“The independent and franchised dealers are a voice that needs to be unified so we can make the changes needed within the automotive industry.” -Charity Ann
In this episode, Troy Scheer and Jared Halsted talk about their experiences in the automobile industry, perceptions about the used car market, and the upcoming NIADA convention from June 19-22, and learn more about how to improve and elevate the automobile industry. Don’t forget to download the NIADA mobile app to plan your schedule and make the most of the convention.
Keywords: NIADA convention, automobile industry, used car market, independent dealers, mobile app, early bird discount.
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⏰ Highlights:
00:00 Introduction
00:45 Secret Shopping
09:14 You’re Paying Someone to Lose Your Money!
14:40 Jared Halsted with NIADA
18:00 NIADA Presidents Council
20:00 Troy Scheer with NIADA
27:00 NIADA Convention
28:20 Ignorance is Not an Excuse in the Eyes of the Law
38:00 Independent Dealer-Specific Concerns
55:00 Next Five Years
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Transcript:
Independent Yet Unified with NIADA
Intro 00:00
Welcome to the show. We hope you have a blast. Thanks for making time for the dealer pod. Another business leader here’s a penny for you to say no regular conversation at this dead dealer.
Charity Ann 00:12
Hello, and welcome to the dealer talk podcast. I am your host charity Ann. Yeah, my camera a little bit. Today we are going to be talking to our friends over at Anime ADA again, where Troy and Jared are who we have on the show. I’m super excited to talk to them Troy and I’ve gotten to know Troy a little bit over the season and he’s fun to talk to so I’m excited. But I think that we’re going to do some secret shopping now Okay, so I was thinking about this today while I was getting ready and I was like maybe I’m too hard on the people that I’m secret shopping which I kind of feel like is a little bit of a cop out because customers not going to be easy on somebody right? But you know, maybe I should be more friendly. Maybe maybe not. Let’s do let’s let’s let’s do Rhode Island. I’ve never called Rhode Island before. Here we go
Agent 01:26
this call may be recorded to improve quality and training. I’ll be your virtual assistant. If you know your party’s extension you can say extension otherwise, how can I help?
Charity Ann 01:38
Sales
Agent 01:47
Okay, I’ll connect you with our sales department. Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality or training purposes. For information about your rights and our privacy practices visit Thanks for shopping with a 24 hour take home test drive and 30 day return up to 1500 miles learn more
Charity Ann 02:25
again, okay, so that was shit. Three minutes, guys. Let’s look I’m gonna look at this dealership a little bit more and see maybe they’re like so stupidly busy all the time that they How many cars do they have? Well, I’m disappointed in that one, and I was gonna look to see how many cars they had like somehow if they had a lot of cars it was going to justify not answering the phone in some kind of weird like if I were at a restaurant and it was really busy kind of way even though I’ve worked in restaurants and I am a firm believer that you get better service when they’re busy than when they’re not busy. So anyway, let’s go to a different dealership let’s try another state three minutes is too long people your customer shouldn’t be waiting on the phone for three minutes. Because why? Because after three minutes, they’re on to other things that is your time your response times need to be under three minutes everything should be under three minutes except obviously the sales process although that would be phenomenal sales time. Okay, let’s call this one. Okay, so now I’m on a website and then for this dealership and I thought well call them I don’t I don’t see a phone number on this website anywhere. I’ve got menu, new pre owned service careers, find a store sell your car about that. I’ve got new used and service. I’ve got a texting pop up from our friends over a gobbly goo ha interesting. That’s not good. I have no way to there’s not even like a button to Oh, call. Okay, well, so, pro tip put your phone number on your website Bagnet 1000 Today people GS and cheese and rice let’s try this one. Oh look a phone icon shall we call it we shall the third dealership.
05:32
See we’re calling next
Charity Ann 05:34
your call. I am looking for sales.
05:37
I played it’s going to Rolla le for just
Charity Ann 05:43
Hello. Hello. I am looking for a vehicle. How are you?
05:50
Thank you
Charity Ann 05:51
good
05:54
are you looking for?
Charity Ann 05:55
I’m looking for a car? Like a it’s for my 16 year old is that 2016? No, my 16 year old.
06:10
Okay, so you may want to go let me just put you on hold for a quick moment. Until 10pm And right now it’s a green light
Charity Ann 06:19
could have asked for my name.
06:21
I’m sorry. So yeah, for your 16 year old Okay?
Charity Ann 06:24
Correct.
06:27
So maybe you look into a Corolla? Maybe I use Corolla? I guess.
Charity Ann 06:33
Yeah, I was thinking kind of like that. My niece bought one. And really, really liked it, she would drive it back and forth across the country. So
06:45
okay, so actually, we do have a large inventory right now if you use Corolla. So I available today to come in and take a look around.
Charity Ann 06:55
Um, what time do you guys close?
07:00
We close at 10pm at 10pm. Okay.
Charity Ann 07:07
How many what? Tell me some of the options.
07:11
So I have a Corolla 2017 SE, which is the highest trim is 14,000. I have a 2020 Corolla in 19,000. I have another 2020 into 1000. It’s, it’s around that price, which I also have a 2019 certificate would it’s going to be around 21,000
Charity Ann 07:41
What was the first one right you named
07:44
2017 Corolla SP 14,000.
Charity Ann 07:48
And you said that that was the top trim level
07:54
I have 120 19 that is as well and it’s going to be 21,000. And he has less mileage from that one because I won’t have school on route 23. And this one has 20 on 20,000 miles. And it’s 2019. Okay. Yeah, I actually have 15 of them. So I just recommend coming in so you can take a look at that and they can you can also test drive and of course.
Charity Ann 08:26
Okay. Well, what colors are they
08:37
give me one second.
08:44
Okay, so the last person I mentioned is silver. Pretty much silver black. And they have the soul cycle which is like a silver is blue and white.
Charity Ann 08:59
Okay, let me talk to my my 16 year old and I’ll call you back.
09:07
No problem. My name is Thank you. Okay, no problem.
Charity Ann 09:15
Okay, so she asked for the appointment or for she didn’t really ask for the appointment, but she asked for me to come in twice, which is good. That’s an but she doesn’t know my name. So I feel as if this should be just the starting point for this is you got to train your people to ask for a name. I don’t know why that’s difficult. That should be the first thing that you ask if you’re in any social situation. You ask for a name. If you’re at like a networking event, or like even like okay, at a convention they put your name on your free can batch so that everybody knows what so they know your name. Your name is everything if your agents and your sales people aren’t asking for names. Come on, guys. And if that was the first time that somebody had asked for a name, but it’s like, it should be the first thing you ask for. Hi, my name is Charity. What’s yours? We teach it to our kids at the oh my gosh, that makes it crazy. How are you supposed to be able to? How are you supposed to be able to call them back? How are you supposed to Okay? Forget all of that. Forget the communication, forget being able to call them back, forget being able to email them or text them or any of that. If they’re not asking for a name, they’re not putting them in the goddamn CRM, these customers are not going into your computer system if your agents don’t have a name, which means that you are wasting money on leads. If you don’t have that information, like you are hiring people you are paying them, probably if she’s an agent, she’s being paid at least a little bit of a base. So you’re actually paying them on something more than just commission, and you’re paying for the lead. So you are paying somebody to lose you money. That’s what you’re doing. Like that. It’s just that’s basic, basic, basic, basic stuff. And it is the most frequent thing to not be asked, like, ask for a name, ask for the appointment, ask if they have a trade, ask what their features and functions and benefits that they’re looking for are and then sell the dealership. It is not hard. It is five things. Hello, my name is Charity. What’s your name? What kind of vehicle Do you drive? What are some of the features that you’re looking for in a new vehicle? And why should you come to my dealership? Well, my dealership has this, this, this and this. It’s not hard. So when I first started in the workforce, well not when I first started in the workforce, my first job was picking raspberries. When I first started in like the real workforce, I worked in hotels, and maybe I’ve told this story before but they would Secret Shop us all the time. And we had certain criteria that we had to meet. And in order if we meant it and we got a like a perfect score on our secret shop, we got an extra 20 bucks. That was a no brainer for me. Like, all you have to do is say these things on the phone and you get an extra $20 Like no brainer at all. So I would and what we had to ask for were, we had to ask for that we had to give them three different times that they wanted to check in. We had to tell them three things about to the inside of the hotel, and three things about the outside of the hotel, we had asked for their name, we had asked for where they were from. That was it. And we get to 20 extra bucks. Like there was our job to make reservations and they still paid us extra money to do it right. And it taught me a lot. If you ask for something three times you are more likely to get it statistically speaking, most people don’t say yes until after the third time. But you can’t it’s like what Herb always says that it’s like those the the guys with the the jackets that come up to you and they like want you to buy all of the things like the little street vendor guys with the weird creepy jackets. It’s like, if you’re not asking for a name, you’re that creepy person. You’re pushy, pushy, pushy without carrying who you’re talking to. Okay, anyway, Jarrett’s in the lobby. So let’s get Jared on the moral of the story is come on guys. Ask for a name Hello.
14:52
Hi, how are you? Can you hear me I was in new system. I welcome you.
Charity Ann 14:56
Yep, I can hear you.
14:58
How are you today?
Charity Ann 14:59
Pretty Good how are you?
Jared 15:01
Good coming to you live from the back of my farm here in Queen Creek because my office was too busy. Oh,
Charity Ann 15:07
I was just gonna ask you your email address in Arizona so I was gonna ask you were in Arizona you were
15:12
out here in Queen Creek kind of the further south and go from Phoenix before yet Tucson.
Charity Ann 15:18
I used to live in Tempe.
15:20
Oh, yeah. So you know where we’re at? Yeah. And where are you guys gonna go?
Charity Ann 15:23
It was like, I lived in Tempe when the towers went down. Oh, yeah. Yeah, I was a little bit crazy in Phoenix then.
15:33
It was my dad was the national national president of bank one back then they had the bank one tower. So they kicked everyone out of there that day. I mean, basically all Phoenix shut down. So
Charity Ann 15:44
yeah, Phoenix was insane. They had I worked in hotels at the time and we had these guests from England that got stuck for like three months. They couldn’t get home. Wow.
15:57
Yeah, no fly. Yeah, yeah. It was not a good time.
Charity Ann 16:01
No. So it’s very bright. Behind you. Which
16:05
is I was wondering, Phoenix. It is bright. Let me see if I scoot in here a little bit. Yeah.
Charity Ann 16:11
Okay. I just got this funny. comically eyes.
16:17
Timber is pretty good. I’d normally see my big windmill back there. The camera just my product, hopefully won’t hear the donkeys they get a little noisy in the morning. That’s okay.
Charity Ann 16:25
So tell me about you. I’m waiting. I’m kind of waiting for Troy. But he hasn’t popped in yet.
16:33
Yeah. What do you want to know, I’ve been in the car business since 1999, was driving cars for a dealership and started selling cars in 2002 and never gave up. Never go. I got addicted. So yeah, we opened double H out here. I was with a partner for a few years and that well, for a long time. And then in 2012, I guess I started the journey of open double H and as we’ve been doing ever since and serving on the Arizona board for nine years. And this is my last year of my two year term as president Arizona. Of course, you know, I got elected the national board. So I’m serving there as well now.
Charity Ann 17:15
Is that does that keep you really busy? How do you manage juggling those responsibilities with running a dealership,
17:23
I tell you what it’s it’s the overlapping of them has been a little busy. But in reality, the Arizona the state association, I think actually takes a little bit more time. Because we’re smaller, most states are not as big as nada or even TIA or the Carolinas. I look at it as associations of state associations like dealerships. Some are like Carvana, we got three or four or five things in each state. Some associations are like mine, and most estates where they’re one, maybe two employees. And where the board then is a working board where the national board is more of a Policy Governance Board. So when you have a good board, it makes a lot easier. So that was part of my before he sat on the national board, they put me as the Chair of the President’s Council. And back then it really had not much value, no one really showed up and they’d show up just kind of bench and and as we started making movement through COVID, I reached out to it, it took a long time, my track down every state president to get him to the table once just getting there and ever since then we’ve created a I might call it like a 20 group for new presidents because we’re all volunteers. If you put a lot of work in out of passion, you don’t do it for money or, you know, status, right that you’re given back. Because when I got in the business, I didn’t know why the I don’t come from a family of dealers. So when I met people that were part of the association, and seemed like all the people were successful, were part of association. So that’s how I got my family of dealers is through the association. But yeah, it was a lot of work the President’s Council thing to bring everyone together but now all these presidents have come in have a group to learn from each other. And since then, the workload has not been as tough it’s it’s busy work but it’s not a lot of out of the office type work well,
Charity Ann 19:02
yeah, so you track down all of the Presidents so 50 of them
19:07
46 Because you know the you know, the Massachusetts all that areas all merge into one but yeah. It was a it was a challenge but yeah, a lot of Mad Yeah, and for a while and Ida was not always viewed the same in each state value gripes and history and past grievances and, and it really started make the push to be more state and dealer centric and not to take any away from the vendors but to really put the focus on the states. And we brought the Presidents together and really let them see that it’s been a lot better all the states pitch in and nada gets back to the states and but it wasn’t a lot of work. I’m proud of it, but it was a lot of work.
Charity Ann 19:52
Now that sounds that sounds awesome. So do you think you’d about like Alaska and Hawaii and Do you think oh why I
20:01
love Hawaii got Hawaii doesn’t have a big Association as far as numbers, but they’ve got the most passionate people over there. I think it’s John canal over there. And he’s a dealer and the association manager. So he’s wearing both hats. But yeah, I always joke that we need to have a for my region for I need to go find a while. For some reason they need to send me there. So
Charity Ann 20:23
I know right? I think everybody is like, I’ll take his job if it includes Hawaii.
20:29
Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that alone. Doing it now. I’m not the best looking guy here anymore.
Charity Ann 20:36
So have you. We were just talking about Hawaii. Troy. Have you ever been to Hawaii?
Troy 20:41
I have not. I’ve never I’ve had no
Charity Ann 20:45
beautiful cowboy hats like yeah, I have
20:51
Yeah, the the in laws previously had a timeshare there. So I’ve been a few times you find a why and bounce over family. And it’s the most expensive trip you overtake you know, the dollar cheeseburgers, you know, $20 beers.
Charity Ann 21:04
So Troy, how are you today?
21:07
I’m doing great doing great sitting. You know, Ben, Ben, just everything is focused on convention. Yeah, from now until June 19. Or actually till June 23. So, we’ve been been diving into,
Charity Ann 21:24
yeah, so hit it off. Tell us about the convention.
21:32
Again, so the it’s the Accelerate 2023, our Convention and Expo in Las Vegas at the win June 19, through the 22nd. And lots, I mean, just just a ton of great things going on in terms of what we’ve got planned. The education sessions, which I think is huge. And that’s really what people I believe, go for the two key areas, I think, are education and networking, because it’s about as we’re saying, we’re wanting to build a community and be there to increase the influence of independent dealers and the independent auto industry as a whole. And I think when you get together like that, that’s when you can really make those things happen. You can’t do it in a vacuum, you can’t, you know, I was have kind of come up with a you know, you may be an independent dealer, but you can’t flourish independently. So it’s getting together and building that community and increasing that influence. So that’s why, you know, I think it’s so important for dealers to be there. Again, education sessions, almost, I think it’s between 60 and 70. I don’t have the exact number, just memorized. But there’s a ton of great stuff from talking about, you know, inventory management, acquisition, marketing data, and analytics FTC, the FTC compliance, I know we’ve got somebody from the FTC and CFPB that are going to be there. Talking so I mean, there’s, that’s something that’s huge right now, with, with everything that’s going to be happening, and just, you know, another baseline less than 60 days, with the FTC, safeguards rule. And then you just look at everything from a data perspective, how it impacts your marketing, and your advertising and how all of those things really tie together. It’s one of the things where, you know, FTC compliance first party data, I know, that’s one of the the areas that people are going to be talking about, and marketing, all of that, really, those they don’t live independently of one another, it all really boils to, boils down to, if you’re, if you’re doing everything right, and making sure the FTC is happy, then all the other things are going to be working a lot better because you have a grasp on your data and understanding what’s going on. So those things are really important because some leadership sessions, some specific buy here, pay here, you know, obviously, this is our big convention. So there’s, you know, retail and buy here, pay here. But I think there are nine or 10 specific sessions that are focused just on Buy Here Pay Here, which, you know, Jared can talk more about that I can from that perspective. Our keynote speaker Sugar Ray Leonard, which is going to be great Carfax is been been gracious enough to sponsor that in his session, his his keynote speeches about the power to win. And then we’ve got Michael Cirillo you who is going to be our national quality dealer, which, you know, maybe Jared can talk a bit more about that as we get going here, but that he’s going to be our keynote speaker. And that’s about the power of building relationships and trust. So you know, talking about, you know, both of both of our keynote speakers independently of each other talked about the power of something. So it’s really, really good to hear on that. Expo Hall, going to have 200 plus exhibitors, so I like to call them solutions providers, because that’s really what it is and being able to get out there and meet with those folks and understand that there are so many new things going on that you just have to keep yourself as a dealer, or just anybody in the industry is keeping yourself ahead of what’s going on and making sure that you are you know, getting all the info information you need to make decisions, okay? Because that as a business owner, you know, myself and you have been an entrepreneur, for the first 20 years of my life, if you don’t have the education and the information, you can’t make good decisions. So I think those are some of the really the key things and why dealers and again, our partners in all of the people who are involved in the independent auto industry, just need to come together there, because there’s so much to share and learn. And we’re gonna have to, you know, have some fun, too. I know if Jared is going to be there, we’ll have a good time. So
Charity Ann 25:36
it’s just skip.
25:39
And that’s why I was just saying, that’s why it’s so important to me for from Jarrett, you know, the dealer perspective. And I think that’s why I want to kind of just now hand it off to Jared, I’ve kind of told you about what’s going on. But I think this is where Jared as a dealer can tell you why it’s so important.
25:56
That and it is and truly the most important thing that I’ve lived through with several dealers and the networking, the education, that’s that’s all sudden, but when it comes to compliance, FTC CFPB, regulations ease all the things we have to know. And we’ve got these agencies and government departments that change these rules. And sometimes they’ve got unintended consequences. But when they make a law or change a law, it’s not their job to tell you, it’s not their job to come out and educate you on it. And just because you don’t know that it’s illegal to drink your beer and drive a car doesn’t mean it’s not illegal. So when we talk about the safeguards, are we talking about tax reciprocity between states and things like that? Where do you go to get that education? You know, it starts with your local state association. But when you look at it a broader spectrum, we’ve got the National Association, they’re the ones up there in Washington and, and watching over these things that bring us that data, so that we can be compliant and we still flourish and thrive in an industry that’s constantly changing. We know that through this pandemic, and add the safeguards and all these these rules have come up. So I always look for first, what don’t I know? That’s why I want to go find out first, is it compliance? Is it something about new repo laws, because I’m by her payer dealer, what is I’m gonna do, I kind of plan out my convention, but I tend to learn just as much if not more, into networking, and Troy knows I love to network, I get out there and I like to talk to the vendors, I like talk to the dealers and, and I’ve learned just as much sitting around the casino slot machine or something or drink a beer with someone, and you pick up some of the best tips. I mean, some of the best advice I’ve gotten was just talking with other dealers at these conventions. And it’s just such a good, it’s Las Vegas people who doesn’t want to go to Las Vegas or write it off. Let’s just say you’re a business owner, you’ve earned it, use your your tax benefits, you know, we write it off, come to Vegas and have a blast. Well,
Charity Ann 27:46
the FTC thing I think is, so I was watching podcasts, or listening watching the podcast on YouTube. And they were talking to an FTC guy, and I was blown away. Like the little nuances. I was like, I think I’ve done that. And I was just horrified at like, the little things that I didn’t know, were not compliant, that I’ve never been taught in and what you said, Jared, like, ignorance is not an excuse. In the eyes of the law, you’ve got to know your shit. Or hit hard you Yeah. And and especially with them changing everything right now, it’s a perfect time to take responsibility for that within a dealership. And it is I don’t
28:37
think there’s a dealership out there. If you’ve been in business over a year or two, at some point in time, you’re out of compliance, because they constantly are changing something. And if you’re not following it, and you’re not following podcasts like this, if you’re not part of your state association, odds are you got something you’ve missed, or that you don’t know. And it’s not what you know, what you know, can help you be successful. It’s what you don’t know that will put you out of business quicker than what you know. And that’s that’s a real big thing for me, because I’ve watched in my life, I got this business when I was 19. And when you get in this business and they get your dealer’s license, guess what there’s a thing called a floor plan they give it to you and eat most dealers go in and out of business so quick because they don’t know how to run the business they they may know how to sell cars, but selling cars and running a dealership whether you’re buying Here Pay Here you’ve got five 610 rooftops, totally different thing being an operator versus being an employee. And if you didn’t come from a big family of that or you hadn’t worked your way through those things, and you start out or even if you had the best place to network as part of your association and the best place to get your education is from the same place as your state national associations and and the annual conference is by far in my opinion and we’ve got other we got clipped by your payer thing we’re doing all that my opinion is that the national conference I always come home with the most amount of education packed so much education I think that my employers are wondering like what is he going to change as soon as he gets back he’s gonna come through the door like a beast and Alright guys, we got to do this. This as and, you know, but without those things, you know, you you may miss something and that will cost you more than then not so
Charity Ann 30:07
because of like the sheer amount of information that’s out there. It’s it’s, it’s hard. It’s overwhelming. Overwhelming. Yeah. And networking and being able to have multiple brains working on the same thing. Yeah, I think that that helps a lot. I’m a huge fan of the great
30:24
thing that nada does. I have seen Most data centers you can we’ve all been to conferences where you go into a breakout, or whatever it is, it’s really a vendor that’s just pitching his or her whatever product and tying it into a session. Well, ni da is like a lot of states have brought mostly dealers, we bet you’ll have vendors in there. But we’re talking about a topic, not a provider. And we’ve gotten actual dealers out there dealers talking to dealers, that’s that’s the communication and vendors want to talk to the owners don’t want to be in the basement, there, they’re talking about product, but dealers talking to dealers, that’s where you’re gonna get your best advice. And proof is the 20 groups, I mean, with their success, and the dealers that are in there, and the training academies that you can find in your state and national associations, it’s when dealers get together with dealers that the real education has passed, as far as the operation, you know, compliance, we tend to look to our associations for that, but you want to be a better dealer, talk to another dealer, you know, if they’ll tell you, but you get these conventions, and there’s a lot of chitchat that happens. It’s very, very valuable, probably more valuable at some times than the actual sessions.
Charity Ann 31:29
So yeah, for sure. I totally agree with that. What
31:35
I was gonna say, what, just to follow up with what Jared was saying there is, you know, the sessions and the people that are there, it’s like, you get out there and you meet these people, and you develop these relationships, this isn’t a one and done kind of thing, where it’s like, okay, I’m here now. And I’ve got what I’ve gotten out of these three or four days, and now I go back, you’re developing relationships with with other dealers, with your, a lot of the state association, presidents or their, you know, our board, our, you know, our staff. And even when you start talking about the solutions, providers that that do speak, it’s there, a lot of that. And that’s one of the things I really feel like that I’ve seen here in being on both the independent and franchise side and is that the vendors that work with Nimda really are focused on the success of the dealers, we were very picky about who we get in and speaking so that they’re not coming in and just just pitching, there’s always time for that. But it’s really our focus is educate our dealer members. And then, hey, what’s once you’ve shown that you’re really on their side, not now you’ve established a trust. Now that the dealers, if you do a good job, getting up and sharing your knowledge as as a solutions provider of what you’ve got going on in your industry knowledge, the dealers will seek you out. And it’s a lot better to do it like that where the dealers are seeking you out. And when you’re trying. So I think that’s one of the keys that I’ve seen here on the independent side that we really do a good job of that was you concur on that? Jared?
33:06
Troy, I can’t Concur more. So when when it comes to and again, so having still being the president, Arizona and serving at Nationals, it’s a good, good history there is that when you have state association, you got vendors that want to come in. And not all vendors are created equally. And of course, most states have, we take advertising this thing, but we have to write all the way column and idea now but we have member benefit partners, well vetted, or vendors that provide a a solution or a value to our members, and sometimes a discount price because you’re a member. And the best place that I got those to be honest, was going to the national convention and talking to every single vendor, there is the president. But you’ll find that national does does a great job, I mean a fantastic job and that I emulate that in Arizona, that’s that’s what we’re doing here of finding the vendors that really have value and that that you want to trust. And that may every product may not be for everyone. If you’re a retail store, you don’t need GPSs. But there’s there’s so much value in the value of membership just in your state association loan, but has never been higher, I think for most states, but at nationals with the team they’ve got there, the staff they’ve got in the work they’ve done, they’ve provided more value and more vendors and more people want to be a part of it and just keeps growing. And I couldn’t be prouder to be a part of it dry. You’re a big part of as well. But it’s, oh,
34:28
I wish I’m sitting here I’m able to see and look through as again as the speaker sessions get put together and what’s going on being able to see what’s being talked about and it’s like, you know, there’s so much it’s like, I wish I could sit we could talk for three hours about each class and kind of what’s happening, all that kind of stuff. But there’s some really good information that’s going to be shared.
Charity Ann 34:50
The things that well like I said, I mean
34:53
it runs the gamut from inventory, acquisition and management, data and analytics Marketing sessions, the specific buy here, pay here sessions, leadership, some of the things right there to that, you know, your it takes work to be a leader. And it’s always, you know, I think that’s one of the keys from anybody in a leadership position is you always want to learn more. Because if you set that precedent that you’re out learning more to do a better job of being a leader, your staff and your employees will start, they see what you do. And if you’re doing that, and investing in taking the time to do a better job for them. It’s just a trickle down effect that you’re now you, you take care of your employees and your team, right? They take care of the customers, right? Just get it all put, you know, most it boils down to that it’s, like I said, it’s relationships. And I think that’s, that is the key that when you when you do all these things, and you do it right. You know, and I say to you, you’ve got to be a success as an entrepreneur, you’ve got to invest in yourself. If you’re not, you know, it’s kind of like going okay, well, I want my my stock, my stocks to do well, well, how much have you invested in it? Well, nothing? Well, how are you going to get any kind of return, if you’re not investing, so it’s, it’s just such an important thing to be able to invest in yourself to do a better job for you for your employees, your family, your your, your customers, all of those things. And like I said, that’s it’s that education and knowledge that helps you do a better job of that.
Charity Ann 36:26
I love that though. One of the things we talk a lot about on the podcast is the importance of training and properly training. And it’s, it’s true, like, if you are ill exemplifying that yourself, then how on earth are you going to anticipate and expect that your teams are going to do that? From the top down? Like if, if you’re as a as a decision maker or not exemplifying training, then how can you expect your management team to care about training at all? And then if they’re not caring about training, then they’re not, you know, their teams aren’t going to care about training either. And going back to the knowledge thing, there’s so much information to know that there’s no excuse to not be training all the freaking time. Yeah. So I do have a question for you guys. One of the things that I’ve been curious about and haven’t really I feel like maybe haven’t gotten a solid answer for is, what are some of the things that independent dealers The challenge is that you independent dealers run into that franchise dealers just just don’t even have to deal with? What would you say some of those are?
37:49
The tough one, I’d start right now with for for us, because franchise is just a new car store. So they had a challenge with their new cars during the pandemic. And and what’s what’s happened there is that new car stores have learned that they can sell that 130,000 mile Impala, you didn’t used to walk into a big Ford store and see even a 75,000 mile you know, Prius in there, if it was over 50 shipping to the auction or sell it off the roof. Well, and we get our inventory from the trade ins the big guys take or the repos and, and all these things in a lot of states put in that repo moratorium. And so as new cars weren’t being produced, less trades were coming in those terms of keeping the trades and I still see that in the US farm. Right. And Mark Twain, you know, we talked to Congress all the time and and people in history and the Cox family and all the auctions, inventory is probably I think for any dealer out there, probably the biggest thing right now, I have to think is inventory acquisition. And if you’re new car stores, it’s a little easier because you’re getting a little better trades, you know, and, and but for a used car or Buy Here Pay or especially in my market, you know, cars we sell are typically, you know, five, the, you know, 12 and some 1520 years old depend on your business model. And those those five year old and back cars or 70 year old bat cards, whatever you’re doing, those are typically things new car stores didn’t keep and since this pandemic and there’s been a lot of books written and velocity and few other ones that they have new car stores changing their model, which is limiting that. But after this pandemic, I definitely think it’s inventory. And that’s probably the biggest one I can think of.
39:24
Now more than ever, businesses need more efficient sales. That’s why 1000s of dealerships trust for us to help with things like automated inventory, email updates, and ensuring all of your leads get into the CRM to try four eyes for free. Visit four eyes.io/dealer talk. That’s four eyes.io/dealer Talk.
Charity Ann 39:49
Would you say that the new car stores pulling has squeezed the independent dealers a little bit on the inventory side because they’re holding on to those vehicles?
40:00
Yeah, I would have not wanted. I would. I would that Lucia
Charity Ann 40:08
broke up there for a second.
40:10
Oh, yeah, they already came back. I lost you there for a second.
Charity Ann 40:14
That’s okay. Well, I
40:16
couldn’t hear you what we asked him computer.
Charity Ann 40:17
I said, What? Oh, see now I forgot what I asked.
40:23
He was just asking about, but with the franchise dealers kind of pool a pool on and keeping the inventory is is that you know, kind of squeezing you guys out on the independent side of being able to have a better pool to pull from and to get the quality vehicles that you want to be able to sell?
40:39
I believe it does, I really believe it does. However, during the pandemic, I’d rather been an independent dealer than a franchise dealer. I’ll tell you that. I mean, the overhead and the cost and their, their main thing is new cars. So but yes, and I think post pandemic and still with some shortages, that is a big part of the squeeze it is it’s hard for now they know they could sell them and their sales guys got used to sell them. So why wouldn’t they just sell? Okay, if you used to do five years or 50,000 Miles anything over we send the auction. Let’s stretch that to seven years and 110 because they’re selling so and we got to fill our lot. So it is a squeeze on the little guys.
Charity Ann 41:16
I think that that’s interesting, because I don’t know if I would agree that the sales guys got used to selling them. I don’t think that an odd kind of a cynic when it comes to this one. I don’t think that the sales guys and are used in a new car store got used to selling I think that they all got soft. And they they didn’t have to work hard. They just were order takers. So the skill sets and those like you’ve got the longest, the turnover rate and sales guys is like the lowest it’s ever been. And they’re all making over 100,000 On average, because they’re just order takers. Right now there isn’t any skill on selling a used car right now. Right? It’s just people need cars and they buy what they can get. So I don’t know. You’re right.
42:05
I’ll play this what I’ve seen in Arizona and maybe maybe I’ve seen a lot of MCC name names because I like all these franchise guys though. Some of the owners. I saw during this time, a lot of new car stores, big names, you know, Lincoln blank Chevrolet, now have Lincoln Blake motors down the road. And blankety blank motors is a used car dealership only. And there’s some big names in Arizona have done that. In fact, there’s one right down the road well, not down the road for me, but way up on power for me. And they have a great business and it’s you look at the name on the lot, like, isn’t this the same name as those four or five big stores and it is so that’s what I see in Arizona so can be a regional thing, but they’ve definitely developed a way to retain and sell those used cars. So yeah,
Charity Ann 42:49
that’s interesting. Other the other one that I learned talking to about Buy Here Pay Here is that the anticipation that the because banks aren’t taking those, the credit dealers out, I’m gonna butchering this. So the like franchise dealers used to be able to do like 600 credit scores, but now those banks are kicking them back. And those costs consumers have to go to like Buy Here Pay Here places where they used to not and so I thought that that was really interesting, too.
43:24
Yeah, I’ve noticed a lot of it a lot of subprime banks and some big ones have gone out of the market or pulled back or have you know, higher fees or you know, higher interest in it’s been a little tougher to do that. But as we go in, we can all see that eventually this is all going to come down and with the cars being so high if we had another recession like a weight or anything like that, the the Buy Here Pay Here market is going to be one of the most needed markets, people need cars, and then you’d be able to finance them and when the big financial institutions are pulling back saying whoa, whoa, we’re gonna I don’t care how much intuitive or pullback someone’s got to fulfill that need. And then for all the dealers that just heard me say that thing Oh, I’m gonna open up a buy here pair and you definitely want to educate yourself before you do that just because everyone’s telling you what’s going to happen is a good idea you can lose more than you can make overnight if you don’t know what you’re doing and I’ve had a lot of mistakes along my journey I think every operator has. So there is going to be a huge demand I believe for the buyer pay or market with what the banks are doing. So more reason to get yourself educated and do it right.
Charity Ann 44:26
And to go to conventions
44:28
and to go to the reasons that that’s one of the reasons we have a focus on the Buy Here Pay Here you know, being able to because it is different in terms of of the business model and what’s going on versus the retail side so you know I think like you said you’re that’s the key is you’ve just got to educate yourself and be around and get to know guys like Jared who’ve been there and done it so it’s like okay, if I’m gonna need especially a new guy coming up, but they’re, when you’re running your business, there are so many things that go on that it’s you know, having that that relation ship with other other dealers who are going through the same things. And that’s why, in my mind what I see it an idea so great, it’s just because of the fact that there is that constant relationship of our education classes that we do kind of, you know, at ongoing as people can be involved with them, that lead to the 20 groups and the convention and all of this stuff works together, it’s not anything that’s, you know, any one independent thing that’s going to help, you know, so you get involved with your state, you know, and that’s what’s so great too, is, you know, Jared, once you’re a member of your state, your automatic automatic. So it’s not like anything that you’ve got to go do differently. So it really just makes makes good sense from a business practice to be able to get yourself involved in as many, many ways as you can with what’s happening as you should, because there are some things that are happening regionally. Like you said, Jared, that you know, that you need to know about, but then at the same time, to have that national umbrella to be able to help you understand what’s going on big picture. It’s just from a business perspective, makes sense. It’s just like with anything, I look at myself, you know, people’s, I’m in the marketing field, so I may not have to be able to break down and go, Okay, well, I understand everything that Jared is dealing with, as a dealer, I still know that, again, as a business professional, and somebody who wants to get better, you’ve got to educate yourself, and I’m constantly doing that in the auto realm, but also in the marketing realm. I don’t, you know, I’ve been doing this, you know, 25 years, and I still don’t know it all, and it’s changing. And I think you would agree to Jared, the auto business is not not sitting where it was, you know, five years ago, or 10, or whatever, that things are going to be coming. And we all see too, with all the changes that happened so quick now with technologies and regulations. And well, to keep track of all that if you’re not staying up, it’s like you get a month behind your year bond. Yeah, and that’s why that education in that those relationships with the state and national association are so important. For sure, I agree.
46:57
100%. And another thing about our association is that if you join your state association, join the National Association, you should open those emails most time, most of the stuff that’s coming out is valuable content that don’t let that go to your spam mail. Because those emails and if I see something in IDA or my status, which I’m the president, but I’m still gonna open it because I wanted to share with written, I get a lot of information that and then you’re calling you’re checking your first line of defense in compliance, in my opinion. And it’s not because I sit on the board, I sit on the board, because that was my first line of defense is to get involved in your state association. That’s where you’re gonna get the information that unless you’re falling, unless you’re in Washington, or you’re in your state capitol every day and you’re watching what your legislators are doing, you’re gonna get that. First and foremost, I believe from your association, you may hear from another dealer, it’s paying attention, but then how do you process it? How do you adapt and how do you implement it? And that’s the networking that’s the going and getting the training for your association. And, you know, like I said, I didn’t come from a family of dealers. I learned when I was young man that the dealers I still look up to today. When I was 1920. I wanted to be where they were then Well here I set and now I look at them you know, later years and retiring and live in life right? I wouldn’t be them to they were all part of sociation so I always say I wasn’t born to a family dealers and that’s no offense to anyone that their dad or grandpa did that they all work hard. But to learn it and even if you are one those guys I got my family of dealers through association and it just keeps getting bigger and bigger and bigger. And you become a better dealer for it. So the networking education all that and we were talking about we’re going to Vegas, did we say that already? Because you know, everyone knows I will be in Vegas. We want to come say hi so
Charity Ann 48:37
yeah, were in Vegas instead. The win win. So I thought it was at the win. I’ve never even been inside the win which is no excuse because I live literally like maybe I’m going to Vegas tomorrow so I should go to the wind and see what it’s
48:56
Yeah, that’s right next door the Venetian and at the Venetian likes my money so but I’m looking forward to going to the one I’ve ever been in the wind either. So I’m looking forward to
49:06
that’s what Jared said he has to go learn more so that he because he know he’s going to get there and spend more so he’s got to be able to come back and
49:12
I’m just gonna go over the Venetian and check and make sure that my investment I left there last time it is doing well but it’s thriving you know I’m sure we’re gonna close down so I walked in so
Charity Ann 49:22
next this time it’s time to take from networking with you and then you can write it all off there you go Go ahead.
49:35
I was on a serious though this is one of the things we talk about too is his because you know as an individual dealer, your voice is there but it’s not nearly as powerful as it becomes when you when you get within you know you start building that those relationships and now you know that that single person this guy somebody said the other day, you know, a single B doesn’t do much but you get a swarm of them. You hear him come in That’s a really that’s one of the important.
Charity Ann 50:02
Yeah, that’s a really good point. I A lot of times wanna on the podcasts and stuff. And as I’ve grown up in the industry, myself, everybody talks about franchise dealers. Oh, there’s 17,000 franchise dealers. And the question is, how many independent dealers are there, because in my town, the ratio is significantly on the side of independent dealers. And that that’s a voice that definitely needs to be unified and needs to be able to make to be able to make changes within the industry, because I think most people go to independent dealers to look for vehicles to and
50:47
I was gonna say, Yeah, I mean, when you look at the number and I, there are more independence and there are franchise. But again, when you if you’re not working collectively together, and I get I mean is, you know, Jared, like you said, there’s you got your competitors around, you know, that, but even at that is you want to present a unified front to the regulators, and to the legislators and things like that, because what what impacts the industry is impacted everybody. So it’s not like, you know, if they do something, it’s just going to impact to your competitors, when it’s a complete national law regulation that gets put in place, it’s impacting everybody. So even while you’re competing, maybe on a local level, you still want to be able to get together and build that voice to make sure that you’re not getting, you know, governmental regulations, and people who really don’t understand necessarily understand business, because most of them, you know, haven’t actually worked a whole lot, you know, you think about that, that they’re just not they’re living, it’s they don’t understand, it’s creating the building that industry and letting the regulators and government officials know that, you know, these people 99% of dealers are looking at to take care of their customers, you know, but it’s always like anything else, it just takes one or two bad apples to create a problem within the perception of the industry. And I think that’s why it’s so important for the guy, I mean, getting out and making sure that you’re in front of these people and let them know, Hey, you’re, you know, people just like everybody else, you’re trying to make a living, but you sure aren’t trying to go out and take advantage of people. Yeah, there’s people in that on every level, but it’s not the majority. It’s and that’s why getting together and being able to present that unified front now helps things in, you know, you take a lot of the regulations and the headaches away from that standpoint, that’s one less thing you got to think about, from a business perspective.
52:41
Then Troy, and like you said, with the the be reference, and there is more independent dealer. So in Arizona, last check. I mean, without the auction, just wholesale and independent used car stores, there’s about 4000. You know, in Arizona, the penetration, any state is not 100%. In fact, a lot of dealers are independent, we’re independent, we’re entrepreneurs. But being in a pit, you can be the best operator, you may have got all the education, even you didn’t get it from an idea. And if you’re good or whatever, and you don’t see the value of going to convention, which is a big mistake, as I say it’s in Vegas anyways. That when it comes to regulation, just just strip away all the member benefits, all the auction fees you make in your states and all that when it comes to regulation that affects each and every one of us, even for the most independent dealer, we don’t talk to the dealer’s room or share our tricks. We don’t want learn tricks, we’ve just got it dialed in, and we’re just fine doing what we’re doing. And that’s okay, it’s some dealers want to be that way. But when it comes to regulation, and more importantly, not laws that are created to help us, but watching and following laws that could have a negative impact on our ability to continue doing business the way we do, or to continue to create a living, those are the things that we need the biggest buzz about. So you know, getting a buzz and get out there, get your name and have your voice loud, not everyone’s going to have a voice as loud as me and I’ve got a lot of voice and to talk a lot. But we’ve got the clicker Congress, when you follow that, the more members we have, and we have something comes up that affects all of us, your association sentence, you you click a button and send it off to them. And the more people we have doing that, that is the bigger buzz like toys toy says is that the more members you have that are unified together, so I would say independent nature unified in cause I mean, that’s that’s what the dealer is, and we become a member of your association national, you’re still an independent dealer. We are independent, we don’t like being told what to do. We don’t like when CFPB tells us what to do, or all the other stuff, but we’re united in that stand against anything that’s going to affect us. And that to me, to me, that’s the most valuable thing that the association’s can do is protect us. So watch out for some teachers.
54:46
And that’s a great thing to you. When you look at convention it’s like when you get a bunch of dealers together like that and you show and you turn out in numbers. People take you know, they pay attention then again, if it’s a small situation where as just a few You pull up maybe 100 Here, you know, it’s not as impactful. You know, and especially when you look at it now to where we’re going to have FTC folks there and CFPB and Ellie’s perfect example, man, they come up, they come out there and see, you know, three 4000 dealers together in the spot doing this. It’s like, okay, well, there’s there’s some unification here. And it’s, it may not be something that’s that’s overt, but subconsciously, it’s seen.
Charity Ann 55:27
Yeah, no, I totally agree. Thank you so much for this. You guys. I have one more question that Troy, you’ve answered before. So we’ll make we’ll make Jared answer it. What would you say? How can we improve the automotive industry in the next five years?
55:46
Oh, that’s, that’s a challenging question. It is, there’s so many factors. And my answer to that would be it. I’m an independent dealer. And and the answer is that to be honest, for the first time, I’m worried because so much has changed the last three years. And we all have an idea what’s gonna happen the next three years. I don’t know what’s coming in front of me, you keep getting hit with pandemics or shutdowns and different things. Now, we’re past that inventory. You know, I really think improve the industry, you will prove the operators, you know, and survival of the fittest and make the industry better as a whole. And like Troy said, and I do this, and I’m, I may not be like most dealers, but I will always do right by the customer. And we always say you’re part of the double H family. It sounds cliche and kind people counterbalanced by live that life. And the more dealers we have getting on that, and getting on that, that way of operating your business and operating it as you’re operating with each customer’s family. I don’t want to get to a customer just once and never see him again. I want to come see me every time. So I think the better is we as a whole improve the image to the consumer, independent dealers, because believe me, we’re right there. We’re lawyers and you know, those type of things, as we the best I can say is as we come together independent nature, but united in cars, and improve the the outlook and the way people perceive the used car dealer. No matter what size shape you are, and how we treat our customers, those dealers are gonna be the ones that survive. And believe me, I watched a lot of dealers go out of business last couple of years, dealers have been in business for a very long time, which I haven’t seen that help as far as getting inventory. But I hate it when I see a good dealer go out of business. So the better we can make the industry, for the consumers, I believe, and regulation, make sure protecting them the same as we protect ourselves. To me, I think that’s what we can do to better the industry.
Charity Ann 57:37
I like that a lot. Well,
57:40
there are, that’s the thing with what you said, you heard there about perception, it’s like, like I said, I’ve been involved in the auto auto industry now for about seven years. So it’s you know, had had a definite, you know, life before that. And I think to perception wise, before I was involved, I had that same perception as you were talking about. And now that I’ve been on the inside, so to speak, and getting to meet people like Jared and so many other dealers, it’s like, I’ve developed some really good friendships with dealers. Just getting to again, I can, you know, meeting that convention, and like, wow, this isn’t at all what I would expect, hey, you know, that the stereotypical use card is not that at all. I mean, there are great people doing this. And that’s why I say, we got to come together and work, you know, independently but unified. I think that is fantastic. The way Jared says that there so yep.
Charity Ann 58:31
Yeah, I like that. I like that a lot. Well, thank you guys, for for for coming on the show. I appreciate it. I
58:38
just want to say real quickly, we still got the as far as registration goes. And Ida convention.com want to make sure don’t don’t want to fail to mention that. And that’s through May 15 is still early bird. So if you’re a member, it’s 495. If you’re not a member of your state association, go ahead and do it because it’s gonna, you’re gonna save you 100 bucks right off the front. So
59:03
Troy, it’s never been easier to join your state association. If you happen to catch us through YouTube or Facebook, and you’re going man, I want to go to that convention, but I’m not a member. And you go right to ni da, click your state sign up there and do all in one place. And then download the app, make sure download the app, you’re gonna want to have the app on your phone when you walk in the door convention. And it has done a great job not just for nationals, but for the states of putting together a very good app that tells you where to go, what you’re gonna be seeing, you could plan out your schedule ready. It’s all right there on these things. So download the app and come see us in Vegas right try
Charity Ann 59:34
what
59:36
we try to keep it very simple. It is June 19 through the 22nd. So and again, if somebody has a question, like Jared, go to our website, reach out to me whatever I mean, we are here that that is this the the NADA staff is here to help I can say that it’s it’s again, great people that I’ve met and I can you know, just go We’re here to help so whatever we can do to help elevate the industry that’s that is what we’re here for.
Charity Ann 1:00:06
Awesome. Well, thank you guys so much. And thank you everybody for listening and as usual we will talk
1:00:14
we only host a will restrict the vendor LexisNexis we’d also did judo. We inspected with our DT vendor management.
1:00:25
Now more than ever, businesses need more efficient sales. That’s why 1000s of dealerships trust for us to help with things like automated inventory, email updates, and ensuring all of your leads get into the CRM. To try four eyes for free. Visit four eyes.io/dealer talk. That’s four eyes.io/dealer Talk