Brian Benstock, Partner, General Manager & Vice President, Paragon Honda and Acura

March 1, 2023
ASOTU was on the ground during the 2023 NADA Show and caught up with Brian Benstock.
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Brian Benstock is the Partner, General Manager & Vice President of Paragon Honda & Acura.


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

Brian Benstock: 0:02

Where's the SEAL team.

Kyle Mountsier: 0:06

You lost them.

Paul Daly: 0:08

I can't keep up. Oh, man, you can't keep up. Back down there.

Brian Benstock: 0:12

Okay, well hang out on the plane what

Paul Daly: 0:14

What does Benstock say to Benstock when he says why are you so popular?

Brian Benstock: 0:17

You know, you sell a lot of cars you popular you don't? You don't? Yeah,

Paul Daly: 0:21

but there are a lot of people that sell a lot of cars that aren't popular. There's something else.

Brian Benstock: 0:24

You know, I think my love for the industry comes out. I love the industry. I love giving back to the industry. I think competition is great. It's an illusion, and it's against co competition toe is we're not against. I know, guys, you can't do competition without someone else. And the past, runners run with the past or run, right? Yeah, the stronger the people that I trained with, the stronger I get as mentally physically in the other way. So I want to surround myself with the best people I can. And then look at those competitors to see to competitors, right? When I was running you always wanted to do not to be better than them. But to be better than we used to be where you're at

Paul Daly: 1:07

or used to. It's like a track star. You only competing you vs you every day. All right, I want to ask you a serious question. Well, these are all serious questions. Everybody's talking about the energy, the show, blah, blah, blah, 2023. If you could encourage your fellow Honda Dealers to focus on one thing, what are you going to have focus on

Brian Benstock: 1:25

Fix the floor change salespeople? It's the biggest opportunity we have. Everybody wants more conversions, right? Everybody wants more leads, but their conversion rates abysmal. When you when I look at the number of leads that come to Paragonhonda.com, look at the job that we're doing. I'm so excited because the upside is so great. Yes, I know a dealer that's got 40,000 leads a month or people unique visitors to his website data. And he's selling 100 calls a month, right? So so the rational person has what's happening to all those people, what can I do to fix that. And in that case, if you get a one or 2% increase in conversion, or if you have a big outcome on the bottom line. So I think that's where the battle is going to be won, it's 2023, it's going to be on the show for as salespeople are now getting used to having to work, and they're frustrated and making less money. Not as engaged and as motivated. And our job is gonna be that much harder, keeping them their head in the game. And the way you do that is by growth. Every single person wants to grow financially, mentally, physically, every other way. So if we can provide the resources for them to grow, I think we'll have better retention and never have to worry about recruiting somebody, because your salespeople will be recruiting people. Yeah, hey, I work in Paragon Honda, it's great to be the best place in the world. You know, last year, I mean, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you do a lot. You can't even tie your own shoes. That's right. And in fact, is the referral code not only indicated, come join us at the team, they're gonna train you and they know that that's a good investment. But like people like yeah, and certainly I think that's really back to basics. It's an answer. And the biggest sticking point is still the chips and gone long divided. salespersons got trained, knowledgeable. So I think that's, that's where we'll

Paul Daly: 3:22

fix the floor.

Brian Benstock: 3:23

We'll fix the floor.

Paul Daly: 3:24

Get your T shirt that says that right on. It's not a bad t shirt. Fix the floor. You should get those fixed. Yeah, we gotta get you know, Brian, thank you for interviewing yourself. It makes our job really easy. So we'll see you. Well just look for the tornado in the show floor. Well, no, that's where you are right on the flying. The best guy

Kyle Mountsier: 3:46

Thank you for listening to in the dirt with a soda. 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 a soda.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 a soda

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