Latest / Auto Collabs / Snowboards to SAAS with Mike Colacchio

Transcript

Snowboards to SAAS with Mike Colacchio · Auto Collabs

• 0:00
  There's something funny that happens every time you encounter someone with an Italian first or last name. [upbeat music] This is AutoCollab. Your voice always changes, you know? [laughs] You gotta change it.
• 0:17
  It's gotta go a good-a big-a. It's gotta get-a big. It's gotta get higher too And I feel like everybody in the world- It does... can do some level of Italian accent. Like, they can...
• 0:26
  Like, it's somewhere between Boston Italian, somewhere in that range, right? And, and someone... Everyone can kind of pull it off. Where do you think that came from though? Because, like, obviously real Italians- Italy.
• 0:37
  [laughs] I think, honestly, I think it came from like- Quick guess... it came from, like, '50s to '80s mobs- m- mob movies. That's where it came from. For sure. It came from The Godfather. It came from mob movies.
• 0:51
  Cyril-o is bent over right now. [laughs] He's like, "Maybe Italy?" Because you know why he is? Just thinking out loud here. Because [laughs] that is totally response Cyril-o would've given either one of us, dead pan.
• 1:03
  [laughs] He just... That's how it works. That's how. But I think you're right, Kyle. I think it is definitely the caricature, but I've never been to Italy, so I don't know. Cyril-o, have you ever been to Italy?
• 1:13
  [laughs] There's too many Italians there. [laughs] Yeah. Oh, man. Well, hey look, we're not really sure if our guest- I think I should just say I am Italian, so... [laughs] Yeah, right.
• 1:22
  We're not really sure if our guest today is actually Italian, but Mike Collaccio, you know, is kind of similar along those lines. You gotta bring the fingers in. You gotta, you gotta change the accent.
• 1:34
  Uh, Mike i- man, he's been around auto for a long time, with, uh, back to Dealer.com days, and Dealer Inspire, and now Auto Lead Star, and just has always been in the innovative te- tech game.
• 1:46
  So I'm interested to see, like, how the new journey with Auto Lead Star is going and, and what, what he kind of draws from the experience across automotive, because he does.
• 1:56
  He's got just a vast experience with some of the most innovative companies as they come along. Well, I think that's as much intro as we can handle on this episode. Michael's still trying not to laugh.
• 2:06
  We hope you enjoy our conversation with Mike Collaccio. [upbeat music] So your professional career actually didn't start at Dealer.com, Mike Collaccio.
• 2:23
  Your LinkedIn told me- [laughs]... that you started in snowboards. The truth. Oh, now Boulder makes so much more sense. [laughs] All right. It's all coming back. Got him. Yeah. So okay, so take us back.
• 2:36
  You're, like, doing snowboards, taking care of retail, and then it's like, whoosh, here we come. Still transportation, Kyle. Automotive. [laughs] Still transportation. Right, right. [laughs] Yeah. Yeah, so I, uh, I...
• 2:51
  It's funny. So, like, how I got into auto, I was, uh, I grew up in a little town called Burlington, Vermont. And, uh, for the people that don't know, that's where, uh, DDC started, uh, ironically.
• 3:03
  And, uh, I worked at Burton Snowboards, uh, in the off-season. So I was actually pursuing a career to go play baseball. So I was playing, you know- [laughs]... minor league baseball. That's right.
• 3:13
  And, uh, in the off-season- Naturally. [laughs] In the off-season, I actually worked in, uh, customer service at Burton Snowboards, uh, 'cause it worked out perfect.
• 3:23
  I would work there in the winter, and then when spring training was going around I could just head out.
• 3:27
  Um, so anyways, I worked customer service there and took people, uh, return orders for jackets, and ripped seams, and all that stuff. Um, and then ironically, uh, you know, I'm a...
• 3:37
  I always believe that everything happens for a reason. Uh, I was in the outfield for batting practice, and my, all my buddies were working at this company called Dealer.com. And I was like, "The hell is Dealer.com?
• 3:47
  It's like a drug company or something?" [laughs] Like, what are you guys doing? Like, what is it? So good. Is that mainstream now? They're just doing it on the internet, right? Yeah.
• 3:56
  So anyways, I, I, I, like, remember I, like, threw something a long time ago. And, um, I was in the outfield and I had a phone call, and it was like, "Hey, this is so-and-so from Dealer.com."
• 4:06
  You know, fast forward, I actually got- But you're at, you're at practice and you got a phone call and you picked it up? I was at batting practice- [laughs]... before the game, and I had my cell phone on me.
• 4:14
  I was shagging fly balls and my phone rang, and I- [laughs]... for some reason I picked it up, 'cause the- [laughs]... we were kidding, wasn't getting it into the outfield.
• 4:21
  [laughs] And they're like, "Hey, this is so-and-so from Dealer.com. Um, you know, do you want to interview for a sales job?" And I was like, "Uh, you know, I'll take the call," whatever.
• 4:29
  Ironically, I got released and got a job offer from Dealer.com to go start working on inside sales within, like, a week. [laughs] Wow. So it was like- What a different- What a- I just got released...
• 4:40
  what a change of scenery. [laughs] What a week. Good. He's like, "I got snowboards and baseball"- Yeah... inside sales at auto- [laughs] at Dealer.com. And then- But that was the early days.
• 4:52
  I mean, you were early on, like... I, I mean, you probably were a numbered employee at some point at Dealer.com. Yeah. Yeah, I was like 220 or something like that. Wow. That's amazing.
• 5:03
  Um, I got hired to do inside sales, and I never knew I wanted to be in sales. Like, ever. I was... They're like... I was like... I got released, I was like, "What the hell am I gonna go do?"
• 5:10
  And, uh, it was right when, uh, Dealer.com signed the exclusive with, um, FCA. It was FCA back at that time, in 2008, right when they went into, you know, the GFC and they were losing franchises. And I got into auto.
• 5:27
  And we were talking about dealers. It's so funny. Back in 2008, we were talking to, uh, all dealers, specifically Stellantis, about what paid search was. We're like, "Listen,
• 5:39
  you only pay for it when someone clicks on the ad." And they're like, "Bullshit." And we're like, "No, seriously." [laughs] No, no, no, no. They're like, "So you're telling me," right? They do the whole thing. "$0."
• 5:52
  Yeah. $0, correct. Zero pennies, right? [laughs] Yeah, yeah. That's funny. So that was fun back, back then. So I got to work... Ironically, throughout my career, um, I was thinking about this the other day.
• 6:02
  Every company I went to-Has a tie to, you know, what is c- now called Stellantis. So when I went to DI, DI just got the Stellantis agreement when they, when they went from exclusive to preferred. Right.
• 6:16
  And then, you know, now fast-forward to Auto Leadstar, we have a, you know, we have an amazing relationship with, with Stellantis as well. Wow. All right.
• 6:24
  So here's, here's a question that I have because you didn't even- That's a good one. Kyle, that was a good one. That was a pretty good one. Was it? We've had a lot of, like, my first step into auto stories.
• 6:32
  That was a pretty interesting one. Look, that was, that was amazing. [laughs] Like, we've...
• 6:36
  [laughs] Th- here's, here's, here's what we're trying to do here at the end, is try and figure out how we can find the through line to snowboard customer service and, and baseball in your current career.
• 6:50
  So we're gonna try and get there. Yeah. And you may know that, but if you don't, we'll try and get there 'cause it's, like, a challenge that Paul and I throw at ours- [laughs]... at ourselves every time. But
• 7:00
  I, w- I- I'm always interested in someone that, like, you, you know, most people don't wake up, like, when they're 16 and be like, "Man, I hope one day I'm the VP of sales of an organization," right?
• 7:11
  You kinda get into it, into the sales. And m- and maybe it's m- maybe there's a perce- I don't know what your perception of sales was. Like, maybe sales is good, maybe sales is bad when you started.
• 7:21
  But I guess, like, ever since you kinda hit the scene in automotive in a sales role to now, what, what kind of excites you or keeps you energized or, or the reason why the sales persona is something that, that makes sense for you and that you see as, like, a valuable part of the ecosystem of technology in automotive?
• 7:45
  Yeah, great question. So when I first, uh, got into sales, uh, selling to the Stellantis dealers, was I got my first...
• 7:54
  Well, just on, like, what excites me about sales is, again, this was, like, my first, like, real job, you know, coming off the baseball field and, you know, returning jackets at Burton Snowboards. Uh,
• 8:05
  I got my first commission check. And when I got my first commission check, I was like, "Wait a minute." And then I just started doing math, and I was like, "If I do this,
• 8:16
  you're telling me that I can make, you know, I can make this?" So immediately, I was like, "All right, I'm just gonna go absolutely, you know, 100% all the time," 'cause, like, that's...
• 8:27
  Like, it, it's, it's like you, you eat what you kill, right? It's like you're not... If you go out, what you put in is what you, what you get out of it. So that was what excited me about it, like, on, on that side.
• 8:39
  Um, and then, you know, when w- you know, if you look at, like, where I was working, I... You know, luckily, I got to work with what, in, in my opinion, are some of the best people in the business.
• 8:50
  Like, if you go back with, like, Mark, Rick, Jamie, Mike, um, and, uh, and, and those guys, dealer.com back in the day was an unbelievable story.
• 9:01
  Like, I don't know if that many people know this, but at one point, DDC had s- 70% of the US franchise websites in the entire country. Mo- most people don't know that, including me. I do now. [laughs] Yeah.
• 9:16
  It's pretty wild. It was unbelievable. And they, like... And back at, at, um, you know, back then, we had, like, or, you know, Mark VonFigli, um, who was the founder, they had, like, organic, you know, organic cafes.
• 9:31
  They had a, a, um, they had a cycling room that powered the... And, like, this is before a culture of, like, the Googles and stuff was, like, around there.
• 9:38
  So, like, one, representing good technology is, is just super fun, and that's what I'm passionate about. That's why I, I left, uh, DI to come over to Auto Leadstar.
• 9:48
  It's like, when you can go out and have a conversation and bring something that's, like, one, is, is, is cutting edge, and two, it solves a lot of people's problem, that makes sales a hell of a lot easier. Yeah. Right?
• 10:01
  'Cause you have this great product. And I always wanna surround myself with unbelievably smart people. Like, when I went to, to d- to DI with Chura, um, I went to go sell...
• 10:12
  No one, not many people know this story, but I went to go sell Joe a DDC website when he was the internet manager at Riverview Ford. Ah, yes. [laughs] Yeah, back in his dealer days. That's great.
• 10:25
  So, and ironically, he didn't buy the website from me. Right. [laughs] He bought it from Matt Cole, who was his co-founder- [laughs]... at, at DI, which is always a funny story because, you know, Joe- This is great...
• 10:39
  was a lo- a- as, as we went through, I always, like, touched base with him. He's a super smart guy, as you guys have all interacted with him. Yeah.
• 10:45
  Um, you know, I just always texted with him, and we always stayed in contact.
• 10:48
  But the running joke was is that I couldn't sell him a DDC website, but when I went to DI, he trusted me with, you know, his sales organization and building, building that up.
• 10:59
  So, like, reason why I say this, I just always wanna be surrounded by, one,
• 11:05
  smart people, and two, the technology that you get to bring to dealers is always, like, very eye-opening, especially, like, what we're doing here at Auto Leadstar, and it just makes it fun.
• 11:15
  And you have to believe in the product. And when you believe in the product, everything naturally kind of goes from there.
• 11:20
  Well, there's a cool thing about what you're doing right now in the sense that, um, the more times you are a part of something in a similar phase, in a similar stage, you start to, like, get the benefit of pattern recognition and like, "Oh, I've seen this before.
• 11:33
  Um, this is really what we need to do or how, how we need to proceed."
• 11:37
  You know, with your current role, what are some of the patterns you recognize from your DDC days and throughout your, your career that you can say, "You know what?
• 11:46
  I think this is the spot we're in with, you know, this, you know, data, data sharing," and, like, how... What do you see the similarities between that? Yeah.
• 11:56
  So, um, like, if you look at where DDC was, like, on, on the website side, they were the first ones to really come out with, like, a really good, like, ecosystem to create, like, um, you know, a digital platform.
• 12:08
  And then-On, on the DI side, what Joe and team, you know, built was, like, they were just innovating at this insanely... The, the, the pace of their innovation was just crazy.
• 12:19
  It was like they were the first ones to come out with, like, the video. I'm sure you guys remember this, Kyle, when they came out with, uh, the video homepage.
• 12:27
  Like, when that first came out, every- well, when I, I was at dealer.com days, and everyone was like, "What the heck is going on?" Like- Oh. Yeah, right. Yeah... like that. Everyone's like, "Oh, my God.
• 12:35
  Give me a video on my, you know, on my homepage of my dealership." Be a drone operator, yeah. So quick. Yeah, like, it... And just, you know, everyone is very visual.
• 12:43
  Um, and then, and then also, like, when you look at, like, what Aron and team, you know, are building, you know, that, that was one on the website side. And you kind of go through these, like, like, cyclical phase.
• 12:54
  Like, website was a phase where there was, like, 40 website companies, and now there's probably five or six. And then it got into DR and there was, like, you know, five or six, and now there's, like, 40 of them.
• 13:08
  But now when you look at, like, what's going on on the data side, and especially what's gonna happen, you know, when Google stops pushing it back with first-party data,
• 13:17
  the ability to go in and orchestrate and connect that data is, one, it's a huge opportunity that dealers are not doing right now.
• 13:28
  Like, we talk with dealers all day long, and they have this massive database that they're literally just sitting on.
• 13:35
  If you look at, like, the Walmarts, the Targets, and all that stuff, like they launched their own ad network and ad platform because they have an unbelievable amount of first-party data. Mm-hmm. Yep.
• 13:47
  And on the dealer side, to connect that and automate it, which is another topic where some people are afraid of automation, if you can do that and unlock that...
• 13:58
  And, you know, we always talk about customer data platforms, and we're a customer data experience platform. Outside of automotive, they are everywhere. All of the top brands are using it, but you can't do it...
• 14:11
  Well, you can do it now, but you couldn't do it in auto purely the way that our data is structured. Mm-hmm. Luckily, our guys have, you know, at AutoLeadStart figured out a way to connect that data.
• 14:21
  And- So what do you see-... that's, that, that's where I saw the, the opportunity to come up... so you see that pattern, you see it coming through. What is, what is the thing that is in the way right now? Right?
• 14:31
  Like, what, what is the thing that's in the way of, like, mass adoption or mass deployment? Yeah.
• 14:36
  So we're doing a lot, a ton of education on, like, what, what it is because when we talk to these dealers, and, you know, I mentioned, you know, being afraid of automation, um, a lot of dealers are, are really just in tune with, like, pulling the lever.
• 14:51
  Like, they need the friction point to pull the lever, and they don't wanna say, "All right, well, we can actually use and look at ones and zeros to look at the data," and say, "Great, here's the output.
• 15:02
  Now we're gonna do this." That aspect is really just, like, not saying it's like, "Hey, just let the machine do it," but the purely on the education, 'cause it's never been done before.
• 15:13
  Like, Kyle, when you were at, um, at your, at your dealership, I'm sure you were like, "God, it'd be so awesome if my CRM could literally talk to, to this." And if you made a call to your CRM company to say,
• 15:27
  "Hey, can you work with, you know, vendor X, Y, and Z?" They'd say, "Yeah, you know, go pound sand. We'll get to it on Q5." Yeah. [laughs] Q5. They're like, they're like this.
• 15:37
  So basically what you do is you go to this report generator that breaks every eight minutes. And then once you get to the report generator- [laughs]... you download the CSV file.
• 15:46
  It's 10,000 pieces in it, and you're gonna have to filter through 'cause half the names are broken. Once you get that synced up, then you can potentially send it as an email.
• 15:54
  But watch out because there's a lot of privacy laws when you start downloading that stuff, right? But don't worry, you got this. And all of them... Yeah. [laughs] Yeah. But don't worry, you're gonna be fine, right? Yeah.
• 16:03
  And I... Yeah, so that's a, that's a big deal. It's interesting to me because when you look at... I mean, you didn't say OTT, but when you look at this, it's like dealer.com days.
• 16:12
  You know, you're, you, you're educating on SEM, right? Yeah. This is... It's... I mean, in 2008, 2009, that's not a new thing in, like, the world of marketing, right? Right. That, that, that had already been around.
• 16:24
  So you're educating on that.
• 16:25
  And then, you know, we get to, like, the mid-teens, and we're really educating on OTT and connected TV, video platforms, and, and dealers are, are learning what, what they were doing on traditional actually applies at a deeper level there.
• 16:38
  And now we're learning that, oh, w- we've been sitting on these databases for so long, and we say this word CDP, and all of a sudden it sounds like this big scary thing.
• 16:46
  And, and what you're saying is, no, it's just connecting the data points to enable ad- advertising and user experience and, and all of that, and, and all of that down the line. I, I...
• 16:58
  I'm interested to see, like, what's that next thing that comes. Like, what is, what is actually...
• 17:03
  Because if I think about SEM w- and, and the audience strategies and things like that, that's the unlock to the learning of OTT. Right.
• 17:12
  And when you think about all, like, the unlock to learning, uh, you know, for a CDP was really, uh, like you said, Google and Apple kinda coming away. There's always these unlocks.
• 17:23
  And I'm wondering if there's an unlock at the CDP or CDXP or data connected layer that, that is just beyond it, that we're gonna have to educate.
• 17:32
  Because now that we've, we've kinda done all these things, now we have to educate on this. Are you seeing, like, are you seeing that next trend over the horizon on the, on the unlock of what we need to get to?
• 17:45
  You know, um, I think right now to get to the, the next unlock, um, is we just need to get people ingrained with, like, their new, like, world.
• 17:56
  Like, they, they've had this, like, world, and you're basically lifting up, like, the cloak and saying, "Look, you can actually use all that stuff."
• 18:03
  So the ability to really, like, leverage the data that they have and moving through, like, what we just released, uh, two, or last week with, like, Data Lake, like that's another, like, thing that's been...
• 18:15
  It's been around forever.But we just couldn't do it in auto because all the data is due it. I do think, like, not, you know, not to, um, you know, go around your question.
• 18:25
  But I do think that as these become more ingrained in automotive, I, I believe that the vendor ecosystem, because the dealers are gonna demand it, and I talk with dealers about this all the time.
• 18:37
  They hold the keys to this. Like, who pays the bills for all of, all the vendors, you know, present company included?
• 18:44
  If they need to get a better open ecosystem, I think what we're gonna get out of it is we're gonna get a better ecosystem where dealers or vendors are gonna start talking to each other.
• 18:55
  Otherwise, they're, you know, they're gonna get left behind because if, you know, insert vendor X, if they talk to vendor Y and it creates a seamless relationship instead of just putting up the guardrails and saying, "Hey, this is us, and this is our data.
• 19:08
  You can't have it unless you pay us X, Y, and Z. And guess what? We're not gonna integrate," you know? Yeah.
• 19:14
  You know, that's, that's a big reason for this podcast because there's this, like, triangle of relationship that we're actually like, we're gonna make a diamond at some point. Um, I'm trying to convince everyone.
• 19:24
  But there's this relationship, like, dealer, OEM, customer, industry partner, right? Right. And right now, they are, like, s- floating on islands for the most part. There's a lot more integration starting to happening.
• 19:37
  And, and really, the, that, those relationships have to be super symbiotic. And especially, and I, I think you're, I, I think you've nailed it, is this...
• 19:48
  And I'm starting to see it open up, where industry partners are going, "Okay. Okay, fine. We're gonna play ball together. We're actually gonna work together." And I'm even seeing these, like,
• 19:59
  n- industry partners coming together and, like, supporting the dealer together, right?
• 20:03
  Where they're having meetings outside of the dealer and going, "Hey, mutual client, how can we serve the client better a- as, as a dealer?"
• 20:11
  And the dealer's actually calling them out to that, going, "Hey, look, y'all gotta get, y'all gotta figure things out together." Mm-hmm.
• 20:17
  "Because I wanna use each of you as partners, and I can't do that unless you talk better," right? Right.
• 20:23
  And so I, I do think, I, I, I'm, I'm seeing that as a more healthy relationship between dealers and, and industry partners.
• 20:30
  And I think that the more we can have those conversations, you're right, that, that, that it's actually gonna speed up the ability to, to create better customer experiences, right? Yeah.
• 20:41
  So, and I, I love that b- uh, like, you guys call it the CDXP, uh, in the, in the experience.
• 20:48
  You know, i- if people are maybe familiar with a CDP, when you think CDXP, what's the experience part of that that you're trying to- Explain those two, Kyle. So- Explain for people that don't know...
• 20:57
  CDP, customer data platform, right? So that's, like, all of your customer data in one place. And really, it, it's, it's really just a layer that's a, you're able to execute on.
• 21:08
  And, and you're saying that there's a customer data experience platform. Yeah. So what's the experience part of it? What, what are you saying you're, you're unlocking that's more than, like, a CDP? Yeah.
• 21:21
  So, so, like, a CDP is basically, like... And you just did a great job explaining it.
• 21:25
  On the CDXP, on the experience side, is that a lot of times when, when you look at your customer database and you can say, "Hey, you know, Paul, Paul bought a car for... This is Paul's third car.
• 21:37
  Um, his lease is coming up, and I know that he's on my site, and he's browsing, you know, VDP.
• 21:42
  So I'm gonna trigger, you know, an email out to Paul that that's actually gonna be relevant because I know where he's at, and I know what he's looking at. I know what he already bought, and I know when that's maturing."
• 21:51
  So those four things is where you actually unlock, right? So that's when you actually do the activation. Now, on the experience side is when you... The end goal for every single person in auto is to drive them to where?
• 22:05
  Your website. The store, the website, or yeah. Right. Yep. And engage them.
• 22:08
  So if I do my, and if I do my marketing and it works, and I get them to the site, where, where the CDPs kind of fall right now is that when I get them to the site,
• 22:19
  I'm driving them to, let's say, if, you know, if I'm leasing Paul, uh, a Telluride. And his lease is coming up, and I say, "Hey, Paul, we'd love to buy your Telluride. Here's the new, you know, 2022 or 2023.
• 22:32
  Here's your offer," and you land them, there's a break in marketing connectivity. And marketing connectivity is basically what enticed me to click on the ad or click on the email.
• 22:42
  And then when I get to the site, is it gonna be there? Mm. Now, right now, it's not. In- Yeah... I'm talking about in general automotive, right?
• 22:52
  So, like, if I send Paul that ad, basically what we're doing on the experience side is because we're connected on the CRM and we have that data layer, when he goes to the site on the experience side, it'll say, there's a, you know, a video that says, "Hey, Paul.
• 23:07
  Here's your offer on the," blah, blah, blah, like, whatever offer it is. So now you've solved marketing 101, which is, like, what did I click on, then how do I get to it. And that's just purely on the experience side.
• 23:17
  And then if you think about digital retailing, like, we had this huge boom of digital retailing that- Yeah... like, went up and went down. And I was at DI when this happened.
• 23:26
  So, like, it was like, "Oh, my God, we gotta do digital retailing" And everyone's like, "We're selling so many cars. Get this off my site." [laughs] Right? Right.
• 23:35
  [laughs] So, but when that was happening, if you think about this, and everyone's trying to move to this transactional site. So everyone advertises offers. Probably not as much now, but they will be soon.
• 23:47
  If I click on that, you know, we'll continue with the Telluride lease offer. If I'm retargeting Paul on Facebook or Google and he sees an offer for X vehicle, and I click on that which is the offer that I'm
• 24:01
  enticed me to click on, name me one site where you can dynamically push the offer into the digital retailing tool on the VDP. Right. Nonexistent. No. Right?
• 24:15
  So think about that on the experience side, is that I enticed him to click on that lease offer. Let's call it 199. I drive him to the VDP, and what's the first thing he sees?399, blah, blah, blah, X, Y, and Z.
• 24:27
  And guess what? The offer that he clicked on is nowhere to be found. So what we do is that we orchestrate that entire experience, advertising, email, audience, all that stuff.
• 24:39
  And then when they go to the site, our, it's smart enough to recognize what they did and what they clicked on, and it serves up the relevant offer. And that's where the X comes in, in the CDXP.
• 24:49
  We talk about all the time. There you go.
• 24:50
  Like Kyle said earlier, that's what we're trying to do here with this podcast in general, and just the ASOTU community anyway, is to get people collabing and working together to solve the customer experience, because that is the way that franchise retail automotive is going to win, right?
• 25:05
  Yep. By working together to solve that. And the rest of the world is innovating very quickly, and, and EVs, and new entrants to the, you know, to the manufacturing game.
• 25:13
  All of that stuff is just forcing the velocity of innovation to increase. And, like, if we stay in our silos, it's just not going to happen.
• 25:21
  So thank you so much for coming today, and, uh, sharing your little corner of the world, and what you're doing to solve the consumer experience. I know there's gonna be a lot more coming from AutoLeadStar soon.
• 25:31
  So thank you so much, um, for joining us today. [upbeat music] I had a neighbor who played professional baseball. They have baseball in Canada?
• 25:42
  Well, so the thing is, he played baseball and then he- The Toronto Blue Jays. Come on, man. I mean- No. Well, yes, the Blue Jays. I mean, they do- I mean, they have a dome, though. Like, where do they practice?
• 25:51
  [laughs] Uh, at a, on a field somewhere. Outside? Baseball diamond. Ice rink? Right. The high school parking lot. 30 days in the middle of the summer. [laughs] That's it. It's baseball season.
• 26:02
  My neighbor, my neighbor, his name was Monty. I can't remember his last name. But he got recruited by the Oakland A's. That's a great name. Played two full seasons with the Oakland A's.
• 26:12
  Can you imagine, his whole life's dream was to make it to the pros. He makes it to the pros, takes a baseball to the wrist- No... and breaks the only bone in your wrist that never heals. No. The end. Goodness. The end.
• 26:25
  What's he doing now? He's a realtor. [laughs] He's in the auto industry. Probably inside sales, kind of like Mike Colacchio. But he's a realtor. He's like- Right? I mean, basically.
• 26:32
  [laughs] You know, that's what all good p- that's what all good people do that don't know what to do with the rest of their lives, is they go to sales. But here's what's interesting- [laughs]...
• 26:39
  is Mike Colacchio, I love his story of, like, I've basically gone to all of the places where I can't just tell you, like, we have a thing that you already know about.
• 26:49
  I'm telling you about a whole new thing that you've never encountered- [laughs]... that's brand new on the market. Let me explain it to you. I'll give you the education, and then maybe you'll buy it, right? Sheesh.
• 26:58
  Like, that's a hard, that's a hard thing to roll into. That's a heavy lift as well. It's- Yeah. I mean, if you think, that's kind of the baseball mentality though, right? Yeah.
• 27:05
  You just need a lot of patience, and you have the patience for things to develop, right? That's, like, the, the, the- [laughs]... the brilliance of a baseball player, right?
• 27:13
  [laughs] It's a very strategic and, like- Many, many levels of patience. [laughs] Especially an outfielder. Guy's shagging fly balls. Right. Oh my gosh. He's like, "I'm out here. Don't worry about me." He's taking calls.
• 27:23
  I mean, that's [laughs] like, that's, he's shagging fly balls, and that's how he got into the auto industry. Took a call, "Yeah, I'll come do that." And even the vi- like, I don't know.
• 27:30
  He's got, he's got that, that, like, laid back vibe. I mean, the fact that he's just, like, he's a skier or s- snowboarder, I'm sorry. Worked for Burton Snowboards. Ooh. So- That would've been fun...
• 27:39
  those are fight words. Yeah. Those are fight words. [laughs] No, but the, but the whole vibe is just, like, that, that friendly, laid back, "Oh, yeah, it's all under control," right? I just, I don't know.
• 27:48
  I, I like people like that. With a name like Colacchio. Yeah. Colacchio. Well, hey, look, here's, here's what I know, is every single technology at some point becomes approachable for anyone.
• 27:58
  And I think that it, that Mike's approach to bringing new technologies into the industry is one of education. So I appreciate- Mm-hmm...
• 28:06
  that, like, we got to walk through a little bit of the CDP, the CDXP, um, because it is, it's a, it's a new thing- Sure is... that automotive is having to approach.
• 28:14
  And, and, uh, so hope you, you got something from that episode. Uh, on behalf of myself, Paul Jay Daly, and Michael Cirillo, uh, thanks for joining us on Auto Collabs. We'll see you next time.
• 28:25
  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.
• 28:38
  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.
• 28:47
  [upbeat music] Welcome to Auto Collabs. Welcome to Auto Collabs. [laughs] Why are we recording? Are we rolling yet? Not yet.