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, ignissions, shop smart autos and think you. 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. We are brewing solutions
at drive Centric headquarters with the one be only Elise the lady. That's right,
let's ask some fun I'm excited you are the Internet sales manager. Frank
Lada, got it right, Frankly to Honda and man, you are leading the way you're here. You're getting educated and powered and encouraged to go out
and just be better. What is the biggest thing that drew you here?
Honestly, just getting more in depth with the CRM with drive Centric. I
met one of my personal heroes today, Jonathan Dawson, which is Super Supers.
Didn't know he was going to be here. I live and breathe by
psychology, so truly meeting him with Dawson look him up. Fallow Mama all
the social Yeah, he's been on our shows. He's been. I guess
we were there when he opened his Pinnacle, his Pinnacle Training Center, which was amazing. We got to be there and got to speak there, but
just got to be part of that environment. So yeah, a lot of
love to him. Shout out to you. My friend's psychology is amazing,
y'all sign up for it. I'm not sponged by psychology. She believes that's
right, So that's great. But yeah, so we're over here brewing and
we're over by the coffee section and just enjoying some lunch. We're talking about
all the fun that you are enjoying inside of your role and what it is that you're doing. Tell us a little bit more because we're here in the
headquarters of drive Centric and this is like beyond what you would have imagined inside of a technology company that does the things that it does. But when you're
here and then you see it and you're like, you know what, it does make sense? Yeah. Yeah, So what is it that that you
have been starting to see from your vantage point from the Internet sales management role.
How has drive Centric been something that's been helpful mate inside of a tool for the dealership to activate better engagement with sure. So I've worked with a
couple of different CRMs, a couple of different client management tools, and this one has by far been the best. And I have to probably chop it
up to the way that drive Centric treats their employees. I'm looking around,
I'm seeing a couple of pinball machines. I'm seeing some bags upstairs, I'm
seeing a pool table. But whenever I reach out to Drive Centered being like,
hey, guys, I got an issue. I can't merge a deal,
I got an unwind a deal. Can you guys help me? Other
CRMs and I've used in the past, I usually get a FOT, I get an email responsibill get back to you x y Z. Time drive Centric
is on, like immediately. There's one guy that I work with pretty regularly.
His name is David. Shout out David, David, And even if
he's on lunch, I'll be like, hey, is David around, Like, no, he's on lunch, he leaves, so just let me know when David gets back. And he's like the gift King. He's just awesome.
And I really think it has to do with the way drive Centric treats their employees it's really awesome. Wow, which in turn makes them treat their
customers the same exactly when you have when you give love, they tend to give more love. And that's something special. That's a synergy that's very hard
to put into a business in today's world. Actually it's really not that hard
enough. It's just a lot of businesses don't do that. And I don't
know why. Maybe we're stuck on our old ways. But what you're saying
there is so true. There's a culture that needs to be developed. And
when you start with your people and you really get the processes and the people and the product, they are all loving it. And when they love something
like that, they're just gonna share love. Yeah. It's it's a beautiful
thing. It's powerful and that's something yes, no doubt Drive Centric has it.
It's not just the building, folks, we get. We got into
this building. You probably see a lot of our posts of all these cool
hallways and these cool meeting rooms and pickle ball rooms and kitchens and like pinball, you got hockey thing, you got pool tables, you got everything you can imagine. They even got a beer tap to say it. They have
everything you can imagine, but you take away all that. Even if they
had a different building, they would still be successful because they have good people, and that's really where it begins. But they give the environment for their
people because they're good people. So they made it even better. So they
amplified at ten times. Right, that's some big time stuff. So that's
amazing. 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 VELA partners in the marketing. They are
one hundred percent CGC improved and when you visit them at NC dot com, you'll see a whole hill of beans where the reasons why tea, thank you, let's prove Yeah. Whenever you think about wanting to I don't think I
would ever leave the car industry. But if I'm interacting with a CRM,
if I'm interacting with a call review type of company, anything like that, if I ever wanted to leave the industry, I'm always going to look got something to where the company treats their employees. So even before I saw what
the inside of drive Centric gooth like, I was like, I could probably work with drives. I could pretty cool, would drive guys. Steve is
pretty amazing. I love that I got known him for a little the hell,
and I've always enjoyed every year. Right the hair right it is.
It's important speaking of that. What brought you an automotive industry? I first
started an automotive back in twenty fifteen. I had recently moved. I graduated
from Miszoo Shout Out Tigers and went to move back to Massachusetts. Was doing
like a Barnes and Noble kind of children's department manager thing. Wanted something a
little bit more stable, so I found a receptionist job at a Mercedes dealership.
I was there in that position for two months, and they're like, at least you've got some great phone boys, you interact with clients really really well, why don't you go ahead and try internet sales BBC kind of stuff.
So ever since then, I've just been doing it. Yeah, I've
gone from Mercedes to miss On to Honda and Honda. Yeah, your energy,
there's no doubt. I can't imagine with you on the phone, if
you keep if you speak like this on the phone, there's no doubt you do a great job. Thank you very much, I think. But just
even in person, I can't imagine when people actually get to meet you in person, it's even more you get the more feeling of that. So I'm
glad that we got to meet you person. I'm glad you're talking to you
for one minute, like we need to get Yeah, you definitely have a personality that sticks out, and it's not just the voice, it's you and I love that your confidence exuites. And I know that sometimes the confidence comes
from something. So obviously you've done your job really well, you know it
right yea. But you also know that you have a good company that supports
your job somepany like drive Centric. So can you have an example of how
besides a solution getting fixed on like their software, something for your customer, a solution that this helps you be able to get further along the line, whether it was something you did or somebody on your team did that. This
drive Centric helps you with just really making sure that because there's an instance where we had a mom and a daughter, but none of the contact information matched, last names were different, the kind of the emails, everything was different, and we just couldn't find the ways to merge the two, I guess, and it was getting frustrating for both the mom and the daughter because the mom was in a nursing home but trying to help her daughter, trying to buy a new car, all this kind of stuff. So rather than it'd
be frustrated across the board for everyone, drive Centric was able to get in there and be like, oh, this is why these two aren't merging.
It's because the late husband was on the original deal and we couldn't merge the two. So ultimately they merged the two and it was smooth young it was
all the car and was all the car, but the way that they did that, they did that without any grief. They get very active as soon
as possible. Of course, if it's midnight, dodgs and is very low,
but if it's during business hours, they're going to take care of that because they want you to have a good, seamless interaction with your customer, even if it's just that one customer, they want every customer to have that, especially for your sales pro. It's so important because we get somebody upset
because of the way that we use our tools. It could be very discouraging
for somebody, especially somebody who's started using drive centric think could be like, this doesn't work right. But at the end of the day, it does
work, and it works extremely well. And what's cool is that if they
find any type of little glitch or if they find something that's causing your customer to not have the pathway that they want, they're going to make sure that it gets done that way. Very key. Hey dealers, franchise and independent,
we have some great news for you and your number one sales pro your website. Partner with Team mxcess. We have the ability to pull you out
of that cookie cutter Marry go around and help your website and body what it means to do business from the highest quality production to the most strategic optimization.
We want to help you connect better to the ever changing market. You wi
you and your team to at least let us do a quip and free check up on your website. We can't wait to hear from you. Go to
team ms dot com back to the show. Have you been using any of
the AI that they're using right now yet? We have our AI her name
is Madison. Shout out Madison. Sometimes you will chime in being like because
Frankly it has been around for sixty plus years within the Saint Lais area, and they'll say, oh, I'm friends with Frankly. I go to church
with Frankly. I didn't know he had a granddaughter named Madison. We're like
log last it is. It's technically his granddaughter, great great granddaughter. May
he does. But one thing I learned today was genius X. I think
it was what is called I'm really sorry if I'm butchering what that is, but to where it's even more in depth. Right now, our AI just
kind of does, hey, the car is available, when do you want to come in, rather than There was one example that I saw and it was overnight and the client had responded saying, hey, I want to come check up this car. But one of the monthly payments and immediately for them
ready not even range was Exactly's presentation. And naturally he was with the water
group for many years and now she's down Texas, been commenting this a different store, a group down there, and she's doing an amazing job. But
yeah, that's how it works. Literally four o'clock in the morning for the
biggest grief that most which happens, I can't get the information I wanted.
Yeah, now that even without the human element being there to calculate it, it's so fast that I said, here, you go to the the person.
The actual customer was surprised, like, I can't believe how best that was. That's impressive. That's it is, because it really is that impressive.
But you know what's funny, It's true that a computer can can't flie that fast when we cans, why not let them, especially in a world of instant gratification. I know, I'm waiting on a pair of luggings to
come in. I ordered Tuesday, order Sunday, and I'm like, all
right, where are my leggings at? Where they I gotta get him in
time for the Barbie movie. Like, let's know, whenever you have a
little girl back in the day wants to see that movie down. I didn't
even have Barbies growing up. I'm just excited from Margot, Robbie and Ryan
Ghostli gotta do it, gotta do it. We're not And then apparently the
soundtracks didn't be really good. There's no I mean, there's a lot of
live about it, to the point where my wife wants to watch this movie so bad, Like she's like in such can't believe that's coming out and can't wait it, can't wait. I think all of her friends are gonna go
watch it. I wouldn't got Barbie shirts again, I'm not a Barbie stand
I'm just excited for this movie. And then Offenheimer comes out on Friday,
so I'm gonna go see that. My husband. I got a whole weekend
playing a movie. We're like feeling like we're in a movie right now.
I really feel like we're inside of a feature that is just highlighting everybody coming together, all these dealers from a more o the place coming together inside of this disneyland of fun for a technology company. Yeah, because one, it
is fun. We gotta make this fun. If it's not fun, we're
not doing it right right. You're not doing it right if you're not having
fun and recognizing that. Let's talk about some of the things that may not
be so much fun, like switching CRMs, going from one way that you're doing things to then flipping over. Were you ever part of a transition from
one CRM to another? I was never really a part of that, but
I was a part of getting rid of a BBC and having sales guys do leaves. So that as a huge type of just a huge transition across the
board to where I had a team of four people and myself and then now I have a team of thirteen people and myself and like constantly making sure that the deals are getting done, the clients are getting followed up with the customers questions are getting answered. So that's always been my big, like I guess,
obstacle I've all ever really had. Okay, h help address. We
know you're doing the show so far. We just wanted to quickly remind you
about our partners at Fixed Ops Digital and how they are automotives premier service marketing and technology company not only the crowd sponsors of the Car Guy Copy podcast, but they also serve as your dedicated point of contact for all your online service marketing related needs 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 too fixed Oops, Digital dot Com back to the show, let's go so with that and recognizing from where you've been and the serum systems that you used before, and then jumping in with drive Center, what would you say to somebody out that is teetering on man, I don't want to have to retrain everybody. I don't want to have to go through
the headache of switching over. What would you say to anybody that but even
consider getting in their own way of making the progression away from what they're doing to somebody fund then drive Center drive CENTRICA is there to help you. They're
here to guide you. They're here to not necessarily make your processes better,
but make them just more client driven, just more helpful all across the board.
And they're just immediately there to just help. It's it's insane put the
response to they are That's why you make the changes because it helps, Right, folks, this is why you want to find solutions. This is why
you're looking for tools to help you out, because they should make your life easier and more fun and adaptable to you. Right, you can set up
the way that you want to see things, the way that you want to do it, you can do it your way right right, if you want to have it that way, you can. And we love, we absolutely
love our friends over in Michigan, the Sisters of Savings who are doing it their way and they are loving some drive Centric. You're gonna see a little
bit a live footage of them real time working through drive Centric in their CRM and some of this fun video of these ladies that are doing it their way.
Systems of Savings for being able to help put together that incredible nostalgic, so much fun video. It was so fun to do. What do you
think about sisters like today, we'll just do it their way. That's having
fun at work, right, that's having fun at work. That's bringing in
an energy to where the client can then just happen at work, because no one wants to come and spend hours upon hourspon hours of the dealership and then knowing that they're going to spend thirty forty sixty thousand dollars. All of that
should be fun. All of it should be fun, we believe, and
we have this thing called make it Happen. Mappen in one of the biggest
steps, in the very last one that we tell everybody even are so stuff when they're at work is mandatory fun. If you're not having fun at work,
you're missing something because it's very easy to get caught up in all the garbage that happens, because no matter what we do for a career, there's always some kind of garbage there. But at the end of the day,
if you truly look and sit back and pay attention to what we're doing an automotive and what you're doing in automotive, and what so many dealers are, we're helping people. We're truly serving the communities, helping them achieve dreams,
find their dream car, get a car, find financing, trade out of negative equity, whatever the situation is, where the problem solvers for them.
So have fun with your customers because they want to remember their experience because if they don't, guess what they're not going to do is come back and see you. I'm in the business to sell somebody for the rest of their lives,
not just the one vehicles today. So it's important that you have fun.
But having teams like that, having people out there like that enjoying it, I love the sisters. I'm so glad if they did that. It
was awesome, good question. Do you know what smart pixel two point zero,
Location IQ and Audience IQ coming You know, I do. They are
solutions that our friends and pout 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 hyphen 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 we got, Sean Hicks says, shout out to the best of the bis keep delaying. That's awesome, so funny.
It does feel good to see that from your friends when you see people out there shout out to you, Sean, Thank you, Sean. Hi.
Fun love Right, but it is folks. Listen. She is the
Internet sales manager at Frank Lita Honda. Right. This is her email address
right here. She's not some media and stuff like that, but this is
probably the best way to reach out to her. Listen, don't get too
weird, just reach out to say and if you have any questions about how she's doing it or about drive Centric and you wanted to ask about her experience.
Please reach out. She's happy to give you any type of amazing referral
about this. That's about this telling you something drive Centric is killing it and
I really recommend them myself, telling you every one of my deals that use and loves them. I think that there's a couple of people here, I
think that are trying out to see if they want to use drive Centric, and I think across the board by the end of this seminar this week, I don't know how you can be. Moni kaj over here seems to be
sold on you, saying as someone who worked with the least, no one knows more about making the car buying cross or making the car buying process and the morel I where I think, and I believe that what's cool when you get when you see that, But she actually absolutely and it needs to be.
It's just it's because everything is stressful. Every moment of it is like
it doesn't always go the way. And with interest rates ashigh as they are
today, bar price is higher they've ever been. I mean, ask everything
that's out there. It's something that everybody has to make a little bit harder
decision on what are they going to sacrifice in some families cases, So we gotta make it fun for them so it doesn't feel like a sacrifice. It
feels like it's the best decision they could make, because at the end of the day, it is they need something reliable, They need people who care about them when they're purchasing it. If people could take care of them after
and they won't believe that unless you're taking care of them and having fun with them during. So experience experience, experience absolute. Heck, yeah, well,
at least this has been fun. And as every episode of the cardat
Coffee podcast has to go, we have to drop some f bombs. Okay,
let's do it. We drop the F bombs that don't offend the mombs.
Okay, we forgive, we focus, and we fly so we can keep growing all the time. To do that with us loud and proud,
we're gonna wipe off the way to und We're gonna focus and we're gonna fly.
We're gonna say loud and proud on three, Ready on three, say loud one two, three, forgive, focus, keep growing, keep growing.
That's right, everybody, thank you so much that you're going official car guys, car Guys. I'm lu Ramirez, the car Guy, and I'm
throwing our subprime hero. And you've been brewing solutions on the Car Guy Coffee
podcast. And we are at the headquarters of Drive Centric enjoying DC twenty three,
and we have been brewing solutions with the one, the only, at least Delaney. Thank you so much, solutions plenty people seeing you, sus
About this episode
Elyse Delaney, Internet Sales Manager at Frank Lita Honda, shares her insights on the benefits of using Drive Centric's CRM. She highlights the supportive culture at Drive Centric, which fosters employee engagement and enhances customer interactions. Elyse discusses her journey in the automotive industry, from starting as a receptionist to her current role, and emphasizes the importance of fun in the workplace. The episode also touches on the seamless integration of AI in customer service and the significance of creating memorable experiences for clients during the car buying process.
#DC20 Interbrew Series Part II feat. Elyse Delaney
Welcome to the #DC20 Interbrew Series recorded during our time at DriveCentric’s Headquarters during their DC2023 Event in St. Louis. This is series is packed with Dealers, Vendors, and Voices in our incredible industry that are committed to seeing the Upshift and Uplift that we are committed to brewing about! Featured in this episode is Elyse Delaney, the Internet Sales Manager at Frank Lita. She's a solutionary that comes caffeinated included! Enjoy, Let’s Brew!
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
This Brew is Brought to you by Our Proud Sponsors At: