Wake up, Buy Here, Pay Here people. It's a beautiful day. Go grab yourself another cup of Joe and say hello to Jim and Michelle Rhodes on the Buy Here, Pay Here Morning Show. Take it away, you two. Hey, everybody. Good morning. Morning. Happy to have you here with us on a blustery and chilly morning I feel like this is going to be a quick podcast because uh it's under but the lighting's good we're visiting family in oklahoma the uh my my small hometown in western oklahoma and so we're at my my mother's place and uh my son came in last night it's nice to have him here from family it's the holiday yeah for sure my brother arrives uh tonight so yeah we uh We're going to start the pumpkin pies and all the fun stuff today. Happy Thanksgiving Eve. Yeah. I hope you all are able to spend time with loved ones this time of the year. And Lord knows we have plenty to be thankful about. We didn't plan a gratitude thing. We'll do that Friday, I think, in a little bit. Talk about some of the things that we talk about. It's one of the family traditions is to talk about. the grateful things. So, um, any announcements? No, we haven't set dates for our, Oh, you know, I should give a quick update on the, uh, our event that was slated for, uh, What night was that? We were set to do our Monday night. We were slated to do our group three and broadcast that live. Unfortunately, we had a snag with my registration set up. So we had to postpone that. And so look for a date in December on that. We'll get that out there. And so people can still sit in on the group. Yeah, it might be for those of you that are still on the fence. We have until the end of the year before pricing changes. So if that's something that you want to participate in, we can do. We can get you – gives you an opportunity to kind of see behind the curtain what it is that happens. So much great stuff planned for the first of the year with our V-Eight Plus, especially the extra things that we'll be adding and creating, including a White Hat Way track of V-Eight. Well, and that kind of like leads a little bit into what we're going to talk about today. And just this is – what we're going to talk about today is kind of like the – um, next year will be all about White Hat Way. And, um, and there will be, uh, there's, there's a lot of things we have, have planned and mapped out. And, um, we're going to talk today about the first thing that we're, that we're really doing in twenty twenty five, um, around White Hat Way. Yeah. So we're kicking off the certification course that's been on the horizon for some time. All this has really changed as we, we set a date for it. We, uh, have the, The curriculum is coming together nicely. We've been socializing with a small group of dealers. We're happy to hear from any dealers. You can email me at jim.whitehatway.com if you have an interest in attending Uh, our first, it's going to kind of be a beta, um, you know, we'll be going through and getting a lot of feedback from dealers. So if, you know, that's something that you would, that would interest you, um, for the course though, that, that, uh, the dealers will be flying into Salt Lake and, and, uh, spend a couple of days with us and, uh, so yeah, we've, we've been working, uh, this year on the curriculum and what certification means and how to recertify and, um, and we're ready to, to, to do our beta launch. Yeah. So, you know, there'd be some pre, um, pre course vetting, some, there'll be at least a questionnaire and some, uh, some research to make sure that the folks who were coming into the, the, uh, program are a good fit. Right. And so make sure that they, uh, they match up that way. But in this first round, it would mostly be people that we know personally. We already kind of understand their, their background and their commitment to these things that are kind of white hat way elements. We were talking when we came up with the topic about like, what are the things when we, as we've looked at dealers that we know and you know, we've had last year, we had Candace price and Nick Duman were the, honorary White Hat Way dealers, not certified, but honorary dealers. And so what were those things that we were looking at and that were important to us? And so we thought we would just take a few minutes and talk about that. Yeah, and I think for today, we certainly will have plenty to share in the coming episodes and months about what those dealers who become certified, what that can look like for them on the other side of that. I think for today, we just really want to focus on Kind of clarifying in our mind what the difference is, like, what does it look like to be a white hat dealer? And listen, we always say this. We know there are lots of dealers out there that are operating by all this list that we're about to see of all the things that we feel like are kind of separators in terms of, you know, a good guy or good gal dealer versus all the rest. So, you know, some of you would conjure that list in your mind. We're just going to go through some. And part of the part of the purpose behind coming up with White Hat Way as certification is that we know there's a lot of dealers out there that are doing business in ways that are. uh congruent with white hat way um and this is basically uh a one of one of the reasons why we're doing it is this is a way to put an identity around being a white hat way dealer right and so yeah let's kind of go through the list okay so it's cold so we're not going to be out here so uh so one of the key differences they genuinely care like you know it's one thing to say that I care it's another thing to be able to show through your actions that you genuinely care about the customers that you serve, the communities that you serve. And that when I say you care, you care about the success of the customer. And of course you care about your own success as a dealer. That goes without saying here. We expect white hat dealers to be successful and sustainable and in business for a very long time. It's the only way they can serve their communities. The next one is it goes right with it. It's like as neighbors, they strive to be viewed as an asset to the community. So that caring goes beyond just our customers, but it's about our community. And that was one of the things that really set Nick and Candice apart last year was that they are very, They're very involved and want to be involved in helping their neighbors and their community. And supporting their community, yep. They're looking to make a positive difference, right? So it's all kind of part of the same thing. It's like, how can we really make a difference in our community as a small used car dealer? And so that's where we think you start to separate on how... how that begins to look different. And then they offer support solutions to improve the customer success. So this ties to the first one, too, that they care about the success of their customers and that in that is wrapped in support, things that they can offer to their customers to help them get over some of the challenges that we see consistently in the industry. Sure. So let me just stop for one minute and say that, you know, as you hear this and you think, I want to be on the list of people that wear the Silver Star who are the white hat certified, you know, the figurative and perhaps literal white hat is just think about, you know, if you want to be part of the pilot thing, just reach out to me, email me at jim at whitehatway.com. I'll put it on the screen at the end, but just jim at whitehatway.com. And then we can add you to the folks who would be interested in becoming certified. And so we will be doing the beta in January, but we will have other groups throughout the year that we'll be working with. And for the time being, it'll be something that will be done with us in person. And I'll go ahead and say here that this first pilot course, we're not going to charge tuition. There obviously in the future will be a tuition associated with the course, but for the pilot, we're allowing these dealers to come in tuition free because we're going to ask them to contribute to the curriculum and And give us feedback on the curriculum as we move forward. So just be aware that's part of what's happening. The next one. They are playing the long, and I put in Prince's infinite game. That's coming from Simon Sinek and what he refers to the infinite game about. When you're playing a long game, you're measuring your success by different measurements. You're not necessarily going off of financial KPIs or traditional KPIs. You're playing a longer game. And so it's not just about winning today. It's about being able to achieve the long term success and that you continue to play in that game and win in that atmosphere. Yeah. And one of the ways that that will show itself to dealers that are white hat way dealers when they get tapped in is referrals, repeats that it's when you're playing the long game, you're playing it, you're, you're, you're moving about in your business in a way that you're looking at generational. How can we help beyond just this one transaction? This is the long game. And you begin to see naturally that your business is served in that regard. Whenever you have success in this area, and you are able to win customers and you are able to win the repeat and referral business. And obviously your business succeeds as a result. So this is the part that we also look forward to kind of proving out as why Atway moves forward and certification is step one, you know, getting these dealers certified. And then the last one would be Invest in training and compliance. In the program that we've put together, there is going to be training for teams for helping them understand what White Hat Way is and how how they can weave that into their daily tasks and how they approach the customers. And, and, and compliance is a, is a big part of that. We, you know, we know that the CFPB is, is watching and, and this is, this is when, when you're doing business the white hat way, you have that compliance is a big part of that. And, And that you're, you know, you're the reason the CFPB is out there watching is that they, they see so many people being taken advantage of in, in ways that so many dealers look as that's egregious, that's bad, but we're all getting measured by this. And so having a white highway certification is one way for us to be able to be forward in. You're not going to get treated that way. This is, this is going to be a different experience at our dealership than you would, than you would get in, at someone that most of the White Hat Way dealers would be like, that's not how we do it. Sure. Yeah. So I think when you think about customer success, George Spatt joined. I love Zig Ziglar, George. You know that. So yeah, he's talked about Zig Ziglar, which for those not seeing the screen, Zig Ziglar's motto was, you can have anything in the world that you want if you help other people get what they want. So there's certainly some element to that in what we're doing with White Hat Way. And the one thing I didn't really speak to in my my list there, I did refer to Simon Sinek and Simon Sinek, you know, has a, as a book, certainly a series on, you know, start with why. So I think what you can see is that a lot of the dealers who, who would, you know, check those boxes that we went through, they would have a purpose behind what they do and not just, not just opening a car dealership to make a living and support my family that, that we understand that that's why most people own a business. What we're saying is a white hat business has a purpose to it. It has some additional layers to it. And so this is what the certification process is all about. And so as we move toward that, we just want to help dealers kind of separate themselves. Yeah. And we were talking this morning about talking about bringing up all of the benefits and the things that we will be offering to white Hathaway dealers. And we weren't prepared to do that yet. There's a lot of things that, um, that would come along with certification. And as things are completed, we will be announcing those things. And, um, so that people understand, uh, you know, there is a list of benefits. Yeah. And, and, and, and right now the biggest list on our benefits is that we're putting an identity around being the good guy. Yeah. Or the good gal. Or good gal. Yeah. So, so I think the, the other thing that I would say that is amongst the list of benefits is I look forward to being able to go out and do what I'm calling trust forward marketing. So that means going into a market. If Michelle, you're a white hat certified dealer, we come into your market. We run ads for white hat way that then feedback to our platform and then ultimately feed to the dealer so that we're able to go out and sell the dealer as that good guy and good gal in their market. And that we can do that in a way that they can't really do for themselves. And so that's one of the things I'm really excited about being able to do. And I, I, We told you all last week that we had a pretty big meeting with one of our founding sponsors. And one of the questions that was brought up was, you know, how can White Hat weigh in? help a dealer in the eyes of the regulatory agencies. And we've talked quite a bit about how a conversation, how Chris would go to a meeting with regulators and compliance and be able to address, here's what we're doing. Here's how we're trying to help. Here's how we're... And that this really is poised to become something that is recognized at some point by the regulatory agencies as, okay, so you guys do this. And that they recognize that we're working hard to be able to help consumers be successful. We're working hard and we're putting an identity around it and we're putting a name around it. We're putting a certification around it so that we can move forward as a really united group of dealers and vendors within the space. to have a conversation as an entity or as something that is very tangible for the FTC and other regulators to be able to wrap their heads around too. Right. So that's what White Hat Way has been almost from the beginning is an identity, something that you can point to that people can say, what is it? What does it include? if I'm on that list what does that say about me right and so this is part of what uh you know we're we're excited to be doing with uh way and we continue to march forward and then so the latest news on that is that we've we've set a date we didn't say the date it's the last weekend of february the last weekend of february that weekend or no yeah february yeah that's right yeah The last weekend of February. And then those, if we do have a couple of seats that are still available, we haven't secured a few spaces. And so if that's something that you're interested in, let us know. And if it's not for this beta group, that we will keep you on the list for other groups that we'll be working with through the year of we might stretch it to ten michelle I'm really just thinking five attendees five students for this one so uh so again we've got this will be tuition free we can't promise that about future ones but we will be uh tuition free for this one so if you have an interest in being a pilot uh in the pilot course and reach out yeah and so as a pilot um it there is a little bit extra that we're asking that you contribute and give us your feedback and and you know let us know what are the things that that you wish we would uh explain deeper or that we would include or and so it's really a great opportunity dealers out there for you to be a part of how we are really creating um the identity um around what a white hat way dealer is and I can give high level you know if you were to go back and look at our hundred plus episodes of the uh wednesdays then you would you would see the topics that we've addressed there so the curriculum is going to be along the line of you know how would a white hat dealer buy cars maybe differently than other dealers how would they recondition cars how would they price inventory how would they negotiate the sales process so all of those things that are part of The day-to-day operation of a buy-your-payer operation will be working in the white hat element to that. And how would that white hat dealer maybe conduct themselves a little bit differently? Yeah. And then there will be elements to the certification around community outreach. and customer outreach and customer appreciation that is outside of a sales opportunity. But it's just being able to appreciate, thank you for your support. Thank you for helping us be able to do the things that we're doing in your community and for your neighbors. And becoming known, liked, and trusted in our community. Exactly. So it's all part of the thing. But we should get inside. It's chilly. We should wrap up. It is really cold. And at least we're all huddled together trying to keep just a little bit warm. Hey, everybody. Thank you for joining us today and making this a part of your holiday week. I hope you all don't eat too much turkey, but if you do, it's a great time to take a nap. Yeah, just preload some whatever you call it, the medications. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, everybody, have a great holiday, and then we will see you on Friday, and we'll be doing the gratitude rant on Friday. So we'll talk to you all later. Thanks, guys, so much. Have a good day.
