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Transportation is freedom.

Mike Darrow, President and CEO of TrueCar, recognizes that automotive can often live in the space between supply and demand, where a dealership is looking to purchase cars in order to meet the needs of customers. And TrueCar has a lot of experience in that position. This conversation jumps around a bit, from the chip shortage to serving dealers to serving consumers to tracking the shopping journey to building community. The threads that tie it together are that transportation is freedom, and the car business cares about people.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

6:11 Mike Darrow has been in the industry for 40 years, and so he’s seen a lot, and knows that retail automotive is up for whatever challenge might be thrown at it.

“I've certainly seen a lot of these cycles, you know, come through the industry, and they tend to be a bit of a roller coaster. You know, I've seen high interest rates and low interest rates and high inventory levels and low inventory levels and big incentives and no incentives. And it's just, you know, the industry is amazingly responsive. And that's the thing I like about dealers is, they're such entrepreneurial people that they just adjust to what's going on in the marketplace.”

10:24 TrueCar conducts a lot of consumer surveys, and they’ve found that 65% of their respondents would be willing to do the majority or all of their car shopping experience online.

15:29 About 50% of TrueCar shoppers want to trade in their current vehicle when purchasing, so TrueCar has worked to integrate that into the deal-building step of the sales process.

18:57 Mike is looking outside of the automotive industry for inspiration. Companies like Expedia, Amazon and Grubhub have changed the way consumers shop, and Mike thinks those principles can apply in the automotive industry.

23:23 The car business cares about people, and TrueCar does this specifically with veterans. Mike lays out some of the ways that they support veterans find their transportation freedom.

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A marketer turned developer now marketing a marketing tool.

After working in the industry for several years, Jeff Gonzales saw a need for dealers to quickly be able to do their own marketing and ad campaigns. The tool that he developed, AET Automotive, incorporates all of the compliances that dealers face with their marketing. A punk rock vibe, some crazy stories and some insight into the future of marketing made for a fun interview.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

7:35 One of Jeff’s big concerns joining the automotive industry was whether they would take his advice or respond with, “This is the way we’ve always done it.”

10:01 Jeff thinks that automotive marketing is generally behind the rest of retail marketing. Right now, TikTok is the new Facebook. Dealers are slow to adopt, but Jeff thinks that it’s a great new opportunity.

17:02 AET’s platform is all about empowering the dealer to be able to do their own creative effectively and easily.

24:04 The interview wraps up by Jeff tying his journey to automotive to his love of action sports, something he’s starting to pass on to his daughter.

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Learn about AET Automotive

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Building a product strategy based on target audience.

AutoLeadStar is playing the long game. They are developing products to address the entire industry, not just the needs of one or two dealers. And that means they are focused and innovative. Ilana Shabtay is the Director of Marketing for this Israel-based tech company and she joins the Auto Collabs crew for a thoughtful conversation.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

2:52 AutoLeadStar is based in Israel, but most of the dealers they serve are in the United States. Ilana talks about how they send team members to the States to learn what the retail auto industry is like in America.

7:20 As far as new features go in a tech product, it can be easy to focus on what the customer wants. But Ilana sees her team working to advance things that help the whole industry solve issues.

12:15 AutoLeadStar is doing quarterly product launches for new innovative features. Ilana realizes this has positioned them well to continue innovating.

19:56 Tech companies in automotive can have a tendency to try to be all things at the same time. Like Michael Cirillo says, “They’re a shoe, trying to be a hat and a raincoat.” Ilana says it’s OK if they go that direction, as long as the data is communicating and integrated with other systems.

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Learn about AutoLeadStar

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Sometimes you meet someone for the first time on a Zoom call.

This was the experience interviewing Sarah Carter of Upstart Auto Retail. Sarah has 20 years of experience in the industry, and she has a good perspective on the intersection of digital and physical, from the way leads are handled to how other countries are ahead of the US digitally. Plus, Cirillo considers skiing, and Paul learns what push/pull integration is.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

11:00 Purpose and a drive to always do the right thing are two of Sarah’s values, and also values of Upstart.

13:23 The auto community is unique. Sarah believes that she started feeling more a part of it when she started viewing it as something she could add value to.

24:56 Paul learns what a push/pull integration is, in 2 simple sentences

28:13 The adoption of completing a purchase entirely online is increasing. It’s doubled over the last year and is now at 20%. Sarah thinks we’ll see that continue to grow, especially as younger generations start to buy more cars.

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Auto is BIG.

You never know where a conversation with Darren Doane will go, but it will keep you thinking long afterwards. Darren is a director, first of music videos and now of documentaries. He’s been around many types of business and sees things from outside of the automotive industry. And he is impressed with how big auto is. That makes it able to try things in a way that other industries can’t. Today’s conversation talks about scrap metal, Newsies and yes, how Michael Cirillo is Seth Rogen’s doppelgänger.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

4:55 The interview gets off to a strange start, with Cirillo making a Newsies reference and Darren revealing that he actually was an extra in Newsies.

9:56 “Let’s try it.” Darren’s perspective of the retail automotive industry is that it has guts and drive, and the ability to be a little wild and just go for it.

16:50 Darren relates retail auto to another business, metal recycling. Both industries are big and see the world as a massive play box. They’re not afraid to make big changes and try new things.

26:29 Metal recycling is a critical part of everything. Darren shares that 70% of all steel comes from recycled metal. The guys take this zoom-out moment to remember that retail auto is so much bigger than just selling cars.

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Unboxing, ride alongs and cars in the community.

There’s a sort of punk rock aura around Jeff Revilla. His first business was a skate shop where he was buying ad words on Overture. Then he joined Smail Auto Group, where he monetized their Youtube channels and got their videos seen all over the internet. All of this while not looking like every other car dealer out there.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

6:09 Jeff sort of fell into digital marketing. He started doing it because it was part of running his business, but not because he was looking to do digital marketing. It wasn’t until after he sold his skate shop that he realized his marketing skills.

11:41 Smail Auto Group focuses on video series that highlight customer use of the vehicle. And that’s been successful, seeing 400k-500k views a month.

15:33 Jeff and his team have been so successful on Youtube that they’ve qualified for monetization. They are able to take that money and pour it back into their team.

25:23 There are a lot of other industries where you can get marketing and content ideas. Jeff loves going to conferences where he can think about things from a non-automotive perspective.

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Steven Apicella is a man on a mission.

He’s out to influence the automotive industry and specifically the way that F&I has worked in the past. You can hear the passion in his voice, how much he cares for both the dealer and the customer. His company, Strategic DX - Your Dealer Experience, consolidates and tracks your third-party offerings in a way that keeps the customer connected to the dealership. Steven talks about his experience coming up in the automotive world and what sparks him to create change.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

3:39 Paul and Steven realize they share similarities because they both started out in PDR (Paintless Dent Repair), and have both moved into other automotive spaces from there.

8:03 One day on a job, Steven started to realize that there was a huge disconnect between what’s being sold as an F&I product and how it’s actually being administered.

14:57 The disconnect between sales and service in automotive is something that Steven realizes is going to result in a poor customer experience until those gaps are filled.

“I don't think everything's broken in our industry. I'm not that guy. I think there's a lot of great things happening in our industry. Amen. But there are disconnected parts. And one of the disconnected parts is a really critical vacancy, which is, the distance between sales and service is, as an industry, we can refine the hell out of all the sales processes. And we do and we should, and we can refine the hell out of all the service processes. And we do and we should, but until you could correct that gap in between, we're always going to get what we get. Yeah. And that's what we're focused on is how do you take a one time transaction and turn it into a lifetime relationship, everybody desires it, but the industry has lacked processes to be able to fulfill it.”

17:48 What is the real mission? Is it to sell cars or to create lifelong relationships? Steven has an idea: Start a “Why Return Here” campaign.

“Is it our mission to only sell a car and maybe an F&I product or to also earn a recurring customer? And there's not a person in our industry that wouldn't say the latter is desired. But that's not what we're earning right now. We're really good at selling cars, whether we have inventory or not. But we're not really great at retaining customers thereafter. And I believe part of it is every single dealership has a “Why buy here” proposition. Every single one. How many executed a “Why return here” proposition? That's part of the vacancy that exists right now.”

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We have

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We can’t tell you what’s going to happen in the future.

But Michael Johnson has a sneak peek. Part of this is because he lives in Australia, several hours ahead of us in the US. The other part is that dealers in Australia have been experiencing things that are relatively new or not even on the horizon for those of us in North America. Inventory issues and the agency model are normal in Australia, and Michael shares his insight from the industry partner side.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

13:00 The transparency around forecasted gross is something that SalesLogs helps maintain. It has checks and balances for when projected costs aren’t lining up, so you don’t get to the end of a month and have less gross than you anticipated.

15:47 The inventory issues we’re facing in America aren’t new to Australia. Australia doesn’t have local manufacturing, so car orders were already taking 3-4 months to fulfill, even pre-pandemic.

22:47 As if you needed more incentive to come to ASOTU CON, Michael is bringing Tim Tams, which are apparently scrumptious chocolate biscuits.

24:43 Australia has already started to see OEMs move to an agency model, and Michael talks about the issues facing dealers under that model.

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Learn about SalesLogs

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Chad Graves knows marketing.

He began in the marketing department of a dealership group before leaving with members of that team to start Reunion Marketing. Now, Reunion works with dealers to lift the gates of transparency, break down the silos, and formulate an entire dealership strategy. Paul J Daly, Kyle Mountsier and Michael Cirillo find out that Chad knows that to look for from the moment he steps foot into a dealership, and also has a good handle of what SEO is and how it works.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

3:55 The history of Reunion Marketing began when many of the founders of Reunion began working together in a 20 person marketing department for a large dealer group.

10:57 Having worked in a dealership, Chad knows what to look for now when he walks into one for the first time. He shares what he sees and how it translates to the customer.

15:08 What is SEO or Search Engine Optimization? Chad breaks it down for the people in the back.

23:44 SEO can take a long time to develop, and Chad recommends giving yourself 4 months before you start measuring results.

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Learn about Reunion Marketing

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Some people always bring the sermon.

Tim Cox is one of them. He is the co-founder of CarNow, and has so many thoughts for the automotive industry. But what’s special about Tim is that he is genuine all the time and you can hear his heart when he is speaking. Kyle Mountsier and Paul J Daly spend time talking about the history of CarNow, how someone on the team has to be right, integrity, and some things that are coming in 2023 that dealers need to be ready for.

What we talk about in this episode:
0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.

6:10 CarNow went the first 6 months without a URL and the first 7 years without any marketing personnel. Tim talks about how if you do the work and pour into the people around you, good things will happen.

10:25 With success can come an ego that says you’ll always be successful. Tim reminds us to be humble, and make sure that we aren’t riding on our past coattails.

13:52 Tim builds on the idea of humility by talking about integrity, and making sure you’re the same person no matter where you are or who you’re interacting with.

17:28 Right now, about 70% of people who buy online still want to go to the dealership. A lot of that is because the technology isn’t smooth yet. But that is changing, and Tim believes that in the next year, the online purchasing process will have a whole new look and feel.

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Learn about CarNow

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