#189 - What Are Buckeye Dealership Performance Groups

Welcome to the Independent Dealer Podcast with hosts Luke Godwin and Jeff Watson. A podcast by Dealers for dealers. Here we go.

Hello and welcome to the Independent Dealer Podcast brought to you by Buckeye Dealership Consulting. And as coincidences would have it, Luke, you are deep, deep, deep in the heart of Buckeye country down there, right?

I am no Buckeye fan. I am a Buckeye fan of Buckeye dealership, but I do not like the Ohio State Buckeyes. Let's get that straight.

But guys are down hanging out in Sarasota this week, right?

Exactly.

What is going on down there? I see it on the Facebook pages. I see it on the community. Dealers are talking about it. Are you guys just down there getting a tan, drinking pina coladas, or is there working? Done.

You can see I got a really nice tan going here. Jeff and I ran into some guys from Ohio. Their tan is not as good, but you know.

Right.

Maybe it is. Anyway, so we have special guests today. The founder and owner of Buckeye Dealership Consultant Group Group, I guess it is. And Jason Gosnell as well. He's been on the podcast before. Thanks for being here and thanks for having us. It's an awesome adventure putting on.

Thank you for having us.

Yeah. Glad to be here.

So we've been advertising for Buckeye. They're partner of ours, and they do so much for the dealer landscape. And we want to know, Rob, how did you start Buckeye?

I started Buckeye by accident. I used to do reinsurance only for new car dealers. Happened to go through Indiana one day, met a gentleman named Bob Oakley. Bob Oakley told me, boy, that's too expensive for me. The new car program said, but if you can do this. And he wrote out basically what a warranty was and what he would pay on a yellow sheet of paper. And he handed to me and said, I'll get you, my friends. I walked out. I called my partners at the new car program. I said, I got a way we're going to survive the downTurn. This is 2007, 2008. New cars are going. Chrysler shutting dealers. Ford talking about shutting dealerships. General Motors. I said, I know how we're going to survive this downturn. I said, I just found it. My partner said, you can deal with those kind of people. Thank God, right?

Yeah.

Oh, let me tell you right now. Long story short, you know, we've gone back and forth a couple times. They wanted to buy me. We, of course, did not sell. And it's been just a wonderful thing. If you see the progress of the company. You know, first bringing Jason on a few years back now, then bringing, you know, Sean Peterson in, Dave and Chuck. I mean, it's been a really, it's been a crazy adventure. We have, you know, of course, we started with three employees, myself, my wife and my son. Now we're, we're pushing 50.

Wow, 50 employees. That's. It gives me a headache. But I guess, but if you have good employees, I guess it's not that bad.

But.

So it's a new phase in Buckeye, and it kicked off this morning, I guess last night or this morning. But it's the performance group aspect of Buckeye. And it just looks like this is the future. Reinsurance is always there. And as we've always said, reinsurance is the way to build wealth. But this, this performance group aspect is very interesting and they launched it today. And let's kind of go through that. What, how did that come about within the structure of your original plan of Buckeye?

If you, you know, if you look at the name, I call it a Buckeye Dealership consultant. Okay, well, what ended up happening just through, I guess necessity was we turned into a reinsurance company. We were not providing. We were consulting on that, but we weren't consulting on the operations. We weren't consulting on collections. By the way, I started my career as a door knocker. I started my career, you know, repossessing cars. Okay, so we, but we never provided collection and that type of consulting. Well, when Dave and Chuck became available, I saw that we could do that. Now we can finish the Circle. And as a give back to our clients, we're providing it. And it means the world to me to do that. Now we've completed the Circle. The name does mean consulting. We do offer services outside of just reinsurance. We can do on site visits. We can do all those things. And we're going to help the states, you know, and we're going to consult with the states. There's a bill that's going through their legislature that they want either lobby for or against and need help. I'll put Sean Peterson in a plane on our dime and send him to help.

Okay?

I'm not going to ask for anything in return. I'm not going to ask for a nice article. I just want, I want to help. If a state association wants training to help, maybe boost attendance or maybe boost membership, we, we'll provide that. We'll do what we need to do. We just got done doing our state tours for all the independent auto dealers throughout the area. We didn't miss any of them. We made every single one of them. We participated, we sponsored and we wanna make sure they know that's gonna keep going with us, that we'll help them do that stuff. And I think that goes really in conjunction really well with what the NIADA provides. That which is the national view.

Yeah. And it's great because we need somebody always on our side. And, and we do have national, which is great. We do have states. But to have, you know, another company to help out, it can't, can't hurt. Right? Jason, where do you see, what's your role at Buckeye and where do you see the performance groups going?

Yeah, so I think the performance groups are really a way for us to provide support and additional value for our clients. We've kind of gotten pulled in this direction by listening to our clients. Hey, this is an additional level of support that we need. The better that our clients get at any process that they have, whether it be selling ancillary products, collections, inventory, acquisition. And that's what a performance group does. The more successful our clients are, the more successful Buckeye is.

What's the difference between the performance groups and the groups that we are used to?

Yeah, so I think what Buckeye is going to do is first, we're always going to be about the dealer. And what I mean by that is every group today was led by a dealer. There's real feedback from the dealer. We, they're directing it. So all we're doing is helping facilitate and bring people together. The second thing, and we announced this today and we think it's going to be very, very powerful, is we're going to be very much a data driven performance group organization. We're going to have Buckeye analytics powered by AMS that was announced today. For those that are familiar with prior groups where maybe multiple hours going through a composite, Buckeye analytics is going to have, with your permission, we will be able to extract that data straight from your D pretty much no matter what DMS you're on. We will import that, splice the data and provide a real time dashboard before you show up to your 20 group. Very powerful tool for you to be able to have. And that's included with everything. If you're included in the groups.

Well, that's something Jeff always, Jeff always complains about.

You guys know me, I always complain about the hours it takes me to report my composite numbers. I'd rather spend that time analyzing the numbers than spending that time trying to collect them from five different reports. And to that point, you know, we spend so much time in our 20 groups going over the composite data and you want to reach across the table and punch someone when you just know their data is not entered. Right. Or when they that was brought, that.

Was brought up today for sure.

Or when they, you know, maybe we're not accounting for it the same way you're taking gross after transport, I'm taking my transport out. And so all of a sudden you have a line for this and I don't have a line for that. And so I'm trying to dissect whether or not I'm benchmark or not. And it's only because maybe I'm looking at things a little bit differently or just dissecting it. So yes, to take the personal preference and the errors and the, you know, to take those things out of it would be great because sometimes I'd like someone to look at my data and be like, hey Jeff, you know, you're pulling this report, it's not accurate. Like it doesn't match with this report. Did you ever think about that? And those of you that are IDMs guys, you know what I'm talking about. But yes, to have a third party checking in on that. So can I ask you guys the hard question? Where does this if I'm a dealer? Because I'm not a Buckeye customer and I understand you do need to be a Buckeye customer to be in a performance group. Obviously. If I become a customer, is there a place for both a dealer performance group and a 20 group? Can I be a 20 group member through the association? And can I also be a Buckeye dealer performance group member?

Oh yeah. I mean, I'll tell you, I think the more you converse with other dealers, no matter if it's niada, NCM or performance groups, the more you interact, you know, that is, that's your grad school training. You know, you're here today, you need to be over here. The only way you're get there is by someone helping you and saying okay, your data's wrong or hey, you're doing this and by the way, that's wrong. And you got to kind of leave check your ego at the door. Only place you're going to do that is with other dealers.

That's so true. The way I want to go back to the data thing real quick, it was, that was an amazing presentation. I figured I would be wanting to go to sleep, but then when I was sitting there, the amount of information they are able to put into dashboards to make it look simple is awesome. So we're all used to flipping through the pages and looking at it. But, Jeff, you'd be amazed here. There was dashboards and there was graphs, and I was like, oh, my gosh, I understand it now. It all makes sense. So it's funny that. Not funny, but it's interesting that y' all are leading the charge of the new data that we all need in a. You know, if you haven't been looking at composites for 10 years, you can. You can hop right into these groups, I think, and. And be able to get ahead. And especially if I don't have to put that data in myself, one of.

The biggest things I've heard is the composites and the data is a large barrier to entry.

Yeah.

You know, it's very overwhelming if you don't have the time or maybe you don't have the resources or someone on the staff to do that, it's a barrier to entry. I can't get that before going to the group. It's just easier not to go. Right.

And we're even toying with the idea of putting it out monthly. You know, right now, the groups meet quarter. Right now we're have our groups meet quarterly, but we're talking about putting out the data monthly so that they can see the data in real time.

Yeah, that's. Yeah, it's so key. So go back to one of the things you were talking about earlier is how much Buckeye seems to care about the state level, you know, and. And in the state level, we're members of our respective states. Mine's a lot more robust than Jeff's is. How can Buckeye help with these states that are trying to get there? Because I know that y' all are wanting to do that, but you got states like Kentucky and Utah and Louisiana and Tennessee that are really struggling to get a hold. How do you see Buckeye helping to do that in the future? Is it through dealer groups? I mean, is that how we get everybody on the same page, you think?

Yeah, I think it's first listening to what our dealers, you know, so we've had that question. And, you know, every state is probably going to have a different need.

Right.

Whether that be through having a state specific dealer group. We've been approached about that because there may be certain needs in a certain state that there's a need for a group, and maybe that group meets once a year, twice a year, whatever that may be. I think next that's through just us showing up. Right. Whether that be through training, support with some of our Staff on whatever topic that may be there, or obviously sponsorships and whatnot. We were very active in all the associations and we think it's important there to be in support, though.

Well, about training, y' all announced today that there was going to be a video library on the website of Dealer Performance Group website. So if you do hire a collector, you're going to have data to go in there and be able to watch a training video and then take a test afterwards. I mean, that is something we've needed for a long time. I know that my sales training is different than Jeff's, but if we had a baseline to start with, that that would help everybody. I mean, that's a big advantage. And that's going to be free with your membership to this as well, right?

Absolutely, yes.

Yeah. Because, you know, you hire people throughout the year, you can't wait for an online class to come, you know, where it's done live, or you can't wait for one to go in person. You need it Monday morning when they start.

Yeah.

Can y' all get.

Can y' all get a tech trainer to do that? Oh, my gosh. We won't even start down that.

What other.

What other stuff? What other services do you guys kind of have up your sleeve or from a consulting type? Anything else we need to know about?

Yeah, so great question.

I mean, you on sites, right?

Yes, yes. So you will hear us. We're talking about on sites and maybe that service collection, sales. And then look, we're still going to stay, you know, true to our core. We're. We're at our core, we're a provider of reinsurance products, you know, for independent and buy here, pay here guys, formation management of that and all the ancillary products that come along with that. And, you know, while we were already, you know, very good at training all that, and sometimes it did overlap into some of the other processes. Now we're full spectrum. We can do it all.

Well, that's great. I tell you, there's a lot of people down here, Jeff, by the way, 109 dealers, 109 unique dealers from around.

The country, and 150 plus people join us for the cocktail reception and looking forward to dinner tonight.

Yeah. And you know what's interesting, Jeff? Again, we've had people, I've had dealers come up to me while we were here and said, hey, I know, I know who you are. I've heard your voice before. We're. We're getting used to that. But I tell you, there's so many dealers here that I've never seen it at a convention. And that's a, and that's a big deal.

About 40 of our 40 of the 109 are first time attendees.

Never been, never been any type of.

Performance group, 20 group, any type of ledger, first time attendees. That's a powerful thing.

And it was more their, their opinion that it was. And it was wrong. Okay. I mean, not saying anything against the other ones. It was just their opinion that, oh, I, I don't fit there. Yeah, you know, it's intimidating.

So let's get real. I, I walked into 20 Group in 2015, 2014, whenever it was, and I was probably a little dumb. So I walked in and I was like, you know, I know everything. What am I doing here? Well, I got a real eye opener. Right. And then it took me going back and going back to finally get up to speed. But I've met some of my best friends from 20 groups, from performance groups or whatever and they make me better every time. But it was so scary to walk into that room the first time and just put it all out there. It's scary. So to break down the barrier of people getting into these groups is big. It makes better dealers. And that's really what we want.

That's what we all want.

That's what we all want. One of the biggest impressions I've had just from the 24 hours on site is how open minded everyone has been about, hey, being here, sharing and the old saying, the rising tide lifts all ships. That is really what this has been about so far.

Yeah, I agree. It's a new, fresh concept that I think so many dealers will like and I think it's something, something that we'll see being very successful in the future.

Can I ask another follow up question on my last one? I don't want to get too far into the nuts and bolts and maybe you guys haven't decided yet, but is there anything about the format that dealers might find refreshing or more exciting? You said you'd mentioned they're going to be meeting quarterly. Does that mean you're going to have each. Each group will have four meetings a year.

Three. Three.

Yeah, it's actually three.

It's actually three.

Okay.

And you know, this year we're doing them in these large formats where we have everyone and then our next ones can do the same. Same thing. We're going to have everybody in Phoenix. Okay. But after that we'll break out and we'll just start doing them in smaller groups. But we hope to do this once a Year, meet as a group so we can share ideas and like jump rooms. We have, you know, talk about innovative. I'd love to see half of this performance group meet with this half of that performance group. Oh, yeah, by the way, we got five of them today. Let's take half and all move around, share ideas. Because, you know, one of my clients came to me, said, listen, Rob. And they've been the same 20 group 19 years. So I'm tired of hearing the same 19 guys for the same 19 years.

Now.

They're all friends. You talk about being those fresh ideas and put a disruptor in, you know, put someone in there to say, hey, this is not, you know, what are you talking.

Push the envelope. That's right.

Yeah.

And that, that's, that was very, very neat about this, having. Having the performance group with every group here to start with because it's, it's almost like being at a convention, but a different ballgame because you can walk up to people who are, I mean, there, there's some really big hitters here and I just get to run things past them that I typically wouldn't have done because, you know, I wouldn't know who they were. And they're here, you know, wanting to get better as well. And they're already, in my opinion, great. But having everybody at one locations, it's. I like it. I like that idea. But they talked about that today where if you wanted to have three half days, they would do that. And there's no set rule to these performance groups is what it sounds like.

No.

So that's the long and the short of it. And the next one is January 27th through 29th in your neck of the woods. The Sheraton grand at Wild Horse Pass in Phoenix, Arizona. And you can sign up now, correct?

That's correct.

It is live and we expect double the enrollment and the new.

I guess it's a new website. Dealer PG.com Is that right?

That's it.

Dealer PG.com. so if you are a Buckeye member client, go sign up and be there in January because it's going to be fun.

Absolutely.

Yeah. I like the idea of having a, having a convention type feel. No offense to you guys, but without the vendors where you're like, you know, we're all everyone here. It's so true, Luke. But like, yeah, why, why did, why did we never think about, like, hey, maybe we should combine 20 groups once a year, maybe two. You know, like, that's just, it's a very refreshing idea. And maybe that group didn't want to be with my group, I don't know. But just to mix that up seems smart to, to, to a large degree.

There'S been some really positivity with the crossover. You know, guys that, oh, I've heard of you, but, you know, so again, everyone has just been very open and, and forthcoming. A lot of positive energy and they're.

All clients so they have something in common. So yeah, you know, we know them all, so we can walk them. If I don't know him, Jason knows them, I guarantee you, you know, we pretty much know all of them. But we can walk them up, we can introduce you to whoever you want to meet.

And that was huge.

They're all good people. So they do have a fraternity, you know, so we're able to walk them over. We want everyone to be our client. Okay, yeah, we're trying, but that's what kind of breaks, I think the barrier down and we can kind of mix them up because we can say, oh, come on, you know, yeah, you know, you don't like Jeff, Come on.

You.

Must do well, you know, what about the little guys? So talk to me about, talk to me about the small 12 person operations and some of the dealers that listen to this podcast that are just kind of getting going. Where do they fit in this? Say they're selling, you know, 10 cars, 15, 20 cars a month. Can they be a Buckeye client? What kind of reinsurance products? I know that they can go back and listen to the, some podcast, but there's, even if they don't want to start their own warranty side, there's still some Buckeye products they could sign up for and sell in their dealership. Even if they're 100% CAC and to be able to join into even a small group. Right. I mean you guys have beginner groups, one on ones.

Absolutely. We're going to have an open arms philosophy to anyone, you know, dealer that's selling. And yeah, it doesn't necessarily have to be reinsurance and there can be a long term plan and that goes along the assessment that we would give to any dealer that we speak with, you know, in regards to, hey, what works best. We do walk away products where, hey, we may want to give the risk to someone else or we may determine that, hey, yes, you participating in a, in a reinsured program makes the most sense. But the thing I would challenge is yes, please reach out because ultimately any dealer that wants to get better, the performance group is where they need to.

Be and that's big with, with Small dealers because for one, they're scared sometimes because they don't know what they don't know. But if you can start getting them using products properly and get them in these meetings, they're going to be big dealers someday. Or bigger.

Absolutely.

Yeah. I mean sometimes just knowing where to go. Yeah, sometimes, you know, I think I'll say the most common thing we see is we get into a dealership and they're using a wrong account. You know, we've got to suggest maybe a better accountant. You know, maybe it is a product or you know, they ask us questions like, you know, what car breaks down? The most simple things like that we know. Okay. Now with adding to Dave and Chuck and Sean, we know much more about operations, but we can help them. And then as far as like coming down to Longboat Key or coming out to Phoenix, they don't have to do that. You know, we can do it virtually with them. They can attend virtually. They can attend a 20 virtually once it breaks out. There's things that with technology nowadays, we've all learned over the last year. Technology, we can do it correct.

And that's been a lot of one and two mom and pop shops is they can't get away sometimes. And so having, having that training video and having virtual performance groups, I think will, will rise the rise the boat for sure.

Absolutely. And I think another theme of the weekend I sat into a group and a lot of it was, you know, the mistakes that have been made and someone talked about the expense of an education over a ten year period of. Of what not look the challenge I would have to some of those smaller dealers, if you're listening. Absolutely. Learn from others. Don't make those mistakes. If someone can educate you to do otherwise.

Yep. And that's what that's, that's what our podcast is about and that's what these groups are about for sure.

Absolutely.

Cool guys. That great information. You guys know where to go dealerpg.com Right. That can get you signed up for the upcoming. But. But if you, if you need to learn more about Buckeye and become a Buckeye client first. How do we do that?

Please reach out to me. Jason Gosnell. Yes, I can be reached@jaygosnell Buckeye reinsurance.com Happy to help anyone.

Okay. No dealer too small. No dealer too big.

No such thing. There's just no such thing.

Well, great. Jeff, I wish you were here.

Yeah. Have fun down there. Fly safely.

I'll see you soon.

All right, thanks guys.

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