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C-Suite Café Brewing Vision with Aaron Baldwin. Hosted by CGC Media
C-Suite Café Brewing Vision with Aaron Baldwin. Hosted by CGC Media
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About this episode
Aaron Baldwin, CEO of Asodu, joins the Car Guy Coffee Podcast to discuss the upcoming SodaCon event and the importance of community in the automotive industry. The hosts, Lou and Fred, highlight Baldwin's dynamic presence and his family's involvement in the event. They delve into the significance of building a culture that prioritizes people over cars, while also revealing exciting new swag and educational opportunities at SodaCon. Baldwin shares insights on industry challenges, the role of technology, and the value of unity among dealers, emphasizing that the automotive world is about more than just sales.
Cars:
Chevrolet Astro
C-Suite Café Brewing Vision with Aaron Baldwin. Hosted by CGC Media
Welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. Kickstart your day the right way and join us as we tap into the brightest minds and most passionate voices across the automotive world to bring you the education, motivation, and inspiration you need to thrive. From the showroom floor to the service lane, prepare to Upshift and Uplift your perspective.
In this episode of The Car Guys Coffee Podcast, hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred Leonard introduce Aaron Baldwin, the new CEO of Automotive Mastermind. The discussion revolves around the automotive industry's current landscape, the critical role of customer relationships, and the transformative potential of AI. Aaron shares his leadership philosophy centered on empowerment, professional development, and leading by example. Key topics include enhancing salesperson efficiency, leveraging AI for personalized customer interactions, and the importance of integrating data and technology for a seamless automotive experience. Tune in to hear Aaron's vision for Automotive Mastermind and his approach to tackling the industry's biggest challenges.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew.
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
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certifiedsolutionaries.com
Welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. Kickstart your day the right way and join us as we tap into the brightest minds and most passionate voices across the automotive world to bring you the education, motivation, and inspiration you need to thrive. From the showroom floor to the service lane, prepare to Upshift and Uplift your perspective.
In this episode of The Car Guys Coffee Podcast, hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred Leonard introduce Aaron Baldwin, the new CEO of Automotive Mastermind. The discussion revolves around the automotive industry's current landscape, the critical role of customer relationships, and the transformative potential of AI. Aaron shares his leadership philosophy centered on empowerment, professional development, and leading by example. Key topics include enhancing salesperson efficiency, leveraging AI for personalized customer interactions, and the importance of integrating data and technology for a seamless automotive experience. Tune in to hear Aaron's vision for Automotive Mastermind and his approach to tackling the industry's biggest challenges.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew.
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
carguycoffee.com
certifiedsolutionaries.com
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Technical
Too Afraid to Ask
Car
Chevy Astro
"I got this 1984 Chevy Astro, you know what they are, leaking everything from everywhere."
The Chevy Astro is a type of van made by Chevrolet. It was used for transporting families and goods, and it has a lot of space inside.
The Chevy Astro is a van produced by Chevrolet from 1985 to 2005, known for its spacious interior and versatility. It was popular for both family use and commercial applications.
Company
Dent Wizard International
"And it got acquired by Dent Wizard International. And that's where the agency was,"
Dent Wizard International is a company that fixes small dents in cars without needing to repaint them. They use special methods to make the dents disappear.
Dent Wizard International is a company specializing in paintless dent repair and automotive reconditioning services. They are known for their innovative techniques in repairing minor dents without the need for repainting.
Brand
Porsche
"...depending on what manufacturer you're with that obviously they can brand like Porsche who has limited manufacturing spots..."
Porsche is a famous car brand from Germany that makes fast and luxury cars. They are well-known for models like the 911 and the Cayenne.
Porsche is a renowned German automotive manufacturer known for its high-performance sports cars, SUVs, and sedans. The brand is synonymous with luxury and engineering excellence.
Brand
GM
"...than like a GM or a Toyota or even a Kia that has a lot of manufacturing here in the country..."
GM stands for General Motors, a big car company that makes many different types of vehicles, like trucks and SUVs.
General Motors (GM) is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing a wide range of vehicles under various brands, including Chevrolet, GMC, Buick, and Cadillac.
Brand
Toyota
"...than like a GM or a Toyota or even a Kia that has a lot of manufacturing here in the country..."
Toyota is a well-known car brand from Japan that makes reliable cars, including sedans, trucks, and hybrids like the Prius.
Toyota is a Japanese automotive manufacturer known for its reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles. The brand is a leader in hybrid technology with models like the Prius.
Brand
Kia
"...than like a GM or a Toyota or even a Kia that has a lot of manufacturing here in the country..."
Kia is a car company from South Korea that makes affordable and stylish vehicles, including cars and SUVs.
Kia is a South Korean automotive manufacturer that produces a variety of vehicles known for their value, warranty, and design. The brand has gained popularity for its affordable cars and SUVs.
Concept
ASC certification
"...they train them to be ASC certified technicians. They have a hundred percent placement rate."
ASC certification is a badge that shows a car mechanic knows what they're doing. It means they've passed tests to prove they can fix cars properly.
ASC certification refers to the Automotive Service Excellence certification, which is a credential for automotive technicians that demonstrates their knowledge and skills in the field. This certification is important for ensuring that technicians are qualified to perform repairs and maintenance on vehicles.
Concept
automotive technician
"...which is placing technicians and then these technicians that just end up thriving."
An automotive technician is someone who fixes cars. They know how to find problems and make sure cars run well.
An automotive technician is a professional who repairs and maintains vehicles. They are skilled in diagnosing problems, performing repairs, and ensuring vehicles are safe and operational.
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Let's brew!
What's going on, Car Guys and Car Gals?
It's Lou Ramirez, the Car Guy.
It's Fred Lennart, the subprime hero.
We're on the nick of time, folks, and we're excited.
This is going to be a great show today.
I know that we just do it on real fast
because we were right at that mark of that 10 minutes
where if we would have waited one more minute,
we would have had to reset everything.
So we didn't want to have to do that, but it's OK.
This is what it's all about.
We are Solutionaries, Lou.
We're troublemakers.
We like to have fun every time we do things.
And we got somebody special on the show
that's worth waiting for, my friends.
This is somebody that brings dynamite everywhere he goes.
This is somebody that I consider a friend,
somebody that I love watching him do what he does.
Not just inside this industry, but with his family,
with his friends and everything else
that he's always trying to touch and do.
He's an amazing mentor somebody to look up to, right, Lou?
And I know that you feel the same way.
So I'm going to let you talk a little bit, too.
I'm excited, though, as you can tell.
Well, I appreciate it, Fred.
It's always good when you let me talk.
All of you know the deal when we're watching the show.
We definitely love it when we get the opportunity
to talk about awesome people inside of the industry.
But, Fred, this is a great opportunity
for us to get a behind the scenes of when it,
what it is that's actually brewing at this next Asodu.
Understand, there is no brew like the brews
that come out of Asodu.
And all of the people that are getting their hype on,
getting ready for the event,
getting their travel plans handled,
and procrastinating on getting that ticket.
We're talking to you all today.
So let's get ready to have some fun.
The CEO of Asodu is backstage right now
and ready to come on the show.
So we're not going to do this with too much Fred and Lou.
Let's go ahead and welcome to the show,
the one, the only Paul, Dave and Bailey.
Whoa, what's going on?
I don't know what to do with an intro like that.
Holy crap.
Listen, I want to say this.
The reason they were late is because I was late.
Oh.
That's good.
We forget folks before, brother.
Man, I was hanging out around here
and then all of a sudden I started texting myself.
I was like, oh crap, I got to go.
Yeah, it wasn't fun.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm just pumped up listening to your intro.
Oh man, of course, brother.
Like I said, you're worth waiting for.
And it's no big deal, folks.
We just wanted to make sure that we didn't have to reset
and then it's be another five minutes,
but it's great to have you here.
I knew that you were back there.
I've done that before.
I've been guilty of it being busy also.
And you look down and you're like, oh my gosh.
And that's what happens when you're the CEO of a company
that's getting ready to have an event in a couple of weeks.
You are all over the place right now.
And I know that's something that,
that you're getting used to doing,
but it's always some buzz going around,
especially when two weeks left.
Less than that.
Oh yeah. Less than two weeks.
So we are just full throttle around here.
There's, we got together our like final punch list of items
or like, why is this list so long?
No kidding.
But it's good.
I brought some special things on the show today.
We're going to, we're going to do some reveals today.
And I just realized I placed them like too far that way
to reach and my ears not plus.
So I'm going to have to jump over there
and grab them for a second.
You go ahead and do that.
And we'll talk about some matter of fact,
we'll talk about a couple of our sponsors really fast.
Do it.
I want to think connect and go check them out at connect.com
connect with the K, K, E, N, E, C, T, dot com.
Check them out.
They're doing some amazing things.
And of course our good friends over at edifice,
automotive marketing, great people.
Go check them out at edificeauto.com.
And I can't wait for you all to be able to see
what we got talking about today.
He's getting ready to bring us some surprises.
This is going to be super dope.
I'm pumped up.
Folks love people more than you love cars.
I love this and this is what it's all about.
It's about loving people.
So here we go.
He is back.
Yeah, he is back.
And what I am pretty pumped up about is that
they are always consistently bringing that great swag
from head to toe, even down to the laces, folks.
They know how to make sure that the swag gets
all over the place.
And I can't wait to get an update on my Asodu flat brim
when I get out there love to buy it
from the awesome swag station
that you guys always have out there.
The kids are going to be helping out this year again.
Kids are helping out this year.
We've done one better.
So like we got a new press.
So we've got more, we have your duty equipment this year.
So it's going to be even easier for them.
My 16 year old daughter has really taken to learning
the craft of photography.
So she's not only going to be at the swag shop,
but now she's going to be running around shooting photos.
She took a trip to New York city with us
to cover the automotive forum a couple of weeks ago.
And so yeah, whole family, my family is going to be there.
Kyle's family is going to be in there.
The kids have a lot of swag bags to pack.
That's probably like the biggest thing we do
in the night before we're just packing hundreds
and hundreds of swag bags.
Hey, I just realized we got the same,
we got the same fit on today, Lou.
I mean, you got the white, all the white, that's
it's the poppin long sleeve with the hoodie.
I love this one.
This one is like right on time.
I love that makes me, that one makes me remember.
It makes me think of Tampa.
Cause that's why I was Tampa in the summertime.
All right, let's go.
So everyone that comes in with SodaCon,
you come and we always say swag is never going
to change your store or make it better.
All right, that's what all the sessions were for
and the people for it.
But everyone loves to go home with swag.
And our goal is that like none of it gets left behind
in the hotel rooms because it's so good.
Go through great lengths to get swag that either you
or maybe your spouse that gets stayed home
when you bring them home something to be like,
oh, I actually like this.
It all started this year.
I went ahead and I found that I was able to source.
Does anyone, you guys need a wife's shop
at Lululemon, maybe you do.
I wear a Lululemon pants.
So this bag style is going to look very familiar to you.
All right, because I found the manufacturer
that makes the Lululemon shopping bags
and we made some special a SodaCon shopping bags.
So that the bag itself is even good.
And it was so good that we decided
we were going to do two color variations.
So everyone's going to have to fight over
which one they get.
Cause you only get one, you know, in that,
you know, you're going to get your scarf.
We don't have the scarves yet.
They're on their way.
I can't wait.
The scarves this year, it looks so good.
But also inside, you're going to get this.
Love people more than you love cars.
Patch iron this sucker on a denim jacket,
on a sweater, put it on a backpack.
You're also going to get, I think maybe not quite
the first time, but maybe the new
more than cars logo patch.
Oh my goodness.
That is new.
Look at that.
See that little more, little more human,
little more relatable.
Mm-hmm.
I love it.
Then we got the OG more than cars pin.
Love it.
This is the specialist SodaCon versions.
And so you got the special fit.
There's some people collecting these things now.
You got stickers.
You're not going to be able to see them
in this package.
We got a nice wristband.
Yep.
You guys are always getting a good wristband.
Good wristbands.
And if you see this little icon up here,
it says tap for game.
If you tap your phone up to the little O,
you can play the SodaCon game.
Have you guys seen the SodaCon game?
We know.
If you go to jumper, J-U-M-P-E-R
at a SodaCon.com, you're going to find yourself
like clear your weekend schedule
because one of those dumb games that's so addictive
that it's hard to stop playing.
And somebody actually scored like it's got a leaderboard.
Old school, put your initials in.
So we got 800.
Somebody got like an 840 something,
which is like a lot of time.
Wow.
That is awesome.
And then this isn't in the bag,
but we can make sure you get them.
It's the new more than cars trucker hat.
We got some flat rooms for you too.
I like that trucker hat though.
That is nice.
That's all the sideshow though.
That's all the sideshow.
The main event is the people, the sessions, the topics,
you guys walking around loving on people,
hosting podcast stages.
You guys are hosting this podcast on our podcast stage.
We built a game day desk with a big screen in the middle.
You guys are going to watch that.
That I'm excited about.
And when you guys mentioned that to us,
when you sent this over and said,
hey, these are the things that we get to do together,
I was like, okay, that's really cool
that you guys have that set aside.
And I can't wait to see all the different teams
that show up there and do things.
And I can't wait for the people to come out
and see how much fun we're having.
Really more importantly, what they're learning there, right?
Like you said.
Most importantly, yeah.
There's so much education.
And I know you got some highlights of that too.
People who are going to be speaking,
you may even have some surprise speakers, who knows, right?
I know that you guys always bring something
that makes people go, oh dang,
just when we thought you couldn't get any cooler,
there you go and you do something like that, right?
So I can't wait to hear about that.
Matter of fact, that's some good questions
to start asking here in a second.
I can't wait to do that.
With that, there's some great names
like the Kane name that's showing up this year.
And Daddy Kane?
Yeah, Big Daddy Kane's gonna make it in the house.
It's his first one.
Every year, you're gonna call him that forever now, right?
That's his name.
This is the first year he's been able to make it.
So it's always been a schedule conflict.
Wow.
I'm so excited that he gets to be a part of,
what he really is a part of just hasn't been there live.
But he's definitely been a part
of the change of automotive for sure.
Always been there since day one.
And when you walk into a store or you watch a video
of him doing training and meetings,
it's just blown away by the energy
that he brings even after all these years.
He's changing and he's always evolving.
He's an amazing asset.
Is that an old joke?
A little bit.
You can tell him I said that.
I love him to death.
But he'll probably do more push-ups in all of us.
He'll probably go out and run to a far to run.
He does it all.
Does he really?
Yeah, I'm out.
Oh, Fred.
You guys are just the greatest.
It's awesome.
It's awesome because he does.
He has so much power,
but he brings such the gentleman to the room.
He really does.
It is awesome to be able to hang out with him,
to be able to talk to him, to learn from him.
But he is, he's making sure
to take different organizations to the next level.
But one thing you don't play with
is with Big Daddy Kane.
Big Daddy Kane.
And this is gonna be a big event
where there's a whole lot of loudness going on,
whole lot of moving and shaking.
But we are excited to be able to reunite with him out there.
Another Kentucky bluegrass boy,
and we're just pumped up to be able to hang out with him.
Speaking of the bluegrass,
we are inside a Derby season, everybody.
There's a whole lot of horses that are running around today,
Derby's tomorrow,
and we are excited because there is so much
that's happening inside of Automotive
that does correlate with these races.
Now, if there's anything
that you all have been capturing on a whole other level,
it's with the More Than Cars series.
You've been finding out that culture is really incredible
inside of so many different places
throughout the auto industry.
Who is the next episode going to be on
as you guys get ready to release the next More Than Cars?
Okay, so we have season two getting queued up right now.
We've shot three of the four episodes.
Those three are already very far
through the editing process.
We're approaching being done.
I don't know which order we're releasing them in,
but what we do have is finally,
we're getting down to CMA,
and we shot an amazing episode at Liza Borch's group,
Carter Myers Automotive,
and we had some truly amazing moments in that
because we got to spend a little time with Carter.
So their first store
when his grandfather started the group,
so she's a four generation dealer,
and it started in this store, this building,
and he had never been in it.
We didn't realize that because it was occupied,
now it's occupied by somebody who,
they store like goods in there really,
but the service bays were up top,
like on the fourth and fifth floor.
And we were just filming,
like Kyle was doing an interview with Liza.
I was about a mile away with Carter
doing some other stuff.
And the owner of the building walks by,
he was like, hey, what are you guys doing?
This is my building.
And he let us in.
And so we got to film Carter and Liza
seeing this building for the first time ever.
And we went to the top
and the service bays are still there.
And you would die because there is like
a wooden porta potty looking thing up there.
And that was the bathroom.
Right on the, right.
There's service bay, service bay, service bay,
wooden porta potty, no ceiling, no floor.
So if anyone's got something to say about their bathroom,
we're going to show them that picture.
Hey, that's phenomenal.
What a great moment to be part of
and be able to just right timing, right place.
It's amazing.
How God works sometimes just shows up and says,
Hey, this is something that seemed impossible.
But look, it's opened up for you
just cause you're here and you're doing it, right?
You're putting that work behind that faith.
That's pretty sweet.
I love how you talk about that.
We also went to Bozard Ford Lincoln.
Shout out Bozard.
Oh man, they're unbelievable.
You had the chance.
I want to know,
and it's just a little bit of spill of the beans
about what's to be seen inside of that episode.
Did you do some good stuff with Bo?
Oh my gosh.
Listen, it took me about 14 seconds
to have a total man crush on Bo Bozard.
And if you've met him like, I was like,
how can one person be so awesome?
He's just so laid back.
He's got a whole leather making shop on the service floor.
And so he walked us through Kyle and I,
he, we both made stuff and he branded it.
And then we went and he laser etched on it.
So we made these key chain.
Oh, it was a ton of fun.
So we got the full, full Bo experience.
We were trying to get him out to a soda con this year
to actually do up at the schedule.
They're graduating kids and things like that.
So yeah.
Next year though, next year.
So that was Bozard.
And we had a lot of time with going from store to store.
We went out on a mobile service route,
which was a lot of fun, like at a customer's house
because Ed Roberts, and he's going to be talking about
a lot, this a lot at the event.
We have some great mobile service panels
and great fixed up stuff in general.
And so we got to go out
and we got to follow the tech around
and we got to do a little bit onsite.
And I'll tell you, that's my,
I love that part of the business
just because my first business,
I grew a mobile reconditioning company.
So we had 30 trucks all over the Northeast
doing wheel repair and cosmetic repair.
Did you know that?
A lot of people don't know that.
My first business.
I did not know that.
I got a job as a service advisor
early like 24 years ago.
And I'd never been in a dealership in my life.
And I fell in love with it.
I was like, this is,
I didn't know anything about cars either.
And then I started a wheel repair company
about a year later,
the dealer I worked for
got me a van off the wholesale line
and was like, you should do this.
I'll help you.
And so he just,
I got this 1984 Chevy Astro,
you know what they are,
leaking everything from everywhere.
I gave him 400 bucks and off I went,
built that company over 15 years
to be a regional reconditioning company
from like upstate New York down to Philly
over to Boston.
And it got acquired by Dent Wizard International.
And that's where the agency was,
I was incubating the creative agency within that company.
So yeah, that was the beginning
of my automotive journey.
That's a pretty amazing journey.
And then like to be able to build a,
to build that business to that type of size
and then be able to hand it and sell it
to a company like Dent Wizard,
who's known nationally,
it's a big deal and them to see the value in your company
so you can go and do the things you're doing now.
It's always been more than cars.
You didn't need to know anything about cars
because it says in the motto,
it is more than cars.
It's the people inside of it
that gets you attracted to the business.
Cause when you get in there,
yeah, that's good money and there's all this stuff.
But man, the people,
some best fighters I've ever met in my life,
people who do things that sometimes
not the most educated, right?
But man, the most brilliant, hardest work,
a great way to put it, amazing people.
That's a great way to put it.
And I don't think it's about,
it's always about people believing in something, right?
And when people are willing to put in effort,
it's always because they believe in something.
They believe in where they're going.
They believe in who they're doing it with, right?
They believe that they're contributing
to something greater than themselves.
And I think the car business is all of those things
in the best cases.
And more and more,
the dealers who believe that
are showing themselves to be the most successful ones.
And I think that makes other people look.
And that makes other people,
sometimes you have to show somebody
how to appreciate something and nurture it, right?
Before they can actually do it.
Because maybe they didn't see it in there.
So that's a lot of what we do.
That's a lot of what you two do.
It's a lot of what we do at Asodu
is just trying to get people to see
like the brilliance and the magic
in what they have the opportunity to do every day.
And you all see it
because you work with so many people across the country.
And you know that moment when some,
you watch something unlock in somebody's mind
or in their heart
and they realize like can be,
it could be good like that.
And you're like, yeah.
And the auto,
and the auto industry,
we're just fortunate to be in an industry
where there's just a lot of abundance.
So that unlock typically leads to a lot of other things
like financial stability
and opportunity for family and upward mobility
and all of those things,
even work like balance.
Heck yeah, heck yeah.
Yes, there is all that is possible.
Our old school ways of thinking,
we didn't think that was possible,
but work-life balance,
that is the key I think to the future
and the continued growth of what we do
because we're going to keep getting better
and better people when people,
because good people want that balance, right?
And they can only take unbalance for so long.
So it is beautiful to be able to do that.
I'm speaking of balance, man.
More than cars, amazing,
Bozard, CMA, great groups.
Rormans, the other one by the way.
Ooh, okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Rormans group, we went, yeah.
Rormans the third and there'll be a fourth,
but we haven't locked that yet.
Ryan Rormans, CEO of Rormans Auto Group
is actually going to be at a soda con this year,
but I don't want to spoil it too much,
but Kyle and I, we did record this one over Halloween.
And so Kyle and I did dress up like Buzz and Woody.
I was Woody and Kyle was Aladdin.
And then Ryan Rormans dressed up like Buzz
and his brother Trey, who's the CEO of Buzz,
dressed up as the Genie.
Oh, wow.
And I was teamed up with Ryan,
Kyle was teamed up with Trey
and we did one of our,
we always have a competition
and it was like a team versus team competition
where we ran an inflatable obstacle course all dressed up.
So I won't tell you how it ended.
Oh my God, I can't wait to see this.
That is going to be so much fun right there.
And I love that you guys have-
Kyle sustained some injuries.
He walked away, but he sustained some injuries.
Wow.
So when there's competition,
injuries may occur, right?
Absolutely.
I like to have fun,
but I like to win at the same time,
but I am a graceful winner
unless it's pickleball.
Oh, is that how that works?
That's what that's like.
Well, speaking of competition
and speaking of obstacle courses,
right now there is so much fall
that is brewing inside of the industry.
Our incredible industry is doing what it does best.
It's finding new ways to adapt,
new ways to unify
and try to get to the next level,
but also deal with all of the,
maybe the uncertainty,
which I'm almost tired of hearing that word uncertainty
because whatever our promise tomorrow,
we never know what tomorrow's gonna bring.
We just always have to commit
to always bring the right mindset to the day,
be the problem solvers that we are
or the troublemakers that we're called to be.
But brother, we're seeing a pivotal moment
happen industry wide
and we're talking big level industry
where there's so much discussion that's happening
in different mergers,
different collaborations that need to occur.
And one thing that I love about it
is that all of the talks of tariffs
and such that are going on
inside of the entire world
concerning our country and what we're doing,
automotive is just one part of the commerce
that is involved inside of that.
Yet we are getting so much of a light on us,
which is awesome because there's no industry
like the auto industry
to be able to show you how to adapt
and do a little bit of a workaround.
If there's anything that car guys know how to do,
it's find a way around the problem and to solve it.
But what is some of the buzz that's going on
and some of the stuff that the dealers
and those that are going to be attending
are going to be able to be excited to sink their teeth into
for some of the problems that they're right now engaging in?
Yeah, I think that the word tariff, right?
It's everyone's talking about it.
However, I will say, and Kyle was just sharing this
with me because he was at Brian Pash's event
in DMSC last weekend.
So he's with quite a few dealers
and industry partners there.
And he said he only heard the word come up twice.
The whole conference and that's all the sessions,
all the dinner conversations.
And I will say that I can,
that reflects for me in all the conversations
I've been having with dealers
and in the content we've been making,
you know, about the show
and about what a dealers want to talk about.
And I think that the reason for that is
obviously everyone's in a different scenario
depending on what manufacturer you're with
that obviously they can brand like Porsche
who has limited manufacturing spots
and a lot overseas is going to be much more exposed
as a percentage wise to their inventory
than like a GM or a Toyota or even a Kia
that has a lot of manufacturing here in the country
or at least it's a little bit divested.
I do think however, dealers are used to now acclimated to
dealing with large system wide problems
and figuring out ways around it.
And if you look at COVID, first of all the shutdowns,
that's when you like put things in perspective, right?
People say this, if you can throw money at it,
it's not a real problem.
Now there are some things that feel like very real problems
that you know, you can't throw money
or you could throw money at and fix
but with that kind of like overlay, you look at COVID,
you couldn't throw enough money at that to fix it.
You had to weather the storm,
you had to get stronger through,
you had to persevere.
And then the inventory shortage comes up.
Another problem, not as bad as COVID, right?
COVID was safety, COVID was regulation,
COVID was all these things that we were navigating
uncertainty, inventory shortage.
Okay, now we're just talking about not having vehicles
which ended up dealers were able to navigate that
and do very well financially through it.
Meanwhile, still serving people,
how they need it and writing it out.
So now we get here to tariffs.
We don't have, we don't have a biological crisis
on our hands, we're not worried
where the inventory is gonna come from.
We just have to figure out
how to make it affordable for consumers
and how to serve them well through that.
And so I think that the fact that people
aren't talking about that has a lot to do with the fact
that we're just a little battle-hearted
now after the last five years.
And it's okay, it's tariffs this week.
It's a big deal, obviously OEMs manufacturers,
much more their problem to deal with
than dealers problem to deal,
like figure out how to solve.
And I think it all resolved.
We were with Bernie Moreno, Senator Moreno
a couple of weeks ago.
And his perspective when he was talking
about this at a dinner, he said,
guys, I'm really telling you is I think
in six to 10 months from now,
this is just gonna be like,
we're gonna be through it all.
So that was his perspective.
But regardless, so I don't know that
I'm sure that'll come up at a soda con
but all of the other things can impact your business
much more than worrying about tariffs.
That we're gonna be talking about.
We're gonna be talking about operations.
We're gonna talk about culture.
We're gonna be talking about sales process,
FNI process, new technology is a big point of conversation.
How do we leverage this new tech?
Obviously AI is gonna be a big part of that,
helping people discern like,
is it actually helpful here
or is it not helpful here?
What kind of AI can I be or should I be deploying?
So we're gonna have a lot of conversations
about that mobile service as we discussed.
We even have a great panel about healthcare.
And that's like not a sexy topic,
but for all the operators and GMs
and dealer principals understand
that having a healthcare program
that number one is affordable
so you can offer max benefit to your people
is a major contributor to help people show up
for their job every day
and watching how that goes, it goes through.
We're gonna have some great people,
Alex Lawrence talking about EVs,
Elena Chickatelli, Jimmy Douglas.
We just have a lot of EV conversations
even though it's like ups and downs,
a lot of dealer operators,
some state association involvement.
The governor of Maryland is gonna be there.
How about that?
I know we had to figure out all of a sudden
because the Maryland auto dealer associations
have their meeting and they just call us to,
hey, we're gonna be bringing the governor in.
They're like, we can do that.
So now we're like talking about security walkthroughs
and perimeters and so that's new for us.
I just want the earpiece, one condition.
You're right there.
One condition.
Zach and Austin, Zach, Zach Hinch, Austin Conroy,
they're gonna be there.
So obviously they've been making quite a ruckus
on the internet, so they're gonna be there.
Yeah, got some 40 under 40 is gonna be there.
Got some OGs.
Oh, that's gonna be, it's just gonna be a room packed
with, and we put out a post today
that I love Lou put out today, it was nice.
It was a room packed with power.
People who really are making shifts
and really when they make the shift,
the world feels it or the least automotive feels it
and I love that.
And that's big and that's what the state of the union
is all about, right?
It's being there and understanding what's really happening.
And I love that you're educating
and you're talking about controllables, right?
And that's the thing.
Let's not talk about things we have no control over,
tariffs or tariffs and they're gonna raise the prices.
We had interest rates go up.
Like you said, the last five years,
so much stuff's happened that we've dealt with it all.
So let's just talk about what we need to do.
Stay with our fundamentals.
Let's keep training. Let's keep learning.
Let's keep educating.
Let's keep pouring positivity into each other
and knowing that tomorrow is just not gonna be harder.
It's gonna be better.
This technology you talked about, I love it
because there is so much to talk about from AI
and there's so many levels of it
inside different departments and ways they're communicating
and I've been so blown away
by seeing a lot of this tech grow
because today it may not be working well,
but a year from now that same technology
inside that same place is gonna be huge.
And I've seen that already occur
in so many different ways.
Inside my own life, inside my own daily work plan, workflow.
So for you, you said a lot of things,
but what's the one thing that you're most fired up about
for the ASODUCon?
Gosh, this is what's your favorite child?
I don't, I think that the sessions are so,
we're giving, well, every time I think of something,
I think of something that's,
oh, a couple of things.
I'll give you a couple of things, okay?
You guys know Claude Silver,
Chief Heart Officer of VaynerMedia.
She is opening, our opening keynote is her.
So we're starting off with a massive bang.
Claude is someone who's worked with top brands
all across the world.
I'm talking the Nike's, the Coca-Cola's, the BMW's,
the Toyotas, and I could just keep naming them.
So she understands though how to build a culture
that can handle high performance.
Meanwhile, having people feel cared about.
So she's gonna be our opening keynote.
We're giving away three cars this year
right on the floor with vehicles for change.
Amazing nonprofit that we support every year.
They take formerly incarcerated
and they train them to be ASC certified technicians.
They have a hundred percent placement rate.
So they're helping fill a need in automotive,
which is placing technicians
and then these technicians that just end up thriving.
And then people donate cars to the organization.
They train these texts,
they recondition these cars
and then they give the cars away
to people who are in need.
So last night it was unbelievable.
Last year we had a single mother
and her two kids were there
and there wasn't a driver.
I was joking.
We should have sponsored tissue boxes on all the tables
because this is like at the end
but our panel, our main stage sessions
are just packed to the gills
with people you wanna hear from.
Steve Greenfield's bringing a full keynote.
And if you've never seen him drop a keynote,
I don't know what he's gonna be talking about
but it's, you leave there, it's unbelievable.
We have 10, we have a delegation from Spain coming in.
So I'm excited about that.
And you get 10.
Yeah, Jack.
Yeah.
I don't know what I'm most excited about, honestly.
I just, I get the most excited about seeing everybody
and that moment when you start seeing the people come in
and you're like, oh, like all these people came.
I feel like, I literally feel like
all these people came over my house.
You know what it's like?
That's what it feels like.
They came to my home today.
You've built a beautiful home, man.
And this home just keeps getting better.
It all started with the foundation that you laid
and because you laid such a good foundation
with the people, the plans, the idea, everything,
everyone that you united with
to bring up what you're doing,
even the little parties you started with,
the way that you got it out there.
I remember being at the few of them.
First time I really got to meet you
and I remember like, this movement is dope.
This is awesome.
I love this thing.
It was old school.
It was like punk rock concert in the garage.
It was like that.
So that being said, congratulations on all that.
There's so much more still happening
but yeah, you built a beautiful home
and we are coming to your house
to have a barbecue with you and have a good time
but what's the best part is that we leave there
with something to bring back.
We're gonna bring leftovers that are for everyone, right?
Hey, that's a great way to put it.
Yeah, man.
Thank you for all that.
I think the bottom line is it like establishing
and I'll die on this hill.
And it's what I talk about when everyone,
when people try to develop a brand and all this,
it's like people need a center point to believe in
and if you can rally, what was,
I took, I can't remember,
some kind of personality assessment, whatever it was.
And basically it gave me some insight
that helped me craft like what it is that I love to do
and why I love to do it.
And basically it says you love to gather people
around meaningful ideas.
And that is, I'm not the smartest person on tech.
I'm not the best at operations but I do.
I love to gather people around ideas that are meaningful.
And in the beginning,
this was the meaningful ideas
when dealers band together, no crisis can win.
And that was the meaningful ideas.
We were going through COVID and it was that look,
even though this is going on,
we can show everybody if we come together
that we can help literally lead our communities
through and out of this crisis.
And then that has just developed and evolved over the years
and then that's where, like,
we've gotten it down to three words now.
It's more than cars.
And that's the belief, that's the thesis.
And I think people, that's meaningful to people, right?
It's not about the car, it's more than cars, right?
We can fill in the blank with anything
but I think it's a deep human need
that everybody wants to aspire to
whether you're a dealer or an industry partner.
And so that more than cars mindset
is something we're leaning in on.
And we actually have a really big announcement
about some of the, some moves that we're making as a company
we're going to announce at the event too
that I was going to bring that more than cars mindset
even broader, I think.
Okay, we're excited because mindset matters so much
for those of you that are listening,
those of you that are watching
whether on the replay live or on the podcast,
mindset is so critical in this
and pitching the thought of anything negative
over to my brother Paul when talking about tariffs
or whatever you knocked it out of the park
because there is so much more to talk about
than what little things ever start to seem
like an attack on the industry.
If anything, when we start to see negative things
start to find their way around
and start to become the buzz on the news
this industry rises, this industry steps up
to the occasion.
Almost since we heard the word tariff
our dealer partners have been seeing record months
every single month since.
So with that we are so excited
because all of these different challenges
just gives us an opportunity to get better.
We want to continue to push a culture
that reminds people it is more than cars
and it's more than the numbers.
Speaking of our Bozar team, our brothers over there
we had a training session with them today
and we really leaned into reminding them
of how important it is that your thoroughbreds
perform best when they're focused
on how they're fed and how they're led.
No horse is ever paying attention to their running time.
No horse cares about their running time.
They care about the trophy of good delicious oats
or whatever their treat is
and the one that's helping to lead them
to the finish line.
It's never just about the mobility
and we right now are unifying together
during derby season
and coming into this incredible month.
So come what may auto industry is going to rise
and we are excited about it.
Paul, we're so thankful for what it is
that you all do consistently bring to the industry
and how you do highlight of course that family function
that the families of all those
whether it's the detail worker on the lot
or it's the general manager leading the ship
all of those families are connected
to our incredible India
and all of them are benefiting
but all of them are some of the fuel
to what keeps everybody fired up in our great industry.
We absolutely love that we're having some fun out here
but we also want to make sure that we do talk
about how you all can get to the show
and maybe get to a little bit of a little bit
of a CGC type of discount.
Oh, you guys are too humble
because Fred and Lou, they stepped up
and they're sponsoring dealers to go.
So they have, they've secured quite a little handful
of dealer tickets
and we want to make sure that their community
this community here on the show
we already know if you're in their community
you're a part of our community
because like-minded like-hearted
what is the code?
I have the code somewhere.
I have it.
It's CGC VIP.
So folks, you guys see it down there.
I'm glad you announced that
cause I was going to bring that up
for any dealer that's connected with us.
If you guys want to be around us
and you guys want to have some fun
all you got to do is show up, right?
All you got to do show up.
We have the tickets for you.
Thank you so much.
We've teamed up with them.
They were so gracious to say,
hey, listen, we want to make sure
that your dealer partners are involved.
Anybody who's a viewer that's
that loves what we do
and wants to be part of something big.
If you've never been to one of these,
I promise you
it's worth the time investment that you'll have
cause you're going to come back with so much.
If anything, you're going to come back with dope swag.
But for sure, I'm going to tell you something.
The leftovers that I talked about earlier
man, they're the best leftovers you have
that you don't ever have to worry about
throwing them away.
They'll be good for years and years for your team.
So come on out.
Make sure you guys come check it out.
But yes, it is.
I'm going to put the code up here on the screen for you guys.
C, G, C, V, I, P.
Again, all one word.
You guys will see it when you go in there.
Just hit that code.
We got you.
And please, if you're not a dealer, don't use this code.
This is for dealers only.
All right.
So don't get in there and try to.
Yeah, it won't actually work.
Our industry partner tickets are sold out.
So.
Excellent.
Only dealer tickets left.
We got, man, I'll tell you what, it's so funny.
It staggers me every year,
but like 20% of our dealer tickets
come in within the last 10 days.
Oh yeah.
And it's all the people who have been saying
they're coming forever and they have hotel rooms
or maybe they didn't.
Oh, until it turns May.
Until it turns May.
So we were like watching our numbers you're watching
and we're like, oh, we're good bit ahead
of where we were last year
and look what happened last year too.
So there's just a riot.
It's just, it's never going to change.
We've stopped trying to fight it
and just let people go and know.
I'm going to hear the conversation now.
Yeah, we're going to go ahead
and move those expenses to the actual month that we go.
I love it though, but I know that I have,
we have another one of our dealer partners out in Nebraska
that's going to be coming and joining us.
And it's their very first one.
Oh, they're going to be so happy.
They are what I love about them.
And I got to say,
and when I got to love about this team
it is Andy Goodyear, awesome, Rah McLean.
They're really amazing friends.
What's that?
Next more than cars episode.
I think you're going to be blown away by them.
When you meet them,
10 year of their sales people are like 20 plus.
They just had two people retire 40 years there.
Another one's currently 40 plus years.
Wow.
Like to get a job there is you got to wait.
Almost somebody literally has to die.
That's how awesome that place is.
But they, but they're excited to come
and they're the kind right now they're in growth mode
and they're going to come there.
They're going to leave there with their heads.
Just, oh, that makes me so excited.
I'm excited for them.
Make sure please.
I know there's going to be like 600 people there.
So that's enough to like not see people.
Please make sure you introduce me.
Oh, I'm going to.
I promise you, especially because they're first timers.
They need to meet you.
Yeah.
Please, please, please.
No, and I want to thank you guys again
for being so gracious because what you all do
is so important to what we are as an industry.
And your willingness to come out and serve the event
and to be there and bring your show
and bring your energy and bring the other people.
It means the world to us.
It really does.
You all know the world to us.
We're honored to be able to meet up with you all.
There's so much more that we have to brew,
but history began with you all taking a yes
to all of the challenges and unifying everybody.
That's what I love most about it.
If there's anything at my heart that I truly lean into,
even on a spiritual level, it's the unity.
We are all so different.
We are all so diverse, but we still come together.
We bind together and we take on the challenges
and we have an absolute blast doing it.
If there's one function we want to make sure
is consistently happening is that we're having fun
while we do what it is that we're all so great at.
As much as we're wearing all of this awesome swag,
having genuine smiles on our face
should always be the most important thing that we're wearing
and we're taken to our communities with us.
Paul, you all are doing some incredible things.
We appreciate the way that you honor us,
but seriously how you honor this industry.
It is something to be spoken of in the years to years to come.
We're gonna look back and say,
man, we really were part of something incredible
and we can't wait to see that next generation
that takes the torch and takes it to a whole other level.
Folks, you gotta make sure that you are at a SodaCon 2025.
May 13th through 16th in Be More
and there's gonna be plenty of delicious food out there too.
So make sure that you come hungry.
Oh man, the food, that's gonna be good.
Folks, the Northeast has some of the best food in the world.
That's right.
Get up there and let's get some grub on.
Get some crackies.
I'm gonna tell you right now,
the best car people that you wanna be around
are gonna be here.
So please come join us, come have some fun,
get educated, leave there just filled.
Your cup will be overflowing
of just so much fun stuff for you to be able to bring back.
I'm telling you that right now,
cause I know I've been there,
I've been to a couple of them
and I am so excited to be here for my third one.
So it's gonna be a blast.
Can't wait.
So go to asoducon.com slash tickets
and if you drop that CGC VIP,
get you a set of tickets out there.
Make sure that you go ahead and book your rooms, folks,
before you're staying far, far away.
I'm telling you, I'm fast.
But I know, Paul, thank you so much.
Give our love to Kyle, give our love to Mike.
Give our love to everybody out there.
Everybody out there.
And everyone, the whole crew.
Yes. We'll do, we'll do, we'll be together soon.
Heck yeah, we sure will.
We salute you all.
Car guys and car gals,
make sure that you share this around.
Tag a car guy, tag a car gal.
Make sure that you let somebody know
if you can't go,
that they need to go there and take notes for you.
Okay, one way or another
you gotta make something happen.
We are so thankful for this episode.
Paul, thank you again.
Fred, let's finish this one out.
You already know what to do.
I do.
And it's on the shoulders.
On three, one, two, three.
Forgive.
Focus.
Fly.
And keep rowing all the time.
Let's go, baby.
We're seeing you.
25, keep there.
Let's go.
Out.
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