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 organizational issues that inhibit growth and 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 to align the interests of sellers and buyers. This is accomplished by reducing the misunderstandings between them. That is our brand. It is much more than price.”
“Our work is much more than simply finding funding for a dealer’s portfolio. For a bulk purchaser to receive anticipated yields from a purchased portfolio they must have an intimate understanding of the collateral, the deal structure and who the consumer is. These are all critical components to putting together a successful sale. In my experience, many buyers just focus on one or two of these elements and ultimately the purchase does not meet expectations.”
“Most dealers in the BHPH market have a good brand for selling cars, but they usually have capital or platform constraints that prevent 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. In an effort to better serve the BHPH market, we need to fully understand the motive of the sale. There is a lot more than price to these deals. My approach to this business is to provide relationship based selling and the recurring needs of the seller.”
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