#117 - Join Us In South Carolina This August

Hello, welcome to this episode of the Independent Dealer podcast. Today we are talking conventions. Luke.

Yes, sir.

Who do we have the joy of speaking with today?

So we have my favorite executive director of any independent Automobile Dealers Association, Mr. John Brown from the CIADA. He's been our executive director, I guess for around 10 years. John.

10 years this September? Yes, sir.

Awesome. 10 years. And he does a wonderful job. We're one of the largest associations in the country. He runs it a tight ship. And we've got a convention coming up, a regional convention that's gonna really take the place of some of the other states not having it. We're gonna discuss that today. Hey, John, tell us a little bit about yourself.

Well, thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here. I've got car blood like everybody else does that's probably listening running through their veins. My background is started about 8 years old and my uncles used car lot, pumping up tires and washing cars. And I don't encourage you to do that today because child welfare services might come after you. But that's how I got my start. I went off to college, was fortunate enough to be able to spend a little bit of time in government. I had the fortunate pleasure to be able to work for then Vice president George Herbert Walker Bush, and as he was president, got married, had some children, decided I needed to have an honest job, went back into the car business, went to work for one of the top five auto parts producers in the world, then jumped over to Rolls Royce Corporation and then got recruited from them to come to the CIADA as the executive director. Great experience dealing with people and he's.

Been with us for about 10 years now. And I'm here to tell you he's the reason we're where we are today. And we really appreciate that. John, we appreciate your time.

Today you are listening to the Independent Dealer podcast with hosts Luke Godwin and Jeff Watson. Thank you so much for tuning in. Let's do this.

Generally speaking, the Independent Dealer needs representation across the board. They need education, they need to know what's going on in their particular states. And therefore the iadas of their states, which also participate on the national level, bring that service to them. Likewise, they're affected in every aspect of their life by government, local government, state government, and nationally. So again, your IADA allows you that connection to help you make your maize through the many, many regulatory bodies that govern your dealership each and every day. Generally, membership is very affordable. In the Carolinas, it's 25 bucks a month or 299 a year. Most states are in that range. And then that automatically gives you a membership in the national organization as well, which also helps again on a much wider basis with a national government and then allows all the local iadas to team with dealers across the street, across the nation, not just across the street, to learn to get better and to learn from each other so that we sell more cars and become more profitable. I mean, you guys are the true essence of entrepreneurship in America. And we need to get past and we need to get beyond the fact that profit is a dirty word. And we're there to help you and we're there to make sure that everybody understands to be a viable business, you have to make a profit, make it fairly. If people don't believe it, it's fair, they can take their business someplace else. But we're there to help represent the dealers who are members of the organization that's.

It's so important, in my opinion, to be a member. So I know this. If we, if we become members of our state organizations, there's a ton of benefits that come with that that actually would pay for your membership. Isn't that right, John?

Absolutely. I mean, the two quickest ways to pay for your membership is, and most states do this as well. That is you get discounts at the auctions. In the Carolinas, we have over 12, 15 auctions that offer $300 off your buy and sell fees. So if you just went to two or three, or if you just went to one auction, because membership's 299, you went to one auction through that year, you would have your $300 worth of credits in buying selfies that would more than pay for your membership for that year. If you go to three auctions, you know, I'm a public educated guy, so three times 300 is $900. You made $600 just by being a member. Plus we give you discounts with vendors. You're fixing cars, you're replacing parts, you get a discount at autozone, you get a discount at carquest. So it more than pays for itself just to be a member. Plus, probably the most important aspect is when something happens with your local dmv, this is across the country, you are not going to get an email generally from your DMV saying something changed. Our members get that email from us saying, hey, guess what? This regulatory change is about to happen. This fee is going to change. And we send that information out to the dealer so that they're aware of it, so that they're in compliance.

Yeah. So and that's the thing. I don't think people realize for the price, it's a drop in the bucket. Right. I mean, the education that you get and on the state level. Right. And I know each state is kind of different. They have a different level of involvement. You know, Texas is, from what I understand, a huge association. It's very active. Your Carolinas is great. Utah not quite as active. We've got an association. Not a lot of people participate. We can't get dealers kind of in it. But they do have occasional education on the state level too. Right. Like you don't have to just go to national convention.

Oh, no, absolutely. You know, we offer education classes. Of course, in north and South Carolina we have mandated classes that are mandated by the government which were approved to teach as well. But then we offer education each and every month, whether it's title classes so that the people who are in your dealership who are doing the titles and registration, that they can understand where the most frequent mistakes are, that we hear from the dmv. So we teach them how to do that titling and that registration. We have F and I classes, we have sales classes. We have just about any kind of class that you want available to help the principal owner or their employees to learn how to do their job better, more effectively, and again, make more money on the back end.

That's one thing I found is that here in Utah, when you do your dealer license renewal class, it's a three hour, quote, three hour online thing where most dealers just jump on and click through the pages and hit the buttons at the end. But they also offer an in person up until this year, but in the past, and I know going forward they had an in person renewal class. And that to me was just so invaluable. It was basically me, one other small dealer in my kind of corner of the state, and then a couple title clerks from some of the new car stores. But the information that we got directly from our state association rep was just so invaluable to actually have a conversation about the new laws that are coming out and the legislation hurdles and changes to policy. Just being there in person and going to those in person classes is way more valuable than just clicking through the online renewal and just getting your license done.

Yeah, Jeff, that's so key. I'm sorry, John, I didn't mean to cut you out. Go ahead.

No, I was just going to say, you're absolutely right. The interaction with dealers in the classroom is so valuable because you're learning from each other, because you're experiencing these things every day. And that's the biggest part of an in person class. Now we offer classes, you know, online, we call it CE on tv. We now offer it online as well. We've done Zoom. We do do Zoom classes as well, which is kind of the new, more modern fix. Now through, you know, COVID 19 more people are used to using Zoom and Microsoft Teams and the rest. So we try to give the customer what they want just like you have to in your dealership.

Yeah, so now my hang up is this Luke, I think both of you guys could probably speak to this. In Utah we don't do a annual convention. Right. It's just not strong enough of an association to have an annual convention. Can I come to other states conventions as a Utah member or do I need to be a Texas or a South Carolina member to attend your guys annual convention? And is it just going to be so full of state specific stuff that there's no point for me to even attend it?

John, go ahead, that's a great question. And here in the Carolinas, each and every year we welcome dealers from all over the country and would welcome you from any state to come. We have the availability with our education at our annual meeting at our expo to deviate from the state mandate. And so we're able to expand so it's more of a general education as opposed to state specific. Now we'll have side classes that are specific to north and South Carolina regulations, but the general education is for everybody. You can learn, anybody can learn with that education. We're talking about topics that apply to everyone, whether it's, you know, how to do a repossession correctly or how to do financing correctly or how to do sales correctly. These classes cut across, doesn't matter what state you're in, etc. We're fortunate this year because so many states have canceled. Our event has turned into a regional event. And as of this morning we have, I believe nine states dealers registrations already and the District of Columbia. So we're expecting a good mix. We have people coming from Alabama, we've got people coming from Virginia, et cetera. And so yes, we welcome you. In most states, all my colleagues do the same thing. They welcome, I've got my colleague from Ohio coming down and those kinds of things.

Yeah. So as an out of state dealer and a non Carolinas association member, am I gonna pay more for my registration fee to attend your convention, this regional convention? And then maybe tell me what percentage of the education classes, like am I gonna have a full track of education? Or is it gonna be like, I'm gonna be 50% educated? Because 50% of the classes being held are specific to east coast or Carolinas. Like, am I a Utah, California dealer? Like, am I gonna get a week's full of education?

Well, in this case, our conference, unlike the national organization. But I'll talk a little bit about the national organization. The short answer is yes, you are going to get a full conference days. Niada, it's three and a half days. And at ciada it's basically two and a half days of education. Now, when we have our state specific classes, those are running at the same time. So those state dealers that need to send their. And that's why we advertise it this way. We say bring your F and I person so that they can go to the F and I class. If you need to go to the state titling class so you can cover it all at the same time. But cost wise, all dealers get charged the same amount. And I would certainly, because I'm the executive director and Luke's been on my board, he can reach out and slap me electronically if he needs to. But I would say that anybody who's listening to this broadcast, if you call in to the CIADA at this point in time and you say, hey, I just was listening to this, this, this webcast, we'll give you a buy one get one free. So bring, you know, bring a principal. If you bring your spouse or your better other or somebody else from your dealership, we'll give you that one free.

Wow, boys and girls, did you hear that? Buy one get one free. If you mentioned the podcast, I like that.

Where is this at?

Well, I guess I should say because there's nothing free. I guess I should because the Consumer Financial Protection Agency sends Buy one, get one complimentary.

There you go. I like it.

Hey. This episode is brought to you by theindependentdealer.com this is our website. It's a great place to learn everything about the show, stay in contact with Luke and I see where we're going to be speaking next, and check out all of our back episodes and content from the Independent Dealer podcast. So visit the website, subscribe to our email list and stay in contact with us. Back to the episode. John.

So how many states aren't having conventions this year and how many typically do? So what is there? How many state associations are there? Because there's not one for every state?

Generally there's about 37 or 42 states this year. There's less than a handful, I mean less than five that I can think of that are actually having conventions this year.

And you know what's, what's interesting there is South Carolina is in the convention is, I like to mention, in Myrtle Beach, S.C. and our state is very red and we typically just go forward with whatever. Right. And so which is fine. Is it going to be, is this convention compared to other times going to be a little different? I mean, we are living in different times and people do have concerns about the virus. What are we doing differently to help protect people and what's the deal?

Sure. The quick answer to that question is we're working contact certainly on a weekly basis right now with the hotel. We're at the Kingston Hilton, which is a brand new facility they've just redone and it's just opening up the first of July after about an eight month renovation. So we're the first conference in and. But we're working with them. So we'll be doing not only social distancing, but we'll have face masks, we'll have hand sanitizer, we'll be, you know, trying to maintain six feet between all of our guests. Our conference, actual expo where we have the booths will be set up with more space between the booths to meet those, those kind of CDC guidelines. And we'll try to do everything we can. But certainly ask the participants, they have to do their job as well. They have to come prepared if they need, you know, bring their own face mask, bring their own hand sanitizer. You know, we'll have people taking temperatures at the door and all that, which.

I just had a great idea to sell to a vendor. You need to get a vendor to buy a face mask for the whole, for the whole conference and put their logos on.

We're working on that. And hand sanitizer. Absolutely.

Always with their logo across the front of it.

I mean, how many people want Mannheim across the face mask? Yeah, they love that, that, that's awesome job. What? So states don't can compete typically with a national convention. I mean, there's a big difference this year, you know, we're about a. Typically the national convention is two months before our convention and this year we're a month before national. I don't think there's any conflicts there and there's going to be different, you know, different tracks in both. What can a dealer get out of coming to our convention and then going to national if they wanted to or coming to our convention price wise is probably a little cheaper. Than going to national. What are the benefits that you see in the difference?

Yeah, I mean price wise, ours is significantly less money to register. It's basically like I say, about $300 to come to register and then you get your hotel cost. But that's on the individual. But so it's much less expensive from a registration perspective. And then the big thing that we're doing at our conference this year will be almost all of the education except for one segment that I could think of where we're having the professionals from the tax side talk about tax, ppp, SBA loans, those kinds of things from the accountant side. Almost every other education session is dealer led. It's a dealer panel, it's a dealer led, it's a Tracy Myers, it's the Luke, it's the Jeffs of the world, it's the other dealership saying that they've experienced, that they're excelling in this area. So we've asked them to come in and teach that particular subject matter, whether it's F and I from, you know, again, we've got the best of the best of 20 group leaders, two of the 20 group leaders from NIADA coming in and teaching classes. So it's really dealer led, dealer focused and the dealers are there to ask their questions and they're going to get answered by dealers who are doing and experience the same thing that that question is being asked from a whole lot different from an instructor led perspective.

How many dealers are we expecting?

Well, I'd love to have 125 to 150 dealers with about 60 to 65 vendors there. About 2 to 1 is what we'd like to have now because of COVID you know, who knows what will happen but I'm still fairly optimistic. We're, you know, South Carolina, as you said, Luke's open for business, the beaches are open. So we also make it a family event. So you'll have some family time basically on Saturday to do those family things. And the dinner, family or Friday night at the expo is family oriented. All the many of the exhibitors give out prizes and awards and often kids win these things. So we be like I say it's a fan and we bill it as a family event.

That's great. I'm just gonna go over the agenda real quick, Jeff, so people will have an idea of what, what we're looking forward to. And it's starting on Thursday, August 6th. And it looks like John, y' all got.

When you say start, Luke, give me a little bit of logistics just behind that the sixth, like I need to be there the morning of the 6th.

You need to be there the morning of the 6th if, if you want to take advantage of both days. And so that means you need to come in Wednesday night.

So the fifth, okay, so runs the.

Seventh and on the sixth, it looks like two Niada 20 group leaders are going to be, going to, to be there, which is great. And if you listen to this and don't have your license yet, there's going to be North Carolina and South Carolina pre licensing on that day as well. Friday, Friday is the dealers helping dealers. So Tracy Myers is going to be the keynote. He's starting at 9 o'. Clock. So even if you do come in Friday instead of Thursday, some people can't leave for two days. That's understandable. But Tracy's kicking it off. Then Jeff, you know Jeff Watson guy.

What you got schedule?

Yeah, he, he's up from 10 to 11. And Jeff's gonn marketing and new gadgets in our industry. Then we're gonna have a lenders panel. And you know, sometimes you hear us talk too much about buy here, pay here. Well, there's not gonna be a lot of talk during that time about it. Lenders panel is gonna really focus on what lenders are strong in our region or nationally and some of the dealers that use them. And we've got some big dealers in South Carolina really and North Carolina that, that can really speak to this. And then you got to be fed. And then we've got some CPAs that are going to be there. I know Brandon Wilson from hhm and hopefully we can get someone from cla possibly to sit on the panel because there's a lot to talk about right now with ppp, SBA loans, some new tax guidance that we really need to look at. 2 o', clock, we're gonna do a podcast. Cool with that, Jeff?

I'll do it.

So we're gonna have a panel, we'll take questions. It's gonna be awesome. And then it looks like we got some compliance. You always got to have compliance. People don't, people don't want to hear it, but you got to have somebody talk about compliance. And then sales training with Marshall Zollner and me. And to end the day and, and there's so much time and error to network talk to really just have a good day. And that expo that night, you're gonna have so much fun there. And Saturday, it looks like Tracy's doing the unfair advantage. So you get Tracy back Saturday morning and you can Also go to Beach. So I think it's gonna be a great agenda, it looks like to me. John.

Thanks. Yeah, I would say, you know, on the compliance side, even on the compliance side, I mean, we're gonna have people like Sean Peterson doing that. So again, direct connection with the dealer, he's the senior vice president of legal for niada. Every day deals with compliance on a national level gets bugged by US state leaders on what we should be dealing on the state side too. So it's again, it's almost a dealer to dealer type presentation on some compliance issues. And what we're seeing going on from a regulatory perspective, not only nationally, but statewide as well.

One thing that just came to my mind, John, and you know, we haven't really talked about this before on the podcast, but can you speak to the need our industry has of people wanting to serve on state boards for their association? You know, I did it for, I guess when we owned there for eight years or so. And a lot of people we have on are really involved, but we are always looking for good dealers to get involved, to call your director. You know, what's the best way to reach out for someone who's not involved and maybe they're a member, they need to get involved. What do you think people should do?

Yeah, I mean, first of all, there's a lot of different ways they can reach out. The most obvious way they can reach out is even if they don't know anybody, they could call the ciada, ask for the executive director of their state, and then that individual, myself, we'd have a discussion with them about the benefits, and then you're absolutely correct. We are always looking for dealers that bring every perspective that we can think of to the table, whether it's buy here, pay here, whether it's traditional sales, whether it's cash sales, whether it's, whether it's a minority member, again, whether it's. I talked to a gentleman not long ago who 100% of his dealership is exporting. So getting them involved. So if you can't remember that if you're standing in the auction lane, you can always go talk to the, to the head of the auctions because all those folks know us, we're in touch with them. Doesn't matter, again, what state you're in. They can put you in contact with us through the auctions where we know over 94% of independent dealers buy and sell their automobiles through the auction. Or again, your vendor, if you're dealing with your vendors, they're more than Likely a vendor associate member because they want to reach as many dealers as to. So there's a lot of different ways to get in touch with us. But yes, we can't have enough representation of because it takes the more experienced dealers as well as the younger dealers who are selling everything via online and changing the paradigm versus the kick the tire type dealership of my parents generation and all that. And probably most important about the kinds of folks we want involved and to get involved is that certainly in the Carolinas and in other states, we also offer a quality viewer of the year award. We want to know if you're at the top of your game, let us know because we want to show you off to the rest of the country and compete nationally. And we're lucky in North Carolina that we've had national winners and state winners. Luke's a state winner as well. And then more importantly that we know that independent dealers are in their communities doing great things. They're sponsoring the little league teams, they're doing Brownies, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, whatever it may be. And we give out a community reward as well because we want to recognize the involvement you have in community. And then just as importantly, if the dealer, the dealer principal and his immediate family or their immediate family and any employee who works for them in the Carolinas, we give out. Generally we give out the neighborhood of five scholarships every year, which we give at the annual meeting. And you can apply for a scholarship if you've got an employee who you're sending to trade school to learn how to do something and there's tuition involved, apply for a scholarship. We give back. So we want to make sure we give it back to the viewers and their families and their associates working for them so that, you know, there's just more to it than just, you know, being educated and those kinds of things. We like to be involved in all the aspects of the dealership life because that's what makes you successful.

John, one, one other thing I just wanted to touch on and can you speak to the importance of your job when it comes to state regulations and laws that are, that are made? I think one of the big things that dealers don't understand is that it's your job and the association job to protect us as dealers from. From laws where people don't understand. Can you talk about some things maybe that we've been able to strike down in the Carolinas and maybe actually some stuff that's helped us out as well?

Sure. Well, yeah, a couple of different things that come to mind. And yes, we're involved. And it's important that all the state organizations I know, they do have relationships with their DMVs. I'm fortunate to have a very good working relationship with both the North Carolina DMV and the South Carolina dmv, and not just at the, at the commissioner level, but in the rank and file. So when I need something done or I'm having an issue getting titles, I can call them up. And sometimes we don't like the answers, but we get. We get an answer. But just so it's important to be involved legislatively, and we're involved legislatively. So when something comes up or when we want to have something accomplished, we can get it done. And just to give you a couple examples that are real time, last January, the North Carolina DMV decided that they were going to require all new dealers and all DMV and all dealers who are going to renew to have to have a full background check, national background check, which we don't object to. But you also had to be fingerprinted to be a dealer, and we objected to that. We live in America where you're not guilty of anything until you're found guilty by a jury of your peers. So the idea of being fingerprinted, just obtain your license, we think went far too far. We met with the commissioner and convinced the commissioner that he should rethink that process. And they pulled it back from the table. And currently we have a piece of legislation that is being heard right now in the state legislature which would actually prohibit legislatively, the DMV from obtaining fingerprints from the dealership. So we're taking it to the full extent to protect the dealer. Likewise, in South Carolina, some important changes that are coming along. We're working with the DMV on. There's a program name that will be announced soon where the dmv, because of public record laws, will make dealer infractions public records. So that if you've been cited by an inspector and you have three points on your record, the public's going to be able to go on this website, as I understand it, look up John Brown Auto Sales and see if I have any infractions. Well, we're working with the dmv. Since they made that decision to do that, we're working with the DMV to say, wait a minute, we understand public record laws. You have to give access to that. So why don't we be proactive and allow the dealer opportunity to get educated on those infractions and to get those points eliminated off their record? Like if you go to driving school or something like that with dmv. So we're going down that path to try to work with DMV to be able to get dealer further education and deal with these infractions. Those are two line examples of stuff that's going on right now. We also here, we're almost in July 1st. In every state, fees are going to change July 1st. So getting information out to the dealers that your title fees are going up, that your registration fees are going up, that your, you know, every fee that does this and that are going to go up to make sure that when they start after July 1st, that they're charging the right fees to the dealer, otherwise they'll be. Or to the customer, otherwise they'll be taking that out of their pocket.

Well, those are some great things, John, and we really appreciate your time today. Jeff, you got anything else?

No, I think that's it. My only questions, logistically, I mean, again, Luke, I need to be there. Everyone wants to be there Wednesday night and plan on leaving Saturday night.

Saturday night?

You can leave Sunday morning or Saturday afternoon. It kind of depends on, you know, what all you want to stay for.

And what's the closest airport.

Well, Myrtle beach airport's close. You could. Jeff, you could fly to Columbia. Ride down with me.

Yeah.

Charlotte.

Charlotte?

Yeah, Charlotte's not far.

And is that a rental car from Charlotte? How far is Charlotte to Myrtle?

How far is that, John?

It's right around three hours. Three hours interstate the whole way.

Three hour drive, Rent a car, drive three hours or fly in. Okay. Logistically, I'm figuring out how to get me my beach chairs, my boogie board, everything to the beach. But I think I can pull it off. So I'm excited, guys. I think it's. I think dealers are ready to get together and get educated.

I agree. What's the best way?

It's been a long spring with COVID 19 to be in kind of lockdown. That's what we're hoping for. Come to the beach, relax, bring your family, bring that boogie board, get your flip flops on, get some education. Again, this is informal. And you can come to education in your Hawaiian shirt and your shorts and you know, your flip flops and have a good time.

That's right. John, what's the best way? Is it should we call the ciada or should we go to the website? What's the best way for us to register?

Sure, you can. You can go the website www.the so it's T H E C I A D A Otherwise you end up in Colorado. Or you can call us at 704-455-2117 and whoever answers the phone will take care of your registration and all those kinds of things. If you need a hotel room, you can let us know and we can get you hooked up through the, through the portal with the hotel or help you make that reservation with the Hilton directly, which is directly attached to the the Hilton Convention Center. You don't ever have to walk out in the bad weather or the hot sun if you don't want to.

But in order to get in order to get the independent dealer podcast buy one get one deal. We need to call you. Call us.

Yeah, yeah.

704-2154-5521-1755-2117. Alright guys, write that down. Call John. Yeah, get your Buy one, Get one.

And reach out of us if y' all need to figure that out.

Yeah, we'll have a link.

If they start calling in asking for the Buy one Get one complimentary that they'll know what the heck I just did to them.

So that the pod pod 2020 code there.

Yeah.

John, we really appreciate your time. Thank you and look forward to seeing you in a month or two.

We'll see you in a couple weeks at the beach.

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