I recently had a Zoom video call with Dan Moore President of VistaDash to talk about data and the current state of the industry. We covered a lot of topics during our call and I think we definitely hit a couple of high notes talking about the need for better data infrastructure in automotive and how dealerships can leverage this crisis to come out of it stronger than they went into it.
Video Transcript
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00:00
hey this is Todd Smith here from 360
00:03
converged with a great friend Dan Moore
00:06
president of Vista – also best-selling
00:09
author and get more or do more get more
00:13
as the actual title of the book I just
00:15
think it’s more of everything I do have
00:17
one question real quick
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Before we jump in here how did you come
00:22
up with the title of the book I want to
00:23
know was it your wife who came up with
00:25
the title was it your kids who came up
00:26
with the title or did you just have the
00:28
midnight epiphany that says it’s do more
00:33
get more because I’m Dan more what
00:35
happened yeah yeah the title came up a
00:37
few different ways because there is all
00:39
kinds of different titles along the way
00:40
but it was funny it happened Lisa
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Copeland happened to be visiting she’s
00:44
at the house and Kelly and I never
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sitting at the table and you know a
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glass of wine or two and then BOOM
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do more get more okay I knew it had to
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be in there and I was just really
00:56
curious yeah journey to get to the title
01:00
so man look so much has changed in the
01:05
last bit and I might cover some
01:09
interesting stuff and questions because
01:11
I love your perspective you always have
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cool insight and I know we go back and
01:15
forth the ton on everything and make fun
01:18
of tons of stuff in the industry fine
01:20
and normal and then you know we never
01:22
are questions and input of stuff and you
01:25
know today I get to work from my actual
01:27
I became my office I got my electric
01:29
skateboard ready to go home really fast
01:31
and not touch anything you know I think
01:35
one of the interesting things and we
01:37
were just touched on before we started
01:39
was the narrative changing online and
01:44
going through these iterations so what
01:49
do you think about that like everyone
01:50
talking about certain different things
01:52
like in the beginning it was like what
01:54
is this disease what’s it mean for us I
01:56
assume and then it’s like okay now we
01:59
know this disease how is it going to
02:01
Jack us up and you know people are out
02:03
there still saying you know
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traffic’s great you know we’re still
02:07
doing stuff and then you know then it’s
02:09
doom and despair week of oh my gosh this
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is in
02:13
attacking us were furloughing employees
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were firing employees good employees
02:18
like people talking to guys or letting
02:20
guys go they’ve been with them 25 years
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right just because and then it’s little
02:26
bright hope we’ve now applied for
02:28
Paycheck protection government SBA money
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so what do you think I mean that kind of
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brings us up to now what’s next week
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where are we going yeah you know it’s
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funny I think we should have a curve on
02:40
just work where the emotional state of
02:43
businesses right cuz I mean there’s you
02:46
know there’s logic and emotion and
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obviously it’s very blurry right now
02:50
because there are so many factors and I
02:53
think to that some people are losing
02:55
sight on you know especially in our
02:57
industry is hey I’ve got something to
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sell you hey I’ve got something that’s
03:00
going to help you and it’s like you
03:01
gotta take a second understand where the
03:03
person is where the company is because I
03:05
think for the you know to your point you
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I think you said it great it’s okay this
03:09
happened right we identified hey we’ve
03:10
got some kind of pandemic now what does
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this mean you know we’re comparing it to
03:14
the flu h1n1 oh it’ll blow over and then
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all of a sudden in the history of this
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how can anybody have the answer when
03:24
we’ve never experienced anything like
03:25
this no I mean you and I are data geeks
03:28
I just go off the simple fact of how
03:30
many times this Disney shut down their
03:33
parks in the how many years they’ve been
03:36
oh I think what are they 75 years no no
03:40
no they’re not that old but yeah I mean
03:43
they sorry I think in those 60s early
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yeah like ladies it was like maybe one
03:50
or two times like something about World
03:51
War two and one other thing i loved
03:54
inning showdown now ma’am so teens only
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shut them for hours a lot of times while
04:02
the hurricane passes great other than
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that you know this stuff so he’s open so
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yeah that’s a state of things right I
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mean the shutdown of the United States
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in and of itself is like historic great
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so Craig I’ll be telling my son Finn you
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don’t really know what it was like
04:22
forever the world is shut down and pause
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like having this dramatic pause for a
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while and you know specifically in our
04:29
business I noticed that you know there’s
04:32
there’s always rippling effects that we
04:35
don’t really understand what’s gonna
04:37
happen right like I talked to Todd
04:39
Caputo earlier this week
04:40
he’s like used car market what’s a used
04:42
car worth today and I’m like I don’t
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know you tell me auction reports he goes
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yeah well when normally you know I go to
04:49
an auction seventy thousand cars are
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sold now 3,000 or sold you can’t really
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put real numbers on cars so I was like
04:55
well that creates a whole dilemma in
04:58
itself because what happens when they
05:00
come back online and the prices are
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dramatically different than dealers are
05:04
trading in cars today at what about all
05:07
the lease returns what does that mean
05:09
and a back later what about all the
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rental fleets and the backups and all
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these cars are gonna hit the market
05:15
whenever we sort of come back online
05:18
just like that pent up like thing it’s
05:20
just gonna explode except the guys in
05:22
Florida it’s always Florida that’s
05:24
somehow thirty five hundred cars caught
05:26
fire the rental fleet that story I was
05:32
like mmm wonder how that one happened
05:35
yeah that’s the things you use car Mart
05:37
Reiko so if sales saying hey listen
05:40
right now we’re down prices are down
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like fifteen percent right so vehicle
05:45
across the going across the block or
05:47
down 15% what does that say for retail
05:50
right and then I’m looking online and
05:54
I’m going in talking to some of the
05:56
dealers right I mean hey I’m always
05:58
happy to help in the clink I’m like
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how’s your used car inventory what are
06:01
you doing just doing the same thing
06:03
we’ve been doing so you have an
06:04
adjusting in your pricing no yeah yeah
06:07
I’ve been looking Carmack said the
06:09
signal how many did they just furlough
06:10
this week oh yeah it sounds a big number
06:13
I always like seven thousand seven or
06:15
eight thousand I thank you yeah that’s a
06:17
big number that’s a big signal meaning
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hey things are screeched it was funny I
06:20
saw a commercial I’m like all day
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they’ve got a nice car big commercial
06:23
going on and then BOOM
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the next thing is this I’m like okay
06:27
we’re definitely sending two messages
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here okay this brings up a really good
06:31
point and what really interests me like
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and I
06:36
believe this fully and what do you I’m
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curious about your opinion now I see
06:43
what’s going on right and businesses are
06:45
in financial distraught tons of them but
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your employees how you treat your
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employees right now it is probably more
06:58
impactful I believe then even the
07:04
business itself because these are the
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people that make the business work and a
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cheaper toolset and look I understand
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people you have to furlough people you
07:15
have to eliminate if you don’t have the
07:18
money I totally understand that I mean
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I’m in the same boat with my startup and
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I deal with these challenges every
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single day and it’s very hard but you
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know I mean what do you think about the
07:32
the messaging that these companies are
07:35
sending to their workforces there’s so
07:39
here’s the tricky part to this whole
07:41
thing right and this is the fundamental
07:44
challenge I think we suffer and it’s
07:45
been set you know even our political
07:47
arena if you have today is that kind of
07:49
if you will almost to some extent the
07:50
faint news statement meaning you know a
07:53
lot a lot of these companies have
07:54
furloughed but hey what’s not being said
07:57
is they’re paying the benefits they’re
07:59
offsetting the difference there’s other
08:02
things happening but everybody’s so
08:04
quick to put a bullet in a company
08:06
because they let go so many people the
08:08
question is is what were the
08:09
stipulations in that yes there are some
08:11
companies that have done some things
08:13
that I go man they just cut bait and ran
08:15
all the while sitting there telling you
08:18
how much money they have or how much
08:19
money this is like there are some
08:22
there’s good and bad in everything and I
08:24
think we need to kind of hit the timeout
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button
08:27
stop jumping into the hey let me get
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into the squandering on social media and
08:31
torch some company for letting their
08:32
people go when the full circumstances a
08:35
sometimes can’t be divulged number one
08:38
number two is there’s a there’s a whole
08:40
different story because I’ve talked to
08:42
from from my car you know car dealer
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friends to a vendor
08:46
as far as that are running their
08:48
companies are like you know we’re in the
08:49
situation but someone we’ve done the
08:51
right things like hey we had to do this
08:53
but we’re doing these following things
08:55
so it’s not a complete cut and run yeah
08:58
so there’s it’s a tricky one because I
09:02
think that you know hey no one’s ever
09:04
set up for crisis management not in
09:06
crisis no not like this and in crisis PR
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meaning you know you’re trying to save
09:12
money strenuous spend money on someone
09:13
to help craft the message so that you
09:15
know you try and stabilize your business
09:16
but if you’re making big cuts you’ve
09:17
gotta lay the groundwork because
09:19
someone’s gonna run with it you know I
09:21
mean look how public quickly Automation
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Carmack’s you know everybody’s making
09:26
some of these big moves someone’s got to
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be behind that trying to like get that
09:30
message out there and make sure that you
09:32
know hey you are trying to do things the
09:33
right way hey there’s an opportunity on
09:35
the other side of this so it’s a
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challenge
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I think for everybody and that’s what I
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think for me kind of frustrates me when
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I see online I’m like man you don’t know
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really what’s going on you you’re quick
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to just kind of say something without
09:51
getting all the data anything some of
09:53
the data we’re getting isn’t even right
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because the whole thing with the Kovan
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and and you know this flatline occurs it
10:01
keeps moving wait yeah I think that’s
10:03
like an ever-changing like it’s a bull’s
10:07
eye you’ll never hit because the data is
10:10
continuing to evolve and then the
10:12
nuances of marketplaces right I mean the
10:15
impact in like a New York City verse the
10:18
impact in Iowa or you know the impact in
10:25
Arizona Montana just some extent Arizona
10:29
feel a lot like just now it’s starting
10:31
to tighten things up just now right
10:33
where everybody else is tighten up so
10:36
it’s interesting to see how everybody’s
10:38
operating and you know there’s different
10:40
levels I mean New York I mean they’re
10:43
just getting hammered it’s ground zero
10:45
for this at this point I think they
10:47
they’re they’re gonna be the poster
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child of lessons we can learn to not let
10:53
that happen in other communities around
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the u.s. and look they have
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disadvantages
11:00
huge public population dense population
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you know I think they got they didn’t
11:07
get out in front of it so for messaging
11:09
and you know it all goes it cascaded so
11:13
fast so quickly and it was very hard to
11:15
to get their hands around and you know I
11:17
I think they’ll get through it
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New York is probably one of the hardest
11:22
like personality people I mean I grew up
11:25
in New Jersey I feel the people up in
11:28
the Northeast are just very resilient
11:29
fine there’s something about a New
11:33
Yorker they just got grit so let’s talk
11:37
a little so data man right so you know
11:40
and and I want to get back to the
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original question so what comes next
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week so money now is hitting some
11:47
dealers accounts right I think yeah so
11:50
you’re starting to hear that right to
11:51
your ear you hearing hey if you kind of
11:54
take it in simplicity you’re gonna see
11:56
the shift from kind of more reactive to
11:59
going to more proactive meaning now that
12:01
the now that we’re kind of settling in
12:02
right we’ve got a plan we understand
12:04
that we’ve got some some backing some
12:07
substance you know substantial backing
12:09
and we can we can go back to some I call
12:12
it the new norm of operations right and
12:14
because they’re always like well I can’t
12:16
wait to get back to normal yeah well
12:17
we’re never gonna see normal okay so
12:19
everything’s gonna be a new normal even
12:21
when we come out of this there’s gonna
12:23
be new new habits new forms we’re gonna
12:25
have new normals but I think next week
12:27
we start to see kind of that okay it’s
12:30
time to start moving the business
12:31
forward within the operating structures
12:34
that were allowed
12:35
based on each state yeah yeah like
12:39
Pennsylvania not selling cars you can
12:41
sell guns I’m like okay you know I feel
12:46
this amazing hair salons here in Arizona
12:52
I’m sure yeah
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hair salons all the retired people man
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every week you gotta go in and get your
13:00
dome done man
13:01
so so again you’ve got you’ve got a lot
13:04
of different challenges and I think that
13:06
the best advice or at least kind of what
13:09
I would say I know is is that you’ve got
13:11
to you’ve got to take the data that you
13:13
have in front of you for your state and
13:16
figure out how you can operate in that
13:18
consult with your legal Hey what what’s
13:21
what’s the real ly hard line here I mean
13:24
you know states like Michigan obviously
13:26
they press pretty hard I know some of
13:27
the guys out there have met with their
13:29
you know local Monday yeah yeah
13:35
Michigan’s gonna be back with ELLs on
13:37
Monday yeah so there’s some good you
13:40
know again the dealer community is doing
13:42
a good job at rallying you know Alex
13:44
betters Bennett like the just the front
13:47
of just pushing pushing pushing so hats
13:49
off there I mean from yeah when you got
13:52
the cata cars calm you can kind of go in
13:54
and have big conversations with with all
13:57
the different people that you need to to
13:58
move some stuff along or at least get
13:59
some awareness so it’s fantastic yeah so
14:02
I mean but next week’s thing the
14:04
interesting I think next week we start
14:05
to see that hey what’s next statement
14:08
how do we move forward statements not so
14:11
much of that kind of harbouring you know
14:13
isolation of I just got to go in or now
14:15
I think people are going to start coming
14:17
out word more and trying to figure out
14:19
how to get back to what we would say the
14:21
new normal is yeah it’s definitely open
14:23
you norm it’s like a list of like a
14:24
rubber band like once you stretch it out
14:26
it never goes back to its original shape
14:28
right it’ll somehow be changed because
14:31
of circumstances surroundings and
14:33
environment right so that’s that’s gonna
14:36
be interesting you know I’m excited I I
14:39
do believe I opposed to something like
14:41
this is the opportunity time man
14:43
smart businesses are gonna have to look
14:45
at this and smart dealers specifically
14:48
and smart people work in sales in auto
14:51
have to look at this as okay how do I
14:54
roll up my sleeves how do I become an
14:58
effective asset in this time right and
15:02
dealerships have to rethink the little
15:04
their sales process I mean not really
15:06
though I think about like digital this
15:08
term retailing it’s been around for
15:10
years it’s not a new thing you know
15:13
there’s all new ones
15:16
mystics because I said it’s not just go
15:19
through and it’s magic like Amazon and
15:22
shows up you you have a creating you
15:24
have you have to move inventory around
15:26
how does it happen how do you manage
15:28
people who aren’t in your dealership to
15:30
remotely do these services how do you
15:33
keep them safe how do you keep the
15:34
customer safe like there’s a lot of
15:37
unseen things inside there and I think
15:40
you mentioned earlier you know you have
15:42
blast States is still wet signature
15:44
requirements right how does that play
15:46
into a fact they can’t do everything
15:50
online you know I was like you said to
15:54
you right like hey if you sign paperwork
15:56
in the house you actually have a longer
15:59
extension on being able to firm the
16:01
right to rescission yeah so Jersey’s a
16:03
big around that I think it was the I
16:04
think it was called like the rainbow
16:06
vacuum or Kirby backing or something
16:08
that you know back in the day the sales
16:11
guy who just show up at the waifu’s
16:14
Holmes house right this is back in that
16:16
I guess the 40s and 50s and selling like
16:18
a $3,000 vacuum cleaner and you know
16:22
people would be like oh my god how did
16:24
you spend that money for a stupid vacuum
16:26
and then the law went into effect that
16:28
said if you’re sold and signed paperwork
16:31
in your house the rights of recisions
16:34
are different than if you’re actually in
16:36
the business right because you’ve taken
16:39
a time to go to the business you’re
16:41
aware of the your surroundings and the
16:45
deal and what you’re doing business
16:46
differently then hey I just hiked you up
16:49
in your house and sold you a super
16:51
expensive vacuum cleaner that you’re
16:52
going to make payments on like a car for
16:54
80 months or 84 different well and
16:58
what’s interesting too is is this is
17:00
that a point of awareness to in the
17:01
sense of you know you’ve got dealers
17:04
moving forward on getting you know being
17:06
deemed essential it’s like now we’ll
17:07
take it a step further you’ve got the
17:09
ear you’re making headway if you’re one
17:12
of the states that that you know you
17:14
have that signature it’s like now it’s
17:16
the time to kind of say hey we need to
17:17
have a conversation about this because
17:18
this furthers this this point here and
17:21
it’s interesting though and it’s funny
17:24
because if you think about buying a home
17:26
you can assign four
17:29
a multi-million dollar huh yeah like
17:33
saying I own it cuz the mortgage
17:36
companies had the muscle and the bank’s
17:38
had the muscle to go in and change the
17:41
rules regulations and laws requiring
17:44
documentation and this might be that
17:46
chance for this automotive state
17:48
associations to now go in to ensure a
17:52
better process drought not only the
17:55
consumer but as well as the dealer I
17:57
mean to reduce paperwork and streamline
18:00
it is at everyone’s advantage I think at
18:04
this money correct I mean if you’re you
18:06
know sitting there talking about green
18:07
new deals at everything how much paper
18:09
do you want to print to my cart yeah you
18:11
shouldn’t print any right you should be
18:12
able to just sign and but I’m just
18:14
saying like I mean there’s so many ways
18:16
to kind of set the trap to get the money
18:19
to get the objective done because you
18:21
can piggyback on all the different hot
18:22
points but nonetheless this is that
18:25
opportunity where you find the in
18:28
the armor you know you’re the new norm
18:31
is going to be the new norm whatever
18:32
you’re doing right now you have to
18:33
understand you don’t get to pull it back
18:35
when this is done you’ve created ahead
18:37
so you can’t be like oh I’m not doing
18:39
digital retailing now you got to come
18:40
back to the dealership like the way
18:41
we’ve always done it no that’s gonna
18:44
happen boy
18:45
oh it’s gonna happen but I’m saying like
18:47
and then watch your reviews you know
18:50
like yeah yeah I think everybody’s gonna
18:52
take caution in the sense of the things
18:55
that you’re doing in your mind you may
18:58
think they’re temporary but the
19:00
consumers are gonna think otherwise so
19:03
there is that paradigm shift that we
19:05
have to think about and even I mean just
19:06
think about the habits they’re literally
19:09
going to be different habits to come out
19:11
of copán meaning I’m curious to watch
19:14
the rideshare really curious yeah like
19:17
do you want to keep getting with
19:19
someone’s ride that you don’t know who
19:20
was in before and that’s weird I just
19:24
think our being be like do you want to
19:26
stay in a place what’s the new COBIT 19
19:29
like sanitation sanitizing a unit before
19:33
I stay in it are you gonna sanitize the
19:36
Newport after every ride they say these
19:40
are the things you know and to some
19:43
extent
19:43
people are going to want to go out and
19:45
have go out and eat a meal because
19:46
they’ve been trapped yeah yes to some
19:49
extent you’re right but the other
19:50
problem that you’re going to see is that
19:52
some people might be like you know hey
19:54
I’ll do that but not near the frequency
19:56
I used to you have people that have
19:58
families that like all they do is eat
20:00
out yeah this is forcing that point of
20:02
of what everybody kind of goes hey they
20:04
start eating in they go oh hailing all
20:05
the money I’m saving oh man like you
20:08
know we’re making new recipes that’s
20:09
great like there are things that are
20:12
going to happen naturally the longer
20:14
this goes on so there’s there’s the
20:16
habit side of this that we have to equip
20:18
our self for it what are we what do we
20:20
become more accustomed to that’s it
20:23
right total point I I’m just looking I
20:26
have this book above me which is great
20:30
have you read a tiny habits yet no okay
20:37
BJ’s great guy Stamper guy this is the
20:39
guy who I’ve talked in a few times super
20:42
nice guy
20:44
every guy from Dropbox all those guys
20:47
have taken his class like any big
20:50
dot-com guy have gone through BJ’s
20:54
program at Stanford and it’s all about
20:57
creating like addictive use of
21:00
applications right like using gaming how
21:03
to keep people engaged and it’s
21:06
fulfilling needs right you it comes down
21:08
to one help people do what they already
21:11
want to do and to help them feel good
21:13
about doing that right I mean you you
21:16
you accomplish that everything changes
21:18
but it’s a good book but I’m thinking
21:21
about habits um you know the definitely
21:24
our habits will shift now because of
21:27
this and especially with car buying you
21:28
know I think you’re gonna see some
21:30
changes there which will be interesting
21:33
it’s also interesting dealers from the
21:37
dealers I’ve spoken to and I’d love your
21:39
thoughts to they really have responded
21:42
similar to two thousand eight and nine
21:45
and did a mass retraction of marketing
21:50
spend right away oh yeah I mean right
21:54
away I mean obviously you know we’re
21:56
Marketing Intelligence Platform so we’re
21:58
seeing all of that yeah tell me you got
22:01
it man yeah yeah everybody hit the
22:03
retracts really quick right yeah and and
22:07
and the struggle there is is that
22:09
everybody’s saying where the consumer is
22:11
right now and in some cases you know
22:14
they’re trying to you know point out
22:16
paid search they’re trying to point out
22:17
social they’re trying to point out all
22:18
these different hey consumers there and
22:23
it’s funny you know
22:24
then there’s the knock on the third
22:25
parties we still have this complete
22:26
love-hate relationship it’s kind of
22:31
funny I mean I know I know your your
22:33
points on it I mean look lead generation
22:36
is lead generation right now do I
22:39
believe lead generation should evolve a
22:41
little yeah I I feel I think Lehman
22:43
should evolve you know later the
22:45
consumers right it’s wherever the
22:47
consumer look if the consumer raises our
22:49
hand how that’s generated to me isn’t
22:51
different but what as a dealer as a
22:54
salesperson I would like more
22:57
information about that particularly so I
23:00
can have a better conversation correct
23:02
and I could be more compelling in my
23:06
sales pitch than I’ve received a name
23:09
and an email address and I’m told
23:11
hey go follow up and you know that
23:15
problem still just lacks with the fact
23:16
that nobody ever wanted to update me and
23:21
me and matter had the conversation like
23:23
I’m new to go about star and all that
23:26
junk in here just like insurmountable
23:29
wall against the CR apps right I mean it
23:35
kind of falls into your hand quite
23:37
nicely because you know I know you’re
23:40
building the yeah the mousetrap that
23:42
makes that a much better experience it’s
23:45
all over do the morning is data the more
23:48
data you have the better better
23:50
conversation gonna have it as I know
23:51
like David Cain sent me a intake sheet
23:55
on on let me find it so he sent me an
23:57
intake sheet yesterday right and I love
24:00
this because it just resonated with me
24:02
because I was like oh he goes we asked
24:05
her clients to ask customers these
24:08
questions right and I was like
24:10
oh I have all this thing I have most
24:12
this data you don’t need to ask it’s
24:13
like do they own an animal like what it
24:15
what are their hobbies occupation easy
24:18
to grab right recreation stuff
24:20
motivation okay that’s a little bit
24:22
different animals interests all that
24:25
stuff is easy to find with their social
24:28
behavior their web because you’re all
24:30
that data and it’s so rich and correct
24:34
at this point that you could use to have
24:37
a better conversation the more you know
24:38
about a customer you could then create a
24:41
better messaging to that customer as
24:43
well instead of hey Dan
24:45
saw you put a lead in on the new Tahoe
24:47
when do you want to come drive it um I
24:51
think you could change that conversation
24:53
I think that’s much more powerful but
24:54
yeah send me that sheet and I was like
24:56
this is cool man as like we can automate
25:00
some of that now and I just want all the
25:03
companies to do that it has nothing to
25:05
do with me I feel like no I mean hey
25:08
it’s all about serving the dealers right
25:09
let’s make it easier let’s give sales
25:13
people the right to like what’s that
25:15
saying or that story uh two guys are in
25:19
a tree chopping calm like competition
25:24
the one guy just starts going at it no
25:27
rest the other guy chops
25:29
fifteen minutes later comes out sharpens
25:32
his axe goes back chopped it down in
25:36
half the time and the other guy goes how
25:38
did he do that so fast and took all
25:40
those breaks and he’s like he sharpened
25:42
his axe right and and I think we’re at
25:44
that time where we need more indeed
25:47
intelligence that is there it is
25:49
completely available and we need to
25:52
leverage that just like I think what
25:54
you’re doing with Vista – that marketing
25:57
intelligence helps us make better
26:01
decisions right and and actually make
26:03
decisions instead of just looking at you
26:06
know another damn dashboard you know you
26:08
can look at something and go hey this is
26:13
what’s actually happening and this is
26:15
how I should respond like I talked to
26:17
deal or the other day and you know he
26:20
retracted marketing but he just shifted
26:22
it and
26:24
he went much heavier digital too and
26:27
what I mean like digital into social
26:29
because he knows everyone’s sitting in
26:31
this platform right now scrolling all
26:33
day
26:34
so like wives are more than double like
26:39
this it’s not rocket science right like
26:42
and at the same point time you know
26:44
dealers are attracted money and it’s
26:46
like if people are being honest right
26:48
and you know trying to like leverage the
26:53
dollar correctly for whether the dealer
26:55
is doing it internally or somebody’s
26:57
doing it for him dude simple things
26:59
couple on our box going you know your
27:02
service drives the only thing that’s
27:03
open great let’s go get the email is for
27:05
every opt-out there is let’s pump that
27:07
into Facebook and let’s go on for 10 20
27:10
percent off and go target that or hey if
27:12
you’ve got your coded statement hey
27:14
we’re open here’s a video must clean the
27:16
car and service doing all that great how
27:19
far are you willing to drive to go to a
27:21
consumer okay great 35 40 miles great
27:24
geofence 500 bucks away you go like yeah
27:28
no one’s talking about and coming up
27:31
with hey here are some ways right and I
27:35
love the fact that that Bob at Facebook
27:37
put out the hey here’s the free things
27:39
you can leverage on Facebook it’s like
27:41
thank you because there are a free
27:44
things I posted to that I was like why
27:47
don’t you give some creative examples I
27:50
was like you are the resources I was
27:52
like throw out a couple you know hey
27:54
this is what it should look like this is
27:56
how to do it I think sometimes we lack
27:59
the the next thing it’s easier to it’s
28:02
easy to say hey take this but it’s nice
28:06
to say well here’s here’s the steps to
28:08
really implement it right like we want
28:12
to use something like this just change
28:14
your name out and you know you can start
28:16
leveraging that and then that usually to
28:19
me seeds the mine to come up with new
28:22
ideas from it some people need like that
28:24
starting like like a kid like riding a
28:26
bike for the first time you need the
28:27
little push
28:28
right okay for say you need to push yes
28:32
so and that’s what that’s what you know
28:36
you push a little bit but I understand
28:38
that like there’s just it’s not you
28:41
can’t go back to the way you were doing
28:42
it you’ve got to think differently yeah
28:45
I agree
28:46
so tell me like what’s the data like it
28:48
and now in marketing what are you saying
28:50
where are the pockets of opportunity
28:52
like if you your retail hat on the back
28:56
in the dealership look you’re so open to
28:59
sell what do you do yes so so back in
29:04
the dealership side of it I mean
29:05
obviously I’m gonna go for low-hanging
29:06
fruit right now I want my dollars to get
29:08
me the end marks chopper I’m not worried
29:09
about branding right now I’m worried
29:11
about action get me to action so i play
29:13
on connected TV because I know that the
29:17
in market has has you know basically
29:19
shrunk and I gotta get to that specific
29:21
target so I could get a little bit I can
29:23
almost get the precision right I can get
29:25
right around that end market shopping
29:26
with some good messaging okay obviously
29:28
obviously social media 100% okay and I’m
29:32
gonna play in a couple different ways
29:33
I’m gonna leverage paid for like the 84
29:35
month because everybody’s searching for
29:38
it we know that right so I’m not worried
29:40
about direct inventory like I’m gonna do
29:43
paid search on each exact model I know
29:45
use this kind of like sour right now so
29:47
I’m gonna go back and I’m look at my
29:48
pricing strategy figure out if there’s
29:50
some opportunity but with that I’m a
29:52
leverage of the third-party sites right
29:53
now I mean I love the fact that they’re
29:55
helping the dealers out hey here’s a 50%
29:57
reduction it’s in your spend great
29:59
what’s the what package am i on right if
30:02
I’m on a low package let me how much
30:03
does it cost me to go the premium
30:05
package right now it’s like listen you
30:08
got to leverage the resources right and
30:10
and I’m not taking shots at anybody I’m
30:12
just saying like hey leverage the field
30:14
you know Facebook Facebook’s like cost
30:17
to enter is minimal right now it’s it’s
30:19
lower than anything so you’ve got to
30:21
figure out where those are and you got
30:23
to figure out you know your budget hey
30:25
what am I willing to spend during this
30:26
time and then you get a list of the
30:28
things that you that are the right
30:29
places to go where the consumer is and
30:31
you go and get the what that cost for
30:33
each one of those when you go okay
30:34
here’s my budget what things match
30:36
against that where do I want to go and
30:38
you’ve got to execute on that and then
30:39
hold people accountable and understand
30:41
that you’re gonna have to move that
30:42
strategy weekly almost because we don’t
30:47
know where things are going to go so one
30:48
min I’ll be like hey connected to
30:49
it’s like I tell people time ago what
30:51
I’m saying now is probably gonna change
30:53
in a week all right to some extent well
30:56
social it’s pretty consistent because
30:58
the usage is just insane right yeah
31:00
that’s why I see usage like Facebook
31:03
stuff is just it’s RAM all that stuff is
31:07
just through the roof you know and it’s
31:11
it’s the connection point so the
31:13
narratives and stories you know I’ve had
31:15
a buddy of mine at agency partnering
31:19
solutions he sent me some of the videos
31:20
that he captures for his clients I mean
31:22
they’re really good I mean when you want
31:25
examples I mean there are people out
31:26
there they’ve got some good examples of
31:28
what they’re doing how they’re trying to
31:30
target the messaging so you know it’s
31:34
out there if you got you know someone’s
31:37
hung up on it man reach out to me I’m
31:38
easy to get ahold of all pointing the
31:40
right direction I literally feel like a
31:41
marketing broker these days yeah well
31:43
not listen that’s good right
31:45
so all right you know you have to find
31:48
that Norton like what’s gonna be that
31:50
thing that you need it you need to
31:53
implement today right and as you say
31:55
that’s gonna evolve in the next couple
31:57
weeks as you kind of come back when the
32:01
dealerships come back online and how
32:03
they can best you know get their hands
32:05
around it today to start leveraging and
32:08
you know communicating with customers
32:11
effectively right so right I think I
32:15
also think going back into the dealer
32:17
this is probably one of the best times
32:19
to clean up your data is like pause
32:24
button to go back in
32:26
super go in pull all the people out of
32:30
the CRM do doop all that data update all
32:33
the records like clean up that
32:36
information so moving forward you can
32:39
have more effective marketing and and
32:43
less to execute it and that’s it – you
32:46
gotta look back – cuz that was the other
32:47
thing when you know when we hit this is
32:49
people are going oh my gosh you know
32:50
they’re looking at this current month
32:51
and I go yeah we’re in the toilet it’s
32:54
like yeah but look at the date and I you
32:57
know come on you know I’m on the comm
32:58
like yeah I get it but let’s go look at
33:00
the last 12 months let’s look at your
33:02
today like your
33:03
yeah so so don’t you know don’t hit the
33:07
oh my god like close the door as the
33:09
ship is sinking yet hold on one second
33:11
you know there’s there’s some light here
33:13
now let’s figure out how do we leverage
33:14
it right and that’s the piece that I
33:16
think that that you know I hope a lot of
33:19
dealers get out of this is focus on you
33:21
forget everybody else like we get ya you
33:24
know too many times you get hung up on
33:25
it well Joe down the street he’s got
33:27
this website he’s using this as a search
33:29
company I’m gonna do what he does
33:30
because he’s selling more cars stop it
33:32
yeah stop it I spoke all the time like
33:36
when you just look at your own data and
33:38
when you watch your consumer shopping
33:40
behavior on your website what they’re
33:42
looking for how they’re navigating and
33:44
then you figure out what you need to
33:45
plug and play to be successful that’s
33:47
when you start winning at marketing and
33:48
it’s not about you know quantity it’s
33:52
about quality is that the behaviors
33:56
co-op money I have to spin it so shotgun
34:00
instead of going pad you have almost
34:02
co-op money but let’s how strategic can
34:05
be how can we hold some people
34:07
accountable really measure what we’re
34:09
getting in turn and go plus or minus on
34:12
what our behavior is because again
34:13
you’re still held hostage by your
34:15
inventory yeah you can go market your
34:18
brand all day long if you don’t have the
34:19
cars nobody’s coming no sorry
34:22
like I mean we’re shooting the marketing
34:24
company or we’re firing our people or
34:26
we’re getting along up on that one your
34:28
allocation sucks
34:30
and that’s the problem right now so how
34:32
do you address that and move it forward
34:34
that’s a good point all good points yeah
34:37
Hey look I feel like I spend I’ll take a
34:39
look at it data you know that I know and
34:42
that’s the question it comes down right
34:44
it’s you know what does the dealer do
34:46
today it’s and what he does today will
34:49
be different than next week but I mean
34:50
today is really about getting your
34:53
processes in place that you can execute
34:56
consistently deliver consumer
34:58
experiences it’s quality because to me
35:01
I’m always customer experience first and
35:03
foremost that’s one thing I like about
35:05
better and Alex said he was like the
35:08
first guy out of the gate trying to
35:10
protect his consumer the dealers
35:12
experience right and that that was a
35:15
good side of that and
35:16
you know everyone else just went to
35:18
discount route and that’s that’s great
35:20
too and its own right but you know
35:24
sometimes it’s nice to take a little
35:25
personal involvement in touch to
35:27
something we’re doing so like I say all
35:32
the time I’m betting on the dealer
35:33
because without the dealer there’s none
35:35
of us like I mean yeah we’ll get through
35:38
this I said they’re frickin resilient I
35:41
was one of them like we’ll figure out
35:43
every one of us figure out how to do
35:45
this right it’s it might be ugly you
35:48
know but it’ll get done cars will get
35:50
sold the business will change and the
35:55
dealers will change with it though they
35:57
will adapt because without adaptation
36:00
yeah then obviously you know you throw
36:03
in the towel but to me the smart dealers
36:06
not even smart dealer dealers in general
36:09
we’ll all get through this you know I
36:12
feel that they’ll get through it their
36:14
own way you know and the digital
36:16
retailing to me is like hype right now
36:19
you know it does push the idea a little
36:23
kicking a can a little further down I
36:25
think you know yeah it’s pushing forward
36:29
thinking I think that’s great but I mean
36:31
I think digital retailing is like using
36:32
the word you have to have an internet
36:34
department the end of the day it’s about
36:36
the consumer experience and it’s all
36:37
lumped into that how you communicate
36:38
based on the way they want to be
36:39
communicated and how you can create an
36:41
experience that’s is seamless right or
36:44
is like I like Vince talks analogy as
36:46
frictionless as possible yeah that’s
36:49
what they’re looking for
36:50
I mean Amazon has set the standard of
36:52
how we operate right I know everybody
36:54
started into the Amazon beating of the
36:55
drum but guess who’s weathering this
36:58
storm pretty well I think Amazon’s doing
37:02
pretty darn good during this besides
37:04
their little kick internal hiccups and
37:06
safety and stuff but overall look we’re
37:10
still buying stuff on Amazon correct
37:12
even though it says it’ll be delivered
37:14
sometime next year I mean so true man so
37:19
well cool I’m glad I got to spend a few
37:21
minutes with you today it’s always fun
37:23
to catch up and talk about this stuff
37:25
and so here a parting parting question
37:28
right so
37:29
go back with your dealer hat on right
37:32
yep you you you have it internet or VDC
37:36
currently you already had digital
37:38
retailing you know over your coming back
37:42
online Monday what’s the first three
37:46
things you do rally my people right
37:52
solid and what I’m saying I rally my
37:54
people is a we are going to we are going
37:56
to practice practice practice
37:58
yeah before we because we’re not gonna
38:00
practice on our clients right you have a
38:02
in in this type of situation first
38:06
impression matters if you’re not dialed
38:08
in
38:08
you’re gonna lose so it’s people first
38:11
it’s always people in process that’s
38:12
what I’m certainly the first M are we
38:14
ready to go for it people process then
38:17
after that I’m going to start checking
38:19
balance how do we reach the consumer are
38:21
we have everything locked and loaded
38:23
is our messaging right right and then
38:25
third I’m going to measure measure
38:27
measure and I’m going to measure and is
38:29
near real-time as I possibly can and
38:31
watch to see trend behaviors I’m gonna
38:34
watch how my people are performing
38:35
understand their metrics and again when
38:38
I say I’m measuring I’m not looking to
38:39
beat anybody up fire anybody I’m looking
38:42
to go what are the impacts and what are
38:45
we missing because maybe there’s a
38:46
broken piece in the process maybe you
38:48
know my marketing is getting
38:50
disconnected from where I’m at to where
38:51
I’m landing there are pieces that I need
38:54
to pay attention to in real time to
38:56
watch those ups and down trends and then
38:58
I’m going to adjust because I do believe
39:01
even if it’s working you should break it
39:02
because there’s always something better
39:04
so that brings up what how much data do
39:08
you need to feel confident that you see
39:11
a the trend unfolding yeah so for me and
39:17
again this is just how I look at data
39:18
and everybody’s got different opinions
39:20
but i’ma tell you from my perspective I
39:21
look at data as I call waypoints to
39:25
destination you know for car business
39:27
the destination is service and sales
39:29
right I want more more our O’s and I
39:33
want to sell more cars right so I’m
39:35
looking at the frequencies along meaning
39:37
okay great
39:38
is my consumer engaged with my message
39:41
and where I land them
39:43
are they looking at multiple photos of
39:45
the vehicle are they scheduling the
39:47
appointment are they taking advantage of
39:49
the offerings that we’re sending out I’m
39:50
looking for that engagement to my
39:52
messaging to see where I need to push
39:54
and pull there I’m also looking at the
39:57
engagement to great I got you here
39:58
you’re engaged did you convert to that
40:00
next step meaning did I move you along
40:02
too you know a forum a text a chat some
40:05
type of click to call some kind of
40:07
action I’m looking for that right now
40:09
then from there I’m looking at how did
40:11
we respond right I think sometimes we
40:13
get lost in the fact and I still do this
40:16
which you know shame on me I still
40:17
mystery shop stores because um you know
40:20
I get the call especially right now say
40:21
I love this right now because I’m just
40:23
helping anybody that wants help so like
40:25
it’s like I look at any problem isn’t
40:28
any of this the problem is is that
40:29
nobody got back to me where’s this going
40:32
you know and sometimes there’s missteps
40:34
I mean literally had a client that was
40:36
doing social media it was like hey it’s
40:39
not working like we couldn’t really
40:41
figure out so we put a little tag on the
40:43
Facebook yet right we found out like
40:45
yeah the problem is it you’re not
40:46
getting leads in the normal it’s all
40:48
coming via text it’s like or the text
40:50
message is going I go I have to kind of
40:52
ask you that question right so I will
40:57
say one thing I got from my conversation
41:01
with Todd Caputo was he literally
41:04
transferred the phones to him he became
41:09
the centerpiece and then he disseminates
41:12
it to his team the skeleton crew and
41:15
that resonated to me of like dude he’s
41:19
the captain of the ship and he’s gonna
41:22
know everything that’s going on and when
41:25
you’re on that front line like that and
41:27
you’re talking to customers like that
41:29
and you’re getting I think it’ll be much
41:32
easier to communicate that to your team
41:34
on how to continue to create success
41:38
from it well and that’s a good example
41:40
of what I would say real life real-time
41:42
data right I mean you know is it
41:45
scalable not in the long term but the
41:47
reality of this here’s what here’s what
41:49
that situation teaches and this is the
41:51
one thing I love about that because I
41:52
believe in that firmly is sometimes you
41:55
got to go get in the water and
41:57
you gotta get in the waters you gotta
41:58
figure out where it’s broke what’s
41:59
missing right like but it’s taking the
42:02
flow of calls you go this is you you
42:05
start to walk back your way into all of
42:08
the disconnects and then you go okay
42:09
great this is the process that stems
42:11
from this and I’ve got it executed over
42:12
here and then now you can start going
42:14
well now I can build phone routing and
42:16
it can round-robin it get do all so if
42:18
this technology can help make that more
42:19
scalable but you learn what you have to
42:23
adjust in fixing where the holes are in
42:24
your current process yeah and that’s the
42:27
part that I think that this time really
42:29
brings to light to is there are a lot of
42:31
owners GM’s GSN that are now getting you
42:36
know forced almost if you will to get
42:38
even deeper in the water and they’re
42:40
like taking it going and how do we you
42:42
know how do we measure this man like no
42:45
wonder we have holes we only have 10
42:46
guys and they’re taking these calls and
42:49
there’s like all these calls coming in
42:50
and no wonder we’re missing right like
42:52
we’ve got to have a better process of
42:54
how that phone’s getting picked up for
42:55
tax or chats or whatever it is there is
42:58
there is something to be said about just
43:00
jumping in and getting your hands dirty
43:02
yeah this is this is the best time with
43:05
the business paused and like volume down
43:07
where the lit of the levels are I think
43:09
pretty much every dealer nationwide
43:11
could take that path for the next week
43:15
and be successful and have increased
43:19
understanding knowing their experience
43:21
which they have what to do to fix it and
43:24
make it better coming out of this I you
43:27
know I think my one goal for every
43:29
dealers listen to this and anything I
43:32
write or anything is come out of this
43:35
stronger and better like number one goal
43:38
and leverage the relationships you’re
43:40
not in it alone there’s guys like you
43:42
and me and David cane and Jonathan dog I
43:45
mean there’s lots of people out there
43:47
that that are here to help and and I
43:50
know some of the times the back thought
43:51
is it’s how much it’s going to cost me
43:53
and I’ll tell you later
43:55
nothing yeah nothing right now phone
43:57
message make it take advantage of it
43:59
take advantage of it like I’ll reach out
44:01
to everybody is either a doesn’t have
44:04
anything to do sorry B is betting on you
44:08
they’re watching and wants to see
44:11
you succeed so they’re willing to do
44:12
whatever role I mean I have literally
44:14
spent the last three weeks with my
44:16
sleeves rolled up and deeper in the dirt
44:18
because again not only bettering Vista –
44:22
or bettering the team or bettering
44:24
myself it’s just trying to help
44:25
yeah I agree look I like two types of
44:28
beers Stella and free so and right now
44:33
there’s a lot there there is some really
44:34
good quality free stuff that I think
44:36
dealers could take advantage of to just
44:40
help navigate current situations and all
44:43
the different situations based on States
44:45
and what’s going on so Wow it’s good
44:48
looking fine today man it’s at least
44:50
good always man absolutely i man hold on
44:55
a second thank you again
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