TimTalks: Automotive Leadership and Beyond

Building Champions and Breaking Records with Roger Hendon

• CarNow • Season 2 • Episode 25

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On the latest “TimTalks,” Roger Hendon shares how he transformed Valdosta Toyota from a low-performing store to a top closer by building champions. 

Discover how empowering his team, establishing expectations, and leading with humility broke decades-old records. Learn Roger’s step-by-step strategy for dealership success, the power of belief, and what it takes to create a team that manages itself. 

Connect with Roger on LinkedIn. 

00;00;00;08 - 00;00;27;24
Speaker 1
Welcome everyone again to this 25th episode. This 25th episode of Tim talks leadership and beyond. And this is going to be a little different. We're going to change it up just a little bit today. I'm super fired up because, you know, our our vision for this talk was to truly pour into people, to make people better, to make you better at your job, and more importantly, a better human being.

00;00;27;24 - 00;00;57;18
Speaker 1
If we can possibly do that and seeing life, as beautiful as it is. So with that, we are going to give you a step by step way, to do that. And we are excited to do that today and today. The guest is pretty special. I met this guy via the clubhouse app. Heard about him, and he was talking in there one day about changing the culture, changing the culture.

00;00;57;18 - 00;01;20;06
Speaker 1
And he said, I changed the culture. We started. He didn't say, he said we started changing the culture on my first day and a little more backstory. And I'm going to have Roger come in here in just a second. But the reason you need to lean in a little bit, I was ask and by the way, I do have permission from the Butlers to use this.

00;01;20;24 - 00;01;41;00
Speaker 1
But I was asked to come speak to some of their leadership about a year and a half ago, and we were fortunate enough to be one of their leading vendors, actually their highest closing vendor. But the power and what we're going to talk about today is through culture, through paying attention. And we're going to do a step by step.

00;01;41;02 - 00;02;16;13
Speaker 1
You can see this top dealership here. If we can zoom in a little bit, was closing at 30%, but this bottom dealership was closing at 3%. So again, a 27% difference with the same tool. And why the difference? And this going from 30 or from 3% all the way to 30 to 37% closing, we're going to see how and why, the one and only Roger from Valdosta Toyota.

00;02;16;25 - 00;02;22;00
Speaker 1
Pretty long intro, but I had a lot to get in there. Roger. Welcome to Tim Talks, brother.

00;02;22;03 - 00;02;24;26
Speaker 2
Thank you man. Thank you for having me. My pleasure.

00;02;24;29 - 00;02;45;20
Speaker 1
Yeah. Let's just dive right into it. Can you give us a little bit of background? I think, you know, people hear these podcasts, we keep them around 30 minutes. You know, that's the average commute time. But, I'll give us a little bit of background. You've been in the car business a while, and then you landed in Valdosta, and then we'll start unpacking that a little bit.

00;02;45;22 - 00;03;25;02
Speaker 2
Sure. You know, I've been probably in every position in the dealership, starting out obviously in sales, finance, sales manager, GSM, GM, part owner of a Ford store. And, heard to the grapevine, you know, that this off, you know, opportunity, you know, might become available and had an outgoing GM that plan to retire and if I could come in and run a variable department, it's kind of my position to lose and, you know, started out, five visits here and, you know, after my fifth visit, you know, started to join together and, see what we couldn't do to fix a lot of things.

00;03;25;02 - 00;03;46;19
Speaker 2
You know, during the interview, I ask many questions and, you know, what's this process look like? What's the culture like? And every time I ask a question, his response to me was pretty simple. Non-existent. Non-existent. Non-existent. Don't have it non-existent. So, okay, well, you know, I probably was the fifth or sixth guy in the last 13, 14, 15 months, whatever that may be.

00;03;46;19 - 00;04;10;13
Speaker 2
And, I assured him that, you know, if we could get a good team together that we could we could move the needle and transition it to something. That's that's much greater than than probably what he has ever seen it. So we we went down that that that, you know, that path together and, and through a lot of conversations, I started October 1st, which, mind you, we had a hurricane the day before.

00;04;10;15 - 00;04;35;12
Speaker 2
So I was driving 45 minutes to work. The first three weeks I was here, I didn't have a house. A family wasn't here. The town was devastated. You know, from from Helena. And, you know, a lot of people were up in arms and, you know, so October 1st, I came in and out of sales meeting, October 2nd, I came in and of sales meeting October 3rd, I came in.

00;04;35;12 - 00;04;55;02
Speaker 2
So I did three days, at least an hour long sales meeting, just laying out the basic expectations of what the dealership would look like and the culture would be moving forward. And I said 25% of us won't be here 30 days from now on. Another 25% will be here, 60 days from now. Not because I don't want you to be here.

00;04;55;05 - 00;05;18;04
Speaker 2
We just you don't fit the culture, right? And at no point should any of us, not just myself, but any of us, compromised. Three basic needs. And that's. You got to love the work. You got to love people, and you got to serve somebody other than yourself. And if you can do those three things, we'll have a nice ten, 15 year run together.

00;05;18;21 - 00;05;51;01
Speaker 2
We'll break all records and and develop a culture that most people envy and, fast forward, we've, managed to, break every record except for one. And I think that that next one's coming. It takes a little more time, but, complete buy in, you know, alignment. I've got some great people. I've got a and just an amazing team that has done some legendary things.

00;05;51;06 - 00;06;11;25
Speaker 2
I mean, you're talking 35 year records that went down in the first six months of, the team being put together. And they just showed up early, showed out when they were here and stayed late. And, you know, I need to get them some more help. That's the only problem I have, right? I just need to add more people.

00;06;12;21 - 00;06;16;10
Speaker 2
I think the first thing that changed the culture, and I hear this a lot.

00;06;16;11 - 00;06;35;15
Speaker 1
Yeah. Can you can you talk about that, Roger? Because. Because I briefly mentioned in the intro. And what I found fascinating is, is you were challenged by somebody that I love and respect and he he's like, how do you he said, you can't change the culture in a day. And you're like, well, we we did. And and can you unpack that a little bit?

00;06;35;15 - 00;06;58;16
Speaker 1
Yes. It takes time for people to grow, but especially in a store, when you've got the part owner saying non-existent, non-existent, non-existent, you know, that's not an easy task because quite frankly, you know, I've been on the other end of that as a young 23 year old sales person, you know, and you've got a new guy or new gal that comes in and it's almost like an, mental eye roll.

00;06;58;16 - 00;07;13;16
Speaker 1
Right? It's like, oh, here we go, here we go again. Here. This guy, oh, this guy is going to change the world. Oh, you know, and everybody's Miss America, right? All this he's going to he's come in and he's going to he's going to solve world peace. And he's oh here we go. So so how. Because, you know, it's just human nature.

00;07;13;19 - 00;07;38;02
Speaker 1
Not that it's wrong, but it's I mean especially you just said they went through 4 or 5 guys in 18 months or whatever, whatever the exact number was. But they went through multiple leaders right before Ricky found you. So. So can you unpack that? How in the world after you know, a store's been through three or 4 or 5 leaders in a very, very short period of time, you're going to have whether they're telling you they're going to have the mental ear.

00;07;38;02 - 00;08;04;27
Speaker 1
Oh, here we go again. How do you immediately what are some of the things, you said salesman but some of the things and you pour into your people and I hear that and I've heard of that and I've heard from your people, you know, on clubhouse and other places. So can you help us? When you say the culture started to change day one, you know, what were some of the granular things that you did, with your team?

00;08;05;26 - 00;08;29;13
Speaker 2
I gave them the power that they needed to do the job, and that may sound basic, and it may sound, you know, cliche or, unheard of. But the reality is, I think you get power by giving. So we talk about empowerment all the time. But the reality is, I don't think most, if it's 5%, it's 1%.

00;08;29;16 - 00;08;54;01
Speaker 2
And what I mean by that is I didn't I didn't come in and hire a bunch of salespeople. What I did do is take the people that I had all of them and said, it's your team. I'm here to help mentor and coach you into the best team y'all can possibly be. But I need y'all to understand that you hire the people that are on your team moving forward, and they all kind of look at me.

00;08;54;01 - 00;09;17;17
Speaker 2
Craziness said. I will find the candidate through whatever means. I will put that candidate in front of all of y'all. They will spend a day at the dealership, they will talk to everybody here, and then you will vote whether you want them on your team or not. And that pretty much happened day three. And, I gave them the power to, to work their own schedules, their own day offs.

00;09;17;17 - 00;09;42;18
Speaker 2
If you want a Friday in the car business off, that's unheard of. One Saturday in the car business, that's unheard of. But the reality of it is, is I was told years ago by a very smart man who said, Roger, there are three kinds of leaders. There are good leaders, great leaders, and supreme leaders. And once you master, being a supreme leader, you don't even have to be in the building.

00;09;43;12 - 00;10;06;00
Speaker 2
They will work harder for you when you're not there versus when you are there. And the only way you'll ever get there is to give the power of your people to do and make the decisions that you yourself can make. Let them write the bad checks. Let them make the mistakes, and let them grow. Because somebody at some point did the same thing for you.

00;10;06;00 - 00;10;37;26
Speaker 2
And that's how you became a good leader. And, as that process took place, we have a book club. So every Friday, I let them pick the book. And every Friday we go over a chapter in the book, and then we apply what we have read throughout the next week. Then I take huge post-it notes and put them in the sales room, of what we've learned and what we went over so that every time we walk in there, that's the forefront of our mind.

00;10;37;29 - 00;11;06;10
Speaker 2
And that's genuinely being interested in someone other than yourself, smiling, using a person's first name. All the things that we forget about as we become old car dogs, that we need to be reminded about and I think that the culture of giving, the culture of helping someone buy a car instead of trying to sell them something, is just a different approach altogether.

00;11;06;12 - 00;11;43;24
Speaker 2
Mind you, this is the first dealership it off actually ran this type of culture. I wasn't that guy. If you were to talk to me when I was a general manager at the Ford store that I came from prior to coming here, it's not the mindset that I had. But after two months off in between, a little stint in Texas and my next gig, and I evaluated myself, which is probably the hardest thing that most of us try to do or don't want to do.

00;11;43;26 - 00;12;10;16
Speaker 2
And I really looked in the mirror and said, there's some things fundamentally that I've got to change to make the transition from a great leader to a supreme leader. And it's scary. It's really scary. And most people, man, they just don't want to do it because they've always done things a certain way. And, you know, I understand it from a, from a butler's perspective.

00;12;10;16 - 00;12;34;12
Speaker 2
I mean, they've got all their time money invested in dealerships. And, you know, it's hard to make a change because you don't want to lose the farm. Right. And, but for me, I thought. Well, the Bible talks about being still listening. And so it's hard man. It's hard for two months to take the job offers that I had.

00;12;34;12 - 00;13;01;28
Speaker 2
I wasn't looking really excited to work on me and be what I needed to be for other people until I transitioned myself. And it was a very humbling experience for myself. And, you know, I said the next gig that I take, I'm going to for, you know,

00;13;02;00 - 00;13;26;14
Speaker 2
Before everything, I can meet people and I'll see what happens. And what is transition and transpired here at this dealership is nothing short of anything I could have ever imagined. And, we talk about it all the time. Put your people first. The reality is, really, we don't. It's about me. Me me me.

00;13;26;17 - 00;13;28;04
Speaker 1


00;13;28;11 - 00;13;54;19
Speaker 2
And, I just haven't taken that approach at all. Not a single day. If I thought about myself. I thought about them, and I've put them first. And what they have done, you know, I've got guys on houses for the first time in their lives. Cars for the first time in their lives, making enormous amounts of money that they never thought were possible.

00;13;54;19 - 00;14;20;29
Speaker 2
And and when you can resonate that in somebody becomes contagious within your dealership. I don't have to manage people. I don't have to manage the sales force. They manage themselves. I hear salespeople tell other salespeople, you're on. Next up, you have an internet lead on clock. You have. I'm started walkie talkie system, which is pretty basic. But we all can hear.

00;14;20;29 - 00;14;47;14
Speaker 2
We all have earpieces, and we all talk and communicate with one another every day to make sure that everybody that comes in or around the dealership doors are open for them, or greeted and welcomed. If you need to go to service, it doesn't matter whether we work at sales, we're just here to serve the people. And I think that you have the greatest impact when you change your community's mindset of you first.

00;14;47;16 - 00;14;59;19
Speaker 2
And that's what we try to do, is just change the community's perception of what we do. And, so Toyota, it's been a it's been a phenomenal last eight months, man. It really has.

00;14;59;21 - 00;15;28;09
Speaker 1
You know, you hit on something that that we talk about here in a lot and, and I it it's just unbelievable what happens. You said something I had to work on myself first. And you know as leaders we love us. Some of us as people, as humans. We love us. Some us. I love me some me. Right. Sure.

00;15;28;09 - 00;15;43;05
Speaker 1
And and it's very difficult. And my wife reminds me all the time there's a talk that I give. I can, you know, that I've given several times. That is, And it's entitled. What is it like to be on the other side of you? Well, my wife reminds me sometimes, you know, you remember that. Talk to him.

00;15;43;12 - 00;16;01;19
Speaker 1
It sucks right now, being on the other side of you. So, you know, I think the fact that you took two months to work on yourself to heal from whatever you went through, we don't have to get into that to understand that. Maybe the way that you did it. And I've gone through that the way that you did it before is not working.

00;16;02;05 - 00;16;29;24
Speaker 1
You mentioned scripture. There's a lot of scripture for that. There's also scriptures that say they who who humble themselves will be exalted, and those who exalt themselves will be humbled. I think that I think that something happens when we humble ourselves, something as leaders. Something happens not. And again, I know you're in clubhouse. I'm in clubhouse sometimes and, and Facebook and all this other stuff, and maybe I should or shouldn't post more than I do.

00;16;29;24 - 00;16;49;18
Speaker 1
I don't know, I don't post a lot, but there's a lot of people that say one thing and and I'm not casting stones. I don't know, I'm assuming there's a lot of people that that say one thing on in these social media outlets and look at my life and look how great where I. But at the same time, if you talk to the people that work for on the like, they're, you know, you get a completely different answer.

00;16;49;21 - 00;17;16;18
Speaker 1
And I think it's extremely important to understand, you know, Maxwell said. You know, great leaders, come to the determination that they want to make a difference with people that want to make a difference, doing something that makes a difference, and the fact that, you know, you humbled yourself, you changed your mindset, and therefore the only thing you did was allow your people, you gave your people buy in.

00;17;16;22 - 00;17;37;22
Speaker 1
You gave them something to believe in. You gave them, you know, an environment, that built the, the team. So it's just, a phenomenal job. I am going to, actually look at my calendar. I want to I want to come down to Valdosta to pour into your team because they have encouraged me, because they listen.

00;17;37;29 - 00;18;02;27
Speaker 1
And hopefully I can pour into them and encourage them because because they need to understand that people are talking about, obviously through your leadership. But what they are doing, and hopefully that will encourage them to continue to move the bar. Very seldom do we do this. And but I think it's in fact, we've never done it. But I think I've got a lot of dealers, across the country.

00;18;03;15 - 00;18;32;13
Speaker 1
I opened up the conversation. You know, the reason I wanted Roger to come on is because I saw his numbers before he got there. I saw, at least through our Carnell tool, what they were closing again. Very bottom. There's nobody. I don't know if you can. There's nobody, below Valdosta Toyota. A year and a half ago, they were closing at 3%, with 100 leads.

00;18;33;13 - 00;18;55;20
Speaker 1
So I want to touch base. There's a lot of people out there. There's a lot of, And look, we're building I, we're we're going to release, you know, full I sweet the end of this next year. But I think with the tools that we've enhanced. Now, I want you, if you don't mind, to give a play by play, it's easy to say.

00;18;55;20 - 00;19;23;25
Speaker 1
Oh, you went from 3 to 37% closing. Can you give us. Because I want my team to hear this, too. We're going to give this to. Can you give other dealers, that are possibly using our product? Obviously going to be using any product, but but with the way our product is set up car now on how you we know that you are converting at 80% chat to lead Dr..

00;19;24;02 - 00;19;48;06
Speaker 1
You know to lead is over 80% and of that 80% you're closing at 30 plus percent. I don't want to give the exact number depending on the month. So, you know, with all the pizzazz. And Bob Lanham gave me this quote yesterday and I love it. You know, a lot of dealers right now are worried about pizzazz, but they forget about performance.

00;19;48;06 - 00;20;09;17
Speaker 1
That's why as a company, we were up 280%, first quarter of this year just because there was a lot of people coming back because that lead to close was not as high as it was, when they left us, when they left us, they saw us as they leave us and they come back. Would you please be so kind to give us a step by step?

00;20;09;17 - 00;20;28;20
Speaker 1
How in the world? Same tool. Now I will full disclosure, you went from our messaging tool. Only one of the first things you did when you got there is you went to our entire real time retail, our full suite program. So tell us how in the world you went from 3% to 37%, closing?

00;20;29;16 - 00;20;52;19
Speaker 2
Well, it obviously took me, you know, a few months, but, the first thing, you're not ever using car. Now, I wanted to spend some time with, You know, the power that Ricky gave me was unprecedented. He'd never given anybody that, you know, has ever been at the store in 15 years that he's been here. The power that you gave me, they didn't give it to me day one.

00;20;52;21 - 00;21;23;19
Speaker 2
And I think the reason he continued to give me. And now, I mean, I have the best relationship with the God. Everybody thought it wouldn't work because we're too tight a, you know, we're lions on hill, very stuck in our way of doing things and, and and what I've learned is that when I looked at the tool initially and what we were using it for, and looked at it from an outside and perspective of how if I were going to buy a car, how would I want to be engaged?

00;21;23;21 - 00;21;51;14
Speaker 2
How would I want to be talked to? How would I want to be treated? And then get other people's advice on that same exact thing. So in looking at the conversion rates of just running it like it was and kind of you guys taking, you know, all of it and it, it, it hit me sitting in my office one day talking with a guy from clubhouse that I think this is the best tool I've ever seen in the car business.

00;21;51;14 - 00;22;19;14
Speaker 2
Forget the autos and the this and the that's and the, you know, a, this and that. At the end of the day, I still think we're human beings wanting to be served by human beings. And we all owe instant gratification creatures. We want it now and we want it our way. So if I have 35% of the population that I hold myself that wants to be dealt with, when I have a question, I'll want you to answer it.

00;22;19;14 - 00;22;46;17
Speaker 2
I need someone there. So I took hired a one guy, one position, unleashed all a car now, and said, I'm going to work with you every single day, day in and day out. And you are going to show that engagement is the key to all, in my opinion. Future business down the road, because the experience is what we remember.

00;22;46;20 - 00;23;07;06
Speaker 2
We don't really remember the car that we bought eight years ago. We don't really remember, you know, what interest rate we paid, how much money we put down. But we do remember our experience. And if I can give you a great experience and you not be sitting in my showroom, what tool out there do I have that can possess and do those things?

00;23;07;09 - 00;23;38;04
Speaker 2
And without fail, man, your tool is, in my opinion, the best I have ever seen in my decades of doing this. Because there is a, I think, a form of population that is coming, in the younger stages that grew up, social media, grew up talking to a, all they want to do is text and the, the foundation of the of your company and how it was built provides that for them.

00;23;38;06 - 00;24;09;24
Speaker 2
And I do think it's the way of the future, I think. 37, 3533 whatever it may be, I think you're gonna see 40, 40 to 47, 50, as we get better at our, our own engagement, and our, our community understands and the surrounding community understands that we can meet you at whatever point you're buying experiences. And we have that capability of you talking and speaking and videoing live with with someone at the dealership.

00;24;10;07 - 00;24;32;11
Speaker 2
I think that raises the bar for us. So day by day, he and I went through every single lead. What our talk points are, how we should address, those leads coming in, who we get to when we drop it to a sales person when it comes to me, at the end of the day, it's just going to take a lot of time, you know?

00;24;33;11 - 00;24;34;26
Speaker 2
So you. Oh, sorry.

00;24;34;29 - 00;24;40;14
Speaker 1
Can you give us a step by step? So you got it. You told me you got a 70 inch screen. Where's that 70 inch screen at?

00;24;40;25 - 00;24;41;03
Speaker 2
We.

00;24;41;03 - 00;24;43;15
Speaker 1
Sat in front of JT. Or is that at the sales desk? Where is.

00;24;43;15 - 00;25;09;23
Speaker 2
That? We have four of those going, in what we call the war room. That's nothing but anybody at any time. The butlers, you know, visitors, other dealers can visit and come down and see, that you don't have to ask any questions. You can literally walk into the to the war room and look at all of those screens and see real time, what's actually taking place and what's going on.

00;25;10;03 - 00;25;40;21
Speaker 2
Picks that add another person per car now so that we can really step the game up. I would like to maybe integrate, some view in with that with you guys if that's. Yeah, possible. And, really take it to the next level to get that, that trade. It's that, live in person. And, and, and you know, so I ask you to step by step is it's been make it vocal, make it known, engage it.

00;25;41;05 - 00;26;06;25
Speaker 2
Work on it every day to get better. I did it a day. Listen, I've become much softer. I guess you could say most people, New Forces, man, you've got so my accountability is still there, but my accountability is in a different measure, a different measurement. Meaning the person has to know what the responsibility is before they can be held to any kind of accountability standard.

00;26;06;28 - 00;26;33;00
Speaker 2
But we always talk as leaders of how others accountable, but yet not holding ourselves accountable to the people in which we're trying to empower to do what we do. And that's an everyday thing that's not a once a week, once a month, end of the month. That's an every day you come in, you bump, you fist bump, you look at what you've got going on, you discuss it throughout the day.

00;26;33;02 - 00;26;53;13
Speaker 2
You check in, you check up and you check out. And that's something that's religious in the dealership that wasn't present before. What that also gives us an ability to do is to hedge things before they happen, and address things while they're happening, not always looking in the rearview mirror. Oh, well, that happened, and we never put a plan to fix it.

00;26;53;13 - 00;27;12;25
Speaker 2
Or if we do, it sounds good, but we as leaders don't actually get in and do it with them. So I think JT would tell you that Mind gauge met with him is his daily, sometimes hourly. I will jump in the conversations when I see that he's having problems. I carry it everywhere I go. It's on my phone.

00;27;12;26 - 00;27;36;26
Speaker 2
It's on my desktop. And and the accountability to the to the partner. Right. Because I see you guys as a phenomenal partner. I don't not hear from you. Any time I've ever reached out to Cornell, it's instantly fixed. And it's usually fixed above and beyond. Whatever question I may have had, which is, is is rare.

00;27;37;00 - 00;27;58;04
Speaker 2
I mean, let's just face it, for somebody, one 800 numbers to call and you can't ever get resolution. And I'm going to give you a ticket number and it's not that with your company, man. So, I would tell you that, you're doing a phenomenal job. And if if we had more partners like you, the car business would become a lot easier for all of us.

00;27;58;05 - 00;28;18;22
Speaker 1
I appreciate that, Roger. Let me just let me make sure that I get this right. So as JT so you got these. You created a war room. Okay. Where anybody can see, you know, all this money, you know, you know, we're paying tens of thousands, if not some dealerships, hundreds of thousands dealer groups, millions of dollars to get people to come to our website and we just hope that it works.

00;28;18;22 - 00;28;28;03
Speaker 1
Right. So and they walk around our websites unassisted. So let me just make sure that I. So you've got these 70 inch screens that are the war room. Is JT sitting in the war room.

00;28;28;05 - 00;28;28;26
Speaker 2
Yes.

00;28;28;29 - 00;28;48;09
Speaker 1
Perfect. Okay. So you you step one, you got you got something visual that you can see where these leads are. Come in. Step two I guess step one is hiring the right guy or girl to be their champion. Okay. You put the screen in front of them and then you coach, and then you're constant, and then they're engaging right at the right time.

00;28;48;25 - 00;29;09;03
Speaker 1
And then after they're engaging at the right time, you are, you know, holding JT and now soon to be another person accountable and you're jumping in. So you are checking. So I wish it was maybe I don't wish it was more complicated. I mean it literally. Ladies and gentlemen, it's called paying attention. They got a large monitor.

00;29;09;03 - 00;29;28;05
Speaker 1
You can't miss it. They created a war room. I'm sure they've got a monitor for venue. You know, those guys are doing incredible things. That's why we did a beautiful API integration into Q. So if a customer, scans a trade in our tool, it immediately populates in the inventory tool. We did that. We did that for you a few weeks back.

00;29;28;12 - 00;29;50;05
Speaker 1
So paying attention, creating a champion 2 or 3, four, sometimes five times a day. You're getting with JT. Where are we at. Where are we at. And that's how you closed. And then you review the game film. Okay. We should have said this. We should have said that. Hey, let's try this. And continually changing the tackle box right on how we're getting people in.

00;29;50;12 - 00;29;59;25
Speaker 1
And that's how you went from what I have proof right here from 3% to in the 30s consistently month in month out. Is that what I've got correct.

00;29;59;28 - 00;30;29;12
Speaker 2
He he's done a phenomenal job. Yeah he is he is he is everything that everybody said he wouldn't be and I think yeah. One thing I would tell you, Tim, that I, I didn't discuss or talk about is belief, right? It's so my new to most. But when you come to work every day believing that you're going to be successful, and your people believe they're going to be successful, it just changes.

00;30;29;12 - 00;31;02;23
Speaker 2
It's not it's not a job anymore. It's like it's you get to come to work to help, someone regain independence, whether that's a crash vehicle, wreck vehicle, parking vehicle, whatever, to enhance their, independence in the day, that's all. Facing a without a vehicle are dependencies. It's tough. Right. So, he is he has been kind enough to to let me, you know, I took a guy who was in a shell.

00;31;02;25 - 00;31;17;18
Speaker 2
Yeah. Who was not an outgoing, introverted. Completely. Everybody asked me what I was doing. It's not going to work. I believed, I believe.

00;31;17;20 - 00;31;39;05
Speaker 1
And can I, Roger, let me. And I don't think Thomas would care that I shared this. You know, all of us who have kids, we want the best for our kids. And unfortunately, as teenagers and young people, we go through our time, right? We go through rebellion. We go through not wanting what we want. And this, ladies and gentlemen, this is a young man that I can remember Thomas calling me.

00;31;39;05 - 00;31;59;18
Speaker 1
I'll never forget it because I was with my son, moving him in to a new house at Arizona State. And. And Thomas, his father, JT's father was weeping on the phone. And as I began to pray with Thomas over JT that I never met, and Thomas made several of those phone calls and just asking for prayer, and God that God would do a work in JT's life.

00;31;59;21 - 00;32;21;26
Speaker 1
And man, this is the guy. This is the guy. The guy that Thomas was, oh my gosh, my son needs direction. That people were all over the country praying over that you picked. And people said, you know what? What are you doing? You know, this guy's introverted. And now, wow, I mean, be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

00;32;21;26 - 00;32;31;28
Speaker 1
Just a phenomenal just it's just a beautiful story. In fact, I probably need to get JT on here. One time, maybe we'll do a episode two with JT as well.

00;32;32;03 - 00;32;32;19
Speaker 2
How about.

00;32;32;29 - 00;32;34;26
Speaker 1
Just a phenomenal story.

00;32;34;28 - 00;32;54;27
Speaker 2
Yeah. I'd love for you to talk with him. He's, you know, we're working on tone inflection now, right? Because he's, to his own. Right. Recognition. He needs to work on his tone or inflection so he cannot practice and practice in practice. So when he leaves every day, he has to come in and check out with me.

00;32;55;00 - 00;33;22;23
Speaker 2
And he has to practice and show me that he's working on his talent inflection because he was just so monotone, so quiet, so shell driven to where now, he is not anywhere close to the same person. So I think it's it's a multitude of things, but, but, but, when looking and talking with JT, I looked at your platform, who you were, who you stood, you know, with your beliefs.

00;33;23;20 - 00;33;45;16
Speaker 2
And I thought it was the perfect thing for him. I could have put him in sales. I could put him in a back room. I could have done a lot of things. But I thought, this is him, right? And and, you know, I've got to make sure that if, you know, I took a different approach to when those two months off and I said to myself, it's I've always just given up.

00;33;45;19 - 00;34;12;22
Speaker 2
Right. And so it's them, it's they don't want it. They they're not they're not car guys. They're not this they're not that, you know, so if you're going to hire somebody, Roger, you're going to put somebody on the team. You've got to do everything in your power to ensure they are successful. Your turnover rate becomes nothing. And I think the only way you can do that, honestly, is to really love people.

00;34;12;22 - 00;34;34;23
Speaker 2
And I took a different mindset and a different approach and listen, everybody knows some people know about Alex. And and I will tell you that that Alex is not a perfect man. I don't expect him to be. And what I learned in those 37 days changed my life. So I'm thankful for Alex in a lot of ways.

00;34;35;04 - 00;34;59;10
Speaker 2
He and I have talked, and he and I are perfect, and and, you know, at first I didn't think that. Right. But as Thomas went on, I'm grateful. I'm grateful for him. And and in the time that I spent there, it's what needed to happen, for me to transform. So, you know,

00;34;59;12 - 00;35;26;10
Speaker 2
I'm excited, man, about car. Now, I really am. I think it is the future of a lot. That's why I'm going to add another person, who's going to be I'm going to let JT have an employee which people would never thought would, would, would have ever happened, to let him, pour in to, to, to car now, and, and another person, that I think we can take it to, to a much higher level than what we're at right now.

00;35;26;13 - 00;35;50;05
Speaker 1
Roger. Thank you so much. When? A few minutes long, I thought it was extremely important to get as much as we could in, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day, amazing things happen when you humble yourselves. Amazing things happen when we, you know, as we always say, just for today. Just for today. Allow me to treat people as though they're more important than me.

00;35;50;07 - 00;36;10;24
Speaker 1
This is a real life story. I have real life numbers to see physically. Exactly what happens when we make those decisions. Roger. Thank you, for your time today, ladies and gentlemen. Hopefully this helped you. Hopefully this encouraged you. If you want to reach out to Roger, I'm sure he'll be happy. If you want to visit his dealership, look at his war room.

00;36;10;24 - 00;36;35;01
Speaker 1
If you want to call. I know I'm going to plan a trip down there and hopefully love on JT and that team a little bit. Because it encourages me. Listen, we're all in this together. And as I always say, no one smarter than everyone. So let's just keep getting better together. Roger. Thank you. Until next time, we'll see you on the 26th episode of Tim Talks Leadership and Beyond.

00;36;35;01 - 00;36;36;22
Speaker 1
Very soon. We'll see you then.

00;36;36;24 - 00;36;37;07
Speaker 2
God bless.