June 24, 2025 • 23 mins
Greg Uland returns to Auto Collabs with a timely look at how Reynolds & Reynolds is helping dealers prepare for a more efficient, tech-driven future.
Greg Uland, VP of Marketing at Reynolds & Reynolds, joins Paul, Kyle, and Michael for a summer check-in ahead of the company’s Amplify conference this August. With record registration already locked in, Greg shares how the event is evolving into a hub for collaboration—not just among current Reynolds users, but across OEMs, consultants, and dealers exploring the tech ecosystem. There’s a strong emphasis this year on diversity of perspective, with conversations focused on improving store operations, not just showcasing new features.
From technician efficiency to sales enablement and back-office optimization, Greg breaks down where dealers are most focused on doing more with less. He also previews how Reynolds’ Spark AI data layer is helping build smarter workflows, and why bringing last year’s contest winners back as Amplify judges matters. This episode highlights the bigger-picture thinking that’s helping modern dealers tackle today’s operational challenges.
🔑 Takeaways
0:00 Intro with Paul J Daly, Kyle Mountsier and Michael Cirillo – Opening thoughts and memories of Greg’s now-legendary “paper scroll” moment.
2:08 Summer momentum and Amplify preview – Greg outlines the excitement around the August event, including record signups and a packed venue.
6:01 Building community through user conferences – A look at why this year’s Amplify will feature more external voices and hands-on engagement.
13:09 Areas where dealers are doing more with less – Spotlight on service tech efficiency, CRM streamlining, and smarter business office processes.
16:51 Evolving the role of the business office – How reducing manual tasks unlocks broader financial oversight and decision-making.
19:12 Tying it all together with integrated tools – Real examples of cross-brand efficiencies, like claims processed directly through the DMS.
Connect with Greg Uland at https://www.linkedin.com/in/greg-uland
Learn more about Reynolds & Reynolds at https://www.reyrey.com
Listen to Inga Maurer on the Connected Podcast: https://youtu.be/r3RHcqnQjkc?si=qq5-Bjgn03v3MVFh
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Michael Cirillo (00:00):
Guys, I still can't get over the fact
Unknown (00:08):
this is Auto Collabs, that
Michael Cirillo (00:11):
if you stack up all the paper produced by Greg's
company, that it will go to themoon, you could climb it to the
moon. And I think that's thefirst thing he ever said to us
on the first time we met.
Unknown (00:24):
And you're right, still reeling. Record
Michael Cirillo (00:27):
now, is he the most? Is he the most popular
returned guest to the I think
Paul Daly (00:33):
he is nada saying we're seeing in the
background. Yes, he is the mostpopular return guest.
I just realized I forgot to askagain this year before ASOTU CON
next year, Reynolds andReynolds, you must bring
the scroll, the longgrid scroll that has like, you
know, thinking, 30 feet of paperback to back. And this is the
(00:54):
length of paper you need to do acar deal. It's so entertaining
and amazing. And if we put thatsucker on that big stage, it is
gonnacrush Greg. We're calling you
out for any more though. Don'tneed paper anymore. We're
replacing that stuff. That'swhat I'm saying, Please and
thank you. Please. No paper.
Michael Cirillo (01:11):
That's gonna be the Dead Sea Scrolls of the
future. Somebody's gonna stumblelike, 1000 years from now,
they're gonna double on thatscroll and be like, What says
this thing? Do you this gap
Paul Daly (01:23):
insurance? Someone's gonna be like this one. This
thing doesn't say blockchainanywhere. What happened?
Michael Cirillo (01:29):
Which gap are we insured? He had to drive on
the ground. Ew, I think webetter
Paul Daly (01:36):
get in this interview quick. I hope you enjoy this
interview with Greg Ulen andwith Reynolds. And Reynolds,
Greg, it feels appropriate thatwe have an early summer check
in, right? Because so much as Ifeel like the first half of this
year is been an absolutewhirlwind that's felt like a
(01:57):
total of like three or fouryears. So it's always, it's
always good to touch base,because there's a lot of stuff
that is going on in the secondhalf of this year. I mean, we're
not even halfway through yet. Istill feel like it's the end of
June, but it's not,
Greg Uland (02:08):
yeah, you're right.
I mean, it's early June whenwe're recording, at least, I'm
not sure when we're gonna we'regonna release this. Yeah, me
neither. But no. I mean, youknow, nada obviously marks sort
of the beginning part of thecalendar ASOTU CON is kind of
late, late spring, early summer.
And now we head into, head intosummer, and there's all kinds of
things going on. And obviouslywe're looking forward to
(02:30):
amplify, kind of dead, deadcenter this summer, a little
later in August. So we're, we'rerocking and rolling, and
everything's heating up, whichis exciting across the country.
Yeah,
Paul Daly (02:40):
talk about, talk about, amplify for a second,
because we had the pleasure ofattending last year, and it felt
really good to be an environmentthat was crafted for the users
of the product to go a stepdeeper, to connect with the
people, to like, figure out how,how do you like, mix and match
and get the other people thatare doing well and interact
like, the energy around A User'sConference is always a little
(03:01):
bit different. So talk aboutthis year.
Greg Uland (03:04):
So a couple things.
First of all, registrations thatI think you guys saw this too,
with record registrations atattendance at ASOTU CON. Yeah,
we are exploding. I mean, golf'salready sold out. We're two
months out and golf is sold out,which very nice course. I'll
tell you that. You know, it'sthe TPC los colinas, which is
where the Byron Nelson classicwas played for years. Yes, so
it's a beautiful course, butyeah, we're basically on a wait
(03:27):
list now for for golf, and we'refilling up block of rooms. Is
almost sold out, and we'restarting to monitor space and
making sure that we're gonna beable to fit anybody, everybody.
So, and it's
Paul Daly (03:41):
at the Ritz Carlton, yeah, really slumming it this
year.
Greg Uland (03:46):
It's a decent venue, you know, in Dallas, easy to get
in and out of, and just abeautiful, beautiful venue. So,
really excited. But as far asenvironment goes, I mean, you
guys were there last year,hopefully we figure out a way to
get you there this year too. Butyou know, we're looking at,
certainly, user groups and andwe're excited about that. We get
a lot of our customers that comein, but also others throughout
the industry. So we'll haveactually a lot of OEM partners
(04:08):
that will be attending this yearfor kind of some breakout
sessions, a lot of dealerscoming in, at least based on
early registrations that aren't,aren't our customers today. So
checking out the products thatwe have available that that
don't necessarily require aReynolds DMS, or, you know, a
lot of them are interested inseeing what we have and
interested in looking at aReynolds DMS. So we should have
(04:28):
a really diverse group thisyear, which I think, and I think
you guys would attest to thisbased on your experience. You
know, the more diverse thegroup, the one, the more fun it
is, because you get differentpeople bouncing different ideas
off of each other, always. Andtwo A lot of times, you get to
learn things that maybe youweren't thinking about
Paul Daly (04:44):
before. Yep, yeah.
Well, I think you know that theidea of a user conference, you
know, cross vertically, is not anet new idea, right? I mean, we
think of the Apple event everysingle year as like, the Apple
event, but. It's really a usersconference, right? And
afterwards, all the users aretesting out the new product. And
so it's not anything new. But Ithink in auto, you know, a lot
(05:07):
of times we can be, we could beheld captive to like, oh, A
User's Conference should just befor the users of that product.
But you know, especially whenyou all touch so many elements
of the store. It's not justlike, Oh, you got to have the
DMS, no. It's like, it and, youknow, web and all of the things,
right? It's, it's a reallyunique position that you have to
(05:30):
play. And again, like, you know,everybody wants to golf at a
nice golf course. What? What aresome of the conversations that
that you all are havinginternally that are going to be
important to, kind of like, youknow, have sparring partners for
at that event, as opposed toonly announcing things. Because
I know that it's not just aboutbig announcements. It's about
(05:51):
like, having sparring partnersin dealerships that are aren't
using your product, or at OEMsthat are saying, like, Hey,
here's what to look for nextyear? Yeah,
Greg Uland (06:01):
so there's, there's definitely a lot of layers to
it. So I'll hit on a couple ofthem. One, when we think about
dealers, a lot of it is okay,what's working, what's not, and
where are the opportunities forus to increase efficiency and
increase productivity? I mean,that's where we're at in today's
world is, you know, from aworkflow perspective, where can
we allow people, help people todo more with less, whether it's
in sales, whether it's inservice, whether it's in
service, whether it's in thebusiness office, how do we get
(06:23):
people to be more productive? Soyeah, and a lot of that in
today's world is based in okay,how do we leverage artificial
intelligence? How do weleverage, certainly from our
perspective, our spark AI datalayer, which is our unified data
layer for all of our AI tools.
How can we create these uniqueworkflows that allow people to
do more with less and and that'swhere a lot of the conversations
(06:46):
that we have day to day stemfrom. But, you know, obviously,
when we can get three or 400people in the same room having
these conversations, it reallyhas a big impact.
Paul Daly (06:58):
You know, last year, last year, I'm thinking about,
like the closing keynote, andlike the opportunity to have to
bring some texture into an eventwith a keynote speaker. This
year you have several keynotes,or, I don't know if it's one
session, talk a little bit aboutthat, because I think the proper
placement of keynote speakershould get everybody thinking a
(07:20):
little outside the boundaries ofhow we're usually thinking. But
like, who did you select thisyear and
Greg Uland (07:26):
why? Yeah, so our opening keynote is actually
going to be a panel. It's gottwo pretty strong dealers. So
Patrick York, who's the COO atGilman Automotive Group, and
Nata, who's the CEO at at, oh,my goodness, I'm blanking bird.
I can. Thank you. Yeah, soshe's, she's gonna be up there
(07:47):
as well. And then we, we have aconsultant, actually, from
McKinsey and Company, IngaMoore. I don't know if you've
talked to Inga before, I've hadthe opportunity to have her
unconnected. And she is sharp asall get out. I really like the
way she thinks about a lot ofthings. So I'm interested in
what she's gonna bring to thetable from more of a
consultant's perspective versusan operator's perspective. I'm
really excited about the dynamicthat those three will have.
Paul Daly (08:10):
Yeah, that's really cool. Go ahead, Paul,
I was gonna say bringing theconsultant side is something
that you don't see very oftenyou've had on the show. How do
you feel that, like that levelof over overarching thinking is
deployed like you had aconversation, and we'll link to
it in the comments to go back toit. But what are give us, like,
(08:32):
the high level takeaway of whatyou think her insight into the
industry, you know, how couldbenefit dealers and people like
wading through these AI, youknow, technologically shifting
waters, yeah.
Greg Uland (08:43):
So she works with with a lot of dealers. And she's
actually been with McKinseyCompany for right around 15
years, maybe a little more,maybe a little less, at the link
to our bio, but she runs kind oftheir automotive segment, so she
works with a lot of retailers.
Also works with OEM, so she getsthis sort of global view, and
she it's interesting, becauseyou hear somebody who isn't
necessarily in it every day,necessarily in it every day, but
gets exposure to a lot ofdifferent types of people that
(09:04):
operate. And she sees a lot ofthe things that we talk about,
right? And she talks about somuch segmentation in our
industry and so much disparateinformation in our industry, and
and then she also sees thepositive of there's so much
opportunity, right? No matterwhat happens in this industry,
we're going to power through,and it's going to go to the next
level. It's just, we're going tofind those operators that find
(09:26):
ways to get there, and once theydo, everybody else can join in.
So it is really interestinghearing, you know, I'll call it
an outside perspective.
Obviously, she works inside ofher industry, but she's not an
operator. So an outsideperspective to say, you know, we
need to fix some of these thingswhere we have all these silos
all over the place, both insidethe store, but then also across
(09:48):
a larger enterprise, and eventhroughout the industry. When we
talk about manufacturers andlenders and all these pieces of
the puzzle, the more we can tieeverybody together, the more
effective everybody's
Paul Daly (09:57):
going to be. You know, you guys have really.
Really overlaid so much of whatyou do with a lot of the heart
that we have, which is that morethan cars mentality, and, you
know, more than technology,whatever it may be, right? That
that you all overlay that. And Isee you're bringing back the
automotive amplifiers contest.
Speak to that a little bit, andlike how you are celebrating
some of the work that dealersare doing across the country,
Greg Uland (10:21):
yeah? So you guys were gracious enough to be
judges in that contest lastyear. Fun, and we're gonna
actually have a couple of ourwinners come back to judge this
year. We thought that that was agreat way that's real smart,
yeah, great way to bring themback. So looking forward to it.
You know, the contest is reallydesigned to highlight some some
great contributors and somegreat ideas. I mean, at the end
of the day, if you have a greatidea that's working at your
(10:43):
store, by all means, run withit. But share that thing. Let
everybody get better. Becauseonce you know, once we're all at
the same level, then it will goto the next level, and the next
level, the next level. Thisindustry never stands still. So
the more we can share these bestpractices, share these ideas,
the faster we're gonna be ableto grow. We're gonna go up. I
mean, it's going to happen.
We're going to get better everysingle day, but the faster we
can do that, the better it isfor everybody. So it's an
(11:05):
opportunity for the industry torise, but also for these
individual contributors to gettheir day in the sun right, to
get their spotlight and andreally show off what they've
been been working hard at. So weloved it last year. Really
appreciate you guys judging lastyear and and looking forward to
this year to getting a lot ofsubmissions already, this
mission window is still open. Soif anybody's interested in
(11:26):
submitting, just go torarer.com/amplify and you can,
you can submit your your ideathere, and all of our finalists
will get, you know, flight,travel, hotel, everything for
for amplify, access to all thesessions and golf, and golf, and
we'll make sure to take care ofyou while you're there, and then
present on stage. And we'll picka couple winners, and it'll be a
lot of fun. Well, what
Paul Daly (11:48):
I loved about it last year, and so, like, if you're
listening to this, and you'renot an owner operator, you know,
there was, like a servicemanager, there was, there was
someone that, I think one of thepresenters was, like a warranty
admin, right? And they just had,they were the ones that came up
with the idea. So it doesn'thave to be an owner operator,
like, if it's a sales person ora warranty admin or a BDC rep
(12:10):
that has come up with somethingto, you know, create or make
better within their store. Like,that's the things that you guys
are after. So I think that'ssuper cool. Yeah,
without a doubt. I want to goback to something you mentioned,
as we were just talking aboutwhat people are looking for,
what dealers are looking for,and the challenges that we're
facing. You said several times,do more with less. Yep, right?
(12:32):
And I think that that that, Iguess that's kind of always the
plight of a business owner,right? How do I do more with
less? But it feels even morespecific in this day and age,
when we have all these externalpressures that are now forcing
us to find a way to do more withless, to squeeze margin, to be
more efficient, we have allthese technology tools. You have
(12:54):
a lot of exposure to dealerschallenges just because of the
seat you sit in and because ofthe number of dealers that are
in your ecosystem, yeah, whatwere some of the areas you feel
that are like the top two orthree on the list where dealers
are like you have, we have tofigure out how to do more with
less in this area.
Greg Uland (13:10):
Yeah, I think, you know, the the easy one to point
to, invent of a raise. Ishouldn't say easy. That's a bad
word, word choice. But one ofthe ones that are most was most
apparent to point to is techproductivity, right when you go
back to the Service Drive, howdo we enable our technicians to
turn more hours in the windowthat they're in the store? I
mean that at the end of the day,how do we take some of those
tasks out of their hands thataren't producing revenue? And
(13:33):
how do we give them tools to beas efficient as possible? We've
talked a lot about reload theparts delivery robot, which will
be on display at amplify, forsure, the more we
Paul Daly (13:41):
deliver and drinks around a table,
right? Yeah, that that istelling you, I'm a sucker for a
robot man, tell me what?
Greg Uland (13:50):
But, but, no, it's, it is really an apparent area to
focus on. I mean, it's, it's,quite literally, we talked about
this, I think the last time wechatted, you know about you have
inventory that you sell in theservice drive, and it comes in
six minute increments, right? A10th of an hour, six minutes. So
once that six minutes is gone,it's gone, it's spoiled
inventory. So how do we makesure that we're not wasting that
(14:12):
inventory? So that's one that'sthat's really apparent. Another
is certainly in sales. How do westreamline a lot of these tasks
that we need our sales people todo for a lot of different
reasons, and a lot of it'scentered around the CRM. But how
do we streamline a lot of thesetasks so that they can be more
effective, so they can spendmore time with customers, so
they can close more business,versus kind of chasing around,
(14:33):
doing the admin stuff? And thenthe third one that I think can
be overlooked, because a lot oftimes it's not right in our
faces, is in the businessoffice, right? So how do we take
the business office from being amoney counting and posting
operation to being a cash flowmanagement office, right? How do
we take them to being moreimpactful in the dealership by
(14:54):
eliminating a lot of that kindof manual stuff they shouldn't
have to get a deal, tear itapart, fix whatever mistakes.
Made, and then re key it backin, and then then post it, you
know, and so let's say thattakes, I don't know, seven
minutes, seven minutes times,you know, a lot of deals. They
can use other things done. Soreally focusing in those three
areas that just, they kind ofpop out at you when you take a
(15:14):
step back and you look at it andand honestly, those are the ones
that that hit and resonate,especially when we have
customers in here and we justtalk about, like, what, what do
you need? And when I say inhere, I mean, obviously our
headquarters in Dayton, youknow, what do you need? And
those, those three buckets, arethe ones that are, seem to be at
least always top of mind.
Paul Daly (15:32):
You know, I love the business office conversation,
because from working in thestore, you know, you typically
think of the business office asjust like the task management
arm, right? Get things in, getit out, finish the job, and then
move on to the next task, right?
But actually, what I remember iswhen I would go through that
(15:53):
office and start to ask thingslike, Where can we be more
efficient? Where can we pick updollars? They see everything.
And so if you can offload thetask management and and enable
them to, kind of, like,visualize the business and make
active part, and create activeparticipation in the businesses
(16:15):
results, right? Because they'reseeing the overview, oh, the
connection between service andsales and parts, and the
connection between consumergetting title and a deal getting
closed, like those connectionsaren't seen elsewhere in the
store. So it really is a tie upwhere you can use the analytical
minds to create efficiencies inthe rest of the store. So I love
(16:39):
how you're like, now that you'resaying, you're saying that I'm
thinking about all of the thingsthat that office could create in
like, not reactive, butproactive productivity.
Greg Uland (16:51):
Won't even think about, you know, just a tangible
example, expense management,right, expense approval and
management. Think about payablesand the process to approve a
payment, right? Or a proveninvoice, that's a pain. It goes
to three different people. Youknow, it's a piece of paper.
Half the time we got to look atit, and then there's no real
tracking to know, oh, Jimmy'susing that vendor, Johnny's
(17:12):
using that vendor, and Billy atthe other stores using that
vendor. Maybe we shouldconsolidate those bills and get
a discount, right? So why can'twe do that, especially in the
world that we live in today, andthat that is a function where
somebody the business office isreally bringing value and not
just posting a deal into the
Paul Daly (17:29):
DMS, yep. So Kyle and I were just having a
conversation. We were lookingover some data, and it was
talking about the number ofcalls that were or email
correspond that were unanswered,things that weren't picked up or
answered appropriately. And asyou're talking about freeing the
people up to do what they couldbe doing, yeah, instead of
(17:51):
dealing with efficiency minutialike that is a very clear and
present need just betterresponse times return calls.
Better lead, you know, betterlead handling in general. And so
I'm just tying the two, becausewe were just having this
conversation about an hour ago.
Yeah. And as you talk aboutefficiency, like the downstream
effect of better efficiencyallows your people to do the
(18:11):
things that you know your peopleshould be doing best, yeah.
Greg Uland (18:15):
And most of the time, you only get one shot,
right if somebody's reaching outto you, they want to talk to you
now, and that, that's youropportunity, and it may or may
not come back. And if you try tocall them, so they call you once
they can't get a hold ofsomebody, or they reach out on
your website, or whatever themedium is, if they don't get
what they need, they're probablynot calling back. And then
you're just trying to get a holdof them, trying to get a hold of
(18:35):
them, and they're probably notgoing to they've
Paul Daly (18:37):
moved on. It's funny, we were literally having this
exact same conversation, andthen that's it. And the person
brought up, they were like,yeah, it's not like, your family
dentist where, like, if youdon't call your dentist and you
don't get them, you're notcalling the one next door,
right, right? You're gonna trythem again, and you're gonna be
a little patient, because that'sthe dentist that you know, you
trust has your records. Butlike, if you're selling, you
know, if you're selling jeeps,it's like, there's a guy right
(18:59):
there selling Jeeps too, yeah,and if they call you back, then
that's, that's kind of theessence of conquest in this day
and age. Yep, it's wild. Gosh,that's absolutely wild. Yeah. So
give us the dates again onamplify
Greg Uland (19:13):
August 18 and 19.
It's a Monday, Tuesday. So kindof first day is, you know,
welcome, check in, golf, nicereception, dinner. And then day
two will be, you know, jampacked with all of our sessions,
with kind of our expo, where youcan see all of our brands, which
is actually kind of fun for me,to see them all in one place,
right? You think, oh, it
Paul Daly (19:30):
was fun for us to see them all in one place, because
you're on the show floor. Itfeels like a show floor, yeah?
But it's not, it's all it's allyour stuff. The
best show floor I'veever seen in that scenario, tell
me about, like, the interactionof the teams, because the teams
probably don't get to spend aton of time together either.
Greg Uland (19:49):
Yeah, not a ton. I mean, you know, when you bring
in folks from, you know, protondealership, it and cyber
security, they have a veryspecific focus, as compared to
auto vision, who's handlinginventory? Management and recon,
right? Like, those are two verydifferent functions, so being
able to get together and kind ofcatch up and share best
practices too is a lot of fun.
You also what, what I've found,at least, is we, every year, at
(20:10):
every event that we're at, whenwe have a lot of our brands, we
figure out different ways thatthey work together, right? Like,
you think about just thesebrands in the overlap, and it's
like, oh my goodness. I don'tknow how, how we missed that,
but, you know, you look at, Idon't know, agws, right, which
is our company that we sellinsurance products for, for F
and I, and you look at AWS, andwhat can a GWS do in combination
(20:32):
with docupad or in service withera Ignite, where, oh my gosh,
we can actually process a claimas the as we're processing the
arrow inside of Ignite, we canclick a button and the claim
gets processed through AWS. Wedon't have to send it off
anywhere. We don't have to go toanother portal. We don't have to
do anything and and that, thatefficiency gain, like we were
(20:56):
just talking about for, youknow, the service writer is
massive. And you know, you comeup with these, these things that
seemingly are a little but thenyou put them into practice and a
dealer season, they're like,where has this been my whole
life? So that's a big benefit.
It's a lot of
Paul Daly (21:11):
fun. Yeah. So it's almost like a users conference
and developers conferencewrapped into one,
right? All in one, yep, yeah.
Well, I love the concept. I'm soglad that you guys are
committing to this year overyear and excited to see what
comes out of it, not just whatgets announced, because I think
that that is the true horsepowerbehind that sparring partner,
whether it be developers orusers or anything like that. And
really wish you all the best.
(21:35):
And hey, if people haven'tregistered, make sure you go to
Ray, ray.com, forward, slash,amplify. Check it out. Greg,
thank you so much again forjoining us here on Auto
Greg Uland (21:43):
Collabs. Thanks guys. Always my pleasure. We'll
catch up again soon.
Paul Daly (21:49):
Yeah, let me just say I love the fact that they are
bringing the contestants whowon, or the contestants from
last year in the amplify contestback to be the judges this year.
I thinkmove, super savvy move. I mean,
we got to meet the contestantslast year. These aren't like,
this isn't like three dealerprinciples. These are people
that are doing the job, gettingthe job done. They're going to
(22:11):
look at other people that aregetting the job done, doing the
doing the hands and feet workevery single day in a
dealership, looking at the nextgeneration. How cool does
that make you feel? Too right?
If you're day in day out, you'rein day out, you're in a parts
department, or you're doingsomething and all of a sudden,
like you're
Michael Cirillo (22:26):
in the judge's seat? Oh my gosh.
Paul Daly (22:29):
Oh, con,
Michael Cirillo (22:32):
our closing keynote was about built
different and really the threadthat drove through it was how
the the generation, thepreceding generation, sets up
the upcoming generation. Kind ofremember, this is how it
happens, guys, come on. Oh, fromlast year, helping winners for
this year. Oh, because thisindustry
Paul Daly (22:53):
is built. Come on.
Everywhere.
Unknown (22:57):
I got nothing. That was it. I'm all fired up. Let's go.
Paul Daly (23:00):
And I think we need to end with that, Kyle take I
hope y'all are all fired up. Youshould join us on the next Auto
Collabs, because that's all wedo. We get fired up. We're
excited about this industry, andthat's why we have conversations
with people in this industry,figuring out what makes them
tick and why they're here onbehalf of Paul, Jay Daly,
Michael Cirillo and myself. KyleMountsier, thanks for joining
us.
Unknown (23:20):
Sign up for our free and fun to read daily email for
a free shot of relevant news andautomotive retail media and pop
culture. You can get itnow@asotu.com that's asotu.com
if you love this podcast, pleaseleave us a review and share it
with a friend. Thanks again forlistening. We'll see you next
time you welcome to Annika lab.
Guys, I still can't get over the fact
Unknown (00:08):
this is Auto Collabs, that
Michael Cirillo (00:11):
if you stack up all the paper produced by Greg's
company, that it will go to themoon, you could climb it to the
moon. And I think that's thefirst thing he ever said to us
on the first time we met.
Unknown (00:24):
And you're right, still reeling. Record
Michael Cirillo (00:27):
now, is he the most? Is he the most popular
returned guest to the I think
Paul Daly (00:33):
he is nada saying we're seeing in the
background. Yes, he is the mostpopular return guest.
I just realized I forgot to askagain this year before ASOTU CON
next year, Reynolds andReynolds, you must bring
the scroll, the longgrid scroll that has like, you
know, thinking, 30 feet of paperback to back. And this is the
(00:54):
length of paper you need to do acar deal. It's so entertaining
and amazing. And if we put thatsucker on that big stage, it is
gonnacrush Greg. We're calling you
out for any more though. Don'tneed paper anymore. We're
replacing that stuff. That'swhat I'm saying, Please and
thank you. Please. No paper.
Michael Cirillo (01:11):
That's gonna be the Dead Sea Scrolls of the
future. Somebody's gonna stumblelike, 1000 years from now,
they're gonna double on thatscroll and be like, What says
this thing? Do you this gap
Paul Daly (01:23):
insurance? Someone's gonna be like this one. This
thing doesn't say blockchainanywhere. What happened?
Michael Cirillo (01:29):
Which gap are we insured? He had to drive on
the ground. Ew, I think webetter
Paul Daly (01:36):
get in this interview quick. I hope you enjoy this
interview with Greg Ulen andwith Reynolds. And Reynolds,
Greg, it feels appropriate thatwe have an early summer check
in, right? Because so much as Ifeel like the first half of this
year is been an absolutewhirlwind that's felt like a
(01:57):
total of like three or fouryears. So it's always, it's
always good to touch base,because there's a lot of stuff
that is going on in the secondhalf of this year. I mean, we're
not even halfway through yet. Istill feel like it's the end of
June, but it's not,
Greg Uland (02:08):
yeah, you're right.
I mean, it's early June whenwe're recording, at least, I'm
not sure when we're gonna we'regonna release this. Yeah, me
neither. But no. I mean, youknow, nada obviously marks sort
of the beginning part of thecalendar ASOTU CON is kind of
late, late spring, early summer.
And now we head into, head intosummer, and there's all kinds of
things going on. And obviouslywe're looking forward to
(02:30):
amplify, kind of dead, deadcenter this summer, a little
later in August. So we're, we'rerocking and rolling, and
everything's heating up, whichis exciting across the country.
Yeah,
Paul Daly (02:40):
talk about, talk about, amplify for a second,
because we had the pleasure ofattending last year, and it felt
really good to be an environmentthat was crafted for the users
of the product to go a stepdeeper, to connect with the
people, to like, figure out how,how do you like, mix and match
and get the other people thatare doing well and interact
like, the energy around A User'sConference is always a little
(03:01):
bit different. So talk aboutthis year.
Greg Uland (03:04):
So a couple things.
First of all, registrations thatI think you guys saw this too,
with record registrations atattendance at ASOTU CON. Yeah,
we are exploding. I mean, golf'salready sold out. We're two
months out and golf is sold out,which very nice course. I'll
tell you that. You know, it'sthe TPC los colinas, which is
where the Byron Nelson classicwas played for years. Yes, so
it's a beautiful course, butyeah, we're basically on a wait
(03:27):
list now for for golf, and we'refilling up block of rooms. Is
almost sold out, and we'restarting to monitor space and
making sure that we're gonna beable to fit anybody, everybody.
So, and it's
Paul Daly (03:41):
at the Ritz Carlton, yeah, really slumming it this
year.
Greg Uland (03:46):
It's a decent venue, you know, in Dallas, easy to get
in and out of, and just abeautiful, beautiful venue. So,
really excited. But as far asenvironment goes, I mean, you
guys were there last year,hopefully we figure out a way to
get you there this year too. Butyou know, we're looking at,
certainly, user groups and andwe're excited about that. We get
a lot of our customers that comein, but also others throughout
the industry. So we'll haveactually a lot of OEM partners
(04:08):
that will be attending this yearfor kind of some breakout
sessions, a lot of dealerscoming in, at least based on
early registrations that aren't,aren't our customers today. So
checking out the products thatwe have available that that
don't necessarily require aReynolds DMS, or, you know, a
lot of them are interested inseeing what we have and
interested in looking at aReynolds DMS. So we should have
(04:28):
a really diverse group thisyear, which I think, and I think
you guys would attest to thisbased on your experience. You
know, the more diverse thegroup, the one, the more fun it
is, because you get differentpeople bouncing different ideas
off of each other, always. Andtwo A lot of times, you get to
learn things that maybe youweren't thinking about
Paul Daly (04:44):
before. Yep, yeah.
Well, I think you know that theidea of a user conference, you
know, cross vertically, is not anet new idea, right? I mean, we
think of the Apple event everysingle year as like, the Apple
event, but. It's really a usersconference, right? And
afterwards, all the users aretesting out the new product. And
so it's not anything new. But Ithink in auto, you know, a lot
(05:07):
of times we can be, we could beheld captive to like, oh, A
User's Conference should just befor the users of that product.
But you know, especially whenyou all touch so many elements
of the store. It's not justlike, Oh, you got to have the
DMS, no. It's like, it and, youknow, web and all of the things,
right? It's, it's a reallyunique position that you have to
(05:30):
play. And again, like, you know,everybody wants to golf at a
nice golf course. What? What aresome of the conversations that
that you all are havinginternally that are going to be
important to, kind of like, youknow, have sparring partners for
at that event, as opposed toonly announcing things. Because
I know that it's not just aboutbig announcements. It's about
(05:51):
like, having sparring partnersin dealerships that are aren't
using your product, or at OEMsthat are saying, like, Hey,
here's what to look for nextyear? Yeah,
Greg Uland (06:01):
so there's, there's definitely a lot of layers to
it. So I'll hit on a couple ofthem. One, when we think about
dealers, a lot of it is okay,what's working, what's not, and
where are the opportunities forus to increase efficiency and
increase productivity? I mean,that's where we're at in today's
world is, you know, from aworkflow perspective, where can
we allow people, help people todo more with less, whether it's
in sales, whether it's inservice, whether it's in
service, whether it's in thebusiness office, how do we get
(06:23):
people to be more productive? Soyeah, and a lot of that in
today's world is based in okay,how do we leverage artificial
intelligence? How do weleverage, certainly from our
perspective, our spark AI datalayer, which is our unified data
layer for all of our AI tools.
How can we create these uniqueworkflows that allow people to
do more with less and and that'swhere a lot of the conversations
(06:46):
that we have day to day stemfrom. But, you know, obviously,
when we can get three or 400people in the same room having
these conversations, it reallyhas a big impact.
Paul Daly (06:58):
You know, last year, last year, I'm thinking about,
like the closing keynote, andlike the opportunity to have to
bring some texture into an eventwith a keynote speaker. This
year you have several keynotes,or, I don't know if it's one
session, talk a little bit aboutthat, because I think the proper
placement of keynote speakershould get everybody thinking a
(07:20):
little outside the boundaries ofhow we're usually thinking. But
like, who did you select thisyear and
Greg Uland (07:26):
why? Yeah, so our opening keynote is actually
going to be a panel. It's gottwo pretty strong dealers. So
Patrick York, who's the COO atGilman Automotive Group, and
Nata, who's the CEO at at, oh,my goodness, I'm blanking bird.
I can. Thank you. Yeah, soshe's, she's gonna be up there
(07:47):
as well. And then we, we have aconsultant, actually, from
McKinsey and Company, IngaMoore. I don't know if you've
talked to Inga before, I've hadthe opportunity to have her
unconnected. And she is sharp asall get out. I really like the
way she thinks about a lot ofthings. So I'm interested in
what she's gonna bring to thetable from more of a
consultant's perspective versusan operator's perspective. I'm
really excited about the dynamicthat those three will have.
Paul Daly (08:10):
Yeah, that's really cool. Go ahead, Paul,
I was gonna say bringing theconsultant side is something
that you don't see very oftenyou've had on the show. How do
you feel that, like that levelof over overarching thinking is
deployed like you had aconversation, and we'll link to
it in the comments to go back toit. But what are give us, like,
(08:32):
the high level takeaway of whatyou think her insight into the
industry, you know, how couldbenefit dealers and people like
wading through these AI, youknow, technologically shifting
waters, yeah.
Greg Uland (08:43):
So she works with with a lot of dealers. And she's
actually been with McKinseyCompany for right around 15
years, maybe a little more,maybe a little less, at the link
to our bio, but she runs kind oftheir automotive segment, so she
works with a lot of retailers.
Also works with OEM, so she getsthis sort of global view, and
she it's interesting, becauseyou hear somebody who isn't
necessarily in it every day,necessarily in it every day, but
gets exposure to a lot ofdifferent types of people that
(09:04):
operate. And she sees a lot ofthe things that we talk about,
right? And she talks about somuch segmentation in our
industry and so much disparateinformation in our industry, and
and then she also sees thepositive of there's so much
opportunity, right? No matterwhat happens in this industry,
we're going to power through,and it's going to go to the next
level. It's just, we're going tofind those operators that find
(09:26):
ways to get there, and once theydo, everybody else can join in.
So it is really interestinghearing, you know, I'll call it
an outside perspective.
Obviously, she works inside ofher industry, but she's not an
operator. So an outsideperspective to say, you know, we
need to fix some of these thingswhere we have all these silos
all over the place, both insidethe store, but then also across
(09:48):
a larger enterprise, and eventhroughout the industry. When we
talk about manufacturers andlenders and all these pieces of
the puzzle, the more we can tieeverybody together, the more
effective everybody's
Paul Daly (09:57):
going to be. You know, you guys have really.
Really overlaid so much of whatyou do with a lot of the heart
that we have, which is that morethan cars mentality, and, you
know, more than technology,whatever it may be, right? That
that you all overlay that. And Isee you're bringing back the
automotive amplifiers contest.
Speak to that a little bit, andlike how you are celebrating
some of the work that dealersare doing across the country,
Greg Uland (10:21):
yeah? So you guys were gracious enough to be
judges in that contest lastyear. Fun, and we're gonna
actually have a couple of ourwinners come back to judge this
year. We thought that that was agreat way that's real smart,
yeah, great way to bring themback. So looking forward to it.
You know, the contest is reallydesigned to highlight some some
great contributors and somegreat ideas. I mean, at the end
of the day, if you have a greatidea that's working at your
(10:43):
store, by all means, run withit. But share that thing. Let
everybody get better. Becauseonce you know, once we're all at
the same level, then it will goto the next level, and the next
level, the next level. Thisindustry never stands still. So
the more we can share these bestpractices, share these ideas,
the faster we're gonna be ableto grow. We're gonna go up. I
mean, it's going to happen.
We're going to get better everysingle day, but the faster we
can do that, the better it isfor everybody. So it's an
(11:05):
opportunity for the industry torise, but also for these
individual contributors to gettheir day in the sun right, to
get their spotlight and andreally show off what they've
been been working hard at. So weloved it last year. Really
appreciate you guys judging lastyear and and looking forward to
this year to getting a lot ofsubmissions already, this
mission window is still open. Soif anybody's interested in
(11:26):
submitting, just go torarer.com/amplify and you can,
you can submit your your ideathere, and all of our finalists
will get, you know, flight,travel, hotel, everything for
for amplify, access to all thesessions and golf, and golf, and
we'll make sure to take care ofyou while you're there, and then
present on stage. And we'll picka couple winners, and it'll be a
lot of fun. Well, what
Paul Daly (11:48):
I loved about it last year, and so, like, if you're
listening to this, and you'renot an owner operator, you know,
there was, like a servicemanager, there was, there was
someone that, I think one of thepresenters was, like a warranty
admin, right? And they just had,they were the ones that came up
with the idea. So it doesn'thave to be an owner operator,
like, if it's a sales person ora warranty admin or a BDC rep
(12:10):
that has come up with somethingto, you know, create or make
better within their store. Like,that's the things that you guys
are after. So I think that'ssuper cool. Yeah,
without a doubt. I want to goback to something you mentioned,
as we were just talking aboutwhat people are looking for,
what dealers are looking for,and the challenges that we're
facing. You said several times,do more with less. Yep, right?
(12:32):
And I think that that that, Iguess that's kind of always the
plight of a business owner,right? How do I do more with
less? But it feels even morespecific in this day and age,
when we have all these externalpressures that are now forcing
us to find a way to do more withless, to squeeze margin, to be
more efficient, we have allthese technology tools. You have
(12:54):
a lot of exposure to dealerschallenges just because of the
seat you sit in and because ofthe number of dealers that are
in your ecosystem, yeah, whatwere some of the areas you feel
that are like the top two orthree on the list where dealers
are like you have, we have tofigure out how to do more with
less in this area.
Greg Uland (13:10):
Yeah, I think, you know, the the easy one to point
to, invent of a raise. Ishouldn't say easy. That's a bad
word, word choice. But one ofthe ones that are most was most
apparent to point to is techproductivity, right when you go
back to the Service Drive, howdo we enable our technicians to
turn more hours in the windowthat they're in the store? I
mean that at the end of the day,how do we take some of those
tasks out of their hands thataren't producing revenue? And
(13:33):
how do we give them tools to beas efficient as possible? We've
talked a lot about reload theparts delivery robot, which will
be on display at amplify, forsure, the more we
Paul Daly (13:41):
deliver and drinks around a table,
right? Yeah, that that istelling you, I'm a sucker for a
robot man, tell me what?
Greg Uland (13:50):
But, but, no, it's, it is really an apparent area to
focus on. I mean, it's, it's,quite literally, we talked about
this, I think the last time wechatted, you know about you have
inventory that you sell in theservice drive, and it comes in
six minute increments, right? A10th of an hour, six minutes. So
once that six minutes is gone,it's gone, it's spoiled
inventory. So how do we makesure that we're not wasting that
(14:12):
inventory? So that's one that'sthat's really apparent. Another
is certainly in sales. How do westreamline a lot of these tasks
that we need our sales people todo for a lot of different
reasons, and a lot of it'scentered around the CRM. But how
do we streamline a lot of thesetasks so that they can be more
effective, so they can spendmore time with customers, so
they can close more business,versus kind of chasing around,
(14:33):
doing the admin stuff? And thenthe third one that I think can
be overlooked, because a lot oftimes it's not right in our
faces, is in the businessoffice, right? So how do we take
the business office from being amoney counting and posting
operation to being a cash flowmanagement office, right? How do
we take them to being moreimpactful in the dealership by
(14:54):
eliminating a lot of that kindof manual stuff they shouldn't
have to get a deal, tear itapart, fix whatever mistakes.
Made, and then re key it backin, and then then post it, you
know, and so let's say thattakes, I don't know, seven
minutes, seven minutes times,you know, a lot of deals. They
can use other things done. Soreally focusing in those three
areas that just, they kind ofpop out at you when you take a
(15:14):
step back and you look at it andand honestly, those are the ones
that that hit and resonate,especially when we have
customers in here and we justtalk about, like, what, what do
you need? And when I say inhere, I mean, obviously our
headquarters in Dayton, youknow, what do you need? And
those, those three buckets, arethe ones that are, seem to be at
least always top of mind.
Paul Daly (15:32):
You know, I love the business office conversation,
because from working in thestore, you know, you typically
think of the business office asjust like the task management
arm, right? Get things in, getit out, finish the job, and then
move on to the next task, right?
But actually, what I remember iswhen I would go through that
(15:53):
office and start to ask thingslike, Where can we be more
efficient? Where can we pick updollars? They see everything.
And so if you can offload thetask management and and enable
them to, kind of, like,visualize the business and make
active part, and create activeparticipation in the businesses
(16:15):
results, right? Because they'reseeing the overview, oh, the
connection between service andsales and parts, and the
connection between consumergetting title and a deal getting
closed, like those connectionsaren't seen elsewhere in the
store. So it really is a tie upwhere you can use the analytical
minds to create efficiencies inthe rest of the store. So I love
(16:39):
how you're like, now that you'resaying, you're saying that I'm
thinking about all of the thingsthat that office could create in
like, not reactive, butproactive productivity.
Greg Uland (16:51):
Won't even think about, you know, just a tangible
example, expense management,right, expense approval and
management. Think about payablesand the process to approve a
payment, right? Or a proveninvoice, that's a pain. It goes
to three different people. Youknow, it's a piece of paper.
Half the time we got to look atit, and then there's no real
tracking to know, oh, Jimmy'susing that vendor, Johnny's
(17:12):
using that vendor, and Billy atthe other stores using that
vendor. Maybe we shouldconsolidate those bills and get
a discount, right? So why can'twe do that, especially in the
world that we live in today, andthat that is a function where
somebody the business office isreally bringing value and not
just posting a deal into the
Paul Daly (17:29):
DMS, yep. So Kyle and I were just having a
conversation. We were lookingover some data, and it was
talking about the number ofcalls that were or email
correspond that were unanswered,things that weren't picked up or
answered appropriately. And asyou're talking about freeing the
people up to do what they couldbe doing, yeah, instead of
(17:51):
dealing with efficiency minutialike that is a very clear and
present need just betterresponse times return calls.
Better lead, you know, betterlead handling in general. And so
I'm just tying the two, becausewe were just having this
conversation about an hour ago.
Yeah. And as you talk aboutefficiency, like the downstream
effect of better efficiencyallows your people to do the
(18:11):
things that you know your peopleshould be doing best, yeah.
Greg Uland (18:15):
And most of the time, you only get one shot,
right if somebody's reaching outto you, they want to talk to you
now, and that, that's youropportunity, and it may or may
not come back. And if you try tocall them, so they call you once
they can't get a hold ofsomebody, or they reach out on
your website, or whatever themedium is, if they don't get
what they need, they're probablynot calling back. And then
you're just trying to get a holdof them, trying to get a hold of
(18:35):
them, and they're probably notgoing to they've
Paul Daly (18:37):
moved on. It's funny, we were literally having this
exact same conversation, andthen that's it. And the person
brought up, they were like,yeah, it's not like, your family
dentist where, like, if youdon't call your dentist and you
don't get them, you're notcalling the one next door,
right, right? You're gonna trythem again, and you're gonna be
a little patient, because that'sthe dentist that you know, you
trust has your records. Butlike, if you're selling, you
know, if you're selling jeeps,it's like, there's a guy right
(18:59):
there selling Jeeps too, yeah,and if they call you back, then
that's, that's kind of theessence of conquest in this day
and age. Yep, it's wild. Gosh,that's absolutely wild. Yeah. So
give us the dates again onamplify
Greg Uland (19:13):
August 18 and 19.
It's a Monday, Tuesday. So kindof first day is, you know,
welcome, check in, golf, nicereception, dinner. And then day
two will be, you know, jampacked with all of our sessions,
with kind of our expo, where youcan see all of our brands, which
is actually kind of fun for me,to see them all in one place,
right? You think, oh, it
Paul Daly (19:30):
was fun for us to see them all in one place, because
you're on the show floor. Itfeels like a show floor, yeah?
But it's not, it's all it's allyour stuff. The
best show floor I'veever seen in that scenario, tell
me about, like, the interactionof the teams, because the teams
probably don't get to spend aton of time together either.
Greg Uland (19:49):
Yeah, not a ton. I mean, you know, when you bring
in folks from, you know, protondealership, it and cyber
security, they have a veryspecific focus, as compared to
auto vision, who's handlinginventory? Management and recon,
right? Like, those are two verydifferent functions, so being
able to get together and kind ofcatch up and share best
practices too is a lot of fun.
You also what, what I've found,at least, is we, every year, at
(20:10):
every event that we're at, whenwe have a lot of our brands, we
figure out different ways thatthey work together, right? Like,
you think about just thesebrands in the overlap, and it's
like, oh my goodness. I don'tknow how, how we missed that,
but, you know, you look at, Idon't know, agws, right, which
is our company that we sellinsurance products for, for F
and I, and you look at AWS, andwhat can a GWS do in combination
(20:32):
with docupad or in service withera Ignite, where, oh my gosh,
we can actually process a claimas the as we're processing the
arrow inside of Ignite, we canclick a button and the claim
gets processed through AWS. Wedon't have to send it off
anywhere. We don't have to go toanother portal. We don't have to
do anything and and that, thatefficiency gain, like we were
(20:56):
just talking about for, youknow, the service writer is
massive. And you know, you comeup with these, these things that
seemingly are a little but thenyou put them into practice and a
dealer season, they're like,where has this been my whole
life? So that's a big benefit.
It's a lot of
Paul Daly (21:11):
fun. Yeah. So it's almost like a users conference
and developers conferencewrapped into one,
right? All in one, yep, yeah.
Well, I love the concept. I'm soglad that you guys are
committing to this year overyear and excited to see what
comes out of it, not just whatgets announced, because I think
that that is the true horsepowerbehind that sparring partner,
whether it be developers orusers or anything like that. And
really wish you all the best.
(21:35):
And hey, if people haven'tregistered, make sure you go to
Ray, ray.com, forward, slash,amplify. Check it out. Greg,
thank you so much again forjoining us here on Auto
Greg Uland (21:43):
Collabs. Thanks guys. Always my pleasure. We'll
catch up again soon.
Paul Daly (21:49):
Yeah, let me just say I love the fact that they are
bringing the contestants whowon, or the contestants from
last year in the amplify contestback to be the judges this year.
I thinkmove, super savvy move. I mean,
we got to meet the contestantslast year. These aren't like,
this isn't like three dealerprinciples. These are people
that are doing the job, gettingthe job done. They're going to
(22:11):
look at other people that aregetting the job done, doing the
doing the hands and feet workevery single day in a
dealership, looking at the nextgeneration. How cool does
that make you feel? Too right?
If you're day in day out, you'rein day out, you're in a parts
department, or you're doingsomething and all of a sudden,
like you're
Michael Cirillo (22:26):
in the judge's seat? Oh my gosh.
Paul Daly (22:29):
Oh, con,
Michael Cirillo (22:32):
our closing keynote was about built
different and really the threadthat drove through it was how
the the generation, thepreceding generation, sets up
the upcoming generation. Kind ofremember, this is how it
happens, guys, come on. Oh, fromlast year, helping winners for
this year. Oh, because thisindustry
Paul Daly (22:53):
is built. Come on.
Everywhere.
Unknown (22:57):
I got nothing. That was it. I'm all fired up. Let's go.
Paul Daly (23:00):
And I think we need to end with that, Kyle take I
hope y'all are all fired up. Youshould join us on the next Auto
Collabs, because that's all wedo. We get fired up. We're
excited about this industry, andthat's why we have conversations
with people in this industry,figuring out what makes them
tick and why they're here onbehalf of Paul, Jay Daly,
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