Training, Selling, and Succeeding on EVs with John Foley

Unknown: 0:00

You're listening to the asotu con sessions by Effectv live from asotu con 2024

‍Elena Ciccotelli: 0:08

All right, party people. We are at the EV segment of the show now, which I'm very excited about. My name is Elena cicatelli, oh stem, producer of the EVS for everyone podcast. And I am at a ASOTU CON, the coolest conference ever, and I am on the podcast, truly in collaboration with Effectv TV. Sitting across from me is the one and only John Foley, president of recharged. Let's hear it for John Foley. I mean, John Foley is a legend. So John Foley, how are you feeling?

John Foley: 0:46

I'm feeling good. How about you? I'm having a lot of fun. Oh, man,

Elena Ciccotelli: 0:50

this is, this is such a great time to be, yes, collaborating and having conversations, but also to be like in the trenches. And I want to spend a day at recharge with you, John Foley, because you are doing all the correct things and selling EVs, right because we are, the session is really called selling EVs right now. Yes, are you selling EVs? Right now?

John Foley: 1:13

We are selling EVs right now.

Elena Ciccotelli: 1:15

Let's check. Let's double check with Becca. Becca, where are you? Are you selling EVs? Right now? Yes, all right, we are selling EVs right now. So let's get to the meat of the conversation. If people don't understand how epically awesome you are, I need people to understand how amazing you are, John, so let's talk about recharged. Where did this idea come from? And when did you get started?

John Foley: 1:39

Sure I feel like I get asked this question specifically at asotu con, because that is where it was born. That's where the idea was born. I was, I was here at the first asotu con, kind of in between, you know, things and deciding what I was going to do next. And I had some ideas I was going to chase down, but all of a sudden I was watching a presentation and, you know, just kind of talking about the wave of of used EV inventory that was coming to market. And I was like, Man, this is it like, you know, tons of focus on the new car side, OEM driven, certainly, but like on the used car side, nobody's really focused on, you know, delivering the experience that a buyer might need to make the decision to buy a usdb. And I was like, I can do this. Like, this is a problem I can go solve. So that was it. I was off and running from there. That

Elena Ciccotelli: 2:30

was, that was the moment. That was the divine intervention of saying, like, this is the problem I'm gonna go and solve, and I'm gonna go solve it better than anyone else. Ooh, are those fighting words? Yeah. Listen, we are at a Soto con. So I don't know those are fighting words

John Foley: 2:48

I've got. I There are a lot of friends in this business who are on the same mission I'm on, and there's plenty for all of us, yes, and we all do well, because we're all doing well. And so, yeah, yeah,

Elena Ciccotelli: 3:01

yeah, we are. So I really, I want to get dialed into your your training that you kind of have your sales team go through, because every time I've either had you on my podcast, or you've been on the Soto podcast, or on the many stages we take the show on the road, you know, so on those occasions, you're always talking about how you are really able to get this buy in from your staff on this is, this is what we're here to do, and walk me through, if you can some of Those steps that you take to get your staff on board, get excited, and to really be almost like an advocate for the customer in this EV journey. And by the way, John invented the phrase EV curious, just FYI. Can we get a hand for for John like Evie, curious. I

John Foley: 4:03

think what I said is, I created a space for it to be okay, to

Elena Ciccotelli: 4:06

be EV, yes, that's right. That's right. You made it okay, yeah, listen, I

John Foley: 4:10

mean, there's not, like an off the shelf LMS out there for training. You know, used EV salespeople, right? And certainly there's, there's some, some stuff being built out there that will help our industry as a whole. So you know, if you spend time in the Experience Center with us, you'll find that there's like content streaming all the time. We're learning about, you know, all of the cars and whether new or used, and and hearing about some of the problems that people have had with ownership or whatever. But the thing that like is going to help me and help our, you know, customers who visit us is to have people who are just, like, naturally curious. And so, like, we don't come across anything that we don't want to, like, dig in and learn more about as a team. And so, you know, we're always learning, and we'll, we'll continue to always be learning. And it's like, who we are, but if, if the team that I have is not curious, then, like, it dies pretty quick and doesn't work well.

Elena Ciccotelli: 5:08

And also, to the tech on these vehicles changes pretty rapidly. And I imagine, like, everybody's got to I mean, whether you're you know, your specialty is used EVs. Or if you're selling new EVs, like, you need to be up on all of that education. Like, is there, is there any like way that you're able to keep that super streamlined in your team? You

John Foley: 5:35

know, early on, when we had a little bit more time, yeah, we would do like lunch and learns and so, you know, we would go out and learn all these things individually and then come back as a team, be like, I can't wait to share all the stuff I've learned, you know, and that. And that's great. But today, it's a little bit more fast paced, and so we're sharing those things in real time as fast as we can. And but, yeah, I mean, there is a lot like the the technology side, you know, we'll go spend a lot of time in these cars, you know, hands on, you know, driving, learning, testing, you know, really understanding, like, what the the buyers are ultimately going to be experiencing. So, yeah,

Elena Ciccotelli: 6:14

no. And I think the really, one of the biggest components that I keep hearing over and over and over again, and all of these interviews is butts in seats. Where's Michael Wheatley? Shout out to Michael Wheatley from recurrent Yes, butts in seats. That was one of the themes that came up today in one of the interviews. And it's like that, yes, it makes so much sense. It's like, you can't talk about an experience without having that actual experience. So is there any stories? I know you have one particular person at your store who is all about Evie, very excited. I think I forget what you said, what car he has that's like, well,

John Foley: 6:57

we've got, I mean, I would say everybody on our team is very Evie excited, and everybody comes from a different background. So I have, like, you know, a sales leader. He's been a director for me in the past. He's a bolt owner like you Yes, you know. And then I've got a, you know, one of my guys has a reformed technician, but he grew up as a technician, or I say, reformed technician, reformed ice owner. But he is, you know, he's, he's his background as a technician. And so he's very curious about, you know, the inner workings of of EVs, and constantly learning more and more about how they work. And yeah, and gets more excited every day.

Elena Ciccotelli: 7:41

So, yeah, no, well, so let's I'm gonna switch gears a little bit from your actual team to an episode. I'm going to harken back to an episode that we did at nada earlier this year. You said, Elena, I'm gonna give you the exclusive. Oh, exclusive. And John announced that, oh, we are opening up the dealer marketplace. So fast forward, so that was back in February. Fast forward to May. How is that going? What is it doing? And give us the update, sure.

John Foley: 8:17

The short version is, we're selling cars on the dealer marketplace, which is fantastic. So, you know, we, we began a pilot with a few dealer partners who are listing their inventory on recharge.com and and we're selling those cars for them. And it's been, it's been very exciting. You know, it's a different, it's a different process than selling a car that's right there on your lot, certainly, but, you know, we're prepared for it, and the dealers have been pumped. You know, when we call and we're like, hey, we just sold this car, and they're like, they didn't know how they were going to sell it, you know, and so they were excited to see it go. And so, yeah, it's been, it's been great so far. And here we go, here

Elena Ciccotelli: 8:58

we go, here we go. Yes, we are hitting the accelerator. Okay, so to close us out, I I know before we we hit the the podcast stage, we were chatting a little bit. We both have dogs, right? So we're both dog lovers. If your dog could choose any EV to ride in what EV would that be? You

John Foley: 9:24

know how they always say, like, owners and dogs, like, begin to like, look like each other. Oh, god. Are we gonna go down like my favorite, you know, EV to drive as the R 1t and I know that my dog would love to have his head hanging out the window of that so, like,

Elena Ciccotelli: 9:44

I think we're aligned there, yeah, and the dog's name is

John Foley: 9:47

Raider.

Elena Ciccotelli: 9:48

Raider. Like, like, Indiana, like, Raiders of the Lost Ark. No, Las

John Foley: 9:53

Vegas. Raiders. Oh,

Elena Ciccotelli: 9:56

my head. Is that? Oh, my gosh. Everybody give. A huge round of applause for John Foley,

Unknown: 10:07

thank you for listening to this. Asotu concession by Effectv. If you want more content like this, you can check out our other podcast. We have a daily show called The automotive troublemaker, Monday through Friday here on podcasts, also live streamed on YouTube and LinkedIn and Facebook. We also have a long form podcast called Auto collabs. Auto collabs. And if you just want to go a little deeper into this community, you should sign up for our regular email. We put our heart and soul into it. You can get it for free by going to asotu com. We'll see you next time you

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