Episode Transcript
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Michael Cirillo (00:00):
I'm happy to
report that there are no
(00:01):
mosquitoes in my office today.
Unknown (00:09):
This is Auto Collabs.
Oh,
Paul Daly (00:12):
that's good. I was
wondering why half your face was
swollen.
Kyle Mountsier (00:17):
Poor guy, I know
bigger in Texas. And all he
talks about is that everything'sbigger in Texas, including the
mosquitoes, unbelievable, whereyou
Michael Cirillo (00:26):
just gonna hear
and then you're gonna see my
shirt go up like this, and thenI'm
Kyle Mountsier (00:34):
gonna Collabs.
Yeah, the bugs will be singing.
It'll be amazing.
Paul Daly (00:40):
Oh, man, hey, today
is a new guest for the show,
isn't it? Yeah, absolutely.
Terribery. We had fun at ASOTUCON. She was on some panels, and
I think that's the first time Iever met her in person. Yeah,
Kyle Mountsier (00:50):
I got to jam
with her on a webinar, and then
also on stage with with a fewextremely bright people. You got
to check that out. But I'mexcited to get to know her
individually, as opposed to allhaving to be, you know, paying
back with a few differentpeople. So we hope that you
enjoy this conversation withJade.
Paul Daly (01:14):
Jade is so much fun
to be here with you on the show.
And we have to say you took thewardrobe request very literally,
you
Jade Terreberry (01:21):
bet I did.
Wouldn't give up an opportunityto wear this shirt. I've
actually worn it every day sincethe conference.
Unknown (01:27):
That's good
Paul Daly (01:32):
thing. I got
multiples, right? Yeah, 33 of
them. Yeah, you should see mycloset at home. I always explain
to people's like, no, no, youdon't realize I don't only have
multiple versions of the shirt,different colorways and things
like that. I also have multipleversions of the same color.
Which one it's probably to thepoint now we're in my closet, it
is probably more than 5050. Onmy shirts are either more than
(01:55):
cars or, you know,
Michael Cirillo (01:57):
see, this makes
sense now, why you walk around
in public saying, I swear,smell. Yeah,
Paul Daly (02:03):
I don't do that. I
don't do that. But Jay, thanks
for giving us some time today.
It was awesome to be with you atASOTU CON, and just just great
to be a part of what you'redoing and how you're serving the
industry. Well,
Jade Terreberry (02:14):
we had a great
time at the conference, and I
got to tell you guys, it was animpressive event. It was
actually my first time attendingfirst of what will be many in
the future, just incrediblefeedback all the way around. And
you better believe we'll bethere every year forevermore,
and are excited to do it againwith you next year.
Paul Daly (02:31):
That's amazing. This
is where Michael says, Enough
about me. Let's talk about whatyou think about me. Hey.
Michael Cirillo (02:39):
I mean, I love
that we recorded that. Tell us.
I'm curious. Tell us how what'syour journey been into into the
car business?
Jade Terreberry (02:48):
Well, I grew up
sitting in a high chair watching
my dad practice for nationalHonda walk around competitions.
He was the top Honda salespersonin the country for many years.
Was at the same dealership for40 years. Which dealership was
that? So that is, was BillGatton Honda in northeast
(03:09):
Tennessee. Of course, has sincebeen acquired through a buy,
sell, and he's long sinceretired. But, you know, I feel
like I grew up, live, eat,breathe, car business, you know,
answering the receptionist deskphone better than any
receptionist there at age seven,age eight, and and I kind of had
to negotiate for my life,because my entire family had
been car business. And so, youknow, if you if you wanted to
(03:29):
eat or get new shoes, it was arelate, education overcome. It
was a negotiation that's, that'show we lived. And so I this
business is in me and part of myblood. And of course, as as most
who grow up in the car business,you know, I said I want to be in
sales. I want to do somethingthat is as far from the car
business as I can possibly get.
And so I spent about a decade inreal estate and commercial
(03:54):
finance and commercialdevelopment, and then landed
back in the car business. And Itell you, I love it more and
more every day, and the changeand disruption, which I hope is
some of what we will get to talkabout together today, but that's
where I think real opportunityis created. And before I came to
the Cox side, I was actuallywith a dealership group in
(04:17):
Tennessee, Virginia and NorthCarolina, and we had Hyundai,
Honda, Ford, Volvo, Chrysler,Jeep, Dodge Ram and Nissan
franchises across those states.
You have said that a couple oftimes. I've said it more than
once, muscle memory, straightmuscle memory, yeah. But I tell
you, we had in you all willappreciate this. That's what
your listeners. I had GMs from35 years old, straight out of
(04:39):
nada, you know, dealer school,dealer Academy. And then we had
the, you know, 75 year old Fordtruck guy that all you need to
do is advertise in the tradingpost and send out some postcards
and do some traditional TV, andeverything was going to fix
itself. And and so when Coxstarted becoming Cox, before it
was anything really other thanauto trader and Kelley Blue.
(05:00):
Book. Vi auto was on the radar,but I was still in dealership
world, and it was a mid sizeorganization, like I said at
that point, 17 store points. AndI am a research and data maniac,
as you all know, of my 10 yearsnow with Cox, I spent five of
those leading sales and businessand operations analytics for all
(05:20):
of our consumer brands andbrands and and so a data crazy
person, but we had all of theproducts and companies in these
little stores in northeastTennessee, southwestern
Virginia, southeastern Kentuckyand Northwestern North Carolina
that Cox was looking atacquiring those companies. And
so they start sending executiveteams in to visit and figure out
(05:43):
how we were using these tools.
And we kind of laughed today. Iactually when kbbs instant cash
offer was trade in marketplaceback when it first rolled out.
Oh, I was in dealership world,and I recorded the first
training videos for KBB on howto use it at point of sale.
Doing you have access to thosesilent walk around. You bet we
can dig those out of thearchives. Let's do it and
Paul Daly (06:06):
have, like, really,
like, puffy, curly hair, like,
Jade Terreberry (06:13):
and if I, if
you all next year at the ASOTU
conference, you know, if youwant to have a little rain come
down, and then my hair will beabout this big. It's I go to
great lengths for for straightyears. But anyway, the bottom
line is that was really whendigital marketing, and, you
know, pump and pump out,reaching outside of audience or
outside of market to gainaudience and distance retailing
(06:36):
was barely starting to become athing and and I realized it was
dealership organizations thesize of the one that I was with
that would become outdated,antiquated and no longer be able
to play on an even playing fieldwith the Publix and the hybrids
and new form retailers, andthere was going to be so much
buy, sell activity. And sothat's why I decided, after, you
(06:57):
know, many years of workingclosely with Cox, so we were the
first dealership group in thecountry on the Cox rewards
program. We were the first oneswith geolocation beacons in our
stores. And that was a long timeago when, you know, we were
like, dot radius and polyagonalgeo fencing was like the only
way you could track people withdevices. But I just, I thought,
(07:17):
I can have a much bigger impacton this industry and make it,
you know, kind of bring it intothe future. If I come to this
side, and man, what an awesomejourney it has been. I love it
more and more every day. I
Kyle Mountsier (07:29):
think you also
just said some words that most
people have never heard in their
Paul Daly (07:33):
life. Plagal is one
I've never super nerd which is
super nerdery. Yeah, Kyle knowswhat it
Kyle Mountsier (07:41):
is. What do you
think in I mean, obviously
you're, you're, you grew uparound the car business, but you
definitely have a, like, veryprogressive, not just do the
walk around bent. Did that?
Where did that bent come from?
When did you become curiousabout technology, marketing,
data science, that type ofstuff.
Jade Terreberry (08:02):
Yeah, well, I
owned my own businesses for many
years on the real estate side,and what I learned through those
years is database decisionmaking is everything, and
understanding how big your blindspot is, and understanding where
every dollar and every minute orgoing is like the core of
(08:23):
entrepreneurship. You all knowyou, you know you self drive,
self motivate, self guide ineverything that you do, and self
Paul Daly (08:32):
console you
Jade Terreberry (08:34):
get your own
self, self, wardrobe, self, wash
clothes when you have to, but ityou cannot get ahead of the pack
unless you are unique anddifferent from the pack. And so
it's really understanding thecompetitive landscape and
finding where are those nichesthat that you can be unique
(08:57):
enough to come outside of thebox, so that people think of you
when the time is right for them,but then you have to stay in the
traditional boxes enough so thatwhen they they are the time is
right, and they don't know you,and they've never heard of you
before, but that you're in frontof them. And so it's kind of
those two, those two pieces ofmarketing that I've always
(09:20):
thought, you know, marketing anddemand generation are
everything, no matter how goodyou are at selling and
overcoming objections and havingprocesses and optimizing those
processes and pulling the rightlevers if you don't get in front
of the people, if you don't makethe connection and you don't
understand how to build thetrust and credibility which
comes from databaseconversations, and that's key
and critical in real estate andfinance and in automotive. Just,
(09:44):
you know, was a little bitbehind there. And so that's
where I just, you know, reallylatched on. You know, I believe
being outside of the box iscritical to be the leader and
the winner in anything. But yougot to recognize the box is
always moving. What workedyesterday is now right on top of
your head, because everybodyelse. Watched you and it worked,
and now they're doing it. Soyou've always got to keep your
running shoes on and benavigating and understanding and
(10:06):
not afraid to test and iterate.
Just that culture of testing anditerating, again, basic
entrepreneurial spirit. Butthat's one of the things that
makes car business so so dynamicand so resilient. We figure it
out. I
Paul Daly (10:19):
think there's like an
element of the often overlooked
element on the industry partnerside. We've been bouncing this
idea around a little bit more,and we kind of, like, I don't
know, tested some messagingaround it with ASOTU CON, and
we're leaning in a little more.
But it's this idea that,typically speaking, you know,
dealership or dealer andindustry partner relationships
can be perceived as or likedefault to contentious, right?
(10:43):
And there's this real core toour ethos that like this,
collaboration is the mostimportant thing for a thriving
industry. Because, first of all,no two dealerships are alike, so
no tech stack is the same, andno need is the same. No
marketing need is the same. Andin order to make find the fits
the fastest, we need a deeplevel of collaboration. And I
(11:04):
think for that, we need to leanon industry partners who are
really committed to an idea ofinnovation, right? And that can
be kind of like a become avanilla word, because we use it
sometimes. But the the principlebehind it is need to be pushing
the boundaries, and this is thepoint I want to ask you about,
and combine that with a realorientation toward leadership.
(11:26):
You know you've done things likeyou've run for Roswell city
council, you obviously have thismindset to to lead and
communicate and inspire peopleforward. What is your thought on
how industry partners can dothat from their position,
knowing that they're not adealer, right? And they're, you
know, so there's always astarting point. But what are
(11:48):
some thoughts around leadershipin innovation coming from the
industry partner
Jade Terreberry (11:53):
side? Yeah,
well, I would first say I think
in anything, be be valuable, berelevant and and be visible and
be aware. You know, I thinkwhat, like I said a few minutes
ago, what works today may notwork tomorrow, but relationships
are at the core of everything.
I'll bring this to Cox. Youknow, our biggest
(12:17):
differentiator, like we say,that, is our superpower. And we,
you know, we have all of thesegreat products and the best of
the best tech stacks, webelieve, but it is the strategic
relationships and partnershipswhere we are are truly
extensions of dealership staff,dealership leadership. And I am
big believer in lead by example,but I also believe that leading
(12:41):
means being able to tell thestory, get the buy in, drive the
culture. And it's one of thethings that I see is the biggest
challenge for a lot of ourdealership groups today that are
trying to figure out how theyhow they step into this
transformed experience thatconsumers want. And it's one of
the things that I love so muchabout the ASOTU conference and
(13:02):
really the group of progressivemindset dealers that follow your
organization so closely. But notonly do they lead by example,
but they tell the reallycompelling stories to all of the
people that represent theirbrand, their image, that have
any opportunity to interact witha consumer, any in any channel,
(13:24):
and they all exude this in thesame level of commitment and
relationship. And so I thinkthat like leadership separately,
but when you said, like, vendorsand dealers often have this rub,
it's like it's it's always afight to get more for less. Or,
(13:46):
you know what is, how do I makethose dollars go further? And
those are really importantconversations. But when you have
somebody who is an extension ofyour organization that
understands deeply your goals,your desired outcomes, the
levers that you pull, yourprocesses, where there are
opportunities to optimize, andthat it really only comes from,
(14:09):
from a partnership and arelationship that is a two way
street, I say again and again.
Like relationships work becauseyou make each other better, and
that's both in business andpersonal, and it's why most
relationships have a self lifeor a shelf life. And you know,
and that that teeters, thatdoesn't mean that you're always
both giving, but, you know,sometimes one side's the leader,
(14:31):
sometimes the other side's theleader, they're kind of pulling
and challenging each other to bebetter and be different. But
that is leadership andpartnership and a right hand in
hand. And you know, if you havethe right vendors and partners,
that's what it should feel like.
They challenge you, youchallenge them. You keep each
other on the cutting edge. Youhold each other accountable, but
you trust each other deeplybecause you have that that
(14:52):
relationship, and you arestrategically understanding and
aligned on where you're goingand where you want to go. But at
the base of that, it's allbecause you're aligned on the
why you're doing it.
Michael Cirillo (15:05):
That
fundamentally requires, I think,
way more communication thananyone's willing to admit.
Right?
Jade Terreberry (15:11):
Tremendous
amount. Yeah. I mean, no matter
how much data you have or howgood your products or technology
might be if you do not trusteach other, which comes from,
like, you know, the basics ofselling. Who do we go back to?
You know, Zig Ziglar, or one ofthe, the Great augmentino. But
people buy first because theylike you, trust you, like your
(15:32):
service, like your product, likeyour company, generally, in that
order. And number one is likeyou. So like the biggest thing,
like, make lots of friends. Man,love people. And that's one
reason. Like I, I literallybought numerous of the shirts
because, like, in, in all oflike, like, I have a Fab Five
that I trained my old realestate teams on, that I trained
my old car dealership salesteams on. But what number three
(15:55):
is love people and love the onesthat are the harder
relationships even more, becausewhen you break through that big
naysayer. And it's not aboutlike just controlling the
conversation or the normal partof the sales process, but it's
when you when they reallybelieve that you have their best
interest at mind and at heart,and you are able to prove with
(16:16):
data the why you are counselingthem the way that you are,
though, and that comes tonegotiating a car deal, closing
it in an F and I office. I was,you know, an F and i Director,
spent many years and, you know,love that side of the business,
the finance side of the lendingautomotive business as well. But
it is all about that peopleconnection that drives every bit
(16:39):
of leadership and partnershipand really making a relationship
work, where you
Kyle Mountsier (16:43):
like to pivot,
just go, Michael, you got it?
Oh, I'm
Michael Cirillo (16:48):
just so
curious. Because, like, I'm
ready to walk over hot coalsand, like, broken glass. I'm
like, so pumped, and we're
Kyle Mountsier (16:54):
ready to watch
you do it. I'm here for it.
That's a whole YouTube channel.
Cirillo walks on glass, youknow, is
Michael Cirillo (17:03):
this in your
DNA? How did you stumble upon
this view of business andleadership and and all of that?
I mean, were you raised thisway? Is it? How? Where does this
come from?
Jade Terreberry (17:14):
Yeah, I believe
a lot of it is DNA, but a lot of
it is just the love for peopleand the love for data and
bringing those things together,and a lot of that can be taught.
You know, not everybody hasgreat business instincts where
you can train them to besomething in a role, but the
(17:36):
basics of creating like within adealership organization, a
culture where people are doingeverything they're doing for the
right reasons, like I've saidfor a long time in sales, like
sales is really it's gettingpeople to do what you want them
to do for their reasons, but youcan't understand their reasons
until you have investigated andinvestigated and deeply grasp
(18:01):
what they are trying toaccomplish and and I don't think
you can really do that sincerelyif you're not sincere, like it
has to be born in units. WhyEverybody shouldn't be in sales
or shouldn't be in the carbusiness. But you know, people
who have
Kyle Mountsier (18:15):
I disagree with,
I think everybody
Paul Daly (18:16):
should be in the car
business.
Kyle Mountsier (18:19):
I knew Paul was
going to feel that same way too.
I think everyone should be inthe
Jade Terreberry (18:23):
carpet, maybe
not in the consumer facing part
of the carpet that you don'thave to interact I know customer
or a client, very
Paul Daly (18:34):
many of those, for
sure. I'm sorry we interrupted
you because, but you were going
Jade Terreberry (18:41):
because it was
a great topic, but, but, no, I
just, I kind of leave, leavethat one there. But I do think
that the the DNA part is is big,but there's just a, you know,
there's a self drive and a selfpassion that is also an innate
(19:02):
to the car business. You know,you look at most folks that are
are on the front edge and doingthe really cool things in this
business, and they've had a verysimilar path. You know, we all
laugh like, oh, we all grew upin the car business. We did. Or,
you know, they started inreconditioning, and they worked
all the way up through and nowthey're at and now they're
inheriting, you know, hugechunks of organizations that are
(19:25):
growing and so, you know, I dothink that part of leading is
also recognizing when you havethose people that have that DNA,
and developing them and givingthem the right opportunities to
To decision make and spreadtheir wings and and not. I don't
ever like the term like failforward. I don't think that's
(19:46):
it. I think, you know, test anditerate. You can do it in a way,
but you have to take risks. Imean risks. Taking risks is also
a DNA thing that most peoplehave or don't have, that is
required if you're. Going tofind those niches, and you're
really going to be in the top 10or top 20% of your space,
whatever your space may be,whether it's automotive or not.
(20:08):
And so don't be scared to failor make mistakes. But you know,
just don't make the same mistaketwice, right?
Kyle Mountsier (20:14):
Well, I do want
to pivot. I want to ask, because
early, early on, you said, like,I hope we get into, you know,
talking what the most innovativethings that are happening right
now, or what you're trying todiscover and work on, what, what
are the things that are like themost pivotal to you, or the
things that you're you'redriving toward the most right
now?
Jade Terreberry (20:32):
Well, I think
closing the blind spot for
dealers on how they are decisionmaking, on spend and time spent
within the organization, for allof the people that they are
paying and all of the overheadthat they have. Obviously, I'm
probably the biggest data dorkin the room, but maybe not
because you guys are kind ofdorky too when it comes to data.
(20:55):
But no, I just I think thatdealerships have spent so many
years making decisions on whatthey can see in a CRM, what they
can see from a tangible,trackable lead, and now there is
just like technology has totallyopened up our ability as an
(21:16):
industry, not only dealers, todecision make, but like for us
as Cox automotive, we spendmoney to drive audiences in a
totally different way today thanwe even did two or three years
ago, because now technologyallows us to watch that whole
consumer journey and click path.
What do they do in all differentplaces of the funnel? How many
times do we have to touch themdepending on the age demographic
(21:39):
or the psychographic, or wherethey live, or what stage of life
they're in today, and how do weadjust that and change it with
technology, when they move fromone stage to another, from this
hour to the next hour? You know,we talked about it on stage when
we were together in Baltimore,like, you know, these updated
audiences. That's refreshing,like every four to seven
(21:59):
seconds, in most cases, on theback. And, you know, just it is
no longer like an either or, ora cost per this or a cost per
that. And I think that's mybiggest mission right now across
the whole industry is, you know,again, the way you said, there's
often this animosity between avendor and a dealer. And if you
(22:21):
feel like that, you're probablyworking with the wrong vendors
and partners, because we shouldall be opening our books being
as transparent as we can be. Imean, the amount of flack and
heat that I took when I foughtback in, you know, 2016, 1718,
and if you remember, we had somecompetitors back then that felt
(22:42):
like ankle biters, 2015, 2016,and then they almost ate our
lunch, and we had to totallybreak our site, totally break
our measurement strategy and ourgo to market approach, change
how we were partnering andconsulting with dealers. But we
were the first ones to go outthere and put third party multi
touch, attribution, tagging,tracking on our sites. So like
(23:04):
when we added clairvoy to oursites, auto trader and Kelley
Blue Book in 2018 battled withleadership and with the
industry. And you know what Isaid? I said, if our baby is
ugly, we want to be the firstones to know it, like we need to
know to the core what's workingand what's not, and that is the
philosophy that we've taken. Iswe have, you know, totally
rebuilt all of our consumerplatforms with a consumer
(23:27):
centric focus, which sometimesis hard to explain to dealers.
Took us a long time to reallyget buy in and understanding of
our relevance algorithm thatserves listing listing sort
order on our sites. But when wedrive the most consumer value,
then that gives us theopportunity to drive the most
dealer and OEM value. And so,you know, you've got to really,
really think about how thatflywheel works and and so I
(23:49):
think blind spot change ofthinking is the number one thing
that I want every dealer to bethinking about. Technology
exists that now gives you abetter and really transparent
way to hold your partnersaccountable, but to get past the
days of cost per this and costper that, because you're just
throwing money down the tubesbecause your your decision
(24:12):
making with like 10 to 15% ofthe view, when you can flip that
on its head, and decision makewith 80 to 90% of the data. And
then when you have that data,what does it do? It gives you
the ability to activate on thoseaudiences based on where people
are. So every dollar goesfurther because you're serving
the right message to the rightconsumer at the right time with
the right call to action andlanding them back in the right
(24:33):
spot to get to the next stepwithout having to redo it.
Kyle Mountsier (24:38):
That's awesome,
Jade, I don't think you're a
passionate person at all.
Paul Daly (24:43):
No one not picking up
any of that. Yeah, you
Kyle Mountsier (24:45):
have. You've
definitely displayed passion and
also drive to make so muchbetter for the industry. Thank
you so much for hanging out withus, sharing us a little bit of
your passion and and yourhistory in the industry. And. We
can't wait to chat again. Thanksfor joining us here on Auto
Jade Terreberry (25:03):
Club. Thank you
all, and I am likewise grateful
and thankful for the great jobyou all are doing for this
industry. Much appreciated, andthanks for having me.
Paul Daly (25:14):
I don't think she has
enough energy. No, no energy,
zero. Pass more energy, moreenergy. As
Michael Cirillo (25:20):
I said, Here I
booked a fire walk while we were
talking. I'm doing this. No ZigZiglar. I'm like, I'm in.
Paul Daly (25:28):
I mean, that is the
that is a great example, though,
of the level of passion thatpeople have across the industry
for all the different areas,some for data, some for people,
some for both, right? They'renot mutually exclusive. And I
love the fact that she owns,like, I don't know, five to
seven love people more than youlove cars, T shirts,
Kyle Mountsier (25:45):
I know, and,
and, and also just, you know,
there's so many people that youfind that it's like I tripped
into the industry. This is onethat's, oh no. I grew up
watching my dad do the walkarounds, you know, and, and it's
so in her blood that she triedto leave for 10 years to real
estate, that she had to comeback. Oh,
Michael Cirillo (26:01):
I wish the
whole thing there. Like, I
wanted to ask her, but I justcouldn't interrupt the flow of
energy. But I wanted to ask her,sincerely, like, so what was it
like growing up in a home with acar sales person as a dad, you
know? Like, because, like, Idon't know what that story is
like. I don't
Kyle Mountsier (26:20):
know. Ask my kid
about eight years
Paul Daly (26:24):
different. They get
good, weird. You know, I have to
say my my youngest daughter,Elise, is like, you guys know, a
lot of people in this communityhave met her. She's usually
working the Swag Shop. I trulyfeel like she's the kind of
person that could be top salesperson in the country in
Kyle Mountsier (26:40):
something she's
going to for sure, for sure, for
her love people more than youlove car shirts next year. Oh,
yeah, exactly to Jade,
Paul Daly (26:51):
right? She got,
that's why Jade has so many,
yeah,
Kyle Mountsier (26:55):
got a hold of
her at least was screaming,
that's amazing. Well, hey,listen, we had a lot of fun. We
got to hear a ton of passion,and we thank you for listening
hanging out with us here on AutoCollabs on behalf of Paul,
Michael and myself, we'll seeyou next
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(27:30):
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Welcome to Auto Collabs. You.