Matthew Lasher 👋’s Post

The snake and the mouse. It takes some time for the snake to process the mouse. That is kind of what’s going on with the recent DMS headlines for dealerships. First wave of pain, organizationally, was what do we do? How do we do some of these things manually? It’s been while… lucky for us we have a team that remembers! And we are finding lots of ways! Second wave of pain, certain departments impacted more and/or at different times. Parts team… 😬 inventory tracking is tough rn! Accounting team… calm before the storm (or their turn with the mouse). And third wave, is the ‘extra’ work required once the storm passes here to put the pieces back together. #Kudos to all those resilient dealers making things happen, and our leaders at West Herr Automotive Group / Bethanne Hollis Kaiser , Jay Galligan , Luke Werzinger, CPA , Nathan W. and many many others guiding this ship through the storm. In case you were wondering, I saw this snake in my backyard yesterday. Along with a skunk family, a fox, bees, some deer, and many cool birds. Might start charging admission. People > Everything Snake > Mouse

Job alert 🚨 Buffalo, NY 🚨 Know any email and paid search marketing folks looking for a gig?? We’d love to have you bring your skills to #teamwestherr DM me or Bradley Gelber for info 👊

Does West Herr Automotive Group need a mascot? And if so, what should we name it? Bradley Gelber Jarek Pulit Kelsey Crawford Steve Lucas Mary Wright Brandon Baker Ashley Hagler Jason Belous

People connect the dots. In auto, we have lots of blind spots, here are two simple ones: Manufacturers know how to build and distribute vehicles, but not how to sell them. (People at dealerships do.) Dealerships know how to sell and service vehicles, but not how to build them. (People at manufacturers do.) The leadership trick here is to encourage the people that do not know how to do something to listen carefully to those that do. #respect People > Everything ✌️ ❤️ 🔥

My most important meeting this week. Father-Daughter dance date night. It was an honor. We learned what a corsage is, worked through worries of being over dressed and too fancy, changed glitter ballet shoes for nikes, ate popcorn and cookies, overcame wall flower anxiety, swung around like cirque du soleil performers, played the balloon keep it up game on the dance floor, learned the ymca, and even had a late night stop for ice cream: ). 💗

My calendar today: Our team meets with the general managers of all the stores who have broadcast (tv and/or radio) at the beginning of each month. Stores that are digital only we meet with later in the week to protect our sanity. We talk about: Last month Competitors Inventory trends and pipeline Used cars Current month incentives Coop programs Group wide initiatives Advertising goals Social content Digital advertising areas of focus And more! It’s a great opportunity to build relationships with some of our store leaders who we might not see all the time. It also has the benefit of keeping the marketing side of the business closer to the sales side. It forces us to look at the sales numbers, market share, month to month type metrics and really listen to the challenges and opportunities our stores face. As the group grows in size and scale, staying close to the front lines becomes harder. While back to back to back zooms can make for a somewhat long day, the coffee and food deliveries help ; ) #teamwestherr 👊 People > Everything

It takes a village. Grateful for the West Herr Automotive Group team of both internal and external creative talent that helps bring the #teamwestherr shoots to life, executed to the highest professional standard. People see the faces on TV and thinks that’s all there is. I see the pros behind the scenes… Concepting Writing Planning Preparing Lighting Shooting Editing Interviewing Producing Security Hospitality Makeup Wardrobe Talent And more! It’s an amazing team effort and I’m proud of each and every one of them. Looking forward to sharing these concepts with you soon. ✌️ ❤️ 🔥

Boss says: “I need a ________ “ Marketing team: 😶 proceeds to hold breath… 💣 3 minute recap video of a 1hr press event happening today, shot, edited, revised, approved, distributed same day. 💣 20 different (but yet to be determined) homepage offer tiles before EOD. 💣 7 revisions of a program ad that was due last week and that 63 people will probably see. Three real-life examples of ‘urgent’ and demanding requests marketing teams can field at any particular moment. Just reading them could cause anxiety, because the team tasked with the fire drill had other planned priorities for their day. It subtly communicates “my work/idea, is more important than your work/plan”. Sometimes that’s true, but sometimes it’s just poor planning that creates unnecessary strain on a creative team. No human has unlimited capacity and your marketing team is no different. These last minute, high pressure, difficult tasks, can take a toll on individuals over time. Especially if they are constantly coming in. Two ways marketing teams can deal with this strain: 1. stay hyper organized with regular priority meeting discussions (including senior sales leaders so they can be involved and aware) - we use monday.com to help shuffle things around. 2. have a team that has enough depth or bench capacity to jump in. Similar to planning walk-in appt time to your service capacity at a dealership. This can be accomplished with extra internal people or have reliable and trusted outside freelancers that can be rapidly deployed like a navy seal team as needed. You’ll never stop the urgent and demanding asks, nor should you want to completely. The goal should be to build a team that can absorb the unexpected into their day without being too overwhelmed. #kudos to all the marketing professionals out there just finding a way to get it done. Especially the #teamwestherr squad: Mary Wright Bradley Gelber Jarek Pulit Brandon Baker Kelsey Crawford Steve Lucas Ashley Hagler And last but not least Mr. Horizontal Gang™️ Jason Belous