Guy O’Brien is the founder and CEO of Bull Bridge Capital, a broker in subprime auto finance. He was previously the face of Innovate Auto finance as the Vice President of Sales and Marketing. Under his leadership, he implemented strategies to increase market share and contemporize the brand.
Guy is recognized as a subprime auto expert and regularly speaks at national level industry conferences to educate the market on such topics as strategic selling, negotiating, and organization issues that inhibit performance.
Here is a glimpse of what Guy shared in the interview.
The Buy Here Pay Here (BHPH) industry provides a great opportunity for the purchasing of bulk credit portfolios. The return is there, but each dealer or related finance company has their own way of doing business, No two are alike. You have to dig in and understand how they make money for you to make money.
We built our brand by segmenting the market. This segmentation was done by evaluating capital and platform constraints. We educate and influence the sellers on what makes a good deal. We are known for our ability that aligns the seller and buyer. This is accomplished by reducing the misunderstandings between them. That is our brand. It is more than price.
The work begins beyond the funding. For a bulk purchaser to receive anticipated yields from a purchased portfolio, understanding the collateral, the deal structure and the consumer is critical. All three have to be consistent. Too many times buyers just focus on one or two of these elements and expected collections are not met.
Most dealers in the BHPH market have a good brand for selling cars, but they usually have capital or platform constraints that stop them from growing. We help them extend their brand by buying and servicing their accounts so that they can focus on what they do best. Sell cars.
I am a believer in valuing human capital and servant leadership. We need to understand the heart of matter and the motive of the sale. More than price is a lot to talk about. Branding has to be built around relation base selling and the recurring needs of the seller.
