Pub. 5 Issue 3

11 This is the stuff that makes me proud. I helped make a difference. For me it’s im- portant to be authentic. What’s important to me in my personal life, is also important to me in my business life. Today I build Gold Leed certified dealerships because it’s important to me. If you could describe the best day in this business, what would it look like? I love this business, soprettymuch every day brings some best parts. Obviously, the best day is one where business is good and I can see that next generation taking the lead in running our business. I love the dinner table shop talk — which happens in a family business. Was there an “aha” moment in your career that defined you? I’mnot sure it was necessarily an “aha,” moment, but it was a moment that I knew at the time would change the trajectory of my career, and I can say that it really did. In 1989 Sully and I were awarded the Lexus franchise in SantaMonica, and that dealer- ship became the launching pad for where we are today. The LA Car Guy group has a well- earned reputation for being cutting edge and ahead of most in the retail automotive advertising and marketing space. Can you share a few thoughts about this? We got involved in the internet early on. Back in 1993, ourmarketingmanager, Brad Burlinghamwasn’t afraid towade in and as a result, we have a big presence online. I’ma storyteller at heart. And for me, the internet allowed us to tell many more stories on a much bigger stage. We’re also very adept at analytics. The LA Car Guy persona is a lesser obnoxious version of me, in a way. It’s a persona that we built as a brand, over time, that has its roots in what we value as a dealership group. In the world of instant online gratification (Amazon) share some thoughts about the future of the “retail experience” in the automotive world and the role you see new car dealers playing five, 10 and 20 years from now. The 10 and 20 years out is a bit far for my crystal ball, but here’s what I know. The instant online gratification works for some products where the experience isn’t neces- sarily the relationship. As consumers, if we want a pen or a book, we typically want it sooner than later. I order online at Amazon and sometimes I get it later that same day. But cars are a bigger purchase. It’s a dif- ferent purchase. Our customers come back to us for service and I want them to come back to us for all the other cars that they, their family and friends will buy. Andmove frombrand to brand as their needs change. We want them to be part of the LAcar- GUY for the rest of their lifetime. That requires more than I got my product fast. I think people today want to know that they are giving their business to someone they either like, know or trust. As dealers we are members of our com- munities. We host events all the time that we as an organization are passionate about. This fosters the culture and helps build re- lationships. In turn people want to buy cars from us. For instance, we host dog adop- tions and we have a dog park at our Subaru dealership. We donate money to animal charities with every car we sell. We have our videographer capture these events and we post them on our social media, so we can share our actions. People want to be a part of that, and we’ve been doing things like this for so long, it’s part of our culture and our brand. These are the retail experiences that you can’t get online. These are real-world au- thentic experiences that people want, need and respond to. Describe your all-time favorite vehicle (it can be one you’ve owned, or something on your wish list). What are you driving today? Myall-time favorite ridewasmyPorsche 918 Spyder inMexico Blue. It was very lim- ited—I had one of two in theU.S. I thought that I would keep it forever; and I hated to sell it. I had a customer that was very deter- mined to get it away fromme, and I hate to admit it, but eventually I caved. Today I drive a Porsche 911 Speedster and an electric Audi e-tron. For the Laker games, I drive an Escalade. What is your favoriteway tospend your free time? Any unusual hobbies? Nothing really unusual. I race cars in the Pirelli GT4 series all over the western U.S. We are a big skiing/snow- boarding family. The whole gang spends a lot of time at Lake Powell. I love to surf — I live in California, so that’s definitely not unusual. I go to Sturgis, which is fairly eclectic. I work hard, so when I have the time and opportunity I love being outdoors. Tell us about your family. My wife Robin and I live in Manhat- tan Beach, within about a half a mile of our three children. Robin and I are so unbelievable lucky to be able to be around them and the grandkids (we have four, ages 1,2,3 and 4) as much as we are. The grandkids spend the night a lot. We spend a lot of family time at the beach. We ski. I can say that this is probably the best time of my life.   SULLIVAN — continued from page 10