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, happy Friday. Happy Friday. It's Halloween. I did not. Dress up. Sorry. Oh, yeah. I'm dressed up as a business coach today. Right on. Yeah. So happy to have you guys here. We've got some, some tips for the whole, what chat GPT cleverly called the snap gap. So we're talking about snap has been a big subject and we've had conversations this week, Michelle, with our, our VA groups about this whole, It's kind of a whole getting dealers kind of feedback back and input and perspective on the whole thing has been interesting. And so that's kind of shaped an ongoing conversation. And yeah, so we're we're. we've been talking about this a lot, just personally outside of the VA groups. And, you know, it's, it is not lost on a lot of dealers, the opportunity we have to create just a lot of great equity and trust in our, in our communities and with our, with our customers yeah this funny thing we talk a lot about goodwill and we see the opportunity here to demonstrate a lot of goodwill and and to do so authentically and so we're uh we're excited to have a chance to share some things today that will will give folks an idea of what uh you know, what can be done here in the way of showing genuine support for our community and our customers. Did you want to show that one video for that restaurant? Okay. Um, you know, I, I Facebook and, and take talk a bit and, um, and I ran across this, uh, um, this post from this restaurant tour in Portland and, um, and it doesn't matter where it's at, but this restaurant tour who, um, recognized that this was going to create a strain on a lot of their people that that live in their community, not necessarily their customers, but people in their community. And so what they did is that they They created like a GoFundMe and then put it out on social media that, hey, we're going to have on our menu a snap breakfast as like something on the menu that people can ask for to get breakfast for their family. And that if it's, if it, if they order the snap breakfast, that their breakfast will be, um, will be comped through this GoFundMe. And so, you know, he was like, let's try to do something to be able to feed people that are in need of, of feeding. And, and I want to just not really squirrel, um, uh, you know, we, we, we talk a lot about, well, uh, as dealers, as people that are working with those that sign the contract, they are adults. And they, you know, there's, we know the whole grab bag of things that, you know, that we deal with as adults. But most of these adults have children. And these children have no power none whatsoever about anything that's happening, about whether or not their parents pay their bills, about all of the things. And so there are a lot of children here that are at play too, that are possibly going to be going hungry. And so we don't want that. So this restaurant, Um, you know, they're like, bring the family in, um, and, and let's get them fed. So the first, uh, within, within hours that they noticed that they had like, eighteen hundred dollars, whatever. I think where they're at right now is over a hundred thousand dollars. It's almost two hundred thousand dollars. People are donating. He was saying even one of the people that donated donated a dollar seventeen dollars and seventeen cents. And he says this isn't a thousand dollars is coming in and it's coming in from all around the globe. and that people from Australia and Africa and the UK are seeing what's happening here and they are, they are, um, donating. And so they've got this massive, and to me, what that says is, is how good people are across this planet. They want to help. And so we, we wanted to give you guys some ideas like the restaurateur where he came up with something that fits his business model. You know, how can we, how can we help the people in our community? We talked a little bit about this on Wednesday. It's like we have a really great opportunity and this is what White Hat Way is all about. What are we doing to help our community? So we took this to Sage, our virtual AI assistant, and asked her to help us put together some thoughts and some ideas. And we've gone through and done some editing and adding our own things to this. And so we're here to talk about ten ideas. that we can give you that are actionable. They're like actionable starting now kind of thing to get going. Yeah, and I think before we dive into those, I would just like to kind of express this idea that, you know, when we step into it, we talked about this plenty in the past with other, you know, subjects, but I think the authenticity piece and your genuine desire to help rather than trying to make it a, uh, into some sort of, uh, you know, a pitch or a, or something that it's not a sales campaign. It's really just a way for you to, uh, for dealers that let me just say it this way. The opportunity exists for dealers to step forward in a way that is genuine and to demonstrate support for their community and for their customers specifically in a way that just shows that we care and that so in that way it's making those trust deposits it is allowing us to step forward and be able to show that we we recognize that some of our neighbors are hurting and there's something we can do and there's something we are doing yeah okay absolutely um so First off, and we will share this with everyone, is we've created an email so you don't have to write it yourself that you can send out to all of your customers. And we would suggest that this is prior to any of these ideas that you can come up with just to let your customers know in whole know that you are here to help be a problem solver and, and assist in some ways. And so the, the email, and like I said, we, we can send this to you and there's a few different links as well. It says a dear blank. We know that many hardworking families in our communities may soon be feeling the effects of the government shutdown. At Dealer Name, we understand that unexpected challenges like this can make it difficult to stay on track. If you've been impacted, whether through a delay in pay, benefits or other support, please reach out to us right away. We have several ways that may be able to provide temporary relief or assistance, and we want to work with you to alleviate stress where we can. Our team is here to listen, help and find solutions that keep you moving forward. We've placed you've placed your trust in us and we take that serious seriously. Now it's our turn to show that same trust in return. Call us with your phone number. reply to this email or stop by the dealership so we can talk through the options together. This is an important piece. Yeah. And let me just say that when you think about the actual SNAP program, I asked our dealers in multiple groups over the last two weeks, how many, what percentage of them felt like their, what percentage of their customer base was going to be directly affected by the SNAP thing, which SNAP, you know, used to be called the welfare kind of food stamp program, I guess, replacement for SNAP. And so they basically said, you know, probably five percent or less, you know, were customers who were actually receiving food stamps. Now, the point really here is that you know, whether it's going to be the SNAP program that actually supplies vouchers for food at the grocery store, what have you, or whether it's other things affected by, you know, the government shutdown may affect others because of lack of checks, whatever. Dealers basically said it was a low number. I would say though, let's say it's five percent of your customers that are affected by this and you send this email out That means ninety five percent of your customers are not affected, but they're seeing that you as a dealer and a member of their community are stepping forward to do something right to support the thing and that you're really stepping in to provide some sort of relief. Now, the email purposefully doesn't express how you help, but lets you decide and gives your team the latitude. to do what you will to help on a case-by-case situation but it does extend a hand in a very specific way and we think that's important and it's going to be significant and it's an opportunity for you to genuinely step forward and say we're here to help yeah absolutely absolutely and and um and it's it it really uh ties into what what we have um encouraged dealers to do just in the normal it's like the impetus is on us to create connection with our, with our, our book of business, with our consumers, with our community, with our customers. And so it's, it's, it's not, it's not their responsibility to do that. It's our responsibility to do that. So sending out an email, we've, we've encouraged dealers to, to do some kind of newsletter or something so that they're seeing something that's not about where's your payment, but it's about, Hey, Don't forget about us. And, you know, we're here and we're here to, you know, offer suggestions, support, you know, newsletter, whatever. So this really ties well into what we have been teaching for a while. So should we get into the first one? Create a pay it forward board where customers can contribute small amounts that go towards helping other customers in need. And dealers can match those contributions. This, that one is a bit there's, there is some housekeeping or, you know, accounting that needs to go into that, but. the energy, the premise behind this is that your current customers are going to want to help. Those that don't need the SNAP benefit or that there are people, and it's like that restaurateur in Portland who had a dollar and seventeen cents because that's what they could do. And giving people an opportunity and a place to help other people that are maybe in a worse situation as they are, it, I mean, that, that helps people feel, feel good about, I've been able to help someone that is in a worse situation than I am. And that goes a long way. I mean, it's, you know, we know it's like helping someone have better self-esteem with, you know, being able to help and they're taking care of their own bills. That's fantastic. So if there's something that you can do, um, like a pay it forward board where your customers can help other customers. Yeah. You just have to figure out a way, obviously electronically would be the way to go on that. You have to have a way to do that. And you have to be trusted as a, as a steward of that, um, sort of goodwill bucket. And so this is, you know, how part of how well it's going to be effective is, uh, It's going to have to do with how you approach it, how you present it, and whether your consumers trust you that the money will end up in the right place. So then the next one is set up a community resource wall, which is not that different. So with information about local food pantries, job fairs, and other assistance programs, you could also create that in terms of a poster or a document that go out if you have the team to do it. And you could put a page at your website to be able to send us a link. so that people can see back to your website. These are the resources that we're aware of in our community. And so that you're able to just quickly share that with people. Your team can share that with folks who are struggling. One of our members in a group last night talked about having a list together of people in the community that are doing food drives, food banks, et cetera. So just a way to be able to share with folks, here are resources and places to get some support. And I think this is interesting. I think it's also... this is where you can go elsewhere for support. I think what I'd like to see our dealers do is say, here's, here's ways to come to us for support. Okay. Yeah, absolutely. Next one. Number three. This is a big one. And I've seen people just do this because they have the resources to be able to help. Partner with local schools that provide snacks or supplies to kids whose families might be affected by the snap gap. The snap gap. I love that. So I've heard feel-good posts, I guess, where... I was just chatting with my kids this morning and they were saying that just in the state of Utah, there is like thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars that people are behind for their lunch or breakfast programs because they just don't have the money. And, and that, that I've, I've seen where people will go into a school, their, their local neighborhood elementary school and say, who here needs the help and let me pay off their debt and, And how can I help contribute for those that are still in need? And it's a great way for the schools to know that they have a partner in you and not just an advertising opportunity in you. Yeah, and I think this is easy to just go, like for me, if we could do this for our customers, because it's one thing to be able to go and do this at the school and you don't know where it ends up. If you can do this for your customers and say, if you're involved in the SNAP program, let us cover your kids' lunches and breakfasts for the month of November, right? It's just a way to, whatever that number looks like, you can find out from your local school what that is and just go place that on their account and make sure that those kids um number four um i thought that was mine or yours oh wait you did the snaps and the school lunches that was four was pay this kid school lunches and breakfast number five this was a really cool thing that i i was like that's a great idea um i've got that video yeah and so we've got a video we're going to share with you on this um it's meal kits with a recipe for people so and these are very inexpensive it's called dollar tree meal kits is is the gal that that runs these and so For, you know, she'll put a hundred dollars in and she's able to feed twelve families or something like that, a meal. And so we're going to share the the actual video that she posted and kind of give you guys and then we'll share the links where you can get these. the, uh, the cards for the different meals. And, um, and you know, this would be a fun activity for your, your team to do so they can feel like they are helping out as well. So let me put this in here. This is just one example. A meal in a bag. If you're new here, my meal in a bag kits are complete shelf stable meals made entirely from pantry ingredients. The goal is to make it easy for anyone to have a warm home cooked meal with no additional ingredients required. For this one, everything goes into a two gallon Ziploc bag and it comes in at under eight dollars based on current Walmart prices. Here's what's inside. two cans of great northern beans for protein and fiber, a can of corn for sweetness and color, a large can of chunk chicken for the main protein, a can of cream of chicken soup for a thick and creamy base, a can of green enchilada sauce for seasoning and spice, a can of salsa verde for some tangy kick and some extra veggies, and optionally I like to toss in a bouillon cube for a little extra boost of flavor. All of these ingredients are shelf-stable, easy to find, and ready to go. Just combine, heat, and enjoy. Soon I will have a short instructional video to go along with each meal. And if you'd like to make your own meal in a bag, I have a free printable recipe card you can download to include in your bag. Let's put together a... Okay, so we'll give you guys the link to the recipe cards because the recipe cards, I mean, it's... really easy meal kits you can do for um and throw them in a ziploc bag with the recipe card and and for your your um customers that are hurting for them to that that looks delicious and and it's just a really easy way you throw everything in a pot heat it up and and then you've got dinner to feed probably a family of four to six and i can't think of a better way than just it reminds me a little bit michelle i've told talked about how in the dealership i used to over years we used to have popcorn machine we would offer a customer uh popcorn and they would say oh no thank you they're courteous and just kind of being polite but if i would make the popcorn in the bag and go hand it to them then they would accept it gratefully so i think the same thing can be done here i think if you learn that your customers are in that situation you could arrange these kits and just deliver them know ideally you'd be able to get some other recipes together and have a mix and be able to deliver them a mix of some and just take them yeah right um so the next one is uh it's number seven or six and this is something that jim has done with his dealership we've encouraged other dealers to do but this is like potentially doing a friday cookout you can do like dollar hot dogs or you can contact like food trucks or things like that and get a food truck to come in on a weekly basis. Your SNAP benefit customers have them show the card. And so that the food truck knows that you guys will be covering their meal. And so they can bring the family and have a good, you know, street tacos or whatever it is. And so it's like a food truck. You can do hot dogs. You can do a Saturday morning breakfast and, and do pancakes and, you know, it's an easy way to help feed your customers. Um, and, and, uh, and so those that aren't on snap that you can, you know, there's a different price and I would post a different price for those that are not your customers or not snap customers. so that they can see that there is a value associated with it. And some will hear this and think, you know, well, I need to have a food handler's license, and maybe that's true in your area. I would check. Just check. If you need one, somebody on your team can get one, and they could be the one running that. the griddle or whatever but when you say this is easy it's it requires a little effort a little setup you have to get out and buy some groceries and what have you to do this but i think you know if that doesn't make sense for you as she said the food truck idea in a way for you to supplement or to negotiate a deal with the food truck that you all the customers got to do is present vouchers you give them vouchers they go and present the voucher and they get their food and then the ticket comes to you and you pay the bill you probably negotiate with the food truck a bargain on the the meal package or combo thing. So it's like, you know, these are ways that we can either make it as easy and bring it internal or we can go partner with somebody else who's already in that business. That's yeah. So it's even with the food truck or it's just businesses that have the same customer as we can go and talk to a couple of them and say, Hey, would you guys be willing to, to contribute of us doing this? like weekly until this whole thing blows over so that we can help keep, because there are plenty of businesses out there that want to be able to help as well. And we know from, you know, working with dealers that have done a cookout or whatever, that like your auto parts stores are almost always willing to help out in some way because you guys spend so much money with them. There's, you know, there's grocery stores. I know grocery stores are probably going to be, kind of taxed to a limit, but they may be able to give you a discount on things. What's the worst that's going to happen if you ask? The absolute worst, because they're not going to dislike you for asking. They're just going to have to say no at the worst. Yeah, I've had success as a dealer myself years ago. I used to go out at Thanksgiving and negotiate packages like little meal kits like this to support a turkey dinner or a gift card for a turkey and just go negotiate with them and say we're going to introduce this to our customer base you know courtesy of the dealership and my local Kroger store that they get a little mention for having provided the discount but for the customer they just get the gift right they get the gift from you that is a is a great show of goodwill and and demonstrating that we do care about our neighbors absolutely the next one is a food drive with your customer base and you can put signs out um out in front of your dealership say we're doing a food drive um to help feed uh our community and um and i would suggest you do a coat drive along with it because that is a huge expense right now this time of the year for for all of our customer base so this is something to think about if in fact customer does have either a missing check or snap benefits missing that means whatever dollars they have are going to have to go into things that they ordinarily wouldn't go into so all of these kind of things these kind of supplemental expenses can be problem and by the way all of our dealers really confirmed that the the reason that they may be experiencing heavier charge-offs right now and now we're going into the whole snap thing as we approach the holidays it's like um there's a reality that the customers are employed what that suggests then is it is financial pressures right we've talked about this plenty on the podcast and there seems to be plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that customers are just stressed financially there's it's just the the expenses are up uh cost of living across the country is is up and so folks are stressed with their budget so anything like you mentioned the coats or anything else that we can do in addition to the the food element would be worth looking at absolutely Um, eight grocery store gift cards. Um, you can leverage dollars, relationships, community, goodwill. Um, you, you may be able to go to your, your grocery store. Cause it's a lot of times the local grocery stores, the smaller, the mom and pops, um, or ones that you know, that are pretty, it's like a franchise. Um, they're able to make those decisions, um, at the store some of your bigger ones like walmart that and things like that there's a little bit more red tape to go through um and but most stores have a budget for being able to donate but being able to go in and say hey um we'd like to be able to offer a grocery gift card which is going to help them it'll bring people in for business And, you know, would you guys be willing to supplement some of this? That's another thing that you can go in on it with other businesses in the area. And then when that gets, um, delivered to your customer that needs the help, then it's like, it can have a little note that goes with it and says, thank you to, um, uh, around here, it's Lee's. Thank you to, um, uh, uh, your auto parts store. Thank you for this, this gift card for groceries. And that's really only limited by our ability to go out and impress upon people to join the effort and the mission and share in the, the, uh, the outreach. Absolutely. Uh, number nine and ten are kind of related, but they are different ways to approach the same kind of thing. Yeah. So nine is, is payment deferment, which that came up in some of our V eight groups. Certainly dealers are, have, some will defer payments and and how you do that um you know can vary to some extent this would be decided by internal policies which could be adjusted we can make an exception with these circumstances we could also be limited a little bit by software but jumping to number ten what I had said is let's offer to be able to move the payment for the month of November or a portion of the payment, whatever's going to be equivalent. Like, you know, we have dealers in our meeting just last night. Dealers average payments runs anywhere from four fifty to eight hundred dollars average payment per month. So if you just maybe you don't need to relieve the entire payment. I think what we're really suggesting is meet with the customer. You heard what the phrasing of the letter says. Let's hear from the customer what their situation is. Let's learn what their SNAP benefits might have been that they're going to be short. And let's let's find ways to provide relief and deferring a payment and allowing them to keep that car payment in their pocket, you know, could be part of how you do that. Now, does it need to be deferred to the end? I come from a history of not doing that, but I would grant the customer time. And so I think one of the things I suggested in the meeting last night and continue to suggest for everybody is if your software will accommodate it, I would be looking to push a November payment, for example, to February or March when the tax refund comes. A lot of customers that are in this situation can anticipate a tax refund if they typically get one and you feel comfortable in doing so. rather than pushing the payment all the way to the end of the note just say hey how would you feel about if i just took your november payment and allowed you to pay that from your tax refund instead and that way you can kind of stay on track you just stay on track with your other payments and and we also discussed in our meeting last night most um agreed that excuse me that this this thing with the the government shutdown is not likely to go months it's likely to go weeks you know it's likely to get resolved there's a lot of political frustration obviously but we've seen this before we've seen the government get shut down and we know that typically the political will isn't there typically to keep it going indefinitely and now you're going to actually see families hurting you're going to see children who are gonna suffer as a result of this government shutdown and shifting programs. And so I think this is a time for us to step forward and be able to demonstrate that we're gonna do what we can in our position because you've been a customer with us. This is one of the times that we can show you, show you, not tell you. This is the way we can show you that it's important that you recognize that it's good to do business with us, maybe instead of someone else, because we do truly care about our neighbors and this is our way to step in and present. And you know, one of the things that we were kind of talking about last night with that last one, offering to move it to tax season. Um, you know, just the psychology around, um, you know, when you push it to the very end, it's like completely out of sight, out of mind. And so we're just like normal. Um, and, and there's, there's a real benefit to, um, uh, feeling a sense of accomplishment for our customers when, when they can see that, you know, we've been, we're working together and we're, we're making something. that they can, it's, they're being reminded of this is what the agreement is. And so one of the things that I had suggested, even on that deferment, is if you can figure out some way to say, if you guys will come in once a week or every other week with twenty dollars to keep this active, bring twenty dollars in to keep this deferment and it'll be eating away at this payment. And then when they show up that you have like a meal ready, like one of these, um, meals that you can send home with them. So it's, it's kind of like we're helping you and you're helping yourself too. And that there's, there's a lot of benefit to that because people need small wins. And, and so when they can be like, yes, we made a payment because we do know most of our customers want to pay their bills. Um, and so if we make it, make it in a way that, that they, can still feel that sense of accomplishment of paying some of their bill and that you're helping them in the process in the short term and the long term. That's really beneficial to do. Yeah, and I would say the one thing, and we need to wrap up, but I would say the one thing that we can do is try to help to make sure the customer can preserve their dignity. Let's show them respect. Let's not embarrass anyone and be prepared to kind of show up and offer these things, sometimes without them having to ask. So this is all part of where we can step forward. And that's part of what this email is about. I've got the email ready to go out on the social media. And you might even add something to that email. It's like, if you aren't in need, but want to help, please reach out to us too. Okay. Yeah. But that's not in the email, but I was just kind of thinking that might be a beneficial thing to add. But yeah, we've got that ready to go out on social media. So you'll be able to have that. You could paste that and create, you could send that email today. Like it can go out on Halloween for anticipation of these. A lot of folks are not going to receive those snap benefits. Come, early November here, there will be some other checks that don't show up. And so I think it's an opportunity for us to step out there and say, again, to that, whether it's ninety five percent, whether sixty percent of the customers who aren't going to be affected, they're still going to see you step forward and say, we're here to help. Absolutely. Absolutely. And again, so many people want to help. So many people are seeing what's happening and they that they they want to be able to do something. which like the restaurateur in Portland is a great example. I mean, there are people globally that want to help. And so you know that if there are people in New Zealand that want to help, there's got to be people that are in your community too that want to be able to do what they can do to help our customers. And we know that we are one of the businesses that this is our customers. This, this is who this, this is our customer. So, um, we are in such a beautiful position right now, um, to be able to really create some massive trust deposits in our community. with our consumers, with our customers. And, you know, this is foundational to what White Hat Way is about. It's about developing trust with our communities. And imagine too, I mean, if we're able to help, we know our team members are probably struggling themselves, but to be able to help others, there is a lot that is of benefit to us your team dynamics and your culture when you can come together as a dealership, as a team to help others. It's it, there's so much equity that that's, that's gained, that's earned just within your business too. I'm glad you mentioned that part. And as a follow on, if those of you who missed the Wednesday podcast, we talked about the customer journey. We'll be talking a lot about the buy here, pay your journey, both the dealer journey and the customer journey and how those things intertwine. And, and this is just the latest, setback the next setback that your customers will face that we know about and so it's really a question of what kind of journey are we on are we really on the journey with them are we along for the ride with the customer and here's a chance for us to show that we recognize it's a journey it's not about the november payment it's about the relationship we have with you and how to help uh you know navigate whatever you know kind of uh weather comes if you will yeah and uh so this is a chance for us to step in and really you know provide some relief to folks so we uh we know you care we want to see uh you have solutions and ways to uh step out and demonstrate that so do what you can to get out and support your customers absolutely hey guys happy happy halloween happy friday um you know this lots of really great uh opportunities ideas i hope that you maybe show this to your team members um Get the juices flowing because I bet your team members, if you had a team meeting and said, here are some things that we're thinking of, what other things? I mean, how can we make this happen? Your team is probably going to come up with other ideas or things that they know. um that you may not know of community resources all of that stuff so take this to your team um have some fun with it too and let's go out there and and help our customers this is this is such a really great way for us to really make a difference in our communities all right everybody thanks again so much for joining uh we appreciate your time we will see you on wednesday
