This Zoom video call is a discussion between Todd Smith from 360Converge and Andy Moss CEO of Roadster discussing automotive Digital Retailing. Today we jumped right in and discussed the mass movement towards Digital Retailing due to the impact of COVID-19 and what it means for the future of automotive retailing. As many industries and businesses struggle Roadster has been thrown in the center of an entire shift on how to do business. This was a very informative call for how dealers can best take advantage of using DR within their own dealership as well as how this company is handling their explosive growth story.
Video Transcript
Captions
00:01
awesome I am was able to pull any moss
00:06
out of his uh onboarding job right now
00:09
and roadster to have a pretty good
00:12
conversation I have lots of questions to
00:14
ask Andy today and he was able to carve
00:18
out just enough time for me to do that
00:21
while he’s been busy there roadster as I
00:23
just was kind of laughing with Annie
00:25
before we started saying I I feel like
00:28
rooster has become the whatever not maid
00:34
of honor and I I can’t remember at the
00:36
prom so prom queen yeah there it is no
00:40
not the circumstances that we we want to
00:44
have that time a particularly but I mean
00:47
certainly you know it’s been you know
00:50
very much your good to see the you know
00:52
for many of our dealers that have
00:53
already been using roaster you know at
00:55
least we’re in a position to help them
00:57
you know sort of weather the storm and
00:58
you know the other sort of keep you know
01:02
selling cars in a contactless way and
01:04
we’ve done a lot of work there instead
01:07
of helping you just you know kind of a
01:10
position that from a best practices and
01:13
a marketing materials perspective so um
01:15
we’ve been we’ve been working that
01:17
pretty well but then obviously there’s a
01:19
lot of other you know new customers that
01:21
are also you’re looking you to us to can
01:25
we help them also get into online
01:28
selling and digital retailers so yeah
01:31
we’ve been doing a lot of work there as
01:32
well yeah so let’s jump in like question
01:35
first one obviously I’ll answer a piece
01:40
and then I’d like you to like fill in
01:42
that the actuals you know do to kovat
01:47
nineteen everything has shifted right
01:49
and you know I think the importance of
01:53
digital retail has literally been put to
01:56
the forefront where there was probably
02:00
you know there was a core a sense of
02:03
early adopters and and my question is do
02:07
you feel based on like Thomas Moore
02:11
Moore’s law that it’s now hot the chasm
02:15
into the gut of stores from the dealers
02:19
you’re talking with signing on what’s
02:22
what’s the makeup what’s the landscape
02:24
of what you’re seeing with the types of
02:27
dealers that are now placing this so
02:29
yeah and I think it was happening anyway
02:31
I mean we just come off our for the best
02:34
three months as a company anyway your
02:36
December through February leading up to
02:38
and including NEPA we’re already pretty
02:42
pretty on fire so I think 2020 was the
02:44
year that you know it was already
02:46
starting to move you know beyond those
02:48
early adopters and the progressive
02:50
dealers and they were not placed on the
02:52
market that that was already happening
02:53
so you know as we talked about at na na
02:57
Diego is pretty much you know the
02:59
digital retailing was everywhere and yet
03:02
we’d already saw this you know seeing
03:04
there you know with what’s happened
03:07
though with with covert nineteen you
03:09
know I mean we’ve got to move from your
03:12
being you know the solution that most
03:15
people would not disagree is needed and
03:17
you know what’s going to happen over the
03:19
next you know two to five years to
03:21
you’re almost a business continuity
03:23
solution for many dealers and you know
03:27
as a result of that I think it’s taken
03:29
you know taken two or three years out of
03:31
the adoption curve and you know
03:34
certainly the dealers we’re seeing now
03:35
as you said on you know typically the
03:39
the early adopters you know we’re
03:41
definitely in the fat part of the bell
03:43
curve and you know seeing a lot of new
03:46
stores signing up that you might not
03:50
have done even as recently as a you know
03:54
six weeks ago at nata yeah so do you
03:57
feel that I mean obviously I would
04:00
assume that the guys who are signing up
04:02
are super enthusiastic they’re they’re
04:04
trying to get back to business in any
04:06
capacity right like whether it’s through
04:09
digital retailing home deliveries you
04:12
know what are you seeing the makeup of
04:14
what’s going on out there the dealers
04:16
you’re talking to positive concern you
04:20
know how are they looking at leveraging
04:22
this technology
04:24
well yeah obviously everyone’s going
04:26
through just a really tough time in most
04:29
states the showrooms are sort of closed
04:32
or appointment-only
04:33
there’s a lot of experimentation with
04:36
curbside pickup and at home delivery and
04:39
you know just just sort of figuring out
04:41
how to operate in this environment some
04:43
good things are sort of happening from
04:45
an industry perspective in you know
04:47
certain states to you know you know
04:49
basically we redone many of the
04:52
restrictions that we’re actually
04:54
preventing dealers from even doing
04:56
online selling and you I think that’s
04:58
more that to come so you know the
05:00
environments kind of set up to you know
05:02
let your dealers continue to sell cars
05:04
during this contact bus way and your
05:08
dealers being you know who they are are
05:09
getting super creative with that you
05:12
know I mean I think you know what we
05:15
obviously provide is is a solution to do
05:17
that you know previously we were super
05:20
high touch I mean we’re very much about
05:22
the omni-channel solution and you know
05:24
how do you both our customers from a
05:26
long line perspective but also when they
05:28
come to you know the server and part of
05:30
it is not that relevant right now but it
05:32
will get back to that as soon as we we
05:34
sort of come through the crisis so that
05:36
that’s done important but you know we
05:39
were also because of that you know super
05:41
high touch we were you know spending a
05:44
lot of time in dealerships actually
05:46
training your two full days you took me
05:49
training the whole sales team you know
05:52
with a couple of people you know we’re
05:53
not able to do that because we don’t get
05:54
on airplanes or dealerships like anybody
05:57
else so we had to put our whole model to
06:00
you know remote training and activations
06:02
your with that though you know I mean
06:05
typically the time to go to dealership
06:06
live it could have been a month
06:08
previously and a lot of that time wasn’t
06:10
on a stick is really on dealers
06:13
you know coding coding the cats of the
06:16
different parts the dealership around
06:17
you know what a pocketwatch to
06:19
practicing your where’s the inventory
06:21
feed you know that’s that’s talked to
06:24
all the service and protection plans and
06:25
the pricing for that and you’re getting
06:27
the process right in order to get a
06:28
store activated we totally have seen you
06:32
know everyone is now super motivated to
06:34
get that done really quickly so you
06:36
training activations plus that we’re
06:38
getting in stores live in you know as he
06:40
was you know five to eight days now and
06:43
you know we’re we’re actually activating
06:45
about sixty you know new dealers a week
06:48
new economy and you know that’s even
06:51
accelerating so yeah it’s been you know
06:54
crazy to see our team sort of react to
06:56
that and you know you can imagine you
06:58
know sort of big changes especially when
06:59
everyone’s looking up zoom and working
07:01
from home but you’re going to be
07:03
couldn’t be more proud of yeah I mean
07:06
listen you have a great team I’ve been
07:07
your office and some people and so a
07:11
question coming out of that like so you
07:13
organizationally I mean how are you
07:15
keeping the wheels on the bus because
07:17
sure you’re going through super critical
07:21
you know growth I mean this is the hyper
07:23
growth right you have limited amount of
07:26
people resource this you know and stuff
07:29
are you finding it you’re leveraging
07:32
tools like I know you guys and I’ve
07:34
played with very little of the Roasterie
07:36
University again help your dealers in
07:40
the field like what’s going through with
07:42
you guys though that’s really interests
07:44
yeah I mean that is a lot of different
07:45
tools we already had in place and you
07:47
know that that’s positioned just pretty
07:49
well so roaster Academy we already have
07:51
a lot of your online training and
07:53
certification you know were obviously
07:56
you’re very dependent on unzoom and
07:59
slack like a lot of other startups and
08:02
you know because we already had three
08:04
different offices and your most of our
08:06
team you know spread across the country
08:07
you know we’re we’re pretty used to
08:09
living off Suman slack because that’s
08:12
kind of how we plan to operate you even
08:14
before the the kind of crisis and where
08:18
we have invested those a lot over the
08:19
last your month is you know some of your
08:22
onboarding tools and you know how do you
08:24
actually set up to you’ll bring you know
08:27
a lot of dealers live yeah you’re in
08:29
parallel you’re especially when it’s
08:30
many dealers from the same you know
08:32
either om or or do you look through you
08:35
know some of that has been you’re just
08:37
actually you’re getting you know the
08:40
sort of checklist of the things that
08:41
dealers need to give us you know the
08:43
integration
08:44
your portable the amount to dealers and
08:46
you know that polished up so they can
08:48
actually you know give us much that
08:49
information
08:50
online so the integration you know your
08:52
team can can I act on that pretty
08:54
quickly you’re part of extreme webinars
08:56
that we’ve been doing you know where we
08:59
do a lot of work at the OEM level in
09:01
many cases those programs of course have
09:04
been dramatically accelerated you’re
09:06
through you know this period of time so
09:09
you know instead of you know maybe doing
09:11
the pilot for 25 stores with an OEM no
09:14
they’ve now open that up to all of their
09:17
dealers because they want to you know
09:18
yesterday so you know but how do you how
09:20
do you actually get that message out to
09:21
the field teams the OEM how do you get
09:24
that message out to your dealers for
09:27
that OEM and we’ve been pretty
09:29
successful doing so recorded demos and
09:31
webinars that way and yeah that way we
09:33
can get a lot of people trained up
09:34
pretty quickly it doesn’t replace having
09:36
to do the one-on-one as well but at
09:38
least gets that sort of level set of
09:40
what we can do so you’re lots of
09:43
different tools you like that but but
09:47
yeah I mean it’s it’s it’s definitely
09:49
been incredibly busy but you know I
09:52
think there’s an energy in the team at
09:53
the moment and you know it’s kind of
09:55
actually nice given everything that’s
09:56
going on so actually have a distraction
09:58
you know so everyone’s locked down in
10:00
the houses you know it’s Groundhog Day
10:01
everyday you know but you know the teams
10:05
were rallying and you know it’s sort of
10:08
super focused on on helping out the
10:10
others it’s really good I am super
10:13
excited for you and where stuff’s going
10:15
and you know this may be that kick in
10:18
the pants that gets people really
10:20
thinking as digital retailing from a
10:23
dealers perspective as well as the
10:25
consumers perspective so with that being
10:28
said you know what’s the data telling
10:30
you are you seeing a lot more customers
10:32
through the platform with the dealers
10:34
you have on board what’s that looking
10:37
what is it are they you know before I
10:39
always felt like people would start to a
10:42
little bit maybe leave maybe come back
10:44
to a little more maybe disengage go to
10:47
the store you know what what are you
10:49
seeing what’s the data telling you now
10:51
with you know the digital retailer yeah
10:54
no totally I mean we track I’m pretty
10:57
close to the you know interaction with
10:59
with the Express store and we split that
11:02
out between all
11:03
you have the showroom traffic and then
11:06
you know sort of activity from a sort of
11:08
internet farm or BBC point of view as
11:11
you would expect you know the in-store
11:13
showroom traffic is permitted but we’re
11:16
actually you know up slightly on the
11:19
online side of things and you know
11:21
that’s just straight traffic so it does
11:24
vary a little bit your state-by-state we
11:26
tried to you know slice that by you know
11:28
markets that were more impacted like New
11:31
York than you know I passed the country
11:33
but coming generally that’s your
11:35
trending upwards where we’ve seen a
11:37
bigger inflection is that you know the
11:38
people who were actually pressing the
11:40
the buy this car button and actually
11:42
going through the sort of checkout
11:44
process you know as you said I think
11:45
many times you know we do a good job of
11:48
getting a customer a long way into the
11:50
buying cycle and then we also make it
11:53
super easy for them to you know save
11:54
that information go to the store pick up
11:56
where they left off and yeah because of
11:59
that you know the the process thing
12:01
continues from a neutral point of view
12:02
and you know we get a car sold and
12:05
that’s all great
12:07
you know without that sort of ability
12:10
your people are going much further
12:12
through the process now and you’re
12:14
seeing that at the data – yeah I was
12:16
wondering at you felt like you know we
12:20
rushed to the technology we understand
12:22
that you know it takes leadership people
12:23
processes in place you know even beyond
12:27
the technology and it sounds like you’re
12:29
right now doing a lot of that support
12:31
online which you’ll I assume go back
12:35
into making your people go out and
12:37
travel when everyone’s not on cops
12:39
arrest this is like the best u.s. house
12:42
arrest ever like I guess this is how
12:44
Lindsay lone and Tara Reid have felt for
12:47
years I don’t know but um see something
12:54
over there which you know it is about
12:55
process though so you know I mean you
12:58
know the technology gets you so far
13:00
but that doesn’t mean the you know you
13:02
can’t you know you have to still think
13:04
through you know how that’s gonna work
13:06
and you know it’s it’s how it’s gonna
13:08
work through this period of time and you
13:11
know that might be a more skeleton crew
13:13
and you know some of the managers
13:15
actually working
13:16
a lot of that out but you know the
13:18
varnish is something idealist we’ve been
13:20
with us you know three or four years
13:21
have is you know they typically have put
13:24
you know the ones that have been super
13:25
successful and typically put a lot of
13:26
effort into the champion in the store
13:28
working out the processes you’re
13:30
figuring out you know does that mean
13:32
from a online to an in-store perspective
13:34
what does that mean from a paper man’s
13:36
point of view you know how do you get
13:38
closer to that one touch model of
13:40
selling and not have four or five people
13:42
involved in every deal they’ve already
13:44
done the work on the process side of
13:46
things i think the dealers that are
13:48
signing up now you’re gonna have to you
13:51
know still think about that in the
13:53
longer term and you know as you’re the
13:56
restrictions on house arrest start to
13:59
ease you know it’s still gonna be a
14:02
situation where consumers they’re not
14:03
going to be going into showrooms as much
14:05
as they were before and you but you know
14:08
is gonna start to become a blend and you
14:10
know some of the omni-channel stuff
14:11
we’ve we’ve talked about you know
14:14
forever it’s still gonna be very you
14:16
know important you know i think what a
14:18
consumer is is has worn it for a long
14:21
time is to be able to get in and out of
14:22
the showroom in in 45 minutes or an hour
14:25
and they’re happy to go to the showroom
14:27
in fact you know getting the keys for a
14:29
car is you know one of the most exciting
14:31
parts of it just spending five hours to
14:33
get to the point where you get the keys
14:34
is not exciting so you know again our
14:38
best dealers have already spend a lot of
14:39
time you’re getting that process down so
14:42
the piece in store is actually pretty
14:44
quick and efficient and you got software
14:46
do as much of that as they can ahead of
14:48
time before they get there or you know
14:51
if the car’s gonna get delivered to the
14:52
home or whatever then you can go near
14:54
the full way through our software and
14:56
that’s fine as well but i don’t see that
14:58
changing the other side of the crisis
15:00
and they think you know a lot of our
15:05
potential customers that will more
15:07
resistant it’s basically you know i have
15:08
done it the same way for thirty years
15:09
and our stores you know incredibly
15:12
profitable i know i need to do this
15:15
I just I’m gonna wait for another couple
15:17
of years and let others kind of you know
15:20
companies on this and work it out but I
15:22
know this is what I should be doing
15:23
might kind of argue it was always you
15:25
should have been learning this because
15:27
if you know this is where it’s gonna go
15:28
you’re gonna be
15:29
you know against the dealers that have
15:32
figured this out because where you
15:33
really learn this and work out what your
15:35
process needs to be is to actually try
15:39
it and you know I don’t think any of our
15:40
dealers got it right first time and you
15:42
know they’ve iterated and and and and
15:45
learned get through that you know that
15:48
back testing and you know that that’s
15:50
now put them in good stead now but you
15:51
know the rest of us are gonna have to go
15:53
through that same process yeah you know
15:55
it’s interesting to me I
15:57
I find this like this pause button that
15:59
that we’ve hit it’s offered us something
16:03
that’s never happened right we would go
16:06
to a 20 group and there would be a
16:08
dealer who would have roadster and he
16:12
says it’s working
16:13
and I would go okay I need roadster and
16:17
I’d call up you guys right I get
16:20
roadster and I’d say that guy over there
16:22
is the guy who asked to implement it and
16:25
and I really probably wouldn’t look at
16:28
it much right but now because as you
16:30
just pointed out these guys are on super
16:32
skeleton crews that guy who would
16:35
actually be my normal guy there’s nobody
16:39
there and I want to know and I’m curious
16:42
will this product and digital retail and
16:46
be a stickier thing because the people
16:48
that are actually doing it and
16:50
implementing it now are the leaders and
16:52
managers of the store so they’ll work
16:55
through the processes faster they’ll
16:57
build the habit of using these tools so
16:59
when people do come back they’ll say
17:02
I’ve been doing it this is how it works
17:05
and that’s how to me the best thing is
17:08
to get implemented work yeah
17:10
management really rolled up their
17:12
sleeves and know how to use it verse hey
17:16
this is for my guys I need a digital
17:18
retailing guy to check the box right no
17:21
I think they did the ownership is is key
17:24
and I mean they also think that you know
17:27
a lot of a lot of dealers do view it as
17:29
you know ripping the band-aid off so now
17:33
I’ve been forced to do it and I’d rip
17:34
the band-aid off yeah I’m just gonna do
17:36
what I knew I had to do anyway right
17:37
they’re also in a situation where you
17:40
know I mean unfortunately a lot of
17:41
dealers have
17:42
you follow people or you know reduce
17:45
headcount during this period you know
17:49
does it come back in exactly the same
17:51
way
17:52
you know post-crisis you know my guess
17:55
is you know they’ll rebuild it
17:57
you know with digital being more natural
17:59
and because we don’t know how long it’s
18:00
gonna last the you know we’re still
18:02
gonna be on alert as it was there a
18:05
recurrence or a sort of minor outbreak
18:07
or whatever and you know we could be
18:09
back in lockdown mode even if we come
18:11
out of it doing a certain geography you
18:14
know and I think the amount of
18:17
dependence on the digital piece is going
18:19
to continue to be big and the show
18:21
traffic is going to come back more
18:22
gradually and you know hopefully you
18:25
know sort of right this time next year
18:26
we’ll we’ll be back to normal and have a
18:29
vaccine with all that kind of stuff but
18:30
you know at least from my perspective in
18:32
everything I read and obviously no
18:35
medical expert but until we actually get
18:38
the vaccine sort of done and you know
18:40
that could be this time next year you
18:42
know we’re not out the woods so it’s
18:44
gonna be then kind of blind but yeah I
18:46
mean it’s always been about having a
18:48
champion and having ownership and if the
18:50
key people that are in the dealership
18:52
are actually you know implementing this
18:54
and actually figuring out themselves
18:55
we’re gonna be way better off than you
18:57
know hey I know that I don’t need to do
18:59
it check the box but you know it’s not
19:02
something you ain’t gonna transform a
19:05
dealership with we’re not there now
19:06
that’s that’s exactly what they’re doing
19:08
yeah so something you said it interested
19:10
me you said that OMS now I’ve kind of
19:13
reached out to accelerate you know the
19:15
this process for their stores is that
19:20
obviously they like at the store selling
19:22
as fast as possible and retailing cars
19:25
are they gonna support that or is this
19:28
you know are they’re just gonna be more
19:30
aggressive than just you know knocking
19:33
down the restrictions to get you know
19:34
this type of tactic into this or that’s
19:37
you know um compliant and and I’ve co-op
19:41
and made easily available to the dealer
19:44
I mean what what you think will happen
19:45
inside there yeah I mean we’ve seen
19:48
every combination there and I think
19:50
there is you know just a general
19:52
willingness or urgency
19:54
– you know push push this with the
19:57
yellows you know I’ve seen you know EMS
20:01
you know hey you have to pick a digital
20:03
retailing solution by a certain date you
20:05
know we’ll pay for it for certain period
20:07
of time
20:07
others disco up others it’s more just
20:09
you know that’s promote your what’s
20:12
available or car make and you know make
20:15
sure everyone knows the you know for now
20:17
we’re actually you’re discounting our
20:19
product for for three months while we’re
20:21
in this crisis you know that gets the
20:22
price point you know down to two nine
20:24
ninety five let’s make sure all I do you
20:26
guys know that and can you know take
20:27
advantage of that but you know it’s been
20:30
all over the board but I mean generally
20:33
it’s very much about you know how do we
20:34
you know pretty push our dealers to sort
20:37
of modernized experience and you know
20:39
how can we help them you know in certain
20:41
cases you know we’ve been going through
20:43
certification processes with you know
20:46
some of the OEMs we already have most of
20:50
those relationships in place the ones we
20:51
didn’t have home place I would say very
20:53
quickly or put in place a home with the
20:55
cove in nineteen you know issues and you
21:00
know maybe it was going to be a three to
21:01
six months you know certification and
21:05
negotiation and you know that’s not
21:07
getting done in you know two to four
21:08
weeks instead of two to four months
21:10
yeah and you know that’s pretty much
21:13
across the board as well that’s awesome
21:16
so what do you thinking what are the
21:18
next like couple months look like to you
21:20
I mean so we’re in mid-april what what
21:24
are we looking like through like end of
21:26
May in June I mean from your I mean
21:31
we’re planning the you know the period
21:33
between now and you know say you know
21:36
end of June isn’t haven’t changed that
21:40
much you know I think we’re going to be
21:41
looking at you know when some of the
21:43
restriction starts get lifted and you
21:46
know it’s probably going to start to
21:47
happen in certain geographies you know
21:49
sometime in the in the May time frame
21:52
would be my guess but you know we’re
21:55
watching the news and in the same way
21:57
you know anything things if that goes
22:00
well you know start to you know
22:02
being the transition period in June but
22:05
you know I wouldn’t want to sort of you
22:07
know bet the things are that different
22:08
between now and then beyond that I do
22:11
think it’s about then okay we are now in
22:15
the situation where we are able to start
22:17
opening you know the showrooms you know
22:20
when do we get back on the road to
22:22
actually be able to visit dealers you
22:24
know my guess that’s later in the summer
22:25
to be honest I don’t think you know
22:28
we’re gonna rush to it’s inevitably we
22:30
do that ordeal is the other way around
22:31
but at some point you know that’s
22:33
another part of the transition plan and
22:37
you know anything your dealers will have
22:39
to go from ok it’s all about contact
22:41
with you know selling you know it will
22:44
then transition to ok baby there is an
22:46
appointment or curbside pickup at the
22:47
dealership and we’re gonna continue that
22:49
but you know we can we can start to get
22:52
a little bit back to more normal
22:54
operations and you know the the only
22:56
channel and the in-store aspects you
22:58
know stocks become more important I’m I
23:00
did see an article from from Wuhan that
23:04
actually said the you know one of the
23:06
things when they looked at their
23:07
restrictions that they found was the
23:10
dealerships were incredibly busy and you
23:12
know the theory behind that was there
23:15
was a lot of dependence on your ride
23:18
sharing and public transportation and
23:21
coming out of you know lockdown you know
23:24
the people who were dependent on that
23:26
you wanted to have their own vehicle
23:29
because you know they can control that
23:32
whereas you know getting DD or uber or
23:36
lyft or riding on public transportation
23:39
just wasn’t that appealing so you know
23:42
that was a glimmer of hope that I saw in
23:45
an article earlier this week but so you
23:47
know I mean that’s probably the sort of
23:49
test case for for how things are gonna
23:51
happen here
23:51
you know if that happens you know that
23:54
could get things back into you know
23:55
normal operation for dealerships quicker
23:57
than we can cover well yeah I agree that
24:00
it’s interesting I think shared mobility
24:03
I think the scooters and bikes there
24:07
yeah yeah I think they’ve they’ve people
24:11
are gonna be like yeah I’m not touching
24:12
that scooter I’d like you know three
24:15
months ago be like yeah I don’t
24:16
care who is on it you know now you’re
24:18
like no I don’t think so
24:20
um yeah even grabbing an uber or lyft I
24:23
think it’ll be you know three months
24:25
before people are super happy to jump
24:28
into other people’s cars right yeah like
24:31
what are they gonna do create like an
24:32
instant like sanitation of the car
24:35
between the rides I mean they don’t know
24:38
like I feel like behavior has to change
24:41
now with how we do things right you know
24:44
how we interact with not only people but
24:46
businesses I’m how we’re gonna you know
24:49
even interact at a dealership when you
24:52
do have to go there for service or you
24:55
know to pick up a car that experience is
24:58
going to alter to a degree right until
25:00
we have a vaccine and you know that’s
25:02
the interesting thing
25:03
how will we adapt to those new processes
25:06
how will technology support that you
25:09
know how will technology support you
25:12
know will like roadsters platforms
25:14
support let’s say my sales guys are
25:16
mostly from home now right and so how do
25:19
you remote sell how do you track the
25:21
productivity of my sales team right and
25:23
and and I monitor home delivery how long
25:26
is my guy being Balma center for and we
25:28
already have some of the tools for that
25:29
and I mean we’re looking at extending
25:31
that into into sort of other other sort
25:34
of areas you know what would be sort of
25:36
video sharing and that kind of stuff you
25:38
know as part of sort of product
25:40
extension you were getting deeper into e
25:42
contracting you know as part of this and
25:45
you know how do you really get through
25:47
the pull the full cycle but yeah I mean
25:50
it you know I mean the good thing is I
25:52
think with with a solution like ours you
25:55
know actually supporting a sales person
25:57
sits down in from home as you works
25:59
pretty well because you know you could
26:00
already interact with the customer you
26:02
know through text at any time of the day
26:04
and sort of keep them moving through the
26:07
process and you know that really isn’t
26:10
that different you know in in the mobile
26:13
mobile today so you know we were already
26:17
ya know I always said you guys are
26:19
progressive and how you looked at it
26:21
right so okay you see the business you
26:25
know continuing on its journey you guys
26:26
are gonna be very busy between now and
26:28
then anything
26:30
you like you’re thinking about like
26:31
supporting dealers um you know with
26:35
getting them trained correctly yeah I
26:39
mean in the short term it’s been a lot
26:41
of work from you miss short energy and
26:46
you know our marketing team and you’re
26:48
really just kind of helping you put
26:50
together best practices you would be
26:52
moon Rudi and Michelle I’ve been doing a
26:54
webinar every every week and we’ve got
26:57
some great guests on on that and you’re
26:59
generally just talking about you know
27:01
what other dealers they’re experiencing
27:03
and doing so there’s a Kobe 19 section
27:07
on the rest of our own website now the
27:08
plates a lot of that information and we
27:11
started getting a lot of questions from
27:13
dealers around you know how do i best
27:15
your position this during you know this
27:17
time what are other examples or other
27:20
dealers are doing you you’re seeing a
27:22
lot of that across you know your base of
27:24
customers you know can we can we
27:26
leverage some of that so you I think
27:28
your party is you know how do we you
27:31
provide as much of that information as
27:32
possible to dealers and you know I think
27:35
we’re also in a unique time when you
27:37
know we were even past competition I
27:39
think mostly this is just totally
27:41
willing to help each other out during
27:44
this time and you know all the
27:45
competition stuff is kind of form away
27:47
so you know it’s definitely sort of a
27:49
community kind of apps fear right now
27:51
and you know we’re we’re we’re you know
27:54
we’re seeing that you know in the longer
27:56
term you know I think it it gets back to
27:59
you know how do we continue to do sort
28:02
of more you know remote training I mean
28:05
I don’t think we go back to model where
28:06
all of our training is is in store you
28:09
know I you know from a business
28:12
perspective and from a dealer
28:13
perspective you know I actually like the
28:15
idea of you know hey we can get you like
28:17
within you know five to eight days I’m
28:20
gonna sign and you’re maybe that’s for
28:22
the online piece and then after that we
28:24
will come visit the store and do the the
28:26
showroom limit of the training so you
28:29
know that much like with the dealers you
28:32
know maybe you’re not going back to
28:33
exactly the way you did it before and
28:34
having learned stuff through this I
28:36
think we we’ve also
28:39
learned a bunch and you know will not go
28:41
back to doing exactly the same way as we
28:42
did before it’ll be a win for everybody
28:44
yeah yeah look there I think there’s a
28:47
lot of lessons to be learned at out all
28:48
this you know you get to analyze your
28:51
business from a different perspective
28:52
you know for a lot of people it was just
28:55
a mass slowdown for you as an
28:57
acceleration which is a good thing you
29:01
know but even in accelerations things
29:02
you know will start coming off the bus
29:04
and you got a relook at things different
29:06
are you hiring now or are you just – oh
29:10
it’s I mean we’re kind of hunkered down
29:12
like like everyone else you know I mean
29:15
I think there there is gonna be an
29:16
opportunity for that as we get sort of
29:18
to the latter part of the year but yeah
29:22
I mean it’s it’s really we have the team
29:25
we have and let’s get as much of you
29:29
know much done as we can you know with
29:31
that team I just think it’s pretty
29:33
rotten bottom and otherwise you know but
29:35
I thought of it yeah so all hands on
29:37
deck basically yeah exactly and yeah
29:39
we’re anyway did people are doing
29:41
different roles
29:42
you know maybe they work or fight don’t
29:44
you people who are in deal success roles
29:46
and going on coding or dealerships are
29:48
getting retrained – you’ll be you won’t
29:51
call immigration managers – you know to
29:54
really help on the the onboarding stuff
29:56
and you know we can you know mix it all
29:59
together and and and redone it you know
30:01
in the in the octo way for now so you
30:04
know we can we just need to keep doing
30:05
that and yeah I mean I think on the on
30:09
the dealer side you know if they’re in
30:13
the same boat as we are to some degree
30:14
you know it does focus the mind when
30:17
you’re when we’re in this sort of
30:18
situation you will make a decisions
30:20
because I never before I would say that
30:22
every every week feels like a month I
30:24
don’t know why but your time just seems
30:27
to be moving you know it I mean how long
30:29
ago was that we were we were in APA said
30:32
you know six weeks seven weeks yeah so
30:35
that’s what middle of middle stabbed
30:38
you’ll ever lose Valentine’s Day right
30:40
so I mean a lifetime ago now yeah so but
30:45
you know I think it also is it is a time
30:47
when you pretty you know it’s a time for
30:51
the team to sort of shine
30:53
as well and I think dealerships I heard
30:55
one of our dealers you’re talking about
30:58
that someone on the webinars you know I
31:00
mean this definitely is the time when
31:01
they figured out you know who they can
31:03
you know depend on the new really can
31:05
step up and new maybe less so and you
31:08
know it’s kind of a wartime footing in
31:10
some degree yeah that definitely so
31:13
Rudy’s actually working is what you’re
31:15
saying basically at all hand I know just
31:20
I got there a little little jobs at four
31:23
V’s yeah I love that chemical um ok no
31:26
that really it’s all good stuff um you
31:28
know I’m really excited for you and what
31:30
you’re doing and I mean you’re really at
31:32
the forefront of the DR stuff and that’s
31:34
why I wanted to sit talk to you for a
31:36
few minutes today just kind of get you
31:38
know it’s kind of interesting hearing a
31:40
you know the thoughts from the trenches
31:44
really of like cuz you’re living it
31:46
every single day you know I’m really
31:48
excited that dealers are getting behind
31:49
digital retailing more I’m excited that
31:52
you pointed out in real digital
31:54
retailing as well and I think the trend
31:56
we also sort in NEPA was anybody who had
31:59
anything to do with a car dealer who had
32:01
a digital retailing solution and yeah
32:03
you know it’s now the case where you
32:08
know I think what does digital retailing
32:10
really mean it means you know doing
32:12
transactions and it’s not just about you
32:15
know getting a lead and you know still
32:17
you know getting people into the store
32:19
and in the old way and you know me that
32:21
leaves a little better but you know
32:22
you’re still calling them from the BBC
32:25
and you know sending an appointment yeah
32:28
the definition of digital retailing did
32:31
not survive cope in nineteen no it’s
32:35
definitely moving them through the
32:37
process more I love the thought that
32:39
it’s really managers with their sleeves
32:41
rolled up right now using the product
32:43
because I think those those habits will
32:46
out of this and they’ll figure out
32:49
really how to maximize the use of the
32:53
this type of technology right for their
32:56
store and get the most results and you
33:00
know I guess you’ll just backfill the
33:01
support to make it last right I think
33:05
that’s
33:06
that yeah well cool I really appreciate
33:10
you taking the time today it’s yeah one
33:15
of my favorite people in the industry so
33:16
this was fun catching up I always
33:17
appreciate it so we’ll hear I’m positive
33:20
so that thank you so much for that and
33:22
second
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