Air Traffic Control with Colby Joyner

SPEAKERS

Kyle Mountsier, Paul Daly, Colby Joyner, Michael Cirillo

Paul Daly  00:00

Colby Joyner I just had to say his name like that because I didn't know how else to start this podcast

00:12

this is Auto Collabs

Michael Cirillo  00:15

no Colby joined us

Paul Daly  00:16

he did. We haven't started an episode off with a bad joke yet.

Kyle Mountsier  00:21

I was two bad.

Paul Daly  00:22

It was started over. All right, Kyle, would you have started this episode, we'll give you a shot.

Kyle Mountsier  00:31

Well, I'll tell you this, the first time that I met, Colby was actually at Digital Dealer. And I met him in person. And he at that point was working for Alex Flores, which if you know, Alex, for us, he he is full of energy. And I watch your statement. I'm watching Colby, just manage that that energy channel channel and just like manage the heck out of and make sure that he's in the right place at the right time. And he is, like, just with expert skill and care. And, and not just that, but he was so intentional to just come up to me and be like, I know you have a podcast. And I appreciate that. And I know I have a lot to learn about managing podcasts because they had started a podcast at that point. And there's never been a point where I've ever felt like Colby's like, got it down. You know, everybody else doesn't know what's up. And he's done a so much in automotive. And for him to just have this humility and like, I'm gonna approach things with, hey, that's an expert in the field. Let's follow that. Yeah. And I see that through and through him. All right, that

Paul Daly  01:41

was a better intro than ours.

Michael Cirillo  01:43

That was much more thoughtful. What I will hopefully try and add to that, just my own impression of Colby as I've gotten to know him. He's a strategic thinker. He knows how to draw parallels really quickly, without a doubt. But it's not only like, Hey, I'm willing to learn. He then goes and puts in the learning to the degree that you're like, did you like like, like The Matrix? He's like, I know kung fu. Like he just so deeply because he's willing to get his hands dirty. And so I'm excited for us to be able to hang out with him and learn what he's got to say here on the Auto Collabs podcast.

Kyle Mountsier  02:27

All right, we are hanging out with my good friend Colby Joyner. Colby is with Konect AI and a good friend of a lot in the automotive industry. So Colby, thanks for joining us today, man.

Colby Joyner  02:39

Thank you, man. I'm freakin stoked.

Kyle Mountsier  02:42

There you go. Yeah, Colby is definitely a, an ASOTU friend, and is all around kind of everything that we're doing. We're actually just talking that, that he's tired of our voices most days because he starts his day off listening to our other podcast. No, but I want to I want to get a little bit into just where you're at what you're doing. Because a lot of people know you. You were with Alex Flores for a long time kind of in and out and back in with with his ventures kind of with the stores. They're in Austin and San Antonio, and then his new stores. And just recently, you've you've transitioned back to the industry partner side with Konect. So I guess kind of walk us through what it looks like for you to move from that dealer side and what the intention was in moving to the industry partner side again, and what you were hoping to accomplish both both there and with the industry,

Colby Joyner  03:46

man, so yeah, so my main purpose of moving from the dealer side to being an industry partner really was to be able to attempt to effect change at a larger scale. Right. So I know that if you know you're at a store, Kyle, you understand that being at a you know, at a store, but you know, when you're at a store, you can affect change with the in the store. But so much of your time is, is is in that store, you know, you're spinning your bell to bell, you're 12 hours a day, and, you know, you don't have a lot of time to you know, take a breath and have a conversation outside of what's going on in that store. So, you know, the change into that industry partnership and going on this side was really to attempt at the best that I can to try to be an asset to help the industry as a whole. Not you know, trying to offer whatever I can, you know, that was my main largest goal is to be able to collaborate and adapt and move in the direction that I think that we need to go as an industry and I wanted to be a part of that. And I wanted to offer whatever I can, you know, to be able to do that and only the best way to do that is on this side as an industry partner. You know to try to somewhat dated throughout the whole industry.

Paul Daly  05:02

Yeah. So let me ask you a question first, because you all know each other a little bit better. I mean, we've we've gotten to know each other a little bit over this last year. But I don't know the answer to this question. How did you get into the auto industry? Because I think it'd be helpful for you to just talk about that quickly. And then I think for our listeners, giving them the context of the experience or coming from like, the level that you had your hands in the dirt inside the dealership is really important. Because it's easy, I think, for people to just assume that an industry partner like all I just want to bring you my angle on things. And so I want to broaden that out a little bit. Because I know you're, you're kind of like, have a really deep understanding. So how did you get into the industry? And then what areas that the stores, you know, have you experiencing?

Colby Joyner  05:48

So, you know, I started selling cars, when I was 18. And I did it for about nine months. And that's about as long as that three solid paychecks helped me. Because I was so bad at selling cars. I worked at a Chrysler store that no longer exists, but it was a Chrysler only store in South Austin. And, you know, at that time, Chrysler really didn't have anything was right when the 300 came out, they had the Crossfire, but then other than that, you're someone you know, Sebring, or a van, and the the demographic, the age demographic.

Kyle Mountsier  06:26

Before we keep going, can we just stop and recognize that the Crossfire was a car that like Chrysler, and Chrysler dealers had to figure out how to sell into a market.

Colby Joyner  06:38

Chrysler branded Mercedes

Paul Daly  06:41

was actually one of my favorite cars to repair wheels on when I had my weird wheel refinishing business. It was so easy, and they were all damaged. But I

Colby Joyner  06:49

can't even I can't even test drive.

Paul Daly  06:54

Wheel damage, I'll give you the look.

Colby Joyner  06:57

That's the test drive them because they were so small, I'd had to like to say, hey, here's the keys, go drive it because I couldn't even get into the car. It's horrible. Yeah, no, I mean, but the age demographic that was coming in and purchasing the vehicles at a Chrysler only store. They would look at me like, What is this kid trying to sell me something trying to negotiate and tell me that this is the best payment? And this is the best term? And it just it didn't go well. Right? It didn't go well at all. So I was like, okay, yeah, so my only plan B was join the military. So I didn't join the military, when in military and did all that got out of the military was a metro Air Force. I was an air traffic controller in the Air Force. Um, so got out of the military became a medic, quickly got hurt, blew my back out as a medic. And then people typically make fun of me, and it's okay. But I ended up becoming a massage therapist. So I became a massage therapist. And I did that for several years. And all these things actually tracked but keep going. No, I actually utilize so it's a learning experience across the board, right, but became a massage therapist, and became an instructor and advanced neuromuscular therapist and started working on sports players and stuff, but still at that point, you know, with a family, you know, kids and everything, wasn't making any money. You know, I was not, there's no way I could make 100 grand, there's no way that I can make anything that was sustainable. And so I told my wife one day, I said, Hey, I'm gonna sell cars. So I just started selling cars. And then that's kind of led led me to here.

Paul Daly  08:33

What changed? What changed between the starting to sell cars the second time? I mean, aside from a whole life of experience, yes. And you're traveling, and really it was medic, right? At a massage therapist, Senate instructor, aside from all that life experience, like, what was different in your mind that made you successful at it the second time around?

Colby Joyner  08:50

When I was 18, I didn't have I didn't understand consequences. And so if I didn't try hard, I didn't understand that I wasn't gonna get paid. Gotcha. And, and so going into it,

Paul Daly  09:03

right. Yeah.

Colby Joyner  09:05

Right. No, yeah. No, no way that I could fail. I had to figure it out and get it done. So

Paul Daly  09:12

so I just give us like the give us the two minute from when you went back to start selling cars to when you decided to join Konect, give it what happened in that gap

Colby Joyner  09:22

So sold cars, I was only on the floor, selling cars for nine or 10 months, and then ended up meeting Alex and went to was an internet manager over at Capitol like within nine or 10 months of me starting to sell cars, left him came back to my original store as an Internet director, and then left that store went back to Alex as a marketing director. And then left there was an industry partner for a little bit, came back into automotive as a marketing director and then ended up you know, internet director BDC Director going into platform director and sales manager and, you know, just head, whatever was Jamie director moment. Right? Yeah, whatever was needed as I was trying to be the the facilitator. Right, that's, that's what I wanted to do is just helping anyway.

Kyle Mountsier  10:18

So you spent, so it sounds like a majority of your time on the dealer side was spent on the like, internet manager BDC, marketing, you know, kind of kind of arena, where Where did you see the largest opportunity for growth? Both, you know, and I'm guessing it has something to do with what you're doing now. But where did you see the largest opportunity for growth in like that, that form of this, this business, you know, it's that form of this business is taking over, you know, 90% of all of all the transactions, but, you know, where, where were the breakdowns, wherever the opportunities, wherever the things that were good about it, that you kind of proceed from your position,

Colby Joyner  10:58

I just saw opportunity, right, that's the biggest thing is looking at software, I mean, I don't have any formal education background, right, I graduated from college I did, I'm graduated from high school, did a little bit of college, never graduated college, you know, but I've always kind of just had this street smart kind of, I can figure things out. And I just saw that as the biggest opportunity to affect a change, or to be a part of a change. You know, if you look at, like the sales Tower, or finance, or, you know, even just on the sales floor, it's, you know, it's an alpha male type game, or was, you know, before, and I saw that the biggest opportunity was inside the BDC, looking at the Digital looking at leads, how to engage with them, using a little bit of that compassion and understanding that I learned from being a massage therapist, and, you know, being able to be hyper, you know, hyper focused and task driven from the military, but then also the, you know, I'm like, the Sour Patch Kid, you know, I'm sweet and sour, same time, you know, so I could do both, I could understand that, the humanity in it, but I also understood the process.

Kyle Mountsier  12:12

And this guy is like, he's like, he's like, over here, we got our task list. And if you don't get if you don't do it, the mission fails. Also, air traffic control, you move here, you move there, you go there, and this pulls a lever, and don't fly in this zone, and blah, blah, blah. And over here, just make sure you practice some empathy when you're doing all of that, because humans like massage therapists, right? Put it all in

Colby Joyner  12:33

one. Alright. Yeah, that's, but that's where I could see the biggest opportunity for change is that those the department, you know, the internet department, a BDC. Department, it was always kind of put in the back room, you know, it was always blamed for failures, and never applauded for success. And so I saw an ability to go back in there and say, Hey, let's make some changes, let's adapt a little bit, let's utilize some newer software, newer processes, newer, you know, ways to communicate with the customers, let's change the way that we're talking to the customers, you know, in. So that's really why I went down that path. And I've been super fortunate that the people that were, you know, that hired me at the doors were that were, you know, mentors to me at the stores, were able to see that I was, that was my spot to shine. And you know, don't, don't put me in finance, don't you know, I wasn't the best sales manager, you know, I could do one on ones great, I could have counseling sessions, I could do some good training. But when it came down to that other stuff, like I wasn't the best at that. Where I was shining was that so everybody, you know, they would allow me to go in those directions that I needed to go to be successful, not only for myself, but for them. And,

Paul Daly  13:47

but Airtrack, the air traffic controller thing is still stuck in my head. That's like, that's a super high pressure job right now, air traffic control, like people wash out of that, because it's like, a lot of people just can't cut all the moving pieces and the pressure, like the high stakes of it all. And so I just understand so much more about your personality and how I've seen you operate. But I know you were an air travel, Air Forces, all of a sudden, like, ah, that's how he that's how he kept the demeanor kept moving forward, right, understood the pieces I just been I love that part of the story, which is one of the reasons Automotive is so great. Because there are a zillion stories like this, where you see someone as a high operator within the industry, and you realize you can map it back to all these other things that they've done all this other experience they brought into the world, and there's a home for it inside this industry. Like

Colby Joyner  14:46

it's interesting. It's interesting because I said it to my dad this weekend, but I put it on a little Instagram reel today. And it was a situational change creates resiliency. So The more you know, as I had to change in my situation just completely flipped multiple times, it's constant change, I was able to become more resilient to that change and be able to be far more adaptable to any scenario. And I'm not trying to pat myself on the back, it's just I know that about myself now versus where I was 15 years ago. Just the

Kyle Mountsier  15:20

truth. Yeah, that's, that's some self awareness. Because, you know, recognizing that those opportunities give you a greater capacity to serve, and whatever role you're in currently, is really, and I even I, you know, I don't know, if you've been through some of those straight lines, I'm like, you know, a licensed massage therapist, you know, an air traffic controller, and, you know, and an ex military walk into a bar and come out as one person, like, what's the story after that? It's that they're in car sales, right? Yeah. That's, that's the story

Paul Daly  15:56

walk into a building, what building when they walk into your, like, good dealership, because they

Kyle Mountsier  16:01

obviously, because that's there. Now, it's interesting, because that's, you think about it, the volume of people that that we work with, and the type of different people you know, I used to say, when I was selling cars, I would say, I've met people that do things that I don't think half the people in the world even recognize are a job. Like, it's people don't even know that that's a thing that people do, they just, it's a part of the ecosystem that somehow gets skipped as, like, you know, growing up, I want to BS, you know, then that that person's job just isn't even in the vernacular of whatever we do. And sometimes to connect with those, see what I did there, sometimes to connect with those types of people, you have to be, you have to have some level of background that allows you to recognize that different experiences with different people, like you learn the asset, and that aspect of touching different ecosystems across different, you know, silos of business. And I think that that's unique for you, is you bring even more level of empathy to customer communication, that maybe some people that either grew up in the business or have only done one role or something like that, maybe may not have because of these, these opportunities, you've had to see people in different ways. And, and that's, I think that's super valuable. And it probably is more of the story of automotive than not, you know, you think about, man, now I'm just my brain, my wheels are turning about how so many people in automotive have done so many different roles, especially like growing up in high school and college. Because it that's actually the the proving ground for your efficiency in automotive. So, yeah, that's, that's a really cool thing. So now I think fast forward. Oh, yeah, go ahead. Oh, I

17:56

was gonna say, I think that that's why automotive has such an opportunity to have exponential growth is because the more that you communicate back and forth to people in the industry, the more that you get deeper than surface level on this on this, you know, I'm the GSM, or I'm a sales manager, or I'm a finance manager, if you go below that, right, and you get to know people and actually become friendly with them and understand who they are, you're able to learn a lot more about life and everything outside of automotive, which makes you better in automotive. And that's the interesting thing about automotive is it's where this hodgepodge of people, you know, that come from so many different various backgrounds, and the more that you communicate, the better that we all are. So that's why I honestly, that's why one of the biggest reasons that I'm an ASOTU fan, is because that whole conversation is built about, Hey, who are you? What are you about? What do you you know, what are you doing? How are you trying to affect change, and it creates those conversations that need to be had. So that, you know, I think I've said it literally on like every podcast, every video thing I've ever been on. But the thing I believe more than anything is a rising tide raises all boats. So the more that we're able to communicate truth, we build that tied up and we start really impacting a lot of things. Truth.

Colby Joyner  17:56

It's good. So fast forward. Now you are you're you've moved from the dealership world into a company called Konect AI. That was actually it was actually birthed out of a dealership group. And is that right? Correct? Yep. So what what was the reason?

Paul Daly  19:36

I guess? You just spell it for anyone who's just listening to the K i

19:40

So so Konect is K O N E c t.

Paul Daly  19:44

They go .ai just went to a I have someone who's not watching it. Can't see it. Go ahead.

Kyle Mountsier  19:49

I'm sorry. So that was birthed out of out of a dealer group. What was the reason why maybe before you came on that the dealer group that birthed this technology saw a need or an opportunity Within automotive, to create something that was this type of connection communication platform.

Colby Joyner  20:05

Yeah, so the the dealer group that that still is, you know, our parent company in this whole thing. They have a whole strategic innovation arm, right where they have, you know, full of retail establishments and you know, 40 stores, almost. And then they had this strategic arm, which is, you know, connected in several other different subsidiaries. And those subsidiaries are all based off of items in areas in automotive that, that they deemed as we were kind of missing, right, there's ways that we can impact change outside because, you know, connecting the other subsidiaries aren't just for the dealer group. They are for automotive in general. So it's how do we make a change in automotive? How do we help automotive in general, get better communication or get better at the retail experience or, you know, get better at, you know, acquisitions, you know, you name it.

Kyle Mountsier  20:58

So I know a little bit about the platform, but I'd love for you to you don't need to do a full demo or anything right now. But I'd like you to explain maybe a little bit more to the listener, exactly what Konect is because, you know, when I when when we say a communication platform, we've got CRMs. And we've got calls, or we've got call systems, and we've got, you know, texting platforms, and we've got a bunch of different ways that we are attempting to communicate from employer dealer to customer across the industry. And, you know, what you're saying is there was this there was a, there was a gap in that that foundation, and that Konect is attempting to solve both for their dealers and for the industry. What's that gap? And how are you seeking to kind of fill that for, for dealers.

Colby Joyner  21:44

So I would say it's less than a gap. It's less of a gap and more of a reimagined nation using technology. Right. And so, you know, we're still a communications platform. So it's not like we just invented this new way of doing something, you know, artificial intelligence, you know, you look at Google, and some of the other different, huge, massive companies are using AI for customer service, or whatever models that they build. But we saw it as a way to kind of reimagine the middle ground between where customers wanting to initially start communicating with a store. And then when the store actually takes it over. Right, because there's, there's so there has been traditionally a lot of just dropped balls at that point, you know, because it's fully reliant on the human ability to follow a process. And that's on a per store per team in the store basis. And so if we can be able to make sure that that customer experience coming into the store, with the brand messaging with the dealer messaging, and everything is aligned, as they come into the store, and we have that initial conversation for the dealer, to make sure that the customer feels comfortable talking that the walls are coming to coming down there, okay, with this kind of back and forth, then we're handing over this, this warmer lead, right, we're handing a warmer opportunity, I'm really trying to get out of that calling things lead mindset. Where we're handing over this warmer opportunity to the store, not to overtake the store, we're not replacing there's there's not a single person in the dealership that we replace. So that's not the goal, the goal is not replace a

Paul Daly  23:27

major hesitancy like do people think that is that like a stigma? Yeah, yeah, people think

Colby Joyner  23:31

that, you know, okay, well, you know, if I have you then okay, who do I need to let go of? Well, no, it's no, it's not that it's the added piece, I said something the other day of, you know, the, the fuel additives, you know, you look to the, you know, into your tank and toss that little eight ounce fuel additive in there, now, you get a couple extra miles per gallon, that were the fuel additive, where that little fuel additive, that cost is in the tank, because it's going to get you that much more efficient on everything that's coming to you. Got it.

Kyle Mountsier  23:58

So what results are you? I mean, I'm really curious, because I, you know, everybody's trying to implement more communication, you know, so what results are you seeing and you know, when when you go in, and when you start working with a dealership or dealer group, in in the way that these opportunities are being handled and and being nurtured into that sales process.

Colby Joyner  24:23

So if we're talking about like KPIs that I could share with you, I mean, we're talking about 30% efficiency, increase right proficiency, increasing the stores, so more time being spent, by your BDR or your sales staff have of having proper communication and engagement with opportunities, instead of just spending time making phone calls, or sending emails with no responses. So now, more of their time is spent actually communicating with somebody that is wanting to communicate. Secondarily is the way that we track and engage needs met with the customer is only based on positive intent and positive sentiment. Right? We're not sitting here saying, hey, somebody, somebody met us it just twice. So hey, they engaged with us. And so we're gonna give you that, you know, we're gonna count that for us now, we're only counting the people that are positively engaging with our AI and handing it over to you. And we're seeing a 65% positive engagement and 65% engagement going towards the dealer?

Kyle Mountsier  25:28

Well, I that first key, I think is just is, in general, good to key on four key in on for anything in the dealership is that, you know, technology has the potential to decrease efficiency because of multiple entry or anything that like, now I'm logging into another thing. But these these ways to increase efficiency, right, we heard over the pandemic, that average car sold per per person went from that 12 range up to that 16 range, which means salespeople are being more leveraged to spend more time with guests, which means that they are less leveraged to spend time communicating, you know, we've got, you know, a tightened a tighten job market where it's hard to find people, because unemployment is so low. And so just finding all of these little inefficiencies frees you up, to do something else at the dealership. And I think that this is actually what Paul and I were talking about this morning, how, you know, things like education, and delivery, and the things were like, very, very close one on one interpersonal connection at a dealership are going to be so much more important as we go for the next three or four years, then if we can free ourselves up, no matter what the technology connect or another technology in a different part of the dealership, if we can free ourselves up to to be more efficient in those areas, and have more FaceTime or interpersonal connection with customers when they need it the most. I think that that's a win no matter what technology that you're looking to implement in a dealership. Yeah,

Colby Joyner  27:05

we're so we're we're talking about automating technical or automating the process, but not automating the human in the relationship built. Right. And so the more that we can automate a process, because the process is typically automated, right? You can't say, oh, I have a process, but then it doesn't fire correctly every time Well, no, you don't have a process, you have an idea. And so if you were able to automate portions of that process and make the process automated, then you like you said, Kyle, you free up the human being to be a human being, and engage in a relationship style sales. And so our job is to create that lift of engagement, that lift of opportunities coming into the store, and being able to actually speak with a salesperson one on one. And that's where you're gonna get that, that higher brand and or dealer loyalty, when you get that situated.

Paul Daly  27:56

The people side of the business, you know, as we're hearing, you know, like you, you just mentioned College, we talk about this element of what is going to be the the requirement or the the need human interaction need over the next, you know, 3 4 5 years, it's not about pulling people out of the stores, it's actually about refocusing them to make those connections, because an Education Connection is actually a really strong one. Because someone came to you confused. And you cleared it up for them. Right? So you do all kinds of things, you show them that you're smart, you build a lot of trust, right? You become their their person, their guy or gal when it comes time for them to have a question. It sounds like, it sounds like what you're doing is really aligned with your kind of heart for people in general, right to move them from one place to the next place to the next place, right air traffic control one place to the next place to the next place. Massage Therapists like on the pro level, right? Moving them from some level of pain or immobility to be able to go and walk. So I see the thread that's going through without a doubt Exactly, exactly how you you know, it's totally aligned with your personality. I'm going to ask you this final question. So the industry is it in a time when I think there's just people are juggling a lot of things and we don't know where exactly everything is going to fall when it comes down or trying to best to place our hand under the ball when it falls. What what would one line of advice be that you would give to auto dealers? Granted, you have a lot of experience from inside the dealership and a lot of perspective from outside the dealership, if you could tell them to focus on one thing for the next 12 months, right? We're not talking three, four or five years. Where do you see the most opportunity for a dealer if they focus,

Colby Joyner  29:43

reduce and streamline everything? That would be my biggest thing reduced. You can't have you know, unless you're my wife, happy anniversary to my wife today. Unless it's my daughter's sixth birthday at the same time. I'm so happy birthday Happy Anniversary by

Paul Daly  30:01

the dog on the anniversary was the dog anniversary gift?

Colby Joyner  30:05

No, she bought her dog born randomly. Yeah. I guess yeah, she called me. She called me and said, Hey, we bought a Shih Tzu. And I said, Oh, we did. That's nice. No, but you can't, you can't focus on 13 things at once, and try to make sure all 13 Or all 13 things work correct. So the more that you're able to reduce and have a very good aligned plan, on how you operate as a store, how you operate as a culture, how you operate internally, and that the perception of the external, right, so how they handle their cup of customers outbound, the more that you're able to streamline that and get it just airtight, the more that in the varying situations that are to come, you will at least know how you handle them. I think one of the biggest issues is that people don't know how to handle the situations when they arise. Because now they feel like they have to add the 14th thing to make sure that they cover that. And then you keep stacking and stacking and stacking. Yeah. And then you lose sight, you've kind of you don't have the ability to track it all.

Paul Daly  31:15

What's the main thing again, right, you just have all these things. And it's hard to tell the main things. So what I, what I hear you saying is, in these complex times, you're like, dealers, anything you can do to take away to get simpler.

31:31

Let's start to go. And so in that turn, like with Konect, Kyle was saying that earlier, and I was gonna say it, but with Konect, there's not a purpose or reason for the dealer to have to log in into anything. There's not a browser window, you have to have open, you don't have to go in and check anything, we have the report, you know, we're building this really, really cool report, which I'll share more later. But it's it's a different way of looking at reporting. But we have a report that just gets sent over to the dealer and the people that we need to send it over other than that, everything will go into the CRM, every ounce of communication that you need to know about what we did, and what we said, the dealer will know, the BDR will know whoever is assigned to it will know it's all placed in there easily for them, because that's their wheelhouse. They're comfortable sitting in the CRM, so I'll send it over to them and let them look at it. And there, they don't have to have another window open that's going to slow down their, you know, 15 year old PC, right? They just need to have the CRM

Paul Daly  32:36

in front of the dot matrix printer,

Colby Joyner  32:38

right, right. So that's but but it's, I want to make it simple. It's simple. You don't have to log in, you don't have to, there's no reason for it. I don't I want to eliminate that concern. Of Oh, I gotta check this, then I gotta check this. And I gotta check this. To streamline it to make it easy. We do our job on our end, and it gives you more opportunities on yours.

Paul Daly  32:59

will call me awesome. I'm excited to see where this all goes. I'm excited to hang out with you a little at ASOTU CON in person. Absolutely.

Colby Joyner  33:07

My first time to Philly to so I'm

Paul Daly  33:08

oh my goodness, that just makes me so happy.

Kyle Mountsier  33:12

The man is gonna get a cheesesteak, you know? Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Paul Daly  33:17

Well, thank you so much for giving us some of your time today, I can't wait to see what the next what the next iteration is going to be for you and for connect.

Colby Joyner  33:25

And it's a pleasure of being able to just hang out with him a little bit

Kyle Mountsier  33:32

what we figured out is that basically, you could have an air traffic controller, a former Air Force in enrollee, and a licensed massage therapist walk into a bar and come together and figure out how to run a new business. And Colby just did the whole thing all at the same time. It's quite impressive No, because I think that this happens a lot in automotive, especially people that kind of try and find their way in a few things. And we see that those people are much more acclimated to the types of changes and shifts and consumer and customer and, and partner dynamics that are necessary to be able to approach problems and topics in automotive. So people that have these wide ranges of experience actually come into automotive and and learn how to focus all of that energy and I think that he's done that through a few different mediums and I love where He's taking this conversation of like, hey, we just have to be we have to free up our people to be able to serve customers more to take away some of the tasks that that maybe they're doing or are not doing well and freeing them up to do

Paul Daly  34:39

other that's the focus on the right solution. Right it's easy to get in the weeds on you know whatever your product provides or whatever like lane you're running in to say this is the most important thing. I love how he's always looking over the horizon for me like no we're just doing this so that you can do that. Right and you can do that doesn't mean close more sales. Yes, everybody wants to close more sales but under stating that giving the customer the better experience is something that closes more sales and helps the industry as a whole. And and and

Michael Cirillo  35:07

it makes sense though air traffic control isn't that that's like the rated as the most stressful yeah job that you that an individual could possibly have. So as I'm listening to the two of you, on the back of that, that conversation, it makes sense to me that he knows how to focus energy, because I mean, anybody could oversimplify air traffic control and say help planes take off and land. Yeah, but how hard could it be? Yeah, but you were saying about seeing ahead of the horizon. It makes sense to me, because, you know, all he can control is what's on his radar, but he doesn't, that doesn't mean he doesn't know there's other airplanes in the air about so it's like, there's so much complex and

Paul Daly  35:45

staying calm, right? Like you have to keep your composure which he is super cool. It makes so much sense. I'm like you are an air traffic controller this might be easier for you. Yeah, we handle situation but we've seen them handles just some like all kinds of stuff and all kinds of energy flowing and emotion flowing and details filling he just kind of okay, right? Did I just picture that air traffic controller? I hear him in my head. Okay, we got to go to heading one seven. And he drops the

Michael Cirillo  36:14

mic and is like they're gonna die. I want to see an air traffic controller like plan out a dealership, you know, like, how do you get to the service bay, they're gonna have to like cars will have to enter a pattern approach. Yeah.

Paul Daly  36:25

Man, well, all that we say put a lot of pieces together. And these are definitely the stories that we love because we know we need such a texture of people in automotive and people coming to automotive with those backgrounds. And there's a lot of people that didn't start off saying I want to be a car dealer. I want to be in the automotive industry. Colby is one of the best. It was good to spend some time on behalf of Kyle Mountsier, Michael Cirillo, myself. Thanks for listening to the Auto Collabs podcast.

36:53

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