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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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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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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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Connect with Steven Apicella on LinkedInLearn about Your Dealer Experience

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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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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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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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Everything’s bigger in Texas.

Including Classic Chevrolet’s buy center in an 80x30ft tent. Eric Hall is the Internet Director for Classic Chevrolet, and he talks about staying on top as one of the largest volume dealers in the nation, the challenges and success of looking at a buy center in a different way, and what he sees for retail automotive in the next 6 months.

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

3:59 Eric talks about becoming President of his NADA class.

11:47 Classic Chevrolet is a high producing store. Depending on who you ask, it’s one of the biggest GM stores in the nation. Eric tries to clear up where Classic sits in the list of top GM dealers.

18:10 Classic Chevrolet’s tent buy center has become so popular that other dealers are sending their customers to it for appraisals.

24:07 Eric is looking 6 months ahead and thinking about Christmas, but from a people perspective, not a sales perspective.

“And keep in mind, coming in six months, we'll be going into the end of the year, so holiday time, keeping your people aware, keeping your people happy but you know, obviously holidays are a rough time for a lot of people and sometimes we forget about those. So you know being top of mind with your teammates and just being present for your people in general.”

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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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A 50 year veteran.

Tommy Gibbs has been selling cars longer than Paul, Kyle or Michael have been alive. What made him such an effective operator and what makes him a great consultant now is his emphasis on the basics. You might not get the latest flashy trick play from Tommy, but it will be effective if you work at it and get good at it. Plus, there are plenty of football analogies along the way.

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

4:51 Tommy shares the story of how he’s moved through the industry, along with the good and bad times he’s experienced.

11:08 Exercise good common sense, stay true to the core principles, don’t get too caught up in what’s happening in the world at large, and you’ll always do well, according to Tommy.

“If you have these core disciplines, and you stay focused on the right process and do the right things all the time, you always win in this business, no matter what happens in the cycle, I hear people talking about a recession is coming or our inventory is short, and I go, who cares? I mean, I really don't, I don't think you should really care if you're doing the right things that you should be doing. Because if your inventory is being handled correctly, if you don't have a lot of aged units, or any aged units for that matter, if you don't let that happen to you right now, when times are good. It's not going to matter what happens to the value of cars, because you're always operating in today's market. You're not dealing with inventory from yesterday, so to speak.”

12:31 Tommy and the guys unpack the comparison of a dealership to a football team.

20:12 The pain of discipline is making sure you’re staying on top of inventory, the pain of regret is what happens when you don’t exercise discipline.

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