Rock 'n' Roll Leadership: A New Era in Automotive Management | Gregg Stegmann (Episode 38)

Speaker A: And then she stopped me when I got to the door, Chris. And she says, hey, Stag, don't forget your book. Meaning, you know, you're a GM now. Uh, don't forget all the things you said you would never do and all the things you. You said you would never treat somebody. Don't. Don't forget where you came from.

Speaker B: Wow. Uh, welcome to the Sensei Playbook, the ultimate podcast for the automotive industry. Each week, we dive into the success stories and best practices from industry leaders. Put customer experience first, from driving repeat business to earning coveted referrals. Discover the tools and tactics that set the best apart. Get ready to hit the road to success. This is the Sensei Playbook. All right, welcome back, everyone, to the Sensei Playbook podcast. Today's guest is someone who is truly unique in many ways and is genuinely redefining what leadership looks like inside a car dealership. Greg Stegman is the general manager of Wharton Chevrolet, GMC and Ram country in Wharton, Texas. And. And if you've seen any of his social media, you'll know he's not your average gm. While a lot of people in his position are posting recruiting ads, manufacturing news, Greg is celebrating his people, building a culture that you can actually feel and translating that into an exceptional customer experience. Now, I've spent some time going through social media before this interview, and I have to be honest with you, I still can't figure out if the guy's a cowboy, a rock and roller, a social media influencer, a showman, or just straight up, all the above. And honestly, I think that's exactly the point. So, Greg, welcome to the show, man. Really glad to have you. And, oh, and let me add one more title. Perhaps the best dressed man to ever appear on the show. My good friend Derek Simons may argue that, uh, statement, but I'm going to give you the title.

Speaker A: I'll take it. Take it. Tell Derek he'll be all right.

Speaker B: Do you know. Do you know Derek?

Speaker A: No, I don't. But I can't imagine anybody dresses better than me. You look pretty sharp yourself, Chris. I've told you that before.

Speaker B: Thank you. Thank you. So, I want. There's a lot to unpack. I want to get into family, organizational leadership, social media. But let's maybe begin or, uh, start with the beginning. How did you get into the car business and how has it impacted your life?

Speaker A: Well, I mean, it, frankly, has been my life for the last 30 years. But, you know, at a time, uh, I decided not to go to college. Um, my father tried to, you Know, push me towards the military. And I, um, you know, I, I, I just. I wanted to make some money, and I was.

Speaker B: Work.

Speaker A: Found myself working two restaurant jobs. And I would literally go from running a deli during the day and then jumping in a 77 Camaro in Texas with no AC and driving to an Italian restaurant where I'd wait tables at night and changing in the car. And it was so funny because when you first walked in the restaurant, our boss, his name was Bruno, right? Italian restaurant. That's perfect, Bruno. And he would call you over the intercom, and he would. Is great. He wanted to see his people. You know, he taught me a lot about visibility. Um, and. But he wanted to make sure that you were presentable, that you, you had creased sleeves, and you had a crease and starch, uh, day print. You had three pens, and you had $100, you know, worth of change on you. And with me, he'd always, if you were in the building longer than a couple minutes, he paid you, you know, Stegman, come see Bruno. And I'd come see him, and he'd look me up and down, and I was always prepared. But he, he knew that I had worked two jobs. Changing the car was driving, you know, just like. But he had. He respected the fact that I was working as hard as I did. And then he'd look me up and down, and he'd say, okay, go get in the walk in cooler and I'll see you in a few minutes. And I'd go stand in the walk in cooler and cool off. But I found myself working two jobs and, and just, you know, barely getting by. Had my own Place, was 19 years old. Um, and I just, you know, going. Working all day long and to. To. I'm like, this can't be it. And I ended up becoming manager of both places. So I thought I. I think I kind of tapped out or hit my ceiling. And I'm like, man, this is bad

Speaker B: because you're working hours in restaurant, but you're not making the money.

Speaker A: No, no. And, um, so I saw an ad one day in the paper, and it was, um, uh, you know, hiring salespeople. And I went to this big Ford store and I. And it was just meant to be because the manager that interviewed me, and I remember him, uh, and he was, he was. Came from the restaurant business and the, you know, um, the, uh, hospitality business as well. So right away, him. And he told me all the things, you know, I didn't know anything about cars. I didn't know anything about, you know, I couldn't relate to most of the customers that, you know, at a 19, 19 years old. It's not like I own a home, got kids in college, belong to a country club or anything like that. And um, but I knew that it was just about making people feel special. You know, it didn't, it didn't matter at that restaurant where I waited tables whether it was something they thought they were being unique or, you know, when they ordered something that was off the menu. And, and truth be told, everybody ordered the same thing. I mean it was just. But it was about making them feel special and bringing them something extra. Uh, um, and uh, and that's really the two. I was like, man, I don't really need to know all this about car. I mean I've changed my battery. That's about, that's about the extent of my mechanical knowledge. Uh, but um, my father was in the car business, so he was a used car manager. I mean really one of the last Mohicans as far as really honest, uh, of the highest integrity and character. And uh, he um, you know, at. To a flaw. I mean there was a point in the 80s 90s where, you know, honesty, uh, wasn't always a, uh, common trait, especially in the used car side of the uh, variable operations. And so. But I just have the utmost respect for him. I knew he wouldn't want me to start, you know, selling cars, so I actually kept it a secret. I hired on and I waited. I mean I wish it would have happened sooner, but I think it was about four or five months in before I made Salesman of the Month. And uh, he had, he owned his little car lot at the time. And I showed up during the day, one day on an off day, and I said, I have a gift for you. And I gave him my Salesman of the Month plot. And I'm a junior, so it was important. And I remember when I got that plaque from the Ford store, they um, they didn't put Junior on the end. And I was so upset and they're like, Greg, just calm down. You know, they didn't understand what I. My plan was to give this to him. And so they ended up letting me keep that one and giving me another. And I gave it to my dad. And he's like, he started selling cars and I'm like, yeah, I did, but I'm really good at it, you know. And so I think, I think he was happy when I actually got in finance because he, I, I think with, you know, like I said, there was a Lot of turnovers, Houston market. And he, I've seen him get really, you know, comfortable and do a lot of great things. And then, you know, there was a shake up or something like that. And I think he felt like that I was going to be better fit for finance. And I remember he actually, when I got in finance, he bought me a gift and it was a Waterman pen. It was a beautiful pen. He says, you're in finance now, you're going to need a nice pet.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: And, uh, so I, uh, sold cars for a couple years, man. I was uh, 20 years old when I started and. Which was uncommon back then. Now it's like half the sales force. Early 20s, but sure, back then, man, it's um, I, uh, I, I was the only one not old enough to drink. And I think the only guy even close to me was maybe 25, 26 years old. And uh, it's just, it was a bunch of older men, you know, some of them former professionals. And um, the others had been selling cars for years. And wow. Uh, two or three years later, I, I saw finance, I saw these guys and they were, you know, nice suits, expensive watches, and they're sitting in the AC with the, you know, leather shoes and stuff. And I'm, I'm wearing clothes from like the same, the same shirts I wore waiting tables. You know, like they're $15 Manhattan button downs. And so I was like, that's where I want to be. And um, it's, it's just great. I just, I said, hey, I want to be there. And they, well, you're going to have to do this for a little while. And I remember once that I made a bet with the sales manager and I said, uh, I want to be in finance. He says, you're too young. Um, I think at the time he told me to grow a mustache. And I'm like, I can't grow facial hair. You know, I think to this day I can't grow a full beard. It's pretty sad. He's like, I'll tell you what, Greg, you're, you're a closer. You're going to run this team member. Back then, Chris, we had like teams. We had like team, uh, leaders and so, and you got paid for each deal they sold. So they gave me. They had already trained these two teams because he had just moved to this new store and it was a monster store and he already had these two teams. And you know, and he's like, hey, Joe runs this team and Mike runs his team and we had some People show up after our training class. Greg, you're going to get those seven guys. And I remember I had one guy with a tattoo, uh, said Dallas across his neck. I had another one that worked at Home Depot. I had this great country girl with the Southern accent that she was just a rock star. And I took him and I said, guys, y' all go grab a customer. Bring them to me.

Speaker B: That's it.

Speaker A: And he said, you do, you beat. You beat Mike and Joe's team for 90 days, I'll put you in finance. And on the 90th day, it was a Saturday, we. We're in a meeting upstairs, a Saturday morning meeting. And after the meeting, we went down and I got my guys together and I distributed them between the other two teams. And I went in the finance office, and, um, my GSM and my gm, they come down there and they're like, stegman, what the hell are you doing? I'm like, I'm in finance, man, and one of you guys need to show me how to work a computer before. And I. I stayed in finance for, like, two months, not getting nothing but a $2,000 a month draw because I think he was afraid to tell the, um, platform GM at the Ford store. And. And, um, you know, and I wasn't going to say anything because I was afraid they'd. They'd be like, no, you can't do that, right? And so we, uh, had. We had. I had moved to a Hyundai Kia location. And, uh, we were there a month and a half, and I'm killing it. And I remember my GM says, hey, the platform's coming this evening. You need to be out on the floor closing deals. And I said, well, we've got a problem, because there was only two of us contractors. And I said, it's Caesar's anniversary. He's going to dinner. He's already left. And he says, stag me. You better figure it out. I would take a customer and I would go close him back. Then we'd get a check, we'd staple it in the folder, we'd take it to the desk with the sign commitment, Right? The wood. And, um, I remember then, uh, I'd get the manager in the platform GM was sitting in there. I mean, he never spoke a word to me. I'd go out and I'd grab the customer, and I would take them around the other side of the showroom into a finance office, close the blinds and contract them. And after about the second time. I mean, this. This guy, he was no dummy. He figured it out. Real quick. And he walks up to me on the showroom floor and he says, um, Mr. Stegman? And I said, yes sir. He says, I understand you're in finance now. I said, yes sir, you won't be sorry. And uh, he goes, I guess I need to get you a pay plan. And I said, that would be great. And a year later, I'm, um, I'm that guy's finance director and I work most of my career with him over the next 20 years.

Speaker B: How old were you at this point?

Speaker A: 20, 22. Wow.

Speaker B: Wow. Amazing. So who were some of the people in the business that influenced you, uh, in a positive way to help develop your, you know, your skills early?

Speaker A: Well, I, ah, I had some great mentors, I mean, you know, growing up, you know, and it's, that's another story. It's like, it's really easy to assume you're self made when you're never giving anything and you have to work for it. But truth be told, nobody ever becomes super successful, 100% self made. I mean there, there are, there's mentorship involved. If you're going to be successful, you, you need to be looking for mentors and you know, and you also need to be, you need to realize when there's somebody that can be a mentor and, and be open to learning. Um, and I was lucky enough as a young kid, you know, like I said, very rare in the business at the time to be as young as I was. But as, as, as, as, as wild and this, the stupid mistakes I made. I had some, some guys that really looked out for me and they, um, they, they saw the, the talent and the potential and um, they knew I was just rough around the edges. Um, I've worked for a lot of great GMs now, even though some of them didn't exactly set, they, they didn't make me the GM I am today when it comes to culture. This was the old school car business. You know, actually I learned a lot just watching people do things the wrong way. Chris.

Speaker B: Yep.

Speaker A: And I'll tell you what, I kept this book all these years as a little, little binder and I wrote down things and I said one day, one day, when I'm a gm, I'm never going to do this, never going to do this. I'm never going to treat people this way. I am, uh, I, I'm never going to talk to somebody this way. And, and then I wrote down great ideas of things I wanted to do. You know, walking through the service department, when you come in, in the Morning. And you know, we've talked about that before and actually a GM M that knows the technicians names. Wow. Well, that's crazy.

Speaker B: That's, that's a segue because that's exactly how you and I met. I know. I noticed all your social media posts were about edifying, celebrating your people, your show talks, you being in the uh, in the service department. The other day I saw one and you were talking about, um, you were dressed in a, in a green suit, I guess it was day. And you were talking how great these master texts, they're the best master techs in the business work for you. I was like, yeah, you're really, you know how to put people up on a pedestal. And that's, that's the type of culture that I don't think you can, um, you can't buy that type of culture. You have to build. And, and you know, I want to really unpack how you. Some of the things that you do to, to cultivate that.

Speaker A: Well, first of all, like I said, that's the, the those things come from. I mean I've, I have had, you know, once again, even some of those guys that didn't set the best example for me. Some of those GMs, I learned just an incredible amount of. I mean they were, some of them were the best operators I've ever been around. And then I've had some, some other guys where they just, they really set an example for me. And, and, and I, I realized that, you know, visibility is just number one, just being personable and being somebody people can talk to, having your door open kind of policy. But I just, I kept this book over all these years and I never, never lost it. And I will tell you because I love this and the one day and I'm a GSM and a big Honda store and the, um, owner or the VP comes over and he goes to the office next to me. I'm in the tower. And he knocks on the glasses. Hey, come here. And I go in there. He says, hey, we've got this store, this GM left and we're moving this guy here where we want you to be the GM of the store. And I'm like, wow, okay, wow. You know, I'm here. Yeah. And, and then I went. He says, go home, talk to your wife. Talk it over. Give me a decision tomorrow. So I go home and talk to my wife and you know, and uh, this is, uh. It was just incredible. I was so excited. And I remember the next morning I left for work and ever since my kids were little, I would leave for work and they would always say, big money, dad, big money. That was like their way of saving. Have a great day, big money. And in their little toddler voice, it was real cute. And so now, even though they're full grown teenagers and little adults and my wife, still to this day, they go, big money, big money. And on the way out the door that, you know, we, we always say, I love you and um, I love you. Big money. And then she stopped me when I got to the door, Chris. And she says, hey, stag, don't forget your book. Meaning, you know, you're a GM now. Don't forget all the things you said you would never do and all the things you, you said you would never treat somebody. Don't, don't forget where you came from.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: And uh, yeah, that was, that was so cool. She's, yeah, she's an amazing woman. She's like, that was just those simple words. She's like, don't forget your book.

Speaker B: You should consider publishing that book, perhaps.

Speaker A: I'm holding on to it dear life. I've had somebody ask if he can make copies of it before. And uh, uh, I'm like, I don't think I trust you.

Speaker B: There's a book, there's a book deal for you.

Speaker A: But man, none of this stuff is. I mean, it likes things like just walking through the service department. I mean, how simple it is really, the simple things. And um, and just being visible on the showroom, being visible in the store. Um, you know, we're going to talk about how all that transcends to customer, ah, uh, uh, satisfaction in the CX experience. But yeah, it really, it has to do with the same things, the visibility and the uh, the transparency. You know, you, you, you have to be, you have to be visible. You have to be accessible. You know, if my door is closed, it's very rare that anybody knocks because they never see it closed. They know that he must be, he must be on a call or something because his doors never closed.

Speaker B: Yeah. So he makes sure recognition doesn't feel like a performance or like a flavor of the month. What, what keeps it authentic over time?

Speaker A: Well, I think, um, I mean, it's no different than anything else. I mean if you're going to give, you know, um, uh, praise to somebody, if you're going, you know, tell somebody you care about them or this and that, and it's got to, it's got to feel authentic in order to make an impact or to have any real value. And, and once again, it's no different with the customer. You can. You can use the word transparency all you want. You know, it's so cliche, but, you know, real transparency, I mean, it's, It's. People know it's authentic, and your employees, they know it's authentic. And you have to earn that level of trust with them. So when it does come time, and especially when you're tough, because I'm not a. I'm not a pushover, you know, and, uh, it's. They. But the reason that I can be that tough is they know that my level of. Of intensity, I, I'm. I practice what I preach. You know, it's like, um, you know, I. You have to. I'm constantly busy. I stay busy. I stay productive. I stay positive. I come in with good energy. I treat the customers the same way I expect them to treat the customers. And, um, I do the social media same way I expect them to do the social media. You have to set an example. And when you do your people, what you say carries more weight. And so therefore, when you're. You can also hold them to a higher level of accountability because they respect you. They respect the fact that you're not just. You practice what you preach. You can hold them to a higher level of accountability. And when you do. Right. Praise is.

Speaker B: Is.

Speaker A: It's appreciated. You know, I had, uh, I had, uh. I was coaching somebody. It was a coaching moment with one of my leaders, and he would constantly just like, somebody's message and like, somebody's message, and sometimes I was trying to get a point across or a message across, and I was like, hey, I really appreciate you being supportive and encouraging, but you don't like every message. And he was kind of like, what do you. What do you mean? I said, it's not authentic. You know, I said people need to feel like they earn. If you give that heart, that little emoji, uh, to everybody on that chain, nobody feels special.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: You know, somebody. It's like, yeah, that's just. It's a participation trophy.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: And so I, I don't, you know, I don't make it impossible for them to, to receive my affection and, and my appreciation. In fact, I, I handed out a lot.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: But I'm. I want them to feel like they really earned it and that it's something special and, and that, that holds so much value with them. And I don't want. I don't want the ADA voice, but I want to know, hey, Greg, you know, you're killing it, man.

Speaker B: That's Right. Does.

Speaker A: But, uh, it needs to feel that special. And therefore, the, the, the things they learn from you, they just, they hold more weight because they realize you care. They're more likely to, to pay attention when you're trying to coach them up. And, and that's all you really want, you know, you don't want it to be being a. Know it all. Let me tell you how I do it, you know?

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: That's not a coaching moment. It's telling that, hey, you know, I, I understand you did this. And I always support them, you know, especially my GSM and my leaders. I never, I never critique them in front of the other guys. Um, I always support their decisions. And then when we get in an office, I'll tell them, hey, listen, I'm always going to back you up. They're like, yeah, Greg, we know. And I said, but I'm also always going to be open and honest with you that I wouldn't have necessarily done it that same way. But let me tell you how we can work together to make sure that our message is consistent and that I'm not contradicting you. But, you know, I need, I need you to understand that I feel like there was a better way to do it. And I, this is the same way I learned somebody down and had this conversation with me. And it's better than just doing the wrong thing and thinking you're doing the right thing, right, or your boss correcting you in front of the team. Go, no, no, no, no, we're not going to do that. We're going to do this. And so I feel like it's a very effective way of leading, uh, your team.

Speaker B: Well, do you have a process for learning what matters to each individual on your team and, and what makes them. Do you have a universal approach?

Speaker A: No, it's, there's, uh, it has to be unique, they say, especially these days, you know, the days of managing everybody the same way. I mean, these were the old. This is not that. It's. This are different times. And, you know, the most I learned from a lot of books and, and I, um, that, you know, I'm trying to figure out how do I just manage people, you know, differently? I mean, I just usually it was just, hey, here's how it is. It's black and white. And that's how I was brought up in the, in the car business or, or at our age. Our parents, they didn't, they didn't have to sell you on how something, an edict benefited you.

Speaker B: It was just why.

Speaker A: And their explanation Was what? Because I told you so.

Speaker B: Right? And.

Speaker A: And, uh, that doesn't work anymore. And then they buy in. You know, the, uh, only way somebody's going to buy in is how does it benefit me? You know, how does it benefit. This is how it benefits you. This is how it benefits our customers. This is why I do something this way. So next time, Chris, you know, try doing this. And that's a coaching moment. It doesn't always come out so perfect, but they, they see you making that attempt and it's all about knowing your people, that you have to understand how this, what motivates this person. You. I used to assume, and I used to hold these big rah rah meetings and assume that everybody came up poor like me, and they all wanted yachts and mansions and, and stuff. And I would be like, man, I had a great meeting. And. But then I realized Chris said, not everybody wants the same stuff. And some people's idea of success is different. And so you have to spend that time with them. You have to get on a personal level. You have to establish that trust. And once again, when you establish that trust right now, you're going places because you can motivate. You know how to motivate them. And, and it's not dangling a carrot, man. People know that's not authentic. And eventually, you know, you run out of rope and they're like, hey, dude, you ain't delivered yet. Where's my promotion? Where's my this? And. But you have to find out, uh, first what motivates them. You know, I had a notepad in my iPhone and I would just, I'd put their name. I'd have, uh, everybody on my team. I have a list right now of everybody that works for me. And then I have one or two, maybe three details about them that, I mean, it might be the ages of their children and the names of their children, or maybe someone's got an autistic child. I'd put that in. Or they live in Rosenberg, Texas, or they're from Ohio, and I'd put that in there. And then all of a sudden, you know, you're. You're conversating with them and you bring up something like, you know, are you a Buckeyes fan? I just figured you're a Buckeyes fan because you're from Ohio or, you know, or something about their children, and you ask about them, they're just blown away, man. Nobody. And you don't have to study them, you don't have to know them. Like, you know, your Spouse, partner. You just got to know a few things about them because it shows that you care. And what, Theodore Roosevelt, man, that's the best quote in the world. It's, uh, Nobody cares how much you know and, you know how much you care. I just, man, all of a sudden, my relationships were different with my people. Uh, we were closer, um, and than ever before. And so when somebody was really having a rough time, whether it be professionally or personally, they would feel comfortable coming to you. Or when you were trying to pick somebody up, it wasn't. Didn't just sound like a bunch of, you know, uh, noise, like they, they were willing to listen because they. They knew and they felt like you really cared. And, um, you know, and that's why I love that. So nobody cares how much you know, man, until they know how much you care. I don't need to. I don't need to prove to anybody. In fact, I don't want to be the smartest guy in the room, you know? Uh, but people that respect you, you don't. You don't have to tell them. They know what you know.

Speaker B: Love that. So that's that segue. What's the most direct line you can draw between celebrating your people and your dealership's customer experience? Walk me through that connection.

Speaker A: I mean, it's huge. Um, it's huge. And, um, you know, the old. The old cliche is that, you know, happy, Happy employees make productive employees, but happy employees make for happy customers. Uh, if you're going to build sustainable success, I mean, you've got to have a. Just a level of customer service. And the bar is so much higher today than it's ever been. And it really is. You have to be cognizant of what is the most important thing about running a dealership. And it is customer service. I mean, it's, you know, let's say new cars for a moment. New cars. I mean, everybody knows the new car franchises. It's the price of admission, right? We make our money in use. We make our money in finance. Make our money in fixed new cars is just the price of admission. It's how you get the banks, how you get the product and everything else, you know, you could. The manufacturer doesn't care how much money you're making in use. They don't care I'm making in finance or, you know, they, they. They care about your customer service index and your sales efficiency. And so, I mean, even with Stellantis, Lance doesn't pay money anymore on our Dodge store. Slantus doesn't pay anymore for csi. But guess what? In order to buy more stores, like our dealer group, you know, our dealer group wants to scale in order to buy more stores that OEM is going to look at your customer service index and it starts with your people. Like I said, the, you know, the happy, happy employees make, uh, make productive employees, man. It, it is it especially in stores that require, uh, growth. I don't want to say broken. I uh, want to say challenging because challenges make, you know, the challenging stores that I've had to run have, you know, they're more satisfying because the, you know, I know that not everybody could walk in here and just build it from ground up. Um, and then the challenges you face, I mean, I'm light years ahead of these other operators that have never had to build something from the ground up. They've never had to start from scratch, hire an entire service department. Um, and I've, I, you know, some stores, the ones that require the most work are the ones that are also more gratifying. But it starts with the people. You know, you have to find people. First of all, in these types of stores, you don't have money. Especially in 22 miles away is Houston. I mean one of the largest car markets there is. I don't have the money to compete with those other. They, my guys are all, my guys are, are all worth more than what they, when, what they earn right now. But that's just based on the economics of the store and they understand that. Not based on what I want to pay them. Trust me, I'd get in trouble from the owner if I paid them what I want to pay them, you know, because I know what these guys are worth. But people stay in a job, what, for good leadership or, you know, people leave a job either for poor leadership or money. Uh, but oftentimes, even if it ain't the, the greatest paying gang, if they're happy, if it's a great culture, if they like who they're working for, if they're learning something from you, they feel like that they're going to be able to use and advance their career, you know, and that they, that they feel like you care about them and you appreciate them and you show this appreciation in front of everybody. Uh, you're going to create an environment that is conducive to um, uh, creating that level of customer service that is required if you're going to build sustainable success. You don't, you don't come in and you don't build success. You, you build people that create an environment where success is inevitable.

Speaker B: I mean, uh, you have a, you have a natural knack for it. And, um, you know, I love Richard Branson's, um, quote. You know, it is my belief that, uh, you know, a winning customer experience begins with a winning employee culture. And Richard Branson said it best. He said, customers don't come first. Employees come first. Take care of, Take care of your employees, and they'll take care of your customers.

Speaker A: And so many VPs and owners and they, they all want to talk about, you know, the customer is number one, you know, or they say, process, process, process. Let me tell you what if you got the wrong people? Process don't matter. The process sucks, no matter how good it is, because they're not bought in. You know, you're going to have turnover, you know, customers. If you're going to build, uh, customer retention, you need employee retention. You're going to build employee retention. You need culture. Right. Where does it start? People. A lot of times people come into these stores and these operators, they, they. Everybody, you know, it's, uh, well, we're going to get the wrong people off the bus or in. Chris. We're going to get the right people on the bus. A lot of guys just don't. I just want to make sure people are sitting in the right seat. I'm going to get the wrong people the hell off the bus. But, uh, before, you know, I'm going to. Sometimes somebody's just not sitting in the right seat. And when you can create the kind of culture that says, hey, let's find out that, that, that recognizes that everybody has a different strength. You can get people to work together, and, uh, there's no animosity, there's no dissension. And then you start creating this circle of trust is what I call it when we're in our office together. You know, I tell everybody, hey, this is a circle of trust, you know, and we all need to be able to trust each other. And sometimes we're going to bicker, sometimes we're going to fight. But, you know, we do that with our loved ones. Um, but we need to be able to trust. Even at the end of the day, if I piss you off or somebody pisses you off, you still need to have a. You still need to be able to tell somebody else, I trust that guy.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: I trust he annoys me sometimes. Yeah, I annoyed. I annoy the heck out of my wife, but she trusts me. You, uh, know, and when you create that environment, yeah. Customers pick up on it. The idea is to make Them feel comfortable and create that circle of trust for that customer. And you have. It all comes from the energy they feel when they walk through the door. They're going to see the culture. If the culture is real, they're going to be able to pick up on it. As we're growing these stores, right? The results and the actual numbers, I always tell my wife, I'm like, hey, we're doing this, we're doing this. And. But, man, I just. I'm a fall short this month. And she's like, well, I mean, look at all you're doing. And I'm saying, unfortunately, babe, we're in a performance, a results based business, you know. But the thing is, is that you'll have. I'll have OEM reps and lenders come in and they could just see the difference. And I'm like, they didn't ask how many cars we sold. You know, uh, they don't know that It's.

Speaker B: It could.

Speaker A: It could be. It. It could be no real huge difference between a couple of weeks ago or a couple months ago when we got here. But they're like, man, you just. It feels good when you walk through. It's never felt like this before. If they pick up on that, your customers pick up on that. You. You have to create that environment. And I believe my. I preach to my guys. We have what. We have what I call welcome to CC's concept, right. And. And I push it hard. And if you've ever eaten CC's pizza, it ain't because of the pizza. I mean, unless you're just starving.

Speaker B: Because it.

Speaker A: It's, uh, a all you can eat buffet. But it ain't the best pizza. Yes, but it's not a chick fil A. Everybody wants to talk about chick fil A. But the thing that I use, the reason I use ccs as a reference is when you walk through the door, they've got everybody behind because they're constantly just swapping out fresh pizza. It's, uh, all you can eat, right? And they've always got a shift manager. And you'll see the shift manager, you'll see all the employees. And the moment that bell rings on the door and somebody walks in, they all lift their head up, everybody pops their head up and they say, welcome to CC's.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: It never fails. It's their thing. It's kind of like chick fil A with their thing. This is CC's thing.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And I'm telling you, it's a good vibe when you walk in. Even if you are, you know, going to a place with ah, an eight dollar buffet. It's just a good vibe. And if I can, if they can get 14 an hour teenagers and you know, uh, uh, employees to, to see the value in this or do it.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And, and, and actually take a moment just to say, hey folks, how you doing? Man, it's huge. You're simply saying, hey folks, how you doing? Welcome. Somebody's going to be right with you. And you know what has the complete opposite effect? Because that customer you're dealing with is going to know how passionate you are about taking care of customers. And so I call it the welcome to CC's. And I'll walk around sometimes and when doors open, I'll just be like, welcome to C's to my guys. You know, not. Or the Customer, welcome to CC's. And they'll all pop up their head, hey folks, how you doing? Welcome to CC's. And so you, but you have to be consistent. They have, you have to be passionate about it.

Speaker B: I was at a restaurant the other night with my wife and uh, uh, either the owner of the manager was walking around, I couldn't tell, but he was, you know, and I love that because whenever I'm at a restaurant and someone doesn't, the management doesn't come around and ask how things are. I, I don't think it's good business practice for a restaurant because that is a verbal review in a restaurant. And they're, they're, they're soliciting feedback and making sure that everything's going well. Well, the guy comes up and he

Speaker A: was like, hey, how is everything?

Speaker B: And he's talking to us. And I said, is this your place? You know what he said to me? He goes, no, this is your place.

Speaker A: And I was like.

Speaker B: And he was the owner.

Speaker A: I was like, wow.

Speaker B: I was like, that's good.

Speaker A: That's good.

Speaker B: Yeah, uh, that's good.

Speaker A: I think it's a good, a good thing. I mean they, that it made you feel good. It made me feel good.

Speaker B: And Maya Angelou said it best. She said, it's not what you say or what you do, it's how you make people feel. Yep. Powerful, powerful statement.

Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B: So when things don't go right, like let's say when, um, how do you handle when the culture building collides with a bad day, say a missed deal, a service complaint, uh, a team member and a team member in conflict, um, what mechanism, how do you handle that?

Speaker A: Well, like any other, like anything else, that's a challenging moment or even, you know, friction. I mean, there's always going to be, there's, there's confrontation. Anytime you put passionate people on the room, I mean, you're going to have friction. I, I, I always hear the deal, well, you know, it's good day positive to have pushback. And I'm like, I don't know if I'm really, like, bought in on that. I believe that it's good to have people that see the best in you and they challenge you and they hold you accountable. I love team sports. I'm a big football guy, you know, and, uh, my son used to play on this, uh, football, uh, team and he's, he's in varsity high school now, but he, I remember this team and he had this really huge kid. And of course he's a lineman, right? And uh, just a huge kid, slow as could be, another great player. But they were, they were young and my son was tiny and they had him on the line. And I remember this kid, he even went to church. They went to church together and they would line up on the line and this big kid would pick my son up by the back of his pants when he didn't have his, his stance right, and he would move him, you know, and it was like, you know, and if you ever played team sports, let's see football especially, you know, somebody got in trouble, right? They, they'd make everybody hit the fence, hit the fence, go run, go run. And then, you know, the first couple times you're having to do it like the second, you know, first and second time, you're like, man, this coach suc, uh, he's so mean and this and that. But by the third time, you're pissed off at the guy that keeps, you know, there. You know, I tell my team, I said, you know, hey, you need to hold your team members accountable. Don't call them out. Don't call them out. But, but hold, they know you care when you hold them accountable and go, hey, man, I see you're struggling. I saw you get your, I saw you get your ass chewed by Greg earlier. You know, hey, I've, I was, I was where you were or where you are. And um, and you know, Greg, even we, I've, I've been there with Greg before and let me tell you, let me help you. And that is, that's how you build a team culture, man. You're never going to build sustainable success unless you have a team that brought in on the culture and believes in each other and has that circle of trust. Where not. I mean, it's easy to pray somebody. Pray somebody. Sometimes you got to pick them up, man. And you know, with employees, uh, the, uh, the greatest. What is it? The greatest burden of, uh, leadership is just carrying the weight of, of, of, uh, your employees. Just their, what they do here at work. I lose sleep at night sometimes worried about somebody. And I know I need to keep people, like I said, I know I can't pay them all the money in the world, but I worry about them. But they know it's genuine. And like I said, sometimes after a tough day, if it's with an individual late at night, I'll send them. I'm an insomniac, so I don't send anything to somebody that would disturb them after midnight.

Speaker B: And you're not like Donald Trump calls up cabinet members?

Speaker A: No, I'm like a bill collector. Like, you can't call earlier than eight. I don't send text messages earlier than six, you know, and, um, but usually I don't want them to go. What do we say about our kids and our wives and the process? Don't go to bed mad. Don't go to bed mad. I want them going to bed. What's the last thing, what you go to bed and the last thing you say to each other is I love you.

Speaker B: Right.

Speaker A: And that's what I say to my employees when I have to have a difficult situation or difficult conversation with somebody, you know, and then I'm, I'm sensitive anyway, so at nighttime I'm all worried about. Hopefully he understood where I was coming from. O' clock at night, that dude's sitting there wide awake.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Because the day he's had and all of a sudden you send him this little bit of, hey, man, I know I was on you earlier. I believe in you. Right. That's the only reason that, that, you know, uh, we had this conversation, man. And I just want you to know that I'm not going to quit on. You're going to quit on yourself before I quit on your brother and I love you. People laugh sometimes, but sometimes that, that. It's a powerful word, man.

Speaker B: A lot of men can't say, of course, uh, a lot of men, Men can't express themselves the way you do. Where does that come from?

Speaker A: Well, I think that comes from my dad, because my dad was, you know, the 14 brothers and sisters and they were all first generation German. Uh, and so, um, my grandparents, 14 kids, I mean they, my grandpa worked until the died and he didn't have a lot of time to Share his affection with his children. He, he was worried about putting food on the table, man.

Speaker B: So he didn't generation, that generation just didn't do it either.

Speaker A: No. No, not at all. And my, he never went to my dad's ball games and, and, and this and that. And my dad told me this story before he passed. And um, so it was many years later that, that we were back home or my father was back home in Kansas with his siblings. And my grandmother, My grandmother pulled him aside, right? And like my grandfather never said I love you one day in his life to my dad. And he, she pulled him into the back room and she reached underneath the couch and she pulled out a, uh, lunch pail and she opened up the lunch pail and she said, do you remember when you would come home from ball games and your, your father would make you a sandwich or he'd give you a sandwich at the table and he'd ask you all about your game and your practice? And dad goes, yeah. She goes, that was his lunch for 18 years. And so as well, you know, he wanted him to eat more.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: So he could be bigger and stronger, uh, so he can play. So he could play ball professionally. Might have played in, you know, the minor leagues. And she opened up this lo. And it was clippings, newspaper clippings, that my father, when he had a good game and from the high school and stuff. So he was showing these to the guys at work. So he never, he never used the words. But my dad was, I mean, a gentle giant, but a gigantic man had forearms like this. He was scary. All my friends would say, you're scary. But let me tell you what, he was very tough on me. He was an old school car guy where back in the day when he used to throw the computers, you know, around and yell and scream. Yeah. So he, um. But it did not matter what, what happened, what transpired that day, if I got in trouble, if I had a bad grade, you know, my dad would always kiss me on the mouth and say, I love you.

Speaker B: Wow.

Speaker A: And I've told my, this story to my son. And now my son, you've seen him, he's this. He's this, you know, huge football player and he's, you know, he's. He's almost taller than me. He's 15.

Speaker B: Sophomore playing varsity.

Speaker A: His sophomore playing varsity.

Speaker B: Taxes, no less. Good state.

Speaker A: He's m. A good kid. He's a tough kid. But let me tell you what, no matter how cruel, no matter how cool he is, right. Every morning when he leaves for school. He comes in and he's. And he kisses his mom and he says, I love you, dad. I love you, mom. And every night before bed, I don't care. It's like without fail.

Speaker B: That's all.

Speaker A: But you know why he remembers that story. And I'm telling you just those words. My dad realized then, you know, many years after my. His father was gone, but he realized that this man did love him. But that generation, once again, people don't take the time to say I love you. You know, it's m. Just the way I'm. I'm wired, man. I find. I find by just using something so simple and like, hey, man, I love you, dude. Love you. And I'll come in, I'll come and be like, hey, did you get this done? They're like, no, oh, man, come on. You know, And I'll be like, jeez, man. And, um. Or I'll rip somebody a little bit and raz them and I'll say, hey, I love you.

Speaker B: Love you.

Speaker A: Or I'll say something. Smart ass, right? Real smart ass.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And then just. They'll shake their head and everybody around them will kind of laugh a little bit and I'll walk off and go, love you, man. And Tony, man, it is. It has worked for me. Uh, and you have to find your little niche. You have to find your niche or it has to be your style, but a way to communicate to your people that even when your expectations are high, even when there's. When we're not up to par, when. Where we're not performing, or when it is a difficult conversation, you need to be able to have that conversation because it is important to growth, right? But you need to be able to have it in a way that it is. They are going to receive your message and they're going to walk out of there and knowing that you still love them and, and you know, when you build that kind of relationship and that. That level of trust with your employees, man, you can expect a lot more out of it. People like, how do I get them to do this? I, uh, build a relationship.

Speaker B: That's right.

Speaker A: I had leaders come all the time. They go, man, I can't get them to do this. And I, I've already told him. Well, that's just it. You're trying to tell him, build a connection.

Speaker B: I think you call it. You call it the circle of trust, right?

Speaker A: A circle of trust, man.

Speaker B: Yeah. That's beautiful.

Speaker A: It's got to be tight. It's got to be tight, man. And we, we hold you accountable for it being tight. And it's. It's not a matter of, uh, keeping secrets and, you know, and I mean, hiding dead bodies so much, but my guys are pretty tight. They'd probably hide a few dead bodies for each other, so, you know, at least you got to be, you know, I don't know if I'd help you move. You could be in my circle of trust, Chris, but I'm a little old in my back. I can't move furnitures. I don't know that I'd come over, but I. I'd probably hide a body with you before I'd come out, so.

Speaker B: Yeah, well, that's reassuring to know, because I don't ask, help me move.

Speaker A: And we shouldn't. Um. How does this.

Speaker B: How does your positive employee culture, uh, translate over to your customer experience, specifically? Like, how do you.

Speaker A: How do you communicate that?

Speaker B: Because I know you're doing an incredible job in the store, but how are you communicating that on social media?

Speaker A: We train on social media, but we also train on, hey, there's, you know, your marketplace. And we could go. We could have another segment about social media, but, you know, your marketplaces is where you're going to advertise vehicles, but your social media profile, man, if it's just covered in, hey, you know, blah, blah, blah, you know, bad credit, no credit, come on down. Like a monster truck commercial. Sunday, Sunday, Sunday.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: And. And it's covered in ads, man. It's. People scroll right past that turn off. Yes. And. And I have people that come in the business, and part of my hiring process is I go look them up and I. I teach, hey, this how they do it. My son, they're. The recruiters are already talking to him and saying, guys, these. These recruiters at these colleges are going to look at your social media, and they. They have. They have, like, they teach these kids, be real careful about what you put on there. But they also teach them how to build their profile. So my son, he has his, you know, right? When you look at his subject line and his. His Instagram and, um, and his, um, uh, Twitter, believe it or not, is what they say. College recruiters, because all the coaches and athletes are on. But in the. In the subject line, it says, you know, third baseman, you know, outfielder, outside linebacker, Max, bench press, Max this. And then he has, uh, we built a profile based on his sports highlights and the community service work that he does with me. Because, man, it got to be personal. It can't just be sports with him, because how many kids they, they drop or how many guys drop in the draft because of personal character issues? How many times have, uh, kids lost scholarships as a personal characteristics? There's. And how many times do we hire somebody thinking that, man, we just hired a stud. And there's so much you don't know about somebody. I mean, there's, you know, some guy could be a complete dud or just some psycho, and you don't really know from an interview. And social media is at least if, if you're looking for the right things, it's going to tell you a lot about somebody. And so I preach that these guys, you know, I'll have new guys that go, hey, I want to go create. I have a profile, but I want to go create a new profile just about selling cars. And I'm like, well, don't. They're like, why I coach. First of all, you know what I mean? If you're not proud of your personal profile, you know, people are going to see it. Second of all, nobody follows a professional page. They follow personal pages. Facebook is, is as big as it is because of the real life, you know, because, you know, seeing photos. First of all, nobody. I talk about content. People want real. I said, how many of you guys are just taking your videos to send to your customers that their lead responses. We have a CRM, a video CRM. Um, um, lead management process that's all digital, right? And so I, I catch these guys and I coach them and I train them. But the thing is, is people want to see a person. You, you need to be in the video, at least an intro in your post. It means I have a person. People want real life. You know, there's a lot of dealers that they don't want their salespeople to build their brand because they think, oh, uh, when he leaves, he's going to, you know what? That's another way that you establish trust and, and, and, and a connection with them. Because I'm like, dude, this ain't going to be the last place you work. But I want them to build their brands. They're going to take that. I tell them this, you're going to take this with you forever. So build your brand. And I teach them, build your brand and build the stores brand. And so it needs to be personalized. It doesn't need to be a business profile. They need to see. I tell them that they think they need to go and hide this stuff. I'm like, no, that's the last thing you need to do. People want to know that they're buying from a person. We always say people want to buy from people. And so when they see you with your kids and they see you at your kids or they see you um, you know, on vacation or, you know, that's, that's good, good, good stuff because now instead of just pitching the customer or running ads on your, on your social media page, you're, you're building a brand and a personal brand, right? It's the same thing with social media management. And so many people just don't grasp the concept and they're, they're teaching all the wrong things. But you know, I, the, the dealership page doesn't need to be covered with manufacturer and they can get all that on TV and covered with this. It needs to be covered with culture. People want to buy from a place where they know people enjoy working there. You need to be really cognizant of what message you're sending the customer. So I love the personal stuff and that's why you see, I'm um, I'm showing them, you know, that it's a great way to praise your people. I teach my managers. So guys, I know these guys are doing marketplace in there, but man, as management in the car business, we're not on our social media. So we don't even go check our, our personal messages or voicemails till the end of the day. But I said at nighttime when you're sitting there after the kids go to sleep, I'll jump on and I'll look at all my guys posts or the delivery photos, the cars they sold that day. Not only am I, am I liking it to help their algorithm, right, and, and increase their, their digital exposure, but that's a great time to praise.

Speaker B: I'm going to share a story that might get me in trouble, but um, last week a dealer client called me and uh, he wasn't happy about a funny meme that we put on his social, um, media page. And um, we believe in entertainment. Um, in fact our content posting plan is 3, 2, 1. For every promotional post there's two educational or branding for specifically the brand or car care and then the car related. And then the third one is entertainment. Entertainment can be anything. And this didn't come from me. This was taught to me by a gentleman named Tim Barnett. I asked you about him today. He's uh, a, he's, he's a mentor mine in the car business. And years ago he's on Facebook every time I go into the dealership and I'm like, what's he doing playing On Facebook, at the sales table, he had 40,000 fans in 2014, 40,000 for the dealership. But he was throwing out, uh, entertainment, and he was like, amassing this huge following. And he goes, listen, Chris, people don't go to social media to be sold. They go to be entertained and educated. He goes, you better be entertained. So that's always been part of our posting philosophy. So this, uh, the dealer client calls me and he goes, why is he. I take that thing off, it's silly. And it's. And I said, well, you know, you don't want any entertainment. I mean, that's part of our posting strategy. He goes, I'm not in the entertainment business. I said, okay, from now on, we'll just, we'll just push your manufacturing branding out. So really, who you're only talking to and communicating to in that circumstance is your brand ambassadors, the people who are truly in love with your brand.

Speaker A: And that's it.

Speaker B: You're isolating yourself to a very narrow market on social media. Okay, that's what you want.

Speaker A: You know, a great book that I recommend. I, I read a lot of Gary Vee, and I've learned a lot of Gary's. I learned a lot of social media reading this and crush it. Crushing it. And then the one I'm working on right now, which is very, very, very along the lines of what you're talking about is, uh, called jab, uh, jab right hook. The jab, jab right hook is a lot of times these dealers just want to go immediately for the right hook. So, and you know what, going to, you're going to run people off, they're not going to follow your page, man. And I tell them all the time, you know, everybody wants to go and they, the dealerships want to promote the dealership page. Look, do you know out, uh, of all those followers, do you know who those followers are? Employees, former employees, and all your accounting department and everybody else. You have to know what content works on different platforms. And what you just said is you want, you want the largest funnel of audience. I did some research, and if you look at the demographics of Instagram and it's that, uh, it's the only platform that's predominantly female. I mean, Instagram's like your early 20s to your 30s. Snapchats is your kids. They can't buy nothing, right? That's head right here. TikTok's here. Well, if this is the platform, right, and it has the, the widest range of age group, race, creed, color, um, location, everything there is that's my greatest audience. Who do I want to go after? I want to go after my greatest audience. And then when you start just posting a bunch of nonsense or a bunch of sales people, it runs them off, man. And you're just, you're running them off. They're going to bounce off.

Speaker B: It's.

Speaker A: They're going to bounce off your page like they bounce off a website if there isn't something engaging. That's how you want to treat your social media. And it needs the entertainment because it needs to, it needs to have that, you know, warm and fuzz or it needs to make me laugh, make it interesting. Right. It needs to have the social, the social engagement and connection of, uh, family, real people. Because people, I mean, it's it. And it, that's what personalizes you, your page and your brand. And it's the jab.

Speaker B: The jab, jab, jab.

Speaker A: Then you go for the right hook.

Speaker B: Yeah.

Speaker A: Not the other way around.

Speaker B: It's, it's really, uh. And the other thing that he told me was it really is an opportunity to get closer to your customer.

Speaker A: And that's the key.

Speaker B: When you get closer to your customer, you're going to get into their networks because when they share your entertaining content, guess who sees it?

Speaker A: Their friends and family.

Speaker B: Do you think they share that promotional post that sells? That sell for post? No. They share the entertainment. So if you could recommend one leadership habit to say a new general manager, just one thing that would immediately change his, his or her team's culture and their cx, what would it be?

Speaker A: Visibility. Transparent with your, with your people. I mean, before customers we talked about it, um, honesty. But I tell them, probably the, the visibility when people, when people come in and they become an operator, and when I first became an operator, you're like, man, you're, you're like heads exploding because you're like, I don't know anything about fixed ops and I don't know about this. And you're focused on all this other stuff except for what's the reason you're there. What's the most, um, important reason? The most important reason is, is selling the first car, who sells the first car sales, who sells the second car. Fix ops, right? If somebody told me once he goes, man, he goes, you'll learn all that fixed op stuff as you go. Get good people. Get good people and get good people. You can learn from Greg, you know, and, and that part of that, you know, that's part of being secure and yourself and establishing a relationship where I don't have to treat somebody like, hey, dude, I'm hiring you. You're supposed to be the expert. You know, it's like they're coming to you for an answer. You're like, no, dude, that's why I pay you. What's the answer? Help us. It doesn't need to be something that comes from me. But you don't need to worry about all that, Greg, because if you don't sell cars, none of that matters anyways. Well, guess what? If you don't take care of customers, you know, and you, uh, don't sell cars and you don't take care of, I mean, without your people, if you can't recruit, man, you're done. Yeah, and, well, I tell them right away because what do people do? They come in and right away they forget where they come from. They, they start treating people, you know, like they go, man, if you want to really get on these guys level and you have to grasp the mindset that the people are the most important ingredient. And so what can you immediately do to make an impact as a new gm? It isn't, it isn't fixed apps and it isn't, it is strictly how do I make a connection with the team? How do I earn their trust, right? How do I build a team around them? Because usually, you know, if you're, there's a new gm, obviously there's, there's some growth needed or is there some restructuring, right? And most of the time, you know, the most important thing is the proper staffing levels. You know, you got to have a great process. You got to have, you know, uh, tech efficiency in the shop, but proper staffing levels, and that goes across the board. Well, once again, you can't, even if you got all the money in the world to throw out these people and recruit them, um, you can't keep them if you don't provide a culture and an atmosphere and an environment. And what did we say when we started our conversation, man? If you hire the right people, they will create the environment, right? Where success is inevitable. And they'll create the customer service, the level of customer service that you're looking for. And it's just natural. It really is. It's just natural. You know, it's simple.

Speaker B: Ask question and we'll wrap, um, we'll come back, we have to come back and do a master class. But I want to know, always ask one culture. Um, we're really a, uh, introspective, uh, question at the end. And that's, um, what does Greg want to be known for?

Speaker A: I, I tell this, actually to my guys because when we're. I'm motivating my leadership team and I'm talking about us doing big things and us. You guys, you're not here because I can afford to pay you what you're really worth, but I want you to know that I know you're worth so much more. And, and I want you to know that I am grateful you're here, but. And I can promise you this, that there's going to be opportunity for you, that when the time comes, I want you to make all the money in the world. I only want credit for being the guy that can put killer teams together. I don't, I don't want. I don't want credit for the smartest guy, the greatest operator, the greatest fixed ops operator there is. I don't want to. I want to be the guy that, that is known for, uh, for how he treats his people and putting elite teams together and that. Because I feel like I can. I feel like that's within my. That's within my range. I know I can.

Speaker B: That's amazing, man. Well, Greg, I want you to know this has been an absolute masterclass, and I mean it. Um, I mean, you've proven that the dealership business isn't about selling cars. It's about people. The people you lead, the culture you're building, and, uh, customers who feel every bit of it when they walk in the door. So I love the way you celebrate your team, the way you show up on social media, the way you carry yourself as a leader, um, and the fact that you do it as a cowboy, a rock and roll British Open at the same time just makes it all the much better.

Speaker A: Uh, keep them guessing, man. Keep them guessing.

Speaker B: We got, we got to get into more of that rock and roll stuff, your background next time. But, um, folks, if you're not already following Greg, fix that immediately. Find him on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn as the H. Town Car guy. Go follow him, study him, and take notes, because this is what modern leadership looks like in a retail automotive space. Greg, thank you for your time, your transparency, and for giving us a real look behind the curtain. You're the real deal, brother. Truly appreciate you.

Speaker A: Thanks, Chris. Happy to be here. Thanks, man.

Speaker B: Thanks a lot.