From Small-Town Roots to Used Car Powerhouse: Lessons in Culture ft. Rob Ruth

Transcript is auto-generated from the episode recording and lightly formatted. It may contain transcription errors.

Chris Keene (00:00): That's my hair. Your part is the wrong way. Okay. Sorry. Hey, folks. Welcome back. Guess what? Season two. Episode one. Season two. Already. Episode one. We have got John, Renaldo. We got a treat for these guys today. And the last several episodes, we've had some fantastic guests. And listeners, viewers, I need you to understand something. We are going to go season two with as many guests from our industry as possible. Your peers, other industry experts, what you're going to find right here, season two, episode one, LotTalk, powered by Lotpop. You're going to see a whole bunch of great folks out here joining us on this podcast. Listen, John. We're making it to Europe. I talked to a guy from Canada this morning. We're all over the United States. People are tuning in to LotTalk powered by Lotpop. Folks, I'm Chris Keene, one of your co-hosts. I got John Anderson, Renaldo Leonard. Peepaw, sit back in that rocking chair, whittle some wood. Tell us, you've been talking to the folks in Europe. What's their feedback they're giving you?

John Anderson (01:06): I love it. Their feedback is they wish they could get us and more of the American way of doing business at car dealerships over there. So, you know, a lot of those guys came and visited us during NADA and they've been kind of paying attention. And so, um, you know, they've got a mass amount of EVs over there. Um, so, you know, they love the strategies and the principles we talk about. And so a lot of good feedback from over there and with what we've got planned and who's on today, I think we need to rename this from LotTalk to lot juice, baby, lot juice. I know our guest today is going to bring it. So yeah, I'm fired up. And no, it's always, it's always humbling to get an email from somebody that is paying attention to the pod and asking questions and asking for things that we talked about on the pod to get to them so they can put those things into play and help them out. That's what this is all about, is to help our dealer partners and dealers across the country and Canada and wherever else, Europe. You know, that's what I always, I guess... The dream was if there's one thing that somebody can take away from one of these each week that they can implement and put it in play and help them, we're hitting a home run as far as I'm concerned. So, yeah, very excited.

Chris Keene (02:37): Oh, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. Renaldo, you know, before, because I want to get our guest on super quick here because I'm fired up for him, but just real quick, John touched on it just a smidgen. For the viewers, for the listeners out there, I want you to sit there and remind them one hundred percent why, which is now over a year, which is now thirty, you know, thirty episodes is season one, we're on season two now. Express to the viewers, the listeners, of exactly why we do this.

Renaldo Leonard (03:11): Yeah, we do this for everybody who's listening and everybody who's watching. It's our opportunity to pour into everybody inside of an industry that has given us so much. And it's amazing when we first began this, we thought, yeah, we'll get a few folks out there across the country that'll tune in every once in a while. We'll have an opportunity to kind of pour into them the way that others have poured into us. But the scope of the businesses and the lives that we're touching on a weekly basis just is a big indication that we're on the right track, brother. We are on the right track. Yeah. So we started this just wanting to give back. So many people have poured into us. You gentlemen have told story after story of how someone would just kind of pull you to the side and just pour a little knowledge and wisdom into you. A better way to do what we were attempting to do in the business when we first started. And so that's why we line up every week. That's what we look forward to. And that's why we're here every day.

Chris Keene (04:22): Well, that is one hundred percent spot on. And we would be remiss if we did not sit there and point this major piece out, because in a very short period of time, we're reaching a lot of folks. We're getting a lot of positive feedback. Shout out to our buddy over in California, Nathan Shaver, who shared some great information on LinkedIn for us about his experience, his time in the hot seat here on the LotTalk podcast. Absolutely. But great folks like Nathan, guys, we're over two thousand streams, you know, already across the different platforms. And we would be very remiss if we didn't say thank you to those viewing, those listening. So that being said, I need the viewers, I need the listeners, get your pen, get your paper out. Get ready. Because the guest, the guest we have today. The guest we have today is from one of arguably the old school type dealerships in the middle of nowhere. I mean, you look this store up and you're going, okay, they operate out of that? I mean, it's still got that old nostalgic look to it. It's been around for a long time. But the way they do business is so progressive and they are four or five steps ahead. But they're not four or five steps ahead without that top-down approach, without the vision of their dealer principal. And that's who we have on today. Last week, we had their vice president, Mr. Rob Dell, and again, thank you, Rob Dell, for taking a lot of time and spending it with us last week. Folks, to kick off season two, to kick off episode one, I want to go ahead and bring to the stage Mr. Rob Ruth, the president, the dealer principal, the man behind the curtain, but who also comes out from behind it and spends a lot of time with his people, pouring into them all the time. Mr. Rob Ruth. Brett, let's bring him on stage. Rob, what's up, baby? How you doing?

Rob Ruth (06:27): How are you?

Chris Keene (06:28): All right, my man. Oh, brother, we're so fired up to have you. Viewers, listeners, get your AI note taker out, get your pen and paper out, because I promise you this, Mr. Rob Ruth, he's going to start throwing bombs on us today, and there are going to be some great ones. Because the topic, the topic today is we are talking about, from a dealer principal's mindset, that trust of how he positions people to enable him bandwidth to get outside the dealership so he can go find more to bring into the store. But the trust he has in his people inside his dealership. And Rob, I just want to start it off with you having that flexibility to move around the country. You and I, before the show started today, we were backstage and we were talking about you were just at Glenn Lundy's event. And you got to leave the store a couple, two or three days and get around a bunch of like-minded people that pour into you. You get to pour into others. But the number one question I have for you, because you are outside the store, what attributes do you look for in leadership within your organization that gives you that capability to be able to walk away when you need to and know your store is in good hands?

Rob Ruth (07:51): I think you already said it. It's trust. I mean, I look for people that I can trust. They're trustworthy. Attributes: trustworthy, disciplined and goal oriented. And then we align together. I try to be trustworthy. Trust grows both ways. So my people need to trust me. I need to trust them. We have to have our goals aligned and we need to be disciplined. And you put those things together and a lot of great things can happen.

Chris Keene (08:20): Dude, that's okay. You talk about discipline and you can read any resume and people will talk about, you know, I'm disciplined in the details and I'm a trustworthy person and I'm a hard worker. I have good work ethic. Okay. You've interviewed a ton of people, you know, from your store down there. You've interviewed a ton of people and you've seen those things. You kind of snicker in there. You're like, yeah, I've seen those. And when you're talking about that trust and that discipline, but let's talk about that discipline for a minute. What are some things that you're looking for that says, okay, yeah, that guy's a disciplined person, whether in the automotive industry or things that they do outside the automotive industry. Give us some thought provokers and some things that general managers or dealer principals that are listening in today, that may be something they either forgot to look at or something they've never thought about looking at when you say, hey, that's a disciplined person.

Rob Ruth (09:22): Well, I think there's a lot of different ways to define discipline, but I mean, look at the track records. What have they accomplished? I mean, I look for people that had gone through some struggles, stuck with it, overcame them. Okay. It's not a perfect world. I think physical, I mean, are they physically fit? Do they take care of themselves? I mean, that would show discipline to me. Um, you know, it's hard to tell just from a resume or an interview someone's discipline. I mean, I think it takes time to build some of these attributes and that trust that I talked about. Yeah. We've missed the ball many times too. I mean, you think you have the right person, then you find that you don't have the right person. But I hope that answers your question, Chris. I mean, there's no magic thing to it, but those are some of the things that I would look for.

Chris Keene (10:21): You bring up a person's physical fitness, and quite frankly, Rob, anytime we've been together, I try not to stand next to you because you're ultra fit. I used to think I was a relatively decent-sized fellow that was in pretty good shape, but then when you walk in, I'm like, hey, let me go stand over here. I don't want to stand by you, Rob. You bring up a good point, though. One of the things that... In Renaldo, John, myself, we all play sports. But one of the things I've always looked for is what was their athletics like, whether in their elementary years or high school years, did they play college sports? Were they pro athletes, semi-pro athletes? Those are the things I look for because to play at those levels as you progress, it takes a certain discipline. So I like how you brought that up. John, I know you had some questions around that same topic, and I know we've got a million topics we want to pick Rob's brain about and let him share that with the automotive industry. Fire away at him, John.

John Anderson (11:30): Well, Rob, I want to bring up culture because it's interesting we get this chance to talk to you today because I was on a call with Jasen the other night, and we were looking back, we were talking about some of the things that we're planning going forward with the software. And as a result of that, we were looking back at our old Google docs. When you guys started with us and we had those Google docs before the software, it reminded me, and he reminded me because he showed me, you know, when we started with you guys. Because we were talking about new dealers that come on and how we'd launch them and how we work with them and how we train them and talking about some of those expectations. And he's like, look, let me show you this. And because... Quite honestly, and you probably already know this, a lot of times when we're on with a prospective dealer, even when we're on with dealers that just started with us, if a conversation goes to, hey, give us an example of where we can potentially go or who are some of your best dealers? We're always pulling up your store and showing what you guys are doing, right? From a data standpoint, just giving them a clue. Here's where you guys can go. And so when Jasen pulled up the old Google Docs, there was like, you guys had a lot of age and you were trying to work this out and working through it and it didn't come. And it reminded me, because I'm like, I thought it came faster than that. So I knew you were coming on and I thought, you know what? I would love you to talk about culture and how you build that. Because, you know, one of the things I know about you is how you designed what happens on your floor with your team. Your team is one of the best teams. I thought I had an idea. I had a great team at the store I was running. But I have to say, man, your team is one of the best teams. When you talk about everybody pulling the rope the same direction and being on the same page for the ultimate lift of the dealership. And I know that took time. So if you wouldn't mind, talk a little bit about culture at your store, how you built that. A lot of times we get with dealers and there's just not buy-in across the whole store. And that's what it takes. So if you don't mind speaking to that a little bit and how you got the buy-in, how you built the culture.

Rob Ruth (14:17): Well, I think we can go back to the beginning. Um, you know, my father bought the store in nineteen eighty three and my parents were split up. Him and I actually lived at the dealership from nineteen eighty three to nineteen ninety. I mean, I grew up at a car dealership and it's like literally, literally at eight I would get the bus right up the street, you know, I'd come home, I'd hang out with salespeople, mechanics. I've had a job there since I've been six years old. I mean, it's just a part of my life and it was home at one point. You know, my office at the store was once my kitchen. So, you know, it's been a part of my culture my whole life. Um, you know, my dad was an old school guy, wasn't educated, got in the car business, became successful. He was a technician and he was a salesperson and he became a manager and he became a general manager and he wanted to buy a store. He found our store. He didn't have any money really. So, I mean, it was just, we worked really hard at the beginning to get this thing moving. Uh, then when I decided to get into it full time, uh, it was actually the last thing I ever wanted to do. When you grow up at a car dealership, the last thing you want to do is go back and work at a car dealership because that's all you've ever known. But it was at a time where the internet was, two thousand is when I made the decision. And if you guys can go back to that time, the internet was booming. Okay. I went to NADA with him and AutoTrader and cars.com and Autobytel, they were going to take over the car business and dealers were scared. And I had just graduated college. I was working in Charlotte, North Carolina. And I always had this, I'm gonna go do my own thing. But my father, I can see that he needed help. And it was like, okay, I can come in and I can make an impact. So we just kind of started together. You know, I started in sales and I was a finance manager. I was a sales manager. Then, you know, I was a service manager at one time and became a general manager. So I learned a lot of different roles. I think if you go back to that old time, it was like you had a general manager and he did everything. Does that make sense? Smaller store, general manager does everything. Everything goes through the general manager. Well, I did that for a long time and I learned that. And then at some point in time you realize that you can't do this all by yourself. This is not a long-term gig and you're gonna burn out and it's not gonna be productive for the store. And that's where it's, we got to build a team, we got to build systems, we've got to build a culture. I was thankful for those opportunities that I was given. I was able to learn a lot of different roles in the dealership and now it's a matter of, wow, I get to give these opportunities to other people. And if they follow this path, then they can become successful as well. And we can continue to grow and scale. So I think our culture is just about, you know, teamwork and it's about winning and it's about winning those opportunities in front of you. And if we stay disciplined and we follow these processes, there's a path for everybody. And when we grow, there's going to be more opportunities for people. So I think that really helps our culture. Um, I think our people respect me because they know that I've been in their shoes at some point in time. And they know that, hey, when I started, we were fifty cars. Then we got to a hundred. Then we got to two hundred. And now we're at four hundred and we're going to eight hundred. But in order to do that, you know, we're going to need people to step up into different roles and to take responsibilities that maybe they didn't have before.

John Anderson (18:41): Thanks for sharing that story. That's an awesome story.

Rob Ruth (18:44): My whole life, I mean, I love the car dealership experience and I've seen the good and the bad, all of it. And I think as we go forward, we're in a great position right now where we can make some positive changes. And younger people, especially, they're not like the way that we came up in the business. They want mentorship, guidance, where we were thrown in the pool, see if he swims, you know what I mean? And there's good to that too. But I think that we're in a position where we can really develop these younger people. They're smarter, they think different. And we've found great opportunities and we've got a lot of great young developing leaders in our store. So that helps too. That energy, that young wants to move forward. So we're always trying to move ahead.

John Anderson (19:36): And think about that. Think about the vision that they see, right? You got those young leaders that are excited and inspired, right? There's a reason why they are. Because they see it, right? It shows. Um, so that's kudos to you and your leadership team. If I do a follow-up, one, I wanted to say, you know, I remember saying all those years I ran stores, I'd say, man, I feel like I live at the store. You literally lived at the store.

Rob Ruth (20:07): Yeah, I mean, I did. And then the first ten years of my career, I mean, it was bell to bell, six days, right? And that's what I thought. And, you know, you get to a point like, God, there's got to be a better way. And I'm very happy to say we close at three o'clock on a Saturday. We're done at seven o'clock every night. My guys get their days off. I feel good about that. If we work smarter, we don't have to work harder and kill ourselves to get this job done. And I think that that gives longevity, that creates long-term career path, not just that, hey, I'm going to go into car business here for a little and we'll just keep rotating people. I hate that. Let's work with what we got. Let's find solutions. I did that. I got into car business, I'm going to get out of college, I was like, I'm going to get into car business until I figure out what I want to do. Then I figured out this is what I want to do.

John Anderson (21:14): Just one follow-up. I love what you said about, my mentor told me, because as a new general manager, I was trying to do everything myself. And he's like, hey, John, when you don't delegate, the store can only run as fast as you can run. I got news for you. You can't run that fast, right? So what was one of the hardest things you found when you decided, hey, man, I got to start giving some of this stuff away? What was one of the hardest things that you found in that, of trying to release some of that stuff? Or was it easy for you?

Rob Ruth (21:54): No, not at all. I live in Florida. I had to move a thousand miles away from my store to get good at this. I mean, that's the God's honest truth. Okay. We've done this for twenty years. It got us from here to here, but that's not going to get us to here. So it's just rethinking everything. And it's so easy. And I know a lot of people can relate to this. Well, I can just do it so much better and faster myself. Why would I have somebody else do it? Okay, versus taking the time. And I think you just start slow. I think that the thing that I try to say to our managers in our store: the little things that take your time, that's where you've got to start with people. Take these little tasks that are taking your time and start teaching them to other people. And then that gets them in a rhythm and it gives them some responsibility. They're important, but they're not necessarily effective. You follow me? If I've spent all my time just doing these little things, I'm really not getting anything.

Chris Keene (23:04): Listeners, viewers, I hope you took a note there. That's a great strategy, right? I know I did that when it was time for me to start delegating. I wasn't looking at it that way. I was thinking, man, how am I going to turn this stuff over? I was looking at a lot of the big things. I wish I would have had that perspective: start with those, start with the little things that are taking a lot of your time and start turning those over with trust to the people to manage. So no, that's a great strategy.

Rob Ruth (23:40): And I find there's people that want to do those things. They want to learn these things. So it's just, it's a win-win for everybody. But you just got to be open to it. I don't think it's going to happen overnight. And I think too many times we're looking to hire people that can come in and immediately fill a role where we have people within our organization that are looking to step up, where we just start slow and giving them a little responsibility. Then you're developing these people to learn the things that you did versus bringing in somebody else that already had habits, et cetera. So we have a culture of, we want to keep developing people from within and promoting from within. We just recently promoted three sales managers from within. I mean, I'm really proud of that. I can tell you stories of many people that have started in recon or photos and they're three levels up now. I had a young man, he started recon and he's been a GSM for us. So they're there, you know, they're there. And those are the stories that I really like to tell. And I try to instill that in the rest of the leaders in the organization. The people that you need, for us to grow, they're already here. You just got to keep an eye out.

Chris Keene (25:05): Great stuff. So Rob, I want Renaldo, because as you know, he's our director of training and performance management. You had some questions for Rob, because we've seen how pliable Rob's team has been when it comes to training and things of that nature. But I know you had some questions for Rob around things to that nature. Fire away at that. And then I want to circle back, Rob, because you said four things and I want to unpack those just a little bit more. But Renaldo, fire away at them.

Renaldo Leonard (25:38): Yeah, yeah. Rob, you've touched on the culture that you have there at the store and the successes that you've experienced, building that culture by promoting from within, giving folks an opportunity to grow and develop. The question I have for you is, how do you get to a point, when protecting that culture and developing folks that are already in the organization, how do you come to a decision when you see that that particular person isn't right for that fit you're developing them for, or that seat that you're developing for? Because, you know, a lot of times we will handpick someone or see through their effort on a daily basis, hey, I think that this guy could do more in a different role, or he could help us grow the culture and entrench everything that we're trying to build and take it to the next level. And it doesn't come to fruition. It's a tough decision, you know, and it hurts personally if you're invested in that business. That business is your life. How does coming about that decision, what does that look like from you?

Rob Ruth (26:47): Well, we certainly don't always get it right. You know, and sometimes you have a vision for somebody and it doesn't go as planned. And I think you get in a situation and you gotta look at yourself. Did we make the right decision? Did we set this person up for failure? Are we giving them the guidance and the resources and the tools to succeed? I think it starts there. You gotta look at yourself first. Okay. And then once we've had those conversations, and if we continue to have those conversations, then we're in a position where we need to either continue training, we need to maybe transfer them into another role. Potentially, if we've agreed to certain things over and over, and those agreements aren't being met, then, you know, that's a termination potentially. But the last thing, we can't tolerate, we gotta recognize when there's opportunities for us to improve, and we can only tolerate it for a short period of time. And that's what I try to teach our people. And we're very transparent with so many things. All of our numbers, we track everything, and everybody gets to see everything pretty much in our organization. And for me, a thousand miles away, I can spot problems faster than they can sometimes. I'm like, hey, Houston, we got a problem over here. We need to have a conversation with somebody. We gotta figure out a solution because things aren't going the way that we had planned them to. So I think it's just recognizing when you have those problems, having those conversations, coming up with solutions, looking at yourself first. Are we getting the resources, the guidance, the tools? Are we setting this person up to succeed? Are they following through on their end of the bargain? And then if not, you know, there's always tough decisions that are going to have to be made.

Renaldo Leonard (28:43): Right, right. Yeah. Um, gosh, I wasn't expecting that. That's a great answer, man.

Rob Ruth (28:48): You know, we're slow to hire and sometimes, you know, I don't want to be quick to move on from people because you don't know what you're going to get right behind it either. So I'd rather work with the people that we have, pour into them. And I think it shows the rest of our people that we're just not, you know, we're not here to just rotate everybody. We're here to develop you guys. We're going to stand behind you, you know, even when you make mistakes, because we've all made them.

Renaldo Leonard (29:22): Right, yeah. And I mean, I think that's probably one of the best attributes of highly successful organizations and world-class leadership. I know that your dad probably poured a lot of his philosophy into you. Who were some of the mentors that you've kind of gathered around you as you've grown the business and grown yourself as a leader?

Rob Ruth (29:44): Well, it's definitely my father. I mean, we were, you know, we were just like partners, great partners. And, uh, you know, I lost him, and that was tough, you know, and that was a situation for me. You know, I lost my mentor. Then I was in a situation where, you know, I was going a couple of years, a buyout from my stepmother. Okay. So I went through a period of time like that. And that was a period of reflection where I really got a chance to look back on what got us here and what's going to get us to the next level. And when you get to that point and you've got to, you know, sign your life away, basically, to buy the company, you know, I knew I had to make some changes. So we're a forty two year old company, but I think we act like a startup, because in two thousand nineteen, I went all in and bought the whole company that I helped grow. So you follow me? And then you had COVID, and six months later, then I really got to understand what it was like to be a dealer. And the Pennsylvania government said we were not essential. And we've got this massive machine moving forward, and it's just like, let's throw a stop sign down and you can't, it was like a freight train and we just hit a brick wall. And that was tough. And that was a very scary moment for me as a new owner. I thought I was going bankrupt and was gonna lose everything in a very short period of time, because I couldn't stop the expenses, but you stopped the cashflow of our inventory turning and everything like that. So that was a difficult time. It took a lot of teamwork from all of us to get through.

Renaldo Leonard (31:39): Absolutely. Well, and I'm pretty sure that during that time period of, you know, I guess the process of kind of taking over the reins, you know, you were throwing your blood, sweat and tears into the business, and then you kind of strapped your rear end to it when you took ownership of it as a dealer principal. At what point did a light bulb go off and say, the things that we've done up to this point have gotten us here, we need to make some changes, whether it was just changes in your thought process, to level up and get to the next level? What did that look like? Tell us a little bit about that period of time and how you moved and leveled up to where you are today.

Rob Ruth (32:28): Well, I was a general manager for almost twenty years and I knew how to be a general manager. And I went from general manager to actual owner. And that was my transition. And that's when I realized that I needed to develop and multiply myself more than I was doing at that point in time. Like I said, it's hard to let go, especially when you're fully invested in something, and then saying, hey, I need to let go of this and I need to let other people kind of take over the reins. But it's healthy. Again, it shows our organization, that's what helps build our cultures, giving those opportunities. Uh, you know, we've sent four people to the NADA Academy. I'm proud of that. Uh, my four NADA graduates that work for me that potentially could step in and do that general manager or owner job. So yeah, that was a tough transition, Renaldo. And, um, I think we're still always going to be working through that. I try to really... Find your replacement is what I always do. If you want a promotion, you've got to have somebody in line to take over your job. So I think we should all be training every day someone that can step into my role if an opportunity comes.

Renaldo Leonard (33:48): Right. Yeah, man, that is great. It is fantastic. I know that in a past life, in one of my former positions, I came to my boss and I said, hey, that person right there, that's your next director of sales. And he's like, are you quitting? I was like, no, man, I'm just telling you, I got a plan. Not a lot of people embrace that concept, that you're always training and developing. There's a lot of fear, because people, they fear, well, if he can do my job, then what am I going to do?

Rob Ruth (34:23): And I think when we can let go of that fear, and again, we talked about trust, they need to trust, right? They need to trust the dealer and the company that, hey, if I'm training people to do what I do, then I got to be able to trust this organization that they're not just going to say, hey, see you later. You following me? So I try never to break that, and remind our people: we got to take care of our people and we need to stand by them, especially when they're doing the things that we need them to do.

Renaldo Leonard (35:01): Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, that's one of the superpowers of teams. Everybody has that next man up mentality. And, you know, I mean, the next level of people that are going to take over those positions are embraced not only by the person they're going to replace, but everyone around who works and is an integral part of the cog or part of that leadership team. Or if it's in the shop, you get your tech back there that are kind of working on their track. And yeah, you have that accountability and you have that communal embrace of those folks and constantly pouring into them, but also holding them accountable.

Rob Ruth (35:41): I have two techs that worked for me for almost twenty years and they're both service managers now. And, you know, technician, if you want to go there, that's a job, you know, just physically, you can't do it forever. Right. So we try to have these conversations with, you know, our technicians, especially our experienced ones. Hey, help us mentor these younger technicians. Help us develop this. And you're going to have a role in this organization, because ten years from now, your body is not going to let you do what you do today. So on the fixed side, it's even more important, you know, just training leadership and developing people to see a bigger picture than just the role that they're in forever.

Chris Keene (36:27): Right. Rob, you bring up something. I'm going to jump in here because this is really important for dealer principals, GMs, used car managers to hear. So if you're still taking notes, lean in here. Because I think I know the answer to this, what Rob and his team does. You've talked about culture, but now you're bringing fixed ops into it and talking about, you know, hey, a technician, they can't bust their knuckles forever and they can't get down and crawl up underneath the rig forever. A hundred percent understand that. But before all of that, because theoretically, when you look at the guidelines and things of that nature, your used car department is supposed to be your number one customer in your service department, right? What did you do? And listeners, viewers, this is where I want you to lean in. What did you do to bridge that infamous gap between the used car manager and the service manager that historically MF each other all day long? And they're robbing the used car department; we can't make money in used cars because service is beating us over the head, and the service manager, they ain't given us enough cars. What did you do to foster that trust between those two departments?

Rob Ruth (37:45): Well, you gotta have the right people first of all, but here's what we've done that I'm proud of. We do have a bridge. Okay. And our fixed ops director wants to see our used car department keep growing and growing and growing. We compensate our used car manager, our sales managers, and our service managers on variable and fixed. We brought it together that way, because I think those comp plans have just really created such a divide in organizations, where we've just tried to get people a piece of all of it. Does that make sense? Now we're all working together. And one of the things of being in the car business for so long, you get to see what works and what doesn't work. And you realize, okay, why do these people just have to fight all the time? Because they're really working together. And I'm a used car guy. To grow my fixed was like, sell more used cars. You know, once I could really see dealership, it's like, I want to grow my service and parts department. The easiest way for me has always been selling used cars. And now I get these people to work together, because if not, then you've got these huge bottlenecks and the problems that we always have. So bringing them together and us all trying to solve these problems as a team, and not having them work against each other, and have this guy's comp plan is only on this and this guy's comp plan is only on this. It's really brought us together a lot as an organization, and they see a bigger picture.

Chris Keene (39:25): Absolutely. That's a secret that I think needs to be pushed. That's unbelievable. John, when was the last time you sat there and heard a dealership compensating variable and fixed simultaneously? Everybody listening and viewing, I just want to introduce you to Pastor Rob Ruth. He's preaching from a pulpit, my man.

Rob Ruth (39:44): Why wouldn't your used car manager get to partake in the gross profit that's generated in fixed? I want to align the two. The way I think, I'm a dealer. I don't care if it's this arm or this arm. We as a company need them both to succeed. So I want to align my people with that and get them to see a bigger vision and a bigger perspective. Now, I know I'm not normal when you say things like this. And I probably have a lot of dealers that say I'm crazy, but I don't care. I'm a thousand miles away. I need my people working all together with the company's best interests at all times.

John Anderson (40:27): Absolutely. You're just crazy enough to run one of the most successful dealerships that we're aware of. Again, I know you're a humble guy and I appreciate that, but one of the things that we say from our side is the data doesn't lie, and we get a chance to see your data, so the data doesn't lie. What I loved, what I love that you just said, and I put exclamation marks behind it is, um, you know, as you grow that used car department, that helps grow your service department. Right. And bringing that together, I just love everything about that. And you're right. Everybody should have a piece of the puzzle. And again, I go back to what I first asked you about, pulling the rope the same direction. That's the reason why those folks, among many other things that you've explained this morning, but that's a reason why those folks are all pulling for each other. So that's excellent. I have one other thing, because you addressed it when you were talking earlier and I just want you to talk about it a little bit. You talked about, after you bought the store, then you came into COVID, right? And I think I know this story. I hope I've explained it correctly, but I want you to explain it. Can you talk about what happened with you and your team when the state of Pennsylvania made you all shut your doors and go home? What happened during that time? And then after you were able to come back in the store, what happened with you guys? You guys just didn't go home, go to sleep. You guys kept working, right?

Rob Ruth (42:10): Yeah, it's hard to just go home and go to sleep when you've got, you know, seven million dollars of inventory frozen and, you know, expenses. There wasn't much sleep going on at that time, John. But, you know, what can we do? That's what I'll ask myself. What can we do? All right, so we can't deliver a car, but you can't stop us from continuing to talk to our clients. So we had a very high functioning BDC at that point in time, right? So we kept our BDC moving, and a few salespeople. And what we did is we realized, which I could see it coming, the consumer today wants instant gratification, right, wrong or indifferent. We're all the same. Okay. We don't want to be hassled. So we kept that BDC open and we realized we don't need to make appointments, we need to make car deals here with people while they're at home. We need to go further down the funnel with our clients and put deals together. And in that short, I think it was forty five days, we sold well over a hundred cars and we just couldn't deliver them. Okay. So we just, until that Pennsylvania government said, okay, you're operational again, you can deliver the car. We had just a backlog of, you know, a hundred, hundred and fifty deals that we had to deliver at that point in time. And at that, we either went to the customer's home or they came in for just like a quick curbside delivery type thing. If you go back to that time, it was very strange. So we had all our ducks in a row, and people said it was the best experience they ever had buying a car. Make sense? Because they didn't have to come into a dealership and waste four hours of time. We're doing sight unseen appraisals. We're giving payments. We're running credit. We're getting deals approved. We're doing everything that we can do. Which I still say this to my people: the guy that's three miles away still wants to do it this way. Quit trying to bring him in the store. Be prepared. And when he comes in, it's a thirty minute ordeal and we don't take his time. He's going to value that more than anything.

John Anderson (44:32): How many of those cars did you deliver, Rob?

Rob Ruth (44:35): We delivered pretty much all of them. We kept all of them. Yeah. And it was like we were doing thirty deliveries in a day, because we were so organized and prepared when we had the time to do it. But yeah, it was an interesting time.

Chris Keene (44:52): So think about it. Think about this real quick, listeners, viewers. Think about, Rob explained no sleep, sleepless nights, just bought the store, put everything, he's got everything, he's got himself on the line, his family. They go into COVID. And so, what looked like and was a bad situation, because of how they pivoted, look at Rob. I can only imagine how your team operates now, having gone through that, right? That was a blessing for you guys, because now you guys are ahead of the game when it comes to, yes, Mr. Customer, we'll try it. You don't have to leave your office or your home. We'll transact with you completely. Right. A lot of dealers are still struggling with making that transition. You guys had that time. You figured it out. You did it. Now it's a blessing to you. You're ahead of the curve on that, because your team's willing to do that. No questions asked. You've had that experience. So out of that hardship became a blessing for you guys. Man, that's an awesome story. Thanks for sharing it.

Rob Ruth (45:59): Yeah, it definitely was. I agree. Looking back, it was a blessing. In the moment, we talk about the moment...

Chris Keene (46:07): No, absolutely. Beyond every storm, beyond every storm is rainbows and unicorns. Okay. So that's what we're talking about. The rainbows and unicorns. But in that same vein, because this is something that we constantly, constantly hear. And I love what you just said. So listeners, viewers, he was talking about, yeah, no problem, you know, stop trying to get the customer to come in. One of the things I despise every time I sit there and I'm going through and I'm looking at people's follow-ups, okay, and this just happened with one of our excellent performing dealer partners, your store and two others are the three that we always point to as great examples of operators, right? But even this great example of an operator, I'm looking over a lead with them and they're on a Land Rover, a high dollar, eighty three thousand dollar Land Rover. And the customer lives outside of Tulsa, Oklahoma, in a relatively affluent area. The dealer is in South Texas. And the second question: what time could you be in for a test drive today, Mr. Customer? It drives me insane, okay? Because they don't read the lead. But in that same vein that you're talking about, obviously not your full follow-up process, but when you think about what you learned, and how to digitally transact, if you could share with us, share with the viewers, share with the listeners, the number one, two or three, and if it's just one, that's fine, cardinal rule you guys have when it comes to follow-up. What is that?

Rob Ruth (47:42): When it comes to follow-up? Yes sir. I mean, we have our processes and we monitor them.

Chris Keene (47:48): I mean, not necessarily what your full follow-up process is, but if you said, hey, in the follow-up process in general, we are going to make sure we do this. If there's something that you say you're going to do every single time, what is that?

Rob Ruth (48:05): Well, I think first is engagement. We've got to re-engage a client, okay? And then it's finding out what they want and where they're at, and get them a little bit further down the funnel. We want to do business the way... Chris, if you want to buy something from us, I'm going to find out how you want to buy it. Do you want to come in, Chris? Because if you want to come in, we can set up an appointment. Are you looking for more information now that I can help you with, that is going to eventually get you to come in? Make sense?

Chris Keene (48:44): I literally just wrote out: find out how they want to buy. You know what? I haven't heard that in years.

Rob Ruth (48:52): Yeah, I think we overcomplicate it. It's just communication. We want to build a relationship with you. Now, if you and I are talking and I'm helping you and I'm answering your questions, I'm giving you the information that you're looking for from me, my chances are much greater that we're going to end up putting a deal together than if I'm just resistant. No, you got to come in. No, you got to do this. No. Why would I do that? I want to earn your trust. I want to earn your business. So I'm going to give you everything I can that shows you value. And you're probably paying me more, because I took out that friction that other dealers continue to do.

Chris Keene (49:37): Oh, get the organ fired up. We got Pastor Rob in the house. Oh, okay. Because you got me fired up here now. I mean, I'm about to get off the chair. When I get off the chair, Rob, I mean, things are going to get crazy. All right. So you talked about find out how the customer wants to transact. One of the things that Rob Dell last week talked about is the amount of acquisition that you guys did last month, and obviously the amount of acquisition you do all the time. In that same vein, because you don't have all of these people coming in the dealership to sell their car, when it comes to acquisition, same question. What is it that you're doing?

Rob Ruth (50:23): I'm providing a service, period. Okay. Sales is service. So I want to provide that client, whoever that is... If you're trying to sell your car, I need to know why you're selling it and how I can help you sell. And here, my money's good. Here's my competitive advantage versus dealing with John Smith over here. Okay. We've been in business for forty-two years. You can trust that our check is good. We don't need financing. We're going to take care of all your state work and registration. And most likely, I'm going to come to you to transact. How does that sound, Mr. Customer? What is that worth to most people? They want to liquidate their car for whatever reason, and they don't want to go through the hassles of it. But they also think that dealing with the dealership is not the way to go. So if we can come in with a non-confrontational approach, we'll probably win.

Chris Keene (51:22): Absolutely. So you're saying your acquisition team, they're laying that process out up front, expressing to the customer, okay, listen, you want to sell your car, this is why you want to sell it. Now, here's what this looks like. We're going to do this, this, this, this, this.

Rob Ruth (51:40): Exactly. Now, how do you want to do it? You want to come here? Do you want us to come to you? It makes no difference. I'll come with a check in hand.

Chris Keene (51:52): Amen. John, why does that sound so damn simple, but we overcomplicate this in our industry?

John Anderson (51:57): Because we have a tendency to do things the way we always do them. I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with dealers. Rob's an extreme outside-the-box thinker because he lived, breathed, and literally lived, breathed the dealership. So, you know, we just have a tendency as an industry to say to ourselves, well, but this is the way we've always done it, right? And just because we've always done it that way doesn't make it successful, right? It's really not that hard. And it is hard, but it's not that hard. We make it harder than it has to be.

Rob Ruth (52:35): Yeah, totally. I have this conversation with so many dealers. What should I do? And what platform are you using? I'm like, just do it. Just do it. Just start with one and start, you know, communicating with people and see what happens. You'll put it together. That's how we started our buying center. I had this conversation yesterday at Glenn Lundy's. We started our buying center because after COVID, okay, when the microchip thing came out, we had no new car inventory. Used car values went through the roof. We couldn't touch anything at the auction. And honestly, we had just brought back all of our people at that point in time. And I'm thinking, we're a volume store and we're about to cut that in half. Real quick, we've got to find a solution. I'm not laying off people again. I just couldn't do it. You know, I just couldn't sleep. So I started messaging people from my own phone. I started messaging people that had their car for sale. I bought five cars the first day. The second day, I bought six cars. Now, granted, it was easy because the values were going up at that point in time. But I knew right there, I was like, man, I'm onto something. And I got to figure out how to process this, because I'm not going to be able to do this every day. But we can do this every day. I know we can, because it's really not that hard. If I can do it that quick, that easy, we can scale. And it's as simple as that.

Chris Keene (54:13): Wow. Dude. I think we ought to go ahead and reserve that next spot to have Rob come back, because, I mean, we're just touching the tip of the well. It goes deep, and there's a lot of information that we still need to get out of you. Million percent. Million percent. You know, we've gone just five minutes over your time, Rob, and thank you. Thank you very, very much. And I have so much gratitude, but I don't even know how to put it all into words. John, why don't you close this out with Rob before we close out the show here?

John Anderson (54:52): I mean, I'm humbled. I just, Rob, thank you. Look, three pages of notes and things that I can share with dealer partners that I get on with. And, you know, a lot of times we talk to dealers and we ask them, hey, do you mind if we have such and such give you a call or share some things? A lot of times, quite frankly, the dealer says, you know, I want to kind of keep what we do a secret. Let's keep it under wraps. You've been very gracious. Thank you. Thank you very much for today. Thank you for what you've done, you and your team. I said to Rob Dell last week, you guys have always been gracious anytime we have a dealer that wants to come and hang out at your store and check you guys out. Very appreciative of you, my friend. Thank you for being a great dealer partner of ours.

Rob Ruth (55:49): Thank you, guys. We appreciate you. Much success as always, my friend. Thank you. Take care.

Chris Keene (55:55): You take care. Wow, guys. Dude, and Brett, I know I was writing away and I knew you could probably hear the tapping on my iPad, but I really don't care. I hope the rest of the viewers, I hope the listeners out there, I hope you guys took note. And if you're in a leadership position as a sales manager, a BDC manager, used car manager, and your GM or your dealer principal didn't get an opportunity to hear this, you need to send the link to this podcast to your dealer principal, to your general manager. Because a couple things I want to recap here. His team, they know that he's going to give opportunities, so they get to continue to do what that person's passionate about doing in our industry. He helps them create new passions, providing mentorship. Okay. Which tied in to later on when he talked about essentially always having your replacement in the wings, right? Are you, as a sales manager, a floor manager, a BDC manager, are you looking at your replacement? Are you mentoring them? Because I love when people, Renaldo, say, you know, the youth is the future generation. No. The youth is here now. We just need to start grooming them, so when our time is to move on, there is no future training we have to do. Right. Because we've already been grooming them along the way. So I loved how he talked about that. And then, you know, there's a million things that stood out, but I just wanted to share three things. That's two of them. And the last thing was with the follow-up and with the acquisition. He was very redundant and he talked about it multiple times. When it comes to your follow-up, when it comes to your acquisition, make sure you understand the why and the how. Why are they wanting to sell their car? Why are they wanting to buy a new car? But more importantly, Mr. Christopher, how do you want to do this? How do you want to do the transaction? It's up to you. Because I can go both ways. How do you want to do it? I can come to you. You can come here. It's up to you. I don't care. We do it. John, what were your top three takeaways there?

John Anderson (58:19): Well, I mean, I had that, the last one you brought up, I had that circled big time. Um, you know, what an easy, that was the masterclass right there. I mean, seriously, um, I've been around a while and you guys jokingly remind me of that every week. Right. But in all honesty, that was a masterclass on how to take care of and handle your staff, and how to take care of and handle your customers. I mean, that was a masterclass. And, you know, I know he was humble, but when you live at the dealership and you grow up that way, regardless of how successful you are today, people like that don't forget where they come from. Listen, as I told him, we look at their data all the time. That dealership is about as consistent of a performing dealership as I've ever seen, day in and day out. The things they do that drive consistency month in and month out, what they stock versus what they sell. That's about as consistent of a dealership, operating in a small town in the middle of nowhere and blowing it up. And so there's a reason for that. Right. And he just laid it out, and I know there's a lot more there. Um, but you know, just simply asking a customer, Mr. Customer, how do you want to do business? How easy is that? And then not only asking it, but when the customer gives you that answer, you make it happen that way. Right. Delivering all that. Right. And then grow your fixed by selling more used cars. I mean, that's the basic principle. Okay. Right, but how many times, literally how many times do we see dealers trying to control their gross by speeding up or slowing down their sales based on how they're pricing their inventory? And so they're trying to control their gross, and it never works that way. And then what happens is you slow the process down, and that slows the process down for the entire dealership. Right. Rob talked about it. You know, he has all his managers getting paid off all the different departments, right? But is that normal? No, that's not normal. And within the dealership, between our parts, our service, our fixed, our variable, there's that tug of war going on instead of everybody pulling the rope the same direction, right? Because I know if I'm selling more cars and I'm concentrating on volume in the front of the store, guess what? There's more cars going through the back of the store. That lifts the entire store. So that was another strong point that he brought up. And then the third one for me was, because I love it, and Renaldo alluded to it, any sports team you've been on, right, next man up mentality. Right. Building that confidence in your team that if something goes down, next man up. There's no hesitation. Humming like a sewing machine.

Chris Keene (61:21): Yes, sir. Renaldo, same question. I shared my top three. John shared his. What were your big takeaways from that?

Renaldo Leonard (61:28): The biggest thing for me that really just kind of stood out was how he incentivizes the behaviors he wants out of his leadership team. And John just kind of finished up with it, tying those pay plans, interweaving those pay plans so that every department benefits from the other, and just setting your leadership across the top, setting them up to drive success with the other revenue streams that they affect. That is so crucial. And like you said, there aren't a lot of people that have tied into that. A rising tide lifts all boats, right? And so if you are going to build a business to the level that they have, and we've talked about it a couple of times, they're out in the middle of the country, and not really surrounded by a huge population. They ain't surrounded by a population at all. But they do it right. They do it right. And he understands his internal and external customers. I have to meet them where they're at, and I have to provide them the service that they're looking for. And, you know, if you do that, the world is your oyster. Culture. You know I'm a big culture guy and a big team guy. The way that he established exactly what the culture was going to be, and then holds his team accountable to it. Develops them into it. Has them grow into it. Because not everybody's going to walk in the door and automatically be a fit. So you got to develop them. You got to train them. But he also has that accountability layer to get everybody focused on where it is that we want to go. And if they don't fit, they don't fit. Maybe we find another seat on the bus, or maybe we just put them in a different vehicle, or allow them to get into a different vehicle. But, you know, sometimes those things happen. But, you know, he talked about immediate gratification. And I think the biggest thing that we see with his organization, and a lot of organizations that we come in contact with, is that control. When you are talking to your internal and external customers and forcing them to do business the way that you want to do business, we're closing the opportunities for our success and for our blessings. If we try to control... and that was the big thing that was just playing in my head the entire time that he was talking about meeting customers where they want to be met. When I first got in the business, you've got to control that customer. You've got to control that process. You've got to get them. I tell you what, I'd give you a hundred dollar bill if you could get that guy to sit in the trunk of the car. I mean, that's not how you serve. Not in today's time. You can't do that. That's not how you serve your customers. And if you serve your customers and ask them how they want to be served, the rest of it's easy. All you got to do is listen and then deliver on it. So yeah, going back to the way that he incentivizes the behaviors that he wants with his pay plans, and also with his development, the culture, and then customer service. And the adaptation. Anytime he's presented with an obstacle, he just sits down and figures out a way to get it done. And then that Nike school of management. Just do it. Just do it.

Chris Keene (65:05): Just do it, man. Just do it. Absolutely. Well, listeners, viewers, there you have it. We wrapped up season one with Rob Dell, the vice president of the Bob Ruth Ford store there in PA. We started season two, episode one with Rob Ruth, the dealer principal, the president of that store. And folks, I hope you took a lot of notes, because leading through the culture is really what that was about. Listeners, viewers, thank you, thank you, thank you for an awesome season one. Thank you, thank you, thank you for now tuning into season two. Please share this, like it, comment, send us anything you got. If you want to come on the show, lottalkpodcast.com, we would love to have you. On behalf of John Anderson, Renaldo Leonard, I'm Chris Keene. Thank you guys a ton. Much success, and we'll see you next week. Same bat time, same bat channel. Bye, guys.