The Dealer Playbook
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The Dealer Playbook
Ep. 647 - How to Tap Into the Multi-Billion Dollar Spanish Car Market, with Chance Mayfield
In this episode, my guest is Chance Mayfield, founder of Carfluent - we sit down to talk about how dealerships can better connect with Spanish-speaking buyers, create a seamless customer experience, and ultimately drive more sales.
Here’s the deal… The Spanish-speaking car market in the U.S. is MASSIVE yet it remains one of the most underserved consumer groups in the auto industry. Dealers are either ignoring it or flat-out getting it wrong. And that? That’s leaving a TON of money on the table.
Here’s what we cover:
- The biggest mistakes dealers make when marketing to Spanish-speaking customers
- Why just “translating” your website isn’t enough (and what ACTUALLY works)
- How to eliminate the “fire drill” that happens when Spanish-speaking customers call in
- Why staffing up the right way can transform your sales numbers
- The hidden opportunity that most dealers don’t realize exists—and how to capitalize on it
The kicker? The U.S. is the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico—yet most dealerships aren’t making the right moves to serve this massive customer base. The dealers who lean in and get it right are seeing insane close rates and next-level referrals.
If you’ve ever wondered how to stand out in a competitive market and tap into a high-intent, high-ROI customer base, this episode is for you.
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This episode is brought to you by FlexDealer hey auto industry. My guest today is Chance Mayfield, the founder of CarFluent. We're going to explore the Spanish car shopping shopping market in particular, what you need to be thinking about and doing to maximize opportunities, as well as the mistakes to avoid chance.
Speaker 2:welcome to the dealer playbook oh, thanks for having me, man I'm. I couldn't be happier to be here, brother, all right yeah, let's do it um you.
Speaker 1:You are. Wait, are you us? Are you in the south too? Um you, you are wait.
Speaker 2:Are you us? Are you in the south too? Yeah, yep, we're probably. Are you in texas? So we're in dallas, yep, yep, so I, I actually didn't realize you were in dallas until recently, right, what the heck? Yeah, so okay, hold on, okay, listeners can just stop for a minute. We're going to sidebar for a minute wait, so we're in dallas, all right, like yeah, so we're in a small town called canton right now we're a little bit east of dallas. Okay, uh, our team is gosh yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Uh, plaino and mckinney has really been our hood for the last no kidding 10 years or so. Yeah, yeah, we kicked out over here for why did I think we were somewhere else?
Speaker 1:uh, in the no talent man, you know people.
Speaker 2:I walk into dealerships and there's this guy don hearing who looks at me. He goes. Where are you from, man? You know, like you, I can't place you, you know anyway, yeah yeah, I mean we're.
Speaker 1:I mean, in the grand scheme of the broader United States, we're pretty close, dude, you know. I mean I'm up, I'm up north of Fort Worth, we're in Argyle, got you? Yeah, so the other side my wife says 25 minutes pretty much from everything, including basic amenities which people are getting used to. But here we are, everybody's like why are you guys talking about this? Well, it's important. You got to understand geography and you need to understand your consumer segments in particular. I want to kick it off this way. I mean, um, our CRO at Flex dealer is Emerson Abria. He's born in Bolivia, citizen, 20-year retired Marine combat veteran and since the day he started, he's like telling you Cirillo, whatsapp, whatsapp, whatsapp. The Spanish market is not served, it's underserved, and I know this is something that you are particularly intimately involved in with CarFluent. Tell me what you're seeing in a 2025 world. What are the most common mistakes that need to be avoided from a dealer's perspective that are like, maybe just quick tweaks, yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean tweaks are just being aware, right? John Duran has a great way of talking about this, right, everybody. You know, we all know John, right, not when we're talking about Spanish specifically, john, you know his. You know be intentional, right, be intentional. It's not something we can flip on, right? You know dealers learn that lesson quickly, I think. But the other side of it is just being aware, right, I think. But the other side of it is just being aware, right, and not really. You know not treating. You know Spanish marketing, hispanic marketing. You know the same way we do English, because the gaps are man, just very you know they occur in unusual places. You know what I mean. And I think dealers, you know, have been sold products in the past that don't really provide, like a, you know, a comprehensive experience in Spanish, but they're assuming it does you know, because they handle my English site, you know the home run.
Speaker 2:Right, it makes perfect sense for them to handle my Spanish site, but it's, it's just. It doesn't really work that way. You know what I mean. So, being aware of those gaps, I'd say you know from. You know, actually, I click the ad. If I'm advertising in Spanish, I click the ad. I should be presenting that user. You know a page in the language. You know what I mean. That's contextually relevant. You know, um, and I think that's really you know that's the message we're going to keep pushing this year. You know what I mean Is you know this is a group of consumers really worthy of our investment as a dealer body. And if we just stay aware and don't bullshit ourselves, right like, let's stop BSing ourselves about you know what we're seeing on screen. Right, it's a great group of consumers to you know to invest time in. Right, build some infrastructure around uh uh with you know, some crazy returns on the investment, man.
Speaker 1:You know, yeah, do you think? Generally speaking, do you think people uh tend to be afraid of this because political divide, not understanding culture, political divide not understanding culture, not wanting to say or do the wrong thing, like what are your thoughts.
Speaker 2:I think there's there's like two, there's a couple sides to it, right, um, you know some dealers, you know they see, like it's a huge left, you know what I mean that, like I gotta you know all these resources are going to and that's true. Right, like it's not something you're going to be able to build overnight. Right, I think the hesitation is can be there, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Like just understanding the culture, like our what, what creates hesitancy? So you're talking about perception that it's a huge lift.
Speaker 2:It is. And the other side is, like you know, experience in the past, experience, right. The other side is, like you know, experience in the past, experience, right. You know I've talked with numerous dealers over you know numerous different roles, you know, and a lot of them have tried it and feel like it's a mess. You know, I've had conversations on Clubhouse man. You know what I mean. You know, back in the day when that thing came out, where you know dealers felt like they we were investing money in it but not seeing the return.
Speaker 2:But the issue there, right, is we're not like, it's not a comprehensive experience, right, if we're not driving that user somewhere they can actually read and understand, ok, we're wasting their time. So they're going to bounce, go back to Facebook or wherever it was you know into like what kind of reporting can we actually get? You know what I mean. Even if we get, like, behavioral data from the visit, you know we can see what's actually happening they're trying to battle through, like how effective is that actually for the dealer? You know what I mean In terms of pivoting, you know. So it's like to me it's like the bad experience, you know, in combination with this, Well, we may need to staff up. You know we may need to do some things, you know, but the dealers that do man, they're again cranking deals out, pretty often to Spanish speakers.
Speaker 1:I think too. I mean so upbringing for me, european immigrants Italian, portuguese, you know, born and raised in Canada, but in a very culturally aware home, right, and one of the things I'm so grateful for know, like all of these things that I feel the born and bred North American is afraid of because they don't want to come off the wrong way. Which then puts us in my thought here where I'm going with this is then it puts our advertising into like a vanilla envelope, right. Going with this is then it puts our advertising into like a vanilla envelope, right, or it's like oh, it's very transactional then, and it's void of the ability to build a relationship. So what do you say to that? I mean, do, do I need to staff up? Do I need to? How do I mitigate that challenge so that I can truly connect with, with my, the spanish market?
Speaker 2:yeah, I mean the culture is. You know there's yeah, I say this is the white guy, right, you know, um, I'm comfortable with that at this point, you know. But you know there's some. I'm saying you know just, there's some cultural differences that we need to be aware of, not just you know day-to-day stuff, but just like you know how we actually build the deal or different ways to configure a deal, you know, when we're actually in F&I ready to go, right, I mean that. So that piece of it is you know. I mean, yeah, that ties into the culture, right, language, all that you know. But the staff, yeah, yeah, you got to have the staff. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:It's just, and I would honestly say receptionist is one of the best places to start. Man, you know I'll brag about Beaver Toyota again. Caitlin, shout out. She does a great job. They are the best calls I listened to, man, of all of our customers. Caitlin has this great because she's just a sweet you know sweet person, right, overall. But when she can flip to Spanish you know what I mean and eliminate the fire drill that happens with some others. It's just amazing how, how different, that conversation goes. You know, they've they've really done a great job staffing up the right places. You know, um, you know receptionist is is pretty great, cause that fire drill is, is it? I hear the irritation you know what I mean On on on recorded calls. So yeah, and I mean, the other thing is we don't really want to invest a ton of money into this If we can't, you know, actually do the handholding that we need to in some cases, you know, at store Right To make people comfortable. We got you, we can handle this, all that.
Speaker 1:Hey, does your marketing agency suck? Listen before we hop back into this episode. I know you know me as the host of the dealer playbook, but did you also know that I'm the CEO of FlexDealer, an agency that's helping dealers capture better quality leads from local SEO and hyper-targeted ads that convert? So if you want to sell more cars and finally have a partner that's in it with you that doesn't suck visit flexdealercom. Let's hop back into this episode. It with you. That doesn't suck. Visit flexdealercom, let's hop back into this episode. Yeah, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:I like how you say eliminate the fire drill. People don't realize that's exactly how it feels. And it feels that way even more when English is not your first language and you're in an English environment. Like, had I not, had I not gone to the Philippines for a couple years to do Mission work, I would not understand firsthand what it feels like to have everyone around you speaking a different language. Sure, and feeling like your human nature is. You feel like they're talking about you. Yeah, like it just did. And then to go and do something as potentially stressful as buying a car on top of that, um, adds to that. So I love the. The visual of a fire drill. Yeah, um, I like how you're also cautioning not to invest in this if you're not prepared to actually make the investment, because the investment goes beyond money, right yeah, I mean it.
Speaker 2:Just we're trying to build goodwill. You know, we're trying to build credibility where you know, if we're saying we've got you, I mean let's, let's make sure we do Right. You know, and I think that's just you know, there are operators out there that are absolutely going to, you know, think that way anyway. You know, but these cart before the horse scenarios or it's, it's just not gonna work anymore. You know what I mean. Like we, we really have to understand experience, um, and take it serious. Like we gotta discount it, man. You know, if I've got google translate on my site, it's breaking the vdp. Do something about that. Just get rid of the thing, man. You know what I mean. Find a better option.
Speaker 1:And your your take on. That is, you take what exists on a website and you create a whole uh native Spanish version of the exact same website, the exact same kind of a.
Speaker 2:When we started, we, we really the idea thesis, if you will, was it's great, we can do these things on a website. Right, I'm a website guy, okay, all right, I know I'm talking to another website guy, but to us, the core, the biggest disconnect is like the inventory, right, you know what I mean. So that's really where we started was making sure we can actually connect the dots. Right. If I'm marketing, I've got outreach, aia, whatever kind of ads going, let's like close the loop here a bit. You know what I mean. We've been specific pages or been specific ads, whatever.
Speaker 2:You know we've, we've built out since then, you know, and are going to continue, but we, we specifically didn't want to like try to replicate an entire site one cause it's, you know, an easier thing to build. Okay, you know. But also, dealers want to market. Generally, we found dealers want to market a separate message to Spanish speakers, you know, right, and you know it's not the largest group of consumers in their market, right? So in terms of like time commitment, you know, want to make it as easy as we can, but also I imagine it's.
Speaker 1:It's gotta be a pretty substantially sized market.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, and even if it's not okay, like, even if it's, it's got to be a pretty substantially sized market. Yeah, I mean, and even if it's not okay, like even if it's not, if the strategy is the correct one, right? Um, I hear dealers say a wider radius, go wider. Right, go more, go more evergreen. Lean into video is like the move for spanish speakers specifically go ahead I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:I was just looking this up as as you were speaking, because what you're saying I mean you know to your point about, like yeah, it's not going to be as big as your, your english speaking audience, but I mean what I'm seeing here. This is on spanish language history from a school district, the san jacinto school district. The united states has around 41 million native spanish speakers. This makes the united states the second largest spanish-speaking country in the world after mexico yeah, you know like.
Speaker 2:so opportunity is there. You know it's scattered, scattered across. You know there's sure there's different densities of population right In different areas, but the opportunities are everywhere, man. I mean dude, I know of dealers, you know Spanish speakers accounting for like 30% of their sales man, which is monthly, north of you know a hundred units a month, man, you know, yeah, that's an insane number.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's enough to want to invest in properly, because, I mean, the competitive advantage to me is is mind numbing to think about, cause it's like, well, if everyone else is shying away from it and you're the one that's leaning into it, yeah, what are the pretty unique?
Speaker 2:yeah, for that reason it's pretty unique too, right. I mean, your cost per lead is, you know, gonna be a little lower. You know I can generate some more opportunities out of the same type of budgets. And the intent is the intent within the weeds. I, I think is is really different and, like Luis Delgado over at Altura Social, altura Auto, he's got a great way of talking about this. I say it as a white guy. It won't hit the same, right, but he says you know, white people have the white folks have this way of, they're very picky, right. You know, I want this, I want that red, you know blue, whatever this package that, as opposed to, you know a Spanish speaker, hispanics there's like a thankfulness, almost an appreciative, appreciativeness, almost Right, and we see the intent and the leads, right Like that, are submitted through, you know, any car fluent sites. You know we have, you know, some dealers closing just crazy high close rates on these things too. Anyway, for those, reasons.
Speaker 1:Is there nuance in the type of messaging that works like from a targeting perspective? Yeah, are there different types of messages that would resonate with a spanish consumer versus an american consumer?
Speaker 2:the, I'd say it's. It's almost like the, the car effect. I hate to say that word, right, but I'm just saying you know it's experience, right, you know what I mean. And very generic sounding statement there. Ok, but what we hear, what we see, a larger radius than your typical DMA, significantly, right, you know, because you've got a smaller group of people we're going after. So let's have a larger radius, let's have our message.
Speaker 2:Lean into video. You know video, heavy, right, aia is a good form of generate. You know it does generate opportunities as well. But video, specifically on social channels, wider radius, right, that can, just, you know, continue to run, continue to just tell the message look at, we can, we can take care of you if you come in and talk about we. You know we're familiar with it, right, we, we've built deals like this, justin, you know, just last weekend, you know, whatever, right, look at, no one wants to go anywhere where they feel like they're going to be uncomfortable. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:And if you're not really saying, hey, we're familiar with i-10 tax id, you know type deals that we need to build. We have banks that can get you done. You know it's, it's, there's this perception, you know, with a lot of people you know, but Spanish speakers specifically, there is a perception that buy here, pay here, kind of tote the note approaches, is the way to go Right, and that's just not the case. You know a lot of people can, a lot more people can get approved for a new car that you know than realize um, and with spanish speakers I think like that kind of that's our go-to market right is, we're familiar, you know. We know how to get it done. We do it all the time again. Wider radius, lean into video. Social is great.
Speaker 1:I hope I've given some info here that's somewhat useful you know useless for everybody listening, except for what you're talking about, which is, I think, of the, the Cascade of this right. So, for example, I know from my own experience that experience that ethnic groups stick together and word travels really fast. When something works, when someone discovers a path, that word travels really, really quickly. And and you know, because, like look, I'll just speak to myself, but insert any ethnic demographic here yeah, when my dad immigrated from italy they went to two places toronto or vancouver. Right in vancouver they all gravitated to new westminster, east vancouver, and you know queensborough areas. To this day the italian community is in that area and at the time of immigration it was like you could have been worst enemies with that guy in italy, but because he was here five years before you and you were the newcomer, you all of a sudden trusted every recommendation that that guy made, because it's just like you, it's because you understand each other.
Speaker 1:So I can only imagine the same thing in this market. So what you're saying is leaning into video automotive inventory ads. Show them that you're familiar with itin and tax id deals and things of that nature. None of these things mean they don't have the money to purchase a vehicle. What it does mean, though, is that you are potentially tapping into a well of individuals that are like hey guys, I'm telling you go buy your vehicle from Beaver Toyota, because they know how to work deals for us, and they made it really easy Boom Wildfire, literally, you know, and I'm actually I was just the other day trying to find a stat for that specifically Right know how to work deals for us and they made it really easy boom, wildfire, literally.
Speaker 2:You know, and I'm actually I was just the other day trying to find a stat for that specifically right, like what's the? You know, I know it's high. Right, like an actual percentage. Right versus you know, english speakers versus you know whatever, um, you know, how much more likely are they to refer? Because the stories I hear are much like a ton more likely. Right, um, right, right, you know, john will tell you, luis will tell you, some of our buddies over at Friendly Chevrolet tell you the same thing. The referrals are, you know, it really means something you know, especially for, like a new vehicle. Buying a new car is cool man, you know, and it's exciting to think I could go actually get a new one. Man, they've got a way for me to get the new right, rado, you know from what I understand, they like they.
Speaker 1:So emer I was telling you about him earlier. Um, after he retired from the military, his wife's from brazil. They went back to brazil, they lived there for a couple years and he tells me all sorts of things like and I know you know it's a similar consumer profile. Let's just say that they they will have a party to celebrate the purchase of a new vehicle.
Speaker 1:Like they will invite people want to come over and sit in the car and sit in it and congratulate them and, like they, bring a gift and like all of these, these sorts of things and I know that that kind of stuff happens here like it is an exciting event when they drive home in a new vehicle.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the experience itself. Right, you know there's there's nothing better than buying a new car when you've got, like the fun sales guy you know, f and I it's no. I mean, there's seriously nothing better, man, you know, and I think just taking that, you know, trusting that they'll take that message to friends and family is, you know, a big deal when it comes to Spanish marketing and just like the whole operations, making sure we're connecting dots, spanish speakers answering the phone, grabbing web leads, you know, whatever it is Right, just making sure they're part of the process.
Speaker 1:I love it. Um, so at a time of recording, we are on the toes of nadia. You're going to be doing a education session there, um, which we're talking a little bit about pre-show. At the time of publishing this, we will be on the heels of nadia. Yeah, what did you for future, you? What did you hope your attendees took away from your session?
Speaker 2:uh one, you know that it wasn't a snooze. You know we want to have fun. I'm curious about that. What's that rating meter they have in there?
Speaker 1:what I'm'm curious about that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that whole thing. So hopefully they don't hit that. I hate this guy button. You know that. I guess really takeaway there is again this is a group of consumers seriously worthy of our investment as a dealer body, you know, and it there is a big ROI. At the end of whatever process, whatever journey you're on towards doing this, you know there's an ROI you're going to get to, as long as we just stay aware we're intentional and how we go about it. And dude, there's just, there's some serious, there's a serious opportunity out there that we're not tapping into on the franchise side, right there, just as right if we can better tell our story as to how we can help get these kind of deals done. You know, I mean, it's it's, it's just more gross, more units, you know yeah, it gives me a lot to think about.
Speaker 1:I I mean, especially here at the playbookbook, we love thinking about the thing that nobody else is thinking about. You know, it's like social media Everybody's trying to go viral on TikTok, doing weird dances and then forgetting about their Google business profile, and this feels like one of those things to me. It's like, hey, for those that are listening and watching, pay attention to this. Maybe you're in Canada, maybe you're're in Europe, maybe you're in whatever. Insert consumer, underserved consumer demographics here. You lean into them. You're going to have an opportunity that your competitors aren't. I love that. I love that visual of like your competitors looking over here and you see the opportunity in that direction.
Speaker 2:I was just gonna say it's almost like when we started talking. I'll talk about this at the workshop as well, right, but you know, if you remember, like 10 years ago, right, we, we really started leaning into responsive Tech, right, you know we, we know everyone, and it's this is not the exact same, but there are similarities here. All right, we start building tech to fit where consumers are. Okay, it started making sure the tech we're using as a dealer body is able to meet consumers where they are. If so many this 41, 42 million people are speaking Spanish at home to us, that says this is a language they're comfortable in and we should meet them where they are Right. This is the language they're comfortable in and we should meet them where they are right. So, not not exactly the same. As you know, eventually 70 of your traffic is going to be on mobile, right, but there is the guys who adapted fast back then. They won, you know, and I I see that just kind of repeating itself here.
Speaker 1:You, know that's a mind blower for me to to wait a minute. We are the second highest Spanish-speaking country in the world after Mexico. Yeah, like, when you put it in those terms, it's like whoa, why wouldn't we like it? You know what I mean. It like it becomes a no brainer. Why wouldn't I be serving this demographic? Um well, I'm excited. I'm excited to catch up with you at NADA. I'm excited for everybody listening in the future that knows what you talked about at NADA in 2025. How can those listening and watching connect with you?
Speaker 2:Man hit us up on LinkedIn. I'm always there right Chance at carfluentio via email. Check out the website carfluentio. I'm on TikTok. I dropped I don't know. Sometimes I think some funny stuff you know, so give me a follow. Man, follow you back.
Speaker 1:Chance man thanks so much for joining me on the Dealer Playbook Podcast.
Speaker 2:Yeah, brother, thanks for having me, man.
Speaker 1:Hey, thanks for listening to the Dealer Playbook Podcast. If you enjoyed tuning in, please subscribe, share and hit that like button. You can also join us and the DPB community on social media. Check back next week for a new dealer playbook episode. Thanks so much for joining.
