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Car Guy Coffee & DriveCentric presents “DC20 Unlocked” feat. Brian King
Car Guy Coffee & DriveCentric presents “DC20 Unlocked” feat. Brian King
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About this episode
Brian King joins the Car Guy Coffee podcast to discuss the importance of effective CRM usage in the automotive industry. He shares his journey from technology sales to automotive, emphasizing the value of building long-term customer relationships through proactive follow-up and communication. Brian highlights how DriveCentric's CRM enhances dealership operations by streamlining interactions across departments, ultimately improving customer service and sales performance. The conversation also touches on the upcoming DC20 event, where dealers can learn and share best practices.
Topics:
crm effectiveness
customer relationships
proactive follow-up
drivecentric
dealership operations
sales performance
dc20 event
communication strategies
Cars:
Ford Excursion
Car Guy Coffee & DriveCentric presents “DC20 Unlocked” feat. Brian King
DriveCentric and Car Guy Coffee are excited to announce our new Web Series "DC20 Unlocked". In this episode we talk with Brian King, Director of Commercial Sales and Systems Administration at Rogers Motors in Lewiston, ID.
We talk about Brian's background, his thoughts on the current and future market, DriveCentric, and why the #DC20 event is special. Let’s Brew!
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
Brew Brought By:
www.drivecentric.com
DriveCentric and Car Guy Coffee are excited to announce our new Web Series "DC20 Unlocked". In this episode we talk with Brian King, Director of Commercial Sales and Systems Administration at Rogers Motors in Lewiston, ID.
We talk about Brian's background, his thoughts on the current and future market, DriveCentric, and why the #DC20 event is special. Let’s Brew!
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
Brew Brought By:
www.drivecentric.com
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Ford Excursion
"...oing to be a great one. It's They have some great excursions afterwards too. Everyone gets together. It's fun...."
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Hello, and welcome to the Car Guy Coffee podcast for this DC twenty Unlocked series brought to you by drive Centric. For more information or to get signed
up for the next DC twenty event, go to drive centric dot com.
Let's prove what's going on, car Guys and car Gals. Is Frelon Arts,
Subprime Hero and yes, this is another edition of the DC twenty Unlocked And yes we have a great guest for you today. This is going to
be more than a show because the guests that we have. This show's never
been about Low and I. It's always been about the people that we bring
on. And we've teamed up with drive Centric and we've made this new show
DC twenty Unlocked to talk about the great things that are going on inside your CRM. Also be able to show you ways to be able to use your
CRM, utilize it in a much more efficient way, a way that you can produce more income for your salespeople, for your dealership and for yourself.
And if you're a leader out there and you're looking for a tool that's second to none, I'm gonna tell you something. You can't look any further than
the website you see right below me at drivecentric dot com. Make sure you
guys reach out to them, learn something about us, set up a demo, because a demo costs this much money. It's zero dollars, but it
could make you multiply those zeros by quite a bit, right, that's what it can do for you. And you know what, Today we have a
guest that's going to show you how to do it a little bit better.
It's gonna bring you some information that might open your eyes on why this tool is so amazing. But maybe even if you're not using drive Centric, how
you can get your CRM to work a little bit better. I'm just saying
it's important. CRMs aren't just there to put information in there there to utilize
and use like a tool, like it's a gun that you're gonna shoot at targets. I promise you you'll hit a lot more that way. All right,
So folks, let's get this person on the screen right now. I
know you guys are excited. It's not about me, like I said,
it's about the guests that we bring on the show and like I said, second to none right now. And this show is going to be uplifted soon
as we do. But let's do it everybody before we do. So,
I need you to do one thing. Tag a car guy, tag a
cargal and share. Share, Share, Share, share share, get this
out there. Let people know what's happening inside the cafe today. All right,
So here we go, folks, I'm gonna bring them up. We
have the one only that's right. What's up, Brian, what's going on?
Hey? Friend? How you doing. I'm a little caffeinated, and
my friend, I'm sure you've got a couple of copy list Cheers to this man, cheers, cheers to good luck and happiness and to a good show.
So for what I understand, Brian, this is your very first podcast.
It is my very first podcast. Yeah, excited to have you on.
I'm excited to have the first This is two in a row that we've had as the first podcast on the d C twenty on Luck Show. And
I'm sure it's not gonna be the last. Matter of fact, when I
see you in a couple of weeks, we'll be having you on the show again. So it'll be a good time. We'll have some fun. We'll
do a quick, little five minute just update and see what you're thinking about d C twenty The event that's going on folks over in Saint Louis at the headquarters of dry Centric. They're bringing in dealers from all over the country to
talk about the greatness of using this tool. It's not just software, it's
a tool, right, And I'm sure you would agree, right, absolutely, absolutely absolutely, And I candidly admit I had to watch Matt mirandas from last week just to understand what I was going to get into this time.
So that helped a little in preparation for this. I'm glad that you're ready
for it. Man, you should be, and that's why you're at the
seat that you're at. You're not somebody who just is reactive. You can
be and you're probably strong. It's reactive, but you're proactive, right.
Being proactive is what this tool is all about. It's not just being reactive,
it's being proactive and being set up for success. And that's what you
did. You set yourself up for success today. So tell everybody a little
bit more about your background. Tell everybody about how you got an automotive and
how long you've been in and where you're at now. Yeah, Oh my
gosh. So I like to say I'm a left handed introverted engineering student that
took a sales job straight out of school and spent an entire career career in sales. Had twenty years of selling various enterprise technologies, everything from point of
sale to self checkout, to networking gear to touch screams to other enterprise software and analytic platforms. And I was going to take a break. I was
on the road every single week, traveling across the country, and I was going to take six months off. And I had a good friend in the
car business that asked if I ever thought about working in the car business.
And I laughed at him because no, like number once that ever crossed my mind to being in the car business right And sat down with him and then a few others in the company that I work for now and then found a little a fit and a potential for me to help their business. And I've
been here over four years, so the job's completely evolved in what I started with at Rogers Motors and where I'm at today, and every day's different, and it's it's been a complete blast. I had no idea how cool this
industry was. I think your story is similar to a lot when we first
think I'm gonna get in automotive sales. You're like, come on, that's
a joke, right, Like, I don't want to be that guy.
I don't want people to think of me as that sleazy salesperson. But yet
when you join the industry, you realize that there's a lot of great people in it and there's a lot of opportunity. When those opportunities lasted a long
time for you, and they've it into a career which has turned it into something that just gives you fulfillment. And I think that's really great. What's
been one of your favorite stories about this industry? What really got you hooked
in? What was it the first deal you ever did, or was it
just some great experience that you had? What made you say this is it?
Oh boy? I think it was how simple the rules are for success,
but how hard they are to follow them. So we say, in
our business, there's only three rules, and you will be successful in our business, and it's stay in one place, right, So you can't jump around, You can't quit when you're frustrated. You can't bounce around to other
dealerships or groups or other jobs like. You got to stay in one place.
The second thing is you got to become an expert in the process, right, And every dealership, every group has their own process of how they teach and train you to be successful in their business, and you need to become an expert in that process and learn it. And then the third rule
is is to me the simplest one, but the hardest one to continue with, and it's just follow up with your customers. We're not in the car
business. We're in the people business. Right. We just happen to sell
in service cars. And after the after someone's picked out that car, it's
no longer about the car. It's about the customer, and it's about how
you take care of them now and in the future and build out that relationship and deliver great customer service to them. Long term, you learn how to
follow up with your customers the right way and take care of them, you will be successful in this business. It was a complete surprise to me.
I love that as matter of fact, because we can get that short term success by just picking that low hanging fruit and get a few deals. But
it gets very tedious, like one month could be great, the next month you don't sell anything. You're like, what's going on. It's the cultivation,
it's the relationship management rights. It's that whole, not just selling them
a car, even if they don't take delivery. I want to keep following
up with people that don't even leave in a car, right, I want to help them the ones that we couldn't help that day. All the above
when you want to become great at this industry, my friends, Brian just said it right there, it's about that follow up. It's about what do
you do after the fact. If you want them to bring you their friends
and family, you got to call them. Even if it sounds you're scared
to call them because they might have an issue with their car. That's when
you need to call it. That goes above and beyond further. You could
ever imagine when you can call somebody before they can call and complain about something on their vehicle, and then be able to offer a solution for them and it makes them go, Holy crap. I've never had an experience like this
before. And that is the that's the power and I love that. And
Brian, I know one of your favorite things that you love to do, and you talked about it. It's creating a better long term ownership experience,
right And that's something I think that's really that it's right in your wheelhouse and you just because you just said that, how do you do that and what tools are you using today or what tactics are you using today to make sure that your team, yourself and your dealership is making sure that they're creating that type of culture to be able to speak to their customers that way. Yeah,
it will start from some of the basics, right. I don't know
how many other dealership groups out there have similar slogan. It's probably quite a
few. But we want our salespeople to tell the customer, don't spend a
dime on this vehicle without talking to me. And what that means is we
want the customer to have in our salespeople to have such a good relationship that whether they have a question on the vehicle, or they need to bring it in for service, or they need a part for that vehicle, or they have a question about the contracts they just signed, or any other thing that they might ask, we want the customer to call the sales professional that owns and maintains that relationship for everything, because we figure if we're taking care of the customer every time they have a question or an issue or a need, then we're surely going to get that call when that customer or someone else in
their family is looking for a vehicle because we're the trusted the advisor at that point. So it's we talk a lot about communication, right we all,
every dealership says, boy, we have a lot of room for growth and improvement and how we communicate. But it's not just with the customer. It's
also internally with respect to that customer. So like our thought and our vision
is like if everyone in the dealership had an understanding of how we were interacting and taking care of that customer and work together in that regard, we probably take a lot back better care of our customers. And so that's the path
we started down a few years ago and continue on and where we're evolving and how we're using the CRM and other tools just to make sure that everyone has visibility to what's happening with the customer, how we're taking care of them, what they need, and it allows us all to do a better job at maintaining and building and growing that relationship long term with the customer. Yes,
yes, and I love that you said that so well, folks. I
hope you guys taking notes right now? Those are That's a bite I'm going
to take later and use as a clip, because that's exactly right, Brian.
People are saying it right. We got some people out here right now,
Brian, Brad Pascal, love some Brad Pascal. That's my bro right
there, he says, Brian is the man exclamation point, Yes, he is. Absolutely. We got Douglas Lambert out there putting up the hey,
yeah, that's right correct. And then of course somebody said earlier follow up
is the key. Thank you so much for saying that, because that is
and what he just said here it's exactly right. And Brian, you've definitely
been able to see it. You've seen the difference. Were you part of
a culture at one point that was maybe half assed in excuse my language, maybe not doing it quite as well as they should be doing it, and then you saw the difference once you changed it, And what kind of difference did you see. Everyone's going to think I'm new in the auto industry right
because I've been here four years and that's new to everyone. And I've been
fortunate I've worked with some phenomenal mentor some phenomenal managers some phenomenal sales organizations across my career. Very few of them have been poor. But I'll give you
a story going back to when I first started in my first sales job out of college. I had a mentor, a peer of mine, and a
manager that were big on philosophies of customer service, understanding your product. They
didn't let me go have a customer meeting by myself for the entire first year I worked for them, right I joined with them, I learned, They taught me. They showed me how to become educated in your product. They
showed me what good customer service was. Like, I had good roots because
of a couple of individuals that started me down the path of sales in the right way. They're still good, close friends of mine. I still talk
to them. I think of them both like family, but like it takes
a while to build the right foundation with an individual so that you set them up for success and set them up to take care of the customers the way we want to take care of the customer long term. And I don't know
if that answers your question the right way, But there's tons of little incidents and bad examples and times when I've fallen short and not delivered it. If
you have a right team around you, the right management philosophy, the right organization you're working for, and they trust at you and give you the tools to be successful and spend the time to train you and operate the way that we think we should in the long term with our customers, then you're going to find success. You just got to buy into that process and continue down
the path. Oh man, that's what I'm talking about. What he just
said. There you answer the question, great, man. I know that
maybe sometimes we get talking and we forget okay, but dude, yes, all those things. Folks, there is a difference. And when you are
able to hold somebody accountable, that means you love them. We do that
with our kids, right, We do that with our parents. Do that
with us because they loved us. They didn't do it because you can see
parents who don't really care, right, they just let their kids get mucked like all over the place. You're like, oh man, they need to
work out. When somebody loves you, they're there not to try to tell
you, oh, you're bad. It's to show you, hey, you
can be better, right, And that's love. When they can show you
how to become better than you were yesterday. And I love that. And
that's what that does, and that's what your heart is, and that's what the culture of your story is right now, and I love that. Drive
Centric is definitely a great tool to be able to use for so many things.
It's not just a CRM, folks, this thing you could data mine like crazy, be able to find ways to be able to communicate, who to communicate, when to communicate. Look up old leads that were dead that
see that they're on your website again. There's alerts that pop up and it's
all just within a couple of clicks. Tell people a little about the ease,
how easy it is to use and find the information that you need as a leader to be able to help and guide your troops to where they need to go. Yeah, you said it right. I've worked with a myriad
of CRMs across other industries right from a sales perspective, like this has been the first one that it's designed for automotive. It's designed for us. It
allows us to truly tailor how we operate within the system, fully configurable, like we have a different Internet lead handling process and all four of our stores, but we didn't have to go make a change request and go through development with our CRM provider. Like the flexibility in the configuration rules and the parameters,
and how this drive centric as a tool allows us to just configure it to meet our own business needs that already existed was bar none. And then
you start seeing how easy it is for other people in the store to take advantage of that tool. Parts professionals, finance managers, service advisors, service
BDCs, sales BDCs. Everyone has the ability to communicate not just internally but
with the customer and operate it in the way that their business and their task or their job was designed to function. And so it took some work on
our part to set up users and permissions and just that upfront piece just to enable all those other users across the dealerships. But once you did that simple
upfront piece to get that done, all of a sudden, like we're all operating out of the same playbook. We can communicate with each different department and
user in our own store. When we have an issue with a customer that
we need to address, we can have a common view of every interaction that the customer is having with our store in one tool, everything from inbound phone calls and outbound phone calls to repair orders, to how the sales BDC and service BDC are interacting with that customer both up front on a new deal as well as long term, and so like the eye opener over a year ago was like, oh my gosh, Like, we don't have to I'll take a step back, right. I mean, we tried to map out,
like how are all the ways that we communicate with our customers. What tools
do we use to communicate with the customer inside the dealership? What tools do
we use to communicate with one another right our own employees inside the dealership, And it's crazy, it's for every dealership on this phone. I bet there's
fifteen plus tools out there that do it. But the Revelation was the only
one that we had that allowed us to communicate with every customer and with everyone else internally happened to be drive centric, So we started to exploit it in that regard just to have a better picture of how we're handling our customers, how we're building those relationships out, and how to streamline and make their jobs more efficient while delivering better customer service to them long term. Wow, Wow,
bros, you're dropping some really great nuggets here. I'm not playing man,
This is really good stuff and I'm really liking what you're saying, and I think that everybody else. If you're a user, I think most of
y'all already know what he's saying. Right if you're somebody who's not who started
using it, still figuring it out, listen to what he's telling you.
He's going to get you there a lot quicker. One thing that I know
for sure is the reason why they we have people like Brian on the show is because they're power users. And when you've got power users that know how
to use this tool differently, it'll exploit things to you that will go WHOA, Holy smacks. I didn't realize I could do this. So I hope
you all are taking notes because some really good stuff. And if you're in
the middle of thinking about switching CRMs and you really want to have a great opportunity again, go to the website down below, get yourself a demo of this. If anything, get a hold of Brian. I'm gonna put up
his email address for y'all. Don't I'm not gonna put him on a spot.
But I know that he's the kind of guy who would love to give you some information. He's a great reference on this thing. Ver's his email
address. We'll throw it back up again at the end, so you guys
could throw some love at him later. Maybe send him some prizes. We'll
get some. You're definitely gonna get some car guy copy swag from me if
anybody else has to. Let you know, listen, Brian, you're talking
about some really great stuff here. And I do believe that this product,
a CRM, is necessary, whether it's drive centric or not. If you're
not using If you're using a CRM, it's all about using it. If
you use it, you get it set up, go through the rigglem role of having to get the right settings, the right type of rhythm that you want. Because every dealerships. You can't just take a CRM and take it
from a dealership and plug it in your store and expect it to work exactly the same. It's not. You have different people, different processes, different
vehicles, different upcounts, different ways of lead resources. There's so many things
that you have to plug in that's different than Brian store would do. But
when you do all those things, and you have a CRM that's really adjustable to all those types of tools and works with many of the affiliates that you're probably working with two other vendors that I promise you it's a way smoother transition.
You think. Even doing the things like switching the settings and stuff,
you can do it yourself because it's really easy. But you can call up
your pod and they'll sit there and they'll walk you right through it. It's
really simple. Tell everybody a little bit about your pod experience. And do
you even know your pod number? Because lot of people don't know the pot
and they know the podcorst. Oh, I know them all. I know
everyone in my pod by name, right. So first revelation is it's not
this group of bots of unknown individuals and you're not submitting something to us generic chat form where someone has to see it and respond later. No, our
POD's POT five. They are unbelievable, JR. Is this team that run
that pod? I talk to them a ton, right, not just on
issues, right, A lot of it is just how does this work?
How could we take advantage of this piece? How do they offer advice support?
I know them all by name, they're unbelievable. It is of all
the technologies I won't even just say automotive and the entire in my entire career that I have used. Their support staff and the way they help us address
issues, help us, give us visibility to changes that are coming, give us the ability to suggest changes that we need in the system. It's unparalleled.
It's probably the best support staff and relationship of any technology I have ever used in my twenty five year career. Folks, He's not the only one
that thinks in We just experienced how drive Centric treats their employees, which in turn makes their employees treat their clients exactly the same. Yeah, and that
is the power of doing it the right way. This tool is beyond the
software. This tool is about the people, the support system that you get.
And man, Brian, you're so right on the money. But you
know what they love the most, and what they'll tell you, I'll tell you it's the tool. It's the people there. But they'll say it's their
clients. Their clients are amazing that they love that they work with some of
the best dealers in the country, people like you, Brian, and even Steve Rossler says the King right. I love that. Who doesn't love that?
Man? I love him? And somebody threw a little quick little quote
says four years but years of experience, experiences cultivate who we you are in consistency builds a lifelong relationships. Amen to that. Yeah, absolutely, I
love that stuff and it's so true. And brother, you're bringing a lot
of great information here. I can't tell this is your first podcast. Man,
You've talked about some You touched on it for a little bit, and I want to just touch on it back again a little bit and get a little deeper. You said that this works for all departments, like for almost
anybody. And the way that we can help the dealership run smoother is that
everybody is using a similar tool, the same tool and communicating on there.
So if a client knows that the service person has an issue, that they can even pass information on the sell saying hey, maybe it's time for you to talk to them about buying a car or vice versa. But it's all
inside of this machine, this beautiful computer thing that we got that's called a cran. So tell people a little bit more about why that's such an important
thing for your dealership and everyone to be utilizing it. Yeah, I'll give
you a couple of simple use cases and examples that happen all the time.
The first one, again, we teach our salespeople like they are the customer's car guy or cargal. We expect them to maintain that relationship to assist the
customer. And there are hundreds of examples across our dealerships every month where the
customer it might be as simple as they need an oil change, but you also see they've got to question something they don't think is operating right on the vehicle, and they ask who do they ask? They ask their salesperson.
How does the dealership typically operate when that occurs? The worst example ever,
and it happens, it continues to happen even in our stores, right, and we need to coach and train how we expect our staff to operate in this regards. But you know, our customer says, I think I'm due
for an oil change, and the worst thing in our mind that you can do is tell that customer here's the dealership, phone them or call them and so let me turn that on. Do not disturb. It's like we want
our salesperson to address the issue, get them on the phone, find out what time works for the oil change, schedule the oil change right, whatever that question is, they asked, take care of the issue. And so
when you have your service advisors with logins in the CRM, it streamlines the process of you're no longer taking a post it putting the customer on hold trying to find an available service advisor. Right. You find service advisors who embrace
the system. It's as simple as tagging them right. And a lot of
our people have a preferred service advisor or group of service advisors that they work with. And if you could just tag in five seconds in the record,
hey, see below this customer is looking to schedule an oil change, and trust and can see and have it documented that the service advisor actually did reach out to that customer two minutes behind you, schedule the oil change, confirm the time like it's all done seamlessly. Like from the dealership perspective and from
the customer perspective, that's a way better experience than telling your customer call the dealership phone, ask for service, sit on hold, wait for an available service advisor to make an oil change appointment. So that's a real simple use
case. But there's what we found is there's shoot, there's twenty use cases
like that. There's we have an appointment coming up where we have a customer
that brings a vehicle in, we diagnose it and we need parts. What
happens then, typically in the dealership, service and parts got to get on the same page. Parts has to order the parts. Parts has to let
service know when those parts come in, we've got to reschedule the service appointment.
But again, if you have your parts professionals and your service advisors in the system, there's no more confusion on what customer are we talking about?
What vehicle are we talking about? They literally do it in the record.
They can tag a service advisor, can tag a parts professional and vice versa, and they let each other know, hey, we've ordered the parts.
Parts are due on Friday, and when the parts come in, the parts professional lets the service advisor know right back in the serum in that record.
So again there's no confusion on what customer vehicle we're talking about. Now,
a service asvisor takes it over and let's the customer know the parts are in and schedules the follow up time to bring that vehicle in and get it repaired.
It just streamlines that entire process, both internally and from the customer's perspective, Like we look like we know what we're doing, and that's what we strive for. We want to get their issue taken care of. I love
that we look like we know what we're doing. Yes, and that's what
customers want. They want a professional place. It's like going to a doctor's
office. If you went to a doctor's office and you're like, I don't
know, maybe it's this, I don't we'll just see, you're gonna be like, I'm not going to this doctor anymore and freak me out. So
you've got to go somewhere that makes you feel smooth, easy, like they know what they're talking about. Like you said, every department knows what's happening
with the other. It's all talking and communicating and being able to see what's
happening with the customer. Steve Ross says, see you at DC twenty stead.
I love that right. Can't to see you too, Steve. And
I know you're talking to Brian, but I shall take that a little bit so, but no, you're going to be speaking there and I want to talk about that a little bit. So if there's any dealers. There is
I think maybe a couple of seats left for some dealers that want to sign up, or like we're talking, we're a week and a half, like we're like a week away. So folks, if you're wanting to be there,
there's still opportunity to sign up. We're going to have a lot of
great speakers there, some really great dealers, some great vendor partners that are just going to be there to shed light on life, how to be better at what you do, one thing that's for sure. And I know that
I looked at your dack of course what you're going to be talking about and stuff like that, and you have some really great stuff on here. Just
so you know, I'm excited to see you speak. You did talk about
that there is room for growth, and I believe in LU and I we talk about it all the time and we do it with our sales training and our dealership development. Is the biggest room in the world is the room for
improvement, and we all fit inside that room. And it's okay, you
could be the best at what you do, you still have room for improvement, right, So we always have room for growth. This tool as a
leader helps you find that room for growth with your sales staff, and that's what I love. So where have you been able to help your sales people
get better because of this tool? It's the so number one. Like,
the tool gives you so much direct information on how we are handling new deals, right, so, whether it's an Internet lead or someone's come into the showroom or someone's called in on the phone, Like, the tool gives you complete transparency of like how are we responding to the customer, how are we addressing the questions they asked, how are we following up with them? It's
unparalleled right to have that in any industry I've worked in to have a tool that gave you that comprehensive visibility. Right, you can see again every phone
call, every text, every email, like how we're operating and when you have that level of visibility both during the sale and we have a ton of follow up rules after the sale because again, we're trying to build long term relationships and it's not uncommon for us to have customers that have bought five to ten vehicles from us over for them and their family and their kids over the course of six to ten years. You have to be able to you see
everything. So to answer your question that there's you see the good and the
bad, and there's yeah, and you can give praise to the people who are doing sort of extraordinary things and delivering amazing customer service or handling things the right way, and then you can do the subtle coaching you need when you see someone who's you know, not doing it the way we want, or they took the easy way out, or maybe they just didn't know how to handle a particular question. Since you see it all, it gives you the
coaching opportunities to find where you're falling short and how to improve. I love
that, and folks, listen, it's not like he's running a store that only sells fifty cars a month, but he's helping with an auto group that's doing what six hundred a month or something silly like that. Yeah. Correct,
Across the four stores, we do about six hundred units a month, including a lot of entity. So having a CRM in that type of environment
is super crucial. Like it's the difference between six hundred cars or four hundred
cars, Like it really does make a difference, and people don't notice that until you get the right CRM, you increase your sales. You are able
to see where your sales went. You utilize it. You can have listen
folks, you can have dry centric. But if you don't utilize it,
you're wasting your money. That's the point, and that's why we bring in
shows like this to educate you a little bit more on how to push the envelope a little bit more, how to use this tool a little bit stronger, and how to really help your team find that room for improvement. And
then that's not a bad thing. Folks. We all have it. You
do too. Anyone watching this, you have room for improvement. I know
you do, because I know I do. Everyone I've ever met my life
has room for improvement. We all have ways to go. I love how
your background is the drive centric tool right there. Yeah, it was going
to go to sleep on man. It's like OCD and it was driving me
out, so I had to make sure it didn't go to sleep on us.
It's cool and you guys can see it's got a beautiful layout. It's
easy to read. It's very social media ish too, like even the videos
that your sales people do. You can look at it. It's like a
little stories you click on it. And watch what they're doing. Other everybody
could watch them and that's what's even cooler. If you're a new sales proe
you're trying to figure out what should I say, Go watch some of your sales team's videos. You'll get better at it. This thing is so all
in one. It's such a crazy tool and it didn't rest on this Laurels.
How many years have you been and using the drive centric tool? Now
we are coming right up on three years across our group, and since you've seen that tool, has it evolved in the last three years? It has?
And again kudos to the drive Centric development teams are Pod five like they listen right, And so there's so many advancements that came in the product that are a direct result of dealership requests, and a few of them in particular have been game changing. Some of them were pretty simple changes. I have
a hunch from a development perspective, but like being able to pin a note to the top of a record, so if there's something important about that customer that you always want to see first when you go into that record, they create the ability it's probably been two years now to pin that note so it always stays at the top, whether it's something about that customer personally or something that they purchase with the vehicle that is important and relevant, and so like just having that simple ability to pin notes like now you're not scrolling down through
a customer record or trying to remember something unique about that customer. It's right
at the top every time you come there into that record. And then again
like exploiting it across the departments things like our a dealership, WEO process.
So a customer buys a car and we still have to put protective film on the outside of the car. The way we manage that as dealership is historically
is typically paper based, and like no one really owns the process, but someone's supposed to. And the ability to pin that note that hey, we
still owe them this protective film or tint on the vehicle because we have follow up rules after the sale, a day after, a week after, a month after. It's always there and right in front of you, like,
oh, did we take care of that? And then again when you have
parts and service personnel tied into the system, like everyone can see that and communicate with one another to confirm we take care of it and deliver that WEO so lots of little advancements, some big ones right there. Integration that they
have both with Total CX and with car Wars has been huge for us for a variety of reasons. But like they continue to enhance and have things like
call summaries. When a call comes into your dealership, drive Centric has integrated
with a couple of providers and you can not only see that recording so that you can listen to it down the road, but if it's a true sales opportunity or service opportunity, there's a little call summary feature now that they just released, and so instead of listening to a ten minute call, you can read it in twenty seconds in a four sentence recap of what happened during that call. And it makes it everyone's life easier down the road. Because I
want our salespeople when they come into a record, and let's say they sold that customer car a couple of years ago, like I want them to listen and see how many times did that customer call the dealership. What did they
call us for? Did they need to buy some parts, did they have
questions about how the vehicle was operating, did they schedule a few service appointments?
And they're calling in to do do you scan down and can see all those interactions you follow up the next time you speak with that customer. Logically
should be different, right because you're more educated on what's happened happen since the last time you talk to that customer. And I don't want a cookie cutter
answer. I don't want a template to go to that customer every time we're
following up with them in the future. I want it to be relevant and
real based on what's happened with them, their family, their vehicle, how they've interacted with us over the last time period since we've talked to them, and then I want to construct a value driven message about how we can help and move that relationship forward. Man, I love everything you're saying. I
really do. I can't wait to see you speak folks again. I'm going
to just throw this out there. If you're a dealer and you're just on
edge on going to sign up now, get there. I know it's next
week, but I'm gonna tell you it's worth it. It's not just the
education, it's the networking that you get to build with the other dealers.
It's one thing the network with vendor is cool. But when you get to
network with other dealers, it shows you from different markets that maybe you're doing things right. I'm doing it right. They don't feel like you're the only
one. We get stuck in our silos in our own world a lot of
times, folks, And when we get stuck in that own world, we don't know if we're doing good or bad. We're just doing what we're doing
in our silo. But when you're able to look around, you can get
better. But like I said, the room for improvement is vast. It's
amongst all of us, and look for ways to improve. I believe that
we all are happiest when we're growing right. You would agree to Ryan.
I can tell you abolutely absolutely, you're getting ready to speak at an event.
You just did your first podcast. How good does that feel. It's
a great feeling. You're growing right. It's an opportunity, So, folks,
I know one thing is for sure. Everything that we're talking about here
today is it's on. It's live. It's you can go back and watch
us on the replay and get and take some notes. Because you haven't taken
them already, then it's time to go ahead and take them I'm telling you, you're gonna love it that. The the best part is if you are
needing a vehicle. I know. One thing that Brian's Dealership offers is you
guys do car deals anywhere across the country, right, Oh, absolutely, yeah, absolutely lots of remote deals. And we live in rural areas.
I actually have to show the map and then I have to blow the map up when I'm there because you know, we're on the western side of the US and that may be hard for people to figure out where Idaho is.
But yeah, it's a big geographic area, right, so even in our direct service area for our dealerships, in some cases you're talking over one hundred miles right still within our direct service area. And then of course, like
we get customers that come from out our service areas to try and purchase vehicles and in some cases to try and service vehicles. And yeah, so yeah,
we support all of that in the remote delivery process and the rules across all these states because we're a border town or unique. But you know,
again, the systems and the tools and the capability of being able to address those customer needs wherever they're at are amazing with drive centric and other tools that we operate with. I love that Idaho. What a beautiful state. I've
got to go there a couple times many years ago, a mountain home area.
Beautiful. Yeah it's yeah, Well I was there. I was an
Air Force actually, but I was there for there is an air Force base there, but I was there to do. Back when I was an automotive
I did sales travel sales for a long time and came up to a dealership that was out in that area and we did some work out there. And
my friend went to Quarteline, Idaho quite a bit and he used to do lots of sales up that way. And they're great. It's a great car
market if you have the right people. It's they're very loyal customers if you
treat them right. But they're also if you don't treat them, they have
plenty of other options, trust me. So sure make sure you communicate with
them from the beginning to the end and after the sale. My friend's most
importantly the follow up. It's so key staying on top of that, maintaining
relationships with all the clients that you put in there. The dealership spends a
lot of money obtaining a client to purchase a car. If you look at
the dollar per car deal it's up there, my friends, it's so much cheaper to just after that. Just hold on to them. That's just time.
If you put the time in, my friends, you will find that your sales will go up every year over year. As an individual, which
you should feel like you're a business, use this tool that the dealership provides for you. That's zero overhead for you. All you gotta do is sell
cars. You make profit from it, right. I love that and a
chance to do so. Folks, utilize your tools. If you don't know
how to use a get with your leaders. If you don't know how to
get with your leaders, tell you something. You're not at the right dealership.
Go look for a place right now like Rogers Motors that's doing it right, making sure that their whole team is killing at Brian dot King at Rogersmotors dot com. Reach out to him if you have any questions. If you're
in the Idaho area and you want to maybe sell cars, go there.
If you want to service vehicles, go check them out. I promise you
this dealership is going to make sure that you have the right tools and opportunities to be able to grow, and if you're in the market, whether you're in Idaho anywhere across the country, you've got to call Brian. Brian,
don't take care of you. Go to their website Rogersmotors dot com, and
I promise you they have some kind of inventories. You're going to love.
Check them out and be surprised because they're going to call you and they're going to communicate with you the way that you want. It's going to be a
lot of fun. Go out there, reach out to them. We've had
a great show today, Brian. Is there anything that you want to throw
out there before we get out of here. No, just one more thing,
just to shout out to the Drive Center crew and the meeting next week DC twenty. You said you've touched on it that the sharing that happens between
dealerships is amazing, right, So having access to unique things each dealership's doing, and then having breakout sessions to literally sit down with your peers and talk about what they're doing. It's almost show and tell to a degree, right,
seeing what's actually happening in their environments, how they've set up their processes, their business rules, how they're handling certain things. It's it's awesome,
right, It's a ton of learning. It's the ability to bring home net
new ideas and see if those ideas might fit in your dealership. And so
I'm super excited about next week and being in front of all my peers and counterparts, and I'll get through my fear and terror of speaking to a group of my peers publicly in the start of the show. But once we're past
that, everything else is awesome in terms of the content and the dialogue that you get to have directly with others in your industry. BINGO, So thank
you yet absolutely, folks, check it out. Go to DC twenty.
I'm telling you, if you can't make this one in March, there's another one in about three months. We'll make sure we get some announcements out there.
But I'm going to tell you this is going to be a great one.
It's They have some great excursions afterwards too. Everyone gets together. It's
fun. It's a it's a intimate event where more there's still a lot of
dealers there, but it's intimate because we're in one place altogether, and you can't We all hang out, we all communicate, and you can't help.
But meet everybody there and get inspired before believe. And the idea when you
go to one of these events, my friends, is to take at least one thing and go back. You don't need to take ten things back because
your whole team is a freak out. That's too much for us. Take
one thing back and change it and see what happens once you get that right.
Add some other stuff right, but take your time. One percent.
Growth of the day will take you to places that you can imagine never met, and so be that person. Go out there and grow. Brian,
I appreciate you so much for being on my show. Thank you for giving
us an hour of your time and really sharing man and I could see the wealth and knowledge that you have from your experiences of life work that you've done.
I know you've been in technology for many years, sales and understanding that a CRM as a salesperson is a massive tool. I've been in sales for
over two decades myself, and when I first started, I didn't have a CRM. I had a little box that had index cards, right, and
it was efficient because I used it. If I had that's a bow and
arrows, if I had these machine guns, laser guided missiles like CRMs are today. My goodness, gracious, folks, I would have went from selling
my twenty five to thirty cars a month. There's no doubt I would have
been up in fifty range because I would have been able to communicate at such a fast pace with people and not forget because there's gonna be reminders, There's gonna be things, there's gonna be notes that you could bring up to the top. So many cool things that we can use in this tool that most
of you all, and let's just be honest, are not using all those things. Most of y'all are just using it to click off the button so
you can say I did my work today, just being honest, right, let's just be honest. I know I've been I traveled the country, I
train a lot of salespeople, and even the best don't utilize it. The
best, right, and it's the room for improvement is vast amongst all of us, and Brian, you're a test to that. I appreciate you for
sharing today. Folks. Before we get out here, we always do one
thing. We drop f bombs. Brian, I don't know. I'm sure
you saw the last show, so you know what the F bombs are They're to forgive, focus and fly. These are the F bombs. I don't
offend the moms, right, which is super important. So we're gonna forgive,
We're gonna focus, we're gonna fly, and we're gonna go and keep growing into this week and enjoying it. Brian, thanks again for coming on
the show. Let's forgive focused, no problem, brother, all right,
folks on account three hands on yourself and Brian what two? Three? Forgive,
focus, focus, fly, grow it growing brother, I love thank you so much. Man. We were brewing solutions right here on the Car
Guy Coffee Podcast DC twenty on lock. Folks. We will be back next
week. I'll be running live shows the whole time we're there. Pretty much.
We're gonna get people, We're gonna pull them. You'll see Brian again.
If you love Brian, make sure you guys go to his email address like I showed you guys earlier, and send him some love. Tell him
how much you love him. If you need some more information, reach out
to him, if you need a car, reach out to him. Promise
you he's gonna be able to do all those things. So I appreciate it
again folks, this was DC twenty on lock and we just had the one, the only, mister Brian King in the building man, and what a great show it was. I appreciate you all. We'll see you guys next time.
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