Big talk about small business I love it Got one of my favorite business people here with me today , Someone I can't say enough good about . Every time I talk with him I learn something new and I have a tremendous respect for this guy and his name is Matt Lewis of Lewis Automotive Group .
Man , I'm really excited to be on this show and just talk business . It's fun . Anytime you know , we can just sit down and talk about what's going on in Northwest Arkansas . How are we progressing business-wise ? And I always gain something too , every time you and I talk . I've stole this from John Maxwell a long time ago and he's got a famous quote .
It says people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care . Famous quote it says people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care . And one of the ways to do that is show them how you're invested on making them successful .
Internal customer Internal customer If you don't take care of that employee first , how do you expect them to take care of your external customer , which is your actual customer ?
You know , he said something very interesting and the subtlety of it wasn't lost on me and that is managing the activities versus the results , because you get the results if you do the activities right .
You really do . You know , and if we're talking sports analogies too , they're focusing on positive yardage , they're focusing on the time of possession , and the scoreboard is just a reflection of those activities . When we looked at that downtime of a week , we said we can hire a moving company to help us and everybody can just have extra PTO time , right ?
Or let's look at the amount we were going to spend there and why don't I offer to my employees let's just guarantee their pay based upon their last 90 days worth of average pay , and they can help us move . That's progressive .
It's more than just you and I've had this conversation , but it's more than just selling cars , absolutely , um , you know , since we've moved and I'm sure we'll get into that , but since we've moved , you know our scale of employee level we're right now sitting just below 240 . I think it was 237 . As far as employees go , it's a big payroll brother it is .
It is , you know , it's kind of like there could be a big reward there , but you also have a big responsibility , um , you know . So our business is scaling and it's exciting , you know it's . It's put us in some some challenging areas as well , which is good . You know , every once in a while you got to get a little uncomfortable .
You push yourself , you all , I mean between your athletic pursuits and your business pursuits . You are a guy who's constantly going for more and I love that about you . So much of it is mental . It's like you know . At the same time , back on selling , I was always taught like you don't need any one sale .
If you think you need that sale , you may want that sale , but you don't need it . If they're not going to be the one , somebody else is going to be . That's right . You've got to have that mentality . If that one doesn't work out , somebody else is going to come through the door and the next one is that's so important . It's a psychological game now .
Somebody won't give you the green light until they answer those questions . You already hit them . Do I know you , do I like you and can I trust you ? So , mentally , every customer will ask those three questions before they feel confident to go forward with you .
Look , I've never been a big fan of the Ford Edge . I'll be honest with you , matt . But that car sitting there in that showroom with that light on it and that beautiful blue color I looked at that . I said you know what that thing looks , really cool . Can I see myself driving that ? You know what I ?
mean Small business . Let me tell you what happens here because I've been there is you're wearing all the hats Right . You're the advertising person , you're HR , you're payroll , you're the inspector , you're QC , you're in charge of hiring , firing motivated , you're the janitor , the bill collector , bill collector . You're all of it sure .
So what I encourage people to do and this sounds crazy , but you'll get a multiplier here you got to step back . Yeah , you got to step back . Whatever it is , you need to step back and , even if it's just for an afternoon free of distractions , put a podcast on and start listening it . Don't do it in your business .
If you want to go on a hike , if you want to go out to the lake , whatever- you want to do Because you'll be interrupted .
Otherwise You'll be interrupted .
Plus all this stuff surrounds you and you're thinking about what do I got to do next ? You've got some of my most valuable time is if I step back and I get around those people .
Eric and I were talking about this last week . It's just the discipline that any business owner needs to take . Discipline is so , so critical . It is lacking in the majority of companies , I'm afraid to say , because the people that run them aren't disciplined .
The good news for y'all that do want to be consistent and disciplined it's easier to win .
It is Make the odds stacked in your favor . Big talk about small business . I love it .