Digital Dealer - April 2018 - 30

C O V E R S TO RY

Continued from pg. 29

RETAIL CAREER?

I really believe there is some truth
to the old adage "Win on Sunday,
Sell on Monday." I was a Viper racer
before I was a Viper retailer. In fact,
for the past nine years in a row, I
have been the #1 volume Dodge
Viper dealer in the world. This was
mostly because of relationships I
developed at the track. These relationships with the people who really
love sportscars make a huge difference. The people buying these cars
know if you are a poser. I have also
become a better salesperson because
I can talk about handling characteristics, or braking, or the differential,
or any other topic in a way that most
people cannot. I would also say that
my racing has helped improve my
relationships with my partners. It
makes me more relaxed. It keeps me
from micro-managing them. It gives
me some perspective outside of the
car business.

NOW, I'D LIKE TO BACK UP
A LITTLE. COULD YOU TELL
US HOW YOU GOT STARTED IN
THE RETAIL AUTO INDUSTRY?

Sure. I am a third-generation car
dealer. I wanted nothing to do with
the business when I went to college
to get an engineering degree. However, I fell in love with the business
during an internship between my
junior and senior year at Texas
A&M. I told my wife she could take
a job anywhere in the USA, and I
could get a job in the car business.
We ended up in Austin, Texas,
where I sold cars at Covert Ford. I
was impatient to grow quickly, and I
eventually asked my father to be his
Used Car Manager. I worked for my
dad for five years.
Eventually, I got an opportunity
to purchase a very small Ford store
in Port Lavaca, Texas. I learned
the car business in Houston, and I
thought this was how the entire retail automotive world worked. When
we chose to continue to operate the
little Port Lavaca store just like we
ran things in Houston, we saw lots
of success very quickly.

APRIL 2018

WHAT IS YOUR MANAGEMENT PHILOSOPHY?

I have been blessed with attracting and retaining a bunch of
extremely great people. I really believe a big part of my management
philosophy is about relationships. If
we have the right people in the right
place, then it is all about supporting
them. I empower people to run their
own businesses.
Also, I believe in sharing. I don't
want them to "act like an owner"; I
want them to BE an owner. It is all
about finding the person who is the
right fit for our management style.
It is always the same-it is all about
people.

ARE THERE ANY SPECIAL
SKILL SETS YOU LOOK FOR
WHEN HIRING?

I am always saying that you can't
get to know someone in an interview. We have recruited graduates
at various colleges over the years,
and I have learned a ton from this
experience. First impressions are
not always the correct measure
of a great fit for this business. We
rely heavily on the Omnia profile,
which is an independently-validated
behavioral assessment that takes
about 15 minutes to complete. This
has been our best tool for determining whether or not someone has the
personality traits to be successful in
this business, especially since the
test can be applied specifically to
retail automotive. I am a huge believer in the Omnia assessment and
we only hire people with a positive
profile.

HOW DO YOU ENSURE YOUR
EMPLOYEES ARE UP-TO-DATE
ON PRODUCTS AND PROCESSES?

Much of this is based on our results. If our people are not effective,
then it is our fault as leaders. I am
not someone who wants to be at
the bleeding edge on products and
processes. I have been there, and
I've developed the wisdom that "old
school" is still sometimes the most
effective. I look at key metrics, and I

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

look for the effectiveness of our people. If they need help with product
knowledge or process knowledge,
then we will teach them and work
with them. We are always learning
and growing, but never forgetting
the mistakes from the past.

WHAT STEPS DO YOU
FOLLOW TO HELP CREATE A
POSITIVE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

In my opinion, there are no
"cookie cutter" steps. It is all about
people. It is an attitude. Whether or
not a customer has a great experience or a poor experience can always be pointed back to the person
they worked with. If we have a servant attitude towards the customer
and we do what we say we will do,
then we create a positive experience
for the customer. We definitely
follow processes, but it is not about
the process. It is about how we
interact with the customer. As long
as we tell them why we are doing
something and they understand
the reason behind the process, they
are OK with it. If the customer has
full control of the process, then you
will typically not sell them anything
and they aren't going to be happy
about their experience. We are the
experts on the best and quickest
way to make a decision on buying a
car, and we genuinely enjoy helping
customers do this. It all comes down
to communication.

WITH 17 STORES, INCLUDING BOTH SMALL AND LARGE
STORES, HOW DO YOU MEASURE BUSINESS SUCCESS
WITHIN AND ACROSS YOUR
GROUP?

I like to joke with my partners
that it is simple: I want to sell more,
make more, and keep more. From
a business standpoint, I measure
gross generated by each department, because this is what ultimately pays the bills. Then, I measure
each department and each store
based on net income as a percent of
gross, because this is how I choose
to measure expenses. This net-to-

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - April 2018