Million dollar car dealer: The Secret To Selling Millions Per Month
发布时间 2023-10-27 09:00:10 来源
I think the biggest hidden secret is acquisitions. I think there's so much easier than startups. Like you already have the pieces moving and they're just not going maybe as fast as you want them to go. So you're like, okay, we need a new runner. We need a new QB. But you have the infrastructure there, right? So you replaced it's sales manager because you know how it should be done because you've been selling 200 used cars. And so it's actually- You know that cold star problem, you just kind of dive right in.
我认为最大的隐藏秘密就是收购。我觉得这比起创业来说要容易得多。就像你已经有了一些正在运转的组件，只是它们可能不如你希望的那样快。所以你会想：“好吧，我们需要一个新的跑者。我们需要一个新的四分卫。”但是基础设施已经存在，对吧？所以你换掉了销售经理，因为你知道应该如何去做，因为你之前已经卖了两百辆二手车。所以实际上，对于那种困扰你的问题，你可以大胆地直接跳进去。
Yeah. What's up, everyone? This is car dealership guy. You're listening to the car dealership guy podcast, which is my effort to give you access to the most unbiased and transparent insights into the car market. Let's get into today's episode.
嘿，大家好！这里是汽车销售员。欢迎收听《汽车销售员播客》，我努力为您提供最客观透明的汽车市场见解。让我们开始今天的节目吧。
Daniel Crane and his founder, a dealer principal at Time Auto Group, a franchise dealer group consisting of seven rooftops in Portland, Oregon. In this conversation, we discussed scaling his dealer group using cash out refis, his secrets to a successful dealership acquisition, tax strategies and tools for wealth creation, industry trends that he's bullish on, the time he made $10 million on Tesla stock, and much more.
丹尼尔·克莱恩是波特兰奥勒冈州的一家连锁汽车经销商集团“Time Auto Group”的经销主任。在这次对话中，我们讨论了他如何通过现金流转来扩大经销集团规模，成功收购经销商的秘诀，用于财富创造的税务策略和工具，他看好的行业趋势，以及他曾在特斯拉股票上赚取1000万美元的故事，还有许多其他内容。
But before we dive into the show, this episode is brought to you by CDK Global. CDK Global has been empowering nearly 15,000 dealers with the tools and technology they need to build deeper relationships with customers. Their team is keenly aware of the state of dealership technology. And while many vendors promise seamless experiences between your CRM, DMS, digital retail and fixed ops, most of these bolt-on solutions tend to break workflows and cause more harm than good.
但是在我们开始观看节目之前，本集由CDK Global赞助。CDK Global已赋予近15,000家经销商使用所需的工具和技术，以与客户建立更紧密的关系。他们的团队对经销商技术的现状非常清楚。虽然许多供应商承诺在您的CRM、DMS、数字零售和固定运营之间提供无缝体验，但大多数这些后装解决方案往往破坏工作流程，带来更多害处。
That is why CDK has launched a new dealership experience platform. This new integrated software consists of everything you need to operate a dealership officially while delivering an unparalleled experience to your customers. Basically, everything working together, not separate, one system to run your dealership as opposed to 10. CDK developed it with an outside-in approach listening to dealers every step of the way.
这就是为什么CDK推出了一个新的经销商体验平台。这个全新的综合软件包括了您在经营一家经销商所需的一切，同时为您的客户提供了无与伦比的体验。基本上，所有东西都协同工作，而不是分开的，一个系统来运营您的经销商，而不是10个。CDK采用了一种内外一体的方法，倾听经销商的每一步。
You can learn more about CDK's dealership experience platform by visiting CDKglobal.com/slash DXP or clicking the link in the show notes below.
您可以通过访问CDKglobal.com/slash DXP 或点击下方节目备注中的链接，了解更多关于CDK经销商体验平台的信息。
This episode is also brought to you by Podium, the lead conversion platform for car dealerships. Podium helps you get found at the top of Google search and convert new leads faster with industry leading communication tools and AI. With Podium, you can finally take the guest work out of lead management, bring every lead into one unified inbox for spawn automatically in two minutes or less and even book appointments using AI. Get Podium and get ready to convert leads faster than ever and see why over 100,000 businesses like yours have given themselves an instant advantage with Podium.
这一集还由Podium赞助，Podium是汽车经销商的领先转化平台。Podium通过业界领先的沟通工具和人工智能帮助您在谷歌搜索中排名靠前并更快地转化新的潜在客户。有了Podium，您可以最终摆脱潜在客户管理的猜测工作，将每个潜在客户整合到一个统一的收件箱中，自动在两分钟内产生反应，甚至可以使用人工智能预约。选择Podium，准备以前所未有的速度转化潜在客户，并看看为什么像您这样的超过10万家企业已经通过Podium获得了即时优势。
Get started today with 10% off your plan by texting car dealership guy to 833-441-1166. That's 833-441-1166. Text that number and mention this podcast to get 10% off your plan or visit the link in the show notes below.
立即开始，通过发送“汽车经销商人”到833-441-1166，享受您的计划9折优惠。这个号码是833-441-1166。发送短信至该号码并提及本播客可获得计划的9折优惠，或者点击下方展示说明中的链接。
How'd you get into this business?
你是如何进入这个行业的呢？
Yeah, so first off, I loved cars and I think going back to like really what drove it as a child, I was just obsessed with cars and I probably wanted to get away from, I wanted freedom as a kid, I wanted mobility so I wanted my own bike, if you will, that was my first set of wheels obviously. Then I wanted my car, I just dreamed about getting a car.
是的，首先我喜欢汽车，我认为这是从我孩提时代的驱动力开始的。我对汽车着迷，可能是因为我渴望摆脱束缚，渴望自由，渴望有自己的交通工具，比如自行车，这显然是我第一辆车。之后，我又渴望拥有一辆车，我一直梦想着有一辆自己的车。
I grew up, my parents were immigrants so they were pretty tough in general. They didn't bike the good job. Where are they from? Where are your parents from? Romania.
我在成长过程中，我的父母是移民，所以他们总体而言相当坚强。他们并不满意一般的工作。他们来自哪里？你的父母是哪里人？来自罗马尼亚。
Nice. And they were pretty tough in general, they were definitely strict. They wanted school, they wanted me to be a doctor and engineer, there was only two careers for me. Straight Aves and doctor and engineer.
很好。而且他们整体上很严厉，绝对要求严格。他们希望我上学，希望我成为一名医生或工程师，只有这两个职业适合我。要求是成绩优秀、当医生或工程师。
And so yeah, anyhow, I ended up buying a car and selling a car in high school and made a profit and then I found this niche which was Volvo 240s and Volvo 850s and I built this little parts department, if you will, down to my dad's basement and started buying cars with my mom's business license through Copart and yeah, just slowly started flipping them and what you found out.
所以，嗯，总之，我在高中时买车卖车赚了一些钱，然后我发现了这个专长，就是Volvo 240和Volvo 850，我在父亲的地下室里建立了一个小配件部门，并通过Copart用我妈妈的营业执照购买汽车，然后慢慢开始翻修它们，你能发现一些东西。
What do you mean by your mom's business license? How did you do that?
你所指的是你妈妈的营业执照是什么意思？你是怎么弄到的？
So at Copart, you didn't need a dealer's license. You just needed a business license and you could buy, I think the number was like 10 cars a year or something but they never really like monitored that. So if you bought 20 or 30, nobody really cut you off. Anywho, so that's how it got going and then basically one thing led to another, kept doing it and doing it and doing it. I ended up selling like 250-ish Volvos in high school and yeah, never really looked back.
在Copart，你不需要一个经销商执照。你只需要一个营业执照，然后你就可以购买，我记得限制应该是每年10辆车左右，但他们从来没有真正监控。所以如果你购买了20或者30辆，没有人真正会限制你。总之，就是这样开始的，然后事情一发不可收拾，我不断地买卖。我高中时期就已经卖掉了大约250辆沃尔沃，从那时起，我再也没有回头过。
Where was this? I mean, where was high school? Where were you living at this time?
这是在哪里？我的意思是，高中是在哪里？你当时住在哪里？
So I lived in, well, it's funny. So in East Moreland, which Reed College is the college that like Steve Jobs went to. So it's a really nice neighborhood. I went to Central Catholic High School and then I ended up graduating from Cleveland High School so I did two high schools. And where is this all in Seattle? No, Portland, Oregon. Portland, Oregon, got it. Wow. All right, so parents, immigrants, you get here, right? You start flipping some cars. Where, how do you get to the dealership world? Yeah, so at a high school, I basically was like, all right, I'm gonna get a dealer's license. This seems like the way to do it. I sub leased a couple of spaces from an existing dealer. Call it like five parking spots and a, at an office. And then this guy ended up going out of business and like, oh, wait, oh nine, so I'm like, oh, wow, I gotta take this, I gotta take this lease on. And that was definitely a little, you know, scary at the time, like anything. But I did it and I convinced my mom to cosign for me for a AFT credit line, which my dad was like, hell no. He was definitely not into being a car dealer. The last thing he wanted me to do is sell used cars. Why, what is your dad do? What is your dad do? Well, they both, my dad was an engineer in Romania. And then my mom, my dad was always brave. He put my mom through college, which wasn't a very like, versus a acted thing or common thing back in the communist regime. So my mom had a degree. She was one of the only ladies in our like, city that had a degree. And so education was like really big on them. And they're like, we took these risks to bring you to this country not to go sell used cars. That's not what we. Wow. I can imagine. I can't imagine.
所以我住在......嗯，有趣的是。我住在东莫尔兰区，里德学院就在那里，史蒂夫·乔布斯就是在那里读的大学。所以那是一个非常好的社区。我上的是中央天主教高中，然后最后是从克利夫兰高中毕业的，所以我上了两所高中。这一切都是在西雅图吗？不，是在俄勒冈州波特兰市。波特兰市，明白了。哇。好吧，那么父母是移民，你们来到这里，对吧？然后你开始做汽车销售了。你是怎么进入汽车经销商行业的呢？是的，在高中时，我就决定要拿到一个经销商执照。这似乎是做这个行业的一种方式。我从一个现有的车商那里租了几个车位和一个办公室。然后这个人在09年破产了，我当时感到很焦虑，就像所有事情一样。但我还是接了这个租约，并且说服我妈妈为我做了一个花旗银行信用额度的连带保证人，而我爸爸当时是决不同意的。他真的不希望我成为一个车商。他最不想我做的事情就是卖二手车。那么，你爸爸是做什么的呢？你爸爸是做什么工作的呢？他们俩都是做工程师的。我爸爸在罗马尼亚是一名工程师。然后我妈妈，我爸爸一直很勇敢，他供养着我妈妈上了大学，在共产主义时期这并不是一个常见的事情。所以我妈妈有了学位，她是我们城市中为数不多的女士之一有学位的人。所以对他们来说，教育是非常重要的。他们说，我们冒这些风险带你来这个国家，不是为了去卖二手车。这不是他们想要的。哇，我可以想象。我无法想象。
So yeah, you know, they say man makes plans and God laughs. Wow. So, so you mentioned you lease this lot. Now, were you selling used cars? What were you selling then? Yeah, just used cars like $5,000 cars, pretty inexpensive cars. They go down to like the Bay, Oakland, San Francisco Bay fly down there Wednesday by five or 10 cars come back. And at this point, we had maybe one other person. So we would sort of just, yeah, we would do everything from taking photos to detail to, you know, wearing 12 hats. Yeah. And at this time, like, what was your scale? I mean, what were you doing? What year was this and what was your scale? This was like, oh wait. So it was a pretty, you know, some would say it was a hard time to start, but honestly, it was a great time to start because cars were inexpensive. The only, the only thing that was super expensive was flooring back then. So, but it seems like we're creepin' up now too. So we'll see. Just like it is today, yeah.
所以，你知道吗，人们常说人设定计划，上天却会笑它。哇。所以，你提到你租了这块地。那时你是在卖二手车吗？你当时卖些什么车？嗯，就是卖些五千美元左右的二手车，价格相对便宜。我们会去湾区，奥克兰，旧金山湾区，星期三飞过去，买五到十辆车然后回来。那时，我们可能只有另外一个人。所以我们会负责从拍照到车辆清洗，可以说在做十二项工作。嗯。那时，你们的规模如何？你们做了些什么？那是大概……哦等等。那是一个相对困难的时期开始，但说实话，那是个很好的开始时机，因为车辆比较便宜。那时唯一很贵的是库存，但现在似乎也在逐渐上涨。所以我们会观察一下，就像今天一样。
And what was your scale at the time? Like how many cars were you selling per year? Well, I think the first year we did like not much. I'd say maybe a hundred, hundred cars, something like that. And then it kind of compounded quickly. So we went from a hundred, sorry, a year to like 500 a year and then 500 to a thousand and then just kind of kept growing. And so when you say we, who's we? Well, it was, I say we as in, I don't have any partners in the business, but Nick Love, who's one of my best friends has been there for like the whole time. So he was totally a true blessing. He got laid off. He was decking and obviously at 08, nobody was looking forward to building decks and spending money on their homes anymore. So you brought him into the business with you? Yeah. Got it. And he ended up marrying my sister. So he's not going anywhere. Oh, there you go. All right, I'll work out. I like that.
当时你的规模是多少？比如你每年卖多少辆车？嗯，我觉得我们在第一年并不多。我想可能是一百辆车，大约是这个数量。然后事情迅速扩大了。我们从一年卖一百辆车，增长到每年五百辆，然后再增长到一千辆，之后就一直在增长。那么，当你说我们时，是指谁？嗯，我说我们，其实我在生意上没有合伙人，但尼克·洛夫（Nick Love）是我的一个最好的朋友，他一直在那里。他真的是一位天赐的好人。他被解雇了，他以前是铺甲板的，08年时，没有人打算再给家里的房子修建甲板了。所以你把他带进了生意里？是的，没错。然后他还娶了我的妹妹。所以他是不会离开了。哦，那太好了。好吧，我能明白了。我喜欢这样的安排。
Explain to me now, wait, what's your, what did you do in revenue the last 12 months or like last year? Uh, 400 million. All right. So we have a big gap to bridge over here. All right. So go, so going back to that starting point. So you're in this independent dealership, right? Bring us like chronologically to today. Like how did you get from one used car lot and then how many franchise dealerships you have around? We have seven rooftops and then once we're closing on one this month and opening a second DFC. So seven currently running. Got it. All right. So let's bridge that. You have like what the hell happened in this last decade? Yeah. So a lot happened, but I mean, to walk you from like give you a quick timeline, basically I grew out of every single spot that I was in. So I was on 25th and all gate, grew out of that. As you know, cars demand for real estate. So I'm parking them all over the street. I mean, parking tickets, move your cars, you know, the whole thing. The parking guys would stop by every day and just have a feast. I mean, literally we'd have to move cars. I'm talking like five years in, not year one, but by the by fifth year, we were already and we had a ton of volume.
现在来给我解释一下，等等，你在过去的12个月或者去年的营收是多少？嗯，4亿。好的。所以我们有一个很大的差距要弥合。好的。那么回到起点，你进入了这家独立汽车经销商，对吧？按时间顺序告诉我们从那时到现在的情况。你是怎么从一个汽车销售场地过渡到现在拥有多少个连锁经销商的呢？我们目前有七个经销店，这个月我们还要关闭一个然后开设第二个 DFC。所以目前有七个正在运营。明白了。那么让我们来弥合这个差距。这过去的十年里到底发生了什么鬼？是这样的，发生了很多事情，但是我可以给你一个快速的时间线。基本上我在每个位置都发展壮大了一次。你知道汽车需要房地产。所以我就把它们停在街上。我的意思是停了就会被开罚单，然后要不断移车，你知道的，那一套。停车员每天都会来，简直是一顿盛宴。我是说，我们必须不停地移车。我指的不是第一年，而是第五年的时候，我们已经有了很大的销售量。
So this push gives me it to like buying real estate. So I go up the street, I see this building for sale. At this point, it's like 2011. And the lady Jackie who was total sweetheart, carries the note back. I only had to put down, I think like maybe a hundred grand. The building went from like 250 a foot to 50 a foot what I bought it. And I kept doing that and knocking on doors and people were looking for solutions. I mean, they wanted their problem solved. They weren't getting rent anymore, like mechanic shops, dealerships, they were just vacant and nobody was really looking to buy them. And I don't even know if financing was available, but most of these real estate owners had them paid off. They weren't super expensive pieces of real estate. So they ended up carrying the contract back. So I ended up buying like one city block and bought another city block. And basically the way I looked at it was like, okay, well, my rent role is the same price as the mortgage I might as well just get into it. Owner, carry.
所以，这种推动使我对购买房地产产生了兴趣。于是我沿着街道走，看见有一栋大楼出售。当时是2011年。那位名叫杰基的女士非常和善，她同意提供贷款支持。我只需要付出大概10万美元的首付款。我购买的地产价格从每平方英尺250美元降到了每平方英尺50美元。我一直坚持这样做，敲门找寻人们的需求解决方案。他们不再收租金，像修车铺、汽车经销商等都无人问津，成为了空置物业。我也不确定是否有融资选择，但大多数这些房地产业主的贷款都已偿还清了，这些房地产价格并不高昂。因此，他们同意提供分期付款合同。所以我开始陆续购买了一个城市街区，然后又购买了另一个城市街区。基本上，我认为租金收入和抵押贷款一样，所以我干脆去买下这些物业，由业主分期付款给我。
What do you mean? Like basically your buying is real estate that you were getting seller financing, right? Like the owner was financing you do? Okay. And what were you doing with the real estate? Like were you selling cars out at these properties or were just like leasing them? No, I was selling cars out of them or some of them were just storage because I was in an urban city. So there weren't like, you couldn't park your cars. I wasn't on like a main drag, if you will. What city were you at? Where are you in? Portland. Goddess, so all this happening in Portland? Yeah. Never really went anywhere else. So. Really? Dude, you're, I mean, I don't think I've ever met someone that sells cars from Portland, let alone someone that is from Portland. So that's a first. Yeah, there's not, I mean, believe it or not, there's big dealers out here, but like, I don't know any of the East Coast dealers. You guys don't know that many of the West Coast dealers unless they're big enough to where they kind of like overflow into both sides, like Chandreks or Censky or, you know, some of the big boys, which.
你是什么意思？基本上你是在购买房地产时得到了卖家的融资，对吗？就是说，业主给你提供融资，对吧？好的。那你对这些房地产是做什么的？是在这些房地产上卖汽车还是只是租赁它们？不，我在其中一些房地产上卖汽车，另一些只是用作仓储，因为我在一个城市里。所以不能停车。我不在主干道上，可以这么说。你在哪个城市？你在哪儿？波特兰。天啊，所有这些都发生在波特兰吗？是的。我从来没有去过别的地方。真的吗？伙计，我想我从来没有见过一个从波特兰卖车的人，更不用说一个来自波特兰的人了。这是头一次。是的，这里有很多大的汽车经销商，但是，你们不认识很多东海岸的经销商，除非他们足够大，足以涵盖两个地区，比如Chandreks或Censky，还有其他一些大型公司。
Yeah. So, so when you buy all these, you start buying all this real estate. And I'm assuming how are you even doing that? Where are you getting the money to do this? I understand you have seller financing, but like where are you getting the down payments from? Just retain earnings from your company. Yeah, exactly. And at this point, we were, I mean, we were making a lot of money and the cars, you know, we're not talking huge money down. So you're talking like 50 to 100 grand. It wasn't that. I mean, it was maybe a lot of the time, but it was reasonable and the sellers were pretty. So back then to get into a lease, they wanted like two, three months down, you know, they really wanted to be safe. And so I'd always look at it like, well, whether I lease it or get the owner to carry it back, it was almost like the same. Because the delta was pretty low. And this all ended up working out. So fast forward to like 2018, 2019 properties went from like 50 bucks a foot to 250 bucks a foot. And to really land the plane on how the growth came, I would go refinance a building or two every single time I'd do an acquisition. And so they're tax free dollars. I didn't need to go, I didn't need to go like raise money, but I would just refi and the rates were typically lower. And the mortgage was cave. It was actually similar, even though I took money out.
是的。所以，当你买下这些房地产时，你是怎么做到的？你从哪里得到这笔钱？我知道你有卖家融资，但你是从哪里得到首付款的？是从你的公司保留收益中得到的。是的，就是这样。当时我们赚了很多钱，车也不需要付很高的首付款。大约是5到10万元，不是很多，但也可以接受，卖家也相当乐意。当时要签租约，他们通常要求付2到3个月的租金作为保证金，他们真的很想保证安全。所以我总是这样考虑，无论是租还是让业主提供贷款，都差不多。因为差距并不大。结果一切都顺利进行。所以快进到2018年、2019年，房地产价格从每平方英尺50美元涨到250美元。至于增长的过程，每次我进行收购时，都会重新贷款一栋或两栋楼宇。所以这些钱是免税的。我不需要去筹钱，只需要重新贷款，而利率通常更低。尽管我取了钱出来，贷款期限仍然很长。
So you would do cash out refis. OK, so for anyone that doesn't know what that means, it means you buy a property and you could explain it better than me, but buy a property, right? The property appreciates in value for one reason or another. You know, you may have added value. It may just be the market. Nonetheless, it appreciates in value. You then go to the bank. The bank gives you a money out of the property as a refinance because now it's worth more. And so you can do whatever you want that money. Of course, it's tax free. Wow. So you were really riding that declining interest for a tailwind. Is that right? Yeah. That's incredible.
因此，你会进行现金套现再融资。好的，所以对于不知道这是什么意思的人来说，它意味着你买下一处房产，你可以比我更好地解释，但是买下一处房产，对吗？由于某种原因，房产的价值上涨了。你知道，可能是你增加了价值，也可能只是市场原因。无论如何，它的价值增长了。然后你去银行，银行按揭给你一笔钱，因为现在房产的价值更高了。所以你可以用这笔钱做任何你想做的事情。当然，这笔钱是免税的。哇，所以你真的利用了下降的利率作为有利因素，对吗？是的，真是令人难以置信。
OK, so you do these cash out refis. And what do you do with that capital? So to get to kind of keep going on the timeline, so I built this new DNC building, which is the one that you mentioned that looks like a Mercedes store. And I come up with this like, I was kind of obsessed with jobs at the time. And I'm like, man, simplicity. And I am kind of OCD anyways. I don't like like many. When you say jobs, you think Steve Jobs? Yeah, so I was obsessed with his simplicity. I just got to the reading his biography. And I'm like, I'm like, yeah, yeah, you're so west coast. I love it. You have to read about jobs if you're from the west coast, I guess. Yeah, I did. I read that book. And so I'm diving into this. And I'm like, all right, what would he do? So anywho, I put all white cars on the front line, which is still the way that DFC is currently. And so we went from being known as DFC Motor Company to basically being known the dealership with white cars. But at the time, I moved DNC from an urban district to the main auto mile, which was McLaughlin. And there's only two auto miles. So there's Canyon Road and McLaughlin. And we bought this big building. We put like 70 cars in the door and then maybe 150 outdoor.
好的，你做这些现金流出再贷款。那你用这笔资本做什么呢？跟着时间线继续说，我建了这个新的DNC建筑，就是你说的像梅赛德斯商店一样的那个。然后我想出了一个想法，当时我有点痴迷于工作。我说，嗯，简单。而且我本来就有点强迫症，不喜欢很多。当你说工作时，你是指史蒂夫·乔布斯吗？是的，我痴迷于他的简洁风格。我刚读完他的传记，我跟自己说，是啊，你太加州了，我喜欢。你如果来自西海岸，就必须读乔布斯的事迹。是的，我读过那本书。所以我就深入研究了这个。我说，好，他会怎么做呢？总之，我把所有的车都涂成了白色，这仍然是DFC目前的风格。所以我们从以DFC汽车公司而闻名，基本上变成了以拥有白色车辆的经销商而闻名。但当时，我将DNC从一个城区搬迁到了主要的汽车商业区，那就是麦克劳林。而且只有两个汽车商业区，一个是坎宁路，一个是麦克劳林。我们买了这个大建筑，门口放了大约70辆车，户外放了大约150辆车。
And so what's the idea for the all white cars? I've actually seen some dealers do that. What's up with that? Well, it was interesting. So the building was all white. The cars were all white. And it was more so marketing because it wasn't really being done on the main auto mile. And so they're like, why the hell is that? I have all white cars out and just kind of caught their attention while they were driving by. And to believe it or not, people would literally be like, oh, it's the place that has all the white cars outside. I mean, they don't even know the name of your dealership. You're right. Like it does make you wonder, why do you have all white? It doesn't even matter. Just the fact that you have one type of color, that definitely grabs attention.
所以，为什么会有这种全白色的汽车呢？我确实见过一些经销商这样做。这是怎么回事？嗯，很有趣。所以建筑物是全白色的，车子也是全白色的。这更多是出于市场营销的目的，因为这并不是在主要的汽车街上进行的。所以他们就在想，为什么会这样呢？为什么有人把所有的汽车都涂成白色，而这样一来却引起了他们开车经过时的注意。令人难以置信的是，人们实际上会说，哦，那是那个外面停满了白色汽车的地方。他们甚至都不知道你车行的名字。你说得对。这确实让人好奇，为什么你会全是白色的？其实并不重要，只要你有一种颜色，那肯定能引起人们的注意。
Let me ask you this question. Is that like, logistically, like, isn't that a bit tough? Like when you have to buy cars, like. Right. So it's whatever happens. So you have 20 cars in the front line. Behind there, you got every color. So it doesn't typically a good car lot that has 20 years. I'm sorry, 200 plus cars has 20 white cars or 20 black cars, whatever you want to put out there.
让我问你这个问题。从逻辑上来说，这不是有点困难吗？比如当你需要购买车辆时。没错。所以无论发生什么都可以。所以你有20辆车在前线。在后面，你有各种颜色的车。通常情况下，一个拥有20年历史的好车场不会只有20辆白色车或者20辆黑色车，你可以把其他颜色的车也放出去。
We had a conversation before this podcast. And I think what's one of the interesting things about you as a dealer is you have, you've come up or you financed your path to growing your dealership in very unique ways or I would say a traditional, right? You, the first wave is you did these cash hour refinances, right? You financed your growth through real estate, which that's not that uncommon. But you definitely did it in an aggressive way, which worked out for you. The second way, or I say another thing along your journey here is you have made a lot of money in Tesla stock. And so I want to talk about that for a second. When did this happen and what got you into stock trading? And can you give us some numbers? Give us, give us some juicy details.
在这个播客之前，我们已经进行了一次对话。我认为你作为一个经销商最有趣的一点是，你以非常独特或者说是传统的方式来建立或者说是融资发展你的经销商。首先，你通过房地产进行了这些现金贷款再融资，这在很多人看来并不罕见。但你确实以一种积极的方式做到了这一点，而这对你来说是起作用的。第二，或者说是你在这一过程中的另一件事是你通过特斯拉股票赚了很多钱。所以我想谈一谈这个问题。这是什么时候发生的，是什么让你开始进行股票交易？你能给我们一些数字吗？给我们一些令人兴奋的细节。
Okay, so what got me into it is, first off, I always wanted to be either a stock broker or a real estate broker because I thought that's, as a kid, I thought that's how you can make money in. I mean, and you ended up slinging cars. You see how the world works? Yeah, exactly. I made a bunch of plans but it just didn't work just the way I thought it would. However, it worked out just fine and I'm happy with what I'm doing.
好的，那么引发我对这个行业的兴趣的原因首先是，我一直想成为股票经纪人或房地产经纪人，因为我认为这是孩提时代通过这样的方式赚钱的方法。但事实上，我最终却成了汽车销售员。你看，这就是世界运转的方式。是的，完全正确。我制定了许多计划，但事情并不像我想象的那样进行。然而，最终一切都好好地进行下来了，我对自己现在所从事的工作感到满意。
I got back into it and I always kind of had a small stock portfolio and I would dabble with it like I'd buy a little bit of whatever but I wouldn't pay attention to it. It was never meaningful. And then I started reading a ton about Buffett. I started reading a ton about like Bill Ackman, Steve Cohen, all of the heavy hitters. And yeah, I just kind of got obsessed with it for like a couple of years and I would literally wake up at like 4 a.m. and you couldn't sleep. The problem with being a stock broker, now I realize it's like you don't sleep.
我重新开始投资，并且我一直都有一小笔股票投资组合，我也会随便尝试一点，买一点什么，但是我不会太关注。这从来没有意义。然后我开始大量阅读有关巴菲特的书籍。还有关于比尔·阿克曼、史蒂夫·科亨等大佬的书籍。是的，我就这样痴迷了几年，我真的会一大早就醒来，像凌晨4点之类的。现在我意识到做股票经纪人的问题就是你不会睡觉。
I mean, you're like obsessed with it because it doesn't shut off. It's not like you're not selling cars at 4 a.m. or 3 a.m. typically unless you're in a different country so you're not gonna be watching it as much. But my son actually turned me on to it. So I wasn't a huge Tesla fan. I mean, I was a fan of Musk but I wasn't like, I was kind of the guy that was fighting it. I'm like, I wanna hear a 12 cylinder Ferrari. You know, I wanna hear the engine roar.
我的意思是，你对它过于痴迷，因为它从不停止。除非你在一个不同的国家，否则通常不会在凌晨四点或凌晨三点销售汽车，所以你不会一直看着它。但是我的儿子实际上让我喜欢上了它。所以我并不是一个特别大的特斯拉粉丝。我的意思是，我是马斯克的粉丝，但是我不是那种完全迷恋的人。我是那种说不如听12缸法拉利发动机轰鸣的人。
And of course he, he's like, I'm like, hey, so what car would you book car would you pick if you had any, if you had your choice? He's like Tesla and I'm like, I heard him say that and I'm like, really? Why? He's like, why just love him, dad? Anyways, so then I started paying attention to the stock. I really started to believe that he can make a huge, you know, he can actually change it. I saw everybody adapting to it and everybody talk to me. When was this? What year was this? Yeah, don't call me but maybe 2017 was like what I first got in. Okay. And so how much, how much money did you invest in Tesla stock at that time? So I might've went in like 200 grand and then 200 turned into 50 grand and then, so it, like that stock would whip saw.
当然啦，他就像是说，我就像是说，嘿，如果你可以选择任何一辆车，你会选哪一辆车呢？他说特斯拉，我听到他这么说以后就很惊讶，我问他为什么，他说，爸爸我就是喜欢它。不管怎样，之后我开始关注这支股票，我真的开始相信他可以取得巨大的成功，他真的可以改变局面。我看到每个人都开始适应它，大家都和我谈论它。这是什么时候呢？是哪一年？别给我打电话，但也许是2017年我开始入手的。好的。那么那个时候你投资了多少钱到特斯拉的股票里？我可能投入了20万美元，然后变成了5万美元，那支股票就像是倒挂的一样。
I mean, it would, and it would keep doing that. So to buy your, to buy your basis back up, you'd have to buy more, right? So you're like, okay, then you, I kind of got in there for like over a million bucks, I think by the time I was like 29. But I mean, you could turn 500 grand into 200 grand into Harpy. So the funny, the funny thing about it is, I always say all my money came from the car industry and whether it was Tesla stock or actual, you know, intangible cars. Yeah. And so what ended up taking that to, you know, 10 million, did you lever it up? Like did you, you, you, you, you lever it up? Yep. I lever it up, which is kind of against the traditional. Yeah, did your, your ballsy man, you're a gambler. You got to know when to hold them. No one's gonna hold it. You got to do it.
我的意思是，它会这样做，并且会继续这样做。所以为了回购你的，回购你的基础，你需要买更多，对吧？所以你就像，好吧，然后，我记得在我大约29岁的时候，我投入了100多万美元。但是我的意思是，你可以把50万美元变成20万美元，再变成大笨象。所以有趣的是，我总是说我的钱都来自汽车行业，无论是特斯拉股票还是实际的汽车。是的。所以是什么把这个数字增长到了1000万，你加杠杆了吗？你加了杠杆，这有点违背传统。是的，你很勇敢，你是一个赌徒。你得知道什么时候该坚持。没人会替你坚持。你得去做。
But again, listen, it's, you know, you take the right risk. Sometimes it works out very well. Yeah, I think the best thing I did is I did lever up and it's, it's untraditional and people don't talk about it. But if you can sort of measure your risk, I don't know. I mean, I was in a different mindset when all this was going on. I think risk is obviously, I think it has a reward. But I also took the money out and bought dealerships with it. So turned it into a real tangible business without having to raise money.
但是，再说一遍，听着，你知道，你要冒适当的风险。有时候会非常成功。是的，我认为我做的最好的事情就是杠杆化，这是不传统的，人们很少谈论它。但是如果你能够评估你的风险，我不知道。当所有这些发生的时候，我的思维方式不同。我认为风险显然会带来回报。但是我也把钱拿出来买了汽车经销商。所以把它变成了一个实实在在的业务，而不需要筹集资金。
And I think if I needed to come up with, you know, today 10 million sounds like, oh, you could, you could get the money from that. You can, you can do that easily off a balance sheet or however you want to see that happen. But it wasn't the same. Raising 10 million is not as easy as it sounds. However, when you open Wall Street and people are raising billions at a time, it makes it sound super easy. But you have experience, I mean, you know what it takes. Yeah, we'll talk more about that.
我觉得如果我需要提出，你知道的，现在一千万听起来像，哦，你可以，你可以从那里获得这笔钱。你可以，你可以轻松地通过资产负债表或任何方式实现这一目标。但事实并非如此。筹集一千万并不像听起来那么容易。然而，当你打开华尔街，人们一次筹集数十亿，它让人觉得非常容易。但你有经验，你知道那需要什么。是的，我们会再谈谈这个。
Tell me more about, before we get more into the nitty-gritty of the business. So when did you open all these dealerships, right? I'm assuming at the same time you were having kids, growing a family, like walk us through like kind of balancing all that, you know, kids, growing family kids, opening dealerships. How did that all work out for you? I mean, you don't have any partners. So that's, you know, pretty fascinating to me. Yeah, I mean, well, so one of the things that I will say is obviously I have a great, my wife is kind of a pillar of strength when it comes to the kids. And that's been awesome. But lately, I've sort of found discipline and balance extremely important in my life. And I don't take like missing things that are important lightly where, you know, the first decade probably wouldn't show up to anything at shoved to weddings halfway through that. And I'd show up to like, there was no balance, if you will, whatsoever.
在我们深入谈论业务的细节之前，告诉我更多一些。那么，你开设这些经销商的时间是什么时候？我猜你同时还在生孩子，发展家庭，像我们讲述一下如何平衡所有这些，你知道，孩子、家庭的成长和经销商的开设。你是怎么把这一切安排好的呢？我觉得这很有意思，因为你没有合作伙伴。是的，我是说，嗯，有一件事我要说的是，显然我有一个很了不起的妻子，她在孩子方面是我的支持柱。这太棒了。但是近来，我发现纪律和平衡对我的生活非常重要。我不会轻易错过重要的事情，前十年可能在两个婚礼中途就匆匆赶到场，而在其他场合我根本就不会出席，可以说没有任何平衡。
It was like, get your work done and then show up when you can. And that's how I just ran my life. And it was, you know, probably what it took at the beginning because this wasn't exactly like an East business. I mean, you had to like really be on it constantly. And I didn't know how to delegate necessarily. I think independent car lots in general don't know how to delegate. At least most of them, most of the owners are doing five or six things, at least the ones I know.
就像是，你得完成工作，然后能来就来。这就是我过去的生活方式。一开始的时候，这也许是必要的，因为这个行业并不容易。你必须一直保持高度警惕。我自己也不太会分配任务。我觉得独立汽车经销商普遍都不太会分派任务。至少我认识的大部分车商都在同时处理五六种事情。
Did you have, so you had that same issue early on? Yeah. Got it. So, and how did you like, what was your biggest issue when you came to delegation? And how did you kind of throw out of that? I don't think I knew how when I ran it, like when I ran one car lot, I'm not sure I knew how to delegate exactly. And then I didn't give it enough time. So when you hire somebody and you have to let them like spread their, you know, like make mistakes and let them take over a department, I think I was insecure in some departments that felt like I didn't have it right. So I didn't really want to open my, open myself up to them. Probably. And so I just was like, you know, whatever, just do this, but don't do this. So I would never give somebody full authority or full autonomy. I just gave them.
你们遇到过同样的问题吗？是的，我明白了。那么，当你开始委派任务时，你最大的困扰是什么？你是如何克服的呢？当我管理一个汽车销售点时，我不确定如何正确地委派任务。而且我没有给予足够的时间。所以当你雇佣某人，并且必须让他们扩展自己的能力，让他们接管一个部门时，我在某些部门感到不安，感觉做得不对。所以我不愿向他们敞开心扉。可能是这样吧。所以我就随便说，你就做这个，但不要做那个。所以我从来不会给某人完全的权力或自主权，我只是给予他们一些。
And what was that inflection point for you though? The first acquisition. So my first acquisition came with a controller came with like, you know, deep staffs and I'm like, okay, well, there's, there's that. I don't, first off, I don't know how to do this. So I need them. I'm not going to go count parts and turn into financial to a manufacturer by the same way. Sort of like, yeah, sort of like a force forced into it in a way. Exactly. Because when you're independent, nobody, you don't need to turn into P and L on the set of the months. Nobody's like, yeah, the forcing function, baby. It always works.
你的转折点是什么？第一次收购。我的第一次收购是附带着一台控制器和一些专业人员的。我当时想，好吧，有了这些东西。首先，我不知道怎么做，所以我需要他们。我不会去数零件然后将它们转化为制造商的财务成果。有点像被迫这样做。完全正确。因为当你独立经营时，没有人会要求你像在几个月内提交损益表。强制性的功能一直有效。
So how did you find that first acquisition? What did you acquire? What was that? Yeah. So through success and really good, I mean, like hard work ethic. I kept a pretty, I have a good reputation. Our company has a good reputation, which was DNC at the time. We, the neighbor actually across the street, Kitty corner decides to retire. So he comes over, he knocks on the door and he's like, it's a Mitsubishi dealership. He's like, Hey, do you want to buy this dealership for me? I'm like, yeah, I don't know. Not really. I'm having fun at what I'm doing. But then of course, I kind of like, you know, I always wanted a new car story at the time.
你是如何找到第一个收购项目的？你收购了什么？那是什么东西？是这样的。通过成功和良好的工作道德，我保持了良好的声誉。我们公司，当时是DNC（代经销商），也有良好的声誉。我们对面的邻居决定退休。他走过来，敲门，说有一家三菱经销商想卖掉，问我是否有兴趣买下。起初，我并不是很确定，因为我对目前的工作很满意。但后来，我也想体验一下购买新车的经历。
I lost the Lotus dealership. So that was no bueno. I was pretty upset about that, but it turned out that it was, I went to buy one and I, one of my competitors bought it, but. Oh, got it. Oh, you were going luxury. But it was a blessing. I mean, it was, I didn't regret it. I get it. So anyhow, this guy, Scott walks over and I end up. You know, kind of pursuing the deal and I can walk you through the guts of that first acquisition. If you'd like. Yeah, I want to hear about it. Go ahead. Yeah, I ticked some, that ticked some notes here because, uh, yeah.
我失去了Lotus的经销权。这对我来说不太好。我对此非常不开心，但结果证明这是件好事。我去买一辆，但是我的竞争对手买了它。哦，明白了。哦，你是想要奢侈品。但这是一份恩赐。我的意思是，我不后悔。我明白了。无论如何，这个家伙Scott走过来，我最终接手了这笔交易，如果你想的话，我可以告诉你那第一次收购的内幕。是的，我想听听。请说吧。是的，我在这里记了一些笔记，因为，嗯，
So as far as like getting in the meats, that was another one of those carrybacks. So he, he carried back past the blue sky. Um, I bought the real explain, explain that to us in like very simple words. What does that mean? Yeah. So call it two million bucks for good. Well, back that or blue sky. He wanted a million down and then he'd trade back the other million over the next five years. So, and is that the deal you ended up working out? Yeah. And wait, what franchise was this? Mitsubishi. Got it. That was, was this your first franchise? Yeah.
所以就肉类方面来说，那是另一种业务回购。他将其回购到了那片蔚蓝的天空之前。嗯，我很想以非常简单的话解释给我们听听那是什么意味。是的，就好像说他要出两百万好吧。好吧，回购或蓝天。他想要一百万的首付，然后在接下来的五年中交还另外一百万。所以，这是你最终达成的交易吗？是的。等等，这是哪个特许经营权？三菱。明白了。那这是你的第一个特许经营权吗？是的。
Okay. So you got, you get in with the mitt too. You put a million dollars down. You get seller financing on the second million. Yep. Okay. Go ahead. Um, well, in doing these deals, they're becoming more and more complex. So you need like, you need to buy the F. Andy, which is furniture's, pictures and equipment. Then you need to buy, then you need, uh, working capital, which is, I think for this store, it was like two million bucks at the time. The other thing that you're into is when you buy stores that don't make that much money, the requirement from the bank is higher.
好的。所以你得到了和合作者达成的交易。你付了一百万美元。第二百万美元通过卖方融资得到。是的。好的，请继续。嗯，在做这些交易时，它们变得越来越复杂。所以你需要买下家具、图片和设备（F. Andy）。然后你需要购买运营资金，对于这家店铺来说，当时大约是两百万美元。另一件事是，当你购买利润不多的商店时，银行的要求更高。
Um, it's interesting because now that I've done some bigger acquisitions, you actually see how much easier it is to finance a big deal that's already like making cash flow. Um, the turnaround are probably harder to finance. Even though you think you're doing yourself a favor because the barrier of entry is lower. Um, buying a great company is sometimes easier. Um, yeah. So anyhow, that's some, yeah, some words of wisdom right there. You got the used for equity. You got the blue sky. You got, um, real estate, F.F. and E and then the working cap. So every deal, whether it's smaller, big is, is, you know, it needs some serious, it needs some serious coins. You're not getting in there for, you're not getting deals done for a million bucks anymore.
嗯，有趣的是，现在我做了一些更大的收购之后，你实际上看到融资一笔已经盈利的大交易是多么容易。嗯，实际上，扭亏为盈可能更难融资。尽管你认为低进入门槛会对自己有好处。嗯，有时候购买一个优秀的公司更容易。嗯，是的。总之，那些话算是一些智慧的言论。你有股权的使用，你有蓝天控制，你有房地产，流动资产以及运营资本。所以不管交易规模大小，都需要一些严肃的资金支持。你再也不能用一百万美元完成交易了。
Yeah, but why did you decide to go franchise and then tell us also why did you decide to go Mitsubishi, right? You were running an independent store. So like what was the, what was the impetus for that? Why go that route?
是的，但你为什么决定选择加盟，并且告诉我们你为什么决定选择三菱呢？你之前经营的是独立店铺。那么，这是什么推动力促使你选择这条路呢？为什么要这样做？
Well, I would say it found me, but I did always have the ambition. I wanted to be a new car dealer. I think most dealers that are independent have this like, dream of being a new car store at some point. And I think that's the bottom. I would agree with that. I would agree with that 100%. Even though they don't maybe admit it all the time, but I think down deep, they all want to be new car stores. I think one of the best things I heard, uh, Alan Hagg say is like, he doesn't know very many rich used car dealers. And that, that really stuck with me. I'm like, there's a lot of truth. There's some to that. Yeah, there's some to that. I don't disagree. There's definitely some, but you're right. I'd say more are hard to decide.
嗯，我可以说它找到了我，但我一直有雄心壮志。我想成为一位新车经销商。我认为大多数独立经销商都有这样的梦想，希望能够成为一家新车店。就这一点而言，我完全同意。即使他们可能不总是承认，但我认为在内心深处，他们都想成为新车店。我听到过的最好的一句话是艾伦·哈格说的，他说他几乎不知道有多少富有的二手车经销商。那真的深深地刺痛了我。我想，这句话说得很有道理。是的，确实如此。我不反对。肯定有一些，但你说得对，更多的是难以决定。
So, okay. So you go down the mittu route. So like what are the numbers look like? Yeah, as far as what? As like profitability. I mean, was it a success? Like what was that?
好的，所以你选择了米酒途径。那么，销售数字是怎么样的呢？是指盈利能力吗？我是说，这个途径是否成功？那具体是怎样的呢？
Oh, the one unique piece that I forgot to mention is I got in there with an intermittent management agreement. So I got to run the store as I was buying it for three to six months, which gave me, um, first off credibility with the manufacturer, it's really hard to get approved for a franchise. If you've never worked in a franchise store, which I didn't. Um, and if you don't have any new car experience and you can pitch them all you want on like, Hey, I'm a good used car guy and they just don't care because they don't make any money off used cars, right? Their, their whole plan is can you sell new cars? Um, so I ran it for like three to six months. I put 300 grand in, uh, escrow and it was either my loss or my gate. So if I made 600,000 in the six months, I get to keep it and that would be deducted off of the purchase price. And if, or if I lost, well, I would say 300, you'd probably kick me out at 250 because he doesn't want to go negative. Um, and yeah, I got in there and that's the, I made like, were you the actual GM? I mean, who was the GM?
哦，有一段我忘了提到的独特事情，就是我通过一项间歇性管理协议进入了那里。所以在购买店铺的同时，我有机会经营店铺三到六个月，这使我首先在制造商那里获得了可信度，因为要获得特许经营权真的非常困难，如果你以前从未在特许经营店铺工作过，就像我一样。而且如果你没有新车经验，你可以尽力向他们推销，告诉他们：“嘿，我是一个出色的二手车销售员。”但是他们根本不在乎，因为他们不从二手车中赚钱，对吧？他们的整个计划是你能销售新车吗？所以我经营了三到六个月。我存了30万美元在托管账户里，这要么是我的损失，要么是我的收益。如果我在六个月内赚了60万美元，我就可以保留下来，并从购买价格中扣除。如果我亏损了，嗯，我会说是30万，但你可能会让我赔付25万，因为他不想亏本。嗯，是的，我进去了，我做了，那就是，我就像，你是真正的总经理吗？我是说，谁是总经理？
Yeah. You were the GM. Yeah. For the first, the up until we closed. So for the first six months. Well, well, I didn't create the GM. Got it. And, and what, what was that like for me? I mean, going from the independent world to the franchise world, suddenly being a GM and store, like, was that challenging?
是的，你就是总经理。是的，从一开始一直到我们停业。所以，前六个月。嗯，嗯，我并不是创造这个总经理的。明白了。那对我来说是什么感觉呢？我是说，从独立经营到加盟经营，突然成为一家门店的总经理，这是一种挑战吗？
No, man. I got to say, I think the hidden, biggest hidden secret is acquisitions. I think there's so much easier than startups. Like you already have the pieces moving and they're just not going maybe as fast as you want them to go. So you're like, okay, we need a new runner. We need a new QB, but you have the infrastructure there, right? So you replaced it sales manager, because you know how it should be done because you've been selling 200 used cars. And so it's actually with that cold star problem. You just kind of dive right in. Right. You don't have to go build a back office and then learn how to like actually build a back office if you've never done it. It's already there. And you just try to make it more efficient.
不，伙计。我必须说，我认为最大的隐藏秘密是收购。我认为收购远比创业容易得多。就像你已经有了在运转的零部件，只是可能不够快。所以你就想，好吧，我们需要一个新的领队，我们需要一个新的四分卫，但是你已经有了基础设施对吧？所以你更换了销售经理，因为你知道应该如何操作，因为你以前销售过200辆二手车。所以实际上这就是"Cold Star"问题。你直接就跳入其中。对吧。你不必去构建一个后勤部门，然后学习如何真正地构建后勤部门，如果你以前从未做过。它已经存在，你只需要努力使其更高效。
So you replaced your general manager with somebody that you believe in. And, you know, you upgrade your team and you upgrade the building and that's what's worked. The timing was also great, right? I mean, 2019 was a great year. But the storm was losing money and we made a ton of money kind of right out of the gate. So there is why and why is that? What did you do differently? Just bring your share. Everything. Change the process. I changed the pay play and I changed the attitude. You know, and a lot of these Mitsubishi dealerships are like, oh, we're a subprime dealer. We're a subprime dealership or a subprime dealership. So they kind of like have that. They carry that with them. But really that store was just a used car store that sold like 20, 25 new bits. So it wasn't really a new car store. Like it wasn't pushing heavy volume. But I will tell you the biggest advantage that I saw is you got financing lower flooring rates. The process. And I was able to carry all that benefit over to D&C. That's the classic.
所以你用一个你相信的人来取代了你的总经理。而且你改进了你的团队，还有改进了建筑，这是有效的。时间也是得当的，对吧？我的意思是，2019年是个好年份。但是这家店正在亏损，我们却在一开始就赚了一大笔钱。所以这是为什么呢？你做了什么不同的事情？你只是带来了你的份额。一切都改变了。我改变了流程，改变了工资支付方式，改变了态度。你知道，很多Mitsubishi的经销商都会说，“我们是次级贷款经销商”，“我们是次级经销商”。所以他们有这种观念。但实际上，这家店只是一家二手车店，只卖了20、25辆新车。所以它并不是一个新车销售店。它并没有大量销售。但是我告诉你，我看到的最大优势是你得到了更低的贷款费率。流程。我能够把所有这些好处都带到D&C那里。这是经典。
So again, for people that know like the classic use car dealer playbook, right, you go, you buy a Mitsubishi franchise. Suddenly all these lenders that will finance your customers on their vehicle purchases are willing to work with you because you're quote unquote franchise status. And to your point, like you get better opportunities for floor planning, right? Financing your inventory. So there's just embedded advantages with becoming a franchise dealer that impacts an independent dealer. And so, and like what you just said, you bought this Mitsubishi dealership. Suddenly you can bring all that over to your independent dealership. So it actually increases value in your independent dealership as well. Yeah. It increases. I mean, it adds a ton of value. The economy of scale is a real tool there. We built a relationship with Ally right and doing that. There is tons of benefits to it.
再次说起那些了解传统二手车经销商手册的人，对吧，你去购买一个三菱特许经销权。突然间，所有那些愿意为你的客户提供车辆购买融资的贷款机构都愿意与你合作，因为你有所谓的特许经销商身份。正如你所言，你会获得更好的库存融资机会。因此，成为特许经销商会带来内在优势，影响到独立经销商。就像你刚才说的，你购买了这个三菱经销商。突然间，你可以将所有这些优势带到你的独立经销商那里。因此，它实际上增加了你的独立经销商的价值。是的。它增加了，我是说，增加了很多价值。规模经济是一个真正的工具。我们与Ally建立了关系，通过这样做，有很多好处。
We also didn't have a service department at D&C Motor Company, so we serviced all our used cars to the Mitsubishi store now because it had a running service department. And I don't know about you, but like, I don't know most independents that are going to go open a parts shop and account for every nut and bolt and washer. And I mean, it's a lot of work. It can be done, but it's much easier to perfect it. You know, like I went in there and changed all the light bulbs and just made people feel better and changed the uniforms and added value like that and invested in some of the assets, which were like shelving. But my point is the process was all there. If somebody told me to go open up a parts department with like nuts and bolts and screws and account for every little washer. It's messy. It wouldn't be my expertise.
我们在D&C汽车公司也没有售后服务部门，所以我们现在把所有的二手车送到Mitsubishi店维修，因为他们有一个正常运转的售后服务部门。我不知道你是否了解，但是，我不知道大多数独立经销商是否会开设一个零件店并对每颗螺丝钉和垫圈进行账务核算。而且我是说，这是一项巨大的工作。虽然可以完成，但完善它会更容易一些。你知道的，我去那里更换了所有的灯泡，让人们感觉更好，改变了制服，并增加了一些资产，比如货架。但我的观点是整个过程都已经存在了。如果有人让我开设一个零件部门，并对每个小垫圈进行账务核算，那就太复杂了。这不是我的专长。
Tell us more about kind of your your crawt turnaround playbook. You just mentioned some things. You know, you focus on these like intangibles, right? Make the place just feel better. Like what was was that an issue before you stepped in and did that bring a big impact? Yeah, I would say, look, and one of the biggest things that I think leading to some of the questions in the car industry and how you see it kind of shifting now is the way the showroom does make you feel I think is critical. I think you can't take away the way you feel when you walk into a business. So I do think the emotional part of the of the experience is is important. I think hospitality is critical. I think I think that feeling is is important, but I would say the turnaround book is basically, you know, more sales less expenses. So how do you simple? It's a two step process. Just more sales and less expenses done. No, I mean, usually you have to either try to work with the people that are there or replace some of the key players and then, you know, increase the up.
请告诉我们更多关于您的扭亏策略。您刚才提到了一些东西。您是指注重软性因素，让地方感觉更好吗？在您介入之前，这是个问题吗？这产生了重大影响吗？是的，我会说的是，我认为导致汽车行业一些问题的一个重要因素，以及您如何看待目前的趋势变化，是展厅给人的感觉至关重要。我认为当你走进一家企业时，你不能抹去你的感觉。所以我认为情感体验的部分是重要的。我认为待客是至关重要的。我认为这种感觉是重要的，但是我可以说扭亏策略基本上是更多销售少开支。所以，您要做到简单。这是一个两步过程。只要有更多销售和减少开支就可以了。不，我是说，通常情况下，您要么尝试与现有人员合作，要么替换一些关键人员，然后增加产量。
Do you still own this Mitsubishi store? Yeah. Nice. I've seen lots of, you know, kind of bigger dealers divest the Mitsubishi stores as a scale. Some hold on to them. No right or wrong path. It just, you know, I'm always, you know, curious to see.
你现在还拥有这个三菱店吗？是的。很好。我看到很多，你知道的，规模较大的经销商将三菱店分拆出去。有些人坚持保留它们。没有对错之分。只是，你知道的，我总是很好奇看到这些情况。
I'm not okay. So I don't know. You're not a good seller. No. Have you sold anything? In my life, I've sold one piece of real estate. No, two pieces of real estate. That's it. Dude, like taking a quick pause, like throughout all this, did you have any mentors? I mean, where, like, who was helping you out? I mean, where were you? Obviously experience. Great. But like you were making mistakes and all that and learning from that. But was there anyone you were sort of leaning on advice? Was there anyone like that for you in your career? Yeah. I had a lot of good mentors made. And I think that one of the most important things that dealers can do is, you know, we all kind of get stuck in this, like, you know, competition, whatever it is. But the nice thing about being young is people are willing to help you and people are willing to take your call.
我不太好。所以我不知道。你不是一个好的销售员。不是的。你卖过东西吗？在我生命中，我卖了一块不动产。不，两块不动产。就这些。哥们，就像是在这一切中，你是否有导师？我的意思是，谁在帮助你？你在哪里？显然是经验。非常好。但是你会犯错，从中学到东西。但是你是否有任何人向你寻求建议？你的职业生涯中是否有这样的人？是的。我有很多很好的导师。我认为经销商可以做的最重要的事情之一就是我们都陷入了这种竞争中，无论是什么。但年轻人的好处是，人们愿意帮助你，人们愿意接你的电话。
So if you ask for help and you're like, Hey, man, I'm stuck here. I've never been refused once when I've asked for help. And people in general, at least in my experience, have been pretty welcoming to that. And like, yeah, sure, let me help you out here. Especially when you reach out to people that have done what you want to do. So, you know, when you reach out to a guy that's way bigger than you, people don't have a problem helping you out. It's just usually the guys that you're like toe to toe with that, you know, it's reasonable for them not to want to help you. Yeah. Is there anyone specific that you, you know, you want to mention or you can mention here that has been really helpful for you? Yeah. I had a mentor that I flew to and from San Francisco with a ton. His name was Sid Ferris. And he was a really successful dealer here in Oregon for a long time. And he would always just tell me let go of the outcome. Never pull the reins in. You know, just all kinds of like one liners that were just solid. And, you know, I'd fly with him and I'd hear his stories and then I'd fly back, hear his stories. And he's a great guy. He really took the liking to me. And yeah, he's helped me out a ton. And then after that, there was bankers and mentors. But honestly, man, I mean, if you work really hard on what you do and you read like I would watch Roger Penske's interviews, I'd watch Greg Penske's interviews, I'd watch. I'd just study the industry, however, and whatever. I'd listen to Lithia's earnings. This is a Brian divorce, you know, talk about how all this different inflection points and what's happening with like when he invested in shit or any of it. I mean, I would just pick up whatever I could. Look at their 10 cues. I tried to learn whatever I could. So when I bought the new car store, it really leaned, I really leaned into studying all the new car guys prior to that. I didn't really. Didn't really do that. But do you think the window of opportunity is still there? Like if someone is listening to this, maybe they're an independent dealer, maybe they're just, you know, not even in the business, but do you think the window of opportunity to do what you did, that playbook? Do you think it still exists? I mean, I think if you're really, look, you have to be. I'm glad you didn't answer that so quickly because it is a real question, you know? It is a real question.
所以，如果你寻求帮助并说：“嘿，伙计，我陷入困境了。”在我寻求帮助的过程中，我从未被拒绝过。总的来说，人们对此通常非常乐于助人，至少在我的经验中如此。特别是当你联系那些已经做过你想做的事情的人时，他们非常愿意帮助你。当你寻求一个比你大得多的人的帮助时，人们通常就没有问题了。只不过通常情况下，那些水平和你相当的人可能不愿意帮助你也是可以理解的。是的。有没有任何你想具体提及或者可以在这里提及的人对你帮助很大？是的。我有一个导师，我经常和他一起飞来飞去去旧金山。他叫西德·费里斯，是俄勒冈州的一名非常成功的车商。他总是告诉我要松开控制，不要束缚自己。他给了我很多非常有启发性的口号。我和他飞了很多次，听他讲故事，然后再飞回来，听他讲故事。他是一个非常好的人。他非常喜欢我，并且给了我很多帮助。之后，还有银行家和导师。但老实说，伙计，如果你在自己的事业上非常努力并且阅读了一些相关的资料，就像我观看罗杰·彭斯克的采访、格雷格·彭斯克的采访，还有铂鑫集团的财报等。我只是尽可能多地学习了这个行业。我气杀了布莱恩·戴维斯是如何谈论他在什么时候投资了各种项目等等。我尽我所能去了解这些。所以当我购买新车店时，我真的很专注于研究之前的所有新车销售人员。之前，我并没有真正做过这些。但你认为机会还存在吗？如果有人听到这个，也许他们是一个独立经销商，也许他们甚至不在这个行业，但你认为还有机会做你做的那种策略吗？你认为这种机会还存在吗？我是说，我认为如果你真的，看，你必须。很高兴你没有那么快回答，因为这是一个真正的问题，你知道吗？这确实是一个真正的问题。
And, you know, I would say that I was, I've been blessed and there's a lot of luck in my life. And I've had a great team. I mean, the team that I have, you know, walks on water, they're just solid and we've been closed for a long time. It's hard to build all that. Yeah. I mean, I think it can exist, but you have to have a pretty large savings account. I don't think you can be a good GM and just walk across the street and say, give me half of your dealership or it just doesn't. I mean, these guys can just call Lithia and get a check. Why would they?
嗯，你知道，我想说我很幸运，我一直被祝福着。而且我有一个了不起的团队。我的团队，你懂的，真是无人可及，他们都很靠谱，我们已经合作很久了。要建立这种团队真的很困难。是的，我觉得这是可能的，但你必须有一笔相当可观的储蓄账户。我觉得你不可能只是走过街道去对一个经销商说：“把你的一半给我”，那行不通。这些人可以直接给Lithia打电话拿到一张支票，他们为什么要这样做呢？
I think the opportunity is like Mazda, Mitsu and some of the lower barrier of entry brands. I think if you're trying to get into like a bigger franchise store, like pretty much anything outside of those, I think you're, uh, it's an uphill battle unless you have a decent sized checkbook or some type of earn out. The issue that I've seen with like sweat equity is they don't, the devil's in the details. It doesn't always work out for the GM. Like he thought it would. So how do you, how do you incentivize your GMs? Um, a percentage of growth and a percentage of the net is kind of what we're leaning into, but for the first like 90 days when we buy a store, we'll, we'll set certain KPIs and set the forecast and we'll just basically bonus them if they can do all of the different things that we want them to do over the first 90 days. So it'll be large. I mean, we have GMs making, you know, a lot of money.
我认为这个机会就像马自达、三菱和其他一些进入门槛较低的品牌。我认为，如果你想进入一个规模较大的特许经营店，基本上是除了那些品牌之外的任何店铺，除非你有一笔相当可观的资金或者某种类型的赢利模式，否则会面临困难。我看到过像股权代劳这样的问题，细节往往是魔鬼。结果可能不如总经理最初期望的那样。那么，你如何激励你的总经理呢？我们正在考虑用增长百分比和净利润的百分比作为激励机制，但在我们购买一家店铺的头90天里，我们会设定一些关键绩效指标和预测，如果他们能在这90天里完成我们想要他们做的各种事情，我们就会额外给他们奖金。所以花销会很大，我指的是我们的总经理赚了很多钱。
So like what? That's a lot of money. Like half a million bucks plus. Um, you know, it just depends. I mean, obviously, and what is that like percent percent in that or net to sales? What does that come out to be? I mean, so the traditional plan is like a 10 grand salary and a 10% of the net, but the issue, the issue with that is when you have a smaller store, you have to give away some of the gross, right? Some of the top line and then some of it that. So it doesn't always, it just depends on how big the story is. If you got a big store, pay play to works, but if you don't have a big store, it just doesn't work. And you want to recruit the best people and keep them motivated and people in the car industry pay for results. I mean, we're very results driven here. It's like, you know that your results have to show.
那是什么意思？那是一大笔钱啊，约50万美元以上。嗯，你知道的，这要看情况。显然，这是按比例计算的净销售额，是多少呢？这意味着什么呢？我是说，传统的计划是1万美元的基本工资加上净销售额的10％，但问题是，当你有一个较小的店铺时，你必须放弃一部分总销售额，对吧？还有一些其他费用。所以这并不总是有效的，这要取决于店铺的大小。如果你有一个大的店铺，这种方式会起作用，但如果你没有一个大的店铺，它就不起作用了。而且你想要招募最好的员工并让他们保持动力，汽车行业的人们会按效果来支付工资。我是说，我们这里非常注重结果。就像你知道的，你的结果必须有所展示。
Yeah. And, and so when it comes to, um, you mentioned like some of those KPIs when you're acquiring a dealership and you know, what do you look for? Like, what are those KPIs that you bonus on? Well, one will be like volume of sales. The other one will be CSI. Um, but truly when we're, when we're buying a dealership, it's usually get the sales way up. That's, we try to sell more cars and then kind of back into it from there, but we, we're usually buying stores that have problems and so we want to increase, um, increase sales. Yeah. Problems. I like problems. I like them. Um, they're opportunities. So yeah, exactly.
是的。所以当涉及到您提到的一些关键绩效指标时，您寻找什么？您奖金制度的是哪些KPIs？首先是销售量，另一个是CSI（顾客满意度指数）。然而，当我们购买一家经销商时，通常需要大力增加销售量。我们尝试更多地销售汽车，然后从那里扩展。但是，我们通常购买有问题的店铺，所以我们希望增加销售额。是的，问题。我喜欢问题。我喜欢它们。它们是机会。所以，确切地说。
What, what franchises do you own right now? What do you have? Yes. I have Volvo, Honda, Subaru, Nissan, Mitsu, uh, CDJR. So then Dean, I thought you said CDG. I said you have a car dealership guy dealership. No, I can't afford you. Yeah. I love that. Um, and then, okay. Now talk to me about, um, I forget if I asked you another question there, but regardless, we'll, we'll get back to talk to me about the like wealth management and like wealth creation side of the business, right? I, I've tweeted about this before, but like selling the cars, only one aspect of the equation here. Yeah. You've already spoken about the real estate side. What else has been very impactful for you? You know, real insurance, bia, ariada, but give us some more of the kind of wealth building behind the dealership business.
你现在拥有哪些特许经营权？你有什么？是的。我有沃尔沃、本田、斯巴鲁、日产、三菱，还有CDJR。那么，Dean，我记得你说过CDG。我说你有一个车行家经销店。不，我负担不起你。是的。我喜欢这个。然后，好的。现在跟我谈谈财富管理和财富创造方面的业务，对吗？我之前已经在推特上发过关于这个的推文，但是销售汽车只是方程式的一个方面。是的。你已经谈到了房地产方面。除此之外，还有什么对你影响很大的东西？你知道，还有保险、bia、ariada等等。来给我们介绍一下经销商业务背后的财富建设方面的更多内容。
So I think you can look at it from two different metrics. I know, I know you, you put out kind of the nuts and bolts of the, uh, reinsurance that I read that. And I think it is critical, but in my experience, unless you have scale and volume, reinsurance is not necessarily a huge tool for you. Now, once you sell two, three, four, five, you know, a lot of new cars, um, there's, there's a huge opportunity there. But what I find is like when I got really sure that first, I own D. C motor company only, and some of those repairs on like a 60, 50 beamer or 10 grand. Well, you're wiping out quite a bit of your, um, of your flow, right? So the reinsurance would go like lost ratio would go through the roof. Yeah. And so again, for, for audience listening, I know it doesn't know, right? Reinsurance means you're taking the risk when you're selling a vehicle service contract, you know, a K a warranty to your customer.
所以我认为你可以从两个不同的度量标准来看待这个问题。我知道，我知道你会提出重新保险的相关细节，我也读了那些内容。我认为这是很关键的，但是根据我的经验，除非你有规模和数量，否则重新保险对你来说不一定是一个巨大的工具。现在，一旦你出售了两三四五辆新车，那里面有巨大的机会。但是我发现，当我真的确保我仅拥有D.C汽车公司，并且对一辆价值60，50万美元的宝马或者一台价值1万美元的车进行维修时，你就会损失相当大一部分现金流，对吧。因此，重新保险的损失率就会飙升。是的。所以再次提醒，对于听众中不了解的人，重新保险意味着当你向客户销售车辆服务合同，也就是所谓的保修时，你承担了风险。
Um, and so like what Daniel saying is he, you sell a BMW that thing needs $8,000 of repairs after the fact you've just lost all the money you may have made on that warranty that you sold or the vehicle service contract that you have sold and you decided to ensure in house.
呃，就像丹尼尔所说的，你卖了一辆宝马，但在此之后车子需要修理花费8,000美元，这意味着你刚才可能赚的所有保修费或你自己售卖的车辆服务合同费都打了水漂，因为你决定自己来承保。
So to your point, it could be a very much a losing proposition, really depends on the type of inventory you're selling, um, and the route of quality. And were you selling, and are you selling a lot of these like, you know, older German, you know, or kind of foreign cars?
所以，说到你的观点，这可能完全是一个亏损的主张，这真的取决于你正在销售的存货类型，还有质量的方面。你卖的是很多这种旧的德国或其他国外的车吗？
Yeah. Well, with D and C motor company, that was the play. It was just a luxury store. So we would try to do lease. I mean, yeah, we would just do. So once we got bigger, we started just doing, you know, cars that were coming right off lease, but yeah, the early days, I mean, you sell like a land Rover, you write a premium, let's say for two grand and the repairs 10 takes the next five warranties for you to cover that loss.
是的。好吧，D和C汽车公司就是这种情况。那只是一个奢侈品商店。所以我们会尝试租赁。我的意思是，是的，我们只是这样做。所以一旦我们变得更大，我们就开始只卖刚从租赁期结束的汽车，但是在早期，我的意思是，你卖掉一辆路虎，你写了一个溢价，比如说两千美元，然后维修费用却需要接下来五个保修期来弥补损失。
Uh, so you can see how that could hurt. My point is research is a great game and the flow from it is the best thing. Um, and then borrowing against your float is really where another, another crucial aspect is so you can borrow against the premium that's, uh, that's sitting there at again, no tax, but you obviously debt doesn't get taxed. So whether it's real estate or reinsurance or however you look at it.
嗯，所以你可以看出那可能会造成伤害。我的意思是研究是一种很棒的游戏，而从中得到的收益是最好的事情。嗯，并且借贷你的流动资金真的是另一个非常关键的方面，这样你就可以借贷那些停留在那里的保费，而且没有纳税，但是显然债务是不会被征税的。所以，不管是房地产还是再保险或者无论你怎么看待，都是如此。
Um, I think that the biggest wealth creation in the car industry, that's definitely one of the tools, but I think really it's building your auto group and building your performance. So the better you perform as an auto group, the higher your evaluation will be. And as you can see, I mean, these stores are trading, you know, if you build a nice group, you can probably get 10 times even out or something like that. Um, pretty quickly, especially if you build a big platform in scale.
嗯，我认为汽车产业最大的财富创造之一无疑是建立您的汽车集团和提升业绩。所以您的汽车集团表现得越好，您的估值就会越高。正如您所见，这些店铺正在交易，如果您建立一个不错的集团，您可能可以很快获得10倍甚至更多的收益，尤其是如果您在规模上建立了一个大平台。
So the, I think performance should be your number one, number one goal and really should be your focus. The reinsurance will come with it, but. You're, you're basically saying, but, but that only matters if you're exiting at some point.
所以，我认为业绩应该是你的头等大事，应该是你的重点。再保险会随之而来，不过，你基本上在说，但是这只有在你最终退出时才会有意义。
Well, it matters even when you're borrowing money and you're looking at growth. So you can tap into your unlocked equity, right? So like if you have a blue sky on your group, that's worth say 50 million, you can, you can tap into that and you can tap into your, to your equity off your balance sheet if you have a good lender. So it does matter of, you know, for growth. It helps you finance deals. It helps you do all the same things without necessarily having to refi or go in there and restructure debt.
嗯，这即使在您借钱并寻求增长时也很重要。因此，您可以利用您未解锁的股本，对吗？所以，如果您的企业前景非常好，价值大约为5000万美元，您可以利用这个价值并且如果您有一个好的贷款人，您还可以利用资产负债表上的权益。所以，这对于增长来说确实很重要。它帮助您融资交易，帮助您进行各种相同的事情，而不必进行再融资或进行债务重组。
Do you think you're, do you think you're out of your cell? I mean, ever is a long time. I'm 35 years old. So everyone listening to this podcast are like, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, I'd really like to work for someone to be difficult. No, I'm just kidding. Uh, no, I, uh, I don't, I don't play on selling and I have four kids and I want to know that as a legacy and I really do love what I'm doing.
你认为你自己，你认为你已经走出了牢房吗？我的意思是，永远是很长的时间。我今年35岁了。所以每个听这个播客的人都是像，嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒嗒，我真的想为某人工作事情有些困难。开个玩笑了。嗯，不，我不打算出售，我有四个孩子，我希望这成为我的遗产，而且我真的很喜欢我正在做的事情。
Do you want your kids to come into the business? Yeah. So if I had it my way, I have four kids, I would prefer. That's a, that's a big gift, dude. That's a big gift. Yeah, I don't think I have it my way. But if I, uh, yeah, I'd love to work with my kids, man. I really would. And I think it's a good industry. I think it's, uh, it's evolving. I think there's a lot of opportunity and you can, you can build a pretty big platform. Um, slowly but surely.
你想让你的孩子加入这个生意吗？是的。那么如果按照我的意愿，我有四个孩子，我更倾向于让他们参与进来。那是一份很大的馈赠，伙计。那是一份很大的馈赠。是的，我不认为我能按照我的意愿做到。但是如果有机会的话，我真的很愿意和我的孩子一起工作。我认为这是一个很好的行业。我认为它在不断发展。我认为有很多机会，你可以建立一个相当大的平台。虽然进展缓慢，但是一定会成功。
Talk, talk to us more about your platform. Like who, who helped you run this, you know, conglomerate? How do you do this? Well, we have now we have more. I mean, our corporate overhead is probably more extensive than like the store to store, but, uh, we were building to grow. So my admissions were probably, uh, they've been neutered a bit with this economy, but, uh, we definitely had like, you know, we, our goal was drive to 25. So we were planning on having 25 stores by the end of 2025.
谈谈你的平台，更多地告诉我们一些关于它的事情。比如说谁帮助你来运行这家公司，你知道，这个巨大的企业？你是如何做到这一点的呢？嗯，现在我们有更多了。我的意思是，我们公司的经营开销可能比店铺要广泛得多，但是，嗯，我们一直在努力发展壮大。虽然因为经济原因我可能需要稍微收敛一下，但是我们绝对有自己的目标，就是到2025年底拥有25家店面。
Uh, drive to 20. Oh, listen, all I've been hearing is survived till 25. So you're, you're in the other end of the spectrum. So let's see how bad this recession hurts me and then I'll let you know, like new goals. I'm going to, I'm going to, uh, like every wise man says, when the, when the economy changes, what do you do? You change with it, right? So, uh, but we're doing an acquisition now. It is a little bit harder. Um, as far as like, they do require more skin in the game. And, uh, so the platform, yeah, I have a wonderful CFO. I got a awesome, um, director of operations. I got, um, HR, you know, the whole thing. So kind of a big C suite.
嗯，开车去20。听着，我一直听到的都是活到25岁。所以你就是在反方向的极端了。让我们看看这次经济衰退对我会造成多大伤害，然后我会告诉你新的目标。我要，我要，嗯，就像每个聪明人都说的，当经济变化时，你要怎么做？你要跟着变，对吧？但是我们现在正在进行一次收购。这有点难度。就像需要更多投入一样。平台，是的，我有一个很棒的首席财务官。我有一个很棒的运营总监。我还有人力资源，一应俱全。所以算是一个大C层。
And how did you find all through those people acquisition or is it like a fresh hire? How did you get them?
你是怎么找到所有这些人的？是通过收购的方式还是新招聘的？你是怎么招聘到他们的？
No. So I had my CFO and, uh, kind of business development. Guy, he, I hired him. Well, he kind of came onto the first acquisition. And he came onto the first acquisition and he came on, um, to just help me land the plane on the first deal. And then he just never left. I kept like, feed them work, feed them work, feed them work. He worked for KPMG, which is one of the big three accounting firms. Um, and I just couldn't let him go because he just sort of like filled in all my insecurities, you know, so. Yeah. Well, where, where were those insecurities? It wasn't so much insecurities, but it was like a, a ton of communication with financial people from every manufacturer, a ton of questions. I mean, the one thing that I think when you go from an independent to a franchise, you really need a bench because it changes. Like people want to know manufacturers come into your dealership all the time. Oh, yeah. It was coming. And they just, if you're not showing them love, you're neglecting them. Right. So then, yeah, I mean, everyone needs a ton of your time.
所以我有我的首席财务官和一位业务发展的人。他，我雇了他。嗯，他是在第一次收购时加入的。他加入了第一次收购，然后就一直在这里了。我一直给他工作，一直给他工作。他以前在金融业工作，这是三大会计师事务所之一。所以我就舍不得让他走，因为他填补了我所有的不安全感。哦，是吗？那你之前有什么不安全感呢？不是不安全感，而是不断与各个制造商的财务人员沟通，提出各种问题。我觉得当你从一个独立经营到加入特许经营时，你真的需要一个团队，因为情况会有所改变。制造商经常来到你的经销商。是的，他们总是来。如果你不对他们表示关注，就是忽视他们。是的，所以每个人都需要耗费大量的时间。
Yeah. And what would you say are like, how did so? So I want to, I want to talk more about your platform and your team you just mentioned, but where do they compliment you the most? Like what is that? You know, what do you consider yourself kind of like the best at? And what are the things that you know, you outsource to the rest of your team?
是的。你会说，你是如何做到的呢？所以我想更多地谈谈你刚才提到的平台和团队，他们在哪些方面最能补充你呢？你认为自己最擅长什么？还有，你将哪些事情外包给你的团队成员呢？
Yeah. So I've gotten pretty good at delegating, but I think I'm, I'm also hands off. Like I'm not afraid to walk into a dealership and chat and hang out and see kind of feel the culture and do all that. But I would, I'd say as far as like financial reporting, they, they go through everything. I mean, I don't have a say in what, what they do at all. I just get the report and it's like, okay, well, that's where we, that's where we landed, I guess. So I'd say they take all that away, which is huge. And then, oh, I mean, everything, I mean, they can do a whole deal without me really involved. However, I'm not that guy, but I'd say everything without, yeah, they can, they can do it. They can, they can do everything. I mean, literally take a whole deal down if you want them to whatever, whatever. It's a great team, dude. Yeah. They're awesome. I guess they don't need me anymore. So.
是的。所以我在分配任务方面做得相当不错，但我也是一个很放手的人。比如说，我不害怕走进一家经销商，聊天、交流，感受一下文化氛围，做这些事情。但是我要说的是，就财务报告来说，他们会全部完成。我对他们的工作没有任何发言权，只是得到报告后，就像是，好吧，看来我们就是这样结束了。所以我会说，他们夺走了所有这些事情，这是很重要的。然后，噢，我是说所有的事情，他们可以在没有我参与的情况下完成整个交易。然而，我不是那个人，但我要说的是，没有任何一件事情他们做不到。无论你想让他们做什么，他们都可以做到。这是一个伟大的团队，伙计。是的，他们很棒。我想他们不再需要我了。
Well, then, I mean, it means you're in some right. You should be proud of that. Tell me more about your, your challenges today. Right. Like what are the things or what are areas of focus could be operational, could be technological, whatever, but like what are the biggest challenges for you at the end of business at the moment?
嗯，那么，我的意思是，这意味着你是正确的一部分。你应该为此感到自豪。告诉我更多关于你今天所面临的挑战。对的。例如，可能是运营上的事项，可能是技术上的问题，或者其他任何领域，但是在你们业务的最后阶段，目前对你来说最大的挑战是什么？
You know, I would say the biggest challenge that we have today is probably having your underlying costs go up by that. I mean, flooring and just your underlying costs that you can't control and then feeling kind of compression from the top and the bottom. So you essentially have to restructure some pay plans or you have to restructure some of the costs of these dealerships, which, you know, there's only a few line items. You know, you're a personal marketing, you know, maybe a couple more in there, but those are the big ones. And that's just a tough conversation because it's just, it's just hard and it's hard to keep the culture there and then restructure, you know, kind of where you should be. But you're feeling pressured from the consumer and you're feeling pressured from the banks. So.
你知道的，我会说当今我们面临的最大挑战可能是底层成本上涨。我的意思是地板和一些无法控制的底层成本，然后感觉从上下两方面都受到了压力。因此，你必须重新调整一些薪酬计划或者重新调整一些经销商的成本，就是这些几个项目。你个人自己的营销，可能还有其中几项，但这些是重要的。这个谈话很难，因为它很困难，很难保持文化并重新调整你应该处于的位置。但是你受到了来自消费者和银行的压力。
How have you been navigating? How have you been navigating those conversations? And, you know, I think we all know of those conversations, but like what's been, how have you been handling that?
你是如何应对的？你是如何应对那些谈话的？我们都知道这些谈话，但你是如何处理的？
I mean, I tried to do it with transparency and just say, Hey, look, this is where our goal is calling gross to net 4% we're heading that to. Can we, what do you think we can do? This is how I see this working out. It's either we kind of, you know, maybe you wear two hats for the next couple months. Maybe we don't need a GSM and a GM in some stores or we don't need a GM in the store. You know, those are the conversations we're having, but we try to do it all forward. Look, I think I think you just said a really important point, which is like you said it's not me against you, right? You have a goal and we're both trying to reach that goal and then let's work together to find a path to get to that goal and just try to do it in a healthy, empathetic way. I mean, it's not like I'm having fun with these combos, man. They're they sucked. You know, I'd rather just talk about growth and how do we grow our way out of this, but you know, if we got to 70% of our goal, then we don't see ourselves getting like any higher that what do you do?
我是说，我试图以透明的方式表达，嘿，看，我们的目标是将毛净利润增加4%，我们正在朝这个方向努力。我们能做些什么？这是我对事态发展的看法。要么我们，你知道，也许你在接下来的几个月里要扮演两个角色。也许我们在一些店铺里不需要GSM和GM，或者在店铺里不需要GM。我们正在进行这些对话，但我们试图朝前看。你说得很重要，就像你说的不是我对你，对吧？你有一个目标，我们都在努力达到那个目标，让我们一起找到达到目标的路径，并以健康、富有同理心的方式努力。我并不是在享受这些对话，朋友。它们很糟糕。你知道，我宁愿谈论增长和如何通过增长摆脱困境，但是，如果我们只完成了目标的70％呢？你会怎么做？
What about on the tech side? Like any tech staff or, you know, how's that working for you, your dealership? Are you, you seem to be, you know, more tech savvy and, you know, you mentioned Steve Jobs, your fans. So like, have you implemented any new tools and your new AI software? I mean, I'm just curious how you're handling that side of the world.
在技术方面有什么情况？比如说有没有技术人员，你们的经销商那方面运作如何？你似乎更懂技术，而且你提到了你的粉丝和史蒂夫·乔布斯。那么，你们是否已经使用了一些新的工具和新的人工智能软件？我只是很好奇你们是如何处理那方面的事情的。
Yeah. So the biggest tool that I mean, we use all the traditional platforms, V auto, VIN solution, dealer socket. I mean, we're pretty intertwined with Cox automotive. I don't know that. I think one of your questions was like, Hey, dude, so I get to hit your horse to one wagon. I mean, how many wagons are there? There's like two.
是的。所以最重要的工具是，我们使用所有传统的平台，比如V auto、VIN solution和dealer socket。我意思是，我们与Cox automotive之间关系密切。我不知道。我想你其中一个问题是，嘿，伙计，我可以把你的马车拉到一辆马车上吗？那么有多少辆马车呢？大概有两辆。
You had mentioned to me something interesting about rebates. Give us, give us the juice and rebates. What we got over here? All right. So rebates, I mean, I don't, I'm not a professional at this, but, uh, and I don't have the scale, but I did realize very early on that rebates, they're not very early on. Sorry. Ten of in the last couple of years that there's everything's up for negotiation in the carbon business and all of these different vendors. There's a point of negotiation. There's the point of below the line rebates. Everything is up for negotiation. Yeah. There's no like the, there's off menu deals. I don't think if you took two dealer platforms, I don't think you'd see the same pricing between any of the two. There's so, so what have you negotiated? Give us the secrets. Give us the juice. What have you negotiated?
你之前提到了一些有关折扣的有趣事情。给我们点折扣的详情。这方面我们有什么消息呢？好吧。关于折扣，我不是专家，也没有权衡的标准，但我早就意识到在碳排放业务中，所有的东西都可以协商，各个供应商也是如此。有一个谈判点，就是折扣线以下的点。所有的东西都可以协商。是的。没有什么套餐式的交易。我觉得如果你看了两个交易平台，它们的定价可能会有所不同。所以，你协商了什么？给我们一些秘诀。给我们一些润滑剂。你协商了什么？
Oh man. I don't know. You're going to take away my, my, I'm probably going to get a call immediately after this podcast, but, uh, yeah, like with, for example, with Cox automotive, the more, the more you give them, the more you use their vendors, they'll give you back a certain percentage. So say your, say it costs 500 grand a month, for example, that you spend with Cox, which it sounds like a ton, but with auto trader, V auto, then, I mean, then dealer.com, you can get there pretty quick with seven or eight rooftops. Um, so you get a percentage of that back. So call it, you know, 10% would be 50 grand, uh, five percent would be 25 grand. Those are high numbers. You're probably not getting that back, but you're getting like 10 grand back a month, which help. They're pretty smart too. They, uh, again, that's up for negotiation too. The big boys probably get way more. Oh yeah, I'm sure. And look, and by the way, like I, they should be thrilled if they're listening right now because, you know, may, may every dealer partner with E1 brand and use, you know, all of their services, I'm sure every vendor who'll give you a rebate back, I would love to give you five or 10% back if you use six of my services, right?
哦，天啊。我不知道。你要夺走我的，我的，我可能会在这个播客之后立刻接到一个电话，但是，是的，比如说，与科克斯汽车合作，你越多地使用他们的供应商，他们就会返还给你一定比例的回报。所以假设你每个月与科克斯合作的成本是50万美元，这听起来很多，但是通过与auto trader、V auto和dealer.com合作，你可以很快达到这个数字，特别是如果你拥有7或8个销售点的话。那么你将会获得这个比例的回报。比如说，10%就是5万美元，5%就是2.5万美元。这些数字很高，你可能不会得到那么多的返还，但是每个月能得到1万美元的回报也会有所帮助。他们也很精明，他们会对此进行协商。大公司可能会得到更多的回报。哦对，我肯定，而且顺便说一下，如果他们现在正在听的话，他们应该会非常高兴，因为你知道，希望每个经销商都与E1品牌合作，并使用他们的所有服务，如果他们的每个供应商都能返还给你一些折扣，我愿意返还给你5%或10%的折扣，只要你使用了我的六项服务，对吧？
Yeah. I guess that's a good point. And honestly, I mean, think about it, when they've locked you in like that, their scale and their SaaS evaluation is massive. I mean, when do you think of like V auto, your pain, whatever, a couple of grand a month per store? That a bad gig. I mean, I don't think they're what about talk to us about like, you know, do you buy from auction cars, use cars?
是的。我觉得那是一个很好的观点。而且说实话，你想想，当他们把你困在这样的位置上时，他们的规模和SaaS评估是巨大的。我的意思是，当你考虑像V auto这样的公司，他们每个店每月能挣上数千美元？那真是个不错的生意。我觉得他们不会担心我们从拍卖车或者二手车手中购买。
Yeah, we have a bunch of buyers now, but I used to buy a ton. And yeah, we buy from manheim. That's the main source. And then the organic traffic from that's the advantage of having new car stores. I mean, the trades are just, it's hard to get those cars. And so you get the trades are 50% what about all trades? I mean, do you get rebates there? No, I should. They probably are remade set to I should like the bi fees are bananas. I mean, if you look at like what they've just gone up dramatically, I'm sure that there's a negotiation for everything.
是的，我们现在有许多买家，但我曾经购买了很多。是的，我们从曼海姆（Manheim）购买。那是主要的来源。然后通过新车店获得的有机流量就是这个的优势。我的意思是，要得到这些交易车辆是很困难的。所以，你得到的交易车辆只占了50%。那其他所有的交易呢？我的意思是，你们有折扣吗？不，我应该有。他们可能会重新设定折扣，我也应该像他们一样。买家费用实在是太高了。我是说，如果你看看它们的价格，它们已经大幅上涨了。我相信每一件事都可以谈判。
And you said it yourself, tell me more about the, but tell me more about your supply, right? Where are you buying most of your use? I mean, other than trade ins, you mentioned you have a bunch of buyers. So where are you sourcing these cars?
而且你自己也说过，告诉我更多关于这个，但是告诉我你供应的更多信息，对吧？除了交易以外，你提到你有许多买家。那么你从哪里购买这些汽车呢？
Mainly like Riverside, California, Oakland, California, which is the Bay Area, all of that San Francisco Bay. These are two pretty clubs. Yeah, but how are you sourcing them? What's the most important line? So we're doing like a ton of manheim and then they use V auto. And then we go to Spokane. So we have buyers that go in the lane in Spokane and buy like, do you buy direct from consumer or any of that stuff? We do. But we're not great at it, to be honest with you. There's a lot of work to be done there. We don't have like,
主要像加利福尼亚州的河滨市、加利福尼亚州的奥克兰市，这些都是旧金山湾区的一部分。这些都是相当不错的俱乐部。对，但你是如何获得他们的车辆的？最重要的步骤是什么？我们主要通过曼海姆（Manheim）和V Auto来获取车辆。然后我们会前往斯波坎（Spokane）。我们有买家在斯波坎的车道上购买车辆，你会直接从消费者那里购买吗？我们是的。但老实说，我们做得不太好。在这方面还有很多工作要做。我们没有像他们那样的
I respect the, I respect just like the honesty, right? Like you're not great at it. Doesn't mean you can't become great at it, but like also knowing where, you know, you excel at different parts of the business, you don't have to be a superstar at every single thing. Yeah, we've tried and we've tried to incentivize like salesmen to buy cars. They're just like that.
我尊重你，就像我尊重诚实一样，对吧？就像你对此不太擅长，但这并不意味着你不能变得擅长，同时也要知道你在业务不同部分的优势所在，你不必在每个方面都成为超级巨星。是的，我们曾试图激励销售员购买汽车。他们就是那样。
Yeah, so, yeah, I mean, cars are now rebranding to cars commerce. They're a partner of the podcast as well. And I'm very bullish on their Accutrate platform. I've just gotten to know Robert Hollinshead and Alex Federer, the CEO, and they've really built something special there. The fact that they have all that first party data, it just really allows you to put a good number on a consumer car that is really backed by real data. So I'm pretty bullish on that. And just the future of how they're going to evolve that product. I think that's the right way the industry is trending.
是的，汽车正在重新进行品牌推广，现在被称为汽车商务。他们也是我们播客的合作伙伴。我非常看好他们的Accutrate平台。我刚刚认识了Robert Hollinshead和首席执行官Alex Federer，他们在那里确实建立了一些特别的东西。他们拥有的第一方数据，让你能够对消费者汽车进行准确估值，并且这些数据有着真实的支持。所以我对此感到非常乐观。而且他们未来如何发展这个产品也非常值得期待。我认为这是行业正确的发展方向。
No, I agree with you. I mean, it'll all this stuff though. The one thing I will say about technology is in all these dealerships that I bought, there's never been a lack of technology ever. I mean, some stores I bought have overlapped in three desking tools, two inventory management tools. I mean, like everything you can imagine, but the people and the organization needs to be able to run it like the keeper machine. I mean, I can't tell you how many stores I've looked at that like they don't even know how to use the machine. It's a disaster, right? Like, and that machine, You're making up a great point, right?
不，我同意你的观点。我的意思是，尽管有这么多技术设备，但其中一个值得一提的是，在我购买的所有经销商中，从未缺乏过技术。我的意思是，我购买的一些商店使用了三种桌面工具和两种库存管理工具，你能想象到的一切都有。但是，人们和组织必须能够像操作机器一样运营它。我不能告诉你有多少家商店我看过，他们甚至不知道如何使用这些机器。简直糟透了，对吧？你说得很对，这台机器真是个大问题。
Like people, yeah, like a lot of this stuff is, you see, this is again, this is the trend like where you're seeing every, you know, every big brand is trying to kind of consolidate their offerings because it's too much. They're aware every deal has 50 different systems. No one wants to use 50 different systems, let it alone 10 different systems, you know, and so it's that I call it the SaaS fatigue. It's just too much. And whoever simplifies things, you know, like everyone, everyone that simplifies it into one, one really integrated platform, it's just they're going to win. And then that'll have its own challenges too, right? Because you're just stuck in one platform. But I mean, oh, yeah, because if you don't, if the platform doesn't deliver, well, then now, you know, all your eggs are in one basket, you know, so now you have to go find another platform 100%.
就像人们一样，嗯，很多东西都是这样的，你看，这又是一个趋势，就是每个大品牌都在试图整合他们的产品，因为太多了。他们意识到每个交易都有50个不同的系统。没有人想要使用50个不同的系统，更别提10个不同的系统了，你知道的，所以我称之为软件即服务疲劳。太多了。而那些简化事物的人，你知道的，每个人将其简化为一个真正集成的平台，他们就会胜出。然后这也会带来自己的挑战，对吧？因为你只被困在一个平台上。但是，哦，是的，因为如果平台没有提供，现在所有的鸡蛋都放在一个篮子里，你知道的，所以现在你必须去找另一个平台100%。
And then the next question is, will manufacturer rebates actually let you use it like the co-op, honey? Will they co-op with techy on or will they co-op with because they co-op with talks, right? And they co-op with some of the other big brands, but will they do it with the one that is the one sweet option? Because if they don't, then the manufacturer won't open up the war chest of it. 100%. Yeah, like you, this is another great point for anyone in the audience that doesn't know what this means, right? But co-op just means that you have the manufacturers participating and actually subsidizing some of your software marketing or whatever as a dealer, right? So, you know, you see, you know, Kia adds, right? And maybe a dealer is running them. Well, Kia may be paying for part of that ad and also for some of their software and whatnot. And so, that's very important for dealers because it subsidizes your costs, right? And so, if Kia, I'm just using them as an example, by the way, if they're not going to pay for a part of my CRM with this vendor, I'm not going to use this vendor or it's very unlikely I'm going to use them because it's going to cost me a lot more. It doesn't make any sense. So, that's an important one. And if you get 40 cents on the dollar back that you spend with one vendor and you get no dollars back or no cents back on the other, you're probably not going to go with them, right? And some of these manufacturers honestly just don't do business with new vendors. Like they lock out tech platforms for security reasons or whatever else it takes a while to get in the doing queen security reasons, wing queen. Well, that's what they tell me. I don't know. You go to Vaid. They go to Vegas. Do you have a dinner? Have a dinner? Have a couple drinks and the security reasons change. Yeah, maybe.
然后下一个问题是，制造商的折扣是否会像co-op、honey那样让你使用它？他们会和techy进行合作吗？或者他们会和谁合作，因为他们和一些其他大品牌合作，但他们会和那一个甜蜜选择的品牌合作吗？因为如果不合作的话，制造商就不会开放它的战争基金。没错，这对于观众中不知道这意味着什么的人来说，又是另一个很重要的点，对吧？但是合作只是指制造商参与并在某种程度上资助作为经销商的一些软件营销活动，对吧？所以，你知道，你可以看到一些Kia的广告，也许是经销商在运作。那么Kia可能会支付部分广告费用以及他们的一些软件费用等等。这对于经销商来说非常重要，因为它能降低你的成本。所以，如果Kia，我只是举个例子，如果他们不打算为我与这个供应商的CRM支付部分费用，我就不会使用这个供应商，或者我很可能不会使用他们，因为这会让我花费更多费用。这毫无道理。所以，这是一个重要的因素。如果你和一个供应商一起花费一美元，能够获得四十美分的返现，但是对于另一个供应商你没有任何返现，你很可能不会选择与他们合作，对吧？而且，有些制造商实际上不会与新供应商做生意。比如出于安全原因，他们会封锁技术平台，或者需要一段时间才能进入封信世界出于安全原因，封信世界。嗯，对于这个他们是这么告诉我的。你去问Vaid咯。他们去了拉斯维加斯。吃晚饭了吗？吃晚饭了吗？喝了几杯？安全原因会改变。嗯，可能吧。
What do you most bullish on for the industry right now? Like when you think about trends, how your dealer groups are going to evolve? Where's your head out? Like where's that? Your vision? Where are you going to our?
你现在对这个行业最看好的是什么？比如说当你考虑发展趋势时，你的经销商团队将如何演变？你的想法在哪里？你的愿景在哪里？你将朝着哪个方向前进？
I mean, short term, I'm pretty bullish on new cars. I think that based on what's happened in the last couple of years, I think that new cars are going to be in demand for the next, I don't know, two or three years. I definitely think that they're going to yeah, they're going to new car sales will continue to go up and you posted something the other day.
我的意思是，短期内我对新车市场非常看好。根据过去几年的情况来看，我认为新车在未来两三年内将持续受到需求的推动。我坚信新车销售将继续增长，而你前几天发的那个帖子也印证了这一点。
But I think that trends going to continue to outpace the used cars. Did you see my tweet about Subaru's in Seattle? Yeah. So I did like it. You should do that in Portland too. You know, we keep Portland weird down here. That's our slogan. Keep Portland weird. Do you like do you? Is that do you guys have voodoo donuts over there? It's good, right? We can make you a donut in any shape you'd like. Please use your imagination. Yeah, they have some crazy donuts. I've seen that stop. It's pretty intense. Do you have ever been there? Well, you should come over. You can stay with me. There. Let's do it. I'm in rally.
但我认为这个趋势将继续超过二手车。你有看到我在西雅图关于Subaru的推特吗？是的，我确实喜欢它。你也应该在波特兰这样做。你知道，我们这里一直保持波特兰的怪异。这是我们的口号，保持波特兰的怪异。你喜欢吗？你们那边有巫术甜甜圈吗？好吃吧？我们可以做出任何你想要的形状的甜甜圈。请发挥你的想象力。是的，他们有一些疯狂的甜甜圈。我见过那个店，相当疯狂。你去过那里吗？嗯，你应该过来。你可以和我住在那里。来吧，我们去吧。我在拉利。
Yeah. The only other thing is, I guess, I don't know, I think we've touched on most of everything. The innovation of like selling cars online, where everybody's really hyper focused on that and sort of it seems like they're not as bullish on the showroom. I think we touched on that. I'm still pretty bullish on the showroom. I think in my in the luxury side of it, especially is going to be is probably never going to get out of the showroom concept. Just like you don't see Laura Piana or Gucci or I never thought Laura Piana would make it to my podcast. But there it is. There it is. No, but you see these guys really leading into the showroom. And so what makes you think that like Mercedes Benz is not going to want to show when or Rolex, do you see people buying Rolex online without like talking to a jeweler or having some type of relationship? I feel like to be honest, yes, I actually do see that. People do buy those online, but I understand your point because it's a luxury experience. It's a very discretionary purchase and it doesn't happen every day. So if I'm going to buy a beautiful luxury vehicle and something that's more than just like a point A to point B, yeah, I'm going to want to go see in the showroom, touch it, feel it, sit in it, smell it, ask some questions and whatnot. So I totally agree with you there. But what do you think about the more like, you know, sub $30,000 car? I mean, do you think that's going to trend more online? Are you still bullish on the showroom there? What's your thoughts?
是的。唯一还有的就是，我猜，我不知道，我认为我们已经触及了大部分的内容。像在线销售汽车这样的创新，每个人都非常关注这个领域，似乎他们不太看好展厅。我想我们已经谈到了这个问题。我对展厅仍然很乐观。我认为在奢侈品方面，特别是展厅的概念可能永远不会消失。就像你不会见到劳力士或古驰之类的品牌在我的播客中。但事实就是如此。但是，你会看到这些公司真的非常重视展厅。那么你觉得奔驰或劳力士为什么不想要展厅呢？你见过有人在不与珠宝商交谈或建立某种关系的情况下在网上购买劳力士吗？说实话，是的，我确实见过。人们确实在线购买这些商品，但我理解你的观点，因为这是一种奢侈体验。这是一种非常自由性的购买，而且并不是每天都发生。所以，如果我要购买一辆漂亮的豪华车，一辆不仅仅是从A点到B点的车，是的，我会想去展厅看看，触摸一下，感受一下，坐在里面，闻一闻，提出一些问题，等等。所以在这一点上我完全同意你的观点。但你对那些价格低于30000美元的汽车有什么看法呢？你认为那方面会更多地倾向于在线购买？你对展厅仍然乐观吗？你有什么想法？
No, I think that especially as someone that you said, you're so kind of such a Tesla for lack of a better term, not fanatic, but like connoisseur or whatever you want to call it. How do you kind of, how do you, you know, balance those two? I think that Tesla's been able to conquer the impossible, right? So I don't know that being like, for example, Ford or whatever manufacturer OEM you want to talk about, they have to really catch up when it comes to EV and then disrupting their whole dealer body that's selling that they're selling cars to because once the OEM drops cars on your lot, it's considered sole for them. So we are their buyer essentially. So they just send it to our lot, they sold 100 new Ford's for them to like disrupt that and disrupt all their factory lines and reinvent themselves and spend billions of dollars in R&D to get themselves to catch up to Tesla and EV and then to honestly get themselves to fix the to take over the dealer. I don't know that it just seems like a lot more work than they're willing to do, at least for the next decade. I think they're got that they got their hands full and quite frankly, dude, I mean, you look at some of these manufacturers and you see that I'm like, figure out the navigation before you beat Tesla, please. I mean, just fix the nap. Can the nap just be easy to use before you guys all conquer Tesla? You guys are going to be, you guys are going to be the next Elon killer? Just fix the nap so we can use it easily. So we're not like punching a screen. We're only a knob. I mean, by the time they do that, you're holding your phone and just drive it to the next place.
不，我认为尤其要作为你说过的那种，你就是那种特斯拉的粉丝（暂时没有更好的词了），不是狂热的，而是像鉴赏家或者你想怎样叫都可以。你是如何平衡这两个角色的呢？我认为特斯拉已经征服了不可能的事情，对吧？所以，我不知道像福特或者其他汽车制造商，他们在电动车领域肯定要赶超特斯拉，然后颠覆他们整个销售汽车的经销商网络。因为一旦汽车制造商将车辆交付给经销商，这些车辆就被认为是他们的售卖商品。所以我们实际上是他们的买家。他们只不过把车送到我们的展厅，他们就卖出了100辆新福特车，然后重新迎头赶上特斯拉和电动车领域，并且真诚地努力接管经销商的业务，需要他们花费数十亿美元在研发上。我不知道他们是否真的愿意花那么多的时间和精力，至少在接下来的十年内。我认为他们已经忙得不可开交，并且老实说，伙计，你看看这些制造商之中，你会发现我真想告诉他们在超越特斯拉之前先搞清楚导航怎么用好吗？我是说，请修复好导航，好让我们能够轻松使用，这样我们就不必砸屏幕了，只要旋钮就行。我是说，当他们做到这一点的时候，你只需要拿着手机就能开车去下一个地方了。
Dude, before we any final thoughts, if people want to reach out to you, learn more about your group, how can they learn more? Yeah, I mean, my email is Daniel at TimeAuto and then, yeah, that's probably the best way to get over me. There we go.
伙计，在我们做出最终决定之前，如果有人想与你联系，了解更多关于你的团队，他们应该如何获取更多信息？是的，我的邮箱是Daniel at TimeAuto，那可能是与我联系的最好方式。就是这样。
Why do I wait? Why TimeAuto? How do you come up with that name? Yeah, I mean, I think time is critical to everybody, right? And I think I just have always looked at like, okay, what do you want to do in this amount of time? And I've always taken it and come to have it used it in different departments. And it was, I didn't really expect it to be available. I was like, what's the most important thing that we have time? And then I looked it up and it was like TimeAuto, I'm like, wow, seems like somebody would have snatched that up and then TimeAuto Group and sort of leaned into it. I definitely explored with all the like, Kratik Auto Group, you know, DNC Auto Group. And I'm like, wow, at the time, I didn't know where I was going to take this. So if I didn't want to sell one or two stores, I didn't have to brand it around my personal name.
为什么要等待？为什么选择TimeAuto？你是怎么想到这个名字的？是的，我是说，我认为时间对每个人都很重要，对吧？而且我一直以来都会考虑，你在这段时间内想做什么？我总是把它用在不同的部门上。我真的没有预料到它会是可用的。我就在想，我们最重要的东西是时间。然后我查询了一下，发现了TimeAuto，我就想，哇，似乎有人应该会抢先注册这个名字，然后就有了TimeAuto Group，并继续沿用这个名字。我当然也尝试过使用一些其他名字，比如Kratik Auto Group，DNC Auto Group。当时我不知道接下来要怎么发展，所以如果我不想出售一两家店铺，我没必要以我的个人名字命名品牌。
But you're a thoughtful mother effort, dude. I love it. You did the right move. You did the right move.
但是作为一个细心的母亲，你真是太棒了。我喜欢这样。你做出了正确的决定。你做出了正确的决定。
Well, thanks for having me on, man.
嗯，感谢邀请我来参与，伙计。
All right, hope you enjoyed that episode. Please give the podcast a rating, consider subscribing to the show and check the show notes for links to what we talked about. Thanks for tuning in. I'll see you guys next time.
好的，希望你们喜欢这一集。请给这个播客打个评分，并考虑订阅这个节目，还可以查看节目说明中我们谈到的链接。非常感谢你们收听。我们下次再见。