Car Dealership Guy Podcast Sep 24, 2025

Burton on Sales Strategy, Stream Co's on "Retail Ready", Jones on Ford Trouble | Daily Dealer Live

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Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of The Daily Dealer Live.

I'm your host, Sam Darkin, with me back again is the Uli D. Martino.

What's up, Uli?

Hey, what's going on, guys?

What is up?

Now, look, Uli, as you know, this isn't just you and me talking.

We're live today across all CDG social media platforms,

and this show is all about you, our loyal listening audience.

So right now, drop in the comments.

Where are you watching from today?

We'll shout you out live.

Also, add your comments and questions as we go throughout today's show.

They do change the trajectory of today's show.

Welcome to your front row seat to what's happening today in automotive.

And Uli, I got to tell you, you're a little bit of a celebrity.

I was at our open house at Subaru Fort Wayne on Monday,

and I had the Huntington Bank rep come up to me,

and he's like, hey, love what you do on the podcast.

Watch the Cardinalship guy every single day.

He's like, one of my reps was like, he watches, loves the show, loves that Uli guy.

And my contact had to say, well, you know, Sam from Ziggler is on the show as well.

He's like, I had no idea.

So you've got multiple fans out there, Uli,

and then some people just have no idea I'm even a part of it.

So I love it.

That's awesome.

I'm your number one fan.

And I'm yours.

So all right, we have got a monster lineup coming today.

Let's get into it.

Burton's joining on sales strategy.

Stream company will talk retail ready, advertising, digital stuff.

And then Jones will talk a little bit on Ford trouble.

But first, let's dive into breaking news.

We've got the CDG scoop of the week.

Acura has scrapped production of its ZDX electric SUV,

canceling all 2026 allocations due to slowing EV adoption and policy uncertainty.

Shocker, according to an internal memo obtained by CDG news.

And this is breaking news.

We're breaking it first.

CDG is the automaker confirmed cancellation,

despite the ZDX selling well enough to nearly exhaust inventory.

However, the luxury EV required massive incentives to move

up to $30,000 for buyers in some markets.

Acura now joins other automakers like Stellanus, Honda, Nissan,

and Toyota in scaling back EV ambitions and midchanging market conditions.

Paragon Acura's Brian Benstock called the decision, quote,

true leadership, crediting Acura with listening to dealers and pivoting quickly,

positioning the brand to regroup and refocus on what dealers actually want.

And that means Honda joins a long line of automakers,

as we mentioned, canceling their EV plans.

Uli, we looked, they've sold a lot of these EVs this year, year to date, right?

Definitely more than I thought.

Yeah, 11,500, something like that.

So, I mean, it's significant.

Yeah.

All right, let's turn to today's news.

First up today, there we go.

First up today, let's go to cdgbicell.com.

Where's the jingle?

On, yeah, there's the jingle.

There's a whole jingle.

There you go.

We're about three seconds slow today, but it's okay.

We're going to catch up.

On Monday, CDG News received several tips that Carvana was acquiring at

second Chrysler Dodge G-Prem store this year.

Picking up Park City CDJR in Dallas after closing on another near Phoenix back in

February.

We've got a guest today to talk a little bit about that.

Carvana confirmed the acquisition to CDG News, which closed Monday evening.

The online retailer says it's still in the early stages of testing what it looks like

to run a franchise dealership, but from our point of view,

the Dallas market could give Carvana access to high-volume new car sales,

trade-ins and off-lease returns that help feed its CPO inventory,

with Texas' favorable tax structure keeping costs down.

The move looks like a low-stakes experiment from now that's expanding,

but one that could challenge long-held assumptions about who gets to play in the

franchise system and on what terms.

We're excited to get some of our guest perspectives on that news today.

Next up today, Brand Loyalty in the auto industry has slipped to 49% down from 51%.

That's a 2.0 delta. That, according to JD Power,

still four trucks hold the highest loyalty of any segment at, I'm not making this up,

66.6%, while Toyota leads in cars and Honda and SUV both at 62% loyalty.

As far as premium brands go, Porsche ranked highest for cars at 58.2%,

while Lexus topped SUVs at 57.4%, analysts say shifting segments,

older products and heavy incentives are making it easier for buyers to switch brands.

And across the board, automakers are finding it harder to hang on to loyalty

as economic and policy pressures change car buying behavior.

Next up today, remember that little outage? It's like the CDK-ish like outage at JLR.

Well, British car maker Jaguar Land Rover has extended its operational shutdown

till at least October 1st. This after suffering a cyber attack earlier this month.

All factories, all are currently offline as cybersecurity experts in law enforcement work

to bring systems back online safely. But the pause is rippling through the supply chains.

Smaller suppliers that depend on steady orders are already feeling the squeeze,

and government authorities have stepped in to meet with JLR and affected businesses.

For JLR, the longer the shutdown drags on, the greater the uncertainty for thousands of workers

and partners who depend on production staying steady. And so, again, that obviously brings back

the nightmare that was the CDK outage last summer, props to JLR for working quickly to

remediate this and get this thing fixed back up online. It'll be interesting to hear

their key takeaways on how not only OEMs manufacturers, but also groups and others,

can avoid this into the future. And finally up today, we turn to the recall track,

where we don't have the CDK buy, sell the CDG recalls.com.

There you go. I love it. But there you go. You can get more information on these at

cdgrecalls.com. Ford is recalling shocker, more than 115,000 superduty trucks from the 2020 to

2021 model years. What's the problem this time? Faulty steering shafts that could separate without

warning and cause drivers to lose control. Regulators say Ford has 17 reports tied to the

due effect, though not a single crash or injury so far. Notices go out to drivers starting October

6th and dealers will inspect and repair affected trucks for free of course and for

dealers listening. This is another reminder recalls like this are a profit opportunity you

don't want to miss. Track every recall campaign with the CDG Recal Tracker powered by Busycar.

So thank you Busycar for supporting our delivery of all the recalls. And it is interesting to see

the trend line that is Ford as it relates to recalls. It just continues usually.

Yeah. And let me say that is not a backup camera. So yeah, yeah. And this is and that's a wrap on

today's news this Wednesday, September 24th. And turning to a couple of our comments,

Cole says beautiful day here in Denver, Colorado. Lauren Klein comes in road warrior hearing it

today sitting in the American lounge in Boston. Lauren, thanks for joining us from Boston.

And we'll be interested to see if you get any looks from anyone else who's watching.

Lauren Klein also says bye bye tax incentive, bye bye demand. Dan, let's see if anybody else

has a location, location. We'll bring up some of these other comments later on, but we appreciate

everybody reporting out where in the world you are watching, whether it's in the airport

lounge props to you or at a car dealership, dusking deals as EV incentives, the clock ticks down to

last day of the month, which is next Tuesday, I think, right? So Yuli, it's fascinating. We do

get a ton of requests to join the show. And as we've talked previously, we are taking all those

requests into one place. Dealers, if you want to join the show, please visit cdgguest.com.

Fill out the intake form to be considered for a future guest spot. You will meet Michelle,

you'll meet Hannah, you'll go through a bunch of questions, share your perspectives,

and we're excited to get as many dealers as we possibly can in on the show. Speaking of dealers

joining the CDG network, car dealership guys back with our second annual NADA party happening in

Vegas on Thursday, February 5th. It's the hottest ticket at NADA 2026 with special guests and top

automotive personalities to be considered for a formal invite. Just hit the link in the show notes,

request to join and fill out that questionnaire. You will not. Well, you'll have FOMO if you don't

make the party. But it's going to be fun being there. Everybody all together. Rad dad, Alex says

he's coming from Kalamazoo. That's my place. Maybe he knows us and then D-Dar. He heard a story

about Gibson guitar or something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Home of Gibson guitar, home of

Pfizer, home of Striker, and home of our Drive for Life charity event, which is happening tomorrow

night in Kalamazoo, Michigan at the Radisson Hotel brought to you by Western Michigan Honda

Dealers Association. We're going to raffle off a Honda Accord or a similar vehicle, 30,000 in cash

potentially. So excited to have them. Supervisor Dan says hello from Brooklyn. So we got people

from all over the country, all over the United States. Keep it coming in. We want to hear where

you're coming from. But let's go to our first guest. Let's launch into it. Let's go. First up

today, we have General Manager at Jones Ford Verde Valley, Parker Jones joining the show. Parker,

welcome. Hi, guys. Good morning up here in the West Coast. How are you guys doing today?

Thanks for being here. Thanks for joining the show. So, hey, our first question we always ask is,

how's Biz? Answer the question, how's Biz? But also give us a little perspective on who you are,

where you are, and what you do. Sure. Biz is great. We're happy. We're growing. We feel good.

There's things that we can work on, but from a strength position, we're in a good spot and happy

where we have grown to be currently. So to answer that, maybe second part of that question, we're

part of a Ford dealer group out here in Arizona. Ford is our franchise at all four of our rooftops.

We also offer GMC and Buick at one of our locations, which is, interestingly enough, your point earlier.

We are neighbors to the Stellantis Point down out here in Arizona. So we, kind of interesting

dynamic there. And then we also offer the Stellantis product up in Wickenburg, Arizona,

as well. But operating more rural communities, about 45 minutes to an hour, an hour or so,

in different directions outside of Phoenix. And our family's been in the car business for 55 years

now. 1970 is when we began and keep this thing rolling and having a lot of fun doing it.

So Parker, I definitely want to talk about the Carvana acquisition where you're so close. But

before we get into that, talk to us about Ford's recalls. Like we have announced recall after

recall after recall. It's the number one most recalled OEM in America right now. What's your

take on this? How are you reacting to it? What's your customer feedback and where do you stand on

this recall situation? Yeah, I mean, all you could, laughing is all you can do to keep from

crying, I guess, is where you are. It's nonstop. The text messages roll in from Ford on a daily

basis. And we've been hearing for a while now that quality has been the number one issue. And

we're anxiously awaiting to see that manifest itself. And some of these recalls kind of start

to lessen. A lot of the recalls that are coming out are from the semiconductor shortage error

from the COVID era, early 2020s. And we're facing those. The ones that really grind us are the

all the delivery holds and the fresh inventory that we have sitting on our lots that is just

kind of waiting for an opportunity. And so I mean, there's not much to be said,

you know, Sam, other than just endure it. We lack Ford product. Your point earlier about Ford

trucks, there's great loyalty in the Ford brand. Massive loyalty. Not just in the trucks. I mean,

some of the SUV segments, the gains that we've made in Bronco have been exceptional. And I know

that those are making waves. So you got to take the good with the bad and how help customers

focus on the fact that it's a great product. It's just some of those initial quality concerns

with the recalls or frustration. But Ford is endured. Ford has been around for a long time.

They're going to get this right. It's only a matter of time. So to your point, Parker,

Ford has really led the way in so many different crises. You think about going all the way back

to the weight recession, they led the way in powering through that without taking any money.

COVID, you think about that. They won coming into it from the supply side, being able to

deliver vehicles to floors. And then they led the way with this employee pricing for all announced

by a president. We've talked about it here on the show before. So they've won in so many areas.

What would your message be to Ford as an OEM about fixing this? What is the path to getting

this resolved once and for all? I would love to have a great answer for you. That's above and

beyond my pay grade. You're sure to sell the cars, right, Parker? I'm here to make people fall in

love with the brand and stay in love with the brand and to proudly wear the blue oval on her shirt

and to put it on the side of our building. Ford and a lot of smart people making really tough

decisions back in Dearborn. And I know that they're not taking this concern lightly, but for me

to be able to offer a suggestion about how to improve the engineering or improve some of these

shortcomings in manufacturing is beyond my pay grade. One of the things that we've done to kind

of dispel the concern about the recalls, Ford did a really great job of having this traveling band

or the top brass from Ford. And you guys may have discussed it previously, a dealer engagement tour

that they've done previously this year. And I was fortunate enough to sit at a table with

Kumar Galhotra. And he explained the systems, especially that you had mentioned earlier about

the backup camera recall. Because now the NHTSA has, or NHTSA has gotten involved in that as a

safety mechanism, three failures in one million utilizations of that component is all it takes

for that to necessitate a recall being announced. Super low bar. Yeah. Super low bar. And so when

you explain to your guests that first of all, a lot of common sense guests can laugh off the notion

that a backup camera maybe every once in a while flickering is enough for you not to be able to

sell a car and they can kind of we can together roll our eyes about that. Three failures in one

million and a failure being nothing more than a flicker on the screen or a static in the image

is such a low bar that you can kind of dispel the concern about some of these recalls and

provide some levity. So it is a super low bar. It's a great way to connect and explain to customers.

I hope other dealers watching this can deliver that message as well. The bar is the same for

all OEMs though, right? So as we look at the different rankings and numbers of recalls,

everybody gets recalled at that same bar, right? Parker, I would imagine. So let's transition

service deliveries. Do you participate in part of Ford's remote service program where you've got

vans and whatnot out providing service to customers at their homes, business, other places?

Yeah, we sure do. We had started with the pickup and delivery. We didn't get

extremely involved in the mobile service aspect until the last 90 days or so.

But we are offering both of those mobile or remote experiences to our guests.

It seems to me, Parker, that's a great opportunity amidst these different recalls to

really provide an elite experience to customers, right? And Ford is definitely helping to fund

that, right? So for the dealer groups that lean into that and capitalize on it, you can create

a customer experience that maybe they've never had anywhere else and turn a challenge into a plus,

Parker. Is that your approach with the mobile service? Absolutely, absolutely. So the mobile

service, the big word from the Ford side is it's a differentiator. It's something

that we're going to be able to provide that isn't necessarily ubiquitous in the marketplace right

now. And I think it goes a long way towards elevating the perception of Ford as not just

farmers in F-150s. It's cutting edge. It's progressive. The tech is there. Ford is trying to

develop new ways to unlock even deeper customer loyalty. And the remote experiences go a long

ways towards that. And if other dealers are operating an OEM that doesn't necessarily have

that program cookie cutter ready to roll, there's ways that you can build it. I mean, it doesn't

need to be an OEM program. Certainly, the money and the funding, the subsidy from Ford goes a long

way towards making that program viable, at least for our store. But there's ways to do it. And

it's an extension of the customer experience. Absolutely. How many delivery vehicles do you

have out running? So right now we're killing bugs with one. We have one big mobile service van.

It was a pretty significant investment for us. And what we've really focused on is fleet accounts.

There's minimized downtime with trying to be able to take the van to one location and perform

service on five or six or more vehicles in one fell swoop. Ultimately, the intention is to be

able to grow that in our backyard and to offer that at scale to more of our retail local individual

retail customer. All right, let's transition from that from Ford recalls, mobile service, which

congrats to you guys for crushing it on that. I think it's a great message for other dealers. If

you're not doing it, do it. In fact, you'll regret not doing it if you're not doing it. So let's

transition to Carvana. They opened a store right down the road from you. And now they've just

announced another one in Texas. What's been your experience competing against them? Are there any

key lessons that dealers could take away from your experience in that market? Sure. And I'm not the

right operator to ask that question. So the Stellantis location is about two hours away from us

on the south side of Phoenix heading towards Tucson, Arizona. In conversations I've had with the

general manager of that location, he says it's not to use the word bizarre, maybe that's not the

right word, but it's very tech driven, a very personal shopping experience, even when inside

of the brick and mortar, and that it's essentially an extension of the online experience, but just

housed in a franchise location. Interesting. It is very interesting. Go ahead. So does it concern

you when you think about them as competition in your market and then also nationwide,

what's your message to your team? What's your advice to other dealers about how to compete and

win? Yeah. So I strongly believe the car business always has been and for my money always will be

about relationships. And so the human element and the relationships that we create with our guests

to try to encourage them to spread the good word about what we provide them is our secret weapon

in being able to kind of keep Carvana at bay. Carvana is going to be referred to, but there's

not a phone number, there's not a face, there's not a name, and sure people might say it was a

great experience, right? But after the point of sale, the relationship that's maintained, the

contact, the reference point you have for any issues that may arise with the vehicle during

the course of your ownership or just being that reference and that third base coach to the friends

and neighbors that you have in life that have questions about what to do with their old car.

Should I buy? Should I sell? Should I trade? Yeah. That's our secret weapon, I think, as a dealer

body against Carvana. And it's something that we need to leverage. So Parker, you're alluding to

cultural difference, right? You can't exude culture and connection with that customer online

exclusively. You buy online, you have something dropped off and picked up.

You are big on culture at the Jones Auto Center. Talk to us about your clearly defined cultural

pillars at Jones and how do you make sure they show up in your operations daily to make you more

competitive against bigger nationwide programs like Carvana or any of these other large groups

that you're competing against in your marketplace. Sure. So for us, it comes down to a big three.

Number one is integrity. My mantra on integrity is we all wake up feeling different every morning.

If you're not willing to wake up and come into work with 100% unfractured integrity, then you're

sick. You're fired, right? We all have bad days, but you're sick and I don't want you coming into

work if you're not willing to work with 100% unfactured integrity. So integrity and then

that's followed up by urgency and creativity. For me, urgency and creativity are key differentiators

for us. We are 90 miles north of Phoenix. You probably know the numbers better than I do about

how many different franchises and rooftops and automotives are sold in Phoenix with cities in

America. So we're just close enough to still want to crack into that market a little bit and pluck

some retail business out of that market and how are we going to earn that? We're going to earn

that that if we're able to align ourselves from a marketing standpoint to earn an opportunity,

we're going to differentiate ourselves with our urgency and our response times

and our follow through on commitment and then our creativity. In a world of increasing automation

and more public answers, is it in stock or is it not? That's kind of a one word black and white

way of looking at the world. Our viewpoint is that the world operates in grayscale and

to afford your customers an opportunity to see what you're willing to do instead of just telling

them why you can't do something. Don't ever tell somebody you can't do something without

also offering them the next best solution and that creativity I think goes a long way.

This kind of ties into also the Carbonapiece, right? Because one of those differentiators between

them and us is what happens when things go wrong. So to your point, you have your personnel that

needs to show up prepared to do business the correct way every single day. You have your

customers that then are going to be your beacon out in the community. And I think this is the

message that so many dealers need to hear. Even sorry, I left out your mobile service.

That's a huge thing. As someone who has only gotten my oil changed while I was working all day

or having my vehicle serviced or warranty service done while at work, it's such a differentiator

to bring that customer experience to them. And that's the edge against Carbonapiece.

So when you think about the cultural pillars that you've identified there, which is awesome,

the integrity, the execution, the creativity, does that culture show up in a KPI or in a,

how does it show up in the dealership when it's working?

Yeah. So for me, I see it two ways. The easiest answer, the low hanging fruit answer is the

net promoter score, the CX scores that Ford judges us on. We won the President's Award

each of the last three years. We seem to have a decent shot of getting it again for the fourth

year. So that tells me that something's right, that people are leaving the store. And again,

for people that aren't aware, that net promoter score is a measurement of the answer. How likely

are you to recommend the dealer? And for the most part, it's a pass, fail. And a five out of five

is a pass. And anything below that is a fail. So we feel pretty good about that being one of those

metrics that would help us figure out whether or not the culture is resonating.

Beyond that, it's employee turnover. For me, not customer turnover, but employee turnover. I

take a lot of pride in the fact that in my five years running the store, I haven't really lost

an employee that hightailed it for another dealer show. It tells me they feel good about what we're

providing the atmosphere, the ambience of the store, that they're proud to represent the cultural

pillars that we've tried to groom here. And so I think employee turnover is a big one. Parker Jones,

General Manager, Jones Ford, Verti Valley, we appreciate you being on the show sharing your

perspectives with us. Just one last question was as we wrap up, you've definitely made a great case

for culture sharing your perspectives on Stellanus. Many dealers are saying, hey, OEM should avoid

doing business with Caravana because it violates the spirit of franchise agreements. Do you support

that type of constraint or would you say, hey, let my culture challenge it and let us

execute better and we'll compete that way? I won't make a political statement on the first one.

Words of Charles Barkley, Republicans by sneakers too. So I won't go there, but I will say

be prepared to combat any of those outside influences with your culture. Your culture is

to keep you steady. It's what's going to make you impervious to some of these

headwinds that might take place in the marketplace. Reinvest and invest some more into your culture,

and I think you're going to be in a good spot regardless of what some of these manufacturers

are or who they try to conduct business with. Parker Jones, General Manager, Jones Ford,

Ford, Verti Valley, thanks for being on the show sharing your perspectives.

Thanks guys. Have a great day. It's a fun conversation and just adding to it real quick

Supervisor Dan. Hello from Brooklyn. We've got Elliott Edie watching from Montreal.

That's awesome. And then a couple of great comments. Lauren Klein says customer expectations are

higher than ever and this exceeds expectations and that's the best way to compete against anyone.

Speaking of exceeding expectations, let's talk Toma. Most voice AIs frustrate customers

and waste everyone's time. Only Toma create, customizes AI agents to your dealership. So

calls actually get resolved. That's why top dealer groups trust Toma to automate their phones.

Visit Toma.com forward slash CDG to learn more. If you're watching the live show and we hope

everyone is, including at the American terminal in Boston, you can scan the QR code there and get

more information. Huge props to Toma for supporting today's content and the fascinating

conversations that we've already had, including with Parker. Great perspectives from Parker coming

straight out of the Phoenix marketplace. So let's turn to our next guest.

Next up today, EVP of client strategy at Stream Company's Drew Deal. Welcome, Drew, to the show.

Hey, Drew. Thanks for having me, guys.

All right, Drew, house biz and tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do in the world.

Yeah. So I actually came into automotive as a young SEO professional and basically cut my teeth

and learning all things digital. My background is really on the entire paid side and now we'll

oversee our client strategy team basically trying to deliver as many strategic advertising decisions

to our clients. Generally, biz is good. I think September is a tough month year every year,

typically. And we have some of that data and we try to stay ahead of the tough months and make

recommendations to keep everybody afloat. Yeah. So it does feel like in some areas,

and maybe it's geographically driven, like some are struggling to meet and exceed unit count

sales, what they have in the past, maybe lead volume is down a little bit. What do you attribute

that to? We've had several guests talk about lead volume, digital leads being down currently.

Yeah. I mean, it's tough to kind of paint with a broad brush, I think, because the market,

the brand, how dealers operate, what their inventory count looks like, all of that makes

such a significant difference on what lead volume might look like month in and month out,

as well as customer sentiment. I think in the past year, we've dealt with tariff conversations

and EV tax credits and all that. And that macro news affects customers and how they're shopping

and who's looking for a vehicle so much. Most people aren't in the day-to-day automotive life

like all of us. So they see something about tariffs and they're like, okay, not a good time to buy a

car. And so those sort of macro impacts typically do have a big impact on lead volume. And I think

people do hold out for some of the sales events that come at the end of the calendar year.

I think that makes an influence on a month like September.

Do you think there's a lot of customers that are still sitting on the sidelines from tariffs?

I mean, we definitely had the pull ahead effect early on in tariffs. People were afraid of

what would be coming. And then as it's come, do you have any data or thought processes to

talk about what percentage of the population might be just sitting out waiting?

You know, more qualitative and quantitative on that. I think it's people who aren't necessarily at

need. You know, over the pandemic and inventory issues, I've sort of coined a term of always in

market. It's people who, you know, they're, myself included. I have a 2015 Honda Civic that I have

no car payments on. Sure. Would I love to go get a new car? Yeah. Do I want to take on the car

payment? Maybe not. And so I'm looking, waiting kind of for the right time. And I think there's

a large portion of the population that kind of falls into that same bucket where, yeah,

they would love to upgrade to a new car. But I'm going to wait for it to be perfect conditions.

So it's interesting. Stream is a huge company. You're a massive company. You do business on

the advertising side with a lot of dealerships nationwide. Talk to us a little bit. We've talked

on this show, Yuli and I have a lot about AI, chat, GPT. How does technology in today's automotive

market space affect an impact dealer's view of digital advertising and advertising? And like,

you know, is it changing the way dealers are spending money? Is it creating problems? Are

there misunderstandings? You know, what are you seeing in that marketplace? Yeah, I think as all

of that comes out and people start to use chat, GPT or Google AI reviews in their own lives,

their immediate reaction is, oh my goodness, every single potential customer is going to

do this exact same thing. What am I going to do with my Google spend? And in reality, most people

are not necessarily shopping any different than they have in the past 10, 15, 20 years.

But I think that that is going to shift as more people get used to this type of technology.

And largely, I have given a lot of presentations on this topic to different OEMs to really get

the understanding and the education of what's going to change. And largely, you know,

Google makes so much revenue from their advertising business. So even with the introduction of

AI overviews and different AI large language models, Google is not going to sacrifice

their main revenue generator for this product. So right now, you know, they're working on,

they've announced that they're going to start incorporating ads into AI overviews, which are

those little AI summaries at the top of the search engine results page. They've announced

they're going to start including those ads on that feature. I think it will be largely AI max

or performance max campaign types. And what I think the downstream kind of effect will be

is that there'll be fewer clicks going to dealer websites, but the same competition will be there.

So the average cost per click, in my opinion, is going to increase as more advertisers are

competing for that single click. So the volume will go down, but the price will go up.

So Drew, if I'm a dealer watching this program today, seeing that coming, how does this impact

my decision making both with an advertising firm and also with the way I spend money in

digital leads and advertising? Yeah, I mean, one thing we always talk about is having a balanced

budget. And that balanced budget is not the same every single month. So being willing to kind of

adapt in a month like September, we talked about it at the top of this segment, typically

tends to be a slower month. So we want to be dynamic and kind of spread our dollars thin.

We see a lot of times when dealers come to us that they're spending most of their budget on

third parties, third party aggregator sites and Google ads, which is fine. But you're missing

that kind of top of funnel activity and those users who are maybe not ready to buy. So you're

not necessarily refilling your funnel, you're only paying for that that lowest funnel user, which is

great. But as the that lowest funnel user is getting competed for, you're missing on those top of

funnel customers. All right, we want to talk retail ready, which is a new program you have. But

before we get into that one last question as it relates to tech AI, some dealers say, hey,

because of the way AI works and educates, I think I can take on more of the advertising function.

Is that true? What warnings would you give to dealers that may attempt to do that? And are you,

you know, are companies like yourself having to hustle in different ways to

to stay relevant and to make sure that they stay in front of dealers to help them accomplish their

goals? Yeah, I think that sort of in house model can work. But you need the infrastructure behind

it. Like to be honest with you, I spend most of my day and and outside of working hours reading

about marketing, not necessarily just automotive. So in a lot of ways, I wouldn't say, let me come

into your sales room and tell your salespeople how to sell. That's not my expertise. But my

expertise is in the in the digital world and understanding all of the changes and the levers

to pull. And so it can work. You just need that underlying infrastructure to kind of be dedicated

be fully dedicated to running that marketing at house. Yeah. So Drew, what is retail ready?

What problem does it solve that dealers can't fix with their website? CMS alone?

Yeah. So I would say retail ready is kind of a rallying cry that we've adopted that has also

turned into a product suite. So really the the main at our offices in in Malram, Pennsylvania,

we have something written on the wall that's drive retail traffic. It's really, really simple.

But our whole mindset is how do we help dealers get to market faster and better and more efficient.

And so within the retail ready platform, we've created the automotive incentives platform.

That's a subsection of the retail ready ideal. And really the whole thought process and what we

found is that most dealers on average don't get their specials up until seven days into the month

when you annualize that. That's a delay. That's three months out of the year, three months out of

the year that they don't have specials on their site. And so our retail ready. That's a great

question because you know, you're taking three separate areas and kind of focuses. One, the

dealer needs to get their incentives put together to they need to have somebody build the creative.

And then three, somebody needs to go take that creative and those specials and physically get

them on the site. And so what we've done with retail ready is basically combine all of those

all of those elements and all we need is a dealer. Once they put in the specials,

we have everything basically built out dynamically to be FTC compliant state national full compliance

OEM compliant. And once we get those specials, we can spin up the creative and basically get it

on the site on both the homepage and the specials page within four hours of the same.

Are you able to quantify the impact to advertising production sales closes at a traditional

dealership of being able to turn it that fast? You look at that seven day turn, that's a waste of

the incentive money that the Williams hand out. If you can turn it in four hours,

there's got to be a quantifiable benefit of that. Yeah. Yeah. So from like a downstream effect,

what we've been measuring from like a KPI standpoint and kind of building out case studies

is we can't control everything else in the site. But what we've measured is that we've seen that

customers or excuse me, dealers that have are using retail ready. The users that are going from

the homepage to the specials page increases significantly because we're able to, you know,

draw attention to those specific incentives, those specials. Now they're going to the specials page

and, you know, it's a loose correlation, but something that we're actively tracking is the

conversion rates of users who go to a specials page that have retail ready specials on there

versus clients who aren't using retail ready. And the conversion rate for those users is

against the control group is 90% increase in conversion rate, which again, there's so many

elements on a site that we don't control with retail ready. It's a loose correlation that I

think is important. So Drew, when you talk about incentives, you talk about creating creative

and getting it out that quickly. Co-op is a nightmare sometimes, right? Because you've got

so many hoops to jump through and, you know, you've got to file for it, make sure you get

reimbursed on it. Like, how do you ensure that the creative that you're doing will ultimately

be approved for co-op payment? And then how do you fall through or what resources or support

you give dealers to help with that piece? There are entire businesses that are focused on co-op

repayment. That's a challenge. Yeah, no, 100%. And to your point of, you know, dealers bringing

stuff in-house, we have a dedicated co-op team that their entire job is focused on getting dealers

the most co-op money possible. And we have an entire compliance team built within our larger

creative department. And really those two teams have worked very closely together to pretty much

understand what are the national FTC state compliance issues that dealers run into.

And we build that into the platform to make sure that everything is fully compliant for

every OEM and every single place you can maybe trip up.

Drew, do I put you on the spot and ask you for the best OEM on co-op and the worst OEM on co-op?

I'll do the fifth. I'm just curious. That's a, it's a fascinating, it's a fascinating.

So what is most likely to trigger a rejection on it? Again, thinking about doing it in-house or

trying to do it in size. That is absolutely one. So before retail ready, I was talking to our team

prior to this and they were saying that the most common issue they saw was actually Toyota dealers

not including the cost per $1,000 on their financing offers. And there's so many little

details. I think that's the challenge is, is there so many potential missteps like font size.

But typically what we've seen and kind of the only rejections we've gotten is if the prices

blow map. That's really all we've run into lately. And luckily, you know, we have everything kind of

built into the system to account for, and there's a part of economy of scale. You know, we've been

doing compliant offers for dealers for the entire existence of the company. So we know what works

and what doesn't. I have a question operationally here. So you mentioned you have seven days, let's

call it a dead space on average where people are getting their specials. Now, some of that is up

to the operator not acting fast enough. A lot of it is also the OEM extends programs like this month

we end on a Tuesday, they'll probably extend programs out to whatever day of next month.

Are you seeing, and maybe you don't have the answer, is this an edge for someone? Are you seeing

most of your dealers giving programs day one? Or are you still seeing, seeing dealers kind of drag

their feet a couple of days and adding to that delay? Yeah, I'd say it's a mixed bag. You know,

I think there are some dealers who they're able to use this tool and get stuff done so quickly that

once they have, like we have customers who will write up the incentives on a napkin and send it

to our team. And we're able to get stuff turned around really quick. We have some who are like,

okay, great. All I have to do is throw this information in a form and call it a day. It's out

of my hand. So I think there still are those operators who delay and, you know, good data in,

good data out to some extent where there is some impetus on them to move quickly and be efficient

to get their specials up quicker. So Drew, last questions we wrap up. We appreciate you being on.

What's one action a general manager could take tomorrow this month to be more retail ready,

even if they don't use Stream as a provider? Yeah, I mean, I think it's really having a plan

in place with the key stakeholders of who's owning this process and who's accountable to getting

specials up and making sure outside of specials, the website is clean and looks great. Because no

dealer is starting their month, be like, man, I want to get my specials up in seven days. Right.

But the start of the month happens, they're dealing with the close of the previous month.

They have all these competing priorities that get in the way. So just having a plan in place and

those individuals who are held accountable to really getting that information up on their site

accurately. Which I love that kind of relates back to what Parker talks about an automotive,

one of our core values, I think everywhere is execution, quick execution, we're better when

we can do what you're talking about, Drew, and turn the month, count the proceeds and then

get up and running with incentives as quickly as possible. So we appreciate you bringing that up

as the issue today, Drew Deal. EVP of Client Strategy at Stream Companies. Thanks for being

on the show and sharing your perspectives. Appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

It's a good conversation. Actually, we got a comment from Mark Lombardo. Do you ever do

shows talking about tire sales and car dealerships? Well, maybe we need to do that at some point.

I'll tell you, thinking about Drew's conversation, co-op is a challenge. So you think about it,

you push out the incentives fast within hours, you've got to make sure you're checking all those

dots. There could be tens, hundreds of thousands, there could be millions if you're a large group

at stake in not getting that right. And so it's interesting to hear his perspectives. And then

we have heard a lot lately of people saying, well, hey, you know what, AI allows me to do all this

stuff on my own. And I'm not sure that I'm not sold on that completely, right? Maybe you could

do more, but it's tough. There's so many different requirements to be sold. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

All right, let's turn to our final guest today, General Sales Manager at Sarah Champagne,

very close by Kalamazoo, Michigan to the Chicagoland Sarah Champagne. Actually,

you're two hours outside of the Chicagoland. Tyler Burton, welcome to the show.

Thanks, guys, for having me. Can I just say something real quick? How big you guys have gotten

car dealership guy, man? I mean, this is incredible. One thing I heard you guys talking about,

you know, Carvana, this is the difference in automotive, right? We have such a thick history

of trying to learn from one another. It's pretty cool stuff. So hats off to you guys and Yossi

for doing what you guys have done. So really cool. And I agree with you, Tyler and our prior

guests, like the better we get at executing and the better we get at executing together,

the better experience we deliver to our customers, you don't have to worry about

anybody else, right? Like you level up and do better. So all right, Tyler, tell us how's

biz and then give us a little bit of background on yourself. Business is fun again, right? For

any of us that got into it before COVID, right? We're long before COVID, I should say, is this

is fun again, right? Like this is this is what we all got into the business for is strategy,

you know, you know, working through some of the tough things. And, you know, we got through yet

another issue, right? It just a blip in the road. So it was fun to get through it. We're on the other

side and business is great. So it's been fun. That's so that's going to be my follow up question

is how do you define fun? But it does sound like it's strategizing and it's execution and it's

problem solving, which is which is at the core of automotive, right? So so in in your world,

you deal with Buick, BMW, Honda, GMC, you've got Subaru, we align on that point, actually on all

of those across our auto group here. Are you one price or do you negotiate that in your stores,

Tyler? On our pre-owned vehicles, we're all one price. So we're all one price on pre-owned vehicles,

new vehicles. We are, we do the other thing. But for pre-owned, you take that model,

if you will, of CarMax, and it's been a beautiful thing.

Yeah. So on pre-owned, what made you what pushed you to pre-owned one price on pre-owned?

That's interesting. Usually, it's the opposite of anything.

Yeah. Yeah, we just, you know, we just really price our cars to the market and turn them as

quickly as we can, right? And that's, you know, it eliminates all the pushback for that, you know,

for that used car. And our salespeople really appreciate it. Our customers really appreciate

it, right? You know, new car pricing fluctuates all over the place, right? You know, yes,

pre-owned vehicles fluctuate not as much as the new car market right now, you know, with the

race to the bottom, if you will, that we've all arrived at again. But, you know, it's,

it's, you know, we really enjoy it. Customers enjoy it. Salespeople appreciate it.

Yeah. So the reason I ask is, we had last week on, we had a Subaru dealer from Utah,

and he's one price. He's been it for a decade. He talked about the challenges that went from

negotiating to one price. We got some online comments, commentators saying, well, hey, so

I don't, I have a hard time believing that all Subaru stores are one price. Well, they're not.

Subaru stores run the gamut, but one price does seem to fit that Subaru mentality. Talk to us a

little bit about how the Subaru retail experience is a little bit different from some of your other

brands, and how do you preserve that different experience within your auto group at CERA?

I think it's a, I think it's a brand that everybody can learn from. It's culture. You know,

they, they, you know, Subaru is, is, you know, the star of culture. And, you know, everybody can

learn from that. You know, it's, it's all about the customer experience, a world-class experience,

making people love you, right? And, you know, it's, it's, it's the brand of love, you know, and

it's, it's one of those brands you really just have exactly, just have to offer a great

experience. And, you know, it's such a great brand, such a great brand. And, you know, they,

they lack layers. And it's, it's just a, just a great brand to have.

As we talked back show, you actually mentioned, hey, it, it, it's sort of similar to us at CERA.

Tell our audience a little bit about your group. So I know within the CERA auto group,

there's some ownership outside of Joe, Sarah and, and his core team. How, what, what does the

structure look like within CERA? And, you know, who do you report up to and who cast the vision

for your group? Our group has 20 plus fantastic partners with Joe and Matt. By the way, Joe and

Matt, incredible human beings. The cool thing about just, just like Subaru, there are no layers,

right? And the partners, you know, talk with Matt and Joe, but, you know, it's really as a sounding

board and, you know, for support and, and, you know, what, you know, what great way to run dealerships

and, you know, to, to, to run in the right way. Our owner operator has been Quattrone here in

Champaign, Illinois. And, you know, he's, he is definitely one of a kind. And he's, he's an incredible

mentor in the business to, to learn from. So it's been great for me personally. I'm a little biased,

but incredible partner here at CERA. And we're very fortunate to have him here.

Tyler, you talk about Flatt and you talk, you compare your structure back to Subaru, which I

agree, you know, Jeff Walters was our opening, you know, he's the CEO. He's the president of

Subaru America. Like you've got easy access to him. You're talking about you and your group have easy

access to ownership there. How does that flat structure give you a benefit in today's environment?

And what could other dealers learn from that as they grow? Because you've got,

Sarah, overall, is how many rooftops and, and how does that benefit that flat?

You know, we have, you know, we have, you know, 60 plus dealerships, right? Rooftops. And,

you know, they, these guys, you know, just put us in places to where if one's doing one really

good thing, we can learn from that group, right? And Matt's done a really great job at, you know,

making us all learn from what's working well in other stores and getting us all together. It's,

it's just quick answers, easy answers. And there's no layers, right? And it's, it's the best way to

work. So you say you learn, is there like a, is there like a monthly meeting? Is there like some

sort of a quarterly get together? Like how do you share those practices? Yeah. Yeah, no monthly

meetings, these guys, these guys just, if we're, if we're struggling in certain areas, we're able

to get answers of what's working, right? They're just there to support, right? And they're just,

you know, they know what's working well on others and what's not in others. And we're able to, we're

able to work through that together. And it's just a big family, you know, these guys are incredible

human beings and they're, they just support as well. So you talk about Tyler, how automotive has

gotten fun again, making automotive fun again. And I agree. It's all the strategy. It's the execution.

You've also talked in other places about how part of our marketplace today as we've gone from order

taking back to selling, what are some of the biggest adjustments your stores have had to make

to go from that order taking to selling today? The other dealer might be able to learn from.

You know, we didn't really have, we stayed disciplined, right? You know, we had to really

stay disciplined on the world-class experience. You know, that's, that's stayed level the whole

time, right? I think we stayed true to our pricing. You know, no market adjustments. We stayed true to

true to culture. We stayed true to making sure that that buying cycle of three years is still

going to happen. You know, and the more and more that we decided that it was just, it was super

important for long-term growth versus just, you know, that, you know, the gratification you get in

that short-term, it was super important to us to stay low, you know, just stay true to what we do.

And that draws loyalty, right? So yeah, yeah. Is there a different way that you're training

your teams to get them back to that point where it's like, hey, I understand how to overcome an

objection. I understand how to engage and connect with a customer. Or are there tools that you're

using to better deliver in this new environment? I think the best tool for us is, across our roof

tops, is to meet every day. I think that that's something everybody's gotten away from is to

meet every single day. And again, kind of use our structure and learn off of one another. What's

working well in the Subaru showroom versus what's what's going on in the Honda showroom and vice

versa, right? So it's super important for communicating and making sure that we all know

what's going on in the market and being up to date. Yeah. So when you think about that communication,

what's a communication practice that you've put in place at Sarah among your roof tops to help

share and communicate back and forth that other dealers could easily replicate listening to the

show September of 2025? Handling things in real time, you know, you got to handle things in real

time. I think it's super, super important to make sure you handle things head on. As things,

you know, kind of age, it, you know, it starts to smell like a dead fish, you know, it just gets to

that point where it's, you know, it causes for interruptions in business, right? And handling

things head on is something that people oftentimes shy away from. And it's super important to make

sure things keep going smoothly. So the clock is ticking on the EV rebates ending or about,

depending on who you are, where you are, we got about six days left. What does that look like at

the Sarah group in your stores? And where are you pushing as we get towards the end of the month?

And then what's your take on what the new norm looks like after this month's over in EVs?

Yeah, I think it's inevitable that it stays, right? I don't think it's going to go anywhere.

I think they've spent way too much money as the OEMs, they've spent way too much money and,

you know, and ideas in the cars. But, you know, for us here personally, it's business as normal,

move them as fast as you can, just like any vehicle. It's just super important on turn,

you know, and yes, this $7,500 thing is going away. And, you know, we completely get that,

but we have that mentality of turn, turn, turn, right? And it's just super, it's just the same

thing as any, any vehicle, right? Just, you know, stay level with it. Yeah, yeah. So as we get

towards the end of wrapping up here, I'd love to have you just share a couple of thoughts with

our 4,000 plus viewers that are watching live and then everybody that'll watch later.

So when you think about your OEM partnerships and you've got some great OEMs that you work

with personally, BMW is great, Honda is awesome, Buick GMC, Subaru, we've already talked about

how does a great OEM partnership help you execute? And so maybe give the positive side and then is

there a call to action you might give to any of the OEMs, what it takes to win between now and the

end of the year? Yeah, one thing about us dealers is we got to remember we don't build cars,

you know what I mean? No, we don't. We don't build them. So we're not specialized in building them.

So we build relationships. Exactly, exactly. So, you know, we have to make sure that we maintain

a good relationship and communicate what's going on on the ground level, because that's the only

way they get better, right? So all of our brands are incredible. I mean, I can't be thankful enough

to have the brands that we have here in Champaign and it's, it's, it's, we're very lucky, very lucky

to have the brands we have. And they communicate well, just like we talked about Subaru earlier,

they communicate well. They listen well. And, you know, all of our brands do a really nice

job at listening to us here in Champaign and making adjustments when necessary.

I got a question operationally. So it's not often you see a GSM over so many different

brands. How many rooftops are you and, you know, how are you covering the variable side of things?

We have four rooftops over, over all of our brands. And quite frankly, it's, it's having great

leadership, having, having great people, you know, around you. That's the only way we get

as good as we are today. Great communication. It's, we don't like layers, right? We just,

we don't like layers. We like to have the guys be able to get answers quickly, right? And, you know,

it, me and Ben, our operator, you know, we're, we have direct lines of communication and he's in

incredible human being. So when it, when it comes to these guys and, and getting communicated

answers that they need, there's no layers. So it's super easy for these guys to get the answers they

need. Awesome. All right, Tyler, as we wrap any comments on the disastrous football game Saturday

night? Listen, last Saturday night, depending on who you are or where you are. Yeah. Yeah,

USC is coming to town. We're ready. So I know Coach Vilma is working on him good. So we'll be

ready. All right. All right. Tyler Burton, General Sales Manager, Sarah Champagne. Thanks for joining

the show and sharing your perspectives. Thank you guys. Absolutely. Fun conversation. Thank you.

Thanks for coming. Hannah Farmer says, great point. Always trying to, trying to find a solution.

CDG's own Hannah, but good conversations, particularly as you think about some of the

things that are changing in automotive, whether it's Caravana, whether it's, you know, dealing

with recalls, whether it's trying to figure out how to get back to leadership and executing an

automotive today. Cool, cool combo today. Yeah. Yeah, listen, the more things change, the more

they stay the same. It's always about the basics, man, building and maintaining those relationships.

Caravana has nothing on an effective dealer group. Yeah, yeah. And I learned today you're a rock star.

I, you know, according to Huntington Bank. No, I'm kidding. That was a fun comment to get. And

we got a question. I learned today too. So that's you and you know it. So to Lauren Klein,

watching from the Boston Lounge. Thanks for joining the episode today. Dan C. did ask the

question. He said, how'd the grand opening go Monday night? And I would say it was awesome

to have Jeff Walters, the head of Subaru on with us and to be able to speak and share his

perspectives on the new facility and the future of Subaru. We believe very strongly in that brand.

And we'd love to have him on the show at some point here in the, in the very near future. So

Yuli, great show. We'll see you back Friday. Thanks to you to our Daily Deal Alive audience

for watching Daily Deal Alive. We break down the biggest moves in the car business as they happen.

Do not forget we're live every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. So if this is your world hit like,

subscribe, turn on those notifications so you never, ever, ever miss a beat. And we'll see

all next week or next episode Friday. We'll see you Friday. Thanks guys.

About this episode

A lively discussion on automotive sales strategies kicks off with breaking news about Acura's cancellation of the ZDX electric SUV due to market conditions. Guests include Parker Jones from Jones Ford, who shares insights on Ford's recall challenges and the importance of building customer relationships in a competitive landscape. Drew Deal from Stream Companies introduces their 'Retail Ready' program, aimed at streamlining dealer advertising and compliance. Tyler Burton from Sarah Champagne emphasizes the value of flat organizational structures and effective communication in enhancing customer experiences across multiple brands.

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Original notes

Today's show features: Parker Jones, General Manager at Jones Auto Centers Drew Diehl, EVP of Client Strategy at Stream Companies Tyler Burton, General Sales Manager at Serra Auto Group Champaign This episode is brought to you by: Toma – If your BDC or Service Advisors are buried in calls, it’s time for a smarter solution. Toma builds custom AI agents that answer 100% of your dealership’s inbound calls and handle tasks like booking service, checking recalls, and scheduling test drives—without tying up your team. Dealers using Toma are saving 30–40 staff hours a week and booking 100+ extra appointments every month. Exclusive for CDG Listeners: Start your no-risk, 1-month free trial at ⁠⁠https://www.toma.com/cdg⁠⁠ Stream Companies – Deals don’t wait. Why should your incentives? Stream Companies’ Retail Ready updates offers in hours, then launches them across your website, specials pages, search ads, display, and video. In an industry where timing and visibility are everything, faster updates mean more sales and more deals closed. Stay ahead with Retail Ready. Visit https://carguymedia.com/42aLefQ to learn more. Car Dealership Guy is back with our second annual NADA Party—happening in Las Vegas on Thursday, February 5th. It’s the hottest ticket at NADA 2026. Spots are limited and unfortunately we can't invite everyone —so RSVP today at ⁠⁠https://carguymedia.com/cdglive⁠⁠ and we hope to see you in Vegas! — Check out Car Dealership Guy’s stuff: CDG News ➤ h⁠⁠ttps://news.dealershipguy.com/⁠⁠ CDG Jobs ➤ ⁠⁠https://jobs.dealershipguy.com/⁠⁠ CDG Recruiting ➤ h⁠⁠ttps://www.cdgrecruiting.com/⁠⁠ My Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠https://www.twitter.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤ ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠ Facebook ➤ ⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠dealershipguy.com