Ep.51 - Shut up and Listen - 2 ears - 1 mouth - The art of listening as a leader! - Crossroad Conversations with the Lewis Brothers

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now that may be with an employee, that they're
frustrated at work, or they'refrustrated with their colleagues
, or they're frustrated with theprocess, but when you peel all
the layers back, it might bethat they're just frustrated
because they got to pick a kidup every day at 4.30 and they
don't get off till 5.
So then when they go home,they've got all this pressure
from their spouse and what wereally need to do is just adjust

(00:22):
their time schedule from 7 inthe morning to 4 so they can do
that instead of from 8 to 5.

Speaker 2 (00:30):
Hey everyone, welcome to Crossroad Conversations with
the Lewis Brothers, where weaim to share real stories about
running a successful familybusiness while working through
adversity and pouring back intoour community that keeps our
doors open every single day.
We're your hosts, Shelby, Mattand Taylor, and we'll be
bringing you real, relevant,local business advice, maybe

(00:50):
some automotive insights thatare sure to change the way you
look at running a business orbuying a car, and maybe even
throw in a plug for you to dobusiness with us here locally.
Welcome back to the podcastepisode 51 of the Crossroad
Conversations with the LewisBrothers.
We're your hosts, Matt, Shelbyand Taylor.
I'm Shelby, that's Matt, that'sTaylor and 51 episodes of

(01:12):
talking about a few things we'vedone right, a lot of things
we've learned not doing right,what to continue, what to build
on and what to work more on.
And today's topic I want to talkabout is shut up and listen.
So if you've been listening tous 51 episodes deeper, this is

(01:33):
your first one.
Today's topic is shut up andlisten.
You have two ears and one mouthfor a reason that means you
should listen twice as much asyou talk and as a leader, that's
a hard thing to do.
That is super hard thing to do,so we'll break that down and
unpack that to try to go intodetails and why that makes sense

(01:57):
for the person on the otherside.

Speaker 1 (02:00):
I'm still excited about that subject, but I was
trying to listen to what youwere talking about.
I'm like just shut up andlisten.
So, even though I wanted tojoin in there, I was like it
wouldn't be right to start theepisode by not following our
rules, just cutting somebody off.
But what we're talking aboutdoing is just right from the
get-go.
But before we get started onthat, let's go back rewind to
episode 50.
We're really excited about thisone because 50, 50 is a big

(02:22):
deal.
We talked about real leadershipQ&A and we answered a lot of
cool questions out there, manyof them from our own employees
about different leadershipvision, how you handle things,
why you do this, why you do that.
So if you missed last week'sepisode, make sure to go back
and find it.
It's on all your favoritepodcast place, whether that's
Spotify, itunes, youtube,wherever it may be, or on our

(02:46):
website.
There you'll find many otherepisodes too.
We try to cover about everysubject that you would have in
business the good stuff, theugly stuff and everything in
between.

Speaker 3 (02:55):
Absolutely.
Hey, always check us out onlewissuperstorecom for the
freshest inventory, the newestspecials and what we've got
going on during the monthfreshest inventory, the newest
specials of what we've got goingon during the month.
And right here on crossroadsconversation podcast we have all
the relevant topics that aregoing on, what we've done good
and what we've learned on in thepast.
So big deal there, hey,transitioning over to what we
have drove it is fair time thistime of year, so we always got

(03:19):
to talk about.
You know, we kind of wentthrough, uh, going through rodeo
, we went through pbr, talking afair time.
So, uh, we've got a slew ofvehicles that are over there at
the fair and talking about, butgetting them over there, I love
going through the f-150 trimmer.
We always talk about the f-150and the rams, but I love to dive

(03:40):
down to different models.
The trimmer takes the best ofboth worlds and it gives you the
raptor off-road features, butit still gives you the towing
capabilities.
If you're like Shelby, itdoesn't matter.
If I give you a Maverick,you're still going to try to tow
20,000 pounds.
Yep, it's not going to slow youdown.
But the greatest thing aboutthe trimmer is it is a hybrid
that you get Raptor-likequalities but you're not

(04:00):
sacrificing towing capabilities.
So love that vehicle over therethat it starts in a great price
range.
It's getting you well belowwhere that Raptor, the RHO, the
TRX, the Raptor R are in themarket.
But you're in the mid 60s andyou get a truck that's fully
capable to go off road and stilldrive every day.

Speaker 2 (04:20):
That's definitely a good one.
So come check that out.
We got tons to pick from.
Let's get into our core topichere.
Listening is greater thantalking in leadership.
Okay, so listen to that.
Listening is greater thantalking in leadership.
Now, that's improper timing,that's improper context.

(04:42):
But just understand that,because a lot of times I think,
when you become a leader, youthink I have to have all the
words and I have to always betalking.
Now there's certain times, ifyou're giving a meeting or
giving a speech or giving apresentation, that you need to
be talking.
But then also some of the besttraining, teaching, leadership

(05:02):
has a little bit of interactionwhere you're getting feedback.
So this first one that I wantto ask and then you guys can
give me your input why leadersearn more respect when they
listen first.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
Well, in a nutshell and I know we've got 60 minutes
to cover here, but You're justgoing to wrap it up I'll tell
you why.
Leaders the key point therethat you asked why they earn
respect yes, okay, why they earnrespect when they listen.
First, here's why it shows theycare.
It shows that they're actuallylistening to their employees,

(05:37):
that they actually are trying tofigure out what they're talking
about, and that they care andit's relevant, and they're not
just trying to cram informationdown them that may or may not be
relevant to their situation.
Now let me expand on that alittle bit.
This subject is much easier totalk about than to do, is much

(06:04):
easier to talk about than to do.
This is one of the very toughthings a leader must develop as
a skill set, and it takes time,it takes patience, and you have
to recognize the success thatyou end up having by listening
more than talking.
See, there's this myth outthere that leaders or bosses or

(06:25):
whatever, when you're in anauthority position, that you
must always have the answers andyou must always talk because
everybody wants to listen to you.
I don't know who made that up,I don't know where that came
from, but it's the farthest fromthe truth, and it took me a
long time and you've heard ustalk about this over multiple
podcasts.
It took me a long time todevelop the skill set of being

(06:47):
very patient and listening, andwhat that developed is when I
started listening whether it wasto a customer or an employee or
other leaders.
It helped me really dial intowhat my answer could be or what
the solution actually is, ratherthan this shotgun method of

(07:07):
just throwing out there what Ithink before I've taken the time
to peel back the layers of theonion to figure out the exact
core issue that's going on Now.
That may be with an employeethat they're frustrated at work,
or they're frustrated withtheir colleagues, or they're
frustrated with the process, butwhen you peel all the layers
back, it might be that they'rejust frustrated because they got
to pick a kid up every day at4.30 and they don't get off till

(07:30):
5.
So then when they go home,they've got all this pressure
from their spouse and what wereally need to do is just adjust
their time schedule from 7 inthe morning to 4 so they can do
that instead of from 8 to 5.
You know same thing with acustomer, but you can't figure
any of that out to actuallyaddress the core issue, unless

(07:51):
you listen, yeah, and that's sogood.

Speaker 2 (08:00):
An important part of that while you were speaking, I
was listening.
One thing that we do talk about, that I want to mention that
now you have to listen withintention.
Like there's listening.
This is bad listening.
Listening to respond.
So that's where you say it'seasy to say but not easy to do.
Some people will say I willlisten and they will sit back
and they say I will listen andthey're waiting for a pause so

(08:22):
that they can say let me tellyou how to fix it.
But they didn't even hear whatthe person said, the correct,
what we've learned?
Probably wrong, but what we'velearned is listening to learn
and then to problem solve.
You don't have to have theanswer that second and we'll go

(08:42):
deeper into that.
But do not listen to respond.
You have to let me just, if youdidn't wrap it, this will wrap
it up.
You need to listen at the levelof like a good therapist, doug.
Okay, think about that.
You know you go to a therapysession.
You're on that, you know.
Think of a movie.
They're on that long couch andthey're just sitting there

(09:03):
looking up, telling them all theproblems.
Think of a movie.
They're on that long couch andthey're just sitting there
looking up telling them all theproblems.
A counselor is just starting, atherapist is just starting the
conversation, removing anyfriction, saying this is a safe
space, all that stuff I don'tknow.
And so then they say tell mewhat's going on and they'll see
how much info they can get andthey hear something.
So if you have that you'recounseling a leader, that you're

(09:26):
helping a customer, let's justsay everyone deals with a
customer every single day andyou need to listen.
You need to listen so much.
I had a customer that was justunloading a baggage full of
upsetness.
You need to listen to the factthat they asked me not once, not
twice, but four times on thephone are you still there?
They wanted to talk a whole lot, so I let them talk a whole lot

(09:50):
.
And so they said I just want tomake sure you're still there
because you're not sayinganything.
I said no, no, my job is toextract all the information.
Because then, when I did go torespond, after I had learned
what was really the root of theissue not not just this issue,
this issue they would starttalking again and they didn't
care what I had to say, theyjust wanted to tell me

(10:11):
everything that we were doingwrong, and so they weren't
listening to learn.
They were listening to respond,and so then I would go quiet
again.
I was not going to combattalking with tonguing, and so
that's something that we'velearned through that of just
like in sales, we're going toask you we're not going to say,
hey, let's go walk aroundthrough 900 vehicles and you

(10:32):
tell me which one you might like, don't like.
I'm going to say, hey, do youmind?
We've got a little process herethat's going to speed up this
entire process.
If I ask you a couple of keyquestions and one of those
questions can be Matt, if youwouldn't mind sharing with me.
Taylor, if you wouldn't mindsharing with me, tell me three
areas that are most important toyou in purchasing a vehicle,
like do you need four wheeldrive?
Do you need leather?
Do you need heated seats?
Remote start Is that importantto you?

(10:53):
Do you need an audio system?
Do you need a tow package?
To get their thought processgoing?
And then I can really hone thatin.
It's the same thing with people, isn't it?

Speaker 1 (11:04):
It really is.
And if you've got, let's sayyou're high strung or let's say
you're.
Let me tell you what happens tome.
My calendar is so packed thatthen my brain, when somebody's
talking, is going out of controllooking at the time going.
If I don't wrap this up, it'sgonna run me late on this and
it's going to domino four orfive down the road.

(11:25):
I got to shut that part of mybrain off and be present.
What I'm in.
But here's really the telltale.
Or if you've got ADHD orwhatever else you may have and
you just have a hard timelistening, you're going to have
to put this tool in place.
Here's a tip for you, this toolin place.
Here's a tip for you Before yourespond after somebody's done

(11:46):
talking, ask a question, even ifyou're like I've got the answer
, just double check.
Ask one more question.
So when you think they're doneit's no different than when you
had the customer on the phoneyou ask another question before
you responded.
You're like is there anythingelse?
Is there anything else we needto address?

(12:08):
So same thing with an employee.
You ask another question, eventhough you think you're ready to
respond.
Ask one more question, just todouble check.
That will then allow whoeveryou're talking to a customer or
an employee to go.
They were listening.
How do I know they're listening?
They asked me another question.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
That's so good.
And one thing, as you said,that I got to thinking about,
that We've gotten much better atcalendaring and we've gotten
much better at communication ofall the things through being
busy.
But when you were saying thatof like someone's taking a lot
of time and you know that you'regoing to run over, I've learned
, instead of me just eyediverting someone because I know

(12:44):
I only have two minutes beforethe next meeting and then how
long is it going to take me tocall them back?
Because I'll have X amount ofphone calls and then I'll be
walking through the shop talkingto people and then I'll get
there, you know.
So it gets way down there andthey feel like they don't care.
If you can now you can't alwaysdo this, but if you can take
that conversation, whether it'son the phone or via in person,

(13:05):
and say, hey, I'm not trying tobe rude, but I just need to let
you know you're super valuableto me.
I only have two minutes beforeI have to walk into another
meeting or I have anotherconference call or I have
something scheduled.
I just wanted to take this callIf there's something you can
explain to me in two minutes.
I don't want to be rude andhave to cut you off, but I have
a hard stop at 10 am.

(13:26):
But I just need you to knowthat that I wasn't avoiding you.
It'd be like yeah, hey, I justwanted to ask hey, toilet paper,
do you want Charmin orUltrasoft, whatever, I don't
know.
It's never that simple.
But then they get to make thedecision of hey, I Should.

Speaker 3 (13:48):
I divulge it?
Or should I reschedule?
Yep, Right, so that's one ofthose things that will help.
You know that I've just figuredout through hard knocks.
Yeah, and the other part ofthat you'll see.
A lot of times you talked aboutand flip this over to employees
that you're pouring back intoand you're trying to help and
teach and learn, but you havethat employee, you have that
customer, like you talked aboutthat they're waiting for your
mouth to stop moving and they'realready answering.

(14:08):
They already know it's alreadyrolling in there, and a customer
is a customer, and you're nevergoing to change a customer, so
you just handle the situation.
But employees this is notdifferent than what we talked
about in previous episodes thatalways come to you and want
advice, want advice, and they'rejust doing it to be heard to
not necessarily be heard in agood way, but to hear their own

(14:30):
self-talk, and they're alreadylike hey, Shelby, how do I do
this?
And you're like oh, I do this.
Yeah, I already did that, howwould you do it, though?
And so continue to pour intothe person, because they're

(14:55):
doing nothing for you andthey're not showing you that
they're taking you seriouslywith anything that you're
teaching.

Speaker 2 (15:02):
You know you gave them a loaf of bread.
You gave the whole group a loafof bread and said, hey, what do
you do with it?
You know it's no different thanthe story in the bible.
You know they say, hey, he got,you know, got this amount of
gold, this amount of gold andthis amount of gold, what'd you
do with it?
One of them buried and wasselfish.
One of them took it andinvested it, and so they come
back around to that.
It's like I'm not going to keepinvesting if you're not going

(15:22):
to do anything good with thisRight.
So now on the flip side, what'sthe listening versus talking?
What's the danger of alwayshaving the answer as a leader?
What's the danger to that?

Speaker 1 (15:36):
Of not giving the correct advice.
So that's very dangerous.
But, as a leader, you thinkthat you're now all of a sudden
in this role and it means thatyou always have to have the
answer for something.
And I've been there.
Yeah, I've been there.
And because you feel like that,you're devalued and you're not
living up to the expectations ifyou defer to somebody else for

(16:01):
the answer, to somebody else forthe answer.
However, as the top leaders,your real job is to find people
smarter than you and to helpfacilitate their greatness and
to really be more of a moderator.
Okay, you're the leader, yougive direction, you ask
questions, but if somebody elsehas a better answer, give them

(16:23):
the glory.
You put all these peopletogether.
Okay, and there was a point intime and we've talked about this
before that we've all worked inevery single department.
And you know, at first I reallythought my career was so I
could understand and be the bestin every department and you
know that's an eager 20-year-old, so on and so forth.

(16:45):
But that wasn't the point.
It was so that I had enoughknowledge so I could carry on a
conversation and hold somebodyaccountable, and then so that
people would actually respectthat I knew what was going on.
But how many mechanics do wehave that know a whole lot more
about diagnosing and fixingstuff than we do?
95% of them, and we're prettygood mechanically Like we really

(17:07):
are, but that's okay.
Yeah, you know there's plentyof times our CFO that I divert a
question to her.
She's way smarter than me inthat stuff.

Speaker 2 (17:16):
Well, you know, we learned a lot of that during
COVID was not having the answer.
And then it was the turning ofthe page of like hey, that's a
really good question.
Like I'm going to have to dosome research on that, so I'm
not just spouting off andtelling you something that I
think is right, like let's getback together, that's a really
good question.
I need you to think how thatgoes into play, what other

(17:39):
questions you might have on thatquestion.
Do you have any other questionsat this moment?
Well, I'm looking into that.
No, I don't.
And then make sure you followback with that.
It's like, hey, here's what Ifound, right, but that's so good
.
But the danger of always havingthe answers is like you're
looking for gratification orglory, or looking for all the
attention for all the wrongreasons, right, you're just

(18:00):
going to trip and fall into someareas you shouldn't be.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
I think the other thing that will happen there,
too, is your top performers.
I'm not talking about your lowperformers.
Okay, your top performers willfind somebody else to follow.
Yeah, because what will happenis you'll give them an answer
and they'll kind of have thisiffy of like was that really
right, was that really advice?
And then they'll talk tosomebody else.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Like, no, that was way off.
It's no different than theexact thing you're saying is
that someone comes in fornumbers, salesperson to sales
manager.
They listened to the meeting,they saw the specials and they
say, hey, got Mrs Jones here,she test drove this.
She likes that, can you give mesome numbers?
And like, hey, what's that outout the door number?
And they've got it on theirphone, on the website and
they're like oh yeah, well,what's this then?
Right, they only do that somany times and they're like

(18:51):
holly, this guy's always tryingto put this together, you know
like.
Or a salesperson talking to acustomer.
A customer might just be comingin interviewing you to see are
they going to lie to me Becausethey don't know the answer.
And so a lot of new eagersalespeople, they feel bad not
having the answer.
So instead of saying you know,that's a really good question,

(19:12):
they just switched a lot ofmodel stuff from 24 to 25.
And so I don't get in troubleand say something wrong and give
you the wrong information.
Let's go inside and do someresearch to make sure that we
get the exact model, the exactoptions, because sometimes
that's standard, sometimesthat's optional, sometimes
that's something a special orderand I think a customer values
that so heavily.
Rather you're saying oh no,recaro seats that standard here

(19:35):
and they do lane keeping forthis, but they don't do that for
that and the customer's likethey've hyper focused on that
model.
They're like lying to me, nottrue?
Dishonest, you're done, youknow.

Speaker 1 (19:45):
Just like slow down and just listen you know, you
know I was listening as you weregoing through that and this
triggered my mind.
Another thing about not alwayshaving the answer, or having the
danger of always having theanswer, is if you do that with
your employees, then they dothat with your customers.
If, with your employees, you'llbe vulnerable and you'll say,

(20:06):
hey, I don't have the answer tothat, but give me just a little
bit.
Let me reach out to some peoplethat I trust, that I know are
experts in that field, and let'sget back together.
If you'll be vulnerable withyour employees like that, then
when a customer asks themsomething, just like you said,
you've trained them.
You've helped them and they nowrespect you more.
Plus, you've trained them howto then help their customers.

Speaker 2 (20:29):
They look up to you a lot more than they think.
You influence them way morethan you think.
They're no different than yourkids.
We all have young kids and youget to thinking like you know,
dang, why are they saying thatDang?
Why, because they're mimickingexactly what you do.
So they look up to you and soit's okay to tell them like hey,
let's look into that, like, hey, let's get on here and let's

(20:49):
check it out, like let's open abook and read about that, you
know, because otherwise they'rejust going to completely mimic
that.
Do you guys have any examplesof leaders who built trust
through listening?
Anyone that comes to mind thatwas a good leader via listening.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
Man.
You know, I think any of themthat you listen to out there and
I think when you go into thissubject, I haven't had direct
connection with them, I've justheard the stories through.
So if you take any of the greatleaders out there and you watch
them, so if you take any of thegreat leaders out there and you

(21:31):
watch them, so take the CEOs oflarge companies and you see
them in a room and I lovewatching a boardroom where you
have a really really good leader.
They're not the ones talkingthe whole time.
So I think about this a bunchwith Ford's previous CEO, alan
Mulally.
He was really good.
He went into Ford when Fordwasn't in the shape that they're
in today.
Correct, alan came from Bowleywhere he was in charge of making

(21:54):
sure that planes stayed in theair.
So he's like, if I can figurethat out, I can figure cars out.
And when he was in a boardroom Inever got to be in a boardroom
with him, but when I would seethat everybody else he might
have been at the head of thetable but he would ask a
question to differentdepartments and he was listening
, and then this department wouldtalk about this in R&D and then

(22:16):
he would say what do you thinkabout it over here?
What does that look like from amanufacturing?
What does that look like overhere?
What does that do to ourwarranty repairs and our recalls
?
And he wasn't given the advice,he was just asking the question
.
So you know, as you went aroundand I think on that subject too
, I'll just hit on, this is justrecently I was listening to

(22:36):
somebody this past year and theytalked about you know, if
you're the leader in the room,make sure you're the last one to
give your opinion or youradvice.
Why is that?
Because if you give youropinion first, it will squash
some of the other people aroundthe room's ideas if their idea
didn't line up with yours,because they think that then

(22:57):
they are in jeopardy of eitherlosing credibility or even
losing their job.

Speaker 2 (23:03):
Yeah, and the power of influence.
Think if you took a survey andthe survey was out loud, hey,
everybody, raise your hand.
If you think this, if you'veever seen that it's like one or
two people and then people lookaround and they're like, oh,
he's got his hand up, she's gother hand up, so that is so good
that you're the last you can askthe questions, like, guys,
we're thinking about doing xyz,what's your thoughts?

(23:25):
No, right, wrong answer.
Let's start over here.
Let's go around the tableyou're not saying here's my
thoughts and tell me what youguys think.
Unfortunately, that's how, nothow most are going.
Most of them are leading outwith hey, here's our process,
tell me what you think, becauseit takes a really bold person to
go against the gray.

Speaker 1 (23:45):
it really does I think you know when you think
I'm gonna talk just a little bitof politics here because we're
talking about managing, um,we're not gonna get deep into
post you, we're gonna use thisas leadership because I mean,
the president of the us is in avery great leadership I think
role sometimes you know what Imean.
So when you look at that ourcurrent president whatever your

(24:06):
opinion is there I just want totalk about this.
Our current president hired1,300 staff members within just
a few days in office.
1,300.
Because you know why he didthat.
He didn't have all the answers.
1800, because you know why hedid that.
He didn't have all the answers.

(24:27):
He wanted to be really good atassembling people around him
that could help him dissect.
He could listen, they couldbring him the answers.
So that's really good.

Speaker 2 (24:35):
All right, so automatic fun fact quiz of the
week.
Okay, ice Breaker, which Fordvehicles created in 1960?
Because Lee Iacocca listened toyoung buyers, listened Key word
listen Young buyers who wanteda stylish but affordable car.
You've got the Pinto, oh,you've got the Bronco, you've

(24:57):
got the F-150, or you have theMustang Pinto, f-150, bronco or
the Mustang.
In the 1960s, lee Iacoccalistened to young buyers who
wanted a stylish but affordablecar.
Well, instead of affordable car, he ruled out the Bronco or the
F-150.
The Pinto was in the 60s.

(25:18):
I wasn't around then.
I don't know if people wereasking for that.

Speaker 1 (25:24):
You know, I recently watched the Mugab.
I've watched it a couple timesnow.
You know, Ford versus Ferrari.

Speaker 2 (25:29):
There wasn't a Pinto on there.

Speaker 1 (25:30):
There wasn't a Pinto on there, but Lee Iacocca was in
there and they did theunveiling of this vehicle.

Speaker 2 (25:35):
Pretty cool wasn't it ?

Speaker 1 (25:36):
It was cool, so you know, of course, the top driver
for that.

Speaker 3 (25:41):
How did Ken Miles?
Did he really like it?
No, I kind of he was bashing itand he said it's a pig and it's
slow and it just tore him up.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yep, Lee Iacocca was one of the founders of the
Mustang, so that was the carthey came out with.
It was a stylish but affordablecar in the early 60s and, fun
fact, one of the only two-doorAmerican sports cars left in
production.
That's right, that's right.

Speaker 1 (26:09):
Pretty cool there.
Just American icon there, forsure.
Okay, next up we're talkingmore about questions.
But now let's go a little leveldeeper.
Okay, ask questions, don't givedirectives.
Okay, so you're askingquestions first to listen.
Remember, that's the point welisten first, we ask another
question, okay.

(26:29):
Well, the reason we're askingthat question is to make sure,
when it is time for us to talkas a leader, that we're talking
about the core issue.
And I don't know what you guysthink, but I'm just going to
tell you that nine times out of10, when I take the time and I
sit down with somebody and Iunpack it and I ask enough
questions, I end up addressingsomething that is not what they

(26:53):
originally brought up.

Speaker 2 (26:54):
If you don't ask enough questions, you will
incorrect and generally they'renot going to tell you, they're
not going to be like oh, thanksfor a full itinerary and a
breakdown on supply chainmanagement.
But I was just wondering like-.

Speaker 3 (27:09):
You know where this vehicle's at.

Speaker 2 (27:10):
Right, you know where this vehicle's at and you're
just like what.
I just wasted all my time.

Speaker 1 (27:15):
It's your fault for not asking the right questions,
you know, but if you don't takethe time to ask enough questions
as a leader and you take thefirst thing, you're probably
gonna.
That really isn't broken.

Speaker 2 (27:32):
And you can be mad at them, but why'd you say it had
to do with the shop was hot outthere?
They're trying to warm up tothe idea to ask you or tell you
what the real issue is.

Speaker 1 (27:42):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (27:43):
No one is natural born communicators that I've met
.
That's just really good atcoming straight out to the root
and real reason of why they havea concern.

Speaker 1 (27:51):
I'm going to give you my opinion on why I think that
is.
I think that leaders are in avery time crunch and they feel
like the faster they solve theissue they can move on with
their day.
But that's very short termthinking.
So they take what the firstobjection is out of an employee
or out of a customer's mouth andthey go, boom, there it is,
boom, let's fix it.

(28:11):
Yet they didn't fix the problem.
They band-aided it and it'sstill there.
So it ends up costing them moretime because it comes back and
there's another issue, andthere's another issue and
there's another issue becausethey never took the time to ask
enough questions and to listento actually address what the
issue is.
So if you spend more time now,you'll save time later.

Speaker 2 (28:34):
So you're fixing the process, not so much the end
product.
That's cool.
Now think about that.
Like, when you get an issue ofsomething's taking too long or
the end product isn't what youexpected it to be, via customer
concern or just via inspection,you're not taking them a fish,
you're teaching them how to fishand you're looking at that
process.
And you're teaching them how tofish and you're looking at that

(28:56):
process and you're like,instead of saying like no, the
oil change should only take 35to 40 minutes.
That's what we tell people,that's what manufacturers told
us, that's what edmund says.
And you're saying, no, you needto do it faster.
You should probably just asksome questions, like a couple
key things, like hey, how manypeople do you have working on
this car?
Hey, did you have all the partsyou needed when you got the car

(29:18):
?
Hey, did you have the tools?
Was the car correct?
Did you have the locking lugnut tool?
You know those questions andthey're like, and they'll
finally tell you like no, ouroil filters and air filters used
to always be in the oil changebay and now they keep them in
the warehouse upstairs.
And you're like and you wouldhave just corrected the whole

(29:40):
system without really knowingwhat the exact issue was.
That's right, right.
So by asking those and peelingthose back and we've done that
in meetings it's like, no, tellme more, not tell me more.
And we didn't even get theanswer from that meeting.
It was actually went to a partsmeeting yeah, vice versa and
they were like, well, they don'thave this, this and this.
It was like, well, that'spretty basic and sample, but if

(30:02):
it's outside someone's nannyrole of responsibility, they're
just like, hey, well, louis saysthis, how it goes.
Like well, no, they didn't, thelouis's built it to be like
this.
And then someone said along theway hey, this, this is in the
way, let's move them out of here.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
So a non-season leader there and let's just go
down the old change, though fora second.
What they would do is, everysingle day, they would pass out
a new report and be like you're48 minutes on your average old
time yesterday, you're 48minutes.
Why can't you get that 35minutes or less?
Everybody get it 35 minutes orless.
And then the next day, why arewe still at 48 minutes?
Remember we got to be at 35.

(30:37):
Why aren't y'all at 35?
Get to 35.
I don't want to see this on thereport again.
Well, I'm checking back intomorrow.
Okay, figure out how to do this.
And then, like this goes on andon and on.
And then employees are like ohmy gosh, I'm not gonna say
anything, he's gonna bite myhead off.
Yeah, and and it's hey, boss,it takes us 10 minutes to get

(30:58):
the oil filter.
Yep, could we load them in thecabinet?
Yep, it's not that they're notchanging the oil fast enough.
Yep, it's that one little piece.
Yep, you shouldn't know if youdon't listen.
So you guys give me yourthoughts on this Problem solving
by asking whoever you'respeaking with customer or
employee what do you thinkInstead of telling people what

(31:20):
to do.
So what are your guys' take onthat.
When they get done talking, yousay well, what do you think
about that?

Speaker 3 (31:27):
I love that because it's your way of giving
direction to the conversation.
Okay, whenever I'm running intothat and I go, you know, what
do you think of X, what do youthink of this?
So, whatever the situation is,you're giving them leeway to be
able to talk about it, pullingout some of their thoughts, but

(31:48):
then you're also giving adirection of how you want it to
go.
So, hey, I'm asking you whatare your thoughts on how we
could make this process faster,what are your thoughts on this
and what do you think about that, instead of just, hey, get this
done, let's get going, let'sget going.
That's no different than I wasover.

(32:09):
Uh, we're working on dailyactivities of breaking it down,
of different principles and, uh,I kept going through there and
so we finally broke it apart.
We figured out of communicationthat a lot of people don't like
to be called on this and mostpeople, if you think about it,
answer on texts or emails oranything else.
So, as I was going through withthem yesterday and I finally,

(32:30):
toward the end of the day, waslike hey, no, I'm serious, I'm
standing on your back, we'regoing to move through this.
Tell me how you'd move throughthis.
And I got a lot of feedbackfrom the guys that don't
normally produce results andguess what?
After they told me about that,we made a couple adjustments.
At the end of the day, theywere past what their goal was
supposed to be by asking themand moving forward there.

Speaker 1 (32:54):
Yep, Any goal is supposed to be by asking them
and moving forward there.
Yep.
Any other thoughts about youknow, just Shelby addressing
people and like, hey, what doyou think about that?
Like when y'all get done withit.

Speaker 2 (33:00):
You know, the end result might not be any
different, right, you mightstill like drive home the point
that you had.
It might be say it differentlyto incorporate what they say.
So just keep that in mind.
But it does give them theopportunity to say, hey, I value
you.
And before we change something,before we move something,
before we make a modification, Iwant to see what your thought

(33:24):
is, and in the end you mightstill say the same thing, but it
allows you to say one I care,I'm human, you're human.
Let's act like we care abouteach other Instead of like, yeah
, new process, here it is,here's what we're doing, you
know.
So, if you can ask them that,what do you think?
Okay, it, yeah, it takes layersdown, takes walls down and just
allows them to.

(33:45):
You know, you can generallylike taylor's talking about
activities.
You can generally get more outof your team or actually get
them back to where they shouldbe right, just by showing that
you care, because you do care,right?
You know, at the same time,you're trying to up production,
but you're also saying, hey, Icare about you because nobody
wants to be just idling along,right?

(34:06):
You know like you're supposedto do that when you're retired,
hanging out on a golf course oron a boat or something you know.
So I think that is good toalways ask that question.

Speaker 1 (34:15):
I think it's a little bit of an icing on the cake and
it just, even if they don'tever answer the question, it in
the back of their mind.
They're like they had theopportunity to give their input
and even if they didn't, theycan't dispute that.
Yep, they didn't ask me what Ithought.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
It's same thing.
We talked about offering a topperson one position, the next
position, even if you knowthey're not good for it.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Sure, they had the right of refusal, and it's the
same thing, yeah, I mean, howmany times have we asked or
invited people that we knew thathad never come or had never
done this, but we didn't wantthem to feel left out?
Yeah, come, or had never donethis, but we didn't want them to
feel left out.
And as soon as we didn't dothat, even though we know that

(34:58):
they wouldn't come or theywouldn't do this, they would
then be upset.

Speaker 2 (35:01):
It just removes that barrier there of just the common
courtesy it really does.

Speaker 1 (35:06):
I think this next question now starts getting of.
Okay, we've broken down whyit's important to listen, how to
ask questions, how to getbuy-in.
You know you're trying to getwhoever you're talking to to
really recognize these people docare, they are listening.
That then comes to thepractical framework.
You know, when we start talkingand we've unpacked this a

(35:28):
little bit, but now we're tryingto put it together for our
listening audience the practicalframework of tell me more, I'm
listening.
And when you get to the stage Ireally liked your customer
example earlier and we've allbeen there where the customer on
the phone on the other end islike are you still there?
When you get to that stage, youknow that you have got to where

(35:54):
they're like dang, I didn't getthe fight out of them that I
was looking for.
I actually have a trueprofessional here, right, that's
not looking to fight or argueor put up a wall here, but
they're looking for a solution.
And that's so rare in the USthat if you learn this framework

(36:15):
, you can win in any industry.
You really can.
So you guys think about thatframework and each of you have
walked me through.
You already have.
But now let's put it togetherin simple terms of advice to
somebody out there.
How do we put practicalframework together on listening
to an employer or customer andthen just walking through that

(36:36):
process?

Speaker 2 (36:37):
You know something I listened to a while back and I
think I shared it, but I'llcontinue to share it is if
something isn't correct orproper at right time or right
process, expect the best right.
So if someone hasn't shown upor someone hasn't done, expect
the best.
You know what I mean.
And that's kind of likeexpecting the worst but the best
right.
So if someone hasn't shown upor someone hasn't done, expect
the best.
You know what I mean.
And that's kind of likeexpecting the worst but the best

(36:58):
.
Like if someone's not here andthey're supposed to be here, the
first thing that you're goingto do.
Your thought is let me findthat person.
I'm going to call them, textthem, go see where they're at on
location and say, hey, wherethe heck are you?
And you weren't here on time,sure, expecting the best.

(37:22):
And the prop, the positivethinking is like, hey, man, just
checking in on you, iseverything okay?
Does everything go good?
You get the kids dropped offand and then they're like, oh my
gosh, like wall down, becausethey were already coming up with
their excuses of am a car's oldand traffic was bad and all
this stuff.
And then you go and say, hey,everything good, did you get the
kids off to school?
And they're like yeah, man, Iapologize, I didn't have all

(37:42):
this stuff and it won't happenagain, so expect the best.
When there's an issue there,it's like hey, I see the oil
changes are taking 48 minutes.
Do you guys have everything youneed?
Like, because that's prettysolid 48 minutes.
You know our goal is to be inthat 35 minutes, but I realize
that's me helping you understandevery piece of efficiency, and

(38:03):
before I can ever help you withthat, I need to know any and all
bottlenecks.
So you know what do you think?
Tell me what's the hangup.
If you were to redesign thiswhole program as your program,
what would you change?
You know, instead of likelisten, jimmy, jack wagon, they
told us it can be done in 35minutes.
If you can't do it, I'll fireyou and I'll find somebody else.

(38:24):
And you're like dang, that'sharsh.
That happens a million times aday.
It happens more than the other.

Speaker 3 (38:31):
Oh yes, that's how a majority of people manage.
Right, they manage by fear.

Speaker 2 (38:35):
They manage by improper structure.
So I've just you have to slowdown and have that framework and
if nothing else, if they don'tgive you anything that is
worthwhile, you at least gavethem.
Hey, I want your opinion.

Speaker 1 (38:52):
I got to reference this again and I know I'm going
to reference this over the next100 episodes, but episode 49,
one of our questions was whatpercentage of employees say they
leave a job because of poorleadership?
75%, 75%.
It's not because of the product, it's not because of the
ownership, it's not because ofthe business, it's not because

(39:13):
of their fellow employees, it'snot because of the product, it's
not because of the ownership,it's not because of the business
, it's not because of theirfellow employees, it's not
because of the pay, it's becausepoor leadership.
So I love finding metrics andgoing after them, because those
are the hidden gems that if I'lljust be a better leader, I'll
be 75%, 75%, and we're talkingabout it right here.
75%, and we're talking about itright here.

(39:34):
If you'll just listen, give acrap, ask a question, you'll be
75% of everybody else.
That's it.
It's pretty simple.

Speaker 3 (39:44):
You know I love going into different areas of sales
especially, and then even herein some of service.
But before jumping toconclusions and before assuming
anything else, if you see peoplethat they're underperforming by
results, anything else that'scoming out, I love going into
areas and you can just watch.

(40:05):
You can watch from a managerthat is like what the heck you
doing?
Why would you do that?
And then, because they'rewhipped, guess what they do it
to your customer like why wouldyou come in and do that?
Why would you do that?
So you can go in and makesimple adjustments of hey, um,

(40:25):
shelby, why would you do this?
Why would you go that?
Let's try doing this route andbeing able to give, call it, a
framework of working, but trythis different route that goes
off.
Your 75% of you don't have awhole lot of bad talent, bad
people out there.
A lot of people have peoplethat are in manager spots that

(40:46):
should not be and you're notmanaging them and it's simple
words, simple tasks that they'regoing over.
They're just browbeating peopleand it's because they're a poor
manager and that's how they'remanaging.
So that's where that 75% comesin.

Speaker 1 (41:03):
Hey, it's not even in the script here.
But I've got another questionfor you all Growing up or in
your career or at any stage ofyour life interacting with dad,
did y'all ever come across withhim where he would just listen?

Speaker 2 (41:17):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, and didn't say a whole lot.
That's not what I thought youwere going to ask, and so that's
why I'm laughing.

Speaker 1 (41:28):
Yeah, no doubt, like that's his demeanor he would
just listen, he might ask youanother question about it and he
was calm that you could read onhis face every once in a while,
close to the rev limiter.
You know what I mean thatnon-verbal communication but he
was always a really goodlistener and he really he really
taught us, amongst a whole lotof things about the patients and

(41:50):
you know we use the word stewand think stew.

Speaker 2 (41:53):
But you know it was think on that that's totally
this demeanor, like now, like ifwe happen to be traveling from
one area to another and, uh, Iseem yeah, not that he's
different from anyone else, butI'll pass him and I'm like,
golly, why are you driving soslow?
he's just patient and absorbingin all times, you know, just

(42:17):
like taking the things in andI'm like thinking now that, like
I'm thinking efficiency, likehow do I get here to here as
quick as possible?
And then I'm like my kids inthe background, like okay, our
dad taught us be super patient,you know and listen.
Well, and like, am I teachingthat correct thing?
Or when they come home, whenthe speeding ticket comes, and
they're like dad, you normallydrive x amount, and it's like,

(42:38):
well, you shouldn't do that, youknow.
It's like I'd love.

Speaker 3 (42:41):
I'd love if he was on here.
This is a hilarious story Iremember from a wedding of
sitting there and he stood up togo through.
And this is a patience ofanything else and he was on here
.
He would tell stories of likethis he's like.
There's one thing I can tellyou.
It's patience.
Let me tell you this time thatwhen me and mom used to go and
fish and she was helping me loadthe boat up and I had backed it

(43:04):
up and she brought the boat ina little too hot and it jumped
over the top and smashed intothe back of the tailgate of the
this was the bass boat and hesaid I could have got really mad
and I was kind of upset butrealized it wasn't that serious
and I could just handle it.
So patience, going through andthere's so many more.

(43:26):
But that is God that's soimportant in business to be able
to I mean, just get nodifferent than I've talked about
sucker, punched in the face andjust okay, let's analyze this
and go through.
And people that are so angrylike dude, I just whacked you in
the face.
Now that's figuratively talkingabout.

(43:47):
Somebody whacks you and putsyou in a headlock or something
until you calm down.
But people mostly do itverbiage-wise of going through
and just smacking you in theface and 90% of people fail
because they retaliate.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
But if you'll just sit there and just let it just
simmer, we get thoseopportunities to fail or to rise
above 100 times a day.
Yesterday I get a text in ourbrand new building that we took
10 years to research to buildand it's been over 55 years
since we had a new building Forthe second time in our service

(44:24):
drive.

Speaker 3 (44:25):
It's the same type of vehicle.

Speaker 2 (44:27):
The exact same vehicle.
These box trucks have thesesilly lifts that go way above
for really tall loading docksfor giraffes or something, and
they drive this thing in and thethe buildings are wrapped with
it's called acm panels, metalpanels and they just just rack
this thing, just racking willyhe just, and it just destroys.

(44:48):
The last time we'd been openfor like 14 days and it was it
was over eighteen thousanddollars in damage just by not
giving her.
It was way more than thatbecause it was the customer's
vehicle.
So it's close to thirtythousand dollars in damage by
not slowing down and beingpatient.
So that's on their side slowdown, be patient, be efficient.

(45:10):
Meanwhile she'll be saying movequicker, be more efficient.
Like what do you want me to doboth?
But then on the other side, soyesterday when I get that text,
I'm like can't change whathappened.
Is everybody okay?
Is business still moving?
And uh, because I was inanother meeting, and so then I
came back around and looked atit and took pictures and I said
to the construction guys likehey, we're gonna need a little

(45:31):
more help here.
I was like man, how many peoplejust go like haul off on
somebody for this, it'sexpensive, it's a second offense
for this department.
That's like easy, that's easything to do and that's what most
people do.
But like if you can be patientand if you can be kind, like hey

(45:53):
, are you okay?
What's going on?
Tell me, was there adistraction?
Like what can I have done tohelp prevent that?
And they're like, are youkidding me?

Speaker 1 (46:02):
like I totally expected to be fired yeah, you
know with the other thing thatpatience unlocks the door.
For, okay, if you're notpatient and you fly off the
handle with emotions, you're100% in fight mode.
When you're in that modeemotionally, you can't observe.

(46:27):
When you're in that modeemotionally, you can't observe.
If you're patient, you canobserve.
And what observing gains youjust like you were talking about
Taylor is it gains you a lookdown the pipeline to the future,
on if something needs to befixed.
I'm not talking about thisindividual, I'm talking about
the over-adpressants or thesituation.
And if you're patient, you cansee that If you're emotional,

(46:53):
you're in the middle of a fightand nothing else matters and you
can't see the forest throughthe trees.
So I go, I'm going to go back,even another layer, and I didn't
have a ton of interaction herebesides just observing.
But go to our grandfather, ourgrandfather.
I remember seeing him justwalking around the lot,
observing, or driving his DodgeGrand Caravan around the lot,

(47:14):
observing, constantly observing,watching things.
And he would talk, but watchingthings, not so he could just
get on to people, but so how hecould figure out how to improve
the business, how to improve thesituation.
I just, everybody just has toremember that like no matter if
it's raising kids or addressinga customer or addressing an

(47:37):
employee.
If you're hammered downemotions and just fighting, you
can't see, you can't improve andyou think you're doing good
because it felt good to win thefight.
But you've lost the war.

Speaker 3 (47:51):
No, and you do so much better being able to go
back to whoever your soundingboard is.
And there's a lot of times thatI'll see things as I've learned
through the years and I don'tsay a thing until I get around
one of y'all and I'm like, hey,I saw this, I don't think this
was right, or what do y'allthink about changing this
process and that one?

(48:14):
If something was terrible goingon and then you didn't respond
how you should have responded,how most people would respond,
people are going to take note ofthat, yeah, and then you're
going to be able to come back,whenever you come back, and
address it.
You've hit your sounding boardand so it is well thought out,
well planned, and you're goingto get so much more buy-in.

(48:37):
That's so good, so much morebuy-in.

Speaker 1 (48:39):
All right, we've got to get to a myth buster, okay,
okay.
So y'all just give me youranswer More You're giving me
your answer.
More inventory equals moresales, and I'll be quiet.

Speaker 2 (48:52):
The theory sounds right.
Right, I know there's so muchmore to it, though you know like
more doesn't equal more.
A millions of business everyyear.
Try that More equals more.
More can equal more.
Inventory can equal more sales.
But it has to be the properinventory at the proper time, at
the proper price point, withthe proper team to structure to

(49:15):
handle the more inventory, withthe proper financing to be able
to handle that yeah, with theproper floor plan to be able to
handle that at the properinterest rate.
It is not simple.
More inventory equals moresales.

Speaker 1 (49:28):
So when managed correctly, correctly, yes, could
be done, but I'm gonna say,majority of the time it is not,
and people just so the end allbe all there and I'll park here
for just a second because I saidI was gonna listen, but I just
I gotta share this witheverybody um is, this is a
slippery slope because initially, when you get more inventory,

(49:49):
whether it's in parts or invehicles, you'll do more
business.
So then you're like that'sgreat, let's double down on that
.
Oh, you have to follow themetrics, just like you're
showing.
Um, our largest parts departmentinventory is at our smallest
parts production store.

(50:10):
Do you have to have enoughinventory?
Yes, but you better find somemetrics to follow and not just
be on the drug of more and moreand more.
I can tell you at one point intime, new inventory wise at one
of our stores, we went from 250in stock to we were over 500 in

(50:37):
stock, just new, and this storeincreased their sales by about
10 to 12 a month.
Okay, so did the sales go up?
Yes, but we doubled the amountof inventory at an average cost
of about 60,000 a piece.
Yeah, so if inventory is verytricky and you better find

(50:59):
something in the industry thatgives you some KPIs and some
standards to follow there.

Speaker 2 (51:05):
Yep Got to properly manage it, absolutely so.

Speaker 3 (51:07):
I'm going to follow there.
Yep Got to properly manage it.
Absolutely.
I'm going to say that'sprobably.

Speaker 2 (51:11):
Probably busted in context, but there's a way to
make it work, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (51:15):
We've got to hold our business in inventory if you
need to follow this Not thatagain.

Speaker 3 (51:20):
Hey, we've talked about going through problem
solving, how questioning, howwalking through, how listening,
and the business advantage oflistening, of going through, so
listening to customers insteadof assuming what they want,
listening to employees, I think,catching issues before they
blow up.
We've kind of talked about that.
So let's go on this one andI'll hit you there at the end of

(51:42):
it Listening to the community,how small businesses thrive by
being tuned in.

Speaker 1 (51:58):
Here's one, and we're fortunate to have each one of
us have our own network ofpeople that do business with us
and we know we trust.
And here's what I tell people,and especially on reviews or if
we get input, if somebody takesthe time to not write a review,
but to call me or text me orsend me an email about something
and they didn't try to fry meon a review that they care about

(52:18):
our business improving and theywant it to get to me so we can
fix it going forward.
They're not looking forsomething for free and I know if
they take the time to do that,it's probably going on more than
just that one-off timeInstantly in your mind you think
about because you want to beprotective of your business and

(52:39):
your employees.
You're like, ah, that was aone-off, that probably doesn't
happen all the time.
But then when you sit back andthink about it like, okay, this
person took the time to call me,send me an email, give me the
facts because they care aboutour business, not because
they're looking for something tocomplain about.
They're a busy person.
They took time out of their day.
So I think it's very importantto listen to the community and

(53:01):
to stay tuned in there.

Speaker 2 (53:04):
Yeah, I think so, and I think you can take what they
tell you, slip it to your sideside what does it apply to in
your business?
And then go listen on that sideand so then you'll really see
was that a one-timer, was thatreoccurring?
And you'll see it just by beingin the area and just by asking
specific people, specificquestions and listening.

(53:24):
Then you can use some contextbecause sometimes I will be not
slow to speak, I'll be quick tospeak because I need to get the
point across.
When a review or a customershared with me and I'm like, hey
, why the heck do we do this,then I really feel like a
horse's rear end that I didn'task all the questions that I
well did.
They tell you that this andthis and this happens like I

(53:46):
don't know.
They failed to leave thatinformation out, even if it's a
really good customer soundingboard.
They didn't know what washappening in the kitchen, right,
they didn't know that we wereactually out of beef, but we
knew this was a really goodcustomer, so we sent somebody to
the butcher to grab some.
So that's why it took 13minutes longer, because we were

(54:06):
appeasing them.
Actually, the shop had alreadyclosed but we still had advisors
up front closing tickets andchecking customers out.
So we actually had one of theadvisors out back airing up the
tires, right.
And so if you're not taking thelisten on the customer side and
then going and listening toyour team and you're just saying
, hey, fix this, then youcontradicted the other 50

(54:29):
minutes we've talked about andyou might haul off in the wrong
direction, even if you nicely doit.
They're like they didn't evenknow that we were.
We didn't even have beef, thatRight, but we went and bought it
for the customer and we justforgot to tell them what we were
doing.
That's where a lot of thethings are dropped is like we're
working really hard behind thescenes and if you tell them up

(54:52):
front, it's like hey, taylor,we're so glad to see you back
again this week.
The Beef Wellington oh, we lovethe Beef Wellington.
We actually moved that to aThursday only thing, but because
you're a VIP customer, we havesome that we're going to go get
at our other store.
It's going to take an extra 15minutes.
If you're okay with that, we'llhave you prepare it and we're
super excited to have you here.

(55:12):
Are you okay with that extra 15minutes?
Customer gets to make thedecision yes or no.
Instead, you're like nope, I'ma yes man, I'm going to run over
to Beef Wellington, pick someup, bring it back.
I don't even know what that is,but then you're gonna prepare
it and you're gonna bring it outand they're gonna be pissed
that it took 15 minutes longerand you've just been busting it.
Yep, right, so you do have totake that into account.

(55:33):
Just fully break it down.
Right, it's like a top fueldrag car.
They run it down three seconds,300 miles an hour.
Then they tear the completething apart to make sure is
everything still within spec?

Speaker 3 (55:45):
yep, you don't know what.
The number one thing afterlistening to all that, this goes
back to everything, or mostthings are faulted in business.
It's communication,communication.
Have listening and clearcommunication to your customer.
Whether you chopped your armoff or not, you seem to
communicate it and by by youcommunicating that you set

(56:07):
correct expectations.

Speaker 1 (56:09):
Yes, if you don't set the expectations, the customer
will, in their own mind and 99times out of 99 times, their
expectations will not align withwhat you can produce.
Nobody's ever will.
You know, you know yeah, that'sbig.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
Well, good, good, take on listening today.
Hey, I've got easy, easyquestion for you today here, but
y'all can both give me, uh,your thought on this what is the
biggest struggle that theautomotive industry faces today?

Speaker 2 (56:41):
I'll tell you one that um is current, but is
always changing and alwaysevolving.
With the change of leadershipin our country, we were go green
, go green, go green, go green.
And we're not saying, hey,don't go green.
Right, but it's changed theCAFE standards, it's changed the

(57:05):
EPA emissions.
It's changed a lot of things.
Yeah, still with good direction, but we're just, we're in the
puppet show and we're lookingout like, hey, what does the
audience want to see?
So the automotive industry rightnow is where federal tax
credits are going to run out atthe beginning of september, like

(57:25):
we have all these electricvehicles.
Here's the funny thing, though,like is because a lot of
manufacturers, when the lastelection happened and they said,
hey, cafe standards which meansyou know how green they are,
they need to have this, this andthis some of the manufacturers
said we're going all in andwe're only going to be electric
powered vehicles.

(57:46):
Some of them have dissolved.
Some of them have said you knowwhat?
That was a bad move, let'sswitch it up, and both of the
manufacturers we have have justhad to restructure that room.
The crazy thing is, evs arebecoming more and more hot right
now because the manufacturersees that the credit's going to
go away, so they incentivizethem.

(58:08):
Right now our Mach-E and ourLightning have 0% for 72 months.
That is a really good deal.
Our Wagoneer S, it's all plugin, 100% electric vehicle.
You can get a lease for $200 amonth.
So the industry might say, hey,this is slowing down.
Let's say it's not going away,but it's slowing down the market

(58:30):
because they've chomped it toget rid of the inventory.
It says this is really hot.
So in your mind you would say,let's order more, let's order
more, let's order more.
But because it takes so long,you would be in the wrong,
because then they would all showup, the tax credits would be
gone and the manufacturer wouldtake away 0% and you'd be like

(58:51):
why aren't these selling?
So that's a thing that theindustry I feel like is facing
right now of how muchgas-powered versus how much
electric.
Ford's been chasing Elon Muskand Tesla for a long time of
finding their mix in that.

Speaker 1 (59:08):
That's a good one.
Mine is a struggle that we faceand we've actually faced for a
long time, and it's therealization of the dealer and
the manufacturer.
So, from a customer standpoint,we're a franchise dealer, but
we're independently owned.
We own all the vehicles oncethey leave the factory.

(59:31):
We are not.
We don't have the ability toreturn any of them.
And I think, versus otherindustries where you can take a
product back and return it andit goes back to the manufacturer
, we're not that way and andcustomers have a misconception
of that, thinking that we areFord and we are Jeep and we can

(59:52):
just send that back.
The same thing goes in serviceand sometimes we'll get somebody
frustrated on why won't you fixthat?
Why won't you approve thatmotor being replaced or that
transmission or that screen?
Prove that motor being replacedor that transmission or that
screen.
And hey, here's a news flashfor you.

(01:00:12):
We want them all approvedbecause then we actually get the
money.
If we don't repair the vehicle,we don't get reimbursed by the
manufacturer, but it's not ourcall.
And that's very similar to themedical industry.
There's plenty of doctors thatwant to do surgeries or they
want to do this or they want toissue this medication but until
the insurance companies approveit, they're not going to do it

(01:00:35):
because they won't get paid forit.
We're very similar and I thinkthat I don't think I know that
gets lost in clarification withthe customer that they think we
are for.
Why aren't you approving Shelby?
Why aren't you approving thatwarranty repair Taylor?

(01:00:55):
Why don't you?

Speaker 2 (01:00:56):
just send that expedition back to the factory.
The customer I was talking tothat I did a lot of listening
with the other day manufacturershave changed via the government
which there's some good and badin it of when a recall is
notified to the customer and orus.
A lot of our inventory on theground right now for sale has
recalls and it's a stop sell orstop drive if you own it.

(01:01:18):
This customer is superfrustrated and I totally get it.
They didn't know quite, theywere not asking questions to
listen, and so they said youhave no clue what I'm going
through.
Um, so it's a manufacturerrecall, but it's an advanced
notice.
So meaning, hey, your car hasan issue that we think is a

(01:01:39):
safety concern, but we don'tknow how to fix it, we don't
know when we can fix it and wedon't know when the part will be
available.
We just need to let you knowvia.
The government says we have to.
It's a don't know when the partwill be available.
We just need to let you knowvia.
The government says we have to,it's a safety concern.
So the customer was superfrustrated.
They got the letter in the mailthat says you have a recall.
They didn't read the next linethat says we do not have a fix
and we don't know when we have afix.

(01:02:00):
And so they came to us.
They were super upset, totallyget it.
And they said you don'tunderstand.
Do you have kids?
I said I do.
And they said well, you stilldon't understand my situation.
I can't drive this vehicle.
And I said well, as a matter offact, after I listened and
listened and listened andlistened, I said my wife
actually has a vehicle that hasthe exact same recall issues.

(01:02:22):
And she drives the exact samerecall issue on advance notice
with my three kids that yourfamily does.
And so I am in the same boat asyou.
I said, but you're not upset atme.
Now I know you're really upsetwith me and my team right now.
You're upset with Ford MotorCompany.

Speaker 3 (01:02:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:02:40):
And their lack of quality within this fuel
injector.
So we want to help you at everylevel and I promise I'll put
the and he wanted me to make anexclusion just based on him.
He said this is just a one-timedeal.
I said Ford has over over oneand a half million active
recalls right now.
It's not a one-time thing.
And he wanted me to fix allthis.

(01:03:02):
And I said there's no fix forthat, there's nothing that I can
can do, there's no amount ofmoney that we can do, and so
that line is so blurry and hewas mad at me and bad google
review, and he cussed out myfinance manager, my sales
manager, my salesperson, andcreated an entire stink inside
the entire dealership.
And that's how I got a hold ofhim was like, hey, I apologize,

(01:03:24):
what the heck happened?
So then he walked me throughthis whole thing and he had
bought another car somewhereelse and carried over a ton of
negative equity.
Yeah, and then that was ourproblem as well, because he has
a car that he can't fix and allthe things, and it's like we
didn't build this car.
We didn't create the advancenotice of the safety issue.

(01:03:46):
If there's a fix, we're goingto call you very first.
We're going to pick up your car, we're going to fix it and
we'll deliver it right back toyou, um, but there is like there
has to be separation there,because ford ain't getting a bad
google review.
They're not sponsoring yourlittle league team no they're
not taking care of the communityat a sub, sub, sub, sub, sub,

(01:04:06):
sub level, right.
So that's a good thing thatpeople think they understand,
until it.

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
And we try to bridge that gap.
You know, as nice and as gentleas possible, but you know, just
yeah, we could do a wholeepisode on that, no doubt.
So I just struck that deal.

Speaker 3 (01:04:29):
But good question, sailor, really diving in there
hey, always check us out onlewis superstorecom for the
freshest deals, specials andcrossroads conversation
podcastcom.
Hit that like and subscribe.
Check out all 51 episodes we'vehad thus far.
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share it with your friends andfamily and visit our website to

(01:04:51):
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Ep.51 - Shut up and Listen - 2 ears - 1 mouth - The art of listening as a leader!

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep.51 - Shut up and Listen - 2 ears - 1 mouth - The art of listening as a leader!