Latest / Auto Collabs / Fresh Out of Retail with Carol Marshall

Transcript

Fresh Out of Retail with Carol Marshall · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  So I'm sitting there at Digital Dealer this year.
• 0:04
  [upbeat music] This is Auto Collabs And we had just started our TikTok account as a SOTU, and for some reason, I logged into it, and the first thing that I saw when I logged in- [laughs]...
• 0:23
  was somehow they got the hashtag right, was a TikTok from Active Engage of, like, showing all of the types of digital dealer em- people that would be walking in, and it was probably...
• 0:39
  I wish they would've had millions of followers at that point, because it was one of the most dialed-in- Spot on [laughs]... expressions of how people engage in automotive conferences [laughs]. I love those. Hey.
• 0:52
  I love those videos where they talk about, where they give all the stereotypes. Like, Dude Perfect does that a lot, right? They'll do, like, the plane guest, the dad, you know, the... It's so much fun.
• 1:02
  And so the fact, I saw that video. I think you probably are the one that showed it to me.
• 1:05
  And the fact that they were able to nail that just as you were logging into TikTok, just as you were at the same conference they were at, I mean, talk about a, a personality introduction to a company.
• 1:17
  It takes a lot of courage to do stuff like that. Like, I don't think people realize, especially in, like, automotive- It does... where there's kinda two buckets.
• 1:24
  You are either the prepared notes, you know, uh, I don't wanna s- stereotype to white collar. Like, prepared notes must be like, "Yes, and hello, Ca- Kyle and Paul. How are, how art thou today?"
• 1:37
  [laughs] You know, like that. Old English and everything. Yeah. "How, how art thou?" [laughs] Yeah, right? That just sounds so funny.
• 1:42
  Or the other side, which is like, "We're not afraid to show personality," but also maybe run the risk of the industry at large not understanding. I love that people can just- Or not taking you seriously...
• 1:50
  take a stance and be like, "No, we're fun." Yeah. Yeah. We're- Yeah, w- no, we're, we're fun. We're gonna show how fun we are. So I love, I love hearing about stuff like that. Yeah, Carol kind of embodies that.
• 1:59
  She, she is really this great blend of, you know, fun-loving, playful spirit with a really savvy understanding of what's going on, um, in her company.
• 2:10
  A s- when you look back through her history, talk about someone who has, like, came into automotive from outside automotive, um, and then had, you know, gone through the ranks and then has s- come back and stayed in automotive, um, as someone with vast experience, vast understanding, a very technical understanding, too.
• 2:26
  So, I mean, I guess it makes sense that their TikTok account, uh, is- captures kind of the, that, those two sides of the personality. So, uh, we hope you enjoy this interview with Carol Marshall from Active Engage.
• 2:39
  [upbeat music] Carol, it is such a pleasure to be with you today. Thanks for giving us some of your time here on Auto Collabs. Absolutely. I'm excited. Thank you, guys. Oh, man. It's so much fun.
• 2:55
  Actually, your company is so much fun. Your TikTok account is so much fun. Is that because you're so much fun? [laughs] I'm the queen of fun. I don't, I don't know how to explain that. [laughs] Um, no, I appreciate that.
• 3:09
  That, the, the whole TikTok thing started by accident, and it was because I was making fun and, um, and then of course- Wait, did you start the TikTok account? No. Oh.
• 3:21
  I, I just, you know, was admiring the way someone was walking through Digital Dealer- [laughs]... and trying, you know, the highest form of, uh, what is it?
• 3:31
  I have a feeling the word admiring the way you used it in that sentence isn't exactly the dictionary definition. [laughs] So the team was like, "What are you doing?" And I'm like, "Didn't you see?"
• 3:43
  Like, so then of course they took that idea and they ran with it and, um, yeah. And, and is that, is that the video I've seen where it was, like, the different types of people you'll see at Digital Dealer? Yes.
• 3:53
  Fanta- Yes... look, we'll have to link it up in the show notes 'cause if you haven't seen that- Unbelievable... when I first saw that, I was like, "Somebody understands this world." [laughs] Right? Yeah.
• 4:03
  So one of the things, one of the things that, um, I love about your background specifically is that you, you kind of have gone from inside management of automotive dealers,
• 4:14
  then into real estate, then back into automotive, and now you're, like, taking a different angle on automotive. So can you answer, like, when did you first get into automotive?
• 4:23
  'Cause I, I couldn't track that, you know, from just reading, like, LinkedIn and stuff. But, like, what was your first experience- Yeah... in the auto industry?
• 4:30
  My first experience in the auto industry was working the front office for my stepdad, who was a dealer turned wholesaler, and then going to the auction.
• 4:40
  And when I was in college, he would buy the beer in the hotel room for me and my friends to drive the cars, and then drive the different cars home the next day. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Um- So you said- Okay.
• 4:50
  Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. [laughs] You put a bunch of words together in a sentence right there. That normally don't go together real well. [laughs] He bought the beer to drive the cars.
• 5:00
  You're meaning he bought the beer as- No, no, no. The night. So we would drive the cars there- [laughs]... spend the night, then the next day we would drive home. Okay. Yeah, in a different car. Okay.
• 5:11
  Just had to clarify that. Yeah. I mean, granted, it is the car business. Yeah. An old school car business. It's the car business, the wholesale side, like, you know- That's right... '90s. That's right.
• 5:20
  [laughs] So, so officially that was the first experience. But, um, after that, because I went to college, I s- I was working with Sears as a national trainer and, um, then I found myself at home with my first child.
• 5:36
  I went to a job fair to get information for my neighbor, who wanted to work for a large re- retailer, and the only way I could talk to someone was fill out an application.
• 5:47
  Um, and then I was hired a few, [laughs] a few weeks later. So, um, we were... I, I was at home with one child and they said, "Hey, we'll pay you this." And I said, "What day do I start?" [laughs] And so,
• 6:04
  um- What was that role? What was that role that you stepped into? I was...
• 6:07
  It, it was a GSM.In a, in a used car store, so, um- Wow Yeah So you entered, you entered at the GSM level because of your, your retail experience at that point.
• 6:19
  It, yes, because I had been a district manager with Sears for, for floor coverings, for window coverings in the DC area. We decorated the vice presidential house. Like, I, s- negotiating skills.
• 6:31
  I negotiated all the contracts with the installers. So there are many reasons, and they were trying to introduce non-automotive blood. I probably did not share the auction story at that point with them.
• 6:43
  [laughs] Um, [laughs] Yeah, right. We'll talk about that later. But, but yeah.
• 6:48
  And, and that was a, that was such a wonderful experience, um, with AutoNation and, and starting with the store, and then e-commerce district manager, and then field operations manager out of Fort Lauderdale.
• 7:01
  And wow, learned so much with Mike Maroone. I mean, to be in the room- Right... and I remember him telling us, like, "Imagine the kids game with, um, some liquid in the spoon."
• 7:13
  He goes, "I don't care if you have one drop left in the spoon, you get there first." So- [laughs]... that's, that's what we did. And, and- Yeah... what an impressive team we had, you know, at that point in time, so.
• 7:25
  Okay.
• 7:26
  I don't wanna skip over the fact, because I think it's really important to kind of hear your experience, and I know this, this is, uh, some time ago, but the, the reality that as an industry, typically we do not hire
• 7:39
  really anybody at the dealership level that has the title manager or director into automotive from outside industries. There's kind of this, like, have to cut your teeth mentality. And I'd love- Yeah...
• 7:53
  for you to kind of talk through maybe just a little bit, like, w- how you experienced that learning curve at that point.
• 8:00
  [laughs] And how maybe y- you see it as more of a possibility, potentially, for more people to take your path and for our industry to recognize that there are s- transferable skills from outside our industry- Yeah...
• 8:11
  at the management level. Absolutely. So, um, when I came in at that level, the general manager came from the rental car industry. Um, and he did pretty well. Today he's, um, COO of EchoPark for Sonic.
• 8:29
  So it was Tim Keane who I was working for. And I would take one day off in the month. To say it was easy would be a lie. It was bell to bell every day. One day off in the month.
• 8:41
  I'd come in the next day, he would be waiting. How many ups, write-ups. I mean, it was driven into your head that you knew what was going on in your business. The transferable skills is what I, I touched on.
• 8:53
  You know, I, I had experience sitting across the table and negotiating with people. I had, obviously, the customer service experience. I mean, Sears 20, 30 years ago was, um, was all about the, the customer experience.
• 9:08
  So, um, and then it was, I was really surrounded. That team was very, very special. Again, it was in the early days. We wanted...
• 9:16
  There were many other non-automotive people on our staff, um, with just a two or three in there. So, you know, you, you l- we had Reynolds and Reynolds. We learned the system.
• 9:27
  We learned F&I, and, um, we just continued to get better at it. And a sense of humor is key.
• 9:34
  Um, to go back to the fun part, like, you have to have a sense of humor and, and when you miss it, you just miss it, and you own it, and you get better, so yeah. So you said sense of humor is key.
• 9:48
  Was that a part of the culture in your time at AutoNation? Um, in pockets of my time at AutoNation. [laughs] Yeah. I mean, there's certainly times.
• 10:00
  I remember a weekend, we, the used car manager and I were having a, um, passionate conversation with the GM. [laughs] And he's like, "You just completely missed the boat. You missed the boat. You missed the boat."
• 10:10
  And the used car manager's like, "Boss, I think we were, like, parking right next to the boat. Really. We were, like, right there next to the boat." [laughs] And, you know, you just find ways to,
• 10:21
  to, to break the ice, but. Bring some levity to the situation. Yeah, a little bit. Yeah. Uh, yeah.
• 10:27
  So, so for the last, what, 13, 14 years, right, now you've been, uh, with ActiveEngage, which, uh, ActiveEngage was an extremely early provider in the chat environment, uh, in, in automotive.
• 10:42
  And so were you o- were you on kind of the ground floor with the organization or, or- Mm...
• 10:47
  'cause I don't really know the history bet- behind ActiveEngage and how, how bringing chat to the automotive industry, uh, because it was one of just, like, a couple providers initially that, that was bringing- Yeah...
• 10:58
  this, this new idea, right? Yeah. Yeah, I was employee number seven. Um- Wow, okay... and so [laughs] there were the, the two owners at the time were two of the seven. Um, we did not have an office.
• 11:11
  I had known them, you know, through the industry for years and years. I hadn't seen them in a while. And I actually went to a digital dealer, and they would do this, and then they'd go talk to me, and they did...
• 11:22
  So they were chatting while they were in the booth. And we kind of reconnected then. So when I had the opportunity to come on board, I mean, it was a complete dream.
• 11:31
  Because I remember being in the dealership, an AutoNation dealership, and being told, "Oh, you had 11 people on your virtual showroom yesterday morning. That's awesome." And I'm like, "Yeah. Well, who were they?
• 11:43
  What did they look like? You know, what, what were they looking at? What did they wanna know? Are they looking to buy this weekend?" And you don't know any of that. You know none of that.
• 11:53
  So when they came to me and I was presented the opportunity, wow, I knew from being inside the dealership what information I would wanna know to continue that relationship and sell something.
• 12:07
  And so that's the way I structured the conversation. And we have an acronym for our, the way that we have our conversation flow.And have fun, H, is, is the last one. Because it should be fun.
• 12:24
  It's, it's the most expensive emotional purchase someone's going to make. So you have to establish trust and a relationship and help them ha- This is the most exciting part of the journey, right?
• 12:37
  Imagining which vehicle you're gonna get. Like, by all means. And then flip it over to the service side. You know, one of the things that we're very careful about is we never ask, "When do you wanna bring it in?"
• 12:50
  Because I don't want you to have in your mind that Tuesday at 10:00 is when you wanna bring it in, for that time not to be available. Mm-hmm. Right. Yeah. So in- Yeah. You know. Instead, let me- So, okay, okay...
• 13:00
  look to see what we have. Yes, sorry. And you're gonna leave us hanging now, 'cause you told us about an acronym. [laughs] Right. I was like- The, the, H. I was like- Ends with an H... what word ends with an H?
• 13:09
  [laughs] I gotta know the acronym because I feel like that's really crucial to w- to the way that maybe you manage conversations and the w- the way that, like, maybe- Yeah...
• 13:16
  as an industry we need to approach conversations.
• 13:19
  'Cause if I'm thinking that the word ends with H and it, and, and it's, like, have fun is kind of the, the, the crux of the thing, I'm guessing there's some other good stuff for us as an industry.
• 13:28
  There's other good letters in that word. Yeah. Well- And the first letter would be L, for listen. And the second's A, for acknowledge. Because think about when you go through a drive-through. Oh.
• 13:39
  If you say- I know where we're going with this... "I want a chocolate milkshake," and no one repeats that back to you, do you pull forward? Right. [laughs] No. You do not. [laughs] Yeah. And it all, it all relates to H.
• 13:52
  And then U-G-H, right? Would you understand after that? Hmm? Would you understand after that? Yes. Okay. You should understand. C- because again, you really do need to clarify.
• 14:03
  And I, and, and look, this is what gets to the heart of what separates us, is we have to have humans. Because a word can have multiple meanings. Oh, yeah. Especially in English. And how... Yes.
• 14:16
  And people hijack words that don't even... I have a 15-year-old son that I, I- [laughs] A little hijacking going on in the 15-year-olds right now. Yeah. [laughs] He'll say bet, and I'll go, "Bet what? What? I don't..."
• 14:31
  [laughs] Means he agrees, just so you know. Last night at the dinner table- Uh... We had a whole conversation about sus. It was the greatest thing ever. [laughs] I'm like, "Oh, my goodness." Gotta suss it out. Yeah.
• 14:41
  [laughs] Yeah. Yeah. Oh, somebody, my- It's a good one... my, my 13-year-old daughter just turn, told me a word they're using, and it, it means that, like, someone is e- like, eliciting sympathy from you.
• 14:51
  Like saying, "Oh, you guys probably don't want me anyway. I'm not any good." And she said- Yeah... a- another English word that is, it doesn't mean that, but that's what it means now. Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. Yes.
• 15:01
  That's exactly right. Right. [laughs] Yeah. So what, so we have L-A, U is understand. What's the G? Is it laugh? I'm assuming the word's laugh. Give. Give. I'm calling it. You have guide. Guide. Guide. Ooh, I like it.
• 15:14
  Guide. Guide. Because we have the whole- And then you also have the, for those out there that aren't good spellers, we L-A-U-G-H-ed, and we end in have fun. We end with have fun.
• 15:22
  Which means that you laugh the- We laugh the whole, we laugh the way through the conversation. We, we- Ha ha ha, laughing all the way to the bank... we explain that we're the hostess.
• 15:31
  And I mean, I love food very much, so this, it's probably why the analogy came to me. But- [laughs] It always goes back to food analogies. [laughs] It, it, it does.
• 15:39
  We are the ones to put that shopper exactly where they're gonna be comfortable. But we can't take their order, we can't serve the food. That is for our dealer partner to do.
• 15:51
  But we're putting them exactly by the window, away from the fan, whatever it is. We're gonna put them right there with just such care. That's a great metaphor. Um, yeah. I mean, that's, that's why we kill it.
• 16:05
  Look, my mom, uh, my mom always said, "If it's n- if you're not having fun, it's not worth doing."
• 16:11
  And, um, it's interesting, that day I went to the digital dealer conference and reconnected, um, with Ted on that day, my mom was in hospice in Jacksonville. Wow. And the last word she told to me was, "Go work, go work."
• 16:28
  Um, she had brain cancer. Hmm. And so I, I said, "Okay, I'm gonna go. I'm gonna come back." And I came back and, and that was it. So she sent me to work, and I reconnected that day with Ted and Active Engage. And
• 16:43
  so that's... This is my family. That's... I am such a competitive person. It's, I'm working on it. But- [laughs] Well, you say it like it's a bad thing. You're like, "You don't wanna catch me in a room." That's right.
• 16:56
  It's okay. Yeah. Man. [laughs] It's okay to be competitive. That's a good... But you're- Yeah... you're working on mo- uh, regulating it, is what you're saying. Yes. Yes. Yes, I am.
• 17:04
  [laughs] But it's, it's, it's a part of my family, you know? Everyone that's here, the product we put out, our dealers, because I've been there.
• 17:12
  Um, I did spend some time with a manufacturer and I watched how those district reps just beat the crap out of their dealers to sell whatever model we had coming in, you know? And so- Remember those days?
• 17:24
  I just keep all of that in mind. Remember those days? Yeah. [laughs] "We have all these cars. We need to force some dealers to take them." [laughs] Right. "You want this? You're gonna sell 20 of those." Right.
• 17:34
  [laughs] So, yeah. Right. That's unbelievable. Right. I am. Every time.
• 17:38
  This, this is, uh, you know, what, the, one of the things that I love about this podcast, and I think that our industry and even just, like, culture in general just needs a humanizing,
• 17:51
  you know, approach to the businesses and the people that are involved in them. You know, I, I think about, like, you know, like the, the, the kinda like eat local idea, right? And it's like, yes- Mm-hmm... eat local.
• 18:04
  But also everybody that's interacting with you from any company is, quote-unquote, "local". So to hear you and the stories that you tell about being at AutoNation, coming from, you know, Sears, and then this acronym...
• 18:18
  that's core and central to every conversation that you encourage your people in your chat, your humans that chat- Yeah... is like, there's nobody that can't, uh, get aligned with that.
• 18:28
  And whether they learn that on their own or connect with Active Engage, like, that is, that's a, that's... I, I, I'm taking that. I'm going, "I'm gonna laugh in every conversation", right?
• 18:38
  [laughs] It's like I need to listen. I need to acknowledge what they're s- Yeah... okay. Yep, I understand you. I'm gonna repeat that back, and then I'm gonna guide you.
• 18:44
  I'm gonna sit you, you know, in the window seat away from the fan with the good view. Yeah.
• 18:48
  And all the while, we're just gonna have fun while doing- if, if everybody can't take that into every conversation that they have in the showroom, on the internet, with a lead, it doesn't matter. Like, that's a- Yeah...
• 19:00
  that's unbelievable. Well, it's, it's difficult for those in the store that are paid based on a commission. They've g- they're trying to get to the sell, right? They're trying to close a deal.
• 19:09
  We're just trying to close an appointment- Mm-hmm... and allow them to do what they do. Um, and then when you think about, we, our, our conversations are unscripted.
• 19:18
  So we take people who are not from the automotive field, and we train them in different makes, models, considerations. Um, shout out to Kevin Fry. I'm using his video on the EV tax credit. Thank you.
• 19:31
  [laughs] Um, and we teach them this flow. And then we have a team of quality professionals, a team of training, in addition to our operations supervisors, that's constantly watching it, constantly tweaking it.
• 19:44
  So, um, yeah, it's a good skeleton, but you gotta have everything to support it. Um- So you're fully unscripted? Yes. Wow. Wow. That's nuts. Yeah. That is. Yeah.
• 19:56
  For, for those h- that have never run any level of BDC, right, that is a, that's a bold ask to have people- Yeah... unscripted. Um, you know, we- Well, it means that you trust your training. Yeah. Right?
• 20:08
  You're very- Yeah. [laughs]... confident in your training 'cause the, the script- Right, right... is in a lot of ways a crutch where you were like, "Hey- Yeah...
• 20:14
  if we don't have time to train, just read this" enthusiastically. Yeah. People... Yeah, for the agent themselves, they're like, "I wanna make sure I'm checking the right box."
• 20:22
  And so you also have to have a culture that's supportive of, "You really dropped it there. That, that was not good." Right. Mm. "But let's, let's readdress that."
• 20:31
  So you have to have a culture where people are confident and able to go out on a limb. Um, yeah.
• 20:37
  And able to be corrected in the spirit of kinda like humility and like, hey, just this, this desire to everyone get better together. Yeah. It's funny, it reminds me- Yes...
• 20:44
  and since you like food illustrations, I'll, I'll give you one. Um, did you know- Please... that at Five Guys they don't have any french fry timers? No.
• 20:53
  You'll never hear a french fry timer go off because they wanted to create an environment that didn't have that like, they felt that that got in the way of- Yeah... of their thing.
• 21:04
  And so that meant they had to train their people to know by look when the fries- Yeah... were done, right? So there's no backstop. They're trusting if... I'm sure some fries have been burnt, right? Yeah.
• 21:15
  [laughs] And i- it's a very similar scenario. But like- Those are some good fries, though. That's what I'm saying. Some serious fries. Because there's no timer. Yeah. [laughs] I'm getting hungry.
• 21:22
  I want some french fries now. [laughs] Ooh, boy. [laughs] So what, you know- Will we have fries in the VIP lounge? [laughs] I hope so. We sh- Yeah. Yeah. We could, we could probably make that happen.
• 21:32
  But they're not gonna be- We probably can make that happen... Five Guys fries. But right below- Oh, not gonna be... the VIP lounge, there's a Geno's Steaks and a Chickie's and Pete's that both have fries.
• 21:40
  So I'm sure we can get some- Okay... up two flights of steps. [laughs] I'm sure we can make some french fries happen. Cool.
• 21:44
  You know, one of the things that I'm interested in, especially as, you know, dealers are still... It's funny because you talk about, you know, at AutoNation, you, it's like 11 visitors to your digital showroom.
• 21:55
  [laughs] And we're still, obviously, we've done a lot more digital. And, and- Yeah... we've moved to understanding website interaction and customer journeys and all that. But- Yeah. Yeah...
• 22:03
  there's still, I, I feel like there's still a gap to get there in automotive.
• 22:07
  And so as a, as a company that, that lives in this chat world and customer communication and digital spaces, what are you seeing that are, like, maybe shifts or changes that we as an industry need to, to make, or things that, that y- are on the horizon for you all that you're trying to figure out how to more clear up customer communications or the way that we engage with customer- Yeah...
• 22:30
  journeys online right now? So there's a couple things. You know, some dealers don't want us to be conversational. They're more like, "Just get the name and number. We'll handle it." Mm.
• 22:41
  And so we, we go through a little A/B testing with them and try to get them to understand, okay, you still may get the name and email address, but you're not gonna get someone to pick up the phone.
• 22:54
  You're not gonna have... That person's not invested in you. You know, our conversations typically are 10 to 12 minutes. So they've invested already 10 to 12 minutes- Mm... with your dealership.
• 23:06
  So when your team follows up, they're like, "Oh yeah, I talked to Sue, blah, blah, blah." Um, this get a message, I don't need a full conversation, I don't need to build a relationship.
• 23:18
  I mean, how quick can someone click over to another site? That's still, it's crazy, but still today you have a little bit of that. Mm-hmm.
• 23:28
  With digital retailing coming up, um, you gotta understand the importance of having a human guide you through that.
• 23:35
  I mean, even if you go to the grocery store, Home Depot, Walmart, and you go through the self-checkout, who's standing there? Someone from the store- Yep... just to help you do this. Mm-hmm.
• 23:47
  How much more difficult [laughs] is a digital retailing tool? Yes. How many more questions are they gonna have? And so, um, we're integrated. We have fantastic partners that we're integrated with.
• 23:58
  And, and we study what questions we get and what are those trends and are they changing, and we can provide that feedback.
• 24:05
  Um, we can provide feedback to the dealer if they wanna do something different on their specials page. Um, sometimes people click into digital retailing just looking for the special interest rate, you know?
• 24:14
  And, and maybe there's something you can do to, um, um, call that out on your specials page. Or we can just use that to, to move them down the funnel. So that's, that's- Out- outside of-...
• 24:27
  gonna close the gap between the small percentage of people who today are ready to do DR and where we wanna get to. Mm. And, and that human assistance is how you close that.
• 24:39
  Outside of inventory availability right now, which I think is the prevailing question of the customer and- Mm-hmm... and the access, uh, access to, to get the car, what...
• 24:50
  Are, are you seeing any trends in, like, the prevailing questions that customers are continuing to bring up, uh, across the, across the board? Price and availability has always been the big two.
• 25:00
  And you're right, availability today is, like, "Is it there? Can I drive it?" Right. Um, and so yeah, you've gotta have your team familiar to look, does it say in transit, 'cause that's important.
• 25:13
  Um, but we were chatting, uh, in 2008, 2009.
• 25:19
  And so the team, we're, we're prepared from a training and management perspective at the right time to then roll out, um, training to teach how to handle those types of conversations.
• 25:33
  You know, 2008, 2009, it was, "My car broke down, I need it to get to work. My credit is 550. You know, can anyone help me?" Mm. So, um, you do. You...
• 25:44
  And then after that, when the, the economy recovered, it was all about features. So what is blind spot monitoring? What is Honda Sensing? You had to know all of these features.
• 25:55
  So yeah, today is still availability, but, you know, I, I'm certainly, in the back of my mind- It could quickly turn to, like- Yes... an economic question, right? That's right. And access to funds or something like that.
• 26:07
  I, I love that- Right...
• 26:07
  that's a leading indicator, because also there's, there's something that, that I think dealers can do to kind of, like, preemptively strike that, potentially with content that they're putting out or content that they're, that they're building right now in their content ecosystem, whether it be landing pages or videos- Right...
• 26:23
  to kind of talk through that conversation so that maybe when they land on the page and they have further questions, that they've- Yeah...
• 26:28
  already been given access to, to the knowledge that this dealership i- is ready and willing to help them with those questions. And I think- Yeah... you know, your team being prepared for that is really key.
• 26:37
  Well, Carol, we've had just a lot of fun. Our- This- Just a bunch of laughs. We cannot wait to see you- [laughs]... and your team at ASOTU CON, because we know there'll be more laughs.
• 26:47
  Uh, encouraging anybody that's listening to follow Active Engage on social, because they do have a lot of fun. Um, and it- Good...
• 26:53
  and it speaks to the company culture that, that you've helped build over, over y- the ti- over your time as the seventh employee. Uh, and- Yeah... thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs. It was my pleasure.
• 27:03
  Thank you guys so much. Can't wait to see you. [upbeat music] I'm always amazed at the variety of ways people come into the car business. Usually, though- What are you even holding in your hand right now?
• 27:19
  Oh, this is my little, uh, extension- [laughs]... so I can reach the record button. [laughs] It looks, if you're just listening- I'm like, "I'm always-" It actually looks like some sort of weapon "I'm always amazed.
• 27:28
  Pow." [laughs] It's a Canadian weapon. It's like a tripod. [laughs] I'm gonna just put that- I'm sorry, I couldn't help it, because you're just waving this thing around. I'm, like, waving it around. I'm so passionate.
• 27:36
  Like, "Take my money. I'm good. Take it. Here." I'm getting old. I gotta have something in my hand to wave around. "You, pesky..." [laughs] It's Clint Eastwood. Cre- Oh, you're too- Future Clint Eastwood.
• 27:45
  [laughs] "Get off my lawn." [laughs] But, like, I love, I love the fact that, like, most of the time when we hear a story it's like, "Well, you know, I kind of stumbled into it and [laughs] fell into the..." Yeah.
• 27:54
  She's like, she needs a shirt that's like, "I came in as a GSM," like, "biotchch." [laughs] Yeah. [laughs] That's, that's what was going through my head. [laughs] I, that's what... Like, you said it.
• 28:06
  [laughs] No, for real.
• 28:09
  No, but I, it's, it's impressive to me, and I think that that's something that we can even learn as an industry till, still today, that, hey, look, there are people that are valued with, for their management expertise, their ability to negotiate, their ability to lead teams outside of the industry, and hey, they might be a valuable part of our management structure, both on the, the industry partner and the dealer side.
• 28:32
  And, and we should look at that more as an opportunity. Because I think actually- Yeah...
• 28:36
  what's really cool about that is if we looked at the rest of culture and the rest of business as, as that way headed into auto, then people inside of auto might actually be looked at with more skills and expertise from, from those outside of auto.
• 28:49
  Oh, good point. And, and you might see a more transient business culture- Mm... of people being able to pass between.
• 28:54
  And I think that that would, that would lend itself to some of the things that Carol has been able to bring, um, to the, the Active Engage company, and her leadership, and the culture that we talked about in the intro.
• 29:06
  But as well as things like that acronym that she leaned into, and being able to learn how to, how to communicate, how to engage with customers, and with dealers, and, and all of that.
• 29:15
  Like, that's gonna be something that, a- as an industry, if we can bridge that gap, if we can be the leaders in bridging that gap, it's actually gonna be better for both, w- for all verticals.
• 29:24
  So look, if you haven't, I don't know what the handle is. It's gotta be @activeengage on, on TikTok. It's gotta be. Like, no one else has Active Engage. Oh, Michael Cirillo's fact-checking us on that.
• 29:35
  But if you haven't, you need to, after hearing Carol, n- you gotta go check out the TikTok account, because it'll really give you an understanding of the personality of the industry. So much fun. Can't wait.
• 29:45
  They're, they're, they're rocking the VIP lounge at ASOTU CON, so I'm sure that's gonna be a wild blast. I hope they let us go up and have some fun with them as well.
• 29:53
  Thank you so much on behalf of Michael Cirillo, Kyle Mounsey, and myself. Thanks for listening to Auto Collabs.
• 29:59
  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.
• 30:11
  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.
• 30:18
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording?
• 30:35
  Are we rolling yet? Not yet