Tag: Car Guys Agency

The Safeguard Rule

Posted on | by Tom Hampton Agency

In 2021, the FTC amended the Safeguard Rule. You are expected to be compliant with the updated requirements by December of 2022. I have spent many hours chasing the rabbit down the hole to learn more about these amendments and what it means for my clients. So, what is it?

Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act: The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) requires financial institutions – companies that offer consumers financial products or services like loans, financial or investment advice, or insurance – to explain their information-sharing practices to their customers and to safeguard sensitive data.

Read the requirements here 

First and foremost, you must designate an employee to manage or oversee your compliance project. This includes designing, implementing, maintaining, testing, and reporting on it during the entire life of the business. Despite my nature to keep things in-house, the task of developing and implementing the Security Program is quite complex and strict. In my utmost professional opinion, I recommend to everyone to outsource these duties to a professional I.T. company. It is well worth the investment into your business, your clients, and a good night’s sleep.  I would also suggest working with a company that can be paid to train your designated employee (start reading up on the rules) to maintain the job duties of Safeguard Compliance once your program is in place.  

Pricing to hire someone can be all over the place – from Too good to be true to The Bentley of Safeguard Compliance Professionals.  I suggest you look thoroughly into the company; Do your research, ask a lot of questions, and hire a professional with a clear vision of what you expect of their performance and duties.

Non-compliance with GLBA can carry severe financial and PERSONAL consequences for OWNERS and employees. The fines for GLBA infractions can be eye-watering to say the least – some reaching up to $100,000 per violation… (Read that one more time…PER VIOLATION.) Owners, officers, and/or directors can be fined up to $10,000; Imprisoned for 5 years; Or Both. OUCH.

Once you have completed all the tasks of implementing your Security Program, the Federal Trade Commission then requires you hire a professional cyber security company to test its strength, to be followed up with a report. (If you are able to find one company that can do all the required tasks for one fee, even better!) From there fix any holes found and move forward with your business.

The information I have discussed with you all today is just the beginning of a laundry list of compliance regulations dealers are held accountable for meeting.  At the end of the day, the secret to running a successful business is operating through due diligence. Sometimes staying on top of it can be like eating an elephant; The only way through is one bite at a time, creative recipes, and manageable goals to keep you on task.

As always, I am PROUD of all of you, in this, our community of dealers & friends. Let me just say, the financial storm that is gathering is going to carry us to heights we as BHPH Dealers have never seen!

The customer that cannot be pleased.

Posted on | by Tom Hampton Agency

By Tom Hampton

Every business owner has had customers that have issues that sometimes make doing business much more complicated. There is, however, a particular type of customer that cannot and will not be reasoned with or compromise their demands. For those of you experienced enough to have been around the mountain a few times during your career, have found these types of challenging clients get resolved by two general types of outcomes:

1. (Most Frequent Outcome) An unpleasant type of compromise is negotiated between both parties for a final resolution.

2. (Not So Frequent Outcome) The situation becomes unpleasantly distasteful and detrimental to both parties, with no resolutions whatsoever, and the loss of a customer (sometimes several by word of mouth, negative reviews & ratings, etc).

 

Losing an especially upset customer can be infuriating and frustrating (to say the least). Our pride has taken a hit, and our insecurities are rattled. So, what do you do when no resolutions can be met by either party?

 

First, if you have not already done so, examine the instance very closely and ask yourself, Did I do my best in the situation? What lessons can I take away from the situation to make me and my business better. 

 

Personally, when I lose a customer in events such as this, even after 40 years in the business, part of me still mourns. The only way I know how to describe it; It is humbling. I not only feel as though I have let my customer down, but I also feel I have let my team down to lose a customer without resolution. We all strive to serve our customers to the best of our abilities.

 

Secondly, remind yourself and your team that in any business, you can have the BEST customer service on the planet, yet the situation will still inevitability occur at some point.  As the owner, I am usually the one having that final conversation with the customer after my team has exhausted all other avenues. Unfortunately, in a lot of dealerships, the collections agent/manager is the one having these front-line battles. It is imperative you trust the people handling the confrontation before it escalates to you. These team members are much in need of your support, guidance, and sometimes, nurturing. Their frustration levels can bleed over into other interactions with detrimental results (they often do not even realize is happening) when becoming overwhelmed and feeling unsupported.

 

A weekly 20-minute one-on-one meeting with these team members just may help them vent, learn, and grow while meeting these challenges and company expectations. When things get heated, or an appropriate time presents itself, a great start is to have them unplug; Get up, walk around, take a breath, or maybe even a lunch break. The important part is they have a few minutes to clear their head and step away from the confrontation. I also suggest having them provide you with an emotion-free (practice makes perfect), brief, and factual statement about the incident.

 

Finally, before you find yourself neck-deep in a domino effect of fires to put out, provide your team with the training (such as courses, experienced management provided, or practice sessions), support, and guidance to be as successful as possible through these types of situations. Every day, as the owner, it would be best for you to be informed of any customer confrontations; What happened, what was attempted to resolve the situation, what the customer was demanding, and whether those demands can be met or not. These statements can become invaluable training tools.

 

You will always come across demanding customers. It is the price of admittance into the used car business. How we prepare ourselves and our team for these storms is what makes our businesses flourish!

 

As always, Car Guys Agency is here for all your Buy Here Pay Here needs! Contact us anytime to assist with solutions for your business! We have partners we have searched high and low for to provide our dealers with the very best available!

 

Create-A-Great-Day!

Tom Hampton 

Olympian or Spectator?

Posted on | by Tom Hampton Agency

Truth time my friends. This may be one of the most challenging pieces I have ever written. In November of 2019, my health took a turn, and painfully begin to control my every effort for these last 22 months.   

 

Short personal history: At 8 years old I was told I would never walk; With great perseverance and determination, the brace, wheelchair, and crutches were gone by 10 years old! I took 6 years of speech therapy as a child because I stuttered severely; I have since then, spoken freely and effortlessly. I have lived with chronic nerve pain ALL my life and put on mass doses of pain killers as a young adult; I have not taken a prescribed pain pill with any kind of regularity for over 30 years. For the past 14 years, 70 + hour work weeks were the norm and I traveled at a minimum of one week a month. For 7 of those years, I successfully managed my family’s business in conjunction with my own, after my dad passed.  

 

I tell you these pieces of my personal history to show you, my friends, that you are not alone. We are all overcoming personal and business hurdles of all varieties. Please, take care of your health. Drink plenty of water. Stay positive. And embrace challenges head-on with strength and determination! Through it all, with much support from my amazing team, I have been able to keep pursuing my goals to grow my business helping to support dealers in their own growth.  

 

Things are changing, both here at Car Guys Agency and with me personally. Most of you are used to having me pop by your lot, check up on you, and dish out some awesome advice while I am there! (Toot, Toot!! 😉)  

 

Those days my friends can sadly be no more. As much as I dislike it, my decreasing mobility has become the reality of my days. So, in the future, I will be reaching out to you via telephone, email, and text. By the way, as always, my team and I are here in any way we can help support our fellow dealers.  

 

I know how hard you are pushing yourselves, especially in this unstable market, just to keep afloat. We are not out of the woods yet. Markets are predicting there are another 6 to 8 more months of retail-priced units rolling across the auction blocks nationwide. It is unnerving to have a 60-car lot with only 14 units on it. I am also betting we will soon see Floor Plan companies start dropping dealers and smaller dealerships with limited financial resources who just cannot buy. Sooner, rather than later, the public will start pushing back at the higher retail prices and sales may just keep tanking.  

 

The nationwide market is constantly readjusting itself. The dealerships that survive and thrive over the next wave of challenges, yet again- must reinvent themselves and how they do business.  A growing dealership will be operating with new resource partners, rely even more on their communities, and embrace & adapt to changing paradigms.   

 

The large dealerships have 20+ groups of high-paid professionals that use their collective knowledge to market the company. So, with my own advice in mind, we too are adapting and redesigning how we grow as a company. To our loyal readers and longtime customers, we want to personally extend a VIP Invitation to be a part of our newest upcoming project! In June/July of 2021, Tom Hampton Agency will be forming a new group focused on bringing together like-minded dealers motivated to be a part of creating Strategic Growth Plans for the benefit of all.  If you are interested in joining and growing with us, email us here! 

 

Change is uncomfortable and often painful. I remind you; Olympians never won a medal because it was easy. They got it because they pushed, shaped, and molded their potential until the dream met reality. You have got to MOVE and DO to accomplish your goals. Repetition WILL create change in you, your salespeople, and your entire organization.   

 

To best survive this next incoming wave of industry evolution, we must grow; Grow new resources, new alliances, and more courage to jump in and start now. Waiting to see how things may go, could leave you left behind to play catch up. With great new products added to their lineup, Tom Hampton Agency is a great place to start finding those new and inventive (additional income bringing) resources! 

 

Here is to YOUR bright and successful future! Let us face this evolving world together to do and create what others say is impossible!   

  

Create-A-Great-Day,   

Tom Hampton 
832-723-3976  
[email protected]  

To buy or not to buy…

Posted on | by Tom Hampton Agency

April showers bring may flowers, but this year’s February freezes brought us auction squeezes! We are seeing prices are far above normal tax-time hikes, with no signs of tapering off. Playing the usual Price Game is the surest way to the poor house in our current market!

 

How are the new car dealerships holding on to high mileage trades and still getting their money for those units? Trust, transparency, and a supply-and-demand mentality! With less inventory on hand, we know that that means every unit we already have needs to get adjusted for retail. Time to re-appraise all your current inventory and start looking at replacement cost / availability.

Trust and Transparency are a symbiotic relationship. The more transparent you become in all your processes and procedures; the more trust is built along the way. Make sure your website is easy to navigate and all your policies and procedures are outlined in detail. Finance options/information should be easy to understand and access and make darn sure it is all secure!

There has been so much success in providing customers with an online credit application. Financing and an approved loan amount first, vehicle second, then delivery in minutes (not hours!) Knowledge of one’s financial abilities in any type of purchase is empowering and removes a lot of fear from the entire process! For us, it removes having to show them 20 different cars, only to find out 3 hours later, they can’t even afford the porters ’98 hooptie!

Find your technique to symbiotically build Trust and Transparency in today’s marketplace and on your website. Remember my friends. Without us, the independent used car dealer – most Americans would be walking! The better you serve your prospects, the greater your client base becomes.

Create-A-Great-Day

Tom

TCPA Violations can cost you BIG!

Posted on | by Tom Hampton Agency

By Tom Hampton

TRUE fact, 95% of texts are read in 90 seconds or less after you send it. Texting is unquestionably an integral tool to engage consumers in 2020, HOWEVER, it is not without extensive legal and regulatory risks.

In order to survive and thrive, businesses must be mindful and play by the rules set forth by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, known as the TCPA founded in 1991. Car dealerships directly put their business at legal and financial risk each time they text, be it to correspond with a lead, with a customer, for collections, or sending inventory pics…the list goes on! TCPA penalties START at $500 and can go up to $1500 per text sent.

Example:

A customer submits a complaint that 5 texts were sent to without their permission. At a minimum, fees will start at $2,500, likely much more, as well as setting the way to a full investigation looking for compliance violations, often adding more fines.

How can the average dealer keep track of all the texts sent by the entire team, on top of the 5,000 other things they are currently doing? The solution is very simple and so cost effective it is scary! For less than one average auction fee and no long-term contracts, you are covered-7-ways-to-Sunday, 24/7/365.

Just like having a DMS to keep all your paperwork records and compliance, this is also a tool to keep your texting compliant! Did I mention that with this service, you see it all! No more guessing what your employees are texting to prospects, customers, or account holders! No more getting blind-sided by customers who say…’your salesman told me if I did this…. then y’all would do that for me!’

SOLUTIONS are what we do at Car Guys Agency. Effective, affordable solutions for your dealership. Give me a call or visit www.carguysagency.com