Latest / Auto Collabs / Merchandising: Fixing The House Before Inviting People To It with Daniel Able

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Merchandising: Fixing The House Before Inviting People To It with Daniel Able · Auto Collabs

• 0:01
  [laughs] I feel like it's a Mexican standoff right now. [laughs] [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs. [laughs] Who's gonna shoot first? I don't know. Everyone.
• 0:18
  [laughs] If you're just listening, we're all just looking at each other with the most curious eyes. You gonna say- Michael, in particular, has the most curious eye. I feel like that's- Where do you...
• 0:30
  S- Cirillo, I got a question for you. Do you just stare into a, a, into your camera and the teleprompter too often? Or do you- Practice... or do you practice this in front of mirrors at a, on a regular basis?
• 0:43
  No, because, like, if I'm standing in front of a mirror, then I have to get comfortable with how I look. [laughs] He's flexing biceps. Yeah, he's like... [laughs] I don't know, dude.
• 0:52
  [laughs] I've seen a couple of gym pics from you. I saw some gym pics. God, those make me so uncomfortable to share those. I'm, I'm glad that you put it that way because I was like, "You know, now we've done it.
• 1:01
  Michael Cirillo's posting gym pics." Somebody's... Oh, we already talked about that. Never mind. [laughs] Fine. Fine, fine, fine. Fine. Speaking of pictures, [laughs] today's guest- Speaking of pictures.
• 1:15
  Hey, lookie there... how about that? Yeah, how about that? Today's guest, Daniel Abel from Car Cutter, uh, are experts in taking pictures or helping dealers get good pictures on the website.
• 1:23
  We have a couple little surprises for him that he doesn't know about, little factoids that came up in the research portion of this podcast. So, uh, we're gonna drop those on him early on in the conversation, I think.
• 1:33
  [laughs] And we hope you enjoy this conversation with Daniel Abel from Car Cutter. [upbeat music] The infamous- Oh, boy... Daniel Abel has joined us- [laughs]... on the Auto Collabs pod.
• 1:45
  Daniel, thanks for joining us, man. Thanks so much for having me, Kyle. I learned something that I don't know if you know that I know about you. Oh. [laughs] That's a weird way to start a conversation. Yeah.
• 1:57
  [laughs] I saw- Yeah... what you did last summer, right? [laughs] Our producer said that you have a f- part-time volunteer job as a beach babe. Yeah. I'm kidding.
• 2:06
  [laughs] I, I gotta screen my LinkedIn a little bit or something. [laughs] I think you're the one that put it up there. Yeah, I know. But I'm... Yeah, maybe I need to elaborate more. So you're not a beach babe.
• 2:21
  I feel like there's a David Hasselhoff AI-generated photo- [laughs]... with your face on it coming up. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. Yeah. Please do not- Yeah... do that. [laughs] Yeah. Wow.
• 2:30
  Uh, not exactly, um, maybe. [laughs] But I, uh, we have a lot of waterways and stuff. I'm down in the low country, as they call it, Hilton Head area of South Carolina.
• 2:40
  And, um, we have a lot of waterways and rivers and stuff, and I volunteer for a, uh, water rescue organization. Uh, it's basically a volunteer fire department without the fire and without the trucks.
• 2:52
  [laughs] So people get stranded or something like that out on the river, um, then I come with about 20 or 30 other people that can. So yeah, no bathing suit, no shirt off.
• 3:03
  Well, it's, it's without all those things, but is it with the chicken barbecues at least? No. No. What? Not even... I mean- You're doing it wrong... probably. You're doing it wrong. Maybe clam bake.
• 3:12
  Maybe the title of our game. I don't know. Yeah. [laughs] For sure. For sure.
• 3:16
  Well, I, I guess that has only something to do with what we're talking about today because, uh, we love just, like, getting the human story behind, uh, behind the human that is in our industry.
• 3:26
  And, um, Daniel, you know, uh, what I love about you is that you've taken a journey around a, a bunch of different places in auto, um, both on the retail and the, the, the vendor side. Right.
• 3:40
  Um, give us just, like, a little bit of a brief story on, on your background in the auto industry. Reader's Digest is, uh, got out of high school, had a friend that was a personal shopper for cars.
• 3:52
  So instead of spending time in a dealership, um, people would call him, he would find a specific car. That sounds so fun. And I was the runner guy 'cause I couldn't do much, didn't know anything about the car business.
• 4:05
  Um, was running between dealerships and, uh, met a person who said, "Hey, you ever thought about selling cars?" And I was like, "No, not at all." Not at all. And, uh, got put into one of the classes.
• 4:16
  I know all the dealers that are watching this have had the, the salesman class- The class... right? You know, where you bring in 10 or 12 people, and I was one of the two or three that survived the class.
• 4:27
  And, uh, that was in 2001. Yeah, I graduated, um- Yes. [laughs] I was one of those in 2009. Yeah. You're like, "Made it out alive." [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, I'm showing my age, obviously.
• 4:38
  Um, and, uh, sold cars for a little while. Took a call one day from a company called Car Ad, and what they were was an, uh, a company that dressed up eBay listings.
• 4:49
  And asked me if I'd ever sold cars on eBay, and I was like, "Man, I have a hard enough time selling them on the lot. No, I've never-" [laughs] "...
• 4:55
  thought about selling them on eBay" And eBay was the craze in the early 2000s. So I- Isn't that nuts?... adapted really quickly, yeah, and actually left the franchise store I was at.
• 5:06
  Worked for a guy in the middle of nowhere selling 30 cars a month on eBay. Um, and- Was it easier?... all over the country. All I did was talk on the phone and answer emails. Like, we had no foot traffic.
• 5:18
  [laughs] Right. And that was kind of the start of my digital career. Um, since then I've, you know, b- bounced, uh, a little bit back and forth.
• 5:27
  I took, took a sabbatical or two out of the car business, but I'm majorly with a dealer group down in, uh, this area. Um, and handled everything from used cars to running a store, um, to digital, to BDC.
• 5:40
  Um, so it was, it was, it's been an awesome journey. And then, uh, eventually got out in, in, uh, 2018 and, and got on the, the software side.
• 5:51
  And, um, and that's been a very, very eye-opening experience to, to be able to, to bring a lot of knowledge but some, some good products, um, out to dealerships.
• 6:01
  So I think, first of all, I think you've definitely, like, checked all the boxes. You have the stripes on your arm, right? Like, earn, earned the respect I, I think-That is due. Right.
• 6:11
  What prompted, what prompted the move to go to vendor side is, like, the first part of the question. The second part of the question is, what was the biggest surprise
• 6:23
  when you went vendor side and weren't a dealer- Right... anymore, right? But you dealt with a bunch of dealers. Ooh.
• 6:27
  Um, so a lot of things in my personal life changed, and I came in one day, had nothing to do with the group that I was with or the, the team that I had. But I came in one day and said, "Man,
• 6:38
  I don't wanna do this anymore."
• 6:39
  Um, sometimes, you know, it was late, late ti- my schedule was way better than it had been, um, but there was just a point where I was like, you know, I don't, I just, I don't wanna do this anymore.
• 6:49
  It's not that I didn't wanna do work, and not that I didn't wanna be in the car business, I just didn't wanna be in retail anymore.
• 6:54
  Um, and so, uh, I parted ways and went home, and I remember sitting on the edge of my bed, hand in my head going, "What in the heck- [laughs] What am I gonna do?... am I gonna do now?" I know.
• 7:05
  [laughs] Like, 'cause, you know- What have I done? I don't know if y'all get a mortgage notice every month on the first. Every month. They want their money. It's crazy.
• 7:14
  Um, so I, uh, did a little consulting for a little bit and then, um, and, and then I, uh, actually landed, um, with, uh, AutoLoop.
• 7:24
  And, um, had someone reach out to me and, and, and say they were referred, um, to reach out to me, which is pretty, pretty cool experience to have. Um, and, uh, to, to begin building out a sales team for AutoLoop.
• 7:38
  And one of the biggest things that I immediately, um, learned, I guess, was, um, that...
• 7:46
  I don't know, man, integrations and, and, like, the inner workings were just not always as friendly as a lot of vendors made it, made it feel like, um, when, when I was on the retail side.
• 7:57
  It wasn't, um, that, that was probably one of the biggest, most eye-opening things, was how much, um, that people didn't play with each other. And, and you got to analyze, there's a lot of money behind all that.
• 8:10
  Um, but at the end of the day, uh, my, my thought is, like, success for the dealer is success for your product, and everybody can stand on their own with, with those successes.
• 8:19
  Like, if I provide the value, um, you know, then I don't mind integrating or working with, um, others. Mm-hmm. Um, there's a lot of companies out there, and I, I, I hope I...
• 8:29
  This comes from a place of love, but there's a lot of companies that, that started off doing something and they branched out into 50 other things that they had no business being in to try to get a market share, in my opinion.
• 8:42
  That's the way I see it. And maybe it was through a purchase of a company, maybe it was through just creating it on their own, but they really, l- hindsight, should have just stayed in their lane.
• 8:54
  [laughs] You know what I mean? Yeah. They went wide instead of, like- I get it... holding the, the depth of the niche. Yeah, like a- You got out in 2018. Yeah.
• 9:02
  At any point during the preceding three years, did you look back and feel like you sold your stocks too early? [laughs] That's funny. So one of my GMs, um, reached out to me, and I, I, I still have the text.
• 9:18
  Um, he's like, "How you doing?" And I'm like, "I'm doing good, man." And he's like, uh, "Just in case you were wondering, um- "This is how we're doing"... you are an idiot." [laughs] That's what he said.
• 9:28
  "You are an-" [laughs] In case you were wondering. Were you wondering? Y- no, no, I wasn't until he brought it up. You weren't then. [laughs] And then I started going,
• 9:38
  "Yes, the heck of a lot of these groups throwing cars at us." I didn't know I'm, like, you, you just missed it by that much. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah.
• 9:45
  'Cause it was quite the opposite during COVID, obviously, 'cause dealers were looking o- for, uh, not necessarily they were looking to spend less, but they were like, "Why, why are we, why are we buying that?"
• 9:55
  Or they- Yeah... they may have taken their eyes off the prize, but they weren't, um, looking to add anymore because they ha- I don't have any cars to sell. Yeah.
• 10:03
  People were kicking the door and they'd be like, "Please, let me have that one. Please, please-" Yeah "... please sell me that car." [laughs] Yeah.
• 10:08
  So they had no cars to sell, so why would they care about, you know, like, marketing better or- Didn't, didn't have to try... you know. Right. Better, better follow-up.
• 10:16
  Who am I gof- what am I gonna do, follow up and say, "Hey, we just got a blue one in. Do you want it?" Like- Yeah. Follow-up sounds like this: "Well, if you don't want it, there's three other people that do." Right.
• 10:25
  Right. "Next." So, uh, yeah. Thanks for bringing that up, Michael. I really appreciate that. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. You, have a good one. That was great. Thanks. Nailed it. Yeah.
• 10:36
  'Cause I'm sitting here writing notes and I wrote down, "28- getting out in 2018," and then I'm like, "Wait a minute, Scott." Yeah. That whole COVID thing didn't... Yeah. Remember that? I'm su- Yeah. [laughs] I do.
• 10:49
  I mean, some people- We all just take a pause... "How you doing now?" We all, like, aw. Heavy sigh. Yeah. Right. [laughs] Yeah. Like- Gosh. So then you tre- you, you go from AutoLoop and then what happens?
• 11:02
  Yeah, so, um, they, they, uh, they were acquired by another company and, and, uh, so I decided to- Because of what you did there. I'm sorry? They, they got acquired because of what you had built there.
• 11:15
  Oh, man, I kinda wish. But no, that wasn't- [laughs]... the reason they got acquired. They, um, they, uh, were acquired by another company, I guess, to give more of a broader scope of, of products to this other company.
• 11:28
  Um, and so I moved into Service Lane Solutions, um, and, uh, as an account manager, um, traveling all over the country installing Service Lane Solutions. Um, and so tablet-based, messaging-based, all that kind of stuff.
• 11:45
  And that was a eye-opening experience, 'cause all of my experience has been in the dealership on the variable side, on the retail, you know, sh- you know, shoveling around cars and, and selling warranties and, and finance and, you know, acquisitions, all that kind of stuff, you know, buying cars.
• 12:04
  So never did I... My most, you know, utilized role in the service department was talking with an advisor about why a used car bill was so high.You know what I mean?
• 12:14
  Like, that was, that was the most, "Let's go look at that thing. Let's go look at that axle." And they're like, "Say, you see this?" "I have no idea what I'm looking at, but yeah. Okay, I believe you now," you know?
• 12:25
  [laughs] So, um, anyway, it was, it was very eye-opening because the, the, the thing that really spoke to me was the customer, right? Like, how the customer can... H- how the transaction could be made so much easier
• 12:38
  for the customer, rather than all this paperwork on paperwork on paperwork, and this calling into service departments, can't get an advisor on the phone. You know, things like that.
• 12:48
  So, um, the platform that, that, uh, I was working with was making that a lot easier.
• 12:53
  Um, and then I, uh, I came across an opportunity with a company called Car Cutter, and joined them in late 2002, and that has been, uh- Wait, '22. Yeah, '22. Sorry. '22. '22. Okay. Yes.
• 13:09
  I was like, man, you've been [laughs]... [laughs] That's the big reveal. Yeah. Ba-da. '22, and, uh, it's been a blessing, man.
• 13:17
  We've grown tremendously, um, throughout the country in, um, in helping dealers to better merchandise their vehicles, um, through images. So, lots of, um, inconsistency.
• 13:28
  We bring consistency to, to websites and SRPs, so- Let's talk about- It's fun... let's talk about the r- result, like, 'cause Kyle talks about this all the time.
• 13:37
  I just had a, a lot more exposure to conversations Kyle's in. Yeah. But he talks about merchandising and the effect that it has. Right. Michael's company leans in on merchandising and the effect that it has.
• 13:51
  Give us your take, and, like, what are you saying to dealers who may not understand the impact, the, like, the direct impact it has when the vehicle isn't properly merchandised? That's per- that's great.
• 14:01
  I, I, I really welcome that question because here's my thought. Bump set, boom.
• 14:06
  It's- No, it's not, it's not only what I think you're an expert at because of what your company does, but I do think it's a part of the broader narrative that, that really just...
• 14:15
  It's like throwing, like, three anchors on the consumer when they're going through the process when it's not merchandised right, and it just has... It's easy for people to move past stuff that just doesn't look right.
• 14:24
  Two points I want you to consider. Since '01, okay, and it was happening well before I got into the car business, there was the, quote, "three-day rule", right?
• 14:33
  You know, in 72 hours, we want that car on the front line, right? Sign it, yeah.
• 14:38
  And that meant with the new tires, the dent guy, the p- bumper painted, you know, the oil changed, the window tint done, the stripe, whatever, right? Never happened, you know? Um, but the new front line is your website.
• 14:52
  And so, we, we tend to forget that if we don't do all the cosmetic things and then not only prepare that listing by pricing it and putting a description and all those great things, but then getting images i, is checking the box.
• 15:07
  And that's what a lot of dealers, I think, do today, right? Like, we got the big boss, the GM, whatever, that's on us, the owner, who's on us about pictures, right? Getting pictures. We do it, right?
• 15:17
  We check the box, but we don't do it very well. Think about this other point. Go to Amazon. Go shop for something. Anywhere. Amazon's just a good example.
• 15:28
  Go to Amazon and tell me if you can find one listing that does not have a picture. That's the first thing.
• 15:34
  And then have you ever seen something that was a dollar or two more or less that you bought because of the picture quality? Absolutely.
• 15:42
  You were able to maybe see a little video or something that, oh, man, yeah, that wa- that, that- That actually happens on Amazon all the time- All the time... when you're shopping for something, right?
• 15:49
  You're like, something, it's, you're, you're like, it's the same product and you kinda know that already, right?
• 15:54
  Especially because of, like, a lot of the stuff is made from, like, the same overseas vendor, like, whatever it is.
• 15:59
  But if there's a better picture, like, even though I know it's exactly the same thing, I'm paying a few bucks more just because I'm like, "Eh, I feel like they got it together a little bit more."
• 16:07
  But the difference between, you know, Amazon and a dealer's website is I am selling AirPods because I got a million of them on Amazon. I'm responsible for that one little listing on Amazon. Right.
• 16:20
  On your website, as a dealer, you [laughs] are responsible for every piece of inventory. Right. Even the same ones are different. Yeah. [laughs] So, you've gotta have consistency there. Mm-hmm.
• 16:29
  Um, you know, uh, I, I feel like we spend so much effort in getting people to our website, um, a- and, and I was guilty, like, so my eyes have been opened.
• 16:40
  Um, but we, we bring them to a website and it's not to where we would really like to have it. Um, we spend all month- [laughs] Kyle... on these cars. Car- Don't you start. Don't you start on me.
• 16:54
  [laughs] Man, we'll sweep- Kyle's wife- We'll sweep the parking lot... Kyle's wife is about to get jealous Right. We- He's about to...
• 17:00
  [laughs] We'll sweep the parking lot to put the front line of cars so great, but yet our website is nowhere near that, and we get, you know- It's like we should have our porters making our websites. Yes. Right?
• 17:10
  Like, they know how to at least line something up. Preach. You know what I mean? Preach. You know what would be a fun, a fun piece of content to make, and maybe we'll make it before someone hears this and makes it.
• 17:19
  [laughs] But, like, imagine if you did a visual representation, like, from a porter's point of view of what the lot would look like if it was treated like the website actually looks like- [laughs]...
• 17:29
  with popups and barriers and, like, oh, you drive around the corner, oh, there's three orange barriers. Oh, my goodness. Oh, you can't actually get to the ca- Yeah... like. That's great. We gotta make that.
• 17:38
  [laughs] That's, please. Someone's jumping out going, "Do you wanna chat with me?" [laughs] "Do you wanna chat with me? Do you wanna chat with me?"
• 17:43
  Straight up tackling you off the lot, like, before you even get the thing. Like- Yes. Somebody just, somebody just popping up, "Hi." You're like- A lawyer showing up with a compliance notification... "Yes, please.
• 17:51
  Content." Right. We, we should go through- Like, I'm flying-... all of the effort to park cars on the front line, but then put big blankets over them like a coming soon photo. [laughs] That is solid. I'm taking notes.
• 18:03
  We're, we're doing this. Oh, my goodness. We're doing this. This is, this is an ad set. This is a strategy. [laughs] This is unbelievable. I actually... Okay, so back to, like, back to a little bit of reality.
• 18:14
  Back when, um, so this was, uh, five or six years back.
• 18:17
  I had a buddy that, um-He, uh, he was a freelance photographer, but, like, 90% of his work came from big box, like, retail stores, like, um, like department stores, like JCPenney, Sears, things like that, right? Macy's.
• 18:34
  Right. And all his job with those people were was to photograph items for their sites. The typical timeline of just the photography
• 18:52
  started anywhere between 12 and 15 months before the item would even go live to the public. Wow. Whoa.
• 19:00
  Like, that's when he was photographing, beginning to edit, beginning to shoot different angles, and shots, and ways to merchandise, like, a $50 shoe at Macy's. Right. Right?
• 19:14
  And it's tough because, uh, in our industry, like, you're constantly dealing with seven new cars today to, to, to, uh, adjust merchandising. Seven new cars tomorrow.
• 19:26
  Like, there's no skew in the, in, in the automotive industry, right? You don't get to, like, sell 50 of the same exact thing, to your point, Paul.
• 19:34
  So it does, it becomes a challenge when you think about the description, the photo, the merchandising, the, uh, everything around, features, data sets, all of that, that's required to get just one vehicle live listing to 20 different websites.
• 19:49
  So, you know, figuring out more things that can speed that up, make it more professional, put it on a pedestal, get it in front of more eyes, make it more attractive, is something that I think our industry is definitely waking up to, um, that, that merchandising is obviously the first step in marketing, you know?
• 20:09
  That's- I'm enraged. There's the say, right? What'd you say, you're enraged? I'm enraged. I'm saying he's insane with anger. [laughs] Well, 'cause I'm writing...
• 20:14
  You know how many times I've written three dollar signs on my notes? Because I'm like, if the, i- if we shifted the psychology, I, I wanna get your thoughts on this, Daniel.
• 20:22
  If we shifted our mindset and we're like, "Wait, by virtue of how leveraged I am on floor plan alone, to bring the, the vehicle here, and this thing is now costing me by the minute that it is not-" Mm-hmm...
• 20:34
  sitting in the slot.
• 20:37
  To, to then not merchandise it properly means that if it doesn't have a photo or a description, to your point, then it's also not being sent out in product catalogs to Google and Facebook or wherever.
• 20:48
  And now, now on top of how I, uh, leveraged I already am, I'm now diluting my ad dollars across just the, the catalog set number of inventories that can go out, and this poor guy over here is not able to get advertised.
• 21:03
  Now, I've just added to my cost. Uh, and then I'm worried about if it's sitting there not captured from every angle. For those that are not watching, Daniel has, like, praying hands right now- [laughs]... with, like,
• 21:15
  this, this, like, series of just- I'm praying others get it... deep, deep into his other eye. [laughs] That's really, I, I'm really just praying that others get it.
• 21:22
  Because there's another part that we normally hit whenever we're talking to people, is the, the amount of time that you maybe have for labor and, and effort to get those. And, and- Right...
• 21:34
  our product, not trying to really get deep into it, but our product allows you to, to, to get them faster. Because again, s- speed is time to market.
• 21:42
  So you can spend less money on someone to go out there and capture those photos. But also, the amount of profits that you can pick up. And I never even thought about the floor plan part.
• 21:52
  Like, yeah, there's your third dollar sign right there. Like, I, yes. So my prayer is that, please, dealers, like [laughs] get, get, get with it. Let's merchandise these things properly, for sure.
• 22:03
  Have you seen that meme of Jesus standing in front of a wall of steering wheels, and it's, like, all the wheels Jesus took? [laughs] Ah, I need that meme in my life. That's 'cause I'm, I'm, you got the praying hands.
• 22:16
  I'm like, "Jesus, take this wheel, please." Please. Please.
• 22:19
  [laughs] Oh, well, Daniel, you have been so much fun to, to learn a little bit about your Baywatch aspirations, and also to talk about your journey in the industry, and just seeing your desire and heart to serve dealers, to help them be better, to help them be more efficient, to help them serve the community and the customer better.
• 22:35
  Thank you so much for joining us today on Auto Collapse. Paul, Kyle, Michael, I can't thank you guys enough. I really appreciate it. See you guys again soon. [upbeat music] Here's the thing.
• 22:47
  One, it was, that was just too much fun, so I l- and I enjoy a good laugh in a podcast.
• 22:54
  But I'll, I'll tell you, there were, um, bunch of things that stood out to me, but there was one in particular, um, that I think is really important and, and it's something that everybody can take, is there was a moment there, I don't know if you caught it, but he said, "And I was in the wrong.
• 23:11
  I was one of the people that didn't know better." Mm. "I, I didn't-" Yeah... have my head up out of the sand when I was in retail."
• 23:20
  And I think that, like, especially, I mean, I remember in retail, like, your, your hands are in the dirt.
• 23:26
  You are grinding out the next day, the next week, the next month, just almost, like, fighting to stay i- in the fight, right? And
• 23:36
  the, the benefit of people that have either gone before or are trying that new things, is there are people out there, and y- and others can be that person, that go, "Hey, we might've had it wrong yesterday, actually.
• 23:50
  What does it look like to, to right that? Like, where do I need to be looking to, to find the better information that might actually propel the business forward?" Instead of just going, like, "I'm in the fight.
• 24:00
  Everybody get out of the way." Yeah. "I know better." Yeah. You know what I, like, s- s- simple little factoids- [laughs]... stood out to me. I'm gonna get a trigger pad on my broadcaster and it just goes factoid.
• 24:13
  Factoid. [laughs] But you gotta, you have to get the C and the T pr- like, factoid. [laughs] Fact. Um, two, two things he said along these, these lines.
• 24:22
  Small little, small little nuggets that I, that I took outUm, that it's 2024 at time of recording, and there is still so much old school mentality baked into something as simple as merchandising.
• 24:40
  Hmm. For example, when he says, the... And this [laughs] might be the most compelling argument regarding Amazon and a car dealer website, 'cause you know we've all heard the Amazon- Right... "Oh, well, look at Amazon.
• 24:54
  Would they ever do this?" [laughs] And, "Why does your car dealer site do this?" And it's like, yeah- Because they don't have $100 billion in reserve. [laughs] Yes.
• 25:01
  But also, somehow Amazon's made us comfortable buying products from a store that's called [laughs] And their, like, 3,000 letter n- [laughs] Amazon. Are there any listings without photos? Yeah. So simple.
• 25:16
  But also- Would you pay more if a listing has better photos? But also- So simple... the old school mentality in 2024 is this: yeah, but you know what? You, you just never know. Just get it up, get the listing- Right...
• 25:26
  up there even if it's a coming soon photo- Yeah... because you just never know. Actually, we do know, because data. Yeah. Go do- Yeah... a view segregation study on your website.
• 25:36
  Look at how many VDP views you get on non-merchandised listings versus those with merchandised listings. If there's any consistent disparity- You do know... you do know.
• 25:47
  You know, in, I think it's Pennsylvania, their slogan for the state lottery is, "You never know." [laughs] That's it. [laughs] That's their brand statement: you never know. You never know. Which is pretty brilliant.
• 25:58
  But that's not how you should manage your inventory. Absolutely. Michael, you had a front row seat because your dad, the company your dad started, was, was it still called Flex then? No. It was called Auto RV World.
• 26:12
  Auto, like O-T-T-O, or is that the Canadian version of auto? No, no, not like Otto, the opioid- Okay... poppy grower. But, but- Pam Rengetto. [laughs] But you had,
• 26:24
  you had a front row seat to the transition from print- Yeah... to digital. Yeah.
• 26:28
  And there was, like, this mindset shift that happened then, and now this is, like, an evolution of that mindset, but that's, it's 30 years later. See?
• 26:35
  And, and back then- And we're still talking about getting a good photo. Oh, dude.
• 26:40
  And see, now, now that's interesting, bringing that into it, because no dealer, if they only had 9 to 12 slots to advertise on a page- They're not, not putting a car picture in that thing... never. We would never do it.
• 26:52
  All of a sudden on the web. Do you think it's the simplicity of the way that has caused this, I don't know. Anyways, love talking about simple solutions.
• 27:02
  I also have, um, a cool piece of content which should just be somebody walking onto a car lot with a big red drape and draping.
• 27:12
  [laughs] If, if car dealer websites were real life and just draping the curtain over the car and putting a coming soon [laughs] With a price. [laughs] Price on it.
• 27:21
  Well, listen, we hope you, uh, enjoyed this episode of Auto Collabs. We had a ton of fun with Daniel over at Car Cutter.
• 27:27
  On behalf of Paul Jay Daily, Kyle Mountserre, myself, Michael Cirillo, thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs.
• 27:34
  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 dot com.
• 27:46
  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.
• 27:53
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording?
• 28:10
  Are we rolling yet? Not yet.