¶ Introduction to the episode with Paul, Kyle, Michael and a mention of ASOTU CON.
ASOTU CON
this is Auto Collabs.
Michael now when he sneezes, it sounds like a soda con. I mean, it's only December, but we are thinking about it. That's the end today's guests actually, we're hoping we can get to come to ASOTU CON because he's a, like, everywhere I see him. He's totally a ball of energy. Right? Like, he's one of those people. I'm like, where does that come from? On a regular basis? It's like, feels inexhaustible. We're talking about Alan Brown, by the way.
Yeah. Are you talking about me? It's,
I said, a little ball.
I've only experienced via social media and the minute like, it was like the third post I saw from him and just the way he engaged his employees and the community and things like that. I immediately hit the A soda to him. I was like, Who knows Alan that can get them on a podcast tomorrow. And
I'm trying to remember now where I'm gonna meet him.
I'm gonna say a David Kain
of him. You might have met him. Oh, that is where it was. Yeah, that
is one of the things that always impresses me about him is to your point he is he is infectious energy in a good way. Right? Like he, he just sits there and says nothing and people are drawn to him.
Oh, absolutely. One of those broad smiles ready to go, we
just need to get a portrait of him, like a handwritten portrait. Like one of his suits with the smile, and the hair and the energy and all that. Well, regardless, we hope that we can bring you some of that Alan Brown energy in this interview, a lot of coins. Alan, it is so exciting to be with you. You not only have the best suits, the best smile, the best southern accent in the motive industry. But you're hanging out with two of the three best people in the industry. I'll let you pick who those.
Well, it's a pleasure. Thank you for having me and excited to spend some time with you guys today.
Oh, man, thank you again. Okay, so you are someone that first came across my personal radar when you were talking about these amazing team meetings that you have. And I know some people will have heard about these in the industry, but we need more people to hear about them. Could you just give us give us like the CliffsNotes on the special meetings that you have that have been really impactful?
¶ Alan Brown describes his monthly employee recognition practices, emphasizing celebrations and team spirit.
Yeah, happy to so we celebrate our employees once a month, every single month, the first Friday at two o'clock. If you want to join, please, we have the factory show, GM Financial shows, GM accessories. You know, we just have a, a really neat gathering. And what it is, is our employees coming together. For us as a team to celebrate them, we get one big circle inside the shop on this first Friday. And I literally have every data point. And we start with birthdays and
anniversaries. And I do a handwritten card, put $20 in it. And we acknowledge those birthdays and anniversaries for that new month that we're walking into together. Then the next page is going to be top performers, top performers of the previous month sales BDC, our KBB buying team because we're obviously buying cars through KBB and private party more so than going to auction which is a whole different segment, right? We go through
all of these departments. And then one really neat one, in this is I got you know, I got some feedback from the text going, you know, Tech of the month is it's this guy or that guy pretty consistently right? We started a tech of the month that is voted on by all the techs. So this electronic deal and they vote on the guy that had the best attitude willingness to help another guy, Clint clean, the cleanest stall, you know, just all these data points that they do on this
electronic survey. So that's one of the topics as well or honorees. So we've got this huge blackjack wheel. And this blackjack will 17 pays 118 pays 150 20 pays 221 pays 500. And in so I have my assistant controller card table, and we're we've got cash. And so when the porter head of the deck kids, we call it Baptist Church at the Chevrolet school. They're having a hoot. It's a ton of fun.
There's high fiving going on. So this I've done this for years I did it when I was Volkswagen dealer and obviously, I carried it forward in the store for last four years. But someone turned this into Automotive News. And Automotive News did a big article on it, they came out. And when they came out, it just so happened it just lined up this way. I had the high school marching band.
Pep Rally crazy coincidence.
So when people are walking in, there is a marching band lined up. You think you're back in high school football. And I mean, it just makes the little hair stand up, get you all fired? Ton a ton of fun. But that that articles out there, you know, with us, and you can read about that. You can join us as
the marching band come back every month now. Oh, sure.
We try to do unique stuff around high school. You know, when football season's in, the other thing that we do is 12 o'clock. Everybody knows, especially for any dignitaries that's coming to visit, we do a really, really nice lunch, that 12 o'clock that Friday of so it's lunch. It's it's community fill. And then it's all of us coming together. This pep rally
takes about 20 minutes. The other thing that's neat about it is after I get through honoring what happened in the previous month, then I go into what was our objective last month? And how do we stack up against forecast? Right? So everybody knows ever number. And then the last thing I talk about is I talk about what is the forecast of the month that we're standing in right now, what is our goals?
What is it going to take? What does it look like for each of us, because we can't have a bad day that turns into a bad week and a bad week, that turns into a bad month, right? And a lot of that's right between the years. So hey, if you're having a bad day, come find one of us. Because we don't want a bad day to turn into a bad week. It's kind of like, Oh,
that is such a great piece of wisdom right there. Because that is like you're saying that I'm like, That is definitely how it goes. Right? Like,
this is a game of mental toughness. And to get mentally tough, you've got to have to sit here
like this, the rest of the show, just give it to us.
Right, you got to have mentorship to gain mental toughness, and a pilot's feel for the business. And so that takes all of us. And so we share that type of stuff. And then the last thing we do in this big circle, if you can imagine it is we literally go around the room to any dignitary, this business, any manager, any leader, from finance department, service parts, all that good stuff, and
they get a moment to speak. And you know, GM Financial talk about Hey, guys, don't forget, you know, you've got this program out there, 2.9 on trucks or whatever, whatever, whatever. And so everybody gets a moment to kind of share their piece of it, regardless of what their piece is. And so for me, what's cool is whether you're a porter or a gentle sales manager, you
know, everything. And, you know, we talk about speed and accuracy of culture, when you talk about growing your business, nine times out of 10, it's moot removing the barriers of, of bad communication or the lack of communication. If we remove that, and we eliminate turnover, because we love people more we love cars, a plug for you. You know, I mean, then guess what our business is gonna grow. The difference between a great
dealer and an average dealer. Do you have the tenacity and the mental and physical fortitude to hold the line with doing the right thing when it comes to people and culture? That's all I got for you. That's
it. That's okay. See you guys later. See? Great shop. ask you this. I gotta ask you this because there's there's still so much conversation about 30 day cycles, the revenue, the unit sold, the pacing, the leads the opportunities, how do you map what is clearly the infinite game that you're playing? How do you map that to those business outcomes? What do you say to dealers that can't perhaps break out of that, that, let's call it
a limiting mindset. And I don't mean that in a derogatory way, but just that that's the way the industry has been taught. And you're clearly thinking about this business on a different plane. Yeah.
¶ Alan discusses the importance of asking oneself, "Would you work for you?" and elaborates on leadership in challenging times.
I think the very first tough question that a dealer or a leader needs to ask himself in the car business and I want you to hear this very carefully. Would you work for you? I'm gonna say it again. Would you work for you? I had I had some mentors early in my career that that helped me understand this and see this
right. Be because we know that pay if you look at how people digest their career pay is number six, number seven in the top 10 reasons on why I'm hooked up here, why this is what I call my career and what I call home. So, you know, are you inspiring? Are you growing? Well, the key to that is are you inspiring and growing in difficult times? The auto industry? Look, it's it's, it's it's fluid. It's constantly changing. It's frustrating. It's
scary. It's worrisome. And so how do you lead through that? And that's the art of leadership, right? You've got to make sure that you separate the financial number piece and the human element. They are two totally different reports. They're two totally different graphs. In so how do you stay calm, you stay calm by your team together, launching a good forecast. And then you stay calm by being in your numbers every single day, I spend, and this could be a whole nother podcast
show with you guys. But I do a book every single day, you literally could ask me what was December two years ago, and I could pull every stat of everything. So what it allows me to do as a leader is practice what I preach, it allows me to stay very calm, and very calculated, because I'm seeing a trend from one day to the next. Not I've got to month in and oh what happened here
happening? Right? And I want to go back real quick. Because, you know, you said like, you know, the pay plan, or that pay is not the leading driver to career path. And and Or even like the activity within a day to day. There's there's this relationship to the day to day activity that you're pointing to, which is making sure you understand when you're at you understand data. But you know, the narrative, the prevailing narrative, and Auto is like Pay Plan drives behavior. Right.
And, and so, like, talk to that how, how there's both truth and like, falsity in that, because I think you're you're painting a narrative this has, yes, responding to the data, understanding what gets you there. In the end, the business outcome does drive behavior, but also at the same point, you're saying, No, there's there's this culture, there's this human behavior element that can that can supersede the drive toward a financial outcome?
¶ The conversation shifts to the balance between pay plans and cultivating a positive workplace culture.
That's right. Well, first of all you do you have to have good pay plans, you do have to have paid plans that stretch people. But also, you got to have a plan that somebody can look at and say, I can get there, I can kill this. Right.
That's when we function the best in the car businesses, when we see and believe in what we've been given as a roadmap to financial success, then the rest of it is making deposits, positive deposits in them every single day, that encourage them and equip them and remove the barriers so they can go run. Now, here's the other side of
it. I will see if you interview any of my managers, and you're welcome to do this, you can call any employee that you want to, at any time and ask them any question about any of this, I encourage you to do that. Number one, number two, when when I make that kind of deposits, when our team is making that kind of deposits on each other. I can make a withdrawal every now and then. And when I make a withdrawal when I make a coaching moment, withdrawal from somebody, it has tremendous
impact. Because it's very rare that I get frustrated or angry or assertive. But when I do you can sell tickets to it. And and
when you do I can sell tickets. Okay, I got to ask this because like, this doesn't come out of nowhere. And and I don't know if anybody can hear listening, but I would describe you as somewhat of a passionate person. Maybe, you know, maybe, you know, just a weird bit. Where Where does that, like who did that come from? Where did that come from in your career? Or who was the guiding force that led to this type of intentional leadership as you grew in your career?
Yeah, it didn't just like pop out of nowhere.
So you know, I first you know, I came from, you know, blue collar upbringing. humble beginnings. My My dad was a police officer, my grandfather worked for Ford Motor Company. He was asked The last guy to close the doors at the Ford plant in whenever that was 6970. Wow. And you know, he saw an ad in the paper for a carwash position. And that's where I spent the first 27 years of my business life and ended up partnering and three VW stores with the back Automotive Group.
And, you know, I got very, very lucky that I had, first of all, love for the industry, I had love for cars, and my grandfather could see that, because I was always tinkering and messing with stuff as a young adult coming out of high school. And then, you know, my mentor growing up was Jerry Reynolds. You know, the the guy with carpro show, he was a sales manager at the time. And he poured into me and he saw, he saw a lot of stuff in me. And I got a funny story for you. It's
a good Texas story. But, you know, I'm 19 years old, I'm about 115 pounds soaking wet. And we're on a repo, I got the key on the legs. I'm the runner, and we're in town, and we're an apartment complex, and we're waiting for a car show up. It's me and Jerry and a 357, between us and a Crown Victoria, because that was his demo. And he looked in, he always has the guard, he looked at me. And he goes, he pulled out a cigar. And he goes, Man, he goes, You're awful call, what's your story. And that's
where I shared with him. I want to be a police officer, because that was my dad. And that's what I that's what I had to look up to. And he had a conversation with me about being a police officer and his partner getting killed. And a lot of people don't know that. And, and he right then started challenging me and asking me questions and mentorship that kept me in the industry launched my career. And because of that, I am in the industry and been able to do what I've been able to do today.
And so from my perspective, I owe that I owe that back every single day. Wow. So that's where my pace that's where my excitement, that's where my zeal comes from, is because of what one person's kindness was. And you know, that's why we've got to make those same deposits as leaders today. Because how many future general managers could we be building? Any future service can we be building with a little encouragement?
¶ Alan's upbringing, mentorship experiences, and the impact of these on his leadership style.
I think Cirilo has a man crush on you is what it looks like to me.
There's so many things.
I've never heard of this quiet for this long.
I mean, there's so many I'm just observing, you know, one of the things that I can't stand are posers. But when I find someone who's not a poser, who's like, legit, I'm just like, keep talking. Yeah. Will you come and read me to sleep at night? Time Stories, you know, there's a couple of things. I mean, not only you brought this up earlier, Paul is a trendsetter with the suits and the pocket squares and just being put together, but I don't know if you guys have picked up
on this. You Alan, you're such a trendsetter. I don't know if you notice about yourself. You are such a trendsetter, that your real office is the same backdrop that people use for green screen
perfectly framed, framed.
Fun, right, you got your personality out there and
your office famous.
Yeah, you know, I think it's a little bit of the old VW, you know, bloods still in me, you know, we, when we were really rockin we were taught at t shirts, and we had Jimi Hendrix posters on the wall and, and danas Oh, my whole intro used to be Hey, I'm Alan Brown with the partners here. And nobody's go power close you and a TATA t shirt today. And if they did, you wouldn't tell anybody about it. So you just
got to bring that marketing theme back. That's wrong right there.
I'm telling you right now. And you could just if you remove yourself from the frame, we took a screenshot, we could sell your office as a green screen backdrop that I'm sure I swear I've seen this other people you're using your office
Unbeliev which I have fun, fine, you know, try to have fun.
I think I think of what you said about needing to make a withdrawal. I've thought about this in terms of I call it
relational equity. And I think of how many interactions a general manager or sales manager has every single day where they have the opportunity to either keep walking on wherever they were heading or whatever they're thinking about, or little by little just make deposits, as you call them, you know, throughout the day, and the difference that that actually adds up to over the course of a week of a month of six months, that when there is something I like what you said, when there's
like a coaching moment, or a moment that you have, you have a full account. And so like that, that is constantly in my mind, and I it's like, kind of convicting me on all the times. I don't take the opportunity to do that, because I'm busy with important things, you know,
Oh, yeah. And you know, it, this is something I also learned as a as a baby journal manager. You know, it's interesting when you when you when you really look at this, but if you think back how many general managers do you know, that lost their deal, lost their job, and they were taking turns every single day? A wayward customer on the drive? Hey, they're walking by a salesperson that's struggling, struggling for one reason or another, that that general manager took turns
every day? Do you recall them losing their job? Most of all, the general managers I know that have lost their job lost their way, because they stopped doing what made them uber successful, which is, and taking turns,
right. And so when you take a turn, what that does for your culture is unbelievable, because you expose yourself and what I found and talking to different guys throughout the years, the number one reason that a lot of general managers don't take turns anymore, is fear of failing in front of the people they lead. Be fearless. Don't be afraid of failing. When you fail in front of your people trying the same word track that you teach in the 12 o'clock meeting.
Guess what, all of a sudden, they get behind you differently. They look at you as a leader. And so don't be afraid of taking turns on the fly every single day. That is a big piece of
¶ The significance of being a fearless leader and the impact of 'taking turns' in enhancing workplace culture. is the General Manager at
culture.
I love it. I love it. Hey, Alan, we could probably ask 33 More questions easy, squeezed out all the juice out of them. But the time has come today. Alan, it has been a pleasure. I know that we'll be hearing and see more for you in the assertive community. But on behalf of myself, Paul and Michael, thanks for joining us here on the
pleasure. Thank you guys.
Well, I looked over and I saw Cirillo for those just listening. I saw Cirillo he had this little cheeky grin on his face with slightly tilt his story, by the way, you know, and he had he had those little rose colored eyes. You know, you might as well put him at sophomore year
a little hard to get up from behind him the iPhone?
Well, first, I was smiling because every time Paul accidentally does a thumbs up, it pops up on his screen, but then he freezes for about
we're gonna freeze, there is
freeze. So that made me but then, you know, then I was really getting dialed into what Alan was saying. And I'm just like, Dude, this is my kind of guy right here. This guy is the retail auto industry that we know and love, man
well, and we didn't really dig into it. But the end he was he was leaning into it. But what happens when you expose the business outcomes across the departments to the entire store is galvanizing for a store? Like I know what's up there. I know what's up there, they succeeded. They have opportunities, they succeeded. I helped them succeed, they helped
me succeed. You start to galvanize everyone from the newest employee, to the longest, to the longest lasting employee to each other to say, yep, we all are connected in the business outcomes of this thing,
truth, truth. And very rarely do you find somebody who is so in tune with every department in their store, like he's in tune from the numbers to what's going on in the technicians life. And that is something that only comes like what he was talking about, like making the regular deposits in the accounts like talking about relational, relational equity or whatever he called it, I call it relational equity. But I don't even know what else to say. It's like there's simple things. What
it's like that question right there. I was like, Huh, well, you know, would you work for you? He is here he shows up every day, asking himself that question. And that dictates his answer to himself dictates how he treats the people that are on his team. Right through the thick and thin he wants to maintain consistency that calm he said, like I love that you use the word calm. How often do we hear the word calm when somebody's talking
about auto industry? auto industry? Yeah, never. That's probably the first time. Hey, listen,
we hope you enjoyed this episode. I'm Michael Cirillo here with Paul J. Daly. Kyle Mountsier Thanks so much for joining us on Auto Collabs
sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news and automotive, retail media and pop culture. You can get it now@asotu.com That's ASOTU.com If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time
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