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. Yes, happy Friday. Yep, it's Friday, which means it's time to talk buy here, pay here again. Yes, and I was like, I was watching, we've got a special guest backstage, and there was a point where he started, I could see him, and I'm going to have to ask him what that's about. Oh, he's laughing at something that's happening? I think it was good morning by something like that, so. Um, it's Friday. Uh, yeah, I, I really, I, you know, I, I lose track of days and, um, the only thing I know is on the weekends, we don't have any, any meetings. We don't have any podcasts and we have a yard that's calling. Yeah. I lose track of, um, days. I also somewhere along the line have lost track of nineteen eighty three. I can't remember anything that happened in nineteen eighty three. So I don't know what that says about my life back then. But no, just have a little fun. So welcome, everybody. Got Brent Carmichael standing by. We look forward to getting updates from him and getting the the latest on the conference. We've got kind of a buy here, pay here agenda loaded up to be able to show people. And I want to confirm with him his appearance in Texas on Monday. So we'll talk about that when he joins us. He already confirmed to me. Oh, yeah? Okay. All good then. Nice. All right. All righty. I'm just going to go ahead. We're just going to do this. Bring him in. We're bringing Brent in. Good morning, Brent. Yeah, when I saw you outside on your patio, I was like, where in the world is Brent Carmichael? He's like, I'm home. He's appeared with us many times, but this is a part of his home. He just felt compelled to be outside today. Thank you for sharing. Well, I'm sorry, but like I said, it's just so nice out here. I thought, well, it can't be that bad, the background. Actually, it kind of gets rid of my face, actually, a little bit better than my actual eyes. Maybe I'll try something like that. The audience at that point that's on the video side of it. Yeah. Always great to see you guys. Thanks for the opportunity. And I was giggling because you're right. My wife is actually sitting out here with me and I love that music, the way that thing starts. You're shaking the table. Stop. Jim, mine is eighty four. It's not eighty four. There's something right that I graduated high school. So for some reason, I just can't remember anything about that year. I don't know what I'm I'm older. So I was off to college by those years. And there's just there's a period there that I don't I don't know. It's gone. It's gone. We just, you know. Like all of the popular music when I was in high school, he's just like, oh, yeah, I think I might have heard that. It's like, dang it. Yeah. You just you weren't you weren't tapped in. I graduated in seven. So he was already on the college and doing his doodah day. What's scary is that music is forty years old now. I mean, it's like it's considered oldies. I know that's that's exactly it's insulting I love uh like I'll I'll look at the the shows because I started a family uh I was twenty when I started having children and so I look at the old shows that we used to watch with the kids I mean you know just like the the disney stuff they're all old they're all old now yeah okay yeah We digress. I know all of you. Exactly what everybody tuned in for. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Let's talk about how old we are. so let's hear from brent and from nia like what's what's happening obviously we're we're moving fast now toward the convention in late june for those folks need to be aware the hotel dates are coming up it's time to get booked but uh what's the latest from from your end you guys look like you're all set um and uh so what's the latest from the education department Yeah. Yeah. We've got it all finalized now. Um, we did have a kind of a, we kind of changed up Thursday a little bit the last day. So that's going to, it should be out on the website. I think today, um, with kind of how we're going to end the conference a little new this year. And typically on Wednesday night, that's when there's the banquet and the awards, which was not going to be this year. We're actually going to end it on Thursday. Um, so there's going to be a morning session. It's actually going to be three breakout sessions. and then a general session with some really powerful people on it in the industry. So I think everybody's going to want to make sure that they do stay through Thursday because Thursday mornings, you know, typically in some of these conferences, Thursday's just kind of, but I think they're going to be pleasantly surprised and definitely want to stay for the Thursday morning session. So yeah, pretty much got most of that wrapped up. We're kind of good to go there. Kind of feel like I've got solid ground now with NIABA. First couple, pretty much a whirlwind. We come in and, oh, by the way, moderate twenty groups. And, oh, by the way, Brent, you've got to do a convention, which I've never done before. So a lot of things thrown at me, but awesome team at NIABA. Can't be more than happy to be a part of the team. So very happy. Again, great years with NCM. Nothing there at all. But like I said, I think this was probably the right time for the right move. Yeah. Like I said, feeling comfortable. Convention, like I said, is pretty much wrapped up. So yeah, if they haven't had a chance to register yet, still got some early bird rates out there for a little while longer. But yeah, if they haven't registered, please make sure you go in and do so. Yeah, one of our colleagues in Ryan Jones, Meg Jones is on our team now and they're dealers and Ryan Jones actually won one of those experiences. And they're so excited about going and doing that. That should be fun. It sounds like you've expanded your repertoire of skills this year. It's like, I am now a party planner, an event planner. Yeah, I mean, I always kind of did that with the twenty groups, but not on a scale of thousands of people. And again, to be honest with you, Michelle, kind of the reason that I wanted to make the change was to kind of be able to do a little bit more, to challenge myself a little bit more. And like I said, with NCM, a great, great history with them, the moderating the twenty groups, the consulting and the classes. But again, to take on a challenge of planning the entire education for the convention and for the Buy Here Pay Here Forum coming up in November. And again, Jim and I talked about this before, you know, just the opportunity to give back to an industry that has basically provided me with everything. and the opportunity to come to work with niada to be able to actually do that you know to be able to do a convention and the buy your pay here forum so um so yeah yeah I mean it's uh like something this is exactly what I wanted I wanted to wanted to expand a little bit um and again obviously be able to give back to the industry that's given me everything so yes jim um those of you who are new that are listening Brent has a long and illustrious career in the industry. Brent was actually Jim's twenty group moderator years ago. I'm not trying to date you. We already did that earlier. It was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, it was, Yeah, so Brenda's been around for a long time, worked in dealerships, really understands the inner workings of running this kind of business and has been really one of the forefront educators in buy, hear, pay here. And it's just, you know, it's like you probably had a long list of opportunities where to go. And, um, you know, when you were, when you were done the NCM, because you just, you just are, you're people, people, uh, and, and you haven't burned any bridges along the way too. So that helps an awful lot. So, you know, everyone likes you and you're just, besides being a likable guy, super educated, has a great way with, uh, um, with, uh, uh, twenty groups too. That's just kind of been your stick for, for a few years. And, uh, so now doing that for NIAID, N-I-A-D-A. yeah so uh I want to just quick aside where is the location of the super forum or the bhbh forum is that uh it's going to be in nashville at lowe's vanderbilt we signed the contract just a little while back so we'll start getting all of that stuff updated and I will start working on the education um actually in the coming kind of in the coming weeks to start kind of fleshing some of it out and uh really put it into place right after convention. Because there's some, we've got some speakers in some sessions that are going to be at convention that are, this is the first time they're there. So it's going to give me an opportunity to kind of sit in on some of these, you know, interview them to a certain extent to see if there's something there. But, you know, we'll open up registration. probably either right at convention or shortly afterwards. We try to do that about many days out for sure. So yeah, by the first of July, we should have registration open for the forum. So we'll have at least a form of the agenda then at that point, as far as what's going to be there, maybe not have settled on, you know, all of the speakers and presenters at that point, but at least have what the sessions are going to be. So yeah, looking forward to that. It's a different format than in the past. It's very round table-ish, breaking apart. Yes, very popular. Yeah, we got a lot of feedback on this past year's. And again, this past year's was the first year they did on the first day, the big sessions, the three hour, the really deep dives into certain parts of the business. And we got phenomenal feedback about that. The round tables with the best idea, you know, where each table comes up with that. We got a lot of positive feedback there. So I'm not going to come in and make a lot of changes because if it ain't broke, don't fix it. But like I said, we're doing the tweaks here and there for it. So yeah, looking forward to it. Really was upset that I wasn't able to attend it in this past November because I was with the twenty group at that point, but looking forward to it this year for sure. Even if we're not directly involved, this would be a good time to get Michelle to Nashville. She's never been there. I've never been to Nashville. I really want to introduce her to that fine city. Maybe that'll be our chance. Jim, if I can find a spot for you, we'll definitely get you involved. Oh, we're good. If I just need to stand outside the window, whatever has to happen. I hear in Nashville, you go around to the different coffee clubs and bars and things like that. Artists will just know they play there because that's like a thing but I always tell people like I would like to you know that's definitely a fun part I always tell people about nashville look even if you don't care the first thing about country music it's a fun place to spend a long weekend right it's just a really fun city right and so I think this spot There's quite a few of the artists down there that aren't country. So real quick, true story. The last time I was there was with a twenty group and just went to like a Taco Bell, just wanted something to grab to eat after I got in that day. And there was a performer at a Taco Bell sitting there. It was phenomenal. While I'm waiting on the order, I'm like, you got to be kidding me. You're playing Taco Bell in Nashville. Yeah, that's pretty. That's magical. Yeah. I don't know how that looks on a resume. So where have you played in the past? Well, Taco Bell. Taco Bell. Yeah. yeah all right so should we so yeah let's get into this agenda we looked at that over I took a pretty deep dive this morning I recognized uh at least one face on there is familiar I'm I'm actually speaking on yours you see that I know it's kind of small oh you need me to move the agenda I've got that on my side all right so let's get back looking forward to having you jim I greatly appreciate you uh being available for us so looking forward and I'll be in on your session. So. Oh, good. I think people will have some good takeaways that we're just trying to simplify and make it easy for dealers to get to some key numbers. And so I think they'll, at least based on the reaction we've seen when we presented this information elsewhere, you know, it's just, uh, it's, it's giving people a quick way to have a quick look at what's going on in their business. So, but we start out on Tuesday morning with, um, And I'm excited about that. I want to come and watch that. Darla doesn't like to get on stage, but she's good. She is good. Yeah. You wouldn't think that she'd think she just looks to do that stuff, but she really doesn't. So she's very, very humble. Darla, for those of you guys that are not aware, she is in leadership at NIADA. I think that she's vice president next year. Something like that. I think I was going to say she's on her board. Yeah, I think that may be correct. Don is our incoming president. So, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I when I was looking at it, it was like she's in line for being president at some point in the next couple of years. And then the next session will be underwriting with Brad White, who we've not met, but I look forward to meeting him and seeing that that session. one of the new moderators. He is. He is. We brought Brad on last September, October. No moderating experience, but had been in twenty groups in the past. And Brad's just done an incredible job. He's taken over eight twenty groups for us. The members are really happy to have Brad in there. Very intelligent. Been in the space for quite a while, not only as an operator, But as consultant with some stuff and trainer as well. So good stuff. It'll be a good presentation. Brad's very, very well versed in the industry. So I look forward to that. And the next one is best ideas from the last dealer forum. Yeah, and that's Meg's going to be in that with our team too. And I'm familiar with the other two gentlemen as well. So, yeah, we've got a great lineup of people to speak to the best ideas. This was taken from last year's Super Forum, right? Yeah, it was taken from November's. And so, you know, again, they had the roundtables and everybody came together, presented an idea and then it was voted on at that point. So they're going to be highlighting. uh that portion of it and there were some really great ideas that came out of that so yeah we heard really great things about that event so and the next one uh reducing charge off this is rhonda's cavender who I also know and everybody speaks really highly of rhonda's and his knowledge of of his numbers and uh so I look forward to this session as well at uh roughly three o'clock on tuesday I think that one will have quite a few people in it because that is, I just came from my finance group meeting over the weekend. And that was the hot topic. How do we, one of the hot topics is how do we reduce these? Because we are seeing that frequency number tick up a little bit over the past months. So I think there'll be quite a few people set in on that one. Gotcha. Next one, getting vehicles to the front line and keeping them on the road. So this is a, others that we know right it really ties into uh yeah collect the cash off the car too but yeah getting people getting uh people getting cars ready to be frontline uh kristen is someone that we work with yeah too and really really enjoy her she's yeah you're gonna want to do you know kristen brent I do um I don't well A couple of them I know really well. David, I know in passing, but Blaze, they run a really tight operation down in Alabama. All of these are great operators when it comes to recon. And again, another one I know that's going to have quite a few people, because this is the other one from my full operational group, is that everybody's starting to struggle with the time it takes to get to the front line. In fact, my retail groups, as a matter of fact, I've got a meeting coming up and that's on their agenda is time to lot. So, you know, I can think this one will be, it's a very timely session to have. And I think quite interested in this as well. Good. And then we move into Wednesday and I kick off the morning on Wednesday with those DIY tools. So this will just be just, just simple stuff to look at profitability and cashflow. And I'm even going to throw in a bonus one on equity. So yeah, We've got just some interesting things for people to be able to just quickly get to some numbers and have an idea, a better idea of what's happening in their business without having to do a total in-depth analysis, just a quick look. So look forward to that. And then right behind that one, you've got BHPH-E-E-E with Mr. Carmichael. Well, I kind of want to back up here. Like I said, Jim, I'm excited to have you as part of the convention and your presentation in there. Thank you. Because as you know, sometimes data can kind of get skewed in how people look at it, and they quote it this way and that way. So like I said, I'm really looking forward to it. sitting in on your session. And yeah, mine, we've been asked to do this because, again, we kind of want to make sure that we're tailoring education to not only seasoned dealers, but dealers fairly to, like I said, a lot of the guys that you work with that are kind of new in the industry. And then even for those that have been around for a while, sometimes you kind of have to remember the blocking and tackling in the one-on-one. Yeah. ten cars a month or you're selling a hundred and fifty cars a month sometimes there are some things in there that it doesn't matter size or scale um that you have to remember so uh except looking forward to I always look forward to working with dealers whether it's in a public forum like this or even uh privately so yeah looking forward to it yeah the uh I just go ahead So go ahead. I just was going to say on Wednesday, we had Tommy Brandes. And when we talked fundamentals, we almost always do when Tommy comes around. And one of the things I alluded to is, you know, as a sports guy, I say, you know, you, you watch, um, you watch the world series and you see teams that are very, very skilled, but they do the fundamentals really well. You don't see teams in the world series who don't feel the ground balls well, right. Or, or just the real basic stuff. You could see the evidence of all the fundamental practice, same thing with football. You don't see teams in the super bowl who don't tackle well, you know, it's just, it's just basic stuff that if we, if we get past those fundamentals, then, uh, you know, the whole thing kind of falls apart. So, uh, So we just need to build our foundation on that. So I look forward to that session as well. And then it looks like the last session is carrot or stick, which Michelle, I don't know if you knew this topic was coming, but I'm really excited to see this one because we talk about this quite a bit, the kind of the reward side, you know, in collections, you know, we know that the basic kind of part of human behavior is, you know, we tend to respond to reward and punishment. And so often the, the approach in collections is punitive, which is that stick element. So I look forward to hearing these folks, you know, kind of offer their, their carrot approach, you know, on, on this side. And we have names. There was a dealership that you had recently in used car dealer magazine, and it's about, it's about this, it's about collections and, and how they're very proactive about, communicating with with their consumers and other than like you're late where's your payment it's hey it's more engagement yeah more engagement so which fits right in with white hat way so we were excited to have them and we've got three panelists here that and it kind of a real good diversity in this you got one of them that does that has their collectors that actually work at home. So they've got remote and in-office collectors. We've got one that's had a, I'm not going to, let's say a below average collection department a few years back and instituted some changes that were more customer centric and now are, you know, what we would consider a left-hand side of the page. Jim, you know what I'm referencing there as far as the deposit is concerned. And again, then a lot of people are probably familiar with Bob Zesserson. He's kind of been around a long time and they're a pretty large operation. So what we tried to do when we filled this panel was get different approaches to collections, different sizes in there, and even different business models to a certain extent. So you've got a little bit of everything in here with this one. So you've got some great panelists on this one, and this one will be definitely a good one to attend for sure. Well, you also covered geography on this one. You got California, Texas, and Rhode Island. So you got coast to coast. Again, Believe it or not, that's a little bit intentional, right? Because we keep hearing this, that customers where I live are different than where you live. And what I think we all know is that they're really not, that customers in Rhode Island don't pay any better than customers in Texas or in California. And they have the same reasons that they don't. And one of the other things these panelists are going to touch on, too, guys, is also within their staff. carrot or stick? I mean, how do we manage people effectively? Because these are all, you know, multiple collectors in there. This isn't just I have one collector. I think the smallest one has four or five collectors in there. So it's going to be a little bit of both. It's going to talk about carrot or stick with customers, but also carrot or stick within your employees as well. And sticks are good, but I find with employees, the electric cattle prod is probably the best. It's the most. Yeah. And you want to make sure that it's applied in a certain place so it doesn't shut. I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding, everybody. I'm kidding. It's my fault. I can't stop myself sometimes. You can't. Yeah. I try to behave and I can do it for a while, but yeah. What's the fun in math? Come on. Exactly. Yeah, it sounds like it's a lot of really great stuff that's coming up for the conference and for November as well. You know, NIADA, one of the reasons why we wanted to have y'all on is like that education is, you know, to showcase some of the things that are important. to NIADA and education is a really big part of that. It's not just who's representing us on Capitol Hill, which is there's no one else in this industry that can do that like NIADA does or the state, the state IADA. There's no one that can do that like they do. But the, and in addition to, it's like the next big thing is how do we teach? How do we help people be able to, to overcome some of the stuff that we see happen over and over again, because we find, and, and when we talk to different dealers is that there's so many dealers, if, if you're not plugged into the conference, um, world that you're this lone island out there and, and, um, just really, there's so much gain from, from coming together and being educated and, And being able to shake the hands of other dealers, to be able to sit across the table from other dealers. You know, there's so many conversations that we've been able to have just during lunch at your table, you know. And it's the kind of thing that you need to need. Yeah. Yeah. It's important to attend things like this and to be actively involved in that. and some of the conference things and, and education within your, within your niche. Yeah. Networking and exchanging ideas is certainly part of it. One thing I want to say, Brent, uh, before I forget is that, you know, there's been some chatter on social media and I want to just kind of offer my two cents as somebody who's been to the, the sessions with, um, TIADA in the past. And now you've got from TIADA come Jeff Martin as the CEO over there. You've got Teresa, um, who's come in to, uh, you know, also play a role. And I just want to say that from somebody who witnessed how they ran things in Texas, and I know the same practices will be coming down to the national, including, you know, with your role, because as we went through the process of submitting for a topic, it was reinforced that there's not going to be any pitching. So I think dealers can be, can expect that you will these sessions you will you will not see um you know vendors pitching from a stage you will you will get you get in the breakout room you're going to get education and I think this is something that you know is important that we drive home for the benefit of those who attend can expect to get genuine education and the other thing is that no one else does is there's an expo hall and it's like you get to meet all of the different vendors if you're looking or you're shopping or you're wanting to know what's new in the industry, what new gadgets and gizmos and all of that that you can lean into, this is where you come. This is really the only conference that I can think of that, well, Texas, the state conference. On a national level, this is the only one that everyone, you've got a pretty good sized expo hall. You can see all the things. Yeah. I would add to Oh, go ahead, Brent. No, no, go ahead. I'm just gonna say that it's talked about that go to the expo hall to meet new vendors if you're shopping for software, but I think we forget that it's also valuable to be there and shake the hands of the people who are your software. Make sure you get face to face with the people who you do business with, you know, and so there's, there's a lot of opportunity in that just relationship building and, and making sure that, you know, we, We get to know the people behind the product that we're dealing with, and it's helpful going both directions. So I think that's another relationship. Yeah. You know, we were sitting in a vendor's booth and a colleague of ours, a dealer, came up and and we were just kind of chatting and they used this vendor. And, and it was like, well, Hey, let me introduce you to da, da, da, da, da. And then they were able to have a conversation. It's like, I'm really struggling with this and I don't seem to be getting, you know, or whatever. And it was, it's really valuable, really, really valuable. Absolutely. Couldn't agree more. I think the main thing from conference or even. I mean, the class I'm teaching on Monday, I'll tell them, if you get nothing else out of today, look around you. There's forty other dealers in this room. If you don't go around and shake a hand and meet everybody because you never know, you might need help in this city and this state. And now you've met Michelle. So now I have somebody in Salt Lake City, Utah. So God forbid I ever have a customer that. decides to vacation permanently in salt lake and chooses not to pay then I've got somebody there to help and the same thing with conferences even back when I was even a dealer or on this end of it I spend a lot of time just going booth to booth hey tell me who you are what you do just in case I may not have a client that needs that product or service now but you never know down the road, you know what they're going to do. So, so yeah. And again, kind of going back to the speakers. Yes. Obviously we have that conversation with all the speakers as we go through the interview process that, Hey, this is educational. You know, we don't want phrases like come see us at our booth. And I'll be quite honest with you. Everybody we talked to understands that program supports that program knows kind of why they are there in the first place. So, I don't know that there's too many of them anymore out there that we kind of have to look at and rein in, so to speak, because I think everybody now is getting more on board. And you guys are some of the people that are driving that, that you're out there just saying, look, guys, we've got to do this for the betterment of the industry, not necessarily the betterment of our bottom line. Because if we take care of the industry, the industry will create that for us. So, you know, White Hat Way does that and lets everybody know, look, we can do this for the good of everybody as opposed for necessarily the good of us. So we appreciate you guys for that. We actually do have a booth this year. We'll be over there. Come by and swing by and say hello. I don't know. What do you give it away? What do you guys give it away? If it's like ink pens and koozies, I'm not going to buy it. We're going to have a drawing for a television and a couple of other things because it's just like I am someone that if I can do it myself and say And I was like, oh yeah, we're just going to, it's, I can buy a three hundred dollar television and just give it away at the end of the thing. Yeah. Yeah. So we allowed to enter. Let's just decide right here, live on the air. No, you're not. I'm sorry. You're breaking up. I'm sorry. I've got internet or something. So, yeah. But yeah, we will be there and, And kind of representing white highway and a couple of the other things that we've we've been working on and so excited about about being there in that capacity and yeah it's it's a it's a little bit of we haven't done that for quite a while yeah yeah. It'll be fun. Look forward to seeing you and all the other shining faces at the conference. We're still trying to get the word out. We want to see lots of dealers in the building. And of course, there'll be independent retail dealers there as well. We want to see the buy here, pay here folks show up in big numbers and get edumacated. And so we're happy to have that all happen. But I feel like we should let Brent go. It looks like a beautiful day for golf in Kentucky. So I feel like we should turn to him. I wish. I've got too much work to do. Like I said, I've got the agendas to do. I don't know if you guys know or not, but there's this horse race every year here in Louisville. I think it's a derby, derby something or other. It's tomorrow. But the day before is what is called the Kentucky Oaks, which is kind of the Kentucky Derby for fillies. And so now today, to tell you how popular this is, schools are closed here today for a horse race. So, yeah. So, yeah, let's get today and we'll bet on some horses and watch the races all day here on TV and get a little bit of work done. So no golf for me, unfortunately. You know the drill. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for joining us. Don't stick around for just a minute so we can say it properly. Again, thank you, guys. I greatly appreciate the opportunity. It's been a while since we've been able to do this. But like I said, greatly appreciate what you guys do. All the respect in the world for what you're doing for the industry. So, again, thank you from us. Yeah, of course. Thank you for that. Yeah. All right. We'll see you in just a second. Stand by. All right. Thanks. Okay. So I didn't confirm while he was on, though, about you already confirmed before we started that he's in Texas on Monday for the collected cash, not the car. And that's what he was talking about in a look around when he was there to do that. So you can find him. I believe that, yeah, if you're in the Texas area or happen to be in the Texas area. I think it's in Houston. Give us a nod, Brent. Is it in Houston? It's in Houston. Yeah. So get yourself down there and sit in on Brent's course. Absolutely. What else? before we head out. I think that's it for now. You know, you're going to do Kentucky Derby. I'm going to do working on the yard. On the yard. Yay! I'm going to find a recipe for mint juleps. Oh, man, I haven't had one of those. Brent, if you've got one, you're going to have to send it to us. Yeah. Alrighty, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. Happy Friday again and hope you guys have a great weekend. Um, And all the tax money stuff, things are leveling out a little bit so we can just kind of get our bearings again and get moving forward with our business. We really appreciate you guys tuning in and making us a part of your day. Hope you guys have a great week. Yeah, we'll see you back here Wednesday. All right, thanks so much, everybody.
