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Live at Digital Dealer InterBrew Series feat. Joey Little by PureCars

Live at Digital Dealer InterBrew Series feat. Joey Little by PureCars

Car Guy Coffee Dec 27, 2023 27 min
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About this episode

Joey Little shares insights from his experiences in the automotive industry during a lively discussion at the Digital Dealer conference. He emphasizes the importance of accountability among dealership management and vendors, highlighting the need for effective communication and collaboration to enhance operations. Joey also draws parallels between racing and dealership dynamics, showcasing how teamwork and data-driven decisions can lead to success. The episode features engaging anecdotes about barbecue in Kansas City and the thrill of drag racing, making it a unique blend of automotive and culinary culture.

Topics: vendor accountability dealership management team dynamics data-driven decisions drag racing barbecue culture customer experience automotive technology
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Hello, and welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. This Digital Dealer interview
series is brought to you by our friends and partners at Pure Cars, then Q Team, m x S, Fixed Ops, Digital and one Data and Analytics at Drive Center. If you want more information or want to partner with
the group, go to Car Guy Coffee dot com. Let's crew, what's
going on? Car Guys and Cargaslet's mires. The car Guy is spread our
bro your brewing solutions at the Pure Cars booth. Over here at Digital Dealer
twenty twenty three, and we are having some fun and we are excited to have the one only Joe on the show. Welcome to the Joey bro.
Goosebumps. I don't know if it's from everybody staring, and you know,
we're having a good time. We're getting capital. We keep going right because
we are excited to be here. Because look around me, whether it's busy
or slow, there's some amazing technologies. There's some people out here who are
trying to change the way that we do automotive this and I love it.
We're here at the Pure Park booth and they are definitely innovators. I love
that the Chaine of Automnus even a better experience for their customers. And they're
doing a great job, and they are doing things not just outside of their own business, but they're doing it internally. They're helping their people become better
at what they be able to speak to the dealers. I know because I'm
in these meetings. I'm seeing the lead and I'm blown away by what's happening
to cars. But I know that it's happening everywhere. That voice is getting
better. I gotta tell everybody's watching this as somebody who's done this like fifteen
years ago, right and seeing the evolution of you guys just kicking ass still today, I've got to tell you that has been one of the best moving into seeing great things about the sponsor I've ever seen before blowing. I'm telling
you the endorsement was not an endorsement. It just went right in the and
that is what we call pfessionalism in this business right there. So yeah,
I'm glad that you know that that was great. Man, You sell without
selling, But it is true. You know. The last thing is true
too. It is there's so much that I think they just closed one because
of all this, right, So, I'm glad that they didn't. I
been busy here, but brother, it's an amazing opportunity to have you here.
I'm super excited. I appreciate it. We had cancer talk last year
for a little bit, and I'm glad that we're gonna have a little bit more. Let's talk about this issue, man, what's going on? What
brought you your condition? Your focus? One hundred percent holding my vendors account.
That was one hundred percent of why I'm here. I went from a
single store. I was on the vendor side forever Auto Alert in Solutions part
of that building before that decided to come over during right after COVID went over to a single store the number one lum dealership board the Missouri Kansas City area.
And then within two and a half three years we were we merged with the Taska Automotive group, Bob Taska and his family. It's been in their
lineage since his grandpa and his grandpa just let you guys know, the inventor of the say cobridge again, he's the one that brought it to forts support.
So yeah, up there out of Rhode Island, big northeast. But
here's a thing crazy, well, that's the information I'm gonna give you here in a little bit that I'm gonna surprise you guys with with what a part of my job that is a absolute dream job. And I tell you what
I do. But right now it's working with the task of group. With
our twenty eight stores now thirty one by the end of the year, went from seven stores about four years ago to now they're this big. Is I'm
out here to hold the vendors accountable because when we grow so fast, you get some sleepy dealer syndrome. Right, Dealers forget that they've signed up for
a product, the vendor stops trying to reach out to do their monthly calls, and they just sit there and let that mrr coming in every month.
So I'm just here to to make sure that we're not growing too fast or we forget about some of these products that and one that work amazingly well but on a hard end of the dealership that supporting it the way that we should be supporting. And two the ones that don't work that well, to be
able to explain to them why we're not use them anymore with data instead of an emotional you're not selling me any cars, right, so I'm out here pulling weeds and flowers. Yeah, at a great conversation with dealer dot com,
which handles all the websites, Hey Dealers, 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, advertised merchandise and manage those vehicles has made them one of the most sought after dealing partners in the market. They are one a hundred percent CGCE it proved and when you
visit them at BenQ dot com you'll see a whole hill of beans worth of reasons why TAVANQ. Let's prove or not an endorsement, I use a different
one, but just getting with them and saying, hey, listen, we need one throat to joke at the dealership level or group. We're gonna that's
what we're gonna focus with, so they don't have eighty five different tms for trying to talk to you. I mean, that's that's exactly how a business
needs to have. Somebody that's especially a positioned like you, that is managing
something so big for so many Everybody eats based off of these decisions that you need person and as you start to say, then, hey, listen, we have mouths to feed people that need to get stuff done. You have
customers that need to be served, and your product is supposed to help me.
Is it helping me the best that I'm asking you? Tell me how
to make it work the best, show me how to do it right.
It's putting everybody inside of the table to say, again, remember the mission we came here, and you're right. Sometimes we get so focused on getting
that next Still no different than a salesperson, a salesperson on the car.
I just sold the car. I'm not going to do the investment time it
takes to that customers be to keep my brand and all of that is still that little bit of that salesiness inside of so much of the business where it's the next sale, the next growth, the next chart we need to copy, these next metrics we create that we need to then master and builds upon it. But then it's still hey, remember me, I trust to you,
let's do it. There's a big hole in automotive retail, but I
believe it's there, and I buy myself that too. Your sales managers hold
your sales team of accountable. Right service manager holds your service writers accountable,
like the follow ups and make sure you're contact with that customer, let them know where their cars at in the service. The sales managers, how are
you doing your follow up? You're doing the retention that kind of stuff after
the sale, or you're still trying to get them back and they're pushing them, pushing them, pushing them. The general sales managers is testing the sales
managers making sure that they're staying accountable. The gms are doing the GSM.
But where we're at is who's holding the gms accountable for what they need to do and the relationships that they have with their SaaS vendors, software vendors.
If you're going to try to hold your BDC manager accountable for how Big Solutions or Drive Centric or any of your CRMs are working, your GM better be held con accountable too. You better be on those calls that they want to
have quarterly or monthly or whatever, not just your BDC manager. You see
what I'm saying, So Taska, because we've grown so fast, we want to have and I call this, I call my project the one throat to choke, right, You're gonna have the one throat to choke when it comes to our relationship with our websites, with our CRM, with our third party lead providers, with our even on our HR side of things like our hiring process and are onboarding, Like, there's got to be a one where the buckets passed so much in the dealership board when it comes to that upper management right, and it's a lot of points. Yeah, job, And you
know, we always gets plained to, always gets blamed the end of the vendor, and always because I want to say they're not doing what they need to do for that doesn't work. And the question very seldom gets turned back
around is are you working at death? Are you doing what he's And I
see I see it all across the country when we go away different dealerships in a lot of different situations. It's literally the fact that the leadership player is
not using the tools there at least they're not encouraging their staff to use.
They're holding them accountable, and the tools are actually easier to help them accountable.
So I don't understand the fixed up maybe because all I didn't need it.
When I to salesperson, I get that, But listen, folks, they do need it and they are there. Even if we had them when
I wasn't sales person, I would have used them. They would have made
our life better. It would have made it easier for me to connect with
people right and be able to do it continually with great notes that tell me exactly what we were talking about before. So I don't sound like I don't
remember that's relationships is with all this, but it all starts with the talk.
So I love what you're talking about. You you start talking about every
level leadership and even all the way up right, and as we know, a fish rosster is down. So if your leader or your general manager,
your owner, if they're not really growing and they're learning and they're implementing and holding people will also and themselves and they're really showing a way to other leaders.
That's why you start pay dealers, franchise and independent. We have some
great news for you and your number one sales pro your website partner with Team Mxcess, we had the ability to pull you out of that cookie cutter merry go round and help your website and body what it means to do business from the highest quality productions of the most optimization. We want to help you connect
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to hear from you. To the teams dot com back to the show.
The attitude of do as I stay, don't do as I do is it runs rampant right, and that happens a lot with management too, do as I say and not as I do when it comes to a sales process or how to agree to customer follow up. You know, we work in an
industry where on the sales side, to advance it's how well did you sell a car? When we know that sales managers have free jobs to train,
to motivate, and to recruit. Those are the three things, right.
It's not closing deals right. It's supposed to be those three things, but
we get it backwards and we put people that closers and the thirty car month people the twenty part. We put them in a management position, but they
don't know how to manage. They just know how to close the deal and
very well well. Once that sales manager what happened to them end up as
a GM one though, right, and so they did. We're lucky that
I'm lucky. My main store in Kansas City, Missouri. My general manager
is Terry Miller, who is the general manager at Galpinport. For twenty three
out of the twenty nine stories our years, they were number one in the world. And he's a do as I do and do as I say tech
guys. And with task it's the same way Bob task of the third,
who is all that everybody that I report you his named Pat right, it's a family business, and Bob past the third is the same way. But
in fact, Bob Tasker the third is actually our paid search manager. Right.
He's my guy that that talks to it consists. He's the one that
talk We talked to Google every week. He's in the trenches with me on
that. But I wanted to give you guys something else and me and Bob
task you together. I don't know if you guys have ever heard of the
n h R. All right, so National hot Rod Associations trasters, right,
Bob Taska is the owner of Taska Racing. When we drive the FOD
Performance Motorcrac Quicklaim nighttra a funny car with against ron caps, John Force pretty forces over in top Fueld. You ever see top fuel is give me a
top fuel is the big long bratchers of the big wheels. Back a little.
We're the funny cars, which is shorter, same eleven thousand plus forest power. We go zero to one hundred two point seven seconds. We go
this last weekend, we were in Dallas, Texas, et cetera, on record three hundred and thirty eight miles an hour, three hundred thirty eight point five I think thousand hour. We went one thousand feet. The night before
we set a track record in three point eight and two two three point eight seconds two thousand feet, right, so you're talking. I run media and
PR for our race team. And during the week Monday morning through Thursday Friday
afternoon, my dealer had on working with our digital marketing and all that.
But come Friday, Bob and I are meeting at the race track wherever we're at. We're gonna be in Vegas again. Next weekend, we're in a
Mona. After that. We're second in the world right now in points.
We meet and have our meetings there and then we put our racing hats on around noon on Friday, and then we blow some nitro thing and we three hundred and thirty miles an hour and under four seconds. I like to bring
that upca it is a dream job. I don't get my hands working.
Cool. Yeah, that's anybody that's played a video game dream you know what
I'm saying. Wow, And we want to put some guy talk. You
want to We want to see how we can help a little bit. That
we do have a drags that we do sponsor. H is here right in
there. We buy the fuel. Yeah, guy, coffee, you need
it to go. The fuel that we use is a little with the that's
different. We don't Yeah, yeah a little. Tony Stewart came from NASCAR
and Indy where he won the Indie whatever. But he's down as a team.
He's doing alcohol funny car or alcohol top fuel. His wife Leah Fruit
is a top fuel brackster. And then he's also watches Matt Hagan in our
classes. Tunny cart is number one. Right. Just just this is just
out of one to the last weekend in Dallas. There's more weeks, two
more left. We'll see how it goes. But it's the reason I say
that is I compare what we try to do at the dealership level with what we're doing in the pit, because we've got a we've got a vehicle, we've got you're talking a monster machine that comes in that we pull data off of. And then we've got our pit crew. Everybody knows their lane.
We've got a clutch guy, the isn't clutch guy, a bottom end, a body person all. And you watch these guys break the entire car down
and rebuild it thirty seven minutes, and you realize everybody knows their job.
They don't point fingers like we do with the dealerships with Google numbers wrong, who's supposed to change? But also those people they should we do it.
So we've got this idea in this philosophy of watching this crew. I know
my land. They don't mess with my lane and the media instead of our
press release, with our press conferences, and I don't mess with the clutch plays. We'll see a book way to look at you. Guys know it
from you. If you spats of drags, you've seen that they got to
come back, They got to break stuff down. They got to look and
see you make sure everything is sealed up, what's wanting? And you just
watched the poetry and motion of how it works. We just put that in
a dealership a processes and how it works. We know you're enjoying the show
so far. We just wanted to quickly remind you about our partners at fixed
Ops Digital and how they are Automotive's premier service marketing and technology company. Not
only croud sponsors of the Car Guy Coffee podcast, but they also served 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 to fixed ops Digital dot com. Back to the show, let's go.
Nobody's on this. We know that when the car comes back, we smoke
the tires three hundred feet. We know because the clutch put too much power
into the fire. The clutch, guys, I got it. That my
bad exactly. That's how well the machine should be running, how well that
you your team should be producing. Because when something's wrong, it's not a
pointing to figures, say hey, I'll take care of them. We'll make
sure this is good and then you get tell me too. Here's the here's
the thing, folks, there is no such thing as perfect. We all
know this already. So even if you're running a well oiled machine, you're
gonna have a you're gonna have a but like something, you're gonna have a head bust once time. Right, So that's okay. Just know that you
just got to make sure you mix it, make it a little bit stronger next time, and don't do the same signals to the last time. And
you're gonna be even better the next time. So keep pushing hard and keep
being stronger. Man. That was That's a great story. Joey over here,
you're like speaking our language. Poetry in motion is exactly what you're doing.
We are some metaphorical moving wordsmiths. And I love how you connected all
of that. That's exactly how we see so much inside of the businesses that
it is. You got to see it on a different angle than just the
art that it is. Let's take it one step deeper. Take one step
right, cut you off, but I'm gonna take one step deeper. This
is your show, bro, We love it. So let's say there's a
lot of factors that go into the car, and I'll tell you whether it's one of those. You have a tight track, you have a loose track.
It's a hot track, it's gonna be more slick, right because it's heat up, it's cold, it's gonna be tighter. Gotta make sure that
the clutch is gonna be putting that eleven thousand horse power to the wheels at the right time. I'll not track. It's hot, you don't want to
smoke the tires, but it's cold, you don't want to get the tires on top of each other. Right, So every time that this happens,
all data is put down. How much pressure was in the tires? What
was our pressure? We had seven point one, we had six point eight.
Where are our clutch plates set out? Where was it? I mean
gallons did we go through? We go through thirteen gallons a night, Sure
we're going through fifteen. And all of that is collected and it is observed
every time a new decision has day. So when you get into the same
type of situation where sixty eight degrees two o'clock in the afternoon on August whatever, you can go back and look at the data from the farm, and I think in dealerships we take that previous data and would throw it out the door because we're always focused on conquests. We're always focused on we look at
what we're doing. We're so more reactive. Yeah, we are reactive.
We're building. And if you get that in the tires, that every time
you blows up and we're not gonna make it, you don't show up to that line. And without a whole lot of preparation. It might be a
short amount of time. But just like the Kentucky Derby, right, it
might be the most exciting two minutes in sports, but so much goes in those two minutes of training, of growth, of time, of experience, and many hands have something to do with that thorough bread doing it racing across a tracked the derby or a track on a drag strip, and every one of those hands knew their role, and every one of those hands stayed in their lane and focused on what they are were hired to perfect and when they were great, and so they didn't drift out. I don't have I don't
have a plus clutch by Paul Fox Sports. One set up a press conference
or whatever when we have a record setting thing. That's what I do.
I don't go try to judge out these plus plates. Even if he's got
to go take a lead or something. I don't step in. That's his
world. That's out of it. But I take accountability for what I need
to do and I get my stuff done now. Now, if they call
me over say hey man, Joe, you need to hold this rate, I'm stepping in and I'm going to assist. But I'm not gonna be in
his way every time. That's his world and that's their ballet. It's my
ballet, and it's Bob is the same way. Bob. He doesn't work
on the car and it's got to be tough for him because he's got to drive it, but he steps back. Let him do their jobs. Quick
question. Do you know what smart Pixel two point zero, Location IQ and
Audience IQ have in common? You know, I do. They are solutions
that are friends and proud sponsors and when data and analytics are brewing for automotive and the odds. Once again, you're right, my friend, and we
want to invite all of our audience to go to and 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 hip data dot com. Let's
brew. Come on now, back to the show train right and you get
your team flowing and having that since follow up whatever it is, let them do their job. But if they're struggling, it's not a training, it's
not or accountability. This is an incredible brew that you're getting right now.
Make sure that you in comment that you do share that you're yourwind. Listen
again, pay attention to some great stuff that's going to put out here, and we want to make sure that we squeezee what's value out at this moment as possible because like you said, we've got to stay our lane, right, We've got to stay our lane folks when we're trying to figure out what we're doing in the middle of the day. Y'all sales people know what's up.
Everybody's asking us for lunch. You're ever gonna be inside of kids the
city, right. You need to know your barbecue. You need to know
where to go. So we got an authority that is from the city that
you probably need to get you get your taste, but lit up. But
there is an incredible science and art to the barbecue as well. If they're
going through the Kansas City, we need to go. He rattled off so
many names, so quick to me. But for those that want to know,
and they're gonna go one day and they watch the show, which should they go to? What you're feeling at the time, okay, and what's
just the high level of what I would recommend be the ultimate barbecue lunch to have in Kansas City. And I gotta go with the old school Arthur Bryant,
and I gotta go. This is what you order. You did the
burnings, I'm done, cancer is what is Kansas City? Burns is the
ends of the first day. All the reference to this peat candy done.
You don't need the fun, but just the top it. And then you
get the stake price and I've gotta tell you the krim Dela crime that makes it all. The barbecue is amazing, but you gotta get the big red
cream soda to go with the burnings en bun French fries or steak fries and the red cream soda and part of Bryants. If you want to go a
little bit, I could take you down a little bit more. You want
to go a little bit more sosisticated. Then you go to Joe's. Joe's
Kansas City. It has always been voted the number one barbecue restaurant in Kansas
City. It's over on the Kansas side, but we don't really hold that
against them too much. They have a c Man, which is barbecue brisket's
got an onion ring, melted proba and cheese. And then of course Can
City we're known for that that molasses thick, sweet red barbecue sauce, and the Man is probably the most most popular product. But last week at least
you were talking about the place that you saw your stuff, which is Jack Sacks, as I call the peaky alt barbecue in there. Oh yeah,
yeah, it's hit down. It's not like it's the Bryanton Gates. If
you walk into Gates side note, you walk into Gates, got to middle aged black lady to help you. Okay, does you gotta get the same
spotter At Gates they kill it on the ribs. But Jack Stacks it's the
King, the prime kid King rib. I think it's I can't really,
but it's a prime rib that they'd smoke. It's still on the bone,
so you're getting it's a cow smote prime rib on the bone. It's a
different flavor than when you get regular prime rib with the shoe and all this.
Absolutely, if you're on a first date and you're hoping to get a little nooky on that first date, you go there to win. Guarantee.
If you're a woman and your definitely you're gonna close the gay with whenever you ask those are those are the spots that I would say to go to.
Cannot sleep on the red cream soda. We're from Kentucky, Big red is
the thing out there, so yeah, yeah, yeah, I read about a man Joey talking back we go racing. Do I think my lot is
rating nuggets and great gems for you guys? Take you to speak fun and
how do people get ahold of you? They want to learn more about my
only fans is I got one, But it's not what you would think.
I didn't realize it was used for what a lot of people need. I
was like, I just put my writings on it. It's just really easy.
You can find me TikTok middle aged superhero and then anywhere out there you just look for Joey Little, You're gonna find me anywhere and everywhere. There's
not a whole lot of forty eight year old men named Joey Little, But you're gonna be a Joey a Taska dot com. I don't know what if
you're in my any of my markets, I'm not going to give you any information on any cards or be more efficient and you're fixed. Ops. I
will not do that. If you're talking about the barbecue, I will tell
you this. I gotta give you a disclaimer here, being from kans City
and everybody else from Kancity, you were gonna if you have friends from Kancity, they're absolutely gonna disagree with what I just said. There's gonna be because
there are so many barbecues. Problem, great problem. Yeah, but they
will say, well he said the Bronx opens, or can't say jail, oh no, our jays, oh no l J. I didn't have a
consistent answer when I asked the public. Yeah, I've rattled. They rattled
off a whole bunch of other things. Yeah, the same, and it
didn't make the search any easier. But my boy Drew Black, Drew Blacks
here with the other teamwork. He's from Kansa City. He'll tell you I
forget to push it over in case he'll be a whole different restaurant. Yeah,
I appreciate it would be a good Nervey. We gotta go to the
Kansas City and go around and streetom of interviews and make sure we ask you before you let me go. Do you guys know the four pinnical areas of
barbecue in the country just before you so you can do your travels right, You can do it all right. So you've got Kansas City, right,
You've got Memphis, Tennessee. Memphis is in the barbecue Sagetty at Jimillis State
Barbecue. Absolutely sounds gross, but it's actually beautiful. You've got Texas no
song, that's that's your third and then your fourth is over. You know
the Carolina right, that's your main for you hit those first and then you can hit the secondaries like Alabama has a white sauce, like a white barbacue sauce and make it a right. That was really surprised that I enjoyed it.
It was just a little bit different, but still get that little bit of that barbie. Yeah, Kentucky's that great barbecue. Yeah, JP Miller
that said Miller Ford taking me out for some barking Kentucky blew my mind, Si Lois bo Yeah that's where did you go where you can't remember? You?
Look at my sister. I saved every one of I remember what because
the moment mixed up because I'd also been with David Kane took some one was near the It was a Louisville slugger. Apologize for on my Google list.
I'm thankful for Louisville there. Starting to get we're starting to know you guys
are in over there too, you know. But no, that's uh,
it's awesome again, been such a flavorful conversation everybody so much that's been in this group, and take a look at it, listen again, enjoy it.
But we got to make sure that they finish this off the right way because no matter what's going on with the vendors, what they're doing, what they're not doing, you're sitting in front of them and you're saying, hey, let's build on this relationship or let's fly away from the relationship. Either
way, no harm, no foul, We forgive, we focus, and we fly and we can keep growing. So help us out real quick,
because we're gonna sound off as we end this interview hands on the shoulders with me and we're gonna forgive, focused on three one two three, forgive, keep and keep growing. Thanks you so much everybody for tuning in and watching.
We are still having fun here in Vegas, and there's a lot of good food around here too, and we got to go get us some of that. So with that said, everybody, and I am Vermirez, the
Car Guy, I'm Thrill and ourself. From here early we've been re excution
to the Car Guy Coffee podcast with the One, the Only Joe. Thank
you again, into all the s

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