Digital Dealer - March 2019 - 12

Road Trip to DD26 | April 9-11, 2019 | Orlando

Cover Story (Continued)

THE TRICK, OF COURSE, IS IMPLEMENTATION. A
LOT OF DEALERSHIPS HAVE THE KNOWLEDGE BUT
FAIL TO EXECUTE DUE TO POOR TRAINING OR LACK
OF A SUPPORTIVE CULTURE."
them whatever they need to succeed,
whether it's on-going training or a
family-friendly work schedule. Please
read to learn more about his plans,
as well as what he considers to be the
biggest hurdle facing the car business.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Good
afternoon, Brad, and thanks for
agreeing to be interviewed. We usually
start by asking for a brief history
of our interview subject. With that
in mind, please tell us how you got
started in the car business.
BRAD: It was 1988 and I was just
out of college, living in Joilet, Illinois,
in an apartment with somebody who
worked in the parts department at a
huge dealership in town, Bill Jacobs
Chevrolet. My roommate thought I
should talk with the store's general
sales manager because he and I had
played baseball at the same college
but at diﬀerent times. That baseball
connection paid oﬀ, and I was
immediately hired.
The general sales manager took
me under his wing. I was there for 25
years and worked my way up from
top salesperson to sales manager to
general sales manager and, eventually,
to general manager.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What still
interests or intrigues you most about
the business?
BRAD: The entrepreneurial and
competitive aspects. It's a great
business for being creative and testing
out ideas, and you get 100 percent of
what you put into it.
I describe myself as a passionate
seeker of best practices. The trick, of
course, is implementation. A lot of
dealerships have the knowledge but
fail to execute due to poor training or
lack of a supportive culture. It's not
easy putting ideas in the ﬁeld and then

12

MARCH 2019

having the team execute those ideas.
But it's there for the taking:
improving lead handling or the
sales process or service retention.
Maximizing these areas will show up
in your ﬁnancials.
DEALER MAGAZINE: You're
working for a company that has deep
retail automotive roots, dating back
to 1895. Why do you think Ferman
has survived and succeeded in such a
competitive industry when so many
other dealerships have faltered?
BRAD: The Ferman family early
on encouraged personal relationships
with their teams. They truly treat us
like family members. I'm new to the
organization, but there are a lot of
long-term employees who work hard
and share the same sense of loyalty
to the Ferman family. I think that's
rare in this industry. People ask me on
social media for advice and I tell them
they really need to get into a good
store with a good culture. It makes a
huge diﬀerence in your career.
DEALER MAGAZINE: A business
with such longevity must also have
deep connections with its local
community. Please tell us about
the various charities or non-proﬁts
Ferman Chevrolet supports.
BRAD: Mr. Ferman's civic and
community involvement includes past
Chairman and Campaign Chairman
of The United Way of Hillsborough
County and past Director of the
Community Foundation of Tampa
Bay. He is past Chairman of the
Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce
and its Committee of 100, past
Chairman of The Tampa Museum of
Art, past Chairman of The Florida
Aquarium, and a past member of
the Board of Directors of the Ocean
Conservancy.

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

Mrs. Ferman, likewise, is
involved with a number of Tampa
organizations and philanthropies.
She currently serves on the Board
of Directors of Moﬃtt Cancer
Center and is an active member of
Hyde Park Methodist Church. She
has served as Chair of the Board
for United Way Suncoast and as
President of Meals on Wheels, where
she maintains a role as a route driver.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Could you
talk a bit about your management
philosophy? For example, are you
more of a hands-on or hands-oﬀ
manager?
BRAD: I would classify myself as
a very hands-on cheerleader type.
I enjoy being out in the front lines,
mixing it up with the team, and
believe my job is to observe a lot and
manage by walking around.
We have quite a few sayings here
at the dealership. One is called
"Nothing bad happens here." I
borrowed that from one of my
trainers Mike Udell. Another saying
from a culture standpoint is "What
is true?" That means the team feels
open to say something is not working
or we should go in a diﬀerent
direction. Basically, what they're
saying is I'm wrong. I love it because
I don't want to hear what people
think I want to hear, I want to hear
about my blind spots.
That pretty much sums up my
philosophy: it's centered around
encouragement and building people
up, not bringing them down.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What do
you look for when hiring new talent?
BRAD: Desire is number one. It's
that feeling you get when you wake
up before the alarm clock because
you're so excited to come to work. I
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