THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 1 of 22
EPISODE #19: CHRIS RILEY
Intro: You‟re listening to Diamonds in Your Own Backyard, the business owner‟s guide to success,
inspiration, and community. Where each week you will hear fellow business owners share their
inspirational stories, strategies and moments of clarity that help them find success. And now here is
your host Travis Lane Jenkins and Sandra Champlain.
Chris Riley
Travis: Hey, it‟s Travis Lane Jenkins.
Sandra: And this is Sandra Champlain and we welcome you to Diamonds in your own backyard. Hello
my friend.
Travis: How are you?
Sandra: I am great.
Travis: Yeah. What‟s going on?
Sandra: Well today I find myself planning the menu for my upcoming race but you know and some
people might know, not know that provide hospitality for race car team across the country and so I have
a race this coming week at Road Atlanta. So my day is preparing for that today.
Travis: Sounds fun.
Sandra: Oh, it is fun.
Travis: The race not the preparing.
Sandra: Yes, when are you going to come to a race by the way?
Travis: Well, I was thinking of coming to one earlier this year, but you and your mother had felt that
there was an ideal one that I should attend. Which race was that?
Sandra: Well, I was thinking maybe Daytona or Sebring.
Travis: Yeah, well you know I‟m a car nut so whichever when you tell me I need to be, I am going to be
there.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 2 of 22
Sandra: Lucky for you you‟re a car nut as we have a pretty great guest today at the show, who also is a
car nut. Can I introduce him?
Travis: Yes, please do.
Sandra: Wonderful, well today we have Chris Riley. Chris is someone I have met through racing. He
owns Riley Racing, and he, his wife, and his two sons are crew, owners, and the sons are the drivers of
the race team. I have had many occasions to be with him and his family, and he is just wonderful. He is
the owner, we have been in Connecticut, and he owns Stanford Volvo, Riley Mazda, and just a year
and a half ago he opened a used car store where he sells and services used cars. So, I would like to
introduce to you and our listening audience Chris Riley. Hi Chris.
Travis: Hi Chris.
Chris: Hi Sandra, hi Travis how are you today?
Travis: Excellent. How about you?
Chris: Good.
Travis: Nice to meet you.
Chris: Nice to meet you too.
Travis: Let me get out of the way here I know Sandra is excited to ask you some questions. I have my
own set of questions but let me back out of the way and let Sandra get going I normally dominate the
conversation.
Sandra: Normally he does. Yes. Well, I think one question because we know each other but maybe not
all that well. But how in the world did you get into the car business. I mean were you a young man, kid,
who always loved cars. If you could you just tell us a little bit about how you got even into your
businesses.
Chris: I was a young man that hated school and my father had a car dealership that he started back in
1959 and I couldn‟t wait to go to work for him. I couldn‟t take to school, I hated school and so I thought
that I can always fall back on my father‟s business. So that‟s how it started.
Sandra: Wow.
Travis: And so your dad had a dealership?
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 3 of 22
Chris: Yes. He actually works for Sears and Roebuck in the early 50‟s and they were sent in all over
the eastern part of the United States so he left Sears and Roebuck and went to a car business in
Stanford, he partnered up with a gentlemen that owned it and they packed it until the son. And the son
got out of the business my father bought them out and he had imported lines. He had the Reno, Fuzo,
Volvo, and Triumph and Roller cars and really cheap back which was owned by Willy.
Travis: Right.
Chris: And so I used to hang around there when I was 15, 16 years old. I like the cars and I couldn‟t
wait to get in to that business. As a matter of fact I was fixing cars in the teachers‟ parking lot in high
school for grades.
Sandra: Oh, that‟s brilliant.
Chris: And my wife kept telling my kids, you can‟t tell them, these kids you can‟t talk about the stuff like
30 years old. I had to keep my mouth shut for quite some time. But it‟s so funny because they bump in
the people who knew me and said huh, you are Chris Riley‟s son, we knew him from this and that and
back and forth.
Travis: Your wife was saying you couldn‟t tell your kids about your chequered history.
Chris: Yeah, because we want them to go to school and do well.
Travis: Right, right, right, too funny. I have a son, in our past I was a terrible student and I wanted to try
and keep that from my son so that he didn‟t use that as an excuse to do the same, right?
Chris: Yeah. That is why I don‟t buy a motorcycle, because I don‟t want them to ride motorcycles.
Travis: Me too. So you just started working there and then overtime you just gradually took over the
place.
Chris: My father‟s stereo was that you do every job in the dealership and you sweep the floor all the
way to the top 1. So that is what I did, I was put in the shack and I did all the jobs that the other guys in
the shop didn‟t want to do. So they basically turned me over to the service manager, says “Here is the
boss‟ son, used him any way you want.”
Travis: I like that mentality.
Chris: And I did but I learned a lot. I learned to bump about people, employees, how to work with them.
It paid off in the long run one. When my father got sick maybe 80‟s right after I computerized the place
and that‟s what kind of the beginning and the end for him because he didn‟t want me to get into
computers.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 4 of 22
Travis: Right.
Chris: But he was smart enough and wise enough to know that, that was the right direction to go and
he could see that I was nearly pushing to do that. The good thing about it, he backed out of it and then
he got very, very sick about two years after that. That kind of ended him for the business, he was not
involved in the way he did this anymore and I kind of take over from there.
Travis: How many different makes in or types of cars do you guys sell now?
Chris: All over the years they kind of left the country, Reno left. Fuzo left. Triumph left. Rover left.
Willy‟s Jeep got bought up by Chrysler, so we just built a new facility down on the street back in the
early 70‟s for Volvo alone. And we were one of the first exclusive dealerships in the United States
when there wasn‟t really exclusive. Everybody had two or multi faceted dealership and then in 2007 I
opened up Riley Mazda and we have those two franchises.
Travis: What have you found over the years is the key to running, and this is a very broad question and
we can niche it down from there. But what did you feel like you figure out over all of these years is the
most important element to running and operating a successful business?
Chris: I am not so big like some other car dealership that have 60, 70 cars with dealership. I only have
2 unused cars store but my father taught me to be there 7 days a week and that‟s how I works 7 days a
week. I work until 12, 1 o‟clock in the morning. I work after, I went to college, I came back and I
changed my clothes and I worked on cars and so all kinds of hours. And luckily, I would spend with
some of the girls on the class, like I cheat off them so I can get my grades.
Travis: Just a hard work?
Chris: I‟m sorry?
Travis: I‟m sorry I didn‟t mean to step on you there so you attributing it just a hard work and drive?
Chris: Paying attention. I have some of my friends that opened up businesses that figure that once you
turn the key on the door, you hire a bunch of managers and employees you can go on vacation and
walk away from that you can‟t do that. You need to pay attention to all the facts especially in the used
car or new car business there‟s so many ways to steal money from this place. So I attributed to a lot of
hard work, paying attention and hiring the right people. I find that it takes ten to twenty people that I
interview before I really find a good, loyal, caring employee.
Travis: Right, right. First and foremost I agree with you, you‟ve got to get the right people in the right
position. I know from running my own business for 22 years that getting the wrong person and the
person at wrong position can have long term lasting negative effect in your business. I will give you an
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 5 of 22
example; you take a guy that is not a people person. A natural left brainer that‟s more of a numbers
counter computer type guy and put him in a role where he‟s constantly dealing with customers. I think
you are begging for problems, what‟s your view on that.
Chris: My father like I said before made me do all the positions. I was part manager, I was a salesman,
I was a mechanic, I turned wrenches, I was a service manager. I did all of the jobs so when I interview
somebody I know what it takes to do that job. I know what kind of person I‟m looking for to do that job. I
got a pretty good sense of it that person right there, right making it go.
Travis: Well, it‟s easy because you are the owner you can hold all of those positions and do a more of
adequate job in everyone of those positions. But a person that deals with customers on a regular basis
and without using a specific name I had this recently someone that is a very intelligent, sharp person in
my business but he does not have a good people skills and he would inflame situations when there
wasn‟t even anything to inflame. And so customers would start getting aggravated or frustrated just
because of his choice of words or the way that he goes about dealing with things. And ultimately that
was my responsibility because I let the guy hold that position. Is that an issue with you or is that just
something that you learned to put the right person and the right position early on.
Chris: I don‟t know if anybody is quite as good at doing that. If I hire somebody new and I know what I
expect out of that person I‟m here every day, I‟m paying attention of that person. I‟m asking questions
of whatever the manager of that department or he is the manager I‟m asking him key questions and I
know what the answer should be before that person is telling me. So I kind of keep an eye on it. I did
have one person I thought was so valuable everything except his people skills and that person went to
Disneyland to learn.
Travis: Yeah, now he went to what?
Chris: Disneyland. We sent him to Disneyland to learn some people skills.
Sandra: Did he really?
Travis: Oh, oh, oh, okay.
Sandra: Wow.
Travis: Well, those guys are brilliant at the way they run their business. Have you studied at the things
that they do at their business.
Chris: Oh no, I haven‟t but Volvo had this opportunity for us to send some people there that‟s why I
took advantage of it.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 6 of 22
Travis: Oh yeah, Disneyland is unbelievable. The training that they put their people through and the
way that they upsell and treat their guest, yeah, interesting.
Chris: Yeah, pretty good experience for him.
Travis: Yeah, yeah. Now I‟ve always wondered from a business standpoint how a car dealership
makes their money because from my perspective in never owning, or operating, or running one, or
seeing the balance sheet. When you look at 5 acres of concrete parking lot and you look at all these
cars and these buildings and all of the things here, my head I‟m adding up operating it overhead
expenses. And it just seems like it would be a very, very high volume low margin business, am I right?
Chris: It is, as a matter of fact the car manufacturers obviously watching to sell the whole bunch of new
cars. And you cannot sell new cars in any kind of volume if you are trying to make money on the cars.
My new car department in front run red all the time, if you don‟t run red and lose money on cars then
you cannot get ahead. Hopefully, you can make the money on the trade, or some financing, and then
you also make it in the service department or the parts department but you are going to run red to sell
new cars.
Travis: Yeah, it‟s a commodity business and so when someone or at least the new cars is part of the
business is a commodity business right?
Chris: Yeah.
Travis: So if you can buy a top of the line Mazda model at your store for say 20,000 then or down the
street thing back for 20,000 and they‟re going to get it for 19, 009 at your store, right?
Chris: Well, the misconception really is that 20% mark up for used cars, maybe Rolls Royce has 20%
but Volvo‟s and Mazda‟s and cars of these price categories do not have 20%. And as time has been
going on for the last 20 years the manufacturers keep producing or keep unfolding the price of new cars
by reducing the margin that the dealers have. So that‟s the big problem because we don‟t have that
kind of percentage that people think.
Travis: What‟s the incentive of a dealer to continue because there‟s got to be a consistent profitability
or they are going to lose dealers, right?
Chris: Correct. And if I sell a hundred cars in a year or sell a thousand cars in a year then the hundred
cars a year I am only going to have maybe 50 of those customers coming in to buy service and parts
and if they get in a crash, they need crash parts and so forth. But if I sell a thousand cars and I increase
my percentages of getting financing, of selling their used cars in trade and make some money and also
that my service department will be larger and taking care of more people. I get paid warranty price the
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 7 of 22
same as the customers walk through the door, the retail warranty is the same. I don‟t care if the cars
are under warranty or the customers or retail customers I get the same price you made the one.
Travis: Ah, okay. And so if the person buys the car from your dealership then they are much more
likely to come back and have a service there.
Chris: Correct.
Travis: Ah, okay, okay.
Chris: If allowed to sell in the area I mean there‟s no restriction that you can‟t sell out of that certain
area that would be price trade restriction but we can sell them. We do sell cars in Vermont and
Colorado, it just happens to be that I have the right one that somebody is looking for or it was rare.
Travis: Right.
Chris: But I will never see that customer or service.
Travis: Right, where the real money is.
Chris: Yes.
Travis: So it‟s a front end back end model make virtually nothing on the front end except for financing
or add on, right?
Chris: Yes.
Travis: And then they back end everything that could potentially happen.
Chris: Every once in a while you get real rare car that you can sell from least price I‟ve never sold the
car. My life is over list price or MSRP on the car I don‟t think that‟s nice to gauge people with 5,000
premium or thousand dollar premiums so every once in a while you get lucky on that.
Travis: You said, or maybe I understood you wrong, we were talking before. Did you own an exotic car
dealership or was it used exotics or what?
Chris: Early on, my father, my brother, and myself started the company where we are buying
commercial real estate he suggested because Stanford is growing so fast and he told me to buy real
estate. So I started buying these buildings and I took one of my buildings and I opened up a used car
building where I would store maybe 10 cars in the show room, exotic cars plus some outside. I sell
Volvo‟s, Mercedes bench, Ferrari‟s, Porsche‟s and Lamborghinis. I did it to kind of have some fun; the
car business sometimes gets boring you‟re selling the same old thing. I had a manager that likes to go
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 8 of 22
to Barrett Jackson and a lot of auctions, put of a lot of cars and I paid him to go buy his cars so he had
a great time doing that.
Sandra: I have a question Chris.
Chris: Sure.
Sandra: I‟m just thinking when I bought my last car, I was frightened, I was frightened to go to
dealership because it‟s always scary thoughts about car dealers trying to rip you off. First, two things, I
believe your sons work with you, right?
Chris: Correct, both Jamison and AJ do.
Sandra: Yeah, and Travis you will get the chance to meet them I think probably in spring. They are
really extraordinary man, really, really great and it‟s just you think of the picture and what‟s mind often
of buying a car and what you can expect. I think, your dad, did he teach you integrity, did he teach you
proper service. I mean I just can‟t imagine ever walking into a car dealer that you‟ve created, you have
your sons there getting anything other than great customer service.
Chris: Well, I‟m sorry to say there are some dealerships out there that do that to customers, they take
advantage of them any which way they can. But I was not brought up to do with that way, my father
always taught me to take care of the people in the back which is the service department and they will
buy a car from you in the front. Pretty much that works I have a bunch of loyal customers. I also have
customers that don‟t care, they love my service department but when it comes to buying a new car it
comes down to price only. So you have to take that in consideration only. I don‟t sell as many cars as I
do because I charge too much on the new car rent. Very competitive somewhat under competitive I
guess and I sell a lot of cars.
Travis: When you say you are very competitive and under competitive what do you mean, explain that
to me.
Chris: Well, there is a factor, invoice factor let‟s say and that‟s where we all kind of sell cars as start
from and sometimes I go below that invoice factor that depends on how many cars I have in stock at
that time. From the time, in the wait there as when I get loaded up with cars then there‟s not too many
customers so that‟s kind of the better time to get deals from the dealerships rather than what you make
thinking in the middle of the summer time.
Travis: Right, right, right. Interesting.
Chris: So many factors, willing to come on up with a price of the car at the time.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 9 of 22
Travis: I thought there was a back end incentive deals that when you move so many units and when
you sell below invoice there‟s back end money for the dealers to make.
Chris: Manufacturers do come up with those first step programs they all have all kinds of different,
sometimes they offer the cash to the public, sometimes they offer the cash to the dealership, and that‟s
the way to obviously get the volume going for those cars. But it‟s a funny thing you can‟t keep any
secret from the public, sometimes the public comes to me and tells me about the rebates before I even
get the rebates on the email from the manufacturer.
Sandra: Wow.
Chris: All the rebates go everything goes to upfront with people right off the top.
Travis: The overhead expenses trying drill into, again the profitability. When I look at the way that I run
my business is my fixed overhead expenses. I look at rent and utilities; I look at all those things. I just
don‟t see how selling 20 cars through dealership in having this gigantic lot with all these overhead
expenses is a business models that you can sustain. It seems like it would be an extremely labour
intensive business model so maybe that‟s one of the reason why you need to stay so involved and
have to manage all the things yourself, right?
Chris: I do, I have to watch everything all the time. Back when my father suggested that we start
buying all these real estate companies, we also put a plan to in fact to pay off all these properties. And
all of my properties are all paid off; in fact they almost owned one whole side of the street and on the
Myrtle Avenue that I have the dealership on. So when times get tough I know that I can change the
rent, I own all the properties I don‟t have to have rent. I also have taken a lot of cash, I‟m very
unorthodox on the car business, very. Most places are not run this way. I also take my cash and my
brother‟s cash and we loaned it to the company and we actually own all of our used cars and a lot of
new cars also with very little floor planning which means that money is all savings for us rather than we
pay any kind of interests, any bank or for the floor planning, or real estate or anything I do it myself and
I keep all the interest.
Travis: That makes sense because I have a friend that own a car lot and so I knew about floor plans,
for those of you don‟t know floor plan is basically a credit line where you can buy maybe of 4 or 5
million dollar floor plan, and you have 5 million dollars worth of cars set in your lot and you‟re not paying
an interest on that 5 million dollars. Is that a good way to explain that?
Chris: Correct, correct.
Travis: Yeah. So you are not paying the chop on your money there and also leasing, buying your
property and then leasing it to yourself or to your corporation, right?
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 10 of 22
Chris: Correct. That‟s what we do.
Travis: And that‟s a tactic that I‟ve done and I‟m surprised that hardly anyone else does it so I‟m glad
that you brought that up. This is good to a lot of business owners. I‟ll tell you what I do with mine and
see if it mirrors some of what you did with yours. So when my business started first growing we have a
need for an office. The office that we were in was so small and so I thought, well, I‟ll get a $50,000 loan
and just put an addition on my house because nobody needed to come to my house. And so I added
2,000 sq. foot on to my house because I‟m in construction or was on construction at the time, still am I,
although I am not active in it. I added 2,000 square foot I leased a thousand of square foot to my
company. The note at that time it only cost me 600 dollars a month and I immediately turned around
leased it to my business for 12,000 a month.
Chris: Yes.
Travis: And so I had a positive 600 dollars coming in with a 2,000 square foot addition to my house. So
my house is from 4,000 square foot to 6,000 square foot. Four years later I did the same thing with the
piece of property we grew out of the office there at the house and so I acquire the piece of property for
90,000. Turned around and charge my company for 5,000 a month. I had a 4500 dollar positive cash
flow a month just on that piece of property. It does several things; it gives you passive income
personally. It allows you to build equity in a piece of property and that‟s an incredible way to really build
sizable wealth. Could you agree with that?
Chris: Oh yes, definitely.
Travis: If things ever do get tight, then you can forgive 2 or 3 months note if you have to.
Chris: Yes, and you‟re not in the mercy of the bank it‟s going to come in and foreclose on you.
Travis: Yeah, right. This is a method that you can rent and repeat and get larger and larger and larger
just as long as you can keep your debt ratio down low. And other things are cash flow on your lifestyle,
right?
Chris: Correct. The ego probably has a lot to do with a lot of businesses and business people. I don‟t
have a big ego neither my brother. We are both conservative people, we are not really greedy. We trust
each other and that the works are great that we keep this low profile. All of my friends are up on party
and spend their money on new cars and stuff. I was driving old used cars that I‟ve fixed up and put my
money on the bank and buying properties. Today they look at me and said, “Wow you are lucky” and I
said, “I wasn‟t lucky that was a lot of hard work.”
Travis: Exactly. Good planning and a lot of hard work.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 11 of 22
Chris: Yes.
Travis: Do you find ways to facilitate your lifestyle through your business legally, of course legally.
Chris: That‟s what Riley Racing is all about.
Travis: Right.
Chris: Get a little bit of money from Mazda through advertising money to advertising Riley Mazda on
the side of the car but it‟s really not enough money to go racing. I don‟t really want to spend a lot of
money go on racing because they are in their last 4, 5 years cash is king and when Ford decided to sell
Volvo to this company that purchase it now, that was 2 and a half years ago in the right, in the middle of
financial stuff. They pulled the rug out of my floor planning and said you‟re not Ford anymore and that‟s
what I‟m doing with my floor plan so you better go find the bank of your floor plan. Your 9 to 10 million
dollars with the cars imagine two and a half years ago trying to find a bank that will lend you 9 to 10
million dollars of car dealership when Volvo business wasn‟t even sure where they were going, the Ford
was trying to sell them. It was not really a pretty sight for a lot of Volvo dealers out there. And Wells
Fargo only actually at the time came along and that‟s who I requested, I filled up the application and
they said, “Men, you are no brain I can‟t believe it.” Well, look who were hook up now for floor planning.
Travis: So that‟s the floor plan for your new cars and then you just underwrite the use ones out of the
pocket.
Chris: Correct.
Travis: Right, right. So talking about living through your business although I gave some examples with
rental property and acquiring property, there‟s a whole lot of different way, are you comfortable talking
about with the different ways that you use your business to live through it that is purely above board
and the government is fine with it. Can you tell us some of those strategies that you have done in your
own business?
Chris: Yeah, I really don‟t do a lot. I mean I am very comfortable talking about it because The IRS has
audited me quite a few times especially right after my father got out of the business. He got a TCMP
which is illegal these days but that‟s why they find out total gross of the money and how it filters down
to everybody‟s fingers. They actually did that about a year. It cost me quite a bit of money to do that.
So, I am not afraid talking about it, I really, the racing team is about the only thing that I do that I enjoy.
The business helps pay for it, and its advertising for the business.
Travis: Well, I‟m quick to add legally on there because so many people think and I have talked about
this with a lot of people one on one so I see their eyes. They think that there is something illegal about it
and living through your business when you have a good tax man and a good legal guy you can seek
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 12 of 22
their counsel. They are not going to come up with this idea for you but they will tell you whether you‟re
telling the line or not. I‟ll tell you one of mine, I love Lambhourginis, I love exotic cars. Any expense like
that I‟ve also a lot of hot rods. I run this through his expensive business because they attract attention,
they‟re great marketing pieces, it initiates conversation with lots of people gets attention.
Chris: Yes, yes, definitely.
Travis: it‟s just a great tool to position my business so anything that you are passionate about,
travelling. I try to schedule as much fun around my travels while I‟m doing business at the same time
whenever possible. That entire travelling thing is a business expense. I think that‟s where when you
take 2, 3, 4, 5 of the strategies and you lay them back to back, you‟re living vicariously through your
business and so therefore all your taxed money can actually go in a bank account and can be your
retirement and your rainy day fund, right?
Chris: Correct, correct. I mean I did it with racing and I‟m doing it with property.
Travis: Yeah, yeah. So how did you get in to racing, can you tell us a little bit about that because that‟s
something that really interests me.
Chris: Well, I got into racing back in the early 70‟s, I bought a formula car with a blown engine and I
wanted to rebuild it but my father had me work in 7 days a week and he just figured that was going
back to my closet so he really fought it both my mother and my father. He did everything in his power
not to let me go racing. I was married to at a time and I have a marriage and a business and a racing
there was no time for the racing so I sold the car then 70‟s and then the mid 90, 94, 5. My second wife
knew I was really into racing and she brought me a Skip fiver 3 day school to go and learn about racing.
I said you don‟t know what you did, you sure you want to give me this and she said nah, I do, I know
who you are and I‟m ready for it. She also was attracted and she watches and so forth and that launch
my racing career at this point, I actually, I drive a rear drive mini cooper in a NCCA National Racing and
my sons both do the Pro racing with the Mazda and Grand Am.
Travis: Explain these two what‟s the difference of this two.
Chris: Club racing is an amateur racing in NCCA, it‟s not pro racing, and it‟s not televised you don‟t win
any money you just win a trophy and stuff. And the Pro racing and Grand Am is the full blown business
where you can win quite a bit of money if you get to the front. Televised.
Travis: This is track type racing not quarter of a mile street stuff. Right?
Chris: Yes, correct. We are like the road racing. Grand-Am is the road racing part of Nascar. Nascar is
the roundly round racing and grand am is a road racing and that‟s what we like turning left and right
going off and downhill and so forth.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 13 of 22
Travis: Oh, yeah, yeah. I do too. I‟ve even raced some sports bike in a road racing stuff too. Let‟s go
back to business, knowing that the people that are listening are all business owners, let me let you take
the wheel figuratively speaking and if you‟re going to tell business owners the top 3 things that they
should focus on in having a consistently successful business no matter what‟s going on with the
economy. What would you say those top 3 things are?
Chris: Be prepared to work a lot of hours to pay attention to your business. Make sure you get the right
employees in place and the third thing would be, take care of your customers needs whatever they may
be.
Travis: Right. I believe Dean Jackson is the one that coined that before the unit the daring and the after
unit before is how people find you. The daring is what happens in the buying process in the after unit is
typically what you do after they‟ve given you their money and they‟ve gone away. Do you guys do
anything once they paid you what do you do to instill that relationship or deepen that relationship so
that they‟re extremely loyal to you guys?
Chris: We keep track of the customers we send them out mailers to reminding them about service that
they need. We also send out happy birthdays and anniversary when you purchase your new car out of
these customers. We kind of work on the 10-80-10 theories that I use there‟s probably 10% of the
customers that is going to love you all the time no matter what you do. Probably 8, 10% they‟re going to
hate you no matter what you do. And then there‟s 80% in the middle falls to the ones that I really work
on all of the time trying to keep those people moving towards 10% that loves me all the time. I
remember years ago I want to get in shingles doing it too. I tried to please everybody that walks through
my doors, everybody. And I found out I couldn‟t do that. If the service is a thousand dollars and they are
complaining about their service still I gave it to them. It still didn‟t please them because they have to
bring the car to me, or it was a rainy day that they throttled it. It was always something so I learned a
long time ago that you just can‟t please everybody. I live in Sherifield County where there‟s a lot of rich
people and the income level was very high here. The reason why they have it because their intelligent
people are not willing to take part with it quite so easily so really have to take care of those people and
treat them like they are extra special people which are what they are.
Travis: Right. I think it‟s the value of proposition and so and people with money didn‟t get to have
money without being intelligent with that money, right?
Chris: Correct.
Travis: There is this misconception that rich people will pay 2 dollars for an orange when there‟s the
same orange for a dollar down the street, that‟s not true.
Chris: I don‟t see that.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 14 of 22
Travis: Yeah, rich people want a good deal just like everybody else.
Chris: Then that‟s how come they have money?
Travis: That‟s right but there is a caveat to that. In my experience if you can give an intelligent
argument as to why they should give 2 dollars for that orange instead of a dollar and it makes sense.
And it eliminates risk, it comes with a guarantee, and there‟s accountability with it, they will pay that
extra money but there has to be a valid reason for that. One of the things that we‟ve done is we use a
consumer guide that educates them. As an example in my construction business and this is something
that we do for a lot of businesses that we set systems up. I will use my construction business as an
example so it has four or five sections to it. One is the 13th questions that you must ask all contractors
before hiring anyone to work in your home. The 4 most common bait and switches, the 7 items to
include in every agreement, and the 5 most common rip offs. So it really comes from a multiple of
directions and what it does is that does kind of a sorting and sifting for our business. It takes the super,
super price sensitive people that will never going to buy from us. It makes them go away and then it
makes a high value client that want quality, trust and all of these other things that come with it to raise
their hands and ask them to come out and see them. I think there is an element of that that can work in
your business although the rules change slightly with yours because of the commodity issue. Does this
make sense?
Chris: It does make sense.
Travis: You can make this argument for your service department, right?
Chris: Yes.
Travis: Where it would be harder to make this argument for your car, for selling a new car. Right?
Chris: Well, but buying a new car or any car really is 50% the car my opinion is 50% is going to stand
behind it. Because it‟s a brand new car there‟s a warranty for a reason and something may go wrong
and you going to need the back end to take care of you.
Travis: Chris, you want 20,000 for this car I‟ll get it for 19,900 down the street how do you argue with
that.
Chris: I don‟t argue with that, I have to sit here and understand that do I really believe that person can
buy that car for 19,000. First of all, I wouldn‟t have quoted 20 if you could buy it at 19. We keep our ears
to the ground every single day, every week and we pay attention and take input, watch the internet and
so forth, I don‟t think I will quote a thousand dollars spread in first place.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 15 of 22
Travis: Let‟s say it is 19,900 just a hundred dollars difference because I think people do try to get you
even a hundred dollars.
Chris: I‟ve had people look with the 6 million dollar bone set at the end of the year argue over 25
dollars.
Travis: My point is let‟s say there‟s a 500 dollar difference if you can change the discussion from what
they get when they buy their car from you versus what they get down the street. It‟s very easy to bridge
the gap on that hundred dollar or that 500 dollar difference. Does that make sense?
Chris: That makes perfect sense unfortunately it doesn‟t really work that way, like I said before they are
really price conscious and they even want to meet that price or beat it.
Travis: Right, right. I know that argument or that position works on service because service cannot be
commoditized, right?
Chris: Correct, correct.
Travis: Whereas the car is commoditized so I hear words that that‟s the element, that‟s the problem
there. I think if someone bought at my dealership maybe one thing I would do to take them off the
commoditized argument is maybe give them some high level special VIP treatment that you can‟t get if
you don‟t buy your car there. Is there a possibility to do something like that?
Chris: They already expect that, that it comes with it or they‟re not going to buy the car from you
anyway.
Travis: I‟ve taken out the page out of a Disney book; if you pay an extra dollar you can go and stand in
a shorter line. It‟s brilliant.
Chris: I like that; they want it quick, cheap, done right the first time, everybody‟s got to have a smile.
That‟s what they expect every single product.
Travis: Right, right.
Sandra: Chris, I also like that you are paying attention to what the competitors are doing. I think as a
business owner it‟s easy to be so wrapped up in our day to day affairs that we are not keeping an eye
on what everybody else is doing.
Travis: Right.
Sandra: It sounds like you‟re very valuable to them.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 16 of 22
Chris: I‟ve learned that if you don‟t tell the customers the right price the first time. You are not going to
see them on the second time they won‟t answer your call on a follow up, so you need to quote
everything right the first time.
Travis: I just wonder there‟s a way that you can change, and of course I know that obviously you are
extremely successful and done a lot of things right. I would want to uneven the playing field in trying to
find something above and beyond that they could get to take it to another whole level because you are
fighting a very fight there.
Chris: That‟s true. If I said that you could come buy a brand new Volvo and get a free flat screen TV,
that‟s not going to make any difference.
Travis: Yeah.
Chris: Because the person will go out and buy the flat screen if they wanted it in the first place. I guess
some kind of unique of them in the Springfield County and people are intelligent they have the money
to do what they want to do. The only thing that‟s difference between me and the next guy is that I‟m
fairly owned and operated there are 6 Riley in here almost every single day you can talk to one of them
if they have an issue. Go to your local car dealer and walk in the front door and ask to speak to the
owner. I bet she is not there, I bet she is farther, even Brazil or wherever they go because most of them
do not spend as much time as I do with the dealership. So my difference is that I am here every day. I
talk to my customers. I have a lady the other day that came in and say I want to speak to the owner. It‟s
funny that I think how these people can think that the owner is going to be here at their beck and call,
but we are. In the frontline here from another race track, my sons and my brother or his sons are all
here. So you can talk to a Riley and I think that‟s the difference.
Sandra: I love that you can talk to a Riley. Chris, I have a question because I know you are from a
different category you‟re from the races. Our show, we talk and we get in touch with people on their
passions and I know racing is a big part to your life. Can you maybe talk a little bit about the difference
it makes being at the race track and being involved in racing and having your family there. As far as
being a whole human being but if it‟s just all work, work, work, work, work may not be some fun. What
it‟s like being at the race track with your family and all that.
Chris: Most great to state that they all come and they are all interested. We have never taken a
vacation without my kids since they were born, we always off until 18, 19, 20 years old they start
wandering a little bit away, but my wife goes to the race track. In fact, there was a magazine she did an
article about how do you stand on the race track and watch your children. They‟re probably 16, 18, 19
years old at the time, how can you watch them go on the track when you know they‟re getting into
accidents. Both of them, each had big wreck and I was in there, she was there. And this woman that
wrote the article was very interested on how she can do that. And she feels like, I feel like I have an
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 17 of 22
umbilical cord that goes around the track. So she paces a lot when she watches her children on the
track not so much with me, because you can get another husband.
Sandra: I know it‟s not true unlike you. But I know your family, I just don‟t even know how to phrase into
words but I know who you are in the race track. What a giving, loving, you always have a smile on your
face. You‟ve always come across who cares, who‟s got integrity. You believe in family, you‟ve got a
wonderful family. I mean most family I see around, they‟re fighting and I‟m sure some of that might go
on within yours but I really think you and your wife have created such a wonderful family and who you
are being at the races I think is who you are being in your business. I think that is just a wonderful
asset.
Chris: That‟s what we tried to encourage, and that‟s what we hope customers see that we are down to
earth people. Not the big bad car dealership that just going to try and take advantage of you. Everybody
needs a car, everybody needs the transportation. So we‟re there to make a family operation, we say it‟s
a Riley family of cars hoping that people will see the difference.
Sandra: Yeah, and what do you love about being on the race car.
Chris: I love it. I love the thrill in going as fast as I can and going to its limit. I chose the mini cooper
because it‟s quite easy to take a big old mustang with a V8 and go fast. But it‟s hard to take a small car
with a little engine and make that go fast. My car is a 36 horse power mini cooper that‟s a 160 horse
power that little engine and it‟s a hand grenade waiting to go off. I love all the competitiveness and
trying to figure out ways in making that little thing go faster.
Travis: What drive?
Chris: I‟m sorry?
Travis: From what drive?
Chris: Actually I turned that engine 90 degrees and it‟s a rear wheel drive car one of the few in this
country it‟s a 1960‟s Austin Cooper.
Travis: Oh, okay. Interesting. The angle that we were talking about taking the business away from the
commodity, you did do that and you did that by personalizing it. Right?
Chris: Correct.
Travis: I bought a lot of cars, and you are right. You never can walk in and deal with the owner face to
face. It‟s naive to believe that believe he‟d be anywhere around much less talk to him.
Chris: Or have the patience to talk to you, that‟s right.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 18 of 22
Travis: Yeah, yeah, right. I knew there is a key there somewhere to your success taking it from that
commodity. It sounds to me I don‟t know you, I‟ve never met you until this conversation but it sounds
like you take that same approach and live it in your personal life. And I think that is what Sandra at is
there seems to be some incredible balance between personal, and professional and family and all of
those other things. I believe that balance is a constant struggle for all of business owners because we
are so busy working, right?
Chris: Correct. It‟s very hard.
Travis: Have you always had that down path?
Chris: Yeah, most of the time. I mean my father did it his way back when I was working for him. I kind
of used some of his things and change some of the things my way and I did very successful doing that.
Travis: Interesting.
Sandra: Yeah. Balance is important I mean you get really burnt out really fast from just work. So finding
a passion and then like you said Travis I think that‟s pretty insightful, tying your passions, right in with
your business.
Travis: Yeah, yeah.
Sandra: You got to have some fun too.
Chris: I have some old cars down the street in one of my buildings, I sleep down there an hour a day,
half hour a day if I can, tinker with them, I like old English cars and that‟s what I like tinkering with trying
to keep the sanity.
Travis: Right, right, the old school stuff.
Chris: Yes.
Sandra: Chris, what have we miss, once again we have a wonderful audience listening, is there
anything else if you have a magic wand you would like to share with people.
Chris: Wow. That‟s a tough one.
Sandra: Yeah, might be. And it doesn‟t have to be because you‟ve given so much gold in this
conversation and I‟m left a big smile on my face too.
Chris: I‟m still hoping I would hit that big lottery number the 200 million or so.
Sandra: And what would you do with that.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 19 of 22
Chris: I would go racing at the top level of Grand Am.
Travis: Right.
Chris: Probably give some to my family that needs it, if I‟m fortunate to be that rich at that time.
Travis: Listen, I want to jump in, we are near in the mark, we needed to do some housekeeping. One
of the things that I have been wanting to talk about and I haven‟t talk to you about this Sandra. But you
know how I like to surprise you into things, right?
Sandra: Yes.
Travis: Just trying to get you back for a couple of several episodes back you pull fast ones on me so I
figure it it‟s my turn to pull a couple of fast ones on you in a fun way, in a fun way.
Sandra: okay, okay.
Travis: One of the things that I wanted to talk about is our objective with the show is to provide a
community inside support towards business owners because both me and you are passionate about
business owners and they‟re really becoming a dying breed for several reasons for the economy, for
changing business models for everything. We talk about this for many different angles every show and
so what I would like to do is we want this message, this show this to many people as possible. We don‟t
have anything to sell anything in this show it‟s just more of how to and support. I want to start doing a
promotion to where everybody, all of our listeners that will hit like and share on the Facebook. What I
would like to do is I would like to give away a 30 minute one on one consultation we‟ll have a drawing,
the consultation can either be with, we‟ll let the person did win, choose whether they want a
consultation with me for their business for 30 minutes. Or you want a consultation with you on the
things that your specialty, I know your book We Don’t Die just came out and there‟s a lot of people that
are dealing with pain and suffering, they come from grief, grief of losing somebody, of losing your job,
or just changes. So what do you think of that idea?
Sandra: I think it‟s great, and you know what Travis there‟s going to be some people that want to talk
both of us so we each offer our own flare.
Travis: What I would like to do is by hitting share and like on Facebook, what it does, spread a
message on each show. And for each time that it happens we produce about 2 shows a week. What
we‟ll do is we‟ll give them 5 chances for a share and 1 chance for a like and then we‟ll just put them on
a drawing and have that drawing once a month.
Sandra: I think that‟s wonderful, I‟m in.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 20 of 22
Travis: You were expecting something more sneaky than that, would you?
Sandra: I was. Chris, I had mention in one of our last shows, Travis made a joke about “worst and all”, I
said, “If you want to see Travis‟ worst just go to travisandsandra.com and scroll down on his picture”
and he wasn‟t prepared for that so that‟s what he is referring to and so, I thought that‟ being repeated.
Travis: yeah.
Sandra: Travis, I don‟t want to miss out, I want to make our listeners can do a little more research on
Chris Riley, and if it‟s okay I„d love to share that you can go to rileyracing.com and see Chris‟ race car
and his sons and his beautiful wife Jen and Riley spells R-I-L-E-Y rileyracing.com and those
dealerships he owns are stanfordvolvo.com and rileymazda.com. Did I miss any Chris?
Chris: And rileycars.com which is the used car store.
Sandra: Yeah.
Chris: Dot com.
Sandra: Yeah and thank you so much for being so generous with us today.
Chris: Thank you it was fun.
Sandra: Lots of fun.
Travis: Chris, we appreciate you taken the time to share some of your keys to success in your
business. I did not ask you, how long you have been an owner for the dealership?
Chris: Probably since around 1990.
Travis: Okay, 22 years.
Sandra: That‟s great.
Travis: Wow.
Sandra: Wow.
Travis: Chris, how old are you?
Chris: 61.
Travis: Oh, okay.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 21 of 22
Chris: I‟ve offered my handful of cheese to other people with my pay check but nobody wants to take it.
Travis: Nobody, nobody is brave enough huh?
Chris: No, or dumb enough I don‟t know.
End of Interview
Travis: Right, not even, right, right. Well Listen, I believe that we have covered everything for today.
Sandra what do you have you say?
Sandra: I think it‟s just wonderful, I think what‟s important for all of us is do not just be entertained and
inspired by something that you‟ve heard today but actually to take a new action or have a new game
plan and look at what are your passions and find a way to squeeze it into your business life and to
really take the information that we brought today on the show and use it in your life, so I challenge you
to do that. Take one step today that you wouldn‟t normally do after being on our show today.
Travis: I agree with you. So each show, my objective, this is what I hope for you, is each show you
take away one or even two pieces of information that changes the trajectory of your life, of your
business. And just put you on the path, and maybe all you need is just a couple of nuggets from people
that have been down that road before you. And take it and apply it in your business. As you get down,
one month, one year, five years on the road the difference is drastic in your life and in your business.
So that‟s our goal is that you pick up something from every episode.
My quote for today is Patience, persistence and perspiration making unbeatable combination for
success. Again, I want to remind you each time you click share, like our Facebook page we‟ll put you
on the drawing five chances for the sharing and one for the like. That‟s really all I have for today as
usual I want to keep an eye out for you so I‟ll be watching for you on the next episode. Sandra?
Sandra: Yeah, just thank you for your time and invite you to be part of our community at
travisandsandra.com, put your name and your email address, we‟ll keep you up to date and feel free to
ask us some questions and join in on the community, we are definitely here for your success. Thanks
for being here.
Travis: All right. Bye.
Sandra: Bye.
THE ENTREPRENEUR’S RADIO SHOW
Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs that Grow Your Business
Copyright © 2012, 2013 The Entrepreneur‟s Radio Show Page 22 of 22
How We Can Help You
We know that finding someone that you can trust online today is hard and that so many “so called
gurus” are self-‐appointed and have never really even done what they teach you to do. That‟s exactly
why we created the Double Your Profits Business Accelerator. This is an exclusive offer for our fans at
a fraction of its normal cost.
Here's what to expect. We'll Schedule a 'One on One' private session, where we'll take the time to dive
deep into your business and tell you what is missing, so that you can have your best year ever!
We'll do this by performing a S.W.O.T. Analysis. This tells us your Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats within your business.
This will be an eye opener for YOU, for several reasons, however some of the most common reasons
are.
As the 'Business Owner' it‟s difficult to see the big picture of your own business because you‟re in the
middle of a daily management.
And you are too emotionally involved to completely impartial.
This is a common problem for EVERY business owner. It doesn‟t matter if you are a one-man army, or
an army of 150, the problem is still the same.
Travis Lane Jenkins
Business Mentor-Turn Around Specialist
Radio Host of The Entrepreneurs Radio Show
“Conversations with Self-made Millionaires and High-level Entrepreneurs That Grow Your Business"
Recommended