Latest / Auto Collabs / Seeing and Knowing The Person Behind The Click with Tina Cuatto

Transcript

Seeing and Knowing The Person Behind The Click with Tina Cuatto · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  I think this is the first, first podcast ever that Paul has worn a white shirt. [laughs] [upbeat music] This is Auto Collab. [laughs] That doesn't, that doesn't work. That doesn't work. It doesn't work.
• 0:17
  One day, one day, I'm gonna come in with some type of color shirt on. You're gonna have a colored button down- Have you ever-... with color. It's nuts... let me ask you this.
• 0:25
  Have either of you ever seen me not in a picture in a shirt that's, like, a color? Like, a blue, a teal, anything. Of you? Yeah. Well, I, I- No. Oh, you said not in a picture. Not a picture. So, like, in person.
• 0:36
  Not in picture. Oh, no. No. Okay. That's- No... that's gonna be part of my, my- That's the shtick... no, that's gonna be part of my disguise when I don't want anybody- I just know what's coming up...
• 0:45
  to bother me anymore. He's gonna show up one day- Shave your beard... color picture... lose the hat. Wearing a Richard Simmons tie-dye tank top. [laughs] Boat shoes. Boat shoes and white golf shorts.
• 0:57
  I don't think I'm a boat sh- No. Oh, I, I was gonna say, I'm not a boat shoe guy, which is exactly why I would wear them. That's why. That's why. My kids won't even recognize me.
• 1:03
  Well, I tell our teams, I'm like, "If you see me in anything other than black or white, like, wearing black or white, you need to go look for a new job, 'cause it means I've, I've lost it."
• 1:10
  Oh, I thought you were gonna say you need to kill me immediately because it's not me. [laughs] It means I've lost it. Something's go- something's going down. Like, maybe you might see me in a, nothing but a towel,
• 1:20
  for example. You gotta go look for a new job. [laughs] Well, I think that would be more- We'd look for a different podcast though... than one reason to go look for... Yeah, we would.
• 1:25
  Hey, did you know, I learned something about our guest today. Okay. Uh, at a Soduko actually. The, and, and I was delightfully sh- surprised and impressed. Uh, our guest today, Tina Cuado from DealerOn. Mm-hmm.
• 1:41
  It w- is a classically trained dancer. What? What? Did you know this? I don't fully even know what that means. I had no clue. Like, she's a, a- I mean, I fully know what that means- Well, they-...
• 1:52
  'cause my wife was a classically trained dancer. Is that, like, ballet? Yeah, ballet and, and just all of the things.
• 1:58
  And I think, I could be wrong, but I think she's still involved in some way in, like, helping o- other dancers. Sounds like- Very artsy... sounds like- Um-...
• 2:07
  there's a, maybe an opening ceremony in the works for SoCon 2025. [laughs] Yes. Oh. Oh, man. Well, hey, we hope you enjoy this conversation, uh, as much as, uh, we hope we do, uh, with Tina Cuado from DealerOn.
• 2:23
  [upbeat music] Tina, it's so good to have you on today. It's good to see you again from a Soduko. Yeah. Thank you guys for having me.
• 2:31
  So, uh, we are kind of, like, when recording this, it is, I asked Kyle yesterday, "Are these the dog days of summer?" Like, do these count? I don't know.
• 2:40
  You're in the Philadelphia area, which Kyle is always like, "Oh, Paul's gonna talk about Philly." [laughs] Um, but, but what, what's the, what's the game plan in Philly these days? A lot of baseball. It's been hot. Yeah.
• 2:50
  Oh my gosh. It's baseball season. Not to talk about the Phils, but, um- I mean, but- But that's-... I was hoping you would. [laughs] Yeah. That's, that's our life. I'm a huge sports fan, so it's great.
• 3:00
  Are you, are you... 'Cause you didn't grow up in the Philly area, are you a Philly sports fan? I am. My husband's a big Philly sports fan. We've been together for 10 years, so it's hard not to convert.
• 3:09
  So you're a transplant. I know. Aw. My wife, my wife is the same way, so- Yeah... it's, it's good to go. Converted Philly sports fan. I love it.
• 3:16
  So, um, let me ask you, so in be- in the pre-show prep, we always, like, ask you some questions, and I didn't know this about you, but you spent a year as a public affairs intern with the Smithsonian. Is that- I did.
• 3:27
  Yes. Yeah. Okay. Way back in the day. Um, I went to school for journalism. Um, and I, my dream job was to work in a museum. So I really fulfilled that early on in my life and, and worked at the National Portrait Gallery.
• 3:40
  I was gonna say, I was like, "And now you work at the opposite of a museum." Yeah. Yep. A place, a, a industry where nothing- Well, I don't know. You could call it a museum sometimes. But, [laughs] no, no, no, no, no.
• 3:51
  Just- Depends on who we're talking about. [laughs] No, no, no.
• 3:53
  But it, it's an industry where, it's an industry where nothing, nothing sticks around for long, and if it does stick around for too long, it's, it's really detrimental to the game.
• 4:03
  So, like, how does that transition go from, like, I wanna work in a museum, to now working for, like, a very fast-paced, um, in a very fast-paced industry in a s- very fast-paced segment of a fast-paced industry? True.
• 4:15
  How does that transition happen? Uh, um, yeah. I, so I was very creative growing up, and I love the art, so I think, uh, it was a natural fit to want to work at a museum. I, I grew up going to museums.
• 4:28
  I was like, "This is what I wanna do." And the natural, uh, National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian is kind of the, the epitome of museums. Um- Unbelievable...
• 4:36
  so being in the public affairs department, being in communications, being in journalism, that is also fast-paced, right?
• 4:43
  Um, you're, you're constantly meeting deadlines and putting out press releases and, um, just from a comms perspective. So a, a lot of what I learned there is still applicable in auto.
• 4:53
  You know, being able to, to adapt and, and to communicate with a wide variety of people, so I think that's, that's how I made that transition.
• 5:02
  [laughs] What, okay, before we get off the public affairs intern at a, at the Smithsonian- Yeah... what was like go- Like, is there anything that was like, man, that was really fun- Yeah...
• 5:11
  or I would've never expected- We, we want a story is what Kyle said... this to happen when you were there that's kinda, like, Smithsonian exposed in some way. [laughs] Like, don't get yourself in trouble, you know?
• 5:20
  But, like- [laughs] No, no. Um, I think what was really fun is I got to work a lot with our events team too. So a lot of the after-hours events, um, book signings, huge galas, just being a part of that was really fun.
• 5:35
  Um, I remember, it sticks with me, there was, um, a book release that came out, and I spent hours memorizing people's faces and names so that when- Oh my gosh. Okay...
• 5:46
  so that when I, you know, when they came to pick up the book, I just, I knew who it was. And so many people were impressed, and I think that's something that I pride myself in- Mm... just being prepared.
• 5:58
  Um- Do you still do that?... like you still do Faces to names.
• 6:02
  Yeah Honestly, for a CoduCon, I, I went through the list of speakers so that I knew, you know, hey, ooh, that's so-and-so and that's so-and-so, and go up to them and say hello, you know? Yeah. I'm...
• 6:12
  That's my biggest fear, and I've told Kyle this before [laughs] Is that I see somebody that I don't remember their face. And it's tough, though, when you're always going off profile pictures, like some on social. Yeah.
• 6:22
  Well, the problem is, is that someone's gonna c- you know, I don't... Tina, just, like as an aside, every once in a while people will come up to Paul and I, which, I mean, I get it.
• 6:31
  We both have beards, we both have hats. [laughs] But they'll be like, "You know that one conversation that we had that one time," and I'm like, "Literally, I've never met you ever in my life." Yeah.
• 6:39
  And it's like they had a whole conversation with Paul. So that's a totally separate story.
• 6:42
  [laughs] But okay, so, so d- track then, because you've not just been in product and auto, but you've been in product in other verticals, correct, along the way? Yeah.
• 6:52
  Yeah, I worked for a company called Cision, um, they're a communications platform. Um, when I was there, it was before they had bought PR Newswire, um- Okay, yeah...
• 7:01
  they bought all of the other kind of social, um, software capabilities. Um, but yeah, it, that's where I got my, my product start, um, was at Cision.
• 7:13
  You know, product is a, it's an interesting thing because, um, when you think about building products that people use,
• 7:22
  t- there are some times where there's kind of a replica product out there in the market, where you might have seen, you know, something similar and you're iterating on it.
• 7:30
  But a lot of times product is really the leading heartbeat of an organization, especially from a SAS or technology perspective, because it's- Yeah...
• 7:38
  really discovering the thing that someone hasn't thought of before, um, and- Yeah, it's-... and trying to bring that to life, right? Uh- Yeah...
• 7:48
  which is, which is a very different thing than, like, talking about a museum.
• 7:52
  Uh, uh, how did you kind of, like, get the chops for, I'm gonna think about things that nobody's really thought of how to bring to life before? I, I look at it a bit differently. I look at the problem space, right?
• 8:04
  What problems are you trying to solve? And then- Mm-hmm... solutioning around it. Obviously you want to have that one in a million product idea but, like you said- Mm-hmm...
• 8:14
  there's so many variations of similar products out there, especially in this industry too, right? We've all got chat products, all got digital retailing products, websites, et cetera.
• 8:24
  So how do you, how do you solve the problems of your customers and how do you make it specific to your brand? Um, and that was true when I get, when I got started at Cision.
• 8:35
  I was working in a custom development department, and I think that really helped because they were unique- Mm-hmm... problem spaces for larger or enterprise type customers. Yeah. I'm noticing a through line here.
• 8:50
  [laughs] And, and, you know, typically we get to this later, but it seems like you have this unique passion for caring for, like, an individual, the way that they see the world, the way that they perceive interacting, right?
• 9:06
  Like, like you said, you know, you, you would memorize the faces of someone at- Mm-hmm... uh, uh, in, in, that's coming for the book signing, or you were solving a custom problem for an end user or a client. Um,
• 9:20
  d- does that, like, does that come from something deeper, uh, ear- earlier in life that says, like, it's important to me that
• 9:29
  almost people are seen in a way by the way that they interact with the world or with technology? Or do you think it's just kind of grown into your career landscape? I would like to say...
• 9:41
  This feels like a therapy session. [laughs] I would like to say that it comes from somewhere deep, but I don't think- [laughs] I, I don't think so, right? Um,
• 9:50
  I, I think it's just something that I've learned and evolved in the different places that I've worked. Um, yeah.
• 9:58
  I, [laughs] and then there's no- Well, I think- You're like, you're like, "Wait, why, how are you drawing this through line here?" Like, well, there's this one time, oh, my God. I don't know.
• 10:05
  Maybe I haven't tapped that yet. I, I'm not sure. [laughs] But no, I, I don't think so.
• 10:10
  [laughs] Well, it's interesting that, you know, you, you talked about remembering the faces, and Kyle just mentioned it, and, like, even, like, flipping to thinking about how we're thinking about deploying data and technology for website personalization, right?
• 10:24
  I know that's something- Yeah... that's front and center. It's, it's like the same thing. Yeah. Because when you remember someone's face, it's like, "Oh, I know who you are.
• 10:32
  Let me present this in a way, let me interact with you in a way that shows you I know who you are," and it kind of disarms the whole situation and makes the conversation go better, makes the, the internet, the web experience go better.
• 10:45
  So, like, I see a huge connection between those two. Yeah. I, I would agree.
• 10:49
  Um, I think that this has been a, a really fun project to work on at, at Dealeron, um, with our website personalization, um, seeing this evolve, seeing, you know, people craving this in the auto industry too, right?
• 11:01
  Like, we get this everywhere across, you know, our, our, uh, social media and, and website landscape from e-commerce to what I'm trying to view on Netflix and Hulu. Um- Mm-hmm...
• 11:12
  it just seems like a natural, um, a natural tie to have this in the auto industry. So it, it's been fun. Well, do this. Why don't...
• 11:20
  Because the people who watch and listen to this show, um, are gonna be at all different levels of the organization, all different levels of understanding.
• 11:27
  Can you give us the explain it like I'm five version of what is web personalization in the way that you're deploying it? Yeah.
• 11:35
  So what we're doing is basically just taking what a user's doing on your website and showing advertisements, changing up the content so that it's-It's matching where they are in the buying process.
• 11:47
  It's matching them, you know, what they want to see, right? So, um, I think the simplest way that I've explained this before is I'm looking for... I viewed, um, you know, certain, uh, programs on Netflix.
• 12:00
  I'm a huge Real Housewives fan. I'm, you know, a re- reality buff. Um, and I just got served the new Dallas Cheerleaders, um, Netflix special. It was awesome, and I would've never, you know, seeked that out on my own.
• 12:14
  And that's, that's the experience that we're trying to b- provide for car shoppers too, right? You're, you're looking for a red truck of some sort.
• 12:22
  Let me see, you know, what we have on the dealer's inventory and, and show this to you, right? So that you don't have to fumble around and try to find it and work, you know, work with different filters or searches.
• 12:32
  Like, let me just present this to you because I know this is what you're looking for. Um, a- and that's what we're trying to do here. I shuddered a minute. You brought up Dallas. Oh, I know.
• 12:42
  [laughs] I didn't think you was gonna like it. [laughs] I thought they were about to cut your internet in Philly. [laughs] That was silly. That was silly.
• 12:50
  Y- you know, some- sometimes I think, uh, uh, you know, people especially, you know, uh, I mean, even just of, uh, as of this week at time of recording, we are kind of experiencing Google saying, "Hey, we're getting rid of third party..."
• 13:03
  You know, "We're, we're not getting rid of third party-" Right... cookies. And there's this, been this big conversation.
• 13:07
  And even, um, you know, the, there is, uh, there's an, an entire, um, government research, uh, piece going into, like, how, uh, advertisers or pricers are utilizing AI to recognize, uh, people and- Right...
• 13:24
  personalize or price their- Mm-hmm... experiences. And I think people sometimes can feel like, hey, this might be a little invasive.
• 13:33
  Um, but I, I love your relationship with Netflix because nobody feels like Netflix is invasive- No... when it shows you the cool thing that you, that you thought you never knew but now you know.
• 13:44
  Um, how do you build in- That's true... the personalization, um, a feeling of being known without being creepily known like a stalker knows you, right? Yeah. I think that's a really good point.
• 13:57
  How, how do you balance that? Yeah. I, I think that comes with trust and transparency, right? I think privacy, um, and kind of the privacy banners that dealers have on their website plays into this too.
• 14:08
  Um, just making sure that the user knows, hey, my privacy is respected if I, if I want it to be, right? Um, but also not, you know, having creepy kind of ads, right? And not ha- [laughs] not...
• 14:21
  Having it be integrated into your website a little bit more.
• 14:24
  We're doing some things with vehicle recommendations, little flags, little, you know, icons around certain vehicles so that it doesn't seem like, hey, these are perfect for you, right?
• 14:34
  Or, or these are the ones that you must look at. But just integrated a little bit more seamlessly so, um, it doesn't feel invasive. Hmm.
• 14:43
  When, when you're starting to-- Because this is, it's still kind of as the, the product landscape in auto is rolling out, personalization is still fairly new.
• 14:52
  Are there early results that speak to conversion or interaction or the, the activity that y- users are exhibiting on sites when this is enabled? Yeah. Um, really early, uh, metrics here.
• 15:06
  But we're seeing users that are shown personalized content, whether they're shown it or engaging with it, um, are converting at about 2.5%, um, across kind of the, the sites that we're looking at right now, as opposed to no personalized content, um, they're converting at 1%.
• 15:24
  And those are form, form fills. Obviously not kind of looking at, um, any sort of third party, um, forms, but that, that's kind of our raw- That's awesome... you know, out of the box website metrics.
• 15:36
  I mean, that's two and a half X. Yeah. If you- That's 250%- Yeah... for those that aren't counting. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Um- That's incredible... super early on wanna caveat that, but I mean- Right. Right. Of course.
• 15:47
  It's- Yeah. Yeah... it's telling, and it just excites us more to wanna continue on this journey, um, and see what else we can do.
• 15:54
  I mean, right now, uh, we're primarily focusing on, on vehicles and your SRP and your VDP, but there's so many other pages that, um, we know shoppers go to when they come to a dealer website. So- Can-...
• 16:06
  you know, what can we do? What, what are, what are, like, the next on the hit list? Can you talk about that? Sure. Um, [laughs] we're looking at- She's like, "I'm in product. Of course I can." Can I?
• 16:16
  Don't hold me, don't hold me to any deadlines here. Are you able to, but are you allowed to [laughs] is really the question. Um, sure. I make the rules. No. Um... [laughs] That's what I like to hear.
• 16:28
  Uh, we're doing some things on, on the homepage. Um, and I think our, our next play is I wanna be able to, to get information from off site, right? We're doing a lot around what users are doing on site.
• 16:42
  But we know they're looking at, you know, tier one sites. They're looking at, uh, other aggregators.
• 16:48
  You know, are we able and in a, in a safe, you know, and, and secure manner get that kind of information so that we can know more about them when they come to the website initially? Mm-hmm. Yeah.
• 17:00
  Whether from ads or from- Yeah. Hopefully... just the fact that you, uh, it's seeing shopping behavior, um, which the third party cookie thing plays into that for sure. Exactly, yeah. Yeah.
• 17:10
  So I, I'm not mad that, that Google is kicking that can down the road. [laughs] Yeah. You're like, "Yay." I don't think anyone... Let, let's make a list of the people who are mad about this. [laughs] No one.
• 17:19
  It's a very short list, if there's anyone even on it. Yeah. At least not in the marketing world, for sure. Yeah.
• 17:25
  I, I do wanna, um, I, I, I wanna take a, a, a little bit of a jaunt here over because you came to Paul and I at the end of a Soduku.
• 17:34
  And I think it, it-- Like, to express your heart for the way that the industry interacts, it, it was really poignant, and I think it also could serve just, like-... people well to see, uh, our
• 17:49
  automotive industry in the way that you see it. You kind of, you told us how you felt, uh, being in a room of people that, that seem to be more like-hearted and like-minded and, and after the same things.
• 18:03
  Can you, like, recall that feeling and maybe,
• 18:06
  maybe challenge the, the, you know, people that might be listening or watching with, like, how to get more out of the industry by way of events or Zoom calls or interactions or things like that in the way that you're kind of perceiving that?
• 18:21
  Yeah, absolutely. I mean, we talked about my, my past. Um, it was not my plan at all to get into auto. Quite frankly, it seemed very walled off, um, very men, uh, you know, man's world.
• 18:36
  Um, you know, what, what does someone, you know, at a, with a museum and, and PR background wanna do in auto? And, you know, I felt that way for a long time.
• 18:43
  But as, you know, we've started to go to different conferences, and particularly yours, I felt so, um, respected and, you know, people just wanting to meet you with open arms, talk about the same problems, you know, want to solve the same problems that everyone's experienced, um, and just be really nice.
• 19:03
  It, it did not, you know, I, I wasn't intimidated as, as I was when I first joined this industry. That's awesome. What is, what do you see, like, what is, what is your personal goal for your career in the industry? Ooh.
• 19:17
  Um- I know that's a big one. That's a- No She's like, "You had to bring it back to therapy again, Kyle." No. Here we go. No, that's not therapy. I, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. That's not therapy. Well, may- maybe it is.
• 19:26
  It depends on how you answer. [laughs] Um, what is my goal? Um, I wanna spend more time here. I think, you know, I, I go through ebbs and flows of being like, "Do I really belong," right?
• 19:39
  And this is turning into a therapy session. See, I knew it. Um, but, [laughs] but no, I, I, I really enjoyed the people that I've met along the way. I think I've had a lot of great mentors.
• 19:50
  Um, I, I just wanna continue to climb, continue to grow, you know? Maybe knock Ali off of CEO or something like that. Or, you know- Oh... build my own company. Oh. [laughs] Girl got aspirations. There you go. I like it.
• 20:04
  No. That's fun. Um, no, I'm joking. But- That's- Um, yeah. I, I, I think just continue to learn and grow. Um, I'm not- Yeah... not trying to jump ship.
• 20:14
  We've obviously had, you know, a, a lot of interesting situations this summer particularly impacting auto. Um, but not, not deterring me. Yeah. That's awesome. Love hearing that.
• 20:26
  Well, Tina, you, like, I think the through line for you is that you care about people in a unique way, and you express that in the products and services that you build and, and you have built, and now you build for our industry.
• 20:39
  So I've appreciated getting to know you before this podcast and also on this podcast.
• 20:44
  I'm excited for what you're doing with DealerOn and, uh, the personalization and connecting data sources into making people feel seen and listened to and heard in a way that's not creepy, uh, but helps them to, uh, have a fun and enjoyable experience buying cars.
• 21:00
  So I appreciate you. Uh, and thank you so much for spending some time with us and joining us here today on Auto Collabs. Yeah. Thank you so much, guys. [upbeat music] Hey, it turns out she's not just a dancer. Nope.
• 21:15
  Not just a dancer. She's all sorts of- She's an artist... things. Yeah. She's an artist. Ali, curator, uh, yeah. A people, like, just c- cares about people- She's a people person... at a different level. Yeah. Yeah.
• 21:25
  She sees them at a different level. It's pretty awesome. But now I got a bone to pick because- Watch it... I re- I remember- 'Cause her husband's a Phillies fan. So is she now, by default. Okay. But, but I remember her
• 21:37
  being a little bit nervous to do her panel with me at ASOTU CON. Mm-hmm. Yep. But then I'm like, "What could be more nerve-wracking than dancing in front of people," right? Right. It's like a security blanket though.
• 21:50
  Like, musicians, like, say you play guitar, you put them in front of a stage with a guitar and they might be way more calm than if you put them upst- uh, on stage without the guitar and just a microphone. That's right.
• 22:03
  You know what I mean? 'Cause there's- Yeah... a level of experience, training, competence, all that, that has been proven over time. Mm. And then now it's like- Okay. Very well, very well...
• 22:10
  you're just talk- I think, I think that's the thing. I mean, she knocked it out of the park though. We'll have to test that theory. Michael, we're gonna put you on stage.
• 22:16
  You're so confident behind the mic, we're gonna put you on stage to dance. [laughs] And then we're gonna see how confident you are. [laughs] Oh.
• 22:23
  I'm gonna start my, practicing my Napoleon Dynamite sequence right after we're done here. Oh, my gosh. That's gonna work. Th- well, we talked about opening ceremony of ASOTU CON.
• 22:32
  Closing ceremony, I think we might have just nailed it. We hope you had a good time with us today. We certainly had fun doing this.
• 22:39
  On behalf of Michael Cirillo, the dancing Michael Cirillo, Kyle Malzier, and myself, thank you for listening to Auto Collabs.
• 22:46
  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.
• 22:59
  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.
• 23:07
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Are we recording yet? Are we rolling yet? Not yet.