Dealer Tech Tuesdays
Dealer Tech Tuesdays - Where we discuss all things dealership tech. The good, the bad, and the ugly. We believe tech can empower your dealership to conquer an ever-changing world.
Dealer Tech Tuesdays
Crystal Massie: Systems over SILOS - Leadership that algins dealerships
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A dealership can survive bad luck, but it struggles to survive bad change. We bring on automotive executive Crystal Massey, a 28+ year operator who has worked across the full dealership ecosystem, from the body shop and service support to accounting leadership and the GM view. Crystal explains why her career advantage wasn’t a single “secret sauce” move, but a habit of curiosity, learning fast, and building systems that remove friction for every department touched by a decision.
We dig into the real mechanics of dealership culture and change management: how to get buy-in without forcing compliance, why “everyone gets a voice” prevents quiet sabotage, and how to identify the champion who makes a CRM rollout or process shift actually stick. Crystal also shares her guiding belief, “There’s enough sunshine for everyone,” and what abundance leadership looks like when sales pressure, fear, and scarcity thinking creep into a team.
From cash flow management and deal funding discipline to marketing spend that behaves like an investment, Crystal brings practical lessons you can apply to DMS change, vendor partnerships, and day-to-day operations. She also shares a clear three-step approach for major projects: clean up what you’ve ignored, communicate openly with your team, and set firm expectations with your vendor so the tool fits your workflow. Subscribe, share this with a dealer leader who’s managing change right now, and leave a review with your biggest challenge so we can tackle it next.
Sponsor And Welcome
SPEAKER_02Dealer Tech Tuesdays is brought to you by VTech DealerIT. Guaranteeing your dealership premier reliability, stability, and customer support. Transform your Tuesdays into a powerhouse of growth. Contact us at www.vtechdealer.com.
SPEAKER_03Welcome to the Dealer Tech Tuesdays podcast. Crystal Massey is an automotive executive with 28 plus years driving performance, operations, and customer growth. She has led across every area of the dealership operations and is known for building strong teams, improving processes, and earning long-term trust. An NADA graduate, an executive MBA candidate, she leads with one belief. There's enough sunshine for everyone. Let's begin. Crystal, how are you?
SPEAKER_01I'm great. Yourself, John.
SPEAKER_03Good. Can't complain. Um, you know, Jeannie, Jeannie Ridleback's uh a very um important member of our team. She's our chief brand officer, and she said, you have to talk to Crystal because we have a lot of these um side conversations and picking each other's brains on people and culture and you know, just reading a little bit about you. I was really fascinated about how you look at leadership and that leadership style in the in the dealership space. And I wanted to, you know, bring you on to the to the dealer techs Tuesdays podcast. We talk about culture and leadership and technology and the automotive business. And when I want to kind of get the your take and your story, I think that's it's important to highlight people's stories. And uh, you've been in the business for almost 30 years. What was it like kind of growing up in this business? You know, uh uh you don't have as much gray hair as I do, but you know, it sounds like you started young.
SPEAKER_01I have a really good stylist.
SPEAKER_03So what how did you get involved with uh with uh this with this industry, this wacky industry of ours?
Finding A Home In Automotive
SPEAKER_01Happenstance, as a lot of people would say. So back in the 90s, I relocated from the mountains of West Virginia because I was determined that at 17 I had life figured out and I could go out into the real world.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, wouldn't recommend it. Um so I married a Marine and moved um far away from home, about eight hours from home, no home phone and no job and really no plan. But um, by the grace of God, I had three opportunities. I interviewed three different places, I was offered three jobs and you know, quite honestly, for whatever reason, I chose automotive. I don't know that there was a whole lot of thought behind it. But I would tell you after I had a little taste, I just I was in love and I wanted to learn and show up every day um and get a little bit better.
SPEAKER_03And I I could imagine, you know, I'm um I'm a veteran myself and you know I know spouses serve in in a huge capacity. Um and so thank you for you know taking on that burden for for for our country. I think it's it's um likewise.
SPEAKER_01Thank you, John.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's very, very, very important, especially that timeline. That was that must have been kind of wild with the automotive schedule plus a military schedule. How how did you guys balance that?
SPEAKER_01I don't know that there was a lot of balance. There were a lot of hothead moments, which is funny because if you had meet my husband and I, we're both very even kill. Um, you know, we we don't get rattled by much, but maybe that was something that came in time. But early on, I can remember um, you know, a lot of emotion and feeling like we were second fiddle to whatever, you know, was going on, you know, with the Marine Corps. If they wanted you to have a wife, they would have issued you one. You've heard all these like crazy things. But I would say it was a really good life. It was um one that gave our family opportunity to grow, discipline. Obviously, the financial burden um is not there. You know, at the beginning it's consistent, it's a small paycheck, but it comes every month.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So there wasn't that volatility that you know, maybe we would see in the automotive industry. And when I first started, I was hourly. So, you know, we we at least knew what to expect. You knew to live beyond your means would get you in trouble. So you just stayed within those bounds.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's very uh kind of contrarian thought process in the automotive business. It's like get into a super high car payment and then work your way, sell your way out of the hole, right? Yeah, it's uh it's it's and then I think in the in the car businesses, if you would if we wanted you to have a husband, we would have hired one for you. You know, that that whole that whole concept of you know just that that balance, which doesn't necessarily exist, but it um you you've progressed. And how did you get into the like what was the first position that you had in the business?
SPEAKER_01So my first position was actually a receptionist in the body shop.
SPEAKER_04Wow.
SPEAKER_03That's incredible.
SPEAKER_00It was um very interesting.
SPEAKER_03Working your way through and understanding you must have uh understanding of the organization that goes just beyond logic.
SPEAKER_01There's definitely a depth and breath that comes with that. Okay. So you have to learn so you can survive. But there's another part that um was just curiosity. And I knew that if I showed up every day and just had the determination to learn a little bit more, you know, that there was a lot more to learn, and there still is. So I mean, I'm 30 years in and I know that there's a ton. So I get on um like Clubhouse every morning and I usually just listen. I don't participate um in the conversation. I absorb, I take, you know, what matters to me and you know, what doesn't. I just kind of let it fall to the wayside. And um, you know, some of these other resources that we didn't have, LinkedIn and all of these other really great outlets that we have for learning that you know, quite honestly wasn't available in the 90s.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and it's a lot of, you know, uh kung fuing your way through leadership styles and going to trainings. And, you know, early in your career, what is do you can you identify kind of any pivotal moments that you're like, man, this changed the way that I look at things. But, you know, with that base of natural curiosity, I think is is a superpower that's underexplored by many people.
SPEAKER_01I think every time I moved into a new role, I had a resurgence of wanting to learn, you know, a little more. So um I joke and say that they didn't find anything I was good at, so they just kept moving me, which wasn't really, you know, the case. But it gave me the opportunity to um adapt and overcome kind of back to the military standard. But beyond that, it gave me the opportunity to help solve things, to systemize, to introduce logic that maybe wasn't there previously.
SPEAKER_03What oh, I love that. I love that, I love that. How did you how did you come to that realization? Is like was it is that just a natural gift that you have to like this doesn't make sense. We gotta fix this and make this a system. It's like how how did you approach the system thinking?
SPEAKER_01So I do think that that's innate. I think I was born um with that, and I've listened to you on some of these podcasts. I think you also have that gene. Would that be true, John? Yeah, you're you're always looking at a way to systemize, perfect, find efficiencies. Yeah. So I think part of that was um definitely just ingrained, you know, early on in life. But beyond that, finding subject matter experts, um, coming alongside, learning what you can. I've said this on other podcasts, but I think that it's really important um to really hone in on vendors and their knowledge, where some people see it as a burden. I always saw it as a gift. You know, if there was someone that I had an opportunity to work with, um, whether it was DMS, CRM, you know, whatever that was, if I had the opportunity to absorb part of their knowledge and apply it to our organization. And I knew all levels of the organization to where if something were implemented, I would know how it would affect other departments. You know, so it wasn't just that silo that I was working on. I knew that there was an implication on the other side where it may make it more difficult for a salesperson or a service advisor and figuring out how to remove those friction points and just make it um more enjoyable.
Curiosity And Systems Thinking
SPEAKER_03Yeah, a lot of the brain damage and you're you're you're man, you, you're you're speaking, you're speaking my language, right? So the the how do we remove the excuses and the resistance and and you know, like the talk about efficiency a lot is like effective rate. It's like how do we increase our effectiveness, uh that we uh ease of movement, that things are happen consistently at a high degree over long periods of time. And it sounds you from and I love this perspective, is that to say I understand the ecosystem, like I understand the how the if you push down here, there's other pieces that are gonna go up and it's gonna affect and it's gonna um you know the caterpillar effect in the organization. If that you buy a bunch of cars, then that's gonna have uh, you know, the get ready, or you're gonna have to have those inspected, and you're gonna have to that changes the dynamic in the whole organization, cash flow, how that works with cash flow management, and you know, all of this stuff has things aren't in silos necessarily. And you see GMs that don't understand the ecosystem, and you have that superpower that you not only understand it, but you were you lived it and you you you understand, not not even understand, it's like you intuitively know there's a knowing there.
SPEAKER_01I would have a friend um that was younger in the business, she would say, How do you how did you know that? How did you know that was gonna happen? So it's chess not checkers. You know, after you've played it a few times, you anticipate, you know, that next move, which I'm not a great chess player, so please don't try to speak chess to me. I'm the the one in our family that really can't play aboard sets out at all times. But I really think that it's important to take others and the effects, you know, into account when you're making those decisions.
SPEAKER_03And so did you have a methodology of like getting early consensus or getting everybody bought in? You seem you seem like that type of person that would be like, if we're gonna make a big decision, we're gonna bring in the the the key players into this thing so everybody understands what it's what it's gonna look like.
SPEAKER_01I think it's always important that everybody have a voice, even if you don't adopt whatever it is that they're sharing, because sometimes it doesn't make sense. Sometimes you can say, we've tried that and it didn't work. But here's the reason why I, you know, I appreciate the input. Or now's not the right time for that table, that and we'll come back to it. But it is very important that everybody have um their fingerprints on something. Because if not, then you have the individuals, you know, within an organization that may submarine what it is that you're working on. You know, they pull it down, and I don't even know that it's intentionally. They just don't put forth their full effort and their talents to move it forward. And how much easier is it if we're all going the same direction?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that the malicious compliance that happens in an organization. It's like, man, they'll be like, yeah, I'm doing it. And then you you see when you are they're actually what parts are you doing? And you dive into that really can scuttle or, you know, um kill uh an idea or an initiative at its early stages when it's most vulnerable.
SPEAKER_01I agree with that. And I often say it's not the leader that's the most important, it's really the first follower. So the first person that comes alongside you and they're excited about the idea, that's the person that really um needs more of the credit, you know, for that project. Because then others, you know, want to come across and support, you know, as well.
SPEAKER_03And how did you identify that person early on in the process?
SPEAKER_01I think you can tell. I think you can tell when you're sitting in a room, you can see mannerisms, you know, the crossed arm, slouched body, you know, things like that. You're like, okay, we're gonna have to break through that one. But when you have the person that's leaning in, asking questions, um, expressing um their desire, you know, to learn more as well. I I think they self-identify oftentimes.
SPEAKER_03And would you call that person your champion of that initiative to say, hey, that you're gonna, you're gonna be the champion of this of this thing.
SPEAKER_01I actually use the word champion all the time. For instance, um when we brought in Tekke on CRM, the dealership that I was in. So when I speak today, I'm not speaking on behalf of that store, but I'm gonna speak on behalf of my experiences. Uh, when we brought Tekeon in a CRM capacity, there were a couple of individuals on the sales floor that were more fluent and they adopted um the software much faster. So they became the champions because they were the ones that were, they were gonna live in that every day. They were gonna have the real world application. And a lot of times it's easier to ask your peer how to do something rather than a supervisor because you don't want to express vulnerability. And I feel like an automotive, even more so. People don't like to ask questions because it makes them feel vulnerable.
SPEAKER_03Does that come from the inherent kind of competition between salespeople, that they're competing against each other, so they don't want to share the secrets, or is that something that everybody you can kind of get over that siloing of individuals to compete against each other, that there's that scar scarcity mindset?
SPEAKER_00I don't think you see that as much anymore.
SPEAKER_01I've definitely lived through different seasons. Um, earlier on in my career, I think it was um more competitive where people felt like they had the secret sauce, you know, and didn't want to share it. But as these resources have evolved, I mean they are available. You know, I mean, ask Chat GPT something you can go back and forth and negotiate a car deal, you know, to sharpen your skills.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, things such as that, I believe have made it easier for sales associates and other frontline individuals to ask questions of one another and share resources. But I think there's still a human nature that you you don't want to ask as many questions because you want to appear that you know you're in control of the subject matter.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. How do you yeah, how do you get that collaboration, everybody rowing in the same direction? Like that's a that is a that is a skill in itself, right? To say how can we get the synergy and get everybody talking? And I think it comes one of them is based in fear and based in lack and being out of alignment, and then one based in alignment that's based in abundance, that's based in that that positive mental attitude, that PMA, right, that doesn't necessarily grow on trees. And you like you were talking about seasonality, a season can really change that. So everybody's like, oh, the you know, the market's changing and everybody's what's happening and who moved my cheese and that whole that whole concept. How would you kind of intervene as a as a as a leader in the organization to change that mindset to say, hey guys, let's get our get let's get let's get everybody rowing in the same direction?
SPEAKER_01I think part of that is asking good questions and then actually listening when people share, you know, the answer. Um getting everybody moving in the same direction sometimes requires you to move as well. You know, perhaps you didn't have the best game plan, you know, going into it and being the leader that's humble enough to say, I didn't have that dialed in quite right. You know, my apologies. How could we better, you know, serve the client? How could we better serve one another? And then refactor accordingly.
SPEAKER_03I think you know, I saw this this belief that you that you have that this there's enough sunshine for everyone. That that kind of translates into anything you can put that into can there's enough just having that attitude of there's enough sun sunshine for everybody is such a cool way to look at things. There's enough leads, there's enough, there's enough opportunity, there's enough, you know, there's enough, there's enough for everybody. And how how did you approach and how did you reach that conclusion? Or was that something that you always had from the get-go?
SPEAKER_01In all transparency, I've always been a people builder. That's something that, you know, I really um have honed in on, enjoyed the enough sunshine for everyone. The thing that took me a little longer to learn was that included me. Um, because I would set myself um outside of the equation oftentimes as a young leader or a young professional to where I would sacrifice to a false. Um and then as I as I learned um to be more confident in my choices and my leadership, I also learned that that was making me a better leader, to be somewhat self-serving in in certain ways. Um because you can put yourself so far back that you I don't want to say you you start to resent, you start to resent the system, that sort of thing, but you don't even realize it. You don't even realize that it's happening.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. It's like pouring from a full cup. You know, that concept of pouring from a full cup, not from an empty one.
SPEAKER_01That is so true. And just continuing to celebrate collective wins. So the the enough sunshine, you had it right. You had it right from the beginning. That that's the reason that I share that motto, quite honestly. I I don't know that this is the appropriate time, but I actually have a small tattoo that you can't really see it. It says enough and it has the sun. So if your life motto isn't tattooed um on you, that's no, I'm just kidding. Don't do that.
SPEAKER_03You're fully committed. I love that.
SPEAKER_01I am committed. I love that and um it is leading from a spirit of abundance and not a spirit of scarcity. I heard you use the word scarcity, you know, earlier, you know, within this podcast. And I think that that's incredibly important because when you lead from a spirit of scarcity, the first part of that word says scare, scared, right? You're scared to make decisions, you're scared to commit. You're I mean, scarcity says that there's not enough, there's not an abundance, and there's so many opportunities, whether that's in retail automotive or you know, technology companies. I've I've never seen technology moving so fast. Like today's the slowest it's ever going to be, right? It's always gonna be faster the next day.
Buy In Champions And Collaboration
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. And you know, the that that that I think that's leading with the heart, you know, more than anything is that's seeing really seeing that there's it's leading with the heart, not necessarily leading with with that scarcity mindset or the pain or leading from, you know, what what bucket are you pulling from? And there's nothing that can kill a great organization faster than uh a lot of people with um, you know, the poor me mentality tape running on everybody, you know, running on everybody. And the you know, we talk about this on Clubhouse a lot. I know you're in in the rooms and and saying, you know, the the fish rots from the head down, right? Uh we talk about that on a regular basis. If you set the tempo and you almost attract people that are of that mindset, that have this can-do attitude, they don't have, and I'm gonna use a cuss word, but the itty bitty shitty committee running. That's my mom's phrase, right? Like, what's your what's what's your self-talk look like? It's like if you projected your self-talk out, would it would you you be appalled that people would look at review that tape? Or would you say, no, actually, this person talks about themselves really kindly and they take care of themselves and and they can they're their their biggest, their own biggest coach or their own own biggest uh cheerleader. And then that that that poison infiltrates an organization quickly to say, how do you stop that? How do you go through and attract more people that are of that ilk? And you probably have or my my suspicion is that you have a keen eye for identifying people that are that are like that, that you can say, yeah, this person comes from a place of sunshine and not from a place of darkness, right? For you to use your terminology.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yeah, I definitely um would say I'm a really good judge of character. Um you were talking about Jeannie earlier, hold her in high regard. And when she said you need to get on this podcast with John Acosta, I was all in because she recommended it, you know, quite honestly. And now I did go out and read about you thereafter. And I'm like, oh yeah, I'm totally excited, you know, about the opportunity. But being someone who can kind of detect those things early on. And I think part of that comes with um core value testing. You know, as you're interviewing in an organization, it's one thing to have your core values that are posted on a wall. It's another to actually govern by them and to vet people by asking questions. Um, you know, one of the things that we had was embrace a competitive spirit. So when I was in an interview, I would say something like John, um, looking forward in one year, where do you see yourself? What would you consider to be a success? You know, I would phrase it obviously. Better than that. And it would be a more natural delivery. But making sure that they could see beyond that moment, right? Is this a job? Are you just coming in to get a paycheck? Or are you actually already thinking about this as a career? Have you had the opportunity? Are you excited?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that that really sets up if if they can think in a larger, I think fear sets our vision to like, I need to get this job, not to say this is a movement that I this is a strategic movement that I'm going to do for a long period of time. And if they can't even really come up with a with a question or an answer to what that is or a question back to go back and forth, you you kind of see them that they're narrowing their scope of focus to the right now, which is, I think that's you can't see the sunshine if you're, you know, if your head's down. Just uh kind of to to use that that phrase, you can't even see what the future is going to look like if you're that's that's that's really smart. What other indicators do you have of people kind of not being in the right alignment or being in the right mindset or like though those early detection signals that that happen with people?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I often think um if money, you know, is the sole focus, you know, that that's usually very telling.
SPEAKER_01Now I think that it's important. I mean, we're all, you know, it's a for-profit organization. Yeah, that's what we're trying to do, right? I mean, that's why we're all in retail automotive or in business is to make money, which is incredibly important. But there's also other things that come along with that self-development, you know, asking those questions early on. Um, you know, what are the opportunities? What are the opportunities beyond right now? And quite honestly, um, since I've been back in the job market, that's been one of the things for me. I don't want to relocate, but as I'm, you know, having discussions with people, I want to know beyond that moment, you know, beyond this job description, what does this look like? Because I want a high um sense of ownership. Like I want to know that I'm empowered to make decisions as long as, you know, it's within my realm of um possibility, right? Like if it's something that I'm the subject matter expert, like you trust me enough. If you hire me into this organization, are you good if I make these decisions, you know, going forward? Or is it really that I'm just an order taker and a paper pusher? Because that's different. And then short term, that's one thing. You know, you can you can do that on a project base, but not long-term adoption. Or I can't do that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no, that that makes sense. And and uh as a general manager, as a leader of an organization, you really set the tone and the pace for the organization. And that takes time to build that. It takes time to develop those things and coming into an organization and seeing you know, like that systems thinking is like this doesn't this doesn't make any sense. And to have that view of the ecosystem, if I change this, then this changes and have the ability to think about those secondary and tertiary effects that happen in in an organization. And I I love how you how you approach that. How if you told somebody about this and you were kind of saying, hey, start thinking in systems, how would you, you know, kind of an example? Can you give me an example of something that you fixed that lacked logic that you said, hey, this, this, this is something that we used to complain about all the time, and now we put it into the flow category of things. How how do you approach that, that problem-solving strategy?
SPEAKER_01So you mentioned cash flow, you know, earlier, which was something that I was actually um very good at when I was in the accounting sector of the organization, which was the duration, you know, of my time in retail automotive. But actually systemizing things to where you didn't have the ebb and flow, the volatility that you had to worry about moving from cash reserves and things like that. So you actually were able to operate the business out of an operating account, you know, without having to rely on other lines, you know, of income. So making sure that um steps were satisfied and deals were funded. So that money was in the organization before, you know, payments were due out. So really systemizing things and then um making sure that people were accountable to a time frame. You know, you don't want to leave CIT out there for, you know, two or three weeks and your floor plan payoffs due in five to seven days, depending on how you're set up with the lender, because that creates great, great um cash strains, like very quickly. I mean, like millions of dollar swings. You know, you have one good weekend and you're in trouble. Yeah. You know, which is funny because cash flow is um when an organization is slower, it's much simpler. Cash flow cash flow is simple when there's no churn.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Yeah. But whenever a business is good, that's when cash flow is like, okay, we need to figure this out. You know, how do we make sure that our receivables are coming in faster than you know the money is going out? So that would be one example.
SPEAKER_03If you're selling volume, that you know how many cars you're buying and how many, how many payoffs you're having, like cash dries up very, very quickly, and not a lot of people really have that understanding of what that looks like and that you have to build those coffers over time.
SPEAKER_01Well, and in a world where you're having to buy vehicles um from private party and you don't know when those opportunities will arise, right? I mean, you don't know that you're gonna buy six or seven off the service drive this week because um it just set up and things were glorious, and that's wonderful because you need it for inventory. But there's a you know, a really big swing.
SPEAKER_03You know, how fast how fast a half a million dollars can walk walk out of the organization, you know? Yeah, you got those vehicles, but you got to get them ready, you gotta get them, you know, you gotta get them to the front line. That it becomes it it's uh it's uh it really is an ecosystem. I think that's the the the right way to look at it.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So tell me, you know, from coming what how has that shift been from being in the accounting department to being into the GM seat? How did you adapt to that? How how did you what did you learn or or what um um what's that phrase? Like what darlings did you have to kill? You know, it's like these ideas that you say, well, if I was doing it, you know, I would do it this way, right? Is that and was there any hard realizations that you came into when shifting different positions in in the organization?
SPEAKER_00Um I would say um marketing became incredibly important.
SPEAKER_01Um with that, obviously, when you start looking through the CRM and the number of males that you have to feed, the number of families that are depending on you, you need to make sure that they have as many opportunities to bat you know as necessary. So that's incredibly um important.
SPEAKER_00It definitely I looked at it more um as an investment rather than an expense.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01If that makes sense.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
Core Values Hiring And Ownership
SPEAKER_01So as the when you're looking at it just from the balance sheet perspective and you're comparing it to um, you know, some of the other expenses and comparing it to your peers, you're like, oh yeah, we we need to cut marketing budget or we need to bring this down or more in alignment. And then when you look at it from the other side, it's we just need to spend it faster or not faster, we need to spend it wiser. We need to make sure that um the throughput matches the investment. So actually looking at the number of leads, the number of opportunities, um minimizing duplications, because sometimes you realize that it's not an authentic lead and you've seen the person's name, you know, multiple times.
SPEAKER_03So and that everybody's claiming it.
SPEAKER_01And maybe maybe they all played a part in it, you know, that's that's the truth because as adults we have to hear things seven times before we hear it once. So, you know, maybe we have to see it in all those regards, but figuring out what makes most sense and maximizing, you know, co-op dollars, you know, to kind of minimize the expense side and maximize the opportunities. So I think it's all just a balance, you know, regardless of titles or uh you know roles. It's just finding a balance in, as you say, ecosystem. You know, just finding that to where you don't have a situation where the expenses are too high and the opportunities are too low.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. And the the better deployment of that, same, the same dollar, right? To to be as effective as possible in in converting that customer. Because I mean, so many of it and and it's such a logical way of looking at it. It's like there's a some of the variable positions are full of magical thinking. And then, you know, suddenly they're, you know, they're blowing people out quickly because it's not working, and we have to do the results immediately and what that looks like. And just I think there's a lot of wisdom and a logical approach to this to say what's working, what's not working, let's get to the basics of it and figure out what we're gonna pour gas into before we just kind of fix everything and then we don't know what's working and what's not working.
SPEAKER_01And sometimes when something's not working, realize it's because you're not working, right? It's not always the tool's problem when you get in and you have managers that haven't, you know, logged into something for a month or you know, they're not setting something up, you know, correctly before you pull the ripcord, you know, to leave. Let's make sure that we've actually exhausted it. Because I would say your team also loses confidence when you do that, when you start to um pull things away and replace them with others, you know, quickly. They're like, okay, here we go. You know, flavor of the month, right? Um I refer to it as stickiness. You have to find things that work and then, you know, make sure you have stickiness, you know, within it, which is maybe not the most scientific term, but I think it's incredibly important from a leadership position for your employees to see that, you know, you're not fickle and you're not just gonna change course. You're actually gonna dig in and figure out what needs to be done for success.
SPEAKER_03I think stickiness is the right term. That's like the, you know, where we live in a highly, we work in a highly illogical industry, right? There's not, you know, some uh we had a GM of a ultra luxury store in in San Francisco. It's like there's no reason why somebody would buy a two million dollar car. That doesn't, there's no logic to that, right? It's the there's there's no we l we live in a highly illogical uh industry, right? There's just no reason for that. And and so we we we sherpo people through the second most important purchase that they make in their life. It may be the first most important purchase, and the only depending on where you are financially, maybe the most important financial and in a military community that's oftentimes the case. Yeah. That that's like your home is your vehicle, you know, your your vehicle is your your home. I I knew that when when I was in the military, a lot of guys would be like, no, I got my truck, and then they'll, you know, rent some place or do some other place and be in some crappy apartment complex. And I lived in many of them, and and my vehicle was my was my refuge, you know, to to go from one place to another and and some people spent their whole paycheck on, you know, uh uh brand new 1500 Silverado at 26%, you know, right? Because they didn't have any credit or whatever that looks like, but it is it does become that process where you're you're navigating the the highly illogical, right? The highly emotional aspects of of the business.
SPEAKER_00Very true.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And Crystal, what um, you know, what how did you approach the the um debits and credits? Like yeah, really I'm I'm fascinated by that transition from really hard numbers into making processes, making systems, making um taking the logic out of out of the variable side, right? That that is that that can be fluctuating, right? Can be up and down. And how how did you approach that? Like what was did you have a past in in in that side of things? And then you then you use you pulled from that well to go into into variable side, or would how did that transition happen?
SPEAKER_01Quite honestly, if you were to look at my background, um, it's very non-traditional from an automotive um perspective. So I started in the collision center, um, supported our service and parts department um as needed, whether that was cashier, um, service advisor type position from a repetitive standpoint, maybe for internal ROs, that sort of thing. Um I held an executive assistant role um for several years, which I I really enjoyed. And I think I think that was probably really um where I thought this business is incredibly intriguing, it's rewarding, and opportunities are there. I just have to figure out how that's gonna work out for me. Um, and then I had an opportunity to move within our accounting office and um held every role except for title clerk. I always say I couldn't do that one because there's like so much repetition. Like I need different to stay um intrigued. Like I need some element of um surprise and delight. You know, something surprises you and you're like, oh, how's this gonna work? And then you figure it out, and then you're like, oh, that was kind of fun, you know, for lack of better words, that's kind of fun. Now what can we fix? Um but with that, I just really supported operationally whatever was needed within the organization. So let's just remove titles. If there was a a project, it really didn't matter what it was. If there was um technology install, you know, UVI, techyon, um, Kirby, you name it, you know, any of those, as they came into the organization, I attached to the project. And it was really important to me that we succeed. So we were very, very big pioneers when it came to things. We never wanted to be the guinea pig, but we always wanted to be, you know, first to bat if something made sense. So I had the pleasure of, you know, doing that within the organization. It's a great organization. Just because I'm not there doesn't um, you know, mean that they won't succeed, and it doesn't mean that I won't succeed. So this week I actually cannonballed into an LLC John. I am now um a freelance person and doing some project work, you know, as needed. So if somebody needs something, they're gonna install software, they need to systemize something, and they need somebody that understands it. That's what I want to do. So more project-based. Um, I'm not gonna call myself a consultant because I feel like there are a lot of those in our space and the um depth of what they know is, you know, you'll have somebody that's like really, really good fixed ops and that's their thing, or really good variable. And I may not have the depth quite as deep as some of those individuals, but I do have the breadth to know across the organization, you know, how that will work. And I think I just have a really um unique vantage point, you know, to be able to add some value.
Marketing Spend With Real Discipline
SPEAKER_03Yeah, especially like understanding every aspect of the business. It sounds like you you, from your experience, you can you really know the ecosystem of a dealership. And to say, you know what, what is it that they say about experience is you get it the day after you need it. Um, you know, it's like uh yeah, I was I think I was talking today on Clubhouse about uh DMS change. It's like that is that is a tough, you know. I've got a book about, you know, business and uh uh it's it's um information business systems for management. And it talks about the project management of changing an ERP. An ERP is basically what a DMS is, right? It's the same thing. If you go to Oracle, SAP, in our industry, we call it CDK, Reynolds and Reynolds, Tekyon, whatever. And it takes two years of planning to do a change. DMS change. You have to have a champion. You have to get all the buy-in from everybody that's in the organization. You have to say, hey guys, we're gonna make a big change, but it's gonna help us in the future. And that malicious compliance comes in, and people are are, you know, they're updating the resume in the background because they whether what the temperament of the organization looks like is like this is gonna be a crap show, right? It's gonna be a disaster, or it's gonna be highly executed and it's gonna make all of us better. And the culture, temperament, um, texture of the organization all play into those factors of how can you get everybody on board? How can you tell everybody what a good job looks like? How can people be champions of their area? How can you calm that fear? How we how can you say these are the planning meetings? There's one throat to choke, there's one project manager for the organization that creates the the everybody rolling in the in the right direction. That is a skill that is worse than the right angle. Yes, exactly. That's what that's what we're talking about, right? That's you. That's right. And that the person that can do that is is is extraordinarily powerful because organizations really suffer through that. They they are balancing, you know, selling cars and servicing vehicles and doing that stuff, and they're really good at it. They may be a great, great used car manager, they may be a great uh variable guy or gal, they may be a great, you know, BDC manager, but they don't understand how change management works and how to get how to find how to see around corners is what I like to look at. It's like we're gonna have a problem there, and your experience of the ecosystem really gives that, gives that that um that perspective, which is which is you know, you can't put a price on that.
SPEAKER_00And for me it was fun.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, most people would shy away from that, but it was once again an opportunity to learn something new.
SPEAKER_03Well, you sound like a problem solver and somebody approaches things with curiosity. So like that's like that that personality trait, if you could bottle that and sell it, you'd be you'd be extraordinarily, extraordinarily wealthy, right?
SPEAKER_05No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. That's that's a superpower to have the the ability to do that and say, to say this is how I'm gonna approach something and understand it as a system, as an ecosystem that you're that you're moving levers on. Some people throw kind of a DMS change just into it and and then everything becomes a problem. And I I think talking about that is is um is very much needed because the thing that's gonna be constant in this industry is change. It's the only thing that I know is constant. We went to digital retailing, we went into, you know, we've gone into meta, into the the the pretend universe of technology. We've gone into all these things that have changed. The only thing that's constant is human beings changing. How they change how they do things, how they acquire vehicles. Get really good at change. And I think you've you've developed that skill set over the last 30 years.
SPEAKER_01That sounds like a really big number when you say it. Yes. Thank you.
SPEAKER_03But it's, I mean, that that's that's what that is, right? You know the forest for the trees because you've seen a thing or two. That's and you got the benefit that you started early, right? You have people that got into this industry and don't have half of the experience that you have, which is really powerful thing to to to know. Like really having an industry expert in your in your on your side helping you navigate through these things that understands how systems work is is it's a it's a it's an effective tool.
SPEAKER_00Thank you. I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_03So, Crystal, if um, you know, if you were talking to your to your younger self, what would you say, what kind of books would you recommend to you uh just getting into the industry? What would you say? What what are the books that most impacted you um to say, read this one now, if you if you went back through in time and you had a time machine to do that?
SPEAKER_01Hmm. There's so many. Um I think one that I read more recently was Think and Grow Rich, um, the women's version by Sharon Lecter, um, which as I understand it has a lot of similarities to the original, but she studied, you know, several um successful females, you know, throughout and quote several in one of those quotes that I took from that book was I'm not for women only, but I am for women also. And I think that young people need to hear that. Young females need to hear that there's room, there's space, you know, in um the organization and don't be discouraged and don't let people hurt your feelings. You know, feel feelings are one of those things that um we live in a very offended world. Don't be offended, you know, by things easily. Um that way you allow yourself to move forward. Um, other books, let's see. Um, one that I frequently recommend is Smart Brevity.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01I was um one that sometimes would go past the close, you know. Being somebody that's analytical, you know, you find out all the inform, and I sense this from you too, John. Um, you find out all the information and you're ready for the debate or the discussion. Well, sometimes you don't need all that, right? You're like on your third statement, they're like, okay, I'm in. And then you just keep going. And you can't, and they're like, okay, uh I've already told you you had me on your side. So it's a very short read, but it's based on um Axios, you know, some of the articles that they put out on just to keep things short, you know, smart brevetied. So you're not curt, um, but you do get the point across. I think that was a valuable thing. Atomic habits. And I know that that's one that's shared, you know, often, but learning to systemize and layer things because in very busy lives, you know, how do we get everything in? We're gonna exercise, we're gonna drink our water, we're gonna eat nutritiously, have our vitamins, and have all that done and be dressed, you know, for work by whatever, 7:30, 8 a.m. Oh, and we should speak to our family at some point, you know, during that time.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So when you think of things like that, finding those efficiencies to where you can do multiple things, you know, at one time.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the smart brevity, I'm gonna definitely do that. Um, I have a tendency of being long-winded, so and going into the details and understanding it because the I have a tendency of think thinking out loud, right? To say it's like I'm exploring ideas as I'm talking. And this is what this podcast is, is why I'm like literally recording it so I can learn from smart people that have that have done some cool things and and learn about that and and put it into a process and put it into a system. This this is my exploration of that curiosity.
SPEAKER_01Well, that seemed to work very well for you. So I think that um lifetime student of the business, you know, mindset has served you really well.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I appreciate that. I appreciate that. And so if you um if you had to um, you know, if you had to to to give some some advice and so um based on your experience as somebody that was going undergoing a big change, a big challenge, a big project that they're coming up with, what would be the top three things that you say you have to do this?
DMS Change Rules And Final Advice
SPEAKER_01Um so I'm gonna liken it to something um we were talking about DMS. I think one of the first things you do is go in and remove things that you've um ignored or put a band-aid on for years. Maybe you have accounts that are inactive. Instead of getting rid of them, you just type something like do not use. Yeah, like clean all that up. You know, it it definitely um translates uh much better, you know, as you migrate over to the new setup. Um same thing for you know, like your service department. And if you have a body shop, those uh labor ops, if you have labor ops out there that you're not using, clean that up. Uh so that that's I think that's step one, like get your house in order. And if that's something that you can't do, you know, maybe somebody like uh me, you know, could help you um clean that up and you get rid of some of those things. Um I do think that discussing with your team, you know, what the intent is, the reason that you're looking at this new project, airing, you know, those um concerns, you know, out in the open and not just being dismissive that you know somebody's a curmudgeon and they just won't adopt it. I think that that's really important, the open and honest, you know, communication. Really that needs to be number one. Um, because you're gonna need those experts, you know, to help you remove those other things. And then dialogue, you know, with your vendor partner, you know, on the other side, um, and make sure that you know what the clear expectations are and the timeline because it's really easy to set in um these meetings and they say, Oh yeah, you know, go live. Yeah, it's easy and nothing on your end, you'll be live in two weeks. You know, don't believe, you know, ask lots of questions and you know, beyond whatever it is that you're purchasing or considering, how do you work that into your ecosystem to use John's word again overall? Like, how does this fit into our organization beyond just this piece? Like at what point of the process are we going to bring this back into play? Is it duplicative anywhere? You know, I think asking a lot of those kind of really important questions from the vendor partner perspective, you know, is important.
SPEAKER_03To kind of give a summary of that is clean up your garbage, right? The garbage, the stuff that you have been ignoring for years, the do not use the opcodes, you know, everything that that's been, you know, the garbage that you have, right? The really second one is to have clear, consistent communication with your team and who know their fears and know what they're gonna do, how they're gonna do it, what success looks like. And three, to have open, constant communication with your vendor and set the expectations clearly, right? That's that's if if you did that and walk through people through that process, that is that it saves a lot of pain. And I know that pain is a thing that we want to be away from, and we want to be thrown on the other side of it and that everything's working and everybody's on board and everything's and and their organization is thriving. We want to get on the other side of it. And I think a lot of people avoid that pain because they don't have clear clarity on that. And Crystal, thank you for for for providing that context. I think it's extraordinarily powerful. And if people wanted to get a hold of you, how would they, how would they do that?
SPEAKER_01Um so LinkedIn is always a good option. Um, Crystal, I always say just like the gym. Um and the last name is Massey M-A-S-S-I-E. Um, beyond that, perspective shift automotive at gmail.com. Um, so that's something that um I've recently put in place. Like I said, this week. You know, so this is all uh brand new venture, but um it is above board. So I'm really excited. I referred to Jeannie as my dream weaver. She said, you really have something special and you should consider, you know, going to market. And that's not where my head was initially. Um, but I'm I'm really glad that you know I've taken that leap. So that's I'm ready to celebrate some wins and help folks be successful.
SPEAKER_03And welcome to the welcome to the entrepreneur side. It's uh it's a fun, wild ride. And if you ever need anything, we're here to help. We're here to support you. I I love the way that you think and I love the way that you that you approach things, that systems thinking is is is strong. There's just no other way to say it. It's it's really strong. It's um, you know, the the some of the best operators that I know think in systems. And I I know you'll be extra you'll be very successful and in your future endeavors. So thank you very much, Crystal. I really appreciate it. This has been a great conversation.
SPEAKER_01I agree. Pleasure meeting you officially.