Innovate or Die: Car Keys and the Future of Dealership Security

This man is single-handedly bringing security and accountability to the car business in an extremely unconventional way. How's he doing it? With car keys, but not in the way you might expect. Today I'm speaking with Steve Bocum, president of Keeper Systems, a global leader in providing cutting edge, asset control solutions for car dealerships. We discuss the double-digit year-over-year increase of auto theft and showrooms, how the future of car keys will create new challenges in dealership security, why dealers are losing 10,000 per year in keys alone and much more. Don't forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode.

这个人以极不寻常的方式，独自为汽车行业带来了安全和问责制。他是如何做到的呢？通过车钥匙，但不是你所期望的方式。今天我和Steve Bocum进行访谈，他是Keeper Systems的总裁，该公司是汽车经销商提供前沿资产控制解决方案的全球领导者。我们讨论了汽车盗窃和展厅的两位数年增长率，探讨了未来的车钥匙将为经销商安全带来新挑战，以及为什么经销商每年仅在车钥匙上就损失了1万个等等。别忘了点击订阅，这样你就不会错过任何一集了。

What's up everyone? This is Car Dealer Ship Guy. You're listening to the Car Dealer Ship Guy podcast, which is my effort to give you access to the most unbiased and transparent insights into the car market. But before we get into the show, this episode was brought to you by Private Auto, the first transactional marketplace that enables a safe and secure way to buy and sell vehicles privately. Private Auto provides a self-service platform that removes the middleman and uses proprietary banking technology. This allows buyers and sellers to safely complete a private party sale on their own at any time. They've thought of it all, identity verification to avoid scams, an e-bill of sale to simplify the paperwork, instant transfer of money between buyers and sellers, and so much more. Learn more at privateauto.com and use code CDG to list your car for free. This episode is also brought to you by ValveLink. You might know ValveLink is the original motor oil. After all, they've been at it since 1866, but to their dealership customers, there's so much more. When you partner with ValveLink, your dealership not only gets access to legendary ValveLink products, but also to their customer business solutions, marketing resources, consumer promotions, and other programs that go beyond the traditional supplier partnership. ValveLink can help you drive your service department by streamlining operations and increasing revenue with hands-on technician and sales advisor training, state-of-the-art service lane technology, and a robust preventative maintenance chemical program. They even have programs to help you sell more cars and increase trade-ins. What other fixed ops vendor can say that? So what's all this mean for you? Fewer vendors, more value, and a brand your customers know and trust. ValveLink's reinventing how supplier partners with the dealership. For more information about how ValveLink can become your ultimate fixed ops partner, visit partner.valvelyn.com or click the link in the show notes below.

大家好，我是汽车经销商代表Car Dealer Ship Guy。你正在收听的是《Car Dealer Ship Guy》的播客节目，这是我努力为你提供最公正透明的汽车市场见解的一部分。但在进入节目之前，本集节目由Private Auto赞助，这是一个为购买和出售车辆提供安全可靠方式的交易市场。Private Auto提供一个自助平台，去除中间商并使用专有的银行技术。这使得买家和卖家可以安全地在任何时间完成私人交易。他们考虑到了一切，包括身份验证以避免欺诈，电子销售账单以简化文件工作，买家和卖家之间的即时资金转移等等。了解更多信息，请访问privateauto.com，并使用代码CDG免费列出你的车辆。本集节目还由ValveLink赞助。你可能知道ValveLink是最早的机油品牌，因为他们自1866年以来一直在从事这个行业。但对于他们的经销商客户来说，他们提供的远不止这些。当你与ValveLink合作时，你的经销店不仅可以获得传奇的ValveLink产品，还可以获得他们的客户业务解决方案、营销资源、消费者促销和其他超越传统供应商合作关系的项目。ValveLink可以通过简化运营、增加收入来帮助你推动服务部门，提供操作技术员和销售顾问培训、先进的服务车道技术以及强大的预防性维护化学产品计划。他们甚至有计划帮助你销售更多汽车和增加二手交易。还有哪个固定运营供应商能做到这一点呢？那么这对你意味着什么呢？更少的供应商，更多的价值，以及你的客户所知和信任的品牌。ValveLink正在重新定义供应商与经销店的合作方式。要了解有关ValveLink如何成为您的最佳固定运营合作伙伴的更多信息，请访问partner.valvelyn.com或点击下方的链接。

I did play baseball in college. I got drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays. They pretty much had me all over the free world. I played in multiple cities throughout Canada. I did not make it to the big leagues, so I wasn't that good, but it was a great experience. And Toronto was really good back then. They had Bobby Cox as their manager, and John Scheerholtz as a general manager. Went to a couple World Series without me, but they were really good. But it was a great experience for me, and really true if that wouldn't trade it for any time.

我在大学时打过棒球。我被多伦多蓝鸟队选中了。他们把我安排到了世界各地。我在加拿大的多个城市打球。我没有进入大联盟，所以我并不是那么厉害，但这是一次很棒的经历。当时的多伦多真的很好。他们有鲍比·考克斯担任经理，约翰·舍尔霍尔茨担任总经理。他们参加了几次世界大赛，只是没我而已，但他们确实很棒。对我来说，这是一次很棒的经历，而且真的，我不会以任何时光来交换它。

I can only imagine. What brought you to the auto industry?

我只能想象。是什么让你进入了汽车行业？

Well, that's a great question. So when I got finished playing baseball and came back to Charlotte, obviously I needed a job. I was married, started having a family, so I definitely needed a job. I went to work for a brief stint with Hendrick, same Hendrick that owns the automotive business. He has a sportswear division, so I went to work for them, found out I really had a good knack for sales and creating relationships. But I did so well in that business, they decided to get rid of me. I was kind of making a lot of money with them. And so once they decided to get rid of me, I had several friends in the automotive business and I had never been in the automotive business, and they all seemed to have the same problem. Keeping up with keys, knowing who took the keys, where are the keys, we're losing keys, we're losing sales, we're losing cars. So we kind of set out to come up with a solution for that. And so partnered with them to come up with the idea for our first product. So they say the rest is kind of history. We did create our product that was really simple to use, very affordable, and that's what we launched.

嗯，这是个很好的问题。当我结束了棒球比赛回到夏洛特时，显然我需要一份工作。我结婚了，开始组建家庭，所以我当然需要一份工作。我短暂地为亨德里克（拥有汽车业务的公司）工作过一段时间。他还拥有一个运动装备部门，所以我为他们工作，发现我真的很擅长销售和建立关系。但是在那个业务中，我表现得非常出色，他们决定把我解雇了。我当时在他们公司挣了很多钱。所以一旦他们决定解雇我，我有几个在汽车行业工作的朋友，而我之前从未涉足过汽车行业，但他们似乎都有同样的问题。不断跟进钥匙，知道谁拿了钥匙，钥匙在哪里，我们丢了钥匙，销售额下降，汽车丢失等等。所以我们着手寻找解决方案。于是我与他们合作，产生了我们的第一个产品的构思。所以他们说剩下的就是历史了。我们成功地创造出了一个使用简单、价格实惠的产品，并进行了推广。

Did you have any engineering background? When you decided you were gonna build a solution for key management?

你有工程背景吗？在你决定构建一个钥匙管理解决方案的时候？

My father has an unbelievable engineering background. And so I came to him and said, hey, here's what we're thinking. Can you help us with that? And he was like, yeah, this is easy. We can make something.

我的父亲有着令人难以置信的工程背景。所以我找到他，说：“嗨，这是我们的想法。你能帮我们吗？”他说：“是的，这很容易。我们可以做出一些东西来。”

So we set out to make some prototypes. We were able to get our first patents. We were able to do some voice of customers, show dealers, what we were thinking about. And quite honestly, they were so hungry for a solution that they loved everything we made. And that's kind of how we got started.

所以我们开始制作一些原型。我们成功获得了第一批专利。我们进行了一些顾客的反馈调查，并向经销商展示了我们的构想。坦率地说，他们对我们所制作的一切都非常渴望并喜爱。这就是我们开始的方式。

I'll tell you soon about my first experience with the key machine. First time I came across it, I was like, what the hell is this contraption? But I like to say, riches are under niches. I mean, talk about fulfilling a small need. When was that point for you that you said, wow, this is a big problem that I wanna solve? Like, did you have that spark?

我很快会告诉你我第一次使用钥匙机的经历。第一次遇到它的时候，我就像是在说，这是个啥玩意儿？但我想说，财富隐藏在小众领域。我的意思是，谈谈如何满足一个小需求。对于你来说，是什么时候才意识到这是一个你想要解决的大问题呢？你是否有那种灵感点燃的时刻？

Yeah, so we launched in Charlotte. And I don't know how much you know about Charlotte, but we have what we call Independence Boulevard, which is kind of like a motor mile. And just on Independence Boulevard, there's gotta be a hundred dealerships, big, small, all sizes. And as we took our first product and started showing it and selling it to them, they flipped. And we were hearing the same thing from everybody. You gotta go to NADA. You gotta go to NADA. And NADA being the dealer convention back. It's still today, but back then. Absolutely, 30 years later, it's still around, still going strong, still a good show.

是的，所以我们在夏洛特启动了业务。我不知道你对夏洛特了解多少，但我们有一条被称为“独立大道”的道路，有点像一条汽车销售的一英里长街。仅仅在独立大道上，就有大约一百家经销商，有大有小，各种规模。当我们拿出我们的第一个产品开始向他们展示和销售时，他们都反应热烈。每个人都对我们说同样的话。你必须去参加NADA。你一定要去参加NADA。 NADA是车商大会。它现在仍然存在，但当时也是如此。30年后的今天，它仍然存在，仍然很强大，仍然是一个很好的展会。

And so we did some research and found out the first NADA was gonna be in Atlanta, which it hadn't been back to Atlanta since. Back then, it was four days versus three days now. But so we got a small booth, a 10 by 10. That was really all we could afford. I mean, you gotta remember, when we started this company, I was employee number one. We didn't have much of a budget. And so we started with a 10 by 10 booth in Atlanta, which was all we could afford. We had a crappy location, which that's just what happens when you're a newbie to the show. But I will tell you, first day, we closed about 78 stores the first day. I mean, I had never been so excited in my life. We knew then we had something, because I mean, you're talking about biggest players in the industry. Back then, what is now AutoNation, Lippie up Pinsky, I mean, some of the big players and doing business with us right there on the spot at the show. So it was a huge buzz. And quite honestly, we weren't ready for that. We had to go back home to Charlotte and say, okay, look, we really- Now what? Next, you know, so that's kind of what happened.

于是我们做了些研究，发现第一届NADA在亚特兰大举行，此后还没有回到亚特兰大。那时候，会展持续四天，而现在只有三天。所以我们租了一个小摊位，一个10x10的摊位。那真的是我们负担得起的全部了。我的意思是，你要记住，当我们创办这家公司时，我是第一个员工。我们的预算不多。于是我们从一个10x10的摊位开始，在亚特兰大参展，那是我们负担得起的全部。我们的位置很差，当你是一个新手参展的时候，这样的情况就会发生。但我告诉你，第一天，我们一天就签下了大约78家店铺。我从未如此激动过。我们当时就知道我们有了一个机会，因为你知道，我们在跟行业里最大的对手进行交易。当时，现在的AutoNation, Lippie up Pinsky，这些大公司，他们都在展会上当场与我们做生意。这引起了很大的轰动。说实话，我们当时并没有准备好。我们不得不回到家乡夏洛特，对自己说：“好吧，接下来该怎么办？” 这就是大致经过。

How did you finance? How did you, the entire business? Where'd you get the funding? That's a good question. I had a little money, so I put pretty much every nickel I had. I did take on a few investors early on that really got excited and wanted to be in the business. I mean, honestly, when we started, I spent most of my days going back and forth to Office Depot. We needed paper clips, staples, paper. I mean, we really, when you hear people say, you know, I started from nothing or I started from a shoestream, we really started from nothing. I mean, we were in my garage for a year. But anyway, I got some investors that really had some avenues for potential distribution and sales and partnerships. And so that's kind of how we got started. But we just kind of created some investors.

你是如何融资的？你是如何给整个业务融资的？你从哪里获得资金？这是个好问题。我有一点钱，所以我几乎把我所有的钱都投进去了。一开始我确实接受了一些投资者的投资，他们非常兴奋并且想要参与业务。老实说，当我们开始的时候，我大部分时间都在来回奔波于Office Depot（办公用品商店）。我们需要回形针、订书钉、纸张。我是指，当你听到有人说，你知道，我从零开始或者从零成本创业，我们确实是从零开始的。我的意思是，我们在我的车库里待了一年。不过，不管怎样，我们找到了一些真正有潜在分销、销售和合作伙伴关系途径的投资者。所以那就是我们开始的方法。但我们只是自己创造了一些投资者。

I can only imagine. Did you think, I mean, was that convention the moment where you said this company's going to make it? Did you have that kind of gut feeling or what did it happen before that? Like what's your thoughts on that? I had the feeling we really had something and basically our job was going to be dump screw it up. You know, and then on that, one thing that was really interesting, we were so busy. I had other players in the industry coming to me and saying, hey, man, we want to be involved with you. What's next for you guys? What are you thinking? How are you going to go to market? You know, so we had a lot of people coming at us from different angles.

我只能想象。你有没有想过，我的意思是，是那个大会让你觉得这家公司一定会成功吗？你有没有那种直觉或者发生在那之前的事情？你对此有什么想法？我有一种感觉，我们真的有些东西了，基本上我们的工作就是不能搞砸它。你知道的，还有一件非常有趣的事情，我们真的很忙。行业中的其他参与者找到我，说：“嘿，伙计，我们想与你合作。你们接下来有什么计划？你们在考虑什么？你们将如何推向市场？”所以我们受到了来自不同方向的很多人的关注。

I mean, you got to remember back then, if you were a dealer in the late 80s, early 90s, you either had a hookboard or you had lockboxes on the side glass. What's the difference? Give us the definitions here. What's the difference? You just hang the keys on the hook. Anybody can take any key. Nobody knows who took them. Nobody knows when they brought them back. I mean, it's kind of disorganized chaos. It really doesn't do much for you. And with lockboxes, it was the same thing. You could go take a key. Nobody knows who had it. Nobody knows if they brought it back. And what we created really created the first accountability in the automotive world. So we knew who took the key. We knew if you brought it back, you know, we knew everything. So it made the salespeople accountable. And it was just a good price, a good product and a good fit.

我的意思是，你要记得在那个时候，如果你是80年代末，90年代初的销售商，你要么会有一个挂钩板，要么在车窗上有锁盒。有什么区别？在这里给我们定义一下。有什么区别？你只需把钥匙挂在挂钩上。任何人都可以拿走任何一个钥匙。没有人知道是谁拿走了它们。没有人知道他们什么时候把它们带回来。我的意思是，这有点无组织的混乱。真的对你没有太大用处。而有了锁盒，情况也是一样的。你可以拿走一把钥匙。没有人知道谁拿了它。没有人知道他们是否把它带回来。我们所创造的东西真正为汽车界带来了第一个问责制。所以我们知道谁拿了钥匙。我们知道你是否把它还回来了，你知道所有的一切。这让销售人员有了责任。而且这只是一个合适的价格、一个好的产品和一个好的配合。

I mean, I don't want to break it to you, Steve, but I think that still happens today at lots of dealerships around America. That 104. Walk me through just, I love tech and I'm trying to understand it's, you're talking 30 something years ago when you started this, right? We didn't even have cell phones back then, let alone the internet.

我的意思是，史蒂夫，我不想打击你，但我认为在美国的许多经销商店里，这种情况今天仍然在发生。那个104。详细说明一下，我喜欢科技，我正在努力理解，你说的是30多年前你开始做这个的时候，对吧？那时候连手机都没有，更别提互联网了。

How did you actually do this? So what we did is we created what we called an access key for each sales guy. So if he needed a key, he would come up to our system, put in his access key, turn it and it would release the key to the, that he needed. At that point, it retained his access bag, identifying who took that key. So we knew who took it, it stayed locked in that board until he brought his key back. So it did provide visual accountability and here's what happened. When a sales guy left with a key to a vehicle and he knew that the ownership, the general manager, whoever knew that he had that key, that made him responsible, that made him accountable. And believe it or not, that's fixed the majority of the key control problems at a very affordable price.

你是如何实际做到这一点的？我们所做的是为每个销售员创建了一个所谓的访问密钥。如果他需要一把钥匙，他会来到我们的系统，输入他的访问密钥，然后旋转，钥匙就会被释放给他。在这一点上，它会保留他的访问记录，记录下拿了哪把钥匙的人。所以我们知道谁拿了它，直到他把钥匙带回来，它就会再次锁在那个板子上。因此，它确实提供了视觉可追溯性。这就是发生的情况。当销售员带着钥匙离开车辆，他知道所有者、总经理或其他人知道他有那把钥匙，这使他有责任感，这使他有问责制。信不信由你，这在非常实惠的价格下解决了大多数钥匙控制问题。

Let me, when it comes to the actual cost of the keys, because again, today we have all this fancy stuff in cars and all these gadgets, but a part of me thinks that, you had this insight so long ago when keys were simpler. And so did you have the conviction even back then that the economics would make sense? If a key cost today, $500, $1,000, at the dealer for a brand new smart key, if in some cases, I get it, right? But I'd have to imagine just things were much more simpler back then, the cars were simpler.

让我来谈一谈实际钥匙的成本，因为现在汽车有很多高级的设备和配件，但我内心的一部分认为，早些时候钥匙还很简单的时候，你就有这种洞察力。那时你是否坚信经济上是合理的？如果现在一把全新的智能钥匙在经销商那里要价500美元、1000美元，某些情况下或许能理解。但我想象那时候事情会更简单，车子也更简单。

And so how did you have that conviction even that the economics would make sense for dealers? I mean, do I want to invest in a key machine or am I better off just losing a couple keys here and there and ordering a new one, right? Like what was that thought process for you? Yeah, so here's what we learned really quickly. If you can't find the key, then you could potentially lose a sale because nobody's going to wait out on the lot while you go look for a key.

那你是如何确信经济上对经销商有意义的呢？我的意思是，我应该投资一个钥匙机，还是更好地只是偶尔丢失一些钥匙并订购一把新的，对吗？你当时是怎么想的？是这样的，我们迅速得出了以下结论。如果你找不到钥匙，那么你可能会失去一笔交易，因为没有人会在你去找钥匙的时候等在停车场上。

In this day and age, I mean, I'll give you an example. Here's Charlotte, there's probably three or 400 dealerships, three or 400 dealerships, three or four champion four dealerships. If you can't find that key ASAP, they're going to go right down the street and buy from somebody else. So getting the customer in the car with a key as quick as possible, just creates sales. And so that's what we did. And then again, if you can't find the key and it's left laying on the desk or it's left in the ignition, then that car could get stolen too. So the ROI was really quite honestly a no-brainer for car dealers. I mean, what we were charging them back there was just a few thousand dollars. And if that prevented you from losing one cell a month, one cell a year, I mean it paid for a set. It was kind of a no-brainer, to be honest.

现如今，我是说，我给你举个例子。在夏洛特市，可能有三百到四百家经销商，三、四百家经销商，其中有三到四家巅峰经销商。如果你不能尽快找到那把钥匙，顾客可能会径直走到街对面的其他地方买车。所以尽快让顾客得到车钥匙，可以创造销售额。这就是我们所做的。而且，如果找不到钥匙，它可能会被遗落在桌子上或者留在点火器上，那辆车也可能被盗。说实话，对于汽车经销商来说，这种投资回报率确实是显而易见的。我是说，我们当时只收取了他们几千美元的费用。如果这能防止你每月或每年失去一笔交易，那就完全值回本金了。说实话，这是个毫无疑问的选择。

Do you think opportunities like this exist today? And when I say like this, I mean finding this niche in the car business and coming up with a solution that involves hardware. It's something that's very unique. I read yesterday, I think it was yesterday, or the other day that Robo Tire, which is, I don't know if you saw that, there's a press release that they're declaring bankruptcy or they're going out of business. Robo Tire is a robotic tire replacement for service facilities in the car business. I was actually pretty shocked because it seemed like such a good practical solution that actually worked. And so it just makes me wonder, do you feel like there's still opportunities like this for anyone that's interested in entrepreneurship or bringing it into the industry? I mean, there has to be, because if you look like you said, where we started with what we do for key control now, I mean, then versus what we do now, it's unbelievable.

你认为像这样的机会现在还存在吗？当我说像这样的意思是找到汽车业务的这个细分市场，并提出一个涉及硬件的解决方案。这是非常独特的。我昨天读到或者可能是前几天，罗伯特（Robo Tire），你看到过吗？他们发表了一份声明宣布破产或者倒闭。罗伯特是汽车业务中用于服务设施的机器人轮胎更换系统。我真的很震惊，因为它看起来是一个非常好的实际解决方案，而且它确实起作用。这让我想知道，你是否认为对于任何对创业感兴趣或者将其引入行业的人仍然有这样的机会？我想一定有，因为如果你看看我们现在在钥匙控制方面做的事情与我们最初的情况相比，简直难以置信。

I mean, like you said, I mean, everything we had back in the day was mechanical. Now we have built-in biometrics, built-in touch screens, automated reports that come out through email, text message. We have our own mobile app. I mean, it's just amazing of the food of technology that we've incorporated into a key system. And, you know, let's face it, at some point, keys may go away. And so if keeper doesn't, you know, kind of keep our eye on the prize and keep trying to innovate, I mean, our saying in this building is innovator die. So we're constantly looking at what's next for the dealership world. And, you know, we're not the long-range. So, you know, everybody else is looking at looking as well.

我的意思是，就像你说的，我们过去的一切都是机械的。现在我们有内置的生物识别功能，内置的触摸屏，通过电子邮件和短信发送的自动化报告。我们有自己的移动应用程序。我的意思是，我们将技术融入了一个关键系统的能力真是令人惊叹。而且，你知道的，不可否认的是，有一天，钥匙可能会消失。所以，如果守门人不注意目标，并不断努力创新，我们就会失去竞争力。因此，我们在这栋大楼里流传着一个口号，即“创新者或亡”。所以我们不断关注车店行业的下一个趋势，而我们不是唯一一个这么做的。

But I still think the, you know, because you got EVs in the direct OEM to the customer model that's going on, you know, things are changing the pre-owned world with carbon and car macks and everybody else. I mean, as things change, there are gonna be opportunities. It's just who's smart enough to come out with the next niche or the next gadget that can, yeah.

但我仍然认为，你知道的，因为你在直接原始设备制造商到客户的模式中有电动汽车，你知道的，事情正在改变二手车市场，包括碳排放和车辆信息查询等等。我的意思是，随着事物的变化，就会出现机会。只是要看谁足够聪明，能推出下一个利基市场或下一个能够实现目标的小工具。

But I do think they're, you know, a good entrepreneur can do well. I think you just blew my mind when you said that, because I didn't even think about that.

但是我觉得他们，你知道的，一个优秀的企业家可以做得很好。当你说出那句话的时候，我觉得你让我大受震撼，因为我甚至没有考虑过那个。

Keys may go away. How do you think about that? I mean, how do you hedge against that? How do you innovate to your point?

钥匙可能会消失。你对此有何看法？我的意思是，你如何对此进行对冲？你如何创新以适应这一点？

Well, again, so what we do is, so I'll give you some examples. Right now, a lot of the EVs are using what I call a non-key. So, it's some kind of credential. It's a proxy card, it's a bracelet, it's a remote. You know, you can activate and do things with your car, with your cell phone.

好的，再讲一次，我们的做法是，我会给你一些例子。目前，很多电动车使用的是我称之为"非钥匙"的东西。它可以是一张代理卡，也可以是手环、遥控器。你可以使用你的手机来激活和操作你的车辆。

So, what we've done is we're controlling that key database. We're thinking, hey, if it's an electronic credential, maybe it's encrypted, maybe it's an encrypted code. We can probably still maintain that in a database, because let's face it, let's say cars right now go to all cell phone technology. Well, you still got to demo the car, you still got to sell and transfer the car, you still got to potentially loan the car as a customer, then the customer has to resell the car. So, there's going to be a transfer of that credential. And so, the way we look at it is, can we be involved from a software standpoint to help the dealer control and manipulate that credential in the sales cycle until he transfers it to the customer. So, we want to be involved in that. So, we're involved in a few consortiums where we're looking at that. I'm not saying it's a slam dunk, that we would be involved in that, but we are the industry leader in key control worldwide. I mean, we're selling key systems all over the world, and some of the largest groups in the world. So, we keep an eye on what's going on in Europe and the rest of the world.

所以，我们所做的是控制那个关键的数据库。我们在考虑，嘿，如果这是电子凭证，也许它是加密的，也许是加密代码。我们可能仍然可以将其保存在数据库中，因为让我们面对现实吧，假设现在的汽车都采用了手机技术。嗯，你仍然需要演示这辆车，你仍然需要销售和转让这辆车，你可能还需要将这辆车作为客户的贷款，然后客户需要再次转售这辆车。因此，这个凭证需要进行转移。所以，我们从软件角度来看，是否可以在销售周期中帮助经销商控制和操作这个凭证，直到将其转移到客户手中。所以，我们希望参与其中。因此，我们正在参与一些联盟，我们正在研究这个问题。我并不是说这一定会成功，我们会参与其中，但我们是全球关键控制的行业领先者。我是说，我们正在全球范围内销售钥匙系统，而且我们在全球一些最大的集团中都有销售。所以，我们一直密切关注欧洲和世界其他地区发生的事情。

You know, obviously, we keep an eye on what goes on here in North America, but yeah, we need to try to be involved in that. I mean, my big boss, I mean, I don't know how much you know about us, I have a boy, but they own us. I mean, they're, I was going to get to that question about what are you sold. They're huge. So, my boss is constantly asking me, hey Steve, what are you going to do when keys go away? And I need a good answer for that. So, we constantly challenge our teams internally to again, let's innovate, let's see what's next, think outside the box and see what we can come up with.

你知道的，显然，我们密切关注北美的动态，但是是的，我们需要努力参与其中。我的大老板，我不知道你对我们了解多少，拥有我们。我的意思是，他们很大。所以，我的老板经常问我：“嗨，史蒂夫，当钥匙消失时你打算怎么做？”我需要一个好的答案。因此，我们不断在内部挑战我们的团队，让我们再次创新，看看接下来是什么，跳出思维的框架，看看我们能想出什么。

Speaking of keys going away at innovation, what do you think is the practical next step for your company or in general, just, you know, keys in this business, right? Do you think it's, I'm going to go and it's going to be something biometric? Is it going to scan my retina? Or is it going to just be on my smartphone and it's going to detect my phone next to the car? Like, what do you think is the practical next step?

说到创新中消失的钥匙，你认为你的公司或者一般来说，就是在这个行业的钥匙，下一步的实际措施是什么？你觉得会是生物识别技术，比如扫描视网膜？或者是将钥匙存在手机上，通过检测手机靠近车辆来解锁？你认为下一步的实际措施会是什么？

Well, one thing that's a little bit encouraging to us as far as a, you know, still having a physical key is people like Tesla still have a key, Rivian still has a key, Lucid still has a key, you know, a lot of your EVs that are real progressive, they still have some form of credential. And we're doing business with all of these, we're doing, you know, some form of business with all those guys. And what we're doing is we're adapting to whatever credential, you know, they have. So we're selling pouches where we can control the pouch, out of the pouch is the card, the key, the wrist band, you know, whatever they're using, they're all seem to be using something different. But that physical credential in the foreseeable future just doesn't seem to be going away. So keep us still involved. And I guess that's a good thing. But again, we still want to be ready if it does go all sailor.

嗯，有一件事还给我们一些鼓舞，就是一些像特斯拉、Rivian和Lucid这样的公司仍然使用实体钥匙。你知道，很多具有进步性的电动汽车仍然有某种形式的凭证。而我们与所有这些公司都有业务往来，与他们都有某种形式的合作。我们正在根据他们所使用的凭证进行调整。所以我们正在销售可以控制卡片、钥匙、手环等物品的袋子，他们每个人似乎都在使用某些不同的凭证。但是在可预见的未来，实体凭证似乎并不会消失。因此，请继续保持联系。我想这是一件好事。但是，我们还是希望做好准备，如果所有的都变了，我们也可以应对。

Yeah, I mean, I think of it almost like cash versus credit card, right? Like you still need cash no matter what, I still care cash. I mean, you just never know, you know, your phone might be dead, even if it's, you know, something biometric or something, you know, who knows it might malfunction, the car's battery might die. I mean, I don't know. I think that's what I just think of like, and like with my investor hat on, that's sort of what comes to mind. 100%.

是的，我的意思是，我几乎把它当作现金和信用卡的区别对待，对吧？无论如何，你仍然需要现金，我还是很在乎现金的。我是说，你永远不知道，你的手机可能没电，即使它是一种生物特征识别的东西，你知道的，谁知道它可能会出现故障，汽车的电池可能会没电。我是说，我不知道。我觉得这就是我在戴上我的投资者帽子时所想到的。百分之百。

How do you spend these last 35 years in the same position, I mean, same position as CEO of the company and maintain a culture of innovation? I don't have the attention span to do the same thing for three and a half days.

您是如何度过过去35年在同一职位上的时光的呢？我是说，在公司担任CEO并且保持创新文化。我自己连三天半都无法持续专注做同一件事情。

So, so I understand how do you do that? Like what is your, what is your process to continue doing this, bring life? And I say that also because the way you started this business and you spoke about the technology, it's way different than it is today where you have just fancy code, internet blah, blah, blah, blah. So how is that, what has that journey been like for you?

那么，我想了解一下，你是如何做到这一点的？你的过程是什么，如何使事物充满生机？我问这个问题是因为你刚开始创业时所谈论的技术方式与现在完全不同，现在有了花哨的代码、互联网等等。那么对你来说，这个旅程是怎样的呢？

Well, I mean, listen, I was an athlete, so I was a competitor, so I like competing, I like winning. I think everybody loves that. But to be honest, over the last 30 years, we've just instilled a culture that says, hey, we're not perfect, we're gonna screw up. When we screw up, make it right.

嗯，我的意思是，听我说，我曾经是一名运动员，所以我是一个竞争者，所以我喜欢竞争，我喜欢赢。我想每个人都喜欢这样。但老实说，在过去的30年里，我们已经培养了一种文化，那就是，嘿，我们不完美，我们会犯错。当我们出错时，要修正它。

How does that play out in the day to day? Like what is it like working under Steve?

在日常生活中是如何发挥作用的？比如在与史蒂夫一起工作是什么感觉？

Well, I mean, so my big job is number one to run day to day operations and make sure the boat doesn't crash into the rocks. I mean, so, but I am involved in all of our corporate comp meetings, do most part trade shows, you know, so I'm involved. But again, they know from me that if you don't have a degree in GSD, then you probably can't work here and that's get, you know what done, we say get stuff done. I mean, even though we're owned a thousand plus employee company, we still run the division of Keeper, like a lean mean, you know, machine, and we wanna get stuff done, we wanna get products to market, we wanna develop IP and technology, and we just wanna be real responsive to the customer. I mean, we really look at selling key control, just like a dealer looks at selling a car. If you sell a guy a car, you sold it to him for life. So you better be prepared to warranty it, you better be prepared to service it. If something goes wrong, it's out of everybody's control, you still have to make it right, and we look at it the same way in the key control industry. I mean, if we screw up, we're gonna make it right. I mean, there's a lot of competitors we have that can sell you a key system. I think our biggest advantage is just what do we do when we screw up, and we make it right. So we stand behind the product, and in this day and age, believe it or not, those kind of old ideals, you don't see that much anymore. So everybody in this building might be possible. Very much agree with you on that.

嗯，我的主要任务首先是负责日常运营，确保船只不会撞上岩石。我参与我们公司的所有公司绩效会议，大部分时间会参加展会，所以我参与其中。但是，他们从我这里知道，如果你没有GSD(Great Stuff Done)学位，可能就不能在这里工作，这意味着把事情做好。我是说，即使我们是一个有一千多名员工的公司，但我们仍然像一个高效的机器一样运作，我们想把事情做好，把产品推向市场，开发知识产权和技术，对客户做出真正的响应。我们认为，销售保密控制就像销售汽车一样。如果你给一个人卖了一辆车，你就一辈子都卖给他了。所以你要准备好对其进行保修和维修。哪怕出了问题，这是每个人都无能为力，你仍然必须正确处理。我们在密钥控制行业的看法也是如此。如果我们出了错，我们会弥补过失。我们有很多竞争对手可以为您销售密钥系统。我认为我们最大的优势就是当我们犯错时，我们如何正确处理并补救。所以我们坚持对产品负责，并且在当今这个时代，你会发现这样的老理念并不多见。所以这栋建筑里的每个人都可能非常同意你的看法。

I was just thinking about it as you were speaking, just the basics. It's so important to do them well. So before we get into why you sold and all that interesting information, just give us the brass tacks here, right? What is that, today, your key machine, what does it do? How much does it cost? Give us the full details.

当你说话时，我正在考虑这件事情，只是基本情况。做好这些基本事情真的很重要。所以，在我们讨论你为什么出售以及所有那些有趣的信息之前，先给我们提供基本信息，对吗？那就是，今天，你的主要机器是什么，它能做什么？多少钱？给我们完整的细节。

So really what we're doing, we're controlling the key in all aspects of the dealership. It could be new keys, pre-owned keys, service keys, get ready keys, prep center keys. We have the ability to network all of our systems on a footprint or multiple footprints. So as the key moves from get ready to service, to sales, whatever, we can track that key. I mean, so we have some dealerships that'll buy a system for every aspect of their business. We have some dealership groups that'll just buy just for the new keys. But again, we're here to sell them whatever they think they need and wherever their problems may exist. And from what we hear from Voice of Customer, 11 grand to a dealership is, I'm not gonna say that's peanuts, but when you look at the potential of lost cars, lost keys, lost sales, believe it or not, that ROI is less than a year. And again, that's one thing that's really changed in the industry. In the late 80s, early 90s, when I would go talk to dealers, they would not tell you how many keys they've released. Number one, I'm not sure they knew, but number two, they didn't want to admit it. And so they were kind of guarded in that aspect. But I will tell you, nowadays, oh, they'll tell you. If I don't have a key system and you go in and talk to me, because oh yeah, I'm losing a couple thousand dollars a month, I get a system, we have people walking our booth in NADA and say, look, I lost 10 grand last year in keys. Once a key system gonna cost me, I'm ready to do business. And so NADA has still been crazy exciting and a good avenue for us. But that's kind of what it costs. So it's not crazy expensive.

实际上，我们所做的是，在经销商的各个方面控制钥匙。它可以是新钥匙、二手钥匙、服务钥匙、准备好的钥匙、准备中心钥匙等。我们有能力在一个位置或多个位置上将所有系统进行网络连接。因此，当钥匙从准备好状态转移到服务、销售等环节时，我们可以追踪到钥匙的行踪。我是说，我们有一些经销商会为他们的业务中的每个方面购买一个系统。我们也有一些汽车经销集团仅为新钥匙购买系统。但是再次重申，我们的目标是向他们销售他们认为需要的任何产品，并帮助他们解决问题。根据我们从客户反馈听到的信息，对于一个经销商而言，11万元可能不是个小数目，但是当你考虑到可能会遗失车辆、钥匙和销售机会时，这个投资回报周期不到一年。再次强调，这是行业中发生了很大改变的一点。在80年代末90年代初，当我去和经销商交谈时，他们不会告诉你他们发布了多少把钥匙。首先，我不确定他们知道多少，其次，他们不想承认。所以在这方面，他们保持着警惕。但是我可以告诉你，现在的情况完全不同，他们会告诉你。如果我没有一个钥匙系统，你去找我交谈，因为他们每个月会损失几千美元。如果我购买一个钥匙系统，他们会问：“那要花费我多少？”我已经准备好做生意了。所以NADA（全国汽车经销商协会）对我们来说仍然是令人兴奋和一个好的渠道。但这就是费用情况。所以它并不算是非常昂贵。

Yeah. I think for anyone that's never seen these machines, they're actually crazy. Again, I go back to the first time I saw one and it's an unbelievable contraption that you just feel like you don't expect to see something dissophisticated in a dealership, but it is pretty remarkable how you're really able to, one person inputs their credentials and whatnot. And that key is associated with that, so really, really cool.

是的。我认为对于从未见过这些机器的人来说，它们实际上是很疯狂的。再说一遍，我回想起第一次见到这样一个令人难以置信的装置，你就觉得在一家商店里看到这么高级的东西是意想不到的，但实际上它真的很了不起，你真的能够只用一个人输入他们的凭证等等的信息。而且这把钥匙与之相关联，真的是非常酷。

All right, so the magic question, why did you sell? And when did you sell, by the way? When did you sell?

好的，那个很关键的问题，你为什么卖掉了呢？顺便问一下，你什么时候卖掉的？你是什么时候卖掉的呢？

Yeah, so it's been about 10 years ago now. Some of the partners I told you about that I took on early on, they were getting a little older and they were looking to cash out. And actually, it was a good opportunity. So our first sale was through private equity. Private equity approached us through a broker. And they got it. I mean, they sold the niche that we had created. It didn't take them long to look at our financials to go, wow, this is a good business. This is something we could get in. They also sold the opportunity to help us expand both globally, Canada and Mexico, South America. I mean, so they helped us grow the footprint, become more compliant, so on and so forth. So we sold about 10 years ago to private equity. Their game plan was really, I think, to keep us for four to five years and then flip us and make some money. I mean, that's how private P's work. But really about three and a half years into it, they came to me and said, hey Steve, we think now's the time to sell. We think we can do really well. So they put us on the market again and then lo and behold, I saw a boy came along. They bought us about five years ago and man, it has been really good for Keeper because again, now you get all that horsepower, you get that backing. I mean, since they've purchased us, we've become ISO certified. We're completely compliant in any avenue, whether it be FCC compliance or HR compliance. I mean, we can sell anywhere and everywhere in the world where you LCE certified. I mean, you name it, we have it.

是的，所以现在已经过去大约10年了。我之前告诉你的一些合作伙伴开始年纪大了，想要变现。实际上，这是一个很好的机会。我们的第一次销售是通过私募股权。私募股权通过经纪人联系到我们。他们真的做到了。他们出售了我们创造的市场利基。他们花了很短的时间来审视我们的财务状况，就认为这是一个好生意。他们还出售了扩张的机会，包括全球、加拿大、墨西哥和南美洲。我是说，他们帮助我们扩大了市场份额，变得更加合规，等等。所以我们大约10年前卖给了私募股权。他们的计划真的是，我想，保留我们四到五年，然后卖掉赚点钱。这就是私募股权的工作方式。但是大约三年半后，他们来找我说，嘿，史蒂夫，我们觉得现在是卖掉的时候了。我们认为我们可以做得很好。所以他们再次把我们放到市场上，结果有个公司出现了。他们在五年前买下了我们，朋友啊，对Keeper来说真的非常好，因为现在你得到了所有那些实力支持。我是说，自从他们收购我们以来，我们已经获得了ISO认证。无论是FCC合规还是人力资源合规，我们在任何领域都是完全合规的。我是说，我们可以在全球任何地方都销售产品。你可以想到的，我们都有。

So I have no idea what those means, but I'm nodding it. Things you're okay to sell in the US and globally and I mean, there we go, baby. You know, how I like it.

所以我不知道这些指的是什么，但是我会点头表示同意。指的是你可以在美国和全球范围内出售的物品，那就对了，亲爱的。你知道，这正是我喜欢的方式。

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, listen, we're greeting, we wanna sell everywhere. And you know, and then nothing. I like your style. I like your style. It's good. Hey, again, like I said, I wanna win and we wanna win big.

是的，绝对没错。我的意思是，听着，我们想在每个地方都进行销售。你知道的，然后就没有什么了。我喜欢你的风格。我喜欢你的风格。很棒。嘿，就像我说的，我想赢，而且我们想要大胜。

So, ISO has offices and outlets all over the world. So since that acquisition, we've already acquired some of the largest dealer groups in Germany, Scandinavia, obviously the UK. I mean, we're doing business with over a thousand dealerships in the UK. We just got in a big deal in South Africa, Australia. Wow. You're really global. Yeah, we're a global company, believe it or not. So it's been a good acquisition by ISO.

因此，国际标准化组织在世界各地都设有办事处和销售点。自从收购后，我们已经在德国、斯堪的纳维亚以及显然是英国收购了一些最大的经销商集团。我的意思是，我们与英国的一千多家经销商有业务往来。我们刚刚在南非和澳大利亚完成了一笔大交易。哇，你们真的很全球化。是的，我们是一家全球性公司，信不信由你。所以这次收购对ISO来说是一个不错的成果。

And you know, you hear these horror stories about when you get bought by a big company and there's so much, you know, red tape and so much transition. Man, to be a 100% honest, they have pretty much left us alone and said, hey, go do you, but we're gonna help you become more efficient, more compliant, give you more horsepower and help you grow exponentially. And it has been a great marriage. I mean, I would tell you and be honest with you I thought it was challenging, but it hadn't been. I feel like you usually don't hear this in a general like, you know, acquisition, especially like founder led, right? Like you found the company, does this sentiment that you just don't you typically hear this? I mean, I agree. It's been, it's been great.

你知道的，你听到过被大公司收购后会遭遇的种种恐怖故事，比如阻碍和过渡的繁文缛节。但说实话，他们几乎完全让我们自己做，只是帮助我们提高效率，合规性，给我们更多的动力，帮助我们实现指数级增长。这是一次很好的合作。我的意思是，我要告诉你，我以前觉得这会很具有挑战性，但实际上并不是这样。通常情况下，在并购中，尤其是创始人领导的情况下，你不会听到这种感受，不是吗？我同意，这次合作非常好。

And something I can tell you that we just announced they came to Keeper earlier, one of those of course, the end of last year in December and said, hey, we wanna make you a global brand, which means as you can see on my shirt, they added the Asa Abloy tag to Keeper's tag, our logo. And really what that means, that means we're now a completely supported brand by Asa Abloy. And what that means that your audience would probably understand is that, you know, they're fully behind us. They wanna do everything they can to grow us globally and they're supporting us globally. And so a lot of times what they do, they don't support that brand, they just absorb it. But instead of absorbing us, they're gonna support us. And man, I mean, that's just huge. There's, I mean, the sky's the limit for that.

还有一件事我可以告诉你，我们刚刚宣布他们早些时候来到Keeper，当然是去年12月底，他们说，嘿，我们想让你成为一家全球品牌，这就是为什么你可以看到我的衬衫上加了Asa Abloy标志，我们的标志。而真正意味着的是，我们现在是Asa Abloy完全支持的品牌。你的观众可能会明白的是，他们完全支持我们。他们想尽一切办法在全球范围内发展我们，他们在全球范围内支持我们。所以很多时候，他们不支持那个品牌，而是吞并它。但是他们不会吞并我们，而是支持我们。天哪，这太重要了。我是说，没有界限。

As you were saying that, something came to mind and I'm thinking, I'm thinking, if I'm Steve, who's my biggest competitor? And before you, before you respond to that, I have a thought here, right? Is your biggest competitor today not alternative key machines rather like an Apple AirTag? What do you think about that?

当你说这个的时候，我突然想到了一件事，我在想，如果我是Steve，我的最大竞争对手是谁呢？在你回答这个问题之前，我有一个想法，对吗？今天你最大的竞争对手不是替代性的钥匙机器，而更像是苹果的AirTag，你对此有何看法？

I would say both. I mean, you know, obviously we have some competition. There's competitors globally, there's competitors here domestically. Believe it or not, I think a testament to the job we've done, there's a ton of them have gone away. I mean, in the last 30 years seriously, there's been over a dozen key machines go away. Over a dozen? At least, at least. Wow. Yeah, they've really tried to tackle this, the segment. Well, I mean, they got out there and they tried to play, you know, in this sandbox and they found out it was not as easy as they thought. You can't mess with Steve Bocum.

我会说两者都有。我的意思是，你知道，显然我们有一些竞争对手。全球都有竞争对手，国内也有竞争对手。不管你信不信，我认为我们所做的工作是一个有力的证明，很多竞争对手都消失了。我的意思是，在过去的30年里，至少已经有十几台关键的机器消失了。至少十几台？哇。是的，他们真的尝试解决这个领域的问题。嗯，我的意思是，他们进入了这个领域，并发现这并不像他们想象的那样容易。你不能惹蔡经理。

Well, yeah, I mean, we wanna kick ass and take names. GSD baby, get your done. That's right, get it done. But I'm coming to work for you. Hey, come on. But yeah, so we've had some competitors come and go and we're still taking market share as we speak. But you're right. I mean, the technology is probably gonna be one of our biggest competitors. It is the cell phone. It is the air tag. So again, we gotta be prepared for that. We're constantly looking at partnerships. Man, listen, if a new technology comes out tomorrow, the first thing we ask is, can that be applied to a key system? I mean, is it facial recognition? Is it tracking? Is it long-range Bluetooth tracking? Is it mesh networks? How can I track that key? That car, we look at all of that. And quite honestly, I hadn't seen a lot lately that really excited us. But again, that doesn't mean we don't need to stop looking.

嗯，是的，我的意思是，我们想要出色地完成任务。GSD宝贝，获取你所需。没错，完成它。但是我要来为你工作。嘿，加油。但是是的，我们已经有一些竞争对手来来去去，而我们仍在不断占据市场份额。但你是对的。我是说，技术可能是我们最大的竞争对手之一。它是手机，是定位器。所以我们必须对此做好准备。我们不断地寻找合作伙伴。听着，如果明天出现了一种新技术，我们首先会问的是，这是否可以应用于钥匙系统？是面部识别吗？是定位吗？是长距离蓝牙追踪吗？是网状网络吗？我如何追踪那把钥匙或那辆车，我们都考虑到这些。老实说，最近我没怎么看到让我们真正兴奋的东西。但这并不意味着我们不需要停止寻找。

So every year at NADA, we have a target list. We go look at new partnerships, potential acquisitions, new technology that we wanna meet with at NADA. And that's really kind of my job too, as we're going crazy in the booth and selling. My job is to look around for partnerships and new technology. But we're looking and you're right, it's coming.

所以每年在NADA，我们都有一个目标清单。我们前往NADA参观新合作伙伴、潜在收购对象以及我们想要与之会面的新技术。而这也是我的工作之一，在展位上处理繁忙的销售工作时，我要同时寻找合作伙伴和新技术。你说得对，我们正在寻找，它即将到来。

I think you said something beautiful earlier, which is that, and the way I see it is like, you're not a key company. You're an accountability company. And a key machine just happens to be the manifestation. Yeah, I mean, holding people accountable, knowing who took the key last, when it came back, I mean, and something beautiful that we've created with our newer systems is that system runs by itself. So if you're a PM, a sales manager, a dealer principal, that machine can live all by itself and you don't really have to manage it. So people come and get keys, they go demo cars, they go sell cars, that machine did not need management. Because what we do is if any alarming or alerting or reporting needs to happen, we automate all that. So if a key's out too long, if a guy tries to take too many keys, if a guy doesn't return a key, we send that out immediately in the form of an email, a text message. So we really want the accountability, obviously, but we really want dealership management to not mess with the keys at all. We want to handle that. And so that takes some of the job of management and they love that. So it's stand alone.

我觉得你之前说的很美，你不是一个关键的公司，而是一个责任公司。而关键机只是它的呈现。是的，我是说，追究责任，知道谁拿了钥匙，什么时候还回来，这是很美妙的事情。而我们通过我们的新系统创造出来的一个美好的事情是，这个系统可以自己运行。所以如果你是一个项目经理、销售经理、经销商负责人，这个机器可以独立运行，你不必管理它。所以人们来拿钥匙，他们去测试车，他们去销售车辆，那台机器不需要管理。因为我们的做法就是，如果需要发出警报或报告，我们会自动化处理。所以如果钥匙拿得时间太长，如果有人试图拿太多的钥匙，如果有人没有还钥匙，我们会立即通过电子邮件或短信发送出去。我们当然想要有责任心，但我们真的不希望经销商管理人员动碰钥匙。我们会处理这个问题。所以这节省了一些管理的工作，他们很喜欢这一点。所以它是独立的。

But that's incredible. I mean, you are an accountability company and you're finding waste and still accountability and this is the way and I think that's super smart. I have to imagine you have some interesting insight into like theft set dealerships or are there any trends? I mean, what insights can you share with us? Like where do you see the most steps or give us some interesting insight?

但这太不可思议了。我的意思是，你们是一家负责任的公司，而且你们不仅能找到浪费，还能保持责任感，这太聪明了。我想你们一定对汽车经销商的盗窃行为有一些有趣的见解，对吗？有没有什么趋势？我的意思是，你能分享一些有趣的洞察力吗？你认为哪方面存在最多的问题或者给我们一些有趣的见解？

Well, okay, so again, we have our own sales force all over North America, all over the world and something that I'm sure your audience knows, theft is at an all time high. Vehicle theft at the dealership, number one, it's always been high, but it's even higher now. And it goes up exponentially.

好吧，那么再说一遍，我们在北美和全球各地都有自己的销售团队，我相信你的听众知道，盗窃案件数量一直居高不下。实体店车辆的盗窃案件是最多的，一直都很多，但现在数量更多了。而盗窃案数量还在呈指数级增长。

I mean, we've had years over the last five years where dealership vehicle theft is going up double digit percentages. So it's high. It's probably worse in the metro areas. I mean, just in your metro areas, what's going on is, you know, bless the hearts of law enforcement, they can't be everywhere. And dealerships are notorious for alarms going off, alerts going off and they're unfounded. So the police have kind of stopped showing up and that lets crooks go steal whatever they want to steal. So it's really, really high. And quite honestly, that's what created our latest partnership.

我的意思是，在过去五年中，我们已经有几年，汽车经销商的车辆盗窃率增长了两位数的百分比。因此，情况很严重。在都会区可能更糟。我的意思是，在你们的都会区内，现在正在发生的情况是，你知道，我们真的要感谢执法部门，但他们无法无处不在。经销商的警报经常误报，虚假报警太多，这让警察不那么愿意出面，让罪犯随意偷窃。所以情况非常严重。老实说，这正是我们最新合作的原因。

So we partnered with a company called ITA-TER. And ITA-TER is an amazing product. It's basically an all-in-one camera deterrent system that has a built-in camera, built-in motion detection, built-in flashing red and blue lights, built-in LED lights, built-in siren, built-in bi-pit, no communication. Like a mission impossible. I mean, this thing is amazing. It's all built into one module. It's very affordable. It has first in class monitoring.

所以我们与一个名叫ITA-TER的公司合作。ITA-TER是一款令人惊叹的产品。它基本上是一个多功能的摄像机威慑系统，内置摄像头、内置运动检测、内置闪烁的红蓝灯、内置LED灯、内置警报器、内置双向无线通信。就像一个不可能的任务。我是说，这东西太神奇了。所有功能都集成在一个模块中。价格实惠，监控效果一流。

And I mean, so we just launched it last year at NADA. And we got great traction within 2023. I mean, basically, when we showed it to dealers and dealer groups, they bought it. We just have really eased into it, but we're going crazy with it in 2024. We've got at least two or three demo stations in our booth at NADA this year, where a dealer can come by and see it in action, touch it, feel it. I think we've got eight or 10 of our key systems in the booth this year again, so they can touch and feel it.

我是说，所以我们去年在NADA刚刚推出它。在2023年内，我们得到了很好的反响。基本上，当我们向经销商和经销商集团展示时，他们都购买了它。我们只是以非常缓慢的步伐适应它，但我们在2024年将会全力以赴。今年我们在NADA展位上至少有两三个演示站，经销商可以过来看它的实际运作，触摸它，感受它。我认为今年我们的展位上有八到十个我们的核心系统，所以他们可以触摸和感受到它。

But man, this ITA-TER has been incredible because the feedback and voice of customer we're getting from the dealers, it's really incredible because they're coming back and they're saying, Steve, we didn't realize, we have deer coming on the line at night. We didn't know. We have people sleeping, homeless people sleeping on our lawn at night. We didn't know. We didn't know we had somebody coming on our lawn every night, pulling door handles. They're looking to steal cars. And in this day and age, it's not just cars. They're still in catalytic converters. We'll hire these nice new GMC tailgates. I mean, there's things that are three or four grand and they get gone. So really, anything is not nailed down. It can be stolen. So you need some point. Then these are the reasons for a deterrent system and a camera system, anarchy system.

但是，这个ITA-TER（可能是某个产品或系统的名称）真的很不可思议，因为我们从经销商那里得到的反馈和客户的声音是非常令人难以置信的。他们回来告诉我，我们没有意识到晚上会有鹿在我们的庭院上。我们不知道。我们有无家可归的人晚上在我们的草坪上睡觉。我们不知道。我们不知道每天晚上有人来我们的草坪上，拉门把手。他们在寻找要偷的车。而且在这个时代，他们不只偷车。他们还偷了催化转换器。他们还偷了我们漂亮的新一代GMC尾门。我的意思是，任何没有被固定的东西都可能被偷走。所以你需要一些防范系统和摄像系统。

So for us, the ITA-TER partnership just really went hand in hand with what Keeper does. So again, like you said earlier, it's all about accountability, but it's also about security. So it's a big topic right now. It's incredibly well said. And I think that's definitely the way that I sort of summed this up. It's accountability and security, but you are delivering that. And I think you're doing a great job at it. Steve Vokam, this has been super, super interesting.

对于我们来说，ITA-TER合作与Keeper的工作完全契合。就像你之前提到的，这一切都与责任和安全有关，这是现在一个重要的话题。你的说法非常准确。我认为这就是我对这个合作的总结。你们提供的是责任和安全，而且你们做得非常出色。Steve Vokam，这真的非常非常有趣。

For anyone in the audience, if anyone wants to learn more about Keeper, keepersystems.com, of course, the link will be in the show notes below. I also want to ask you one final question. Hopefully you have some juicy story for us here, and any crazy stories, any crazy theft stories from your experience, it has to be something that was just so crazy throughout your entire 35 years of experience, give it to us.

对于在座的任何观众，如果有人想要了解更多关于Keeper的信息，可以访问keepersystems.com，当然，在下方的节目注释中也会有链接。我还想问您一个最后的问题。希望您能告诉我们一些爆料故事，一些您在35年职业生涯中所经历的疯狂盗窃故事，肯定有一些令人匪夷所思的。请分享给我们吧。

Probably one of the craziest stories I ever saw is we walked into a dealership and his level of key loss was so crazy. I mean, it was over five grand a month. He basically contracted with a local locksmith and said, hey, I need you all to call 24-7, because if we need a key, we need to make that key immediately so we can go sell the car. I mean, so when we solve that level of problem, I mean, we couldn't believe it, but again, it was just crazy that somebody had that level, you know, a theft, and that, so that was probably the craziest key loss.

我见过的最疯狂的故事之一是我们走进一家汽车经销商，他失钥的程度真是令人难以置信。我的意思是，每个月失去的钥匙价值超过五千美元。他基本上与当地的锁匠签订合同，说：“嘿，我需要你们全天候都能打电话，因为如果我们需要一把钥匙，必须立即制作，这样我们才能卖出这辆车。”我的意思是，当我们解决了这个问题的规模时，我们简直不敢相信，但是，又有人会有这种程度的钥匙丢失和被盗的问题，所以那可能是最疯狂的钥匙丢失了。

Well, probably the other one I remember is we went to a dealership one time and we got called out to a large Ford store, and basically he was having the dealership reroofed, so he's putting a new roof on the dealership. Well, the roofing guy comes down from the dealership and he's got a five gallon bucket full of keys. Wow. I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait a minute. He's get on top of the dealership, and basically what was going on is when he would fire sales people or transition out of sales people, they would take the keys and throw them up on the roof. If customers didn't find their sales guy when they're coming to the vehicle, they would throw a long story short, this guy had a bucket of keys on top of his roof that those cars had been sold over the last 20 years. Just crazy stories. I love to hear it. Steve Bocum, thanks so much for coming on, and if anyone wants to get in touch with you, learn more about Keeper other than going to the website, can you share your email or how can they contact with you?

嗯，另一个我记得的情节是我们有一次去了一家经销商店，我们被叫到了一家大型福特商店，基本上是他在为经销商店加盖新屋顶。好吧，屋顶工人从商店下来，手里拿着一个五加仑的桶，里面装满了钥匙。哇，我当时惊讶了，等等，等等，等一下。他要站在商店的顶上，事情的实际情况是，当他解雇销售人员或销售人员离职时，他们会把钥匙扔到屋顶上。如果顾客在前来车辆时找不到他们的销售员，长话短说，这个人屋顶上有一个装满了车子钥匙的桶，那些车子在过去的20年中已经售出了。真是疯狂的故事，我喜欢听。感谢Steve Bocum的光临，如果有人想与您联系，除了访问网站之外，您能分享您的电子邮件或其他联系方式吗？

Sure, the best place to get in touch with Keeper is sales at keepersystems.com. You know, obviously they didn't go to the website, which is keepersystems.com. We actually have a link on our website as well that basically depicts CDG, so a car dealership guy that they can click on, fill out a form that actually gets you a discount for mentioning car dealership guys.

当然，与Keeper取得联系的最佳途径是发送邮件至sales@keepersystems.com。你知道，显然他们并没有去我们的网站keepersystems.com查看。实际上，我们的网站上也有一个链接，介绍了CDG，即汽车经销商。他们可以点击这个链接，填写一个表格以获得折扣，只需提到汽车经销商即可。

So we're running that as a promo, but yeah, it's been great. Incredible work, Steve. Thank you so much.

所以我们正在以促销的形式进行这个活动，但是是的，一切都很棒。出色的工作，史蒂夫。非常感谢你。

Alright, hope you enjoyed that episode. Please give the podcast a rating, consider subscribing to the show, and check the show notes for links to what we talked about.

好的，希望你喜欢这一集。请给这个播客打个分，考虑订阅节目，并查看节目说明中我们谈到的链接。

Thanks for tuning in, I'll see you guys next time.

感谢收看，下次再见！