TimTalks: Automotive Leadership and Beyond

Where Vision Meets Problems with Danny Zaslavsky

• CarNow • Season 2 • Episode 19

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In this episode, Tim sits down with Danny Zaslavsky to explore personal resilience, leadership, and innovation in the automotive world. From growing up as a Ukrainian immigrant to building a tech-driven dealership and co-founding VINCUE, Danny shares how purpose and culture have guided his journey. 

Connect with Danny on LinkedIn. 


[00:00–01:03] Welcome Danny 

Tim introduces Danny Zaslavsky, founder of VINCUE, setting the stage for a conversation on leadership, innovation, and growth in automotive. 

[01:04–02:27] VINCUE’s Rise 

Danny’s presence at industry events like NADA is highlighted, leading to a deeper dive into his personal story and the birth of VINCUE. 

[02:27–04:13] Early Lessons 

Danny recounts growing up in Kansas City, learning English, and being raised in a close family. 

[04:13–06:07] Entering the Business 

His dad moved from shoe repair to car sales, and by 14, Danny was selling cars, discovering a love for business and technology. 

[06:07–07:49] Early Innovation 

Danny recalls how a young tech whiz built them software that evolved into VinSolutions—an early moment that shaped his future. 

[07:49–12:03] Scaling Challenges 

After his father’s stroke, Danny had to take over. This challenge became the spark that led to VINCUE’s formation. 

[12:03–14:08] Turning Loss into Leadership 

Personal loss deepened Danny’s drive to build something meaningful, turning pain into purpose. 

[14:08–15:28] Vision and Innovation 

He reflects on how adversity fuels innovation and the importance of surrounding yourself with people who share your vision. 

[15:28–18:25] Traits of Success 

Tim and Danny discuss how top dealer groups lead with humility, consistency, and servant leadership. 

[18:25–20:33] CarNow x VINCUE 

They explain why VINCUE and CarNow partnered: to simplify workflows and better align with today’s connected consumer journey. 

[20:33–22:08] Reducing Overload 

The two reflect on how the integration aims to streamline the experience for both staff and shoppers. 

[22:08–24:15] Removing Ego 

Danny shares how VINCUE delivers consistent, data-backed appraisals, eliminating guesswork and ego. 

[24:15–26:24] Leveraging AI 

VINCUE’s platform adapts to each dealership’s market strengths, using machine learning to optimize pricing and inventory flow. 

[26:24–30:11] Aligning for Growth 

Danny emphasizes the power of aligning service and sales, helping customers while improving internal dealership collaboration. 

[30:11–31:56] Staying Innovative 

Danny shares how staying hands-on keeps him innovative, crediting Tim’s leadership as inspiration. 

[31:56–33:19] Closing Thoughts 

The episode ends with a message of gratitude and resilience, reminding us that we get better together, one day at a time. 


00:00:00:00 - 00:00:29:26
Speaker 1
Welcome everyone to yet another episode of Tim Talks. This is pretty special. I know I say that a lot, but I have the privilege of working with talking to hang out with some incredible humans. Today we have said human. That is my dear friend that's doing some incredible things in the automotive space. His company is growing leaps and bounds, and it's because of leadership, among other things, that we are going to un pack.

00:00:29:28 - 00:00:55:15
Speaker 1
And that is the one and only Danny Zalewski. And, Danny, welcome, one of the founders of van Q dealership principle, among other things. Welcome to Tim Talks, brother. Thank you so much. As busy as you are, juggling not only a couple dealerships, but Vin Q and everything else you're doing to spend a few minutes with us to hopefully, get a little better, when we leave than when we came.

00:00:55:15 - 00:00:56:09
Speaker 1
Welcome my friend.

00:00:56:09 - 00:01:03:21
Speaker 1
Thanks for the chance to have a voice and and share. I mean, this is, this is the front line where we belong.

00:01:04:08 - 00:01:32:19
Speaker 1
Yeah, absolutely. And a lot of you, you know, every time that we do a, you know, you do a session, whether it be at a pash event or wherever or nadda or digital dealer or wherever, it's always a packed house. And you know what you're doing there with Vin. Q I want people to, in fact, when we were at the, I think it was MRC in November, Brian, in his infinite wisdom,

00:01:34:09 - 00:01:42:07
Speaker 1
Yeah.

00:01:42:10 - 00:01:43:24
Speaker 1
We did.

00:01:43:24 - 00:01:56:00
Speaker 1
back to back and that was, that was exciting, man. That was, that was encouraging to be able to do that right alongside with you. But but I want to take people back. I mean, people see you at the events.

00:01:56:03 - 00:02:27:12
Speaker 1
Vin, Q is becoming a household name, in automotive. But I want people to know the story of Danny. I want people to know, you know, there's so many similarities with our company car now and how we started in the dealership that I didn't own. But I was sitting behind the desk of buying cars, selling cars, managing salespeople, working deals, everything that you do at the dealership and wanted to create a better experience for, consumers.

00:02:27:18 - 00:02:52:15
Speaker 1
And Carnell was born, and you did literally the almost the exact same thing. The only difference is you actually your family owns those dealerships. So take us back. Tell us a little bit how you grew up in the car business. And, and then all the way up to a successful, couple of dealerships and then building your acquisition team and then Vin Q And I'll just as they say, first time caller, long time listener, I will shut up and listen.

00:02:52:15 - 00:03:17:21
Speaker 1
You know, I think, the there's some, like, loud lessons I've learned in my life and, one that I know has been whispering in my ear, and now is probably the loudest lesson is, is your why is more important than your what? And so why we're doing this is so, It it bleeds into literally every product we do.

00:03:17:22 - 00:03:42:11
Speaker 1
And for me, that started with my immigrant parents, they escaped, Ukraine. We got, adopted, sponsored by the family that, said we're going to pay for your first year of life. And that's how we ended up in Kansas City through the Jewish Community Center. Literally. That's why we're here. And then some of my family went to Chicago, and some of my family went to, LA, and just immigrants.

00:03:42:11 - 00:03:58:12
Speaker 1
Right. And with immigrants, they all come with some ability. My dad had, rented a little shoe repair business, and my mom went to work for a clothing factory, and then we lived in a duplex. My grandparents on one side, me on the other side of my parents. And then my grandparents raised me. And I learned English when I was eight years old.

00:03:58:14 - 00:04:13:15
Speaker 1
Because I learned it in, in, first grade in kindergarten and, and got held back because of, because I didn't speak English. So it was kind of awesome, honestly, because my parents gave me the chance to kind of figure it

00:04:13:15 - 00:04:17:09
Speaker 1
out, right? They they were figuring it out. I had to figure it out.

00:04:17:09 - 00:04:28:27
Speaker 1
And it was a really cool childhood in that way. But also because of that, I kind of was raised by adults. I didn't have that many kids as friends. And so that kind of made me always want to

00:04:28:27 - 00:04:39:14
Speaker 1
be an adult, which I'm love. Loving being an adult. But, I also always yearned to have fun in.

00:04:39:14 - 00:04:59:22
Speaker 1
And that, I think, is part of the why I'm doing what I'm doing. Because, Tim, I got to tell you, I genuinely feel like I'm exactly where I belong at. Exactly the right time. My dad had a shoe repair business at the bottom of Johnson Drive and, after school, because we didn't have daycare. I lived in that metro business.

00:04:59:22 - 00:05:21:06
Speaker 1
And, at the top of that little hill was this, crappy little car dealership that had, like, four cars on it. And, my dad had always dreamed of owning a Ford Mustang because that was like the American Dream car. And, one day, I and my dad and I, walked up this hill, to go look at this Ford Mustang.

00:05:21:08 - 00:05:29:25
Speaker 1
And it it was red convertible, which I have a story about later because, I ended up, hurting that Mustang. So

00:05:29:25 - 00:05:36:13
Speaker 1
that's another story we'll talk about. But. But but the,

00:05:36:13 - 00:05:47:27
Speaker 1
my dad bought a car, and he built a relationship with the guy who was running the car dealership. Keep in mind, it was like, tiny had, like, 6 or 7 cars on it.

00:05:47:29 - 00:06:07:02
Speaker 1
And, in buying that car, he discovered, his ability to say, hey, what if I come in moonlight here and, like, work and help sell some cars? And so here's my dad going back and forth between the shoe repair business and so he could afford to have somebody staff the shoe repair business because, he was selling cars up there, and, and that was my life.

00:06:07:02 - 00:06:26:04
Speaker 1
That's how I grew up until my dad became business partners with this guy. And like many immigrant kid, I grew up, doing whatever needed to be done washing cars. I tried fixing them at some point. I sucked at that, but I got, I bet my dad I couldn't, excuse me that I could sell cars.

00:06:26:04 - 00:06:47:28
Speaker 1
And at 14, he let me sell cars. And I remember thinking, I really love technology. And my dad and I went, in 2000 to 1 ish to a Sears on Metcalf and about our very first computer, and we bought it from this kid. And I remember my dad being the, you know, deal maker, that he is bribing

00:06:47:28 - 00:06:50:03
Speaker 1
this kid to come to our dealership and install it.

00:06:50:03 - 00:07:11:24
Speaker 1
So he was like, cool. So we buy this kid, he shows up to the dealership, figures out right away that, we're doing everything manually. AutoTrader just came out and we were going to AutoTrader to, list the vehicle. Then we were going, to cars to list the vehicle and so forth. And the guy goes, how about I build some software so that you can do that, in one place or, like, cool.

00:07:12:01 - 00:07:41:01
Speaker 1
So he built Vin stickers, that turned into Vin solutions. And that was Matt. And Matt, was the guy that planted the first seeds in me of what today I call impact. Because here's a guy who had, the ability. Right? Execution. But we planted in him vision of of like, here's the problem. And he made the two intersect and then turned it

00:07:41:01 - 00:07:49:09
Speaker 1
into a company that, in my opinion, transformed early, the automotive landscape.

00:07:49:11 - 00:07:52:19
Speaker 2
Yeah.

00:07:52:27 - 00:08:13:09
Speaker 1
That. So, I stayed. We never had anything to do financially with that business. But I stayed in contact with Matt and we, you know, I watched him grow, and solutions and all the things that he did. And, in the meantime, here I am, trying to grow the dealership. And I remember loving marketing in a car dealership.

00:08:13:09 - 00:08:35:23
Speaker 1
But the reason I love marketing, I couldn't put words to it back then. It's because that's where technology was in a car dealership, right? You got to. You got to be the person that, vetted vendors and figured out how things are connected and all this kind of stuff, and I just absolutely loved it. But then as I grew in the dealership, as our dealership grew, we started doing a lot of really cool stuff.

00:08:35:25 - 00:08:53:21
Speaker 1
Around 2015, my dad had a stroke, and, that's when I had to grow up really, really fast. At that point, I was going the store. But jamming the store for us at least, was different than running the store, because jamming the store didn't mean that I actually had to, always sign the checks

00:08:53:21 - 00:08:54:12
Speaker 1
for payroll.

00:08:54:12 - 00:08:59:05
Speaker 1
Does that make sense? Which is a difference that have responsibilities, then, you know, just

00:08:59:05 - 00:09:15:16
Speaker 1
bringing in revenue. And my dad had figured out this incredible way to acquire cars. He passed out Nextel phones to new car dealers and said, when you're trading for a car, page me and I'll come buy it. And I remember going to O'Neil Honda later to the Hendrick stores.

00:09:15:21 - 00:09:38:21
Speaker 1
We went to, Worth Harley Davidson because they traded for cars. We went to Camping World because they traded for cars. And, that's how we stocked our lots. And we started figuring out, cool, we can retail some, we can actually auction some, we can wholesale some. And and that was, the method. But when my dad had a stroke, all that landed on me and I was like, gosh, how do I scale this?

00:09:38:21 - 00:10:00:12
Speaker 1
Because right now this isn't scalable. And I called Matt and I said, hey, dude, I think I have a business idea, and I could really, I could really use your help. And he goes, sure. Let's, let's me. So for like, weeks, we would meet for breakfast and I would sketch out these ideas, and, at some point he goes, hey, I know somebody.

00:10:00:19 - 00:10:20:20
Speaker 1
I go, okay, he goes, well, he used to be a developer of solutions, and he has the beginning of something pretty cool. I go, all right, what is it? He goes, well, it's kind of the beginning of a little appraisal tool. They have maybe 20, 30 customers, and, but they don't have, a car person in there really, helping them innovate.

00:10:20:23 - 00:10:28:28
Speaker 1
And I said, well, I should meet this person. And Matt is he introduced me to Chris. And, and that's that's how we got here.

00:10:29:04 - 00:10:55:01
Speaker 1
Now that. That's an amazing, amazing story. It's it's just it's it's so cool. I mean, just to see our stories are are so similar. You know, you talk to your people, our booth. We're right next to each other at nada. Just seeing the energy, the culture. Let's let's unpack that. A little bit. You know, you talked about I saw a post that you made.

00:10:55:04 - 00:11:17:05
Speaker 1
You talked about leading with heart. You know, to create that culture. I always say, you know, it's the it's the the the steal from John Maxwell. I think the two most important laws of leadership are, number one, the law of attraction, you know, creating something that people are saying, what is going on here, Carnell? What is going on here at van Q?

00:11:17:05 - 00:11:37:07
Speaker 1
What is happening? And then again, the law of duplication, duplicating that energy, duplicating that process, letting the ego, you know, let go. But but talk about, leading with heart and how you lead your team and how you continue to put water on the fire because, look, there's no perfect company. Look, we in our company have gone through, some, some struggle.

00:11:37:07 - 00:11:50:06
Speaker 1
Every company very seldom, you know, nobody gets out of this thing called life unscathed without, you know, hills and valleys and and but just talk about a little bit. What do you mean by leading with with heart? Unpack that a little bit for us.

00:11:50:12 - 00:12:03:16
Speaker 1
Yeah. So, When I was going through really tough times when my dad had a stroke. I also the the person I was married to, passed away. And so all this stuff happened at once, and, you know, you always think as a human. Well, that's not

00:12:03:16 - 00:12:07:18
Speaker 1
going to happen to me. You know, that's, that's not going to happen to me.

00:12:07:18 - 00:12:19:01
Speaker 1
And then, you know, later, somebody called it, a Season of Life. And, man, it was a really hard season. And that season lasted like three years. And,

00:12:19:01 - 00:12:35:17
Speaker 1
I thought I was immune to getting hit over the head. I was heard about other people kind of going through these seasons of life. And, you know, it kind of took me back to, watching how much my parents struggled, to figure it out.

00:12:35:20 - 00:12:55:03
Speaker 1
You know, you learn all these lessons in reverse. And I remember thinking, I'm going to embrace it. I'm going to figure out a way to not become a victim of it, but to, use it as fuel to, and not turn into bitterness, but turn it into love. And so in in building.

00:12:55:03 - 00:13:16:18
Speaker 1
Thank you. You know, I think we define company uniquely in that it's a company of people no different than when you have company to your at to your house. Right. For a party. And that party has culture. People hopefully have fun and they feel embraced and they feel like they have a purpose to be there. And and that's really what I wanted here.

00:13:16:18 - 00:13:44:29
Speaker 1
I think you, we didn't set out to, compete with anybody. We set out to solve a problem. At my car dealership, we saw how there were 5 or 6 different systems required just to manage a car. And, at first I thought that was cool, having three monitors and 17 tabs open until I kind of began to resent it and go, this isn't fuel efficient.

00:13:45:03 - 00:14:08:28
Speaker 1
This doesn't feel like it is creating better communication because we're all in silos learning different systems. And, I was like, gosh, this is exciting. I have the privilege to look back on ten, 15 years of innovation, of how we got here. And I have a vision for the future. Maybe we can assemble some people to create that vision and actually bring it to life in, in, in building that, there's another quote that I heard.

00:14:08:28 - 00:14:32:27
Speaker 1
Pain pushes, vision pulls. And I freaking love that quote, because you will be pushed by Paine and to the point where you will surrender and fall to your knees and say, enough's enough. This is the way it's always been. Nothing's going to change. Or you will say, screw it. There's got to be a better way. And then vision will start pulling you and I don't believe anybody has ever accomplished anything of significant value without both.

00:14:33:00 - 00:14:56:03
Speaker 1
I think some people have visions, some people have execution. Not many have both. And so when you meet those people, love them, hold on to them. Empower them, because leadership is that, it is helping other people. Scales. So we had an idea and we started, looking for people that, believed in that vision and mission.

00:14:56:03 - 00:15:12:26
Speaker 1
And, you know this, Tim, it's not all clear at any one time, right? It's all being crystallized as you kind of figure it out. So that was kind of the beginning of it. And, and for a long time, you know,

00:15:12:26 - 00:15:17:29
Speaker 1
people call your baby ugly, and that's okay, because it's not, it's it's still growing.

00:15:18:01 - 00:15:28:00
Speaker 1
And so we had to figure out how to, mature through every season. And, and quite frankly, we are we are, no different today in that, way of being.

00:15:28:12 - 00:15:53:28
Speaker 1
You know, it's amazing. We had Troy Duhon of the Premier Auto Group. Several. In fact, I think it was the first episode we did this year. We recorded, and he said something very similar. You know, he's gone through some extent losing 2 to 2 children. Obviously, losing everything but one dealership. When Hurricane Katrina came through New Orleans and he, he said, you have to find purpose through the pain.

00:15:54:00 - 00:16:17:04
Speaker 1
And I think that there's so many stories, you know, we go through pain and, and and everybody goes through pain in life. You know, my dad, you know, ironic car dealership idea, developing software. Dad had a stroke. Literally. The exact same thing happened to me. My dad had a stroke. Five years ago, you know, in 2000 and, November, 17th of of of 2000, 2020.

00:16:17:07 - 00:16:33:14
Speaker 1
So we go through these things in life and I think the people that don't speak victimize, you know, that, that, that it's okay to hurt. But understanding that when you lift, when you, when you work on yourself and you, you say that I'm not going to be a victim and I'm going to continue to get

00:16:34:03 - 00:16:46:23
Speaker 1
Yeah. You don't have to stay there. You don't have to stay there.

00:16:46:25 - 00:16:55:18
Speaker 1
We set out to solve a problem.

00:16:55:18 - 00:17:12:26
Speaker 1
I, I spent, you know, multiple days, last week at, great groups like Fletcher Jones, in fact, flying to, flying their, Chicago stores on Monday to spend some time with their leadership, whether it's Fletcher Jones or Patrick Abbott or Kevin.

00:17:12:27 - 00:17:29:13
Speaker 1
You know, I could go on and on and on. I do think. And I want you to lean here a little bit. I was actually listened to some people on even clubhouse this morning. There's one thing that's not debatable. And I think you see this too, Danny, that that I just I'm going to drill at home until people just get sick of hearing it.

00:17:29:13 - 00:17:52:25
Speaker 1
And hopefully you don't get sick over here. There is a success. Leaves clues. And the most successful companies and the most successful dealerships and the most successful humans. There's nothing wrong with confidence, but there is a fine line between confidence and conceit and the the the Fletcher Joneses of the world. Whether it's not, some things aren't debatable. They're the number one Mercedes store in the world.

00:17:52:25 - 00:18:25:20
Speaker 1
They're the number one Audi store in where you can't debate it. You can, you know, people come out with the yeah but yeah but you it is Patrick bed largest dealership in Georgia can't can't debate it is Kevin Deutsch incredible human being what he's doing it his it he does some things are not debatable but the comment and nominator through it all I just I it just gets me nauseous when I hear about leadership going the other way and the arrogance and treating people horribly and slamming phones and all that other stuff.

00:18:25:25 - 00:18:38:10
Speaker 1
Is there humility and they're never satisfied. Here is, dealer groups that are literally not debatable. The best at what they do, and they're constantly watching game film

00:18:41:25 - 00:18:47:18
Speaker 1
And grow people. Yeah.

00:18:47:18 - 00:18:51:21
Speaker 1
Sasha on hopefully in the next couple weeks who runs their BDC.

00:18:51:28 - 00:19:12:07
Speaker 1
Listen to this. And I know you just met with those guys, I think. But listen to this. Like their BDC, you talk about pouring into people. There's multiple general sales managers that never sold cars before that came from their BDC, their BDC is so dialed in with how to take care of a customer that they're promoting with their BDC.

00:19:12:12 - 00:19:36:20
Speaker 1
That's where we're talking about. If you don't get anything else, guys, you can give me that. Yeah, but all day long. Yeah, but you don't understand my market. Yeah, but I don't have those type of see you can speak victims all day long. But there is not debate about the best in our industry are never satisfied. They pour into their people.

00:19:36:20 - 00:19:56:21
Speaker 1
They lead with love. They demand excellence. They lead with love. And they, they they break things down to constantly get better. And that's what we've done. I do want to spend some time in transition, you know, and we I don't think we've ever talked about a car now partnership on Tim talks because this really isn't about car now.

00:19:56:23 - 00:20:33:05
Speaker 1
But I think it's extremely important as we watch the industry and we see what happens and we see what how customers respond. And, and I will never pitch car now on here. I will pitch, however why we did the integration. We just integrated, with Vin. Q and I want to unpack and tell you why, you know, most dealerships have a not most dealerships, a lot of dealerships, maybe they have a chat tool, separate login Docker tool, separate login AI tool, separate login trade tool, separate login.

00:20:33:08 - 00:20:53:18
Speaker 1
Right. And so the customer as well as 48,000 logins for the dealer, the customer, whether they chat or have a Docker experience or maybe that and then maybe they have a not to beat up the Capital One guys. Or maybe they have a Capital One, you know, button, right. And they've got 14 CTAs and each lead to a different experience and each lead to a different dashboard.

00:20:53:22 - 00:21:15:07
Speaker 1
So obviously we wanted to do something, different. And we did with slowing everything into one. But I think it's unique. I do want to, let dealers know the uniqueness of our partnership and why, you know the difference? Because we do have we do have a lot of, great trade partners that that we have to be Switzerland, obviously.

00:21:15:09 - 00:21:37:23
Speaker 1
But there is some uniqueness and the difference of what we are doing together that both of our visions align and that we are going to continue to revolutionize not only the way consumers respond, but dealers, respond. I'll say this and I'll let you talk about it. You know, I stole this from Kevin the way she said it is amazing what happened.

00:21:37:23 - 00:21:57:00
Speaker 1
And his store was underperforming when he got it. Now it's in anyway, we can go on and on now. It's an incredible dealership making a bunch of money. He and he just very simply said, Tim, it is amazing what happens when we let our ego aside and start selling cars the way customers want to buy them, instead of the way we want to sell them.

00:21:57:02 - 00:22:08:06
Speaker 1
And so, so, so unpack the difference with Vin. Q I think you'll see a little bit of the reason that we did such a deep integration with you guys. But let's let's talk about that for a second, please.

00:22:08:13 - 00:22:17:20
Speaker 1
Yeah. I love what you just said about what Kevin said. Yeah. Forward momentum over ego every time. Forward momentum over ego. Which means also a point of appraisal, right?

00:22:17:20 - 00:22:36:29
Speaker 1
When somebody is appraising a car, they'll have experiences that will say, hey, I didn't do well on this one. So I'm going to underbid this one. Or maybe I can feel this one because, because I'm, you know, talking to the customer those days, are, either numbered or gone, in my opinion.

00:22:37:04 - 00:22:50:07
Speaker 1
And, and I don't believe that they were actually ever the right way to do to do things. And so, I think that's the foundation of the logic in the way that we think. So let's solve the problem as an example, at my own store,

00:22:50:07 - 00:22:57:13
Speaker 1
I know that if a customer were to walk in, depending on the sales manager they were going to work with, they'd get a different number, right?

00:22:57:13 - 00:23:05:02
Speaker 1
Because, back in the day, they would be looking at different information. They would have, ego that would played into it. And

00:23:05:02 - 00:23:20:21
Speaker 1
we eventually, called that enforced appraisal direction, meaning there are so many cool insights, modern insights that exist today, like average days to sale, like market, like, market demand data, competitor demand data, CRM data.

00:23:20:21 - 00:23:50:23
Speaker 1
Right. These are all, this is all data that helps a dealer understand, number one, are they going to succeed with that vehicle? And what's the predicted days to sell that vehicle? And what's the market doing in a modern way outside of old metrics like market day supply. Because that's not unique to your store. And so the lesson that we learned was even in a dealer group that has call it 20 stores, every one of those stores has a unique, unique ability to ingest a car and then digest a car profitably.

00:23:50:28 - 00:24:15:04
Speaker 1
And so the offers should not be the same, right? Mercedes saw trading for a G-wagen is going to, pay more than a Honda store trading for a G-wagen. That's just that's just is what it is. And so that customer experience is dependent on whether or not the system can provide a number, that is going to both serve the dealer and serve the customer.

00:24:15:10 - 00:24:54:14
Speaker 1
And so in Venky, we've been working really, really hard to create, modern AI and machine learning. That centralized to a BI plan that allows Tim, you to get what we call a highest and best offer every single time. And then we empower the, sales managers, the salespeople, fixed in a service, a sales experience to then explain, in a modern way, why the offers, the offer and how we arrived at the number with all the data to back it up, knowing that anybody can go online and get a number from any big box retailer today.

00:24:54:17 - 00:25:02:03
Speaker 1
So how do we set ourselves up to serve the customer to win? And that logic, I think, is a modern way of thinking.

00:25:02:13 - 00:25:24:27
Speaker 1
Yeah, I just it's it's it's phenomenal. We're excited about it. You know, for many reasons. For that reason, because we we set it ourselves, you know, in a dealer group of any size, you know, you've got different strengths and weaknesses. And I can remember looking at another platform that obviously is predominantly, in the automotive space today.

00:25:25:00 - 00:25:51:02
Speaker 1
But for example, when I left and I left the dealership a decade ago and they had just stopped making, for 30s and I can remember, you know, my IMS, my inventory system that I was using telling me that, you know, I need to be at 80% to market and everything out. But I knew that I could literally pay a thousand 1500 at the time out of the book and still make money on that car based on my market.

00:25:51:10 - 00:26:24:00
Speaker 1
And I think taking that that as a, as an old used car, guys for two used car guy for two decades like I am and you are, that is one of the main differences. And guys that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to you know when and we're taking in cars from, you know, from QR codes on OTT ads to, you know, table tends to, you know, our repair orders just to get that car, you know, into the system, but we're funneling it through, those that are van Q partners directly into your IMS.

00:26:24:00 - 00:26:50:01
Speaker 1
So it's one click. It's literally one click. And you're seeing all that information. I want to land the plane again. This again. Guys, I, I did want to explain an, I'm very sensitive. Maybe too sensitive about making the podcast. Not not a pitch. And this is the first time we've seen it, but but I felt so passionate about, you know, Bob Lanham and I were talking the other day, and I'm like, man, it's a great idea.

00:26:50:01 - 00:27:11:18
Speaker 1
We need to at least tell people, you know, why the why, as you opened up the podcast, The why when we have to be Switzerland again lot. There's there's a lot of people out there that's a great thing. There's, you know, almost 7000 or 16,000 franchised dealers in the United and the United States. There's a lot of business out there, but there is definitely something that we're doing that is unique.

00:27:11:21 - 00:27:31:11
Speaker 1
And again, less dashboards and, and not only, you know, well and most importantly, acquiring vehicles and acquiring vehicles that aren't even trade ins, you know, out of the showroom. Can you touch base on that just a little bit? We don't have a lot of time left, but, you know, creating a buying center, which is the has been the buzzword for the past couple years.

00:27:31:11 - 00:27:39:02
Speaker 1
But why have you been so successful without getting too technical in your own dealership and then duplicating that process with event Q?

00:27:39:08 - 00:27:48:20
Speaker 1
I had somebody tell me this once. That came from a big dealer group. He said we used to behave like a group of dealers. And today we behave like a dealer group.

00:27:48:20 - 00:27:54:10
Speaker 1
I was like. Right. And so when you think about. Yeah, when

00:27:54:10 - 00:28:05:05
Speaker 1
you think about that from a systems, perspective and how information flows, I have never like the contention that can exist between variable and fixed.

00:28:05:09 - 00:28:30:16
Speaker 1
Right. But technology can help solve that. When you have communication that goes between your appraisal, reconditioning to the, corrections that need to be made to back to merchandizing, to the, to the, work that was completed, those are all things that solve complexity and solve, any, of fixed feeling like that variable never fixes cars and variable feeling like that fixed.

00:28:30:16 - 00:28:48:11
Speaker 1
Never sells cars. But then you begin to layer things like, well, shoot. This customer bought this car three years ago. They're in an equity position. They have an opportunity to keep the payment the same or lower, trade up variable gets to service. The customer fixed. Still gets to sell the car to me. Service the car.

00:28:48:13 - 00:29:12:07
Speaker 1
Everyone wins. But that information, when it's in a singular system, flows back and forth, is really cool and gets really exciting. Not only that, but it also creates opportunities for for others to, increase their own paycheck. Right? Because there's beefs around that. There's, competition around that, and we're ultimately servicing the customer. I just came back from, Brian Bean stock store Paragon.

00:29:12:10 - 00:29:32:22
Speaker 1
And we're helping them buy 170 cars a month out of their service to sales. And he said something to me. He goes, we really care about a metric called return to market, meaning I sold that customer car. I want to know, what percentage of the time am I going to sell them their next car? Other industries call that trade cycle management.

00:29:32:24 - 00:29:55:14
Speaker 1
And and to me, I think Apple is the very best at trade cycle management. Right. You are in line for a new iPhone whether you need one or not. Because they're so good at knowing, what value you're interested in, in, supporting and how to get it to you in a frictionless way. Right. And that's what Brian's thinking about.

00:29:55:14 - 00:30:10:29
Speaker 1
And he has an over 50% return to market. And so for us to be able to learn from that, to take a machine that's already performing at such a high level and then make it better, I mean, what an opportunity and what an opportunity is for us to learn and then share that with others.

00:30:12:08 - 00:30:32:23
Speaker 1
Danny. It's incredible stuff. Would you tell everyone, and we'll possibly. We'll put a link below if someone you know, you know I'm out. I'm. I'm, Thank God I'm. I'm actually at my in Atlanta, which is where I live for the last few days. I'm not on a plane. So I do enjoy, spending time at home, getting ready to go, out on the road for the next ten days.

00:30:32:23 - 00:30:45:29
Speaker 1
But that being said, as I'm out and about, I do connect. And I just usually send a text or or you're. So if people want to get Ahold of you, if they want information, how would they do so?

00:30:46:16 - 00:31:04:14
Speaker 1
Man, we live in a social, world. LinkedIn. Facebook. Instagram. I'm on all of them. Just shoot me a note. I'll text you back. Obviously, you can go to Vin Q and, check it out, too, but just shoot me a note, on any of these socials. Because, Tim, I want to pay you a big compliment.

00:31:04:17 - 00:31:29:05
Speaker 1
You've, in my opinion, had a chance, to step back so many different times and let, and not be what I would call the pace car within your organization. But you continue to stay on the front line because I believe that's where innovation happens. And I have to tell you, that's inspired me. And so, some of my behavior within Vin Q is because I remember meeting you at, an event and going, who is this guy?

00:31:29:11 - 00:31:51:22
Speaker 1
How is he figuring it out? And the answer is, there's no real magic other than you're out there figuring it out. You care about the question. You care about people. And you know that, you have good intentions to drive the industry forward. And so that's inspired me a lot. And that is then impacting the people behind me.

00:31:51:24 - 00:31:56:29
Speaker 1
So I continue to be the pace car here because I think I belong on the front line.

00:31:57:16 - 00:32:11:29
Speaker 1
Well, I appreciate that. And you're going to make me tear up a little bit. I'm just a hillbilly from Kentucky. That, you know, and I just. But. But you said at the beginning I just want to solve a problem, I just I this this business has been so good to me and my family. And there's got to be a better way.

00:32:11:29 - 00:32:35:25
Speaker 1
And no matter what your success, I think that, you know, another big law and leadership, people get success. I mean, some people would say, oh, we're at 5000 dealer, we're doing this. We got all these other programs, let's go to the beach. I mean, seriously, like some people achieve that and then their ego gets involved and then that's when innovation stops, their ego gets involved, and that's when they start stop putting in their people, their ego get, you know, they go into a conference room.

00:32:35:25 - 00:32:37:12
Speaker 1
I've said it in here a thousand times,

00:32:41:04 - 00:32:48:08
Speaker 1
That impact just prepares you for the next impact you're back making at the.

00:32:48:08 - 00:32:54:20
Speaker 1
One of my who's become one of my dear friends, I think a lot of you and what? You've done it. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen.

00:32:54:20 - 00:33:19:23
Speaker 1
Look, we don't have it all figured out. We we all have issues. We all go through stuff. But at the end of the day, if we think about those three words that we talk about in here a lot. Just for today, y'all, we got today, we can dominate. Today we can love on people today. Today we can treat people as though they're more important than me.

00:33:19:26 - 00:33:20:11
Speaker 1
We've got

00:33:20:11 - 00:33:38:17
Speaker 1
today. Let's dominate today. Let's get better today than we were yesterday. Because as we always say, Tim talks, no one is smarter than everyone. Let's just keep getting better together. We'll see you next time.