Ride-in-Style Podcast: Episode 35 Brad Marion of Dealer Works

Brad Marion: [00:00:00] When I walked into the interview, they simply said, what do you know? I told ’em next to nothing. They said, perfect. That’s what we want. We’ll just train you.

I used to always say, when things go wrong, it can be an opportunity you prove to that dealer. What you’re made of. And like I said, you always own it.

Just continue to go with that same mentality of it’s all about the relationship.

AutoStyle Marketing: Welcome to The Ride-In-Style podcast. Your turbo-charged pitstop for automotive restyling. Buckle up with Jesse and Josh.

Introduction & Welcome

Jesse Stoddard: Welcome to another episode of the Ride in Style podcast. Today we have a special guest, uh, Brad Marion of Dealer Works. Brad, thank you very much for taking time to be with us.

Brad Marion: Glad to be here. Thanks for the invitation.

Josh Poulson: Sacramento in the house. I love it. I love it. So finally we got you on, Brad. Uh, I know, I know. Not, not that you weren’t dodging me. Not at all. I’m not saying [00:01:00] that at all. But you wanted, probably wanted to see how many of the other guys I would get in before you took your turn. Right.

Brad Marion: I just little camera shy is all.

Josh Poulson: Oh, that’s what it is. Camera shy. I’m calling D and see if that’s true. So, uh, listen, you’ve had your shop for a long time and you’ve been in the industry for a long time.

Uh, Jesse’s a big history buff. So take us back.

How did you get into the business of cars and re styling? And then you, I know you eventually started your own business. What, what, how’d you even get in it?

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah, the very beginning. How did it all start?

Getting Into the Car Business

Brad Marion: You know, I, I had some, uh, sales jobs in high school and outta high school, uh, clothing industry and some other things.

And, um, I was in between jobs and I was, uh, doing a lot of water skiing up here in Northern California and I was picking up, shall we say, some refreshments before we went out to do that at, uh. A local liquor store. [00:02:00] And, um, I ran into a gal I went to high school with who worked at the local car stereo store, which was called Auburn Cartoons.

And just outta grins, I, anybody I ran into, I would always say, Hey, do you need anybody? And she said, our salesman is actually going off to college and yeah, we we’re gonna need something. I said, I don’t really know anything about car stereo. I mean, I think I’ve bought some grills from my car that was by Mike’s.

Of of my knowledge, uh, she said, well, come on and talk. And when I walked into the interview, they simply said, what do you know? I told ’em next to nothing. They said, perfect. That’s what we want. We’ll just train you. Um, and uh, it was, it was owned by, uh, two brothers, uh, both great guys. And, um, I spent three and a half years there.

Um, and then, uh,

Josh Poulson: What year was that, roughly?

Brad Marion: Roughly? That was. My God, I gotta go back ways. Probably, uh, mid eighties.

Josh Poulson: Okay.

Brad Marion: Let’s see here. 95, 94, and then I was there [00:03:00] 8, 96. Um, yeah. So more like 90, no, like early nineties.

Josh Poulson: So was audio just like awesome back then In nine, in the nineties? I mean, everybody was getting something from their vehicle. Right.

Brad Marion: Uh, you know, all, all we really sold was audio. I mean, alarm systems were like cutting edge and new.

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Brad Marion: You know. Farms were the only thing out there. Um, we were an Alpine and a Clarion dealer and I learned a lot. We know, you know, selling, you know, good, strong product was excellent. Learned about quality that way.

Um, but uh, we had a local distributor who called on us regularly, tried to sell us products and, um, they, uh, took me aside and said, Hey, we’ve got a position open up. Um, in sales, it’s outside sales, calling on car dealerships as well as calling on retailers. And, uh, I felt it was time for a change and, uh, I made that change, which was a big jump for me.

And, uh, I was there. That was, uh, what I [00:04:00] say, a large distributorship here in Northern California by the name of the HG Bricks Company. I was there for over eight years. Um, I got up to general sales manager running both the sales staff for, for retail, as well as running the dealer division. And my heart has always really been in the dealer division.

Building Dealer Relationships

Brad Marion: Um, a lot of people look at car dealer work and it, it’s, it’s tough and they’re a hard customer and they’re the easiest customer out there. They recognize value and quality and the ability to make money faster than most people. So I always say the best, the easiest person to sell to is a salesman. Uh, so I’m, I’m out talking to this.

Oh, let, let me jump back real quick. While I was working for the retailer for the three and a half years, we did call on the five dealerships in that little town. Yeah. And, uh, and that was one of the, I think that was one of the attractions on why I got approached by this distributorship that had this dealer division.

’cause they knew I was familiar with that. Um, [00:05:00] and, uh, over those eight years, I, I, I built relationships with, you know. Hundreds of dealers. Uh, you know, I, I, I saw salespeople on the line turn into sales managers down the road through the time. But in that eight years, uh, and then again, uh, the time came along where it was what’s, what’s in the future for me?

And I elected to go out and hang my own shingle and start my own company. Um. Which was going to put me in direct competition with my previous employer. Um, it was a hard fought battle, shall we say, did for years. Um, but we, um, we just continued doing. I, I, I had a very strong staff. Some people came with me.

Uh, and again, we, we continue to maintain those strong relationships. Uh, me on the sales side. I can’t give enough credit to my, my dis dispatcher slash uh, general manager at the time. I used to always say I’d [00:06:00] go out and make all the promises on what we were gonna do for these dealers. Uh, but this is the guy who delivered for us.

He, he, if I said when it was gonna get done and how it was gonna get done, or if there was ever a problem, how quickly we were gonna address it. He was my guy. He was, he, he, he ran that business when I wasn’t around as though it was his, uh, and I, I gave him lots of credit. His name was Kevin Soloman. He has since retired.

Uh, but a great employee, great employee. So, um, and through the, the 31 years now I’ve been with Dealer Works. Had dealer works.

Um, I just continue to go with that same mentality of it’s all about the relationship. Always be there when they need you. Like I say, some car, car dealers have a bad rap. Uh. A lot of my guys, you know, they, they did, they recognize the quality.

They, it’s not always about price. It’s about, you know, a win-win. And I always preach that, that, you know, it’s, you can grind me on price all day long, but if it’s not a win-win for [00:07:00] both of us, it’s not a win-win. And I’m, my interests could possibly wander to those that I have stronger relationships with.

So, you know, if it doesn’t work for me, for you, what I’m offering, I understand. But most of them have always came around.

Josh Poulson: Yeah. Maybe just tell us, you know, currently or me or over the years, you know, what, what are some of the products that Dealer Works is kinda like, what’s been your bread and butter for, what is it now versus what was it when you started?

Products & Industry Evolution

Brad Marion: Well, uh, it was cassettes. We used to call ’em Deck and Twos did a lot of deck and twos, uh, the security, uh, uh, market had come about. Um. Probably the biggest thing we did that we sold it that was new to us, was the CD changer.

Josh Poulson: Oh my God. You put a cd. Oh, the cd. The six disc.

Brad Marion: The cd. Yeah. 10 disc. Six disc. 12 disc.

I was the changer. King. Um, is with what? It was funny. They would, they [00:08:00] would come and talk to me, certain suppliers, and they just really wanted that business because you know, with an FEV modulated CD changer. You throw it in anything, whether it’s a, a high-end Mercedes or a a Toyota or a Nissan, whatever it was, you could adapt it to anything.

So we did a lot of that, um, through the years. Yeah, I, I’ve always, again, I try to preach, have an open mind, always kind of think about what that next thing’s gonna be. ’cause whatever the thing you have is that you’re killing it on today, it’s gonna phase out, and then there’s gotta be something new, another branch to grab when you let go of the last branch.

And, um, I’ve been very lucky that way. I’ve made some decent decisions, not without a lot of input from, uh, others in the industry. The Restyle United, uh, group has been awesome for us. I mean, I was reluctant to get into the film business, uh, as you know, Josh and, uh, I, at a couple of the meetings, I, I mean, I always like the presentation and, and, and the product.

But, uh, good staff [00:09:00] is, is, is tough to, to find and maintain in that particular, uh, category. Um, and, uh, but, but I jumped in and, and I, the funny story is, is that I really liked my, my new rep. He was so good. He, I, I placed my opening order. I, I got my, my plotter, I got everything I needed via lumar, and I didn’t even have an installer.

I figured that this was the easiest way for me to really force myself to commit. You know, I, I had a payable on, on material that was sitting on the shelf, and I had a plotter that I, that nobody knew how to run. Um, and uh, as it turned out, we found somebody that that kind of got us in the business. So that was, that was a, a real big one for us.

Leather was the same way years before that. Uh, I would’ve never thought I was, uh, gonna be doing leather interiors. Sunroofs is another category that we, we got into. Um, and, but things change. We, we no longer do offer Sun Roset at this time. We still do, uh. From electronic standpoint, it’s probably the smaller category that we do leather and, uh, [00:10:00] the film, Kenton and Clear Bra is, is, those are probably our two strongest categories right now.

Jesse Stoddard: That’s awesome.

Josh Poulson: Go ahead, Jesse.

Current Role & Future Plans

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah. What is your role now? Uh, you know, you, you, uh, are you getting close to wanting to retire or are you retired? Or are you gonna, you gonna keep doing it? For as long as you can, or what, what are your thoughts?

Brad Marion: You know, my thoughts, you know, I’ve shared this with some of the guys in the group.

Um, yeah. You know, studying harder and looking at what my options are from an exit plan, uh, it’s on my mind. And, you know, I, I’m giving you that age where I’ve worked a long time and I want to go out and enjoy the things in life. Uh. And, uh, but again, the, the situation has to be right. I’ve got employees, I’ve got families that depend on the company.

Um, uh, I haven’t made a final decision on how I’m gonna handle it yet, but they are, they, they weigh heavily into what that decision’s going to be when I do [00:11:00] finally get there. Uh, but, uh, I, I’m still in, I’m still out talking to car dealers. I do dabble somewhat in, in some of the purchasing. Um, I, I have another, uh, office guy and one of my managers who, who does I, I’m feeding him more and more of the ordering and getting him comfortable with that.

Uh, but still what I do is I go out and I talk to the same guys I’ve been talking to for years and, and, and, you know, beginning of every week is to go out and try to get those, those preloads, you know, load that week up and then, you know, do bill fills everything else in, uh, so. Not a lot’s changed for my role.

I’ve always been very strong as being the owner. Uh, is is one thing. Uh, but sales has kind of been my role. Now, my wife, uh, Deanne, who has been my office manager since day one, we’ve, she, since inception, we’ve, we’ve run this business together. A lot of people think that’s a, a serious challenge to do, but, uh, we actually met, uh, uh, at the [00:12:00] previous job and we kind of didn’t know each other any other way other than working together.

People are amazed that as much time as we put in together, uh, that we’re not, we haven’t killed each other yet, you know? So, uh, no, she, and she’s, she’s been a huge asset to the company. Um, you know, from a trust standpoint, she touches every, every piece of paper that’s out there, uh, both, you know, for payables and receivables and everything else.

Or she has to wear the h HR hat as well, uh, you know, all that stuff. So, yeah, she’s gotta definitely give her a shout out.

Motivation & What Keeps the Work Exciting

Josh Poulson: Oh yeah, she’s the boss. Let’s me face it.

Brad Marion: Yeah.

Josh Poulson: Come on. Whoever’s in control of the money is the boss.

Brad Marion: Absolutely.

Josh Poulson: Do you still, are you still having fun doing it? I mean, do you still, what, what, what gets you excited or what keeps you motivated?

I mean, is it the customers, is it the products, is it the employees? I mean, what do you like about the business still? I mean, 31 years is a long time to have your own company.

Brad Marion: It is. You know, and I. [00:13:00] You’d think that I, you know, it gets to be a hundred here in the Sacramento Valley and Yeah. Do I like going out in August and walking a lot?

No, but I’ll do it. I do, I do. I still walk the lots. Um, you know, when I walk in and I say, Hey, we’re, you know, you sold this, this, this, and this, let’s get some something to replace it. Uh, I don’t expect them to find ’em for me. I don’t expect them to stage ’em for me. I go out and do it and, um. I, I, I still like that.

I guess I like that, that interaction. And, uh, I get excited when I get ’em into a new product or a, a dealership that hasn’t been maybe open to Preloads. And finally get them to understand, you know, what we’re doing for you is creating a price point in your trim levels that doesn’t exist from the factory.

Um, I mean. When you can give them a vehicle in between, uh, a $50,000 vehicle or a $63,000 vehicle, and you can put products in that vehicle and say, you can go to market at 5500, [00:14:00] 50 5,000 and make $3,000 more. Some guys, they, they look at you funny, like, how do you do that? Go, you, you we’re creating these price points for you.

These we’re basically creating an aftermarket trim level that you’re not aware of. And when they recognize that and they get ’em to do it. And they sell a few and you stay on top of them. It it, that’s where the routine comes in.

Biggest Challenges

Jesse Stoddard: I, I wanna know, Brad, what are your, your biggest challenges in your career?

Maybe some of the bigger hurdles you had to get over and how you got through ’em?

Brad Marion: Uh, I gotta say COVID on one thing because we got through COVID and, uh, financial, everything was fine. We got through it. Business was off. You know, we had the assistance that was available to us as, as most businesses. Um, and when I literally thought, okay, we’re done with this.

We’re through this. No more masks. Let’s get back to it. Let’s hit it hard. And, uh, one of my largest Toyota stores who [00:15:00] kept a thousand cars on the ground, uh, and you know, it was like, oh yeah, we’re projecting we’re gonna have less than a hundred cars for the next. Most of the months coming up and I, I was like, well wait, you know, we’re past all that.

Well, the, the supply chains, you know, had just, they were depleted. And as you guys know, in the industry, uh, I still feel it today. Um, again, probably my largest aggressive dealership being a Toyota store. Um, they have anywhere from a hundred to 150 cars on the ground. Same one that had a thousand. And, and it, what that does is these cars rarely make it even off of the transport without a salesman running out there and putting his hand on the RAV4 or the camera SC or whatever it might be, and say, this one sold, which, that takes our opportunity down quite a bit.

It diminishes our ability to, to get in there between. You know, it getting on the lot and then going to, you know, into purchase to [00:16:00] let us do what we have to do. And it, it’s, that’s, that’s one of my biggest challenges still is, is the inventory. Um, to follow that up on under the other challenges, staffing has always been, uh, a challenge.

Finding good people. We seem to keep good people. I’ve got, I’ve got employees currently, right now I have, uh, my general manager’s been with me since day one. My office manager, obviously my wife’s since day one. Um, but I’ve got 10 year plus employees. They, uh, you know, when things get slow is when you get your challenges, you know, you keeping everybody busy, uh, depending on the inventory issues, but it always seemed to work out.

It would cross train everybody. We, we’ve gotten more aggressive with fleet work that’s helped us out. Um, uh, you know, being in the, the reseller United group and listening to everybody, one thing I’ve looked at, but I haven’t really moved forward on is the, uh, the up, uh, upfitting, uh, everybody seems to be very [00:17:00] aggressive with that seems to be doing well.

Um, but right now I don’t even, I don’t, wouldn’t have the manpower if, if something, you know, came and hit us hard with that. So, uh, but yeah, again, it’s all about being that flexible and, and, and, and looking at what you can do.

Sales Advice: Persistence & Visibility

Josh Poulson: So we have, we have a lot of, you know, owners, salespeople, listen to the podcast, and I want to hear, what, what advice would you give because you cut, you, you were very strong on the sales side when you come to running your business.

So you get a sales person in, and what would you tell them? Like, there are 1, 2, 3, 4 main objectives, objectives are. If you, if you were to train a salesperson from day one. To kind of do what you’ve done to be successful, what would they need? What would their attributes need to be, or what would their goals need to be?

Or what, what would you tell ’em? What advice would you give them?

Brad Marion: Do the work. You gotta do the work, uh, with, um, car dealers are, they’re lazy in that, [00:18:00] that if you’re not, if you’re not visible to them. If you’re not offering them something, you’re not offering ’em something new. Uh, they look to you to help them be more profitable.

And I, I, if you’re not in there working that angle, that particular approach, um, it outta sight, outta mind becomes a huge thing. Look, I’ve been doing this a long time and I did it for other companies. I hated call reports. I absolutely hate them. Um, but sometimes that’s the only way. To know that your salespeople that are out in the field are doing what they’re supposed to be doing, because I, if you, if you just try to phone it in, somebody else is gonna be in that dealer’s, you know, at their sales desk talking to ’em.

And if you’re not in their mind, you know, you want that, you want that, that sales manager, that general sales manager to say, Hey, look, we, we, we use dealer works and, and they take care of us. And we’re, and I always tell if I’ve walked into a dealership that. Maybe he’s using Brand X for whatever reason, and I say, are you happy?

And they say [00:19:00] very. I’ll say, you know what? I appreciate that loyalty is, is great. If something doesn’t work out, we’re always here. Uh, and, and then I of course, don’t stop going in. You go, you keep going. In the day you go into that account like, man, this guy gives me nothing. I keep going in to see him. I’ve had that happen taking a new salesperson.

And I go, you know what? Let’s go in here and get thrown out. Okay, let’s just go in and see what happens. We got nothing to lose and we walk out with three leather installs, preloads. And I look, you know, I look at the salesperson like, that’s why you go in and you keep going in every time. ’cause that’s you, you, you got personnel that changes constantly.

I mean, you might have a guy show up at a store, you’re doing nothing. And who came from a store, you did everything in.

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Brad Marion: But if you don’t go in and know that. You’re not gonna be able to, you know, take advantage of that or, or, or capitalize on that. So it’s be in the dealership, make the sales call, be, you know, be available.[00:20:00] 

Josh Poulson: Persistence, right? Be available. Persistence. Yeah. No, I like it. It’s amazing how something can change so quick too at a dealership, good or bad for us. But

Brad Marion: Right, the same thing.

Josh Poulson: If you’re not there. Yeah. If you’re not there.

Brad Marion: Or, or the, the one, and, and you should always try to maximize those relationships even in your biggest dealerships because if you, if you concentrate on the one guy, the one guy, we know the business, there’s a lot of migration here.

So if, if the guy that’s pulling the trigger every time you go in to get something is not, not there, y you got, you’re starting over again. So I always try to, you know, when I go in and talk to the desk, I’m talking to everybody. Making sure they always know who we are, what we’re doing. Whether the guy on the left over here doesn’t like accessories and he’s not selling them.

Uh, I will talk as loud as I can in the sales office about the guy on this side of the, the room that does and, and, and that it, it’s helped in the past. It just, again, it’s the visibility. Be visible. [00:21:00] 

Handling Major Mistakes

Josh Poulson: So one other thing, one other advice. What, what would you tell people when there’s, when the shop just ultimately makes some kind of big time error or boo boo?

I’m not talking like a scratch on the feather. Let’s say they put a, put a leather in a sunroof car, a sunroof in a leather car, or they

Brad Marion: Oh, I’ve told you that story.

Josh Poulson: No, well, I mean, listen, no, you own a shop so it’s happened. Um, yeah, but let, let’s say it’s one of those things where it’s like, oh my gosh, I can’t believe we did that.

How do you handle it? What, what’s some advice you would tell the other shops out there?

Brad Marion: Again, if you have these strong relationships, I, I know I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but when you have those and you walk in, ’cause exactly what you just described did happen to us. Two exact same trucks came in, one for a roof, one for, uh, leather.

And, um, my guy did not read the invoice properly. He cut a big hole in a car that was supposed to get leather. And you just, you own it. First off, [00:22:00] you absolutely have to own what happened. And the thing is, is, is when you deal with an owner or a general manager, they don’t even tend to get mad. They understand They have that big thing attached to the sales department in the back, that service department.

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Brad Marion: They’ve been through, they’ve been through probably more stuff than we have.

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Brad Marion: So when, when you call up and, and. If you usually start with your service manager and then you get kicked up to the GM or the, the, the owner, whatever it might be. But again, if that relationship is strong, you want them to know that whatever it is, I, I’m fully insured, I can take care of it, I can replace whatever we did.

And, and, and they know that. And, and after 30 plus years, um. Doesn’t matter. I if, if I did something so bad that it, it took that vehicle outta your inventory for whatever reason. Either I would’ve bought it or we would just replace it or whatever it’s going to be. You know, that’s that. And that is very strong [00:23:00] with the dealer when they know that about you.

I used to always say, when things go wrong, it can be an opportunity you prove to that dealer. What you’re made of. And like I said, you always own it.

You never try to skirt it, you never try to blame it on anything else. You just say, this happened, we’re gonna take care of it. Um, I, I apologize for the inconvenience.

Um, and they just like, they, if they see how you operate that way, um, it just solidifies the relationship. It makes it even stronger.

Value of Industry Groups

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah.

Josh Poulson: Go ahead, Jesse.

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah, I was curious if we could, uh, shift gears just a little bit and talk about either SEMA or the Resellers United group. Uh, just your thoughts about the organizations and if there’s value in that and being a part of those things.

Brad Marion: Both, both organizations. Absolutely. Um, I’m gonna start with reached outs, United. Um, I was lucky to be lucky enough to be invited into it. Um. [00:24:00] Didn’t know a lot of people in it. Um.

Jesse Stoddard: When was that, by the way? When did, when did you first, yeah, when were you first invited? Or when did you first join?

Brad Marion: Gosh, when was that?

That would’ve been, was it San Antonio?

Josh Poulson: That, that’s what came to my mind is ’cause that’s the first time I met you. ’cause we were, you were in the shop in San Antonio.

Brad Marion: Yeah, I think it was San Antonio, which would’ve been.

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Brad Marion: Eight, nine years ago maybe.

Josh Poulson: Yeah. Eight, eight or nine years ago, probably. Yeah.

Brad Marion: Yeah. And um. Everybody in there, you know, you, you get voted in, you know, they kind of see what you’re all about. It’s all about what can you contribute to the group. Um, and I have, I, again, I wouldn’t be in the film business if I wasn’t in this group. Uh, the, the beauty of this thing is that when, when we’re together as a group, we’re not a, a buying group per se, but, um.

It almost seems like factories and suppliers are more aggressive when they find out about us. [00:25:00] They want us to act like a buying group, but we’re not really a buying group. You say this?

Josh Poulson: Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, we’re, we’re more about sharing ideas and

Brad Marion: Ideas, good ideas and bad ideas. We, we, I mean, we throw it all out there and, you know, um, I ha I had a situation where I, we installed a sunroof on a vehicle, um, and the vehicle, uh, developed some squeaks.

It, it, it was not good. Uh, this particular situation, it, it did get, we had resolution eventually. Um. But I saw later on one of the posts, one of, you know, one of our members, same model vehicle. Hey, I, I, I haven’t done one of these. I’m gonna do a sunroof in it. What do you think? And I waved him off completely.

I said, we put a roof in this vehicle and it worked perfect, but the vehicle squeaked and, you know, we got blamed for it. Uh, and he, and I’m hoping he, I think he did, he passed on that deal. These are the kinds of things that. You, you, you learn [00:26:00] what to avoid, what to do, right. As opposed to what to do wrong.

And, and of course, opening us, everybody gets to open up to new product categories. All these things has been nothing but a positive for Research United. Look, I, I, I just, I go to these meetings and you know about halfway through ’em, I gotta pinch myself because they’re just such good meetings. They, the, the interaction is good.

Everybody cares about each other. You know how to help, how can I help? You know, is, is, is the, the underlying tone is just, let’s help each other any way we can. I really appreciate that. Uh, leading to SEMA. Yeah, SEMA. SEMA, you know, I was a big consumer electronics guy for years and years and years. ’cause that’s where we had to go to see the new car stereo stuff.

And, um, SEMA was this, you know, Hey, yeah, they sell, uh. Bumpers and running boards, things like that. Let me get rid of this. Excuse me. [00:27:00] And, um.

What happened is SEMA grew into what it really should have been if it was AU Automotive, uh, related. Um, are you still there?

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah. We, we got you.

Brad Marion: Something happened here. I apologize. There we go. Um. SEMA, as I say, developed into where I think that the manufacturers decided, you know, we’re doing CES and now we gotta do this SEMA thing.

And you know, I haven’t been to CES in probably six, seven years. It’s just SEMA now because it’s there, it’s all there now for if it’s, if it’s if know, 12 volt driven. We’re there, uh, that we see everything new. Uh, we, we have an impromptu reset our united meeting there. We all get together. Uh. Now I, I still highly value, uh, what SEMA has to offer.

Definitely. And of course, uh, you know, SEMA Pro, you know, again, which is a little more, uh, [00:28:00] drills down to what we do, but it doesn’t mean we don’t walk that floor and we get to see new things, and we share that in our meetings. We just talk about the opportunity. It’s all about the opportunities that we have to keep our businesses growing profitable. And, and, and staying viable to our, our, our core customers.

Josh Poulson: Yeah. No, it’s so true. It’s good to be in part, part of something. It’s easier to fight battles together than and get advice and help each other and

Brad Marion: Absolutely. Absolutely.

Josh Poulson: I mean, congrats to you, man. 30 plus years on own business. That’s a milestone.

That’s great. Uh, Deanna’s put up with you that long. That’s a milestone. Uh. And, uh, but also, you know, just the fact that, you know, you’ve been a great friend and, uh, a good mentor and, uh, helped me out giving me good advice. So I appreciate everything you’ve done and look to continue that for as long as you’re wanting to do it.

So appreciate you being on with us.

Brad Marion: Yeah, I look forward to our next meeting.

Josh Poulson: Yeah. [00:29:00] Yeah.

Brad Marion: I didn’t, I, I was unable to make the last one. I kind of a lot going on, but I will, uh, I will be everything willing, I’ll be at that next meeting.

Josh Poulson: Awesome. So Jesse always has one final question.

How to Connect & Final Thoughts

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah, Brad. So, uh, how do people learn more about you or your company?

What, what website do you want them to go to, or, uh, how do people get ahold of you if they have questions?

Brad Marion: Well, dealer works.com, uh, which, uh, you know, is, does all things for us selling wise. You know, the configurator and everything that’s on there. And then of course, uh, a direct, uh, email that we get in.

We, um, we get things, uh, leads come through, uh, Tom, Tom, uh, ’cause we run our things through the configurator and everything else there. So, uh, not being retail, our, our approach is a little different. We, uh, we’re in a very industrial [00:30:00] area. Uh, we kind of had to try to pivot to more retail, but we didn’t have a great success with that because I really hadn’t a approached that in the past.

Um, and so again, being in a commercial area, uh, we just kind of stuck to our guns with the, the dealer, uh, uh, profile of the mode we were in. Uh, and, uh. It’s still there. We still do some retail, but it’s pretty much all on a referral basis. But yeah, that, but we, we don’t shy away from it. We just don’t really, uh, we don’t advertise heavily, uh, we don’t do a lot of, uh, you know, Google ad stuff, that kind of thing.

We’re, we’re a lot of word of mouth.

Josh Poulson: Nice. Nice. Well, congrats again on the success and I’m sure we will talk to you in Chicago in a few months.

Brad Marion: Look forward to it. Alright, thanks guys.

Jesse Stoddard: Thank you for being on today.

Josh Poulson: Appreciate it Brad.

Brad Marion: Thanks for having me.

Josh Poulson: All right.

Jesse Stoddard: All right. Take care guys.

Brad Marion: See you guys.

Josh Poulson: See you.

AutoStyle Marketing: [00:31:00] And there you have it. Another high octane episode of the Ride-In-Style podcast revved up and ready to go. Your hosts, Jesse Stoddard and Josh Poulson shifted your automotive game into overdrive. If you’re hungry for more insights, trends, and game changing interviews from the automotive restyling universe, don’t forget to hit subscribe and leave a glowing review.

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Until next time, keep those wheels spinning and your passion ignited. Thank you for riding in style with us. See you on the next lap.