Happy Sunday Everyone:
Have you ever taken a step back to consider the higher the caliber your friends are, the cooler the experience is when they introduce you to their friends? High calibers people hang out with high caliber people. I know I’ve repeated the quote from Jim Rohn 50 times on these but the concept of “you are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with” is truly worth consideration. It’s not always a motivational thought, it can also be a gut check and a need to recalibrate.
In this case I’m winning. One of those 5 people is my buddy, Don. He’s my 86-year-old friend I’ve been meeting with most Tuesdays for the past 20 years in my office. Don’s friend group is of the highest caliber. He’s spent his life pouring into everyone he knows, including me, and that has reverberated back to him in the quality of the friends he has. If you ever need something and you tell someone you’re a friend of Don, you can consider it done.
In my case, and the point of today’s thoughts, it’s about a car and a dealership. I needed a car, my lease was coming due, and it was time, as was my mom’s. Don had previously introduced me to a friend of his who has 10 dealerships. He’s 75 years old, highly successful at his craft but as caring as they come. He’s passionate about his name and reputation. I’ve now purchased/leased 4 cars from him. I call him ahead of time, tell him what I’m thinking, he puts me in contact with his people, and away I go. Incoming call from the dealership, knows me by name, has an idea what I’m looking for, clear communication and expectations, proactive all the way through.
Makes and models are of zero significance here but my mom’s was easy, mine has some issues. My car got scratched on the transfer, needed work to be done. I asked the guy “what would you do if you were me”. He says back “if I were you and I was getting a new car, I’d want a new car, not one that has to be fixed”. I appreciated the honesty even though it was probably a loser for the dealership. They gave me a free car for 3 weeks, found a new one for me, had it dropped off at my office, gave me a play by play on how it works, took the other car back, and away they went.
Fast forward to last Monday morning, I’m in a meeting but look down at my phone and the owner is calling me. “Hunter, how are the cars, how was the experience? I just wanted to call to tell you how much I appreciate the opportunity to work with you and your mom.” Now I’m going to remind you of 2 things, this guy is 75. and he owns 10 dealerships. He doesn’t need to be making individual calls to people buying cars from his dealerships, or does he? I’d venture to say the same reason he has 10 dealerships is because he’s making those calls. You might think you don’t want to be working at 75. I happen to know a bit of this guy’s life through Don, he has a great life, but a very important part of his life is the pride of ownership he has of representing his name, which is why those calls get made.
I have a few points here today:
- Great people introduce you to great people. Crap people introduce you to crap people. Serves as a reminder for me to be intentional on who I’m hanging out with. Also serves as a reminder of who I’m referring. Our referrals are a total reflection of us. Don referred me to Rick knowing everything would be handled.
- Most people reading this are in real estate/mortgage. Pride of ownership matters. Reverse the lens often on your client experience. How do your clients “feel” doing business with you.
- AI/emails/surveys/reviews will never replace an owner calling you (we are all owners). Don’t get me wrong, his dealerships are dialed. I started getting calls from his team when my lease was coming due, I was updated with automated systems/templates, I was asked about a review etc….BUT I also received a call from the owner. A genuine, appreciative, heartfelt, gratitude driven call from the owner. You can’t replace that single call. If he hadn’t called me, I wouldn’t have thought twice about it, everything was solid without him, but I wouldn’t be writing about the dealership today had I not received the call. It’s the difference between really good and freaking amazing. Systems make you really good, the personal human touch makes you amazing.
This was good timing for me as we consider our highest priorities for 2026, client experience being at the top of the list!