Exceed Your Customer's Curiosity with John Foley

Paul J Daly: 0:00

Have you ever tried to rhyme anything with Evie?

‍Unknown: 0:08

This is Auto Collabs Should

Kyle Mountsier: 0:10

we try? No?

Paul J Daly: 0:12

Well, I think everybody listening or watching is trying to do that. It's like you can't I mean Foley is like a stretch EVM only he VZ. BV. You know, we're trying to name a puppy that we got an Eevee we are literally we have we've gotten this. It's a it's a toy poodle. And he is tiny. And he looks like a little I don't know, it just looks like it doesn't even look real. He runs around. You don't hear it. It's like a ghost that runs through the house. But we've had Wally Eve, right II. Right. We're trying we literally have had this dog for a week and it doesn't have a name. And maybe Evie would be like a name for the doc that'll never so no, I

Michael Cirillo: 0:59

don't never stake it poops carbon you can't

Kyle Mountsier: 1:05

realize via Not really. I

Paul J Daly: 1:06

mean, like I've never seen a dog poop less than this one. It's amazing. It's like, it's not even like a cat. It's like we

Kyle Mountsier: 1:13

once had once had a loss of poo. That's a loss off. So to Toy Poodle sounds. Loss opposite loss of pues make Low Poo.

Paul J Daly: 1:22

What rhymes with that? I can't think of a better intro for today's guest. Hey, you get what you get on the show.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:31

Okay. We never promised anything good.

Paul J Daly: 1:37

No, but this is this is the more I mean, we've talked to John more than once. And every time we talk to John, you realize that there's just something else to learn about the people on the frontline selling EVs specifically, right? A lot of dealers are rolling them out and their learnings are incremental. I feel like people like John Foley and recharge who are on the ground every day selling only EVs always present something that none of us have gotten to yet, because they're doing it every day.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:03

I'm excited to see where he's at what he's been doing for the last few months since we talked last. And I hope you are too. I hope you enjoy this conversation with John Foley.

Paul J Daly: 2:14

John Foley, thank you so much for giving us some more of your time. It's good to be with you again.

John Foley: 2:18

Great to see you guys.

Paul J Daly: 2:20

All right, for the people who may not have seen you in previous content or don't know what you're up to. Why don't you give us like the 30/62 primer that way that'll kick us off into our conversation? Yeah, great.

John Foley: 2:32

I started recharged here the in the past year and recharged is we have a an Experience Center in Richmond, Virginia, where we sell used electric vehicles to include plug in hybrids. And we're trying to create an experience that exceeds your matches and exceeds what buyers are out there looking for.

Paul J Daly: 2:53

There you go. That's a good summary, as that's yeah, I

Kyle Mountsier: 2:55

feel like you've done that before. This is what I love. Actually, I think some at some point, we're gonna get Nathan, our producer, we're gonna get him to like, package up all of the conversations that we've had with you back to like a year and a half ago. And like, maybe we'll find some video of you walking into a soda con 2022, whatever that was. Yeah. And like this is actually just going to become a docu series of the the entrepreneurial path of a person starting an Eevee only used car operation, right? We'll get we'll get there. Why? Cuz you said like you're creating this experience. And you've said to me, you've created an experience centers and what you've named your showrooms. Why did that? Why did that become the like, the thing that you called that? Where did that come from?

John Foley: 3:43

Well, I think the the first thing like after I, you know, the idea that people were looking for some unique way to buy an electric vehicle that didn't exist today. You know, we're on the heels of room shutting down, and there's all sorts of online, you know, retailers that have stood up and stood back down. Buyers definitely want a unique experience. It's not just offering electric vehicles. It's not just the fact that we have multiple makes and models available to see that's going to make somebody choose to buy an electric vehicle for recharged. And so like once, once you wrap your mind around that, then it's like okay, well what are people looking for? And, you know, how can we really rise up and create that experience that that really exceeds even what they're they're hoping to find?

Paul J Daly: 4:35

The buyers that come in, are they what percentage of them are first time Evie buyers? And what percentage of them are like repeat Evie?

John Foley: 4:44

Yes, so I'd say that the repeat is not more than 10%

Paul J Daly: 4:51

Gotcha. So it's majority people who are just like, kind of EV curious and saying like, Hey, I've been hearing this. I've never never had one and I'm I'm want to buy my first Eevee. So percent. And

John Foley: 5:04

we and we kind of break that that bucket of Eevee curious into two buckets. So there's like, there's curious where, you know, I walk into recharge. And I really am just curious, like, could this work for me? You know, help me understand. And then there's Evie committed. So like, they're not a repeat buyer. They don't understand. Or they don't they have not, you know, they don't have a charger at home yet. They haven't been through all that. But they are 100% committed to buying an Eevee. Right?

Paul J Daly: 5:29

They're like, my next vehicle will be an Eevee. Yep, correct. Correct. And

John Foley: 5:33

that, so that buckets about split in half. But here's what we see. Anyway.

Paul J Daly: 5:38

Wow. Okay. So for the people who come in and are just curious, what are the questions they're asking? And? And like, what is the response to the way you address them? Because I know you you handle consumers in a very special way, when they come in your process? You probably get a lot of comments that it's different. But I'm sure there are a lot of people in dealers across the country walking in who you know, are Evie curious. And there's probably a lot of different things that happen. Majority is in my thought is probably the salesperson is like how can I get them on an ice vehicle as soon as possible?

Kyle Mountsier: 6:17

make this easier for me than it should be for them. Yes,

Paul J Daly: 6:20

exactly. But you don't have that option. So what does that look like when someone who's Evie curious walks in? And what are the questions are asking? And how are you starting to step them through that process?

John Foley: 6:31

Well, we want to exceed their curiosity. So we want to learn as much as possible about them. And you know, what is ownership going to look like for them, you'd be surprised that to learn that like buyers who come in who are either curious and have spent a little bit of time, they could still walk in and be on the wrong vehicle for the way that they're gonna own. You know, they're looking at a Volkswagen e golf that's got like, less than 100 miles of range. And then they start talking to us about their 80 mile commute. And realize, like, you gotta get back home, right?

Paul J Daly: 7:07

To generate generators that will fit right in the hatchback.

John Foley: 7:10

So we, you know, and that's the extreme example, but like, we don't want somebody to leave here and then be like, Oh, why did I do this? And what why didn't they give me better guidance? And so we really want to understand like, you know, how, what's what's driving gonna look like for this buyer? And how can we really help them, you know, find the right vehicle, a lot of buyers are aren't even aware of how many different makes and models of EVs are out there. So they know Tesla, they've heard plenty about Tesla. They pull them a lot here and they're like, holy cow. I didn't know Volkswagen and Volvo and like all these different EVs existed.

Kyle Mountsier: 7:46

I, like there's been three moments today in my life where I'm like, I'm buying a new T shirt. I'm printing stuff on it, and exceeding your curiosity. Good

Paul J Daly: 7:57

one. That one that just like,

Kyle Mountsier: 8:00

I'm stuck, I basically didn't hear the majority of what you said, How do I put this like in a freaking book or something? I'm like, exceed your customers curiosity. And that's how you become a guide on the process of purchasing. And that's like universal, that doesn't apply. That applies everywhere. How would someone exceed the curiosity of the purchaser in order to guide them along the purchase path and the way they should go? Like, I don't I don't really have a question. I just you blew my mind. I have before in my life. I don't know if you've said it before. But I feel like

Paul J Daly: 8:42

Exede I've you said it before. Is that like one of your

John Foley: 8:47

curiosity is very important. Like, that is something years ago that I picked up that you know, should be in

Kyle Mountsier: 8:53

your core values meeting exceed our customers curiosity, right? Like, that's huge.

Paul J Daly: 9:00

I get over this stuff.

Kyle Mountsier: 9:02

I can't get over. A reset you. I'm done. Um, what have you been along this journey? Because this is it's it's a landscape that you're really a pioneer. There's only like, two or three of people like you in the country that are doing the thing that you're doing, I mean, maybe five if you if you really go deep, right. It's really uncharted territories, and you know, all five of them, and I know that you talk to all of them, right? But like, how are you? What what are the pain points? What are the things have been hard and how are you dealing with this, like these massive market swings when it comes to inventory? Because that's, that's a dynamic that like the franchise dealers are not handling Well, and that's your entire business model. Yeah.

John Foley: 9:58

Yeah. So I think if you If you believe everything that you read, then EVs take a long time to sell. And if if they take a long time to sell, and they're having these massive swings, then it's probably difficult to get in bed with the idea that you could be successful selling them and being unprofitable doing. So. What I can tell you is that and, you know, again, we haven't been here for a full year, but we are selling cars, and under 30 days, they move very quickly, which is, you know, just pairing good, you know, operating basics with, you know, being prepared to sell EVs. And so, yeah, we don't, we don't see that, like, there are certainly cars that and we're hyper aware of what's going on and trying to look for signals that there could be shifts in pricing and, and move inventory as quickly as possible. But also understand, like, what inventories more difficult to get, not just the obvious, you know, today, finding a car that qualifies for the tax credit is huge. That's an easy one. But, you know, understanding at any given point, you know, does Tesla offer performance inventory? You know, and is that an opportunity? And in understanding the differences in battery capacity, etc. So, so yeah, those are, those are the things that we're keeping, you know, eyes on all the time. So

Paul J Daly: 11:26

John, you just, you just said that, like, you all, have it dialed in, you have a 30 day turn, pretty much, you understand even what's going to happen in the Eevee market. And you can see the indicators and make good buying decisions, um, good pricing decisions, you have extensive experience, like with car lots and before that, having been in where a lot of dealers are right now, in used car inventory, specifically, it seems that there's like a different set of rules here. So how come you can do it with the EVS and everyone else is having such a hard time.

John Foley: 11:59

I'm not suggesting that it's easy in this is 100% of my focus, and I can put my myself in the seat have an operator who's faced with managing regular ice inventory, and perhaps, you know, new cars, both ice and EVs, and then adding used EVs to the mix is a lot. And we have the benefit of just focusing solely on that at all times. But it's a great opportunity. And, you know, it would be hard for me, if I was to return to just a more traditional environment, and put myself in that use card desk to not, you know, consider adding use DVDs to my portfolio of inventory, because the opportunities, great people are looking for the experience they are considering, you know, lots of dealers when they when they, you know, look for the right car. So the opportunities are out there.

Kyle Mountsier: 12:54

I feel like if, if someone was really going to do that, right, I think back to the early 2000s. And back then basically, you had one, maybe two, maybe the larger dealerships had three, four or five people on an internet team, right? A lot of that's shifting these days where you have like, everybody works with everything in the internet, because it's just become more widely accepted. But I feel like there's an opportunity there to basically like create a little business within a business because of the focus that it takes like you've had, you've created a whole separate business. And it's like, hey, we might need an Eevee specialist team, like a manager that deals in EVs specifically, and a team that deals in educating our customers and providing insights on that. And maybe there's specific portions of our website that replicate some of the things that you're doing with recharge, because it really is right now at least currently, where we sit in the market, like it's a separate business unit, I think that's why Tesla succeeds is because their only business unit is educating and selling on an Eevee platform, right? Like that Ford is doing I

John Foley: 14:03

100% agree. And that's the exact approach I would take if it was if I was in that seat that I was I just described. As much as we know about EVs, like, I feel like we're constantly reminded there, you know, we probably only know a third of what we'd love to know. And we're constantly learning. And you definitely need somebody, you know, focused on that. What I see, you know, across the landscape are a lot of owners and, you know, dealer principals who are focused on the opportunity to understand that it exists and they want to participate in they're communicating, they're beginning to communicate more and more that they're bought in like they do see the USD or the EDI opportunity in general, however big that might be. But I don't think that's trickled down and I'm basing that on the the experiences that people are telling us when they come in and see us or call us that they've had out in the market. And it's very surprising like it's It's, it's it's rare places you wouldn't expect you would expect that the team was 100% dialed in. And and the experiences that are described are 100% not dialed in.

Kyle Mountsier: 15:12

So what's on the horizon for you? What we're what's the pivot to next? Or what's the next new exciting thing that you're working on? Because if I know anything, like entrepreneurs that get almost a year into things are always thinking about the next thing. What what are you excited about with recharged over the next year?

John Foley: 15:28

Yeah, I think as recharged stands today, we have a lot of opportunity still. And so you know, we've got some enhancements to recharge.com that are rolling out here in the next two or three weeks that we're excited about. But as we've gotten our arms around, you know how to manage this opportunity best, just see lots of possibilities to really expand recharge, certainly, like could go stand up, people are calling me all the time asking if you know, I'll sell franchises and let them open up in their town, because, you know, they love EVs, and they see the opportunity. But, you know, I think there's a lot of ways that I can support dealers to help them, you know, make that transition into, you know, into the TV world. And there are a lot of these us TVs that are coming to market. So

Paul J Daly: 16:17

what does that look like? You said ways you can support dealers, right? Like the one angle is kind of an independent angle, where you're opening more stores or selling franchises or all that the other angle is helping existing dealers that already have an operation up and running, get more in line to be able to sell, is that something you're talking more about right now? Or? Like the thoughts you have there? Or is it Yeah, I am in the embargo box for the moment?

John Foley: 16:39

No, I'd say pretty pretty, you know, far down the funnel at this point on, you know, exploring what that looks like. I'll keep pointing back that to the fact that like, the experience matters. And so, you know, I think I can, you know, build recharged.com to be like this fantastic place to find inventory and learn a lot about us DVS. And certainly, like, if I'm a dealer, and I go, man, let me let my car's there. If that's helping buyers, it will. But I don't know that they'll buy if the experience doesn't match behind behind it. And so, you know, I think I've got the opportunity to list those cars on the site, but also manage the experience, and help dealers move that inventory quickly and profitably, you know, to their benefit. But give buyers the experience they're looking for when you really think about like, how do we accelerate adoption? If that opportunity is out there? Then, you know, I can't I really feel like I can't at this time, just trust that everybody will buy in, and it's going to happen, but I can go make it happen. So yeah,

Paul J Daly: 17:43

I think that's the that's the entrepreneurs mantra right there. I can go make it. I can't think of a better way to end this podcast, John, as usual. Just spending time with you and hearing about your frontline experience, I think serves the entire industry in this brand new frontier, that everyone is kind of being pushed into, like you have to go across the line. So thanks for being a pioneer of being so open handed with you know what you're learning. And as always, thanks for being on Auto Collabs

Unknown: 18:11

yeah, thanks for having me goes.

Kyle Mountsier: 18:16

Right. I always had this thing that was like, I was so good. It's been a long time since I've sold cars like full time. That's true.

Paul J Daly: 18:26

You did as you did your marketing. Okay. Yeah. So automobiles

Kyle Mountsier: 18:33

when their gross profit and things. Yeah, not like EVs. I always had this conversation with customers. Like, I just want to find the vehicle that makes most sense to you that fits in your budget. And I wish I would have had the words to say, I want to be extremely curious about exactly what you need and want, right, that level of genuine intention around a customer and their needs and wants and how they perceive their buying experience. I think everybody can take that one to the bank because that's, that's, that's what people want. They want a guide that is so curious. That gives them the ability like if you I mean, have you guys ever been like scuba diving or down the Grand Canyon or anything like that? Nope. Okay, well, when you do those types of things, I'm

Paul J Daly: 19:27

curious enough about those two things.

Kyle Mountsier: 19:30

typically ask a lot of questions about you because they want to get to know how to interact with you even like whitewater rafting, like if I

Paul J Daly: 19:36

was gonna do it either. Those two are either those three things, specifically the first two, I would want them asking all the questions. I think like if I'm about to go underwater, I want them to know everything about me. But you know,

Michael Cirillo: 19:48

like, curiosity, though, there's something to this not just in marketing and human relationships, but like this is the curiosity is actually a tactic taught to like aristocrats and Monarchs Some stuff. That's why if you ever see footage, and now everyone's going to do this, if you ever see footage of like Queen Elizabeth or King Charles, they make statements in the form of curiosity, because it's all about just extracting information out of whoever you're talking to.

Paul J Daly: 20:14

I don't understand. Do you can you exhibit give us an example of that? Yeah, like I

Michael Cirillo: 20:19

go look up King Charles, he will, he will make an obvious statement. In the form of a curious question. He'll be like, oh, yeah, there's whitewater rafting is where everybody kills themselves isn't?

Paul J Daly: 20:34

Actually, you think about this, Michael, you had him on your podcast, but I'm thinking of Chris Voss. Right. Never split the difference. Yeah. When he when he says, You repeat back the last thing the person said to them, like with a question mark at the end, like, curious. Yeah. And then they're just like, let me give you an actually,

Michael Cirillo: 20:52

you know, if it was great to practice this on children, like practice it on your own children. Yeah. Because your kids will say stuff to you. They'll be like, Dad, you want to know what I did at school today? And you're like, you did something at school today? And they're like, yeah, let me tell you all about it at school today. Yeah. At school today. Yeah, exactly. And that's exactly the the curiosity method. I love it. It's great. I

Kyle Mountsier: 21:11

love it. Well, I had a ton of fun with this conversation with John folio if you did too. On behalf of Paul J. Daly, Michael Cirillo, and myself, Kyle Mountsier. Thanks for joining us here on Auto Collabs. We'll see you next time. Sign

Unknown: 21:23

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