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The Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group Story

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Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group
Lala, Tracy and Troy at the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group

In my career I’ve probably been to 30+ conferences and events. I’m working on helping to organize my 19th event currently so to say that I have a little experience with conferences & events – having attended as a dealership manager, a vendor and even working for the conferences – would be a fair statement. All of them have their unique personalities and attractions. No matter our profession, none of us should cease to want to learn how to do things better. The second a person thinks they don’t need to learn is also the second in which they need to learn the most.

Tracy Myers and Troy Spring had a vision. This vision originated from a mastermind group that Tracy attended which revolved around real estate. Tracy’s a smart guy. He’s also pretty busy. As a dealer principal, consultant, author and filmmaker, he doesn’t have a lot of time on his hands for extra activity. That being said, he saw promise in the format of the mastermind group and thought that it would offer value to the automotive industry. So he and Troy made it happen.

Lots of people have great ideas but it’s (sadly) not as often that those ideas come to fruition. It takes a lot of work and many people aren’t willing to put forth the effort to make their visions into reality.

I’ve known Tracy awhile now. I can honestly say that what you see is what you get. He’s a genuinely good person. Sure, he’s image conscious. He’ll run from you if you try to take a photo of him wearing jeans, in the end however, it’s only because he always wants to represent himself in the best light possible. It’s not any different than women who won’t go outside with makeup on. Tracy’s makeup just happens to include suits and an Uncle Sam (or Frank Myers, I should say) hat. I get it. I have interacted with him socially and on a personal level and he’s just a good guy: plain and simple. He works hard and makes his dreams come true, whatever it takes.

That’s where the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group comes in. Tracy and Troy saw the value in the format and made it happen. I’m sure there was risk involved. Events aren’t cheap. Despite that, they pushed forward and overcame all obstacles to create a unique group that brings value to its members year round. I would argue that some of the greatest value I’ve seen is not at the events but in the resources, interactions and expertise offered to the group’s dealer members every single day. Dealer members gain unprecedented year-round access to industry experts who are at their beck and call for free. The events themselves are the icing on the cake.

Members are vetted and decisions are made based on desire, commitment and willingness to contribute. Contributions aren’t monetary; they are based on things like character, integrity and passion. While I’m not positive of this, I truly believe that one of the things that goes through Tracy and Troy’s mind when deciding whether to accept a member is this…

Do I want this person to be a part of my family?

That may sound odd but it’s really not. I don’t know everyone’s motivations for wanting to be a part of the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group. What I do know is that the people that become a part of it join a family. I feel it and I believe that members do as well. The atmosphere and camaraderie is contagious for both dealer and vendor members. Members stop being members and start being friends. The ones that don’t “get it” stop participating. Relationships are formed that transcend the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group itself. Tracy and Troy may be the guides but they lead at the group’s direction. I believe in my heart that the members of this group would continue to assist and care about each other regardless of the lifespan of the group. In fact, I don’t know that Tracy or Troy could kill it if he wanted to (not that I think they’d want to).

Tracy and Troy have created a community of people who are caring, generous, and passionate and also have a desire to help each other succeed. In the ultra-competitive industry that we are in, that’s a steep mountain to climb.

Tracy and Troy have firmly planted the Unfair Advantage Automotive Mastermind Group flag on the top of the mountain…

And they brought their family with them.

In the spirit of the September 2014 meeting theme of “Masterminds Go Back to the Future”, I’ll leave you with this:

“Family is not an important thing. It is everything.” – Michael J. Fox

Humbled at NADA 2014

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Screen Shot 2014-01-28 at 11.06.23 AMI’m not a social media guru, expert or anything resembling that. I would hate to have those adjectives attached to my name. Social media is all about engaging your audience and the reason that I believe I am successful at it is that, regardless of whether I am “doing” social media for myself or a client, I always… always… recognize and respond with any interaction. Whether it’s something as small as favoriting a tweet, or as big as writing an article… social media boiled down to it’s very basic is about interaction. If people are interacting with you, or your company, interact back. It’s that simple.

In my career, I’ve had the privilege of working with many prestigious companies with high visibility in our industry. I’ve just returned from New Orleans and the National Automobile Dealer’s Association Convention in which I handled pre-show and live social media for 12 companies. NADA marks the 15th automotive industry event I’ve conducted social media marketing for whether it was for the conference itself or for exhibiting or sponsoring companies.

Other than the fact that I get money for doing it (which is a great thing), the most rewarding aspect of any position is to get recognized by peers and industry influencers for a job well done. I don’t normally write self-promoting type stuff but I’ve simply been overwhelmed by the feedback I received from my work at the NADA Convention.

The funny part is that I don’t really consider myself a “vendor” per-say. I mean, I get paid for my services but when dealers (or vendors) ask me the inevitable “Who are you with?”, I simply reply “I’m with Arnold.” I love my job and get to meet and interact with tons of intelligent, smart and successful people in our industry from the entire spectrum – dealership personnel, dealers, vendors, members of the media, etc. – and because I’m not soliciting anyone, it’s always genuine face-to-face interaction.

My good friend, Kevin Frye, included me in his NADA video.

In their NADA recap article, AutoMotion featured some of my tweets intended to break up the monotonous “come to our booth” messages and introduce some entertainment into the Twitter feed. If we want dealers (or vendors for that matter) to recognize the value of Twitter, it’s got to be interesting when they look at it, wouldn’t you agree? (Check out hashtag #NADATips if you want to see some.)

DealerTrack‘s social media person (whoever you are) did a fantastic job interacting with people – including myself – at NADA with the @DealertrackDMS account.

Many local New Orleans companies also showed their social media savvy including what became one of my favorite spots – The Cat’s Meow – which I visited four nights including assisting in organizing an event for VinSolutions in 4 hours that saw over 200 guests attend. The Cat’s Meow was super accommodating on all of those nights as well as super interactive and responsive with their @catskaraoke Twitter account. It’s not often that you  get to meet the person who is actually interacting with you from a local establishment like this but I was able to on my final night out in New Orleans. Kudos to her!

I also got the opportunity to hang out with the AutoTrader.com and Haystak Digital Marketing team there one night and, of course, had to throw some shout-outs to them to the tune of “Crazy Little Thing Called Love” by Queen on stage. [Here’s a LINK to the video if you really want to hear me sing.]

The fact that many of us got stranded in New Orleans due to inclement weather presented PCG Consulting and Brian Pasch with the opportunity to provide a bonus educational opportunity to stranded NADA attendees that was given the name the “PCG Freeze Out” which I was fortunate enough to participate in.

I know I’m forgetting some people as I was fortunate to interact with a ton of people. Over the course of NADA, I was astounded by the response and stats from only my personal Twitter account @arnoldtijerina –

Screen Shot 2014-01-31 at 11.02.00 AM

but the most humbling feedback, BY FAR, came from long-time industry expert and insider, Cliff Banks, owner of The Banks Report (which you should subscribe to), when he tweeted this:

Thanks to everyone for all of their support. I truly enjoyed all of the interactions I had at the show whether they were as myself or on behalf of a client and I look forward to seeing everyone again at the next event.

P.S. And many thanks to Helion Automotive Technologies for the rocking caricature and to the NADA Convention for the $150 gift card to Mr. B’s Restaurant. My wife and her friend LOVED the dinner. I was too busy.. well.. tweeting… but appreciate it just as much.

The ‘Car Dealership Expose’ Book You’ve All Been Waiting For!

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In the car business, just about every dealership has “that” employee. You know, the one that complains about everything. The one that’s never happy. The one most sales trainers, consultants and managers would call “cancer”. The advice that 99% would give in regards to “that guy” who, no matter what you tried, just isn’t positive and seems to hate everything would be to fire him. The last thing you need is some jaded veteran salesman spreading dissension and negativity around your dealership.

The guy who says things like these:

“Any sales managers know if the car dealer or general manager are screwing the salespeople by using hidden packs or inflating reconditioning costs of used vehicles, but they do not have the balls to say anything. Their balls have been cut off by the dealer or his puppet general manager before they get their titles.”

“25% commission after the $500 pack means, your dealer is taking away $125 of your hard earned money on every vehicle that you sell. If you are selling 12 units, you get screwed $1500 a month which translates to $18,000 a year, just like that!”

“Car dealers do not allow salesmen in the business office not because they are afraid that the salesmen may screw the girls that are working there, they are not allowed because dealers are afraid the salesmen may look at the files and figure out how they are getting screwed on their commissions.”

Do you know this guy? Do you have one at your dealership? Have you heard of this Great White Shark who lives in car dealerships?

Well, Jaws wrote a book. No kidding.

The book, titled “Kar Guys” and written by Mehdi Roufougar is scheduled for release (according to his Facebook page and Twitter account) .. “soon”.

[Note: There are more choice quotes that I didn’t mention as well as a glowing recommendation of the book from somebody.. probably his neighbor.. on his website if you feel the need to spit your coffee at your computer monitor.]

It’s target audience isn’t consumers. It’s not meant to “educate” people how to buy cars or anything like that. This book’s sole purpose is to “enlighten” commissioned employees of car dealerships in the many ways they are, have been, and will continue to get screwed by their employer.

I was going to contact the author to talk to him regarding his book but his website advised that:

“Any dishonest car dealer,corrupted general manager,crooked sales manager or kinky closer who got offended from the kar guys book or this website feel free to call 1-800-kiss my ass.If the phone is busy,hang up and try again may be away from my desk or on the other line talking to another asshole.”

…so I changed my mind.

Someone this jaded, bitter and hostile would never believe that I really just wanted to talk to him about his book, motivations to write it, and what he hopes to accomplish.

My guess is that it was cheaper to write a book than to continue therapy.

:: face palm ::

Are Industry Awards Meaningful?

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There’s been an interesting discussion going on over on DealerRefresh titled “Is Paying for an Award False Advertising?”

I’ve heard many opinions over the years from all perspectives – from vendors who have won them to vendors who have not, from consultants and from dealers.

My take is that an award is only meaningful if it is a significant factor in a potential customer’s decision to do business with you.

There aren’t a ton of awards for vendors in existence. The ones that do exist are, in most cases, given BY a vendor TO a vendor.

I don’t believe that most dealers have knowledge of, or give weight to, industry awards for a simple reason: they’ve never heard of either the award, the awarding “authority”, or both.

Until an award exists that dealers are aware of and give weight to, in my opinion, receiving an award only gives a vendor the ability to do one thing that their competitors cannot:

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What do you think?

Are industry awards meaningful?

If so, which ones do you believe have authority and could influence a prospect’s decision-making and why?

[P.S. I’m starting the “Arnold Automotive Awards”. If you want to be considered for one of these prestigious awards, please contact me to make billing arrangements.]

NADA 2012: Day One Recap

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Here I am at the National Automobile Dealers Association, yesterday was the first day of the conference. Registration opened at 10am and sessions didn’t start until around noon. I got to connect with a lot of people I hadn’t seen in awhile. It seemed like yesterday was just kind of a “catching up” day for vendors without booths while others were getting booths ready for today.

Today is the “real” kick-off in that the exhibit hall opens and the mass scramble for dealers’ attention begins. There will be more iPads given away in the next few days than I think the Apple store stocks. I’m looking forward to visiting and plan to take a lot of pictures.

It’s a big weekend here. On top of the convention, there is a UFC fight tonight (UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit) and the SuperBowl. I think there are 37 Super Bowl parties tomorrow.

As a prologue, pre-NADA events have been great. I got to catch up with the VinSolutions team rockstars, hang out with Jeff Collins of Peters Chevrolet CJD, Dan Moore of SmartWebConcepts, Rob Fontano of 3BirdsMarketing. Ended up in a suite which, unbeknownst to me, eventually turned into a reception suite for Car-mercial (part of the DMSC) then transitioned to a fabulous dinner at Il Mulino courtesy of Scott Falcone (super smart and VERY passionate guy) and PrestoReviews, then on to the VinSolutions party afterwards.

Monday morning saw many in-real-life meetings with Twitter friends, industry friends and even some vendors I work with who I had never met, like Mike Fitzpatrick of DealerTrend. Ran into Grant Cardone. Caught Todd Smith (CEO of ActivEngage) session. He’s crazy brilliant. People were asking him questions well into the next session.

Eventually it was off to the Mandalay Bay for some non-conference, non-drinking, non… well, you get the point.. a break. Went to the weigh-ins for UFC 143 and then saw Joe Rogan doing stand-up. Met a TON of fighters (way cool) then called it an early night at 1am (yes, people, that’s an early night at ANY automotive convention but especially NADA).

Getting ready to begin Day 2 of NADA with coverage of the exhibit hall. It may, or may not, be live in the morning but it will be live eventually. Thanks for reading!

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