August 14, 2025 • 26 mins
In this episode, my guest is Megan McDowell, Vice President of Operations at TrueCar. Megan’s career started on the sales floor at Lexus of Austin and took her all the way to the executive table without leaving the automotive industry.
We dig into what she learned from those bell-to-bell dealership days that gave her an edge in leadership, and how skills you might take for granted—like reading people, asking the right questions, and understanding the flow of a deal—can open doors you didn’t even know existed.
We talk about:
- Why your dealership experience is more valuable than you think.
- How to translate your skills into new opportunities inside and outside the showroom.
- The balance between technology, AI, and authentic human connection in the car-buying journey.
- What Megan wishes she knew earlier in her career that could have made her even more effective.
If you’ve ever wondered where your automotive career could take you—or how to make the most of the experience you already have—this conversation will give you a fresh perspective and a few ideas you can put to work right away.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
MC (00:00):
This episode is brought to you by FlexDealer.
Hey auto industry.
Welcome to this episode of theDealer Playbook Podcast.
Sitting down with my new pal,megan McDowell from Trucar the
Vice President of Operations, ifI understand correctly, at
Trucar I'm so excited.
We know we've got friends atTrucar.
Today we're going to be talkingabout career advancement, the
(00:21):
experience that can only happenfrom getting experience.
Stick with us.
We're going to be talking moreabout it.
Stay tuned, megan.
(00:42):
Thanks so much for joining meon the podcast.
Megan (00:44):
Of course.
Hey, I'm happy to be here.
MC (00:47):
A fellow Texan.
Did you grow up in Texas?
Megan (00:52):
I did, I did.
I grew up in Dallas.
I've been here my whole life.
My family's been here, probablyNow, I feel like a little bit
of stolen valor.
MC (01:00):
I'm like I'm an implant, I a transplant into texas.
I can't say a fellow texan no,absolutely not.
I feel that way I'm superexcited about this.
I mean, we, we have a mutual uhI almost went full martin short
and said a mutual colleague,but he's a friend, he's a friend
, he's a big friend, he's afriend, he's a friend, he's a
(01:22):
big friend, he's a big, muscularfriend.
Matt Jones, absolutely.
And and so I've had thepleasure of having him on the
show.
I'm excited to have you on theshow.
This topic, I think is, is abreath of fresh air, and here's
why.
Here's where I want to kick usoff.
Everyone's talking about AI.
Everybody's talking abouttechnology.
This is like the Californiagold rush of 1863.
(01:43):
Now, where everyone's talkingabout technology, this is like
the california gold rush of 1863.
Now, where everyone's talkingabout the thing we're gonna do
stuff with ai and don't get mewrong, we're developing some
cool ai stuff.
Uh, I'm sure, true, car has aposition on this.
We're not going to get into it.
But why I think I'm excitedabout this in particular is the
(02:06):
position of human experience,something that I think and I
could be wrong here once thewhole AI adoption and technology
advancement and pivot and thisand that kind of settles we're
all going to be like, but wereally just want to connect with
(02:29):
other human beings and to havehuman experiences and grow and
develop and this and that.
So what I want to I guess whereI want to start with you is
this you've had a pretty awesomecareer.
Uh, I see here on your LinkedIn, which we're going to link to
in the show notes, carmax andGroup One and Lexus of Austin,
(02:53):
and then, dare I say, climbingan impressive ladder at Trucar
Training specialist to projectmanager, to manager of
operations, up, up, up, up up.
Now you're the vice presidentof operations and general
manager at Truecar Plus.
Tell me about that, I mean, forpeople that don't think career
advancement is a thing in thisindustry.
(03:15):
Your resume certainlycontradicts that.
Megan (03:19):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's a big part of why I
wanted to talk through thistoday.
And I think that's a big partof why I wanted to talk through
this today.
And I think that there's a lotof opportunity within the
industry.
We think about the dealership.
There's roles that we allaspire to, whether that's GM or
GSM, but I think there is anentire ecosystem outside of the
dealership really that thirdparty space that supports
(03:40):
automotive.
That I certainly didn't knowwhen I was in the dealership
what opportunity was out thereand didn't really know how my
skills would translate.
And when I came to Trucar Ikind of came in an entry-level
role in that training specialistrole where I was actually
really able to take a lot ofwhat I learned at the dealership
and teach that to other folks.
(04:00):
But there's a ton ofopportunity.
And if you'd told me 10 yearsago or 15 years ago that this is
where I'd be and leadingoperations, I certainly never
would have believed you.
But I think I was surprisedalong the way but also really
encouraged by how my skills kindof translated coming out of the
dealership.
And we all know that being inthe dealership is a grind.
(04:22):
It's bell to bell.
It's every weekend, everySaturday, it's all of your
holidays and a lot of pressureand commission base.
But I think that I reallydidn't know then and I wish I
knew then more now what I knowtoday about what that
opportunity looks like, whattranslating that skills into
more corporate.
Granted, you know, autoautomotive third party is a
(04:43):
really good blend of corporateand the experience at the
dealership.
But yeah, I've been at Trucarfor 10 years and have held a
number of roles during that timeand each of those roles kind of
picked up on different parts ofmy experience from the
dealership and forever gratefulfor the years that I spent in
the store in different rolesthere as well.
MC (05:03):
I want to key in on something you said I mean you've
used vernacular that we hearquite often about the bell to
bell and or cradle to grave andand it's a grind, it's pressure
and for whatever the reason, mymind immediately went to
superman, the christopher reevesuperman, where he lands in this
(05:24):
like coal mine and picks up alump of coal and shoots his
laser eyes at it and he'ssqueezing it in a hand and it
turns into diamonds.
And when I when I kind of takewhat you're saying about your
experience in the dealership yousaid it a couple of times,
megan, you said my experience atthe dealership.
Translated what was it aboutyour dealership experience that
(05:47):
you think helped position youfor the growth that you've
experienced outside of it?
Megan (05:54):
A number of things really .
I mean I think the first andforemost is you really learn in
the dealership to talk to people, you learn to read people, you
learn to ask questions, nomatter what your role is.
And I think that's the firstone.
But I think, having carried thebriefcase and being in the seat
, the first thing that reallyapplied for me was the ease with
which I could talk to dealers.
(06:15):
I could talk to myself on theother side of the desk, right.
So if I'm calling to sell orI'm calling to service, you know
you're speaking to someone thatyou can speak that language
with, and so I think that's justfirst and foremost.
It gives you kind of a leg upover anyone maybe who hasn't
come from the industry not thatthose folks can't be successful,
but I think that's one thingthat definitely kind of carried
(06:37):
over.
But I also think, as my rolesexpanded, I'm starting to look
at how does our consumer facingproduct serve the industry?
And I think about the steps tothe sale.
When I was selling cars, what isthe process that I went through
from my side, and when I boughtcars, what's the information
that I needed to know or thatwas really important to me in
(06:58):
that buying process that helpsshape how I give my experience
or my input into ourconsumer-facing product.
And same thing on the flip sidewe have a whole suite of
dealer-facing products that needto be evolved to work for the
dealership, for the folkssitting in those seats, and,
while it's great to have folksfrom other industries bringing
in their experience and thingsfrom other industries that might
(07:22):
apply, it's been reallyinvaluable for me to say this is
actually how it's done today.
Maybe we can improve this partor maybe we can look at this,
but knowing the process insideand out from the dealership seat
, I think truly helps make ourproduct better, because we're
thinking about it from both theconsumer and the dealer side.
And I mean that's just kind ofscratching the tip of the
(07:42):
iceberg your negotiation skillsand, like I said, those people
skills of asking questions or,if it's more, about just
understanding the ecosystem andunderstanding the pieces of a
car deal, especially as we'rethinking about more and more of
the car sale coming online,digital retailing, ai, all those
(08:03):
things like understanding thesteps to the sale and
understanding the ins and outsof a car deal.
What does the front end processlook like?
What does the back end processlook like, have really helped me
build out processes for thecompany and, like I said, help
give my feedback and input intohow we develop those products
which I think again, if I hadsat and thought about it before,
(08:25):
I would never have thought ohhey, that's really valuable.
But it is immensely valuableand we see that across a number
of the leaders in ourorganization.
MC (08:34):
I love this.
There's some things that I'mpicking up on, even in what I
think is a simple yet complexstatement.
You said well, I learned to askquestions, and to me there's so
much to just unpack there.
Learning to ask questions isn'tjust the asking of the question
(08:57):
.
It implies curiosity, curiositybeing a very human emotion.
It implies this desire to getto the bottom of something, in
other words, like you said, asolution, and then tying that
all the way into building outprocesses, like you said, this
idea of you know you brought uptechnology, you brought up AI,
(09:20):
these sorts of things whichmight be able to augment some of
this, but then thatcross-reference against your
experience to build a processthat is filled with empathy for
the actual, real human who'sgoing to drive the vehicle.
Megan (09:36):
Right.
MC (09:38):
So what are some things, when it comes to consumer facing
building processes that aregoing to enhance the consumer
experience in a digital world?
What are some of the thingsthat you're thinking about in
terms of how to improve theexperience that they have?
Megan (09:55):
Absolutely.
I mean, I think, if you thinkabout, there are parts of the
sale that consumers really likethe walking around of the
vehicle, walking the lot, doingthe test drive and then there
are parts that aren't as fun orcan be not as fun, whether
that's the credit application orthe negotiation and really
getting down to your finalout-the-door price.
(10:17):
And when we think about the wayI think about it is what parts
of those For me, specifically inmy role and as we're thinking
about TrueCard Plus what partsof those can translate online or
have already?
We already have creditapplications online, things like
that, but what does theconsumer need to be able to have
that experience online?
But also, how do we take theexperience of the salesperson
(10:42):
and I say this a lot in myday-to-day is we can put these
steps online, but if we'reremoving the salesperson which
we're not, we don't want to dothat.
There's questions Customers wantto be able to understand and
ask the expert how does thiswork?
How should I be thinking aboutthis?
Where's the difference betweenthese two cars?
Or how does my monthly paymentbreak down?
You can't really just throw AIagainst that right.
(11:05):
We have to think about how, inour experience, can we
incorporate that knowledge?
But also how can we partner withthe dealership to bring in the
expert when it's needed andtransition that customer from
online to offline at the store,or for a customer who's maybe
leasing their same third MazdaCX-5 over and over again, they
(11:25):
know the first six steps of thesale they're comfortable with,
so they can do a lot more ofthat online and then transition
into the dealership.
But I'm constantly thinkingabout how do I balance knowing
(11:48):
where each individual customeris at in that journey and when
it makes sense to transitionthem to the dealership, and how
to do that seamlessly so thatthe customer is able to pick up
where they left off at thedealership Dealership set up for
success.
Customer doesn't have to repeata bunch of steps.
That's, I guess, the bigproblem that I'm constantly
trying to solve and doing thatfor any number of different
(12:11):
types of customers where they'reat in their car buying journey.
MC (12:18):
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you also know that I'm the CEOof FlexDealer, an agency that's
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So if you want to sell morecars and finally have a partner
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(12:41):
.
Let's hop back into thisepisode.
What I think is really coolabout what you guys do at true
car um, you do community andaffinity programs probably
better than anybody else.
Uh, like I think about costco,or is it navy, federal or you
(13:03):
know.
And when you were talking aboutthe transition from online to
offline, I was like you knowwhat True car?
I was like wait a minute, truecar might actually do offline to
online, to offline again andand have been doing it really
well for quite some time.
And and I know I'm like so sickof saying AI it's almost like
(13:27):
I'm like COVID-19.
You remember at the end of thepandemic we're all like if I
hear COVID-19 one more time, I'mgoing to lose my mind and I'm
already kind of there with AI.
Your experience, what youlearned in a dealership that has
(13:50):
helped you in your position nowto build out programs so that
other humans can have anexperience in this concept.
That really the acknowledgingthat the car buying journey
actually doesn't start online,it starts offline.
Maybe they, you know, the lifecircumstances changed, they had
(14:10):
a new baby or they're goingthrough a divorce, whatever it
is, and something changes in thehuman experience that I think
sometimes we forget aboutbecause everything becomes so
digital and we're like, well,we've made it easy and it's like
there is nothing easy abouthaving another baby pal and that
is the only reason I'm onlinelooking right now and now you're
(14:32):
bringing up all these frictionpoints and then you want me to
come into your dealership.
But you guys do something thattechnology can't do, which is
community.
You build, you've got pods ofcommunity that are that then the
experience is catered to, that,what that individual is
experiencing or goes through orunderstands, which I think is so
(14:56):
powerful, how, how do you evenBegin to build that?
Megan (15:07):
Yeah, it is, it's a.
It's an interesting way tothink about it.
But the way I kind of frame itin my head is I'm always trying
to meet the customer wherethey're at and I think the
community, the affinity partners, is part of that, whether
they're in their Navy Federalaccount looking at what they
could potentially bepre-qualified for, or if they're
looking at their insurance withtheir insurance provider, which
(15:27):
we partner with a lot of thelarge insurance partners, but
it's that.
Or if it's, hey, I'm at workand I'm looking through my
employer and I'm looking throughmy benefits just to see what I
have and oh hey, I have thisprogram, you know.
But I want to meet the customerwhere they're at, whether
they're in that early researchphase which a lot of our
affinity partners are even, youknow, broader research than we
are.
If we think about consumerreports or car and driver, you
(15:51):
know wherever the consumer is atearly stage shopping, or I need
a car tomorrow because thisbaby is on the way, you know, we
want to meet consumers wherethey're at and I do think and
you said it really well like theoffline to online to offline,
online again, maybe right, Likethere's a whole journey there,
and I do think that when wethink about the tools that we
(16:12):
build, we want to be able to say, hey, like, let's capture this
customer where they're at.
If they're ready to betransitioned to the dealership,
we'll do that.
Maybe that customer comes inand test drives, but then they
don't end up transacting.
How do we give dealershipstools to re-engage with those
customers, leveraging thetransfer of trust that we built
from wherever they started,right, Whether that was from one
(16:33):
of our affinity partners orjust from Truecar or Truecar
Military, making that back andforth more seamless?
And is it perfect today?
No, absolutely not.
But we want to continue tobuild in that manner so that the
dealership wins by being ableto help leverage tools that help
close rate, but the consumerwins because they're getting a
more tailored experience to themand where they're at, without
(16:56):
that being party or your outsideof dealership experience that
you're like.
MC (17:01):
Oh man, that would have helped me when I was working in
the dealership.
Megan (17:30):
A number of knowledge.
I think truly when I thinkabout Truecar, but really any
vendor in the space, like we'reactually data companies at the
end of the day, like we just weknow so much in today's
marketing environment and justthe economy, we know so much
about the consumers that arecoming in that we try and I know
a lot of other companies do,but we try to pass that
(17:52):
information along to thedealership.
But I just wish I knew as muchabout my customers as Truecure
does today when I was sellingthem, because I always took a
consultative selling approachand I wanted to ask those
questions, get to know thatcustomer.
But if I knew that they wereNavy Federal customers, or if I
knew that they had GEICOinsurance, or if I knew that
(18:12):
this was their third minivan andthey're just looking to replace
basically the exact same thing,or that they were previous
military, there's just so muchinformation that we know about
consumers today.
That one I wish I had when Iwas in sales because it
certainly would have helped.
But I think that's also how wethink about it.
We do know all of that.
How do we as a companysupporting the broader
(18:35):
automotive industry, supportingdealerships, in synthesizing all
of that information, whetherthat's to use in the sales
process or to use in themarketing process.
I wish that I had known then orhad the tools then that we have
now, and I know that today'sdesk at the dealership is 10
different browsers open with 10different tools, that you have
to try to pull all of thistogether.
(18:56):
But I think that, looking atthose processes whether we think
about it from our side, fromTruecar, and how we're providing
that or if I was sitting in theseat again, how would I use
those tools?
What would I need?
I think a lot of it comes backto the information that we have
and I think AI can help in asense of like synthesizing that
information or helping sparkideas.
(19:18):
But I think, even if you thinkabout using those tools today,
it still takes someone who hasthat experience or someone who's
carried that briefcase to say,hey, this process, I feel like
it's going to work.
And you can look at the dataand say, hey, we're seeing this
from our customers, so let'stweak our process.
Maybe AI could tell you that,but I don't know that AI could
(19:39):
really tell you the behavior ofa customer, especially your
customer in your store, in yourmarket for your brand in the
dealership to be able to takethat, synthesize it and put it
into a plan.
But I certainly wish that 10,15 years ago that I had the data
(20:05):
that I have now to help buildthe story for consumers.
MC (20:09):
I love the way that you say this, the things that you
believe technology can helpsynthesize, and I agree, and I'm
also you know, if I'm rightawesome.
My Italian ego is going toflare up like crazy.
If I'm wrong, so be it.
I'm willing to be wrong, but Iagree with you.
I think that that's the rightposition.
(20:30):
It's like AI is going to helpspeed up and or augment or
improve, help us improve thehuman experience, because, at
the end of the day, that's whatwe all desire, kind of a full
circle moment.
And also this idea of oh, Ilove this example.
Simon Sinek brings up theexample of this, I think, in
(20:54):
kind of a real world scenario.
Let's say you're having anargument with your spouse or
your partner or your significantother and you feel really bad
about it and you don't reallyknow what to do.
So you go to chat GPT andbecause you want a solution, and
so you go to GPT and you'relike, hey, just had this
argument with my significantother.
(21:14):
Here's some of the things thatwere said.
I feel really bad, but I don'tknow what I should say to solve
this, and GPT is like, oh,absolutely, I can help you, and
it crafts this thing and you goback to your wife or your
partner or whatever I guess mywife, because my wife, this is
the way I think and you go hey,babe, listen, I'm so sorry that
(21:37):
we had that argument and I saidsome things that I feel really
awful about and they're not me,and I said them in anger and I'm
going to try really hard tonever have this happen again,
please forgive me.
And my wife goes did you comeup with that or did GPT?
Megan (21:55):
Yeah, who are you?
And what have you done with myhusband?
MC (21:57):
Right, because at the end of the day, kind of what you've
brought up, this idea ofsynthesis, the outcome, the
desire was right, I wanted tosolve the thing, but the
authenticity of the experiencevanished and got lost in
translation and the recipient?
So you brought up, like thefinance manager and the points
(22:19):
of friction for the customer,the things that you guys are
thinking about to improve yourprocess and help the consumer
journey, wherever they are inthat journey.
I think, well gosh, as long aswe want to drive vehicles and as
long as we desire vehicles tobe driven, then that means there
is going to be someone sittingin a dealership at some point,
(22:39):
or maybe a FaceTime call orwhatever it's going to turn into
where, if I don't get anexperience or communication from
a real human being that'sauthentic, that is prone to
failure because that's part ofthe human experience, then I'm
going to turn off so many people, in the same way that I just
called a dealership yesterdaymorning and was greeted by the
(23:02):
AI agent.
And please, ai agent companiesout there, don't take this as
I'm not threatening, I'm not,but I'm just saying the seven
seconds between responses was soinfuriating.
Megan (23:15):
Yeah.
MC (23:16):
It could have been done so faster.
So I love that you guys arethinking about this.
As we wind down here, I want toturn it back over to you.
How can those listening andwatching connect with you?
Megan (23:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I think that oneobviously please reach out on
LinkedIn if this is Obviously.
I think this is something thatwe're all passionate about.
But when I think about theexperience that we have in the
industry and the things that itteaches us, and I just hate to
see that leak out into otherindustries.
No offense to.
You know mortgages or realestate, or you know roofing
sales.
(23:48):
Not to be selfish, but yeah, notto be selfish, but we have a
lot of experience and there'sjust not a way to replicate that
.
And sure you can teach some ofit, um, but not, not to the
extent where you can really liveand breathe it.
And I think, and the way that Ithink about this is like as a
texan, as a cowboys fan, throughthe ups and the downs, um, you,
(24:12):
you take a look at someone liketony romo, right like former
player, transitions intobroadcasting, like he sees the
game differently than otherbroadcasters do.
We've all seen him, you know,predict a play to a tee before
the ball is even snapped.
And it's because he's been inthat pressure, he's been in
those shoes, he's carried thatbriefcase and I think, truly
(24:35):
it's the same for us.
It's same for us that have beeninto the dealership.
We can walk into a dealership,we can understand the flow, the
language, we understand theconsumer and the pain points and
I, just like I said, I hate tosee that experience leak out of
automotive as a whole, when it'sso powerful in what it can do
in the third-party space,continuing to evolve and iterate
(24:56):
on our products, and I'm verypassionate about this.
Like I said, I personally havegone through this journey Lisa
Hess, our head of sales, mattJones, who we talked about.
We have so many leaders thathave had a similar journey kind
of transitioning out of thedealership and into the third
party space that I think thatthere's more opportunity there,
(25:17):
whether it's chatting about howto translate that out of
dealership language intocorporate jargon or just where
you think there would be a goodfit.
I'm very passionate about thisand I would love just for anyone
to reach out.
Linkedin is the best way.
I'm always on there and sohappy to have a conversation
with anyone about it.
MC (25:35):
Love it.
We'll link to it in the notes.
Megan, thanks so much forjoining me on the Dealer
Playbook.
Megan (25:40):
Absolutely.
Thanks, Mike.
MC (25:42):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Dealer Playbook podcast.
If you enjoyed tuning in,please subscribe, share and hit
that like button.
You can also join us and theDPB community on social media.
Check back next week for a newDealer Playbook episode.
Thanks so much for joining.
This episode is brought to you by FlexDealer.
Hey auto industry.
Welcome to this episode of theDealer Playbook Podcast.
Sitting down with my new pal,megan McDowell from Trucar the
Vice President of Operations, ifI understand correctly, at
Trucar I'm so excited.
We know we've got friends atTrucar.
Today we're going to be talkingabout career advancement, the
(00:21):
experience that can only happenfrom getting experience.
Stick with us.
We're going to be talking moreabout it.
Stay tuned, megan.
(00:42):
Thanks so much for joining meon the podcast.
Megan (00:44):
Of course.
Hey, I'm happy to be here.
MC (00:47):
A fellow Texan.
Did you grow up in Texas?
Megan (00:52):
I did, I did.
I grew up in Dallas.
I've been here my whole life.
My family's been here, probablyNow, I feel like a little bit
of stolen valor.
MC (01:00):
I'm like I'm an implant, I a transplant into texas.
I can't say a fellow texan no,absolutely not.
I feel that way I'm superexcited about this.
I mean, we, we have a mutual uhI almost went full martin short
and said a mutual colleague,but he's a friend, he's a friend
, he's a big friend, he's afriend, he's a friend, he's a
(01:22):
big friend, he's a big, muscularfriend.
Matt Jones, absolutely.
And and so I've had thepleasure of having him on the
show.
I'm excited to have you on theshow.
This topic, I think is, is abreath of fresh air, and here's
why.
Here's where I want to kick usoff.
Everyone's talking about AI.
Everybody's talking abouttechnology.
This is like the Californiagold rush of 1863.
(01:43):
Now, where everyone's talkingabout technology, this is like
the california gold rush of 1863.
Now, where everyone's talkingabout the thing we're gonna do
stuff with ai and don't get mewrong, we're developing some
cool ai stuff.
Uh, I'm sure, true, car has aposition on this.
We're not going to get into it.
But why I think I'm excitedabout this in particular is the
(02:06):
position of human experience,something that I think and I
could be wrong here once thewhole AI adoption and technology
advancement and pivot and thisand that kind of settles we're
all going to be like, but wereally just want to connect with
(02:29):
other human beings and to havehuman experiences and grow and
develop and this and that.
So what I want to I guess whereI want to start with you is
this you've had a pretty awesomecareer.
Uh, I see here on your LinkedIn, which we're going to link to
in the show notes, carmax andGroup One and Lexus of Austin,
(02:53):
and then, dare I say, climbingan impressive ladder at Trucar
Training specialist to projectmanager, to manager of
operations, up, up, up, up up.
Now you're the vice presidentof operations and general
manager at Truecar Plus.
Tell me about that, I mean, forpeople that don't think career
advancement is a thing in thisindustry.
(03:15):
Your resume certainlycontradicts that.
Megan (03:19):
Yeah, absolutely, and I think that's a big part of why I
wanted to talk through thistoday.
And I think that's a big partof why I wanted to talk through
this today.
And I think that there's a lotof opportunity within the
industry.
We think about the dealership.
There's roles that we allaspire to, whether that's GM or
GSM, but I think there is anentire ecosystem outside of the
dealership really that thirdparty space that supports
(03:40):
automotive.
That I certainly didn't knowwhen I was in the dealership
what opportunity was out thereand didn't really know how my
skills would translate.
And when I came to Trucar Ikind of came in an entry-level
role in that training specialistrole where I was actually
really able to take a lot ofwhat I learned at the dealership
and teach that to other folks.
(04:00):
But there's a ton ofopportunity.
And if you'd told me 10 yearsago or 15 years ago that this is
where I'd be and leadingoperations, I certainly never
would have believed you.
But I think I was surprisedalong the way but also really
encouraged by how my skills kindof translated coming out of the
dealership.
And we all know that being inthe dealership is a grind.
(04:22):
It's bell to bell.
It's every weekend, everySaturday, it's all of your
holidays and a lot of pressureand commission base.
But I think that I reallydidn't know then and I wish I
knew then more now what I knowtoday about what that
opportunity looks like, whattranslating that skills into
more corporate.
Granted, you know, autoautomotive third party is a
(04:43):
really good blend of corporateand the experience at the
dealership.
But yeah, I've been at Trucarfor 10 years and have held a
number of roles during that timeand each of those roles kind of
picked up on different parts ofmy experience from the
dealership and forever gratefulfor the years that I spent in
the store in different rolesthere as well.
MC (05:03):
I want to key in on something you said I mean you've
used vernacular that we hearquite often about the bell to
bell and or cradle to grave andand it's a grind, it's pressure
and for whatever the reason, mymind immediately went to
superman, the christopher reevesuperman, where he lands in this
(05:24):
like coal mine and picks up alump of coal and shoots his
laser eyes at it and he'ssqueezing it in a hand and it
turns into diamonds.
And when I when I kind of takewhat you're saying about your
experience in the dealership yousaid it a couple of times,
megan, you said my experience atthe dealership.
Translated what was it aboutyour dealership experience that
(05:47):
you think helped position youfor the growth that you've
experienced outside of it?
Megan (05:54):
A number of things really .
I mean I think the first andforemost is you really learn in
the dealership to talk to people, you learn to read people, you
learn to ask questions, nomatter what your role is.
And I think that's the firstone.
But I think, having carried thebriefcase and being in the seat
, the first thing that reallyapplied for me was the ease with
which I could talk to dealers.
(06:15):
I could talk to myself on theother side of the desk, right.
So if I'm calling to sell orI'm calling to service, you know
you're speaking to someone thatyou can speak that language
with, and so I think that's justfirst and foremost.
It gives you kind of a leg upover anyone maybe who hasn't
come from the industry not thatthose folks can't be successful,
but I think that's one thingthat definitely kind of carried
(06:37):
over.
But I also think, as my rolesexpanded, I'm starting to look
at how does our consumer facingproduct serve the industry?
And I think about the steps tothe sale.
When I was selling cars, what isthe process that I went through
from my side, and when I boughtcars, what's the information
that I needed to know or thatwas really important to me in
(06:58):
that buying process that helpsshape how I give my experience
or my input into ourconsumer-facing product.
And same thing on the flip sidewe have a whole suite of
dealer-facing products that needto be evolved to work for the
dealership, for the folkssitting in those seats, and,
while it's great to have folksfrom other industries bringing
in their experience and thingsfrom other industries that might
(07:22):
apply, it's been reallyinvaluable for me to say this is
actually how it's done today.
Maybe we can improve this partor maybe we can look at this,
but knowing the process insideand out from the dealership seat
, I think truly helps make ourproduct better, because we're
thinking about it from both theconsumer and the dealer side.
And I mean that's just kind ofscratching the tip of the
(07:42):
iceberg your negotiation skillsand, like I said, those people
skills of asking questions or,if it's more, about just
understanding the ecosystem andunderstanding the pieces of a
car deal, especially as we'rethinking about more and more of
the car sale coming online,digital retailing, ai, all those
(08:03):
things like understanding thesteps to the sale and
understanding the ins and outsof a car deal.
What does the front end processlook like?
What does the back end processlook like, have really helped me
build out processes for thecompany and, like I said, help
give my feedback and input intohow we develop those products
which I think again, if I hadsat and thought about it before,
(08:25):
I would never have thought ohhey, that's really valuable.
But it is immensely valuableand we see that across a number
of the leaders in ourorganization.
MC (08:34):
I love this.
There's some things that I'mpicking up on, even in what I
think is a simple yet complexstatement.
You said well, I learned to askquestions, and to me there's so
much to just unpack there.
Learning to ask questions isn'tjust the asking of the question
(08:57):
.
It implies curiosity, curiositybeing a very human emotion.
It implies this desire to getto the bottom of something, in
other words, like you said, asolution, and then tying that
all the way into building outprocesses, like you said, this
idea of you know you brought uptechnology, you brought up AI,
(09:20):
these sorts of things whichmight be able to augment some of
this, but then thatcross-reference against your
experience to build a processthat is filled with empathy for
the actual, real human who'sgoing to drive the vehicle.
Megan (09:36):
Right.
MC (09:38):
So what are some things, when it comes to consumer facing
building processes that aregoing to enhance the consumer
experience in a digital world?
What are some of the thingsthat you're thinking about in
terms of how to improve theexperience that they have?
Megan (09:55):
Absolutely.
I mean, I think, if you thinkabout, there are parts of the
sale that consumers really likethe walking around of the
vehicle, walking the lot, doingthe test drive and then there
are parts that aren't as fun orcan be not as fun, whether
that's the credit application orthe negotiation and really
getting down to your finalout-the-door price.
(10:17):
And when we think about the wayI think about it is what parts
of those For me, specifically inmy role and as we're thinking
about TrueCard Plus what partsof those can translate online or
have already?
We already have creditapplications online, things like
that, but what does theconsumer need to be able to have
that experience online?
But also, how do we take theexperience of the salesperson
(10:42):
and I say this a lot in myday-to-day is we can put these
steps online, but if we'reremoving the salesperson which
we're not, we don't want to dothat.
There's questions Customers wantto be able to understand and
ask the expert how does thiswork?
How should I be thinking aboutthis?
Where's the difference betweenthese two cars?
Or how does my monthly paymentbreak down?
You can't really just throw AIagainst that right.
(11:05):
We have to think about how, inour experience, can we
incorporate that knowledge?
But also how can we partner withthe dealership to bring in the
expert when it's needed andtransition that customer from
online to offline at the store,or for a customer who's maybe
leasing their same third MazdaCX-5 over and over again, they
(11:25):
know the first six steps of thesale they're comfortable with,
so they can do a lot more ofthat online and then transition
into the dealership.
But I'm constantly thinkingabout how do I balance knowing
(11:48):
where each individual customeris at in that journey and when
it makes sense to transitionthem to the dealership, and how
to do that seamlessly so thatthe customer is able to pick up
where they left off at thedealership Dealership set up for
success.
Customer doesn't have to repeata bunch of steps.
That's, I guess, the bigproblem that I'm constantly
trying to solve and doing thatfor any number of different
(12:11):
types of customers where they'reat in their car buying journey.
MC (12:18):
Hey, does your marketing agency suck?
Listen before we hop back intothis episode.
I know you know me as the hostof the Dealer Playbook, but did
you also know that I'm the CEOof FlexDealer, an agency that's
helping dealers capture betterquality leads from local SEO and
hyper-targeted ads that convert?
So if you want to sell morecars and finally have a partner
that's in it with you, thatdoesn't suck visit FlexDealercom
(12:41):
.
Let's hop back into thisepisode.
What I think is really coolabout what you guys do at true
car um, you do community andaffinity programs probably
better than anybody else.
Uh, like I think about costco,or is it navy, federal or you
(13:03):
know.
And when you were talking aboutthe transition from online to
offline, I was like you knowwhat True car?
I was like wait a minute, truecar might actually do offline to
online, to offline again andand have been doing it really
well for quite some time.
And and I know I'm like so sickof saying AI it's almost like
(13:27):
I'm like COVID-19.
You remember at the end of thepandemic we're all like if I
hear COVID-19 one more time, I'mgoing to lose my mind and I'm
already kind of there with AI.
Your experience, what youlearned in a dealership that has
(13:50):
helped you in your position nowto build out programs so that
other humans can have anexperience in this concept.
That really the acknowledgingthat the car buying journey
actually doesn't start online,it starts offline.
Maybe they, you know, the lifecircumstances changed, they had
(14:10):
a new baby or they're goingthrough a divorce, whatever it
is, and something changes in thehuman experience that I think
sometimes we forget aboutbecause everything becomes so
digital and we're like, well,we've made it easy and it's like
there is nothing easy abouthaving another baby pal and that
is the only reason I'm onlinelooking right now and now you're
(14:32):
bringing up all these frictionpoints and then you want me to
come into your dealership.
But you guys do something thattechnology can't do, which is
community.
You build, you've got pods ofcommunity that are that then the
experience is catered to, that,what that individual is
experiencing or goes through orunderstands, which I think is so
(14:56):
powerful, how, how do you evenBegin to build that?
Megan (15:07):
Yeah, it is, it's a.
It's an interesting way tothink about it.
But the way I kind of frame itin my head is I'm always trying
to meet the customer wherethey're at and I think the
community, the affinity partners, is part of that, whether
they're in their Navy Federalaccount looking at what they
could potentially bepre-qualified for, or if they're
looking at their insurance withtheir insurance provider, which
(15:27):
we partner with a lot of thelarge insurance partners, but
it's that.
Or if it's, hey, I'm at workand I'm looking through my
employer and I'm looking throughmy benefits just to see what I
have and oh hey, I have thisprogram, you know.
But I want to meet the customerwhere they're at, whether
they're in that early researchphase which a lot of our
affinity partners are even, youknow, broader research than we
are.
If we think about consumerreports or car and driver, you
(15:51):
know wherever the consumer is atearly stage shopping, or I need
a car tomorrow because thisbaby is on the way, you know, we
want to meet consumers wherethey're at and I do think and
you said it really well like theoffline to online to offline,
online again, maybe right, Likethere's a whole journey there,
and I do think that when wethink about the tools that we
(16:12):
build, we want to be able to say, hey, like, let's capture this
customer where they're at.
If they're ready to betransitioned to the dealership,
we'll do that.
Maybe that customer comes inand test drives, but then they
don't end up transacting.
How do we give dealershipstools to re-engage with those
customers, leveraging thetransfer of trust that we built
from wherever they started,right, Whether that was from one
(16:33):
of our affinity partners orjust from Truecar or Truecar
Military, making that back andforth more seamless?
And is it perfect today?
No, absolutely not.
But we want to continue tobuild in that manner so that the
dealership wins by being ableto help leverage tools that help
close rate, but the consumerwins because they're getting a
more tailored experience to themand where they're at, without
(16:56):
that being party or your outsideof dealership experience that
you're like.
MC (17:01):
Oh man, that would have helped me when I was working in
the dealership.
Megan (17:30):
A number of knowledge.
I think truly when I thinkabout Truecar, but really any
vendor in the space, like we'reactually data companies at the
end of the day, like we just weknow so much in today's
marketing environment and justthe economy, we know so much
about the consumers that arecoming in that we try and I know
a lot of other companies do,but we try to pass that
(17:52):
information along to thedealership.
But I just wish I knew as muchabout my customers as Truecure
does today when I was sellingthem, because I always took a
consultative selling approachand I wanted to ask those
questions, get to know thatcustomer.
But if I knew that they wereNavy Federal customers, or if I
knew that they had GEICOinsurance, or if I knew that
(18:12):
this was their third minivan andthey're just looking to replace
basically the exact same thing,or that they were previous
military, there's just so muchinformation that we know about
consumers today.
That one I wish I had when Iwas in sales because it
certainly would have helped.
But I think that's also how wethink about it.
We do know all of that.
How do we as a companysupporting the broader
(18:35):
automotive industry, supportingdealerships, in synthesizing all
of that information, whetherthat's to use in the sales
process or to use in themarketing process.
I wish that I had known then orhad the tools then that we have
now, and I know that today'sdesk at the dealership is 10
different browsers open with 10different tools, that you have
to try to pull all of thistogether.
(18:56):
But I think that, looking atthose processes whether we think
about it from our side, fromTruecar, and how we're providing
that or if I was sitting in theseat again, how would I use
those tools?
What would I need?
I think a lot of it comes backto the information that we have
and I think AI can help in asense of like synthesizing that
information or helping sparkideas.
(19:18):
But I think, even if you thinkabout using those tools today,
it still takes someone who hasthat experience or someone who's
carried that briefcase to say,hey, this process, I feel like
it's going to work.
And you can look at the dataand say, hey, we're seeing this
from our customers, so let'stweak our process.
Maybe AI could tell you that,but I don't know that AI could
(19:39):
really tell you the behavior ofa customer, especially your
customer in your store, in yourmarket for your brand in the
dealership to be able to takethat, synthesize it and put it
into a plan.
But I certainly wish that 10,15 years ago that I had the data
(20:05):
that I have now to help buildthe story for consumers.
MC (20:09):
I love the way that you say this, the things that you
believe technology can helpsynthesize, and I agree, and I'm
also you know, if I'm rightawesome.
My Italian ego is going toflare up like crazy.
If I'm wrong, so be it.
I'm willing to be wrong, but Iagree with you.
I think that that's the rightposition.
(20:30):
It's like AI is going to helpspeed up and or augment or
improve, help us improve thehuman experience, because, at
the end of the day, that's whatwe all desire, kind of a full
circle moment.
And also this idea of oh, Ilove this example.
Simon Sinek brings up theexample of this, I think, in
(20:54):
kind of a real world scenario.
Let's say you're having anargument with your spouse or
your partner or your significantother and you feel really bad
about it and you don't reallyknow what to do.
So you go to chat GPT andbecause you want a solution, and
so you go to GPT and you'relike, hey, just had this
argument with my significantother.
(21:14):
Here's some of the things thatwere said.
I feel really bad, but I don'tknow what I should say to solve
this, and GPT is like, oh,absolutely, I can help you, and
it crafts this thing and you goback to your wife or your
partner or whatever I guess mywife, because my wife, this is
the way I think and you go hey,babe, listen, I'm so sorry that
(21:37):
we had that argument and I saidsome things that I feel really
awful about and they're not me,and I said them in anger and I'm
going to try really hard tonever have this happen again,
please forgive me.
And my wife goes did you comeup with that or did GPT?
Megan (21:55):
Yeah, who are you?
And what have you done with myhusband?
MC (21:57):
Right, because at the end of the day, kind of what you've
brought up, this idea ofsynthesis, the outcome, the
desire was right, I wanted tosolve the thing, but the
authenticity of the experiencevanished and got lost in
translation and the recipient?
So you brought up, like thefinance manager and the points
(22:19):
of friction for the customer,the things that you guys are
thinking about to improve yourprocess and help the consumer
journey, wherever they are inthat journey.
I think, well gosh, as long aswe want to drive vehicles and as
long as we desire vehicles tobe driven, then that means there
is going to be someone sittingin a dealership at some point,
(22:39):
or maybe a FaceTime call orwhatever it's going to turn into
where, if I don't get anexperience or communication from
a real human being that'sauthentic, that is prone to
failure because that's part ofthe human experience, then I'm
going to turn off so many people, in the same way that I just
called a dealership yesterdaymorning and was greeted by the
(23:02):
AI agent.
And please, ai agent companiesout there, don't take this as
I'm not threatening, I'm not,but I'm just saying the seven
seconds between responses was soinfuriating.
Megan (23:15):
Yeah.
MC (23:16):
It could have been done so faster.
So I love that you guys arethinking about this.
As we wind down here, I want toturn it back over to you.
How can those listening andwatching connect with you?
Megan (23:28):
Yeah, absolutely.
I mean I think that oneobviously please reach out on
LinkedIn if this is Obviously.
I think this is something thatwe're all passionate about.
But when I think about theexperience that we have in the
industry and the things that itteaches us, and I just hate to
see that leak out into otherindustries.
No offense to.
You know mortgages or realestate, or you know roofing
sales.
(23:48):
Not to be selfish, but yeah, notto be selfish, but we have a
lot of experience and there'sjust not a way to replicate that
.
And sure you can teach some ofit, um, but not, not to the
extent where you can really liveand breathe it.
And I think, and the way that Ithink about this is like as a
texan, as a cowboys fan, throughthe ups and the downs, um, you,
(24:12):
you take a look at someone liketony romo, right like former
player, transitions intobroadcasting, like he sees the
game differently than otherbroadcasters do.
We've all seen him, you know,predict a play to a tee before
the ball is even snapped.
And it's because he's been inthat pressure, he's been in
those shoes, he's carried thatbriefcase and I think, truly
(24:35):
it's the same for us.
It's same for us that have beeninto the dealership.
We can walk into a dealership,we can understand the flow, the
language, we understand theconsumer and the pain points and
I, just like I said, I hate tosee that experience leak out of
automotive as a whole, when it'sso powerful in what it can do
in the third-party space,continuing to evolve and iterate
(24:56):
on our products, and I'm verypassionate about this.
Like I said, I personally havegone through this journey Lisa
Hess, our head of sales, mattJones, who we talked about.
We have so many leaders thathave had a similar journey kind
of transitioning out of thedealership and into the third
party space that I think thatthere's more opportunity there,
(25:17):
whether it's chatting about howto translate that out of
dealership language intocorporate jargon or just where
you think there would be a goodfit.
I'm very passionate about thisand I would love just for anyone
to reach out.
Linkedin is the best way.
I'm always on there and sohappy to have a conversation
with anyone about it.
MC (25:35):
Love it.
We'll link to it in the notes.
Megan, thanks so much forjoining me on the Dealer
Playbook.
Megan (25:40):
Absolutely.
Thanks, Mike.
MC (25:42):
Hey, thanks for listening to the Dealer Playbook podcast.
If you enjoyed tuning in,please subscribe, share and hit
that like button.
You can also join us and theDPB community on social media.
Check back next week for a newDealer Playbook episode.
Thanks so much for joining.
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