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#DC20 Interbrew Series Day 2 feat. Sam Sivilay

#DC20 Interbrew Series Day 2 feat. Sam Sivilay

Car Guy Coffee Sep 19, 2023 20 min
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About this episode

Sam Sivilay, a marketing manager from the Walser Automotive Group, shares insights from the Drive Centric DC20 event. He discusses the unique processes at his dealership, including a one-price model and a seamless customer experience from lead to sale. The conversation emphasizes the importance of mentorship, stepping out of comfort zones, and adapting to innovative practices in the automotive industry. Sam reflects on the value of networking and learning from peers, highlighting how these experiences can inspire growth and passion in one's career.

Topics: mentorship customer experience networking one-price model marketing strategies stepping out of comfort zones innovative practices
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Hello, and welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. This inner brew and
Drive Centrics DC twenty has been brought to you by our friends and partners at MXS Solutions, Fixed Ops, Digital and one Data and Analytics, three two one Ignisitions, Shop Smart Autos and bnque. If you want more bruised or
you want to find out how to partner with the Car Guy Coffee Podcast, go to Car Guy Coffee dot com. Let's brew what's going on, car
Guys and car gals. It's lumire as the Car Guy and it's following our
subprime hero and we are brewing solutions on the Car Guy Coffee Podcast and we are having fun with the one the only same civilized that's right over to the show. Right, Let's go to the party. You're over You're glowing in
this green over you. It's really it's like it's the way the lightning is
said, and it's kind of popping off this and it's really exciting everybody because there is some serious organic goodness that's ruling and it's evergreen, folks, and it's the quality of relationships that are brewing right here inside of this event over here in Saint Louis. How much fun have you been having at this event
and in this facility. That's right, this is a blast spending one of
my first events in this industry. So it's really fun to learn everybody or
meet everybody and learning of so much within the dry Center community and like how to do just different things. I'm like overwhelmed almost Okay, I mean,
we're gonna help you out with something. Not every event has pick a ball
courts, pool tables, knock hockey, pinball machines, all the coffee you can drink Fiji water till you can't drink no more. Right, they don't
all have that, but this is a great way for you to come in to the business scene what it's like here in Disneyland. But it's so amazing
that this is how you get to start your adventure into seeing what's happening behind the scenes. That's awesome. That's exciting. So where do you come from?
Tell the audience a little bit more about you and where are you from?
I am from like Minneapolis, Minnesota. I work for a water automotive
group and I am the manager there. Been at Walter for about eight years.
That's awesome. Wow, wow, eight years marketing manager at Walter doesn't
sound like a big deal, but anybody out there who's an automotive knows that being with the Walser group, for one, is a big thing. It's
awesome, it's a great group to be part of. But number two,
the marketing manager there, it's a big task take taken handed. But somebody
that is taking that spot is obviously somebody that they believe in. So that's
amazing. So you should be very excited about that opportunity. I know within
that within the organization, you've you've grown, you've been able to take these things. You were actually at some point in your career you're thinking, am
I even worthy of this? Right? And yet you're here, you're smiling,
you're learning, and you're I think you're starting to realize you're beyond word And I think that's special. You know that you've had some really good predictors,
sessors, predecessors that that have been here. A matter of fact,
you interviewed one of them earlier. She was part of the Walzer group himself
at one point in this Ashley. And what I love is that she is
like always sharing with you everything that should possibly can. She believes in you
so much it's almost like you're like her baby. I love the way I
see that she looks at you like you're you're just amazing, You're beautiful, you're so strong, You're so strong. I'm gonna make sure that you're gonna
know everything you need to be powerful in this industry. But now it's you're
trying to do that with somebody else, and you're gonna have the opportunity to do the same thing. And that's why I love about mentorship, and I
believe that's a mentor relationship that you have there. And you're very blessed to
have a mentor somebody that has forty under forty that that has done so many things in this industry and a short amount of time. I know it's been
in it for a while, but for what she's gathered and done, she's done it in a short amount of time. And that's something that you can
see. You can do it. Doesn't matter if you're a woman, doesn't
matter if you're have ethnicity. You can be amazing. A matter of fact,
you can be more amazing if you're in those cases. So I think
it's great. So when you said Minnesota, you didn't sound like you're from
Minnesota. I'm from Minnesota. How do they always say it so differently up
there? Yeah, it's like a different point. So being from that area,
you're getting ready to get to come to an event like this at DC twenty and you get to meet dealers from all over the country. You know,
you get to rub elbows and see what their seales tactics like, but what they're doing to drive the marketing and how are they communicating with their customers And you find, I thank you, if I'm not mistaken, you're finding that you guys are doing a great job. But most places are probably looking
at what you call are doing. That's pretty impressive. So how has that
been feeling to get here and connect with people from the customers? Hey,
Dealer's Car Guy, Coffee podcast and Certified Solutionaries are honored to be part of team Thank you. The solutions They've been ruined for you to acquire more vehicles,
advertise merchandise, and manage those vehicles has made them one of the most sought after dealer partners in the marketing. They are one one hundred percent CGC
approved and when you visit them at vinc dot com, you'll see a whole hill of beans where the reasons why see thank you, let's prove it's I feel like the Minneapolis market is insulated a little bit where we've done. We're
like at our dealships specifically one person to bring you through the entire process from handling the lead to closing out the deal. There's no finance managers or anything
like that. And we're also one price, which is not really like a
thing within the industry around where like I've always known that, but talking to people here, it's like almost a crazy concept but not negotiate and you know, you just come in and it almost makes something like I've never sold a car before, but it would I would be more inclined to go sell a car if I don't have to handle that negotiation process and hearing a lot of people hearing even with like the VDCs and everything like that where they're handling the lead from like when it first comes in and all that, and it's it's such a different process here for somebody from for me, especially like I started at Walter and I've only been it. That's awesome. So I'm learning a
lot about like outside of our industry and then even it's not our market.
And then outside of the Yeah, and what you are doing at that story is unique. There's a few other groups I know that do something similar that
A to Z that that cradle to grave is so important. I think it's
a great process. I think that's a very futuristic thinking. And thus is
why Walter is leading in a lot of things inside this industry, why they haven't name and reputation where they are. They don't just lead in technology and
process. They also lead the way with women in Autovota two and I love
that. So that's it's a great group to be part of the associated with.
So you're very blessed. And yes, because you are been in there,
it's good to go out and see that. Yeah, we do have
a unique process. Well, my goodness, it's so different. I don't
think that all processes have to be exactly like that, but I think that they should learn from that and see that your experience, the case studies that you have showing that, Hey, when somebody can meet and read a customer and go all the way from helping them show up for an appointment and go all the way to the very end and actually do their financing and help them with their service, that's seamless. And when you can be seamless with your
customers and they're they know who the call is the same person for every one of those things, it's powerful and that's less confusion, that's less anything.
And I think that it's something that you guys are doing really well. I'm
glad that you're doing that. But to use this moment and I think that's
great to right, but like to us, that's not right. The average
person in this room and this ability to this week, they're like, that's different, right, and oh my god, how do you all do that and not freak out? Let's because you guys have a process. People believe
in the process. You have to have belief in the process too. Everybody
there, starting from the top to bottom, has to believe that same process can be put in the store. But no one believes that no one's going
to really use it, then it's gonna break. So you gotta have it.
You gotta have accountability, you gotta make sure it's being done one hundred percent time. But most importantly, get the education for everyone that's in those
process, especially the A to Z person that's actually taking care of the clients.
They need to know how to do that. That's not easy, but
it's possible, and it's when it is done right, it's very impactful and it's fulfilling. A lot of salespeople think, oh, I want to be
a manager one day. You are from You get to be one all the
way from beginning to end. Here Now you are a leader. You are
helping people. You get to do all the things that you wanted to do,
and you start to realize that those not as glorified as I thought it was going to be to get all this stuff done right. But I get
to be fulfilling and help a customer feel like that they're loved by me, They're gonna be taken care of. Now I gain a book of business for
myself. It's powerful. So congratulations to you for fundament place like that and
landing in a place like that. Thank you made it quite easy. So
being here for this particular event, we're running towards the letter half of the last day. What is it that is one of the major takeaways that you're
taking from the hats and incredible speakers. You've had some great explanation of the
technology and techniques, technics, difficulds that we can do. What's one of
the biggest takeaways that you're going to be leaving here with inside of your cup when you head back phone to Prucal Solutions. I think there's like kind of
been a couple takeaways, Like personally, I think that it's so appreciated here, but like getting out of your comfort phone Yeah right, I think that you're doing right now exactly the Hey Dealers franchise and independent. We have some
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team ms dot com. Back to the show. Yeah, So, like
just trying to grow myself, grow like my network and things like that, talking to people like you guys, and just stepping out of that comfort zone and continuing to do that where like just coming here in itself was stepping out my comfort zone. I knew I wasn't getting a whole a lot of people,
So just being able to put myself out there and then have a whole like session about putting yourself out there anyway, did you know? For me,
but for my dealership specifically too. I really like we've been doing a
lot of stuff, so a lot of stuff that we're maybe even talking about here I think we do at wallser But the whole no business rules intrigues me.
You know, having the people set up their own like follow ups and everything like that, rather than maybe wasting your time on per se phone calls or things like that. Making sure you're doing your things that are impactful and
we'll for that customers specifically meeting them or they're at time. And that is
a good insight to take back and be able to think about encouraging others to look at it that way, because it's because selling cars has never been good cutter. We may act like it is, we may teach oh, this
is our process is the way it goes, but within that there is a lot of gray. There's a lot of that area where we have to be
able to maneuver with the is our things flesh. We have to maneuver with
this like unique way of helping customers. And then but the more that we
can cater to them because not everybody wants that call tomorrow. Not everybody wants
this. So if you your salesperson, you're a to Z person, they're
going to really know this customer fully. And if they know them, they
can schedule it themselves if they truly want to care. If you hire the
right people, you trade them the right way, they're going to do it.
And I think that it is a great idea if I think that if you don't have a process, but you don't have the people and you're not ready for that, yes, have a cookie cutter way of doing it, making sure that activities are happening, because you don't want no activities to happen, But when you're able to fix it and make it work in a way that's customized because you trust your people. Trust is powerful with friends. Trust
feeds up time and it makes more prompt every time, and everything's faster, everything's more efficient, everything is better. It's so crazy. We are flesh,
and hopefully all ain't seeing the flash you've seen happening. I don't know
what's going on. Take it easy, everybody. We are not trying to
create a situation for your eyes to completely bug out. Hopefully we've we've made
the adjustment. But thank you so much for sticking here with us. But
folks, this is the heartbeat of most of these conversations, is always going to be the importance of getting ourselves to at least show up right, showing up to the event, getting ourselves out of the comfort zone that makes us even get here, because every time it turns out worth it, it's it's, oh my gosh, it was worth it right away, right off the bad I'm glad that I'm here. Right Everything that made you not want to
do it, it was like it dissipated as soon as you step into that role. So it's okay, we're here, let's do let's do something.
Let's make it worth it, I mean, and that's I mean. We've
been doing that since kids. Everybody, whether it was the first time we
went to kindergarten right or it was our first time jumping into middle school, first time jumping into high school, we always had those those butterflies of stepping into the new role. Meeting, meeting new people right and getting all nervous
and wondering if we really brought value to the table. And one thing that
we absolutely love about how it's been hosted here is that it is recognized that everybody that is here is a functioning, moving piece of this community. That
it's you can't put a price on its crisis, but everybody has valued here whatever position. This is where we've seen the most mixture of job titles inside
of the store at any event that we go to, because you have everybody that interacts with this one piece of technology inside of the store, and everybody's advantage point matters. We need to know how everybody works this, right.
It's not just the general manager that needs to go in there and look at a report, right, There's a whole lot of moving parts that made that report even populate, right, based off of the efforts of other piece.
What is it that you enjoy seeing most about how a drive is trying to make sure that what you do at your dealership is coming together and easier.
We know you're doing the show so far. We just wanted to quickly remind
you about our partners at FIS Digital and how they are Automotives, premier service marketing and technology company not only proud sponsors of the Car Guy Copy podcast, but they also served as you're dedicated point of contact for all your online service marketing related deeds servicing dealerships throughout the US and Canada. The mission is to
create a better online experience for your service customers while using data intelligence to drive more fixed operations revenue. If you want to take your service marketing efforts to
the next level, go to fix ops Digital dot com. Back to the
show, let's go here. I just like that they're really open to feedback.
It's huge, Like we're always trying to be like innovative and be one step ahead, and it's hard to do that when your systems and your vendor partners aren't there yet. But they're always willing to listen and they're always willing
to help accomplish that in some way to be to let everybody out right and you get there. Yeah, right, that's awesome. That's that's great insight
because anytime that we deal with a vendor or somebody on the other side that is trying to help us use the technology or tool or website or whatever it is, that we're on. We want to be able to make sure that
we're actually getting a result out of it. But it's not going to break
around our question, right, it's able to mold around where we're trying to go. And you're right, they will throw a solution for you all.
They'll try to figure out, okay, hey, if we do this, move this together there, boom, there we go. Does that work?
Yeah? Awesome? Or now you at least know how to do it.
And that's what that is. What's all. When we had the time to
go up there and see all the people in the pods, there's a whole bunch of people up there perculating solutions. They're having fun. They have their
pods and they are they're dedicated to be able to make sure that people like you when you do ball. They answer, right, they answer, they're
there and they're providing solutions. That's awesome. That's awesome. Drive Center crew.
You listen to this, you're watching this. They love to hear when
people really value what they put into it, because it's obvious they put their heart into this, right, very obvious. Yes, And they're fun,
right, they definitely put the fun inside of the building. Awesome from here
at the store. Remember what it is that you're doing. As you go
back into your world, what is it that you're now most excited about as far as your opportunity inside of the industry now just being able to see a little bit more of what's ruin, what's cooking, how people are, where they're at. What is it How do you feel just inside of your career
and your choice to do what you're doing. Obviously love marketing and I've been
in it since I went to school for marketing, came on a school, started out walls or in marketing. But I love being able to like touch
all of the different processes and departments within in it, and I think I just want to expand, like I want to continue on the marketing, I think, But I love like I guess talked about Ashley earlier. She handled
like a lot of the digital process and things like that, and it's fascinating to me. And even coming here has intrigued my fascination even more just hearing
everybody talk about it, because it's fun to get in there and I sit on the outside of that. So I'm looking in the CRM. I'm looking
into leads and prospects and things like add and I think about like I didn't they hudle up with this person that way? Or types of things that this
lead source is coming in this way, This would be a great way to follow up with them. And hearing all these different ideas from other people and
how they're handling those coming into it, it's just it's fascinating. It makes
me want to dive into that more and see if there's anything that can do on that side, maybe looks into the burd that and make a plan, make it happen. And it seems like you found some passion somewhere and that's
big yes, And I think that's what I think's running from you when you came here. Was it to come back with some more passion? You know,
when you come to these events, I was told take one thing away from the leaves. You can come back and implement that one thing you can
do great. But if you can come back and bring that plus the passion
and excitement about something new that you get to learn, go for it.
Quick question do you know what smart pixel two point zero location? I Q
and audience i Q haven't comment know I do. They are solutions that our
friends and proud sponsors and one Data and Analytics are brewing for automotive once again, you're right, my friend, and we want to invite all of our audience to go to m one hype data dot com to see how they can help propel your business forward with the right data insight. Go check them out
at m one data dot com. Let's brew. Come on now back to
the show. There's something great about growing, and that's why we forget books,
fly and keep growing because when you keep growing is when you're the happiest.
When you stay uncomfortable, you have to or even when your body was growing, your body, we have pains and growing pains they call it right, and that's something that we all have to go to. But it's so
important that we go to those things. And with the uncomfortability comes comfortable eventually
with the incomfortable, which is weird, right, I gotta give them hold the uncomfortable, but that's it's a weird statement, but it's true. Just
remember that. So every time you start to feel a little, what's going
on and supply and get too uncomfortable, So get uncomfortable. Keep I love
it. You're you're doing amazing things and you did a great job on the
show today. I'm just saying, yes, I know, but you did
such an amazing job. You're you're saying the things that you need to say,
and you're feeling great. Do more of these be encouraged to get in
front of a microphone or behind a microphone and speak your your voice because it matters when you get a chance to sit down with your leadership team, speak your voice. Don't sit back and then not tell them much how you feel.
Let them know how you feel. You're getting educated, you're getting inspired,
so goal inspire others. Yes, come on, it's right, FoST.
Thank you so much for taking the time to hang with us and deal with the glitchy, glitchy fun screen action that. It looks cool to me.
It does. It looks pretty neat, looks like we're trying to get
your attentions. Let's go so as we do that, everybody, That is
such an interesting mark that's even in there. I don't know how that's happened.
That's pretty like, what does it? It is? Yeah, But
inside of that messages that we want to make sure we get out there is to forgive focus on so that we can't keep growing. And it does come
with emotions. We forgive, we focus, and we fly so we can
keep growing all the time. Do it with us one time and you will
be an official, certified solutionary Bruins Car Coffee Podcast. Here we go on
three one two, three, forgive, focus, focus, live, and keep growing, keep growing. There you go. Now it is official.
Everybody, Thank you so much for Bruined Solutions with us. We are still
see in St. Louis. I didn't drive Centric Headquarters and this is a
first timer on the podcast. Make sure if you're watching this on the replay
or right now on the live, blow her up, give her some handclaps, coffee cup emojis, thumbs up, and just let her know that you appreciate her jumping out here and getting a little uncomfortable. I'm lu Ramirez,
the Car Guy. I'm fillowing our subprime hero, and you've been Ruined Solutions
on the Car Guy Coffee Podcast with the one the Only SAP. We'll see
you guys later. Take any see everybody better than up by up

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