How to Create a Thriving Dealership Culture with GM Patrick Abad

Description:

Join Tim in this heartfelt episode of TimTalks Automotive Leadership and Beyond, where he sits down with his close friend and esteemed leader, Patrick Abad, general manager of Beaver Toyota of Cumming. Dive into an inspiring conversation about leadership in the automotive industry, the power of effective management, and how to create a thriving dealership culture. Patrick shares his journey from working in Tampa, Florida, to transforming Beaver Toyota in Cumming, Georgia, and the core principles that have driven his success. Discover how clear communication, respect, and opportunities for growth can foster an environment where employees flourish and aspire to their leaders.

Guest:

• Patrick Abad: General Manager of Beaver Toyota of Cumming

Contact Information:

• Follow Patrick Abad on Linkedin

[0:00] - Introduction: The Power of Leadership in Dealerships
Tim introduces the episode and highlights the significance of leadership in the success of automotive dealerships. He introduces his close friend, Patrick Abad, as the guest for this special episode.

[0:26] - Patrick Abad's Leadership Journey
Patrick shares his background and the journey from working in Tampa, Florida, to leading Beaver Toyota in Cumming, Georgia. He reflects on the influence of leaders like John Williams and how those experiences shaped his approach to leadership.

[2:48] - Key Leadership Principles: Coming Through for People
Patrick emphasizes the importance of consistently coming through for people, whether in leadership or in personal interactions. He discusses the lessons learned from both good and bad leaders in the automotive industry.

[5:44] - Building a Culture of Respect and Growth at Beaver Toyota
Patrick explains how he successfully transformed Beaver Toyota by focusing on three core principles: fair pay, opportunities for growth, and respect for employees. He shares how over 50 employees moved from Tampa to join his team, attracted by the positive culture.

[10:50] - Communicating Growth Opportunities Clearly
Patrick discusses the importance of transparent communication in the dealership, including detailed career paths posted throughout the dealership. 

[13:55] - The Impact of Culture on Business Success
Patrick explains how creating a transparent and growth-oriented culture not only retains employees but also drives business success. He emphasizes the need to remove financial guesswork and foster a supportive work environment.

[16:50] - The Role of Humility in Leadership
Tim and Patrick discuss the importance of humility in leadership. Patrick stresses the need to avoid pride and insecurity, which can undermine a positive workplace culture.

[19:19] - Community Engagement and Giving Back
Patrick talks about Beaver Toyota's commitment to community involvement, including their annual charity golf tournament and support for local foster children. 

[22:14] - Advice for Aspiring Leaders in Dealerships
Patrick offers practical advice for sales managers and other leaders in the automotive industry: build equity by consistently supporting your team, lead with grace, and apply the same care to all employees, not just top performers.

[27:25] - Closing Thoughts and Takeaways
Tim wraps up the episode, thanking Patrick for sharing his insights. He encourages listeners to reflect on the importance of humility and community in leadership and to continuously strive for improvement.

[27:54] - Outro
Tim concludes the episode with a reminder that no one is smarter than everyone, and that together, we can all get better. He invites listeners to tune in for future episodes of TimTalks.

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction: The Power of Leadership in Dealerships
• 0:26 Patrick Abad's Leadership Journey
• 2:48 Key Leadership Principles: Coming Through for People
• 5:44 Building a Culture of Respect and Growth at Beaver Toyota
• 10:50 Communicating Growth Opportunities Clearly
• 13:55 The Impact of Culture on Business Success
• 16:50 The Role of Humility in Leadership
• 19:19 Community Engagement and Giving Back
• 22:14 Advice for Aspiring Leaders in Dealerships
• 27:25 Closing Thoughts and Takeaways
• 27:54 Outro

Transcript

00;00;00;26 - 00;00;26;22

Speaker 1

In over three decades, I've learned the truly great car dealerships are only great because of one thing: leadership. So I'm sitting down with the great men and women. Inspiring Automotive on Tim Talks Automotive Leadership and Beyond. You’re welcome, ladies and gentlemen, for yet another edition of TimTalks. And I will tell you that this one, tugs at the heartstrings a little bit.

00;00;26;24 - 00;00;56;06

Speaker 1

This one is going to be special. Because when we talk about leadership, you cannot talk about leadership in automotive without talking about one of my dearest, closest friends, someone that I, you know, not to get mushy just to start, but, that I truly look up to as I try to be a better leader as as dealers, fly their people into his store.

00;00;56;06 - 00;01;21;04

Speaker 1

What he's done in his store is nothing short of incredible. Look, everybody knows I'm in the software space, but I've got to tell you that, yes, there's softwares that will help your business, but nothing will help your business more than leadership. And with that in show, I have the one and only, my dear friend Patrick Abad of Beaver Toyota Patrick.

00;01;21;04 - 00;01;33;08

Speaker 1

Thank you brother. I know you're busy, busy, busy. Everybody's pulling at your coat, trying to get you to go this way and that. Thank you so much. I'm humbled that you took just a few minutes to hang out with us today, brother.

00;01;33;10 - 00;01;42;18

Speaker 2

No, I'm. Thank you, Tim. I'm honored to be here. I'm honored to hang with you. And, Yeah. I love what you're doing, dude. So it was. It's an honor.

00;01;42;20 - 00;02;04;17

Speaker 1

You know? Awesome. Awesome. Well, thank you. And listen, man, I'll just go right into it. You know, we talk about leadership a lot, and there's a gazillion books and everybody's got their favorite. You and I are big John Maxwell fans. In fact, we had Lynne Hudson on, a little while ago, which everyone will see soon.

00;02;04;19 - 00;02;31;25

Speaker 1

And Lynne used to work for you. And I think especially when we're talking about Maxwell, you know, Maxwell says, as a leader, you don't need to, you know, accumulate followers. You need to create other leaders. So. So tell us a little bit about your story. We met a decade ago, 2015, in Tampa. And what you were there, you worked for the, the, the and another incredible leader, another incredible human, John Williams.

00;02;31;27 - 00;02;48;21

Speaker 1

Down in Tampa, Florida. But just kind of tell me, obviously, you got into that story. You started watching John's leadership and then kind of tell me what transformed you and some of the things that that worked in and through your life to, to develop into the leader you are today?

00;02;48;24 - 00;03;13;08

Speaker 2

Well, I mean, I look at my career, and, you know, the thing about leadership for me, and I think I always sum it up, Tim has just come through for people. I think that's the simplest like, and there's, there's you got to get deep into that. But truly, like, you come through for people and throughout my entire career from Tampa, from Orlando to Tampa, now here in Atlanta, I think that's been the secret of it.

00;03;13;08 - 00;03;40;17

Speaker 2

And you know, that I've watched throughout the years in automotive, I've been around good leaders and I've been around bad leaders. And I think the key is to identify which is which and know it. Right. And, and I think the, the good ones, the good ones, that's what I took away from and and the bad ones, it's so funny because when I, when everybody always asks about leadership and people in general and I said they've grown up in the car business, you see two things.

00;03;40;17 - 00;04;01;07

Speaker 2

You see who you want to be, are you see who you don't want to be, and you just got to execute on those two principles. That's who I want to be, and I got to execute. That's who I don't want to be. And I'll never, never be that person. So I would say, if you just live on those three principles in our industry, I think you can, you can, you can get pretty, you can get you can get a lot of followers by doing the right thing with.

00;04;01;10 - 00;04;26;00

Speaker 1

Yeah. That's amazing. I mean, look, we could be here three hours. I, I've heard a lot of the stories of, of you pouring into people, but let's talk about you know, you were obviously in a very successful dealership in Tampa, Florida. You end up moving to Cumming, Georgia, and, yes, growing county extremely fast, you know, expanding.

00;04;26;05 - 00;04;49;11

Speaker 1

But at the same time, obviously the store wasn't doing what it is now, but, with that saw something that is extremely unique and, and quite frankly, I've heard of 1 or 2 people, but you have 40 plus people that left their jobs in Tampa, Florida. And and as far as I know, I live here in Atlanta.

00;04;49;13 - 00;05;13;29

Speaker 1

And, I mean, you're about an hour and 20 minutes from me. There's no beach unless I miss something. There's no beach in Georgia, right? There's no there's no, palm trees, there's no beach. There's no not a lot of maybe some sunscreen because it gets hot down here. But the fact that that's 40 plus people moved their families, over just a few years to come to Beaver.

00;05;13;29 - 00;05;44;26

Speaker 1

Toyota, I think, is an incredible, testament, to you, to Mr. Beaver, and his wife and his family and the leadership that he's provided for you, to you and and for what you've done there. So walk me through that, because it just wasn't like, wave a magic wand and and, you know, all of a sudden, we're selling 600 cars a month where the largest dealership in Georgia, and, you know, everybody wants to come here, kind of walk us through that process because I know it wasn't easy in the beginning.

00;05;44;26 - 00;06;13;17

Speaker 1

And I think that's what, you know, people tuning and dealers tuning and that sales manager, I want to speak to that sales manager that maybe new on the desk. He's brand new in a store. Maybe you're a GSM GM finance salesman, whatever that is. Take us through the process. No names, obviously, but the process of what you had to kind of weed through to get the right culture, to get the right team there at Beaver Toyota.

00;06;13;19 - 00;06;23;26

Speaker 2

Well, I think our industry there's a lot of people who say who they are. And then those people who are like.

00;06;23;28 - 00;06;26;11

Speaker 1

Man and yes, sir, keep going.

00;06;26;18 - 00;06;34;28

Speaker 2

Yeah. And I think, I think a lot in, forgive me for lack of a better word, but there's a lot of convenient Christians too, right? Yeah.

00;06;34;28 - 00;06;36;15

Speaker 1

Amen. Yeah.

00;06;36;17 - 00;07;00;24

Speaker 2

So when I looked at it, there was a lot. That, you know, it's there's a lot of people who moved up and I. And they came to come in Georgia and that they're not in the beaches of Florida. And I'd be the same. But what they wanted was what we offered. Right. It starts with Mr. Beaver. Right. Mr. Beaver allows his operators to run the store, and it's based on principles of doing the right thing.

00;07;01;01 - 00;07;16;15

Speaker 2

Right? Allowing people to be free. We call it free to fail. Make mistakes as long as you learn from them. And more importantly, like the main three principles that I believe in leadership. And you can keep people forever and get them to follow you to the end of the world. Pay them fair. You don't have to overpay them.

00;07;16;15 - 00;07;34;22

Speaker 2

Certainly don't underpaying pay them fair for the job that they're doing. Give them opportunity for growth. I think people need to know what's next, right? They need to know how do I get to the next level? How do I get more responsibility? How do I make more money, right. And treat 

them with respect? Tim, if you do those three things, people will follow you to the end.

00;07;34;25 - 00;07;45;12

Speaker 2

Pay them fair opportunity for growth, treat them with respect. And I think if you ask me why 40 plus there were over 50. Now we're right at 60.

00;07;45;12 - 00;07;46;07

Speaker 1

Sorry I'm.

00;07;46;07 - 00;08;08;07

Speaker 2

Not. And I say that because people still move, right. Because people they're the last couple of years has been really good for everybody. And I think this is just what I think. People are making so much money where they were at, they put up with a lot of nonsense and things have shifted a little bit. People are saying, I'm going to go where people are going to treat me with respect.

00;08;08;15 - 00;08;23;02

Speaker 2

I'm going to go where I have opportunity for growth. Okay. If I'm not going to make X amount of dollars anymore, there's got the offsets. Got to be I gotta love what I do, who I do it with and who I do it for. And I think if you can build a culture and I hate that word, but I believe it.

00;08;23;08 - 00;08;40;19

Speaker 2

If you can build a culture where people love that, they love who what they do, who they do with and who they do it with for you keep them. They're not going anywhere. And what made this deal special is Mr. Billy. Mr. Beaver believes that as well. And then he allows me to operate within that filter of those three things.

00;08;40;19 - 00;08;59;07

Speaker 2

So he always says, and it's so funny, we do very well right where we're extremely financially. Well, we do well as a dealership, but we don't do well because we know how to manage a financial statement. We actually don't do well because we know how to sell cars. We know we do well because we know how to develop our people and, and, and let our people go to work.

00;08;59;07 - 00;09;15;22

Speaker 2

And, you know, he said, he tells me all the time, you know, you hire the right people, get out of their way. How do the right people get the right? But it's bigger than that. It's not hiring good car people, right? It's hiring good humans who know the difference between right and wrong. And they'll die on the sword for right.

00;09;15;22 - 00;09;19;21

Speaker 2

Right. Do the right thing over and over again. Watch what happens.

00;09;19;24 - 00;09;44;15

Speaker 1

You know, it's so, so, so true. Unfortunately, the world that we live in, I like to say everyone is Miss America on a job interview. You know, everybody. We're there's then for the most part, if they're in the front half of the store and even some of the back half as far as service advisors and other just I'm speaking generally everybody's Miss America.

00;09;44;17 - 00;10;07;12

Speaker 1

Everybody's going to they know what you want to hear. So therefore as salespeople we're the easiest closer we're the easiest to be closed. Oh this guy's great. I've been I've been I've been guilty of it so many times. Even as as car now has, has grown. And you know from me in the field that, you know, 250 people and I know you have more employees than that.

00;10;07;12 - 00;10;26;13

Speaker 1

I mean, it's hard to keep up with. And you're like, oh. And I and we use those words, oh, this guy is going to this guy, or this girl is going to be a rockstar, going to be a rockstar. So and we get closed and then we put them behind the chair, we get some and we're like, hold, wait, that is this the same person that that we just talked to?

00;10;26;19 - 00;10;51;29

Speaker 1

So I think it's so important that we are asking deeper questions, not only on interviews but for, you know, references and why. And there's there's reasons people are leaving. I think something unique that you do in your story and quite frankly, it's even challenged me. And, you know, I love you, brother. We have some pretty, pretty deep conversations, whether they, you know, spiritual or about business.

00;10;51;29 - 00;11;12;00

Speaker 1

I mean, we go into the deep, into the pool. And one of the most incredible things that I've learned from you is, you know, having people all over the country, I can't do this, but communicating with our leadership and either and even, you know, people that are whether they're sales managers are where they're at, how they're going to move up.

00;11;12;00 - 00;11;37;06

Speaker 1

You said and I wrote this down opportunity for growth. That's what people what they want. You know, a lot of people want words of affirmation. You know, the seven love languages that book. Right. That's true of everybody. People what words they want affirmation sometimes even believe without more than finances. But something unique that I've seen in your store and your store only is you literally like in your quick lube area.

00;11;37;06 - 00;12;07;05

Speaker 1

If my memory serves, you literally have seven things. Correct me, Patrick, on what they need to do on the wall to move up to the next level, and then the next level knows whether that's an ask a master tech or whatever that that they know where they need to be. And those types of things are right there. There's no question in your dealership, no matter what spot you're in, you know what you need to do because it's communicated, to them.

00;12;07;08 - 00;12;28;04

Speaker 1

You know, I think that one of the biggest, again, to steal Maxwell laws of leadership is vision and communication and the communication and vision. But communication you knock out of the park, can you what drove you to finally say, okay, I'm just going to plaster at different places in the, in the, in the dealership.

00;12;28;07 - 00;12;45;22

Speaker 2

Listening to our people. You know, a lot of times when, when, when people were leaving or quitting or going to work somewhere else, it was like, well, I just didn't. I'm getting a better opportunity. Or they think in their head, right. Well, I don't know what's next. I don't know what my future holds, but, you know, and they got sold a pipe dream somewhere else.

00;12;45;22 - 00;13;03;21

Speaker 2

So I said we had to take that out, people. And it goes actually to the guest experience, to Tim. I think it goes hand in hand. Most people just want to know what's next, what's next, how to win. And I think what's special about that is we take the income side out of it. When you start. Today is a level one express tech.

00;13;03;23 - 00;13;22;11

Speaker 2

You know what you have to learn to make more money, what you how long you have to do it and what you have to, all the, the criteria to get to the next level. But then right there, right on the same board is how much pay you get. So it's not you take out that that guesswork on the pay.

00;13;22;11 - 00;13;37;23

Speaker 2

I think that's I think that's a big part of it. Right. People are like, well how much does he make? How much now? Cool. If I'm a level two and you're a level two, this is what you get. I'm a level four technician in the shop and I have this many AC certifications and I'm a Toyota expert and all these, you know, everybody knows what everybody's going to make.

00;13;37;26 - 00;13;55;03

Speaker 2

We take the guesswork out which creates to me, sometimes I think the financial aspect of our business creates a culture problem. Right? People are always wondering what this guy's making, what that guy's making, and I just want to be transparent on it. But more importantly, it was that what's next thing. Everybody who sat in front of me would always say, what's next?

00;13;55;03 - 00;14;13;07

Speaker 2

What's next, what's not? And I got frustrated saying, I can't communicate to 250 people all the time. Well, wait, I can I can go in there. Department. We have that board in parts. We have the board in the shop, we have that board and express. I have the board up and sell as six different levels of salespeople. We learned through salespeople that they wanted a couple different things.

00;14;13;10 - 00;14;28;12

Speaker 2

I want to do more. I want to learn more. I want to make more cool. So we created six different levels of salespeople, because back in the day, what what we saw was when somebody sold 20 cars to him, they threw the hand up and said, I want to be a sales manager or a manager. I want to be a man.

00;14;28;12 - 00;14;47;05

Speaker 2

Well, why do you want to be a manager? I want to make more money. I want more responsibility and what people didn't realize we could build that right in the sales department. So with six different levels of salespeople, right. The average salesperson makes X amount of dollars. There's a there's the low end. There's a high end. But but the level one salesperson, that person gets to learn the product.

00;14;47;05 - 00;15;04;12

Speaker 2

My level six salesperson, we call it a beeper master can pencil their own car. They'll spend their own deals, appraise their own trades. They're borderline a manager without the responsibility of leading people, without the possibility in some people's eyes, maybe selling people. But those are guys that would probably want a manager position because they need to make more income.

00;15;04;12 - 00;15;17;02

Speaker 2

So I pay them big money to go manage your own business. And then I have the offset of these different levels. Right. So it's it's and it's growth. People see it. They know exactly what's next.

00;15;17;04 - 00;15;47;17

Speaker 1

Listen ladies and gentlemen, if you are new to sitting on a chair in any type of management position, if you've been in this business 30 years, like me, that I think I want to park here for a second. When you talk about putting it in your face, you know, I think one thing and I've never been at this particular place, I'm going to talk about where it literally doesn't look like Black Friday for for country folk like me.

00;15;47;17 - 00;16;11;15

Speaker 1

And that's Bucky's. Have you ever been to a Bucky's? That's not slam. What does Bucky's literally have outside an all over their their their, business? They literally have a tiered system. You can make $275,000 a year being a general manager of a Bucky's, but they've got the entry level. Hey, you come in, you're going to make $15 an hour and they have it all the way down.

00;16;11;15 - 00;16;33;11

Speaker 1

So you know. Exactly. So I think you're on to something there. I really believe, Patrick to back up this. If I'm going to knock on some noggins, including mine. You know, I gave a talk one time, that that's called what's it like to be on the other side of you? Unfortunately, my wife reminds me of that sometimes.

00;16;33;18 - 00;16;50;19

Speaker 1

Tim, you remember that talk? Let me just tell you how it's like to be on the other side of you right now. You suck. So. So I've been on the bad end of that. But in all seriousness, I really believe, and this is what I listen when I. When I think about Patrick and the success that you've had.

00;16;50;21 - 00;17;14;07

Speaker 1

I try not to get I'm that emotional guy because I truly love your brother like a brother. But the thing that blows my mind is the humility. And I think that that and that and lean in here a little bit, ladies and gentlemen. Seriously, just just the great philosopher Michael Jackson said it best. You need to start with the man or the woman in the mirror.

00;17;14;09 - 00;17;39;20

Speaker 1

And as you're listening to this podcast, only you know what's going on in your brain. Only you. And sometimes we think that we are the smartest person in the room. And we think because we've been doing this car business for 1020, 35, five day with that, we know everything and that we walk into sales meetings with the answer.

00;17;39;20 - 00;18;02;21

Speaker 1

No matter what anybody presents already in our head, and no one's going to tell us what a what happens when we lead with humility. When we lead, there's a difference. I tell people all the time, there is a inherent difference between confidence and can see. We need to be confident in our leadership, right? We need to be confident in what we're doing.

00;18;02;21 - 00;18;24;03

Speaker 1

But there's a big difference between conceit when we start that evil word, that five letter word named pride, snakes and snakes. And and I would argue in every dealership and every business that the tube and I think they're almost the same thing. I've said it for years, but I truly believe that you have not allowed this to creep in.

00;18;24;03 - 00;18;45;09

Speaker 1

And when it does creep into your dealership, you squash it. The word pride and insecurity. People get insecure and it goes back to exactly what you were just saying. You were saying everybody knows if I'm a level one, if I'm a level two and it stops the it stops at, oh my gosh, I wonder what she's making. I wonder what he's making.

00;18;45;11 - 00;19;12;17

Speaker 1

He's he he's talking to Patrick behind closed doors. I wonder if they're talking about me all that stuff. Right. And when you eliminate that, you create a culture, that people want to be there, and they people want to believe and work for something bigger than them. Yes. Look, ladies and gentlemen, we're just selling cars. I get, but you don't have to be around, Patrick.

00;19;12;17 - 00;19;33;21

Speaker 1

You don't have to. We just. We are at a golf tournament. Patrick. Patrick has this. The third annual, Beaver Toyota charity golf Tournament. Where where he raised well over $100,000 and gave it to local charities. Yeah, we're just selling cars, but he's giving back. Can you talk about that a little bit? Because you opened up the the.

00;19;33;22 - 00;19;50;11

Speaker 1

And I want people and a lot of people do do this. I do think the majority a lot of dealers do do this with the community. But but being, you know, making a major impact if you want to in your community, you got to give back to the community. You kind of word it better than I did. You kicked off the tournament with that, and I got.

00;19;50;11 - 00;20;11;22

Speaker 2

Everybody my words, my words, and I truly believe this. I truly do. As a successful business in a community, you have a responsibility to give that back to the community that allows you to be successful. Because without that community supporting our car dealership, without that community coming to us and giving us their hard earned money, I wouldn't be able I wouldn't be successful without them.

00;20;11;25 - 00;20;32;24

Speaker 2

So there is, I think it is a, a very hard responsibility that some take and some don't, some it and I just, you know, not to get all spiritual, but I do believe that is as we put it back and we're changing. We're helping change lives from selling cars and servicing cars, that it's one of the reasons why we continue to be successful, I really do.

00;20;32;24 - 00;20;56;10

Speaker 2

And, and I think the real that that it's, it's, it's and that it's more than writing checks. I want to make that like raised over a hundred grand. We put it right back. But it's more than that. Are people. They go out hands and feet in the community and they paint cabins at camps for kids with disabilities are tomorrow.

00;20;56;17 - 00;21;31;05

Speaker 2

Tomorrow, my entire showroom is going to be annihilated with 300 foster kids tomorrow, picking up their backpacks for school completely filled. All all of the Foreside County, partners. There's multiple businesses are going to set up shop and they're going to get backpacks. They'll be here and they're going to get their pencils, and there's on and they're going to walk through and and the sheriff's going to be here, and they're going to have games for the kids and face paint and 300 foster kids are going to need to be feel like they're at home here at Beaver Toyota and and some people, some people don't see it like I want to see it.

00;21;31;08 - 00;21;47;28

Speaker 2

Okay, cool. You the, it's you're doing a good thing in this snap, but but you got a business to run and all that. We are going to be successful because of those things that we do. I firmly believe that. So anyway, so never stop giving back to the community that allows you to be successful without them.

00;21;47;28 - 00;22;14;20

Speaker 1

You're nothing but, Again, overwhelmed, overjoyed. You know, I'll I'll try to keep it together as I am now officially on the back line of life, right? I mean, things change, you know, you follow, follow. Pierce and vinegar. 20s, 30s up the ladder in the dealership. As you know, ten years ago. We start car now and we've had some success.

00;22;14;20 - 00;22;46;11

Speaker 1

And if you want to be, you know, you want to be be humble, and beat up, be an entrepreneur. But but through all of that, if, if all else fails, man, I want to make a difference in the I, in the lives of people that I come in contact with. Like like I want. And I would argue that, brother, you do that to the next level.

00;22;46;11 - 00;23;09;26

Speaker 1

And this is just not, a facet of, you know, blowing smoke, to each other. I'm just telling you, man, something happens when you wake up grateful, and you approach the day with, how can I be the hands and feet? How can I, how can I serve? How can I make that person? How can I pour into that?

00;23;10;03 - 00;23;31;19

Speaker 1

I'll tell you this. I've told this story before. I was 17 years old, 17 years old at the great automotive dealership. Jake Sweeney shout out to Jake Sweeney Automotive. Sarah, Robert, Kobe, all you guys are still there, partners of car now, which I'm humbled that this little 17 year old punk kid back in 1989 started selling cars.

00;23;31;21 - 00;23;53;05

Speaker 1

And you took a shot on me. But I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it. Sales manager by the name of Dave and I. And I came in guns ablaze, and I had I had a little talent, and I started selling cars right off the bat. But then all the old, you know, the old car dogs that have been around since the 50s and 60s, you know, it's the 80s now, 89 and they're telling me, you know, all this bad stuff.

00;23;53;08 - 00;24;15;25

Speaker 1

And one of the sales managers saw that, and he came down and he said, hey, Tim, let's take a walk. And all he did, all he did. And it may be just this for you. All he did was walk me up the hill on the lot. Still, the car lot. And right across the street we I never went hungry, but we didn't have a lot going up.

00;24;15;28 - 00;24;37;02

Speaker 1

And he pointed at this house, which is about three times the size of the house that I lived in and grew up. And he said, he said, Timmy. And he said, you have a lot of talent. I haven't seen it. And he said, this business will be so good to you if you just block out the noise and do what you have been doing.

00;24;37;02 - 00;25;01;02

Speaker 1

You can afford a house like that someday. And as maybe materialistic as you think that might be, or superficial as you think, that's a he took the time 30 plus years ago night, 35 years ago, almost to take a ten minute conversation with me. Talk to me. He saw what was going on and it changed everything it gave me.

00;25;01;02 - 00;25;17;19

Speaker 1

If I took a I still have a picture of that house. I took it because I drive by it every time I go to see my dad. Now, it's still there. I still take a picture of that house, and now my house is bigger than the house. So. So I mean, we have been blessed. God has been blessed not only materially, but just by the lives and the people.

00;25;17;19 - 00;25;42;08

Speaker 1

And you, brother, that God has put in my life to as we do life together, hopefully we can come together as a community. Car dealers, car men and women are some of the best humans on the planet, some of the biggest hearts. So as we land the plane we want to keep, we want to let I know people are busy, and probably hopefully commuting to and from work.

00;25;42;08 - 00;26;06;20

Speaker 1

Or maybe you're at lunch, but if you were to talk to that, that sales manager, GSM, that person sales that's struggling and trying to make a difference in maybe a brand new store make a difference, and they've had the same voice in the store for for five, ten years. Who knows. What would you do if it was just you talking to them, about changing the culture and being the leader.

00;26;06;20 - 00;26;10;00

Speaker 1

That makes a big difference in their store. What would you tell them?

00;26;10;03 - 00;26;39;11

Speaker 2

I would say there's three takeaways. Build equity, meaning do things for people over and over and over and over again. Without wanting anything back. Do it. Do it for them. Be a yes leader. Find a way to say yes every time you find a say yes, whether it's saying yes to them taking off extra time for their family, yes to a car deal that you shouldn't really actually make, find a way to be a yes leader.

00;26;39;13 - 00;26;57;11

Speaker 2

Have grace. People make mistakes. Allow them to allow them to learn from those mistakes. The more grace you give, the more, the more the more buying you'll have. And, and I think the last thing I would say is what you would do for the one do for the many. Here's what I mean by that.

00;26;57;13 - 00;27;19;00

Speaker 2

There's there's that one person in the store. He's he's that maybe the top performer. Good attitude. He does a lot of things right. He would do so much for him if he called you and said he was moving tomorrow and needed help. Half the store would jump in the car and drive to his house. We'd all do that for that high performer that that that one awesome team member would do it for him or her.

00;27;19;03 - 00;27;25;00

Speaker 2

Do it for everyone and watch what you brother.

00;27;25;03 - 00;27;53;29

Speaker 1

You've dropped some gold nuggets today. Thank you for for carving out a few minutes of your busy schedule. Ladies and gentlemen, what an incredible session today. Thank you for for dropping in. Thank you, Patrick, for your time. Listen, click on the link for more info. Formation below where you can find more. Tim talks. And, as I always say, listen, no one ever is smarter than.

00;27;53;29 - 00;28;05;22

Speaker 1

Excuse me. No one is smarter than everyone. Guys, we'll just continue to try to get better together. We love you. We will see you next time on Tim Talk. See you soon.

00;28;05;25 - 00;28;09;13

Unknown

And I.

00;28;09;15 - 00;28;13;09

Unknown

I. Give you.