and we give it out to the community.
But we realized about five years ago that there was a lot of people in our community that really couldn't afford Christmas for their children.
So we started doing a Christmas coalition.
And so the first year we had about 100 kids.
Last year we were up to 180 kids that we furnished.
We had sponsors for it about a Christmas and we did over 700 children.
So we're starting that again this year and it really looks like Santa's Wonderland.
We just pack it all in, we pack the Christmas, we hand it out.
Oh jeez, that is a lot.
So you're wrapping presents, you're taking them out, you're doing that whole thing.
We do all of that.
That's like a full scale operation.
Dude, it's like a whole, she has a portion of her dealership dedicated to this for all you want.
Just toys and collecting.
That's so awesome.
How can we see that progress? How can we see what that looks like? Is it on your Facebook or Instagram?
We have some Parkside Outreach Programs Facebook page.
We'll go in there and share it as well.
And if a dealer out there wants to give to you to make sure you do it, is there a way for other users?
Absolutely. They can just go to Parkside Outreach Programs Facebook page and we have a donate here.
And you can do that and you can contact me and we'll be happy to help you.
I like this.
Business inside of business.
Exactly.
Awesome.
Jennifer, thank you so much for the idea.
Thank you so much. I appreciate you all.
So we had a fantastic group.
We had more seasoned dealers in our group.
And man, it was a fantastic round table.
We got into some serious discussion.
So it was a lot of fun.
And I would like to have one of those monthly.
We operated a 20 group meeting.
So it was fantastic.
If you're not in a 20 group, it's going to really revolutionize your business.
So as far as the best idea session, we were up against time and Jeff, he didn't step in and give us more time to gather up ideas.
But Maria had a really great one.
And so we're just going to turn the floor over to her and let her tell you our idea.
All right, Maria, here we go.
So ours is two-parter.
So one of the things we wanted to do is convince the customer when they are shopping around that they want to buy with us.
And so my son came up with this idea that I was really against that first.
But then the other issue we were having is leaving the Google reviews.
So he came up with, he actually started investigating who works very different than what we do.
He created a group chat between a couple of salespeople for those dealers that absolutely do not structure their dealership the way we do.
So what he did was he wanted to direct the buyer to compare with dealers that he wanted them to compare with to assure that they came back with us.
Not only did they come back with us, but then he said, well, I want to give them an incentive to make sure that they leave a Google review.
So he actually, after that point, created a spend the wheel prize.
And what he did was in order to spend the wheel, you have to leave a Google review.
They would spend the wheel for a chance of a free oil change, $100 off their account, as little as an air freshener.
And you'd be surprised how many people love the air fresheners.
And so it actually, in one year, I think we were at 73 Google reviews because it wasn't something I was focusing on.
And I think now we're at like 500 Google reviews.
And so between that strategy, they actually leave in the Google review that they had compared and shopped around to the people he directed them to and found that we were the better choice and they're actually leaving this in their reviews.
So let me ask one or two questions just to make sure.
So went out and found salespeople at competitors around the area and we're essentially sending them referrals for this customer.
And if the customer went and shop there, they could buy there, of course, or they could come back to you.
They were getting denied because their structure is different.
Either they were only bank or they didn't have the products we had or they worked with completely different inventory.
And so when he was sending the customer with them, they already had an idea of how we work.
They see our inventory, they see our warranty package, they see the things that we provide.
So he sent them to people that absolutely do not offer anything we do.
And obviously a lot of them can't even close their deal because they're bank finance only.
And so in their head, they were like, well, we shopped around, no one's willing to give us what you're giving us.
I like that. Directed referrals. I like that.
I really thought it was going to backfire and we're going to use those clients.
And it actually turned out to where we're getting their referrals as well and we're closing their deals as well.
I like it. I like it.
Questions. So was he sending the customer's information to this group text and saying, hey, does someone want to reach out to Susan?
She was looking for a Honda cord.
We verify the customer's needs and goals and then he would actually give them the number to one of the sales.
The one that he knew that this was not going to close with that.
Send them down the down road. You're going to want to take a left at the tree and then a right at that.
We would have like five or six different sales people within the Metroplex and then he would identify who would be the best person to send them to that he knows they're not closed.
And they would end up returning that.
In addition, those vendors, because they don't work like we do, they're having them send them right back.
I love it.
I think we could do the same thing with Luke Godwin's cell phone number and our customers would call him.
He'd beat them down, make them feel horrible.
And then we step in and raise up.
I like it.
I like it.
Thank you so much for appreciating.
All right, Jeff, I got some big news to talk about.
Are you ready?
I don't think so.
All right.
We're doing a collections.
I'm doing a collections boot camp in Dallas on December the 10th.
Do you want to come?
Yes.
No.
No.
Wait, when is it the 10th?
And how do I get there?
How much is it going to cost me?
Okay.
December 10th.
It's at the Lovefield Fairfield Inn in Sweets.
It starts at 8.30.
It runs all day.
It's going to be training you or training your collectors.
We're going to do a bunch of role playing.
We're going to have hot seats.
We're going to work with AI.
It's going to be a real boot camp.
And I encourage you to be there.
Right now, pre-registration is, I think, around 315 bucks.
Wow.
We got a really cheap rate for the hotel.
There's free breakfast.
There's going to be free lunch by a sponsor.
I don't know who it is yet.
It's going to be a sponsor there.
Got a couple of people mixing it up, trying to decide what we're going with.
But I want everybody there.
Go to godwinconsultinggroup.com on Facebook or the website and get registered.
It's super easy to register.
It's going to be a lot of good training.
I'm going to be training.
We're going to be going over strips.
We're going to be doing everything it takes to make your collectors ready for tax season
and the end of the year.
So come see us.
All right.
Sign me up.
No one on the record.
It's not being recorded.
This is not being recorded.
I mean, you have such beautiful handwriting.
I wish I could write that one.
All right.
We're here with Andreas, a good buddy of ours from Atlanta, Georgia.
And you drove up here.
So it's not bad, right?
Yeah.
I was going to write the motorcycle, but I'm glad I didn't do it.
It's cold outside.
I don't think you want a motorcycle to get out there.
Yeah.
I'm glad I did.
Andreas, we spent a couple of days here by here.
Pay your dealer forum, learning about stuff.
What is keeping you up at night?
What's your stress about?
What gives you the most headache?
Not growing right now.
So that's a big one.
I've seen the decline, the leads that I'm getting, the down payments are not there.
The quality of the customer, I don't see it there.
I got a lot of payoffs.
A lot of payoffs.
So the portfolio is not really growing.
So that is...
So is your portfolio stagnant or is it shrinking?
It's shrinking.
Shrinking.
And do you think it's because of the payoffs or charge offs?
What's causing it to shrink?
All of the above.
All of the above?
And the sale volume because of the underwriting.
My underwriting is tighter.
So you've tightened up and you're underwriting.
Tighten up your underwriting so your sales are falling a little bit.
Correct.
You might be taking a little on the chin right now, but do you think it will help in the
long run?
I think so.
Okay.
I think so because it'll be more solid.
And I know it's also in-house, housekeeping, or basically housekeeping I have to do.
So it'll be okay.
And I think tax season is around the corner, so it's going to help.
Yeah, definitely help.
Your portfolio will grow during tax season.
Where are your payoffs coming from?
Because you've said that before and I just wonder, I mean, is that...
So I do have a lot of outside insurance.
I do, for the first time, low-balance customers.
Okay.
Enough.
Which is good.
Yeah.
But what I see is they don't want to trade because they want to keep the car.
Yeah.
A lot of people want to get out of debt.
I'm wondering if I need to sell less of a quality vehicle.
Sell the worst car so they don't pay off.
They're making it to the end of the month.
No, they do.
And I do have conversations with customers that I know.
Most of the customers I do have interactions with.
And I call them myself.
I say, let me put you another vehicle.
I'll give you this account.
I'll give you a better rate since you've already been a previous customer.
And they say, let me enjoy this for a few months or a year.
And then I'll get back.
We're seeing that a lot.
What are you hoping to implement when you get home?
What's going to be your timeline?
I took a bunch of notes that you want to do right when you get to the lock.
I do have a bunch of notes.
So...
Oh, he's going to the notebook here.
He says Luke in there a lot.
I like that.
He says, don't listen to Luke anymore.
Of course.
Of course, we all talk about AI and it's AI all over.
So I'm overwhelmed with information about AI.
So I'm going to implement some of that in collections.
And I'm working with Blitzpay for that.
NEO, that's one of the things I'm glad I came because some of the vendors are here.
I actually went and spent quality time with them to figure out the things that we need to improve.
And that's one of the things that we're going to be working on.
Well, good.
Well, thank you, buddy.
I know you didn't want to do this, but we appreciate it.
Thank you.
I really, really appreciate what you guys are doing and congratulations.
Number 400.
Thank you, brother.
Good for you guys.
Thank you.
Thank you.
We're going to take a, before we get to the last one, Jack Carter's group did not produce one.
And so I just want to go back there and ask him why.
Oh.
This is good.
Make him explain.
Catch him before he sneaks out.
I see he's kind of close to the door ready to bail.
And talk about the great group he did have.
Seems like Jack would squash all the ideas.
Or Jack, was it that you were the only one with a good idea?
Yeah.
No.
So my idea was so lit that Jeff Martin informed me that it might not be compliant.
So it sounds like most of my ideas.
You want to know how awesome our idea was just ask me afterwards and I will not share it with you.
Yeah.
It's definitely not something you're doing.
It's just something you find out.
I don't do it every single day.
Allegedly.
Allegedly he does not.
If I didn't love Jeff, I just, there's an opportunity to tell everybody and then just run out the door.
You are on the board so you may have to come back.
Right.
It's a slippery slope.
So I guess our second and third best idea was in every room I've ever been in talking to dealers,
they all say, every one of you say we can't find technicians.
And so one of our ideas was to get to know the snap on.
Right.
And the matcode guy.
So I love getting on the snap on truck when it pulls up.
I run out there.
That's like Toys R Us used to be when I was little.
So I love the snap on truck and I know the snap on man personally.
I've got his phone number and you know, get to know the snap on man because all he does every day all day is he goes and talks to technicians.
He knows where every damn one of them is.
You know what I mean?
He knows which ones are knee deep in debt and which ones pay cash for their tools.
That tells you a lot about an employee that you might want.
Right.
I don't want an employee that owes a snap on man 15 grand.
Yeah.
But what if he did?
I mean, he really has to come to work.
That means he's stupid.
They're interested.
My right.
So we talked about, you know, spiff the snap on man, you know, talk to the talk to the technicians out there.
They know which ones are happy.
You know, they get on the truck, they vent to their buddy that's selling them tools.
Hey, I'm tired of this place and send them to me.
So that's a great source for finding technicians is just develop a relationship with the tool man.
Yeah.
Right.
For sure.
And one of our other ideas that seemed to land with everybody was centered around your
shop's production and your tax production.
I know for us, we cannot get tax to work on flag rate, flag hours, right?
So we have to pay them hourly.
And so what we do with our technicians is we, if they, if they work a 40 hour work week,
which they all do, we, and they bill 40 hours, we bonus them for hitting the 40 hours.
They get two additional dollars if they hit 40 hours worth of billable time.
Super easy to understand.
If they get 45 hours of billable time in that same 45 40 hour period, we give them $4 more an hour.
If they hit 50, we give them $6 more an hour.
Right.
So that was a way that we were able to take an hourly technician and make them pay attention
to their output and bonus them for working hard.
I love it.
Thank you.
Everybody needs better shop production, shop production.
So if I wrap my head around this, Jack, the best idea for you was if we, if we want to
know how to kidnap Jack Carter, just show up with a van that says snap on and he will
just jump on free tools.
He doesn't even care.
He will get in that van and the cartel will ship you away to Mexico.
It's so funny.
It's very interesting.
You don't even buy flashlights and all this stuff.
Nothing?
Nothing.
Okay, last but not least, Melody Room, Elizabeth, will you please introduce your best idea?
Absolutely.
I'm going to argue with Alan White a little.
I think we might have had the best room.
Mainly because it took a minute for people to warm up literally.
We were, we might as well have been sitting outside.
But Jeff and Teresa, thank you so much.
They flexed.
We wound up in the NIADA staff lounge, which was incredible to make all that happen mid-moderating.
And then basically at the end of the day, the reason this idea was chosen was because
all the other robust discussions everywhere in the room center on people, which is murky
for buy here, pay here people, because how do you put data to that?
It's always intuitive and smoke in the room.
No one wants to talk about that.
But all of the discussions on the hot topics, which we had great engagement on, thank you
to everyone who was in the room engaging and making it a great session.
But they chose this best idea simply because it doesn't matter what you talk about.
If it's your best, it's the most creative, ingenious thing you've ever done, or if it's
your catastrophic failure.
It all centers on the right people in the right seats, how they are onboarded, trained.
And if you can put data to that, then you have a magic wand.
So I'll let Keeley go ahead and present.
All right.
So we have Keeley Dishman from I Go.
Wait a minute.
Wait a minute.
You guys are from the Lame Dealership.
The room voted, it's all I'm saying.
All right.
The room voted.
She explained it great, but everyone in this room has the same problems, right?
Whether it's sales clumps or collections, recon delays.
But like she said, if we're honest, all of that has a common denominator, which is our
people.
So the wrong people in the wrong seats cost us a lot of time and energy and money every
day, but it's very hard to measure because people are subjective and a lot of it is instinctive
decisions.
But if you could think about a world where you could make those decisions with data and
not just based on instinct, it's a pretty amazing world.
So that's what we're able to do with the culture index tool.
So across the industry, the turnover rate runs 40 to 50 percent and then it can even be
higher for sales, closer to 70.
So for most of the people in this room, that's probably four or $500,000 a year in turnover
costs that just walk right out the door.
And then for the people that stay, maybe you have the right people, but they're not always
in the right seat where they're working hard every day, but they might not be working in
the way where they're most productive or where they're thriving based on how they're wired.
So culture index changes that.
It measures seven work-related traits, things like drive, detail, social energy with no fluff,
just data.
So it shows you people who are wired to be frontline sales, people who are wired for
collections, people who love systems, people who love people and being out in the open.
So we've used culture index at IGO in two very distinct ways.
The first way is to hire better, better screening process, more productive interviews, and then
the second way is we've used it to empower our team to move the right people to the right seats.
So when that happens, everyone lights up.
Productivity sores, turnover drops, and you stop managing from frustration and you start
managing results.
So the math, 20 employees, if you average $50,000 a year, if you reduce turnover from 30% to
10%, that's $120,000 saved.
And then just a 10% productivity gain from putting the right people in the right seats, it's another
$100,000 in value.
So on a $20,000 investment, it's a 10 to 1 return and a calmer, more confident team.
So everyone here measures cars, collections, all of those things.
But our biggest lever is our people.
So if you make your people measurable and you can lead with data, everything else fall into place.
There's a great book on this, Primed to Perform.
If you haven't read that book, Read It Primed to Perform Measures Tomo, which is a cultural index.
It can really change your dealership.
Any questions?
Right here.
Two questions.
Number one, is that an app?
Is that a website?
Is that something you guys...
It is a website.
Okay.
And secondly, is that Enneagrams or Disk Profiles or how are they doing that?
This is not a personality test.
It's not a personality test.
It measures seven work-related traits.
Yes.
I may have done a session on this at NI-88 last year.
You could probably find out on a podcast.
It outlines the Primed to Perform book that mentions this.
It's a great answer, Tom.
It doesn't cost anything.
Zero.
It does cost.
Well, you could build your own thing.
You could build your own as well.
Luca will build his own.
He wanted another cost.
On average, probably 15 to 20,000 per dealer, depending on how many people you want trained, depending on several things.
But we saw that return back within the first 30 to 90 days.
It was amazing.
Right.
And if you want to see it, come to me afterwards.
We'll get your survey.
We'll let you see a little bit of how it works.
Once you're onboarded, you have unlimited surveys.
Access to coaching.
It's unlimited once you're onboarded.
And the proof is, I think, that I go people.
You guys use it in your dealership?
Of course, because it's the only dealership I see where you guys all hang out.
You all come to convention.
You all go out at night together.
So obviously, you've got a pretty good crew there that seems to like each other.
So that's proof is right there in that culture.
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