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Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Galpin’s Self Driver

As the president of one of the best-known auto dealerships in the San Fernando Valley, it comes as no surprise that Beau Boeckmann describes himself as a car guy. “I am usually watching cars, reading about cars or thinking about ideas for cars,” said Boeckmann, 47, president and chief operating officer of Galpin Motors in North Hills. But Boeckmann also has something in common with his father, Bert Boeckmann, in that he is a people person who wants to do right by both Galpin’s customers and employees. The 47-year-old Boeckmann took over as president in 2014 while his father, now in his 80s, remains chairman and still comes to the office on a regular basis. The younger Boeckmann started at the dealership as a salesman, later took on marketing duties and eventually headed up the customization shop, Galpin Auto Sports, where the MTV series “Pimp My Ride” filmed for three seasons. Galpin Motors sells new and used car at 12 dealerships, including its flagship Ford store that has been the best-selling Ford dealer by volume in the world for 27 straight years. Beau Boeckmann met with the Business Journal at his office at Galpin Motors to discuss taking over the business from his father, the L.A. Auto Show, self-driving cars and how being a car salesman helped him in overcoming his shyness. Question: What motivates you? Answer: I was brought up in a family of wonderful moral values. I get motivated to do a good job on behalf of the company. I get motivated to win and to be number one. I get motivated because I get to do a lot of fun things in this business as well. Right now, getting ready for the L.A. Auto Show motivates me because it’s fun to get out of bed when you are craving something other people will enjoy. Was it difficult to take over for your father? I haven’t totally taken over yet. I have all the responsibility but not all the authority. It’s a tremendous challenge. Dad had done such an incredible job as an example for this company in his work ethic. It’s scary – you don’t want to be the guy who screws things up. Does he still come to the office? Dad’s still here every day. I still have to keep up with him. That is another thing that motivates me and makes me work harder is knowing we have 1,400 families depending on me as well, a lot of customers that depend on making sure they have a great experience when they come to Galpin. How did you go about establishing your own identity in the workplace? If I just copied everything my dad did, I don’t know if I would have had my own identity. For me, personally, I love marketing. So, I got into marketing nearly 20 years ago here because that was one thing I had a passion for and really loved. I had a passion for custom cars and I got into that. I created my own identity by doing the things I enjoy and things I love in the business. It’s done out of passion. And then you have to learn the other stuff. You cannot do just the fun stuff in business; you also have to do the tough stuff. What is the tough stuff? Issues and problems when they come up. No one and no company is perfect so we all make mistakes. How we learn by and correct those mistakes is how we get defined. I handle people the way I would want to be handled. Title: President Company: Galpin Motors Inc. Born: 1970, Glendale Education: USC, business administration Career Turning Point: The first day he sold a car. Most Admired Person: Former Ford Chief Executive Allan Mulally Hobbies: Time with children, cars How many other family members are involved in the business? My daughter started here a little while ago now. My nephew, my cousin, my brother, my uncle and my father. I have had two uncles who retired from the business and one brother who retired from the business. Right now, we have three generations working at the dealership. What are the challenges of running a car dealership? Making sure people are happy. That is both customers and employees. Doing it in a way where you can survive. This is a tough business. It works on extremely low margins. I don’t think people fully think (about it), they think you make a ton of money when you sell a car. The truth is most dealerships are not making money selling new cars. They will make it in other areas, parts and service or in used cars. How does Galpin keep its dealerships from competing with each other? They do compete. But they do so in a friendly way. What we do is always what’s best for the customer. So we allow a salesperson to cross sell. In other words, someone can be a salesperson in the Ford store and walk across the street and sell a Lincoln, a Volvo or even a Jaguar. They need to be trained in those brands as well. But if a customer really enjoys working with a salesperson, we want to be able to have that salesperson go with them from brand to brand. Would Galpin have been as successful elsewhere in Southern California or is it a product of the San Fernando Valley? No matter where you plopped us in the United States or anywhere in the world, my dad would have achieved the same result. It is not unique to our area, it is unique to humans what my father developed. He sincerely cares for people from his heart. He built this business by word of mouth. He didn’t build it by slick advertising or standing on his head or doing any of these goofy things. He did it by really caring and listening to customers. Your father has said he wasn’t a car guy, he was a people person. How would you describe yourself? I was lucky because I got the car bug. I love people and this is a people business. Believe it or not, my dad is really shy, and I am really shy. That has been one of my biggest challenges. Having to sell cars for the first time was one of the most frightening experiences of my life. Helping that first customer, my teeth were chattering, my knees were shaking. I was scared. I really am a car guy. I don’t watch sports. I am blessed to love cars. When I was working across the street at GAS (Galpin Auto Sports) and getting ready for the L.A. Auto Show that was fun for me. How has Galpin dealt with all the research a person can do before ever stepping into a dealership? I think it’s fantastic. Today we have educated buyers. In a lot of cases we have to make sure we are as educated as they are. They come in with a lot of product knowledge. It’s all transparent – what we paid for a car and what rebates are available. Since we have always done business in an honest and straightforward way, it’s great. It has created a greater sense of trust. Do car salespeople still have a poor public perception? Being that my dad is the most honest person I’ve ever met in my life., that is a trait that people do not equate with sales. It’s really true that if you do an honest job, you’ll get rewarded. It’s when you lie and try to be sneaky, people aren’t dumb they’ll figure those things out. Especially now in the age of transparency it’s really proved to be to our advantage. What is the most important part of car buying? The one thing they cannot do at home is drive a car, experience how it feels, how it performs. Cars are very unique, and they are different. It is still critically important that people drive the car and experience what it is. You want to love what you drive, in my opinion. What was the involvement of Galpin Auto Sports in the MTV series “Pimp My Ride?” That was a lot of years ago now. How we got involved was an introduction by Al Uzielli, who is head of Ford global entertainment. He had met the producers and said you should go to Galpin and see what they are doing over there. The producers came over and we hit it off. It all fit together. Within 30 days we had put it all together and became the new home for “Pimp My Ride.” It was a lot of fun and exhausting. We did that for about three years. What was the benefit for Galpin? It put us on the map in that world. Even though we had been customizing cars since 1952, “Pimp My Ride” had a reputation of building wacky things, that was the point of the show. A lot of people had been surprised to find that we are legitimate and now were building real hot rods for people and doing 100-point restorations, customizing modern cars and really getting into the culture. What was the most interesting modifications you did for the show? Most of them were kind of stupid, to be honest. But that was the point. The idea was to do something that hadn’t been done before. It usually involved putting something silly in the trunk or doing something that shouldn’t be done to an automobile. That was the entertainment side of it. The most ridiculous thing we had was a car that painted. We had to lay down all these sheets of paper over the parking lot and then it would drive, and the idea was that you would paint as you drove. That was the stupidest thing because it made absolutely no sense. Any other memorable projects? We built some really cool restomods (restoration work incorporating modern parts). We did this really cool 1961 Thunderbird with a Rausch engine and built it with a jukebox in the dash, 50s style. That’s what I wanted to bring to “Pimp My Ride.” We did more engine swaps, we built true restomods, we did performance work. We made sure the cars ran well and everything worked. How important is L.A. Auto Show to the car industry? It’s a great place to go and shop around, see what you like, and see if it’s the type of vehicle you want to research further and then go for a drive. There are several places now at the L.A. Auto Show where you can actually drive a car. It is fun, it is entertaining, it is educational. If you are looking for a car, it’s utterly fantastic. What are your thoughts on self-driving cars? I think it’s phenomenal. I think it will really affect livery type services in the beginning and delivery services as well. I think it has an exciting future in personal use. I think there is always going to be personal use automobiles and it will be exciting when they can be autonomous as well. Is Ford working on autonomous vehicles? Absolutely. I am on Ford’s product committee so they share some things that are confidential that they are working on. But they’ve made a lot of statements in the press that they are working on autonomous vehicles and electrification. I think you will see Ford very much a part of our future. What was your career turning point? I always go back to that first day I sold a car. I grew up incredibly shy. I had a difficult time talking with new people, an incredibly difficult time speaking in front of the class. So when I had to get out there and talk to a stranger and me in the back of my mind knowing that they think I’m just some sleazy car salesman and they shouldn’t trust me, that was big for me to overcome. For me it was a turning point of facing my fears and getting up there and selling cars. Then the reward came because once you sold them a car I made a lot of friendships. What would you have done differently in your career? I wished I had been a technician. I wish I had the training. That would have done a lot for my self-esteem and I would have a better understanding of the (service) department. Who is your most admired person who is not a family member? I think it’s a great question when you say not a family member because I talk about my dad a lot. (Former Ford Chief Executive) Allan Mulally is someone I love and admire. He has the unbelievable ability to bring out the best in people. He inspired me to want to be a better person, to be a better worker, to be a better husband even. He has confidence. You can be nice and have confidence at the same time. What are your interests and hobbies outside the work place? I play with my kids and play with cars. I love going to car shows and car events. I turned my work into hobbies and my hobbies into work. It’s really dumb or smart, I am not sure which. Do you have any advice for other executives? My dad says your reputation is always going up or down, but it never stays still. We have to work all the time to make sure our reputation is going up and getting better.

Mark Madler
Mark Madler
Mark R. Madler covers aviation & aerospace, manufacturing, technology, automotive & transportation, media & entertainment and the Antelope Valley. He joined the company in February 2006. Madler previously worked as a reporter for the Burbank Leader. Before that, he was a reporter for the City News Bureau of Chicago and several daily newspapers in the suburban Chicago area. He has a bachelor’s of science degree in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

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