It means that if you don’t keep improving, it can still cost you money. Even if nothing “bad” happens, you can lose sales and momentum just by not changing.
It means the problems people complain about the most are the ones that get fixed first. But sometimes the biggest issues are the ones nobody is talking about.
This refers to recurring operational behaviors and workflows within a dealership—how consistently teams follow processes. The idea is that repeatable patterns (good or bad) strongly influence customer outcomes and sales performance over time.
“Patterns being disrupted” suggests that current market or process changes are breaking established dealership routines. That can include shifts in customer expectations, payment/financing workflows, or how dealers communicate and follow up.
Here “payments” is about when the dealership actually gets paid from sales and financing. If it happens faster, the dealership can run more smoothly and make more money.
Integrations mean different computer systems “talking to each other.” If they don’t connect well, people have to copy information by hand and that slows everything down.
“CSI scores” typically refers to Customer Satisfaction Index scores used in automotive retail/service to measure how happy customers are. The segment links improved payment/operations efficiency to higher CSI, implying better customer experience.
DMS is the main computer system dealerships use to manage sales and customer paperwork. If other tools don’t connect to it, employees have to do extra work and things slow down.
They’re saying delays cost money. If the dealership has to spend extra time checking paperwork or chasing down payments, it slows everything down and costs more.
That’s the part of the dealership where they handle the money paperwork. If verification takes too long, the customer experience and deal timing suffer.
They’re talking about double-checking that the customer’s deposit/down payment really went through. If it’s not confirmed quickly, it can stall the deal.
They’re talking about a specific Chevrolet dealership location in Ohio. The conversation is grounded in how dealerships actually run their day-to-day processes.
They’re talking about the behind-the-scenes work of recording and reconciling payments. If that part is messy or slow, it affects everyone—even if the sales part looks fine.
They’re naming the people in charge of the dealership’s money and paperwork. If those leaders are stressed or unhappy, it usually means the process isn’t running smoothly.
Cash flow is basically whether the business has money coming in and going out at the right times. The point here is that better reporting helps keep the dealership financially on track.
Profitability refers to how much profit a dealership generates relative to its costs. The transcript connects profitability to having the right data quickly, implying that operational efficiency and accurate reporting support better financial outcomes.
NADA refers to the National Automobile Dealers Association, a major U.S. dealer industry organization. The episode mentions attending NADA and doing announcements there, which signals the discussion is aimed at dealership professionals.
Drive Centric is a software company that helps car dealerships run things like marketing and customer follow-up. The episode focuses on how it connects with other tools to make work faster and more automated.
Customer engagement is how the dealership talks to people who are shopping or already bought a car. The idea here is that software can help those conversations happen faster and more consistently.
Customer experience is how it feels to buy from (and deal with) a dealership. The point here is that better customer experience usually means the dealership runs better too.
A QR code is like a shortcut you scan with your phone. It takes you to a link fast, and in this case they’re saying it’s an easy way to try something that helps the store.
Julie Douglas is the guest in this episode. The hosts are saying she’s actively involved in helping the dealership industry and will be at major events.
LIVE
Hello and welcome to the CarGuy Coffee Podcast. This brew has been brought to you by Certified
Solutionaries and if you want to consume more brews or want more information about how to
build your brand on our podcast and want to see how you can sponsor the brew, go to CarGuyCoffee.com.
Let's brew! Welcome back to the CarGuy Coffee Podcast everybody. I am Lou Ramirez and I'm
and you are brewing solutions with the one, the only Julie Douglas. What's going on Julie? How are
you? I'm doing great. So good to see you guys again. Super excited. Last month we had we had you
on the show. We're starting a whole new series my friends. It's called Dealer Pay Live and every
month we're going to bring you guys something extra to be able to pour into your store so you can
take it to the next level actually into yourself because a lot of the stuff we talk about isn't
just business it's individually or it was the word I'm looking for individually pointed right.
I don't even know the word I'm looking for but that but it's it works for you as an individual
it also works for you as a business and today we have something really great to talk about
and I'm telling you folks a lot of us tend to stand still right and that could be a scary thing
like a lot of times we think we're doing the right thing by doing that maybe not changing
making adjustments or looking for ways to grow but there's a huge cost to standing still and so
today's show is the cost of standing still and I'm excited to talk deeper into this. I know Julie
you are excited to talk about this subject because this is something I'm sure has happened in your
life and you've been able to get through and push through and take it to the next level
but you you know it that's right excellent we are so pumped up that we're back for those of you
that don't recall you need to go back and watch but we did get some great feedback from our last
conversation and I gotta be honest everybody did a little bit of the different decoration that we
had last time we had all the Christmas action all else Julie was all decked out inside of some
Christmas year and it definitely was fun but the most fun that's on its way is right on the horizon
for us for our industry is an APA where we're all together to start talking about room solutions
we got a good buzz going starting from the conversation that we got going before so that
was just enough to tickle the senses for those wanting to get caffeinated in an area where
maybe it still doesn't get enough attention and people are sitting still they're sitting on their
hands they're waiting for I don't really know what they're waiting for but a lot of times inside of
our industry we've noticed that sometimes we get pushed into a change whereas right now we can talk
about being that change and with that we focused on how to actually start looking at what you're
doing inside of your dealership to make the experience better and a big hinging piece of that
is how a customer pays so with that we did speak about a lot of stuff what has been some of the
buzz that you've heard or some of the conversation that you've heard after that last conversation
that we've had together sure so we talked last time about the customer experience and how it's
often overlooked in that final portion of the payment this kind of goes hand in hand a little
bit with that the cost of standing still because it's always like the squeaky wheel gets the grease
and in some cases it's what you're not hearing that needs the attention so I'm excited to dig
in this with you guys okay this is gonna be fun everybody make sure that you do stay tuned with
us if there's a car guy or car gal that you need in here do us a favor and tag a car guy tag a car
gal and share share share share share share let's get this out there we are streaming right now on
facebook linkedin and youtube so if you know somebody that needs this right now if you need
this right now stay here let's have some fun but tax some people let's get them in here throw some
coffee cup emojis in here let's go from dealer pay as the time goes on you can always jump over
to the qr code that you see right above my head right make sure that you click on that scan that do
what you need to do but make sure that you do set up some time to see how it is that it can take you
to the next level now last year we did or last month it was last year actually it was last year
we actually speak about some of the patterns inside of doing what it is that we do and doing it
consistently folks that are out there the things that you do probably consistently even the things
that you intend to do and with that we also talked heavily about how things could change out there but
what kind of patterns do you see being disrupted right now just being able to present a new solution
basically to automotive to understand this fuses together everything it is what kind of a pattern
breaker it has this been recently that you've been able to see sure so i was actually talking
about this with a colleague the other day i told you i think last time i've been in this biz for
about 25 years and i honestly think 2026 is going to be the year for payments i'm starting to see
dealers following different trends and create automations in their stores so this is going to
be a really killer year i'm super excited but the ones that aren't moving that really should
listen in today because that cost of standing still are not making a change you're starting
to see things happen in the background and like i mentioned before if it's not loud and obnoxious
but it is costing you money if it doesn't get a little attention so true why do you think it is
so hard for dealerships to see the full picture of how the money moves across the departments
why do you feel like it's so hard for them to see that because i think as long as the money
makes it in the bank they assume the process is working they assume there's no holes or leaks in
the process so they're getting paid everything that caused them to get paid worked unfortunately
that's not the case there are so many things that happen along that way most of it being
obviously the partner that you have but it's also the processes it's also the customer engagement
it's also the integrations it's all those things that have to happen for there to be no leaks
so what happens what would you say happens when the systems do get modernized individually and
what happens when they're when they're not working together because the first with modernization i
think that word scares people a little bit because there are some systems out there that are super
modern and that usually tends to go to the brain as complicated or hard to use or something to that
effect that's not the case in this in this scenario but what what happens when a dealership
increases the technologies with respect to payments is they're getting paid faster the
productivity in the stores increases csi scores increase and the big one profit increases and
every dealer right now is looking at profit it's profit so as long as payments are making it in
the bank sure you're getting paid but you should really look at all those little things that happen
in between there speaking of all the things that happen in between there what's literally if you're
a dealer and if you're suggesting i'm sure you do the suggestion to many people what's the first
place that they should look right now you should look at your systems if you're still using antiquated
technology standalone terminals things that don't integrate to your dms it is costing you more
money or it's costing you productivity more in more out i say that all the time time is money
right which would contribute to the fluidity of the process if it if there is a hiccup if
there's a slowdown if there's a hard verification man i can't tell you how many times we've stood
around into a finance office and listen to them trying to chase down or receive for down payment
or try to hey was that actually taken was that actually received right all of that headache
can be completely circumvented by just implementing a streamlined path a pathway to pay absolutely
love it what it is that of course you guys are brewing but these are conversations that a lot
of people don't slow down to be able to have now we're going to be trying to slow down people
to have some conversations while we're going to nada this particular season is going to be great
because it's not going to snow on us which a lot of other people ready for a whole lot of snow to
show up right now especially in our neck of the woods and where we are right now we are hanging
out at Frederick town Chevrolet inside of Frederick town Ohio having some fun out here
with some solutionaries that are rising up and always trying to take things to the next level
but people are going to have the chance to connect with you all out at nada where are they
going to be able to find you out we will be there i'll be underneath the velo booth it is 2911 in
the west hall and one thing you said lou there which i wanted to go back to you mentioned when
you take a depositor down payment and finance so we talked earlier about things being more efficient
the customer experience but you know what gets left out a ton is the accounting processes those
poor accountants the office managers controllers and cfo's they rarely get much attention wouldn't
you agree yeah i got the 300 agreed the hell yeah and honestly i've been by like if the office
manager's not happy nobody's happy so we want to make sure that not only they're getting their money
but they're reporting their processes their reconciliation not having to chase people around
having the data they needed their fingertips fast and easy imagine if the office had 20 more hours a
month wow what would they do a lot more thank you cash flow everything your profitabilities and check
just a lot of things so i always give the kudos to the folks that are usually upstairs or in the back
that are counting the money every day okay and we definitely should and keep it simple for them
because we all do know if that office isn't happy then we're not really humming we're not moving in
the right direction right rhythm is definitely off fact yep yep we are excited about more that's
ruined yeah no i'm glad i am very excited about this i'm excited to see you at nada by the way i
can't wait to hear it in a minute folks we're gonna be we're gonna be interviewing her while we're
there probably at the drive centric booths we'll be making announcements about all our interviews
over the next week so be looking for that but what i'm really excited about is really just
seeing you connect with drive centric we're gonna side note for a second there's been a there's
been a union between you two can you tell a little bit more about that right now i can't say too much
but i will give you a little color there is something called an integration so i talk a lot
about that integration word we're integrated in the dms's which helps with several things data for
the most part moving processes automatically versus manually this is one more automation that comes
100 with customer engagement in the front of the house and variable operations so super excited
actually drive centric their friends of mine from st louis grew up with phil fuse and team and
yeah it's gonna be really fun these guys are a hoot and we're excited to join forces yeah i think
two very great companies combining forces and i can't wait to learn more and share more through
our show and through drive centric and our dc20 show we do with them too that's just a great
company i loved it when we heard you two were integrating together and i can't wait to see
what it does for our clients because we have a lot of clients on the drive centric platform
and being able to know that dealer pay is going to be involved in that it's going to be really
amazing can't wait like again i can't wait to see that let's get back to the subject because
i love what we're talking about here standing still and how that can cost you things what happens
and i should say what's one sign that everything works might actually mean we haven't looked closely
enough like sometimes we'll say man everything's working but you and i both know that's not really
what the real answer is they just don't want to be uncomfortable a little bit so what to you
what's a what's one sign that you see i'm gonna tell you a crazy story i talked to a
dealership the other day and they were getting ready to start the process of evaluating dealer
pay in their stores multiple stores and he said julie i'm sorry we just decided to stay where we're
at there's just too much going on and i didn't want to disrupt the office or the team and put in
something new and i thought to myself i get it it's a crazy time there's audits going on it's
end of year it's first of year there's budgets there's all kinds of stuff but what i was so
excited to uncover for this gentleman is a what the differences are between a standalone system
and what we can do auto magically and the cost savings i know his provider in the space i'm very
familiar with all the players i know for a fact there would have been something that would open
his eyes i'm gonna get them back don't you worry but this is an example of just not acting not
changing being afraid of the process and i get it i've talked to people who switch dms's and the
nightmare that can be payments doesn't have to be like that especially if you work with a partner
who does all the heavy lifting for you so it's on topic like the cost of standing still what could
happen to this dealership or his dealerships could they be leaking profit could there be compliance
risks could he have situations where there's security or best practice is not being followed so
those are just some examples i'm super passionate about it as you probably can tell i've spent my
lives work perfecting what we have in the space encourage my fellow dealers out there to take a
chance look look around look at demo just look at demo yes answered ask a couple of questions
let them ask you a couple questions key things but especially inside of the season of everybody
trying to figure out how to get better and how to upgrade at least find out where you may be
leaking especially inside of a place that's so hinging to everything where it is that you receive
your payments and process your payments and keep up with your payments it's again as simple as it
could sound it is probably going to simplify a lot more to your life especially when it comes
to an office and i can definitely empathize and we all can too you listeners that are out there
can definitely empathize with any other leaders that say man i don't want to shake it all up
we probably just added this tool i just added this extra little bit of work but i want to encourage
you all as much as you want to make sure that you are cultivating and consistently keeping your
culture at a level that is not necessarily frazzled but you got to keep pushing them to grow and keep
showing yourself different ways that you can grow and keep challenging the status quo you can't grow
staying status quo okay so we need to be able to make sure that we do adjust where it is that
we are and at least see where we can get better and if it means we all have to change guess what
everybody have a good meeting have a couple of solutionaries in there to get excited everybody
excited about it and let's fix the system and let's go ahead and upgrade but for those of you
that are out there that are doing exactly like julie just said hey let's be still i don't really
want to disrupt anything i know that people are comfortable there but that's exactly where we find
our place decaying and dying off isn't that place of being comfortable why what kind of a year would
you be excited about if next year you looked and said you know what i did look at that down and i
did make the adjustment this year instead of being the one that says hey tell me about that great idea
that i probably should have looked at last year because i heard and you guys said that we should
and then i didn't but now i heard even more buzz about it and let's go because some of you
dealers know exactly what i'm talking about you start to hear about a solution you'll hear
it one time on our show where somebody else's you won't think nothing of it and then you'll
have to see it in a whole other presentation to you in different ways then you see it a lot
then you find out somebody up the street has it then you're asking for a demo then you're asking
for a call where you left a whole lot of money on the table i'm just saying that's somebody that's out
there and that person up the street is starting to outdo you inside numbers when it comes to
yeah so that's the thing like when we look at those types of things when we're looking at
cross-sale reports and we're seeing that there's this dealer crushing it and they're the ones using
it then you do feel that way and it's not that it's too late but you're behind the eight ball now
now it takes you a little bit of time to catch up don't get me wrong you can catch up and through
companies like dealer pay and julie i know that they can take care of you make sure you're caught up
because the thing is like when's the best time to plan to see a tree yesterday yes yeah 10 years ago
10 years but what's the second best time right now do it right now it will it'll come sooner than
later so it's never too late but folks quit standing still quit thinking that tomorrow's
a better day to start this start getting uncomfortable today because the only way we grow
muscles is by lifting some weights and really getting uncomfortable and being sore for a little
bit but once you get through it you're gonna lift more weight than you can ever imagine
and build the biceps that you're looking for my friends inside your store i love that it's interesting
because i often i often like to take the challenge of the people who are skeptical of what our systems
do versus old standalone bank operations things like that so i tell them put me in there for 30
days 60 days see if you like it if you don't i'm out no no questions if you most likely that won't
happen but give it a try it's fun because you know what we're doing at nada which i think you guys
can help me we're doing this thing like can you check the boxes so we've got five boxes like
compliance profit customer experience so on and so forth it's going to be like real life
dealership can you check all five of these boxes if you cannot there's a concern there there's
something that you should take action on so i'm excited about the sales team getting out there
and working with dealers making sure they've got their boxes checked it's gonna be a big year 26
folks and the more that you can get this all lined up make the customer experience is like she said
this is what it really is it's a customer experience effect right which in turn gives us
a great dealer experience right so the experience is so massive because without that we don't have
a good dealer experience right so if we're giving them a seamless way to be able to make pay for
everybody to be able to go straight down the line without having to double check triple check things
it's all right there folks you're missing a great opportunity again there's this qr code right above
me here's the thing we're talking about cost what's the cost for a demo julie nothing zero
but it will even come to you exactly and it'll save and make you tons so the ROI is massive
it's huge so you don't miss this folks this is to me it's like a no-brainer and to some of you
all out there who're standing still it's a no-brainer and it's not really that uncomfortable like she
said it's not like putting a new crm or dms inside there we know that's hard and we know that there's
going to be a lot of soreness when it comes to that that's going to take a little bit of time
but something like this within a couple months your team's going to be rocking being more profitable
and again giving a better customer experience i agree and it's the guys that use the systems every day
that feel the difference they feel the difference with their customers they see how fast and easy
things are versus manual or complicated technology is everywhere guys you talk to multiple people
in the industry and similar vendor roles like myself there's technology that's hard and nobody
wants to use that and it's difficult it's only as good as it is adopted in the dealer and it's
comfortable for the users to operate and how it reflects on the customer and super passionate
about that topic because we want these customers to come back we want them to feel comfortable
with transacting money with this dealership right that is the entire goal here super excited about
drives partnership we we've got some new products that we're going to be announcing at nada always
looking to be on the front end of all the things and payments that have specific to dealers right
so we're not going to be doing anything outside the industry that's not our gig i'm excited to see
you guys yeah we're excited to see you that is something that we love about you is that
dealers that are out there this is specifically for you this is their lane it is automotive
dealerships if this is where it is that they're trying to make sure they do fine tune what is
happening inside of your process for payment so book the demo set it up find out ask some
questions come meet somebody get a little bit of swag whatever you don't continue to stand
still ignoring this take a couple of steps forward it's okay if it's baby steps just don't sit still
don't sit on your hands with this take a look and let's take a walk a little bit telling you
julie ain't gonna hurt you she'll definitely no we're gonna have a great team we've got we've
got all my a team players going to be there they're excited to meet some new people and
excited to talk about our customers and i'm doing a couple of presentations at the booth so definitely
come by i think it's 11 and 2 on wednesday and thursday 10 and 2 my bad but yeah it's going to
be fun now you guys know this is the event of the year last year was nuts we slid in the new
orleans now we're gonna hopefully not slide into megas but it's gonna be it's gonna be a hoot i'm
stoked about it i am last year was a good time even though the attendance was super low and of
course the snola got us right everyone some of us made it we got to make it there we had a great
time while we were there the one thing i did notice last year which was really nice was that the
people were there to really do some business because they wouldn't have came if that wasn't the
case this year is going to be massive i think that everybody who couldn't make it that year is
definitely going to make it this year plus some extras that's a big year 26 is not something to
sleep on my friends this isn't something where we need to be standing still this year this is the
year where you start walking forward and you start taking opportunities and it all starts with
going to this qr code my friends and i'm going to keep telling you this because this is such an
easy fix for your store and a way to give an experience that's above and beyond with just a
quick little click so go up there click on this check it out sit down for a brand freaking zero
no cost demonstration that can cost you a lot of money if you don't do it so get after my friends
i love it yes let's do it stop sitting still stop still can't say it enough everybody and that's
what we want to make sure that you do get yourself prepared for this year is going to be a hyper
big year in growth challenges are going to come our way yes there's going to be all kinds of noise
in different directions but inside of the lane that you all get to focus on everybody that's
watching listening stay focused on how to grow and this is just one area if you know somebody that
needs to hear this message tag them in it okay make sure that they know hey your dealership
probably needs that vendors that are out there you've been in different dealerships you know
they need to book this demo tag a friend tag a car guy tag a car gal this is about advancing
the industry and that's exactly what julia is consistently doing we appreciate the chance to
be able to work with you to be able to put this great news out there and let people know that they
can really go to the next level if they just take a couple of short steps forward and just see
how much faster they can run if they just take a couple steps in this direction just to see where
it is if they can grow yes let us do the heavy lifting that's right that's right they got that
muscle they got that muscle let's brew julia is there anything that you want out there for anybody
to know where to chase you down parties you're going to be at before we head out for our next
venture which will be seeing each other at nada yes i i've got a packed schedule but i am reachable
and i'll be all over the place but you don't sleep while you're at nada do you
that's there's it doesn't stop it's las vegas my friend especially in las vegas you don't
absolutely it's so much fun though the energy is high everybody's excited the dealerships
just put us on your shopping list while you're there swing by see what we can do 29 11 that's
right 29 11 my friends see you there everybody y'all see that's the velo booth they're gonna be
there loud and proud sharing they're gonna have their team their a team's gonna be there to help
you guys make a decision that can change everything for you that can give you the best customer
experience that you could imagine if anything it will tick it up there's no way that it won't help
you all so get some help and be that person that really gives your customer the help that they need
let's go that's right well let me back know what to do let's drop those fbos on three everybody
let's forgive focus fly help us out one two three forgive focus fly and keep growing thank you for
brewing solutions i am lou Ramirez and i'm frelin arts and you've been brewing solutions with
the one the only julie douglas one dealer pay thank you
About this episode
Dealer Pay Live “Cost of Standing Still” with Julie Douglas focuses on how dealerships lose money and momentum by not modernizing payment and finance workflows. The discussion ties “standing still” to slower pay, lower productivity, missed CSI gains, and avoidable office headaches—especially for accounting and office managers chasing down deposits, verifications, and reconciliation. Julie argues that integrated systems (not standalone terminals) improve speed, compliance, and profit while boosting customer experience. She also teases dealer pay’s integration momentum and upcoming NADA presence.
Car Guy Coffee presents Dealer Pay Live “Cost of Standing Still” with Julie Douglas
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 Guy Coffee Podcast, hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred Lennartz welcome Julie Douglas of Dealer Pay to launch their monthly “Dealer Pay Live” series with an episode on “The Cost of Standing Still.” They discuss how dealerships often assume payment processes are fine as long as money hits the bank, but outdated, non-integrated systems can create leaks in profit, productivity, and customer experience while adding accounting headaches and potential compliance and security risks. Julie explains that modern, DMS-integrated payment technology can speed up getting paid, improve efficiency, boost CSI, and increase profit, while simplifying reconciliation for controllers and office managers.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew. Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
