Matt Lasher On Vendor Selection
Transcript
Matt : Whether you’re an employee of West Herr or a vendor partner of West Herr, I’m going to treat you the same way. Right? And so I’m very, like old school in the sense of like, if I believe that you care about the account, and you’re thorough and diligent and disciplined, no different than I would expect my employee to be, then you’re good with me. But if I believe that you’re coasting, taking advantage, you know, not treating West Herr with the credibility it deserves, or the respect it deserves, whatever, then you’re probably going to be out of luck soon. Right? So that’s kind of it for me, it’s all a people game. And, you know, I switched companies from a reputation management service to another one. Only because I like the founder of the other one. Shout out to Matt Murray. I switched from some other company that was arguably the same, it was basically the same feat, they do the same thing. And I switched because I valued him as a person, I enjoyed his startup story. And I was just, that’s why I changed, right. So I wouldn’t even go so far to say the other vendor did anything wrong. It was just the people connection was stronger for this other partner. So you know, that’s a big driving force for somebody like me,n
nSean : I’d like to throw something out there, that one that’s met. That’s such a great point. I love what you said too, about them, you know, coasting versus like giving it your all, I had a, I had a coaching convo with the dealer on this topic, because he was really struggling with a few of their vendor partners. And it kind of led to a vendor vetting process. And so we came up with like, 11 questions to explore when you’re either vetting a vendor, or you want to take a look at some of the vendors you currently have. So like a few of the questions are number one, like, can you give me a solid example of when your company put its dealerships ahead of its own well being? A lot of times, you know, a company will do especially with like, what happened with COVID? You know, I feel like that was an opportunity for vendors to really step up and do something. And then another one, like, if you found out information, if you found information that would help the and benefit the dealership, but potentially get you fired? How would you handle it? That’s another one that we came up with from that combo. And then this one’s important to us. I think a lot of the best. And I’m not saying this is the case in every situation, but just like your guys’ software, who developed you know, a lot of I think the best tools are often developed at the dealership level by the dealership people. So I like to ask who developed your software systems and processes? And what was their track record for success on the showroom floor? And then you can kind of find out from there. You know, are these people that really understand the car business?n
n Matt : Sean. I really like those are all cool questions. I really, really like that. I will draw a parallel though to like hiring people and interviewing people. Sometimes people interview really well. Yes, you know, and then they’re duds? Yeah, sometimes people interview terribly. And they’re the best employees, best teammates, best people ever. So you know, it’s so funny, I’m, I’m way more interested in trying to just make that human connection, and then give people a chance. And then I want to be accountable to myself to like, if a vendor partners failing, like, Have I not done what I needed to do to, like, help that connection. n
nYou know, at least at least be honest about it or vulnerable about it. Because sometimes I think in our business egos get in the way a little bit, you know, or like a brand new, you know, general manager gets appointed to a store, whatever, and they want to do it their way. And, you know, they’re determined to make a mark, you know, and then they do so, I don’t know, like, a lot of different ways to approach the business, I think, but we’re all human like, and I always circle back to that. Like, at the end of the day, we’re all just trying to, you know, add value, do good, do good. We got a great industry to work within and, you know, respect is a thing that everybody’s owed, regardless of your financial status in the world. I think that’s a really important point, you know,nn
nSean : I’d like to throw something out there, that one that’s met. That’s such a great point. I love what you said too, about them, you know, coasting versus like giving it your all, I had a, I had a coaching convo with the dealer on this topic, because he was really struggling with a few of their vendor partners. And it kind of led to a vendor vetting process. And so we came up with like, 11 questions to explore when you’re either vetting a vendor, or you want to take a look at some of the vendors you currently have. So like a few of the questions are number one, like, can you give me a solid example of when your company put its dealerships ahead of its own well being? A lot of times, you know, a company will do especially with like, what happened with COVID? You know, I feel like that was an opportunity for vendors to really step up and do something. And then another one, like, if you found out information, if you found information that would help the and benefit the dealership, but potentially get you fired? How would you handle it? That’s another one that we came up with from that combo. And then this one’s important to us. I think a lot of the best. And I’m not saying this is the case in every situation, but just like your guys’ software, who developed you know, a lot of I think the best tools are often developed at the dealership level by the dealership people. So I like to ask who developed your software systems and processes? And what was their track record for success on the showroom floor? And then you can kind of find out from there. You know, are these people that really understand the car business?n
n Matt : Sean. I really like those are all cool questions. I really, really like that. I will draw a parallel though to like hiring people and interviewing people. Sometimes people interview really well. Yes, you know, and then they’re duds? Yeah, sometimes people interview terribly. And they’re the best employees, best teammates, best people ever. So you know, it’s so funny, I’m, I’m way more interested in trying to just make that human connection, and then give people a chance. And then I want to be accountable to myself to like, if a vendor partners failing, like, Have I not done what I needed to do to, like, help that connection. n
nYou know, at least at least be honest about it or vulnerable about it. Because sometimes I think in our business egos get in the way a little bit, you know, or like a brand new, you know, general manager gets appointed to a store, whatever, and they want to do it their way. And, you know, they’re determined to make a mark, you know, and then they do so, I don’t know, like, a lot of different ways to approach the business, I think, but we’re all human like, and I always circle back to that. Like, at the end of the day, we’re all just trying to, you know, add value, do good, do good. We got a great industry to work within and, you know, respect is a thing that everybody’s owed, regardless of your financial status in the world. I think that’s a really important point, you know,nn