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Laissez Les Bon Temps Roulez!
(Let the good times roll)
New Orleans…I’ve had some of the best times of my life in that town. The 2002 NADA Convention was incredible. Debbie and I have not missed an annual NADA convention since 1987 BUT this year in New Orleans it was by far the best, most positive, and most optimistic gathering of dealers, vendors, and industry executives I have ever experienced. I’m going to try to describe the experience in this issue. Sit back as I attempt to describe my convention.
It was a busy week, we were always running from event to event and my schedule was jammed. We arrived two days before the convention officially started and stayed an extra day on the other end. I performed two keynote speeches and two Dealer 20-group meetings as well as performing three breakout workshops for the NADA. I am so grateful to you…all my friends in the dealer community who attended my workshops showing such strong support for my message and for me personally. The room held nearly 600 people and I spoke to a packed audience at all three sessions.
Friday night Debbie and I attended the Dealer Magazine Party at Mulates (Cajun cuisine) Restaurant. Of all of the parties and events at these conventions, we look forward to this party every year. Mike Roscoe and his beautiful (trophy) wife, Amie, were gracious hosts…they always do it right…first class. There is so much power in this magazine. I sat there in awe of what Mike has put together here. The writers for this magazine are the very best in the industry, the foremost experts in their fields.
Of course I am always up for any opportunity to party down with my lifelong friend, Tim Deese. Needless to say, Deese was over-the-top in his usual rare form.
Speaking of well-known troublemakers…you just gotta love Dan Myers and his wonderful wife, Loula Fuller (the best dealer advocate attorneys in the entire universe). Dan and I have covertly collaborated on more than one occasion plotting ways to create mayhem against the dark forces of evil. As a matter of fact, we’re both speaking at the annual North Carolina Dealers Convention in Amelia Island this year. With Jim Ziegler and Dan Myers on the same stage I predict this might get rowdy.
Dave Anderson…Roger Beery…Todd Smith…Gene White…Joni Stuker…Jack Bennett…Sandi Jerome…and perhaps a hundred other dealers and industry experts were there…electricity crackled in the air.
Another one of my very best friends in the industry, Bill Heard III and his wife, also shared the evening having dinner with us. (Saw his dad the next day)
Talk about coincidences…Jack Simmons, national trainer for AutoTrader.com came over and tapped me on the shoulder. Low and behold, AutoTrader.com was having their party in the next room. So my wife, Debbie, and I went next door for a few minutes and visited with the Autotrader.com folks. What a great company.
Saturday was balls-to-the-wall action. I shook hands with at least a thousand dealers and managers, (you all showed up and I was so glad to see you) got to meet many of your husbands and your wives…and I even found myself autographing quite a few copies of my most recent article. We’ve never had so much fun. That’s when it really hit me…if it’s possible you might even say I was humbled by it. (People who know me may think that the descriptive word “Humble” has never been one of my strong suits) The realization was overwhelming. It was an epiphany! I am so blessed to have so many friends in this business. So many thousands of dealers, managers and industry executives have become genuine close personal lifelong friends.
I used to go to these conventions to prospect for business BUT now I don’t waste a moment at the convention trying to sell anything to anybody. Everybody who is worth knowing already knows who I am and they all know what I do for a living. If anyone wants to do business with me, they’ll find me. There is no need to grovel or to be insincere or to try to manipulate people to get their business here at the convention…I have arrived at a point in my life and career when I am beyond all of that. That’s why I stopped having my own booth years ago. I just show up to have a good time…to learn new things…and to visit with all of my friends. Whether you get it or not, It’s a Hell of a lot of fun being me.
The Gods were on the floor. Bob Lutz from General Motors walked by the booth and I said… “Hey Bob, did you know you’re one of my personal heroes!”…To which he replied laughing… “That’s a heavy responsibility Jim.”
Without exception, every General Motors dealer I talked with was excited and optimistic about product and future product. Factory/dealer relations are genuinely warmer than I ever would have envisioned. It is as if the tension evaporated the moment Zarella left the building. This momentum at General Motors is the real deal…there is no smoke and mirrors…it’s genuine. One dealer compared the Bob Lutz Show to a Mick Jagger concert…you can’t help but get caught up in it.
Saturday night at the NADA Convention always finds us at the Universal Underwriters party. Of course The Pink Flamingos are the “house band”. That party rocks. Thanks to Mike McHugh, Bob Tschippert, and Larry Foster and all of my friends at Universal.
Sunday morning I was the featured speaker for the Planet Automotive Group partners meeting. My relationship with Alan and Robert Potamkin goes back more than twenty years when I was a top manager with their Atlanta dealerships. John Hawkins who is now on their corporate team…we’ve known each other more than twenty-five years. Joe Herman, heading up planet’s operations, not just a friend but also a class act. If the Potamkins are involved, everything’s going to be first-class. With all of that talent and heritage no wonder Planet has become one of the top performing consolidators.
Of course I have to admit that my nose is out of joint that I wasn’t invited to the Automotive Snooze Champagne brunch even though I am a paid advertiser in their magazine. I don’t want to get snotty about it but I know for a fact my competitors were invited. After all, Keith Crain and I were co-keynote speakers at the New York State Dealers Convention in Naples back in November. The conversation that day was back-slapping, cordial and friendly. I thought we were getting to be pals Keith. You know, I was under the impression maybe I’d sort of grown on you. Whassup with the missing invitation here big guy? I hope we’re not claiming it was lost in the mail. Don’t try any of that “Forgot to put a stamp on it” malarkey either.
It’s no secret that I enjoy a snifter of cognac when I write these articles. Of course you know I was excited when I received an email from a Colorado Springs Dealer named Gunnar Heuberger. In his letter Gunnar said that he was an avid reader of my column and he was going to be bringing me a bottle of cognac to the convention. Imagine my surprise when he came by the booth and presented me with a bottle of Louis XIII Remy cognac. (If you don’t know what that is, then you can’t afford it) Louis XIII Cognac is 100 year-old cognac in a hand crafted Venetian Crystal numbered decanter. In most of the finest restaurants it sells for upwards of $100 a glass…and now I have an entire bottle in this beautiful decanter. Thank you Gunnar this generous gift is overwhelming. As most of you are aware, I always swirl a snifter of cognac when I write these articles…it has become a ceremony. In honor of this occasion I am opening the bottle of Louis XIII right now.
Sunday evening began with an incredible cocktail reception and dinner sponsored by The Listener Group (AutoListener ™). Debbie and I were the guests of honor sitting with Listener group president, Robert Smith and his wife. After dinner we rushed back to the Hilton to attend the GMAC party.
My wife and I had received an invitation via Federal Express about a week before the convention to attend the GMAC Dealers party Sunday night as guests of several General Motors Executives. (Thank You notes are coming) Once again, there was magic in the air. I had the opportunity to shake hands and say hello to hundreds of dealers, managers and their spouses many of whom are close friends and clients…many people I’ve known for years as well as new friends, with special thanks to Lynn Thompson and George Thompson from Thompson Cadillac in Springfield Missouri.
I saw Louis Carrio from GMAC at the party and at the General Motors booth. We’ve known each other for years and I always forward to visiting with him at the convention. Had another opportunity to shake hands with Bob Lutz and to exchange kind words with Rick Wagoner. I thanked Rick Wagoner, Bob Lutz and Bill Lovejoy for giving me the opportunity to write so many positive things about General Motors, it feels good again. Their hospitality was genuine and cordial. Bill Lovejoy motioned for us to come over. My wife, Debbie and I visited with Bill and his wife, Gerrie, for the remainder of the evening. No pretense, just people. AND…the food was incredible. They should have known better than to invite me to an all-you-can-eat party. The cleaner found some leftover shrimp in my suit pocket.
Monday afternoon we bumped into Donny Bohn walking across the convention floor. Donny and his brother Scott Bohn from New Orleans are two of the premier dealers in the country. They’ve been personal friends and clients for years. Of course, Donny is still trying to get me to back off of Saturn in the articles. (Fat chance of that happening)
When I saw him coming across the floor and I knew the moment of truth was about to arrive. Wes Rydell stopped by the Dealer Magazine booth to meet me. You know what…he’s actually an extremely likeable guy…too bad I suspect ole Wes might actually be some kind of a communist. (I could be wrong about that…Naw) I wonder if he carries a membership card? Anyway, Rydell and I cut up, cracked jokes and laughed till we roared although we agreed to disagree on just about everything we were discussing…especially his shameful predatory pricing practices in partnership with the factory in California. The lady who was accompanying him (we weren’t actually introduced) said she was considering going out and buying him some of those fishnet stockings that I spoke about him wearing as he was standing under a streetlamp in last month’s article. Now all three of us were laughing. My interaction with Rydell left me with tears streaming down my face. I actually did talk him into putting on a “Ziegler’s Right” button.
Even Bill Musgrave (Saturn guy) and I exchanged some polite pleasantries. Contrary to my preconceived opinions he wasn’t wearing a propeller beanie or Birchenstocks with socks.
Talk about bumping into old friends…Henry Primeaux stopped by and offered congratulations after he attended one of my workshops. Henry and I were keynote speakers back in ‘91 at the first national F&I Convention at the Mirage in Las Vegas.
Don D’Costanzo and Vic Keller from Wynn’s service contracts attended my breakouts and offered congratulations. Wynn’s has sponsored many of my State Convention Speeches.
A sidebar to history that I find extremely humorous…does anyone remember the remark Bill Ford made last year about one day Jac Nasser might retire to Australia and enjoy some surfing…Well I don’t know if the little bugger is doing any surfing down there but Jacques Nasser was quoted in an Australian newspaper as saying… “After thirty-four years it’s a great opportunity for me to do some different things, but I don’t want to push myself into deciding what that should be just yet. I’ve bought a dog and I’m going to spend more time with my dog over the next couple of months. And that’s tough for some people to understand but that is just the way I feel at the moment.”
Is it just my cold callous heart or does anyone else reading Nasser’s laments find themselves feeling sorry for that dog? I seem to remember the man getting a divorce and then getting fired in a relatively short time. Now it’s just poor dejected ole Jacques and his dog walking down the lonely beach with the Lassie theme music playing in the background. Of course the reputed $50 million severance he allegedly received to just go away quietly should make it all better.
Daniel Howes in The Detroit News said it best… “The urge for self-affirmation in the global auto industry’s most humiliating act - being publicly fired - is understandable. But the simple fact is that Nasser’s record atop Ford speaks for itself. The fights with employees, testy dealer relations, quality and launch problems, dumb investments in e-commerce and other ventures, dubious executive hires and poor product planning aren’t the creation of nasty-minded critics. They are the truth.”
Damn I feel vindicated! Everything Howe wrote in that article are the same things I wrote about over the last three years. My question is still this… “How could Ford Motor Company’s board of directors have stood around with their thumbs stuck in warm dark undisclosed locations as we watched this insanity happening?
In another related act of perceived industry flatulence…did anyone see where Bob Rewey was awarded a distinguished service citation from the Automotive Hall of Fame? Excuse me but coffee shot out of both of my nostrils at the breakfast table when that headline took me by surprise. Worse yet there was this picture of Rewey holding a little glass trophy they gave him. (I think everyone knows what bullcrap all of those little glass trophy awards are) Robert Rewey retired last year as group vice-president and personal enforcer of failed policies. Rewey was the father of the Auto Collections and the administrator of most of Nasser’s failures. I always equated him as being Ron Zarella’s counterpart at Ford. They gave this guy some sort of achievement award?
The beat goes on… The Nasser legacy continues. Ford just had to stroke a check to the Texas Motor Vehicle Board for $300,000 after getting their butts handed to them in court…again…this time for retailing vehicles directly to consumers on the Internet. Bill Ford and Nick Scheele act like they can’t understand why their dealers are so angry BUT the company continues to keep dicking around challenging states’ dealer protective laws.
In a related Nasser legacy issue…Ford just agreed to pay $10.5 million to settle class action lawsuits filed on behalf of former Ford employees who claim they were terminated because of a Jacques Nasser initiated performance rating systems that systematically discriminated against white, middle-aged, male employees.
Speaking of Ford Motor Company and dealer/manufacturer relations…the heat is on. At a time when General Motors’ Dealers and Toyota Dealers seem to be in a state of euphoria, it’s more of the same rehashed tired rhetoric at Ford. They appear to be more interested in “Spin Doctoring” the news than they are in actually doing anything meaningful. I received many correspondences and phone calls from dealers saying that Ford put on a full court press to turn out the votes on the latest NADA Dealer Satisfaction with the Factory survey. It seems that Field Representation was out in force visiting dealers asking for a good survey. Phone calls from Branch Managers and other forms of subtle perceived manipulation. In other words…if any dealer would have used the same tactics to achieve customer satisfaction they would be Blue Oval De-Certified. As a matter-of-fact I have heard there is even an orchestrated letter writing campaign to this magazine endorsing Blue Ovulation Certification by formerly sane dealers who have been abducted, drugged and brainwashed. Of course that’s just the rumor.
Now we see Ford Credit losses accelerating more than 73% over last year…the biggest culprit…short-term leases. Of course wasn’t that another one of Bob Rewey’s projects? Remember “The Plan”? What an idiotic concept that fallopian tube was. Now I hear those guys who were selling “The Plan” are out there pushing Internet Commerce to car dealers. I was on record five years ago…three years ago and last year in this magazine that leasing was going to crash and burn and bring the house down. It seems like Ford embraced every goofy, hair-brained concept that came down the pike and now they’re paying for it. General Motors Acceptance Corporation wisely sat that one out on the sidelines. Now Ford Credit has to tighten up credit standards at a time when the dealers really need the assistance.
Bob McGuire has been a friend of mine for nearly twenty years. (Even though he is a Saturn dealer) I think he did an incredible job as 2001 NADA Chairman. Bringing the Marine Corps band to the opening ceremonies at the convention was first class. (Bob is former Marine) When the Marines recreated the tableau of the flag raising at Iwo Jima using live Marines onstage I felt eye-watering pride. AND THEN…Lee Greenwood came out and sang “I’m proud to be an American”…the house went wild.
This guy Carter Myers is going to be another in your face, get things done sort of guy too. I met him last year when I keynoted the Virginia State Convention. Myers opening address to the convention set the tone…“Automakers are currently in the mood to rebuild bridges with their dealers, but the past has a way of repeating itself every few years.”
Carter has been outspoken about his opposition to Ford’s Blue Oval Certification Program. He has predicted that it will collapse under its own weight. Interestingly enough, listening to Myers I realized that he’s right. Ford is using Blue Oval Certification to replace the dealer franchise agreement and to make an end run around states’ protective franchise laws. I had never looked at it exactly that way.
I had a brief elevator opportunity to shake hands with Phil Brady, the new CEO of the NADA. I wish Brady the best.
The convention ended all too soon with the official NADA Convention banquet. I had an opportunity to visit and have my picture taken with my longtime friend and client, Jamie Auffenberg, dealer from O’Fallon, Illinois. Jamie is the incoming AIADA Chairman.
Well ladies and gentlemen that was my convention told from my perspective. I wanted to write something a little different this issue…a sort of departure from my usual style. It was my intent to paint a picture of all of the excitement and all of the people and events I participated in. I tried to drop all of the names and I know I left out hundreds of you who interacted with Debbie and me or were kind to us in some way.
Now I am sitting here swirling an incredible snifter of 100-year-old Louis XIII cognac. I feel good about this article even though it’s not my usual schtick. Don’t worry…I haven’t changed…I promise to get mean and obnoxious again next issue. I might even dedicate the entire article to J.D. Power and Associates.
More Food For Thought
I am genuinely Im-Pressed.
I want to take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Jim Press, Toyota chief operating officer. Press has become a certified Ziegler hero. If I were to start giving out little bullcrap glass trophies like the survey guys do…he’d get the first one.
Press’ speech at the convention was awesome. I have read the transcript over and over studying the words and projecting the meaning. Basically I think what he said was that manufacturers need to stop interfering in the retail process, build better cars and reduce costs to the dealers…and to stop reducing profit margins to ridiculous low levels.
He opened up his speech saying… “I also want to personally thank the Toyota and Lexus dealers in the audience for making 2001 a fantastic year. You achieved your 6th straight year of record sales and captured 10.1% of the market. And, you did all that while registering record dealer profits and customer satisfaction levels, so you have a lot to be proud of. “
He went on to say… “However, when your margins are being squeezed and you are fighting every day to make some money, how much time and effort can you spend assuring employee and customer satisfaction?” I took that as a direct, well-deserved shot at Ford and Daimler-Chrysler as well as
General Motors for cutting profit margins so razor thin their dealers can’t make money selling cars. In Ford’s case they are becoming Blue Oval junkies on the dole.
Press continued to say…“Our journey starts with one step...all of us working together. We need to make this a new era of harmony in factory-dealer relations. One where we earnestly learn from one another and fully understand that our futures are tied together. Unity and teamwork should be our strongest suit... something we lost sight of in the past decade.”… “We don’t have retail experience, that’s why we have dealers.”
He might have been addressing Bill Ford directly when he said… “Quality products with high resale value, without them, all a dealer can do is try to make a bad situation better.” The crowd was extremely responsive when he said…“Automakers should work harder to keep dealer profits from being squeezed. When you are fighting every day to make some money, how much time and effort can you spend assuring employee and customer satisfaction?”
Personally, I think Press is hitting it right at dead center. Other manufacturers need to sit up and take notice. Get rid of your focus groups and your clueless MBA Green Pea Management. Fire all of those bogus national research firms with their worthless surveys…they’re the ones who got you into these messes to start with. Most of the stupid things manufacturers have done in the last five years that have cost them billions of dollars were based on national surveys, with bogus inaccurate fabricated false conclusions conducted by bogus national research firms with hidden agendas going in. Restore the profit margins you’ve stolen from your loyal dealers, disband your criminal two-tiered pricing control mechanisms and return to core competency and partnership. I think Toyota and General Motors are on the right track.
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