Latest / CBT Live / What Is Carvana Getting Right? Real AI Adoption, GM vs. Toyota (10.02.26)

Transcript

What Is Carvana Getting Right? Real AI Adoption, GM vs. Toyota (10.02.26) · CBT Live

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_04: What is Carvana getting right and where do traditional dealers have the edge?
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_03: Plus, how can AI help dealers turn more opportunities into sales?
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_03: All that and more coming up on CBT Live.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_04: Hey everyone, welcome into another edition of CBT Live right here at the CBT Automotive Network.
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_04: It's Friday, October 2nd.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_04: I'm Jim Fitzpatrick, joined by my partner, Bridget Fitzpatrick.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_03: Hello, everyone, and welcome to the show.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_04: Hey, you were gone yesterday.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_03: I was, but you guys held it down very well.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_04: We should mention that when you said you guys, it was myself and Ashby.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_04: Who is your son?
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_04: My son, Ashby.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_04: He did a great job.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_03: You really did.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: You really did.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_03: You both did.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, we interviewed Senator Bernie Moreno and talked to him about all of the activity that's taking place over this uh connected car Chinese vehicles not being allowed into the U.S.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_04: He gave us a full update on where that stands now.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it was a great conversation.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_03: So if you missed that yesterday, you can see it at cbtnews.com.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_04: That's right, that's right.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_04: But Ashby did a phenomenal job.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_03: He brought some entertainment to the show, which I thought was cool.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_04: He talked about uh the sports in Ohio.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_04: He's a huge Ohio fan.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_03: So who better to talk to the Senator of Ohio?
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_04: We should also mention that he's also the director of our content uh and he writes a lot of stories for us too.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_04: So uh he's been with us now 10 years.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_03: I'm very proud.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_04: I was proud of both of you.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_04: Proud of the bottom of the bottom of the body.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_04: I was proud of both.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_03: I was like, there's my son and there's my husband.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_03: It was fun.
• 1:32
  SPEAKER_04: So if you're watching Ashby, which I know you are, thank you for sitting in and for your mom.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_03: Good job.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, he's much nicer to me than you are, by the way.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_03: I don't know about that.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_03: So depends on the day.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_05: That's right.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_03: All right, we've got some a great show coming up.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: We do.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_03: Coming up, we're gonna be talking about the lessons dealers can take from Carvana.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_03: Peter Cooper, president of Lexus of Lehigh Valley, joins the show.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_03: Also, Jen Suzuki, founder and CEO of Zuki Talk and president of eDealer solutions.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_03: She'll break down what AI adoption should look like inside your stores.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_04: Yes.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_04: Peter Cooper's a good friend and a great guy, good car guy, and uh tells it like it is, which is what I love about him.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yep, I always enjoy your interviews with Peter.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_04: So I'm excited to be a part of it this time.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_04: He's so positive about the industry, but then I'm thinking, wait a minute, what Lexus dealer isn't positive about the industry.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_04: I love a Lexus too.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_04: You know, I think every every dealer sits back and goes, you know, if I if I if I had like if I found a genie bottle, you know, my first wish would be to be a Lexus dealer.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_04: I get it.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_03: I have some brand levels.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_03: But he's a great guy.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, he knows the industry.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: He does.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_03: So before we get to the stories and our great interviews today, I would like to thank our sponsor, Conversica.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_03: Ignite by Conversica is an AI-native revenue activation engine for automotive retail.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_03: It connects dealership data, assembles customer and vehicle content, text, and applies AI reasoning to identify and activate specific sales and service revenue opportunities across the dealership.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_04: I think you said vehicle.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: I think I did.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_03: That's the Virginia coming out.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_04: You were just there.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_03: That was the Virginia coming out of me.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_03: Vehicle and insurance.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_03: That's what I used to say.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's just feeable.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_03: I know.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_04: For those of you in the South, it might be vehicle.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_03: Tomato tomato.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_03: You want to say it.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_03: It's buy with me.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: I get you everybody understood what I think.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_04: So what what do the stories look like?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_03: So um, well, we've got the numbers, the Q3 numbers are looking um that's what we're looking at right now.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: So we'll start with third quarter sales.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_03: GM is still number one in the U.S., but Toyota is not far behind.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_03: GM sold just under 671,000 vehicles in the third quarter, down about 6% from last year, and Toyota sold just over 633,000, up slightly.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_03: So for the quarter, only about 38,000 vehicles separated the two.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: Wow.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's close.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_03: And we've talked about this a lot recently.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_03: What's driving Toyota?
• 3:59
  SPEAKER_03: More than half of its sales in the quarter came from electrified vehicles, with hybrids playing a big role in that.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_03: And GM, on the other hand, says that it had record sales of um its more affordable small SUVs.
• 4:13
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, that's working.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_04: People are very gas conscious now.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_04: And thinking, well, do I really need to drive around a big huge SUV?
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_04: You know the gases.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_03: That's that's what's happening.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: Honda had a uh strong third quarter.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_03: Sales were up more than 9%.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_03: Its best third quarter since 2019.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_03: Wow, that's good.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, passenger car sales were up more than 18%, and Honda also set a third quarter record for hybrid sales.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's great.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_04: Hybrid is where it's at.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_04: Although GMD didn't get the memo on that.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_03: No, but didn't seem to hurt them.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_04: No.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_03: This time.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_04: Well, maybe they, you know.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_04: They got Toyota though nipping right at their heels.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_03: Stellatis had a much flatter quarter, selling just over 324,000 vehicles.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: RAM 1500 sales were up 73% compared with the same quarter last year.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_03: So I thought that was worth noting.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, it is.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_03: And like you were just saying, smaller, more affordable vehicles are getting the attention.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_03: Um that's what's underneath all of this, is buyers appear to be taking another look at sedans and smaller SUVs.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: We're seeing stronger sales for vehicles like the Chevy Tracks and Trailblazer, the Hyundai Elantra, and Toyota Corolla.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it makes sense.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_03: And then the bigger SUVs are losing ground.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_04: So remember when all the car companies are like, we're doing away with our our sedans, our little sedans, nobody wants them.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_04: Everybody wants an SUV.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_04: Mm-hmm.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_04: Not so fast.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, well, when they puzzle that gas.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_03: I know.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_03: They might still want them.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_03: They're just probably making decisions based on that.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_03: So who knows?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_03: The company Auto Nation has a new what is this?
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_03: It's a chief technology and AI officer.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_04: This is interesting.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_03: They named Robbie Simham Batla, the chief technotechnology of the case.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_03: Easy for you to say.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I can.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_04: And by the way, that picture is not him.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_04: That picture is of Michael Mike Manley who is the first one.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_03: CEO Mike Manley did say Auto Nation sees AI as a way to get more out of its existing business and expand its reach beyond its traditional geographic markets.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_03: So we're going to see a lot of new titles with AI.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, exactly.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_04: I think there's going to be a lot more car companies, car dealer groups that actually bring in an AI specialist or officer or you know, C-suite person that oversees that whole process.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's right.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_03: And then one more quick note before we get to our interviews Lithia sells two Los Angeles stores.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_04: Which ones?
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_03: They sold downtown LA and Volkswagen of Downtown LA to Grace Motor Cars.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_04: Uh-huh.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_03: The deal closed September 28th and was announced this week.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_03: Dave Kenton Group advised Lithia on the sale.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's great.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_04: Dave Kenton, you're a good friend of the show.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_04: Always have him on.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_04: Congratulations, Dave, and congratulations to uh everybody at downtown LA.
• 7:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um Volkswagen and Audi.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_04: Wow.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_04: Right.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_04: Volkswagen and Audi.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_04: There's yeah, okay.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_03: Do you have something to say about that?
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_03: It sounds like you do.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_04: I no, I got nothing to say.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_03: Except for congrats.
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_03: Right?
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's right.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_04: Congratulations.
• 7:23
  SPEAKER_04: That's exactly right.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: All right, everyone.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_03: Carvana didn't invent online car shopping, but it changed the customers' expectations around convenience, transparency, and speed.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_04: So uh we can deal what what what can deal?
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_04: I can't talk today.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_04: It's Friday.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_04: So what can dealers learn uh joining us live, although I don't, I'm not sure we might have a technical difficulty, guys.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_04: That uh that Peter Cooper, can you hear us?
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_04: Nope.
• 7:50
  unknown: Okay.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_04: He can't hear us.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_04: Well, all right.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_04: There we are.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_04: Sorry, I can't hear you guys.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_04: Can you hear us now?
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_04: The sound keeps going in and out.
• 7:57
  SPEAKER_04: No, can you hear us now?
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_04: What about now?
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_03: We'll give it a few tries here.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_04: It's like the cellular commercial.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_04: Can you hear me now?
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_03: Can you hear me now?
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_04: Can you hear me now?
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_04: Can you hear you guys?
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe, maybe he calls back in.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_04: Try to uh have him call back in.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_04: And in the meantime, we'll we'll talk about some pretty cool things here.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_04: By the way, I might add, I was gonna talk to uh him about this, uh Peter, but uh uh Lexus sales, they finished with 29,837 units.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_04: Um that is 11% increase year over year.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_03: That's great.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that is great.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_04: And that what's that model that you want?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_03: The GX550.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_04: The GX550.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_03: I would like that car.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, hard hard.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_04: So what I'm told, that's that's hard to come by.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: Is it?
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, there's a weight on that.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_04: Well, maybe Peter maybe.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_04: Maybe you can know Peter.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_03: I want that car.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: And now we know somebody.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_04: As soon as you come in.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_03: So our I think we have one more year on our lease, then we'll that's what I want to do.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_04: But I've while we're waiting, by the way, um, guys, you guys know that I love uh funny videos.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_04: So while we're waiting for Peter to come in, uh let's show some of those videos.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_04: Can we?
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_04: Nope, that's Carvana.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_03: Well Yeah.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_03: Okay.
• 9:12
  unknown: Okay.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_06: So our our team is telling us that this is probably these videos.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_06: Hey Manny.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_06: Can I see you in my office, please?
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_06: Come in.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_06: Close the door.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And ask me, Brandon, do you get upset when your friends buy cars from other dealerships?
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: To that, I say absolutely not.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_01: You can choose whatever dealership you want.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_05: That's good.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, it's like there was that what's that movie that we've quoted before?
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, you can't.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, right.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_04: That was funny.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_04: And then I think is at a Lexus dealership.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, oh no, no, I'm sure I'm sorry, it's not a Lexus dealership, it's at a like a Lincoln dealership or something.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_04: Because the the people say, Well, we want to shop around.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_04: And De Niro says, uh, well, what are you gonna shop around?
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_04: He goes, Well, you know, we're we're thinking about taking a look at a Lexus, you know.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_04: And he goes, Lexus, are you kidding me?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_04: What did you forget about World War II or something?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's a great scene, no question about it.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_05: Oh my gosh.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_04: All right, so we finally have got the man of the hour back, man of the year, Mr.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_04: Peter Cooper.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_04: Welcome into CBT Live.
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_03: Welcome to the show, Peter.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_06: Good morning.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you guys.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_06: Good to see you.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_04: Good to see you as well.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_04: And by the way, congratulations.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_04: I understand you've got a brand new baby granddaughter, so congrats on that.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_03: Yes.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_06: Very excited.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, that's very exciting.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_04: Did you say did you say two o'clock this morning?
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, this is wow.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, today, yes.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_04: That wow, that's pretty cool.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_04: And mom and baby, you're all doing well.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_04: Everybody's so great.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 10:51
  SPEAKER_04: That is great.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_04: Congrats.
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_04: Congratulations.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_04: Congrats to you.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_06: Thank you again for having me on.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_06: I think your uh the topic today is really relevant.
• 10:59
  SPEAKER_06: Good.
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_06: And but I I I I wanna I wouldn't like lead into this because it's really important.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_06: People looked at our interviews and other media broadcasts about it.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_06: They said, well, you can do these things because you're a Lexus dealer.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_06: And and I think, yes, there is a truth to that.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_06: Like we can afford to do more pickup and delivery and things like that.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_06: The reality of it is we can't afford, no matter who the dealer is, not to take great care of the customer.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_06: What their expectations are.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: Agreed.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_06: And everybody hides behind or wants to say, well, he can do it.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_06: The truth is we have the same struggles and same difficulties.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_06: And you know, we have to work on them just like everybody else.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_04: Sure, sure.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_04: And then you've also got to, yeah, because you're also in today with a luxury car buyer, they can go to so many different brands, too.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_04: So it's a question then of which one is serving that that particular buyer the best, right?
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_04: And that clientele.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_06: So when you jump, you jump into like what can we learn from Carvana?
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_06: I think that's you know what you want to speak about.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_06: What we can learn from Carvana is first of all, they are not they're not in the car business.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_06: Um you know, they're in the technology and and logistics business.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_06: What does happen to be their commodity happens to be vehicles?
• 12:14
  SPEAKER_06: It's not even cer parts and service.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_06: It's just you know vehicular sales.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_06: That's true.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_06: And I think if we break down what we can learn from Carvana is really ease of transaction.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_06: And there's two sides of it.
• 12:26
  SPEAKER_06: It's what are the what are they expecting their employees to do in order to deliver an easy transaction to their customers, and what are customers having to go through to have an easy transaction?
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_06: So if you look at from the customer perspective, how easy is it to navigate their website and find their information that the customer wants right now?
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_06: And every everybody's out to talk about we need AI, we need this, maybe, but in the meantime, we need to make ease to do business with us our number one priority.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_06: I totally agree.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_06: Yep.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_06: And that's where our focus needs to be.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_06: And we're in these discussions fairly regularly right now.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_06: I don't feel that in the industry I've seen a robust enough website.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_06: You know, the OEM say this is who you should use providers.
• 13:13
  SPEAKER_06: And I think the difficulty is how do you how do you navigate to where the customers, because I promise you this morning, while we're on this interview, Apple's refining their online presence.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_06: You know, Amazon, all the all the big uh transactors doing it, and we're static.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yep.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_06: And we're you know, we look at them, we probably had in second or third largest number of people come to our website in the eastern area of all Lexus dealers.
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_06: You know, we're closing about 16% of people who uh who fell out of lead.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_06: But how do we fall off from 70,000 plus to so few leads?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_06: What's the difficulty?
• 13:54
  SPEAKER_06: What are the obstacles for our customer?
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_06: How difficult are we making it?
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_06: And part of that is we have to look at that.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_06: The other part of it is what are we asking our employees to do?
• 14:03
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 14:04
  unknown: Yeah.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_06: Um and we're asking them to be a lot of things and do a lot of things in a transaction.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_06: So we we've created a model that's so complicated and we're encumbered by the mindset, well, this is what how it is in the car business.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_04: Do you do you think that that um we are slow to change in this industry because of the success that that we're having?
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, if you look at Lexus sales, for instance, last I guess they just announced that their sales are 11% year over year, up a year over year, 29,000, almost 30,000 vehicles delivered.
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_04: So sometimes when you talk to dealers about certain things like this, they'll say, hey, what's the problem?
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_04: I'm selling every single car I can get my hands on.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_04: So why why try to look for a fix when there isn't a problem there?
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um, if it was so bad with consumers, how you know, I think Toyota's got a 12-day supply of vehicles.
• 14:53
  SPEAKER_04: And uh it seems as though sometimes the success can get in the way of a better process.
• 14:59
  SPEAKER_04: Would you agree with that?
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_06: I totally agree with that.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_06: It's not sometimes, it's all the time.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_06: You know, we look at the job that we're doing and everybody says, okay, you know, we're doing a great job.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_06: You know, we had our best sales month ever uh of September.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_06: And what people forget is how do you maintain, sustain that?
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_06: And the consumer is moving, the consumer is shifting.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_06: So for us to say, okay, this is working for us now, yeah, maybe.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 15:25
  SPEAKER_06: But but how do we stay ahead of this?
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_06: And now when it is good, is when we're belonging working on this.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_04: And Carvana, really, when you think about it, has kind of forced dealers to think about this further, to can to uh compete with a completely different retail experience.
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_04: How has that changed the way that you think about your own operation, even outside of the online experience?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_06: Well, I think the truth is, you know, they've nailed it and they're saying, how do we remove the obstacles and the barriers?
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_06: And we still have a model that says, okay, I have to have a form of a salesperson, I have to have a form of a transactor.
• 16:01
  SPEAKER_06: We're asking people to do too many things.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_06: And Carvana is could care less about those things.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 16:08
  SPEAKER_06: So the things that we're focusing on, we're looking to get a solution out of something that will not yield us a solution.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_06: We can't we can't sustain a model to be relevant in the future and sustainable.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 16:19
  SPEAKER_06: And I think that's good.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_06: I think they're good for us.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_06: I think they force us.
• 16:22
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, for sure.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_04: For sure.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_04: Competition is good.
• 16:25
  SPEAKER_04: There's there's no question about it.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_04: And these guys are disruptors in the industry, as was uh companies like uh Tesla as well, where we all kind of chuckled 20 years ago and said, ah, we'll see how many cars they sell, we'll see how long they stick around, and of course they're leaders in the EV market as well uh in a in a very big way, worldwide, yeah, I might add.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_04: And um uh, you know, so when you think about all of that and what the disruptors bring to the table, I think it does.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_04: It's kind of uh, what do they say, iron uh iron sharpens iron.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_04: And when you've got competition like that and you've got choices that consumers can make and say, hey, these guys get it right, and if they sell 250,000 units, 300,000 units, whatever it is that they're racking up right now, those deals, as you know, are coming right out of the showroom of franchise dealers.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_04: They're not coming out of the the homes of private, you know, used car buyers, right?
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_04: They're coming out of your showroom.
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_06: If you look, if you look at athletes, a great athlete wants a great competitor.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_06: Because that that will make them better.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_06: You know, that's right.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_06: And we really have not had great competitors.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's right.
• 17:31
  SPEAKER_04: Well, you know, so I'm not I I don't even want to go down this road, but the Chinese are breathing down our back, and a lot of people say that could be a heck of a competitor out there.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_06: I I think the fact that they're breathing down our neck right now isn't necessarily a bad thing.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_06: I certainly have spoken about this.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_06: I don't want to see them here.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 17:51
  SPEAKER_06: But there's not a manufacturer in the world that's not saying how do we develop cheap, you know, more affordability to our customers.
• 17:57
  SPEAKER_06: That's right.
• 17:59
  SPEAKER_06: And I hope to God that they respond to it.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_06: I'm confident Toyota will.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I agree.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_04: I agree.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_04: I think they're working on it every day.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so where do you think that that uh if you had a zero in on one area, where do you think dealers are still making the process harder than it needs to be?
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_06: Where do I think they're making it harder?
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_06: In their own heads.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_06: Because they can't let go.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_04: You gotta win it there first, right?
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_06: Because they can't let go of it.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_06: You know, and and it's because we're we're just evaluating on our end, right?
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_06: Saying, like, how do we make this process simpler for our employees?
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_06: And everybody's saying, well, what about our customer engagement managers?
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_06: And I'm saying, well, what about them?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_06: We may not need what them to do what they're doing now in the future.
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_06: I mean, and I think that's part of the success of a Carvana, is there really isn't, you know, a reliance so much on human capital.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_06: And so how do we, if we rely on it, how do we get a more consistent process and break down the jobs we're asking people to do?
• 18:58
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, good point.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_03: So, where do dealers still have an advantage over a company like Carvana that dealers may not be taking full advantage of?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_06: Well, that's a great question.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_06: I I I think that the biggest thing that the dealers have working for them right now, right now, again, it is we're getting we're getting lead time to react this.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_06: Dealers still have the franchise model and the manufacturer behind them.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_06: But but people will figure a way how to work around that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_06: And that's it's it could potentially erode the franchise system.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_06: And again, I think every manufacturer says, oh, let's take, let's have a gut better customer experience for our employees, but we're gonna do it to you with both arms tied behind your back.
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_06: And I think that's where the difficult the rub is.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_06: So I think right now, be mindful of it, be aware of it, and and what are we going to do to navigate through this?
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_04: There's a perception that younger consumers uh don't necessarily want the traditional dealership experience.
• 19:59
  SPEAKER_04: Are you seeing that in in your showroom or in your business?
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_06: Again, I would say it a different way.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_06: Who wants to go to a dealership?
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_04: Told you he tells it like it is.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_04: No, I I listen, four hours, five hours in a showroom, and we still can't figure out what the hell's taking so long, right?
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, it's it's you know, and and you know, we looked at last month, I think we had what you and I would come to know traditionally as as walk-ins.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_06: Okay, because we didn't have a record of how they intersected with us digitally.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_06: We sold 70% of them.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_06: So people know what they want before they come here.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_06: Sure.
• 20:33
  SPEAKER_06: And and people, I think, when they're coming to our website, they would know how do I buy the car?
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_06: This is a car, how do I buy it?
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_06: And we're still being encumbered by it.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_06: So I think we do have, you know, we talk about it, we do have great innovators, great forward thinkers, but it's really hard to do that when you're making the record profits of dealers that we make.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_04: Where do you see uh, not to this is a whole other show, but where do you see AI fitting into all of this?
• 20:59
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, can this can this play can this be a big um help in this area?
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_06: Well, again, I the answer is it's going to be.
• 21:07
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_06: But we don't know where and how, and people are saying, okay, well, let me run to find an AI tool.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_06: I'm not sure to do what they're looking for, but every everybody's selling it and it's, you know, I need it.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_06: Um I think if we focus on creating process to evolve our business and keep evolving it.
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_06: Like everyone's okay, we're gonna change something and we're gonna keep that change for 18 months.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_06: We're gonna keep it that way.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_06: I think the the the real giants of commerce today have a fluid model.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_06: So I think AI is going to intersect with our our total industry, but I'm not sure where and when.
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_06: And I think it's really how do we create processes backed up by a human capital strategy that I suggest is very different than what we have today.
• 21:53
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah, for sure.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_04: Um, in the volume that you did in the last quarter, um what what was the The breakdown and not exactly, but in terms of uh EVs, hybrids, and and uh and combustion engines.
• 22:07
  SPEAKER_06: I I I think the breakdown is just really predicating upon uh production and availability.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_06: So, you know, Toyota says struggled with this between Toyota, Lexus, and globally, oh, and add to it the tariffs and where they're losing money on vehicles.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_06: So it's really I don't think we're a good barometer right now to say what the demand is.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_06: Certainly, I think if there was parity, everybody today would take a hybrid.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_04: Hybrid, yeah.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 22:34
  SPEAKER_04: And and Toyota really led that charge when it when the whole industry was shifting towards EVs and it was all about EVs, and you had so many car companies that were changing their entire fleets over.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_04: Now they're a little bit in trouble because of that.
• 22:47
  SPEAKER_04: Um and and really hyb the hybrids for Toyota is what won the day, right?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_06: Totally.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_06: Totally.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_06: And and again, I think Toyota's really looking at and saying we don't want to look for different segments to enter into where we think there might be a demand for product, probably other than much more affordable product.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_06: So they're not gonna look to take, I think, great risks here and create new segments.
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_06: Um, which I think again is is a really, really brilliant strategy.
• 23:15
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
• 23:16
  SPEAKER_04: Um we we always talk kind of macro and uh what's happening on a global basis and how it kind of affects or how it does affect us in the auto industry here in the US.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_04: What is your take on where we stand right now?
• 23:29
  SPEAKER_04: Obviously, the war is still continuing in Iran, the uh gas prices are through the roof, diesel prices are absolutely crazy.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_04: What's your take on it as we go into this last quarter of 2026?
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_06: Well, again, it's it's evidence that what irrespective of what the data is going to show and how the government manipulates the data, things are getting more expensive for people.
• 23:49
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_06: Period.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_06: Uh and there's a lag time to that.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_06: So I think it's going to perhaps slow slow the economy.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_06: Uh to what degree, I don't know.
• 23:59
  SPEAKER_06: And I think, again, we have to believe in our leadership.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_06: Um, but I think to come out every day and say, like, Iran wants to make a deal, and I don't know who I don't know who to talk to.
• 24:11
  unknown: Exactly.
• 24:13
  SPEAKER_06: So I can't.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, I again I think there's a part of it is uh we're we're living we're living in a world that fear sells.
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_06: Um the more fear we can generate, you know, the more clicks we'll get.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_06: But I think you know, that's also gonna become, you know, hopefully, and hope's not a good strategy, but people will respond less to these fears.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_06: Right.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_06: But certainly, but certainly if you add our debt, if you add our debt to what's going on, and people don't really want to speak about this debt, we're gonna face some uh some tough times.
• 24:45
  SPEAKER_04: $40 trillion.
• 24:48
  SPEAKER_04: It's just it's it's I don't know where this is going or how we get how we get ourselves out of that situation.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be tough for whoever uh and actually whoever is the next president, regardless of what side of the aisle.
• 25:00
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, because this this isn't gonna be fixed in the next 24 months.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_04: I'm so sure.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_04: Are you passionate about that?
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_04: Do you agree or not?
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_04: You okay?
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_06: You good?
• 25:12
  SPEAKER_03: Sorry, bad TV.
• 25:13
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, the tough one there, but the the the trend the the the my the debt really gets there, you know?
• 25:19
  SPEAKER_06: Well again, I think I think both sides of the aisle are are guilty.
• 25:22
  SPEAKER_06: Nobody wants to look at like the the key issues.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, and I think you know there's news, you know, news in the last 10 days about AI, and I think you know, this administration clearly needs to keep the AI thing going because it probably makes up seven 70% of the stock market right now, and they lose out, we're really gonna be in in difficulty.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_06: So I wouldn't I wouldn't want to run for public office.
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_06: I'm so grateful we have a guy like Bernie Marino out there representing the car the car dealers.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_05: Yep.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_06: And uh yeah, and I think we we need to throw as much support behind his initiatives as we can.
• 25:56
  SPEAKER_04: Don't you think it's funny that we don't have more uh people like Bernie that have run?
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, car car dealers and politicians, that it's it they go hand in hand.
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you know, come on, you're you you you can see where out of 18,000 car dealers, there's got to be a lot more than just one that we can get in the Senate.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_04: Bernie's doing a great job, obviously.
• 26:13
  SPEAKER_04: We had him, I say Bernie, Senator Marino is doing a great job.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_04: He was on yesterday with us, and uh but it it's funny, it's amazing to me that I mean that there's not more congressmen or senators that are come from the auto industry.
• 26:28
  SPEAKER_06: I I well I I'm not surprised that there are more who would want to expose themselves, and by the way, it's part of the problem our country.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_06: Who would want to undergo that scrutiny?
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_06: Yeah, who would want to subject their family to these things?
• 26:39
  SPEAKER_04: That's true.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_06: So I I I commend Bernie first courage.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's true.
• 26:42
  SPEAKER_04: Good point.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_04: Good point.
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_04: And uh and dealers are uh, you know, it would be a little bit of a cut in pay, too, for most dealers, you know.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_06: No, I don't believe that.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_06: There's there's nobody leaving there broke, there's nobody leaving our government broke.
• 26:55
  SPEAKER_04: No, that's true.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_04: That is true.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_06: So yeah, that's that's you know, we're we're we're blessed with him.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 27:02
  SPEAKER_04: New grandfather, which by the way, my my grandfather name is uh granddad.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_06: So it's very original.
• 27:08
  SPEAKER_06: That's so old.
• 27:09
  SPEAKER_04: Uh I know, right?
• 27:10
  SPEAKER_04: Isn't it something?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_04: So what's your grandfather name?
• 27:14
  SPEAKER_06: So I had grandchildren both, my daughter, my son, my uh my daughter's children call me Zadie, which is an old Yiddish term for my grandfather.
• 27:23
  SPEAKER_06: Sure.
• 27:24
  SPEAKER_06: And because David's kids weren't quite this old, they only could pronounce Z.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_06: Okay.
• 27:29
  SPEAKER_06: So Z, they can only pronounce Z.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_06: So it's Z?
• 27:33
  SPEAKER_04: Depending on who's calling you.
• 27:35
  SPEAKER_04: Well, Peter Cooper, thank you so much for joining us.
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_04: Congrats again to you, your family, certainly your daughter.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um, and and it's that's pretty cool.
• 27:43
  SPEAKER_04: Brandon.
• 27:46
  SPEAKER_04: Well, thank you so much.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_04: Appreciate it.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_04: Congrats on the uh the huge September.
• 27:49
  SPEAKER_04: I think you probably need to change it.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_06: Now it's the September to remember since it was the Oh we got great franchise in the December to remember.
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_06: I just don't know that it means name in the public, but we got a great name there.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, no question about it.
• 28:01
  SPEAKER_04: All right, man.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_04: Great catching up with you.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you.
• 28:04
  SPEAKER_04: All right, take care.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_04: He's a great guy.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: Great guy.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_03: And he tells it like it is.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_03: He does, yeah.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_03: I was stations with him.
• 28:11
  SPEAKER_04: I know, I know.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_04: But uh, and again, 20, almost 30,000 units that they sold, as I mentioned, 11% year over year.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_04: Uh, it seems as though the luxury brands um have have just been cranking along here, you know.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_04: Stock market's been doing good.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, uh, there's been a lot of money that's been made, you know, uh out there.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_04: So the people are spending it.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 28:33
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_04: Even Ferrari sales are up, Lamborghini sales, Bentley sales, way up.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_04: I I don't know.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_04: I don't know if Bentley sales are way up.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_04: Could be.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe they are.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_04: Could be.
• 28:44
  SPEAKER_04: Could be.
• 28:45
  unknown: Oh.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_04: All right.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_04: So talking about AI, which we just got done, uh having a great conversation there about AI and uh and actually getting your team to use it are two very different things there.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_04: Uh talking about and getting them to use it.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_03: So, what does real AI adoption look like and how do you get your people on board?
• 29:03
  SPEAKER_03: Jen Suzuki, founder and CEO of Zuki Talk and president of eDealer solutions, joins us live to break it down.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: Good.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for joining us, Jennifer.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_02: Hey guys, how are you?
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_04: Good.
• 29:14
  SPEAKER_04: How are you doing?
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, good.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for having me.
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_04: Absolutely.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_02: So you're talking about AI, you're talking about AI adoption internally, I think.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_02: And you know, I have been really fortunate to see so many different tools and so many different departments and how people execute.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_02: But I always kind of come back to this with dealers.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_02: Um, there are people that have pushed back on AI.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of noise about AI from, you know, our big three, and some people are pretty scared, and I understand.
• 29:44
  unknown: Yeah.
• 29:45
  SPEAKER_02: However, it can also interfere with our progress progress in the store.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_02: And so you have your rejectors, and there's I guess something I could I could recommend is getting them involved, getting all team members involved in what we're trying to use this tool for.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_02: First, if they're part of identifying what our problems are that, you know, are creating friction in a person's role, then we've identified what we're trying to solve by incorporating a tool.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_04: Sure, sure.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_04: What are the biggest misconceptions that you hear when you're when you uh talk to dealers about AI?
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_02: I think a lot of times people think that it's just like another product that we're used to.
• 30:25
  SPEAKER_02: But the reality is that it's slightly different.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_02: Like there's a back end that requires human oversight.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_02: It also requires management to be heavily involved in the progress of the tool because it doesn't mean that the way that you received it is the end of the product.
• 30:44
  SPEAKER_02: It actually gets better when people are nurturing it, paying attention to it.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_02: And team members are gonna give you that feedback.
• 30:50
  SPEAKER_02: They're gonna say, Oh, well, the customers they don't like this, or they had a bad experience with this, or I'm having a bad experience with maybe two tools doing the same task, interfering with the customer experience.
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_02: But if we don't go to nudge our team members and say, How is it working for you?
• 31:06
  SPEAKER_02: What are the challenges you're facing on a very frequent basis?
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_02: And then taking their input, having close relationships with the vendor reps, that's and then they seeing that we're making progress.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_02: This is actually how you get tools like AI to get adopted.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
• 31:20
  SPEAKER_03: Do you think dealers are trying to adopt a little too quickly without first figuring out what the problem that they're actually trying to solve might be?
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_02: I do think that that was a common thread, and it still is.
• 31:31
  SPEAKER_02: I think that we're seeing very fast-paced adoption.
• 31:35
  SPEAKER_02: In the last six months, I've had dealers that six months ago were like, no, we're not there yet.
• 31:40
  SPEAKER_02: Six months later, like, oh, I'm doing everything on AI, created this workflow, it's fixing this.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_02: It's and I'm like, wow, six months, there's so many changes.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_02: Um, so I do think that we're making a lot of progress.
• 31:51
  SPEAKER_02: I do think that a lot of the managers that I see, the dealers that I see that are making significant headway and actually being able to say, it is solving a problem.
• 32:01
  SPEAKER_02: We are getting a return on investment, it is making things easier for our team members' roles.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I do think they're heavily involved in the tool.
• 32:10
  SPEAKER_02: They're they're just they're overseeing it all day.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_02: And I know that sounds like a heavy lift, but it's a requirement, in my opinion, at this point.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_02: We should recognize that it does require an extreme amount of oversight.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_02: Um, not that the tool is not good.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_02: A lot of the tools are very, very good.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_02: It's just that it does require us to be a part of it.
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_02: Um, and whether that's a back-end tool modification, I'll give an example.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_02: Um, I was in a dealership the other day and the AI voice was um saying the dealership's name the wrong way.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_02: And I was listening to the recorded calls, and I said to the management, Well, how long's this been going on for?
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_02: I'm sorry, I said it to the advisors and they said it's always been that way.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_02: And I said, That's well, who's listening to the calls?
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_04: Right, right, right.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_03: So let's talk about management.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_03: What does it take to get a dealer principal or a GM to say, okay, we're actually going to do this?
• 33:01
  SPEAKER_02: Well, I think that there has to be a real problem, as you mentioned, that has to be solved.
• 33:06
  SPEAKER_02: And so I believe that having the entire team be a part of onboarding any tool is the first priority.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_02: You know, it's about pinpointing what problems do we face.
• 33:16
  SPEAKER_02: And it's each individual has a challenge in their own role.
• 33:20
  SPEAKER_02: And so what we're trying to do is figure out what's the strength of a human and what's the strength of AI.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_02: And then how do we collab them together and hybrid it so that we are really truly seeing momentum and advancement in our in our companies?
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_02: So I do think that a lot of times we just have to recognize that there's new features that are being uh delivered from the AI tools.
• 33:41
  SPEAKER_02: There's challenges that don't make it perfect that we have to keep everybody involved in.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_02: So you might have just onboarded a product, but it requires everybody's participation to make it actually work for the organization, you know, and modifying the roles and responsibilities as an ongoing thing.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_04: This is a whole nother show, but how do you teach a salesperson to work alongside AI instead of seeing it as a threat?
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_02: This is an excellent question.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_02: So I I'm gonna, you know, you just struck a core because I just got to thinking about a couple incidents that I see frequently.
• 34:14
  SPEAKER_02: One is I see that the AI has done a magnificent job of connecting with customers.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_02: Uh, it's doing its job of communicating.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_02: Ultimately, maybe it's setting a service appointment or it's it's getting engagement through long-time sales follow-up from a lead.
• 34:30
  SPEAKER_02: Um, but one of the big ch threats is that we don't talk enough about what to do when the customer has a relationship with the AI and they think it's a human and they enter the organization looking for this AI by name.
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_02: And we haven't created a system in place where we've trained our team members on how to acknowledge an AI relationship.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_02: What happens often is the customer will come in looking for, let's say it's Sarah, and we know that Sarah is our AI.
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_02: First, everybody should know that Sarah's our AI.
• 35:04
  SPEAKER_02: Right.
• 35:05
  SPEAKER_02: That happens still too.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_02: And the customer, I oh no, I just don't want to say hello.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_02: I just want to say hi.
• 35:10
  SPEAKER_02: And the other person at the dealership says, Oh, Sarah?
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's just our AI.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: Oh.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_02: No, what are what are you guys looking for?
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_02: Which that actually catfishes the customer.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_02: It actually devalues our brand.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_02: It actually says And then they feel awkward.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_04: The consumer feels awkward.
• 35:28
  SPEAKER_04: Oh my gosh, I just fell for the fact that this is a human being, right?
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 35:33
  SPEAKER_02: So we need to have like training around how to how to react.
• 35:37
  SPEAKER_02: Listen, on the other side of the coin, you're gonna have customers that have not been satisfied with their experience with voice.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_02: And so when that happens, or even just the text, you know, oftentimes I'll hear people say, Well, that, you know, Sarah got snippy with me on the phone today.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_02: Um, or they have maybe the customer was already mad about something, and then the AI called them, and that just maybe they weren't an AI super fan and they just got a little annoyed.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_02: And then they call the team member and they start ranting about their problem with AI.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_02: When the team member isn't trained properly, they will often they'll try to bond with the customer through this.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, I know.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_02: Isn't AI so annoying?
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_02: I I don't know why we're using it.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_02: Can you call my boss and tell them you hate it too?
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_04: Oh, that's not good.
• 36:23
  SPEAKER_04: That's not good.
• 36:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, yeah.
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_03: They so I'm sure you come across the salespeople that say, I've been selling cars for 20 years.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_03: I don't need AI, I'm fine without it.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_03: Um, how do you respond to those people?
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_02: I say you gotta give things a chance.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_02: We used to think that about internet.
• 36:39
  SPEAKER_02: Look, where would we begin without internet?
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_04: Very good point.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's it's not everyone has to be a lover of AI, but they have to be embracing the growth and uh and the technology advancements that are here, and we have to work alongside them.
• 36:58
  SPEAKER_02: So I just basically say to them, you know, be a team player and be open-minded, and let's look for ways that we can make your job more efficient.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_02: And that's really what this is about.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_02: I I want to see people have more human connection.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_02: I think that's the strength of a human.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_02: And if we can leverage AI to take away some of the remedial tasks and things that actually burn people out, they actually end up leaving over it, you know, because they just get burnt out.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_02: They get tired.
• 37:24
  SPEAKER_02: If we can remove that friction, if we can remove that and replace it with a technology tool that'll allow that person to now be more customer-facing, I think that's what we the conversations we need to have with people so that they can see the transformation of their role and where their strength exists.
• 37:41
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, for sure.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_04: I spoke to one dealer that said, listen, uh, we are in the infant stages right now of AI and we're all trying to figure it out.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_04: He likened it to dial up with computers, you know, back 30 years ago, right?
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_04: When you're like, oh my God, this is taking so long, and I can't download this image or I can't see this video, whatever.
• 38:00
  SPEAKER_04: So if you fast forward five years, right, where now it's just just like so part of our everyday lives in retail automotive and actually in life in general.
• 38:11
  SPEAKER_04: Um, so so he reminded me that Jim, this is a this is a process that we're all going through.
• 38:16
  SPEAKER_04: And uh if the early adopters that you know really embrace this concept and this technology will win in the long run.
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_04: Would you agree with that statement that we are in the infant stages of this?
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_02: We're in the infant stages of it.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_02: It's evolving, it's evolving.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_02: It's incredibly different than it was this time last year.
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_02: I do think as leaders, we have to recognize the importance of having these conversations more frequently with our frontline team members to get a pulse on the products and whether they're working.
• 38:45
  SPEAKER_02: What do we need to modify?
• 38:47
  SPEAKER_02: Um, we we we really need to uh ensure that we're being a part of it.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_02: The managers that I know, okay, and I've had the I've had the privilege of you know working in dealer education for 20 years and then building a voice AI tool myself and executing it in dealerships.
• 39:03
  SPEAKER_02: And this is where a lot of this experience comes from, even in just being able to see other products, but knowing how how at this technology actually works.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_05: Sure.
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_02: We still are seeing extreme advancements in AI.
• 39:16
  SPEAKER_02: When you start to get dialed in on working with your reps more closely, what you're gonna start to do, and this is what happens with my most advanced dealers that I work with, there's they love AI.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_02: They are locked in, they they become some of the best pilot people to work with because they they want to oversee it every day.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_02: They're they're pushing back, they're asking questions, they're in they're truly trying to make this product work for their dealership.
• 39:40
  SPEAKER_02: And they're the ones that start to see the vision, the future.
• 39:43
  SPEAKER_02: And in fact, for me too, I can I can envision what the future looks like because I see what the how the product works.
• 39:48
  SPEAKER_02: And it's not always, you know, just what you see on the surface.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_02: It's how AI functions, how it operates, and how it is improving through, you know, like open AI and such.
• 40:00
  SPEAKER_02: You know, but the managers that are really watching this thing, they're they're building it with their their reps.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_02: I can tell you this: I've watched these guys go out and build their own AI tools.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_02: Almost every progressive dealer that I know is building an AI tool now.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_02: And it doesn't mean that their intent is to sell it.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_02: And I recommend that they do this.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_02: You should be building your own AI systems to help your team members with more efficiencies, reporting, and what have you.
• 40:25
  SPEAKER_02: They are the guys that are truly getting the most uh bang for their buck uh with these tools because they're they're actually executing.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, they there was they have a lot of respect for how AI works.
• 40:37
  SPEAKER_02: So when it's not working 100% the way you think, because we're still in the infancy stages, you know, they're not over there like, let's get rid of it.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 40:45
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 40:46
  SPEAKER_04: I think we have a comment that just came in regarding what we're talking about.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_04: What is what what is the answer?
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_04: I would like to meet uh Pam.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_04: Is Pam is AI?
• 40:56
  SPEAKER_04: How do we handle that without lying?
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_02: Pam's one of our team members.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_04: Okay.
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_02: There you go.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: All right.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_02: I'm here to help.
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_04: What if in the event they want to go further and they want to meet Pam?
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_04: What do you how do you how do you what's the transition there?
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_02: So I would suggest, I would say, well, listen, every one of us has a role to make sure that you have a great experience.
• 41:16
  SPEAKER_02: And today you're gonna meet several of our team members.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_02: Um, Pam, she uh, you know, has helped it works on our team and she's been helping us communicate with you.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm reading through Pam's notes here to make sure that we can uh continue forward into the next phase of how we can best serve you today.
• 41:33
  SPEAKER_02: And you should have already read the history.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_02: This is a key point, too, because you know, the handoff is critical.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_05: Yeah.
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_02: Uh so it you want to make it seamless.
• 41:42
  SPEAKER_02: And a lot of times we we have experience with this, by the way.
• 41:44
  SPEAKER_02: We've had BDCs for a long time, and it's a very similar scenario where the BDC had a relationship with the customer.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_02: You know, now the AI has a relationship with the customer.
• 41:53
  SPEAKER_02: There are information has been acquired.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_02: And if we don't read that and we're gonna start the customer over, this is detrimental.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_02: We we just cannot continue.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_04: So yeah, you'll get people that'll spin around on their heels and go, that's it.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_04: I if I gotta start all over again.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_04: I thought Pam had my whole file.
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_04: I talked to her about everything and uh Pam's been chasing me for three weeks.
• 42:12
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, you don't know me.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_04: Exactly.
• 42:14
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it devalues the brand.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_02: And so yeah, my recommendation is to include Pam as a team member and explain that every person here has a role to ensure that this customer has a great experience with us.
• 42:23
  SPEAKER_02: Yep.
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_02: And the next phase of our relationship is to take a test drive.
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_02: That's right.
• 42:28
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm in charge of that, you know.
• 42:29
  SPEAKER_02: Or the next phase is to get a true market value on your vehicle and we have our appraiser ready to serve you, you know.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_04: So I think so I would be remiss if I didn't ask you about Suki Talk.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_04: Um so tell us in our last moments here together, give us the elevator pitch.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, well, um, I created a voice AI because I have been training on sales calls and service calls for two decades.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_02: It's the next evolution of what I've been doing.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_02: Sure.
• 42:57
  SPEAKER_02: And so I found that there was a very serious pain point that I felt was a critical call in the dealership, which is when we have checked the customer in in service and the technician has completed his multi-point inspection report, and we text it to them and we send a video for transparency, clarity.
• 43:16
  SPEAKER_02: And then sometimes the shop will get busy for one reason or another.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_02: The call doesn't always get made to actually review the multi-point inspection report.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_02: And customers, I feel they just deserve to know what's going on with their car in a way that they understand so that they can approve things confidently.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_02: So I explain my secret sauce on every work that's been a job that's been flagged, and I gain approvals.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_02: It's a it's a communication system.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: That's great.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_02: And uh it relieves a lot of of the pressures for the advisors so they can do more face to face.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_04: That is great.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_04: And that product is available now if dealers are interested.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_02: Well, currently I'm in a pilot, okay, and um we've got some great companies behind us that have integrated.
• 43:59
  SPEAKER_02: So It's all very seamless, very automated.
• 44:02
  SPEAKER_02: It's really cool.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_02: I mean, to be able to see an RO only sit there for one minute, you know, after the report is completed, um, and not sit there for 20, 45 minutes, or a waiter who's sitting there and now they're not gonna approve because they've already been waiting 45 minutes.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_02: Yeah, that's right.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_02: I can get an approval in one minute, and um and the parks are being pulled a minute later, uh, moving the whole thing forward.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, we're actually doing complimentary pilots for dealers that have the systems that we're integrated with.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, and um, we're having a lot of success.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, it's been it's been really fun to work with guys that are really AI lovers.
• 44:37
  SPEAKER_04: That is fantastic.
• 44:39
  SPEAKER_04: Well, congratulations on all your success.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_04: And uh thank you for all of the great shows and content that you provide our viewers with here at CBT News.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_04: We very much appreciate it.
• 44:48
  SPEAKER_04: I know they do as well.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_04: They get a lot out of your shows.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_04: So, Jen Suzuki, founder and CEO of Zuki Talk and also president of eDealer solutions.
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_04: Thank you so much for joining us on the show.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_04: It's great catching up with you.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks for joining us.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_02: Oh, same.
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_02: It's great to see you guys.
• 45:01
  SPEAKER_02: Thank you so much for all of your support.
• 45:03
  SPEAKER_02: Thanks.
• 45:04
  SPEAKER_04: She's awesome.
• 45:05
  SPEAKER_03: She is.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_03: I love her energy.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_03: Oh my god.
• 45:08
  SPEAKER_04: That's what she should be bottling, right?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_04: That if she that's what you get with Suki Talk, is uh her a bottle of her energy.
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, she's great.
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, and she knows the business so well.
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, too.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_04: She's rattling through that.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_04: She was given some great advice there.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_04: I know.
• 45:21
  SPEAKER_04: I'm thinking to myself, wow, this this this she really knows the business.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_04: That's why we have her own.
• 45:27
  SPEAKER_04: I know, it's awesome.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 45:30
  SPEAKER_04: So, dealers, look out for uh Suki uh Zuki Talk.
• 45:34
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_03: Get it?
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_04: I get it, I get it.
• 45:38
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, yes.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_04: Jen Suzuki.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 45:42
  SPEAKER_03: Thank you for joining us, Jen.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_03: Um, okay.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: So if you'd like to get more great content like this, please be sure to head over to cbtnews.com for more conversations like we had here today.
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_03: Also to be updated on every time there's a live show.
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_03: You can also be sure to like, follow, and subscribe to all of your favorite social channels where we are.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 46:04
  SPEAKER_04: And check out Jen Show right here at the CBT Automotive Network.
• 46:07
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_04: And uh YouTube will walk away with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and a lot of knowledge.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_04: There it is, loyalty-based sales training with Jen Suzuki.
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_04: So she's awesome.
• 46:15
  SPEAKER_04: She is.
• 46:16
  SPEAKER_04: Uh so yeah, um we've got so much going on in the auto industry.
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_04: It's so exciting.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_04: Uh what a week it's been.
• 46:22
  SPEAKER_04: You know, here at CBT News, we had you know Senator Marino on yesterday.
• 46:26
  SPEAKER_04: Uh he reached out to us and said, Hey, I want to jump on and give you guys the exclusive and talk about, give you an update, which he did.
• 46:33
  SPEAKER_05: It was a great one.
• 46:34
  SPEAKER_04: And uh unfortunately we had to bump a couple of our scheduled guests, but they will be back with us.
• 46:39
  SPEAKER_04: Yes, they will be back next week.
• 46:41
  SPEAKER_04: Sometimes that happens in the news business.
• 46:42
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_04: You know what I mean?
• 46:45
  SPEAKER_03: So before we go, we would like to mention that we will be at Use Car Week, November 16th through the 19th in San Diego.
• 46:51
  SPEAKER_03: So please be sure to let us know if you're gonna be there.
• 46:54
  SPEAKER_03: We would love to talk to you.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_03: We're gonna be doing the live show right from the show floor, so be sure to check that out.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_04: That's right.
• 47:00
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah, stop by if you're there, stop by and and we'd love to interview you, you know?
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_03: That's right.
• 47:05
  SPEAKER_04: We're doing a lot of interviews there.
• 47:07
  SPEAKER_04: We already have a bunch scheduled.
• 47:08
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, I know.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_04: So it's gonna be great.
• 47:09
  SPEAKER_04: And also, you know, it's funny, we're also now all already lining up interviews for NADA.
• 47:15
  SPEAKER_04: Right?
• 47:16
  SPEAKER_04: That is amazing.
• 47:17
  SPEAKER_03: I know.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_04: It's in February, though, right?
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_04: It's right around the corner.
• 47:19
  SPEAKER_04: It is.
• 47:20
  SPEAKER_04: I mean, you blink.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_04: I can't believe we're in October already.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_04: Q4.
• 47:23
  SPEAKER_04: This is nuts.
• 47:24
  SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
• 47:25
  SPEAKER_04: Nuts, I tell you.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_03: But no, it's but I'm excited about closing out the year.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: I'm excited about 2027.
• 47:30
  SPEAKER_03: We've got a lot of really great things happening.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_04: So what are you gonna be for Halloween?
• 47:34
  SPEAKER_03: Um a news anchor.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_04: Your twin sister is very big.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, I have a twin sister who is obsessed with Halloween.
• 47:43
  SPEAKER_04: Katrina is she probably needs to do a show with you here.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_04: But uh that will be fun.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_04: She is very, very she takes Halloween like to the next level.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, yes.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_03: She's our resident makeup artist too when we have guests in.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_03: So she uh she's no stranger to some of the CBT guests that you have on.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_04: That's exactly right.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_03: Anyway, she's great.
• 47:59
  SPEAKER_04: So thank you all for watching.
• 48:01
  SPEAKER_04: It's been a phenomenal week.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be a huge weekend.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_04: First week.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_04: Listen, if you get the deals by the 15th, the rest of the month takes care of itself.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_04: That's all I'm gonna tell you.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_04: But that has been my experience.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_04: We all take way too big a breather in that first week because we put all of it, all of our energy in that last week.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_04: Okay, but you know what?
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_04: I was a king of uh sandbagging.
• 48:22
  SPEAKER_04: I would say you said that before.
• 48:23
  SPEAKER_03: Like what's true.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_04: I would sandbag deals all day long.
• 48:26
  SPEAKER_04: So if I hit my number, and you guys know what I'm talking about, if you hit your 20 cars or your 15 cars, whatever the number was, I would say, okay, those extra deals are going into the next month.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_04: So I would always get the fast start bonus, myself and a couple of other guys.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_04: So if they said, All right, if you have 10 cars by the 15th or 10 cars by whatever, I'm like, all right, I got you got four of them.
• 48:46
  SPEAKER_03: So as a manager, were you okay with people saying?
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_04: Hell no.
• 48:50
  SPEAKER_03: I need every single deal I could get.
• 48:51
  SPEAKER_04: But as a manager, I could I knew the ones that were sitting on deals, you know?
• 48:56
  SPEAKER_04: And I'd call them out, and I'm like, no, no, we're delivering that car this month, you know, and they would fight me.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_04: And sometimes I'd have to call the customers direct and say, You really take delivery right now?
• 49:04
  SPEAKER_04: And they're like, Yeah, it was the salesperson that told me to wait till the first.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_04: Not fun.
• 49:09
  SPEAKER_04: Not fun.
• 49:10
  SPEAKER_04: Anyway, thank you so much for joining us.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_04: See you right back here Monday.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_04: We are always here Monday through Friday.
• 49:15
  SPEAKER_04: I think we're the closing us out.
• 49:18
  SPEAKER_04: We are we are the news group.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_05: Anyway, we'll see.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_04: So much for joining us.
• 49:24
  SPEAKER_04: Right here, then DVD.
• 49:26
  SPEAKER_04: Join us back here Monday.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_04: We will see you.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_04: Have a great weekend, everybody.
• 49:41
  SPEAKER_00: We tell out on news with the clear eyed focus.
• 49:43
  SPEAKER_00: And on the stuff, 12 is the most talking flow.
• 49:49
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders at the table, finders in the frame.
• 49:51
  SPEAKER_00: Every conversation moves the game.
• 49:55
  SPEAKER_00: We're on that twelve.
• 49:56
  SPEAKER_00: Leaders and reset, or don't bring it to yourself.
• 49:59
  SPEAKER_00: Diders, and the leaders, everybody rides.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: Single features, and now we keep fueling for eyes.