The automotive industry continues to evolve through new technology, changing customer expectations, and shifting workforce needs, but dealership success still depends on people, trust, and consistent execution. During her appearance on the What the Fixed Ops?! podcast, Erica Bruno-Martin, senior director of key accounts at Recall Masters, shared how her experience across dealership operations, automotive technology, and customer relationships has shaped her approach to improving dealership performance. As a third-generation automotive professional, Martin believes the industry’s greatest opportunities come from putting people first, delivering on promises, and creating experiences that encourage customers to return.
One of Martin’s biggest leadership lessons came from her grandfather, who taught her that processes and technical skills can be learned, but success requires heart and determination. Growing up in an automotive family, she watched her grandfather build a successful dealership business despite facing prejudice and her mother become one of the relatively few female dealer principals in the industry. Their experiences taught her the importance of hard work, self-worth, and perseverance. Martin carries those lessons into her work with dealerships today, focusing on helping businesses improve while supporting the people responsible for making that progress possible.
Martin also believes that successful dealership leadership begins with self-awareness and accountability. Her hand mirror theory challenges people to stop focusing exclusively on the mistakes of others and examine their own actions instead. Rather than automatically assigning blame when something goes wrong, dealership leaders can benefit from asking whether their own decisions, communication, or management practices contributed to the problem. This willingness to reflect and adapt can help build stronger teams, improve workplace relationships, and create a culture where employees are encouraged to grow.
Customer retention is another major focus of Martin’s approach to dealership performance. She explained that retention begins long before a customer purchases a vehicle or visits the service department. A dealership’s branding establishes expectations about its values, reputation, and customer experience. However, those expectations must be reinforced when customers walk through the door. If a dealership promises a premium experience but fails to deliver, customers may take their business elsewhere. Building long-term loyalty requires dealerships to consistently demonstrate that they understand, respect, and value their customers.
Maintaining customer relationships throughout the vehicle ownership lifecycle is particularly important. Martin emphasized that dealerships should understand why customers purchase their vehicles and what they need as ownership continues. A customer who buys a luxury vehicle, for example, expects more than the vehicle itself; they also expect a service experience that reflects the brand’s reputation. When customers feel recognized and receive consistent, personalized service, they have more reasons to return. Dealerships that focus exclusively on immediate sales opportunities risk sacrificing the long-term relationships that support customer retention and sustainable profitability.
One of the simplest ways dealerships can improve customer retention is by keeping their promises. Martin pointed to Toyota’s express maintenance model as an example of how clear expectations and consistent communication can strengthen the customer experience. When customers are promised a 45-minute oil change, they should receive that service within the promised timeframe whenever possible. If delays arise or additional work is needed, customers should be informed early rather than left waiting without an explanation. Martin noted that dealerships often introduce effective processes but struggle to maintain them over time. Consistency, she explained, is what turns a good idea into a lasting improvement in customer satisfaction, retention, and revenue.
Martin also highlighted the importance of respecting dealership employees, particularly automotive technicians. She believes the ongoing technician shortage is connected in part to how the industry has portrayed the profession and the opportunities it offers. Technicians play a critical role in keeping vehicles safe, maintaining customer trust, and bringing customers back for future service visits. Dealerships that overlook their contributions risk undermining their own retention efforts. By investing in technicians, recognizing their value, and creating an environment where their work is respected, dealerships can strengthen both employee engagement and customer relationships.
Vehicle recalls present another opportunity for dealerships to build trust. Drawing on her early experience at Toyota, Martin recalled working in a call center during the major accelerator pedal recalls. The experience taught her that customers do not always expect every problem to be solved immediately; often, they first need someone to listen to their concerns. She helped develop a guide for handling common recall situations, organizing questions and directing cases to the appropriate teams. This approach improved consistency and helped employees respond more effectively to customer concerns.
Today, Martin sees recall service as an opportunity to demonstrate that a dealership genuinely cares about customer safety. Whether addressing a major safety issue or completing a software update, dealerships can use recall outreach to make the process easier and more reassuring for customers. For example, offering mobile recall repairs at a customer’s home or workplace may reduce the inconvenience of visiting a service department. When dealerships communicate clearly, listen carefully, and make the repair process convenient, they can turn a potentially frustrating situation into an opportunity to earn trust and strengthen customer relationships.
Martin’s work at Recall Masters connects these principles to the challenge of reaching vehicle owners who may not already have a relationship with a dealership. Some customers purchase used vehicles from independent sellers or acquire vehicles several owners removed from the original buyer. These customers may not automatically think of a franchised dealership when their vehicle needs service. Recall outreach can provide a meaningful reason to connect with them, address safety concerns, and introduce them to the dealership’s service capabilities. By focusing on customer needs rather than treating recalls as a simple administrative task, dealerships can create opportunities for future service relationships.
Technology also plays an important role in modern dealership operations, but Martin believes it must complement the human side of the business. Her experience as an early employee at Automotive Mastermind helped her understand how customer data and predictive insights can support more meaningful outreach. Technology can help dealerships identify when customers may be ready to replace a vehicle or recognize circumstances that create new needs. However, Martin also emphasized the importance of combining these tools with the relationship-building practices that have served dealerships for generations. Personalized communication, genuine interest, and a willingness to understand each customer’s situation remain essential, even as technology continues to advance.
Beyond customer relationships, Martin advocates for more supportive and flexible automotive workplaces. Through her involvement with Women of Color in Automotive Network (WOCAN), she has worked to support women’s access to education, mentorship, and professional development. She believes dealerships can attract and retain more talent by considering practical solutions such as childcare assistance, more affordable dependent healthcare, and flexible work schedules. These options can help employees balance professional responsibilities with family commitments while allowing dealerships to access a broader pool of capable workers. Martin also encourages the industry to recognize talent regardless of whether someone has a college degree, emphasizing that experience, determination, and a willingness to learn can be just as valuable.
Ultimately, Erica Bruno Martin’s perspective highlights a central lesson for automotive leaders: sustainable dealership success starts with people. Strong customer retention depends on keeping promises, delivering consistent service, valuing employees, and making it easy for customers to maintain their vehicles safely. Technology and processes can support these goals, but they cannot replace trust, empathy, and accountability. By combining modern tools with genuine customer care, dealerships can build stronger relationships, improve service retention, and create a more supportive environment for the people who drive the industry forward.
Read the Transcript
Hello everybody out there. I’m Russell Hill, your host of WTF and that is what the fixed ops to all of you out there today and I’m joined by. Hello everyone. I’m Charity Dunning, the co-host here today and we’re really excited. We have Erica Bruno Martin with us today, the senior director of key accounts at Recall Masters. Erica, welcome to the show. Thank you so much, Charity and Russell, I’m so excited. Well, we’re excited to we are. And you know, we know each other. I’m sure you know Russell, but for those people out there who do not know Erica. Give us give us an idea. Who is Erica? Yeah, who? Who are you? I love it because that’s. You know, what I tell people all the time is to be who you are. So. Erica Bruno. So I grew up in the industry. My grandfather had about seventeen different franchises at one point in time. And then my mom was the first female Toyota dealer principal in New England, first female Hyundai dealer on the East Coast. So, you know, kind of a a legacy going into this. But my family really didn’t want me in the industry. So I said, you know what? That’s fine. I’m going to do it anyway and on my own. And that’s how I ended up in it. But I’ve always been a car girl and I’ve always loved this industry, and I very much am on a mission to make it better for all of us, you know, out there. So I’m really excited to be here with you guys. Well, we’re excited for you to be here as well. I so I didn’t know about that much. So let me ask you this. Since you are a third generation car girl, okay, Was working in automotive. Excuse me. Was working in automotive? Always a part of the plan, even though being inside and then on the outside. Was that always kind of. You were going to do it? Well, you just said you’re going to do it, you know, run your own race. Right? Yeah. So my two dreams were either to be a strong woman in automotive or to be on Broadway. And the funny part of the story is that the day I got my offer from Toyota, I actually got an offer to go train at circle in the square, which is one of the top Broadway training schools in the world. And literally within an hour of each other. So here I am, you know, twenty one years old in the depth of a recession in two thousand and nine going, do I take the pain job or do I take the other dream that again, could lead me to God knows where? And I was like, I don’t know. But by the end of it, long story short, I was doing a musical training, like professional training seminar at the school that I went to UVM And, you know, Toyota was in a hiring freeze. And so all of a sudden, you know, this very renowned acting coach, his name was Alan Langdon. He just passed a few years ago. But he was like, hey, kid, like, what are you doing for the rest of your life? And I was like, I don’t know, like finding a job, right? Like, who has a twenty one year old that but he was like, well, if you want, you could go to circle and square and like, keep in mind circle and square is like notoriously hard to get into. It’s usually multiple auditions, all this stuff. And I’m like, oh my God, I get to audition like so excited. And he was like, no, that rehearsal was enough of an audition for me. If you want it, you’re in. Wow. And so I was so excited. I’m like, oh my God, like one of my dreams is on the table. I literally picked up my first generation iPhone to call my parents, right? Because I’m like, this is amazing. And then all of a sudden, like, as I’m about to dial them, LA area code comes on my phone and I’m like, who’s calling me from LA? And so like, I pick it up, you know, like dealership style, really professional. Like this is Eric Bruno. How can I help you? Yeah, because I didn’t know what to say. And all of a sudden it’s like, hi, this is Julie from Toyota. We’re calling to let you know you’re one of ten people accepted into the management training program for, you know, July two thousand and nine. Would you like to be a part of it? I was just like, oh my, can I call you right back? And I am not a runner, guys. And I booked it from the theater to my student center that I worked at because I was like, I had, I had to tell the guy that I was dating at the time, you know, because I was like, he’s got to know and I know he’ll help me pick the right one and I’m booking it. I’m running and I am not a runner. And I burst through the doors and I’m like, I got Toyota and Broadway. And his face was great. He was like, what? And literally, I called my parents. I called my grandparents. I’m telling them all the stories and I’m like, I don’t know what to do. And like, we did a pros and cons list and by the end of it, he goes, you know, Erica, the first words out of your mouth were, I got Toyota, not I got Broadway. Wow. And I was like, ah, Dang it! You’re right. You didn’t want to hear that, did you? Or did you? You did. In some ways, you know, and I tell people now, I’m like, I think if I had went the Broadway route, like, even though it would have been fun and really cool and, you know, God knows where I could have been now, right? Like I, I love to sing as like a therapy versus doing it as a job. I think if I did it every day as a job, I wouldn’t have loved it as much. Whereas this, I get up every day. I’m trying to solve problems. I’m there’s always something new. And I think that’s the most beautiful part of what I’m doing in automotive is like, I, I have so many genres, if you will, that I could go into that. It’s been a beautiful, beautiful decision that I made and I’m really glad. So your voice is, you know who you are when you start talking, whether somebody sees you or hears you on clubhouse or whatever it is, you know, it’s Erica, it’s, uh, it, it, it carries, it’s penetrating. And it, you, you just have to listen. Yeah. I think I’ve always recognized that about your voice. Well, didn’t you also have an audition for America’s Got Talent or something like that? Um, I auditioned for American Idol when I was sixteen and when I was twenty one, so right before I. Yeah, right before I left for Toyota, I was like, you know what? Let me just let me just do this. Let me just try. Right. Like, and then I was six hours in the rain in Gillette and they were like, you’re great. You’re just not the look we’re going for this year. And I was like, you know what? I look like a soaked rat. So I’m good with that. I’m gonna go home and take a warm shower. They said that really? Yeah. And again, like, you know, when I was sixteen, it was in D.C. and the Washington Convention Center. So it was eighteen hours, like in the basement of the convention center. And actually, I was in line with one of the guys who got into the top three. And it was one of those that it was like two a m in the morning. They were like, you’re really good, but you’re really young, you should come back. And I was like, I just said, for eighteen hours, like with no food, no water, like, what is this? But yeah, it was an experience. And it’s definitely one of those that if you can handle the rejection of any type of audition, right? Like you can handle the rejection of a dealer being like, I don’t like you. Okay, cool. Well, I have a feeling, I have a feeling you probably handled rejection or you’ve learned to over the years. Absolutely. Actually, if anything, I feel like musical theater really helped set me up very well for the automotive industry. Because if someone’s saying no to you to sell a car or buy a car or whatever, you’re like, okay, cool. You want me to sing next? Like. Yeah, I can imagine that because I remember those days of American Idol and how heartbroken those people were when they didn’t make it to the next round or, you know, and there would just be thousands and thousands of people in line waiting. That was the beauty of it is getting a chance to meet so many people from across the country. And it really, I think, set me up well for, you know, stepping into my career to be more comfortable, to be able to go into dealerships and meet all these different people. So but you did it twice. Yeah, yeah. Was that what happened the second time? The second time it was six hours in the rain at Gillette. And I was with one of my good friends from college, and I sang I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston. And that’s when they were like, you got pipes, but you’re just not really the look. Oh. At that point, I was like, that’s okay. I’m okay with that. I’m going to move to LA anyways. So yeah, the look, whatever that means, right? Yeah. I mean, it was your destiny though, to end up in the automotive business and what a different trajectory it has been. So what do you think it was about growing up in an automotive family that prepared you for the automotive business? Ooh, I love that question. Um, you know, I think my growing up in it is very unique in the sense of a few different things. One, my grandfather, you know, was the first Portuguese Chrysler dealer in the nation. And his big thing, you know, when he bought the store, he was told, you know, you’re not really our type. And he goes, I know what that meant. I was a little too dark. Right? Like I wasn’t the demographic they normally go for. And it fueled me to become one of the best. And he was one of the best Chrysler dealers in the nation for a very long time. And, you know, a pacemaker. And, you know, Lee Iacocca would call regularly. I remember picking up a call from Lee Iacocca when I was a kid. And, you know, as a kid, you’re like, okay, Mr. Iacocca. Like have no idea who he is now as an adult. I’m like, wow, that was pretty cool. But yeah, you know, I think he, he taught me to never let anyone tell you your worth, right? Like you get to determine that every single day. And you do that through hard work and who you are as a person. And then watching my mom, you know, become a female dealer at a time when it was very, very rare. Right. Like a few hundreds maybe in the nation. And that’s still today. It’s yeah, It’s so rare. Yeah, yeah, it’s still rare. And so, you know, hearing the way that, you know, even customers would treat her right and talk down to her and seeing the way she would handle things with such grace and with such strength. Like it really inspired me. And I remember sitting in her Hyundai store in Fall River as a kid and being like, I want to be that someday, but on a bigger level, right? Like, I want to not only either be maybe be a dealer someday and empower people to realize the potential that they have, right? Like even if they don’t look the part, quote unquote, but then also to being able to understand how to effectively run a business, make profit, all of it, and do it in the right way and do it in a good way. You know, where people are like, they’re good people and they care about their community. And I think that’s something that I’ve brought forward in my own career is like, I might not be a dealer, but I really care about my dealers and I really care about the people in those dealerships, right? Because they make the dreams happen every day. And I think that’s the part whether it was on the OEM side, you know, working with dealers on the vendor side or even on the tech side of things, I’m always thinking of like, how do we make the dealers lives easier and also their people’s lives easier, right? And I think that’s a big part of my mission. So I think my, my growing up in it and learning that I’m not just getting everything handed to me right, I have to earn it. I have to work for it. And I have to be brave enough to step forward, even in uncomfortable positions right where I might not be the majority. I might be the only one in the room, but my voice matters. And if I can be brave enough for that, I’m opening up the door for someone else who can do that in the future. That’s so inspiring. Thank you. Yeah, it makes me think, you know, we’ve heard a lot from from, you know, like your grandfather’s generation, your mother’s generation and how they really had to. They heard that a lot. You’re not quite right. You don’t fit the part. And it really seems like it defined those generations to work harder. It really became part of their makeup to strive and to fight and to work harder to get where they wanted to go. Do you think the generations today have it easier in that regard, or are people still hearing that, and is it defining their character today? Being a part of Wukan especially, and being part of the board and everything, unfortunately, it’s still going on today, right? And it’s it’s not unique. And it’s also it’s not just women. It’s also men, right. And other people in general. But I think the beauty that I saw is that again, you know, during my grandfather’s generation, especially, it was very generational where, you know, the sons taking over from the dad and they have generational wealth and they’ve all been to college. Like, that’s a big thing for me is, you know, my mom went for an associate’s, but I have a bachelor’s. And I, if I wanted to, I could go get a master’s, right? Like my grandfather never even completed eighth grade. And so I would say in some ways, I think my generation has more access and education than prior generations, and I think that made some things easier for us because we’ve learned sooner. You know, I joke that I had fifty years of advanced knowledge thanks to my grandfather. But at the same time, I think our generation is dealing with things that their generation couldn’t even have thought of. Things like AI and certain technology and privacy and data and this and that, and being able to understand that and connect what they did in the past to today to be able to serve the customer, I think can be challenging, but I think you can build off of that foundation from the past and realize like some of the things that they did worked very well to grow their business to where it is. Absolutely. And being able to walk with that technology and that newness or whatever it is, right. And bring it in. So it’s a seamless, you know, transition because I it’s funny, I had a conversation this morning where it’s like, you know, tech is advancing so fast. But then the people on the ground are still being left behind. Right. And so how do you connect the two? And I think that’s something that our generation can help to solve. But you have to be open to it. And you have to be willing to say, I don’t know. Right. Or I’m not sure how this looks. Let’s figure it out together and have good partnerships through that. It’s a lot. Well said. And yeah, your grandfather would be a fish out of water today with all the regulations and, you know, all the stuff you have to do. But you got to see a lot of that. You got to see and experience a lot of that too. You’ve seen and experienced and here you are in this. I see I’m starting to hear that a lot now. You know, superintelligence, artificial intelligence. Yesterday I was at a conference and one of the speakers was Google. And the next one up was, uh, well, Amazon was on there and meta and they were talking about the new muse app and just about all the technology and, and AI and how fast it’s going. It’s, it’s scary even for meta. It went so far talking back and offsetting about one of his trips and stuff like that, or about a car and said, do you want me to go and purchase those tickets for you? I said, no, no, no, no, don’t do that. I mean, they have so much info. It’s it’s staggering. And here you are in that world and you’re handling it just as a matter of fact, you’re talking to people about it every day, aren’t you? I am, and that’s the thing. Like, you know, even when I’ll tell a really quick story. So my grandfather passed in twenty twenty three, but he was my best friend. And I would talk to him about absolutely everything. And even when he didn’t really understand it, he would still like, ask me questions. So when I was one of the first one hundred employees at Automotive Mastermind, he was like, what is this like what, what? Like what you say it’s tech, but it sounds like marketing. I was like, well, it is a mixture of both. Papa. Right? Like we have the data on the customer insights and then we can go and market to them to say, hey, you know, now is a time for a new car, right? And he was like, isn’t your salesperson supposed to do that? I was like, I was like, well, yes. Right. Like, yes, it’s supposed to. But at the same time, they, they, you can’t predict, quote unquote, right. When someone’s ready to buy a new car. But if you have certain triggers that say, hey, Erika is a every four years type of person, but let’s say Erika got into an accident and totaled her car. How would I know that? You don’t know that. But if all of a sudden I then have the data in front of me, then that makes that a meaningful outreach. And he was like, oh, that makes so much sense. That would be easier. And it’s like being able to connect the dots for him so many times was really not only empowering to me, right, of like, I’m bringing this new system of the way we both love this business to him, but then he would bring something up and be like, well, you know, back in the day, I’d have my, you know, salespeople call their, you know, customers every six months just to check in. Hey, how you doing? Just wanted to check in, see how the car is doing. Do you have any issues? He’s like, because at that point, every six months something could change. Someone could have a new baby, someone could have this, or, you know, they lost their job and they need to downsize. He’s like, and that was the customer like relationship aspect that, you know, sometimes dealers don’t always do the best job at. And it’s like, those are the type of conversations I always love to have with him because it’d be he brings something that I joke is like real world right to the table that sometimes I think in the tech space, we’re not always thinking about it sounds like an amazing man. And, uh, and even back. So when I first started, there were, there was no mobile phones, wasn’t even heard of when I desk deals, I used a ten key didn’t even have, you know, software or anything like that. I had a index three by five index cards, an actual Rolodex as well. And I would make just like every six months, I’d make phone calls and work and yeah, and things have really evolved since then. Uh, I didn’t even think about that until you started talking about your, what would we do without a phone back then, you know, and. Yeah, yeah. Get Ahold of somebody. Yeah. You’d survive. We did. Here we are. You mentioned Automotive mastermind. You were one of the first hundred there. Yeah, it was an amazing opportunity. I was so I was a rep at Nissan. You know, I started on the fixed side and then I went to the sales side and I was loving it. Nissan was great. And then all of a sudden I got a message on LinkedIn and they were like, hey, like we’re building this tech company. You know, we think you have a really great background. I was like, tech company. I don’t know, like, it’s like, I was like, I’m a car girl. Like, talk to me like, I like you’re trying to sell me a car. Like what? What is this? Right? Like, and they go, we predict who’s ready to buy when they’re ready to buy and why. And I was like, dang it, that’s good. Okay, now I’m intrigued. Right? And I wanted to get into marketing. And my VP at the time, who just retired from Nissan, Michael Colleran, who I very much believe was one of my very first mentors in the sense of he really pushed me to go after, you know, being stronger in my role and in myself. And I brought it to him and I said, hey, you know, because I wanted to get into marketing. And I was like, how long would it be for me to get to like marketing? And he’s like, everybody wants to be in marketing. All right. Like it’s going to take probably at least five years. And that’s the fast track. And I was like, with all due respect, I don’t know if I have five years to wait for that. I was like, I have this opportunity. It would be in marketing and tech and you know, all of it. I think I should take it. And he goes, you know what? Go take it. And if it doesn’t work out, come back to me. And I feel like that’s been the best mentors is, you know, go try something new. Go figure something out. Go learn something. Because one of two things, either it’s going to work out and you’re going to have a really great trajectory from there, or you’re going to come back to me having learned something that can value us. And that was the other thing, the the level of people at mastermind, at least when I was there, was next level. These these people who either from the dealership or from tech companies or whatever that came together and their knowledge and their experience, it really made mastermind what it is, I think, today. And that’s the beauty of it. Let’s talk a little bit more about you. Erika, I wanted to ask you, you get pretty personal on LinkedIn. And what, what made you decide to share more about yourself so personally? You know, growing up in social media, kind of exploding the way that it has from when I started in college, right? Where like at when I entered college in two thousand and five, you had to be at a college to get on Facebook, right? Like that was the only way you could get on Facebook back in the day. Whereas like now anybody can sign up for it. And I think what I’ve seen social media evolve to is like, again, the highlights, right? Everybody wants to share all the fun stuff, the nice stuff, the this and that is great, don’t get me wrong. But I also know that there are a lot of people who are struggling or are dealing with, you know, things that again, whether it’s cancer or health issues or whatever it is, and they’re still expected to show up shiny and bright and always the highlights and always the this when really life isn’t feeling that way for them. And I had a lot of conversations, you know, on the side of like, oh, well, I’m dealing with this or I’m dealing with that. And I started to realize like, I could do that on LinkedIn, especially because I had done it on Facebook for a while. I had gastric bypass surgery when I was twenty years old, and I lost over one hundred pounds. And the thing I learned the most from it is how differently people treated me. And I would share my yeah. You know, like, and again, it sounds silly, right? It’s like so trivial, but it’s true. When I was three hundred and twenty pounds, you know, some people were not very nice to me. And then all of a sudden I lost over one hundred pounds and suddenly they wanted to date me in public and this and that and like silly things, right? And I’m like, wow, just because of one hundred pounds, like that’s insane to me. And so I would start writing about, you know, these learnings and these experiences. And especially when I moved to LA at twenty one by myself, you know, just life. And I had a lot of people on Facebook be like, you know, you inspire me and this and that. And again, like my big thing is okay, I guess, right? Like, I don’t, I don’t feel very inspiring in the moment. But I started to realize that sharing my authentic humanity does make me inspiring, because so many people are afraid to share those moments of like the failures or the tough times or whatever. And I truly do believe that makes you not only a great human to be able to share that type of stuff, but I think it makes you reliable and, you know, people feel safe. And I think that’s one of my biggest goals in life is to create safe spaces where people can truly be themselves, so they don’t feel that they have to hide or they don’t feel they have are not perfect, or they’re never going to get to where they want to get to. Because I’ve learned that, you know, along the way, I’ve gotten scrapes and bruises and cuts and whatever, but those lessons have made me better and made me stronger. To be able to get to the places that I want to go to. And if you had told me twenty years ago, right, like, oh, you’re going to get to this place, but you know, you can’t have any scars on you. I probably would have been like, okay, then I need to hide every single one of this, you know, and make my makeup perfect and make my hair perfect and this and that. But no one likes a fake person and no one likes, you know, something that looks too good to be true. And I think the more you can show up and be like, no, I have failed. I have learned, I have, you know, gone through some really horrific things. People are like, it’s like, me too. So that’s really where it came from. And, and, and, and I don’t know how much you really follow us. I hope, I hope it’s a lot, but we try, we try, we, we try to really we’re not we haven’t really talked a whole lot. You know, we bounced back and forth. But it’s the personal stuff, you know, the stuff that invokes that deep thought or feeling that people resonate with. And, and they, they see you as an overcomer and you’re not brash. I mean, you don’t mince words. You just get right to the point. Anyway, thank you for sharing that because people always need that to know that, hey, we’re all human, we go through stuff and but how you rebound is really, really important too. Absolutely. You know, I was talking to one of my mentees and I was like, I don’t think anyone understands the level of, you know, so my mom passed in November twenty twenty five after a six week battle with cancer. And those six weeks were horrific. Like, I don’t use I mean, it is what it is, right? Like it’s life. And I don’t use this word lightly, but it was traumatic. Like there were lots of moments where I was like, wow, I’m going to watch my mom bleed out right now. Right? Like, and again, you know, I feel like that actually prepared me for more difficult conversations or difficult leadership type of situations than anything else, because quite literally, nothing could scare me now, right? Like if I’ve gone through that, I can get through anything. And I tell people that don’t discount, you know, those moments where you’re like, I just want to give up because nine times out of ten, they’re going to be fuel for where you want to get to going forward. So I know a lot about the grieving process and you can’t deny it. You have to go through it. You have to feel those things and not shut them down. Um, I’ve, I have, I’m sure you have. I know charity has. People can use that as an excuse to fuel their insanity or as, or to move forward because our mothers and fathers and mentors and best friends wouldn’t want to see us go backwards, that’s for sure. Absolutely. But yeah, to come out on the other side, it prepares you for even more. Mhm. Because more is coming. Exactly. Yeah. All right, Jerry, go ahead. I, I knew about your mother passing some some of the other passings. I did not know that you had gastric bypass surgery and lost so much weight. That is insane to me. Do you feel like that was sort of your before self? And now you have your after self? Does that feel almost like two lives to you. In some ways, yes. And in other ways no. Like for me, it was very health related. You know, I was dealing with bad sleep apnea. You know, I was pre-diabetic. I was, you know, like twenty years old, right? Dealing with these things and trying to go to school full time while also working full time. So for me, I was like, I just don’t want to die at twenty five, right? Like I want to be able to like live my life and be mobile. And so, you know, I really did it for health reasons more so than like vanity reasons. But in some ways it was like a before and an after in the sense of, you know, I just, I had a few people that were like, oh, well, you’ve changed. And I’m like, I really haven’t as far as who I am. Right. Like, I’m still Erica. I still love to be a goofball. I’m a good friend. Like all this stuff. I was like, but I now feel more comfortable sharing who I am, right? And I think that’s been the one thing is I’m not as timid as I was before, because if you can believe it, I was actually pretty shy and pretty mute for a long time growing up. Like I would just kind of just sit and listen and observe people. But I think that actually now is a superpower to me because I don’t need to talk all the time. I can just sit there in silence and be totally fine. And again, you know, provide hopefully a safe space of just like you don’t have to perform for me because I don’t need to perform for you either. Right? It is a superpower. And thank you for sharing that. One of my daughters had gastric bypass and watched her go. It was it was it was a difficult. It is it is a lot. Some of that stuff. And and I’m a real feeling kind of person anyway, so I, I get emotional sometimes when I see people struggling like that. Her whole world has changed. Yeah, absolutely. It’s and that’s the thing, you know, people like to say, oh, well, you took the easy way out or it’s a quick fix. It’s not, it’s a lifelong tool. I still have things. I still have to take vitamins, you know, all this stuff. Yeah. And even now I’m getting back into CrossFit and working out. And it’s, it’s life long. And I think that’s the other part that it also taught me a really good just life lesson or career lesson in general, like nothing’s ever going to be handed to you. Nothing is ever going to just, you know, magically appear for you. Like you have to be consistent and you have to work on it to get what you actually want out of life. That when you said what you did, this made me pull, I was looking for something I wanted to share. To acquire knowledge, one must study, but to acquire wisdom, one must observe. So you’ve done a lot of observing, haven’t you? I have, I have. It’s I think it’s the most beautiful thing that anyone can do is just, you know, watch and listen and be able to observe and see the world for what it is, right? Because you can hear a lot of things. You can hear stories about people or places or whatever. And then you get in and you observe and you go, that’s not right. That’s actually the opposite. Right? So what made them think that? So good point. Yeah. The more we learn, the more we realize how little we know. Right? Mhm. I think that’s common. And it’s been great getting to know you after or for this last thirty minutes. Erica. But we should probably ask you some questions about the automotive industry. Sure. But that’s what makes the show so great. Really? Yeah. It is. Yeah. Let’s dig into your knowledge there a little bit. You’ve worked with hundreds of dealerships. What are the most successful ones have in common? They’re people thousand percent. They’re people. I don’t care about processes. I don’t care about tech. I don’t care about any of it. If you don’t have, my grandfather would tell me this. He goes, Eric, I can teach every process. I can teach every trick of the trade, if you will. But if you don’t have heart, if you don’t have that desire, right, to want to go after your goals or you know, better your life or whatever, I got nothing. And so I feel like the best dealers I’ve ever worked with have people who have not only like big hearts, right? Like they’re good people. They want to do the right things, but they’re determined to either better themselves or better their team. And I think that’s the most beautiful part of what I do every day is, is that type of work. People like that want to be around other people like that. And I totally agree. Absolutely. Especially with right before that, I know it’s cliche. The older I get, the less I know, but it is actually true. It’s amazing how little I do know. But yeah, having that drive, that determination, that passion, excitement and enthusiasm and the you’re going after and you’re chasing your dreams. You know, some people frown on it or try to derail you, but that’s their deal, not your deal. And really, when they’re doing that, uh, it has nothing to do with you anyway. It’s all about them. Well, I, I call that my hand mirror theory, right? Like so much of our life is the hand mirror out to others, right? And they’re like, oh, well, you didn’t do this or you didn’t do that or you didn’t. Exactly. And then the minute you turn it back on yourself. So it’s one of two things, right? You’re either like, huh? You know, you weren’t prepared for what you were going to see or it’s like, uh, yeah, you know what? Maybe maybe I’m the problem, right? Like Morgan Wallen. I’m the problem. So it’s like, okay, I understand that. And then you have to fix that. But I think more people like to have their hand mirrors out than they ever do in. And I think a lot of the world’s problems could be solved if they just flip it back on themselves. And I think so many people don’t, though they still, uh, they want to blame or sidestep or whatever. And unfortunately, that’s not a very fulfilling life to me anyway. Mhm. Um, that you’re not going to grow from that it’s always going to be the next person, the next thing that you can get over or do or. Okay, we got off subject again. Jerry gets back on subject. Well, let’s talk about customer relationships, which I know you’re passionate about. Where do you think dealerships have the biggest opportunity to improve retention? We’re always hearing about retention, right? What’s your perspective? So I personally believe that retention starts before anybody even buys a cars or service of cars with you. It’s, it’s the branding that you put out into the community or the space or wherever you’re trying to target, right? Of like who you are, what you do, why you do it, right. And then from there, it’s not only earning the trust before they walk in the door with that branding, you have to live up to it, right? Like if you then say, I’m the greatest dealer in a fifty mile radius, you better be the greatest dealer in a fifty mile radius. If I walk into your store and I don’t feel like, wow, I am so impressed by the experience that I just had here. And I go fifty miles to your left and I have a better experience. You’re in trouble. So I would say that’s number one. But then number two is lifelong customer relationships, right? And I think this is a part of the industry that the dealers struggle with the most. And some of it is from an OEM level, in my opinion, because the OEM is like, well, you know, like a BMW, for example, right? They’re number one in luxury sales right now. What does BMW evoke? It’s exciting. It’s luxury. It’s passion. It’s this, it’s that. But if you walk into a BMW dealer and you don’t get half of that, you literally have lost the customer. One of two things. They’re either going to buy the car and never come back to you for service, or maybe they, you know, service with you because they already have one. And they’re like, it is what it is. I just got to do this and then they’re out the minute it’s out of warranty, right? Like that to me is the biggest issue we could solve is how do you keep someone, a customer for life? And I truly do believe it starts with actually knowing who the person is, right. And why they’re buying this car, or why they have this car in general, and being able to support them throughout the lifecycle of that vehicle. Right. Because like, if I no doubt, you know, yeah, like if I go and I buy a BMW three series tomorrow, not only do I want that car to be everything that I expected it to be, right? But I also want that luxurious experience as I’m buying it and not the pretty woman moment of like, well, you can’t afford this, right? And like being able to then bring it into service and they know my name and they know why I’m here. And they know, you know, I’m what I’m aiming to get out of this car. Yeah. I’m going to keep this car for the rest of my life. So let’s maintain it in the right way. Right? And building that trust as you go. And I think that’s something in the last ten years, especially as dealers, we focus so much on the the immediate, you know, the, hey, today you have to, you know, clobber every single person like whack a mole. Oh, well, that’s going to lose people in time. Yeah. And again, how do you maintain that profit, but also that trust and that relationship. I mean you’re it being it’s the ultimate driving machine, right? It represents dreams and goals and aspirations and, and other types of things as well. And, and you want to feel that and have that you want to have. And, and they struggle sometimes struggle with that. Uh, and then you a CD store down the street can have the epitome of customer experience, etc. and yeah, it’s a problem. It is a problem. And that’s why we’re also not seeing the brand loyalty that we used to see anymore. Because now people are not only affording affordability issues, right? Of like, hey, I even when I had a friend the other day who was thinking about either upgrading their Subaru or going to a BMW i3, right? Because they want an electric vehicle and they’re like, if I’m basically going to pay the same price, why don’t I just pay for the luxury side of things? Because then hopefully it’s a better experience. And now again, I don’t know if they bought the car or not, but like, that’s a situation right there of like, if I was Subaru, I’d be trying everything I could to try to retain that customer, right? But like, if you don’t have any insight to it, or they bought the car second hand, which is a lot of like what I work with dealers on with recall masters is like second, third, fourth, fifth owners. They buy it for a few different reasons. It’s either the car in their budget or it’s the car that they needed at the time. Right? But like, if they didn’t buy it from you or they bought it from an independent. What brings. Why should they go service with you? Right? Like, why should they bring that car there other than potentially warranty or things that only you can fix? And that’s a part that I think the dealers also forget is that, as a franchise dealer, recalls are one of the areas that, again, it’s just you, unless you’re in a right to repair act state that all of a sudden is going to let someone do a recall repair, which I have not heard of yet, but could be coming down the pipeline if consumers don’t feel the trust. Yeah. And if you have another shot because of a recall, you better hold on. Yeah. It’s like it’s all everything is about relationships. Everything is. People just want to know. They count, they matter. They make a difference. And they’re part of something. You’re going to take care of them. And that’s what service is all about, right? Yep. I think in addition to what you just said, I’ve been preaching this a lot for the last couple of months. I heard from a friend of mine, Patrick Abad at Beaver Toyota. And that is I hear all we hear all this talk about retention and, and leadership and, you know, pricing, you know, can you do a fricking one hour oil change if you can do an hour oil change or less, that’ll solve a lot of those problems. Just that one thing. But when you come in and you have them captive for the first few years, theoretically. Right. And they’re gone after that. If that shit for two and a half hours, they’re gone anyway. I think it comes down to not just respecting the customer, but respecting your employees too. Like my biggest pet peeve is the technician shortage. Well, we’ve told kids for the last ten years that being a tech doesn’t make any money or is not worth it or that’s not, you know, the type of job you should be entitled to. My grandfather started as a tech, and let me tell you, he built an empire from it. So that is something that, again, I very much respect technicians and I think they deserve ten times more than what they’re getting half the time. And if you can’t respect your technicians who are working actively on vehicles that are bringing people back through the door. You got an issue? Thank you. And that’s. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we Nathan tagged that one. We that needs to be a segment all by itself. It does because it’s true. Yeah. They’re afterthoughts you know. Yeah. Yeah. It’s interesting to me. Like when you hear people talk about how ways we can improve retention or something, and you hear sort of these generic phrases like leadership and trust and but there’s nothing like tangible there to sink your teeth into. And I love what you said, Russell, about just give it or what you said, Erica, you know, keep your promises. Have a one. If you say you’re going to have a one hour oil change, make it one hour. Like these are very simple things you can actually implement to make these things actually turn out to be true. You can actually increase your retention or be a good leader or have price transparency, all these things. If you can’t do an hour oil change and it’s going to be an hour and a half or an hour and forty five minutes, let me freaking know. Just communicate. Not after the promised time. If it’s an hour, it’s an hour. But if something comes up, I get it. It’s okay, I understand. So I tell people all the time that I feel like Toyota was the best training ground for me, the best foundation, because then it was Toyota maintenance, right? Express maintenance, you know, it was a forty five minute oil change. And within the first fifteen minutes, you have to tell the customer if you’re going to honor that or if it, you know, got backed up or it might need additional things, right. And I, I watched Toyota dealers be able to implement this for like a week or two, and then it would start to fall off. And, you know, no one would stay consistent. And it would be one of those that I’m like, but if you stayed consistent, it’s the same as like working out and trying to lose weight, right? If you stay consistent. Yeah. It’s not the most glamorous or sexy thing in the world, but it will help you get to the level that you want to get to. And that could be stronger. That could be a better process. That could be more retention, that could be more revenue. I don’t care what your goal is at the end of the day, but do you have the discipline to stay consistent to your promise? And that is the part that I will always challenge my dealers. You can tell, like most of my dealers are like, Eric is just going to tell us the truth because I’m not here to just help your business. I’m here to make you better. And if you want to be better, great. If you don’t want to be better, then fine. I’ll just give you reports and I’ll tell you what you’re doing and this and that. But if you want to be better, then I am in it with you and Eric. Figure it out. There’s no doubt that I know. I in my heart just saying, you know who those people are to, you know, the ones that really want to and the ones that are just lip service and you end up doing the successful people do daily what average people do occasionally. It’s just that simple. I love it calls. How can, um, let’s get into recalls. Yeah. How can we use those? How can we turn that into a positive experience for the customer? Okay, so I am again, probably unique in the sense of my first six months at Toyota. You know, you go through the trainings, etc. and then basically at the six month, right when we got out of the call center for, you know, because your first six months are in the call center. And I remember like walking out of the Lexus call center being like, yes, I made it through the call center. I’m good to go. Get me out of here. And then not even like two weeks later, the pedal recalls hit. And again, we’re in this tiny room we were going through like warranty dealer F and I training, and we’re sitting there and they go, there’s a major announcement about to come in, and we have to be real with you guys. We don’t know what might happen with your job. So, you know, like TBD. And I remember being like, oh my God, what’s going to happen? And then you heard about the recalls and they were like, we are volunteering you to go back into the Toyota recalls call center to help with the recalls. And I remember being like, oh my God, like, this is going to be, this is going to be bad, right? Because like, I grew up in dealerships and I remember that like the Ford recalls back in the day and we walk into this call center and first off, the people in that call center, God bless them at the time, because we were inundated, right? We were just I had a person tell me I should die a fiery death because a Celica was not included. And I was like, but it’s not even the same system. Like, I don’t, I don’t understand, I gave you good news. Right? And like, I’m, I’m a problem solver, right? So I’m trying to solve all these problems. And I started to realize that nine times out of ten, the customer didn’t need me to solve their problem. They just needed me to listen to them. And so, you know, I started taking on, you know, over time and everything because I was poor at the time, I needed to pay off bills. And so I’m like taking all these calls. And I started to realize like, we were all getting very similar questions, but dispersing it to different avenues. And I started putting together a, like a guide basically of like, hey, if it’s this situation, it needs to go to legal. If it’s this situation, we can do this. If it’s this situation, you know, so on and so forth. And it actually helped improve the call center as a whole because we triaged basically, right? We figured out a process. We figured out a plan. And not only that, it also helped eliminate some of those, you know, customer situations that could have been legal, could have not been legal. But the way you handle a recall tells me a lot about how you’re going to handle any type of crisis because like, whether it’s a high safety issue, like a pedal recall and acceleration, a fire Takata or something as simple as a flash, right? Like a system flash, which is a lot of what dealers are dealing with right now. You have the opportunity to not only listen to the customer to ensure that their vehicle is safe. I think that’s one of the greatest things about Recall Masters is, you know, we talk about the safety of the vehicle and making sure the cars are safer on the road. But not only that, you get an opportunity to truly show them that you care and that you earned that trust for them. And so, you know, I challenge my dealers. I’m like, even if it’s just a flash, right? Like why, why not give them an amazing experience? Or maybe it’s something you can do. Mobily where all of a sudden it’s like, don’t even worry about it. I’m going to come to your house or I’m going to come to your place of employment. I’m going to hook everything up. I’m going to do a quick flash on your car. We’ll do a quick drive around the parking lot, make sure it’s a okay for you, and then you’re good to go. And it’s like, well, yeah, that sounds so simple. I’m like, because it is so simple. That’s literally all you have to do is just show them that you’re there to fix their car. And if you can do that, then it opens up the door to, hey, by the way, I noticed your brakes are squeaking a little bit. Do you want me to take a look at that too, for you? And all of a sudden you’ve created that trust and that care. And, you know, growing up in the business, I was told a lot, you have to have a thick skin. This dealership, you know, this dealers are tough and blah, blah, blah. You know, you can’t be soft. You can’t be feeling I don’t care who you are. You could be Sylvester Stallone. Sylvester Stallone will still want to talk to someone who he feels actually cares about him. Yeah, right. Like we all do. Really? Yeah, yeah. Even though we play like we don’t. You know, I don’t need anybody. I can do it all by myself. I, I when, when people are much older and they have that attitude, they have problems. I’m just telling you. Yeah, yeah, I can do it by myself. I don’t need anybody. Yeah. Well that’s why you’re in the position you’re in anyway. Mhm. Yeah. Well we’re running out of time, unfortunately, but let’s see how many questions we can get in about woken before we run out. You’ve held some leadership roles at woken. What has that organization meant for you personally? It’s changed my life, honestly, and it’s been such a beautiful journey of being able to help build the organization and being able to help it grow and see the women that it helps, you know, being able to bring education and access to women that historically never had it, like even the financial literacy side of it, right? I’ve learned a lot more because, you know, I joked that the only financial literacy I got was, you know, my grandmother bringing me and opening up a little checking account for myself. Right. And like my little checkbook that I had. And now it’s like, I know about stocks and trading and this and that and being able to grow that financial literacy. I’ve had women that have told me that, you know, sharing personal stories helped them realize maybe they were in a bad situation, or maybe they weren’t in a workplace that genuinely valued them. And I think that’s a huge area too, that, you know, we keep talking about the attrition of women from our industry. And I would challenge anybody of like, are you giving them the genuine support that they need? Right? Or do they have a mentor that they feel they can come to and say, hey, you know, I’m struggling with this. What would you do? Or how, how would you, you know, go about fixing this? And being able to be that person has been, I think, one of the greatest honors of my life. Um, and I’m really, really proud of the work that I have done within woken and watching the way that it has grown. It’s amazing. I’ve watched it grow too, and been a part of some of the panels, not me watching. And, and some of the stuff I’ve heard over the years has been extremely heartfelt and amazing transformation in younger, middle and older women, all all three. And what they’ve learned and how they stick together. It’s amazing. Uh, that that’s a tremendous platform. What do you think we’re getting right when it comes to supporting women in automotive? And where do you think we still have work to do? So I do think that women’s roles in automotive have obviously grown in the last twenty, thirty years of my life. However, I also think there are ways that to support not just women but also the men of the industry. Like, I’m sorry, if I was a dealer, I would either have an on site daycare or I would do a stipend for daycare, right? Like if I want my families to have kids, I better be supporting those kids in the process as well, or making sure that the health care that I provide allows for dependents to be at a lower cost, right? Like being able to support the whole employee to me is very, very important. And I think the best dealers that I’ve worked with have figured that out where like I had a dealer that let you know their BDC manager bring their baby to work, right? And again, he was just like chilling in his little bassinet, you know, no big deal. But then, you know, if she needed to take a break or whatever, one of her reps could handle overflow for a little bit, right? And being able to have that flexibility. The other part to that, I think would also benefit not just women, but also men, is having more shift work, if you will, in the sense of like, okay, if I’m like a single working mom, right? And so I know from nine a m to four p m, right. I have free because that’s when the kids are at school or whatever. I would have a mom work from ten a m to three p m, right? Like enough time that they could get meaningful work done for me. But then the rest of the time is theirs. And again, whether you know you offer full benefits or not, you could structure it in so many different ways because maybe their husband has full benefits and could put the, you know, kids on, but they just need that extra income. There are ways you could have a massive amount of talent for not that much cost, that if you’re willing to be flexible enough. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t maximize on that. Yeah. Is it really even a cost anyway? It’s not really. No. I think what you would get countered to that investment expense or whatever would be way more than just saying, well, this cost too much money. Well, you know what? Times are changing. People are changing their priorities and things that are important to them. And yeah, we still have, unfortunately, a lot of people in the automotive business that have status. I have an acronym for status, and there’s still too arrogant to really understand success. So still too arrogant to understand success. That’s Status. Okay. Mhm. They they just don’t think about it. So what’s the best career advice you’ve ever received? And who gave it to you? Oh, wow. I have been grateful that I have had a lot of great people who have given me advice, um, throughout the years. I would say though, I think the greatest advice I’ve ever gotten would definitely be from my grandfather, who I was just hoping you were gonna say that. Yeah. Go ahead. You know, two main things he would say, you know, you get to decide who stops you and that’s you, right? Like you get to decide if you stop or continue on and no one else. And then the other thing that he would tell me is that, you know, Erica, it’s really easy to hate, but it’s really hard to love. You can hate something and say, I hate this and brush it off, but in order to love it, you have to understand it. And if you can understand it and love it, nine times out of ten, it’s going to make you a better person in the long run. And I think that’s been something that I always think of, whether it’s, you know, a tough situation or, you know, a tough work, you know, type of relationship where it’s like, but am I understanding this in the right way? And if I’m not, and I’m quick to judge it or I’m quick to hate it, if you will, then maybe there’s something there that I’m afraid of that I’m not willing to look at. And I need to reassess myself. And I think that’s actually helped me more in my career than honestly anything else. Wow. Okay. Yeah. Your grandfather, he sounds like a really he really had a big impact on your on your life. Um, what’s next for Erica? Anything you’re excited about, personally or professionally? Oh, man. There is so much in the sense of, you know, there’s a lot of stuff happening in the background work wise. There’s a lot of stuff happening in the background. You know, I’m now an advisor for my sorority at UVM and, you know, I’m stepping away from woken to, you know, take a little bit of things off my plate, but at the same time, I’m a very active member and I will always be supportive of them. I think, you know, I’m very excited for Narda this year. I don’t know how I’m going to top Narda last year though considering I got on stage with Keith Urban. But you know, hey, I’m always looking for opportunities. But no, I’m just I think what’s next for me is hopefully inspiring at least one more person who maybe thought they couldn’t get into this industry to join, because they could be a person that could change our entire industry. And that’s really what I hope for, is that if someone sees me and goes, if she can do it, I can do it, then I think that’s probably my greatest legacy. That’s a good one, a great one. Are there any questions we didn’t ask you today, Erica, that you wish we had? Oh, boy. I don’t even know. You know, I think the other area, as I’m I’m looking at my office and I have one of my grandfather’s first ads, a lithograph that was made as a part of the Chargers club in nineteen eighty eight. A. My diploma and what it takes to be number one by Vince Lombardi, which he had in his office pretty much the majority of his career. And I would say that I think the biggest thing, too, is even though I’m very honored that I had a formal education, I would also encourage anybody who maybe doesn’t have a formal education that you can also change this industry, because I think that’s something that as a generation we’ve been taught that, oh, well, if you don’t have a degree, you can’t get this job. And I would say that probably the most untapped talent that we have in this industry might not have a degree. And I would really love to see them shine. So well said. And I, I totally agree because when you, when you said your your grandfather had an eighth grade education, that’s the last full grade I completed as well. Yeah. Well, and he, he even taught me to, he was like, Eric, I, I might not be book smart, right? He’s like, but I’m street smart and I want you to be the perfect. He’s like, I want you to be the perfect mixture of both where you realize like, there’s always something more you can learn always. Yeah. And people need to hear that. Wow. That’s, uh, I can’t I can’t believe this happened as fast as it did. I know. So let me say this. Thank you. We’re humbled, honored and grateful to have you on our podcast today. And thank you. Yeah, this is going to be awesome. And for all of you out there, when, uh, when, when you, when you see her pre-announcement to coming out on Monday, you like her, you love her, you engage with her, you ask her questions. You, you, you know, you just she’s an amazing talent. And. Erica Bruno Martin senior director and a key accounts at Recall Masters. That is a wrap for WTF what the fixed ops with Erica. Thank you. Thank you Eric. That was awesome.
