From Marketing Star to CEO of 18 Dealerships | Car Dealership Guy Podcast

It's like I'm playing whack a mole every day. You'll fix a problem and then all of a sudden something else pops up. It's endless. A trip to New Zealand thrust this young CEO into leading one of the nation's most well-known car dealership brands. But now he's taking on the biggest challenge of his career thus far, bringing this 100 year old group into the future. Today I'm speaking with Robert Orisman, Jr., CEO of Orisman Automotive Group, an 18 store outfit based out of the DC metro area. Don't forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode.

就好像每天我都在玩打地鼠游戏。你解决了一个问题，然后突然又冒出了另一个问题。永无止境。一次去新西兰的旅行让这位年轻的CEO成为了国内最知名汽车经销商品牌之一的领导者。但现在他正在接受自己迄今为止的最大挑战，将这个有着100年历史的集团带入未来。今天我与Orisman汽车集团的CEO，基地位于华盛顿都会地区的18家商店的Robert Orisman, Jr. 进行访谈。别忘了点击订阅，这样您永远不会错过一集。

Well, before we get into the show, this episode was brought to you by stream companies. Stream companies is the type of agency partner that easily becomes an extension of your team fully engaged in the growth of your business. They're impressive team of auto industry and marketing experts dive in to understand your business needs, study the data and provide full media strategies that leverage every channel that is right for your specific business and its goals. Stream is fully integrated, full service and just celebrated 28 years of consecutive growth. A feat that is only possible through collaborative partnerships and exceptional customer service. From building your brand to leveraging their patented ad tech, stream is driven to capture the attention of your shoppers and convert them into buyers. They work with some of the biggest and best dealerships in the country and serve all OEMs. To learn more, head to stream companies.com today where you can book a free advertising audit.

在进入节目之前，本集由流媒体公司赞助。流媒体公司是一种易于成为您团队延伸的代理合作伙伴，全心投入于促进您业务增长。他们庞大的汽车行业和营销专家团队深入了解您的业务需求，研究数据，并提供全面的媒体战略，利用适合您特定业务和目标的每个渠道。流媒体公司是完全整合的、全方位服务的，并刚刚庆祝了28年的连续增长。这一壮举只有通过合作伙伴关系和出色的客户服务才可能实现。从打造品牌到利用他们的专利广告技术，流媒体公司致力于吸引您的购物者的注意，并将他们转化为买家。他们与全国一些最大最好的经销店合作，并为所有原始设备制造商提供服务。要了解更多信息，请立即访问streamcompanies.com，在那里您可以预约免费的广告审计。

Their team will dive deep into your online presence and digital advertising to uncover all your immediate opportunities for growth. This episode is also brought to you by Impell, a word of caution to dealers, open source GPTs or conversation tools, not business solutions. If you want to embrace results, not risk, choose AI that's designed for automotive retail. With Impell AI, you can drive real results throughout the entire customer journey. From website, chat, sales and service, Impell AI is custom built to achieve your business objectives. It features a proprietary blend of large language models, automotive optimization layers and seamless integration with your entire tech stack. The result, exceptional customer experiences an increased customer lifetime value. And that means more revenue and greater profitability. Embrace results, not risk with Impell AI. See what the future of AI looks like today. Visit impel.ai or click the link in the show notes below.

他们的团队将深入研究您的在线存在和数字广告，以发现所有对您的增长机会。本集还由Impell赞助，提醒经销商，开源GPT或对话工具并非商业解决方案。如果您想要的是结果而非风险，选择专为汽车零售业设计的人工智能。通过Impell AI，您可以在整个客户旅程中实现实质性结果。从网站、聊天、销售到售后服务，Impell AI定制建造以实现您的业务目标。它具有大型语言模型、汽车优化层以及与整个技术堆栈无缝集成的独有混合。其结果包括令人满意的客户体验和增加的客户终身价值。这意味着更多的收入和更高的盈利能力。选择Impell AI，拥抱结果，避免风险。立即了解AI的未来。访问impel.ai或点击下方节目注释中的链接。

I was prepared for the podcast and I got super confused because you're ready for this one. I'm sure you can already guess what happened. I was DMing apparently with, is it your cousin Chris? Yes. All right. So there we go. So I'm DMing with Chris and I'll wait, what is going on here? And I realized I'm like, what the? There's two different orzements and I had no idea. And so I'm dying here. I like 20 minutes before the podcast. I finally hit me because I was looking through my DMS. And anyway, as long story short, this whole thing just happened. So it's funny, funny stuff. And I want to ask you a lot, a lot more about this.

我为播客做好了准备，但因为你准备好了，我感到非常困惑。我敢肯定你已经猜到发生了什么事。我之前在私信里和谁在聊天，是你表亲克里斯吗？是的。所以在私信里和克里斯聊天，然后我突然意识到，发生了什么事？我像是，天啊？原来有两个不同的克里斯，我一点都不知道。然后我完全搞糊涂了，在播客之前20分钟，我终于意识到了，因为我在查看我的私信。总之，长话短说，整个事情就发生了。真是有趣，我想要向你了解更多关于这件事的详情。

Um, but from what I understood is you two, you and Chris are cousins. Is that right? Yes, that's correct. And there's actually, there's actually three sides to orzement. So it gets more confusing and it's, if it's confusing for you, you know, imagine, imagine people in the DMV, the DC metric area and customers. And I think it's even confusing for those inside each circle. It's, uh, it's not quite clear. Anyone I don't think, but I think this is an important topic, which I didn't even plan on starting with this, but I think about the family dynamic here.

嗯，根据我的理解，你和克里斯是表亲。是这样吗？是的，没错。实际上，orzement有三个方面。所以变得更加混乱，如果对你来说很混乱，想象一下在DC度量区和客户中的人们。我认为这甚至对每个圈内的人来说都很困惑。这并不是很清楚。我认为这是一个重要的话题，我甚至没有计划从这个话题开始，但我想到这个家庭动态。

Right. So you are clearly a massive dealer group here and, uh, DC, Maryland, Metro area. We'll talk more about numbers there and whatnot, but give us a little background onto the family dynamic of this dealer group. And I want to, cause I want to double click on this confusion that you're talking about. What does it really means?

没错。显然你们在这里是一个庞大的经销集团，在DC、马里兰、地铁区域。我们会在那里谈论更多数字和其他事情，但先给我们介绍一下这个经销集团的家族动态。我想深入探讨一下你所说的这种混乱，它到底意味着什么？

Yeah, actually, we're going to talk this out. I think so we're, I'm a, some fourth generation, right? So my, my great grandfather started the business in 1921, uh, in H street, Washington, DC, uh, Northeast, uh, Chevrolet store. My, my grandfather took it over, uh, after my great grandfather passed away and he moved it out to Marlow Heights, Maryland. Again, single single Chevrolet store. Um, I guess that was in the fifties.

是的，实际上，我们要好好谈一谈。我想我们是第四代，对吧？所以，我曾祖父在1921年在华盛顿特区东北部的H街开办了一家雪弗兰汽车店。我的祖父在曾祖父去世后接手了生意，然后把店迁到了马洛海茨，马里兰州。再次，只有一家雪弗兰汽车店。我想那应该是在五十年代。

And, uh, you know, so that's, you know, second generation and, uh, there was, uh, the grandfather had three sons who were, uh, two sons and a stepson in the business. And that represented Gen three. And I would suggest that's a lot of cooks in one kitchen. And, uh, you know, what was a highly successful, uh, single single store group and dealership that was for a handful of years, the, uh, number one dealership in the country, eventually, uh, uh, dad and two brothers, uh, expanded, sort of got the tentacles out of the single store and, and through Gen three, sort of, um, it grew through Maryland and Virginia.

嗯，你知道的，这样的事情，你知道的，第二代，祖父有三个儿子，他们中有两个是亲生的，还有一个是继子，都在生意上。这代表了第三代。我想说的是在一个厨房里有很多厨师。原本是一个非常成功的单一店铺集团和经销店，曾经是全国销售量最高的经销店，最终，父亲和两个兄弟扩展了业务，让这个单一店铺的触角伸向了马里兰和弗吉尼亚，通过第三代逐渐扩大。

And, uh, now, um, you know, now I'm Gen four and I have other customers who are involved in the business as well. And so we operate sort of under, you know, the Ours and automotive group is, is sort of an umbrella term for who we are. Um, but there's three, I call them pods within the actual orzeman name and different, different businesses, um, different operators, same name. Uh, but, um, different styles, different philosophies. And so it sort of creates a, it's a, it's confusing. And but, um, you know, it's, we sort of even on my, my group, we've rebranded ourselves to Ours and cars in the last couple of years, somehow, you know, from, from advertising marketing to, you know, even explain to customers, how do we, how do we differentiate ourselves and make it clear, um, you know, to, to who we're serving, who we are. And, you know, the ad money that we spend, uh, the things that we're behind, because it's, again, it's, um, it's, it's in essence, three different dealer groups, uh, under one name.

嗯，现在，你知道，我现在是第四代了，我还有其他与我们业务有关的客户。因此，我们在Ours和汽车集团下运营，这个术语是我们的总称。但在实际的奥兹曼名字里有三个“组”，不同的企业，不同的运营商，但同一个名字。不同的风格，不同的理念。所以这有点复杂。但你知道，我们在我的团队里，最近几年把自己重新打造成“Ours and cars”，不管是从广告营销到向客户解释，我们是如何区别他们并明确我们是谁。我们花在广告上的钱，我们支持的事物，因为实际上，我们是一个名字下面的三个不同的经销商集团。

Explain that further to me, right? You have the, the name, the brand. Is that owned? Like who owns that, the brand, the name Oursman, who owns that? No one, no one owns or no one owes a name or the brand. Because, you know, it's, it's my last name. It's, it's my, you know, cousin's last name. Um, and so we all call our stores, you know, Oursman blank of blank. And it's, it's, uh, you know, it's sort of, it's sort of synonymous with, with who we are as a family, but there is no parent company. There's no, there's no one entity or holding company. It's, it's really a, just a myriad of, of different Oursman stores under, uh, just different leadership.

请进一步向我解释一下，对吧？你有这个名字，这个品牌。它是谁的所有？像谁拥有那个品牌，那个名字Oursman，谁拥有它？没有人拥有或欠任何一个名字或品牌。因为你知道，这是我的姓氏。这是我表兄的姓氏。所以我们所有的商店都叫做Oursman的空白之处。这个名字，作为一个家庭，它与我们是谁有所隶属，但没有母公司。没有一个实体或控股公司。实际上只是一系列不同的Oursman商店，由不同的领导层管理。

So give us an overview for just your size, scale economics, like how many stores are you, how many cars do you sell per year service? Yeah. So I've got 18 stores now in, in my pod where, you know, we're hoping to open us all 20,000 new and use cars this year. Pretty, pretty big operation. I don't know if I can give you an exact service or account on, on top of my head, but, you know, we're eight body shops. Um, so we've been growing that segment of the business as well. So yeah, it's a, you know, 2020,000 is our goal for 20,000, 24.

请告诉我们一些关于您的规模、规模经济的概述，比如您有多少家店铺，每年销售多少汽车？是的。现在我有18家店铺，在我的团队中，我们希望今年能够销售20,000辆新车和二手车。规模相当大。我不确定能否在脑海中准确给出服务数量或账户数量，但是我们有八家汽车维修店。所以我们也在不断壮大这一业务领域。是的，2020年，我们的目标是20,000辆，2024年。

And thinking more about that, right? Clearly a massive operation. What does your team look like? So, so my team, um, I've got a, I've got a COO. I've got a second floor that consists of, you know, a variable ops director, uh, you know, an ops manager, fix ops director. Um, you know, a full, full accounting team, um, a, a service, parts and body, you know, director position and then be sure as they're a general manager. So sort of filter through and operate through a second floor, through, you know, an executive team, uh, and they work directly with the general managers who then they don't, we don't, you know, don't micromanage, don't create, you know, vision or culture for them, but we, you know, we hire, we hire and surround ourselves. People that I think fit our culture, fit our vision. Um, and, uh, you know, and do a, do a pretty good job at it.

仔细考虑了一下，是吧？显然是一个庞大的运营。你的团队是什么样子的？我的团队，我有一个首席运营官。我还有一个由可变运营总监、运营经理、维修运营总监组成的第二层团队。我还有一个完整的会计团队，一个服务、零件和车身总监职位，然后是一个总经理。我们通过第二层团队以及直接与总经理合作的高管团队运作。他们不会过分干预，也不会为他们创造愿景或文化，但我们会雇用和围绕自己找到与我们的文化和愿景相符的人才。而且，我们做得相当不错。

What's your dad's current involvement in the business? I mean, it seems like you're, you're the CEO today. It seems like he sort of stepped away. How's that transition been for you? I'll, uh, I'll tell you the story behind it. It's actually, it's, it's sort of a sort of funny. So in 2020, this would have been early March 2020. We all know, we all know what was going on in the world then. He was in New Zealand. Uh, he has, uh, you know, at that point, had a girlfriend who lived in New Zealand. So he was over visiting her. I like your dad already. Yeah, he's a cool dude. He's a cool dude. And, um, you know, a few weeks, a few weeks later, uh, obviously everything, uh, everything went to shit and, uh, and he was stuck in New Zealand and New Zealand.

你爸爸目前在业务上有什么参与吗？我的意思是，看起来你是今天的CEO。看起来他好像有点退出了。这种过渡对你来说怎么样？我会告诉你背后的故事。事实上，这有点好笑。在2020年，这大概是在2020年三月初。我们都知道当时世界上发生了什么。他当时在新西兰。他有一个女朋友住在新西兰。所以他去探望她。我现在就喜欢你爸爸了。是的，他是个酷家伙。他是个酷家伙。几个星期后，显然一切变得一团糟，他被困在新西兰。

That's true. I'm retired. Yeah. If you call it, well, if you call it, it wasn't so much that it was more, you know, uh, there was an opportunity where I would say we needed a voice within my group. And that voice was, you know, at a different time zone and a 13 hour cycle away from us. I said, you know what? Is it all right? I'm going to do it. And I sort of threw him out, uh, in a, in a loving way. And, uh, you know, gotten the chair and started, you know, sort of operating through what was an initial, at least in our business, it was a very, a horrible, stressful, you know, six weeks, two months and dealing with that. And, you know, eventually it turned out to be pretty fruitful for our industry.

这是真的。我已经退休了。是的。如果你这样说的话，嗯，如果你这样说的话，那不是因为那更多，你知道的，嗯，在我的团队内部需要一个声音的机会。那个声音，你知道，处在不同的时区，比我们相差13小时。我说，你知道吗？可以的话，我来做。我有点像把他推出去，以一种充满爱的方式。然后，我拿了椅子，开始运作那个最初，至少在我们的行业里，是一个非常可怕、充满压力的六周，两个月，来应对这个。最终，结果对我们的行业来说变得相当有成效。

But the first, first eight weeks were, uh, as we can all recall, we're not pretty. And, um, so yeah. So sort of, uh, again, uh, yeah, say it in a, in a kind way, sort of threw him out. And so when he came back to the US, I want to say, in, uh, in July, so four months later, uh, you know, it's not an exaggeration to say it was completely remade and different group. And we changed on the fly. And that was sort of the theme of COVID was adopting and adapting to new ways of doing business and new ways of looking at opportunities or, you know, the, the era of Zoom, right? And, uh, a lot of change in four months. And, um, so sort of stuck with it. And, uh, that was, you know, to me, uh, to me, it worked out. It worked out well for all of us.

但是最初的八周真的不好过，我们都记得。所以，嗯，有点把他开除了。他四个月后回到美国时，我要说，可以毫不夸张地说他完全变了一个团队。我们在飞行中做出改变。这也是COVID的主题，我们不断采纳和适应新的业务方式和看待机会的方式，或者说是Zoom时代。四个月里发生了很多改变，但我们坚持下来了。对我来说，这种改变对我们都很有好处。

At this point now, he's, so he's the, he's a chairman, uh, you know, my group. And he's to me, um, incredibly influential for, for what I do. And it's the sort of the unique sounding board for someone who has been through a lot of, of similar, we'll say issues or experiences that I may be dealing with. And so I feel very fortunate to have, you know, that relationship and have someone who's, you know, as a father mentor, um, who I can, you know, write ideas by. So. Definitely agree with that. Tell me more about that experience. I mean, you, you kind of stepped into the role here, you know, opportunistically, right? The, the world kind of threw you into it, which is great. What were some of those initial changes? Like what goes through your head and what do you actually do first 30, 60, 90 days? Yeah. I remember first thing we did was sort of. You know, as we started meeting over zoom and, and trying to, trying to unite a group that I would say was, you know, even the, even the pod that, you know, my pod here, I say every store was very independent, operated differently, different strategies, different, different ways of even accounting, right? And so sort of my initial, initial changes that were made were to bring it together and operating as a, you know, a dealer group and not.

现在，他是我的集团董事长。他对我来说无比有影响力，对我所做的事情至关重要。他是一个独特的谈话伙伴，已经经历了许多类似的问题或经历，我可能正在应对。因此，我觉得自己很幸运可以拥有那种关系，有一个像父亲一样的导师，我可以向他咨询想法。肯定同意。告诉我更多这方面的经验。我是说，你有点机会地进入了这个角色，对吧？世界把你推向那个角色，这很棒。最初的一些变化是什么？在头脑中想什么，实际上你在最初的30、60、90天里做了什么？是的。我记得我们做的第一件事是开始在Zoom上见面，并试图团结一个我会说是，即使是我的这个小组，我会说每个店铺都非常独立，运营方式不同，策略不同，甚至会计方式也不同。因此，我最初做出的改变是把大家团结起来，作为一个经销商集团运营，而不是。

You know, a bunch of individual dealerships and so different players sort of stepped up and took on on new sort of ad lib roles and promoted, promoted some, some people pretty quickly from, you know, GSM's to GM's to sort of get through, you know, get through that, that time period. Um, yeah, I would say, you know, I'd say unity and I think it brought. It was the beginning of, you know, of this group and my pod sort of moving in the same direction. I don't want to say it's, you know, I don't like to say it's all becoming corporate or sort of, you know, a corporate blanket, but it created one or has been cars. I'll, I'll put it that way. Well, it seems like it worked out. So I want to, I want to move into brands a little bit. Um, again, you have a pretty good, pretty good pulse here on the economy and on the business given, given your scale. Just starting out very broadly. How do you think about your mix of brands today at, at Orzmann, right? Like brands that, I mean, we could start with what brands are you bullish on? What are you seeing right now?

你知道，一大堆个别的经销商和不同的玩家们开始担负起新的即兴角色，推广一些人非常迅速地从GSM（销售部经理）晋升为GM（总经理），以克服那段时期。嗯，我会说，你知道，我会说团结，我觉得它起了作用。这是这个团队和我的小组开始朝着同一个方向迈进的开端。我不想说，你知道，我不想说一切都变成了公司化或者说成为了一个公司的披风，但它创造了一个统一或者说已经形成了一些规则。那么看起来似乎是有效的。所以我想，我想稍微谈谈品牌。再次，鉴于您的规模，您对经济和业务有相当不错的把握。从非常宽泛的角度出发，您如何看待Orzmann目前的品牌组合？比如说，您看好哪些品牌？您目前看到了什么？

Yeah, I think we have a, we have a really good mix of brands, you know, so adding Subaru three weeks ago, you know, to me now gives us Honda's Subaru to the representation, which, you know, it's obviously very, very bullish on those three. Um, you know, we are, we have, we have all the imports. We have four, you know, Chrysler, Chevy, you know, Kia Hyundai. Um, and so I think it, I think what also makes my market different is, you know, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a transient market. In DC, but with the federal government with sort of that, with that, uh, with that overarching, you know, level of employment that it provides. It's a pretty, it's a pretty predictable market.

是的，我觉得我们拥有非常好的品牌组合，你知道，所以三周前加入Subaru，对我来说现在让我们拥有本田和Subaru的代表，你知道，显然非常看好这三个品牌。我们拥有所有的进口品牌。我们有克莱斯勒、雪佛兰、起亚和现代。我认为，我的市场的另一个特点是，它是一个瞬息万变的市场。在华盛顿特区，由于联邦政府提供的就业机会，市场比较稳定。

And I think it's, um, you know, and so I know the question is about brands and what's, you know, what we're bullish on, but I think we're bullish on everything we sell, I know it's such a political answer and, but the reality is we have a. And listen, no one, no one's recession proof. There's no market that's recession proof, but we have been fortunate sort of as, you know, as remorrahs, you know, with, uh, with the federal government to to, uh, you bank on. Peripherable employment, um, predictable income. And obviously a lot of, uh, a lot of interest in the city and, and, um, you know, a professional hub Amazon obviously is becoming Northern Virginia in the last couple of years.

我认为，嗯，你知道的，所以我知道这个问题是关于品牌的，我们对什么持乐观态度，但我认为我们对我们销售的每样东西都持乐观态度，我知道这样的回答有点政治化，但事实是我们有一个。听着，没有人，没有一个人是经济衰退的免疫者。没有一个市场是经济衰退的免疫者，但我们很幸运地像深海鳐鱼一样，与联邦政府一起，能够依赖可预见的就业和稳定的收入。显然，这座城市有很多兴趣，是一个专业人才的中心，亚马逊显然在过去几年里已成为弗吉尼亚北部的一个重要地区。

Um, but you know, I, it to me, you know, to answer sort of more something in your question, um, you love Toyota. Um, love Honda again, you know, new to Subaru, but it's been, it's been hot so far. And in our first three weeks, it's really been a great addition. Yeah, we've seen obviously key has been on a rise now for three or four years, um, you know, to new heights. And so yeah, it's been, it's been great to represent more brands. And also over the last four years, we've, you know, since we'll go back to my talking about 2020, we've grown quite a bit.

嗯，但你知道，你知道，对我来说，你知道，在回答你的问题时更多的是一些东西，嗯，你喜欢丰田。嗯，再次喜欢本田，你知道，新尝试斯巴鲁，但到目前为止一切都很顺利。在我们开业的前三周，它确实是一个很棒的补充。是的，显然，钥匙市场已经连续三四年上升，你知道，达到了新的高度。因此，是的，代表更多品牌确实很棒。而且在过去的四年里，我们，你知道，回想起我所说的2020年，我们确实有了很大的增长。

Um, we've added, added eight stores in four years. And so at a new franchise is, you know, we added key. We added Toyota, we added Subaru. Um, and this has been great partnerships. You mentioned getting, you mentioned growing to collision business. Tell us more about that, right? I mean, clearly we know that just a table set, right? Affordability, vehicle affordability is at all time lows. People are holding onto their cars longer than ever. I have to imagine that plays a big part into your thinking here.

嗯，我们在四年内新增了八家分店。新的特许经营店，我们引入了一些关键品牌，比如丰田和斯巴鲁。这些都是很好的合作伙伴关系。你提到了扩展碰撞业务。可以再多谈谈这个吗？显然我们知道，车辆的价格一直很低廉。人们现在保留车辆的时间比以往更长了。我想这在您的思考中起了很大作用。

To condition staffing is still super difficult across the country. Right. But give us, give us some of your thought process. Why getting more into the collision business and why not? You know, I don't think anyone gets into the automobile dealership business industry to. You know, uh, the grow body shops, I think it sort of becomes a, it becomes a, um, a fantastic revenue center. An opportunity that if you have the real estate, you have to have the real estate. If you don't have, you don't have a place to put a body shop and the bill one, you really can't do anything.

在全国范围内，调整人员配置仍然非常困难。是的。但请分享一下您的思考过程。为什么要更多地涉足碰撞修理业务，为什么不呢？我认为没有人是因为要发展汽车经销店业务而进入汽车修理行业的。我认为这更多是一个绝佳的盈利中心。如果您有地产，这是一个机会。如果没有地产，您没有地方建立车身修理店，而且建立一个也无法进行任何操作。

But if you have what we call, you know, dead space where maybe you don't need. The parking that you have that's available and you can put a, you know, a, uh, uh, 5,000 foot, 10,000 foot facility and build a body shop. It's a, it's predictable. You know, and one thing we talk about often is. Yeah, with EVs and sort of the, you know, the questions and uncertainty with how it's going to affect, you know, our service business and, and, you know, parts. And there's a lot of questions that remain and there's different ways you can look at it. But the reality is, well, I mean, unfortunately, people will always crash cars and you'll always have demand.

但是，如果你有我们所说的，你知道的，没有必要的空间。你可以利用现有的停车场，建造一个5000平方英尺或10000平方英尺的车身维修店。这是可以预测的。我们经常讨论的一件事是。是的，随着电动汽车的普及以及对它将如何影响我们的售后服务业务和零部件等问题的不确定性。还有很多问题有待回答，有不同的观点。但现实是，很不幸的是，人们总是会发生车祸，所以总会有需求。

For bodywork and, you know, whether it's, whether it's seasonal or whether it's just human nature. It's a, it's a predictable revenue center. And if you, if you manage it right and manage it tight, it's, uh, it's very profitable. That makes sense. I think, look, we know service is rising right now. Driven by the fact that some of the facts I just mentioned, you know, people simply need to, you know, hold on to the cars longer than ever. But when you think about further out, right, let's not talk about the next two, three years. I mean, when you think about further out and, you know, the EV adoption, does it concern you with respect to service? It does. It's concerning and you can, you can read what you want to read, right? And you can read that the, the dollars per ticket are actually higher on an EV.

针对汽车维修保养，无论是季节性的还是人性的需求，都是一个可预测的收入中心。如果管理得当并严密控制成本，是非常有利可图的。这是有道理的。我们知道服务行业现在正在快速增长。一些我刚提到的事实驱动着这一增长，人们简单地需要把车辆保留更久。但是当你往更远处看，不要只考虑未来两三年。我是说，当你考虑到电动汽车的普及，它对于服务业是否令你担忧？是的。这令人担忧，你可以自己阅读相关资料。你可以了解到电动车的维修成本实际上更高。

And so based on, you know, based on this performance projection, you know, you'll actually make more money there. And your service center, you know, vice versa. You look at, it's not just, it's not just service work and, and the income generated from, from a parent of vehicle. It's, it's maintenance. So, you know, do we make money change the oil? No, but what does it do? It gets someone back into your lane and get someone back, you know, to look at a car or consider a car that maybe they wouldn't have. So you're, to me, you're losing, you're probably losing at least one visit per year, you know, per customer just from EV adoption and, and not having the, the, you know, the set maintenance, oil change schedules that give you, you know, a free lead. And that's what it really is.

基于这种表现预测，你实际上会在那里赚更多钱。你的服务中心也是如此。你要考虑的不仅仅是服务工作和来自车辆保养所产生的收入。这就是我们赚钱换油吗？不是，但它实际上能让某人重回车道，让某人重新看一看可能不会看的车。所以对我来说，你可能每年至少会失去一个客户的访问次数，仅仅是因为电动汽车的采用，没有设置的保养、换油计划给你一个免费的线索。这才是真正的问题。

That's a very interesting opportunity. I think if I am, if I was building collision centers, I would be approaching, and they're probably doing this, right? I'm Tom, I'm, I'm sure a quarterback in this right now, but I'd be approaching every dealer. That has massive space, you know, in these, in these, just massive lots and dead space and saying, Hey, like, let's build this because you're right. It does totally make sense. There's definitely tailwinds. And I do agree with you that it is, you know, at least one area of the business that realistically will require demand. I think that, you know, to be devil's advocate, what someone who is very progressive or really believes in the robo taxi vision, right? They would say, Oh, well, that's going to be obsolete because these cars will all drive themselves.

这是一个非常有趣的机会。我认为如果我在建立碰撞中心，我会接近每个拥有大量空间的经销商，他们可能已经在做这个，对吧？我是汤姆，我现在肯定是这个计划的领袖，但我会找到每个拥有大片空地和死角的经销商，然后说：嘿，让我们一起建这个，因为你说得对。这完全有道理。肯定会有顺风顶力。我同意你的观点，这至少是业务中一个实际需要的领域。不过，如果要进行辩论，一个持进步态度或真心相信自动驾驶出租车愿景的人可能会说：哦，那会过时的，因为这些车都会自己开了。

And, you know, with them driving themselves, we're going to have 50% fewer accidents. And that's, you know, the rest is history. I think we'll save the speculation. I mean, there's clearly lots of different directions. A lot of it's involved in that, you know, in that thought. Yeah, exactly. And sort of like a third order effect. Exactly. And so we didn't get in the body shop, the collision world has a hedge against, you know, EVs. It's a, again, it's a, it's a profitable and effective way to utilize space. If you do it right, but, you know, you know, you look at it, you think about, you know, the direction we could be headed. And it, um, it's really nice to have that, that hedge.

而且，你知道，他们自己开车的话，事故就会减少50%。这个，你知道的，就成为历史了。我认为我们应该避免猜测。我是说，显然还有很多不同的方向。很多都包含在那个想法里。是的，确实。有点像第三级效应。确实。所以我们没必要去修车行，撞击世界对电动车保持一定的对冲。这是一个再次利用空间的有益和有效的方式。如果你做得对的话，但是，你知道，你想一想我们可能会朝向的方向。这，嗯，能够很好地进行对冲，真是太好了。

So I want to ask you a bit of a different question. What are you excited about nowadays? Like anything could be, you know, brands, trends, technology. What, what are you excited about? Well, I'll start with, I got a one year old son that I named after my grandfather. So that's number one. I think it might excite me less, but other than other than that, uh, activity at home, uh, you know, I would say, I think I'm excited. I'm excited for, I think you have brands that are separated themselves from the field. And I'm excited to grow with those particular brands. Um, and I think those, those manufacturers are, are making really smart decisions and are generating a, yep, I think through a, I don't want to say it's a renewed dealer body, but maybe a more engaged dealer body. Wait, wait, I'm sorry. Who are we talking about?

我想问你一个有点不同的问题。你现在对什么感到兴奋？可能是品牌、趋势、科技，都可以。你对什么感到兴奋？嗯，我先说说，我有一个一岁的儿子，他的名字是我爷爷起的。所以这是第一点。我觉得这可能让我兴奋得少一些，但除此之外，在家庭活动方面，我觉得我兴奋的是，我觉得有些品牌成功地脱颖而出。我很兴奋能与这些特定品牌一起成长。我认为那些制造商在做出非常明智的决定，并且正在通过，我不想说是一个更新的经销商团队，但可能是一个更有参与度的经销商团队来创造价值。抱歉，我们在说谁来着？

So, you know, I, I think if my mind goes to, you know, say it to you obviously, and that's, that's sort of where I go to first and, and I go to, you know, you know, uh, Kia comes to mind. And, and so to me, I get excited about, about manufacturers that I think are producing great, uh, great product, um, are not committing, uh, entirely to, you know, one segment of vehicle that are, that are, are keeping options open to customers and letting the market demand, when it's going to demand. Um, and who have, I think, figured out the right inventory and allocation systems and have figured out a, a method that, you know, helps dealer profitability, but also, I think it's just, I think there's, it's easy to get excited about those, those, those manufacturers, right?

所以，你知道，我觉得如果我的想法转向你时，我会首先想到，而我会想到起汽车制造商凯迪亚。对我来说，我对那些生产出色产品、不完全致力于某一汽车领域、保持对顾客开放并让市场需求驱动的制造商感到兴奋。他们已经找到了正确的库存和分配系统，同时也帮助经销商获利，我认为对这些制造商感到兴奋是很容易的。

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So I want to ask you on, on the flip side of that, how are you navigating right now through employee retention at the less exciting brands, right? Like we all know the challenges right now for Stellantis is an example. Christ or Jeep, whatever. And I have to imagine that you're an 18 store group, right? I'm your GM or GSM at the Chrysler store. I see what the buddies are doing over at Air Toyota. I'm jealous, right? It's a real, it's a reality. I mean, you know, we all want to make a living. We all want to get in return on our time. How are you navigating through that? It's funny. We actually, we just had a, let's say we had a general manager opening and one of our general managers who was running a Chrysler store, put his name in the hat immediately and then asked for it. Yeah, it's a trans-ropper too. So just as you said, so that's what I'm here for. So in that case, we actually did exactly what you're suggesting, but it's a real problem. It's a legitimate issue. I think it's isolated to obviously the variable side. And that fixed-op service, they're really not affected by sort of the what's in vogue and what's not in terms of manufacturers.

所以我想问你，在相反的情况下，你如何应对目前在那些不那么振奋人心的品牌中保留员工呢？就像我们都知道现在Stellantis面临的挑战一样。比如克莱斯勒或吉普。我可以想象你是一个18家店的集团，是吉普或克莱斯勒店的总经理或销售经理。我看到了Air Toyota那些家伙的表现，我会感到嫉妒，对吧？这是现实。我是说，我们都想谋生。我们都希望得到我们投入时间的回报。你是如何应对这个问题的？很有趣。事实上，我们刚刚有一个店长职位空缺，其中一位店长正在经营一家克莱斯勒店，立即报名并索要这个职位。是的，这也是一个转变的过程。所以正如你所说，这就是我在这里的原因。在这种情况下，我们实际上就是按照你建议的去做了，但这是一个真正的问题。我认为这主要是针对变动方面。而固定的售后服务部门并不受到制造商的潮流影响。

But on the sales side, the reality is the most important thing, we're talking about work conditions and culture we talked about earlier, but people go to work to generate income and provide your families. So if you can first and foremost, no matter what the circumstances are, provide a even compromise is to make sure they are earning the income that there are costs them to, they need to make to provide for their families, then it just becomes, you're not dealing with financial stress necessarily, you're dealing with what may be whether it's boredom or sort of pessimism about what they're representing.

但从销售方面来看，现实是最重要的，我们讨论过工作条件和文化，但人们去工作是为了赚取收入并养活家人。因此，首先无论情况如何，提供一个平衡的方式确保他们赚取的收入足以支付他们为家庭提供所需的成本，这样他们就不会面对金融压力，而是可能面对的是对所代表的产品或服务的无聊或悲观情绪。

We're going to make things fun or we're going to get creative. And so whether it's sales spiffs and we have our particular issue, we have one model line that we're, I would say, significantly heavy end. And we've created a new pay plan just on one model line alone. And so forget about the gross is that it may generate, it becomes a, now it's a contest. And what model line is that? The grand Cherokee form by E. So we have our own, we have separate pay plans just for that model. We're trying our best to make it exciting to get one of those leads and work a customer and hopefully, you know, it's fun to say that because it's, that's the only way to, you know, survive and thrive into business, right? It's down to that molecular level, right? Literally creating a new pay plan for one model line.

我们要让事情变得有趣，或者说我们要变得有创意。所以无论是销售奖励，我们有我们特定的问题，我们有一条产品线，我可以说，在某种程度上非常重要。我们仅仅为这一款产品线创建了一个新的支付计划。所以忘记可能产生的毛利润，现在这是一个比赛。那是哪一款产品线呢？大切诺基E车型。所以我们有我们自己的，我们有专门的支付计划仅适用于那款产品。我们正在尽力让获取这些潜在客户变得令人兴奋，希望能够开展销售工作，你知道，能够这样说是有趣的，因为这是唯一的方法，你知道，生存和在业务中蓬勃发展的唯一方式。到了分子水平，为一条产品线创造一个全新的支付计划。

But like you got to do what you got to do. You got to get that car. It's exciting. Like all of a sudden you get a, you know, you got a contest now and now it's, it's now it's not just ex turning, you know, extra money, but it's now it's bragging rights. Who can sell X amount of, you know, four by eight is in a week or whatever it may be. And so, you know, well, obviously we have, we have comp plans and we're, you know, we, we're, we pay, we're strict with how comp plans read and how we pay out. But we also realize there's things that some folks can't control.

但是你必须做你必须做的事情。你必须买那辆车。这是令人兴奋的。突然间你参加了比赛，现在不仅仅是赚点额外的钱了，还能炫耀权利。谁能在一周内销售X数量的4x8板材，或者其他什么产品。所以，我们有竞争计划，我们支付，我们严格按照竞争计划的规定支付。但我们也意识到有些事情有些人是无法控制的。

And when you have that, you know, we, write in bonuses often or we, we'll, you know, we'll juice up commissions if they're, they're not sustainable or not realistic. And so we take care of the employee first and, you know, make sure, make sure the financial needs are met. And then we, you know, sort of dive into, you know, having fun with it and sort of, you know, make it chicken, sell how to chicken shit. So.

当你拥有了这一点，你就知道，我们经常会通过奖金来激励员工，如果奖金不可持续或不现实，我们会增加佣金。所以我们首先关心员工，并确保满足他们的财务需求。然后我们会开始享受工作，将其变得有趣，并比喻为把鸡屎卖成鸡肉。

Yeah, I think that, I think that it's an interesting time. Like we mentioned, still, and this because I'm going to be curious to see how these stores perform over the next three to six months. And it may just make sense to start really looking at these stores. Like even if there's a deal group that's acquisitive and looking to make acquisitions, if these, if these valuations take a meaningful hit, which, you know, to be determined, it will be an interesting opportunity because things just rebound.

是的，我认为这是一个有趣的时期。就像我们刚才提到的，我很好奇接下来的三到六个月这些商店的表现会如何。也许开始认真关注这些商店是有道理的。就算有一个收购团队想要收购并且正在寻找收购机会，如果这些估值受到影响（现在还很难确定），那将是一个有趣的机会，因为事情总会恢复正常。

This business is cyclical and the company's not going away. It's going to go through a rough patch here. But it may be an interesting opportunity for anyone that cannot weather that storm. Don't get me wrong with, when, when slantuses, you know, the highs are pretty high, right? With, with that manufacturer. So when they, when they're clicking and when, when the, when product is priced appropriately, we'll go with that. We'll say it's, we'll look at inflation as a sort of the measure here. But when it's a, when it makes sense financially for a cost of ours, people love the product. Like there's, they love it. It's, it's financial. Yeah. Yeah. The Jeep brand is especially strong. What's like an operational problem that you wish would be solved or like maybe just a big problem that you're dealing with, a challenge. Again, 18 stores or has to be something. What comes to mind? It's funny. I always, I always use the analogy. It's, you know, it's like I'm playing whack-a-mole every day, right? And so you'll have a, you know, you'll, you'll fix a problem and then all of a sudden something else pops up and it's, it's endless. Um, you know, wish it weren't, but it's sort of a reality. Um, I would say, you know, to me, a lot of, a lot of what we have is consistent, right? But I think the, I think affordability has become the real, you know, affordability and, and rising costs, uh, you know, to a concealer, but also as a, you know, as a business, um, is, is really problematic.

这个行业是循环性的，这家公司不会消失。它将经历一段困难时期。但对于那些无法承受这场风暴的人来说，这可能是一个有趣的机会。不要误会我的意思，当产能增加时，你知道，高峰期是相当高的对吧？与那个制造商一起，当他们的产品定价合理时。我们将把通胀视为衡量标准。但在经济条件适宜的时候，人们喜爱这个产品。像，他们非常喜欢它。这是金融上的。Jeep品牌尤其强劲。你希望得到解决的操作问题是什么，或者可能是你正在处理的一个大问题，一种挑战。再次，18家店，肯定会有某些问题。你脑海中首先想到的是什么？有趣的是，我总是用打地鼠游戏来比喻，就好像我每天都在打地鼠一样。你解决了一个问题，然后突然又冒出来另一个问题，而且是无穷无尽的。我希望不是这样，但这是现实。我想说，对我来说，我们所面对的很多问题都是一成不变的，但我认为经济承受能力已经成为真正的问题，而且成本上涨对我们来说也是一个挑战，作为一个企业，这真的是非常困扰人的。

And, you know, uh, where as margins approach sort of, you know, pre-COVID days, uh, and just rates certainly, uh, aren't pre-COVID, uh, you know, floor plan costs or, or through the roof. Um, and even, even a cost for, you know, employees, employees are, you know, it's, the town pool is, you know, you got to pay to retain great employees. And so as our costs have, have risen and margins have, uh, you know, some, some manufacturers, more than others have normalized quicker. Um, you know, it creates, it creates a pressure there and you've got to get creative and find new revenue streams like, you know, like, again, body shots, for example, we're talking about, okay. So let's break it down though. When you say affordability, are you doing anything about it? Like what's leasing penetration? Like are you leasing more? Are you introducing new programs? Are you sort of just letting the herd go to where the cheaper cars are at? Like what's, is there any plan for it?

嗯，你知道的，在利润逐渐接近一种，你知道，疫情前的日子，而且利率肯定不是疫情前的水平，你知道，展厅成本也是天价。甚至员工的成本，保留优秀员工是需要付出代价的。随着我们的成本上升和利润有所增加，一些制造商，比其他制造商更快地实现了利润的正常化。你知道，这会带来一些压力，你必须寻找创新的方式，找到新的收入来源，比如，你知道，比如，再举个例，就像我们刚才说的，体检照片。所以，我们得具体讨论下。当你谈论可负担性时，你有采取任何行动吗？比如租赁渗透率怎么样？你正在增加租赁数量吗？你是否正在推出新的计划？还是只是让价格更便宜的汽车受欢迎？对此有什么计划吗？

It's ironic is you would think our market here would, would be a, you know, a high lease penetration market. And we actually had a meeting yesterday. Uh, we got two Volkswagen stores and we were going over, you know, lease penetration for, you know, I've got a store here in Rockville, Maryland, which is, um, you know, it's a, it's an import market. It's a liberal market, a fluent market. And we, we lease, uh, I want to say we were 20ish percent lease penetration, which to me is probably low. Yeah, it should be 50, it should be 50%. Um, and so it's low. And the comments that were, you know, the first question is like, is it, is it us? Are we not promoting leasing? Do we, do we have, do we have a fundamental issue on our side? And you've done some research and it's, um, the lease penetration like in Montgomery County, where I am as, um, it's, it's low compared to other, uh, and even Volkswagen talking about this, you know, we're, you know, the VP is in there with us yesterday and, um, talking about different metro markets throughout the United States and this particular, you know, DC, you know, Baltimore market has always had low lease penetration compared to the field and no one really knows why. That's sort of a long way away of answering your question about how do you, how do you promote, or how do you deal with affordability issues?

讽刺的是，你可能会认为我们这里的市场会是一个高度租赁渗透市场。实际上，昨天我们开了一个会议。我们有两家大众汽车店，我们正在讨论租赁渗透率。我在马里兰州罗克维尔市有一家店，这是一个进口市场，一个自由市场，一个富裕市场。我们的租赁渗透率大概是20%，我觉得可能有点低。是的，应该是50%。所以它很低。第一个问题是，是我们的问题吗？我们没有推广租赁吗？我们有基本问题吗？你做了一些研究，发现在我所在的蒙哥马利县，租赁渗透率低于其他地方，甚至大众也在谈论这个问题。昨天我们和副总裁一起讨论了美国不同城市的租赁情况，而这个特定的华盛顿特区、巴尔的摩市场的租赁渗透率一直低于其他地区，没有人真正知道为什么。这是回答你有关如何推广或应对支付能力问题的一个较长的回答方式。

To me, it really, hey, you're going to take, you know, easy margin compression, right? So you're going to, you'll discount more of the fact, or needs to, it's to step up and obviously, you know, provide more incentives as well. But the result is lower margins. Um, and also I think it's, you know, when interest rates and 4.0, you could order only one order with minimal risk and, you know, inventory and, and, and that asset has always, you know, for us, it's, you know, been used cars, right? And it's, it's how do you manage a used car inventory, you know, whether it's turn, you know, cost of sale, whatever, but now new car inventory is a new asset base. And it's, it's a, it's a very expensive asset and one that, you know, we don't just, you know, we don't just approve all that are allocated and take what we're given. We got to be particular and very smart and disciplined with what we're accepting, what price points we're accepting. Um, you know, what models are too expensive for our market, what are too expensive in general? I want to talk more about that. I want to back that up for one second. Can you explain for, for those that don't understand, can you explain what you just said about accepting vehicles, like accepting allocation, right? Because I think there's, I think a lot of people maybe don't realize how the relationship works from the automaker manufacturer to the dealer, right? So walk us through a little bit of that dynamic and that relationship and what you mean by accepting versus ordering.

对我来说，实际上，嘿，你要考虑的，你知道，轻松的边际压缩，对吧？所以你要，你会更多地考虑这个事实，或者需要，这是要加码，并显然，你知道，提供更多的激励。但结果是利润率降低。嗯，而且我认为，你知道，当利率和4.0时，你只能订单最小风险的订单，你知道，库存和那些资产对于我们来说，一直都是二手车，对吗？这就是，你知道，如何管理二手车库存，无论是周转率，成本销售，或者其他什么，但是现在新车库存是一个新的资产基础。这是一个非常昂贵的资产，并且这也是一个，我们不仅仅，你知道，我们不仅仅批准所有的分配和接受我们所得到的。我们必须要非常谨慎，非常聪明，并且有纪律地接受我们所接受的，接受的价格点。你知道，哪些车型对我们的市场来说太昂贵，哪些车型对一般市场来说太昂贵？我想更多地谈谈这个。我想再解释一下这个事情。对于那些不明白的人，你可以解释一下你刚才说的关于接受车辆的事情吗，比如接受分配，对吧？因为我觉得有很多人可能并不明白汽车制造商与经销商之间的关系，对吧？那么请给我们介绍一下这种动态和关系，以及你所说的接受与订购的区别。

So, you know, you'll give a manufacturer will allocate you let's say, you know, 50 vehicles for your inventory and, you know, in a, in a world where, where cars are fast moving and interest rates are near zero, we would typically take all the vehicles that were offered, stock them inventory them. We'd have minimal flooring costs, minimal, minimal holding costs and eventually find a home for the vehicle. But now, you know, when we're given 50 cars from, you know, manufacturer, a, you look at each, each individual model and you look at, okay, what's your day supply, you know, per model line? What is your, you know, what is your sales history through 90 days on a given model line? What do you project? What do you predict, you know, a model line will do maybe in the summer months? And so you have to, you make decisions based on the past, but also how you perform the future. And, you know, is there a, is there a facelift coming on this model line that's going to slow down, you know, demand for it? And so there's all different decisions that go into what a general manager ultimately will accept or reject in a given, you know, consensus or allocation. And, you know, for the relationships that you asked about, you know, it typically a, you know, if you take all, you know, manufacturers happy and, you know, and in great times, great, it's great that they're happy. But first and foremost, you know, my responsibility, our responsibility is taking care of our shareholders. And we have to make the best business decisions that we think for our particular operation and not the general relationship with us in a manufacturer. And, you know, if you get up, if there's a particular manufacturer that maybe we have a superb relationship with this, hey, you know, Robert, I need you to take these three, you know, XYZs, fine. And there's concessions that we will make because of the relationship. But we've really shifted our discipline and decision making to be rather scientific and what we're taking on and, you know, the liability and the cost that we're taking on.

所以，你知道，制造商会给你分配一些车辆，比如说，你知道，50辆车作为你的库存，而在一个汽车销售迅速且利率接近零的世界中，我们通常会接受所有提供的车辆，存货、库存这些方面的成本极低，最终会为这些车辆找到归宿。但现在，当我们从制造商那里得到50辆车时，我们会查看每个车型，看看每种车型的库存天数是多少，过去90天内该车型的销售情况如何？你能预测将来每个车型在夏季可能的表现是什么？因此，你需要根据过去做出决策，同时也要考虑未来的表现。而且，这个车型是否即将推出新款，会降低对其的需求？在每个经理根据自己的判断接受或拒绝某种分配时，会考虑到各种因素。至于你提到的关系问题，通常来说，如果你接受了所有制造商提供的车辆，他们会感到满意，在好时光里，这种关系非常重要。但首要问题是照顾我们的股东，我们必须为我们的运营做出最佳商业决策，而不是简单维护与厂家的一般关系。如果有某个厂家与我们关系非常好，可能提出：“嘿，罗伯特，我需要你带走这三个XYZ型号的车，行。”由于关系的存在，我们可能会作出妥协。但我们现在更加注重科学决策和纪律，分析我们承担的风险和成本。

What's profit like for you for your stores year over year? How have you seen the profit trend? The profit trend is it's down. Like how much? You know, it's a, yeah, I would say 25%. So definitely, yeah, it's meaningful. It's real money. Again, to me, it's looking at what's controllable, what's market-based, and what can we do about it? And so, you know, back to talking about inventory and cost and controllables. You know, we're looking at looking at sort of a new layer now, I think of, of KPIs and cost, you know, within our own businesses and sort of holding firm on, you know, whether it's, you know, add dollars per sale, you know, employee comp or sale. You know, we look at, we even have a cap on, you know, we store it to spits on Saturdays or whatever. They may, they sort of free rein on that, but, you know, we'll monitor that, right? And we'll monitor that over, you know, a month at a time. And we have a hard cap of $25, you know, our delivery as a spit. And so, so we sort of, you know, again, controlling what we can control. But yeah, the profitability is it's, it's it continues to normalize. But it's also, that's sort of a blanket. It's a blanket comment on all the stores. Some, you know, some are not as effective as others.

你的店铺的利润年复一年是怎么样的？你看到了利润的趋势吗？利润的趋势是下降的。下降了多少？我会说大概25%。所以确实，是有意义的。这是真金白银。对我来说，关键是看看我们能控制的，市场的基础是什么，我们能做些什么？所以，回到存货、成本和可控因素的讨论。我们现在正在看一个新的层面，我认为是关键绩效指标和成本，在我们自己的企业内部，并且坚守一些，无论是销售额增加的美元、员工的薪酬或销售。我们甚至对我们的店铺在周六的多少数量有了限制，员工可以自行决定，但是我们会监控，然后每个月进行监控。我们对拼盘的交付有一个硬性上限为25美元。所以我们控制我们能控制的。但是是的，盈利继续趋于正常化。但这也是一个笼统的说法，对所有店铺都适用。一些店铺的效果不如其他店铺。

And I get back to talking about, you know, particularly manufacturers that, you know, we're more bullish otter or excited about versus ones where, you know, it becomes more about, you know, what about day to day grind? So talk to me a little bit about your marketing strategy. I read around a little bit. From what I understood, you, your group was early in, I want to say TV advertising back in a day. But you know, marketing in general seems to get runs through your blood. Yeah. So my, my grandfather was, it sounds weird to say a pioneer with television advertising because we're all accustomed to it. But he, he spent a lot of money advertising his general life store on TV.

我回到谈论那些，你知道的，特别是那些制造商，你知道的，我们更看好或者对其更感兴奋，与那些更多关于，你知道的，日常苦巴巴方面的制造商相比。所以谈一下你们的营销策略。我大致了解了一下。据我了解，你们的团队在很早之前就开始了电视广告。但是你知道，总的来说，营销似乎在你的血液里。是的。我的祖父在电视广告领域算是先驱，这听起来有点奇怪，因为我们对此已经司空见惯。但是他花了很多钱在电视上为他的百货商店做广告。

And they had a jingle. I'm Googling around. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Look it up. And it's, it's one that every Washingtonian could sing new. And, you know, I still get to this day, you know, if I'm at a restaurant, putting my name down, and someone recognizes they'll start singing that jingle. And I think it's that generation is, you know, the majority of car buyers say you're not that generation, I'll say that. But it's, it was, it was a phenomenal marketing idea. And, you know, when I first got into the business, when I was out of, I saw cars, you know, throughout college or whatnot. But when I was, when I became full time out of college, I had a, I had a period time where I was running a Hyundai store. And, you know, I did local TV and that was, you know, some markets respond better to it than others. But I did my own commercials.

他们有一首广告歌曲。我在谷歌上搜索。哦，是的。是的。找到了。这首歌是每个华盛顿人都能唱的新歌。你知道的，直到今天，如果我在餐厅填写我的名字，有人认出我，他们会开始唱这首广告歌曲。我觉得那一代人，你知道的，大多数汽车购买者不是那一代人，我要说。但是，这是一个非凡的营销创意。当我刚开始进入这个行业的时候，当我在大学读书的时候我看到过汽车。但是当我毕业后全职工作时，我有一个时间段在一家现代汽车店工作。我参加了当地电视节目，有些市场对此反应更好。但是我拍了自己的广告。

And I, you know, yeah, it's a, I'm probably, I'm putting myself out here to very some, you know, some embarrassment, but some very interesting commercials. And I would say they were very creative. They were original. And yeah, I would take on a persona of, you know, whether it was a, you know, a Pokemon or something, it was like Pokemon Go or Pokemon catch, whatever that, that game was. And I would take on personas and somehow incorporate carbine into it. And, you know, I sort of became a D list, you know, local, local cars, doing that. This was before, it's for the age of, of, of, you know, TikTok and Instagram reels.

我知道，我可能正在让自己暴露在一些尴尬和非常有趣的广告中。我要说，它们非常有创意，很原创。我会扮演一个角色，无论是像口袋妖怪还是其他什么，比如口袋妖怪GO或者口袋妖怪抓抓乐之类的游戏。我会扮演角色，以某种方式将汽车引入其中。你知道的，我有点成了D级的本地汽车明星。这是在TikTok和Instagram里兴起之前。

And, you know, now you always, you see, you see creative car commercials, seemingly every week, you know, better go viral. But I, I think I was probably about 10 years too early in, in that phase. And if, you know, I'm guessing, you were the original creator before creator was a thing. I'm telling you, you know, it's something about wagging commercials and car dealers go hand in hand together. And so I don't know what it is about being goofy and sort of like letting your car down on TV, but it works.

你知道，现在你总是会看到创意汽车广告，似乎每周都有，你知道，更容易走红。但我觉得我可能在那个阶段早了大约10年。如果你是最早一个在“创作者”这个名词流行之前的原创者，我告诉你，你知道的，滑稽的广告和汽车经销商总是紧密相连。所以我不知道为什么在电视上做傻事、放松自己的汽车会有用，但这确实有效。

Well, dude, your YouTube videos, man, these are great. So courage everyone to check these out. So truly my, my, my rehearsal dinner, before my wedding, my, I think it was my dad had a sort of a real plate of a handful of these videos trying to, trying to embarrass me, but I think somebody. Smart. Couldn't get it past me. Yeah. So my dad, I know, listen, I've, I've also had my fair share of videos that went viral. So I've, yeah, I know what you're talking about. This is something that I can really empathize. I love it.

嘿，伙计，你的YouTube视频真是太棒了。真的鼓励每个人去看一看。我记得真是我的，我的，我的订婚晚宴，是在我的婚礼之前举办的，我爸爸拿出一大堆这些视频，想要羞辱我，但我觉得他被我识破了。对啊，我爸爸，我知道，我也有一些视频在网上走红过。所以，我知道你在说什么。这是我真的能够共情的事情。我喜欢！

Well, before we wrap up, I want to ask you about your outlook for the industry. And of course, my, my favorite, not, I don't say favorite question, because, you know, it's not the most positive, but I already asked about what you're excited about. So I think we can balance it out with does anything keep you up at night nowadays, or what keeps you up at night, if anything. Everything actually, so everything keeps me up. I think, again, back to, and I have a one year old, so that keeps me up as well. But other than that, it's, you know, it's the, it's the day to day uncertainty that we live in and sort of what has become a stagflation economy, right? And, you know, we've got, you know, we've grown quite a bit over, over, you know, the last couple of years. And, you know, we have, you know, we've got to perform.

在我们结束之前，我想问问您对这个行业的展望。当然，我的最爱，不是说最喜欢的问题，因为，您知道，它并不是最积极的问题，但我已经问过您对什么感到兴奋了。所以我觉得我们可以平衡一下，有没有什么事情让您如今难以入眠，或者是什么让您难以入眠。实际上是一切，所以一切都让我难以入眠。我认为，再说一遍，我有一个一岁的孩子，所以这也让我难以入眠。但除此之外，就是我们所处的日常不确定性，以及已经成为滞涨经济的局面，对吗？我们已经在过去几年里取得了相当大的增长，而且我们必须表现出色。

And it's, it's, it's up to, it's up to, you know, our executive team here and decisions we make, you know, to make the right decisions. And, you know, it's, those, those keep me up at night. And I don't, I don't ever, I don't second guess myself. I don't second guess decisions. But I think it's, it weighs on me. And I am, you know, I'm obsessed with, I'm obsessed with, with winning and, and I'm obsessed with, legitimating and, and making and growing, you know, this group and to, you know, what I consider to be a, you know, a large group now and eventually, you know, you know, they're, I don't want to give you a number, but, but thinking about ways to grow without compromising what you have today. And I think that that keeps me up. But yeah, I think, you know, the industry, it's, it's a, it's a resilient industry. You know, I always call us cockroaches. You can't, you can't kill us. And what we do.

这取决于我们这里的管理团队和我们做出的决定，要做出正确的决定。你知道，这些事让我晚上睡不好。我从不怀疑自己，也不怀疑决定。但我觉得这种压力使我焦虑不安。我着迷于赢得胜利，着迷于证明自己，着迷于发展这个团队，将其打造成一个庞大的团队，目前我认为它已经庞大，最终，我不想给你一个数字，但是在考虑如何在不损害今天拥有的东西的情况下增长。我认为这让我挂虑。但是，我认为，这个行业很有韧性。我经常说我们是不死之蝶。无法消灭我们和我们所做的事情。

But it's definitely, it's definitely, you know, more competitive and it's harder. And you have, you know, public companies now who are, you know, making their presence, filled obviously and nationwide, but also, you know, in the DC area, I am the last few months, you've, and they've seen some of those transactions and they have a, it changes, you know, our landscape too. And it, and it, it changes, you know, there's, there's certain, there's certain costs and damages that they have that we don't have. And you know, we have to, we have to overcome it. So we had to be that much better and more focused, you know, to not just compete, but to win. And the thing about growing and, and, and opportunities that, you know, come down the line, it's, you know, there's, there's, there's opportunities that are, you know, you have big dealer groups that are, you know, more appropriate for a public company, then there's sort of the, you know, I would say sort of the mezzanine type deal that, you know, we like to fit in and look for.

但是毫无疑问，竞争更加激烈，情况也更加艰难。现在有一些上市公司已经在全国范围内扩展业务，包括在DC地区，最近几个月他们已经完成一些交易，这改变了我们的市场形势。他们有一些成本和损失，而我们却没有，因此我们必须努力克服这些挑战。我们必须变得更加优秀和集中精力，不仅要竞争，还要获胜。在业务增长和机遇方面，有一些机会更适合大型经销商集团，这种情况更适合上市公司；另一种情况则是我们更喜欢并力求融入的一种夹层类型交易。

So yeah, I just think it's, you know, survival of the fitness as it always has, always will be. But yeah, I couldn't be more confident in, you know, team that we have and things that we're doing. But yeah, no matter what, I don't, I'll, I'll sleep so well. So even the best of time. So there's always more that we can, there was more that I, that we can be doing. And it's, it's recognizing what it is.

所以，我认为这就是适者生存，就像以前一样，也将一直如此。但是，我对我们团队和我们正在做的事情非常自信。但是，无论如何，无论如何，我都能睡得很踏实。所以即使是在最好的时候，我们总是可以做得更多。关键在于认识到这一点。

Robert, I guess what I want to wrap up with your outlook, really, for, for the industry. As you think about the next 12 months, 12 to 24 months, right? What are you thinking about? What are those opportunities and what's your outlook for the industry? You know, my outlook is positive, right? Again, I think it's, you know, we call it normalization, but what does it really mean? It's just every, every moment of time is a new normal. And so my, I'm optimistic because I believe, I believe what the last couple of years have, have shown us and shown consumers is the necessity for our services, retail and literal service, right? And so I think that was a major threat. I think our, I think our viability longevity was, was under attack in a lot of ways, you know, before the COVID era. And so it's good that I feel, I feel that we are past that now at this point, I think now it's now we're dealing with this, is political decisions. And, you know, without getting into the, you know, the EV sort of conversation and, and, and that sort of direction and maybe forced demands.

罗伯特，我想最后谈谈你对行业未来的展望，真的，对于在接下来的12个月，甚至是12到24个月的时间内，你在想些什么？你认为会有哪些机会，你对行业的前景是怎么看的？你知道，我的展望是积极的，对吧？我认为，我们称其为正常化，但这真正意味着什么呢？只是每一刻都是一个新的常态。所以我乐观是因为我相信，我相信过去几年显示给我们和消费者的东西，是我们服务的必要性，无论是零售还是实际服务。所以我认为这是一个重要的威胁。我觉得我们的生存和长久性在很多方面受到了威胁，你知道，在疫情之前。所以我觉得很好，我感觉我们已经度过了那个时期，现在我们正在处理政治决策。不要涉及电动车之类的对话，可能会引起迫使的需求。

Yeah, I'm very, I'm very optimistic. You know, I wouldn't be, I wouldn't want to grow, I wouldn't want to expand our footprint if I wasn't optimistic. And, you know, that to me, it's, you know, began to now to get into a new state and to look at new opportunities in different markets. It's, it sort of shows where my heads are. And, and my optimism and, you know, and what we provide. And that's first and foremost, if you believe in that and you put your heart and soul into it, yeah, it'd be successful.

是的，我非常乐观。你知道的，我如果不乐观的话就不会想要扩大我们的影响力。我现在开始进入一个新状态，看看不同市场的新机会。这显示了我的想法，我的乐观以及我们提供的服务。首要的是，如果你相信这一点，并且全心投入其中，那么成功是肯定的。

Robert Orzman, thanks for coming on CDG podcast. Enjoyed it. Yeah, thank you. I appreciate it. Thanks for having me.

Robert Orzman，感谢你参加CDG播客。我很喜欢。是的，谢谢你。我很感激。谢谢你邀请我。

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.

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