Brooke Furniss: Modern Dealers Need Modern Leaders
Brooke Furniss is the President/Founder of BZ Consultants Group and host of the Facts Not Feelings automotive podcast. In this episode of the show, aside from talking about her obsession with Nike sneakers, we explore the attributes of successful leaders within the retail car business.
Key takeaways about leadership in the modern car business:
09:20 - Brooke and Michael talk about the differences between North American leadership culture and what she observed while living abroad. Do places like Japan have the same "hustle" mentality that we've adopted in the West?
14:14 - Are the needs of leadership with the car dealership evolving? Brooke shares her thoughts about the current leadership needs and where things are leaning in that regard. Brooke points out that there is still a divide in the industry's understanding of the term leadership. There are still many who blur the lines between management and leadership, but Brooke submits that those are two very different responsibilities.
15:02 - Do top-performing car sales professionals make good managers or leaders? Not necessarily. Why? Often it's because car sales professionals have only had to focus on their performance but carry no responsibility for their peers.
15:34 - Great leaders are constantly learning and seeking growth. They refuse to remain stagnant in their way of thinking and are always looking for opportunities to serve their employees.
18:45 - Leaders are good about finding people who are better than them at specific jobs. To do so effectively means that we must remove ego from the equation. Delegation is not easy for those that have always done everything themselves because it requires inherent trust in the members of the leader's team.
21:22 - Brooke shares her thoughts about where leaders should focus within the next 12 - 24 months.
Listen to the full episode for even more insights and context from Brooke Furniss!
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Thanks, Brooke Furniss!
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- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookefurniss/
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FULL TRANSCRIPT:
[00:00:41] Michael: Hey gang. Welcome to this episode of the dealer playbook podcast. So glad you're here. I'm sitting down with my new P Brook furnace. Sometimes there's a letter C in the middle Brook C furnace. She's the president and founder of BZ consultants group, a digital marketing company who takes pride in speaking.
[00:01:01] I love how this says this on your LinkedIn, by the way. Um, so that they don't have to understand the techy lingo. Yes, this is fantastic. We're gonna be talking all about leadership, how it's changed in the last 20 years and where we see it going in the future, especially on the heels. Or not the heels on the toes.
[00:01:20] Dare I say of a recession, Brooke. Thanks so much for joining me on the dealer playbook podcast. Oh,
[00:01:29] Brooke: thank you for having me. I'm so honored to be on not only a, any podcast, the dealer playbook podcast, like this is a big, big honor. I'm so excited to be here.
[00:01:38] Michael: Well, you know, it's funny how. um, we went back and forth.
[00:01:43] I was like, we've experienced a first in my nine and a half years doing the podcast. And. We were both interested in having one another on each other's podcast. Cause you've got your podcast. Uh, remind me of the title
[00:01:56] Brooke: again. It's called facts, not feelings with Brook
[00:01:58] Michael: furnace. I okay. I love this facts, not feelings.
[00:02:01] I, I actually was gonna say it backwards. I was gonna say feelings, not facts, but anyways, so I send you the booking link. You book thinking that you're booking me to be on your show. And then after, when we were laughing about it, realizing the confusion, I couldn't help, but think how do she, of me would that be if I was like, yeah, I'll be on your show.
[00:02:22] Here's my booking link. you book you book on my calendar.
[00:02:29] Brooke: It was so confusing. So, and I, I, you know, I thought, okay, what would he, you know, what's some great topics for him and I'm thinking through it and as I'm booking it and I'm think. This looks really confusing. I'm pretty. It looks like I'm booking on his show.
[00:02:42] oh, well maybe I am. All right. Now I'm on the number one podcast in automotive. Fantastic. All right. Ah, dust my shoulders off here a little bit here.
[00:02:51] Michael: so awesome. Well, I'm glad you're here. We, uh, of course met. I wanna say for the first time. Um, and if we have met prior to Napa a few weeks ago at Brian PA's.
[00:03:02] Then, I guess I am a douche. Uh, but I I'm pretty sure that was the first time we've actually shaken hands embraced in new friendship. And, um, you know, I was delighted to see how fun loving you are. You're a, you're a shoe. A footwear en enthusiast. I was trying to find a fancy way of saying it a little
[00:03:23] Brooke: bit of a sneaker head.
[00:03:24] Yes. And yes.
[00:03:25] Michael: How deep hundred percent, how deep does this enthusiasm go?
[00:03:28] Brooke: It's a little bit, bit of a problem. It's a little bit of a problem. I there's the 12 step program I've gotten to step one to mid to AIT. I have a problem. And that's about as far as it goes, like there's a little bit of a Nike mishap last week where.
[00:03:41] I hit on one of the Jordan ones. And then the next day there was like, I think there was end up being like six shoes that released and I go, oh, I'll try to hit on at least one of 'em. I ended up hitting on four or five of 'em. So shoes, just Jordan just kept getting delivered. And I, I haven't told my other half yet, so.
[00:04:00] I just kind of had 'em have 'em hidden over in the corner. I think all, all in all in total, I think there were six Jordans that ended up getting delivered. Yes. Or this past week, so, wow. So, oh yes. All in total. At one point before I moved out to Chicago, I had, I think 300 pairs of Jordan's and then.
[00:04:17] There's I've broken and torn a lot of things. So I, I shattered my foot when it healed it. Um, my shoe size changed and so I started sell 'em off. So now I have, I'm gonna say like 150 pairs and I've got like stuff from like the 9 98 were in 99 and two thousands. And I have the newer ones as well, but I have Jordan's and, uh, you know, old school, Nike shocks and Adidas.
[00:04:39] All sorts of stuff, but the Jordan are the ones I, I really, really love. And it's, it is a, it's a massive problem that a hundred percent is I I'm fully aware of it, fully aware.
[00:04:48] Michael: my mind immediately goes to the fact that I have a closet full of clothes that are all black t-shirts. And I did that to kind of try and follow Mr.
[00:05:01] Robot, uh, Zuckerberg's theory of like trying to just minimize decision making on things that don't require a lot. How this sounds like you wear all of these shoes.
[00:05:12] Brooke: So I do now back when I first, so I've been collecting for 26 years, I think about now Uhhuh . So when I first started collecting, I was still playing, I was still able to play ball at the time.
[00:05:23] And so there's only probably, maybe I'd say 2% of the shoes I actually wore. And then they'd go, you know, go back in their boxes and clean 'em cause I'm OCD that way. Uh, and now, but then, but then when I said, Hey, I shattered the foot. I'm not gonna wear 'em again. You know, I'm not gonna buy anymore. When I started recollecting, I said, if I'm gonna start collecting, I'm going to wear them.
[00:05:43] And that was part of the deal I made with myself that I'm gonna, I'm going to be throwing down this type of coin on shoes. I'm going to wear 'em. So now I, I actually do wear 'em, but before I had, you know, 300 pairs of shoes and I was collo, I was wearing, I would say I don't. Uh, like I said, 1% of 'em. So now I do, but it, it does, you've gotta say, all right, what goes with this?
[00:06:02] If it's summertime there there're different, you know, some are more summer shoes like the Jordan, right? Like the low ones are a little bit more versus the mids are high, so it it's labor intensive. There's a lot of time and energy that goes into what shoes should I wear. And then when you're traveling now, there's this precedent that, you know, what's Brooke, how many shoes of pairs of shoes are Brooke gonna take to a conference?
[00:06:20] And what I can't wear the same shoe more than once. It's fits. It's a lot of work to put into myself to what shoes to bring.
[00:06:26] Michael: I was at Costco and I found this $19, little suitcase. That's slightly smaller than your average carryon. Okay. And it is my mission. When I go to a conference to see how I can get like six outfits into that one thing.
[00:06:45] Usually means I have the hard decision to make, which is what shoes am I just gonna wear through this entire thing? Because whatever's on my feet is like how this is gonna go. So I can't even imagine all of the, the, the, what shoes am I gonna wear today? All this kind of stuff. I, you, there must be a spreadsheet.
[00:07:03] I'm only assuming there's gotta be a spreadsheet. There
[00:07:07] Brooke: lots of videos. And that's obviously for insurance purposes as well, every time I get a new one, there's gotta be video for insurance purposes, but prior to me starting to wear 'em again, I was traveling three weeks out the month. And so I'd be gone for at least a week at a time, if not 10 days at a time.
[00:07:23] And I lived in Japan for a year and I was, I was gone for that time. So I had two suitcases for a year. So I used to be an incredible packer like you where I could just have a little, you know, carry on suitcase, my little away. Not that I'm plugging away, but I do my away suitcase, uh, where I pack everything for a week.
[00:07:40] And then I met my now husband where he is a massive over packer and it'd be like a week and he is got two, you know, full suitcases. I was like, what are you doing? Well, now he is rubbed off on me. And it's like, okay, well, if we're gonna overpack, I guess we're over packing. So now I've gotta, I'll just take an entire carry on for my shoes.
[00:07:57] Let's go with it. Why not? So
[00:07:59] Michael: you know what I love about doing this show? . I love that. You know, when we first started years ago, it was like, get right into, you know, we gotta, we got, Hey, teach them something. I love that all these years later, what I've realized is I, I, we can talk about whatever the balls we want to talk about.
[00:08:22] And I love getting to know you. And I love that the audience is getting to know you and that they're gonna be on the look. At any event where Brooke furnace is attending and they're gonna be the first thing is they're gonna be looking at your feet.
[00:08:37] Brooke: Well, it's true. I make shoe contact before eye contact.
[00:08:40] So if someone, when I walk up, they're walking, I'm I'm not looking at, is that why you were
[00:08:43] Michael: frowning when you met me the first time you were, you look down?
[00:08:47] Brooke: No, you actually, I, no, it's not just like, you know, kicks. It's like, I'll recognize if like, oh, those are nice pair of Italian shoes. Like I, I, a hundred percent I'm gonna re.
[00:08:57] Uh, okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I doesn't care about himself. uh, he just let his shoe game go. Oh, that's unfortunate.
[00:09:07] Michael: hope he has a pretty spouse.
[00:09:10] Brooke: oh, oh. He needs to step that up a
[00:09:11] Michael: little bit. Yeah. He needs to step, he needs to step his game. You mentioned living in Japan. I wanna just touch on this a little bit. Yeah.
[00:09:18] Because I, I, I, I think I I'm I'm I want to try and connect some dots here, so obviously we know. North America has a very distinct and what I would say emerging culture. I lived in the Philippines for a couple of years, and I know that things in Southeast Asia. 6,000 years ago are pretty much the same as how they are like culturally thi belief systems, um, um, morals, things they care about professionally and, and at home, slight differences, slight similarities, but I mean where, where we're in north America and we latch onto buzzwords did and, and, oh, it's culture.
[00:09:59] Oh, it's whatever. What were your observations being in Japan? Do they, do they tend to follow more of a Western sentiment as far as leadership is concerned or professional culture is concerned or is there a different mode of operation?
[00:10:17] Brooke: So a couple things with Japan. First off, I, speaking of buzzword, bingo, uh, culture, uh, there I've never been to a place that one is so safe and so clean.
[00:10:30] I was working, I was working with Broadway shows that, uh, was Broadway show called, uh, blast. And we would start. It was very opposite normal hours. So I'd go to work at 4:00 PM and then would go to bed at like 3:00 AM. Right. So I could go out running or work out at three o'clock in the morning and feel safer in some places in America, in, in Americas, in America at noon.
[00:10:51] So super, super say super, super kind. And the people there, man, they are just so insanely kind, very, very kind, get the shirt off the back to anybody. So that was first and foremost, second. we would go now, ramen is very big in America, right. But at the time, if I go back 10 years ago that you really couldn't find ramen here.
[00:11:12] So we would go, you know, midnight go to a ramen car and be having, having ramen. And you would see 12 o'clock at night and every single building had lights on. So people, the work ethic, there was almost too probably detrimental. People were working. All hours of the night at one o'clock in the morning, you'd see someone, you know, businessmen coming down, getting a ramen and going right back up.
[00:11:35] I was like, and we were all just kind of sitting around like, oh, this is kind of crazy that people are working this long now. I, I'm not sure if that's still the case that was in 2000. 2006, 2007. I was over there. So maybe it's changed. But that was one thing I definitely noticed is that it was very, very hard working.
[00:11:52] The second thing I noticed was that, uh, I was, I was younger. I was, uh, 20. How was I? 2120? I think I was 21 when I went over there and. Uh, you know, you're younger, so you don't quite have the financial assistance to purchase certain things. Right. But one thing that I, uh, was driven into me really, uh, pretty hardcore was I was like, oh, so I can maybe get some, uh, Louis Vutton knockout, cuz everyone had like this old Louis Vuitton wallets.
[00:12:17] And I was like, oh, I can't necessarily afford that. So I was talking to. A counterpart of mine and she goes, oh no, no, our culture, we, we don't do that. We buy, everything's gotta be real. We don't do knockoffs. And I was like, oh, that's different in our culture. Everyone's like, oh, I wanna go down to, you know, canal street and buy the whatever.
[00:12:37] And so there's just different things. Culture wise, when it comes to, you know, it's gotta be, you know, very, very strict when it comes to certain things and the work ethic would, I, I was just kind of blown away. Here that I don't, that would never fly to be working everyone in the office until midnight and don't stop.
[00:12:54] So those are some of the things that I noticed the least,
[00:12:57] Michael: I was just having a conversation with one of my team members, um, our director of demand gen, and she had just been at an event and she spoke and she crushed it and we were kind of dissecting why, you know, and lots of people shaking their hand and saying, Hey, come, you know, speaking invitations and all.
[00:13:14] and I said, but you know why that is right? She says, well, why I said, because you've put in the work there's substance mm-hmm . Now you made me think of that when you used the word knockoff. And I think this is really interesting when contrasted against what we want to talk about. Mm-hmm north America does have knockoff culture.
[00:13:34] I got the knockoff. Calvin Klein our, our version of CK one and it's like target brands, knockoff or, or whatever we love knockoffs. And so, so much more prevalent in my mind. And I'd love your take on this is when you go on social media, it's clear when you're a knockoff, when you haven't put in the work.
[00:13:55] So here we are professionally, especially as it pertains to the automotive industry. the buzz that we've latched onto is leadership culture, et cetera. Everybody's got an opinion, but it is so very clear in my mind who has not put in the work. Oh yeah. Agreed. So I I'm curious your take, what, why do you think that is?
[00:14:14] Where do, where, where are things currently in our dealership, landscape as far as needs of leadership and, and what's your take on what we should be focusing on in this industry? As far as leadership is concern.
[00:14:27] Brooke: Well, I think when you break down, there's a, there is a stark difference in contrast, if you will, between leadership and management and too often, it gets confused that they're the same thing and they're not right.
[00:14:38] And so if you're looking in a, um, the, in a dealership world, it's all little Billy or little Susie over here is selling a hundred cars. So that must mean that he or she needs to be promoted to manager. No, that's not how it works because most likely little bill or little Susie has been trained to say you be a killer, you'd win at all costs.
[00:15:01] Right. Does that make a good leader or a good manager? not necessarily, because that means that they've most likely focused on me. Me, me, me, me, which doesn't make a good leader or manager, then there's a differences. Someone can be a great leader that make a good manager, cuz can they actually manage people because you, they go hand in hand, but they're not the same thing.
[00:15:20] So if you take that outside, you have your own company, for instance, are you, sometimes you find that people will say, well, not say they just, uh, they get to the top or they think they're at the top and they're like pounding their chest. Well, what happens then someone's gonna come off and knock you off the mountain.
[00:15:34] So you have to constantly learning constantly saying, how can I better myself. I had a great conversation with Jerry Kway last week and he had a great saying, so I'm gonna steal this from him. It's not mine. Give him all credit for it. He's like what happens to a pool when it becomes stagnant, it's, you know, stagnant water to sits there and it gets all moldy and nasty.
[00:15:51] Right. And it's so true if we just. Stagnant what we do. That's no one's gonna wanna be around us. We get all nasty and mild dewy and it's nasty. And someone's gonna probably phrase, you know, make me into meme and let me, nah, looking like that now uh, but it's true.
[00:16:09] Michael: I'm gonna turn into the meme.
[00:16:13] Brooke: You don't, you haven't made it until you become a meme.
[00:16:14] So there you go. Uh, but. It's so true is that you gotta keep learning. You gotta keep growing, keep asking questions, keep raising your hand and saying, how can I improve myself? And I think when you look inwardly and say, how can we do that? And then getting to the problem is, is they moving that ego? And I think that too often is that it's well, that can't happen to me or it it's.
[00:16:36] It's gotta be you. I, I had a situation. Or I had a, uh, this is actually back in before I had my business, that it was a employee that I just couldn't seem to figure out why I couldn't connect this employee. And I had tried everything under the sun and I, I mean, I was asking other people, I was researching, you know, asking everybody outside the dealership.
[00:16:58] And I finally just said, you know what? There's gotta be something maybe happening at home, that's causing this issue. So I find let's get this person out of the dealership and just take this person for lunch and maybe the, then this person will open up and that's what it took to finally get the person out of the dealership to open up, to figure out, oh, there's a whole situation going on at home.
[00:17:18] That is causing the person not to be able to retain anything. And it was so freshing cause I was like, what am I missing here? But it was something that happened at home or whether it's, you know, removing that ego to say, Hey, maybe the people just don't wanna hear my voice anymore. So bringing in someone else to teach them, but removing that ego is so, so, so, so big.
[00:17:37] And knowing as a leader or manager. It, sometimes it is you, it is you and it's not them. And so I think that all those things go into what a leader and a man manager really should be. And in order to grow into prosper and all the other buzz words you wanna throw in there to move a
[00:17:52] Michael: forward. Yeah. That makes, that makes total sense.
[00:17:55] Um, leadership requires so many more soft skills. Then hard skills, doesn't it? I think that that's something you make me really think of when you draw the distinction between leadership and management, um, often in this industry, as you pointed out, we get promoted or we rise the, the ranks, so to speak predicated on hard skills.
[00:18:20] I was able to sell X. I was able to do this much. I was able to, whatever I had an interesting conversation with, with, uh, David SP. and we were talking about my company and getting to the next phase of growth. And the one thing that really stood out to me that he, that he talked about is knowing what I'm not good at, so that I can give it to somebody who is good at that thing.
[00:18:45] And that requires to your point, removing ego. Well, it's my business. I started, I should be good at all the things. I mean, this is where we came from. Um, and I think often that's how managers look at it. They go, well, no, nobody can be better at the thing than I am. That's why I'm the manager. And I just find like, that is a weird sword to fall on, but it's also a sword you created for yourself cuz you didn't give yourself anything else.
[00:19:14] Right. What's your take.
[00:19:16] Brooke: Uh, hundred percent degree, uh, to, like you just said, is that one of the best things you can do as a manager, as an owner, or even as a, a, a salesperson, it doesn't matter what employee, what type of employee you are. Surround yourself with people, a hell of a lot swatter than you. That is, I cannot stress that enough.
[00:19:37] And yet some people to your point will just say, Nope, I can't hire anybody. That's smart. That's not, they've gotta be this level and below. Why would you do that? That makes absolutely no sense to me at all. Because when I hire someone that's smart to me, man, that makes me look so much smarter than I really am.
[00:19:54] right. That's exactly what I want. I want someone that's gonna bring me up because when that person succeeds, I succeed and when this person over hears it sees man, we all succeed. So it's just opening their eyes a little bit. But when someone says I'm only gonna hire X and below. All that does is screen to their ins insecurities.
[00:20:13] So if you can reach down to that person and say, okay, let's talk about this. If they're open to that and figure out, okay, why is it you're doing this? And, you know, talk to them a little bit about that. If they're not open to that, that's a whole, there's, you know, there's nothing you're gonna do about that.
[00:20:25] But if you can and say, Hey, here's what happens when we do do this, man, all of us succeed at the end of the day, it's gonna help your paycheck. It's gonna help your bottom line. It's gonna help your gross profit. It's gonna help all of
[00:20:36] Michael: us. Yeah. Makes total sense. This is really kind of a good, you know, overview of where things have been in the last, who Lord knows how many years, right?
[00:20:47] Let's let's just call it the last 20 years moving into the next 20 years though, we're faced with so many different types of challenges. And that's why I wanted to kind of start with Japan and get an understanding of how things function in other parts of the world. Cuz there there's similarities, but there's also differences.
[00:21:03] And I think it's important, especially as we put this content out for a global audience that we, we do our best to try and understand am I living in a vacuum? Right. Especially in the Americas, we tend to think that if it's happening here and we think a certain way, that's the way everyone everywhere else in the.
[00:21:22] Thanks and acts and functions. Totally not the case, but drawing on the similarities as it pertains to leadership, where should I be focused over the next 18 months, five years, thir, 20 years. Where are things headed? What should leaders ultimately be working on, focusing on and deploying in their organizations?
[00:21:48] Brooke: I think you always focus in house that's first and foremost, as you focus on your people. Cuz if your people you focus in house and that's always gonna go outwardly at the end of the day, I don't wanna use buzzwords here. So just working internally, if your people are happy, And it starts at top. If, if you're happy and you, you invest in, in your people that is gonna show forth on, into everything else.
[00:22:10] So if I know as I focus this, I focus down on my employees and say, Hey, I'm investing you because I invest in the best. And you, Smith's not words. I gotta make that very, very clear. Could you can talk all those blah, blah, blah, blah, yada, yada. But it's actually doing it right. And there's, there's obviously a lot of things you can do with that.
[00:22:27] But when you do that, then I, then they know, Hey, I'm gonna run through a wall for her because she's gonna do the same thing for us. And she's actually proven that with what she does and her actions, then, then when they interact with, with the customers and the clients that's gonna show, and the clients will be like, wow, Holy crap.
[00:22:43] They like, they love their job and they love what they do and that's gonna go forward. And then the clients are gonna be like, Hey, you're gonna go on work with, with them because they they're phenomenal. And that's just gonna, it's gonna continue to the, that. Continue to go and go and go and go. So when you start at the base level and the foundation, that's the most important thing.
[00:23:01] All the other stuff is, is icing in my opinion.
[00:23:05] Michael: Yeah. And could be used as a bandaid. if, oh yeah. Placed out of sequence. Right? Like I love how you say foundation, where, where what's the first thing we do when we build a house, we lay a solid foundation. Yeah. Right. And, and so I love the visual of a, uh, as you point out of a, of building on your foundation, but also to your point, you know, I, I know there's a lot of people that say, well, but what does that look like?
[00:23:31] And I love that you say, it's not just words. Words are. It can't be talk. So what kinds of things have you observed as you work with your clients across your, you know, client portfolio and, and throughout the industry, as you travel and go to events, what are some common leadership attributes or traits that you've picked up on that the most successful organizations utilize versus those that seem to perpetually struggle?
[00:23:59] Brooke: Yeah. Great question. So when it comes down to I'll say dealership land is when you look at the employees, I'll say from like a benefit, the benefit people will throw around. Oh, we'd have great benefits. What are your benefits? That's what I like to know. What are your benefits? Oh, we do 401k and we do health benefits once again.
[00:24:21] What are your benefits? Because I've been in the, I've been in the dealership world. And I've been outside the dealership world, and nine times outta 10, your benefits are, cannot compete with outside the, out, outside the leadership plan. So lay that out. It are your health benefits actually that good. Do you actually cover it because you're most likely not.
[00:24:40] They're usually not as good. So lay it out. Do you offer, do they have to work on Saturdays? Do they get Saturdays off? Do they, do they come in and be like, ah, you know what? You you've gotta work VE the bell every single day. Why would I, why would I wanna come into. Like that should not do you get trained or it just, Hey, we're gonna throw in the deep end and good luck.
[00:24:59] Hope you figure it out. Yeah. Mm-hmm because the best out there are actually training. Do you say, you know what? I, I was great example. I was talking to David Long yesterday and I sent him a text and had Stephanie on it and step, and he goes, oh, actually, Stephanie's on vacation. Immediately took Stephanie off the, off the text.
[00:25:16] Like what other, what other GM and manager is doing. Like, Hey, you know what? She's on vacation. So I, I pride myself to say, Hey, if someone's on vacation, delete your freaking email app. I don't wanna hear from you. I'm not gonna bug you. If someone's on a text chain, I'm gonna delete you. Like how, how many dealerships are doing that right now?
[00:25:34] How many businesses, not even dealership, how many businesses are doing. I was talking to another colleague that they're, it is mandated. I won't say it's mandated, but it's highly encouraged that when they go on vacation, that, that if a dealership calls them, they answer what. What they can't ever unplug.
[00:25:55] That is the whole point. You should want to encourage your employees that when they go, uh, when they're off that they're off. So when they come back, they're recharged, they want to make more money. They want to come work for you. That's the whole point. So making sure that they're fully trained, that they don't jump in and not know what the hell they're doing, that they're not frustrated.
[00:26:16] It's like I never even, I never even had the tools to train me whether it's the training, whether it's the, the actual equipment, whether it's, you know, the right managers, having the communication. There's so many parts that go into actually being able to do that first step before you ever get to the first step of selling or.
[00:26:33] Or getting behind the wheel or, uh, if you're in fixed stops, there's so many things that go on before you actually take that first step, are those things in place. And then from there, our, our communication barriers open is HR accessible. Uh, and then from there, like I said, the, the actual hardcore benefits, uh, don't just say that you have benefits list them make, if you, if it's, if it's possible, make sure that they're good.
[00:26:56] Um, otherwise you're gonna, you're gonna lose 'em to Uber. Lift and everything in between
[00:27:02] Michael: oh, that's awesome. Um, yeah. and all of that makes me think of one word and it is for leaders in particular and that word is mind being it's mindfulness being mindful of the needs of each of your team members. And you know, like your example of, of David.
[00:27:27] Some people might be like, well, no, she she's. She needs to be in the know she's a part of he's being mindful of the fact that she's recharging mm-hmm and, and I love that, you know, being, being mindful. I, I heard, um, you know, one of my team members was sharing the fact that she could tell when leaders had integrity, because they were concerned about the lowest paid person on.
[00:27:56] Team. Um, and she shared an experience of, of, um, uh, she was just at this event in Toronto and she says, I can tell the leader of that company has integrity because the entire time we were at dinner, he was concerned about a brand new team member who he knew had celiacs, uh, disease or disorder or whatever it's called and was just so concerned the whole meal that they were getting taken care of appropriately.
[00:28:23] so mindfulness mm-hmm . And to your point, benefits to me, the benefits show how mindful an organization is on the people that matter most. And sometimes it's easy for us to get the wires crossed and be like, well, customers matter most without them. There's no revenue. No, mm-hmm no
[00:28:45] they're supposed to matter. Most of your people. Y your people are supposed to matter most to you as the leader and what can you do to help to your point enrich and empower them and, and lift them and Edify them so that they can go and do the work that they were hired to do. Mm-hmm , which is to take care of the, the customers.
[00:29:03] And so, um, I really, really love your mind on this. Um, where, where do you see things going in the next 10 years? What, what do leaders need to be focused on? I mean, yes, people. Yes, mindfulness. Is there anything else that you could add that, that we should be focused on?
[00:29:23] Brooke: I think the industry right now is in an interesting time for a lot of different reasons and there's some unknowns, there's some, uh, scary things that are coming down the pike or maybe coming down the pike.
[00:29:32] So I think as leaders don't lose your spine and don't lose your voice. I would just caution that so much right now with a lot of things coming on the pike that can directly. not just the, the dealers, not just the owners. It also directly impacts the front and the back end significantly. So I just caution that we do not lose sight of the end goal, uh, and, and to not lose sight that right now we might be doing very well.
[00:30:01] And as most people are, and to not. Side of the long goal and to not lose our voice, to not lose our spine and to stand up when things, uh, be just, yeah, don't lose your spine and don't lose your voice. I
[00:30:14] Michael: love it, Brooke. Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast. How can those listening get in touch with you?
[00:30:20] Brooke: Yeah. I'm I'm abuse usually about everywhere. We I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on Instagram, Facebook. We do the podcast goes live Mondays and Fridays. Uh, Fridays. We are now switching to 12:00 PM central.
[00:30:32] Michael: Ooh. Look at me. I do two days a week.
[00:30:36] Brooke: but we're not as school. We don't have the
[00:30:38] Michael: cool background. Yeah. Am. Well, Hey, what if nobody listens?
[00:30:43] Who cares look like
[00:30:46] Brooke: that's also true. That's true. we're still get to that point. So yeah, so we're, we're really about anywhere we can file a me, uh, my personal account or the account. So isn't either, either or good. So we really, honestly, anywhere you'll find me.
[00:31:02] Michael: Amazing highly recommend you guys go check out Brooke's profile on LinkedIn.
[00:31:07] That's where I've seen you posting a lot and definitely check out her podcast. We'll link to it in the show notes, Brooke. Thanks again for joining me on the dealer playbook podcast.
[00:31:15] Brooke: Thank you so much. Appreciate it.
