Ride-in-Style Podcast: Episode 36 Jessica Crossman of Micorp Custom Auto & Truck

Jessica Crossman: [00:00:00] I was happy. As crazy as it sounds to say I’m staying in the auto world. ’cause most people. Would like to get out of here sometimes.

We definitely don’t do the race to the bottom line. We want you to be able to know what our value is. ’cause it’s important

Don’t overpromise none to deliver because that’s never gonna help you and align yourself with, some great people. Be a part of, SEMA pro, you know, ask those questions.

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

Jesse Stoddard: Welcome to another episode of the Ride and Style podcast. Today our guest is Jessica Crossman of Micorp Custom Auto and Truck. Jessica, thank you for taking time to meet with us today.

Jessica Crossman: Yeah, this is exciting.

Josh Poulson: I am scared to death right now. Um, not, not because of Jessica, but because I’m with [00:01:00] two, uh, red haired people that, um, this could blow up at any moment.

Jessica Crossman: You are in for a treat. Normally we’re not allowed to be like two in the same spot. It’s against

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Jessica Crossman: Our protocol, but we’re changing.

Jesse Stoddard: It’s the, it’s usually against the code just for the fire code. ‘Cause of the danger.

Josh Poulson: Yeah, because of the danger ball. But I have a fire extinguisher right here. If anything were to go haywire, I am ready to go.

Jessica, we are excited to have you on. Uh, we’re gonna get to hear about the history of you and the business and everything like that, but. First of all, before Jesse asks you that question, tell us about your pride and joy. I keep seeing pictures of her. Is she out of school officially or what in what grade is she going in next year?

Jessica’s Journey & Getting Started

Jessica Crossman: Uh, she’s going into fourth grade next year. So she’s outta school on the 18th. And the reason why she’s bet everywhere is, um, she started her own business, um, selling custom earrings. She did her own business plan, so I’m very, very [00:02:00] proud of her for that. But for Memorial Day week, she challenged, uh, or she said to everybody.

Um, for every pair of earrings that was sold, a dollar was gonna go to homes for our troops. Uh, she ended up selling 69 pairs of earrings. Um, and then the following week, which we’re still into until the 31st, she asked everybody to match or donate, nor whatever you can put in there. Um, she’s raised almost $2,100. Um, as an 8-year-old is insane.

Josh Poulson: Wow.

Jessica Crossman: I know Homes for our Troops. It’s a nonprofit that builds custom homes for veterans post nine 11. Um, and then for the month of May, a BC supply company is mashing donations, dollar for dollar. So realistically, it’s like she’s putting in 4,000 right now. So, um, I’m pretty proud of her.

Josh Poulson: Wow. Now does he make the hurt these earrings herself?

Jessica Crossman: She does.

Jesse Stoddard: Homemade. She makes ’em.

Jessica Crossman: With wooden bezels and resin, all of this. So we did this as a, [00:03:00] you know, let’s get off the iPad and do something right, because kids now they buried in it. Um, but yep. So I’m, I’m flooding the internet with it, which I’m sure everybody kind of sick of.

But, um, I’m, I’m happy that she’s doing it.

Josh Poulson: Tele, I mean, I don’t know, is there a way, is there an easy way to find them? Can you tell the audience right now?

Jessica Crossman: So she has her own website, ZMC Homemade Treasures. Um, so you can go right there and the website’s there. If you are on LinkedIn, if you are on anything, I’m sharing it everywhere, so you’ll be able to see it there.

And then her GoFundMe page is off of, um, homes for our Troops, so zmchandmadetreasures.com, um, for her jewelry, and then homes for our troops for the GoFundMe.

Josh Poulson: Wow. And has anybody secured her on a contract for future sales? So, because I’d like to put my hat in the ring.

Jessica Crossman: You know everybody, everybody that has met her, yeah, there you go.

It’s, um, has, [00:04:00] has joked that she’s quiet and then you see these videos that she does and she’s. She is loud and proud. So, um, you know, I’ll, I’ll give it to her. And it’s opened up a lot educational wise on what veterans are, what homes for our troops is, what does all of this mean? What does post nine 11 mean?

Um, so the conversation’s been great.

Josh Poulson: Now, how, uh, one question before Jesse asked you about you, uh, does, I mean someone who was never even around for nine 11, how does she, how does that work with somebody? Because I mean, when we all think of nine 11, we were there, right? We remember it. How someone who doesn’t even know what nine 11 is.

Jessica Crossman: You wanna talk about treading the waters in a conversation with an 8-year-old on this?

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Jessica Crossman: Um, so it is a very, I, I’ve brought it, I’ve brought it down and, you know, we’ve explained that there’s some bad things that happened in the world, and this was one of those pivotal moments for everybody. Um, like you said, I can tell you exactly where I was and what [00:05:00] classroom I was in, listening to all of it.

But it’s, you know, I have a, my family’s whole military background. My grandfather was a brigadier general, so it was. It, and it’s been around me for so long that sometimes when she asks the question, I have to answer it differently, but, um. I think she’s relating to, ’cause we’ve watched some videos that there’s kids her age with parents that, um, you know, have lost a limb or severe burns or things like that.

So she’s relating to the, wait a second, I just wanna be able to help. They just wanna help their parents, um, you know, survive a real life. But my mother-in-law works for homes for our troops and she goes in there all the time and helps with mailers and different things. So, uh, that’s how. That’s how she decided to, to do this challenge.

Josh Poulson: That’s awesome. Well, congratulations to her and, and all that very proud of her for starting a business. I mean, that’s pretty awesome.

Jessica Crossman: I’m [00:06:00] very.

Josh Poulson: All right, go ahead, Jesse. Sorry.

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah, no, that’s great. Uh, Jessica, how did you get started in, in the automotive world and aftermarket and, you know, how did go take us back to the beginning and, and let us know your story.

Jessica Crossman: Back in the olden days when I used to walk uphill. Barefoot, no. Mm-hmm. That feels like, anyways, um, I started in the business back in, um, 2003. Uh, let’s not date myself. I started as a nighttime receptionist at a Cadillac dealership. And just kind of changed a little bit and they said, Hey, we’ve got some more hours.

Is this something that you would like? And I said, sure, why not? Um, and push, push, push. Uh, my old boss at the time, uh, who now owns the Cadillac dealership in Norwood, Mike Edia, said to the gentleman that was in finance, Alan LaRusso, what’s the chances you want a green pea in finance? And he said that, you know what, she doesn’t come with baggage and bad habits, so.[00:07:00] 

Let’s train her. Um, and I was afraid of Alan when we first started doing this, and he gave me a menu presentation. I wrote it down verbatim. He said, I’ll see you on Monday. And he came in on Monday and I, I gave him that full menu presentation word for word, and spent 10 years doing finance. Um. I knew I wasn’t going to stay in a dealership with dealership hours given the fact that I wanted to be a mom.

Um, so once I had my daughter, uh, the sales manager that used to be with the company, Frank, uh, him and I knew each other for years and years and years, said, why don’t you come over to this side? And I was happy. As crazy as it sounds to say I’m staying in the auto world. ’cause most people. Would like to get out of here sometimes. Um, but only the craziest day and, uh, given the red hair, right Jesse? That’s our respect.

Josh Poulson: Um.

So hold on, lemme get my fire [00:08:00] extinguisher.

Jessica Crossman: Uh, so, uh, stayed in it, doing styling and so from 2016 until now, I’ve been with Micorp. And if I think back on. What the company was in 2016 and what we were doing to what we’re doing now.

Um, it’s, it’s crazy just the way that the whole auto industry has evolved and changed and what manufacturers have put in cars. So you gotta figure a way to earn that dollar somewhere else.

Josh Poulson: So what, what are the big differences Back when you started, what were you selling on the road versus now? What are you and your team selling?

Jessica Crossman: Oh God. We were uh, I mean millions in remote starts, right? No car had a remote start at that time. And then, uh, and at that point we had in our heyday, I guess, ’cause Micorp has been around since, um, 87, we had 25 road techs on the road going to do remote starts. Um, and now we’re at nine. So it just kind of shows where that is.

Um. [00:09:00] Some of the things that have changed. Vehicle wraps, everybody wants to be able to do something different that way in wheels and tires. Uh, people are just looking to do bigger, better things that is not offered. Um, no one wants Chrome anymore. No one does. Everybody wants it to be, you know, the blackout packages, which.

Uh, before it was all carriage tops when I was at Cadillac in Rome. Um, you know, so it, it’s the opposite. Uh.

Josh Poulson: But you’re not old enough to remember gold packages, right on the

Jessica Crossman: cadillac.

A thousand percent. A thousand.

Josh Poulson: Okay.

Jessica Crossman: Yep. I’m an old lady.

Josh Poulson: Um, try to give you an out there.

Jessica Crossman: I appreciate that. Uh, and the white walls, um.

Bizarre

Josh Poulson: Bo tires.

Jessica Crossman: Oh yeah. So, you know, and then you go into every electronic piece that can go into a car.

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Jessica Crossman: And like, holy crap, you know, so we [00:10:00] go from detaching the radios that you would put in your glove box so no one would steal ’em to now having radios that are like this big and you need a degree in order to work ’em.

Josh Poulson: Yeah. Hmm. It’s crazy. So, uh, uh, give us a little bit of a heads up on how, how big your team is, like your sales team and stuff like that. What do you got, you have three, three reps with you right now?

Jessica Crossman: Yep. So we have, um, I call ’em my northern rep, my southern rep, and then my retail rep. So we cover all of Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire.

Um, we have four shop locations. Some of them do different things that the other shops don’t do. Um, but proud to say we are the largest freestyler in New England for that. Um, we’ll wear that badge proudly. And then between my, my sales reps, we’ve, we’ve really put an emphasis on retail. You know, once COVID hit, I’m sure everybody that is a freestyler that really focused on dealerships and saying, wait a second.

The [00:11:00] salespeople became order takers ’cause you could, and then we had to really focus on retail. So first on my retail side is awesome. Um. He’s opened up the door. He is a BMW freak.

Josh Poulson: Mm-hmm.

Jessica Crossman: Uh, so learning about bier tech and all the different things that we can do that we probably would’ve shied away from before.

’cause you just, you’re scared of that stuff. He is like, nah, you’re good. Let’s go. Um, and opened us up into it. So his ability to want to learn and change and evolve is great.

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Jessica Crossman: And that Melissa’s new. She just started with us and she came from Enterprise in Wells Fargo. Um, so she’s known how to walk into a dealership and have that conversation.

Uh, she’s loving it, um, especially on keys if you are a re styler and the, the key section is available for you. Uh, jump onto it. We have two guys that really dove deep into this project. Um, [00:12:00] started doing it prior to bringing it to mi corps attention. Brought it to our attention. And um, you know, just earlier I got the text message from my guy, mark that said, look at the blue.

’cause everything’s color coordinated on our schedule, right? And, and the blue collar is keys and it’s just blue, so it’s awesome.

Becoming a Manager & Leading a Team

Jesse Stoddard: Um, Jessica, you kind of went really quick from getting started. And you know, all of a sudden now you’re manager of a team. And so I would love to know a little bit more about that journey.

Like, how did you get there? And.

Josh Poulson: Bro, she’s a redhead. It took her two weeks. There’s not a lot to say there. She came in and she dominated you both.

Jessica Crossman: We just suck everybody’s soul out of it, right?

Josh Poulson: No, no, no, no, no. I’m trying to be nice.

Jesse Stoddard: There’s a, you know, I’m trying to be nice here. I, I’m out.

But there, there must have been, there must’ve been some challenges that you had to overcome. So tell us about that.

Jessica Crossman: Uh, so big challenges, right? Right. When I started, we got bought, um, by the team that we’re with [00:13:00] now and, you know, you gotta, you gotta evolve a little bit. Frank was with the company for a very long time, somebody that I was able to look up to and ask the questions and Hey, how are you doing?

And um, as time change and people change and personalities change. And they come in and out and it, and they, and they move around. Um, you know, the opportunity was there for me to go into fleet and I went into the fleet section. I think that’s one of the most interesting things to learn about, uh, the municipality side, what to be able to put into somebody’s van.

And then the opportunity arose that we just needed someone to cover the entire team. And I raised my hand.

Josh Poulson: So did you, uh, so how long have you been doing that part?

Jessica Crossman: Uh, mentally, 765,000 years. Uh, I’ve been, [00:14:00] um, doing this for about three and a half years. Four years? Yeah.

Josh Poulson: Gotcha. So what’s the, what’s the hardest part of, uh, what do you, what would you say the hardest part of managing salespeople?

Because I have my own challenges and I’m wondering if my challenges are the same as yours. Plus we have other shop owners that listen to this. What’s the hardest part of managing a sales team?

Jessica Crossman: That old dog, new tricks. So it’s, you know, my Rhode Island rep, uh, his name’s Howard Wheeler, he’s been in the business for 30 years.

He’s 75 years old, but he is competitive, as competitive can be. So getting him to trying to change for certain things was a little bit tough until all of a sudden he just jumped right into it. And now. He gives everybody a run for their money, especially when it comes time to like the tires and wheels and, and truck accessories that you wouldn’t see him want to do.

Um, he, he was, he’s doing it, but I think a big challenge is. [00:15:00] You if you have a conversation with somebody and you can’t pick up a word track, if you can’t pick up a different way of saying it or whatever, you are not going to evolve. So when we’re out at a dealership and we’re listening to what a sales manager said.

Take that information with you. Let’s say we’re at a Toyota dealership. Take that information with you and be able to expand to all of your Toyota dealerships and see where they’re, where they’re at and what they’re saying. Um, but as a salesperson, it’s my job and responsibility to be on top of, let’s say, uh, a topic today.

Manufacturers are coming out with different rates and rebates on, on trucks and stuff. Take that hour, go on to every manufacturer, see what they have out there for specials right now. That way when you’re walking into a dealership, you have a pinpoint of what you actually wanna talk about. Mm-hmm. If you don’t have your day or your stop set up with.

[00:16:00] Uh, your bread and butter is, you’re gonna be easy. You’re gonna be able to get some of those conversations done, but you need to have that three to five real conversation stops per day for all of that information to start to make sense and where else you can use it for.

Josh Poulson: Um, you challenge your, you challenge your team to do the research on their own.

Knowing what they’re gonna do versus you having to do the research and just passing along the information. ’cause sometimes that’s what I, I find myself sometimes mistakenly doing, is I’ll do the research and pass it along, but then they don’t, if they didn’t have any, they’re not vested in it. So they don’t really care as much.

Jessica Crossman: That, and it only the way I’ve learned is if I’m not looking it up and I’m not writing it down, it’s not sticking in my brain.

So that’s something for both of them to be able to do. But you know, um. Without sounding horrible on a, on an automotive podcast, it’s obviously a good thing too when you walk into a dealership and you know the answer, but you’re like, Hey, Josh, did, did GM really come out with truck [00:17:00] incentives and get them to talk about it and dive?

Josh Poulson: Oh, yeah.

Jessica Crossman: And then you can say, well, hold on a second. I was just outside and I saw that you had four of the same truck. If you have incentives right now, let’s do one up and then maybe you can make and kind of use that in. You told me conversation. Um, but that’s another thing. Walk the lot, go see what they have, you know, go, go out there and see and touch.

And if there’s four of the same thing, bring it to the sales manager’s attention. Um. Most of the time they want you to do the work for them.

Sales Strategy & Building Dealer Relationships

Josh Poulson: Oh yeah. Walk the line, gimme the stock number, gimme the choices. Tell me what the price, tell me what the addendum’s gonna be, put the addendum in it, and then make sure, and then they, they hesitate heavily to give you the PO.

Jessica Crossman: And then trying to say to them, Hey, put it in the showroom.

Let’s get it inside the showroom. But, um, you know, and another big thing that I feel [00:18:00] like we do really well is sales trainings. You know. You are gonna have your relationships with the general managers, with the sales managers, with the service managers, the people that are selling your product are the salespeople.

And you have to give them the tools to be able to say, you know, Hey, I, I know you might be a little confused on us saying we’re gonna put leather in your vehicle. You want it to look like this, right? And when they say yes, you can say. This was installed aftermarket and this is what it’s gonna look like.

Um, but as long as you have your relationships with the people that make the decisions for you, you’ve gotta sell to the salespeople.

Josh Poulson: And they become the next managers.

Jessica Crossman: Yes.

Josh Poulson: So you gotta get in early and then, then you remember that if you blow ’em off, now they’re gonna blow you off when they become, uh, when they become the managers making the decisions.

So, no, good point. Sorry, Jesse. Go ahead.

What Makes MiCorp Different

Jesse Stoddard: Um, Jessica, what, tell us a little bit more about MyCorp and what makes you guys different and stand out. How do you compete, uh, [00:19:00] things Are you, you talked about how much things are changing and, uh, I would love to hear a little bit more about the company and what you guys are doing.

Jessica Crossman: So Micorp started as a 12 volt company, uh, back in 87. We’ve evolved, um, way before my time, so, uh, the royal way, uh, to doing interior, um, sunroofs and everything that every restylers is doing right now. Um, in the Boston market. We are flooded. We are flooded with competition. We’ve got some pretty big players that are out there and they all do an excellent job.

Um. You know, there’s things that we do differently than they do. Uh, there’s some extra products that we offer that they don’t, but there’s things that they offer that we don’t. Uh, the one thing that I do pride ourselves in is that we’re not afraid to try something different. Um, and to jump into a different category that could be scary, but as long as the team around you is kind of pushing in order to get that done, that’s [00:20:00] awesome.

Um. We, we talk about having our, our techs on the road. We’ll go out to somebody’s home or office to be able to install, um, some 12 oh stuff. Not, not all of it, but some of it, which gives us the advantage that that customer doesn’t have to drop off the car and then they go pick it up and so forth. Uh, we pick up and drop off for Bedliners.

There’s a few places that are around us that don’t do that. Uh, so they’ll need to get two runners to be able to do it. Um, I. We, we definitely don’t do the race to the bottom line. We want you to be able to know what our value is. ’cause it’s important, um, especially if there’s a, a problem, right? Everybody makes mistakes.

We make a mistake. I will call your customer. I don’t leave it on the dealership shoulders to be able to do that. I’ll call the customer for them or offer it. Sometimes dealerships will say no to it, but it’s okay for if we, if we make the mistake for us to [00:21:00] get yelled at. I don’t expect the dealership to, especially CSI, if I burn them on CSI, I’m probably gonna get myself kicked out of a dealership. So.

Josh Poulson: Yeah, no, that’s, that’s definitely a difference and you guys are definitely successful. Um. Let’s, could we talk about SEMA Pro, Jesse?

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah, let’s do it.

SEMA Pro & Industry Networking

Josh Poulson: Jessica. Uh, you’ve been on SEMA Pro mm-hmm. For years now. Um, and now you chair the, uh, content subcommittee. So tell us about your experience. What did you know before you got onto SEMA Pro?

What do you know? What do you know now? And then what advice would you give people?

Jessica Crossman: Gosh. So when I first started in this business, it was, Hey, the SEMA show is coming up, and I’m like, great. Let’s go to Vegas. That’s all I knew. And then I went there, and then I was like, oh my God, this is what this industry is about.

Literally, I started at Micorp and it was. Within that first year that I was going, um, to [00:22:00] SEMA and then, um, a sales rep that was with us for a very long time, Jesse Partridge and I went to a show and, um, you know, when you’re a couple days into, into SEMA and you are exhausted and you’re hungry and you want to sit down, um.

Bill North said, you’re coming with me. And I don’t think that I had a bone in my body to say no. I’m like, oh, food great, let’s go. Um, and we sat in a room and you know, Colby was standing up there and, and everybody was talking about what SEMA Pro is, and I’m like, wait, there’s a group of mi corps that are out there and everybody talks to each other.

I’m like, oh. And then I remember Hannah standing up and I’m like, is she like. 15 years old. Look at her. She was young and doing this and she was, you know, props to her ’cause

Josh Poulson: Our prodigy, Hannah called her.

Jessica Crossman: Like, I would love to look that young. Um, and she started talking about, [00:23:00] you know, her RAB that she had won, I think it was the previous year.

Um, and how, what that did for her and her business and where she drew from that. And I’m like, wait. I can do this, I can do this more. So when Bill had called and said, Hey, you know, there’s a seat open. I jumped on the fact that you could network with a bunch of people and figure this out. Um, then meeting everybody and seeing their passion for it and how deep it is and how, even from what I first started to, like, Josh, you’ve evolved from when I first started till now, and everything that you’re doing in your business and, and, and so forth and just having that resource.

I had a dealership that they, um, sold a Chevy and the customer hated the white leather that was in it, and they were outta state, and I was able to pick up my phone and put out a text to all of you guys that said, help me, help me, help me. We don’t wanna have to bring that vehicle back.

I wanna give a [00:24:00] solution to the dealership. That’s the joy of SEMA pro. I mean, it is. If you don’t network and you don’t try to ask those questions, you are, you are. You’re not doing yourself any justice, um, to learn and to see, like following all you guys on social media. I’ll look at something, uh, that one of you guys have done and I’m like, I need to do that on my car up here.

Um, so SEMA Pro, SEMA in general has been an awesome show to go to, to you get to see all of your vendors at once, you get to have all of your important questions at once. Um, but pro. Has I, I feel, brought me closer to a restyling group that isn’t your normal group. We’re all from across the United States, so something that could happen in California might not be the best look for Boston, but vice in vice versa.

But [00:25:00] just learning from all of you guys has been crazy.

Josh Poulson: That’s awesome. Well, no, I mean, you do a great job, especially taking on the leadership role of the content. ’cause it’s hard getting content out there to people and to really find out what’s relevant. And working with our social media team and getting people getting reestablished to actually interact with us is a challenge.

So, you know, you do a good job with that as far as really being the fire behind it. And that has nothing to do with the colored hair.

Jessica Crossman: No pun intended.

Josh Poulson: No pun intended.

Jessica Crossman: Yeah, no.

Josh Poulson: For Rachel?

Jessica Crossman: Yeah, Rachel’s fantastic and I love everything that she does. For everybody that doesn’t know Rachel, if you see something that’s posted from SEMA Pro, uh, that’s, that’s Rachel posting.

Jesse, who is our, our new committee member, um, yep. You can stand up, take a bow. Uh, you know, he is the one that handles, um, everything with our marketing and putting everything together. Uh, if you don’t know on SEMA Pro what SEMA PCC is, uh, sema pcc.com, um, you might be living under a [00:26:00] rock. So let’s help you out with that.

All of the. Builds of the month are on the air. Um, we try to reach out to every freestyler to say, do you have something cool that’s happening? Submit us everything. Jesse and his team puts it all together and then a build of the month goes out. You’ll see those on the website. That just gives another restyler another opportunity to change something in a vehicle that they’re doing and say, Hey, I really like that.

Um, but it’s. Crazy to see some of the behind the scenes stuff that happens with SEMA and government affairs and, you know, it is such a, uh, a workhorse and everybody that puts things, you know, into it, um, it, it’s, it’s great. But the, the. Challenge is getting people to really, really, really interact with you.

Um, so if there’s any restyler that’s gonna listen to this and you have a member spotlight [00:27:00] or a build of the month, submit it over to us. It is free advertising for you and your company to get out there across a big platform. Um, you are silly if you don’t use this opportunity.

Future of the Industry & What’s Next

Jesse Stoddard: Jessica, I love your energy. It’s so awesome.

It’s contagious. Uh, what, uh, what excites you most about the, the future of either your business, what you guys are doing, or maybe just the industry in general?

Jessica Crossman: I am always, you know. Wraps to me are crazy. I think that it is such a talent to be able to one, wrap it. But if you go to the show, it went from, I think when I first was there, like two little booths that were doing it.

And now there’s a whole section where they’re like, what do you wanna see printed? Okay. They type it into a computer, it prints out, and then they’re wrapping on across it. Um, I definitely think that watching. Yeah, all of the freestylers get thrown into a new mix. When a [00:28:00] manufacturer is like, oh, you love to do heated seats in that car?

Not anymore. We’re gonna do it in-house. So figure out something to do. Um, trying to figure out what’s next. Is always scary ’cause that’s where the money’s gonna come from. And getting everybody, again, the old dog, new tricks that you work with to say, you gotta stop doing the remote starts ’cause they’re coming in so often, you gotta start leaning towards X, Y, and Z dash cams on the road or doing this differently.

Um, I don’t know. I just think on the, especially on the scene side, seeing all of the EV stuff that’s happening and. Where the world wants to be or, or some people want it to be. It’s ever changing and you just gotta, you gotta be on your game for it, I think.

Josh Poulson: I think that’s, I think that’s wise. You just gotta be at the forefront and being part of SEMA pro, that’s what I always [00:29:00] appreciated is because I felt like I had a voice. I felt like I was helping steer the ship a little bit and making sure that we are at the forefront. Because it’s one thing for one restyler or a couple restylers in a market to be, Hey, do this product, this, that. But if nationally we’re saying, Hey, then let’s do this, then you know, we get a little bit more pool, maybe more manufacturers jump in the game, makes it more affordable, or whatever the, or the technology gets better because it’s a very innovative industry.

You gotta be on the forefront, keep your ear to the ground, what’s gonna be next?

Jessica Crossman: And it’s, so let’s take, and I’m, and I’m probably gonna give somebody not enough credit. Uh, we had our LRP meeting, which was awesome, to be stuck in New Orleans and in, in, in the snowstorm. Um, I still have P-P-T-S-D from that.

Um, but we were there and I think that the LRP happened to be picked there because we had. Josh’s and the Colbys that are like [00:30:00] N-A-D-A-N-A-D-A-N-A-D-A to get in front of manufacturers and dealers to say aftermarket is your friend. Aftermarket is where you’re gonna be able to make some money because anybody right now, a general consumer can go online.

They can pull the invoice, they know what you paid for the car. We can help you make more money. You just need to trust us that we’re not gonna, we’re not gonna do you wrong. Uh, we’re gonna steer you that right way. So we have awesome people like, you know, Josh and Colby that are pushing towards NADA to have all of those individuals understand restylers are great.

SEMA is great. Come and come and join us ’cause we wanna join you. Um. That will allow everybody to start to work together a little bit more. I think once the dealerships understand that they can make more money doing this, that’s when they’re opening up to doing a little bit more. We have a few dealerships that it, it’s [00:31:00] been a struggle to get into, um, or struggle to let you know, oh, my customers, they don’t want tires and wheels.

They, they’re fine with that. Just let us try it once. Give us that opportunity. And now you get the call, Hey, we gotta do another one. All right. You were right. And it’s like, I’m not going to purposely put something on your showroom floor you can’t get off of, you are never gonna trust me again. Um, yeah, but you, you’ve, you’ve gotta be able to work well with those, those different sections of the auto industry.

So to have you guys pushing that at a higher level is massive. I think it’s such a voice for. All of us right now that wouldn’t even know where to begin in those conversations or, or have the knowledge or have the relationships. Right. This is a relationships game to, to get in front of those people.

Work-Life Balance & Advice for Newcomers

Jesse Stoddard: And how do you deal with like work-life balance? Is that a myth? Is it possible to deal with all this stuff you’ve got going on?

Jessica Crossman: Um, [00:32:00] so my- seeing how I am employed, I guess I volunteer for my daughter’s things, so she doesn’t pay me for this.

Josh Poulson: What. You’re not getting a salary out of her business.

Jessica Crossman: No, not at all.

She is. Ugh, that little girl is.

Josh Poulson: She is genius.

Jessica Crossman: Um, so no, the worklife balance is definitely interesting, right? As the salesperson, you know, you’re on 24 7, it doesn’t matter. Um, and, and that’s okay because as long as I tell everybody, you’re always gonna be able to get in touch with me no matter what.

Saturday and Sunday, it doesn’t matter. I just need to make sure I’m there for the important things and I’m never gonna skip those. ’cause that’s the most important part. I can’t get that part back. Uh, so if I’m not answering the phone, most likely it’s I’m sleeping or Zoe’s on, you know, on stage she’s doing something that I’m just not gonna look away from.

Josh Poulson: Thank goodness for text messaging. I remember back when it was only [00:33:00] phone calls and you had to answer and then call people back. Now you can just say, Hey, I’ll call you right back, or Hey, I’m in a meeting, can I call you when I’m done? Or whatever like that. And just makes life so much easier. So.

Jessica Crossman: What was it, what was this like when pages were a thing, would somebody blow up your pager? 24 7.

Josh Poulson: I so I remember that. And so the biggest problem was when pagers came out that you actually had texts on, and it weren’t just, it wasn’t just a phone number because then you would be able to get it and you could type back. So it was kind of like texting before texting was a thing. But yeah, the worst was, well, fortunately, not too many people would.

I remember is I would have one customer, he said he would say, he would put his phone number and then 9 1 1, and what that meant was call me as soon as, and it was always. Hey, uh, can I get a pinstripe tomorrow? You’re like, was this really 9 1 1? Like, but you couldn’t put words in. So 9 1 1 meant, you know, asaps.

But now, [00:34:00] yeah, so I, man, I’m really old. So yeah, that was the thing though. But I preferred it way back when we had walkie talkies and we would, we had, I remember these real expensive Milwaukee talkies we had, they were pre-phone ’cause nobody could afford a phone bill, but. We’re like, Hey, uh, Josh, uh, can you get over to so-and-so Toyota and do a pinstripe by, uh, five o’clock?

I’m like, they’re at the office, right? And they’re calling me. I’m like, yeah, I can get over there. So.

Jessica Crossman: It’s funny, we have conversations with some of our techs that have been with the company for a while, and they’re like, yep, you would get it on the pager to call the office. You’d have to drive to a payphone,

Speaker: then

Jessica Crossman: you would call in.

And now if I were to even say payphone to some of the younger people, they’re like, what? The fact that, you know, we talk about how easy it is to, to text and to email and stuff, and yes, is it great and everybody’s got the watches and stuff, but the generation that’s afraid to pick up the phone right now just to be like, hi, my name is, is mindblowing.[00:35:00] 

Josh Poulson: Oh, my daughter filled out an application and she goes, what does this mean? I said, you don’t have a fax number. You can leave that blank. Like, why do they have, well, yeah, I need to get ahold of you via fax. Like I, I don’t think you can even find a fax machine, but yeah.

Jessica Crossman: Only at insurance companies that still wanna rule the world Registry.

Josh Poulson: Yeah. And the government. You gotta fax it to me. We can’t accept, uh, an email. So.

Jesse Stoddard: And Jessica, what, what advice would you give somebody just entering the space? Maybe they’re looking at trying to get into this game. What would you tell ’em?

Jessica Crossman: Run. No, um, I think it’s. You are not the smartest person in the world. And I would advise everybody, I think I said it at the beginning of this, you, you, you have two ears and one mouth for a reason. I know that’s, you know, an old school saying, but listen to the people that are around you. Take that advice. Uh, when you walk into a dealership, let’s say if you’re on that [00:36:00] side, the most important person in that entire establishment.

Is the receptionist she is going to make or break you. She will pass your call along if you know need be, or he, he would pass your call along if need be. But everybody that you walk by say hello. Um, and if you don’t ask the question. You’re never gonna grow. Ask the question. ’cause there are a lot of really, really excited human beings that are in this space that would love to answer it for you.

And just because you might ask one person and they could push you off, ask another and be involved. Network. You have to network. Um, if you’re not part of local networking groups, become part of local networking groups, you are never gonna know who you meet and where that connection. Um, will lie, uh, or what other business can you bring to your business?

Um, you know, for example, working in, uh, our area, we have Plain Ridge Park [00:37:00] Casino. There was a casino that was opened up and an introduction was made through the Chamber of Commerce and said, you know, how would you feel about covering their bar stools? And at first you’re like. The heck. And then you’re like, wait a second, if I can cover a seat, why can’t I cover a bar stool?

Um, you go and jump through those hoops and figure out where that next piece of business is. Because if you’re having a month where, you know, uh, we’re not gonna go deep into the tariff conversations, but tariffs being talked about and everybody’s not buying anything, you have that next section of business that you can kind of put in.

So don’t be close-minded to it. Ask all the questions in the world, um, and. Make sure that you present yourself the way that you want to be known in this industry. Um, don’t overpromise none to deliver because that’s never gonna help you and align yourself with, um, some great people. Be a part of, SEMA pro, you [00:38:00] know, ask those questions.

Um, yeah, I think that’s. If I couldn’t say run, I think that’s what I would say.

Josh Poulson: Run. Well, listen, we appreciate not only all your volunteering, thank you very much for all your, everything you’re doing for the industry, but also, uh, your energy and that new fresh vibe that SEMA, SEMA Pro needed, but also, you know, just for always being available to help fellow stylers around the country.

So thank you very much. I, I always let Jesse ask his final question.

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah. And where can people follow you or learn more about what you’re doing? What websites do you wanna share? Uh, how do people get ahold of you if they have questions? Go ahead and plug yourself of, of course we like that.

Jessica Crossman: Plug so you can find me on, uh, LinkedIn. Love to be on LinkedIn. I think it’s the most important for small business, um, people that wanna develop and get out into the industry. So you can find me on there, Jessica Crossman. Um, our business website is [00:39:00] micorpcustom.com. That’s MI not MY. Um. I’m on and all of my social media is open. So you can do on Facebook, you can do on LinkedIn, you can do on, um, Instagram.

Until probably the 31st. You’re gonna see my child a lot. I’m gonna be pushing her a whole bunch. And then I promise you that will, that will come to an end once the 31st hits. And uh, we’ll change that out. But yeah, micorpcustom.com, we’re in Massachusetts. We have Shrewsbury Mass, we have red mass, we have Manchester, New Hampshire, and North out of our mass.

So if you are in the New England area and you wanna come out and see us or see if we can do anything for you, but love to have that conversation. Um, and again, if you wanna email me, it’s jadecrossman@micorpcustom.com.

Josh Poulson: And don’t forget zmchandmadetreasures.com for the future entrepreneur that will take over the New England market in whatever business she decides.

I’m sure earrings aren’t gonna [00:40:00] be the long term game, but who knows?

Jessica Crossman: You never know. She wants.

Josh Poulson: One day. One day my, my wife’s gonna be like, will you buy me a ZMC purse? And I’m like, what? Oh, I remember, I remember when she was just doing earrings because she’s a 14. She’s the, she’s gonna be the new, uh, Tory Birch or something.

Jessica Crossman: Hey, didn’t Alex and Ani start this way with like a young girl or something where there was something that happened?

Josh Poulson: I don’t know. I just, I, I can’t, I don’t want to make a business deal with two redheads, but if you guys figure something out, you guys jump on that, make it happen.

Jessica Crossman: So, am I allowed to ask a final question?

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah, sure.

Josh Poulson: Listen, we usually, we make people bias alcohol if they’re gonna do this. But.

Jessica Crossman: I’m gonna.

Josh Poulson: Go ahead.

Jessica Crossman: I’ll buy you alcohol. So, Josh.

Josh Poulson: Yeah.

Jessica Crossman: What happens to you now? Are you, I believe, I believe your six years is, has come to a head in the month of June.

Josh Poulson: Six, 12 years. I was two years. Two years for each, uh, um, term.

Jessica Crossman: Mm-hmm.

Josh Poulson: And [00:41:00] then at that point, after your sixth year, you gotta decide, okay, either I’m out for two years or you run for chair elect. So I ran for chair elect, and then after that was two years, and then chair two years, and then IPC will end in 31 days.

Jessica Crossman: But who’s, uh.

Josh Poulson: And then what will I do? Listen, I will, uh, I will be.

I wish I was like having a Corona on the beach, but you know, I’m actually, uh, now taking some time to actually help the companies, uh, you know, and, and working on them and helping them out. But I still have a, you know, a good amount of people still call me happy to help everybody and be a consultant, but I have to take two years away.

It’s a SEMA law, so I am not allowed to help SEMA, uh, pro on an official role, just as an advisory role. So.

Jessica Crossman: So you’re not going as anywhere is what you’re telling us.

Josh Poulson: Listen, I’d love to go. There’s like 17 places I’d love to go, but I’m sure, uh, you know, when you need me to, um, uh, harass [00:42:00] some people and or, um, violently text people, I will put on my redheaded wig and I will you, and you tell me, Hey, these three people have not responded to me, and what do I do?

Jesse Stoddard: You tell, what do I do?

Jessica Crossman: Uh, you, you do threaten them.

Josh Poulson: I do.

Jessica Crossman: Yes

Jesse Stoddard: you do.

Josh Poulson: Yeah. I figure, you know, threats are the only way to get things across people can sometimes take in them, and I try to do it in a joking way, but am I really joking? Who knows.

Jessica Crossman: I think Jesse and I need to get you a redheaded wig.

Josh Poulson: I listen, I really do feel I’m redheaded. Yes. I wanna, I wanna be part of your club. I want to be part of your club. The three of us would never be able to have this podcast again. Two is pushing the limit. Three is breaking the law. Right.

Jesse Stoddard: Blatant disregard for all things reasonable.

Josh Poulson: Yes. But thank you for asking and thank you for being on the podcast.

It’s been super fun and.

Jessica Crossman: Yep.

Josh Poulson: Before you know it, we’ll see you in, uh, in, in Vegas.

Jessica Crossman: I know. Craziness. I’m looking forward with that.

Jesse Stoddard: Yeah, right. Have a great day, Jessica. [00:43:00] Thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

Jessica Crossman: Yeah, of course. Thanks guys. I like this.

Jesse Stoddard: All right. Take care. See you guys.

Josh Poulson: All right. See ya.

Jessica Crossman: Bye.

AutoStyle Marketing: 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.

We’d also love for you to share this podcast with your gear heads, installers, and auto lovers network, because remember, knowledge is power, but shared knowledge, turbocharges the whole industry For more expert resources to supercharge your business, cruise on over to autostylemarketing. com, your one stop shop for everything automotive marketing.

Until next time, keep those wheels spinning and your passion ignited. Thank you for riding in [00:44:00] style with us. See you on the next lap.