Dealers Care About The Tech, Special Guest Shane Wilson of Connected Dealer Services

Paul J Daly: 0:00 Wow. It is Thursday, August 28 Yes, Errol and I are still making it. We're at the last day of the name and conference live in Las Vegas, Nevada, and we're gonna talk about the things we're hearing and seeing from dealers and industry partners throughout the show. Unknown: 0:12 I think the biggest conversation, and I don't know if you've been hearing the same thing, it's just all about technology, like it really, really multiple facets, different technology. But I think what I'm finding is that, from a dealer standpoint, it's hard to keep up right, because you don't know which technology I need, which technology I might have that's now outdated, or something now that I need to implement to help me manage it all. Like, how do I figure it out what I need, how I need it, and when I need Paul J Daly: 0:38 it? There is definitely a feeling of some people feeling overwhelmed. We had a lot of great talks and panels. Yesterday, David James, CEO of techion, was on the stage. I got to do a panel with Brian Cramer, who I think opened everybody's mind to how big this tech expansion really is and how it's affecting people, but also the things that we can be doing right now, and the blocking and tackling of the business, like, for instance, we talked about about trade appraisals and used cars, right? Because even though tech and AI tools are expanding very quickly, there's always the basics that you can be doing to actually make give yourself a ground to stand on while you have to expand into this new tech landscape. But without a doubt, there is a feeling, if people are like, I know I need to do something right? I'm not quite sure what. Unknown: 1:23 I'm not quite sure what. And I think, to your point too, I think the big thing to recognize is that it's not like the AI is just gonna come in and magically wave a wand and solve everything that you needed to solve. Yes, there is a training element. There is a you element that goes into it in order for you to be able to be able to get the benefits from it. And I think that's the other piece that people are learning more about, is that I can't just, you know, think that it's going to magically do all the things I wanted to do. Yes, no, I have to almost treat it like another employee, so to speak, where I've got like, Oh, this is my business. Let me introduce you to it. Let me write training, working Paul J Daly: 1:56 effort between Yes, listen, we, first of all, we really want to thank our friends at connected dealer services for helping bring us. Bring this content to you right live from the show. We're actually going to bring into the show. Welcome him in. Shane Wilson, President, connected dealer services, a fellow, fellow Detroit treaty Shane Wilson: 2:14 on the same plane, Metro. Detroiter, Detroiter, Paul J Daly: 2:18 Detroit, Detroit. Okay. Shane, so you've been here, you've been walking around, you've been putting tracking devices on cars. It's pretty great. But, you know, you've been in a lot of conversations over the last couple of days. What are you hearing? What are you overhearing? What are people asking you? What are you hearing people ask one another? Shane Wilson: 2:36 Yeah, man, I, first off, I absolutely just love this show. I mean, this show is, you know, everyone that's here is leaning forward. They want to grow. They want to be educated. They literally wrote it on the wall, right? So, so you know what they're doing. They're very they want it. They want the education. You brought the technology. They really want to know what they know it's coming. How do they handle it? How do they manage it? How do they deliver it for their for their businesses? And so it's really refreshing to see that and see what they're doing to try to grow. So from my side, you know, they're obviously looking for profitability and F and I, and how do they, how do they, you know, have service retention, and so that's obviously my world and what we're seeing. But you know, just overall, what AI can do for them and and what are these other technology products that are here today and this week can offer? So it's just great to Paul J Daly: 3:21 see. So how are you and through your products? How are you looking to be a part of that flow and that momentum, even Shane Wilson: 3:26 through your lane? Yeah, so we really focus on, we have so many facets of our business and what we do, but we really focus on the service retention side and the CRM. So, you know, fundamentally, we are a lot management program at the dealership level. We prevent vehicles from being stolen off the lot. But, you know, we're an F and I product, right? Non cancellable, hard ads. So it's very profitable for the dealer, for the dealer, but for at the end, it's the service retention and it's the data. And so educating them on what they can do with that, how they can own that customer, new and used, and bring that back to their base for their fixed ops and service. It's just, it's huge. It's really important. So kind of opening that up for the dealer and showing them what they can do. Is it's really fun. Unknown: 4:04 So what helped you identify, kind of like, Hey, this is the area, right? Because we talk about the operations every day of a dealer, and you kind of mentioned some of the key areas. But what was it that made you guys kind of decide, like, this is the area we need to hone in and focus and that's what made it important. It's Shane Wilson: 4:20 it really resonated. First off again, the data like, once we realized what we had in our in our wheelhouse, was like, the light, Bob, Bing, right? It was like, it's like, wow, what we have here is real odometer. We've talked about this before, but just just that one data point, and knowing every single vehicle you have in the real odometer on that vehicle in real time, just that data point. You know, it's absolutely huge. But if you think about how you can layer other things to that, with service, retention, other products, all of that, it's a game changer for them. So great. Paul J Daly: 4:50 So tell me, tell me. Is this your first name out, or who have you been to Unknown: 4:53 that? This is my fourth one number before. Is this for we said this when we all Paul J Daly: 4:57 saw each other in an airport, but I forget things by. The last day, yeah, by the last day. So number four have, have they ratcheted up throughout Shane Wilson: 5:05 your 100% so I we've really invested as a company into this, this group and this show. The first one was a major eye opener for us, and seemed like, wow. You know, like I mentioned, just the the drive of the folks that attend here, and what they really want to do is great. So we love this. We're a big fan of the show, and we'll continue to support it, and can support and continue to continue to grow with them, right? So Unknown: 5:25 that's great. Now, looking future forward, is there anything that you know, you as a company or you individually, are like, excited about and looking forward to, like, hey, I really want to have an impact in this area, or I really see this. This is going to be big up with these upcoming years, especially with the rapid growth of all the technology. It's Shane Wilson: 5:42 moving so fast, right? It's so, you know, AI, of course, in what we can do with that, you know, we are, you know, they always say that, you know, what's the food that eats the machine? Well, we are. The data is what that AI needs, right? We have, you know, we're processing 2 billion events a month, so you know what we can do with that data, and the AI perspective, and for these dealers, that's, that's that's where I get all fired up. You can see how we already get jazzed up. Paul J Daly: 6:03 But that was the question. No way you can do with it. Yeah, exactly. Well, Shane, thank you so much for supporting us and helping us bring this, a little bit of this show to everybody, because it is, if you haven't been to the name at annual meeting, you have to go next year, put it on your calendar already, because it's 100% I used to say it's a sleeper, but there's 1200 people here? Yeah, it's not a sleeper anymore. Now you're just missing out. Yeah, well, it's just gonna keep getting bigger. So we hope you do what we always say. You do go out there, pay attention to the people. Even though there's technology and all there's all these things, if you pay attention to the people and cultivate them, people will solve the problems. Unknown: 6:38 People always do. We always have. We always will you.