Latest / Auto Collabs / Fake Beards and Flat Brims with Nathan Hollenbeck

Transcript

Fake Beards and Flat Brims with Nathan Hollenbeck · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  Can I make a confession? [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. Um, it's only the three of us, so go ahead- And my mom. Mm. Just the three of us. It's just us. Nobody else is here. And, and my mom.
• 0:16
  Um- Why is your mom recording a podcast with you? She's that one listener that we have. [laughs] Hi, Mrs. Cirillo. She's like, "Download, download, download, download the... Look, Cirillo, you got a lot of downloads."
• 0:27
  Subscribe, unsubscribe. She's got 100 subscribers. Subscribe. She's got 17, um, Apple IDs. She VPNs into 70 countries, right? That's right. Just to s- [laughs] That's where his 80 countries comes from.
• 0:37
  I w- well, I was gonna say- All right. Here's your confession. Back to your confession. No, I'm good. I don't need to. No, no, no. We have to know now. I just decided against it. We have to know. Okay.
• 0:43
  I'm hanging on by a thread here, Cirillo. Marketer extraordinaire. [laughs] Hook 'em in with the clickbait.
• 0:50
  Um- For 39.95, you can have my full confession, plus- My confession is, and I feel like I might have to apologize when I meet him in person, but every time I hear Nathan's last name, Hollenbeck- You're gonna say-...
• 1:00
  I think of, uh-... Gwen Stefani's song?... Gwen Stefani's song. Yeah. That's... Well, see- Yep. We just connected. It is. We've never talked about that, but every time, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum, bum.
• 1:11
  [laughs] Right? [laughs] That's my jam. Yeah. Okay. Sorry. Now, I wish we could use that music. That's okay. That's all I got.
• 1:17
  I wish we could use that music as the transition into the interview, but if we do, no one's gonna hear it. Um, you know, but he did show up to the interview prepared. But we don't know that yet. [laughs] Dang it.
• 1:32
  Yeah, we do. We do. I just ruined that whole thing. [laughs] I don't think, I think this is the best. We should just- Okay... we hope you enjoy. Well, since we're ta- Roll the tape, ladies and gentlemen.
• 1:45
  Here- Since we're talking about confessions, sometimes- [laughs]... parents, they actually record the intro after the interview. It's unbelievable. If you can't tell already, 'cause we're all wearing different outfits.
• 2:00
  [laughs] Well, hey, look, we hope you enjoy this conversation with Nathan Hollebeck- Hollenbeck, actual marketer extraordinaire, without clickbait. [upbeat music] All right.
• 2:17
  We've got my man, Nate Hollenbeck, here with us, uh, the, the man, the myth, the legend at DG DG, uh, hanging out there, doing some crazy, cool stuff. Nate, thanks for joining us. Hey, thanks for having me, guys.
• 2:29
  Always a pleasure to see you guys. Yeah. Awesome. So, uh, for those of you that don't know, just, like, five minutes before this, we get on, and- [laughs]...
• 2:38
  he is wearing a black hat and this absolutely ridiculous, which you- He's putting it back on... if you get to see the video. You gotta watch the video- He's putting it back on... if you're just listening.
• 2:47
  [laughs] This absolutely ridiculous, like, perfect... Actually, I need to grow out my mustache so that it matches this beard at this point, because it's that good. It looks very sophisticated.
• 2:55
  [laughs] All you have to do is add, like, the little twirls at the end of that mustache, little, little mustache wax. [laughs] And I would certainly keep my kids away from you.
• 3:03
  [laughs] And naturally, naturally, he checked with other people to make sure that it was, that it was, uh, that it was perfect, so Jake Barron and Ben Hadley, if you're watching or listening- They signed off...
• 3:13
  thank you for that. Yes. [laughs] So I'm gonna tell this. So my first introduction, uh, to Nathan Hollenbeck was actually via DG DG.
• 3:24
  So i- if you know me, I used to work at Mazda stores, and, uh, I'll never forget, my boss calls me in one day. He's like, "Kyle, psh, c- come in here."
• 3:33
  My boss is Chad, and he's like, "Kyle, can we make our, our website look like-" Our stuff like their stuff? [laughs] "... can we do whatever they're doing over there?" And, and I was like, I was like,
• 3:45
  typed up online, and I was like, "No." [laughs] And they're like, "How come?" And I was like, 'Cause of that guy right there. 'Cause of that guy right there. So Nate, uh,
• 3:54
  y- take, take us back a little bit, because, um, I think a lot of people when they, when they see the DG DG brand right now, and they see what you've done with technology and, and the marketing influence in the market you're at, and what you and Jeremy Beaver and the tech team there have been able to accomplish,
• 4:10
  they kind of see, like, a lot of... And, and even though you're not at the end product, but they, it, it's kind of this end product.
• 4:16
  But take us back in, in both your journey and then the journey of, like, bringing, uh, the DG DG brand to where it is today maybe. Yeah. So, um, I jumped into the car business back in, uh, 2006.
• 4:30
  I was at a Mitsubishi store on Stevens Creek Boulevard in Santa Clara, California.
• 4:35
  Um, I've always been a car guy, and so I knew at a very young age, like, if I wasn't doing something around cars, I just wasn't gonna be happy, so- Really?...
• 4:42
  I'd go into car shows with my dad, and we built, like, a 1930 Ford Model A hot rod, and, uh- Like a motorhead, not just a car guy... at one point, I think I- You're like a motorhead. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Right. Totally.
• 4:53
  Yeah, I mean, at one point, I think my dad had, like, four cars, uh, you know, littered in front of the house, and in the driveway, and stuff like that, so it just had to be part of the, part of the story for me, so- Okay, okay...
• 5:03
  uh, naturally- So then what's your favorite car of all time? Before we get into it, what's your favorite car of all time? Probably hard to answer if you're a real car guy.
• 5:08
  So it's, it's evolved over time, and I, and I get some flak on this answer, but, uh, it's the Audi R8, the first gen body style. Um- Okay... that car, like, just it's beautiful, luxurious, performance.
• 5:22
  Like, sure, you could probably get something m- like, with more performance for that buck, but, like, just it's the whole package for me. I just love that car. It looks and sounds amazing. That's awesome.
• 5:31
  I was expecting him to say M- 1994 Mitsubishi Eclipse, but, you know, that's just me. [laughs] [laughs] He's like, "I get a lot of flak for this one." Oh, man. That's Paul Walker's appliance back there.
• 5:43
  He's like, "But the PT Cruiser- That's number two... is my jam. Wood body PT Cruiser, perfect. I've got one in the garage." [laughs] So- No, the Audi R8- That's probably why I'm getting that...
• 5:54
  not, not as much flak from me. Yeah. Don't worry. [laughs] [laughs] All right. So keep us rolling. So yeah, so- Sorry I had to interrupt us with that regularly scheduled programming. That's a good question. It was great.
• 6:03
  That's the question. No, I get it. That's really what people wanna know anyway.Yeah, for sure.
• 6:09
  So yes, I, I, uh, you know, took to selling cars quickly 'cause I mean, like all I did with my friends was talk about cars all day.
• 6:15
  So then you come into work and you talk to customers about cars and you're excited, they get excited. So, uh, had a lot of fun selling cars.
• 6:21
  And then, uh, within a year of being in the business became the internet director running a team of four people. Um, 2008 happened, uh, at that point, point in time, and things were on their decline.
• 6:34
  Uh, jumped out of automotive for a quick minute into, um, banking at Wells Fargo, like in the middle of all their crazy fiasco that- Oh, wow... you know, all the shenanigans that they were dealing with.
• 6:44
  That was a crazy fiasco. [laughs] Uh, so I only lasted... Yeah. Yeah.
• 6:47
  I wasn't willing to like, you know, do what, what needed to be done, all the, you know, opening of fake accounts and things [laughs] like that to, to hit the sales numbers. Wow.
• 6:56
  So after, uh, about six months I bailed just going, "Sorry, this isn't for me."
• 7:01
  Um, got a really cool opportunity to get into mortgage lending under a mentorship program, where I got my real estate license, uh, and eventually got my, uh, NMLS license, uh, for California.
• 7:13
  But then I was doing a refi for my old GM and, uh, his nephew was in the internet department, and he and one other guy were there and they were selling like eight cars a month between the two of them.
• 7:24
  And he was like, "You should come back." [laughs] "Be our internet director again. Uh, it'll be great."
• 7:28
  And so, uh, I said, "Sure, all right" And I, I came back 'cause at that time, you know, people still were completely underwater on their mortgages. And like trying...
• 7:36
  You'd finally find a client and trying to get them through the refi, you just couldn't get them there with the loan to values and stuff like that.
• 7:41
  So, uh, I came back to the auto business a little bit with my, my leg, you know, tucked in between my legs, uh, and a little reluctant 'cause I felt like I, you know, struck out on, on the mortgage side.
• 7:52
  But it ended up being the best thing for me, uh, 'cause, 'cause here I am now, uh, years later.
• 7:57
  Um, but I took that department that was selling eight cars a month and got them selling, uh, you know, 40 cars a month within about 90 days.
• 8:04
  And so, uh, then, uh, got a really cool opportunity to work for a startup digital advertising agency here in San Jose. Uh, was there for about two and a half years before, um, deciding to come to DG DG.
• 8:16
  So I'd had a client that, uh, we, we quadrupled their website traffic, tripled their phone calls, and doubled their leads, and they didn't sell a single car more, so they fired us. And, uh, I was like- Wow...
• 8:27
  "Wow, okay, clearly the marketing side- It was your fault, though. It's always the marketer's fault. Yeah. [laughs] Right. Right.
• 8:33
  So, um, I kind of decided I wanted to come back to retail just 'cause I wanted to be in, like ingrained into the sales process and not be just, you know, driving traffic, but being able to help with the end outcome.
• 8:45
  And so, uh, so yeah, so that was eight, uh, almost nine years ago, uh, jumping on with DG DG, and I've had a number of roles until getting to VP of marketing here. So it's been a- Wow...
• 8:54
  it's been a pretty awesome journey. Okay.
• 8:56
  So I love that perspective because, you know, a lot of people when they hear marketing, they hear just like, oh yeah, those are the people that are, like you said, responsible for getting the website traffic, the s- the, the leads and the phone calls, and that's all they do.
• 9:09
  But you took an approach coming back into it and I s- I think still take an approach today that marketing and, and operations are actually like right, like joined at the hip to each other.
• 9:21
  Can you explain like your perspective on that and how maybe you take the, the approach every single day from the marketers, like leaning to, from the, on the marketer side, but understanding the operations kind of goes hand-in-hand and, and, and the perspective that you bring to, to DG DG in your every day with that?
• 9:38
  Yeah, for sure. So, uh, so fortunately I'm blessed, like we have a lot of sort of single, uh, individuals that are single-minded focus at DG DG.
• 9:46
  So we have a VP of sales that I work with closely, um, letting him know what's coming down like the marketing pipeline, what we're working on, and he helps sort of get that into the store level.
• 9:57
  Uh, we also have a VP of training, uh, and a director of training that help like the training down at the individual store level.
• 10:03
  And then, um, I have a director of data analytics and a CRM manager, and we take a lot of the insights that we develop from, um, a data lake that we've been developing over the last six years and utilizing to, um, really streamline and build our own reporting.
• 10:20
  And then to be able to take that reporting and give actionable insights to the training team and sales team to be able to work on getting better, right?
• 10:28
  We re- we really believe that if you can measure it, you can improve upon it. And so we've really, you know, really over invested in, into that reporting capabilities and that technology. How...
• 10:38
  Can you- What's an example of one, one thing that like you saw on the marketing or the data side maybe over the last couple years that you saw and were like, "Red flag. All right. Get everyone together.
• 10:49
  We've got to attack this thing"? What's one of those examples and how you attacked it?
• 10:54
  Um, so we take in a lot of different data sources into the data lake, from inventory to sales, um, and, uh, all the financial data and whatnot. Uh, and so I think, you know, we look a lot...
• 11:06
  We have, uh, something that we kick out three times a week called the, the vitals for new and for used cars, so we can understand like pricing performance, uh, inventory engagement, leads, and, uh, uh, conversion rates and things like that.
• 11:20
  So it's really easy to kind of look at that and get a state of like the heartbeat of the dealer group.
• 11:25
  And if a dealership is like, "Hey, I'm having struggles with this" that like you can usually dive into that report with them and get into the weeds a little bit and uncover what it is that, that may be going on at their dealership.
• 11:35
  So how could pricing be impacting their ability to generate leads or sales opportunities, right?
• 11:42
  So, um, I think those are the things that we look at on a regular basis where the more that we add into that report, the more like we theorize, like what do we need in this report?
• 11:50
  What's not useful in this report that we should swap out with something else?
• 11:53
  Like o- over time, over the years, it's evolved a lot just from looking at different data in different ways and, and, uh, trying to use it as the best business intelligence possible to run the, the organization.
• 12:06
  Can you give s- can you give the listeners some context as to the size and scale of your group, right? Because I think, um, dealers are always trying to like say, "Okay, how big is this organization?"
• 12:17
  'Cause you just talked about dedicating people to things that-Pretty much. [laughs] Very few people have a dedicated person, right? You are this, right? You just focus on this only and integrate.
• 12:28
  So tell us a little b- bit about Del Grande size, age, you know, management structure, et cetera. Yeah. So, uh, for my team in particular, we actually have 30 people on the marketing team today.
• 12:41
  So, uh, the bulk of that being, uh, photographers keeping up with all the new and used inventory.
• 12:46
  Um, we actually also do- Can you actually zoom out a bit and just talk about the stores first, and then we'll get into that? Sure, yeah.
• 12:53
  So we have, we have 16 rooftops, uh, here throughout the Bay Area, um, and 16 different OEM brands that we represent. Um, all s- like very centrally- Wait... located in Northern California...
• 13:02
  every rooftop is a different brand? Uh, no, it just lines up that way. Like, we have some- Oh, [laughs] nice... we have like four Mazda franchises.
• 13:11
  Um, we got four, uh, we got a Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep brand, so you have four brands at one location. But- Ah... yeah, it pencils out to being- Okay. [laughs]... 16 rooftops and 16 brands. All right.
• 13:20
  Um, but, uh, yeah, we, we don't currently have any, like, High Line or anything like that. Um, but, uh, that's one of the things that we're hoping to get into. But, yeah, so it's, uh, we've...
• 13:30
  Kind of coming back to your question about branding, the fact that we've been so centralized throughout the Bay Area and in Northern California, like, it's become a very recognized brand.
• 13:40
  Um, w- and, and as, like, we've really put a lot into the brand marketing efforts to make sure that people always consider DGDG on their shopping list when they're trying to buy a car.
• 13:49
  And how about, how about an idea of group volume? Are you allowed to share any of that? Yeah. So, um, usually r- roughly around 25,000 cars a year.
• 13:58
  I mean, that's fluctuated a little bit in the last two years with, with trying to get inventory. Uh, I think our best year we did roughly 30,000 cars.
• 14:06
  Um, so it's a, it's a big organization, about a billion in sales a year, uh, and a l- a little over 1,100 team members at this point in time- Understood... uh, across the 16 rooftops in our, our management group. Okay.
• 14:17
  And then you got back down. You have a 30-person marketing team, you were saying. Yep, yep. So, uh, I mentioned 15 photographers keeping up with the inventory.
• 14:27
  And, uh, we do a lot, like you can actually see, see behind me for those that are watching. Uh, like our own beauty shots, like we don't use stock OEM footage or images. Like, we do everything here in house.
• 14:37
  Uh, we got three full-time videographers- It's a really, just if you're just listening, it's a really awesome pic- It looks great. I thought it was stock or you picked it up somewhere. [laughs] It looks amazing. Amazing.
• 14:46
  Yeah, yeah. So blessed to have that, that part of the team. Um, we've got three full-time web developers, uh, three full-time graphic designers. Uh, I mentioned our CRM manager, our director of data analytics.
• 14:58
  Uh, ad operations management, so paid search, display, pre-roll, Facebook ads. And then a communications manager that handles PR, social media, online reputation, uh, and events.
• 15:11
  So it's a, it's a pretty, pretty big team that, uh, to tackle everything possible, so. Yeah, I'd say. I mean, when did you- That's a thing... do you, when did...
• 15:23
  Were you around when the tran- Well, actually, let me ask this question first. Is your marketing team 100% internal? Do you use agencies or anything like that as well?
• 15:34
  Um, the only, we have an agency for traditional advertising on the media buy. Yep. But we produce the actual ads ourselves. Um, so we don't, uh, we don't outsource that.
• 15:43
  So can you tell me about the transition, uh, when the group decided, "Hey, we're going to go in house," or just has it always been that way since you've been there?
• 15:53
  Um, there was always the desire to have everything internal and not outsourced.
• 15:57
  Um, when I first joined the group, they were using three different agencies on like the digital side and were trying to figure out like, you know, w- which one was gonna be the best performer that they could use across the whole group, or could they find someone like me that had the agency experience that could build all that- Mm-hmm...
• 16:13
  in house. So, um, we've slowly but surely over time just continued to take things and, uh, bring them in house, SEO, paid search, all that different stuff.
• 16:22
  Uh, and we've just found like, you know, when you, when you're using an agency, um, there's certainly, like, u- uses for agency.
• 16:28
  Like, especially if you're not a large group with those economies of scale, like it is expensive to have this [laughs] amount of staff, right?
• 16:36
  But, um, once you get to that certain level of scale, um, and you're adding up all the management fees and stuff like that, a lot of times you start to find that, like, I could probably do this in house for a little bit cheaper.
• 16:45
  And then you have people that are only dedicated to your business, and they're not trying to manage your business as well as other people's businesses. So- Mm-hmm...
• 16:51
  um, that was one of the main, main reasons for trying to bring everything in house as, as much as we could.
• 16:56
  Yeah, we're definitely seeing, you know, Kyle and I get to, to interact with a lot of, a lot of people across the country, and we're definitely seeing a growing desire, uh, for larger, you know, larger groups with more leverage to say like, "Hey, how can we get a little bit more control over everything that's going on?"
• 17:11
  And like you said, how can we have more, um, more just dedicated resources into the marketing department to get the efficiency of scale, and then to really make a really great handshake between the marketing and the data and the operations.
• 17:26
  And that's really, that is really tough to do if you use outside agencies.
• 17:29
  So I'm always curious from, from somebody who's actually executing it well about what it, what it took to get there and, you know, kind of what the result is. Well, the results are obvious. Yeah. Yeah.
• 17:40
  You know, o- one thing that, uh, you know, I kind of started this off, but, you know, a, a lot of people across the country kind of go to the DGDG website, uh, especially the group website, and really ta- kind of take a look and look at, look at that experience.
• 17:53
  And for, for me, and I think a lot of people, it's like, okay, you have Carvana that, you know, self-develops or, or, or, or CarMax that, that self-develops 100% of their, their website.
• 18:05
  Um, but you've, you've done a lot with, you know, a, a, a website provider that a lot of people have in, in the country, and obviously there's resources and team and stuff that happens like that.
• 18:16
  But what's the mentality w- that you take into the digital ecosystem and, and how customers are engaging with your brand online, you know, to, to get you to this point of having, you know, a website that, that feels and, and, and, and looks m- closer to something that someone like a scale like a CarMax or Carvana with a, with a spin on a localized level.
• 18:39
  What's the mentality and, and what's it taken to get to the point where you're at today?Yeah, I think, you know, so when I started with the group, um, we were on DDC for pretty much all the websites and, uh, we were like as customized as you could get on DDC.
• 18:56
  Um, and really we're looking for more and we're trying to get out of the, you know, the, the stereotypical dealership template, right? Uh, and, and break the mold and, and be able to like integrate some of...
• 19:06
  E- especially as we grew the data lake, like being able to integrate some of the data that we had there into like some customized experiences, and, and we just weren't able to find that there.
• 19:15
  Uh, and then when we met, uh, Joe and Bruce over at Deal Inspire, uh, gosh, that must have been like 2015, uh, at NADA, and they showed us what they had developed on WordPress, the ability for customization, um, we actually came to them with our own UX UI that we had built internally and said, "Can you guys build this?"
• 19:36
  And, uh, they took on the challenge, and it was a, it was a long development cycle. Initially it was entirely custom, so we weren't, we weren't utilizing a lot of, uh, the systems as DI went on.
• 19:48
  Um, and so over the years we've kind of worked to customize their, their, uh, infrastructure so that we were being able to take advantage of updates and, uh, improvements to their platform. But, uh, but yeah.
• 20:01
  I think the big thing for us was like, um, we, we really try to be an open resource for consumers.
• 20:08
  So whether that's price validation from third parties, uh, consumer reviews from Car and Driver, um, showcasing all the reconditioning that we've done to a vehicle to show the value to that consumer.
• 20:20
  Um, you know, just like how, how can you give people no reason to object to that, that vehicle before coming in or just now in the days of digital retailing, like make them feel comfortable with buying that car online.
• 20:33
  So, uh, the more that you can put in the hands of the consumer, I mean, there's so many top retail brands that have proven that, right? Amazon, Apple, Best Buy.
• 20:41
  There's just so many that come to mind where if you just give the reins to the consumer and give them sort of freedom of choice and take away friction, they're willing to pay a premium for that.
• 20:49
  And that's really been the focus for us as an organization. You know, you're in the Bay Area, so you know, obviously a very technological forward area. And are you seeing... You know, I...
• 21:00
  We s- we hear all the reports and see all the reports.
• 21:02
  Are you seeing a higher level of adoption or speed to sale or ease of entry with, you know, with your, uh, you know, between the, the digital and the physical showroom?
• 21:13
  Is the- is there, is there a faster sync for you than what you're seeing, uh, y- you know, with the rest of, uh, the United States and maybe other brands that, that you follow?
• 21:23
  Um, and, and do you think that's attributed to kind of like the journey that you've built? Um, it, you know, what's, what's your perspective on like the adoption rate of that type of ecosystem for, for your customers?
• 21:38
  Yeah. And so for us, um, we, we ended up launching digital retailing in the middle of the pandemic.
• 21:44
  So in a, in a way it was good for us because that was the only way consumers could buy cars and that was the only way dealers could sell them.
• 21:51
  [laughs] Uh, so the team had to adopt it, fully adopt it, and fully embrace it, um, because, you know, we were shut down in sales for 60 days, which was rough.
• 21:59
  I mean, really, really tough time for us in the business over that, uh, that period.
• 22:03
  But, uh, when we opened back up with sales and with digital retailing online, it just kind of happened to be that we were already in the development process of it with our partners, uh, uh, currently Prodigy, now Upstart Auto Retail.
• 22:16
  But I think the, the one thing for us in going to digital retailing, because consumers here in the Silicon Valley, uh, area, like they, they're used to ordering their coffee at Starbucks, right?
• 22:27
  On, on the app, and then coming in and picking it up in store. Like they're used to all of this technology, uh, in their normal everyday life.
• 22:36
  And what was important for us was, you know, w- when you think back to when digital retailing first started, it was really like this glorified web lead online that came into a really antiquated CRM, and you had to like open the ADF lead and look for the comments to figure out like, what did this customer do online, right?
• 22:54
  Um, so we were really... Like we did not wanna overpromise online and underdeliver in store. So we looked for partners that had a tablet experience tied to online so that we could easily pick up where they left off.
• 23:08
  And what we found in looking at w- a lot of the custom reporting that we built as we went along with, um, with that process was, A, um, from the branding and the packaging that we did on our websites, we actually just, just by putting it on there, doubled website conversion.
• 23:24
  So we got twice- Wow. [laughs]... as many web leads off our website as we did prior.
• 23:28
  And then what was really interesting to see was that we were tracking not only like the people that, you know, we'd never seen them before, they clicked on our no-brainer checkout, uh, or what we brand it, um, and went through it and submitted a lead and then bought a car, but we were also looking at who was influenced by the digital retailing.
• 23:47
  So we got a lead from AutoTrader, and then three days later they went through no-brainer checkout on the website and bought the car online. Uh, so we were able to see like not only like the direct attribution- Wow...
• 23:58
  but like sort of that multi-touch approach, uh, into it.
• 24:01
  And so it's been hugely successful for us and we've continued to really brand it heavily, um, to make people know that like buying a car from DGDG is much like that other technology that they're used to in their everyday lives, and that it's that simple to do business with us.
• 24:16
  Well, um, we only have time for one more. Um, what do you see-- Like the trajectory of change is so fast right now, right?
• 24:23
  So even like trying to predict what it's gonna look like a year from now or two years from now is, is a little bit rough. But you have some very specific initiatives.
• 24:31
  What are you most excited about, um, over the next 12 months, we'll say? You know, what, what you all are trying to do? Yeah.
• 24:38
  I think, um, one of the big things that I've been excited about for a long time, it's been a long time coming, is, uh, our, our implementation of Salesforce. Uh, it's, uh, it was a big animal.
• 24:48
  Uh, you know, we really-Uh, we knew it was gonna be a challenge and it became, it was even harder than we'd even initially- [laughs]... uh, theorized.
• 24:55
  But, uh, uh, we launched, uh, our first initiative with Salesforce on the first of this month, uh, that is tied into our sell to DGDG, uh, website that we, uh, sort of co-developed alongside that.
• 25:08
  And so people can enter in their, their, uh, their license plate number or their VIN. We extract their, um, uh, vehicle history report.
• 25:17
  We run a KBB API, and we come up with an offer of what we're willing to buy the person's car, uh, with that.
• 25:23
  And then those leads, you know, we don't, we're not using ADF, we're just built API, uh, technology straight into Salesforce, and are running that process, uh, as of today, since we launched that August 1st, uh, on our websites.
• 25:35
  And, uh, I've already seen, like, with, with zero marketing, nothing but a, a homepage banner and adding it to our navigation, we're getting 12 to 15 offers a day.
• 25:45
  And, uh, we've been converting about 15% of those are people after they see the offer say, "Okay, I wanna sell my car."
• 25:52
  And then, uh, so far w- our win rate is about 3%, but we still have stuff that's scheduled that's in the pipeline. So I think it'll be interesting after we get to, like, 60 to 90 days.
• 26:02
  Um, we've also been very conservative with the offers that we've been giving just because it's new technology. So I think we'll be ratcheting that up, uh, to help meet more conversion and higher win rates.
• 26:12
  But, um, knowing that it works now and seeing that it's working is, is very exciting, 'cause now we know a lot more, and when we go to implement it in the stores, we'll be that much more ready for it.
• 26:22
  So that's what's really exciting for me right now. Well, if you're listening and we didn't say it, um, go to dgdg.com. And yes, ladies and gentlemen, he did say Salesforce.
• 26:32
  For all of you that are like, "Wait, did he just say Salesforce?" Yes, he did. Nathan Hollenbeck, thank you so much for giving us some time today, um, and continuing to push the bar forward.
• 26:40
  We need the people who are gonna continually push it to show us all what's possible, so thank you so much. [upbeat music] When we dropped into that interview and my man had a beard- [laughs]...
• 26:54
  and a hat on, knowing full well- [laughs] With his beard... that is not what he looks like, I was floored. [laughs] Set aside. And here's the thing, is
• 27:04
  he, he also communicated that to two of my good friends, making sure that they thought that that would be a fun idea, too. And this is the way, this is the type of guy- He vetted the idea before he did it?
• 27:15
  [laughs] He vetted the idea before he did it. It's unbelievable. There's a data-driven individual right there. Well, yeah.
• 27:20
  And that's what I was gonna lean into here, is because he makes calculated, insightful decisions like that with a particular level of energy every single day.
• 27:30
  And you see that when you look at the way that DGDG goes about marketing, goes about interacting as a team, content delivery, right?
• 27:40
  The fact that he, they have 20-something people on their content and, and technical marketing team across photographers, and videographers, and IT specialists, and developers, and himself.
• 27:50
  Like, that, that is a dialed-in man. That, that, he takes that same approach into coming to a podcast, that he did the research, bought the hat, bought the, you know- [laughs] All of that type of stuff.
• 28:01
  You can't be at that level without bringing that level of game to everything that you do.
• 28:07
  Working together, like when he talked about how big the team is, and it's, I think it's easy for people to, you know, say, "Well, must be nice," right?
• 28:16
  When you have someone that has a big team or has worked to get the resources or, you know, the intentionality to do things in-house. The must be nice attitude comes out, uh, probably pretty quickly.
• 28:26
  And I think the lesson to takeaway from it is the fact that the more people understand what the plan is and are working together to solve the overarching problem, this can go span sales, service, you know, back office, whatever.
• 28:38
  The more people that understand that, the more effective your customer experience is gonna be.
• 28:43
  So I mean, think, that's a takeaway that I think that everyone, regardless of the size of your marketing team, um, can actually deploy today. Yep. That's a very unique skill set, too.
• 28:51
  Like, talking about where you wanna go, one skill set. Being able to actually get your team on board so that they understand- Uh...
• 29:00
  that looks like, in application, what that looks like is more conversations probably than you want to have- Mm-hmm... but that you know are necessary just to make... 'Cause, like, people spin out so quickly.
• 29:10
  And, you know, no organization is immune to, like, just the, the fact that we overthink things and whatever.
• 29:16
  So, like, I just really think, t- to me, it stands out how important of a skill set that is to be able to r- actually, to your point, rally a, a team around a focus point and make sure they're all moving in that direction and understand it, uh, is certainly tremendous.
• 29:30
  We hope, of course, that you enjoyed our conversation with Nathan Hollenbeck. Uh, on behalf of Paul Jay Daly, Kyle Mountsier, and myself, Michael Cirillo, thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs.
• 29:42
  Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news in automotive, retail, media, and pop culture. You can get it now at asotu.com. That's A-S-O-T-U.com.
• 29:55
  If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time.
• 30:03
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet? Not yet.