Coffee and a Conversation with Tiana Mick and Sean Bradley
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Term
CRM
CRM is a tool that helps car dealers keep track of customers and their needs so they can sell cars better and help customers faster.
Term
BDC
BDC is a team in car dealerships that talks to customers and helps get them interested in buying or servicing cars.
Concept
inventory
Inventory means how many cars a dealer has ready to sell. When there are lots of cars, dealers might lower prices to sell them quicker.
Concept
rebates and incentives
Rebates and incentives are deals that car companies or dealers give to buyers to make cars cheaper or easier to buy. They help sell more cars by making prices lower or payments smaller.
Concept
upside down on their cars
If you're upside down on your car, it means you owe more money on it than it's worth. So if you sell it, you still have to pay some money to the bank.
Car
Ford Zodiac
The Ford Zodiac is an old, big car made in Britain many years ago. People liked it because it was comfortable and looked nice. It’s sometimes talked about because its name matches the idea of the zodiac, like the Chinese zodiac signs.
LIVE
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Let's brew! What's going on car guys and car gals, it's Lou Ramirez and it's Fred Lynn Arts
and we are Brewing Solutions on the CarGuy Coffee Podcast excited to bring to you a fun
conversation with some coffee. Man a coffee and a conversation that's just getting your day going
right and it is midday so for those of you that need a little bit of extra boost inside of your
day make sure that you tune in get to work but you can have us playing in the background maybe put
in one of those little plugs make sure that nobody hears what's going or you can put it on a loud
speaker and let them know that we are Brewing Solutions on a historical day for the CarGuy
Coffee Podcast. It is a historical day the guests aren't just two people that are experts these
two people are family these two people they hold each other up but man I don't know who the rock
star is out of the two right one's been doing it for a little while but the other one came in and
said hello I'm here and we've been one of the guests has been on our show and we've had some
great times speaking with her learning more about her and her history and where she's going and
folks for the short amount of time and it really hasn't been short now it's been a little while
but even for the amount of time that she's been in industry she has made such a huge splash
and her father's been in this industry making massive splashes not just in automotive in the
UFC and I've seen his post with his son wrestling doing some big things just killing it but they
love mixed martial arts in particular jujitsu brazilian jujitsu and I absolutely love that
martial art myself and to be such a go-getter at these types of things doesn't isn't something
that you just practice every once in a while to get to where they're at and the levels that
all that family is that takes some dedication that takes some consistency right Lou well the
consistency is there the pedigree is definitely there and they definitely have the street cred
inside of the industry and inside of the streets folks if there's anything that we do respect
is that they keep it real and with the industry they've been making such great things happen
and we want to talk about more of that and there's going to be so much more conversations that are
going to be brewing of course NADA is getting ready to be right upon us everybody so make sure
that you are making plans and you are making yourself ready for that and if you're taking
notes make sure that you pull out your pens for this one everybody because there's definitely
going to be some notes to take down I know there's already wisdom that's going to be squeezed all over
this entire show folks it's going to be a little bit of goodness here a little extra there but
folks we're going to have a great time for some coffee and a conversation and help us to make
welcome this incredible trailblazer inside of this industry she is bringing that cargo coffee
to so many and so many different ways and she's challenging the norms and what we absolutely
love is that she's doing it with such a flair for life she definitely makes sure to connect to
so many people build the smiles of those around her and she leads the way wearing the most important
thing that anybody can wear it's her smile and I'm excited to have her on the show again please
make us welcome make welcome to this show the one hey guys thanks so much for always the best and
the warmest introduction that I could ever have preserved we can give you a bigger one we would
you definitely bring it when you're on stage when you're on a show when you're in a dealership
wherever you are you're always bringing it and in an IRL I see what you're doing with your family
which and you do some big stuff you're always there you're always doing stuff and you share it
with the world so keep sharing it and we're going to keep sharing you and we appreciate you so much
sounds great thanks so much we appreciate you taking the time to jump in here and and do what
it is that we are doing on a consistent basis we're always trying to find a way to push the
boundaries we're always trying to find a way to see what's the next level inside of us and you all
master that and you do synergize something inside of this industry that is needed and what I think is
the healthiest thing that you actually put out there of course there's going to be records that
get broke there's going to be big achievements that get done for dealerships for clients alike
but there is something that's special to our heart it's what it is that you show as far as the family
union the unit of family has been something that's been under attack in this industry for so long
we've sacrificed the next generation on the altar of achieving big goals but that's not the case with
your family and we absolutely honor and adore what it is that we get to see when it's your mom
and your dad walking and doing their thing and then them showing up front and center to watch you
do your thing to have the camera poised right there to capture their daughter doing her thing and
stretching the boundaries and taking it to the next level so with that we want to help make welcome
to the show for the first time on the show the one the only the center daddy for tiana mick v
sean v bradley what's up bro he's on the show what's up everybody listen first and foremost
l.a. williams is on warning because y'all have some hype awesome intros so l.a. has got to run
for his money fred and lute thank you so much for allowing us on the show your show's buzzing
i'm in dealerships and they talk about car guy coffee so shout out to you guys you're making
some waves in the industry and truly it's an honor to be on the show so thank you for having us
i appreciate you being here brother excitedly it's an honor but we do generally mean that you all
if there's anything that we talk about business wise if there's anything that we discuss at all
we do want to highlight man there's something so just genuine and pure and look at the success
that comes from you all doing what you do as a family it's just amazing you know that based on
what you guys just opened the door and let me just kick the show off by saying this i was watching
i know i'm a little behind but there's a show called land man with billy bob Thornton you guys
heard about it right i know we're on season two but i just started watching it and like towards
the end of the first season i was binge watching it they had jerry jones i'm an eagles fan so this is
probably the only time my wife will allow me to discuss something to do with the cowboys or else
i'll get cut she's Puerto Rican so the idea and a diehard eagles fan is that jerry jones said something
to the billionaire that was on his deathbed he said that when somebody's about to die they start to
have so many regrets this is true they regret all the things they didn't do they regret not spending
time with their families but you know what jerry jones said he said that he has led an incredible
life because he gets to work with his children he gets to work with his children so on his deathbed
he doesn't have to beg the reaper for more seconds on the clock it's a celebration of life and i'm
going to tell you all right now when i die okay and i'm on my right before i die on my deathbed
i'm not going to have to wish i had another moment because i get to live every day working with my
daughters my wife's daughters and my sons are soon to be joined in the family empire so
there is nothing more important than love and family and relationships and i have the privilege
to share all of that with you and the rest of the automotive industries thank you for acknowledging
that because that is my single biggest proudest accomplishment is my incredible family all this
other shit doesn't matter guys it really does dang you know what we agree 300 million percent on that
it all starts with the family i have ambitions from my son he's going to graduate college here
in the next year and when he does i'm glad that he comes over to this side but i think that he
has sights on that i think he's gonna do really great i love this new generation of people that
are are been around automotive and they don't look at it as we're dirtbags and we try to
cheat people and steal money you know they look at us like we're really humans that have families
and we care and being able to have that light inside there that we don't need to lie still and
cheat to be able to do what we do that's good and that's great and i'm excited to see him be part of
the industry hopefully if he doesn't i just want him to be happy i'm sure you're the same way but
to just build this dynasty i want to do the same here i love that let me just say this it's hilarious
i don't know if you've talked with us with tiana but both of my girls were like hell no never in
a million years we ever and one by one i'll watch them drop and fall in the line and and then there's
a shout-out and announcement yeah i'm gonna take the opportunity my daughter kalina bradley
who's got five and a half years experience she's an f and i manager has recently joined the team
as of this year so i now have kalina tiana v and my wife so it's me and my three ladies are all in
the business so i had the opportunity because kalina was i don't want to do this at all with you i
want to do it on my own and she's now part of the the family business now too so my point to you
brother is that even if your son doesn't join immediately there's definitely hope when he is
ready and he'll be able to come there's a chance absolutely there's still a chance that's right
when i do believe that pass this over to the lady in the room and understand because you are a bridge
making sure that we do have good succession inside of our business inside of our families
inside of our practices is pivotal first to make sure that we're doing something that we build that's
lasting now i'm sure that if it all ended now would be man hey we did a great job it was awesome we
were building we did it together and that's even better but now you're pushing it to the next level
for you tiana somebody that said i'm not going to be doing this find yourself doing it and then
pushing the envelope saying hey i know that you did it great but i want to take it even higher i
want to make it even better what was it that made that shift happen for you to say you know what
i'm getting in the game i'm jumping into the family business i'm getting in the car business
and then gonna stretch my wings what was that that turning point for you to do that honestly
the number one thing would be the reason why i got into the industry was college right we can all
agree that especially nowadays like you don't really need a college degree to do the things
that we want to do right sell cars be a business owner be an entrepreneur you don't need to be in
this college debt so i was thinking like i was literally adding up the numbers i was like okay
this is how much my degree is gonna cost this is how much debt i'm gonna have you know what and i
kept hearing my dad talking to like car salespeople making 10 grand a month and i'm like you know what
i want to do that so that's what i did i was like you know what i dropped out of college and i started
selling cars but like you said that's one step that's the first step but i did i choose to go
above and beyond especially with my career is because the pressure is kind of more on me and
i think i speak for a lot of because i speak to our dealer clients and dealers all around the world
right and they have sons daughters cousins that work in the dealership and maybe their uncle or
their mom their dad is the gm or the owner right and they say the same thing they're like you know
what i have to work double right as hard as the guy or girl next to me because the expectation is
there not only that i have to prove that i have a place here right that it's not just a name i just
wasn't lucky and then fell into this right like i took all the opportunities that i was so thankful
of achieving over all this time and i turned it into something so i think the bottom line really
is that any other kid right that's following in their parents footsteps is i want to prove that
i do have a place here i can make my mark and i can use those opportunities to continue myself
let me just touch on that too because there's been an interesting dynamic with that
and as humans we all fall into this my daughter is not just my daughter she is legitimately
chief marketing officer of a multi-million dollar company and i forget that sometimes
and oh she reminds me and this is what i see it with dealer too i see it with the dealer principals
when when you have a 60 year old dealer principal and you've got a 35 or 40 year old gm or gsm and
they're talking to them like they're 15 sometimes it's hard for a parent because i look at her as
a little girl sometimes not because of her attitude because that's my baby and it's hard it really and
i have a whole new appreciation for dealer's kids because when i grew up in the industry with
jim ziggler we used to call them look a sperm club that's what they are a phd papa has a dealership
there's all these little phrases but you never heard that one before yeah that's what i was good
but i have a new appreciation for dealer's kids now because i'm looking at them through my children's
eyes because my girls are legit automotive experience in the field and so sometimes i
catch myself like right now i'm delegating some very high level stuff to tiana not because she's
my daughter at all because she is the chief marketing officer and so i am extremely proud
and that's one of the challenges for her sister because tiana's last name is mic it's not bradley
so it's hyphen mic bradley we joke but kalina's got it worse because she's got the last name bradley
that's like having the last name gracey okay can you imagine if i'm shawng gracey everywhere i go
somebody's gonna try to choke me out and beat me up because everybody you know gracey came out
invented gracey brazilian jujitsu so it's hard having that last name and i never thought of that
either so i appreciate that both of my girls never wanted to take the clutch or the crutch of the
orange tie guy and they wanted to find their own path and that's what i'm really proud of
them individually is they were able to do it their way and my frank sanatra theme music
in the back really did it my way amen i love that to the point where the youngest ever to
speak at nada congratulations to that that's not something that was given to her because that was
your daughter that's because she was doing things in the market and she presented herself and she
put they i love that she did you got to do that i'm that's amazing thank you so much but that's
something that's just the beginning there's so much more to her and there's so many levels to you
i've seen you on stage i've seen how people listen to how you speak i see how young ladies and men
are looking at you going i can do that i want to do it because she did it that's inspiration and
that's just only begun still so young in your career and akshan i know how you're for your hearts
oh this is amazing and they are the carving our own path i would have never known you guys were
related until i just let you work together until i learned and learned more about you all and then
i found out oh that's really cool no doubt dna works great don't it and no wait a minute that's
the other thing like that makes sense wait a minute that's the other thing that you all need to know
which is the craziest thing in the world i think that the word step is very disrespectful like step
daughter step dad because i just my personal philosophy and if you guys think differently i
don't mean any disrespect it's my personal philosophy and i respect everybody's opinion but
tiana is not my stepdaughter you know i mean that she is my daughter but she's only been in my life
since she was eight years old she's going to be 27 so that's 19 years that's my daughter but what's
hilarious this is the funny part that most people don't know because i don't ever really talk about
this my biological daughter is i would say more like karen tiana's biological mother and i feel
that tiana is more like me and the family thinks she was like more like me than anything else
because seriously the way that she moves like as a hostess on stage as a speaker as a presenter
she has her own style but you know that the kung fu is strong you know what i mean like in the family
yeah for sure again wu tang clan ain't nothing in in this house but exactly but that's the
point about nurture versus like genetics she is not biologically my dna and it's hilarious because
when people know she's my daughter oh she looks like you when we laugh or they say that kalina
and tiana look the same but they're not biological but so it's hilarious part of it is her definitely
but part of it is influence which is also interesting oh it's beautiful and i would have
never known that you to your point i would have never known that there wasn't blood
because of the love there between both of you all the respect between each other and lu
has a son that's not blood but i've never heard him call him his stepson that's his son
exactly i respect him you can definitely tell oh yeah you can tell it's a little different
he's like six three you can definitely tell he looks more like he's my bodyguard as we walk
around and as the years have gone on he's always looked like he was that and he would be has he
need to be but i'm still the little feisty dad it's like why you mess with my son and he's this
gigantic man it's it's awesome to do that but that is my son there's nothing there's nothing my
security i'm telling you that right now it's hilarious because all my family's in marshal
sister's a black belt the other kids wrestling tiana's the only non-com combat specials in the
family but she's the first one to be about it and we've had some interesting situations and i would
definitely take tiana as my security any day i promise she can rock a mic it's something there's
something about somebody that that can word slay as well which is exactly what we've learned how to
do right inside of this industry we found a way to move our energy similar to a martial art similar
to making survival happen street wise and just life wise health wise we find a way to then carve
some beautiful pictures inside of this industry when it comes to cultivating relationships
with the community with our customers with our co-workers all these different things and you
all are helping to lead the way in so many different ways in this industry that are pivotal and that
are groundbreaking and you've been doing it consistently what i absolutely love again is
the dynamic of how your family does it tiana you come in and you then begin to stretch things
even differently when starting to really isolate the teachings that come from dealer synergy
from brand building to communication techniques and things like that and all of this stuff is
coming to the Super Bowl which is only a couple of a few weeks away right we're on our way to
nada and there's a lot that's brewing up there what are some of the things that we should be excited
to see at the booth where is the booth tiana where are we gonna find you all at where are you
speaking at we're shawng gonna be tiana give us a little bit of the breakdown of what is popping
over at nada this year with you all absolutely nada oh my gosh i feel like that's like my second
home i could only imagine that's what like nfl players like feel when they walk up to like
you know what i'm home this is my people here this is crazy so absolutely excited we're gonna
have our dealer synergy booth at in the west hall right that west side represent come with
your fine w's right we're gonna be at 33 15 so that's 3315 and hey dealers we're gonna have a bar
that's right it's vegas we're gonna have a bar so stop by make sure you get a drink on us right
especially if you mentioned car guy coffee podcast you can get two drinks all right you
mentioned the podcast you get two drinks all right our viewers get to have two drinks get over
get you that mentioned cgc let's go so we have a 10 by 30 booth and we've got some cool stuff that
you guys are gonna see should we tell them about this or should we have them show up there and see
the stuff i don't know maybe you can drop a little hint all right so you guys this is cool i love going
online now and looking at like technology and i've been looking at these led screens right so i found
these huge tall led screens in china and i shipped them out like these things are super
expensive but i got a sick deal in china and again they came here on time and they were good so my
chinese people hooked us up this is the first time we're gonna have two vertical led walls that are
super high end and what's cool they could be connected so they could even make a big i don't
display so we're excited about the new technology that we're gonna be doing one second is as tiana
mentioned we're gonna have an open bar you know for i think five hours a day for the two full
days the half a day we're not gonna have a bar and then we're gonna be partnering because we
specialize in a lot of different things from internet bdc cirm outsource call centers for
sales but we partner with call source because call source specializes in service bdc so they're
gonna be at the booth too and call source is giving away very rare bottles of bourbon so on top
of the open bar for free drinks we have super expensive bottles of very rare bourbon that we're
gonna be raffling off every day close to a thousand dollars worth of bourbon we're gonna be given away
to lucky people so dealers and managers but frontline people only come to the booth come get
some love it's going to be me karen tiana and then obviously it's going to be la williams is
going to be speaking tiana isn't la speaking about emotional intelligence absolutely yeah he's
going to be speaking about emotional intelligence and i think please on like today's episode of
family and just an automotive it's hard sometimes we get in our heads a lot right we're always
starting the beginning of the month you're zero at the end you might be a hero but guess what
and regardless right you might be a zero at the end of the month but day one starts again
and everybody's on the equal playing field so making sure you stay emotionally there and take
care of that is huge an automotive so he's going to be speaking about emotional intelligence how
leaders can use these kind of tactics to be better leaders and he's going to be speaking on the 5th
so february 5th at 12 30 obviously vegas time so definitely check out la williams he's our
blind phone master and he's absolutely amazing so for you guys again that are listening if dealers
are struggling with anything at all to do with internet sales showroom sales crm bdc this is
what we specialize in our main focus guys this year is our outsourced bdc department is crushing
it we have dealers all over the united states like one of our clients the megavic auto group
they were our clients for years in training and on-site development crm and then they took
part in our outsource bdc and we literally within 45 days of them on our program we got them to be
number six in the nation for nissan lubbock in lubbock texas it's megavic nissan they were never
even the top 15 the first 45 days on the program number six in the nation some of our clients are
some of the largest people as you guys i think no toyota manufacturer we're on our third year
as an official toyota contractor for training for the chicago region the portland region the san
francisco region and we work with the boston region before we and these companies whether they're
oems or like their mccluskie chevrolet the number one chevy deal in the world or coons automotive
all of these elite oems dealer groups dealerships they come to us mostly for internet bdc showroom
training so some of these clients will have us help them with on-site training or on-site support
but right now the big thing i would say is the outsource call center because when i'm finding
and i want to hear from you guys too finloo is that a lot of dealers have had the same problems for
scores and scores of years literally 40 60 80 years it's been attrition so again one of my favorite
phrases is do we hire them dead or kill them after we got them which means do we recruit the wrong
person or do we have somebody that was potential but we had a crappy onboarding process no training
no development and we lost a potentially good person so if dealers are struggling for finding
the right person or having the right people the right amount of people you could keep bumping
your head and keep doing what you're doing and getting what you're getting or you can outsource
that to us or to any team if you find that it's not cost effective i'm not telling we're based
at a new jersey guys minimum wage is 15 95 an hour in california 22 an hour so it's hard when
you're trying to run a bdc to just pay somebody a flat rate because then what's the motivation
for the kpis what's the motivation to make appointments or get appointments to show or cars
get sailed if only you can't just compensate a bdc rep just on a flat rate and so this is killing
people when you have super high minimum wages so it's more cost effective as a matter of fact i
don't know if anybody on your show has ever broke this down we've done the data the average bdc rep
in the united states i'm gonna ask you anybody what do you guys think what do you think the average
net expense what is the actual expense when you factor in their base compensation commissions
bonuses payroll tax and then benefits okay not even recruiting staff in and training we'll leave
that part out just again court compensation commissions bonuses payroll tax which you
can't get away from and benefits what do you think the average bdc not even a good one the
average bdc rep in the united states what do you think it costs to have them input
about five grand rom impressed with you brother you're close it's 55 37 it's literally over $5500
so what we do for a lot less than that cost we are able to provide a full time
employee now let's just say that you are at abc motors i'll give you one of our clients
for example if you have let's just go raceway kia in contra hawking the part of a big dealer group
shout out to quarry the gm there okay they're in pennsylvania they get one full time agent
that full time agent is making 120 calls per day times 22 employee working days is 2640 outbound
calls out of that they have roughly about 211 conversations out of that they probably make
about 68 to 75 appointments out of that 3840 shows are you kidding me now the difference
with our outsourced bdc that i'm really proud of is a we make them train for a full month before
they go on the campaigns which means that they're going to be trained on the dealerships website
like their details they're going to be trained on the dealerships crm they're going to be trained
on the dealerships product knowledge they're going to understand the unique value package
proposition mission vision values and everything so for me these agents are really more effective
the idea nowadays is what can i outsource not just to make it cheaper make it easier but if it's
not my specialty if i'm not great at it let me out so it's like i'm i have a beautiful property
i suck at landscaping so i have a really good landscape company right relax where it have you
i'll go plan a tree and i've done that guys you know i mean but i'm not going to be out there in
three acres and trying to figure it out i'm going to delegate that to some other people and i'm
going to focus on what i'm good at does that make sense absolutely absolutely i love everything
you just said you hit so many pain points for outsource bdc's and i love how you just you
trickle those things off really quick be 30 days before we even put them on your campaign not
from the time that we hire them and put them into making calls no even if we're hired we're
giving them 30 days of training about your store before they even get a chance to work on your
campaign that is so crucial for dealers you want to talk about feeling comfortable about
product knowledge i love that you said that just having a product knowledge because there's too many
times that outsource bdc's don't know anything about don't even know anything about the inventory
don't know nothing about what they're selling just trying to set an appointment and to your point
at flat rates which there is no incentive for them to really do it anyway they're just doing it
because they're killing time so it's like being able to understand all those things and being able
to coordinate that and being able to have it at a price point that makes it way more affordable
which means you have bigger roi on your return when it comes to that type of stuff that's massive
and that's huge outsource bdc's folks if you're not looking into that and you know that you're not
a master of that craft or have or don't have somebody in a store that can run that department
look into that save some money but more importantly get a bigger return
that's where it's at and i love that what you're talking about here that's massive and that's not
all man you guys not just outsource that but you guys have been doing things inside training for so
long and i've i've even with our company we have had where we've talked to people they're using you
and we're like okay we graciously always say we got you use the sign we're going this direction
and but they're always happy and i always hear really great things about what you guys are doing
inside stores but with ai right now there's so many cool keywords out in the world right now
artificial intelligence that is something that if you're not doing you're missing an opportunity
to be able to help people in a different way you guys are doing something with that right now with
some role playing can you tell a little bit more about that is that something tianna or either one
let me touch this and tianna i could fill in the gaps on this stuff what i'm really excited about
is this whole artificial intelligence explosion is really helping in so many different ways the way
that i kind of give this analogy is it's like there's a bunch of lego bricks and we're all
potentially lego masters and you think about it we're all beast in lego masters we could build
the same set of bricks different structures cars buildings people you see how we could
create amazing lego universes there's even lego land in california so my analogy on this is
depending who the user is how creative they could be ai is going to be that special so for us we're
not doing what everybody else is doing because that's not our lane our lane our dna is training so
we were looking at this and we're very blessed to be partnered with lights bbt and bradley bradley
has been a friend of mine for almost 20 years a friend and we have built a massive platform so
we're not just using ai separately it's like an upgrade for our brother and man so first and foremost
we have officially the largest training platform in the world in any country for automotive we have
10 000 interactive training modules so video on demand training tracking testing certification
in addition to that on the same service we offer live training so if you buy bradley demand you
also get separately every day every single one of your employees from sales bdc internet management
f9 sales management desk whatever gets to go into live zoom training classes with all high
level trainers consultants at no extra charge and the reason for that i'm building to the ai
of reason right there is videos are one thing but you can't ask a question to a video you can't get
elaboration you can have collaboration so we have the training modules but then separately
simultaneously every day there's three to eight training classes on every aspect of dealer operations
now we're thinking okay what else can we do and so when this ai kind of blew up we have the first
functional full-blown ai role playing software so you log into bradley on demand and what you're
able to do is we have different scenarios outbound internet inbound phone ups we have different
degrees whether they're intermediate or advanced meaning difficulties etc different personalities
data mining equity mining lease retention even scenarios for showroom sales and you're able
to go through this one day if you want to do another episode i'll do a live
role play with you and try to turn on what we do john you know we do bro yeah and what's cool
about this guys is this what makes this very special is the amount of prep work you got to
remember there are some companies i'll even shout out who the competitors are i ain't worried about
it if you look at call review and you look at car wars these are tech companies that they do
call modern call tracking they're not training companies what was the last time you've heard
of a tech company being recognized and credited for a dealer's net lift in in operations of strategy
there the technology for us i've been doing this 27 and a half years we poured into our private
knowledge base thousands and thousands of hours of phone calls of our scripts our processes all
that stuff so we are training and training our ai so the role playing is crazy now what's the second
ai product in this is what's called an ai scorecard so it reconciles it so after you go through
the role play the next thing is as soon as it's done it's all recorded and transcribed and it gives
you a synopsis here's what your score is here's the strengths of the call the weaknesses of the
call and it reconciles our process and philosophy and then it also tracks word per minute so you're
it also tracks talk listen ratio so you're not and not listen enough and it also tracks filler
words so people are like whatever it neutralizes so this basically is utilizing simulation and
folks whether you're using me or not or using ar or not here's a message a public service
announcement stop letting your people practice what real customers do you understand that doctors
before they become doctors they practice on dead people very quickly why they practice on dead
people because if not they'll kill them and real life on the operating table they're called cadavers
for a reason can you imagine if your house is burning down you don't want to hear the guy that's
ringing the bell like oh snap it's my first fire no i want you to practice in a contained environment
in a safe environment yeah that's all my stuff exactly no you have something to add to that
because this is pretty a bit this is a big deal this is a big step for your company and being
that you're the cmo i know that you're out there trying to make sure that people hear about this
and learn about this so i'm excited this is really cool and actually all that knowledge
inside there i get it we absolutely love that you're using this ai software and it's big it's
going to really help a lot of people and it helps us do it a lot faster what's your thoughts on that
tiana no absolutely 100 and it's like to the point where i was like testing it and her name's
jessica and i was like hey jessica and then my mic for whatever reason wasn't connected and i was
like oh my gosh this stupid girl can't hear me and she responded back that was rude i can hear you
as like a customer would and i was like oh my gosh i'm so sorry i just ended it because i was like
thank god that wasn't a real person like it's that interactive and to the point of being knowledgeable
to shan's point like we spend way too much time practicing on our customers right dealers you guys
spend hundreds of thousands of dollars right to get somebody to walk in the door
and then like shan said right to his point we don't want it to be like oh it's my first time
let me just try it so making sure that you actually have a platform to go to and actually
role play right because sometimes our managers are busy sometimes managers you guys are running
a dealership and they're busy they can't do one-on-ones right the thing is and i agree
but just like looking at the prioritization of making sure we process our leads making sure
that we do the right thing to take care of the customer that we spend a lot of money to get
the attention of and then we fumble the ball we don't do what's right so the prioritization of
training your people pivotal and you guys have found a great way to continue to develop people
individually but there's still a demand that carries on so even if your people are fully developed
and can maximize their day to their fullest you have an overflow you still can't get to all the
customers guys so prioritizing that has to happen then so that's where we build a bdc department or
we outsource the bdc department but we prioritize that our leads need to be processed and then how
we do that is another thing and then you all continue to push that to say look we understand
one the dealership dynamic we're true boots on the ground trainers we know what's up right if a man
is working this many car deals because everybody is humming and jumping and doing their thing the
right way he can't be in front of his people all day long to train them like a full-time
trainer in their face like they're a professional athlete but they are professionals so the importance
of providing the training is critical and putting a tool that's filled with y'all's years and years
of training shaking it into making it an actual teachable form is now plugged into an ai that
probably has countless ways to be able to counter and also impress you be like man is that what we
say sorry yeah we said that that's good you know what i mean i'm sure that there's a lot of times
you get impressed by it saying oh my gosh that is coming from us wow that's awesome and this is
pivotal for you dealers listening for you managers that are out there that want to be able to make
sure that you find a way to get your people ready first and foremost prioritize it make it important
that you are making your people better and then let's talk about the tools that can actually
consistently do that shape them into the salesperson of now not the salesperson of when you were
doing it right the salesperson of now is critical and now is a different time in the industry it is
it is training isn't something that we did yesterday it's for earlier this week it's something
we do every day and if you learn to train every single day no different than a great martial
artist no different than anybody who's actually crushing it right now in automotive you got to
do it daily and if you do it daily you grow daily and if you're growing daily so will your money
i'm telling you it happens that quick and shon i know you had something you want to throw it
i want to say this and this is important to me to articulate to all the people listening here
there's a difference of a tier one operator versus the frontline person in the united states
military if you look at the infantry basic training literally it is eight weeks of basic
training and four weeks of a it united states army 11 bravo which is infantry then you go into
airborne more training then it's airborne rangers more training then your special forces more
training then it's delta force the difference between a tier one operator the people that went
over to venezuela and get the president versus just a regular soldier is training they built
a freaking replica of the presidential compound in caracas venezuela and for months drilled and
drilled and drilled and they terminated a lot of people on a security detail and there was not
one american coward because they prepared if they didn't prepare if they were just some
bunch of rednecks let's go get them sons of bitches whatever they would have got aired out
but that's not what happened they practiced drilled and rehearsed and this is the only thing
that that i just don't get with our industry is that we use the word professional automotive
professional but why are you a professional if you're not practicing a master in your craft
to be a professional to be elite to be a tier one operator you have to practice drill and
rehearse over and over look at michael jordan coby brian tom brady dave chappell any great person
masters their craft jim ziggler said master your craft like you're trying to get a master's degree
in any other industry so i wanted to add and we'll shout out to jim ziggler rest rest in
peace brother we love you we know you're looking down at us and shining smile and knowing that
we're still sharing a great news man thank you for everything you do debbie ziggler his wife who's
still here holding it down yeah yeah no doubt she is what a powerful woman she is so as we get ready
to wrap this up we got a little bit more to brew and it is coming in a da time but there is so much
that's out there tiana you have your ear to the ground as well you're in so many different
opportunities different conversations now that's brewing out there right now the state of the industry
i am particularly just by nature somebody that's always looking thing at things at a positive
light i'm believing for good i'm waiting for the good i'm expecting the good and bringing
the good if it needs to be brought but there's a lot that's actually good that's coming what is
the climate and what is it that you're hearing out there that has you excited about going into this
year i'm honestly really excited just overall about a lot of people that i'm more in having
conversations with i just hear over and over again our dealerships are actually making video
part of our process and i was like that works what that's amazing like finally right like
sometimes i talk to people and i'm like i don't know if you guys do video and they're like oh yeah
we do video we do appointment reminders we do walk and i'm like oh wow i'm like that's absolutely
amazing like when i spoke at n a g a before it was hey you guys need to start using video it's
today's the day it was already yesterday so why are you not using it so looking ahead right i see
more people using video i see more people on social media which means guess what your competition
just tripled doubled quadrupled so if you're not on social media if you're not on facebook if you're
not on tiktok you're already behind so i absolutely love that people are more embracing the social
media side building your brand and just everything that i've been teaching and preaching for my whole
life of automotive it's becoming the reality for people so i absolutely love to see that i love that
you see that too i have a different answer go ahead shot me yeah you know what i'm excited about
i'm excited about all the stupid lazy people out there because they're going to be my food
and they'll be my client's food and what i mean by that is this i'm keeping a straight gully with
you guys right now the reality is this yeah let's go in the reality is yeah where are my people at
we got to do this more often man i like you guys no my my reality is this we've been telling people
for years the economy is changing the economy is changing but nobody wants to listen to trainers
and consultants when it's good it's like why are it's hard to teach people how to fish when the
fish are jumping in the boat and they're fat so when there was no inventory we could sell cars at
list or over list there was no reason to practice drove and hearse but the problem is the economy
has shifted there's more inventory there's rebates and incentives dealers are racing to the bottom
and now that the onion layers are being pulled back they're like what's happening you haven't
been paying attention for not months but for years and now it's catching up to you so if you
are not going to make immediate changes your life is going to be difficult and folks i don't know if
you talk about in your podcast episodes i might have missed this one but we have a reckoning
coming you've realized that we've been putting people to sleep for years that are upside down
on their cars now and they're starting to see it now what do you think is going to happen through
2026 and 2027 it's going to be crazy so my thing is i'm excited because my dealers are prepared
my clients are prepared and the ones that aren't this is when my phone rings the most
is when this happens so on a selfish way i'm excited for the stupid people out there because
this is where i get even more rich now a personal thing i'm like you got to hear this
McCluskey Chevrolet is doing something unique i got to share with you as car guys to car guys
i've never in my 28 years almost ever heard of a special finance department they sell 75 units
a month only special finance deals over 100 miles away and they deliver all of them i've never seen
that before like that and there we're working them to get it from 75 to 150 so i'm excited about
dealers that are thinking outside the box because for years and years and decades they're
trying to just get their what's in their backyard and compete with abc motors x yz
Keith McCluskey shout out to them they're like their online dot cars division only buys special
finance leads over 100 miles away no i'm gonna be wrong it's not easy but they figured it out so
this is like the chinese zodiac the year of the dragon this is the year of innovation
this is the year of opportunity with AI artificial intelligence we could do more be more and
achieve more i like it i love it i want more of it let's go let's go baby you are so right about
all those points both you all said some really amazing things we are seeing more people out
there that are engaging more with video and being more brand building we call that tier four right
those are the tier four people right so we want to make sure tier four keeps growing and building
their brands inside there yes there's opportunity and you know what dealers need training more than
ever this is great time for us to be able to help them with outsource bdc's and so many other things
folks really quick you guys see this qr code this goes directly to dealer synergy dot com go set you
up a quick demo do what you got to do you guys if you want to see them at the booth set up a time
on that or just meet them there if you're at nada you guys see a 3315 west side and be there or be
square let's have some fun i love that he said gully let's get gully in this mug right keep it
going all right that's one individual that i know knows many moves whether it's martial arts or it's
actually on the dance floor i know he knows how to make some moves happen and with that said tiana
already knows these moves how to forgive focus fly and keep growing all the time help us out as we
made history today there's definitely more to brew you can't get enough of this folks and there's
definitely going to be more cups coming to you later on as we do dig in a little bit more
with this incredible car guy and car gal family we're so thankful for you all but let's go ahead
and forgive focus fly and keep growing everybody we appreciate you all jumping in jump in there
hands on the shoulders here we go let's forget focus fly on three one two three forgive focus
fly and keep growing keep growing that's right you're growing everybody we appreciate you jumping
in you've been brewing solutions on the car guy coffee podcast i'm lou remirez and i'm fredlin
arts and you've had the honor of having this lovely lady the one the only tiana and the one
the only song
dealer synergy in the building folks make sure you guys hit this qr code make sure you check them
out at n a d a i promise you you'll find something there that you could take home and sip on let's
go let's go keep brewing thanks guys see you soon
About this episode
Tiana Mick and Sean Bradley share their unique family-driven approach to the automotive industry, blending business with strong family values. They discuss the importance of legacy, working alongside loved ones, and breaking industry stereotypes. The conversation highlights how passion, consistency, and dedication shape their careers, with insights on succession planning and the evolving perception of car dealerships. Personal stories about balancing family, business ambitions, and the influence of martial arts add depth, making this a heartfelt discussion about building a lasting family empire in the automotive world.
Original notes
Coffee and a Conversation with Tiana Mick and Sean Bradley
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 Tiana Mick and Sean Bradley of Dealer Synergy for a conversation on family leadership in automotive, building a lasting business, and the importance of daily training. Tiana shares how she left college to sell cars and why she works to prove herself beyond her name, while Sean discusses working with his children as his proudest accomplishment and the challenges dealer families face. This episode also covers Dealer Synergy’s training platform and new AI role-play and AI scorecard tools designed to help teams practice safely, improve call performance, and strengthen professionalism, along with observations on industry trends like increased video and social media use and the need for innovation as market conditions shift.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew.
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
carguycoffee.com
certifiedsolutionaries.com
Welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. Kickstart your day the right way and join us as we tap into the brightest minds and most passionate voices across the automotive world to bring you the education, motivation, and inspiration you need to thrive. From the showroom floor to the service lane, prepare to Upshift and Uplift your perspective.
In this episode of The Car Guy Coffee Podcast, hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred Lennartz welcome Tiana Mick and Sean Bradley of Dealer Synergy for a conversation on family leadership in automotive, building a lasting business, and the importance of daily training. Tiana shares how she left college to sell cars and why she works to prove herself beyond her name, while Sean discusses working with his children as his proudest accomplishment and the challenges dealer families face. This episode also covers Dealer Synergy’s training platform and new AI role-play and AI scorecard tools designed to help teams practice safely, improve call performance, and strengthen professionalism, along with observations on industry trends like increased video and social media use and the need for innovation as market conditions shift.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew.
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
carguycoffee.com
certifiedsolutionaries.com
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