ConnectedPodcast

On this episode of Connected, Greg is joined by Dusty Weis, president of Podcamp Media and host of the award-winning Lead Balloon podcast. Dusty has quite the background in media and public relations, and he shared great insight into how dealers can be communicative and transparent with their customers when faced with a PR crisis.

Dusty and Greg discuss:

-Creating a proactive crisis communication response plan.

-Rebuilding customer trust after a crisis like a cyberattack.

-Distributing your message through a clear, compelling story.

Listen to the Lead Balloon Podcast!

https://www.podcampmedia.com/leadballoon

Today's Connected episode is a little different than what we had planned. Dealerships are some of the most resilient businesses out there, but recent events have left a lot of dealers with understandable concerns about their system's security.

Greg is joined in studio by Chris Gologanoff, Sales Director of Communication Services here at Reynolds, to talk about:

-How dealers are reacting to their systems being down.

-Best practices to keep operations running as smooth as possible.

-How, as an industry, we're all helping one another through these tough times.

On today's episode, Greg is joined by Cory Coler, a supervisor on the Product Management team at Reynolds and Reynolds. He handles fixed operations products from the beautiful Reynolds office down in Tampa. They sit down to chat about the influence of different retail experiences on consumers' service expectations, creating a 'no sales pressure' environment, and utilizing technology to build trust.

If you're interested in hearing more about what consumers think about the service process, check out the brand new study from GoMoto!

On this episode of Connected, Greg is joined by Mike Martinez, COO of DealerOn. Mike has been working to help provide quality websites to dealerships since the early days, back when many dealers didn't even have a site. And since then, he's been a part of every update to keep up with shifting consumer behaviors.

Mike and Greg discuss:

-Personalizing the shopping experience for consumers on your website.

-Using a "right car, right payment, right now" approach.

-Elements of a good SEO strategy.

On this episode of Connected Greg is joined by Sandra Gonzalez, also known as "The Fleet Queen." Sandra is the national government and commercial fleet manager at Peoria Ford out in sunny Arizona.

Since 2019, Peoria Ford's government fleet sales have tripled with the help of Sandra and her team. She and Greg chat about:

-Establishing your brand in a niche space like the fleet market.

-Keeping up with fast-paced growth.

-The importance of a solid network and strong communication skills.

On this episode of Connected, Greg is joined by two guests from Automotive Warranty Network Inc. — Jake Trott, the vice president of account management, and Jason Tuck, the sales and marketing manager.

Warranty claims work isn't talked about very often, but it can be critical to your bottom line. Jake and Jason sat down to talk about:

-Common issues to look for before submitting warranty claims.

-What percentage of warranty ROs have some type of issue.

-How much money is left on the table or lost in warranty audits.

On today's episode Greg is joined by Glenn Mercer, long-time automotive researcher and the author of the popular blog, Car Charts.

Glenn has been a part of the automotive space for decades. Before turning to automotive research and starting his blog, Glenn worked in the automotive consulting space with McKinsey & Company for over 20 years. In this conversation, he offers some great insights and ideas on:

-The impact of youth sports on car buying behavior.

-Being a retailer vs. being a dealer.

-The main problems with a direct-to-consumer model.

The average car deal requires 39 feet of forms, and with regular updates to state and federal regulations, it can be a challenge for many dealerships to keep all those documents up-to-date. On today's episode, Reynolds VP of Marketing Greg Uland is joined by another Greg: Greg Schaeffer, Vice President of Compliance.

They discuss some ideas for how dealers can protect themselves by identifying areas in common forms where they're most at risk. Hear their thoughts on:

-Best practices for managing your compliance.

-How often your forms should be reviewed (and the best time of the year to review them).

-Common issues to look for when reviewing documents for risk.

This week's episode of Connected is one for the record books. Greg welcomes two in-studio guests for the first time and it's one of the longest conversations we've ever had!

Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier from Automotive State of the Union (ASOTU) visited the Reynolds and Reynolds headquarters for the first time to talk about building a macro-brand, creative storytelling, and the role dealerships play within their communities.

They also mention their docuseries More Than Cars, which will have a new episode premiering on March 27, and talk about ASOTU CON coming to Baltimore in May!

On this episode of Connected, TrueSpot CEO/Founder Mike Hanna joins Greg in studio to discuss his experience working in a dealership and how the company got started.

Watch the entire conversation to hear some of Mike's stories about how tracking down keys can put you in some unexpected places...like digging through a dumpster!