#10 - Jack Carter, Branding your dealership.

Welcome to the Independent Dealer podcast, the.

Podcast for auto dealers to learn and grow together.

Here are your hosts, Luke Godwin and Jeff Watson. Hey, guys and gals. We just want to welcome our guest this week, the one and only, the amazing turn and burn, Jack Carter himself, Facebook guru, personal brander. Just all out there, man. Jack, it's great to have you, buddy.

Welcome.

Thank you both. Wow, that's weird. It's kinda like being introduced as a boxer or something.

I envision you as a boxer, buddy.

Not with these twig arms.

I think it's the big beard and always got the hat on. You just look tough, man.

Selling my brand. I love it.

I love it. Great. And today, Jack, we're gonna talk a lot about Facebook marketing. I think that's one thing that we've all noticed that you do pretty dar. Well, you know, the branding, the engagement, you know, I mean, it's. It's. You do a great job. I mean, I gotta say.

Well, I appreciate that. I don't know. I don't know how it all got started. One of the things that. With the branding that really got with me was, and I bet you guys are familiar with this is I used to, you know, look at ebay a lot and still do to a certain extent. I don't do much business there, but I'm aware of it. And you guys know that you see the cars for sale by Texas Motor Direct, or is it Texas Direct? You guys know it? Yeah. And that's the only seller I know of on ebay. And the reason I know them is because they do so good with that. You know, you just won't catch their car, not. Not in their booth with their sign behind it. And so, you know, the Texas flag with the star, whatever in their sign. And I think they really influenced me with branding because, you know, it was. Even now, even right this moment, I can't think of another seller on ebay that sells cars other than them because they did so well with making sure you knew who that car belonged to.

Well, Jack, that's interesting. That's interesting. You said that you know them. You know Texas Direct, you know anybody that works there, you know any brand.

I don't know anything about them. I actually know nothing about them except for they're big on ebay. And the reason that I know that is because of that. That lead picture that they've been so consistent with. That lead picture and the sign that they embedded me with their name.

Well, you know, that's what's a. I think that's that's funny that you say that, because what I think makes you unique, you know, people do know Turning Burn, but I think people know Jack Carter better. Can you kind of tell us how you went from seeing a brand out there to becoming your own brand?

Well, I mean, I think, you know, that might be true for you guys, and maybe with the associations and such, but around here in my town, I think people probably know Turner Burn more than they know me. Okay? So, you know, I've just always been big about, you know, wearing my hats, always wearing my T shirts. I mean, you know Kate. Y' all know Kate, my wife, and she, you know, she teases me, man, you know, we're going to a nice dinner. You don't need to wear that Turning Burn shirt. And I'm thinking, yeah, dude, you know, you go around that. You go around the restaurant that you're at, and what are we all seeing now? This. You know, that everybody's got on a shirt that says North Face or Columbia or. What is that new one, Luke? Patagonia or Pata?

Yeah, it's not new, but yes. Patagonia.

Yeah. What the hell is that? Maybe it's not. It might not be new, but it's really big right this moment. Right?

Well, what's. Yeah, yeah, no, I understand.

I'm walking through the auction yesterday at Manheim, Manheim, Georgia, and it's like everybody's got that Patagonia hat on or shirt on. And I'm thinking, yeah, what? You know, everybody does this. They advertise for other people. Why don't they advertise for themselves? Why are you wearing that shirt with someone else's name on it? I agree.

I'm big on that, too. I agree.

And I just think that over time, you know, the repetition and just being consistent for a long time just really. I think it matters, you know? I do. So. And I don't know if. I don't know if our name matters, but, I mean, I've got kind of a goofy car lot name, you know, I mean, it's. It's. It's different. If I could go back, I'd probably pick the same thing now, knowing what I know now. But, you know, I've had some challenges with our name, but at least it's not a one, you know, a one quality used automobile or superior anything. You know, there's. I mean, we've all heard it. I mean, how many times have you heard the. Just the plain Jane names? So I don't really want something.

I think there's something There. If you look at someone like Richard Rawlings with Gas Monkey, I mean that's essentially what he's done. He's created his brand. And I could compare, you know, what you're talking about and what you do with someone like Richard Rawlings. It's a little, it's big, it's out there, it's bold. So I understand exactly what you're saying.

What I find really interesting, Jack, is you blur the line between your business page and your personal page.

That's necessity.

Yeah. And I don't think a lot of dealers do that. I think a lot of people want to somehow think that their personal page is something they need to protect. And that needs to be my friends and my family and my kids. And I don't want my customers seeing pictures of me on my trip or my vacation. And where for you, I mean, just glancing over your personal page and your work page, you guys, you get more comments and likes on your personal posts of cars and things like that than you do on your business page.

Yes, I do, Jeff. And you know, that's something that, that's funny. I didn't have Facebook prior to the business because I didn't, I didn't want it. You know, in a way it probably doesn't appear it, I'm sure it doesn't appear it, but I feel like I'm pretty private. At least I don't, I don't want to, I don't necessarily want to go over my personal life in great detail. I'm a little weary of putting pictures of my kids because I think, you know, my child, my 11 year old boy might not want to, you know, go back and somebody be able to research his entire history. So I'm a little weary of stuff like that. But, but to your point. Yes. I think that blending your personal life is very important because that's what people care about. You know, people do not care about 2010 civics. They just don't. What they care about is your dog, your wedding pictures, your kids, birthdays and baseball and just they care about your life. And seeing that you're real and knowing that you're approachable, I think it just lowers defenses. I look at a lot of dealers personal page or somebody will send me a request and you'll see that this is so and so and they own this car lot and then you go to their personal page and it's just got nothing to do with, with, you know, their business at all. So I feel like I was very successful with beginning to post on my Personal page prior to posting on the business page.

Yeah, that's. That's something that. I mean, I came into Facebook as a personal page first back in the day. Right. And so I look at that as, like, my property. That's my page, my property, my personal stuff. But, you know, having watched you, it makes me realize that it's really pointless. You know, it's pointless to have. I mean, you can have a personal page. You want to stay in contact with your family and friends, but if you're somehow embarrassed by what you're doing for work or you don't feel like you could put work stuff on your personal page because it's gonna turn off your friends and family, you know, that seems like a little. Maybe you're in the wrong industry. You know, I agree.

That's very counterproductive. I mean, I. I've sold a lot of friends and family cars, and I just think it just open up. It opens up this big channel for people to kind of get to know you, and then that's a huge opportunity to just be a good guy, you know? And. And, you know, people do business with people they like. Right. And, you know, if you. If you show your good side and behave and talk to people respectfully, and you're a good guy and you're honest and upfront, and I just. I don't know. I don't. I think blending the personal with the business has been wildly successful for me, and I don't know that that's key for everybody, but there has definitely been something there for me that has tapped into just a more personable side of the business. And I don't know if I'm. If I'm explaining that correctly or.

Let me lead you into something here.

Because.

You'Re very personable, okay? And you appear to be that way on Facebook. And I think one of your great attributes of your advertising on Facebook, because you do advertise cars a lot on Facebook. Let's get real. I don't advertise cars on Facebook, but you do. And I think one of the things that has allowed you to blend your personal with the selling of cars on Facebook is your genuineness when it comes about the condition of a car or your frankness. So expand on how you. You've done that. Expand on how you talk about a car in the way that. That you talk. So if you will expand on that, Jack.

Okay? So I think that's a great. That's a great point, Luke, that a lot of people maybe should be mulling over. But so okay, so something that I recognize with every person that walks through my door at Turn and Burn, every customer, day in, day out, 100% of the time, those people expect to be lied to, and those people expect someone to tell them how great the car is. You know. You know, the old, you know, I've said it already, but the meme about the guy, the salesman that slaps the roof and this baby, you know, will take you down the highway. And, you know, I think people are so geared and so ready to encounter that, that when you start discussing the things that are wrong with the car, it changes their demeanor and their personality and how they feel about you. And it shapes the conversation to the point to where, hey, he's telling me about this back window that's not right, and that the back tires need to be replaced, and, you know, the brakes are somewhere around 50%. And then at the same time, he's telling me, but it shifts great and it runs really good. And I think it's going to last you a long time. Then they believe you. When you start being honest about some of the flaws, then they really believe you about the good stuff. And so we all have that huge barrier of lowering people's defenses. And when you start talking about how things aren't perfect, that's when the defenses come down. And I think it just totally reshapes your relationship with your customer. You know, I tell them all that, you know, people ask me when they're sitting at my desk buying a car, you know, is this a good car? And I'm like, yeah, but I guarantee you gonna put a water pump on it. And they look at me and they're like, huh? I'm like, yeah. Have you ever lived in a house? And they're all like, well, yeah. And I'm like, is your roof leaked? And they're like, well, yeah. And I'm like, well, this car is gonna wear out. You know, I promise you, if you buy a car for me, you're gonna put brakes on it and you're gonna put wheel bearings on it. I promise you, the tail lights are going to go out, the windshield wipers are going to stop working. One day you're going to be at McDonald's, and the driver window is not going to come down. You'll be mad. But that's part of owning a car, right? And they all look at you and they're like, yeah, that's part of owning a car. And I'm like, right. So, you know, just. I think that that has. That approach has. I'LL never stray from that approach.

I think it's. I'm sorry to jump in, but I think that's a good philosophy, is you've got to, you know, I just want to drive this point home is you got to lower that. Not lower the expectation, but give them a realistic expectation. I think so many of our customers come in, they think they're buying a brand new car. And the fact that this thing needs brakes in six months or the fact that the water pump happened to go out just blows their mind. And I think like you said, you're steering right into it. No, this thing will break down, you know, a month, six months. I mean, granted, if it happens within this time period, I'm going to step in and help you out or whatever your warranty period is. But how do you balance that between putting that out there and being honest with those things and worrying about putting cars on the road? Even though you've disclosed everything and you've told them that it's a mechanic special or that it needs this, that or the other, they still think that Jack sold them a piece of crap.

Well, I don't really have hardly any customers that think I sold them a piece of crap. And I think that the reason why, I mean, there's a sign in my lobby that says, a big sign that I wrote, hand wrote that says there are no perfect cars here. They all need something, please take them to a mechanic prior to purchase. And it's just that approach. I think that really I don't. Like you said, it doesn't necessarily lower expectations. It just.

You're setting.

Expect you're setting expectations. Yes, Luke, that's right. So think about this. And I tell people this all the time. Let's say customer A walks in and buys a car and they buy that car from you and they leave with it and it breaks or something happens that you knew about. Like they discover a flaw that you were aware of. Let's just go with something so simple like there's a window, you got a four door car or whatever. There's a back window that doesn't go down and maybe you knew about it and you didn't fix it or whatever. Or there's a gauge that doesn't work or just whatever. And they get down the street and they discover that flaw on their own, okay? They're pissed you knew it. You didn't tell them. They're mad now, all right? You take that exact same automobile, exactly the same car with the same problems, and you tell them before they buy it what's going on? They get down the road and they mash the button and the window go down. They're like, yeah, that's what he said. Mm. Same car, same money, same everything. But it's just how you. How you. You know, how you built that baseline expectation and what they're getting. And I find that when people. People find flaws on their own, they're angry. When people realize the flaws that you already told them about, they don't care. They don't care. They know the car's old.

So, Jack, what's your. So I. You kind of. You expand on this the other night in your video, but I think it's something that every. Everybody kind of needs to understand. I do it here. Jeff. I think you do it as well. But when it comes to the picture that you use on your Facebook post, there's a lot of consistency there. What do you recommend people doing when it comes to taking pictures for their website or for Facebook?

So I'm gonna go back to that. Earlier in the conversation with the Texas Motor Direct. I think that no matter what you do, in my opinion, your car ought to be in the same spot with your sign behind it legible, so that that initial picture, the very first picture, the car is at the exact same angle, sitting in the exact same location, with your sign positioned in the exact same spot every single time. And you make a recognizable photo. And I don't think there's anybody that's ever seen our pictures now at this point, maybe at the beginning, yes. But now everybody that sees a lead picture of my car knows where that car is. They know who owns that car. They know who's selling that car, and it's super recognizable. So I think that that's very important because if you. Because what do you hear when you talk to a customer that you're calling back on a lead. Hey, I'm returning your call. They're like, oh, I've looked at so many cars. I don't know which one was yours. We don't have that problem. Yeah, they know which car was ours. So I just think you make a very clean environment. One little spot, clean environment. No auction stickers. If you take a picture of the inside, the steering wheel needs to be straight. It needs to have gas in it. It shouldn't have the Adessa paper floor mat. I think you can just. I think if you just get professional with that part, I think it can have a really lasting impression. And that's part of building your brand, is making sure your sign and you Know what, Luke? I think maybe we should move to some type of digital image at some point, you know, and we've talked about in our picture booth maybe getting a huge vinyl banner and having it nailed to the wall or whatever and then we could really customize it. I mean, right now our little sign is. That's my cheap sign that I bought when we first opened and I couldn't. That's all I could afford, so. But then again, now we've worked so hard to be consistent with that sign. I'm a little worried about changing it, you know. Yeah.

You know, I was out at Nada a couple weeks ago and I was looking at photo booths because I've, I've always thought that it, you know, it rained so much around here, it'd be nice to have photo booth, but it's $35,000, you know, but they, man, these things are high end. They're great. But what's great about what we're talking about is how inexpensive it is to create the same photograph every time because, you know, 200 bucks, I mean, it.

Was a gallon of paint and a $200 sign, I think. And I've got that same sign is right, I mean, that's, that right there is the exact same sign. Yeah. And when my, I started in a little trailer down the street and that's the, those are the signs that were on the outside of the trailer and I just kept them. But yeah, literally, literally dollar figures, my photo booth, probably 350 bucks maybe. I've got a, I got a We Finance big we Finance letters. A buddy of mine gave me them. You know, I'm just thrifty with signs and stuff. But yeah, you should be able to recreate what I've done for less than $500.

And the consistency is everything when it comes to your pictures because you've talked about Texas Direct and how you, how you know them. You know, every time someone calls about your, you know, let's talk about, let's, let's hijack some car guru leads. Those free leads. If you have a picture in the back of your picture every time, and it's got your website like mine does, gobblemotors.com. well, guess what? When they, they looking at Cargurus or something like that, they can search gobamotors.com, find me a different way. So there's all kinds of benefits to doing what we're talking about here.

That's right. There's benefits that you, I don't think you can know. You know, I Don't think you can track them, but like. Like you touched on and like we touched on a little earlier, you know, When I see a Texas motor car direct, I have no idea who they are, but I know I remember, oh, that's that car. That's who has it. I could find them if I wanted to. You know, it's not.

Damn.

I looked at 25 cars today, and I don't remember where that green, you know, Remember where that green Buick was? Well, yeah, they do. You know, they do remember where that car was. So. And it's so simple. It just. It seems elementary, doesn't it? I mean, it just seems like something that you wouldn't think we would need to talk about. But I think you got some, you know, operators get real busy and we get to dealing with other things and we let our salesmen just make it, you know, we push our people. Please go out there and make an ad on that car. You know, please go do that. Our car. That car's been sitting here forever. Please go make a post. You know, and they just do a sloppy job. And I just think we just. If we just set up the parameters. I mean, I don't have to talk to my people anymore about it. They know that what those pictures are supposed to look like 1 through 10. And we've just been so consistent with it for so long, you know, and it's simple to put in place.

Yeah, I know Luke has the same philosophy. I know that he has a very detailed description of how the pictures are supposed to be taken and the angles, and so there's consistency throughout his website and branding. Jack, any other tips, tricks, ideas, things that we should share with everyone that would help them in their, you know, both their Facebook marketing and. Or personal branding? I mean, I'm looking right now. I think I see your logo three times in this video. You know, I don't know if you've got over your dealership normally, but like, yeah, that's. That's great.

Yeah. Facebook, you know, just be a good guy on Facebook. And I think that. I think that comes across. That comes across and pays back big time as well.

So. Jack, let me jump in there real quick. So I really wanted to talk about this. You mentioned a couple things. Obviously, I think we all agree. No politics, no religion. That's probably something that is not, you know, there's no point in sharing that. There's no reason to alienate any potential buyers. You talk about never getting into an argument that you can't win. Now, what I wanted to Discuss on that is, what is your philosophy on responding to negative reviews?

Okay, so I'm so glad you brought that up. I love a negative review. Negative reviews get me so giddy and anxious to deal with them because, you know, first off, if you just are doing things right, Luke, I know you do things right. Right. If you're just doing things right, then you've got facts to back up whatever happened. That's right. So. So if you're already operating correctly, if you're already following the law, if you're already making sure that people get their tags and their titles and you're doing the things you should do, then, number one, you don't have anything to worry about. And so dealing with a negative review, who you're talking to there is. You're not even really talking to the negative reviewer. You're talking to potential customers that zip right to the negative reviews because that's what they want to see. You know, if you've got 150 good reviews and three bad ones, I want to see the bad ones. That's me. I want. You know, I was buying a little space heater for my bathroom the other day, and, you know, there were a ton of five stars and, like, four or three stars and, like six. One stars. And I went straight to them. One stars. I wanted to see what was the problem. And so just remember, I think when you're dealing with a negative review, you are talking to a potential customer. You are not talking to the person that wrote the bad review. You are talking to someone that's reading it, that is choosing, trying to make the decision whether or not to come see you. That's who you're addressing first off. So you speak incredibly politely, very respectfully, stick to the facts and call them out. Tell the truth. Tell what happened. So I won't, you know, I won't go into, like, account details as far as dollar amounts, but if I repoed your car and you wrote me a bad review, I simply say, you know, dear customer, while we greatly appreciate your business, if we're not paid for. Oh, we require.

Oh, there you go.

There we go. So I've had several repo people, repossessed customers come on and say ugly things. And I say, you know, I'm sorry, Ms. Jones, but we do require that our automobiles be paid for. And any potential customers in the future, please know that. That we do require payment on time. Thank you so much. You know, so. So negative reviews are excellent source of showing people who you are and so many things you can capture in A negative review that can that turn out to be good. I mean, I've had some that. I remember I had a lady call me a racist one time, and that just tickled me to death. You know, I'm in Atlanta. We're in a melting pot. If I was a racist, I'd be long out of business. And so I just sent her all the. I just own the post about, you know, how Jacket Turnenberg's a racist. I just sent picture after picture after picture after picture after picture of me shaking hands with people of color, you know, and all these people of color that I took the pictures with are commenting and saying, actually, no, he treated me very well, you know, and it's just negative reviews are just that, an ace in your pocket. They really are. And you got to look at them like that. You don't blow up and get mad at the person that wrote the review. You just simply address the next potential customer and tell them, you know, how it is and why it is and why this person's mad at you. You know, that you do require your cars to be paid for. And, you know, if they. If they'd have talked to you and addressed you correctly, you would have helped them with whatever problem they had.

Do you ever get when you respond to those negative reviews? Obviously, I've heard philosophies both ways. I've heard people say you don't want to respond because then that'll bump that review up in the algorithm on Facebook or Google and it'll show up higher and more often. But do you get in, like a prolonged conversation if you respond to a negative review? Do you let them respond to you and you get in kind of a back and forth? Or do you just.

Absolutely, I'll get into a back and forth and just stick again. Stick with the facts. No name calling, super polite, respectful, intelligent. They're going to find it, Jeff. If that negative view is buried, the people looking for them are going to find them. They're not. They're not. And I think if you don't respond, boy, that's just like a boy. That's like when you don't show up to court.

Yeah, that's guilty.

I mean, you lost by default. Then you just. Yeah, you just stick your head in the sand and pretend like, oh, this will go away. I think that's probably the worst thing you could do, really. So I, you know, I know I absolutely. I say engage and tell them why you had the. Be firm about your position. If you're right, you're right. And all your good customers will realize that you're right and the bad people will realize that you don't play games, you know, So I know, I say, stand up for yourself.

Luke, you have the same philosophy, 100%.

You know, we really rely on our reviews to sell cars. And everybody is going to get a negative review at some point or another. But the thing is, it allows you to be. To be real and explain, I've had negative review where I was in the wrong. I mean, 100%, and say, hey, you know, we were wrong. We're sorry, Mr. Customer or Mrs. Customer, you come in here, we're gonna make it right. Understand? We're gonna make it right. It doesn't matter. We're gonna make it right. And those sell cars, as Jack said, people go to those negative reviews. And if you are willing to, well, you've got to respond to every single one. But if you are willing to engage and sometimes say you're wrong or explain the facts and why we did it this way, and maybe we didn't do it right, let's fix the problem. And that's all the customers really care about.

Do you guys have any tips for us to getting more reviews? Do you. Do you ask for them every time? Do you kind of make a part of the, hey, yeah, we sold you a car. Please leave us a review or, hey, we'll help you out. We would expect a good, you know, favorable review. Do you incentivize or.

It's built into our salesman's pay plan. They get. They get a dollar amount for each review they get.

Can you share that with us or is that.

I will, I will at a later date.

Dear Jeff, okay, incentivize your salesman, not.

The customer implemented that. I thought about offering, offering some compensation for that, but I've never done it. But we do ask every single person every time. And I don't ask them for a favorable review. I actually ask them for an honest one. Yeah, that's right. And then we get a favorable one. But I'll be like, hey, you want a hat? You want a T shirt? You know, leave us a review. And so we. And we have coffee mugs. So we have little like, you know, people like trinkets and just junk. So we give them something that's got our name on it. And in the same breath, you know, please leave us review. Tell us what we can do better.

Oh, yeah, that's a win win right there.

Yeah, the win win. Here's a free coffee cup. Please leave us a review.

Well, great, guys. I mean, I think this is a lot to digest. It's a lot for dealers to go in and put in their dealership today. You know, change the way you take your pictures. Start responding to your positive and negative reviews. Start incentivizing for them. Build your brand. Don't be scared to put your dealership on your personal page and get some business out of it. You know, a lot of really great stuff. Any parting words you guys like to share with everybody?

I have one and I. This quote came from, I mean, a Facebook genius. And he said it last Friday night in this interview, or not interview, but in a video he made his. His name is Jack Carter. Y' all may have heard of the guy, but he said, take the opportunity to be a human. And that's what Jack does on Facebook.

Gotta make a T shirt.

Jeff.

I know.

That's so funny. Let me show you something, Jeff. I've got this idea, Luke. I want. Maybe I get Yalls feedback on this little thing I'm thinking about doing today. So I bought an expedition at the sale about two weeks ago, right? And you know, I don't. I know y' all don't know this about me, but I go to the. I go to the sales and preview pretty hard before, and so I didn't. I didn't look at this particular expedition the day before, and it comes to the lane all sitting pretty, and I messed up. I bought a truck I shouldn't have bought. And it's rusty. Yeah, well, I mean, it's just rusty. I mean, it's probably. If Dan Real had it, you know, it's perfect.

But.

But down here in God's country, it's rusty. And so I'm gonna make a post about that expedition explaining to my customers that I messed up on the block and it's rusty and I don't want to pass it along. And it's got the plastic cladding, so you can't tell it's rusty. I mean, if you don't get up underneath it, look at it. So I'm gonna. I've been thinking the last few days I need to make a Facebook post about how I messed up on the block. And here's what I've got in it, and I'd like to just get out instead of sending it back to the sale because that dealer is going to pass it on to a customer without telling. Okay? That's what's going to happen. If I send it back to the sale, that's what's going to happen. We know that. Y' all both know that would happen. And so I'm just going to make a post about how I screwed up and see if I can get out of it.

That's a great place to end there, Jeff.

That's.

That is Jack Carter.

Making lemonades out of lemon.

What's the deal with American flags behind everybody?

Yeah, Luke, what's going on, buddy?

We're Americans, Luke.

You don't like America?

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know.

Maybe I'm not super patriotic.

I don't want to.

I don't want to be. I don't want to come across as is not patriot, because I'm not.