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Car
Acura Mdx
The Acura MDX is a larger SUV with three rows of seats, so it can carry more passengers than a typical two-row SUV. The podcast mentions a 2024 model that had one owner, which usually means the car’s history is easier to track. That can help when you’re deciding whether to buy it.
Term
smart view
“Smart view” is a dealer website feature that helps the chat or voice assistant understand which car you’re looking at. The goal is to answer your questions right away instead of making you search through listing details.
Term
omnichannel approach
An “omnichannel approach” means the same customer experience works across different ways of contacting the dealer, like chat or voice. The assistant should still know which car you’re looking at.
Term
VDP
VDP means “vehicle detail page.” It’s the webpage that shows one specific car listing, like the page for a particular Audi Q5.
Car
2024 Audi Q5
Audi Q5 is a luxury SUV. Here, the host uses the 2024 Q5 as an example of a specific car a website chat tool should recognize and respond about.
Car
Chrysler Pacifica
The Chrysler Pacifica is a minivan, meaning it’s made to carry people and gear comfortably—usually for families. The podcast mentions a 2015 model with very high mileage, which is an example of how long one can last with normal use. It’s brought up to talk about what a used Pacifica might be like after many years.
LIVE
Hello and welcome to the CarGuy Coffee Podcast. This brew has been brought to you by Certified
Solutionaries and if you want to consume more brews or want more information about how to
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Let's brew! Excellent as people are inside of our profession. Sometimes we miss the mark and we
all know that the biggest room in the world is the room for improvement but Dave why do you feel
as though sometimes that execution actually breaks down? Yeah I think we have to remember
as a salesperson, as a BEC manager, whatever your role is inside of a store even as a manager
there's a lot of tasks there's a lot of things to do there's a lot of things I think about it's
like the I call it Indiana Jones right the the ball's always rolling down at you right and it's
you know they're asking you where are we at for the month how many did we sold thanks with call
backs right you know funding issues all these different things appraisals that need to be done
there's a lot of factors that I think that we underestimate a lot of that that any person in
a store has going on and so if we can simplify that communication right there's a lot
of things that as a customer in the discovery stage right think about that you're in a discovery
mode looking for a car first thing they want to know is it available does it have a certain option
is it a one owner does it have vehicle history any damage issues how do I find that information out
and so what we've been able to do is create I'm really excited you asked about it it's because
we saw organizationally that there's a deep connection between obviously the merchandising
piece right and how we could tie communication right how could we tie that together and so we
did something once again spy we're always doing things at first to the industry space
and we did something that had never been done before which was deep linking right creating
this always on deep link between the photos and chat and voice and email if you think about it
right now in the space most will do worship websites they've got photos they've got digital
retail tools they've got a chat tool they may even have when you guys know this because you're in
these stores you're all the us i see you guys you're everywhere and what you see when you're in
these stores you're finding is that oh okay Joe didn't know he's got a chat tool over here because
it's the one at Ford recommends right and then he has his own chat tool because he really likes
goobaboo right or he likes these guys right and they're all competing with each other and it's a
fragmented experience it's loaded with friction because the tools this is no one's fault when i
find these i'm traveling the country and working with dealers one of the things that when i say is
let's first thing i say is let's see if we can even help you and we look at the chat tool we look at
how what's that consumer experience right what's it like to do business let's just take our cardio
or hats off right set them off to the side and say what's it like to do what's it like treat
yourself as if you someone in your church or your wife or girlfriend's friend was looking for a car
and they sent you to your store what would their experience be like and is it one you would be
proud of right and that starts with obviously the website what's the photos look like is the cars
pictured but also how easy are you to do business with that's the key how easy are you to do business
with and so what you find happening and it started with us organizationally looking at
all we did it we the way we do things here is at the end of the day it's not what spine
wants it's not what Dave wants it's not what Sanjay wants or anyone else in our organization wants
it's really what does the customers what do the consumers want and in how can we bridge that gap
and give and deliver that back to the dealer to serve the customer better and so what we found is
that a lot of the chat tools they don't really they're not always on but what I mean by that is
is that they're most of these are managed some are managed by individuals but oftentimes it's
there's nothing really getting done there's nothing getting answered our chat our AI just what we've
built is always on AI can answer questions down to the trim level of the car down to the vehicle
used to report and what I mean by that is that's not just sending the customer
here's a link to the vehicle used to report we're actually answering the questions just
with either either one of us on this call today would answer the questions hi mr. McGillicuddy
hey you were interested in the 2024 Acura MDX you asked about one owner yes it was a one owner
and by the way it was registered right here in the state of North Carolina it's entire life
and we have all the service records so imagine an AI agent that can answer questions to that
level of detail not send them a report because you think about it once again we have to start
with a customer is not where we are send them a vehicle used to report they don't they just think
about someone in your household or in your family they've never bought a car before they've never
looked at a vehicle used to report that's like us going down to the county office and saying oh
there's the plat here's the property lou here's that property that you own here it all is I wouldn't
it's like a roadmap to nowhere I wouldn't even know what I was looking at and there's so much
information on the report you don't even know what to ask sometimes and if the customer
one question answer that one question right sometimes less yeah don't get don't tell them all
about your 100,000 mile guarantee and seven-day money back guarantee and the lifetime engine
guarantee and all these other things just answer the question is the car one owner has it ever been
in an accident so we start that communication there yeah yeah I love that because a lot of times
and that's the fault of a lot of salespeople they get a lead they call and they want to give them
all the information on the voicemail the voicemails are like 20 minutes long of hi I'm Fred from this
I know you're interested in this car we have this and I also have this we also have all these
specials and this thing going on and if you have some time to come in I promise we can
bro you haven't talked to them yet like get them get answer their question they just want to know
yes or no absolutely absolutely and it's great it's nothing so what we found is that
that when you create there's these are some of the things that as a dealer you can create automation
around right and and you think about it it's like think about how we've applied how dealers have
applied automation and a lot of the things that they do why not apply it to some of these things
that tie up valuable sales teams this sales folks time answering rudimentary questions right that
and so we then so we started there and then engagement all happens right on the photo I don't
have to look you know it's not fragmented and so here's the best part is that
when Lou goes to look at a vehicle that's that's merchandised with using our our what we call smart
view right it's what we tagged it we have a name for it called smart view and this holistic
omnichannel approach when he goes to click the chat button he doesn't ask about what's the stock
number what's the last eight of the van what's the last six of the van because again we're talking in
what do we say we're talking of course not starting where the customer's at we're starting
where we're at we talk about stock numbers we talk about vans the customers don't know where all that
stuff is on a vdp they don't want to find it so this agent whether it be our voice agent or
whether it's our chat agent it inherently knows exactly takes you right to the scene of the situation
it takes you right to the car and answers it knows you're looking at the 2024 Audi Q5 what question
is going to answer for you on that vehicle Lou and sometimes you don't even have to ask it says oh
and by the way Lou it's a great choice this car is a one owner we have all the services we're done
right here at Beverly Hills Audi and by the way it was well maintained what's well maintained
had every oil change at three or 4000 miles so if you think about it any of us you
think about it take ourselves back to selling cars right take us take go back to our days in the store
working deals talking to customers that's information you wouldn't necessarily know
or say you're you are an Audi store and you're taking a Gilexus GX sign on trade
customers know what's the towing capacity I don't know I got to have to look it up give me a few
minutes can I call you back customers don't know I always like to equate it I always like to equate
it to an Uber right think about this for a minute we'll take you to a place imagine we get off this
call as weekends coming up I hope you guys have a great Easter by the way and imagine I go to Uber
right and you can't just click the buttons and do it you got to call them and you got to talk to
them and you got to wait for a call back and the person's you're willing to use a car coming or
not I don't want to wait on a call back what do we do now if they're not there right away we're
canceling immediately yes customer so technology we have to remember and I love when dealers really
the dealers that are leaning in on this type of technology they are leading from the front
because what they're they want to be the next you know it's a controversial topic
some folks but they want to be the next amazon they want to operate in an amazon-esque type
environment or a uber style opera or a domino's pizza type environment that ordered the pizza I
know where it's at I'm the third stop think about amazon I'm the fourth stop I'm three stops away
I'm waiting on this package because I want to leave so that's customers we have to remember that
our industry is changing and we have to adapt to it absolutely be where your customer is and we
can't rely on what we did 20 years ago five years ago two years ago and expect it to work today
it maybe has some remnants of working but the way that all these customers that you're speaking of
they want to press a button even if they don't want to do the whole thing they want to press a
lot of buttons they say I think the average number is 64 touch points before before somebody buys a
vehicle nowadays think about that y'all so if they're out there clicking that much hitting all
these different touch points on websites and getting all this information I think that we
need to be able to be there for them the ones that are there for them or the ones that they're
gonna it's the closest gets the most is right so be close to them be there fast you all have
some great tools for that right now and ai is all over the place you guys are using utilizing
a or focusing it I read a book called good to great book and I and it's an amazing book and
you all did that as a business when automotive when you're like yo we're gonna go for this and
this is what we're gonna we're gonna hammer hard at it using these tools and automotive are necessary
but dealers need to understand that it comes with some training it comes with a little bit of a
little gotta get uncomfortable with being uncomfortable or comfortable with being uncomfortable
for a little bit and there's nothing wrong with that that's great that's what makes it fun right
at the end of the day and I think that's really big you guys are talking a lot about handling
leads instantly and that's big and I love that that's huge if we're not handling instantly
you're missing opportunity and people are going to the next one you may they may even have a
higher price but they're giving them the service that they want you may have a higher price you
want to know how you get away with higher prices give them an excellent experience be there and
give them what let them have all the questions they need answered quickly and then let yourselves
people do their job deliver the vehicle to them make sure they love the vehicle right make sure
they drive it make sure that they understand the numbers all that good stuff that's huge I love
that you guys or you guys currently working with some OEMs right now or what are you guys doing
what's the future looking like for you guys yeah yeah we have had some incredible meetings with some
of the largest brands in the country obviously folks you guys know and one of the things that they
you know they say and it's here from the dealer from the tier three level two right is that they
love the idea the notion that you're the only folks in the industry the only provider industry
that's tied all this together into 11 approach right we have created agency can handle inbound
sales outbound sales inbound service outbound service recalls we actually have the capabilities
now as well of dynamically working inside of a dealer CRM calling the customers that have been
unresponsive let's say in 21 days if we're out if we're passing out leads who wants to call
Mr. McGillicuddy as I like to say and say hey great news I know you bought your 2025 pilot from me
but the bad bad news is the car has a recall now who wants to make that phone call I wouldn't
want to tell him by the way a mayor we're gonna have to order the parts and is there a loaner
involved maybe there is maybe there's not so our AI agent knows how to actually work inside of the
DMS we obviously have all these we've been very fortunate we were the first I think we were the
very first in the industry because of our already had a deep presence with a lot of these integration
partners because we're already we're working with them right think about attacking on the auto
cox enterprises vin solutions all these guys we were so we're sucked to compliant so we reached
we were the highest level you can be there we've also tcpa compliant we have the we follow all
the state you never have to worry about always like to tell a dealer hey guess what we're not
we're not going to take you to jail right we're going to ensure that you're protected
and ensure that we're compliant that's extremely important yeah it's extremely important AOM's
like that's a non-starter for the elements but one of the things you ask about our EMS one of the
things that they really like is this they think about it being able to you don't get a second chance
to make first impression and I can tell you from my experience in working in obviously I spent
quite a number of years in the call monitoring business with one of the largest ones in the space
right and one of the things we found was that the contact rate for customers after if you get a lead
and you don't aren't able to immediately respond that it's a 35 to 40 percent 30 percent 30 35
percent success rate and getting that customer back on the phone you just can never get them back
on the phone because again you're not the only person they've sent a lead to they've sent a lead
to this dealer and that dealer and the other one whoever gets there first you said it best a minute
ago whoever whoever gets there first so having that always on communication whether it be through
chat through voice we're able to set an appointment for a customer or for a dealership and we append
the customer records if I'm already good examples Lou if you called into the store and you spoke to
me at a dealership a live human being and you're trading in your 2015 Pacifica with 321,000 miles
on it right and you're trading that car in now Emily our agent you call back and you have another
question about the car and now all of a sudden Emily can see she says oh you're you're still
trading in the Pacifica yes it's a one with 320,000 miles on it correct yeah how'd you know that
reads the notes in this CRM it writes to the CRM so again as a dealer as an OEM partner
you want it that's the first thing people always want to know is hey I don't want my teams competing
with AI it only works if it's deep integration we've had some stream success in building the
technology that actually ensures that that happens and because again we want to make that we want to
make every person's job easier that's the whole point if these things don't talk to each other
then I don't you guys know better as well as better than me right is that if they don't talk to each
other it creates friction in the organization and then they disband and then no one wants to you know
language matters so it has to be uniform a uniform language and the more the uniform
it is the smoother it is that's why I love companies that don't necessarily have integrations
they're it's built in already that's so nice because you don't want to open up five different
things to be able to do this and again push things to another and they still don't communicate
create a new code so they could do this yeah no you all are bringing that all in one right now
and but you're you're keeping it simple too at the same time it's not over complicated it's just
it's what you all do and I love that you innovated it you took it from let's do
some images you were like oh let's go into this taking the tool and growing with it to be able
to provide more solutions is how you guys survive in this industry but more importantly thrive in
this industry if you are able to do that learn how to adapt which is a huge core value of a
solutionary is to be adaptable and learn to adapt and constantly grow your business you're
going to help other businesses grow I love it great job with this man I can see you're excited
about it man you're on a cruise talking about your business right now let's go I love what we do I
really do we solve a lot of problems for dealerships which is dealers just want to sell cars and they
look to people like us to clear the rules right just like when you think about it you go into
stores and you work with stores that they you know every I always have this belief that
people have good intentions right people they took a job at a dealership they want to do a good
job they want to be led well they want to be supported and if you think about it
you know if you're creating good technology it's helps round up that whole subset of features and
expectations for an employee it's it can really change an organization because again it's I was
like some people like why make people do the things they don't want to do right think about it like I
don't want to know no one's going to get really pumped up and excited about oh yeah I want to
call these leads that haven't they've read our emails they don't take our phone calls they read
our texts but they don't engage and they don't respond yeah give me all of those why not take
your people think about it take your people who again have good intentions they come to work
they got families to take care of and put allow them to focus on the things that they want to
handle first and foremost and that's customers in front of them right think about that you
think about many times we we've been in front of a whether no matter where we're at what we're
doing business with is someone we're in front of someone and they say hold on a second let me take
this phone call experience so again why not have technology do that do those things for you which
is what we want technology to do I couldn't imagine us going through all of the effort to find the
best talent to find the best capable people in the industry and let's just take it to the fixed
ops department we found the best master mechanic in all the land has all the certifications has all
the skills he can listen from 100 yards away and probably diagnose what's going on with the car
and then say we're so glad you're here I hope you got some tools with you because you're the
mechanic do the work for it and we have no great tools in the same regard we have some of the
best communicators in industry car guys and car gals are some of the best wordsmiths the best
communicators the best relationship builders and all of this technology that we're using is to help
enhance that communication being able to reach many with less effort which is ultimately what we're
trying to make sure we accomplish in this business is reducing the amount of friction reducing the
amount of pain there is to solve a problem that people have they have a transportation problem
and we're here to help them with that in communication though it may be what we're great at we don't
necessarily always use our tools to the best of our advantage to get to it especially when we feel
like we did an okay job we celebrated a good month we celebrated a good quarter but our technology
could take us even further if we lean into it whether it's AI whether it's just the way things
are merchandise being able to communicate and to reduce some of that friction and much like you
were pointing out at least have the notes in there that man as a trainer anything we just beg
for it take the notes the notes in there read do that because we believe that a lot of people don't
do the follow-up because they'll look at the lead they'll read that car is sold and that's it done
let's go on to another one that maybe is a little bit more of a layup where exactly so much opportunity
there and we just need a little bit of help enhancing that so with that we want to talk a little bit
about as we get ready to wrap this up because there is a lot and there is a lot more to brew from
here but you want to talk about where people can do exactly like we did we got to see the product
we got to meet some of the people and be able to build from there you got a whole lot that's brewing
and a lot that's on the calendar where is it that people can expect you next yeah so we've got
you're right so we've got a lot of travel things events coming up so we're going
to be at the ohio their annual automobile dealers association meeting so that's going to be in
beautiful Orlando i'm going to be i think i'm gonna have to pay state tax federal tax i guess
they don't have local income tax in Florida but i'm going to be in Florida i think all month in
april i guess there's worse places to be right but no so we have that event it's
april 10th through the 12th in ohio in orlando at the grind for iridian there we're excited to
be a lot of ohio you know there's a lot of great dealers in ohio and i don't know any of them over
the years i'm excited to be there and then we have another really big event it'll be my first time
attending this one and i've heard some incredible things about it that's this miami used car
industry summit so it's going to be held at the intercontinental it's there's going to be some
big names there some big big organizations like i saw was it's going to be some facebook folks there
there's maybe some google folks it's a pretty pretty big pretty large event there's going to be a lot of
speakers there now that event is on april 13th through the 15th so it's like monday tuesday
wednesday banging right that's a big one so we'll be there and our team will be there obviously and
then the last two events of the of the month are going to be dealer point which so for many of you
guys that's the old digital dealers we we know it in orlando and we're really excited to be there
the 22nd through the 24th of and it's at the height regency i believe and and then rounding out the
month is is the dmsc conference it's going to be in beautiful stucco arizona right and and so that
event is the 26th of the 28th and that's so we're excited to be it's our i guess our second time
at that event we always we look you know we love to show off our technology love to show
folks what we're doing and we sometimes we have a booth sometimes we don't honestly i feel like
the best opportunities to showcase what we're doing with dealers is just hey let me just let me
show it to you on our phone and our own an ipad keep it for really don't sell me right the product
should just sell itself and ours and fortunately for me ours does and we built a great great set
of technology and it meets the needs meets them where the dealers are and we're excited to be here
today with you guys and obviously looking forward to seeing a lot of folks in the next 30 days throughout
the month of april now you're definitely lined up but that you're at some really great places with
some really great people in the dealer lineup should be really great because though when the
people who come to those are the ones that are trying to bring their store to the next level
they're the ones who actually listen to the advice they take it and they improve so they're
great testimonies for companies like yours once you sign them up because they're the ones who
actually do the stuff right so it's amazing to think about a 45 percent increase in communication
and opportunities that's massive for me and i know as a dealer of myself that'd be crazy for me not
to least sit down go to this qr code right above fred's head and get a demo set up because if you
guys do that i'm gonna tell you and i'm not trying to pitch you all i'm just trying this is not a
sell this is for you all to just learn something go and learn something at these demos i would take
all the demos i can if i was you all if i have time i'm gonna spend every week at
least an hour doing demos learning something at least something every week it may be a business
that i should move to or they're gonna show me something that i need to do better period so learn
and get better at it but i promise you spine they're gonna help your backbone get stronger
that's what their whole name is my friends yeah definitely need somebody to back you up we definitely
have a company for you to check into and that's fine see that things over there are really doing
some great stuff to be able to make sure you stand tall and look good in front of the market folks
it's so critically important but what is also important is that you know who to brew with so if
there's anything that we want to make sure that you know about our friend gave over at spine is that
they are 100 100 cgc approved that's right cgc approved ready to go and market all you all we
highly recommend get the demo sign up just get it done because it's worth the investment in your
people so that they can have more time to do what they love to do is sell cars period hands down let's
go so with that said if you've been taking bad pictures wipe it off if you've been forgetting
follow up with your people wipe it off we like to make sure that we do drop f bombs and that's to
forgive to focus and apply so we can grow in all the time so while you forgive focus and float
your way back into the country we're excited to forgive focus and fly with you so help us out as
we do the motions together throw your hands on your shoulders Dave and we're going to give focus
fly on 3123 forgive forgive focus lie and keep rolling
thank you guys it was a pleasure this is the car guy coffee podcast and i'm fredlin arts
and we're on the building let's go we're out
About this episode
Sales and customer discovery take center stage as the guest explains Spyne’s approach to connecting car listings to communication channels. The discussion highlights “always on” AI chat that can answer questions down to the trim level, using a “smart view” so the assistant knows exactly which vehicle a shopper is viewing. Speed matters too: delayed lead response can cut success rates, so CRM integration and compliance are emphasized. The episode ends with a dealer demo call-to-action via QR code.
Original notes
Coffee Guy Coffee Podcast Presents ‘Spyne’ feat. Dave Purgason
Welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. Kickstart your day the right way and join us as we tap into the brightest minds and most passionate voices across the automotive world to bring you the education, motivation, and inspiration you need to thrive. From the showroom floor to the service lane, prepare to Upshift and Uplift your perspective.
In this episode of The Car Guy Coffee Podcast, we introduce a new show called Spyne. Hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred Lennartz welcome Dave Purgason, Head of Business at Spine, about why dealership execution breaks down amid constant tasks and fragmented website tools, and how simplifying communication can reduce friction for shoppers. Dave explains Spine’s “Smart View” approach that deep-links vehicle photos with always-on AI across chat, voice, and email so customers get immediate, detailed answers (availability, options, one-owner, history, service records) without needing stock numbers or VINs, while reducing long, information-dumping voicemails.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew.
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
carguycoffee.com
certifiedsolutionaries.com
Welcome to the Car Guy Coffee Podcast. Kickstart your day the right way and join us as we tap into the brightest minds and most passionate voices across the automotive world to bring you the education, motivation, and inspiration you need to thrive. From the showroom floor to the service lane, prepare to Upshift and Uplift your perspective.
In this episode of The Car Guy Coffee Podcast, we introduce a new show called Spyne. Hosts Lou Ramirez and Fred Lennartz welcome Dave Purgason, Head of Business at Spine, about why dealership execution breaks down amid constant tasks and fragmented website tools, and how simplifying communication can reduce friction for shoppers. Dave explains Spine’s “Smart View” approach that deep-links vehicle photos with always-on AI across chat, voice, and email so customers get immediate, detailed answers (availability, options, one-owner, history, service records) without needing stock numbers or VINs, while reducing long, information-dumping voicemails.
📲Stream it. Share it. Let's Brew.
Don’t forget to share and subscribe!
carguycoffee.com
certifiedsolutionaries.com
Car Guy Coffee
Car Guy Coffee Podcast
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