Digital Dealer - May 2019 - 25

competence, and character. We look
for smart people, obviously. People
who will fit in with our organization.
Most of my problems in business were
the result of bad hires. A lot of that
can be traced back to when we hired
the person, we should have known or
dug deeper to learn more about the
person. I think the problems that all
businesses have with employees can
be traced back to hiring people who
lack character. My motto is: "When
you need people badly, you hire bad
people."
DEALER MAGAZINE: Which DMS
and CRM solutions do you use?
DOUG: DealerTrack has been our
DMS provider for over ten years.
We're a very satisfied DealerTrack
user. We're on DriveCentric and CARResearch for our CRM. And we use
Dealer Inspire on our websites.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Let's jump
into marketing. In what ways do you
utilize social media?
DOUG: We've been very involved
online since the beginning. We were
one of the first car dealerships in
the world to have a social media
account, Facebook account, YouTube,
Twitter. We've been very active in
social media. Instead of having a
group account, we have a separate
Facebook page and advertising for
each of our entities. We've got four
different franchises: KIA, two Hyundai
stores, and a Chrysler Dodge Jeep
Ram store. Then, we have a group
site as well as a couple of credit sites.
So, we have seven different channels,
seven different Twitter accounts,
seven different Facebook pages, and
I've created what I call different swim
lanes for each of our brands. Each one
has its own website, Twitter, YouTube,
and Facebook presence.
DEALER MAGAZINE: From
reviewing your websites, it's obvious
you use a lot of video in your
marketing. How's that working?
DOUG: I think the three biggest
trends today in digital marketing

are mobile, video, and social. In my
opinion, the automobile business
lends itself extremely well to video.
One of the sexiest things on the
internet, in my opinion, is real cars
really for sale by people who really
have cars.
What I spoke on last year at Digital
Dealer was the opportunity to use
video, social, and mobile when it
comes to servicing cars. For instance,
if you're doing a brake job on a car or
replacing a dirty filter, it literally lends
itself to a video showing a clean filter
versus a dirty filter.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Do your
service technicians text customers to
keep them informed on the progress
on their car?
DOUG: Yes. They have iPads in the
service drives so they can text or email
people quotes and pictures of their
vehicle directly from their tablets. It's
very easy in either DriveCentric or Car
Research to text and send videos.
DEALER MAGAZINE: With all the
technology you're utilizing, how do
you keep your employees up-to-date
on their skill set?
DOUG: I believe the three big
things it takes to be successful in the
car business are skills, attitude, and
work habits. The trend toward mobile
lends itself to telephone training. As
mobile gains more ground, people are
less apt to submit a form, and they're
more apt to just press the call button.
Phone calls are coming back in vogue.
Traditionally, car people have been
terrible on the phone. We use the
Alan Ram phone training process and
consider it the best phone training in
the world.
DEALER MAGAZINE: I'd like to
point to one specific program you offer
that benefits the community, your
"Help on Wheels" program. What is
it, and how did you come up with the
idea?
DOUG: Back during the Great
Recession in '08, like a lot of
companies did at the time, we did

away with the company Christmas
party. We felt our employees were
already blessed in that they had a job
in a warm place to work and a steady
paycheck coming in. A lot of people
weren't nearly as fortunate. Instead of
a party, we bought and served dinner
for those less fortunate at a local
rescue center for the homeless.
Out of that we started thinking of
other ways to help. From my previous
ministry partners in bringing Promise
Keepers to the area, we started "Help
on Wheels" and have been doing it
now for ten years. Those ministry
partners are 100 percent solely
responsible for picking the recipient,
and my job is simply to provide the
vehicle.
We're able to put a vehicle in the
hands of a deserving person who
is not looking for a handout but is
looking for a leg up. We also provide
a little car ownership counseling to
each recipient. Car ownership is a
responsibility. We originally called it
"Working Cars for Working People."
We're not giving people brand new
cars; these are point A to point B cars.
We had five ministry partners and
each one could select two recipients.
Since then, some of the ministers
retired or moved away. We've given
away 50 cars over the last ten years.
I think before this program, all
the cars I gave away went to the
wrong people, and the right person
is probably not the one who is asking
for a car. The ministry people deal
with poverty and tough situations
every day. They know which people
are trying to better themselves and
are worthy recipients, and I trust their
judgment.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Are you
doing anything special to attract
millennials as either customers or
employees?
DOUG: I think everything we're
doing with video, mobile, and social
media attract millennials. I think our

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