February 18, 2025 • 15 mins
Richard Klaben, CEO of the Klaben Auto Stores Richard Klaben has been the CEO of the Klaben Auto Stores since 2010, but active in the business since 1974 when he began detailing cars for the founder of the business – his father, Albert Klaben Sr. Throughout the years, Richard worked in various positions with responsibilities for every facet of the business. The Klaben Auto Stores currently represent Ford, Lincoln, Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and Ram franchises in multiple locations in northeast Ohio with close to 300 employees.
Richard is often heard saying, “titles represent responsibilities, not rank, as every team member, starting with me, is a customer service representative.” Like his father, he remains committed to a business model recognizing customers & team members (PEOPLE) as the foundation of their success. Richard is at work every day leading by example and adhering to the core tenets of that business model, hard work, respect, empathy, integrity, and a genuine concern for others.
Richard is often heard saying, “titles represent responsibilities, not rank, as every team member, starting with me, is a customer service representative.” Like his father, he remains committed to a business model recognizing customers & team members (PEOPLE) as the foundation of their success. Richard is at work every day leading by example and adhering to the core tenets of that business model, hard work, respect, empathy, integrity, and a genuine concern for others.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A CEO you should know, a guy that I've known
for years. In full disclosure, I have been a customer,
we have been a partner in so many different ways.
But I wanted to spend a few minutes with my
good friend rich Claven and talk about different layers of
the name Claban, talk about the business, the family, and
tell you what if you run a company, you run
an organization, you run a department, You're going to learn something.
I think from our conversation the next few minutes. A
(00:22):
CEO you should know Rich Clabn. Richard Claban has been
the CEO of the Clebonado stores since twenty ten, but
active in the business since nineteen seventy four, when he
began detailing cars for the founder of the business, his father,
Albert Clabn Senior. Throughout the years, Richard worked in various
positions with responsibilities for every facet of the business. The
(00:45):
Cleabanado stores currently represent Ford, Lincoln, Chrysler, Ge, Dodge, and
RAM franchises and multiple locations in Northeast Ohio with close
to three hundred employees. Richard is often heard saying quote
titles represent responsibilities, not rank, as every team member starting
with me is a customer service representative. Like his father,
(01:09):
he remains committed to a business model recognizing customers and
team members people as the foundation of their success. Richard
does at work every day, leading by example and adhering
to the core tenets of that business model hard work, respect, empathy, integrity,
and a genuine concern for others. So the name Klabn
(01:31):
is on the dealership. I went back and looked. I
printed a couple of things two thousand and six headlined
klaban Ford still cruising in Kent after twenty five years.
Twenty thirteen I found another article Claven out of Motive
Group in Kent marks forty years. In other words, that
Claban name been around a long time, started by your dad.
(01:52):
Talk about that. First he came what early seventies, I.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Think nineteen seventy three. We came from upstate New York,
came to Akron, Ohio.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
He was a car dealer there and then had the
opportunity to come to Akron.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Who was actually working for a car dealer there and
was wanted to get his own his own business, And
an opportunity came up in Akron, and before we knew it,
Dad was commuting back and forth and we moved in
(02:26):
after the school year.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Growing up, I'm the son of a school superintendent and
a teacher. So growing up, the only question was Bill,
are you going to teach history or math? Have you
decided yet? Did the same thing with my brother Now,
my brother went in that line of business, the family business,
as we always say, I went into radio. You might
debate if that was a good decision growing up. Was
the car business always something you just figured you would
(02:48):
do because you were it was in the family.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
No, actually, it was just the opposite. My dad pushed
us out of the business. It was important that we
got our education and it was important that that we
went in a direction where we wanted to go, where
there is desire. So he basically pushed us out. He
made it very clear that there wasn't a birthright. Just
(03:13):
because your last name was Claven doesn't mean that you
have a job. In fact, if anything, it actually raises
the bar. So for my brothers and I, especially the
one brother and either are still in the day to
day operations, We found that we became a passion. It
became something that we really wanted to do. Saw that
we could make a difference.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Uh No.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Two days are the same, a lot of opportunity and
and it's the people.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
It's the people side of it.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
You don't, we don't, you know, there's no the challenging, challenging,
the challenges and the opportunities. But one of the underlying
drivers was was with with my dad and what we
learned was that when you're running a business, it's not
a it's it's a family business, but not in the
(04:03):
way that it's the Cleven family. It's the family of
people that work there. Well said, we have an obligation,
we have a responsibility for everybody wh works there. We
can't do it by ourselves.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah. So for you know, for.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
The model has always been to be a very large
small business and never lose sight of the fact that
that's what separates us and what distinguishes us. So, yeah,
it was it was a model that that there was
a lot of fifty years ago. Today there's not so much.
But for us to stay in the business, we're going
(04:37):
to continue this model, which is it's a small business,
but it's a pretty large small business.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Plenty of stories over the years of people that have
built a company up and they look at the kids
and they they the whole time thing the kid wants
to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So there's the great stories.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
About you know, if you want to ruin your business,
hand it off to your kid. If they don't want
to do it, they don't want to do it, no
matter what the business is, don't get me wrong. And
I want to pick up on that point to go.
Let's say people listening to this that have kids involved
in business. I have seen for myself and being around
the dealership. If one of the Klayman kids, if you will,
your son's daughters come in, they're not right up front
(05:11):
at the desk, they're learning everything.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And did you do that coming up?
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, yes.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
We started at the vote very lowest point and worked
through different departments and there was never any assumption that
this is what we were going to do. We all
we all finished our education, and you know, I think
we gravitated back towards the business, not because it was easy,
but because it was challenging, because we we did see
that it was where it was always you were always learning.
(05:41):
So yeah, it was multiple departments. We were never uh
in a in a a supervisory position until we had
much experience, and we were we were no different than
anybody else that was working there. In fact, if anything,
the buyer was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
A little high, a little higher for you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Look, every company, I want to say this the right
the way. I had heard of a great speech on
the people at Sure Williams a couple of months ago,
head of Sure Williams talking about sales, and his point was,
everybody in our company sells paint. The person making it
may not be the exact person who was doing the transaction,
but we're all in sales because that's what we as
a business. You've got to sell product, you know, in
(06:19):
the car business, you've got service, and we'll talk about
that something. I'm just curious you eventually get in sales.
Do you remember the first sale you did on your
own or you ran and found the sales manager and
said he helped me here.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Do you remember that? Yes? They did. Was it a
couple on a Friday night or what?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Now it was a it was during the week, and
it was a it was a Dodge truck, and I
thought it was going to be a lot harder than
it was. But it was all about building a relationship.
They get a customer happy, comfortable, and it's uh but yes,
but we you know you you mentioned, uh, you know
(06:55):
that everybody's in sales.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
So the way we look at it.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Is is that that everybody that works at the store
is equally important because we're all customer service representatives. So
I know, I know you've probably noticed we don't have
titles on our name tags, we don't have titles on
our business cards. And that was something that was that
was taught to me at an early age. You know,
the stripes on your shoulder or the or the title
(07:22):
on your business card are meaningless. We are all customer
service representatives. We are all equal. We all have the
equal ability to excel and do well, and we all
have the same the same ability to fail, but we
have to It only works if the if the team
is working as a team. So it's a family business,
but it's not a family business. It's the it's the
(07:42):
business family working together. And to this day, we don't
have the Only thing that a title does is it
defines your responsibilities. But uh, we we are all equal
when it comes to being that if you will being
in sales, because ultimately, you know, we have to make
a difference for the customer.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I mentioned the two articles and the fortieth anniversary and
one written about the twenty fifth. I went through both
of them highlighted the thing I could count the word
loyalty in both articles because you talk about that a lot,
and I think you've built that relationship over the years
with people when it comes to a car. You know,
I've seen it for myself and my family, my son,
or when I'm at the dealership and I talk to
(08:24):
customers that are there. It's not just the first car.
It's a generational thing.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
You want. You want that person's business long term, don't you.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Absolutely there's no guarantee, but you definitely want to set
it up so that you're on the consideration list. So
you you you want to build relationships where people can
trust you, they don't owe you anything, and it it's
but it's again, it's the every employee, every part of
the Clayman family business is building their individual relationships.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
In fact that what.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We what we what we train, and what we tell
our folks is is we want you to do such
a great job, and we're going to give you the
resources to take care of the customer and to do
it the right way. Does customer always know, but they're
looking for a relationship as well, but we're going to
give you all the resources, all the training, so that
if you leave here and go somewhere else, all your
(09:16):
customers are going to follow you because that's who they're
buying from. They're buying from an individual, They're dealing with,
somebody they know when they trust, they're having the vehicle
service with the same service advice that they've been dealing
with for fifteen years because they're comfortable and they trust
that person. My job is to make sure they have
the resources to retain that trust.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Maybe I oversimplify it, and with all due respect to
everyone in the sales profession, in a way, I think
a good salesperson can probably sell about any product. It's
about the relationship. Are you smart to build a relationship
with a client, a customer? What do they need? I
happen to be in the car business or I happen
to be in the airplane business. You know, know what
you're doing. But that relationship, that's what it's about, right,
(09:56):
Absolutely those levels.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So if there's too many selling models out there which
are not customer driven, we like to look at it
this way. I want I want to be your advocate,
even if that means you're buying something somewhere else. I
want to give you the tools. I want to be
your your go to person, and we want That's what
we want our team members to be. It's something we
strive for and it's no different than what we would
(10:18):
expect if we're in the You know, we're consumers. We
know what it feels like to be a consumer. Why
would we treat somebody different than the way we'd want
to be treated when we're a consumer.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I want to talk about the future here in a minute,
but first the transactional business of cars nowadays.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I wrote down some notes.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You know, nowadays you've got not just a choice of
how you finance, you want to buy or lease, which
is popular, and different options.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
How do you want to power the vehicle with evs?
It's so exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
There was a time and I don't want to date ourselves,
but we debated, do you want air conditioning on this car?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Not right? I mean, it's going to be another thousand
bucks of my wife and I look at you. Well,
we always hit a.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Car, you think, why you just roll the windows down.
We'll be okay, we'll save some money. Yeah, now it's standard.
Now you got the backup cameras and everything else. But
all those different selections and choices are where as you
talk about being an advocate, you want to advocate for
the customer and and do what's right by them right absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
You know, even if you're let's say you're leased in
a vehicle every three years, it's still a long time
three years. So what you want to do is, you know,
when I'm a consumer, when I'm when I'm out there
buying something, I have to rely on you. You're the professional,
you know, so I have to trust you, and I
want you to be my advocate. I want you to
stir me in the right direction. And that's what we
(11:30):
try to do. Obviously, you know, we were selling our product,
but we we're much more interested in you being a
satisfied customer than driving our car today. And that's that's
a long term outlook, and it's just it's again it's
treating people the way you'd want to be treated, establishing
(11:50):
a We we have a whole lot of customers that
have other cars that are driveway and in their garage.
There's no there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
It's not you know, you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
The there's a lot of options today right, so you
got you know, you can go Hybridge, you can do evs,
so we're not going to polarize it. You know what
I may be passionate about. You may think I'm crazy.
We need to be your advocate, not selling what we
want to sell, but help you make it, make a
good decision, even if that means not buying something rich Claven.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Let's talk about current and future some the product line
you have Route fifty nine Kent. You see the big, old,
beautiful American flag as you come over the little hill
there if you're coming from the from the west. The
investment you've made, I know over the years on the
Ford side has been impressive recently years and impressive investment
on the Chrysler Jeep, Dodge Rams side if you will,
(12:43):
I know, you get some some EV stations there and Lincoln.
So I want to get to all those. But let
me talk about Jeep here first, because that we've been
seeing around Ken if you go by the dealership much.
That's been a heck of a project the last couple
of years.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
First, yes, yes, it was as a huge project and
no really, you know it's it's a for me showroom
space isn't as important as maybe it was in the past,
is you know, people don't have to spend as much
time in a showroom. The thing with Jeep is it's
the most recognized brand in the world. If somebody sees
that that grill with the Jeep on the front of it,
(13:18):
I don't care what country, and they know what it is.
And there's always going to be ups and downs, but
it's a phenomenal brand. So just like our business, you know,
we're looking for that long term the the you know
we're selling forwards, that's a you know, they started in
nineteen oh three. There's there's definitely strength in the brand.
So we invest in the brands we have. We want
(13:41):
to be big enough to take care of every customer
in the best way possible, but small enough that we
still have that that personal service.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
And you're starting to see or will soon the Lincoln brand,
and my goodness, I know you've been so proud to
carry a Lincoln for many, many years and a big
reinvestment on your part. Lincoln truly has done a big
reinvestment in the line of vehicles they're adding and showing
in the luxury market, and that's something you've invested into
for the future right.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Absolutely another brand, it's over one hundred years old. But
most importantly, with the direction that Lincoln has taken, we've
been motivated to to make the investment and be a
big part of it. A smaller dealer body, but a
stronger dealer body in phenomenal, phenomenal product.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Rich Claveman gets you out of here on this. You're
in the car business. You've got three hundred or so employees.
It's an impressive number for another business owner listening to
this this morning. You know, sometimes you don't have all
the answers. You shut your door maybe and wonder what
I'm going to go tell that person later on. Give
me just a couple of words of advice. If you
(14:47):
could talk to Rich CLAYBN thirty years ago, or if
you could talk to a young manager nowadays, do you
still try and keep it simple?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yes, so the things that have been reinforced in that
some times you have to remind yourself about you have
to look in the mirror and remember the number one.
Your common sense is usually right. And if something's too
good to be true, it probably is. And there's no
substitute for hard work. And whether you have twenty employees
or two hundred employees. You have some phenomenal resources there,
(15:20):
and every one of them can do something better than
I can. Every one of them can offer a perspective
sometimes that you know, maybe I'm getting a little bit
tunnel vision. And so listen, listen, don't throw your common
sense out the window. And remember, you know, is this
better for the customer?
Speaker 1 (15:39):
CEO, you should know and I think you know why now,
Rich Cleven the Clebnato stores, friend partner, Thank
Speaker 2 (15:46):
You, Thank you,
A CEO you should know, a guy that I've known
for years. In full disclosure, I have been a customer,
we have been a partner in so many different ways.
But I wanted to spend a few minutes with my
good friend rich Claven and talk about different layers of
the name Claban, talk about the business, the family, and
tell you what if you run a company, you run
an organization, you run a department, You're going to learn something.
I think from our conversation the next few minutes. A
(00:22):
CEO you should know Rich Clabn. Richard Claban has been
the CEO of the Clebonado stores since twenty ten, but
active in the business since nineteen seventy four, when he
began detailing cars for the founder of the business, his father,
Albert Clabn Senior. Throughout the years, Richard worked in various
positions with responsibilities for every facet of the business. The
(00:45):
Cleabanado stores currently represent Ford, Lincoln, Chrysler, Ge, Dodge, and
RAM franchises and multiple locations in Northeast Ohio with close
to three hundred employees. Richard is often heard saying quote
titles represent responsibilities, not rank, as every team member starting
with me is a customer service representative. Like his father,
(01:09):
he remains committed to a business model recognizing customers and
team members people as the foundation of their success. Richard
does at work every day, leading by example and adhering
to the core tenets of that business model hard work, respect, empathy, integrity,
and a genuine concern for others. So the name Klabn
(01:31):
is on the dealership. I went back and looked. I
printed a couple of things two thousand and six headlined
klaban Ford still cruising in Kent after twenty five years.
Twenty thirteen I found another article Claven out of Motive
Group in Kent marks forty years. In other words, that
Claban name been around a long time, started by your dad.
(01:52):
Talk about that. First he came what early seventies, I.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Think nineteen seventy three. We came from upstate New York,
came to Akron, Ohio.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
He was a car dealer there and then had the
opportunity to come to Akron.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
Who was actually working for a car dealer there and
was wanted to get his own his own business, And
an opportunity came up in Akron, and before we knew it,
Dad was commuting back and forth and we moved in
(02:26):
after the school year.
Speaker 1 (02:28):
Growing up, I'm the son of a school superintendent and
a teacher. So growing up, the only question was Bill,
are you going to teach history or math? Have you
decided yet? Did the same thing with my brother Now,
my brother went in that line of business, the family business,
as we always say, I went into radio. You might
debate if that was a good decision growing up. Was
the car business always something you just figured you would
(02:48):
do because you were it was in the family.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
No, actually, it was just the opposite. My dad pushed
us out of the business. It was important that we
got our education and it was important that that we
went in a direction where we wanted to go, where
there is desire. So he basically pushed us out. He
made it very clear that there wasn't a birthright. Just
(03:13):
because your last name was Claven doesn't mean that you
have a job. In fact, if anything, it actually raises
the bar. So for my brothers and I, especially the
one brother and either are still in the day to
day operations, We found that we became a passion. It
became something that we really wanted to do. Saw that
we could make a difference.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Uh No.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
Two days are the same, a lot of opportunity and
and it's the people.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
It's the people side of it.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
You don't, we don't, you know, there's no the challenging, challenging,
the challenges and the opportunities. But one of the underlying
drivers was was with with my dad and what we
learned was that when you're running a business, it's not
a it's it's a family business, but not in the
(04:03):
way that it's the Cleven family. It's the family of
people that work there. Well said, we have an obligation,
we have a responsibility for everybody wh works there. We
can't do it by ourselves.
Speaker 3 (04:13):
Yeah. So for you know, for.
Speaker 2 (04:16):
The model has always been to be a very large
small business and never lose sight of the fact that
that's what separates us and what distinguishes us. So, yeah,
it was it was a model that that there was
a lot of fifty years ago. Today there's not so much.
But for us to stay in the business, we're going
(04:37):
to continue this model, which is it's a small business,
but it's a pretty large small business.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Plenty of stories over the years of people that have
built a company up and they look at the kids
and they they the whole time thing the kid wants
to do it.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
So there's the great stories.
Speaker 1 (04:50):
About you know, if you want to ruin your business,
hand it off to your kid. If they don't want
to do it, they don't want to do it, no
matter what the business is, don't get me wrong. And
I want to pick up on that point to go.
Let's say people listening to this that have kids involved
in business. I have seen for myself and being around
the dealership. If one of the Klayman kids, if you will,
your son's daughters come in, they're not right up front
(05:11):
at the desk, they're learning everything.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
And did you do that coming up?
Speaker 1 (05:15):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Yeah, yes.
Speaker 2 (05:18):
We started at the vote very lowest point and worked
through different departments and there was never any assumption that
this is what we were going to do. We all
we all finished our education, and you know, I think
we gravitated back towards the business, not because it was easy,
but because it was challenging, because we we did see
that it was where it was always you were always learning.
(05:41):
So yeah, it was multiple departments. We were never uh
in a in a a supervisory position until we had
much experience, and we were we were no different than
anybody else that was working there. In fact, if anything,
the buyer was.
Speaker 3 (05:56):
A little high, a little higher for you. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Look, every company, I want to say this the right
the way. I had heard of a great speech on
the people at Sure Williams a couple of months ago,
head of Sure Williams talking about sales, and his point was,
everybody in our company sells paint. The person making it
may not be the exact person who was doing the transaction,
but we're all in sales because that's what we as
a business. You've got to sell product, you know, in
(06:19):
the car business, you've got service, and we'll talk about
that something. I'm just curious you eventually get in sales.
Do you remember the first sale you did on your
own or you ran and found the sales manager and
said he helped me here.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Do you remember that? Yes? They did. Was it a
couple on a Friday night or what?
Speaker 2 (06:33):
Now it was a it was during the week, and
it was a it was a Dodge truck, and I
thought it was going to be a lot harder than
it was. But it was all about building a relationship.
They get a customer happy, comfortable, and it's uh but yes,
but we you know you you mentioned, uh, you know
(06:55):
that everybody's in sales.
Speaker 3 (06:56):
So the way we look at it.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
Is is that that everybody that works at the store
is equally important because we're all customer service representatives. So
I know, I know you've probably noticed we don't have
titles on our name tags, we don't have titles on
our business cards. And that was something that was that
was taught to me at an early age. You know,
the stripes on your shoulder or the or the title
(07:22):
on your business card are meaningless. We are all customer
service representatives. We are all equal. We all have the
equal ability to excel and do well, and we all
have the same the same ability to fail, but we
have to It only works if the if the team
is working as a team. So it's a family business,
but it's not a family business. It's the it's the
(07:42):
business family working together. And to this day, we don't
have the Only thing that a title does is it
defines your responsibilities. But uh, we we are all equal
when it comes to being that if you will being
in sales, because ultimately, you know, we have to make
a difference for the customer.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
I mentioned the two articles and the fortieth anniversary and
one written about the twenty fifth. I went through both
of them highlighted the thing I could count the word
loyalty in both articles because you talk about that a lot,
and I think you've built that relationship over the years
with people when it comes to a car. You know,
I've seen it for myself and my family, my son,
or when I'm at the dealership and I talk to
(08:24):
customers that are there. It's not just the first car.
It's a generational thing.
Speaker 3 (08:29):
You want. You want that person's business long term, don't you.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
Absolutely there's no guarantee, but you definitely want to set
it up so that you're on the consideration list. So
you you you want to build relationships where people can
trust you, they don't owe you anything, and it it's
but it's again, it's the every employee, every part of
the Clayman family business is building their individual relationships.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
In fact that what.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
We what we what we train, and what we tell
our folks is is we want you to do such
a great job, and we're going to give you the
resources to take care of the customer and to do
it the right way. Does customer always know, but they're
looking for a relationship as well, but we're going to
give you all the resources, all the training, so that
if you leave here and go somewhere else, all your
(09:16):
customers are going to follow you because that's who they're
buying from. They're buying from an individual, They're dealing with,
somebody they know when they trust, they're having the vehicle
service with the same service advice that they've been dealing
with for fifteen years because they're comfortable and they trust
that person. My job is to make sure they have
the resources to retain that trust.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
Maybe I oversimplify it, and with all due respect to
everyone in the sales profession, in a way, I think
a good salesperson can probably sell about any product. It's
about the relationship. Are you smart to build a relationship
with a client, a customer? What do they need? I
happen to be in the car business or I happen
to be in the airplane business. You know, know what
you're doing. But that relationship, that's what it's about, right,
(09:56):
Absolutely those levels.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
So if there's too many selling models out there which
are not customer driven, we like to look at it
this way. I want I want to be your advocate,
even if that means you're buying something somewhere else. I
want to give you the tools. I want to be
your your go to person, and we want That's what
we want our team members to be. It's something we
strive for and it's no different than what we would
(10:18):
expect if we're in the You know, we're consumers. We
know what it feels like to be a consumer. Why
would we treat somebody different than the way we'd want
to be treated when we're a consumer.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I want to talk about the future here in a minute,
but first the transactional business of cars nowadays.
Speaker 3 (10:33):
I wrote down some notes.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
You know, nowadays you've got not just a choice of
how you finance, you want to buy or lease, which
is popular, and different options.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
How do you want to power the vehicle with evs?
It's so exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
There was a time and I don't want to date ourselves,
but we debated, do you want air conditioning on this car?
Speaker 3 (10:48):
Not right? I mean, it's going to be another thousand
bucks of my wife and I look at you. Well,
we always hit a.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Car, you think, why you just roll the windows down.
We'll be okay, we'll save some money. Yeah, now it's standard.
Now you got the backup cameras and everything else. But
all those different selections and choices are where as you
talk about being an advocate, you want to advocate for
the customer and and do what's right by them right absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
You know, even if you're let's say you're leased in
a vehicle every three years, it's still a long time
three years. So what you want to do is, you know,
when I'm a consumer, when I'm when I'm out there
buying something, I have to rely on you. You're the professional,
you know, so I have to trust you, and I
want you to be my advocate. I want you to
stir me in the right direction. And that's what we
(11:30):
try to do. Obviously, you know, we were selling our product,
but we we're much more interested in you being a
satisfied customer than driving our car today. And that's that's
a long term outlook, and it's just it's again it's
treating people the way you'd want to be treated, establishing
(11:50):
a We we have a whole lot of customers that
have other cars that are driveway and in their garage.
There's no there's nothing wrong with that.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
It's not you know, you mentioned.
Speaker 2 (12:00):
The there's a lot of options today right, so you
got you know, you can go Hybridge, you can do evs,
so we're not going to polarize it. You know what
I may be passionate about. You may think I'm crazy.
We need to be your advocate, not selling what we
want to sell, but help you make it, make a
good decision, even if that means not buying something rich Claven.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Let's talk about current and future some the product line
you have Route fifty nine Kent. You see the big, old,
beautiful American flag as you come over the little hill
there if you're coming from the from the west. The
investment you've made, I know over the years on the
Ford side has been impressive recently years and impressive investment
on the Chrysler Jeep, Dodge Rams side if you will,
(12:43):
I know, you get some some EV stations there and Lincoln.
So I want to get to all those. But let
me talk about Jeep here first, because that we've been
seeing around Ken if you go by the dealership much.
That's been a heck of a project the last couple
of years.
Speaker 2 (12:55):
First, yes, yes, it was as a huge project and
no really, you know it's it's a for me showroom
space isn't as important as maybe it was in the past,
is you know, people don't have to spend as much
time in a showroom. The thing with Jeep is it's
the most recognized brand in the world. If somebody sees
that that grill with the Jeep on the front of it,
(13:18):
I don't care what country, and they know what it is.
And there's always going to be ups and downs, but
it's a phenomenal brand. So just like our business, you know,
we're looking for that long term the the you know
we're selling forwards, that's a you know, they started in
nineteen oh three. There's there's definitely strength in the brand.
So we invest in the brands we have. We want
(13:41):
to be big enough to take care of every customer
in the best way possible, but small enough that we
still have that that personal service.
Speaker 1 (13:50):
And you're starting to see or will soon the Lincoln brand,
and my goodness, I know you've been so proud to
carry a Lincoln for many, many years and a big
reinvestment on your part. Lincoln truly has done a big
reinvestment in the line of vehicles they're adding and showing
in the luxury market, and that's something you've invested into
for the future right.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Absolutely another brand, it's over one hundred years old. But
most importantly, with the direction that Lincoln has taken, we've
been motivated to to make the investment and be a
big part of it. A smaller dealer body, but a
stronger dealer body in phenomenal, phenomenal product.
Speaker 1 (14:27):
Rich Claveman gets you out of here on this. You're
in the car business. You've got three hundred or so employees.
It's an impressive number for another business owner listening to
this this morning. You know, sometimes you don't have all
the answers. You shut your door maybe and wonder what
I'm going to go tell that person later on. Give
me just a couple of words of advice. If you
(14:47):
could talk to Rich CLAYBN thirty years ago, or if
you could talk to a young manager nowadays, do you
still try and keep it simple?
Speaker 3 (14:53):
What do you think?
Speaker 2 (14:56):
Yes, so the things that have been reinforced in that
some times you have to remind yourself about you have
to look in the mirror and remember the number one.
Your common sense is usually right. And if something's too
good to be true, it probably is. And there's no
substitute for hard work. And whether you have twenty employees
or two hundred employees. You have some phenomenal resources there,
(15:20):
and every one of them can do something better than
I can. Every one of them can offer a perspective
sometimes that you know, maybe I'm getting a little bit
tunnel vision. And so listen, listen, don't throw your common
sense out the window. And remember, you know, is this
better for the customer?
Speaker 1 (15:39):
CEO, you should know and I think you know why now,
Rich Cleven the Clebnato stores, friend partner, Thank
Speaker 2 (15:46):
You, Thank you,
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