Hey, hello everyone. Welcome to an unusual Tuesday afternoon broadcast. And we're just at the TIADA convention in San Antonio. Yeah, just wrapped up. We helped pack up the booth and kind of get things wound down. And these things are always... combination of exhilarating and exhausting and it's just kind of strenuous you know by the time you have a couple days of sessions and some of these poor dealers especially these board members some of the people that are involved in the planning and and these um these different sessions yeah they did a great conference yeah and it was really great to connect with um all of our vendor friends and we ran into a few dealers that you've worked with. Yeah, that's always nice. You get to finally meet people that you maybe have only dealt with by phone or whatever, maybe only met in a virtual meeting. So it was an interesting thing. We felt inspired to prop up a broadcast this afternoon just to kind of share a story because we found ourselves kind of embroiled in something unusual yeah unexpected yeah absolutely yeah and so we we thought we better just talk about it make sure that you know part of our thing with white hat way is we we we've preach transparency, and so we need to practice what we preach here. And so this was an opportunity for us to just get out there and kind of share our perspective on something that happened that's unusual. And on the one hand, you don't want to drag people into something that is kind of... Yeah, that's not it. Yeah, it's not something with... It's not so much that it's... You could look at this through a context of something drama-based, and you'd say, well, why would Dealer Sting say, why would I get involved in that? Like, So we wanted to really have a chance to talk about why it even matters. Well, it was around suitcasing. Yeah. And those of you, we, when, when this kind of came up, we ran it through clot because you all know that we do a lot of AI. And so we asked what, like, what is the definition of that? And then we, It was what I expected. It was exactly what we expected. And then I was like, it must have been some kind of really interesting miscommunication or something. And so we looked at it and talked about it from a lot of different perspectives because we were asked or it was brought to our attention that the feeling was that we were suitcasing while we were there. And and from I had used that word. Yeah. Yeah. And so from our understanding, suitcasing is basically when, you know, vendors pay good money to go and do a booth. And that's part of how these associations pay for everything that they do is through the vendor participation. So, you know, they want to make sure that vendors are able to to get the market share. I mean, of of. the eyes of dealers because the dealers are the customer. They're the ones that are here for the thing and the vendors are there to support the association. And so I was kind of confused because I, we weren't talking to any dealers. We were there. A friend of ours, colleague of ours had extra tickets and we decided the last minute to come down and enjoy the conference. Cause it's been a few years since we've done it. And, um, you know, just had the opportunity. Those of you who are familiar with what we have brewing, um, is that we're working on a few different projects, Jim and I individually. And, um, And the thought that came back to us was that in talking to vendors about collaborating that we were suitcasing. Yeah, it's just a misunderstanding. I think people have... have probably got the wrong idea. And so we just thought, let's just kind of get out there and tell our version of what really happened. First of all, it's probably important to know that we were here on a ticket as a vendor. So we were here with a collaboration partner and he had a level of sponsorship that entitled him to certain tickets. And he had extras and he's like, come. And he extended the tickets to us. And so we came on his, on his sponsorship. And so we were here essentially as his guest, but also as a partner in this case is Corey Morrissey. We can say it was Corey Morrissey with Seymour Solutions is somebody that we have always enjoyed working with. I've known Corey since way back in the Florida days. So somebody that we enjoy working with. So we came really spend some time with Corey and be able to, find ways to collaborate with Corey. And of course that led to other things, but I think I'll pause to explain that. You know, one of the things I was sharing with you last night is yesterday was quite a day. Like yesterday was important. We had a long day, a couple of expo sessions and I was able to go to DMS booths. Oh yeah. Really important conversations. And it's just what it represents is like, You know, think about this folks. Like I was able to go catch a dealer that I know because we want to ask vendors to collaborate with us and make information available to dealers to get them. And of course our selfish angle on that is that we, we want the dealer to be able to easily remit their V eight deck dealer data to us on a monthly interval. So we're asking the DMS provider in this case, I go up and introduce the dealer to the DMS provider. There's one example. There are others. but i was able to take the dealer let's talk to the dms provider together make the request together by the way this dealer didn't know any of the people right this has been on that software for years and didn't know any of the people they didn't know him and so it's um it was an opportunity for us to make that request together and then there were a couple others we had i had a phone call yesterday morning totally unrelated to the conference um the person you know i was at the texas conference and said, hey, I just want to get word to you. I'm going to have a little bit of a delay on my VA data because I'm changing software. Well, within an hour, I was able to go speak to the DMS provider that he was leaving. I was able to speak to the DMS provider that he was moving to. In the interest of the dealer to make the request of here's what we're going to be doing. If we can support the process, then obviously we want to do that. But I think there's one more example. It's a matter of the details, but it's like, that was the beautiful thing about being here and having all the providers in one room and being able to go and shake hands with them, talk to them, make the requests in person and help them understand we're making this request on behalf of dealers. And we invite you to collaborate on this other project, which is this data translation layer that we're working on. Corey, I'm sure will be a big part of that. We've got our new partner. We announced this past week that we've got a new data partner who's come in and we, So Lend Risk Analytics is now going to be working with us to pull together data for VA. And so with all the movement that we have around data and this data translation layer, it was a wonderful opportunity for us to be in the hall with all these other collaboration partners and go meet with them. And so we were just kind of floored by this. Yeah. Well, I was talking to a lot of the different vendors, people that I know and people that I've been introduced to, to talk about the project that I'm working on with Buyer Payer Nation Television and and where that's going and how vendors, I'm asking vendors just to participate in it. And so that was really fruitful, a lot of really great interaction and comments. And I just said, when I'm ready to send you a prospectus, they're like, send it, we'd love to hear about it. And it just, so it was confusing. Yeah. And because one, the definition that we understood was the way we understood it, but it was interpreted differently, I guess. Yeah, and we obviously weren't there to pitch dealers anything, right? No, no. We were there working on behalf of dealers. And we were there for the booth anyway. Yeah, yeah, in a booth anyway. So, like, right, that's people. And it happens that people will come and attend a conference and sit outside the thing and pitch to dealers in the walkways. Yeah, well, and when we were asking Claude this morning, he said, One of the things, and we gave it a little bit of context, and it said, oh, that's exactly what's supposed to happen. That when you go to a conference, part of the reason why those conferences are put on is so vendors can be together and collaborate as long as you're not taking away time. from the vendors being able to talk to, to dealers. And so, you know, we, we. Yeah. Or stepping up and trying to take a dealer away from their booth. Exactly. And that's, yeah, that was not the case at all. And we happened to have, um, have, uh, friends and colleagues that are the, the decision makers in, I had a chance to talk to, um, the national, the top brash national, and also with the state and said, Hey, here's a thing. Um, did I do something that was inappropriate? And they're like, no, you're absolutely fine. And they said, okay, if anyone calls you and says that this was a problem, please reach out because I'm like, if I've done something that is against the rules, because we talk about transparency and we talk about just like really being transparent forthright and honest and all of that. And so if there's somewhere along the way that unbeknownst to me, because heaven forbid, that wouldn't occur to me to do something that would be considered inappropriate and or even malicious. Especially when we're there, one, as a guest or partner with somebody who's paid for the booth. And the other thing is we're here as a guest of an organization that we support. We're certainly not going to be here to try to do anything detrimental. So it just was kind of a curious thing. And then I think what really triggered the idea of having this, we found ourselves blocked from a popular Facebook group this morning and some of those kind of things. I thought that is really strange. Yeah. And unfriended too. And unfriended. Yeah. So it just, it's frustrating and just weird. Well, and it, it, it, it, made me sad. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I get that. So yeah, that's, that's something that I think it's just, to me, it was more of a curiosity and it's as most of these kinds of things can be as a misunderstanding, but it just kind of for us, we just thought, well, let's just make sure our story is out there and available and that we can make sure that people understand. And we're here to, we, this is part of the conversations that we had over the last couple of days is that we are the, the first thing we want to do is to be able to collaborate. And if there's a way to collaborate, let's collaborate. And, and that we're, you know, that's one of the beautiful things about living in the country we live in and being involved in the industry that we're in and all of that is that there are choices and that there's a lot of options people have and that you don't, you don't have to be, you don't have to be, um, with or against i mean it's yeah so it's it's uh it's i still absolutely i just it's i i think that there's there's um there's no malice at i at all that i feel but um well it probably let me just say i don't it's just miscommunication i think misunderstanding So if you think about what this really means for dealers, dealers might not, you know, dealers might not care if you're walking in the hallway and somebody steps up to pitch them. It's just that when you recognize, and I recognize when you're somebody who's hosting a conference, then you would have a responsibility to those people who paid to be there, paid a significant amount of money to have an expo hall or to be in a booth space or whatever and be part of the expo. so it makes sense that they would want to protect that and make sure that they'll guard against suitcases and that's why there's even a term and so it's not unique to the buy here pay here or auto industry it happens in lots of industries But I think for this one, it was just kind of an unusual thing. So we just wanted to make clear about what our... And last night when we were talking about this, I was like, you know I'm woo anyway. So it's like I kind of went inside and it's like, oh, where? No malicious, nothing, whatever. And I thought to myself... where is the miscommunication? And that it's like, did I do a thing that, because my understanding of definitions and, you know, you can get all words, what is, is, is, or whatever, that I felt really grounded. and centered and true to what I had been doing. And so it, it, what I wanted more than anything was just to, it's like just, it's a misunderstanding of some miscommunication of some kind. And, um, that, that, uh, it's, you know, I, I think that that's, it's a really good, it's a really good topic to, you know, when, when we feel When we feel wronged in some way, frequently, I think humans are good. And people that know us know that we're not malicious at all in all of the things. And so frequently, just the human question is have a conversation. Like oh look there's there's a thing and this is how I feel and this is you know What's making me feel this way? Let's talk about it and that's what I'd still like to be able to do but I I but I just I felt by the end of our conversation yesterday. It was like yeah, I I feel I feel grounded and in in my um my actions and behavior so yeah well i think at the end of the day you know who you are but i think what i share with you last night same thing i would say today is like what i see with you is because it you know the feeling part of it it's like you're you're taking ownership of it and i think for me it's like i'm not taking ownership of it well yeah and so i'm like oh yeah it just it kind of eats me up a little bit a little bit because I mean, you know, I, I, everybody doesn't, no one likes to feel like they've angered someone or done something. So I'm, yeah. So I just, uh, you know, the, just so that, that all out there, um, the heart, and intent are a hundred percent in a good place. Yeah. So I think to kind of finish that out, I would say that, you know, we spent most of our time working with providers. It was a great conference. You meet these people, you've got reinsurance people here, you've got DMS, CRM, you've got all the different services here. And I was able to spend a lot of time with them on behalf of dealers and we we've made a lot of progress one of the things i can tell you is um and if you're a dealer listening you know we put out a post about past time and i would say we didn't get to see uh lhph capital or dealer re or other yeah they weren't here we put out a post yesterday on behalf of the folks at past time because they're they're supporting our mission at white hat way and so we we wanted to share with everybody what that represents and kind of why why it matters the same thing here when it comes to like providers you know when we're working with these other providers and we're doing that trying to create solutions for dealers and you know you heard me say to a few of the people that we we worked with i'm over here just working to try to make sure that when i one day leave this industry i want to leave it just a little bit better than i found it and this this work that we're doing around that is a nice opportunity for us to do exactly that and i can share with dealers that you know We hear from, I've had dealers texting me in the last week asking me about a DMS switch and, you know, who should I talk to, whatever. And I would just tell you, we find that some DMS systems are more cooperative than others. And, you know, at the expo hall, when we make those requests, sometimes they will say, yeah, we're happy to work with you. And of course, in that environment, So we follow up and sometimes in our past experience, they say they will at the conference and then they don't. But we're going to continue to make those requests again and again. Because that's what we're doing is trying to improve the experience of dealers and make it something where they... they aren't having to struggle or be placed over a barrel or have access to education easily or all of those pieces. I would say mostly we were met with people who were eager to cooperate. And advocates for dealers as well. Yeah, for sure. And so I think there's a spirit of cooperation. We met with mostly spirit of cooperation and willingness to collaborate. And so we're going to continue to march ahead with that. And we'll do that work on behalf of dealers because we, as I said to a number of people in the last couple of days, I've said the buyer payer business is a difficult business. It's more difficult now than it was pre-COVID. And so especially the last couple of years, dealers have taken a lot of hits. So anything that we can do to help provide better information to dealers so they can make better decisions for themselves and help them to get more efficient with technology and any of these things that we're working on. And that's what we obviously want to do. And we're going to continue to do that regardless of which Facebook groups we're a member of or whatever else. We're just going to continue to do what we do and show up with good intentions and do what we do. And it'll all work out just fine. It will. It will. Hope you all have had a great week. It is hot and muggy here. And we, like I said, wrapped up a really great conference. Glad that we came. I'm really, really glad that we came from some of the conversations that we had with people that are our colleagues, friends, and hoping to partner and collaborate with. So it was a very fruitful, very fruitful thing. We will be partnering because like I always say, I pride myself in being creative and flexible. So I think where there's a will, there's a way, right? So we will certainly be ready to collaborate on our side. absolutely all right all right everybody thanks again for uh thank you for joining today for just a minute as we um as we just you know try to make sure that things are clear yeah and that and that we um we uh just be able to communicate that so um we really appreciate all of your support very much and um yeah hope you have a great rest of your week we expect to see you back here friday morning
