Christopher Singleton, COO, Mike Terry Auto Group

Kyle Mountsier: 0:00This is In the Dirt with ASOTU.

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‍Paul Daly: 0:05

I don't hear my man Christopher Singleton, Sir, one of the best dressed men on the floor, I must say the least approach man. So I said, You look too good not want to be on camera. So you told me you just got to the floor. But tell the folks where you're from and a little bit about your story group.

Christopher Singleton: 0:20

Okay. I'm from Dallas, Texas.

Paul Daly: 0:23

Oh, wait a minute. You're from here? Yeah. You slept in your own bed last night.

Christopher Singleton: 0:27

Slept in my own bed, get to sleep in my own bed every night. I'm the CEO of the Mike Terry Auto Group. And so we're rapidly expanding. We've gotten six doors in the last three years. So we look forward to to keep growing and making it happen.

Paul Daly: 0:40

Okay, so you're rapidly expanding? I think this

Christopher Singleton: 0:41

I think the biggest thing is finding is a challenge that a lot of small groups turning to medium groups and medium groups or into large groups. It's a very common conversation amidst the mass consolidation. What do you what do you feel like are the most challenging things about acquiring stores and kind of bringing them together with your existing stores? quality people. So being able to find quality people we call it vin strength. So being able to have there vin strength to train, develop and really create the same culture microcosms of that culture at each one of your individual locations.

Paul Daly: 1:13

And so what would you say to small group about to acquire a store any practical things that you can give them going into the acquisition to prepare them well, to kind of like assimilate, bring the cultures together.

Christopher Singleton: 1:27

One of the biggest thing is, is creating an infrastructure and have systems in place that you can plug anybody into, and so have it to be successful. So I think, have a firm plan of where it is that you want to go and have systems and processes in place that you can plug any people into and make it work and I would say hire character and train skills so have high character people.

Paul Daly: 1:52

love that higher character train skill. One last question. What is one of the mistakes that you've made in integrating two stores that you've learned a lot from? And maybe we can avoid somebody else making the same mistake?

Christopher Singleton: 2:06

Well, there's there's an aphorism that says if it if it ain't broke, don't fix it. So I think allowing two different stores to operate autonomously within the group can essentially do more harm than good because you don't get synchronicity amongst all the stores. So I would say find a process that works unilaterally and make sure that you use that at all the stores and have the same culture and every single one of the stores. Same store, same process.

Paul Daly: 2:29

Well, Christopher, thanks for taking a few minutes in the best of luck to you the my target to have a great show. Thank you.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:34

Thank you for listening to In the Dirt with ASOTU. We love the automotive industry and the people who make it run day in and day out. We would love to connect with you more through our daily dose of fun, a free email that you can sign up for at ASOTU.com That's a s o t u.com. We put our heart and soul into it every day. Thanks again for listening. Join us next time for more Conversations in the dirt with ASOTU.

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