Beyond The First Pencil

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How does a manufacturer create and sustain a vehicle brand that customers love? 

Kathi and Mike discuss manufacturer brands and re-branding (ie: Jaguar + more) and how others have fared in the past (from a dealer and dealership management perspective). 

Music:

The Pogues: FairyTale of New York w/Kirsty MacColl

American Murder: Lacy Peterson (documentary)

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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Kathi and Mike are happy that more dealers are talking about the power of video, even if it’s nearly 15 years after we began urging dealers to welcome it.

Mike’s blog post: Sales Management by C.P.A. 

The Jam: About a Young Idea

“Modern music, emphasis on Mod. The Who kissed by Motown with a dash of the Clash.”

The Jam: Beat Surrender

The Style Council: Long Hot Summers documentary

Mystify: Michael Hutchence 2019 doc, RIP 11/22/97

Netflix: Tex Mex Motors

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Kathi: [email protected]

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Kathi returns from a great Used Car Week conference and shares a few tidbits.

Then, we spend most of our time discussing this trend of companies forcing their staff to share and promote their employer on their personal social media feeds…without compensation.

Ed Zitron’s Web Summit Remarks: Ed Zitron - Why Are All Tech Products Now Shit?

Duran Duran: Duran Duran - EVIL WOMAN (Live from Madison Square Garden)

Jason Kelce and Stevie Nicks: Jason Kelce and Stevie Nicks have topped the iTunes holiday songs chart

Ted Turner docuseries: Call Me Ted

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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Kathi and Mike take a detour from our regular topics to call out hate. Neither of us can stand what we witnessed at Madison Square Garden over the weekend and we feel we must speak up. Both of us were shocked to see a so-called automotive influencer on the stage spewing hate, whether or not he says he wasn’t does not change what we witnessed. 

We’ve crossed a line, folks and it’s time to get back to civility both in our discourse and in how we treat our fellow humans. We are all in this together.

Music segment:

Oingo Boingo: Dead Man’s Party

Oingo Boingo | Live at US Festival ’83 | May 28, 1983

Podcast recommendation: Politickin' with Gavin Newsom, Marshawn Lynch, and Doug Hendrickson 
An unexpected collaboration: California Governor Gavin Newsom, Super Bowl Champion Marshawn “Beast Mode” Lynch, and their friend and agent Doug Hendrickson are Politickin’.

Gavin Newsom like you’ve never heard him and Marshawn Lynch exactly how you’d expect him.

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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Both of us are sad. The open web is no longer and while it’s not just his doing, Google’s Head of Search, Prabhakar Raghavan was certainly the catalyst to its demise. Organic traffic as we know it is gone. Yes, posts and information from actual experts has been replaced by SEO spam, spam bots and the “AI Overview” that is wrong 44% of the time on financial queries.

Ed Zitron wrote about Mr. Raghavan’s demotion and it’s worth your time.

Music segment:
The Specials: 45 year old October 19, 1979. Produced by Elvis Costello.

Sisters of Mercy
Dave Vanian - The Damned
Will and Harper
Lincoln Lawyer new season

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Kathi and Mike discuss the latest issues with Threads’ AI moderation, which has gone “CRACKERS” and rings the same bell as the experience Kathi continues to have with Facebook/Meta ads. We are tired of billionaire tech-bros. 

Social Selling is still a great way to generate your own leads.

Classic Cars of Beverly Hillbillies

George Barris: Car designer to the stars and to TV! Beverly Hillbillies, Monkeymobile, KITT, Batmobile, Munsters, Starsky+Hutch Torino, Natl Lampoon’s Vacation Wagon Queen Family Truckster and more!

Music segment:

Ultravox at Live Aid 1985: Vienna This is the most underrated performance from Live Aid, especially since he had to go on early in the morning! These vocals are incredible. Seen by 40% of the global population at the time.

Ultravox at Live Aid 1985: Reap The Wild Wind Midge Ure really does something wonderful. Sick with a high fever, he sings, among others, this piece all by himself doing even the backing vocals to the best of his ability. 

Ultravox at Live Aid 1985: Dancing With Tears In My Eyes Another monumental song - underrated and underappreciated performance of Live Aid. A beautifully haunting song, thank you Midge Ure.

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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What did we do before social media to build a customer-centric culture? How did we get potential buyers to know about how unique the dealership was...and why customers should buy from us?

Mike shares a real-life experience (that’s totally doable today) of surprising and delighting a customer so much that her coworkers became customers!

Kathi shares the secret to her customer-first culture that grew the store’s business to #1 in sales, service, parts and CSI.

In the music segment:

45 years since Joy Division’s “Transmission”

Here’s a clip: Joy Division - Transmission [OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO]

Documentary: Will and Harper (major thumb’s up!)

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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We promised you an update in the ongoing Facebook ads issues that Kathi (and others) are having and while it’s utterly disappointing, you won’t be disappointed in the story/update. If you’re having ad issues, we’d love to hear from you.

Then, the Wordpress framework runs over 40% of the world's websites (including Kruse Control's and others that Kruse Control manages). WPEngine (a website hosting company) and Wordpress.org are wrapped up in a skirmish inflamed by Matt Mullenweg (CEO of Automattic, who also runs the nonprofit Wordpress.org) It turned into a pretty embarrassing unforced error for Mr. Mullenweg.

Music segment:
October 1984 had some great albums!
Also:
Kris Kristofferson On Dating Barbra Streisand | David Letterman
Bono recorded a tribute message in Kristofferson’s honor on the U2 Twitter account.

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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Not only are some dealers failing customers but they are failing themselves. The things we are witnessing now - the behaviors and lack of oversight - can only lead to trouble.

We went a little long on this episode but it’s a subject that is near and dear to us as car people. 

Music segment:

Everything But The Girl - lead singers bday

“Take Me” 

Stevie Nicks on SNL 

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Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]

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Kathi shares her experience fresh from evacuating the horse rescue after the Airport Fire got too close for comfort.

Then, we talk about the concerning data around car loan delinquencies, how we got here and what might be in store for banks, dealers and customers.

Music segment:

The Doors anniversary of getting kicked off Ed Sullivan The Doors - Light My Fire - Ed Sullivan Show 1967 (HD Remastered)

Docs: 

Christopher Reeve documentary comes out Sept 21st in theaters. Streaming to follow soon after.

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Got a question? Email either of us!

Kathi: [email protected]

Mike: [email protected]