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Hello, and welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. For this DC twenty
Unlocked series brought to you, buy 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 in cargals. It's Ramirez,
the car Guy is frellin Art's subprime hero and we are having some fun bruin some solutions in the Car Guy Coffee Podcast, and we are bringing you a show directly from drive Centric, trying to make sure that you understand how hashtag DC twenty gets unlocked inside of your sort and for the industry. We've
got a lot ruin, don't we friend, whole lot bruin. We are.
We are super brewing right now. We've been blessed to be able to
do a lot of things with drive Centric and be able to talk to a lot of people. We did some interviews even before Nada, which is just
around a corner. Y'all, drive Centric booth four zero zero one West,
make sure you guys come check that out. We're gonna be live and in
charge all day long, streaming just for you continuous video as the expo hall is open so you're gonna see commercials, gonna see game shows, You're gonna see everything you can imagine. It's gonna be like a real TV network,
but it's the Blessings. DC twenty is an event that they host at their
headquarters, right and we love We've been to a couple of them. We're
going to be at all of them this year, so come check it out.
It's a place for you to come and get educated on how to use the product. On the next level, you'll find that there's other super users
there using the same product, being successful in different ways. So you can
collaborate, share your ideas, and get their ideas and come back to me unlocked, ready to go engage into what's happening in today's communication with the clients.
Right, And I think the CRMs, there's a lot of great ones out there, but I think that what this one does for everybody is that they bring people together and they care about the people that they work with, right and not just the people inside over at Drive Centric, but they are are clients, man. They love them to death and it shows. So
I'm excited. I'm excited to be part of all that. There's a lot
that there's bruin is a lot that's cooking. There's a lot that's available for
you all, but we got to make sure that we get a lot of people up inside it. So you know what you need to do. You
need to tag a car guy, tag a car gal, and share.
Get the message out there everybody, because there's something that we want to make sure is clear about the way that Drive Centric does business is they make sure to collaborate and find out from their users how to make their product better.
Just like any other great company that wants to really make a difference, they find out from the best people that are using their product, how do they make it better? How do they adapt? Now we are over here,
we're inside of a classroom. We just got done training up some solutionaries out
here inside of the incredible Las Crusis Kasa Autoplex. It's fun to be out
here with all of these solutionaries that are brewing good stuff. But we are
no strangers too. The actual lot that is coming to you live right now
from Michigan, and we know these solutionaries. We love these ladies. They
are on literally the other side of the rainbow from rainbow sales. They are
on independent dealership that is making things happen. They have a rich legacy of
impacting their unity. And we were so excited to be able to set up
this show and bring you one of our sisters. This is one of our
sisters. Literally is a sister, but she's a sister of Safe right.
She's also a Cargal coffee Right, they had a show. They're our friends.
They're literally people that we've been able to become family with, break bread with, have really good conversations with, and just talk about life, you know. And these two people, these two ladies, they're a great legacy
of their parents. I mean, if you ever met their parents, you
would understand why they are the way they are. They are amazing people.
I'm super excited to get her on the show today. I'm super excited to
have her here speaking. I can't wait to talk about drive Centric with her
because I remember when they first integrated it in there and how they started using it. So it's going to be a great conversation today. It's going to
be good stuff. So folks, help us to make welcome this incredible solutionary
that is making things happen all the way from Cold Water, Michigan. We
have with us, the one, the only. Michelle, Welcome to the
show. I am my friends, my friends. How are you? We're
excited, excited that togree with us. We're good. You are bright and
shining. There you are over here, going to get a little bit more
light over here on us, but right now you are the spotlighted person.
That is a super use all right for so help us real quick, everybody.
For those that didn't hear us on the intro, or they're watching us a little bit later, or maybe they're just listening in a little bit later, tell us about who you are, where you're from, and how you came into using drive Centric. Hi, my name is Michelle Streets and we're
here at Colewater, Michigan. A little cold here today but not too bad.
Been in business for forty years and how did we get with drug Centric.
I was at a convention with one Little des Group one hundred percent group and Steve Russellas did a presentation and if you know him, he is quite a presenter and tell some really great stories. And I actually called my sister
I was I started taping. Wow, this is from what we're used to
using a state of the art. Amazing technology. When I got back,
we made a phone call and it was boom, boom boom. We signed
right up and it's been phenomenal. I can't tell you the shows the appointment
set. What difference it changed for our dealership immediately. It wasn't a thirty
day sixty. It was immediately the way we were using it and how it
turned the dealership around. Wow, turning the dealers around. Yeah, in
the way that people interact with the tool. Now forty years as a dealership,
Michelle, you've seen a thing or two. Your dealership has seen a
thing or two. Yeah, you had a we'll just say a tool or
two inside of your chest, right. And I'm because as you are,
you're a high energy, awesome person. That's why we love jamming with you.
We were cut from the same cloth that there's music playing, we're moving, we're grooving, we're dancing, we're keeping the vibe moving inside. But
we're also at our business right. We are about let's get good. We're
going to be here on the ground today. Let's get to work. Let's
do what we need to do. How was the excitement about Drive Centric with
your team when they finally started to use the tool and engage with it.
How excited were they to see what they have the capabilities of being able to do for their customer relationships, but just an ease of use. Look and
thank you for saying that, because that's one of my favorite things about this tool is their training. So whenever I have a new employee, there's a
wonderful library of training. So you've got videos, you've got a little bit
of reading to do hands on training, which is huge. So the excitement
right from the get go was great because they were using it correct and then when they started seeing how it's talking for them, we use it's called they call it Genius, but we've named it Madison. Madison helps them talk to
their customers, which at first they're like, Okay, I don't want to robot talking to my customer, right, but I'm talking. She is actually
an employee of the dealership. She is talking to these folks about I see
you're looking at this vehicle, and how would you like to communicate with me?
And she's doing this after hours or if we can't get to a lead right away, she's hopping in and she's having communication. You know what we
say, speed the lead. So it's it's a fresh lead, and we've
got to stay in front of this customer while they want to communicate with us.
So genius Madison is just unreal that we never had anything like it, and she keeps getting smarter and smarter. But I guess my favorite part is
that her after hours. You've got that person that goes to your wife at
at two am, she's got communication with them immediately, and then that lead management. It goes right into that lead management of how does the customer wants
to communicate? Are we emailing? Are we texting? Are we making a
phone call? We're not blowing them up like we did in the back of
the day when we're just pounding the phone calls out. It's and we're finding
this communication with the customer. They're responding better, they're showing up more for
the appointment. We have a better show rate because of being able to communicate
the way they want to and not just blow them up. But also,
like you want to stop that question, I'm gonna tell you right now, I love what you're talking about. Michelle. No, we're not stopping you
because you're dropping some great gems for everybody to understand how supportive this literally the CRM is it's not just software, it's supportive, right and it's and literally, like you said, after hours, you use this genius and they get smarter, They learn how to talk to your customers and engage with the customers the way that you wanted to and the way that they want to be engaged with. That's powerful. That is so powerful for business when you have when
your door shut and if they're not, if you have a way to be productive during that time, yeah, oh my gosh, you are, because I'm gonna tell you some the website is the most visited showroom that you have.
People people go to that website all day long, so you're getting more people there than you ever will on your lot after hours. So why not
somebody that can communicate with them intelligently and be able to even set something up to where it takes them to the next step. And that's all we want
to do. And that's a beautiful thing that they can because customers want that.
They want to feel important, like somebody's paying attention to them, trying to do something. Oh you questions like wow, you guys are up late,
right, like shoes humans. So it's fantastic and your dealership can name
whatever you want. It can be a he or sheet. But we just
happened because it's Michelle and millst but we thought, well another m, so we named your mans a lot. That's funny. But getting back to the
lead management. What piece that we've been utilizing quite a bit more lately is
helping our salespeople with their conversations. So you can go in and while they're
texting, you can see what if there's an angry face, then sales manager is going right in and he's looking at Okay, what's this conversation about?
Is there really should I intervene? Say this appointment? Setting? This appointment
correct? We can coach from it on the spot. It's not three days
later, it's now reporting. That's been huge, it's been great coaching and
again us having newer people need to watch what the conversations are right, and it's not in pope what is the word? I just lost it? Where
we can act like the person that's talking to them, impersonal impersonating yet so we can impersonate that person so it doesn't take away the trust of who they're talking to, which is huge, and then the customer again doesn't lose that I love that a hitter in baseball, you've got a designated texture or designated messager, right, something that can make it a little bit better. And
I love that. I love how you talked about the accountability of it.
Being able to see what your new people are doing and seeing and what level they at so you could start feeding them better leads if they're getting better, and not because they're doing better, but because you can see it. You
see what they're saying, how they're communicating, when they're communicating, how much they're communicating. It's massive being able to track all these things too. And
that's one of the other side I want to throw that up there, real quick trackability. You know, I know that it's very easy to get data
that you want from your CRM, especially with them. How easy hasn't been
for you to be able to pull what you need to be able to help guide your team to be able to be more successful. Oh my gosh,
so easy. And you can build it however you want. The reporting is
just another piece of it that you can It's now time. You can go
a week and month months and go back to that reporting piece and it is now time as well. So everything is eay We're not having to wait for
months to see our tracking. So yeah, it's that communication piece with our
team too. It's not again we're waiting to see if the conversation didn't happen,
We're we can see it right now, Lucia today, there you are there, we are sort of sort of I don't know, that's not even me right now. That's so weird how that's popping up. I think there's
there's a little glitch with the internet right now. We'll be getting it fixed.
I don't know how that that way, but how cool does that look?
Look So cool? I love that. Being that this will be also
heard on the podcast, We're going to continue speaking to our sister over here.
With that, we do have Jason Grimes jumping up in here. He
is who represents the Jason Grimes Racing who Car Coffee sponsors. We've fueled my
Cargut coffee. Definitely, that's right by that energizing car guy coffee. Excited
that you hear Jason so excited to see you, brother. But speed is
critical, not just on the racetrack like Jason would be, but inside of how we communicate with the customer. But we were always so focused just on
our relationship with the customer that we missed the relationship that we have as customers.
Being the customer that has to get a solution from somebody at whoever the vendor is that we have we're plugging with is often the challenge we need to get a hold of them. We have this tool, we need it to
work. We're not the pros on it. We need some help or we
have an idea. Good nis. If we didn't see dealers and users inside
of the field mold the car business into what it is, then folks, I don't think we've been paying attention because all of the vendors have adjusted to be able to fit to the needs of the dealers, which is exactly what drive Centric does. And if they don't, just that they're no longer huged
a by the dealer with how easy has it been for you? Real quick?
We want to shout out the pods. What pod do you have over
at drive Centric? Who is your pod? Oh my gosh, you mean
like the person we talk to? Yes, do you know which number pod
you have over at drive Centric? Number? Awesome? We need to that
out if anybody from drive Centric knows what pod Michelle is part of Please drop that down inside of the comments so that we can know you have a dedicated squad that's there to make sure that you get what it is that you need.
But who is your point of contact? Who's your person out there that
make sure that you get bruined solutions? Yeah, so that would be Matt,
like our another little brother. Or it's wonderful. He'll text the Thanksgiving
he texts just thinking of you. I'm running upstairs. I thought about you
exercising. He's just a good guy and always in communication, that's the key.
And excited what's that And he's always excited to help Pod walk by the way, So we do have a couple people up in here. Matt Dan
friend, you got Jenna. She is saying that. Tell Michelle Matt.
Jenna says, when are we gonna get you down? When are we going
to get you down to DC twenty Yeah? Yeah, the next you do
need to come. I'm telling you you need to get down there. You
will find the information very valuable. Pod. Okay, thank you for that.
I know that now, And you know what, you probably would have asked anybody in the dealership and they would have known that. I'm sorry.
But now I know. Okay, now you know number one, and just
like all of you need to know, you need to get set up to come out to d C twenty because the conversations that we have right here, right now about how drive Centric works and how to overcome the problems that we see every day. Michelle, sitting next to other dealers that are facing some
of the same stuff that you face every day using the same tools, are the ones that, in a lot of cases, are going to help you unlock the things that you need unlocked inside of your dealership that are inside of the tool. The potential is there, we just have to literally unlock it.
And when we go to an event like that and we get to see other dealers, you know how much your dealership is impacted by how somebody else is operating and succeeding or even how they're losing. Right, Okay, let's
not do that. These are the mistakes that were made. Let's not do
that. What have been some of the some of the things that you have
seen be a solution that they've brewed specifically for you all. If you can
recount any of that. It was just for you guys. It felt like,
man, you were getting this attention, Matt and all the magic makers there helped you achieve what you know. There's many situations we got to use
it. Today. We've called up and we have a Spanish speaking salesperson and
we're looking for leads that are just Spanish speaking, and they're always tweaking the system to help us be successful. So we're like, is there a way
to search out just these leads. They're like, no, there's not right
now, but gosh, let us work on that. So they're always every
week we get an email saying these suggestions come across. You can vote on
them, or these are the changes that we've made because of a dealer asking for something specific. Reporting is mostly what we've used. Top of mind that
they help us build those and figure out where we need to go. It's
because it is a lot, right and when you're it's not my four kay, they build a report for us. So now I can just click them
and they're there, but they chiller it to each person. That's awesome.
That's awesome the kind of attention that you want as a dealer, as a user because if any have yeah, you want them there for you, just like our customers want us there for them. They do think that we're sitting
up waiting for them to ask a question at the wee hours of the night, at the wee hours of the morning, or in the center of the day. When the customer has a question, it's time to get it answered
right, and they want it quick, they want it fast, and we want to be able to be diligent about giving them. And that's what's so
awesome about the culture that they have. Now, go ahead, go ahead,
go ahead, Michelle, No, they are, They're right there for you. And like you said, twenty four to seven, so it's seven
am in the morning, somebody's talking to me. They've got their genius too,
right. What other piece I want to talk about that we never really
utilized or never had it for ZRM it's so on steroids. Is the mobile
app are Oh my gosh, that is huge. If there are not at
the dealership, they're still or they're on smoke breck, they're still talking to their customer. They're popping up there, they're pained. We can see if
they've opened up an email, we can see what the customer is doing.
So that mobile app is been a game changer as well, especially when they're right, but also no love that. So you can know what the customer
is doing, but you also know what your people are doing. That's right.
A lot of times we have we are told what you're doing, right, our salespeople will say what's happening and what they've done today, it's a whole other thing. They wait a minute, I don't see any of this
inside of my report here because I did it over here. Wait a minute,
here's the tool. The tool tracks it. Why aren't you using the
tool that we gave you. We're going to need you to use the tool
because it helps us to track it. Because so often a salesperson, if
they the store for the day, but they don't know what they did, they can't really tell you in order or in specification what they've done through the day. They can leave their feeling like they failed. They can leave their
feeling like they didn't put any effort into building their business. And that's a
horrible way to leave work for the day and go to your family after you actually are drained from being at work all day long, but you have no way to tell what you've done. How easy has it been for your when
getting your salespeople to start using the tool for tracking purposes. How easy was
it for your salespeople to assimilate to doing that. I think that each individual
is different. You've got the folks that absolutely love the tool and they feel
value in it, and then you've got the person that fights it, doesn't love technology, but we've turned them around. Like you were saying, we
don't know what's happening. We have a second location, and if that cutomer
is not checked in, we don't know what kind of traffic is going to that second lot. So it's imperative that the people working at dealership are using
the tools that we have. Right. And then, like you said,
we can go back and look at a report saying, gosh, we're busier than heck down there. You checked in ten people today sold one, so
we've got some work to do on our turnaround, or we need to get some more help. But again, like you said, I can't be everywhere
all the time. I can look at the app, or I can look
at if I'm setting here, Hey, we need to send somebody down to the other dealership because they've got four people checked in. Well, there's many
aspects to this. Our first thought was tracking because we want to know where
traffic is coming in and if it's worth more people, and it has been so by the way, It's say that a lot of the time people know they're Pods by names and face is not the numbers, so don't worry about it. They're not the only number one. And I'll be honest, I
love their whole squad. They really I think that you can't go wrong with
any of the Pods. I do love Matt in particular. I just become
good friends with Matt too, so it's good that you're working with him.
I definitely think that Matt brings so much to the table with his passion and his ability to not make it feel like he's doing a job that he's actually the business. He takes like he is right centric, and I love that
about him. Michelle. He plays, he does play pretty awesome, So
you can get on the court with him too. When you get to them
to d C twenty, we'll play some pickleball inside of the because they have one on site. Yes it is okay, it's we're there right there,
ring your paddle. We know you got one. I got it as a
mayor of fact, I was gonna bring it to Florida with me because I'm like, shit, yeah, yeah, all a fun sport, folks, and it's something that you get better at. At first you think it's just
kind of silly until you start to realize how get confused. No different than
a CRM out there. We think a CRM. Oh, I could manage
it myself. I could do this, But yes you can. But Michelle
said about the mobile app, wouldn't you rather have something that's like on steroids that where you do the same work, but it does one hundred times more for you. That's the power of the CRP. That's the power of what
you get to have. You have twenty four hours communication. You have ways
to make your messages sound legit and not like ungrammical, grammically incorrect. I
should say I don't know if I made up a word of that was grammatically correct, ungrammical right to say I just made that up. Maybe. But
if you are a person that wants to make sure that the message you send out is right, is in the right tone, the tools that they have are so amazing. It's a it's a click of a button, paste put
it in certain send it this way that you don't feel like, hey, maybe I don't know if I'm sending the right messages or maybe I'm not putting in the right punctuation. Maybe I'm putting all capitals and customers are like,
why are they screaming at me on text? So it's all important to understand
that this tool is designed to help you do your job faster, more efficient, and be able to communicate with your customers faster and more efficient. It's
a when and it just takes time, a little curve that you have to go through the lesson right, like you said, when you get new people in there's but they have a solution for that. They have videos for you
to go out and get training. They have all the things that you can
imagine that you would want. They have it. If you're like, oh,
but what if they do this, they do And I'm just gonna say that's the case here. They are trying to make sure that you understand that
you're driving a rolls voice. That's what this with the CRM. It's a
voice of CRMs and mostly because of the way it's built by the people who build it, like it's like by hand, and these people take care of it, and they take care of everybody who's using it. I love it.
The customer service is top notch. I hear so many horror stories about
other places where they call and they can't get any help. But what you
talked about the way that you went in there and you had to get your numbers right in there, you had to get what you wanted to see, your charts. You had to go in there and make sure those adjustments,
even how your phone calls are set up. That takes time that even no
matter where you go, but they work with you. They come in there
and they figure out what it looks like when you're being communicated with. Then
they fix it for you. They show you how to do it, and
they make it really simple. That is what Drive Centrik is. They are
the CRM that sells people will use. For one, that's the biggest part.
Number one, that's a week, that's a CRM that people will use.
But number two, they are a CRM that actually is like has everything.
So it's not only will they use it, but it has everything that you want. It's a win. I love it so so you really drop
in some really great stuff here today, and I'm really glad that we on the show. We absolutely love you to death. And we think that is
amazing, and we definitely, we definitely want you to know that anything you ever need, we are always here for you. We absolutely right right here,
always will be to the day we all are up and heaven together, we're going to be there for you and your family and your team. And
we know that you're out there doing everything you can to make sure that it's being successful, that this legacy is being held up, and that the future is bright. And we appreciate that. And that's what the rainbow is all
about bringing maybe yes, that's out right after a storm, and that rainbow's out and you can go get you your prodigal I love it. I think
that's drive Centric too. I think they're like you said, they're in there
for the long haul. But there we talk about business and why we're in
business for forty years, and it's because you're always changing and looking for trying to stay ahead the curb and stay ahead of the competition, right, And drive Centric does that. They're not staying stagnant. They haven't developed a system
and just letting it run. They are constantly changing to stay up with technology
and stay up with the dealers small like we are large. I know that
there's many thirty one top dealers that are you the same thing, So it's for every single dealership, which is so cool, but again it's their success is just staying ahead of the curve and always keeping it fresh for us.
And the way they keep it fresh is that they listen. They're listening that
wants to serve the community. On the automotive side, you have to listen
to your community, Listen to what they want to buy, Listen to what is happening, listen to what some of the struggles are, but listen to some of the actual problems that are slowing down progress. And when we see
those and we can adapt to them, like solutionaries do, we bring a solution that brings peace and brings more efficacy to the work that we have each and every day. And solutionaries like you are not going to stop helping your
customers in the community no matter what the tool is that you have. But
it is always so much more fun and easy when you do have partners that team up with you providing solutions that really help you take your business to the next level, that your people enjoy and that your customer tends to have an easier experience with you through because they're all valuable. We want to take care
of all of them. They need the attention, and we are car guys
and cargals that are very easily stimulated in different directions. That's why they are
ahead of the curve. And they make sure that it's somewhat like a video
game that gets a fun way to have fun even inside of the AI that they use and hoping you communicate with your customers. They got the emotions and
the emotions and all of that cool stuff that it takes to keep you engaged.
And so many people have barely even scratched the surface on unlocking what it is that Drive Center can do for you. We want to encourage everybody,
including you, Michelle, keep scratching, keep pulling, keep poking up and seeing how do we take it to the next level? How can we use
this more? What do I not know how to use that I have in
my hand? All of your dealers have great access to great opportunity with the
stuff you have, Just ask the question, how do I use it even better? I want how do I prime my people to take it to the
next level with these tools? And we promise you if you keep pushing You're
going to get a little bit further. You are amazing. What would you
like to say just overall to the drive Centric team and appreciation for them, just so that they know just how much you do appreciate them and how much you do love them out there. Let's tell you we're car salespeople, right.
So I always say that you need to surround yourself with people that know how to do like the techy person and the social media and you've got your finance people and they are our LEA people. What's so cool is they will
send me monthly emails by video and I was taken back the first one I got that had a little picture, it was a video and they were showing me what we could do to get better. Wow, this report that you
guys are doing great here that may give you a hint on how you can make it better. And I was blown away. Well, thank you for
that. Thank you for always having our best interest. You guys are amazing
to us. You're always taking care of us as your customer, and I
just I can't appreciate you no and again always trying to make us better.
We're always looking to improve, right, even if it's working. There's a
room for improvement though. You guys are rock stars. Thank you so much.
And now we got to see your face too in an email when they send the emails. Oh wow, I saw somebody from pod one right.
And what you just said, Matt da must put a good comment in here, piggyback. What you just said is problems are constant companions to solutions,
and solutions are constant companions to problems, and so it's a constant evolution of just constantly growing. And drive Centric and you said it best Earliers. Draft
Centric is always trying to make their product better and they're never going to rest.
If you guys would have seen drive Centric when they first came out, so now you would think it's a different company. So just know that they
never rest in their laurels. They're always looking for ways to improve. That
is what makes them great, just like Rainbow Motor sales out there in Coldwater, Michigan. They're always looking for ways to get better. They're always looking
for ways to grow. That's what makes them great. And we appreciate you,
sisters and Savings. We got Michelle Street right here in the building doing
her thing with us, and we absolutely love you for what you do and we appreciate you for everything you do. And make sure you tell Missy I
know she's in Florida right now. You tell her that we love her,
we miss her and hope she's having a great time down there. Thank you
for your show, oh you know, thank you for leading the way, but thank you for being an ambassador of the ultimate message that we're out here to make sure it gets out there for everybody is to keep growing. By
way of dropping those F bombs to forgive focus and flyuse who are no stranger to it. Michelle going, Focus, Fly one, two, three,
five, Focus Fly Head, Keep growing, Keep growing. Everybody for joining
us for a DC twenty Unlocked series episode with the one the Only Michelle streets I am and I'm coughing my lungs out and You've been brewed solutions on the Target and Coffee podcast. This show has been brought to you by exclusively drive
Centric for DC twenty Unlocked. If you want more information about DC twenty Unlocked
and how you can get out there your team, whoever it is you want to make sure is represented by you, go to drive centric dot com and find out how you can go to the next level by teaming up with somebody that wants to help you go there too. We honor you all, we
appreciate you all, and we can't wait to keep bring solutions with you.
We will see you all in Vegas. Keep ruined. I'm Lou Ramirez,
the Cargani once again. I'm fellin Arts southron Caro, and we have been
ruined with that incredible sister of savings, Michelle Streets. We'll talk to you
later. You all, we're out eight
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