In this must-hear episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki, ActivEngage CEO Ted Rubin joins the conversation to challenge the status quo of dealership messaging and reveal how real-time, human-led engagement is driving higher conversions, more revenue, and better customer experiences.
From the showroom to the service lane, Rubin explains why dealership messaging can no longer be treated as an afterthought. Website chats, live messaging, and digital conversations are today's walk-ins—and how you handle them directly impacts your bottom line.
Key Takeaways from the episode:
- Stop Chasing Leads—Start Connecting: Most shoppers aren't looking for info—they're looking for someone they can trust. And only humans build relationships.
- Live Messaging = Low-Funnel Gold: Shoppers who engage on your site aren't browsing—they're buying. Every chat is a chance to win their business.
- The Power of Empathy and Engagement: Scripted responses don't build confidence. Live conversations with humans and empathy do.
- Conversational Retailing Is Here: The best digital experiences replicate the in-store process—trust-building, tailored, and on the shopper's terms.
- Drinks First, Details Later: "Slow down to speed up" is the new sales strategy. Ask questions. Show you care. Earn the right to move forward.
Whether it's answering questions, setting appointments, or guiding customers through digital retailing tools, ActivEngage's live chat solution transforms passive web traffic into active buying conversations. And as Rubin puts it, "If they're on your site, they've already picked you—don't blow it."
This isn't chat support—it's a frontline sales strategy. If you care about conversions, customer experience, and representing your dealership with pride, this episode is your playbook for modern engagement.
👉 Listen now and reimagine what the right automotive messaging solution can do for your dealership.
 Welcome back listeners to Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki. I'm Jen Suzuki and I want you to meet Ted Rubin. Now, this guy is the CEO of ActivEngage, but you know, he has been a force, I mean, a true leader in automotive digital engagement. He's got this passion for innovation. He's got this track record. For driving meaningful conversations and you know, this is what I'm all about in the dealerships.
For me, this is about human interactions that make people feel a certain feels that gets them attracted to the dealership and the team. And Ted is at the forefront of transforming the way that dealerships connect with buyers online. And so we're gonna dive into the future of digital retailing, which is really becoming more conversational and, and it's about customer experiences.
I'm never gonna let off the gas on that and. What's next for automotive engagement? Ted, welcome to the show. Thanks so much. It's great to be here. I love, uh, I love everything that you've been producing. It's great. Thank you so much. Well, you know, we're so aligned on so many things because, you know, I think in the dealerships we're constantly trying to attract customers and customers.
For me, I'm always looking for the low hanging fruit. I just have to put that out there all the time. I mean, with internet leads, it's tough. I mean, I deal with. The sales teams or the BDC teams who are banging their head against the wall because nobody wants to respond. You know, and then you're, you're, you're really doing a lot of chasing and ghosts and it, it, it chews up a lot of time, but when customers call into the dealership or they show up to the showroom, for me, this is low hanging fruit.
When they hit that dealer's website, would you call this low hanging fruit? Oh, absolutely. I mean, when customers are coming onto your website, you know you have like a living, breathing billboard that can actually reach out and touch the customer, right? Yeah. And you should be using it that way. It's not something that they're driving by and they see it once in a while and you know, there's no way to know what it's doing.
Just the website itself. Yeah. You know, gives you a lot of visibility on their interaction and who, you know, who's coming by and what they're looking at. And as you change things, you can see how that mm-hmm. You know, goes up and down in your value as far as what it is that you're offering customers when they engage, if they're gonna engage Yeah.
Through the phone or through, you know, messaging on the website. Or email, but especially in these realtime engagements like phone and messaging. Mm-hmm. Then listen, I mean, you know, you, you wanna treat them with the same kind of quality and respect that you would have when they walked into the store.
When, when a customer walks into the store, you wanna just latch onto 'em, right? Yes. I mean, they're there. You don't wanna let 'em go. You wanna make sure that they walk out buying a car. I mean, that's exactly what you have to think of. When you're seeing these people online, because when they're going to engage mm-hmm.
If they go to engage you, they're testing you. They're trying to, yeah. They literally, yeah, they're trying to pick their person. That's it. That's, that's exactly what they're doing. They're trying to make sure, hey, you know, are they gonna treat me well? Are they gonna be nice to me? Are they gonna give me the answers I'm looking for?
Is this gonna be, they've got options out there, you know, with Proco. Absolutely. And there's no. There, there's no reason that you can't accomplish that. You should just be making sure that you see them as a human being. You see them as someone that is a buyer, that someone that is a real customer if they're interacting with you that way.
And I, and I think that that's a, a mistake that a lot of dealers make is that they see them as something digital. And so they don't treat them that way. They don't give them the same kind of intensity that they would for someone who's standing in front of them because they're not used to this digital format.
So you need to. That's it. You can't see them. You can't hear them, and you can't see their, their tonality. You can't hear their tonality. You, you, this is a lot missing here. But, you know, I struggle the, I struggle with this in dealerships, and this is actually why a lot of times people will have me come in is because, you know, they're sending out email templates, for example.
This is a great example of what you're saying. You send out email templates and you think, oh, I mean, honestly, do you really think that's gonna reel the people in? I mean, no, that looks so fake. It does. Nobody wants spam, you know? And. With so much AI that's out there and it has its purpose. Mm-hmm. But if you, if you don't customize your messaging and you just pump it out there mm-hmm.
Customers are gonna look at that and they're gonna actually, it's gonna be counterproductive. They're gonna think, these guys, they don't care. Right. These guys are just, you know, banging out communications. They're just, they're just, they just don't care. And I, I always come back to that, that that's the core foundation of connecting with people.
Mm-hmm. People have to know that you're listening, you know, people are. Answering their questions. And so, for example, a lot of times with like I see with internet communications, you know, a customer ask a question on a lead form, which I think is dated, but that's another topic. And then, and then. You know, they, they're not even answering the question because it's a template that goes out.
That's right. We're in a different world now. We're in 2025. You know, people want a more customized experience, don't you think? Yeah. I think that it's not just that they want a more customized experience, but it, and I think that you're right. I think they do want a more customized experience, but they want an experience where they can feel embraced.
Okay. In the same way that they would if they were standing in front of you. They're like, I mean, yeah. You know, I think that, that anybody at a dealership needs to kind of turn it around on themselves. 'cause it's not like it's lost on anybody. There's this sort of perception that, you know, I'm gonna get 'em in or I just need to get their information so I can deal with them later in a way that I, as the dealer is more comfortable in dealing with them.
And that's a mistake, you know, you should either get, get more comfortable doing it this way, or, or, or, or not do it because you know, the customer should be able to interact with you how they want to. And there's so many of them that are, look, they're on a medium which is very comfortable for them. They can stay sort of anonymous.
They know if they call and stuff like that, that you're gonna pick up on that information. So I can go online and I can ask questions, and all I want is to see if you're gonna service me the way that I want to be interacted with. Mm-hmm. So it's not that hard. And if you turned it around where. The person at the dealership is trying to get something and they went to another business, or they went to another entity and tried to get something, and all of us have done that.
And you get a computer or you get a nonsensical answer. It doesn't even have to be a bot. It could just be another person who just doesn't really care. They're like, you know what? Okay. I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna ask you a, a couple of basic questions, not really give you the answer, and then ask you to gimme your information so that I can put it into a machine later.
Mm-hmm. That's gonna follow up with you, like you said, with a very generic template and something like that. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Nobody's responding to those things. That's not the world we live in anymore. Mm-hmm. It's not like they're not used to getting these, they get dozens of these. Every day they get forms and garbage and spam and it's all addressed to them and it's got their name on it and it's not worth reading because it's not a real thing.
What they want is interaction. You gotta remember that they're going there to, to interact with you. They want that connection. I was just talking earlier with someone about the fact that even to this point, this is to me, you know, it has to be this very humanistic response because. There's a connection between human beings.
There's connection between living things, like you have a, I have connection with my dogs, you know, I have connection with the animals that we have. You know, there's, there's a connection there, but I don't really have a connection to this computer. I, I use it every day. I probably sit here and look at the screens and deal with things on my computer, you know, at least as much as I do almost anything else in my life.
And, but I don't feel any attachment to it. You know, it's, if someone. If I call in and I get an automated attendant and I'm not getting the answer I want, I just hang up. But I've called into places and gotten an operator, a live person, and I'm not getting what I want, and I will try to fight through it with that person because I don't wanna just hang up on that person.
I feel like I can get them to hear me. So there is a connection that all of us have to other human beings. And the same words. Are given out by a human being. When they come true from a computer, then the, the human being, the, the correspondent feels like this is nothing. So if I said to you, if you said to me, I need to get a new car because I was in a massive accident.
Mm-hmm. And. I, I, I just, you know, I, I, I'm a little bit beside myself, so I'm not really on top of it today, but can you tell me a little bit about that car and if my response as a human being was that is horrible. I really feel for you. You know, let me do everything that I can hand and help you. Then empathy, you're gonna feel a connection to me.
Empathy, if you knew that I was a computer, empathy, if you knew that I was a computer and said the same thing, would you care? Yeah. You wouldn't. Yeah. You know, you wouldn't, you might, you would read the words, but you would know that there's no empathy behind the words. So Yeah, if you sniffed it out, it's about actually making that connection.
Mm-hmm. That connection. Is what motivates people. It's what connects them to you. It's what makes them want to interact with you in the future and to continue on to be able to get through a process. They wanna know that they can rely on that other live person who's gonna carry them through this process.
The computer's not gonna do it, right. So, yeah, I. Yeah. So, you know, and, and kind of going back to the original thought here, which is, you know, that that customer is on your site, is they're on this low hanging fruit for me. If they took intent, if they start to engage you, um, that for me is the ultimate, I'm fighting for that customer.
I mean, I just, sure. You know, I mean these people don't answer their phones. You know, they're getting, leads are shot out to multiple dealerships, but this customer's chosen your dealership, which means that they are lower in the funnel. They could have gone to other websites, third party sites. And that's oftentimes where they start the research.
And that gives us a clue here of the importance of this moment. Um, 'cause we don't wanna miss any opportunity. For me, I'm a hunter and I teach people to be hunters, so I don't wanna miss any customer. Opportunity ever. Um, and, and then, you know, they could have gone to manufacturer's site, but no, they're here on your site.
They've picked a store, they've picked a location, they found a phone number. And if they found an opportunity to engage with that dealership and get their questions answered, I want my questions answered right now. And a lot of times people come to the websites, we go to all, you know, businesses, websites, because we're looking for something in particular.
And we want a question answered right nows. And when you do a good job of this, the customers are so like, engaged. Yeah. How are we gonna get them in the store? Absolutely. They're gonna stay engaged. They absolutely, you know, they're looking for correspondence, right? They're looking for real meaningful.
Quid pro quo on what it is that they're asking about. But you're totally right. I mean, people are not going to do the the preliminary research, and they're not gonna go to the local dealer to do that. They're not gonna go through that effort. Right. You know. No. They're gonna go to the manufacturer, they're just gonna go to Google and they're gonna go.
Show me all the cars that are four doors that do this and that. That's exactly, they're gonna all their information on Google already. That's right. Yeah. They're, they're, they're gonna do the least amount of steps that they have to, to get the information. They know that they're gonna turn on the computer, and probably the first thing that's gonna come up on the browser is the Google search page, and they'll just type it in there.
They're gonna type in your dealership name into Google to get to your dealership. They're not just gonna try to remember what your URL is, so they're just gonna ask the question at Google before they even get to you. If, to your point. If they actually make it to your dealership, they know that you're local, they've driven by your dealership or something, or they've seen a local ad, or they, you know, they know that you're around, they know that you're the brand that they want, they've already done their research on.
Mm-hmm. Google or the OEM or somewhere else, you know, on a third party site. So they basically already know all the questions, even the ones that they may ask at the dealership. They already know the answers to most of those questions. They've done their homework, so that interaction, they're hearing their showroom.
That's it. Right now, that interaction is more about, so what do you think about me doing this here? What do you think about me coming online and asking you these questions? You know, are you, are you interested to help me? Or am I just gonna get, kinda, you know, I'll talk to you later after I gather all the information.
We'll see what happens later. Think. Think about how that would go over. On a walk-in if someone walked into the dealership and you were like, no, that's okay. Hey, uh, I heard your questions, but let me get your driver's license and your name and I'm gonna have someone you know, call you tomorrow.
Uh, we would never do that, right? We're gonna attack dog them, we're gonna to them, or e early manager introduction. The managers are gonna be all over this thing. And in fact, actually a lot of times, and I'm not to derail this, but a lot of times I, you know, I equate, uh, what we're talking about here, which is, you know, engagement on a, a dealer site.
You know, with phone calls, you know, I, I with show this is all the same customer. It's a showroom. They're engaging you on their site, they're asking you questions, they called your dealership. This is a low hanging fruit, this low funnel opportunity. And then a lot of times, even with phone calls, there's no to process.
And I think how can, how can you, how can you to, on the showroom every time, but you don't have a process to t on the call. It's the same for sure. Quality. Same thing on the site here. No, there's no doubt about it. And, and think about, so even using that example, so think about the difference between a phone call a little bit and a chat.
So they're both live, right? Yeah. So you have to have answers quickly. You need to respond quickly. If there's a lull, if it's too long and stuff like that, then you know the customer's gonna recognize what that is. You're also typing everything out, so you wanna be correct and you wanna use the right language and other things like that when you're corresponding with the customer, but also think what you're getting as a dealer, right?
So now the customer's interacting. So when you get information from that customer, even if you don't get all the way down and, and you typically will, I think that people will give name and they will give Oh, a way to contact them. I see that they're not that secure on keeping that stuff anymore. No.
They're interested. That's right. The question is. Are they gonna pick up the phone when you call or respond to that email? 'cause if you don't treat 'em the right way mm-hmm then they're gonna remember that and they're not gonna interact with you later because they didn't like the way that you interacted with them in the first place.
But that, that, that messaging that you're having with them at that moment. So all that's written down now. So you have now documentation in your own CRM or your own CDP or your way that you wanna chest up this data. You even go. Oh, well I know that this customer was looking for this and they were looking for it on this date, and they asked these types of questions.
Mm-hmm. And you have a build for exactly how to go back to this customer. You should be getting the most outta these conversations. What I always, what always is surprising to me is I see a lot of chats, especially with inexperience, uh, people who handle chats and or messages or in any way where it's an instant messaging and someone asks a question and you give 'em the answer.
Mm-hmm. And that's all you give. So why wouldn't you go, oh, you're asking about a Camry? Have you had a Camry before? Are you a customer of ours? That's engagement. Is there a reason that you chose a sedan or this sedan? Are you at a price point that we're trying to hit so you can open up that conversation without ever asking like who they, I mean without ever asking who they are or what their phone number is getting person, they'll start talking so much more.
It's funny because. I call it drinks first. Ted, I just wanna let you know, I call that drinks first. Is that what you call it? Drinks first? Yeah, I call that drinks first. Can I use that? Trying to race in the finish line? Can I like that? Slow down. Slow down to speed up. Okay. I love that. I mean, I think that, I think that, you know, having these drinks first make it easier.
I, I don't know if I should use that analogy, but I mean, it make it easier to get to the next step afterwards. It does, and people are much more motivated. Pe look, you can go one of two ways. You wanna, you, what's your name and number? Like, excuse me, like, I just wanna know if you have this vehicle available, it's in stock.
Why do you need my contact information? You didn't earn it yet. So this is why I say drinks first. Slow down, wait a minute. With drinks, you know, we're just talking. We're getting to know each other. Ask me questions about me. Show me that you care. What kind of cars have you been researching? How long have you been in the market?
Have you driven anything yet? What's going on with your car? You know, uh, you know, what Have you found out so much in, in your research? So far, far, these are engaging questions that you know, are gonna get you to the finish line, but you can either go, they exposed so much, they expose so much about what the customer has done.
Once they know you're real and you care. That's it. That's the trick. It's absolutely the trick and, and, and, and it takes a little, it takes some prowess and some understanding and some studying to be able to figure out how to have those conversations, but. It is so important that you actually take it that way.
And what ends up happening. So I can tell you, you know, we're mm-hmm. We're obviously who we are here at ActivEngagement. So I can tell you that in a, in a, in a significant number of our conversations, almost 30% of the conversations, we don't have to ask, you know, what ends up happening? 'cause we show, they just tell you.
They just tell you. Yeah. They literally just go, Hey, can I give you my name and number so that I. That's what it is. And so that's what you want, right? You want someone who wants to talk to you again, not someone that you can call, but someone who wants to talk to you. That's the key that I love what you're saying.
I believe it too, because I have the same experience when I talk to customers on phone calls, you know, I don't go shoot straight down for their contact information. I don't go straight in for, you have to come in, you know, like I'm, I'm not even trying to, uh, you know, tell them no to anything really. You know, I'm trying to make a friend.
Right. Um, but, but you're trying make a friend. That's what happens. That's what happens is that they, they unfold and they tell you everything. Because once you remove any sort of wall of resistance, any sort of barrier, any fear, that's right, because they're coming in with an open mind. But as soon as you, you know, give them any reason to fear.
Right. Collecting personal information is a great example too. Too fast, too fast, too furious. You know? Then they, they, and they feel, and once they know that you care, you've given 'em the indication. A lot of times I say to people, you know, my intention here is to make sure you're taken care of today. I wanna make sure you get.
What you need. I know you're doing research. I wanna help this, make this as easy as possible. So that's what I've been hired here to do. Right. So tell me more about your research. And then they don't feel like I'm a sales person, or I'm just trying to get 'em in the door. And I think that's a mistake that we've so commonly made in our communications in the past.
Yeah. I, I, I mean, going to, you know, the way that you talk about it, where it's having drinks, it, it is, you can be too aggressive. Right. You know, and it just turns people sour. And it's not that they won't. Allow you to interact for a little bit longer, but you're not getting anywhere when it's over, you know, that's, you're gonna have that conversation.
They're not gonna wanna talk to you again. And you know, they're not gonna pick up the phone you call for a second date, I guess, is what it is. So, no, I, there you go. It, it, it really, you know, it really is. It I is problematic when you try to go after it that way. You wanna build, just like what you're talking about, you wanna build trust.
You're gonna do that through respecting them. You want them to respect what you know and what you do and how you, that's right. Operate and do things as well. What that's also gonna do, I think that is missed a lot, is that, you know, think about cost factors. So. Wouldn't you rather have leads that are further through the funnel that you can convert much more efficiently because you've already handled most of the conversation upfront?
Or would you rather just have a name and a number that you could have pulled out of the phone book that now you have to convince to buy a car from you that maybe really wasn't, you never kind of got anywhere in the conversation? It's so much more powerful when you have someone come to you and say, I'm interested to buy from you.
Why would I wanna buy from you? As opposed to, Hey. I got your name and number 'cause apparently you sent in a lead. Oh, brutal. Lemme tell you why I, you should buy from me. Yeah, they, you're trying to overcome an obstacle, you know. Well, you're not in this scenario here. When they're on your site, they've chose you.
Do you know? And all we have to do. Is basically care, engage them, ask them questions, bring, bring something to the table, you know, but you gotta have some sort of strategy 'cause there is an end game here. Um, but you know, you're representing a brand here. So when people come to your site and they got a question and they don't get an answer, you know, that's your brand.
When people come to your site and they've already done their homework, their low funnel, I mean, I don't wanna mess anything up. I wanna make sure this customer has an exceptional car buying experience. And, and I'll put this out here too, and I'm interested in your thoughts on this, so, mm-hmm. You know, with digital.
Retailing. Um, it's a picked up momentum. And thankfully because, I mean, look, I'm one of those customers. I haven't stepped into a dealership in 10 years to buy a car. There's just no way. I mean, I step into dealerships every day to train, but you know, the thing is, is like I don't have time for that. You know?
I wanna do everything remote. I wanna delivered. I come get my trade. I'm sure I overpay, I'm sure I get ripped off on my trade. I don't really care because time is money. Um. But that's just me. And here's what I wanna say, is that I've noticed that in, in, in the dealerships I'm working in, and I'm, I'm in there every, every single week, right?
Um, that I find myself now proposing very early in the conversations. Um, I'll say, and I want you to know, uh, that we have a lot of the technology in place now where we can help you streamline your visits. So you're not here for, uh, unnecessary amounts of time. So there are things I'll invite you to take advantage of.
And if you wanna submit them ahead of time, just know that we can set you up and we can get the ball rolling so that when when you arrive, you're not having to wait on a test drive. We've already processed your driver's license, we've already set you up in our system. You know, you're not having to wait to get a trade appraisal.
I've already got my guy, he's got your vin, he's already done his homework. Right. You know, and so by encouraging customers to do some of the, uh, steps, you know, to, to be able to take a test drive or move this deal forward, um, for me it requires you to say something in, in your conversation. 'cause how are they gonna know you offer this?
Stuff if you don't say it. And, and for me, I'm just curious from your perspective, your data points, you know, are customers wanting to do this sort of thing more when they hit a dealer's site? 'cause sometimes they're not pitching it or setting it up, you know, for them to be able to, to know that that service exists.
Yeah, I mean it's funny that you bring it up 'cause I I thinking about so many situations and, and so, you know, we've been doing this for a really long time actually. And so it's, it's kind of a newer phrase that we've sort of. But, you know, we call it conversational retailing. Okay. I know there's conversational commerce and all these other things.
The, the thing that's interesting is, I see what you're saying. So the, the thing that's interesting, and this is exactly what I'm saying relative to what we're talking about, is that even before digital retailing, before these digital retailing tools, which I think are great, I mean I absolutely love the digital retelling tools.
Um. But before those things existed, we would be talking, you have to think about the conversation and where it's gonna go. And I don't know that it's that much different than the phone, but on, when you're on the computer, you have a lot more capability to be able to offer things to the customer. Right.
And, and with and with tools, like we have tools and things like that where you can show videos and you can actually take forms. I love that. And fill things out and stuff like that, right? From the messaging tool that you're interacting with. But the big thing here is that you know when, mm-hmm. When you're talking to the customer, it, you can make it totally organic.
So you're talking about wouldn't you wanna move the customer through this? And I'm saying to you, you don't really have to do it. All you have to do is take an interest in the customer and they'll let you kind of migrate with them there. When you're talking to a customer, I, and I've seen, I've seen you talk about this, but this is exactly what happens when we're having these conversations.
We're talking to a customer and they say, we get them through and we kind of talk about a car and they'll say, well, how much is the car? Or how much is it monthly? And we can go, well, I can give you an estimate. Submitted what it, you know, the monthly payment would be. Would you like to know that? Yeah, I'd like to know that.
And so we end up offering those numbers and we say, well, I don't think I'll afford for that. What is your credit? Like, I don't know. Would you like me to do a soft pull? It won't affect your credit and I can get you that information. So I, we've been doing that for a decade. Well before this was just conversation.
Yeah, yeah. It was just conversation. So we would pull it and say, here's a soft pull and you're about here. I don't know, we're gonna have to pull your credit to be able to, to to know for sure, but you're probably gonna be in this area. Mm-hmm. Now, with digital retailing and on all these digital retailing tools like, you know, like Darwin and Roadster and all these one other ones that we directly interact with, we can just now say.
To the customer. Well, you know, you might be able to get these kind of things. I know that you're about here. Do you want us to actually pull your credit? So I'm not telling them to do it. I'm asking them, Hey, do you wanna know more? And most of 'em will say, yeah, I, I'd like to know more. Do you have a way to do that?
And we'll go, yeah. And we'll pop up the digital retailing tool and in the track we'll take them through the, the, through the messaging, through the chat, and we'll pull their credit. It'll go directly through the, it's the ultimate lead generation right here. It's the ultimate lead generation. So I think these, this is, you're not doing this on a phone call, by the way.
You know, and I am a big advocate of calls. Right. Um, this is the ultimate lead right here. Yeah. This is absolutely. 'cause you can put it all right in front of the customer. Exactly. Right Now you can even get them through. I'll call you back. That's it. You know, you wanna get him as far through the process as you can, but I don't.
The thing that I wanna make sure is clear is that we don't really have to push them there. They kind of wanna, I go there anyway. You know, it's just, you're making it available to them. They don't necessarily, you know, they do want an advocate. They don't wanna just, mm-hmm. Migrate through. I, I see a lot of people that, and I've talked to a lot of my own friends, you know, who will go on, they're like, oh, I found this cool tool, and I was able to go and I was, I was able to get this information and then I could take it, you know?
Mm-hmm. And decide other things and go to another dealership and show 'em other stuff and stuff like that. And I'm like, well, that's not really what it's for. But you know, they do give up a bunch of information in there. And that original dealership that has the DR that'll still, you know, proliferate, you know, all the way through and they'll follow up with them.
But what's interesting is that. If you're in conversation as they start to trust you and as they start to have confidence 'cause they believe that you're respecting who they are. Mm-hmm. Then they'll just start to allow you to offer things and they'll go, well, yeah, I'd be interested to know what my payment would be if I actually let you pull my credit.
Yeah. You know, I'm interested to know what other fee, maybe I wanna step up to the next car or I wanna get something different about my, about my. Value my trade, you know, what do you think that would be worth? How much could I get for it? And they're not looking necessarily through this conversation for you to finalize the deal there, but as you're doing this and as you're giving them the information, they're giving you a.
Who they are really detailed information about what they're trying to accomplish, when they're trying to accomplish, how to interact with them. All of their communication tools, you know, whether it's phone or email or you know, other ways to get in touch with them. They'll give you timelines. I'm trying to do this in five days, or I'm trying to do it next month.
I know it's all right there. It's naturally unfold for you and all it takes. Is a little conversation. All it takes is a little bit of interest in what they're trying to achieve. And then using these assets, using these, uh, DR products, you got tools to be able to guide them through it as opposed to, you know, I always.
I always found that it was interesting and, and, and, and I love the DR programs and we absolutely have to use them. That's why we, you know, have these integrations with all the, the, the majority of the big DR programs. Mm-hmm. But I think it's funny that if you went into a store and you walk through the front door and there was a greeter there and they said, so are you here to buy today?
Because if you are, I'm gonna put you over here. But if you're not gonna buy today. Then go sit down over there and it's a different interaction with you. You know, it's the most ridiculous thing in the world. You know, people want to be able to have a guide no matter whether they're here to buy today or they're gonna be here, you know, looking to be able to buy, you know, down the road or whatever it is.
So it's, I think it's, it's still an emotional purchase and still full of tech and safety features. You still need to know what you're getting for your money. Absolutely. You're not always gonna see all of that online. Yeah. I, I, I just think it's funny that, you know, customers are getting engaged with these DR tools in a much more significant way, and I think it's huge for the industry, and I think it's long and coming actually.
You know, it's, yeah, it, it, it, it needed to, I. I think things needed to evolve in a certain way and I think there was some desperation during COVID and stuff like that. Mm-hmm. That kind of launched the visibility, like, Hey, look at what these things can do. But I still, you know, I think there's a long way to go where, where customers are gonna get confident on kind of navigating through those processes.
At least you know much further than they have been on their own. But when they do have someone who's kind of. And an advisor and an asset to be able to kind of talk to them about things a lot people like this and also bring other assets to bear mm-hmm. In the conversation. So they're in the digital retailing, but we can bring up other, uh, you can bring up videos of things that explain, uh, f and i products, or you can bring up other data that shows, you know, this doc doc, this vehicle compared to another vehicle or other things like that.
Those things make a big difference, you know, for the customer and. In the end, again, you're just ultimately trying to build trust, build confidence that that's it, you know what you're doing, and that the customer can rely on you to give them what they need to make the right decision. I think you've set yourself up.
If you could execute just this way, you've set yourself up for a loyal customer, truly a loyal customer, because you were there right where they wanted to be, right, right when they wanted to be. And you're giving them an experience that's really exceptional, which is what we're all fighting for, which is.
You know, how do we win customers over? There's so many people clawing for the same customer, right? So you have to be able to have stronger tools and stronger people in place that can execute in a way that is exceptional, where this customer couldn't possibly think about going somewhere else. And when a customer hits your website, you know, for me, I, I don't wanna let anybody go, especially this one.
This is a showroom opportunity. This is a. Call, this is an incoming call right now. It's very, very powerful. And for me, I, I oftentimes find myself talking to dealers, you know, these are my clients, and I say to them, you built this multimillion dollar brand. You got somebody in place that can't answer any questions.
You know, these people are low funnel. They call into your dealership. This is where I, this. Been a lot of my time, you know, very similar to you. And, and it's like, and, and you know, you don't have any questions or you're trying to evade them or are you trying to skirt around things like right. You know, I mean, the more transparent you are with some strategy now these people are actually gonna start to feel confident in you and trust you.
And look, I I, no one's coming in unless those two boxes get checked and they like you and they gotta believe you and you've gotta respect you. And so. What through, how are you doing that without some level of engagement? I love the video. I love the tools. Uh, you're able to inject those things in for that customer who's at various levels of the journey.
Um, and you're right there, I mean. You are representing this multimillion dollar brand that you work so hard to establish. You know, you've got these powerful teams, people that are doing all this training, you know, we're trying to hybrid roles. You, you've got a lot of skilled people, people, and, and forget about being skilled.
These people are investing their time away from their loved ones. You know, you, you wanna be sure that those customers are feeling just as nurtured, you know, in that journey and that, you know, people are getting. And getting the rewards of performing at this sort of level, you know, I mean, doubt you're representing this company.
No, there's no doubt about it. All those things, you know, make so much sense for these dealers to be able to focus on customers in that way. Look at the long-term value. I think one thing that we haven't talked about that, that is derivative of this too, is when you, when you give them this really exceptional.
This really exceptional experience. Then in the world we live in today, people love to talk about the kind of exceptional experiences that they have. So they, you know, they go online, they give reviews, they talk to other people about it. Yeah. They're like, oh my God, you know, I've, and, and it's so easy, right?
Because they're so used to not having a good experience that when they have an exceptional experience, they're like, they wanna talk about it, they wanna talk about it. C it's a big deal. Loyalty, get 'em into the service department. It all starts right here. Absolutely. Totally. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's exactly what it is.
Uh, it, it, it's all about treating customers with respect. It's all about, you know, giving them, uh, access to the tools that they need to be able to identify what it is exactly that they want. And it's about connecting with them. It's about having those kinds of conversations where they feel like they have some control over the situation.
Yes, they feel empowered and they feel like they can trust. And once they have that kind of confidence, then you couldn't even stop 'em from buying a car from you if you wanted to. Well, you know, and it's like we said earlier, you're on a hit list. So you happen to be the lucky one, right? They sought you out?
Yeah. Yeah. They, to blow it, they came directly to you. I mean, I, you, you, you, we, we keep kind of coming around to that, but again, I don't understand why someone would look at someone walking into the store. And they're well, but they physically came down here. That's what it is. I can kind of trap 'em and kind of keep them here.
Okay? But think about what they had to do to find you online. It really isn't for them to wanna interact with you online. They had to jump through all those websites we talked about. They did all this other research before they did it. And if you think that the guys walking in the store didn't hit your website first.
Exactly. That's right. You know, they went there and they saw what the interaction was and they maybe came to you because of that, or possibly in spite of that. Mm-hmm. You know, you'd rather the former because that sale is gonna be so much easier if it was because they really liked what that interaction was.
Yeah. I just, I love everything you're saying. We are so aligned in customer experience, being able to stand apart from your competition so far. And, and, and when you've got that customer who is right there, you know, they've done their homework, they've arrived to their destination, we're gonna capture it, nurture it, and ensure that that customer just has such a great experience.
They wanna tell everybody else, and this is what we, we know. Drives our business for sure. It drives, you know, loyalty, retention, CSI, all of these important things that dealers are thinking about for expanding their own businesses, you know, and growing their own companies and organizations. But for me, I'm fighting for every frontline person who is investing their time here, and I want them to be respected.
And I think that when you offer tools like this, you're letting the customers know we care. We are here for this. No matter which way you wanna go, we are here for it. Great. And that's what makes them show up. That's That is exactly what makes them show up. Yeah. And it's never been any different. Explain the game.
That's the thing is. It's never been different, you know, I mean, back when I was selling cars, back when we were selling cars, you know, me too. The, the, the, it wasn't any different. It wasn't, people would, you know, go to the locations. I mean, people buy from people. It certain was a money factor, but people wanted to buy from people.
People wanted to be able to feel like they were gonna be treated well. Some of the dealers that I work for, that doesn't change. People come from a really far distance because they wanted to deal with that dealer. That's right. Yeah. They trusted this person. We're not robots, you know. People still have that human connection.
They have, they, they, they wanna feel a certain way for sure. When you buy anything, this is second pickers purchase people make, so of course, you know, we gotta nail this thing. Well, um, I, I just, I thank you so much for your time, your expertise, and thank you for the investments that you've made in automotive too.
I wanna tell you, ActivEngage has been on my radar since the beginning of time. I've been in this business for 20, doing this company 22 years. Um, uh, but you know, I, it ActivEngage is. I was right there at infancy and I've really enjoyed watching you guys grow and we're so aligned in, you know, how we feel about customer experiences.
And I just wanna say thank you for, you know, being on the podcast today and sharing your insights. It's truly like inspiring for me. Um, it's very motivational for, you know, for me to share this information with even our clients because again, you know, you open the doors, stop shutting them. You know, this is another door of opportunity anyways.
No, absolutely. Thank you so much for being here, Ted. No, it's, I'm so appreciative. Uh, the feeling is very mutual. Thank you so much for having us.
