Ep. 167 Chris Barrett: the automotive sales director turned entrepreneur, streamlining and automating vehicle preparation and stock management.

In this episode we are celebrating the career to date of Chris Barrett.

Chris is the founder and Managing Director of vAutoStock.  The company provides a suite of technology solutions designed to help dealers manage vehicle preparation, vehicle stock location and stock management.  These include vAutoPrep, vAutoTrack and vAutoService and they are just about to launch vAutoBots. 

Chris founded the company in 2015 having worked for 17 years in dealerships, including roles such as Sales Director, and also a short stint with a Manufacturer, Vauxhall. 

In our conversation we talk about his entry into automotive retail, starting with a weekend job and culminating in him being a Sales Director with responsibility for seven sites. Chris shares how the problems he experienced in that role trying to keep track of used vehicle stock being prepared provided the idea for his business.

He explains how he kept money coming in whilst developing his product and the highs and lows of signing up their first 10 customers.

Chris is open about the very real challenges that he and his family are facing that began during Covid and how having his own business has provided valuable autonomy.

I enjoyed hearing how Chris has managed his career from providing showroom support as a schoolboy to now getting great pleasure from knowing that the solutions his business develops are automating and streamlining processes for many colleagues in the retail automotive industry. As always, I look forward to hearing what resonates with you.

If you're listening for the first time, hello, I'm Andy Follows. I'm a trusted advisor to senior leaders in the automotive industry. I work alongside them and their teams to enable Fulfilling Performance. If you'd like to know more about Fulfilling Performance, check out: Release the handbrake! - The Fulfilling Performance Hub on Substack.

Connect with Chris
LinkedIn: Chris Barrett

Thank you to our sponsors:
ASKE Consulting
Email: hello@askeconsulting.co.uk

Aquilae
Email: cvm@aquilae.co.uk

Episode Directory on Instagram @careerviewmirror  

If you enjoy listening to our guests career stories, please follow CAREER-VIEW MIRROR in your podcast app. 

Episode recorded on 26 April, 2024.

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Chris Barrett: 0:00

We'd done five Zafiras the year before, and I spotted you could do them at 10 995. So I ordered 20. By Thursday and Friday, they're all gone. So I ordered another 100. So we had 100 coming and I mean the managing director, he trusted me but he was a bit nervous, I think. And they managed to get picked up by hot deals UK I'd never heard of it. And our internet crashed. We took 10,000 hits in like one hour. It was crazy. And we sold them all before they even arrived.

Aquilae: 0:30

Welcome to CAREER-VIEW MIRROR, the automotive podcast that goes behind the scenes with key players in the industry looking back over their careers to share insights to help you with your own journey. Here's your host, Andy Follows

Andy Follows: 1:02

Hello, listeners, Andy here. Thank you for tuning in. We appreciate that you do. We are also very grateful for our guests who generously joined me to create these episodes, so that we can celebrate their careers, listen to their stories, and learn from their experiences. In this episode, we're celebrating the career to date of Chris Barrett. Chris is the founder and managing director of V auto stock. The company provides a suite of technology solutions designed to help dealers manage vehicle preparation, vehicle stock location and stock management. These include V Auto Prep V Auto Track and V Auto Service, and they're just about to launch V Auto Bots. Chris founded the company in 2015. Having worked for 17 years in dealerships including roles such as sales director, and also a short stint with a manufacturer, Vauxhall. In our conversation, we talk about his entry into automotive retail starting with a weekend job and culminating in him being a sales director with responsibility for seven sites. Chris shares how the problems he experienced in that role trying to keep track of used vehicle stop being prepared provided the idea for his business. He explains how he kept money coming in whilst developing his product and the highs and lows of signing up their first 10 customers. Chris is open about the very real challenges that he and his family are facing that began during COVID and how having his own business has provided valuable autonomy. I enjoyed hearing how Chris has managed his career from providing showroom support as a schoolboy to now getting great pleasure from knowing that the solutions his business develops, are automating and streamlining processes for many colleagues in the retail automotive industry. As always, I look forward to hearing what resonates with you. If you're listening for the first time. Hello, I'm Andy Follows I'm a trusted adviser to senior leaders in the automotive industry. I work alongside them and their teams to enable Fulfilling Performance. If you'd like to know more about Fulfilling Performance, you can sign up for our weekly newsletter innate you'll find easily digestible ideas on how to increase levels of performance and fulfilment for yourself and those you lead and care about. Go to andyfollows.substack.com or use the link in the show notes to this episode. Hello, Chris, and welcome. And where are you coming to us from today?

Chris Barrett: 3:23

Hi, Andy. Yeah, I'm coming from southwest London, a place called Southfields which is in Wandsworth. And pre better known we're about a mile away from the Wimbledon Tennis Championships. So All England Club,

Andy Follows: 3:34

definitely Wimbledon will be well known to listeners all around the world. Thank you very much for joining me. Let's start at the very beginning. Where were you born?

Chris Barrett: 3:43

I was born in Salisbury and lived in a place called Amesbury. My dad was MoD. So there was a link down there at the time.

Andy Follows: 3:54

Right. So MoD Ministry of Defence what was he doing? Are you allowed?

Chris Barrett: 3:58

I don't know then probably can't remember then. But his last job was up in Whitehall, doing something with risk. So yeah, but probably I describe him as the opposite as me actually. So it was art. So I was only there for two years. So I only lived there for two years until I was two.

Andy Follows: 4:16

Right. So you said you describe yourself as the opposite of your dad. So what would you say you picked up from your dad and in what ways are you different,

Chris Barrett: 4:24

Well he was always hard working. I mean, he had a career and he worked and he was always getting up early in the morning getting the train up to London, and getting home late and always worked and worked for the same organisation for his entire life and managed to retire early. So a very stable working career from my dad.

Andy Follows: 4:43

We're going to find out in the next hour or so that yours has been a bit different. A bit different. Yeah. And what about mum? What did you see your mum doing?

Chris Barrett: 4:51

Well, whilst we were younger, she looked after us I guess. And then as we went to school, I remember getting a part time job in a local bank, which I think was Midland Bank at the time. Again stayed with them for entire career. And she was a branch manager by the end and more full time when we didn't need picking up from school.

Andy Follows: 5:10

So you saw her go into an organisation and progress. I think they became part of HSBC.

Chris Barrett: 5:16

Yes. Yeah, there were HSBC at the end,

Andy Follows: 5:19

you said we, mum looked after us. So who were the we?

Chris Barrett: 5:22

I've go two sisters and older older sister, and a younger sister as well.

Andy Follows: 5:27

A little bit about school then Chris, how would your teachers have described you.

Chris Barrett: 5:32

I think facetious was a word once. But no, I think I was I was probably a bit cheeky, but worked hard, but also had a bit of fun at the same time, and liked hanging with friends.

Andy Follows: 5:44

In terms of academic subjects, what did you get the most pleasure out of?

Chris Barrett: 5:49

Probably something like geography, because I guess that was an interest for me at the time. So then if you're interested, I tend to find you perform better in your exams. I probably wasn't an exam lover. I was more about the practical side of it. But yes, it was probably that I remember that being more interested in history as well, history. We put those two things up. And Maths and English kind of did it because you did it.

Andy Follows: 6:17

There was no getting away from it. So you're having fun with your friends at school? What sort of activities was a sport involve music? What was your extra-curricular school life like?

Chris Barrett: 6:29

It was the standard football. You know, in the in the early years, you play football in the playground every lunchtime, and you know, often take a cold hard ball to the face from another game going on, on the other other side, you know, that sort of thing. And then laterly, the the secondary school. It was pretty more hanging out.

Andy Follows: 6:49

Did you move around? Like you said you'd was in the MoD? Did you move around a lot? Or after the move from Salisbury? Were you in the same place?

Chris Barrett: 6:55

That was it. That was it. So got a job in London. And that's where he stayed very, very say, well, in fact, they're still in the same house I grew up in now.

Andy Follows: 7:04

As you were coming towards the end of your school days, when did you start to have any idea what you wanted to do next?

Chris Barrett: 7:10

I always quite liked cars, but I wasn't you know set on that. But I do remember when I was applying to university, there was a course at Loughborough University that had just started it was only about a year year in and it was Retail Management automotive. And I thought quite fancy giving that a go. And it was quite a tough one to get into. There was it was quite a high mark you needed. And sadly I didn't get into Loughborough and ended up going to Bournemouth doing retail management. I started the course. And what I could see was It was basically it seems to me that it was run by Sainsbury's and Tesco is generating their next branch manager. And I'd worked at Sainsbury's at the weekend. I was like, I don't really want to be a manager of Sainsbury's. So I was kind of like thinking, I've made a bit of a mistake here. I don't really like this course quite like the people and being done in Bournemouth. And interesting. I've done some work experience at a local car dealership a few years back. And I'd stayed on their working weekends. And when I went to university, they said, we'll pay for you to come back at the weekend, and carry on doing all the weekend work for us. And I thought well give me some money I won't stack up any student debt. And I wasn't really enjoying the course. And they said, What about you working full time for us? So they sort of joke I did work experience and they never let me go. So I kind of fell into it. I guess I fell into into cars. It's probably what sort of happened. But there was definitely a link somewhere along the line.

Andy Follows: 8:51

Yeah, well, you demonstrated that early interest when you're filling in your application. So the automotive Retail Management. This wasn't completely out of the blue, and you've just found your way in a different route. And it just shows how helpful these jobs that you do at school these weekend jobs, these work experience things, they get you connections, they give you exposure to something that they did you finish the course?

Chris Barrett: 9:17

No, no so I left. I remember getting called in by the head of the course. And it was really you said, you know, you're going to really, really struggle to get a job if you leave university, you know, and actually that inspired me more to do it. I was like, Well, you know what, I'll show you. Okay, who's actually gave me the motivation to do it more than stay as like I couldn't I couldn't believe like what he was saying to me. Like if you do this, you won't you know, you'll never succeed.

Andy Follows: 9:44

Wow. So not the kind of supportive relationship you'd hoped to have. But gave you motivation to really make something out of it. And what was it like because doing a job at the weekend is one thing and then that becoming your full time job, how did you find that?

Chris Barrett: 10:03

I loved it because it was car it was my first go at car sale. So what I've been doing at the weekend, I've been working on the showroom as like a showroom a system, and the customer would come in and they would be busy. It was a small showroom, and there was only about three salespeople. So taking them a Saturday and Sunday, they'd be more customers than there will be sales people. So I would be handling the initial inquiry, taking them for a test drive, and then handing them over to the salesperson. But I'd often feel like I've just sold this car, and I've just handed it to this salesperson who's going to get the commission. And I felt like customers probably preferred speaking to me because they knew I wasn't the salesperson. And I was I was interested in cars. So and in those days, the spec wasn't huge, but you know, Renault, so I knew the difference between a scenic RT and an AR XE. So like, I could show them how the seats folded down. And I could take them for a test drive. And so it's quite easy to hand that over to a salesperson in those days, and then then sell. So I felt like I was kind of doing it already. But it wasn't it wasn't quite the same when you've got to do that deal. But I was fortunate enough to work with a very good sales director at the time called Keith Wheeler. Yeah, so he taught me a lot about sales. So I learned probably a lot of my sales skills from him.

Andy Follows: 11:17

So what were some of the things you learned about sales from Keith,

Chris Barrett: 11:20

I suppose a bit of psychology with tying the customers when I when I was doing this not so much the showroom host role. But I remember him putting a sort of a post it note on my desk, with the registration number of the car, I was talking to the customer about and saying Mrs. Smith wants to know if this car still available, can you call it back when you finished with this customer? And it was a bit you know, written on a post it note in front of this customer. And I was gonna ask going to him I said, I don't know, I miss Mrs. Smith. Well, who's Mrs Smith. And afterwards, he said, that was to try and get them to kind of like, you know, say yes, quickly not go home and think about it. So I was a bit naive. But in fairness, you know, those are the sort of, that's the thing that I'll always remember. But the biggest thing I learned was in a speaking to being friendly with customers and having a laugh with them. That's what he was very good at. And he had so many repeat businesses because he'd been a salesperson originally. And even though as the self thinks sales manager, maybe they're not sales director, they'd still come back and ask for him. And he had all this repeat business, because he was just a nice friendly person to deal with when you're buying a car. So that was kind of like, key. And then on the other. The other side, my managing director at the time, James kimberlites, just went to his retirement gig a couple of well, probably last month, he built up this lovely business that all these people stayed working for him for ages. But he was so funny to work for in terms of talk about costs, cost control, he was the man for cost control. So I learned a lot from the business side from him in terms of how to kind of run it and and also, you know, make sure people stay with you and want to work for you.

Andy Follows: 13:00

And how long did you stay around? How do they, you know, how did that progress that opportunity.

Chris Barrett: 13:06

So that was 1998 and I was 18. People moan about their basic semi basic was 4000 pounds. Oh, it was like that this my MD for year one. He said, I'm really pleased the job. You've got the biggest percentage pay rise in the company this year. And I was like really chuffed. And then I worked out on 4000 a percentage could be quite a lot, and it's still not very much money. But yeah, so he sold it well to me. I then got a job at Volvo in 2001.

Andy Follows: 13:35

How did that happen?

Chris Barrett: 13:36

I applied for the job I was looking for my next kind of felt like I wanted to get on, Keith, I couldn't see moving. So there was no and it was a small dealership, it was only there was only one site. So I couldn't really see myself getting any higher. So I thought I'm gonna have to move to get where I want to go on I want to progress. So I applied and I started working for a company called Squall Furneaux. And that was in Cobham at the time. And that was a Volvo dealership. Oh, yeah. And that was that was interesting because it was to those two or three other salespeople that are getting acquired some what is a sales only operation, their service site was in another location. So as a small sales site, and I was a new salesperson in a, an existing team that had been there. And again, there was a very good salesman there. And that was my first experience of our working in a team where you've got to watch some other people. Because where I'd come from was very nice and friendly. And everyone worked together. It was quite a nice place to work. And then all of a sudden, yeah, I'd go on a test drive, and I'd come back from the test drive and the salesperson then he'd go, can I have the keys for that? Volvo V 40 just been out in? I said, Yeah, sure. It goes well, I've sold that. And then I turn around for customer and say, Sorry, my colleagues sold it. Again, naive And then he'd speak to the customer that was in the showroom, and then sell it. And I'd have this customer that wasn't happy, because I'd say it was my first experience of Oh, not everyone's so nice to work with. So I bet a bit bit bit harder here. So you know, you learn these lessons as you as you go. But again, that was it, that I learned quite a lot there in terms of hard work, I suppose. Because couple of salespeople quite lazy, they're really, they were kind of a bit comfortable, where I'd worked before you're in the showroom, and customers came in, and you'd kind of like, try and have the best desk to get the customers they came in. Whereas I'd moved to a place where the sales team were upstairs, and they had a receptionist. And so the receptionist would ring around saying, I've got a customer in the showroom, and everyone would be busy, which was always amazing. And I'd go down, and I would just be speaking to so many people. And it was, it's a numbers game. So I quickly was was indexed as a group then. And I remember in the first six months of being there, I almost won the the top sales based on units and profit and, and that kind of thing within six months. And I realised it was only because I was prepared to speak to the customers, and other people weren't plus I was, you know, I was diligent and learned my product. So it was kind of like a no brainer for me. And then the next year, I think I was first or second. I think second actually probably. And all I needed to do was speak to people

Andy Follows: 16:30

Well it's just so simple, isn't it? This idea that it is a numbers game, the more people you speak to yeah,

Chris Barrett: 16:35

I've worked with some better salespeople than me, I was never closer as such when I'm selling, but people would, when they said they'd come back, they would actually come back to me. Whereas you see a lot of people try and close. And then they don't come back, possibly because they've tried too hard. But again, there is a balance, because sometimes you've just got to go, what's it going to take for you to sign up now. So you learn those sorts of things. But you don't need to belabour the point with them if they're not going to.

Andy Follows: 17:03

So you found you sort of found the recipe, if you like you knew that with a work ethic, talk to lots of people have the product knowledge, be a nice friendly face and person in the dealership and you could get your numbers you could excel you or you wanted to do more than

Chris Barrett: 17:18

Yeah, and I was lucky I you know, I was single. So I didn't have kids to get home to. So I could work a bit later in the evening to catch up on my paperwork where perhaps they couldn't. And I remember working late once there and the managing director said to me, so just so you know, don't don't work late for me. You know, it doesn't impress me seeing someone working late. I think it's more inefficient. And I sort of put out by that. And I remember talking to my dad about it. And he said, Does your managing director have a PA? And I said yeah, he said, Well, there you go. Problem solved.

Andy Follows: 17:53

And how long did you stay there for Chris?

Chris Barrett: 17:55

Not long because the Renault garage that I worked for, they were opening up a brand new dealership in Guilford. And they wanted me to be sales manager there. And I thought, well, you know what, the management opportunity at 21 is huge. I've got to do this. And again, I was certainly Volvo. I was doing quite well there. And then again, the managing director came see me and he said, Look, haven't got a management position to put you on. But we'll put you through a training programme. It's two years it will give you all the qualities and experience that you need. And then at some point, I'm sure there'd be a management position for you. But I just don't have one. Now, I don't want to lose you. And I think actually, personally, you're not quite ready yet. And if I'm honest, I wasn't. But I've always whenever someone promises you something, unless they can do it straightaway, you've got to assume it won't happen. Because you will only be disappointed if it doesn't. So I've always thought make the decision that you can make right now that you know is certain and then do it. And actually was it fake it till you make it. So yes, I was probably a bit out of my depth as a sales manager at the time.

Andy Follows: 19:05

Did you think that at the time or is that with hind sight?

Chris Barrett: 19:08

Absolutely not, no.

Andy Follows: 19:12

You thought you were ready.

Chris Barrett: 19:13

Yeah. And in reality, when I look at it, I was probably more of a sales controller. If you look at a position in the dealership that's similar. Now it's more sales controller. But that was probably good, because I could just focus on helping. And I had a team you know, I had a team of what we started. It was funny actually, she started in a bungalow whilst they were building this new site behind us. It was literally a bungalow and we managed to get a car in it. And all the other stuff was around the outside. And then we had a used car pitch across all this industrial state there were, you know, diggers going backwards and forwards. And we sold loads of cars out of that bungalow. It was amazing. And then we opened the doors on this brand new purpose built dealership, and we didn't really sell many more cars and you think what was the point in that? Yeah, Yeah, but But you know, it took all it took obviously it did build from there. But it was just amazing. And it was good fun in that bungalow because everyone was close together. And it was a bit like, you know, roll up your sleeves and and get on, get on with it. And then we have a team of eight or eight salespeople, business manager. So it grew, it grew considerably. And you had everything you could possibly want in this dealership as a first place I'd worked that had, you know, was luxury. And it was it was good fun and believe it or not it's when I used to have a 6% market share. So we were you know, we were flying. And it was it was it was good fun and but in those days, the internet wasn't really wasn't really out. So we always had a tactic that kind of the way the customer would operate would be, they would narrow down, I guess to five, five to seven cars that want to look at. So on Saturday, the first Saturday, they would whiz round all the dealerships, as many as they could getting brochures and just having a look, then you would follow them up on the Tuesday to see if they wanted to test drive. And usually they did because the Renault was a little bit different to everything else that was available. And again, something that Keith told me, he said make sure you book the test drive for three or four o'clock in the afternoon. Because they'll have gone to Vauxhall to look at the Astra that have gone to VW just look at the Polo, they'll come to you about three or four o'clock to look at your test drive because they're committed to come in to test drive the Renault because it narrowed it down from five to three. And he said by then they'd be so fed up, they'll just know just by. And he was right. You know, so I always used to put my demos for the afternoon. And, and yeah, so anyway, that that was that was my Renault memories. And then we would try and do that as much as possible. And we were selling lots of cars. And it was good fun.

Andy Follows: 21:51

Yeah, a couple of things you just pointed us want to make. One is that thinking about when you decided to move back to SMC, you already knew them, and you trusted them and you'd had a good experience. So that's really helpful if you're making a move like that. And the other just to say, I love the bungalow, I presume they bought a residential site or something, and we're gonna convert it and they happen to be a bungalow on it. So let's put a car in it. Imagine the conversations after all the investments been done, and you're not actually selling that many more cars than you were in the bungalow out some some heated conversation, but that being thrown back at everybody.

Chris Barrett: 22:27

Yeah I think the electricity bill broke my managing directors heart in the early days of this new this new building, he'd be in the bathroom, and all of a sudden, the lights would go out because he'd have gone around turning everything off.

Andy Follows: 22:40

Is he the one you learned cost control from?

Chris Barrett: 22:44

I mean, I've got another funny story about him when I was a sales exec that I worked with someone phone for the managing director, and he would keep on writing on his business cards. Can you call Chris Barrett back? Or can you call Andy back and he'd keep on writing on the back of his business card and leaving them on the desk for the managing director upstairs. And the manager actually came down with a 20 piece. And he said, That's how much you're costing me every time you write. You write me a message on the back of your business card. Here's some post in those. That's the level it went. It was quite funny. Yeah,

Andy Follows: 23:18

I'm kind of with him on that. I think that would bait me. But I love how you learned cost control, you learn how to go to bathroom in the dark. Which could be a useful skill. And so this was your management position or as you say sales controller position, but very young, 20/21 years old. And what did it lead to?

Chris Barrett: 23:41

Travelling.

Andy Follows: 23:42

Okay,

Chris Barrett: 23:44

so I've kind of missed that fun that all my friends had had at University. I'd actually made quite I was. So a joke I never been as wealthy as I was when I found that I bought a house when I was 21. And I was on a good salary with no, you know, you thought you had outgoings, but you didn't have outgoings and I bought a house and my mates moved in. And so I have two mates living there their payment but pretty much paying the mortgage. Hopefully I won't try and claim it back now. And so I felt quite wealthy and I was saving money. And my friends had all been to university and they'd had a great time from what I could see. And so I'd never had this sort of real fun, I'd kind of worked and worked and worked and just reached a point where I thought you know, I'll give travelling a go. So I handed my notice in and set off. And I'd planned to be aware a bit longer but I rented my house and it was a family moved in. They paid the first month's was the pay a month and a half or something as your initial deposit and that was the last payment they made. So I then had to whilst travelling, I had eight months trying to evict them from my house. So it kind of put a bit of a dampener on the travelling and a massive dampener on my planned funds For the trip, but luckily, I did have savings to fall back on. Wow. So it was a bit I had to cut my trip a bit short, but I still had a lot of fun. I think, you know, I didn't work, whereas a lot of people travelling worked. I didn't need to because I'd saved the money. And you know, I did so many things and just loved it.

Andy Follows: 25:21

So how long did you go for and where did you go?

Chris Barrett: 25:23

There was eight months in the end. And I did I think I did what then was the usual route sort of Thailand, and then Western Australia of Western Australia. Actually, not many people were doing Western Australia. I did Western Australia and that I mean, that to me was proper Australia loved it. And I bought a car and being an experienced automotive professional. I got sold an absolute pup, but it did make it around. I got up I got up the West West Coast and got me back down. And I drove I remember drove I was on the West Coast of Australia. And it was coming up to my birthday and St. Patrick's Day. And I was in the kind of the middle of nowhere, so I want to be somewhere fun for my birthday. So a friend that I'm made out there we decided with drive from in this old banger thing we drove from Esperance in the southwest part of the Southwest all the way to Adelaide in one go. And these are the things that you would you should never do you should never drive at night in Australia because of all the kangaroos and and all sorts of things and you know, driving through timezones that you had no idea what time it was no idea and whether the petrol station was open and we managed you know, we had no no petrol left, but luckily the petrol station we got to was open. So it got us, it got us there. But by the time I got to Adelaide, the car was absolutely gone. And then I remember we want to do the Ocean Road Great Ocean Road, which is supposed to be you know, the thing you do and, and we had this car, and I couldn't turn it off, because if I turned it off, it wouldn't start again. So we were doing the Ocean Road, and we'd have to just get out, have a look, leave the car running. Go back and do it. So I felt like having read on the Ocean Road and this is this was my extravagance, travelling with a friend. And he again, he was in a similar boat, we found the right people because he again, he'd been working and he had savings wherever everyone else was having to kind of do help jobs to pay. And I was like, I feel like we need to go back and hire a car and do the graphics. So by then the Falcon had died in a multi story car park in Adelaide. But doing the right thing I thought I can't just leave it there because it's really registered the car to you. I do want to come to Australia in a few years time and ago. This car you left in the multi story car park. So I found the head a their phone, the AAA and he came and he told me out and I found a garage, that would just take it for nothing. So we towed it out. And they'd been there for a couple of weeks. The tow truck pulled into the paper you have to pay as you left. And the tow truck got waved through. And then he stopped just at the window for me $100 to get the car out to scrap. So that was the last car I bought in Australia and probably the last car I should buy ever. But then we hired a car to do the Great Ocean Road. And we went all out and hired a Porsche Boxster of course, but only for a day so we kind of like we do it again. We're lunatics on this Great Ocean road roof down is lovely. One of those memories that was far too expensive, but glad we did it.

Andy Follows: 28:45

Yeah, it stuck with you. Where was your dad? And how did he react to you deciding I'm going to quit work now and go travelling. He's up at the MoD and white halt doing a risk job. Yeah, and you've left your course early. And now you're gonna leave your job. How was he taking all this?

Chris Barrett: 29:06

Well he was getting better at it. I think. In fairness, he's always been supportive. He's you know, he's like, he's probably said his piece and left it and then been very supportive. So you know, very fortunate and it he, he was very good during that time when I was having the trouble with the tenants because both my parents said, look, you've gone now we don't want you to do is come back and then go again. Just stay out there. We're trying to help you with it. And so they were they were the ones that were trying to work with the legal system to evict the tenants, but I still had to come back and go to court and do it myself in eight months, but no it was they again shows you they've always been very supportive. And I think there's a there's an understanding that I'm a little bit different. So you know, that's okay. And yeah

Andy Follows: 29:59

So it's sounds that you came away with some good memories and good stories from your travels.

Chris Barrett: 30:05

I went I went to so I went to New Zealand and then Fiji. And then because I'd come back short my friends were in they're going to Germany for the World Cup. And I thought, well, I'd originally said no, because I was going to be away travelling, but now it's coming back. I thought I might as well go to Germany with them. Yeah. And that was quite a nice, final hurrah to travelling before I got back to reality.

Andy Follows: 30:29

And did you have a job to come back to? Or did you have to start looking?

Chris Barrett: 30:33

I didn't even have a house to come back to at that point.

Andy Follows: 30:35

Ah so is it still occupied?

Chris Barrett: 30:38

Yes. And I didn't want to live with them. I was pretty annoyed at them.

Andy Follows: 30:45

Yeah. Right. Yeah. Got off on the best of terms?

Chris Barrett: 30:49

No.

Andy Follows: 30:53

Let me take a moment to tell you about our sponsor. This episode is brought to you by ASKE Consulting who are experts in Executive Search, Resourcing Solutions and Talent Management across all sectors of the automotive industry in the UK and Europe. I’ve known them for almost 20 years, and I can think of no more fitting sponsor for CAREER-VIEW MIRROR. They're the business we go to at Aquilae when we're looking for talent for our clients and for projects that we're working on. ASKE was founded by Andrew McMillan whose own automotive career includes board level positions with car brands and leasing companies. All ASKE consultants have extensive client-side experience which means they bring valuable insight and perspective for both their employer and candidate customers. My earliest experience of working with Andrew was in 2004 when he helped me hire Regional Managers for my leasing sales team at Alphabet. More recently, when Aquilae was helping a US client to establish a car subscription business, ASKE Consulting was alongside us helping us to develop our people strategy and identify and bring on board suitable talent. Clients we've referred to ASKE have had an equally positive experience. Andrew and the team at ASKE are genuinely interested in the long-term outcomes for you and the people they place with you. They even offer the reassurance of a 2-year performance guarantee which means they have ‘skin in the game’ when working with you.If you're keen to secure the most talented and high potential people to accelerate your business and gain competitive advantage, do get in touch with them and let them know I sent you. You can email Andrew and the team at hello@askeconsulting.co.uk or check out their website for more details and more client feedback at www.askeconsulting.co.uk . ASKE is spelt A S K E You’ll find these contact details in the shownotes for this episode. Ok, let’s get back to our episode. So what did you do?

Chris Barrett: 32:53

I looked for a job. I think I had in my mind, I'll try and do something different than going back into the dealership. I thought let's try something different. And I saw a job advertised by Vauxhall in Luton. And didn't really expect to get it because I kind of thought it was like a graduate type thing. And their HR manager, she phoned me up and she said you applied for this job. And it says the advanced Excel skills required. Do you have advanced Excel skills? And they said well, I probably wouldn't say advanced because I've never needed them to be advanced. But I've definitely done a lot of Excel. And I can kind of quite quickly pick things up and shall come for an interview. But you could see this was a was was a concern,

Andy Follows: 33:41

Deal breaker

Chris Barrett: 33:42

Potential deal breaker. And it just so happened I've been playing football on a Sunday and I take him once running out. And I took so much struck the ball and it was such force inside of my face and went off for a throw in so you can imagine that diversion my face took and had this black eye from so I went for the interview with the Excel issue and a black eye or thought I don't really fancy chances if I'm honest. But I got the job. And it was really good. It was really interesting. And I've never worked in a big organisation like that. I'd always worked for sort of smaller dealerships. And so it was really interesting, the whole dynamic of again, the person employed me as national sales manager for Vauxhall and he said, You know, when you come work for big work, he'd come from a dealership he said, well you realise when you have a big organisation about 20 30% of your time is just admin full working for a big organisation all the things you got to do and that kind of thing. But I loved it was Monday to Friday, I was driving to Luton every day from Woking. So it was good. It was a good hour and on Friday could be two hours. But I had the weekends whereas I've never really had the weekends working in a dealership and I was fortunate they had an undergrad position that worked for me. And he was an absolute whiz on Excel. Thank goodness, he managed to keep me going. And then eventually I picked it up myself. So it was all in the short term. Thank goodness, he was a whiz and a really good good guy and hard worker. So that was good. And yeah, I loved it because it was sort of lots of conferences with the retail sales team and felt really involved in everything they were doing. And it was in the heyday, where manufacturers just had to shift units. And that was all they needed to worry about really, before, you know, the takeover and cost cutting and that kind of thing. So it was a nice place to work. But sadly didn't pay me enough for what I needed to recover from my travelling and no rent being paid. So I would have stayed if it had been more money basically, just wasn't enough money for me at the time and I couldn't afford to wait.

Andy Follows: 35:57

Okay, so what did you do?

Chris Barrett: 35:59

I got approached about a job working for a Vauxhall dealer in Wimbledon, actually. So not too far away from here. Now. It was going to be fun as a new car sales manager. And it paid me more money, you know, basic was more than I was earning a Vauxhall. And I obviously missed it a bit. I described my role at the manufacturer, it was very steady. Wherever it is in the dealership, it was very, you know, you had some real lows, but some real, real highs. So it was kind of you missed that buzz of a dealership. And I was going to be managing people again, and I kinda like that, and running a business which I kind of liked. So So I did that. And very quickly. They had a site in Croydon that never made money. It was it was I mean I'm not surprised. The rent was about half a million a year or something on the pearly way. So it was hard to make money there. But it was a challenging site. And they'd had Saab in there and Chevrolet and Vauxhall in one building. And it never made money. And I was obviously doing an okay job for them at Wimbledon. They said would you go across and meet General Sales Manager for this site in Croydon, and I thought well, I was gonna get you know, yes. Yeah. Yeah, that was good. It was more money and it was a bigger position. And I liked the challenge. I was like, right, okay, we'll get give this a go. And I remember getting there and there's this empty office. And there wasn't, there weren't many offices in sight. It wasn't it wasn't a proper dealership in terms of the way it was built. It was a retail unit. And they said, Oh, you don't it's called the departure lounge. It's where managers like you come, you go in there. And then you're gone within about five months or something like that. So we call it a departure lounge. So I made sure I went straight in there and sat there. And again, that was probably if I look back at my career General Sales Manager in Croydon was the most fun I had the most satisfying position I had because built a team. I was lucky that there is a very good used car manager joined just similar sort of time to me, Daniel Stone, he's now doing really well now as well. The used car business was flying under his control. I didn't have to worry too much about use cars. I focused on new cars, and in Croydon it's such a huge market area that they're never, you know, they're just been burning people. No one knew they were there. So I focused a lot on the advertising. I claim I was the first one to spot that you could do a Zafira at£10,995. And I remember we broke the internet because we've done five Zafiras the year before. And I spotted you could do them at £10,995. So I ordered 20. By Thursday and Friday. They're all gone. So I ordered another 100. So we had 100 coming and I mean the managing director trusted me but he was a bit nervous, I think. And they managed to get picked up by hot deals UK I'd never heard of it. And our internet crashed because we have 10,000 hits in like one hour. It was crazy. And we sold them all before they even arrived. So we ordered some more and then unfortunately, everyone else cottoned on to it. So it slowed a bit. But we had we definitely had a good, good run of them. But we made we made money. And it was good fun. We had a good team. There were some challenges. Of course, there were some real staffing issues. Some customer issues certainly at Croydon. So yeah, it was that was that was probably the highlight of my sort of working career before I got promoted to sales director. And yeah, it was it was a different different thing.

Andy Follows: 39:33

What I'm hearing is yes, you there were times when you you wanted more money, or you needed more money. There's also it sounds like you were quite keen to take on more challenge there was kind of an innate desire to progress and ambition. Yeah. Would you agree with no,

Chris Barrett: 39:51

I agree. And it's funny we we've got children and we're probably a bit older in our peer group for children. So some of our kids friends tend to be young but they're definitely still in that very much, very focused on reaching the top. And so when I think when you're in your 30s, you're very determined to reach the top. And that's where you want to go. And that's what you see. And that's what certainly for me, I was determined to kind of progress progress progress in with within an organisation, I never thought about doing something myself. So sales director was really chuffed out apps, you know, over the moon, I'm so pleased to have done it in quite quick. Again, I was quite young to be a sales director, looking after seven sales operations, and it was owned by Vauxhall, there's quite a lot of pressure on terms of performance, you certainly had to hit your new car objective. Right?

Andy Follows: 40:42

So you are back in your back in the manufacturer?

Chris Barrett: 40:46

Well it was owned by the manufacturer it's very different, you know, still operates like a car dealership in terms of funding and that kind of thing is very different.

Andy Follows: 40:53

Did you have to be better than everyone else, though? Did you have to meet all the standards and follow all of the headquarter rules, and

Chris Barrett: 41:02

They were very fair, actually, in respect, if you did a good old pre reg deals, you didn't get any preferential rates or people thought you did you definitely think any preferential rates, the only thing you couldn't really say no, that's the only difference. You couldn't say no to a deal.

Andy Follows: 41:19

Okay, and so they were a sales director, seven businesses that you were responsible for, let's talk about a little bit about leadership, then, how was your leadership style evolving?

Chris Barrett: 41:31

Well, I didn't, again, I like to think I was either too nice to work for, or I think I had a good balance that, you know, was fair, understood, people gave them flexibility that they needed. But also, if people were taking the mick, they couldn't take the mick, you know, took, you know,

Andy Follows: 41:48

So then talk to me about you know how that came to for long. So you would, you'd have to make tough decisions quickly. But generally speaking, we had a good team. And I think we had a good team, because they like, if you make a nice pace to work, you tend not to lose them. And that's what I felt we had we had a good a good team. And then when you move up to Sales Director, it's a very different position. So as a, as a General Sales Manager, you're on the site, it's you're part of a team that's trying to achieve something on that site, and you're competing against other sites, and you can't everyone wants to do well and be the best and that kind of thing. And especially when you're you are the best performing site, it's a fun place to be, and why would you leave, you know, so. So it was a different, it's a different management type in that environment. As a sales director, it's very different that you kind of like this pinboard that you'll protect, I felt like you protecting the sales managers from higher, but you're trying to deliver the message lower. So you kind of you have playing this tightrope that you had to, you know, you might not not necessarily agree with the decision being made about salaries, for example, or about restructuring. But ultimately, when you leave that boardroom you have that is the position you're taking, and as though no one can see that you don't believe in that. So you've got to kind of push that even though maybe you don't. And then from a sales manager point of view, you can see that they're trying very hard, but there may be not performing. But there's some challenges, but there's no you know, you've got to either cover that or you've got to, and my my bonus structure was based on all the sights hitting the objective. And if one didn't hit it, I think I should have restructured it really was a bit unfair. And I look back on it. But it was you know, you get one fixed and then another one What? What happened to you, you were doing well. And so yeah, seven site, it was hard. And also because the company had grown. I was doing all the marketing. I was doing used car, there was no there was no used car buyer. There was no marketing person. There was no Yeah, so I was doing the whole thing. And when I actually left, they replaced me with a new car manager used car manager, marketing director, something else and I was like, no wonder, I think I lost my hair before that position. But it definitely didn't help. But again, I enjoyed the challenge. And we had some good results. I mean, I'd like the first quarter was a flyer again. But it was the market changed a bit. It started to get a bit tougher. But it was it was good fun. And we did a great job. But it was that whole it was a different it was different experience. an end. And what was the transition?

Chris Barrett: 44:37

One of the challenges was used car preparation for me. I'd constantly turning up on these sites. And I'd like what the hell is that car doing in the car parked there. And I'd write down the average number on my bit of paper or my hand different in how they come in and look on pinnacle. There's a data management system we had and it's 20 He's old. And it's not even been through the workshop yet what's going on what's going on. And it was hard for me from a group role to kind of see what was going on. And I had a sales manager at the time at Crawley, who is using a T cardboard for his used car stock and prep and everything. I was watching him riding out and he was in fairness, he was doing quite well, and it was working for him. But I was like, I can't believe we're writing T cards out still, there must be an electronic version of this or something like that. It's gonna happen. I tried to find something, I couldn't find anything. And I thought, Well, I've always fancied doing something myself. Let's and I'm not really happy here. Let's give it a go. And so that's how I how I left.

Andy Follows: 45:45

So it started with you identifying a problem that existed in your world and no, didn't seem to be an apparent electronic solution. How long did it take you to go from seeing that T card system having issues and thinking about actually, I'm going to leave and build this? Well,

Chris Barrett: 46:04

I suppose I'd had the idea a while go. And then it was just, there was a certain point where I thought, You know what, I think I want to do something else. What am I going to do? For that idea I had, I wonder if I should just just do it. I started speaking to people. And I found a couple of developers through my brother in law actually had been to university with this lady that had her own company. And so I met her and I said, what I was thinking of doing and how possible would it what would it cost that kind of thing? And I got quite excited. I think from that meeting, I thought, nope, that's it. I'm gonna do it. Just gonna do it. And that's what I did. But yeah, it's probably over a few months

Andy Follows: 46:47

Were you married? At this point? Are you still single?

Chris Barrett: 46:51

Yeo. So married to my wife, Lucy, she could see that I wasn't enjoying work, and you know, didn't have kids then and that kind of thing. And she had a good job. So it didn't really have much impact on on her this decision initially. Plus, again, I'd save money up again, and this kind of thing. So it wasn't it wasn't you know, it wasn't a do or die. My only regret is I probably didn't need to leave quite soon. Cuz I left and I didn't have anything to sell because it wasn't built yet.

Andy Follows: 47:18

Yeah, so it would have been possible to start the journey alongside what you were doing.

Chris Barrett: 47:23

Yeah. Although I don't know whether I'd have felt comfortable necessarily doing that as such,

Andy Follows: 47:29

from an ethical point of view or

Chris Barrett: 47:31

Yeah and a time point of view. I was just so busy in that job. I was working till 10 o'clock every night. And you know, there was no, there was no capacity to do anything else.

Andy Follows: 47:41

And so what did doing it? What did it involve?

Chris Barrett: 47:45

I'll always remember that I sort of like, what a computer setup my company found an accountant, built the spec that I wanted for the developers. And I've got my computer setup my dashboard and thought, "what do I do now?" I'm waiting for them to build it. And then someone, again, someoen from Vauxhall approached me and said, Look, I've got a new dealership being started called advanced Vauxhall in Slough. So Russian lady Angela, and she's come over and she's, she bought a Vauxhall dealer. And I think she'd probably like some help on sort of like a consultancy basis type of thing, end up being more of a full time job, I think, actually, in reality, but it was quite fortunate. So I did that. But it was very much like I just left. So I was like, What am I doing, but it was quite good because she allowed me to put the software into her business and test it. So that was actually very useful. And she was very fair. And then then we negotiated that out one day a week I'd be focused on my thing and four days a week I'd help her. And that's kind of what what we did. And I suddenly remembered something, something else crazy. I did. We then decided we're gonna live in Ibiza for three months, me and my wife. So my wife gave up her job as well. And we went to live in Ibiza, were actually we were thinking about going longer. We wanted to see what it was like living there in the winter. So we went we went in January, we drove down actually, it was good fun. We drove we drove all the way. And we had a great three months we realised in reality, it wasn't going to work over here. So that was a bit of a side side thing I completely forgot about actually. It's funny, isn't it?

Andy Follows: 49:19

I love it. I love it. So, but why is it not going to work? What did you learn from that little journey?

Chris Barrett: 49:25

It was expensive. I didn't speak Spanish so but I think ironically, now, it probably work because if you've got a business you can kind of as long as you prepare to fly back every week or something, you could make it work but in reality, and we've got kids now it's different. So it was actually good because we had this dream. And we realised the dream wasn't as good as reality because it's quite quiet in the winter. And there's not many people there in the winter. So there are some expats in schools and things but there's one school and it kind of we spoke to some people that were living there and this is great, it's a bit cliquey and, you know, yeah, it was it was it was a good experience. And we're glad we did it because we kind of popped the bug. Yeah. And not saying Never say never. But we missed the UK as well. And it's quite nice to have holidays. So maybe the focus should be work hard. Have nice holiday. Nice. Maybe that's a different a different strategy.

Andy Follows: 50:18

I like that you went and tried it. I think, instead of just dreaming about it, and it forever being something that you wished you had tried. You did it and you learned stuff. And you came back?

Chris Barrett: 50:28

Yeah. So I told you, my dad's getting better. He was, oh my goodness,

Andy Follows: 50:31

we keep on trying. What we're going to throw at him, we're gonna try.

Chris Barrett: 50:39

So we also got married in Ibiza as well, so it was a bit of there was a bit of history there. We got married in Ibiza, and that was fun. So there was there was kind of there was always been a link. So then obviously, I stopped doing the work for Angela, then. So I then came back, I still didn't, I was fortunate enough to when I was in Ibiza, I managed to get in a automotive management they picked up that I was, well actually they didn't pick up I asked them

Andy Follows: 51:06

I love that, picked up after repeated attempts.

Chris Barrett: 51:12

No one was more surprised than me. And fortunately had a bit of a flurry of people interested in it.

Andy Follows: 51:21

So did they write a story then about what you were doing?

Chris Barrett: 51:24

Yeah, they I put something together and then they kind of made it better and put it in. And they're very kind to do that rarely. So I got about eight or 10 dealerships signed up on my platform, I thought Blimey, this is good. But the problem I had was it was in its infancy, the software. So whilst he went in, I probably lost about half of them pretty quickly, because it wasn't quite what they were hoping it was going to be. Plus, I had a lot of learning about training people to use systems. And it was kind of a learning curve on that, that front and quite disappointing. You know, because we've had again, that high. And now all these people are saying they don't want any more. It's kind of a bit of a Yeah, you know, a bit of a personal not attack. But you know, I mean, it's kind of like a bit of a it's a personal thing, because it's your your product you think is really good. And they're saying perhaps no, it's not quite good enough. But fortunately, I didn't give up and the half that kept it. We worked with them and made it better.

Andy Follows: 52:24

How did you sorry, those moments where you've taken this plunge, if you like you've taken this decision, you've had the high and we know you like you prefer highs and lows to steady state. You've had the high of 10 signing up the automotive management article and then 10 people sign up. And then the blow of people saying that it's not doing what we want it to do and leaving you How did you get but you didn't give up? So what happened between the blow and you not giving up? What How did you process that?

Chris Barrett: 52:57

Yeah well, I've probably been a bit unfair on the product. In fact, a lot of them said, it's they were probably being polite but they said it's not not the system. It's like we just can't get people to use it. So I was like, well that's people but then actually why is it people we're obviously not making it good enough for them to use it. So it is the product. So it was kind of like okay, so then I started looking at what what didn't they like, what can I change? So the next place I go in, we don't have the same problem. So we did that. And then so the next time it's getting I'm getting what did I do wrong? When I set it up? Did I not spend enough time there? Should I maybe I should have spent more time with these people. And maybe if I'd grown slower, like 123, it would have been better. So they were the things I learned. So I thought it's not and there were people still using and people still same as good. So it's kind of like there's still something here, I won't quite give up, because I don't know what I'm gonna do. But the other thing I was doing, I was doing some other work on the side. So I was earning some money. So it wasn't the be all and end all. So I was earning enough money to keep my side at the mortgage going. So it wasn't the end of the world. But I think I'll keep going.

Andy Follows: 54:03

So there wasn't a this wasn't a crisis situation, you had money coming in, you were able to take this as feedback. And after any initial personal impact, if you like you're able to process it and think okay, so we're not obviously making it as good as we could. How can we learn from this. So a few factors, again, that allowed you to keep going, and that validation from Hang on, some people are using it and liking it. There is something in this and that's really important. Those people are really helpful

Chris Barrett: 54:36

And even to this day, we we're developing it every month and it's adapting and changing because when I'm showing people the product I joke every time it's probably getting boring from my colleague Amanda listening to it, but I say I haven't had a good idea for three years. Because all the good ideas have come from the people using it. And that's how you develop a system. You kind of you need the people using it because the reason why I think I had relative success early on was because I'd worked in the dealership. And it was also my product. And I understand the challenges that they had. So when you're talking to people, you can say you can almost joke about the challenges you've had. And that kind of thing and say, obviously clear doesn't happen to you. But for me, this is why it happened. And you can see them saying yeah yeah that happens to have that happen to us. So you have that understanding. And I think that's that helped. But obviously, the longer you're out working on the shop floor, you can do is see what's happening to people on the shop floor. And because I'm, even though I'm still there, installing it with them, still working with them long after they've set it up, you understand what people want, and what the challenges are, because the industry does change a lot. And there's different challenges all the time. So that's always important, I think, to develop.

Andy Follows: 55:50

So this is a software product, you came at it with the experience all the experience of understanding the problem. Having lived in that environment. So the business side, you really understand

Chris Barrett: 56:05

that that's that's it. And that's, you know, we don't turn anyone into a contract. So you've got to keep going, you've got to keep on developing and keep them keen and interested. So it helps focus your mind on delivering rather than going well I've been doing it three years now. But don't worry about it. You know

Andy Follows: 56:22

You're only as good as last month, which you're used to anyway, from your car sales

Chris Barrett: 56:28

Exactly. I joke, my developers have a month end like I did in car sales. If they say it'll be ready at the end of May. It'll be the first week of June. So I'm used to that too.

Andy Follows: 56:38

Right. So when did you start this business?

Chris Barrett: 56:44

Well, I was looking back 2015 10 year anniversary next year.

Andy Follows: 56:48

Oh, excellent. Congratulations

Chris Barrett: 56:49

I don't really feel like I started, I really started pushing it just before Covid. So I only really started pushing with developing it and just growing it gradually, one at a time developing. So it's probably in reality, and I wasn't. I think I just left earning money. I decided, You know what, I won't do anything on the side. I will just purely focus on this now, just before COVID. So that was key timing from my point. Yeah. So so that I'd say's been pushed from then

Andy Follows: 57:23

Right. And what does it do it?

Chris Barrett: 57:26

Well, it automates the preparation process. If you want you can also do it manually. But so we take a fee from dealerships dealer management system. And we take the vehicle through a preparation process, but every dealership has a different setup. So our system is completely what we think was complete, flexible, you can have any process you want, you can call me today, and you can have a different one tomorrow. It really is that flexible. If you want to automate it, we can automate as much as you want in terms of updating things, because I think alluded earlier on people using systems they are a bit reluctant. So if you can make it easy for them, then that does. But ultimately, what it's doing is it's taking a vehicle from the moment arrives, right through to ready for sale. And there's a lot of steps in between that and a lot of different people involved. So we kind of put it all together, giving the people the instruction they need when they need it all timed and measured. So when you see you can spot the problems, because going back to my days, I didn't know I had a problem unless I turned up and found it. This is very visual and very easy to use. But then we've added bits as we go along as well. We added RFID, which tracks the vehicle and can again automate the process like a factory conveyor belt. So we can we can do that through RFID. So again, that was something that we added and a lot of the investment personally to buy equipment, try it work out what was good stuff, what was bad stuff until we got the right one. And then we're just on Bluetooth. So we're just adding Bluetooth now so we never stop. And I think that's the key, like RFID don't settle for RFID what's the next thing? What can we do Bluetooth? And then obviously got some other bits coming as well. So yeah, we're always trying to go forward, giving new options.

Andy Follows: 59:11

Congratulations. And so this is now full time. You don't have to dabble in any consulting or this is now your your goal since just before COVID. And gone then what happened in COVID? Did it just stop? What was the story there?

Chris Barrett: 59:26

Well, we had a couple of COVID Yeah, so suddenly, my wife got diagnosed with cancer as well. She was pregnant and she got diagnosed with cancer. So we had it was our second child. And so she was diagnosed with cancer during pregnancy and we got COVID So we kind of like we nailed a bad period. So we had to deliver our son early so my wife could start chemo so we kind of the whole thing was chucked up in the air anyway for us. So in a way, I was dealerships weren't really focused on anything else it actually. It gave at least he gave a bit of bit of time to focus on, on our challenge personally. So in a way, it was bad because there was no money because I, I took a decision to I'd seen autotrader cut their bills to the dealerships. And I didn't know what was going on. So and I didn't want people to think I hadn't done anything through COVID. So I halved the monthly rentals on our on our subscriptions. But in reality, dealerships did carry on pretty quickly and they had their best, most of them had their best years ever, didn't they, but I definitely took a hit hit. But I thought it's the right thing to do, I thought was the right thing to do. It showed willing, we don't charge a lot anyway. So I think they could have probably survived. But some it was just a more is more the gesture. But so financially, it was tricky, because it's your own business, you didn't have any government support, you didn't have furlough, or anything like that. So a couple of things happened. Amanda, bless her now works in the company, and she's been working since pretty much after COVID, I think I realised, with my wife being unwell. And we already had a child and we had this newborn and my wife started chemo, I perhaps couldn't focus quite as much as I would on the business. And I felt a bit vulnerable as well, because I needed someone I could rely on if if I couldn't work today or something like that. And the business needed to continue certainly needs to continue because my wife wasn't gonna be able to work in this in the short term for sure. And so it kind of changed my view of the business, we've got to really go with this, we've got to this has got to work now. And so I managed to employ Amanda who used to work for me at Croydon, she was my group commercial manager. And and so you kind of and she would, she was just her job had finished, I think she'd left her job. And so I said that I can't offer you full time. But we start with part time and see where it goes, she now works for me full time, which is great. And it was brilliant. Obviously, I'd bring her on teach her the business, that kind of thing. But it was just, it was such a weight off my shoulders to have know that someone's there as well to be able to pick up the phone and deal with inquiries and issues or stuff like that. So that was a big turning point for me in the business, I would have made that decision at some point. But it was really forced upon me because of our personal situation. And you again, you realise the benefits of having now most businesses would have supported me, I'm sure through that time. But equally, one of the benefits of having a business is you can set your own time a bit. So I can catch up in the evening, and help with the kids. You know, that sort of thing. So you could you could do that during that. So So yeah, COVID was quite an interesting time. For many reasons.

Andy Follows: 1:02:41

Yeah I was thinking of it. You know, I was thinking of it just from a business perspective, let alone having that news hit your family

Chris Barrett: 1:02:49

the tragedy of that news makes you really focus on not much else matters. Really, it does actually help. I think, in business, as long as you do do it right. You know, you can't be too relaxed. But you've got to realise things happen. But rarely is it as bad as some situations. So in business, generally speaking within reason, it kind of as long as you fix the problem, it will work out in the end, if you ignore the problem, it will become a bigger problem. But generally speaking, you can fix the problem, if you if you work at it. So that's kind of how I feel whether I'm right or not. But that's that's my view. And it just helps you put everything in perspective in when that situation happens to you. So

Andy Follows: 1:03:32

yeah, a very interesting way to look at it with hindsight as well having been through it the benefits, the autonomy that you had allowed you to flex what you were doing, and the reprioritization of what's really important. From a business perspective. You know, was there a point where this sort of green shoots started to emerge post COVID? Were you able to put your prices back up? Or whether you felt Hang on, things are getting a little bit better? Again?

Chris Barrett: 1:04:00

Yeah. So in fairness, we'd started making some inroads in right. And that's why I'd, I guess, made the decision before COVID, which started selling enough now. We've just got enough revenue, and we're getting enough inquiries each month. So I knew I was onto something here. And we weren't advertising. So all these inquiries are coming from referrals. So either people had left a business using it, and they were starting a new business and said, you should see this system that we're using here, or they've been to a meeting and someone had mentioned it and so I starting to get I was, you know, I could see we were on to something good here. So that was already starting to happen. Obviously COVID hit no one really knew. But then dealerships actually started doing well although I had the other I'd always been selling the products on the basis of the quicker you prep it The quicker you sell, which is actually still the case. And even when it's come back again, for sure. But after COVID You couldn't get enough cars. And actually if you kept it in stock long It was worth more. So

Andy Follows: 1:05:02

yeah, they were appreciating.

Chris Barrett: 1:05:04

So I sort of had to ignore that bit. But But generally speaking, the only good thing is used car businesses were now having to be more efficient because their volume and they need to turn stuff quicker. So, again, post COVID, we actually had a bit of a bit of a flyer in terms of inquiries, and really pushing it and having Amanda on board helped, and it was all starting to come good in it. So not stopped since I think is probably the summary. Always do with more. But yeah, there's enough we're not sitting there thinking what we're going to do today. So there's, there's enough, there's enough going on

Andy Follows: 1:05:38

Excellent. I'm very pleased to hear that. And how much personal risk did you you know, what was the sort of peak personal risk that you put yourself at?

Chris Barrett: 1:05:48

Probably leaving the sales directors job, because it was a good salary, and a good position and it was the trajectory I'd taken was, you know, that was ah right. Okay, we're doing something completely different. Would I get back into that position if I decided to give up what I'm doing? Possibly, possibly not, didn't have a clue? So I'd say that was in terms of a career, that was definitely never felt too worried about money. I always thought I always make a decision. What would be the worst case? Well, I'm quite enjoyed selling cars. I'd like to back myself getting a sales job, again, if I could, because getting salespeople is quite tricky. And hopefully, I'd consider myself a reasonably good one. Maybe they wouldn't once I've been in their manager position. But I also thought Well I'll go and sell cars, if you know, if I need some money, I'll sell some cars. That's what I'll do. So that was my backup plan, I think you've got the kind of have a back up, probably the biggest risk was going to Ibiza, because we both my wife and I both gave up our jobs. Previously, my wife had a good job. So there was always money if we needed it. So that probably is not as big a risk as it could be for some people that didn't have that support. But then we just made sure we doubled down and moved to Ibiza didn't we so just increase the risk. So yeah, that's, I'd say that's probably the from a risk point of view. That has been it really, right. And you know, there's some business decisions you make, like, should I spend loads of money developing RFID at the detriment of profit this year? And shall I do the same with Bluetooth this year? Because why not? You know, so there is there is always every decision in the business is like, not do it and make more money in the short term, but you kind of do it to hope. But again, there's the worst case is you spend that money and you don't make it back? That's the only risk, isn't it? For me in that situation?

Andy Follows: 1:07:48

And what keeps you going now? Are you passionate about improving this process? And have you got a real sort of enthusiasm for the problem? Yeah. And solving the problem? What proportion of your motivation comes from that versus say, wanting to have a successful business or providing for your family? Or can you break it down?

Chris Barrett: 1:08:10

so I think from Yeah, can break it down. It's there's, there's, I think there's a couple of elements really, firstly, and I'd say probably the most important is that, when I was in my career, you'd like to be the best. And people go, Chris is good. He's done a really good job and that kind of thing. And that you know, that pat on the back type thing? Or do you do it for yourself, really, but it's that success, you want to be the best. So I have this product. And I want it to be the best, but the biggest reward is when people are using it. I see people using it, and they love it. And they say nice things to you and saying we're loving this. And that's quite satisfying, because it's something you've created. And you've built over that period of time. And they love it. Yeah, some people say, Oh, well, that reports not very good. What's Yes. What's that telling me? And that kind of thing. So you go, okay, it was fine. Let's look at that one. And we'll try and improve that one, or well, they might be wrong, you know, that could be wrong, because actually, they're not doing something right themselves. So you know, there's all that sort of stuff. So, again, it's that balance, isn't it? But so that's that's one of the reasons why you do it. And the success success, the more dealerships that take it, the more success now obviously, the Money Follows because the more dealerships that have it, the more money the business makes, so the money does come into. And obviously I've mentioned the sad situation we're in, my wife will never work in the position she had. And she's having to work pretty hard at being healthy. That's kind of what she's got to work out. And so we'll never have the second income that we had. So the business has to support everyone now the whole family. So that's had a bit more focused than it would have done. So my has shifted a bit to that, but that's helped because it gone, right. We really need Think about this, and we really need it to be here by here. And, and you know, that kind of thing. So it has helped me focus on that side of it.

Andy Follows: 1:10:09

Yeah, no thank you for, you know, going into bit of detail that because I think it's now just think people oversimplify, you know, they see someone successful in business and they think, Oh, they're just doing it for the money. But as is usually the case, you first of all identify a problem, you worked out how to solve it. And now you get pleasure from the external validation of people saying, it's really good, this, this is really helping us and then that feels good, you're serving the community that you are a part of, and you get a boost from doing that. And quite rightly so. And deservedly so, then the money is coming in. And it's nice to know, it's not, you know, it's a bit more complex than oh he's just building a business.

Chris Barrett: 1:10:51

The the fact that, is when I look at if I'm in a dealership, and I always stress any anyone and they should do this, everyone should go look at their process, because we see it every week, we will go in and we'll sit with someone that's doing something, and they're going so we put it on that spreadsheet, then then we do this, then we do that and go right, okay, why are you doing that? Well we've always done it. Even if you don't take our products just go and look at what people are doing in the dealership processes. And you could probably eliminate at least 25% of what they're doing and make their life easier. And that kind of thing. So I've always been driven to try and actually improve because I had the challenges and all the wastage and that kind of thing. So I've always had, I've always wanted to do that as well. So I've kind of exaggerated this point a bit. But that's kind of been a key bit to me. And I when I see someone doing something like why are you doing that, I went into one business where they're putting like 300, it was a fleet centre, and they were putting like 300 cars onto a validating system every single day. I'm like, why are you typing? Not every day, sorry, every week 300 vehicles on to a valeting system every week manually. I'm like, Come on, guys. Even if you do nothing with me, I can help you with that. And we've got an API sending these 300 cars to their system automatically. So stuff like that I didn't didn't make any more money doing that. But I actually had a great satisfaction thinking, I can do that. And I can talk about it to other people. And we've got it for someone else if they want it. And you know, that's the sort of thing. And maybe I should charge for it. But it's more it's more about trying to make things better.

Andy Follows: 1:12:25

I'm leaving a pause there. Because that was really cool. Is there anything I haven't asked you? That? means we've missed an opportunity to learn something or hear something that you'd like to share?

Chris Barrett: 1:12:35

No I think no, that was I think I've I'm sure I've forgotten some of bits. But you know, from from now that's all I can think of no it was good.

Andy Follows: 1:12:43

Okay. So if people want to get ahold of you, Chris, you're obviously keen to hear from them, I'm sure who can benefit any any dealer is it mainly?

Chris Barrett: 1:12:53

Yeah we have a mix. So we've got over 150 clients using the software, just the prep side, obviously, there's the Bluetooth tracking, as well. So it's any dealership, we've got small independents, and we've got some large groups, and we've got prep centres, and we've got someone in Holland using it in their prep centre, we've got a client in Malaysia using it. So doesn't matter where you are, we will we will be able to help you. So it's a 30 minute online demo, if you want, at the worst case, 30 minutes of looking at me and showing you the system. And that's that's all you need to do. And, again, coming back to the point earlier, why is satisfying is when everyone's going Oh, wow. Or they give you an objection you go oh, yeah, this is what you do for that situation, you get quiet. So that's also quite a nice feeling when you're demoing something that works. So yeah, best thing is probably you can start off with the website, or LinkedIn. I'm obviously on LinkedIn.

Andy Follows: 1:13:47

Yeah, we'll put the website and we'll put your LinkedIn in the show notes to this episode. And I wish you every success, ongoing success. with it. Chris, thank you very much for joining me today. It's been a real pleasure to get to know you through this conversation.

Chris Barrett: 1:14:01

Yeah and thank you. It's quite nice to do so really appreciate it. So yeah, it's been funny looking back at it, and forgetting that we went to Ibiza.

Andy Follows: 1:14:17

You've been listening to CAREER-VIEW MIRROR with me. Andy Follows. Depending on your unique life experience where you find yourself right now and your personal goals. You'll have your own takeaways from Chris's story. Some elements that stood out for me when he'd seen his father working hard and long hours, and he saw his mother go back to work after looking after the children and developing a career within a bank. Despite him taking some unconventional decisions. His parents were always supportive. He showed an early interest in automotive but he didn't get into the course at Loughborough. So he went to Bournemouth to do retail management, and realised it was all about developing the next generation of managers for the supermarket's not something he wanted to do. He done weekend work at a dealership and they offered him a full time job. So he left university and went to work. And there's evidence from an early age of Chris being good with money and not spending everything he had. He bought a house at 21 and rented rooms to friends who effectively covered the mortgage. He was all set for a good travel experience with savings behind him and his house rented out. But the tenants failed to pay and took months to evict again, his parents stepped into that he didn't have to come back early from his travels. On his return, he managed to secure a role with GM in Luton that gave him an insight into what a larger organisation is like. But unfortunately, the money wasn't enough so he returned to selling cars and then found himself rapidly promoted into a sales manager role in Croydon that turned out to be one of the most fun periods of his career so far. It was while overseeing seven sites as a sales director that he realised the opportunity to streamline the processes behind used car sales. Again, he was not afraid to take an unconventional step and leave a successful role to set up his own business. He recognises now that he left his corporate role earlier than he needed to because he had to wait for the developers to do their part. Angela hired him to help with a Vauxhall dealership in Slough. So that brought in revenue in the meantime and allowed an opportunity to test the software in a live environment, the early highs of dealers coming on board and the lows of some of them leaving, but he was able to listen to their feedback and use it to improve the usability of the product. Just after he turned his attention to the business full time COVID hit and his wife Lucy was diagnosed with cancer, he was grateful for the autonomy that business ownership provides. And this also refocus Chris's priorities onto what really matters. Bringing Amanda into the business has helped relieve some of the pressure. And they now have 150 clients across diverse use cases and he enjoys seeing and hearing how the solutions that he has created are helping colleagues in the industry. If you'd like to connect with Chris, you'll find his contact details in the show notes to this episode. If you enjoy listening to my guest stories, please could you do me a favour and share an episode with someone you lead parent or mentor or perhaps a friend of yours who you think would also enjoy listening? Thank you to Chris for joining me for our conversation. Thank you to our sponsors for this episode, ASKE Consulting and Aquilae and thank you to the Career-view mirror team without whom we wouldn't be able to share our guests life and career stories. And above all, thank you to you for listening