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Hard lessons learned—brute-forcing his way to 12 dealerships and $1B+ revenue
Featuring, Matt Bowers, Dealer Principal at Matt Bowers Auto Group
Welcome to another edition of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast Recap newsletter.
In this episode, Matt Bowers, dealer principal of Matt Bowers Auto Group, breaks down his biggest mistakes, toughest lesson learned, and how he spots winning opportunities in a competitive market.
1. Modesty goes a long way in establishing a great reputation in the business.
A mutual dealer’s description of Matt as a person with high integrity, tremendous drive, a caring leader, smart, and a great fixer, speaks to why he has been successful in the business, especially when that praise comes from someone like David Hult, President and CEO of Asbury Automotive. Matt attributes this to being an everyday, blue-collar guy from New Orleans. And reputations in the car business (good or bad) can stick to operators like glue.
2. Success in the business often requires ignoring the naysayers.
Reflecting on his career, Matt (whose father died when he was seven years old) says he’s encountered a lot of people telling him what he couldn’t do in the car business. He’s learned to shut out the noise.
“I believe that if I outperformed the people that worked around me, then I would…find opportunities through attraction…They'd find me.”
3. Mentorship is not “one-size-fits-all."
Matt, who was raised by his grandmother, didn’t have a mentor in his own family from a business perspective, so he would often try to emulate the success of others.
“One person that represented success to me was the guy who owned the New Orleans Saints, who was a car dealer. His name was Tom Benson, who grew up much like me... And I said, if he can do it, then maybe I can do this.”
And he says meeting David Hult when he worked for Group 1 Automotive during the early years of his career—was pivotal.
“He took a special interest in my career. And…it changed my whole life. That's the truth…I owe him a debt of gratitude that I'll never repay.”
Matt’s advice? Look beyond your immediate circle for mentors who can help you grow professionally.
4. The road to success in the business might not be straight and narrow or an easy ride.
Matt spent a lot of time climbing the ranks in the business by moving around the country with his wife, taking jobs in various cities.
“I tell people all the time…they're like, ‘Okay, tell me how you did it. Tell me what I need to do.’…Well, the first thing when we're finished talking, are you married? ‘Yeah.’ Call your wife and tell her you're moving to Boston next week. ‘Well, I don't know if I can do that.’…Okay, you stand over here on the left with everybody else…because somebody's going to say, ‘Yes sir, I'll be there in a week’…and that was me.”
Everybody wants to be successful, but how bad do they want it, Matt asks.
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5. Don’t count on anyone else’s money to get rich in this business.
After years of looking for others to invest in his goal of owning a winning dealership, Matt finally decided to try a different route to success: He bought stores that nobody else wanted.
“…to buy a car dealership, (you) need one-to-one debt to equity...And you got to have a lender, a floor plan lender…that will provide you credit. I was a known commodity. So really the truth is I was enabled by in large for most of my career by the car manufacturers.”
6. Growing a business is not an easy feat.
Matt made his fair share of mistakes along his journey to business success.
“The mistakes I made were I bought stores that were too little. And I tried to justify that. You know, I bought stores I could buy because they were little to no money and they weren't big enough to make it, you know, worthwhile.”
But the biggest mistake a lot of people make in the business, says Matt, is extending themselves well beyond their means, like purchasing a store that's a 200-unit planning volume store that doesn't have a chance. To be successful and grow a business in today’s market, value needs to be added to every acquisition.
“I look for value wherever there's value to be added at.”
7. Competition is the name of the game.
Whether it involves acquiring a store or assessing talent, staying competitive is key, explains Matt, which is part of the culture at Matt Bowers Automotive Group.
“I think that the number one most important quality, what I'm always looking for is I'm looking for people that are competitive. You know, it's easy to get used to losing…no matter what we do, we want to win.”
That sense of competitiveness applies to everything, from creative, out-of-the-box ads to aggressive social media strategies to his approach to promoting team members.
8. Operating car dealerships is unlike any other business.
A lot of people have gotten into the business who probably shouldn’t be in the business, and it shows in various facets of their operations, most notably store resells, Matt explains.
“This is an active operational business…there's also a line of work where you can go invest… (in)…apartment complexes or mini storage units…management matters 10%, right? It's about location. It's about a lot of stuff. Car dealerships, that's why institutional or non-operational ownership has struggled so greatly.”
To be successful in the business, dealers need to appreciate the risks, the people, and the processes, he adds.
9. Consumers still drive the business and will continue too, regardless of its changing dynamics.
Electric vehicles, struggling car brands, direct-to-consumer business models—the fate of it all lies in the hands of consumers, which is why dealers should focus on taking care of the business at hand, the fundamentals of their operations.
“…Ultimately the consumer decides, right? It's thumbs up or thumbs down…And so you asked me about the brands…? They could make big philosophical shifts that ultimately the consumer votes on. And if they make the wrong bets at the wrong time, yeah, everybody's in danger then.”
10. Growth in the business today requires having an open mind and always prioritizing people.
From technology to new sales methods, staying competitive requires leadership and management to be open to new ideas and suggestions from the team, explains Matt.
“Eventually, whatever you do has a shelf life and ends, and it becomes obsolete...the really successful people are the ones that evolve.”
However, he also believes that investing in new innovations should be done in “measured moderation.” And he prefers investing in people over new tech and innovations.
“If I have better people…then the people I compete against people, I will win. I will sell more cars, service more cars and people will be happier.”
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