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From the Sales Floor to the GM’s Chair: Her $1M Kia Journey (And What It Took) | Lauren WIlson Reeves, General Manager of Wilson Kia
From the Sales Floor to the GM’s Chair: Her $1M Kia Journey (And What It Took) | Lauren WIlson Reeves, General Manager of Wilson Kia
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About this episode
Lauren Wilson-Reeves, the general manager of Wilson Kia, shares her inspiring journey from being a hesitant car salesperson to leading a successful dealership. At just 36, she emphasizes the importance of empowering women in the automotive industry and discusses the unique advantages women bring to sales roles. Lauren reflects on her hands-on experience in every dealership department, her successful turnaround of struggling stores, and her commitment to fostering a positive workplace culture. This episode highlights the challenges and triumphs of balancing a demanding career with motherhood, offering valuable insights for aspiring automotive leaders.
Topics:
women in automotive
dealership culture
career growth
sales strategies
work-life balance
turnaround success
mentorship
customer relationships
Today I’m joined by Lauren Wilson Reeves, GM at Wilson Kia. We discuss her path from plastic surgery technician to high-powered GM, the untapped potential of having more women on the sales floor, how her open-door leadership bridges the gap between employees and executives, and more.
This episode is brought to you by:
1. Cox Automotive - Omnichannel isn’t a buzzword anymore—it’s the playbook winning dealers are running. In a world where the buyer journey is more fragmented than ever, the most successful dealers are connecting the dots—online, in-store, and everywhere in between. The result? Smoother deals, faster turnarounds, and serious lift at the bottom line. Nearly 80% of omnichannel dealers are seeing higher close rates, and you can too. Want in? The Omnichannel Dealership—a new guide from Cox Automotive—breaks it all down. Click the link in the show notes below to download it now free @ https://www.coxautoinc.com/retail/omnichannel-dealership
2. DLRdmv – Dealers, are you still stuck using outdated interstate titling methods? DLR50 from DLRdmv modernizes out‑of‑state titling by providing 24/7 sales tax, title, and registration fees, pre‑populated state-specific forms, through an online platform that directly integrates with your DMS. CDG listeners get 30 days of free full-service access to DLR50 on unlimited out-of-state deals. Head over to http://www.DLRdmv.com/CDG, use code POD30 to claim your free month today.
3. Nomad Content Studio - Most dealers still fumble social—posting dry inventory pics or handing it off without a plan. Meanwhile, the store down the street is racking up millions of views and selling / buying cars using video. That’s where Nomad Content Studio comes in. We train your own videographer, direct what to shoot, and handle strategy, to posting, to feedback. Want in with the team behind George Saliba, EV Auto, and top auto groups? Book a call at http://www.trynomad.co
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Topics:
00:23 How balance family and business?
01:06 Current business challenges?
01:58 Why enter car business?
05:33 Best turnaround success story?
06:48 Women in auto industry?
12:38 Motherhood and career balance?
15:12 Earning family business respect?
22:17 Advice for women in auto?
26:52 Building positive work culture?
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Car
Jeep Grand
"... I went out there, and I sold a car. And it was a Jeep Grand Cherokee. It was white."
Car
Kia Soul
"...ey'll tell me, you know, hey, I still have my Kia Soul and I absolutely love it. Since I've been in serv..."
How balance family and business?
Current business challenges?
Why enter car business?
Best turnaround success story?
Women in auto industry?
Motherhood and career balance?
Earning family business respect?
Advice for women in auto?
Building positive work culture?
Select text to request an explanation
I remember looking at him and going, I can't sell a car.
He goes, sure you can.
And I said, are you sure?
And he said, can't never could do nothing, Lauren.
And I said, all right.
So I went out there, and I sold a car.
And it was a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
It was white.
I will never forget it.
Today, I'm joined by Lauren Wilson-Reeves,
general manager of Wilson Kia.
At just 35 years old, she's one of the youngest female GMs
in the industry, bringing a fresh results-driven perspective
to dealership leadership.
Her mission?
To shine a spotlight on one of retail automotive's biggest
untapped opportunities, empowering more women
on the sales floor.
A big thank you to our sponsors for making today's episode
possible, Cox Automotive, Dealer DMV, and Nomad Content
Studio.
And now, let's get into the show.
Lauren Wilson-Reeves on the CDG podcast.
Lauren, welcome.
Thank you.
Thank you so much for having me today.
Great to have you on.
Where are you calling from?
What state do you say you're in?
Brain in Mississippi.
Nice.
How's the car business down there?
It's going good.
It's going good.
We really like the summer months.
It's real warm here.
Yeah, I bet.
I've never been there.
I'd love to explore one day.
But now, and I know, I read on your onboarding forum
one of the things you noted, which I liked.
And while I wanted to discuss it was that you wrote,
it is possible to run a dealership and be a mom.
So I'm going to want to ask you about that.
But I find myself with travel, with three kids,
it's definitely gotten a lot more logistically difficult.
So I don't know when I'll make it down there,
but hopefully at some point.
Traveling with three kids is a whirlwind.
For sure, I saw something that said,
you're not going on vacation.
You're just parenting in a different state.
It's 100% true.
It's more difficult, no doubt.
I know.
How's Biz?
How's Biz?
Well, I should state your GM,
the general manager at Wilson-Kia,
third-gen dealer, your father is dealer principal,
grandfather also had a dealership.
How's Biz in Wilson-Kia, Mississippi?
Well, it's been good.
Business has been good.
This year has been really good.
Last year was really good.
June was a little iffy.
June was a little different.
They just changed all of our schooling around here.
All of the public schools just went to year-round school.
And so I think some of the calendar with that
threw us off a little bit.
Time-wise, people took their vacations early
instead of later because all of the kids
started back school, I guess last week,
so the beginning of last week, so the end of July.
Interesting, I haven't heard that.
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
You are, you're a young leader in this industry.
You are really up-and-coming
and growing within the dealership specifically.
Would love to know about getting into the industry,
getting into the business, what it was like, right?
Selling cars early on.
Just give us your background and your story.
Sure, absolutely.
I'm 36.
I did not always want to be in the car business.
I actually never planned to be in the car business.
Famous last words.
Famous last words, that's right.
And then once you're in, it drags you in
and you can never get out.
So, but I had absolutely no plans
of being in the car business.
When I got into the car business,
I was actually working for a plastic surgeon
as his technician.
So I got my bachelor's degree in business
and my dad asked me, you know,
hey, do you want to come into the dealership?
I'd really love to have a family member in the dealership.
And I was like, let me think about it.
Do you want to fix noses or do you want to replace engines?
I know which one I pick.
I was like, let me think about it.
I grew up working in the stores
all throughout high school, college, during the summers.
You know, I would work in the service department
as the cashier and the accounting department
filing things and helping that way.
But I never envisioned myself being here full-time.
And it has been quite the ride.
And you know, once they say, once you get in,
you can't get out.
And people who get out typically come back
because it's just such a different world.
And it's so fun.
And you literally learn something new every single day.
And every day you're like, you know,
something changes every day.
It's never the same thing every single day.
Yeah, I mean, look, but you're also not just
in the car business.
You're, I mean, you're running the store.
You're the GM of the store.
And so from someone that didn't want to even be
in the business now as you've grown,
what has that been like for you?
What did you actually start doing
early on in the business?
What was the first role you took
and how did you scale that?
So when I started in the car business
at the dealership, I started in 2013.
And my dad did a really good job
of having me go through every single department.
So he wanted me to learn every single department,
parts, service, selling cars, BDC.
I've held every single title
in the dealership, internet manager.
And I really feel like that has helped me a whole lot.
I spent a lot of time in service
and really, really enjoy service.
I know a lot of GMs typically don't have
the service background and they're more
on the sales background,
but he did a really good job of bringing me up
and letting me learn the whole house all around.
So I spent at least six months in every department
or until I hit my objective
and then I moved to a new department.
Now I spent more time in service
probably than any other department
because we had a Hyundai store and a Kia store.
And so I would bounce back and forth
between the Hyundai store and the Kia store
depending on the need that we needed at that point in time.
In 2018, I got promoted to general manager
and was general manager of our Hyundai store
and was at the Hyundai store until 2022
and then took over our Kia store.
Now, can you tell me a little bit
about your performance throughout?
I know you've also been involved in some turnarounds
and so I would love to understand
like what does that mean to you?
What did, like what these turnarounds were?
Like any details there?
Yeah, absolutely.
So our Hyundai store, we had two Hyundai stores
and they were about 14 miles apart.
And the store that I took over in 2018
was not performing well
and it had not ever performed well.
And I was able to within about 15 months
have that store making a profit every month
and really grew a team
and grew the store that had always been
the store that struggled.
So it was really beautiful to see something
that had always struggled
turn into something that no longer struggled.
You know, that store was really
where I spent the majority of my time.
And I think getting to know all of those employees
and then being able to help them grow
and grow alongside them really helped that store.
Okay, I do wanna understand a little deeper here
but I wanna take a quick aside on,
you had mentioned before we started recording
your early days with selling cars
and specifically you said,
you know, it was you were good at it
and you said that being a woman
was actually very advantageous to you.
I wonder, can you tell us more about that?
I think many listening can, you know,
test that that typically women that are in sales
do very well, right?
That's a generalization
but I can tell you from my experience,
you know, the women I worked with
that were in sales did very well.
And there's not many of them
but the ones that are there typically perform well.
So what's your take on that, right?
It seems like you experienced that too
but like just give us your perspective.
So my perspective on that is women do have the ability
to do very, very well in the car business.
And I think that, you know, that's not a well-known fact.
Like you said, you know, there's not a lot of us
that are in the car business that are females
but when someone gets in and they dig their heels in
and they're a female, they can really, really succeed.
One of my top sales people here,
she sells 18 to 20 cars a month.
She's been with me for six years.
And for customers, I feel like they really like that
because the car business has gotten such a bad stigma
for so many years that, you know, we're just here
to get over on people or, you know,
whatever their perception is of us.
And so I think finding a female in that position
has really, you know, helped customers.
I know that I have customers reach out to me every week
for, you know, advice on vehicles, things like that.
What I think would work best for their car seat setup.
What I think would work best for the amount of children
they have.
You know, do they need a minivan?
You know, Willa, you know, Willamids has SUV work.
Things like that that I feel like there's not
or before the past few years,
there haven't been a ton of resources
on those types of things.
I really also being younger when I started out,
you know, Facebook was really up and coming.
And I sold a bunch of cars off Facebook.
Truly I didn't touch a ton of leads.
And so I generated a lot of my own leads
from Facebook posts and pictures of, you know,
fresh trades that we got in and things like that,
customers coming in and taking a look at them.
So I think that, you know, being able to be a female
really does give you a different perspective
that most people don't look at,
especially if you have kids, right?
So if I asked you, you know, how many cars,
can I do three across and a tell your ride?
Can you answer me that question?
I'd go right to the car mom.
That's my solution.
That's right.
I love Kelly.
I'm a Kelly follower.
So, you know, things like that.
And she has really done a fabulous job at that.
I've watched her since she had, I think,
I started following her when she had 1,400 followers
on Instagram and-
Oh wow, you're early.
Early adopter.
Yeah, it's been great.
She has been such a great resource
and I send people to her constantly.
But, you know, things like that, you know,
in informing women that they can be successful
in this business, right?
This episode is brought to you by Cox Automotive.
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It's the playbook winning dealers are running.
In a world where the buyer journey
is more fragmented than ever,
the most successful dealers are connecting the dots
online, in store and everywhere in between.
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and a serious lift at the bottom line.
Nearly 80% of OmniChannel dealers
are seeing higher close rates and you can too.
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a new guide from Cox Automotive, breaks it all down.
Click the link in the show notes below
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So, if you're like,
if you're a man right now listening, right?
You're a GM, a dealer principal, whatever.
And you're saying, okay,
let's put all the feelings aside for a second.
Let's talk business, right?
It's the Car Dealership Guy podcast
at the end of the day.
It sounds like, and I agree,
that it's in my financial incentive
to have women on my team, right?
Like, period, let's put all the ideological stuff.
Like, it's in my financial incentive.
What would you say, like,
what's the best way to attract women to my team, right?
Like, as a male, how would you do that, right?
Because I feel like there's just an embedded advantage
if you are a woman to attract other women, right?
It's like, I am the living proof of what can be done here.
And so typically you see, you know,
if there's a, you know, more female leadership,
you also see more female team members.
Now, the alternative point of view here
could just be maybe that they're putting
more of an emphasis on it.
And I would argue that it's both.
I put it, you know.
But like, how would you attract?
Like, how would you show,
how would you, the experience you're living, right?
And you are clearly a big believer in the car business.
Like, how do you attract more women into this industry?
I think that it is absolutely
in every general manager's best interest
to have some female salespeople.
And not all females make good salespeople.
You know, some are really good
and some of them aren't.
I would encourage you to, you know,
really see how they would fit on your team.
And, you know, take a look at your sales team
and go, okay, well, you know,
do we have someone that caters
to all of the different types of people that we will see?
And use that as a basis for it.
So you're saying, look at it in like a general sense
of like, what traits are you missing on your team?
Like almost holistically, less so independent.
You're saying, does this compliment my team?
You know, my philosophy is like, I don't care
about gender, I can care less about that.
But I think that it is an interesting question, right?
When you think about overall business
and the opportunity there and that you bring it up, right?
You are your exhibit A of success in that sense.
And so I do think it's an interesting question of,
you know, again, going back to your earlier comment,
it is possible to run a dealership and be a mom, right?
Why did you, I'm curious, why did you write that?
Like, what does that mean to you
when you say it's possible to run a dealership?
Just tell us a little bit about like your lifestyle
and why that came to mind.
I think that a lot of people believe
that it's one or the other, right?
I can either be a mom to my kids
or have my career, I can't have both.
And what I wanted people to know is you can do both
and you can be good at both, right?
Yeah, there's, you know, there's constraints
on both ends, right?
There's things that you might miss out on
because you've got to be at work.
Holidays, an example, you know,
when your kids are out of school,
you got somebody to watch them
so you can come to the dealership, things like that.
You know, but on the other end,
you know, you're able to show your children,
you know, what hard work looks like
and what putting in all of that time
and blood, sweat and tears, you know,
what beautiful comes from that.
I do agree with that.
I think my, I know my wife talks a lot about, you know,
providing like an example of work ethic to the kids
and not, you know, from the father and mother perspective.
I do think that's really important, right?
Because, you know, at least in my household, right?
I'm, you know, the very like heavy career oriented person,
clearly kind of doing what I'm doing,
but that is a conversation we've had, right?
It's like, you know, I have two daughters, right?
And to kind of set that example of, you know,
what you can do and what you can be.
I think it's really, really important.
So didn't expect us to get into this corner
of the conversation, but I dig it.
You never know when the conversation will take you.
So tell me more.
So I do want to understand a little bit better
about like how, again, how you've grown
in the dealer group or at least, you know,
if you said from Hyundai to Kia, right?
That experience, again, you are,
you are the dealer principal's daughter
and haven't come from a different industry, right?
What was that experience like for you, right?
Did it take you time to earn respect?
Like, just give us the behind the scenes
of what it was like, right?
You did tell us you were in every single department,
but just kind of growing through the dealership.
Like, what was that like for you on a personal level?
I think being a dealer's kid,
you absolutely have to earn respect.
And I never wanted to be looked at as that, right?
I wanted to be looked at just like everybody else.
Yeah, my dad owns the dealership,
but he expects just as much,
if not more from me than anybody else on the team.
And that's really how I wanted to be.
I wanted to, you know, I wanted to earn my title
and, you know, have respect from my coworkers,
my peers that eventually would be, you know,
my team members under me.
And that was very important for me.
Now, when I first started in the car business
and I was like, you know, it is a change
from what I was doing, I was like,
he was like, you have to go out here and sell cars.
And I was like, whew, I gotta sell a car?
Okay.
I was like, I can't sell a car.
I remember looking at him going, I can't sell a car.
And he goes, sure you can.
And I said, are you sure?
And he said, can't never could do nothing more.
And I said, all right.
So I went out there and I sold a car
and it was a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
It was white, I will never forget it.
And I remember walking out and going, okay,
well, I've done all of my Hyundai tests.
So like, I know all of my Hyundai information,
but gosh, they picked a used car.
Okay.
I got this, I got this.
And I remember being so nervous for that first purchase.
And then I did it.
And after you did it, there is just this fire
that is lit under you.
And you're like, I can do that again.
That was fun, right?
And that's why I always tell people
whenever I interview them is selling cars is so much fun.
And the first time you do it, you're a little nervous
because you're worried that you might not have the answer
to every single question that the customer is gonna ask you.
But the biggest thing that I tell them
is the most important thing is the sell of yourself, right?
So the customer comes into the dealership
because they can't go any further, right?
Unless they go through carbon.
Okay.
But in the state of Mississippi,
people don't buy many cars from carbon.
That's just not a big thing down here.
So if you can build rapport with your customer,
you've won half the battle, right?
Because they want to come into the dealership
and just make sure that they are making the right decision.
They want to come in and have a good experience
and say, okay, this is a place that I wanna come back to.
These are people who treated me
like they would treat their family members.
And seeing customers over the years
and all of the different aspects of the dealership
that I've been in has been a really cool thing.
So while it was quite the baptism by fire method
at the beginning,
it was definitely something that I clung too fast.
I did have a sales background.
I used to sell in college.
I sold clothes and things like that on eBay.
Actually, I sold a bunch of stuff on eBay
before I got into the car business.
So I've always had a sales personality.
I've always been able to talk to people.
I've always liked customers.
I have a really good memory.
I can remember a customer who bought a car or two years ago.
They'll walk in the dealership.
I can call them my name
and tell you exactly what they bought.
So I have a very, very photographic memory.
And I think that that has really helped me
and helped the dealership.
When salespeople talk about a customer,
I know who they're talking about, right?
I'm gonna remember the conversation we had.
But tell me about,
so you clearly had an upbringing
on the sales side and variable.
You mentioned earlier, you're very comfortable with fixed.
How did that come to be?
Like what is that?
How did that happen?
So I was in sales and then I went to the BDC
and became the internet director
and my dad told me,
you need to go to service.
You're going to service.
And I was like, oh, I don't wanna go to service.
Good old service.
I don't wanna go to service.
He said, you're going to service.
I said, okay, yes, sir, I'll go to service.
So I was a service advisor for probably a year and a half.
And then I became the service manager.
And I really love service.
I really do.
And I know that not everybody loves service,
but I love the relationship that you get to cultivate
with that customer.
And it's fun.
There's no downtime.
You're running around all day long
and it just makes the day go by so fast.
I love, you know, getting people,
getting to see people come back with their vehicles
after they bought them, people name their cars.
They love their cars, right?
And they'll come back and they'll tell me, you know,
hey, I still have my Kia Soul and I absolutely love it.
Since I've been in service,
has always been the department I've probably liked the most.
Did you ever turn munches?
Did you ever turn munches?
I did not.
That is the one thing I did not do.
I cannot fix your car, unfortunately.
Do have a lot of knowledge about fixing the cars,
but you don't want me turning a wrench on your vehicle.
Now, I don't have a warrant.
No problem, but.
And when you say you have lots of knowledge,
I mean, did you just get that from being an advisor
or like, where did you pick up on the knowledge?
Yeah, being an advisor.
Absolutely, that is where I learned all of, you know,
all of the knowledge of all of the different, you know,
maintenance plans, recommended services, things like that.
I also went through NCM school.
So my dad is big on training.
And so he sent all of us in the dealership to NCM school.
So I've been through their GMEP program,
as well as every single training that they offer.
So I've been through the service classes, the parts classes,
and really, really recommend that program to people
because you really learn a lot
when you're taken out of the dealership for a week
and are able to see the behind the scenes
and the numbers and the notes and bolts of it.
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You're also on, you're in the state
on the Mississippi State Dealer Association
from not mistaken, right on the board.
I am.
Can you tell us about that?
I mean, how did that come to be?
Why did you decide to embark on that journey?
Sure.
I've been on the MADA board for two years now
and absolutely love it.
Our MADA board is so important.
Our head of the MADA board, Marty Milstead,
is a fabulous human being.
I can pick up the phone and call him
for anything I need at any moment.
And they really go to bat for us.
So serving on their board has been very rewarding for me.
I've really, really enjoyed it.
And getting to see, you know, some of the political stuff
that goes on behind the scenes
that I wouldn't have seen otherwise.
So that's been really cool.
All right.
So what's your advice, Lauren, overall?
Like, you know, for other women in this industry,
when you think about advancing in this business,
and what advice would you give to anyone listening?
I mean, it's no different than being a male, right?
We're all measured by our performance.
And so my advice would be, hit your performance metrics.
Perform.
Yeah, perform.
Do, you know, hit the numbers.
And, you know, at the end of the day,
you know, all dealerships, you know,
we care about the numbers, right?
So that's what we're measured by.
It's a metatocracy, baby.
That's right. That's it.
That's the bread and the butter.
Well, and what about you personally?
Like, what challenges are you facing nowadays?
Like, how are you allocating your time?
Just give us, you know, a couple things
that are really top of mind for you today at the store.
Okay.
I like to smile.
That means there's lots to unpack.
Yeah.
The day to day here is very busy.
So, you know, I, right now, we're still,
we just came out a month in close.
So I spent some time in accounting today
and going over a month in close with them.
We held our sales meeting at 8.30 this morning.
Every morning we have a sales meeting,
save the deal meeting,
like I'm sure most dealerships do.
My time is allocated to, you know,
I have vendor calls every day, usually.
I help out in the service department a lot.
So, you know, serve with what?
Like customer, customer issues
or just like problem solving?
I would say problem solving.
I've really tried to help train them
back in the service department.
I, you know, I loved being a service advisor
and being a service advisor, you know,
sometimes you're thrown in there, right?
No different than on the sales side.
You know, if you're busy
and you just hired a bunch of people
and, you know, right now we just hired
a decent amount of green sales people.
And so that right there is taking up
some of my time, but it's very important
that you really grasp onto these people
and show them the ropes and the processes
and the procedures.
And I tell everybody, you know,
we're going to show you the process
and if you'll follow the process,
you will be successful.
And we have a, my dad has cultivated a 10 step plan
on the sales side and service side.
Everybody's got the same 10 step plan on the sales side,
but on the service side as well.
And, you know, just-
What is that, Lauren?
What do you mean by 10 step plan?
The 10 steps to the sale on the sales side,
I feel like everybody has some variation.
Oh, you got it.
Okay, but what about on the service side?
The service side is a little different.
So we want to greet the customer in the service lane.
We want to get the hood up on their vehicle,
walk around the vehicle and make sure
notate any type of things that we see.
We want to state the customer's name,
state the item that they're coming in for that day,
show them any factory recommended maintenance that they have,
tell them we're going to look and make sure
they don't have any open recalls that need to be attended to.
And then we're going to give them a promise time.
We're going to ask them if they would like
to be transported somewhere,
if they were going to wait on the vehicle.
And then the service advisor's going to
write up the repair order
and dispatch it to the technician.
So pretty much the same type of process
that I feel like every dealership has.
And then after that, we really want an active delivery
with the customer.
We want to walk the customer to the vehicle
instead of just throwing the keys at them.
I really don't like when we throw keys at customers.
Customers really like for you to have
their undivided attention.
And I feel like that's very important.
Lauren, what would you say has been
like the most meaningful change you've made at the store?
Right?
Like what enhancement improvement?
You bring this like distinct touch.
I'm curious how you would,
what you think has simply been one of the most
incremental changes you've personally made,
change or changes really.
I want to understand like if I came to that store,
how do I know, how do I feel your touch that,
you know, you've cemented your touch at that store, right?
I'd say the culture.
I'd say the culture.
You know, we all, I feel like-
I need to know more than that though.
What do you mean by the culture?
I know, but I feel like,
I feel like our employees really like to come to work.
Why?
Because we're all a family.
And I know that sounds kind of, you know-
So what if you have to fire someone tomorrow?
Are they still family?
Oh, yeah.
But I mean, you know, that happens every day.
You know, that happens, you know, people-
So you're not a family, you're a team.
We're a team, yeah.
But I feel like, you know,
I feel like the culture in this store,
I feel like that's one thing I've done very well,
is that the culture in the store,
you know, employees really like to be here.
I have an open door policy.
I had to lock my door for this
so that they don't come in here.
I'm dead serious.
I'm dead serious.
So I have an open door policy.
I'm always here.
They know they can come to me with anything.
They can come to me with, you know,
a simple question, you know,
something that they're having trouble with,
things like that.
And I think that that is really,
I think that is really the monumental change,
is that having an open door policy as a GM,
yes, I have all of these other things
that I have to tend to,
but employees knowing that they're valuable
and that we care to see them succeed
and care to answer their questions
and not, you know, get on to them
for asking questions, things like that.
I feel like has really been a monumental change.
They, I'm not off limits to them, right?
Like I don't sit in this-
You're approachable.
I'm approachable.
And I don't sit in a glass office or, you know,
with, you know, no one's going in there kind of thing.
I mean, I locked the door
and they've come and stowed the door a couple of times.
So, you know, I feel like having an open door policy
as a GM is really different.
I've seen, you know, along the way,
GMs that were less approachable.
And I think that that is something
that is very, very important
and really can change, you know,
the way the dealership is ran.
You know, just know, your people knowing
that you're gonna help them
and you're here to help them succeed
and they're not on their own.
Do you see a world
where you'd wanna get your kids into the business?
I do.
I do.
I wish that, I do wish that my oldest son,
I have a 14 year old, a three year old
and a five month old baby.
So, we redo button here a lot.
I'm tired, but I'm...
Yeah, I gotta ask, like,
how are you managing with the five-month-old?
I mean, that sounds brutal.
I'm worn out.
You're doing what you're doing.
I'm worn out.
But, you know, it's great.
It's, you know, it's fun and life's busy
and three kids is chaos, no doubt.
Two is way more manageable.
You both have two hands.
You throw in the third word and you're like,
I don't have enough hands.
But I do want my children to one day want to be
in the dealership.
My oldest, he'll be 14 in November.
And next year I'd like for him to start, you know,
washing cars, learning how to change.
Oh, things like that.
You know, my dad did a very good job
of teaching us a work ethic
and having us involved in the dealership
when we were teenagers.
And I think that while I didn't, you know,
come out of college going,
I don't wanna go into the car business.
I think that, you know, laying that groundwork
definitely, definitely laid the path for that.
Well said.
Lauren Wilson Reeves,
thanks for coming on the CDG podcast
from Wilson Kia.
Keep it up, keep pushing.
And, you know, I know you have a five month old.
So I wish you all the strength in the world.
We have three under five.
So I know all about young babies in the household
and, you know, lacking sleep,
but stay strong.
You got this.
Lauren, thanks for coming on.
This was awesome.
Thanks for having me.
All right, hope you enjoyed that episode.
Please give the podcast a rating,
consider subscribing to the show
and check the show notes for links
to what we talked about.
Thanks for tuning in.
I'll see you guys next time.
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