The Independent Dealer Podcast Feb 19, 2026

#419 - Brandon Pagano's Turnaround: Staff, Profit & What's Working Now

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Brand

Subaru

Subaru is a car company from Japan that makes vehicles known for their ability to handle tough weather and rough terrain. They are popular for their all-wheel-drive systems, which help with traction on slippery roads.

Brand

Jeep

Jeep is a car brand from the United States that makes vehicles designed for off-roading. They are well-known for their tough and durable cars, like the Wrangler, which can handle rough terrains.

Term

studded tires

Studded tires are special tires with small metal spikes that help cars grip the road better in snow and ice. They are great for winter driving but can sometimes harm the road surface.

Part

balancer

A balancer is a machine that helps make sure tires are balanced correctly. This is important so that the car rides smoothly and the tires last longer.

LIVE

That's a hard number to hit.

That 40 car a month number is, man.

Yeah, it is.

Obviously during COVID, we were killing 40, 50, 60 cars,

70 cars a month with no issue.

We're just talking about that this morning,

but since then, man, to hit that 40 car a month,

like to stay on the 40 car a month average is, man,

it's hard.

It's having the right inventory at the right price,

making sure the right pre-cons getting done,

not too much is getting added into there.

They're doing too much to the cars.

It's a lot.

I mean, and I go to the options out here,

I see what these guys are paying,

and I just, it's hard for me to,

and I think that might be a little bit of struggle for me,

too, is the inventory side in that sense,

where you don't want to pay retail book

for these cars at auction, and I'm watching guys do it.

So instead of me stocking 60, 70 cars a month,

like I should be, I'm stocking anywhere from 47 to 55

and that range, you know.

Hello, and welcome to the independent dealer podcast

education by dealers for dealers.

And we got a dealer with us today, Luke.

A familiar face.

Yeah. Oh, Brandon, he, he's back.

We love it guys.

So Brandon has been a really, really fun,

what we call our board of directors type series.

Brandon's like, just been super gracious to let us pick

and prod and yank at his business

and kind of help him or hurt him.

I don't know, I don't know, but if you haven't listened

to Brandon's episodes, episode 308, episode 342,

that'll give you background

on what we've worked with Brandon over.

So a year ago, we had a check-in,

and the first episode was about eight months before that.

So it's been about 20 months or so.

The Brandon has been a friend of the pod

and been listening and we've been hearing things.

So we're excited he's taking some time

to check in with us again,

so we know how things are going.

Brandon, dude, give us the high level.

Like we're going to dig into the deep stuff.

I want to get into some of the promises you made

in our last episode and some of the goals you had,

but at a really high level,

on a one to 10,

how do you feel about your dealership right now?

Oh man, I don't know, I'd have to,

I can never say 10, unfortunately,

that is not going to happen,

give us no room for improvement.

But I mean, I would say we're,

some of the, with a lot of the changes we've made,

we're probably at a solid seven, eight right now, I would say.

That's pretty good.

I tell you, if you could run it at seven or eight,

you're doing good in this weird economy we're in right now.

So good job.

What allowed you to get from,

because probably when you first came to us,

what, you were maybe at a five or so?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, what has been the major difference

moving from that five to that eight?

I think for us, these last, you know,

almost two years now,

it's been a lot of the backend stuff.

So being able to make some of that reserve money on the back

has been helping out a lot,

because obviously like you guys know,

gross is on cars aren't what they used to be by any means.

So to find those other avenues

of making just a little bit more per copy

has been really helping and then getting the right staff

in place on the sales side for sure.

It's been just a huge, huge opportunity for us.

And let's touch on that.

Well, we should probably first say,

Hayden cars in near Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, right?

In Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, yes sir.

Okay, just wanted to.

You guys are like a hunkering down

for hibernation right now, eh?

Yeah, we got, we've had a bunch of rain.

We had some snow, but it's gone with the rain.

It's supposed to be in the mid 40s,

but it's still a little chilly with the wind for sure.

So I want to run through some rapid fire questions

to update the audience

and then we'll go back in and dive into a couple.

So in our last episode and update,

you were, you had a key employee

that you felt like was an amazing hire.

Jimmy, what was the name?

Dennis.

Dennis, okay.

Is he still with you?

100%, yep.

Ah, he's selling.

There you go.

Yeah, yeah, he's incredible, he's killing it.

Love that guy.

Okay, and you still have separate F&I and sales.

Correct.

And did you hire two new sales people

to try to get to that 40, 50 car?

We did.

This year's been a little bit weird

with some of the sales that we've hired.

Obviously like, you know, they kind of come and go.

We've had some really good people

and right now who we have, I think is really solid.

I hate to say we stole them from another dealership,

but we did and the kid's killing it.

We do a great for us.

We love them to death, you know,

and then I have actually my oldest son

working for us in sales right now, which is really nice.

So it's been a, it's been cool

kind of teaching him the ropes,

but yeah, we've done the most part.

It's been really good these last few months.

How many do you have now?

I just have two.

Oh, still two.

What kind of productivity are they getting?

What are you selling a month the last six months, eight months?

Averaging about 29 to 35 a month right now,

which is, you know, okay.

And Dalton, my head guy, he's got the majority of those

and some of the other ones we've had

are just found different things

and got out of the sales world completely.

And so it's been a little struggle,

not necessarily keeping them.

It's just the fact that, you know,

there's just other things that are booming up here

that they want to go try to do

and we get calls back for them to want to come back,

but we've already moved on.

Yeah, so Dennis is like your F&I sales manager type guy?

Yes, yep, yep, yep.

And he's the one making all the money on the back end point.

Yeah, he's killing it.

He came from a new car franchise store

that we talked about last time he was there for a long time

and he just been, yeah.

The guy's awesome.

I cannot say enough without him, honestly.

I don't know where I would be without him.

Right, yeah.

I think a lot of us can say that

that have had any kind of freedom from the business

or made really, really key hires

is it is a game changer, right?

You don't have to be the smartest one in the room,

but you want to have a lot of smart people in the room, right?

And finding those key people are what can jump you

from one level to the next.

And it's a hunt.

It is a hunt, man.

And you got to kiss a lot of frogs, you know?

That Oluke is familiar with, kiss frogs.

So why not more salesmen?

What happened?

That was part of your commitment was,

hey, I need to get more salesmen to sell more cars.

Yeah, it was.

And within the last few months

or having some family issues going on

losing my mother-in-law,

it's kind of been one of those things

where the transition from home life to here

has been really a struggle

beyond up in my wife and my father-in-law, excuse me.

So our plan is for the new year

to maybe get one to two more.

It's just, especially coming in the winter right now,

we're kind of slows down with the amount of snow

that we'll get.

We've got to be really limited

on what we're going to pile out there for inventory.

So I think two right now is a good number for us

until probably spring.

That's what we're planning on hopefully doing

at least one more to average.

I'd like to have three, but hopefully four.

Yeah, I mean, three is probably a good number for you.

And I think that you do have to keep in mind

is the training process to get that guy up

and guy or girl up and running.

So, you know, if you need that person

when it starts to fall out in March,

you need to make sure that you hire him

probably 45 to 60 days prior

to make sure that you really get him trained up

and used to what's going on in your dealership.

It's hard.

I'm not saying this because somebody's gonna probably

email us in and say, well, I sell 80 cars with two people.

Well, that's not the normal.

That's an anomaly.

So 15 sales per salesperson is probably average.

And so when you tell me you're selling

around 30 cars a month, you have two salespeople.

Makes sense, right, Jeff?

Yeah.

And it sounds like one of them's doing the bulk of it.

And then your son is the other one

who's the one kind of learning right now.

But he'll get better.

He'll get better.

Are you stocked up with Subaru's and Jeep's right now?

Yeah, you know, we are.

And I'll tell you, it's been crazy.

We do have quite a few Subaru's out there,

but we just had our first snow,

what maybe last week sometime.

So we're hoping those start ramping up.

We have really, I think we sold one in the last week.

So hopefully those will start ramping up.

But yeah, we got them out there, that's for sure.

And let's talk about your marketing.

Cause last time you were stepping heavy into social media

and you felt like your leads and your sales were growing

because you were spending a little more on Facebook

and you were doing a little better in your social media.

Is that still the case?

And are your current salesmen still very active in average?

Yeah, they're doing really well.

They're posting obviously on their own pages.

And then we have a lady that comes in once a week

and does some really cool videos with us.

And we're boosting those.

And funny videos like right now at Chris's sign,

we have my guy Dennis Dresse,

except for the Grinch and they'll go around

and do stuff out there.

We also just upgraded to a new website,

which was, it's been really good for us

with all the new AI stuff going.

So that's been a really good feature for us.

We went to a company called Space Auto for our website

and they've been really, really good,

which is like I said, integrated with AI

so they could help move things along.

Yeah, and Facebook's still going.

And we talked about it first,

but the guys didn't really get much out of Craigslist,

but we still get quite a few out of Craigslist every month,

which is pretty good.

That is, that blows no mind.

I didn't even know it was a website still.

I know we've talked about this before,

but that's so random.

Yeah, I mean, your website looks good.

You know, it's funny, Jeff.

All these people websites look the same.

I'm sure somebody has a cookie cutter

and they buy the back end of them and do different things

and charge you anywhere from $800 a month to $2,000 a month.

Oh yeah, we're up there.

But anyway, yeah, your Facebook page looks good.

You doing stuff in a marketplace or just Craigslist?

Yeah, we got stuff going on marketplace to you.

You know, I'm boosting ads throughout the week

and boosting the air.

And then, you know, we still have to have a card for sale,

unfortunately, just because they're the only ones

that will push over to Facebook or us, you know,

through integrated through the website.

So we still have that.

And then our new website does everything internal,

which is really, really cool.

And it's been really,

it's taken a lot of load off the salespeople

and the finance manager going in.

Essentially, the customer now can go in

and pretty much create their own deal with our website

and pick what they want and do their thing.

And then it gets emailed right to us

or texted to the guys

and then they can go about working at that one.

So that's been really good.

Hey guys, just to jump in and talk about Buckeye risk services.

They've been one of our sponsors forever.

They're great to the industry.

They're one of your sponsors.

You don't even know it.

Every time you go to a convention or something like that,

they're there helping out, isn't that right, Jeff?

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.

Yep, reinsurance, four savings account, wealth building,

tax planning, all these things go together.

So call Buckeye.

Interesting.

So the reason I ask that is,

do you feel like your salesman and a half

that you have right now are utilizing every lead

that's coming in and that's why you don't wanna

have another salesman or it would be cutting the pie

too thin for everybody or is it just literally a matter

if you haven't been able to give it attention

because of these other personal items you've had?

What's kept you from getting to that third salesman?

You don't have to lead?

You don't have the what?

Oh yeah, I mean, if we're gonna be honest,

I think that it would probably cut the pie a little bit

just because right now with the way grosses are

on some of these front end grosses on vehicles

are getting to be really tight.

So after you try to buy these cheaper cars,

which is like you guys see it all the time,

they're very hard to purchase options

or anywhere at this point.

So I think that's got a lot to do with it on my end.

I was worried that the pie might get cut

a little bit too thin for these guys.

But that being said,

there's still some really great grosses that we were making.

But like I said, I think right now the,

and I'm just gonna be honest,

I really think the back end has been kind of carrying us

these last six to eight months for sure.

Yeah, I mean, it's, I always say it's a lead problem.

And not a lead problem, never a lead problem.

It's a sales people working the lead problem.

And it's interesting to make sure you're staying on top of them.

Who's managing those sales people?

Who's going back and looking to make sure

that the leads are being touched?

And who's handling your CRM?

Who's managing it?

So right now Dennis and I are both managing that.

That's the nice part with this new website.

It has its own built-in CRM, so we can all see it.

We talked about last time we had podium for a while

and we ended up just recently kind of parting ways with them

and going over to with this new company for the website.

And so Dennis kind of really looks at a lot of that too.

And then you know, I'm in there just kind of on the back end

always just, you know, peek and see what the guys are doing

and making sure stuff's getting answered for sure.

I can see with your new website,

you still didn't put you or your wife,

the dog is on the website.

We talked about that, making you, you know,

where's your story, man?

I look here, it's about us.

I do the ship in Gordelain and there's a picture of a car tire.

And it's like a stock photo of like a new car store

with a car tire, man.

Where's the beautiful family photo with the pup?

Yeah, we definitely need to get that.

We've actually talked about that

because we've been up and running with these guys

for about a month and a half now, maybe two months.

So it's still working out the kicks,

trying to get all that stuff done with them.

And it's a little harder too

because the wife works from home.

So it's just not here all the time to be able to get,

you know, we're doing a big Christmas party this weekend,

which we're gonna get some really cool pictures and stuff

and taking them out to a big motocross event Saturday night.

So we're gonna get a bunch of pictures

and blow that stuff up all over there for sure.

Yeah, I think that'll be halfway.

You know, is your wife still working with you?

I mean, I think you said she went back

to nursing there for a little bit.

Yeah, yeah, she's still doing that,

but she does our books here for us.

So thank God that she can still do that

because without her, she's my rock.

Like I told you a million times during no way

this business would be anywhere it is without her.

So yeah, she does doing her books.

Interesting.

You know, you mentioned personal things happening in life

and how they affected your business.

I think a lot of dealers deal with that.

Can you kind of just tell us what happened

and how do you think it can affect your business

and it can affect you,

which in turn affects your business?

Yeah, I will.

So like I said, we lost my mother-in-law unexpectedly,

but kind of not.

She's been battling some health issues

and was there one day and gone that afternoon.

So hardest thing that I've had to do

is obviously tell my four boys

they're at the hospital saying goodbye to grandma.

And so for me, it was one of those things

where I had to really focus on my family.

And so what I was worried about is that

is now I'm focusing on that,

is my dealership gonna start to kind of

dwindle and fall a little bit.

But you know, God is good, man.

He's really treated as well

and he's worked us through this

and having Dennis here has been,

like I said, a game changer.

He really stepped in when I wasn't here

for those couple of weeks,

making sure stuff was getting handled.

So it really opened my eyes to really realize

and know that I've got the right people

on my sales side in place

that can handle things when I am gone.

So I think the Lord used that for me in that sense,

but I look back now and it just made me really appreciate

my sales guys that I have.

So that way, I really,

I can really appreciate what they've been doing for me.

Yeah, I mean, that's, yeah.

You don't realize the staff you have

until you need them, right?

You kind of maybe take them advantage.

But is that the one thing that you can tell other dealers

that the good that comes out of that,

you appreciate your staff or is there something else?

Yeah, I definitely say,

because I do struggle with that, right?

I mean, we all do.

This is our baby, it's our business.

We don't want to let things go.

And it's a hard thing for me to let go of things.

And so knowing that I can trust my staff

has been a really big opportunity for me to kind of,

just mainly step back and kind of just do more

of the buying aspect and not really get involved

with the whole sales process, which is hard, right?

I mean, I still want you.

That's why there are times where I feel like

I'm more of an employee than a boss and I hate that feeling.

And I think that obviously as a runner,

I have a lot of work that I got to work on,

but I definitely feel like having the right people in place

is what it's all about.

Yeah, you mentioned that earlier about you stepping back in,

being an employee more than a boss.

What do you do day to day in the dealership?

So, you know, I'm buying the cars,

inputting them into the system,

making sure recon's getting put in, going through trades,

making sure you're either getting floored

or be there paid off if there's a loan pay off

or anything like that.

Constantly checking to make sure, you know,

deals are getting funded through, you know,

either out one or Cuddle or whatever.

And if we've got a funding delay,

why we have that funding delay, what are we doing?

So then I'm kind of like jumping back a little bit

and kind of pushing on Dennis just to make sure

that we're all staying focused on what we got to do.

You know, but a lot of it is just, you know,

the day by day for me is just kind of going through

the back and stuff, making sure stuff's listed

and putting where it's supposed to be

and stuff is correct, you know?

Well, you know, that sounds,

it doesn't sound like you're actually working in.

I mean, that's a little more working on, right, Jeff?

I don't know, man.

I would definitely say that's a little bit, yeah.

If you're talking about nuts and bolts

and funding and steps on, you know,

contracts and transit and stuff like that,

like that's definitely in, which is understandable

because you've got a lot of moving parts.

And to be straight, Frank, this is probably one

of the biggest advertisements for a dealership

to move quickly from 10 to 20 a month

up to 40 to 50 a month, right?

Because at 10 to 20 a month, you own a job.

And we talk to dealers all the time.

It's great.

You can make a really good living if you're okay

being there nine to five Monday through Saturday, right?

Yep.

But when you have a family problem

and it's just you and your son working the dealership

or you and your wife that run the dealership,

you got to shut the doors.

And that month is lost.

And so that's the hardest

and the biggest cautionary tale I would say

to those young guys that are in a dealership

and think, hey, it's just me and my wife, I'm fine

or me and my buddy, it's just the two of us,

we're gonna sell 15 a month and be happy as clams.

That works until it doesn't work.

Right.

You're also stuck in a tough position

because at 30 cars a month in the retail world,

it doesn't really give you a ton of freedom, right?

You're still gotta be there.

You can't fully pay to replace yourself

because you're not making enough money yet.

Now, obviously at the 40 to 50 cars a month,

I think that's where the economics work out.

You can have a manager and a receptionist and a controller

and maybe a title clerk along with two salesmen.

Now you got a staff of five,

you can step away from a period of time

and just focus on buying and doing what you want to do.

Right now, it sounds like you're stepping back in

as the title clerk and the controller

because you haven't quite jumped that hurdle from.

That's, you know, it's like we've talked about it

for other guys on the podcast talk about,

that's a hard number to hit.

That 40 car a month number is, man.

Yeah, and it's obviously during COVID,

oh, we were killing 40, 50, 60 cars,

70 cars a month with no issues.

We're just talking about that this morning,

but since then, man, to hit that 40 car a month,

like to stay on a 45 month average is, man, it's hard.

It's having the right inventory at the right price,

making sure the right concrete cons getting done,

not too much is getting added into there.

They're doing too much to the cars.

It's a lot.

I mean, when I go to the auctions out here,

I see what these guys are paying.

And I just, it's hard for me to,

and I think that might be a little bit of a struggle

for me too is the inventory side in that sense

where, you know, you don't want to pay retail book

for these cars at auction and I'm watching guy do it.

So instead of me stocking 60, 70 cars a month,

like I should be, you know, I'm stocking anywhere from,

you know, 47 to 55 and that range, you know, so.

And that's probably,

that's probably limited in your sales.

Yeah, 100%.

I agree with you 100%.

But I want to buy cars that are going to make my guys money

and make the store money.

That's what, you know.

And that's, you know, the people you see it,

the people you see at the auction paying retail,

they've got good back end profit.

Since, you know, since Dennis has kind of moved

into that situation,

where have you seen your back end gross go to?

Oh man.

I would say, I would say if, let's just say I'm,

if I sold 20 cars this month,

I would probably say at least 15 of them

would have some sort of back end on them,

which is phenomenal.

I would say the average gross on the back end right now

is probably right around 15 to 1700 bucks

from, you know, maybe gap in service.

And sometimes a little bit more just kind of depends.

But we're also doing your key fraud replacement,

wheel replacement, windshield and maintenance care,

stuff like that.

So, but reserve alone on some of these newer vehicles.

I mean, that's, that's a game changer.

I mean, you made 1.5 on these back ends on these things,

you know, which is, is really incredible

on these newer, newer trucks or cars, you know.

Yeah.

I mean, that, that extra interest money sure,

sure does go a long way.

But, you know, you'll, you'll talk to a,

the retail dealers that are really doing it and killing it,

they're making $3,000 on the back end, right?

And, and that's where, you know, they have to kind of get to

because they may be losing $500, $1,000 on the front end, right?

And that's the ones that are at the auction

paying retail for these cars.

Now, I think that's a scary game to play

and I don't want to play that game,

but, but people are doing it.

Hey, 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 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.

It doesn't, 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,

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.

You mentioned to me that you were,

you were having some struggles in your shop.

You want to go over those?

Yeah, so I did get another two bays up and running.

So I do have four days now, which is good.

You know, we've had some mechanic issues over there

in the past year.

I'd say we've had some guys kind of come and go,

you know, and I don't know if that's my fault

from hiring the wrong guy, but you know,

resumes are good and maybe references checked out,

but when they get here, stuff just doesn't fall into place.

So a little bit of struggles on that side,

finding the right texts to do.

I mean, my guys are good.

They're just kind of slow.

And I do have a really good younger kid,

like my staff's over there young.

I don't have an older staff over there

that have been seasoned in that side to work

for, you know, 20 years or so.

It's, all right, now we're looking for a service rider.

I have my second son who's 20 years old

and he's the one, my service rider right now.

I mean, so it's, you know, my wife and I have talked,

and we don't, that's not the right seat for him.

Honestly, he needs to just go back to wrenching.

And it's just me finding the right guy

to get in there that I can trust.

And I know that's not going to steal from me

because like you guys have been through it.

I have guys steal and parts and money and whatever else.

So it's going to be finding the right,

the right butts for the right seats over there.

And that's kind of where we're at now.

Are you doing outside retail work

or are you just doing recon?

Yeah, both we're doing our recon and some outside work,

which is nice.

Like you've talked about before, you know,

I know in the first podcast and talked about

not really getting the outside work coming in,

just kind of focus on the retails.

I mean, on the recon stuff, which we did.

And then the second podcast,

and I think it was what we said, 342 we talked about,

maybe try to get a little bit.

And we have gotten some, which is nice.

We have revamped a lot of it over there

and some new lifts, some new equipment.

But it's just getting us out there in that sense

of making the right type of advertisement

to get us a little bit more dizzy over there, you know?

So you're not having a recon problem?

Are you not having a problem getting cars in the front line?

Not buying as many.

Yeah, so I mean, I ran a couple of reports today.

I wanted to see my averages based off of what I sold

compared to what I had in inventory those months.

And, you know, it was kind of an eye-opener for me.

There were some months that we did extremely well

and I didn't have a whole lot of inventory.

I had, you know, say 47 cars that we sold 33 or 34.

And I'm like, wow, like that's huge.

So now it's gonna be a report going back,

seeing what those vehicles were

that we were able to move.

So, yeah, I think a lot of it's that.

And I am buying nicer cars.

I'm buying, you know, more green light cars

and stuff like that, you know,

just so they can get through quicker breaks,

oil changes, wiper blades, little things like that

that don't need as much recon, you know?

So you pay up a little bit more for the vehicle,

but at the end of the day,

my shop's not slammed back that busy

trying to run stuff through.

I thought that's the right or wrong thing to do.

I just, I feel like, you know,

we could end my detailer guy,

he's doing really, really well back there.

He's killing it.

And so, yeah, he's getting them brought out here.

He pictures them and then we get them posted.

So it is a quick process.

Your shop is a separate location, right?

It's on the same property just right across our parking lot.

Okay, and so your son who's service riding,

does it look like a standalone repair shop?

Yeah, yeah, it kind of does.

If you pulled in there,

you'd look to the right and see buildings that,

oh, there's a mechanic shop over there.

And is he paid based on tickets?

And dollars sell?

He's paid hourly.

Okay, so obviously, you know,

throwing this out there,

and I've never ran an independent shop.

I've never ran a retail shop.

Luke might have more insight on this.

That to me, amongst some of these key opportunities you have,

that might be one where I'd say, hey, Brandon,

if you have an extra, you know,

five hours over the next couple of weeks,

get that service rider in place, right?

And maybe you have a little extra cash right now

because you're not buying as many cars.

Maybe you have a little cash in the bank,

and you can see yourself, hey, yes,

I've got two to three months of this guy's salary set aside.

I'm gonna make that key hire a good service rider,

and I'm gonna put him on a base salary plus commission.

And I'm gonna get him in there

and he's gonna run that shop like an independent repair shop.

Yeah, and if that's your goal,

and then your son goes back to wrenching,

that guy is now running it.

He's responsible for that operation.

He'll get paid as it,

but it's gonna take, it'll be hard, man.

You're gonna turn over a lot of stones to find that guy.

Yeah, but his location looks great, too.

Jeff, you need to look at it on Google Maps,

and the way that the service building is off to the side,

I mean, it sets up perfect to kill it there,

but Jeff is totally right.

You really kind of probably need the service manager,

service rider type guy, gal.

What's that, Jeff?

I said, I would shoot for a gal first off,

in day four, for sure would be my goal.

But yeah, I don't disagree with that

because those guys in the shop will listen to her, right?

And then the women or the other people

that come in to buy service will listen to her as well.

Sometimes guys don't play well with guys, right?

Or women that feel like they're being talked down to,

or whatever, so yeah, I definitely think that...

And we have got a few really good applications

for some females that were waiting

on the show for interviews this week,

so that should be good there.

We are obviously actively interviewing for that right now.

And I agree with you 100% about paying these guys

based off of the tickets we put through,

but it is a scary thing right now

because we don't have as much outside work

as I would like.

So how do you, I guess, my question is...

You'd guarantee him?

What's that?

You'd guarantee him for the first couple months.

Okay.

Tell him I hire that guy over and entice him.

He's gonna look at your historical stuff

and say, why would I jump into this thing?

You guys aren't legit.

And you say, look, here's the potential.

What you're making now,

I'm gonna give you a guarantee for the first two months

that's gonna phase out of month three and four as retail.

And I'll give you the greater of whichever you hit, right?

There's something like that.

And I don't think no one's gonna,

no one wants to build it from the ground up.

And advertising, and to me,

advertising for a server department,

server center is so much easier.

You can make the phone ring off the hook

because Google, people are Googling all day,

where to repair my car, this and other.

And there's just not as many auto repair shops

in your town as there are sales places in your town, right?

So it's just a lot easier keyword.

So you can say to this guy or gal that you're gonna hire,

hey, this is your salary for the first 90 days, right?

And I'm gonna also give you a budget of X

for advertising for those first 90 days.

So you can kind of tie it in both ways.

You already had a facility, it looks great.

It can be vanished properly.

And all of a sudden you turn on,

you're gonna need another website

for your service department.

I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you that.

But you do that and turn it on

and spend $5,000 a month in advertising

in the service department.

You'll have so much business, you won't know what to do with it.

Yeah, I agree.

It's definitely the way we need to start moving

and getting towards, I feel like the sales side

is doing really well.

And I feel like that side's kind of leading us.

I don't wanna say leading us,

but definitely it's not making the business any better.

It should be, in your situation,

it should be a profit center.

There's no doubt in my mind.

Yeah, because you're a retail

and because you've got the look

and because you're out of town,

I don't know what other guys are doing,

but in my town, every repair shop

is backed up two to three weeks.

That's right.

If I even had a building with four lifts in it

and I had two half-confident mechanics,

they would be busy for days

just by turning an on sign, right?

And I can't imagine you're similar.

If they knew you were actively recruiting

outside repair work,

you'd keep your guys more than busy,

which I assume they're busy now.

I guess that might be the question we gotta ask first

is do your current mechanics have any capacity?

Yeah, I mean, that is one thing.

We are busy.

I mean, obviously we're busy with our recon

and then we are getting outside work,

especially right now with, you know,

like people wanna put studded tires on.

So, you know, we did get a new balancer

and tire machine last year.

So obviously that's been helping us there.

The new lift, we finally got our final fourth lift

and then last week, our guy came in

and, you know, recertified all four.

And so now we're up and going and we have been,

I would say we're probably,

we're probably, I would say on the low side,

we're probably a week out for work right now

just with, you know, they're still rifling.

You have, so I have a lube tech

who is also 20 years old

and he just does our breaks and oil changes

and just blows through stuff really quick, which is great.

That's where the money's made, baby.

Maybe you gotta, you gotta chill it there.

Yeah. Yeah.

So that's what he's doing for us there.

He's staying pretty busy and doing really good with that.

You know, it's, you know, the life tells me all the time.

I know we don't have the right guy in the seat over there.

And I'm, and I am, I agree with their 100%.

I don't wanna set him up for failure.

You know, 20 years old to not wanna do this anymore.

Cause he's dealing with customers,

which he's the great with.

But, you know, some of these other season,

you know, guys or gals,

they've had to deal with some of these putting out fires

and stuff like that with some of these guys, you know?

And so we've been, what really hurts

is having to use an outside shop,

but I have my own shop here.

I've got some really good relationships

with a couple of different shops here in town.

And they really take care of me on, you know,

some of these bigger jobs.

I mean, I've got a guy that came in with a Mercedes

that have the motor torn apart.

Like I don't, I don't really wanna work on Mercedes.

You know, and I'm right.

Yeah, we passed that along to somebody else.

So, you know, I do have that at least.

But yeah, I agree.

I think it's a hundred percent.

It's getting the right person in the seat over there

to help start building that.

And really, cause he talked to all these big dealers

or and they're like, man,

that that should be carrying all your bills.

They should be carrying everything.

So, yeah, they, they say that it's,

it's easy for a franchise source to say that

100% absorption, 100% absorption.

I've never met an independent dealer who has it.

Now there may be somebody out there.

I've just never met one.

Just hard to get done,

but it should definitely be a profit center

is the way I would say that.

Yeah.

Yeah, I would.

So along those lines,

the other thing I'd say that sticks out to me is

your sales problem, right?

Like you do need to get those numbers up

just so you can start looking to free yourself

because it sounds like you don't have a title clerk

right now in the office, right?

No, Dennis is doing all the title work

while he gets one, you know, on his downtime

when he's not doing stuff.

They have, like I said, he's a rock star.

I mean, he'll be your toy at eight o'clock at night.

And he's doing titles for us, like, all right?

I'm serious.

His family and they're phenomenal people.

We love them like our own, you know,

and he's putting in the hours just like I am, honestly.

But you don't want him to burn out.

Correct.

And let me, let me float this.

Let me float the delegate and elevate, right?

So he should not be doing title work.

He's worth way more than that.

So he needs to write,

you need to write down everything you do during the day

and you need to look at all those $10, $15 an hour tasks.

And you need to put those together with all of his

10 to $15 an hour tasks and then hire someone

or give him the right if she's capable to do it remotely

and hire someone to take, because guess what?

He could occupy half of his time doing $15 an hour work

when he should be at $100.

And Jeff, you could also, a lot of those jobs,

you could automate with AI.

Yeah, maybe.

So you could really think there's a,

there's a hundred jobs that you need to hire somebody to do

when really there might be 10

after you automate them properly.

But that's a show for a different time,

but Jeff's totally right.

You can't keep doing those things.

Dennis definitely can't,

because Dennis could be making you more money,

hanging deals and selling stuff.

Yeah, I agree.

I would ever say we've been told them that to you

and it's just, it has been.

It's these last, and I don't know about you guys,

but man, the credit that we've been dealing with lately

has just been, I mean, horrendous, horrendous credit.

I mean, if we would have got everybody approved last month,

there's my 40 cars a month with our eyes closed,

but you're pulling guys that are scoring

three 80s to four 10s, low five, you're like.

We had, I was told we had many 400s in over the weekend.

Yeah, so do we.

So that's a hard part too is,

and then some of them,

with even some of our subprime stuff,

they get them done, you know,

and I've seen people come in just recently

that are, I mean, just absolutely smoked in their trades,

trying to fight that, trying to get that together for them,

you know, and we're, and that is one thing

I will tell you, Dennis and Dalton and even Gavin,

you know, they work these deals to death.

I mean, literally to the point to where it's like,

we have to tell them like, hey guys,

there's no deal here, just move on,

because I know you want this sale

and we're telling you to work on death,

but there comes a point where you just got to just say,

hey, unfortunately there's just nothing we can do for you.

Yeah, that's hard to do though, it's hard to do.

It is, it's very hard, it's very, very hard.

Yeah, so hey, what,

so what are you doing like for you?

What do you got coming up?

Cause I'm gonna be straight honest with you here,

and I guess we can cut this from the podcast

if you don't want it to air,

but I think your attitude is way different this,

like currently than it was a year ago when we talked to you.

Like the Brandon of a year ago, you were like,

oh yeah, we're doing this, this is happening,

this is going on, this is going on,

this is going on, this is gone.

And the Brandon today is like, that kind of happened,

this sucks, that's not good, things aren't great.

This is, you know, like,

like I'm getting a lot more pushback from the Brandon today

than I did the Brandon a year ago.

What's up with you, like, where's your mind at

as far as the dealership goes and your personal stuff?

Like, how are you keeping your tank full?

I mean, with me, it's, you know, I mean, I'm blessed

and I get to go to the gym every morning

and let off some steam, you know?

But I think a lot of it for me this last year specifically

has just seen kind of what my family's gone through

these last months has really opened my eyes

to just saying, you know what, I mean, honestly,

you know, it is what it is, you know?

And so when you sit back and you look

and you're checking your books

and you're seeing, you know,

man, it's gonna be a tight month or whatever,

it kind of puts you in a funk, you know?

But I think it's just being honest with yourself

and knowing that, hey, I can only do what I can do.

And I'm trying to do more

when it comes to different things here and there.

But for me, I mean, it's like,

we'll try to plan something that's gonna be out

in front of the, we have something to look forward to,

you know, those little wife and I

are going on a vacation here in February.

And that's gonna be a nice time for us

to just kind of recharge, you know,

shut the items down for a little bit.

You know, I've been, I have been going, you know,

full bore for the last year,

like just all in doing everything that I can do.

And, you know, we can always do more.

And so there's times where I get down to myself

and I feel like I'm not doing it right.

And then there's times too where like Dennis will come

like, dude, you're doing good, man.

Just keep up that, you know, you're doing what you're supposed

to be doing, you're getting this inventory to sell.

And, you know, I get discouraged a lot of the times

because, you know, I like, as I know,

you're not hearing all the good that's going on in a story.

You're starting to hear about the negative stuff

that goes on.

So you're fighting that aspect of it.

And so I, you know, I feel like a year ago

I was more upbeat and positive, ready to go.

And I just was more, I don't know the word I'm looking for,

but more optimistic, I guess, of what could really be.

And, but now looking at how much work it's gonna take

to do what we need to do.

I mean, like I told you guys before,

I was alive and for a power company for many, many years

and got hurt real bad and I never owned a business before.

And so, you know, stepping into something like this

and taking it over and just really for the last 10 years,

just, I mean, getting after working more now

than I did when I was a lineman.

But, you know, I just look at really what needs to happen

in the day to day.

And I just, there's days where, yeah, I do,

I feel like I get burned out every once in a while,

but it's about to stay put.

I think, yeah, I mean, I think Jeff,

what Brandon is going through is what we all go through

from time to time.

So don't let it get you down.

And what's gonna happen is at some point,

you're just gonna snap out of it.

You're gonna find something new at the dealership

or new at the service department

that challenges you and invigorates you.

And, you know, just, yeah, don't let it get you down

because it happens to all of us, I think.

Yeah, and I think, you know, you hear a lot of these guys

like, you know, I'm sure dealers are lying and stuff,

but they're killing it.

They're doing this and, you know,

we're not breaking records.

Not by any means.

If dealers are speaking, they're lying.

Yeah, well, and I think that's what me

I try to be an honest guy with everybody and just, you know,

and I kind of tell people what I got going on.

And I've got some really, really amazing friends

that I'd met throughout this last year at the auction.

Actually, kind of a crazy thing.

And he kind of, I don't want to say mentors me,

but he'll kind of get me back in my place, you know,

every Thursday when I'm out there or something like that.

So it's been really cool, man,

to have a relationship like that

with someone to kind of pull me back

and say, hey, stay in your lane.

You know, you can only control what you control.

You can't control the uncontrollable.

And I'm like, no, you're, you're right.

So, you know, but the financial stresses

of owning a business and the overhead here

and everything else making sure

that everything's got to be, you know, moving

because bills come regardless of sales are coming or not.

The bills are, they're piling up, they're coming.

Bet they do.

You know, so it's doing that.

And but I do feel like, you know,

this is why right now we're really hawk drawn

on getting the right people in here for the new year.

And I'm hoping here by the end of next year

when we have another, hopefully we can do another,

another meeting and just be like, yeah,

this is what we're at with killing, you know?

So I think for me, it's just staying focused

and trying to stay in the positive as I can, you know,

with my employees and customers

that I do run into out there.

Just telling, I'm trying to tell you, breaded,

if we all go through and right, we all go through it

and everyone's going through it right now.

You know, many dealers are not in business now

because of how the last six months have been

and how many are planning exits now

because of how the last six months have been.

So it's a really of our time.

And I look at it even with me, even in the last 30 days,

I've got cars that I'm like, why haven't these moved?

Why am I sitting on a fire sale?

So this is like, why?

You know, I'm getting nervous like,

well, that thing has sold, how can I get another one in?

Even though it's a good deal, I don't want to buy it

because I'm scared I sell this one.

So we're waiting for the tax dam to raise

and tax time to happen, hopefully.

Yeah, and that's a thing too, you know?

It is, seeing the inventory out there

that we might have floored or something,

flooring is a big thing that kills dealers.

And we're in the process right now, really,

we've sat down, we're really trying to figure out

what it is we can do to get ourselves out of that.

And I think we're moving in the right direction.

So I think once that goes away,

let's still have it here and there,

but I think once it goes away

from having your curtailment payments though,

those are coming due, better start selling cars.

Hey, why is this not sold?

It's been 90 days, hey, it's been 120 days.

And it's just, you never know.

Like when I think I've got to figure it out

or flips all over again, not my hand.

You know, you can't.

We're all there, buddy, you just never know

why the perfect car won't sell, right?

Yeah, I mean, these things are out there,

they're clean, I go out and physically look at them

and I'll drive them like, what is wrong with this car?

Nothing, super clean little car and it's like super.

My man, I had this thing for 120 days,

this should have been gone within the first couple of weeks,

like what's going on?

And it's just, you know.

It's the wrong color, it's got the wrong interior,

man, I feel you buddy.

Yeah, so that is definitely a struggle that I deal with

every day when I start seeing some of the older inventory.

Not that we have a whole bunch because we are

able to move stuff when I took your advice before,

you know, it's just, hey, take your loss now

and then not keep sitting on that thing, you know,

let's just be done with it and take the loss.

So we can make it up on something else and we're good.

Talking about your losses and just in cutting them loose

when it's time to cut them loose, we talk about that a ton.

So to put a pin in this Brandon, obviously,

a lot of this is getting through the tough times

and knowing that this business is cyclical

and putting away for those hard times

so you can get through them.

Not, you know, a lot of dealers will fold up, you know,

their flooring lines will crush them,

their interests are crushed them.

Those types of things will put guys out of business

this time of year or during a season like this.

So I think staying focused on that stuff

and just knowing you're gonna get out of it

and planning for that upcycle, right?

Because what's, I mean, what's the other option?

It's not, you wanna stay like this?

No, no, I'm gonna plan for more sales in January, February.

I'm gonna hire another salesman.

I'm gonna hire a repairman, you know?

I'm gonna get my shop up and running

because they might need to buy in cars.

They're definitely gonna be fixing cars.

Yeah, and with the right pay plans,

these people don't cost you.

Yeah.

So, you know, think about it and next thing you know,

you're gonna be re-energizing, ready to go.

Yeah, and I can feel that, you know,

it's just what we got going on.

I can see a little speck of light at the end of the tunnel

for that, you know, we're getting the right people in there.

You know, and it's like you said, I think you nailed it

because there's, I've talked to guys that are, you know,

multi-millionaires that own these billion dollar companies

that, you know, I'm like, how are you doing?

He's like, well, you do like this, I'm like,

I can't afford these and you can't afford not to.

You just, you know, at the end of the day, it's like,

it's just like Jeff said, you got to bite the bullet

and figure out how you're gonna pay that person

for the first three or four months

and see what you can do to move them forward.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, buddy, we're excited to check in

in another couple of months or another year or so.

Obviously, we'll hear from you by email

and text message before then.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, like I said, I appreciate what you guys do

and I get a lot of stuff from what you guys

on your podcast throughout the week.

And I don't, some of it doesn't, you know,

really obtain to me, but a lot of it,

I can pick out little onesie twosies things out of there

which I thought are what I really liked.

So, you know, I appreciate what you guys do

for us independence out here.

And like I said, did you guys keep that moving forward, man?

I love picking up little things from you guys

that's really, without you guys,

obviously I don't know where I would really be

because I picked up a lot of different things

from your podcast, which is huge.

Talking to other dealers that are just honest on the cast,

you know, like they just, they tell you,

hey, this is what it is

and this is how you're supposed to try to fix it.

And so it's been, you guys have been a game changer for us.

So I guess that I really appreciate you guys

and I do look forward to hopefully getting together here

soon again and let you know where we're at.

Sounds good, buddy.

All right, Brandon, take care, man.

Thanks guys.

See ya.

["Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy"]

About this episode

Brandon Pagano returns to share insights on his dealership's performance, reflecting on the challenges of maintaining a 40-car monthly sales target in a fluctuating market. He discusses the importance of inventory management, key staff hires, and the impact of backend profits on overall success. With a focus on social media marketing and a new AI-integrated website, Brandon highlights how adapting to current trends has helped his dealership thrive. Personal anecdotes about family and staff dynamics add depth to his journey.

balancer Jeep studded tires Subaru

Original notes

In this episode of the Independent Dealer Podcast, hosts Jeff Watson and Luke Godwin welcome back Brandon Pagano for his third check-in—tracking 20 months of real growth, challenges, and transformation at his independent dealership. Brandon shares honest insights on what's working, what's not, and how he built his best year yet.

What You'll Learn:

How Brandon achieved a "10/10 year" in profitability and growth

Strategies for getting out of floor plan financing and reducing interest costs

Real talk on staffing challenges and finding the right team

How to balance family hardships while running a dealership

The importance of tracking goals and adjusting processes (not the goals)

Why focusing on profit per unit matters more than volume

Key Takeaways from Brandon's Journey:

Build capital reserves to eliminate floor plan dependency

Hire slow, fire fast—especially in your service department

Set clear, measurable goals and track them relentlessly

Adjust your processes to hit goals, don't adjust the goals themselves

Use property equity as potential capital for inventory growth

Stay consistent even through personal and business challenges

This episode is perfect for dealers who want to see what real, sustainable growth looks like over time—complete with the setbacks, wins, and hard lessons learned along the way.

Support the businesses that support the podcast:

Buckeye Risk Services - Reinsurance, tax planning, and long-term wealth strategies built specifically for independent dealers.

https://theindependentdealer.com/buckeye

BlytzPay - Buy Here Pay Here payment processing with fast funding, text-to-pay, and real dealer-focused support. https://theindependentdealer.com/blytzpay

Ituran GPS - GPS and payment technology for BHPH and retail dealerships focused on asset protection, recovery tools, and customer management. https://theindependentdealer.com/ituran

Follow & Connect:

Website: www.theindependentdealer.com

Email: [email protected]

Facebook Group: @independentautogroup

Luke Godwin: @lukegodwin

Jeff Watson: /sendtojeffw

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