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[upbeat music] This is a So 2 Unscripted, and I'm your host, Errol Beaumar. What's up, good people? Welcome back to Unscripted. I'm your host, Errol Beaumar. We are, of course, here at ASOTU CON 2026, Year of the Human.
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And if you've been following along, we've been having some great conversations. And guess what? It doesn't stop there. We're gonna continue to keep it going.
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Now, you may be confused, 'cause I'm Errol, but joining me, I've got Earl. And it's not like the Saturday Night Live skit. But Earl, come on up. Earl Brown, welcome to the show, man. How are you, brother?
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What's up, Errol? How are you? Nothing much. I'm doing great. They're gonna get all confused out there. They're gonna be like, "Wait, there's Errol, and then there's Earl, and then there's..." Yeah. It's all right.
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You'll see the spelling. You'll know it's different. Uh, but how are you? Welcome. I am great. It's been a great event so far, and, uh, we're, we're super excited to be here. It's a great turnout, great content.
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Uh, we love ASOTU CON. That's good. Now, is this your first ASOTU CON? This is my first, yeah. Unfortunately, I've missed the other ones.
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Uh, it seems like I've always been traveling or having something else to do, but, uh, that won't be happening in the future. I'm, I'll be sure to, to hit all the rest of them. [laughs] I love it. Well, welcome.
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We're glad to have you. Welcome home, as we say, right? Um, so tell me a little bit about your journey into the automotive industry. I'm gonna start there, right?
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Because I always ask people, most people either pulled in or they backed in. How did it work for you? Uh, it, well, it was a little bit of both. I actually, um... So I grew up in Michigan. Okay.
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Um, my- What part of Michigan? I grew up in, uh... I lived in Detroit until I was about 10. Okay. And then Northern Michigan, a place called Harbor Springs, um- I'm familiar. I'm from Detroit, so that's why I asked.
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Are you? Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Excellent. A couple of Detroiters with a similar first name. Interesting. Yeah, I know, right? Exactly. Um, my grandfather worked for Chrysler for 20, uh, plus years. Okay.
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He worked for General Motors, worked under Lee Iacocca. Most of the people that I grew up with were in the automotive industry in one way or another, whether it was retail- Yeah... um, on the sports side, manufacturing.
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Um, so I, from an early age, I knew that I was interested in the car business. Yes. I just didn't know exactly how that was gonna shake out.
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Um, about a week after I turned 18, I went in and applied for a job as a internet sales and marketing associate for a, uh, Chrysler, Dodge, Plymouth, and, uh, Ford store in Northern Michigan, and they had just lost their Plymouth franchise.
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Um- Got it. And since that time—that was 21, uh, years ago now.
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Since that time, I've worked in over 100 dealerships, um, mostly in consulting, marketing, and advertising roles, and I've been on the software side, um, supporting dealership operations for the last five or six years.
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I love that. Okay, so you gotta tell me, 100 dealerships later, right? Because that's a great... That's a, that's a, that's a phenomenal perspective. You get to see a lot of ins and outs. Yes.
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Obviously, a lot of different ways that things are done. What's something that you've found or something that you've identified out of the having that perspective? What's something unique or something different?
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So I like to think that my experience has, has shown me the best of the business, the worst of the business, and everything in between. Yeah. Um, there's a lot of context there. One through line, um,
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that's permeated all of it is the pain points when I started in the industry are very similar to the pain points today. Mm. Um, and I think one of the key things that dealers face, uh, is this sort of, um...
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I, I t- I deem it the, the Frankenstack, like a vendor jungle.
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They've got- [laughs] I can see that There's an endless supply of, of, um, of, of options for, for software providers, advertising providers, and support services, and things like that. And
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as the technology's gotten more advanced, it seems like that jungle that dealers have to navigate, um, has only gotten more complex- Yeah... and, and more time-consuming, and, um...
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It, it seems like all of the other major pain points have sort of shifted and changed, but that's the one that has, from, from my teenage years to today, they're still fighting the same battle. Um- Yeah...
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babysitting multiple, sometimes dozens of different vendors and disconnected systems. And, um, that's, that's the, that's one of the big learnings, I think.
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Uh, as an industry, we need to focus on solving that problem and giving more time back to those people. Um, ultimately, it's a time tax. It's a, it's an efficiency tax.
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It's a, sometimes there's a duplicative, um, sort of, uh, capabilities tax.
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And all of those things mount up, and ultimately, they take away from a dealer's ability to spend time with their customers and to- Absolutely...
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uh, do the things
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that they really want to be doing, 'cause none of them are interested in, um, babysitting software providers, or memorizing dozens of different logins, or connecting reports that aren't connected.
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Um, that's one of the big things that I think we're focused on. Um, and it's, unfortunately, it's not gotten much better, but hopefully- Yeah... in the coming years, we figure out a way around that issue. Yeah.
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And I think to your point, you're absolutely correct, because it's one thing to identify the pain point, right? But then it's almost like trying to throw different medicines at the same- Mm...
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pain point, trying to figure out, "Oh, I think this'll work," or, "Maybe this will. This is the new shiny object, so let's try this."
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And then to your point, you end up with Frankenstack, where it's just like, "Well, I don't know what it is anymore. [laughs] It's alive, but I don't know what it is anymore." So where do you see...
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Because you're right, I mean, there is constantly the emerging of technology and things changing.
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From your perspective, what are some things that can help, or what are some things that dealers should be focusing on to help minimize, obviously knowing that it, it might not be alleviated overnight, but what are some things they can do to minimize, to kind of get Frankenstack in control- Mm...
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if you will? So I think, a, a big part of it, I think, is the technology providers need to play better together. Um, there are, there are obviously major enterprise operators, um,
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uh, like, uh, like Celero, for example, and some of the other larger companies who have end-to-end solutions that need to be better connected, that need to, from the sales department and the service lane, through the marketing operations, and even out onto the lot with connected car solutions, they need to Tell the customer story better- Mm-hmm...
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so that the customer experience is not broken along the way, because that's another, that's another major factor here.
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The time tax, the efficiency tax that's levied against dealers also is a CX tax that's levied against their customers. And ultimately, it doesn't help the retail model for, um, for the CX to be broken.
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So I think one of the easy ways for dealers, um, to sort of start getting ahead of that is to audit their stack, figure out what's working and what's not.
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And that's a very tedious and painful process for a lot of them, again, because some of them are essentially babysitting dozens of different vendors.
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And it's difficult to work six days a week, 12 hours a day in a retail environment, and
to understand what all these little software companies and widgets do, and how the reports talk together, or frankly, don't talk together.
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Yeah. Um,
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but it's a necessary process, understanding what each little piece is doing for you, and whether or not it's ultimately saving you time and giving you more time to spend with your customers and, and improve your, your customer experience, or if it's, if it's detracting from that.
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Uh, and I think if, if you really dive in and start to understand these little pieces that, that aren't really talking to each other, it becomes easier to see. It becomes more obvious as you go. Absolutely.
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So tell me a little bit more about what's driving you today, right? I know you said, obviously, long time in the industry, many perspective, many different storefronts, right?
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So having the opportunity to, like you said, see the good, the bad, and everything in between. Your feet hit the floor in the morning, what's getting you into gear, and what, what's got you excited right now? Hmm.
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Um, I'm excited about, um, the passion that still remains in this industry. That's one thing that the burden of certain technologies has not taken away. Car people, at the end of the day, are the best people.
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Um, we deal with...
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A- and e- even at the store level, I've got a lot of experience walking into different, um, dealerships and learning the best practices, et cetera, but they see the best and worst in their communities.
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You know, they know... They're, they're so community-driven and so obsessed with, with delighting their customers and keeping them coming back.
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I think they're, they're really trendsetters, and that's something that has not diminished in any way with technology.
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Um, from the customer experience side through the marketing side, dealerships sort of set the pace, I think, for the entire retail industry.
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Um, and they've only gotten better at connecting with their communities over time. Even as we get further and further away sometimes by technology stacks,
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somehow they're, they manage to stay connected with their customers and to, um, and to deliver a better, um, experience than they had in years past, even with the sort of headaches that come along with all of this technology.
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And we're still doing a lot better than we were writing, handwriting car deals and faxing in, uh, credit applications and all that stuff that, that we were doing early on in my career.
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Um, so that is the most, um, I think, exciting thing. We're only getting better at what we do.
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Despite the challenges and despite the major industry shifts and things like that, dealers have stayed connected at the hip with their customers, which is critical, um, I think, for us to make it into the future.
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Yeah, I love that, and I love what I heard you say. It's, it's basically about the connection, but also the persistence, right? Um, because it, it is.
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It's, there's challenges that are gonna come up, whether it be internal challenges within the storefront or external challenges, like you mentioned, within the community.
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But if you stay connected and if you stay persistent, all those things kind of go away. Yeah. It's, it's, it is. It's really comes down to the people and, and the grit of the people. It's listening and asking questions.
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I mean, people will tell you what's keeping them up at night.
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Whether, whether it's us talking with dealers or dealers talking with their customers, if you really listen and you ask follow-up questions, they will tell you exactly how to make them happy and how to keep them in the loop.
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And I, I think there's a lot of people who, who have not learned that lesson yet. But i- in the automotive industry, we learn to listen, uh, very early in the process.
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W- It, it starts from the time you shake their hands and do the meet and greet. You're already qualifying, and you're finding out not necessarily what the hot buttons are, but what is bothering them.
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"What's wrong about your current transportation system?" Or... And, and the same is true on, on our side of the fence, talking to dealers about what's keeping them up at night, um, when they get home from a 12-hour day.
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Like, "What is, what is still driving you, um, to make changes that will ultimately improve the situation at your store?"
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I, it, it's really no different whether we're talking to operators or they're talking to their customers. Listening and understanding is the first step in that process, and car people are very good at that.
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Yeah, I love that. So what are you guys hearing? Like, what's some of the common things that you're hearing that are keeping dealers up at night?
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And then what are some things or ways that you feel like, "Hey, we can help with this"? Like, you know what I mean? I think the... For us, it comes down to the customer experience, a fragmented customer experience.
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Um, for example, a lead comes in at 9:12 in the morning. The BB- the BDC sees it a couple hours later.
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Um, and this is, uh, the context of the customer life cycle
is, is missing, mostly because of the Frankenstack and because of this vendor jungle, the API sort of gamesmanship that's happening, um, the gatekeeping that's happening.
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Ultimately, it affects the customer.
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Um, and being able to connect the entire life cycle and journey from, from first interaction to, uh, marketing retention, service retention, and all of the things that happen, a- and eventually another sale, um-
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You need a better sort of process for being able to connect all these data points and to understand really where that customer is at in the life cycle.
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'Cause ultimately, if you don't have that, you've got a customer who you sell a car to, and once that car is over the curb, you're just hoping that they come back. Yeah.
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And you don't have any context to keep them coming back.
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So if you've got the context of where they've been touched before, where they've been in service, or what other signals they've put up across your- your software ecosystem, it's much easier to sort of, um, stay on top of them, and retention is ultimately...
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Retention and loyalty is how you win in this business. Um, the one-and-done sales are more costly, um, than anything, I think.
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So a dealership's ability to keep a customer for life needs to be, um, needs to be the primary focus. And I think for a lot of them it is, because they feel that pain every day.
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They understand what it's like to have a customer who- who submitted a lead online, and they're showing up in the dealership, and the dealership doesn't have their info. It's not...
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They have to start that process all over again. They're re-keying things. They're...
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There's a lot of inefficiencies, I think, that- that are spun up by this sort of disconnected ecosystem that these dealers have to operate within. Yeah, I love that. Um, I hope that you all caught it.
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Uh, it's- it's a lot about connection. It's about persistence, but it's also about customer experience, keeping up with the people, finding out, and then listening, right? Asking questions and listening.
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Actually taking the time to slow down and listen to the answer. Earl, I think the- the points that you brought up are phenomenal. I appreciate your time and being here.
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And, uh, for- for us here at ASOTU, uh, this has been exciting 'cause this is the year of the human.
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And I think everything that you mentioned throughout our conversation was about those human touchpoints and the importance of whether it be the humans inside the dealership or the humans that are in the community, it's- it's ultimately about stopping, taking the time, asking the questions, and caring enough to listen to the answer.
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Absolutely. So thanks again for being here with us. Totally agree. Appreciate it. It's a pleasure. Thanks, Earl. Yeah, absolutely. Now this, of course, has been Unscripted.
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And as you know, we are gonna continue here at ASOTUCON 2026. We'll see you on the next one. Take care, folks. [upbeat music] Thank you for listening to Unscripted.
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At ASOTU, we're obsessed with uniting people around one big idea, that thriving people are the only path to a thriving and profitable industry.
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If that resonates with you, then head over to morethancars.com, join our email list, and explore our full list of podcasts.