#515 -💡 Sharing Great Ideas

TOGETHER WITH

We aren’t experts or anything, but if you want to take your team’s vibe to the next level, make a playlist together.

Just one song per person playing in the breakroom all day.

Conversations can tell you who somebody is, but sharing music suggestions can tell you where they’re “at.”

Anyway, here is the ASOTU Crew’s unapologetically eclectic playlist. Enjoy!

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

TODAY’S LOT WALK

• MTCM: ASOTU CON takeaways 💡

• Business: Safety award, 4% gains, and ANOTHER charging network… 🏆 

• Culture: Tom Hanks Deepfakes Curing Tooth Aches? 🦷

Reading time: 4 mins 4 secs

MORE THAN CARS MOMENTS

Sharing is Caring

David Long's All Things Used Cars community spent an hour Friday sharing, connecting, and building on their favorite takeaways from ASOTU CON 2023 last week in Baltimore, MD.

As always, those in attendance were generous with their insights, so the below list is just some easy-to-grasp highlights. The full episode is worth a listen on Clubhouse.

📻 Tune into Experience: Whether it's your customer or new hire, focus on the whole experience. Remember, there's a difference between mere orientation and comprehensive onboarding.

🛡 Guard Your Culture: Your workplace culture isn't just an afterthought—it's the heartbeat of your business. Nurture it, protect it fiercely, and ensure it aligns with your company's values.

📐 The Margin Game: Understand where the profit really comes from. Whether you're a dealer or a manufacturer, know your margins and where you can leverage them.

🎓 Don't Skimp on Training: Whether it's cross-departmental learning or honing appraisal processes, investing in training and development pays off in dividends.

🌱 Chase Growth, Not Stereotypes: Size and location don't dictate success. Any business can grow with the right communication, appreciation, and strategies.

🍌 5 E's to Live By: From experiencing your brand from the customer's shoes to empowering your team to innovate, remember to Experience it with the customer, Entertain always, Experiment constantly, Engage consistently, and Empower your team to do the same.

🦚 Dare to Stand Out: In a world of templates, be the custom design. Challenge traditional methods, be different, and always ask, "What if?".

🦁 Embrace Failure, Innovate Fearlessly: Drawing inspiration from history's greatest minds, remember that every failure can be a stepping stone to success. Be bold, take risks, and don't be afraid to experiment.

🧹 Cleanliness & Certification Count: Whether maintaining your physical space or ensuring your team's education, the little details matter and can set you apart from the competition.

📞 Engage, Share, and Discuss: Whether it's an industry event or a team meeting, encourage sharing insights, takeaways, and questions. Collective growth is faster than individual strides.

What did we miss? Do you have a takeaway from ASOTU CON? Do you have a reply to something shared on All Things Used Cars last week? Do you simply have a message you'd like us to give David Long? Hit reply and let us know!  

/Positivity

We love sharing the stories of dealers partnering with their communities. If you have a story like that from your team or friends, send it our way!

TOGETHER WITH CARS

Superior Trades, Accurate Appraisals

"Private party acquisition."

Are there three more lovely words in the whole used car business?

How about:

• Totally optional auctions

• Customers trust you

• Consistently perfect appraisals

We could go on, but instead, we will simply direct you to Cars.com's excellent Accu-Trade tool.

Dealers all over are leveraging the benefits of Accu-Trade's simple, accurate, and transparent engine to acquire more cars for the right price and leave customers feeling great about the whole process.

Sound good? Sign up for an Accu-Trade demo now!

BUSINESS

Genesis GV70: Safety Excellence!

• Top Honor: IIHS Top Safety Pick+ title.

• "Good" rating for headlights across all trims.

• Features: Forward Collision Avoidance-Assist, Blind-Spot Warning.

• 8 airbags + emergency assistance.

Seems like any vehicle in the US is pretty safe, but Genesis has an award to prove it.

Toyota's Stellar August

• Global Production: 4% rise, totaling 798,771 vehicles.

• Big Win in India: Production up by 321% with Suzuki partnership.

• August Sales: 9.8% jump to 853,285 cars. EV sales: 12k in August.

Toyota increasing production by 4% is like shaving a millisecond off the fastest 100-yard-dash time. It could be the runner or the field that is improving. #SupplyChainCrisisSportsMetaphor

Honda's Fast-Charging Vision

• 2030 Plan: Access to 100,000 DC fast chargers nationwide.

• Partners: EVGO, Electrify America, Tesla.

• Bonus: Unified smartphone app for charging + diverse charging credits.

• Upcoming: Honda Prologue EV, Acura ZDX, collaborations with BMW, Ford, and a project with Sony.

Honda-specific charging locations will be the most diverse meeting of users ever. 17-year-old street racers and reasonable retired grandparents brought together at last.

CULTURE

Tom Hanks v. Robots

🚨 If you've recently seen a dental plan video featuring our beloved Tom Hanks, here's the twist: it's not him! 😱

Tom took to Instagram to inform everyone about this AI impersonation, which is ironic since he was the first person we saw expressing an almost supportive "it is what it is" about becoming an AI-powered digital actor after his death.

💼 It's not just cinematic magic at stake. Tom's spotlighting the legal challenges tied to the intellectual property rights for actor likenesses in this high-tech age.

We imagine Tom Hanks isn't against dental care in general, just robots using his face to sell it. Remember that part in Castaway? Oof.

Quick Hits

• Disney is coming for password sharing, which is weird since their target audience can’t legally have credit cards. 🐭

• Assassin’s Creed Mirage releases this week as a stand-alone installment in the 12-game series. 🗡

• NASA’s Mars rover filmed a 1-mile-high twister for our viewing pleasure. 🌪

History

• 1789: The United States Bill of Rights is sent to the various States for ratification. ✍️

• 1959: The Chevrolet Corvair is first introduced. 🥇

• 1984: Papa John's Pizza is founded in Jeffersonville, Indiana. 🍕