Joshua Soares is the executive manager at Billings Auto Group. He recently finished a one-year term as the NextGen board member as well.
We had a chance to sit down with Joshua to talk about his experience on the board and learn more about him. We would like to thank him for his time. The following are excerpts from our conversation.
Please tell us about your time serving on the board.
The board and the association do a great job representing all dealers of all sizes — from the biggest groups to the dealer who has one store. And I know how much MTADA means to dealers from my time serving on the board. I was surprised to see the number of small-town dealers who found the time to serve — there is a sense of obligation among members to give back and ensure the association is strong and keeps moving ahead.
There are a lot of years of combined experience on the board. You have everything from first-generation to fifth-generation dealers. There are smart businessmen and good car guys who understand how to get things done. The board’s ability to push back at the state level and on factories is impressive. The message they send is consistent: “We want to be good partners, but this is how we’re going to be good partners,” and “The dealer network is the best thing for consumers at the end of the day.” They ride that line exceptionally well, and I learned a lot from this experience.
The other thing I gained from serving on the board was making some great contacts — people to reach out to whenever I need help. As competitive as we are with each other to grab market share, you can still call and ask for help when you need advice on a particular area. At the end of the day, there’s enough market share to go around.
What is your biggest career accomplishment?
My biggest career accomplishment so far has been in our service departments. For a long, long time, our service departments were not profitable. It was just kind of a side gig that we ran.
When you sell a car, you get a service customer, a finance customer, a lending customer and a parts customer. And the business that’s in service is so much more lucrative than a lot of the old dealers from the prior generation appreciate. So working on our service department has been tremendous.
We’ve also been able to get 100% retail sales compliant with both our factories, Kia and General Motors. It’s just been a fun ride to get the machine moving, moving some metal and having happy customers. Because at the end of the day, a happy customer is a profitable customer.
What advice do you have for those considering serving on the board?
If you have the opportunity to serve on the board, you won’t regret it. The knowledge and experience you’ll gain is invaluable, and it’s important that everyone gives back to the association because the association does so much for us.
What advice would you give to fellow dealers and those considering working in the industry?
This is a hard business to be in, but it is not complicated. Those two things, hard and complex, often get equated to one another. Finding success is incredibly simple, it’s all about blocking and tackling. If you show up to work every day, to work, then you’re going to be able to have a good performance at the end of the day.
Something of equal importance is not to procrastinate. Instead, get a sense of urgency and solve the problem today rather than tomorrow. You’ll thank yourself for it because procrastinating just hurts.
My mantra in business, and something I often ask myself is: Are you being patient or are you procrastinating? The difference is oftentimes going to be profit. For example, spending too much on an advertising campaign or maybe holding on to a new hire in a position that is taking longer than expected to come up to speed — are you procrastinating because you just don’t want to fire that guy or give up on that ad campaign? Or, are you being patient enough for them to get their feet under them, for the money to come in?
It’s hard to discern between the two, but when you get it right, you can make a profit for your business. I suggest that you keep asking yourself the question. It creates a sense of self-awareness.
About Joshua
The Soares family moved to Billings, Montana, in 1993. Mr. Soares started working for the local Pontiac, Cadillac and GMC dealership. Eventually, he was able to put a little bit of money down and started a buyout. Then, in 1998, the buyout was finalized and he was the proud owner of his first store.
Joshua worked for his father at the dealership, detailing cars, as a summer job during high school. When it came time for college, both he and his brother were encouraged to pursue a career they loved. “Dad really worked hard to try and convince me and my brother to not get into the business,” Joshua recalled.
“When my brother, Jacob, and I were in college, we asked each other, ‘Do you have passions you want to pursue?’ And neither of us did. So, our No. 1 rule after graduating college was just ‘don’t be bored.’ Boredom will just kill you instantaneously,” Joshua said.
Joshua graduated from Montana State University — Bozeman with degrees in mechanical engineering and finance and went to work in banking, specifically, in corporate finance. “I chose banking because there were partners in the family business at the time and there wasn’t really a clear path to ownership,” Joshua stated. His brother ended up moving to Southern California, where he purchased a Chevrolet store.
Eventually, the Soares family made the decision to leave the partners but keep a couple of the family stores, including the original store. It was now 100% a family‑owned business, and after almost five years in banking, Joshua decided to join his father at the dealership. “It was less about the cars and more about family, the family business and being a business owner in Billings, Montana,” Joshua said.
In 2020, Joshua attended the NADA Academy to help prepare for the day his father retires and he takes over the family business. “My dad has two years left out of a five-year buyout, and then he gets to retire and spend more time with my mom,” Joshua said.
Joshua and his wife Aubrey just celebrated their six‑year wedding anniversary. They have three children: James is 4, Madeline is 3 and Daniel is 7 months old. They also have an American yellow lab named Brie.
When Joshua isn’t working, he enjoys taking the family out to Cooney Reservoir and spending time on their surf boat and playing a round of golf when time allows.
