SAT #42 - ☀️ Stay Curious

It’s the last weekend to get your Halloween costume in order, friends.

What are you dressing up as this year? 👻💀🎃

Keep Pushing Back
-Paul, Kyle, Chris & Kristi

INDUSTRY HIGHLIGHT

Morgan Jeter from Germain

This week, Chris caught up with Morgan Jeter, Concierge at the Germain Automotive Partnership.

Howdy Morgan! Thanks for agreeing to chat. First up: how did you join the industry?

I was scrolling Craigslist one day and saw a post for a car sales position in the next town over. I thought, "I like cars; I like talking to people." – I applied, interviewed, got the job, and never looked back.

Tell me more about your job. What's the secret to being a Concierge?

I'm not sure it's a secret, but curiosity has taken me a long way in this business. I am genuinely curious – about my customers, their lives, what they like or don't, and how I can best help them – I'm curious about my co-workers, how they're doing, what types of things they do in their roles, what I can do to make their lives easier – I'm curious about the latest technology, who is who and why in this industry, in curious about what's next, how I should prepare. And I guess it's more than being curious. Acting, engaging with, and pursuing those curiosities have propelled me.

It's October, "Spooky Season," so I'd love to know if there are any Halloween memories that stick out?

AHH, I love this question! I was once a sales manager at a Toyota dealership. We had a fish bowel sales tower. All 3 sales managers dressed as inmates, put bars on the windows and listed "MAX Security" above the office. I loved how we all went "all in" on it; the customers thought it was pretty comical.

Finally, I'd love to hear about a moment in your career when the industry revealed itself to be about more than cars.

At the beginning of my career in the automotive industry, I sold at a Ford store in a small town in Ohio. I had an older gentleman come in with a file folder stacked full. He was driving a 1997 F-150 (it was roughly 2012). He bought that truck new but now wanted to replace it. That file folder was stacked full of papers comparing different truck models and makes. Even though he drove a Ford, he was leaning towards a Dodge. We spent a few visits together, building a relationship. He ordered an F-150, 2WD, reg cap, XL, and long bed, and we ordered a painted Leer cap to boot. It took a few months to come in and put the cap on, but John was happy! He even wrote a long handwritten letter to our owner, expressing his gratitude.

Around 8 months later, I saw John's obituary shared online. He was an older man, retired, but I didn't see that coming and was saddened by the news – attended the calling hours to pay respect to John and hug his wife.

His wife came to the dealership within a few weeks to sell his truck. She said, "Thank you for giving me 8 more months with my husband". Of course, I was confused. She continued, "You see, John attempted to commit suicide last year. His doctor asked him to list what he wanted to do before he died to help give him reasons to live. Buying a new truck was at the top of that list. That truck made him happier than I've seen him in years."

That was when it became a lot more than cars for me; I recognized the real impact we can have on somebody's life just by selling them a car, something we do every day. Like most people we meet, sometimes we don't know what's going on in our customers' lives or what this car means to them, so I'll forever make sure my customers leave feeling like it was more than a car sale, something more special. This is also my greatest advice to sales associates – make it more than the car.

CONTENT RECAP

ICYMI

EMAIL

• Gary Barbera’s mission to keep Philly’s kiddos warm. 🧥

• Nissan of Bowie’s Damon Lester is nominated for TIME’s Dealer of the Year award! 🏆

• Scott Bieler's compassion brings state-of-the-art cancer care to Amherst. 🏥

PODCAST

We settled in last week for a thoughtful and engaging conversation with Lindsay Ciavattone, the Director of Dealer Relations at CarGurus.

We promise you won’t want to miss out on the tactics she learned from her time in dealerships and her secrets to building a dedicated team.

🎙️ Check out the Auto Collabs podcast here! 🎧

ASOTU EDGE WEBINAR

The Struggle is Real

Data can be complicated, but managing it doesn’t have to be.

During last week’s webinar, David Steinberg, Founder and CEO of Foureyes, and Jeff Ramsey, Variable Ops Director of Ourisman Auto, chat with us about how many vendors may be missing the mark when it comes to data management and how it could be negatively affecting your customers’ experience.

Here are some questions dealers should consider asking of their data management tools:

❓ How do you tackle the issue of data silos to ensure a seamless flow of information?

• Some data-based providers and DMSs have a desire to hold data hostage, and in the process, hinder innovation and collaboration.

• It’s vital to break down data silos for a more comprehensive understanding of customer interactions and preferences.

• It’s also important to make information quickly and easily accessible. If it takes too long to use a tool, it probably won’t be used.

❓ How can we ensure full ownership and accessibility of our data?

• Dealers own their data. Control over and access to it is crucial for responding swiftly to market trends.

• Compliance with state-specific data laws, like Arizona’s dealer data law, promotes a transparent vendor-dealer relationship and helps align standards.

❓ How can we use a data management tool to make sure that we give the best possible customer experience?

• The customer experience is ultimately what suffers when a vendor gate-keeps data.

• Vendors and platforms that play well with others will be crucial for development and innovation moving forward.

• Tools that facilitate cross-store comparisons can uncover best practices and promote a consistent customer experience across different outlets.

• As David Steinberg suggests, DMS should adopt a “collect, connect, visualize, activate” framework: COLLECT accurate data, CONNECT data points, VISUALIZE to easily identify problem-areas, and ACTIVATE a strategy.

❓ How do you encourage open data practices and innovation in your service delivery?

• Good data shouldn’t just answer questions, it should also help ask better questions.

• Allowing all of your data to work together to paint a full picture of your business and embracing open data practices is going to be key to staying ahead.

👉 Check out the full replay here! 👈

SOMETHING FUN

Drake’s Birthday Splurge

In celebration of his 37th birthday, rapper Drake decided to treat himself to a lil’ gift — a custom-built Brabus Crawler. 🥳🎁

The world got its first peek when Tony Bet, Drake's go-to car guy, posted snapshots of this bespoke beauty on Instagram.

Taking inspiration from the iconic Mercedes-Benz G-Wagen, it sports a carbon-fiber body, luxury bucket seats, and an open-air interior. Under the hood? A twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V-8 engine churning out 900 HP. 🐴🐴🐴

Ultimately, only 15 of these bad boys will be up for grabs, each with a price tag that could rival a small island's GDP. But when you've got a garage that's already housing a $200M Boeing jet, we don’t imagine Drake will be sweating the final bill. 😎