Can Dealers Make More Money... Without Consumers Paying For It? | Car Dealership Guy Podcast

And they said, we've never seen your kind of product before. This entrepreneur cracked the code on how car dealers could make more money while consumers pay less, but then came the hard part, actually building it. Today on the Card dealership guy podcast, I'm speaking with Jim Roche, CEO of WarCloud, a software company that is transforming the car business. Don't forget to click subscribe so you never miss an episode.

他们说，我们从来没有见过你们这种产品。这位企业家成功地找到了汽车经销商如何赚更多钱，同时让消费者支付更少的方法，但接着困难的部分来了，就是实际建设它。今天在汽车经销商节目中，我和Jim Roche，WarCloud的首席执行官，一个正在改变汽车行业的软件公司进行对话。别忘了点击订阅，这样你就不会错过任何一集。

But before we dive into the show, this episode is brought to you by CDK Global. CDK Global has been empowering nearly 15,000 dealers with the tools and technology they need to build deeper relationships with customers. Their team is keenly aware of the state of dealership technology. And while many vendors promise seamless experiences between your CRM, DMS, digital retail and fixed ops, most of these bolt-on solutions tend to break workflows and cause more harm than good.

但在我们探讨节目内容之前，本集由CDK Global赞助提供。CDK Global已经为将近15,000家经销商提供了他们建立更深层次客户关系所需的工具和技术。他们的团队对经销商技术的现状非常清楚。尽管许多供应商承诺在您的CRM、DMS、数字零售和固定运营之间提供无缝体验，但大多数这些外挂解决方案往往会破坏工作流程，导致弊大于利。

That is why CDK has launched a new dealership experience platform. This new integrated software consists of everything you need to operate a dealership officially while delivering an unparalleled experience to your customers. Basically, everything working together, not separate, one system to run your dealership as opposed to 10. CDK developed it with an outside and approach listening to dealers every step of the way. You can learn more about CDK's dealership experience platform by visiting CDK Global dot com slash DXP or clicking the link in the show notes below.

这就是为什么CDK推出了一款全新的经销商体验平台。这个全新的综合软件包括了您经营经销店所需的一切，同时为您的客户提供无与伦比的体验。基本上，所有工作都在一起，而不是分开的，一个系统来运营您的经销店，而不是10个。CDK与外部合作开发了这个平台，并一直倾听经销商们的意见。您可以通过访问CDK Global dot com slash DXP或点击下面节目说明中的链接来了解更多关于CDK经销商体验平台的信息。

This episode is also 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 and e-bill of sale to simplify the paperwork, instant transfer of money between buyers and sellers and so much more. Learn more at private auto dot com and use code CDG to list your card for free.

本集节目也由Private Auto赞助，Private Auto是第一个交易市场，能够安全和保障地私下买卖车辆。Private Auto提供了一个自助平台，可以去掉中间人，使用独家银行技术。这使得买家和卖家可以在任何时间安全地完成私人交易。他们考虑了一切，包括身份验证以避免诈骗，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免费列出您的汽车。

Lastly, this episode is also brought to you by WarCloud. I'd like to thank WarCloud for coming on as a guest and also supporting this podcast. Jim Roche on the CDG podcast. Jim, welcome. You'll see. It's great to be here. Thanks for having me. It's not very often where you get to bring on someone that has built a company that's truly changing an industry. And I say, and I don't say that lightly. I feel like your product, I spoke with some friends who are dealers and I'm very familiar with WarCloud, but I did speak with some deals prior to this podcast.

最后，本集节目还由WarCloud赞助。我想感谢WarCloud作为嘉宾出现并支持这个播客。吉姆·罗奇在CDG播客上。吉姆，欢迎你。很高兴能在这里。谢谢你邀请我来。很少有机会邀请到一个真正改变行业的公司的创始人上来。我不是轻易地说这句话。我觉得你们的产品，我和一些经销商朋友都很熟悉WarCloud，但在录制这个播客之前我确实和一些经销商有过交流。

And I said, like, what comes to mind when you think of WarCloud? And what was very interesting to me was that it was like the sentiment was around. It's, it's like something that we don't know how we worked with without it prior, right? Like people don't know how they used to operate before WarCloud existed. And to me, as a marketer, like that tells me that you're doing something right. So anyways, we'll let you explain how we got to this point, but I just want you to know that, you know, I did do some homework and I love hearing that because that means that, you know, product market fit is just very, very strong and you have a strong value proposition.

我说，当你想到WarCloud时，你想到什么？对我来说非常有趣的是，情绪是围绕着这个。就像是我们之前不知道如何没有它进行工作一样，对吧？就像人们不知道在WarCloud存在之前他们是如何运行的。作为一名营销人员，对我来说这告诉我你正在做正确的事情。总之，我们会让你解释我们是如何到达这一点的，但我只是想让你知道，你知道我确实做了一些功课，我喜欢听到这一点，因为这意味着产品市场契合度非常强，你有强大的价值主张。

So that's my two cents on that. And to kick it off, can you tell the audience a little bit about yourself and your background? Well, sure, I'd be happy to. I'm smiling as you as you just gave that introduction because, you know, we recently had NADA and I don't know how many you guys, I mean, probably the audience has been to many of them, but there's a sort of a sameness to NADA. You know, I always ask people when I'm there, you know, what did you see that was a while? And I can't tell you how long it's been since somebody came back and they said, well, I saw a while. I mean, there's always a new CRM or a website and an app, but the last one, and I'm not trying to toot our horn, but you know, it was, Hey, WarCloud seems to be the wow.

这就是我的看法。首先，请你向观众简要介绍一下您自己和您的背景？当然，很高兴为您介绍。听你这么说我感到高兴，因为你知道，最近我们有了NADA展会，我不知道你们有多少人去过，可能观众中有很多人去过，但是NADA总是有一种相似的感觉。我总是问在那里的人们，你看到了什么新鲜事物？我无法告诉你上次有人回来说看到了新鲜事物是什么时候了。总是有新的CRM系统、网站和应用程序出现，但上一次，我不是在吹嘘我们自己，但你知道，是的，WarCloud似乎是让人眼前一亮的。

And I was asking some dealers why that is. And they said, we've never seen your kind of product before. You're a category creator. And that makes me smile. Right. Anyway, it kind of dovetails into what you were just saying that, you know, it's, it's something new. It's fresh. We're solving a real problem. So that is, that is really encouraging. Sorry. I digress a little bit. No. And I will tell you, I think in general, something that's, you know, this is an exclusive to automotive, but I think in actually, you know, many times, what gets a lot of the attention is, you know, the shiny objects. And even more so on the consumer side, right? And so I think thinking like, Oh, B2B behind the scenes service, like, you know, submitting warranty, I mean, it's very dry.

然后我问一些经销商为什么会这样。他们说，我们以前从未见过你们这种产品。你是一个类别创造者。这让我微笑了。对。总之，这和你刚才说的有些相关，你知道，这是新的。这是新鲜的。我们正在解决一个真正的问题。所以这真的很鼓舞人心。抱歉，我有点离题了。不。我告诉你，我觉得一般来说，这并不仅仅局限于汽车领域，实际上，在很多时候，引起关注的东西通常是耀眼的物体。尤其在消费者方面更是如此，对吧？所以我想，想着像，“噢，B2B在幕后服务，比如提交保修申请，这些都非常枯燥。

But at the end of the day, that's why, like, that's where there's a ton of opportunity that isn't so visible to the market. And it worked out aside for a second. I think this is a, you know, when I just think about our industry in general, right? They think about where is their inefficiency, generally speaking, where are their opportunities? I think that service, you know, I've just seen, I've been seeing a lot of things pop up, right? Like I personally invested in, um, in like an AI software for, for, you know, phone calls for the service center, right? Something that like automatically scheduled. So the point I'm trying to make is like it's, it's crazy that even today you can call up a service center and no one picks up your phone. It's just crazy to think about that. Right. So right. Anywho, tell us, tell us how do we get to this point? What's, where did all this get started?

但说到底，这就是为什么有很多机会并不那么明显被市场看到。除此之外，也有一些事情进展得不错。我想，当我想到我们这个行业的时候，我就会考虑，一般来说，哪里存在着低效，哪里有机会？我觉得服务行业，你知道，我看到很多东西涌现出来。比如我个人投资了一个AI软件，用于服务中心电话的自动排期。所以我的观点是，即使在今天，你打电话给一个服务中心，却没有人接听，这简直令人匪夷所思。总之，告诉我们，这是如何发展到这一点的？这一切是如何开始的？

Sure. Well, you know, I started working with dealers and service departments right out of school. You know, this is probably 35 years ago now. And just fell in love with the industry and with dealership people. Uh, you know, I back in the napkin at one point, figured I'd visited over 2000 dealerships in over those 35 years. So seen a lot of things and started, started creating companies using technology to solve specific problems. Or I was an entrepreneur early into a company.

当然。嗯，你知道，我毕业后就开始和经销商和服务部门合作了。这大概是35年前的事了。我只是爱上了这个行业，以及经销商们。你知道，我曾经粗略地算过，我在这35年中应该已经参观了2000多家经销商。所以见过很多东西，开始创立利用技术解决特定问题的公司。或者我很早就成为企业家加入了一家公司。

Uh, you know, I did something way back when, uh, that was called NuGen, uh, which is now Epsilon, uh, you know, founded a company called AutoPoint. Uh, was one of the guys in something called X time, which is now part of Cox. And then that led me to, to found a war club. And the, the genesis story really quickly was that, you know, through visiting those dealerships, if you open enough closet doors, eventually you find a little room with stacks of paper up to the ceiling. And that's the warranty clerk's office. And to me as an entrepreneur, always looking for ways to, to help, uh, optimize inefficiency stacks of paper was always, Hey, there's a, there's a sign of inefficiency, right?

嗯，你知道，我很久以前做过一些事情，那时叫做NuGen，现在叫做Epsilon，我还创办了一家叫AutoPoint的公司。我曾是一个叫X time的团队的成员，现在已经成为了Cox的一部分。那时候我开始创办了一家汽车服务俱乐部。整个起源故事很快就是，你知道，通过访问那些经销商，如果你打开足够多的衣柜门，最终你会发现一个房间，房间里积满了堆积如山的纸张。那就是保修员的办公室。作为一名企业家，我一直在寻找帮助提高效率的方法，堆积如山的纸张总是表示着浪费的迹象，不是吗？

Um, but it was a really astute service leader friend who pointed out to me when I was discussing this with him, he said, you know, that's not a stack of paper. That's a stack of uncashed checks. And that was really sort of the, the epiphany of, Oh, wait a minute, you know, tell me more. We founded War Cloud in 2014, 10 years ago, hard to believe thinking that it would take us a year to develop a solution. And it took us over seven years, which really speaks to the complexity of the problem we're trying to solve. Uh, but we came to market in 2021.

嗯，但当我和一位聪明的服务领导朋友讨论这个问题时，他指出了一点，他说：“你知道吗，那不是一叠纸，那是一叠未兑现的支票。” 这真的是一个顿悟的时刻，哦，等一下，告诉我更多。我们在2014年成立了战云公司，已经10年了，难以置信我们当初以为需要一年时间开发出解决方案。 实际上我们花了超过七年的时间，这真的说明了我们试图解决的问题的复杂性。但我们在2021年进入市场。

Uh, and before I knew it, yeah, I just called up dealer friends and said, Hey, I've got this idea. And, you know, they said, Hey, you know us, we know you a long time. We'll, we'll, we'll, we'll try whatever you got. And before I knew it, we had about 50 paying dealers. It started to feel like one of those right idea at the right time kind of things and fast forward. Now we've got coming up on 600 clients. Uh, and you know, it was really going gamebusters. So that was kind of where I, how, you know, how we got here. Yeah.

嗯，在我意识到之前，我就给经销商朋友打电话说，嘿，我有个主意。他们说，嘿，你认识我们，我们也认识你很久了。我们可以尝试一下你的想法。在我意识到之前，我们就有大约50家付费经销商。开始感觉像是恰逢其时的正确想法，然后快进到现在，我们已经有近600个客户。嗯，事情真的很成功。这就是我们如何到达这里的故事。是的。

So, you know, you're a 10 year overnight success. As I like to say, now, now tell me about you were at Cox on a moon. Right. I saw an overlap. Explain that to us. Explain that to me, right? Like you're an executive at Cox auto, you know, running X time, you know, at a senior leadership, like what happened and, you know, what convinced you, what gave you that push to say I'm going to go out on my own and, you know, start building this product.

所以，你知道，你是一个十年才一夜成功的人。就像我喜欢说的那样，现在，告诉我，你在科克斯公司做过的一次月球项目。对吧。我看到了一个重叠。向我们解释一下。向我解释一下，对吧？就像你是科克斯汽车公司的高管，负责X项目，处于高层领导地位，你发生了什么事，你是被什么说服了，是什么促使你决定自己去创业，开始开发这个产品的。

Well, first of all, I wasn't a leader of X time. You know, I was one of, one of the leaders at X time and then it went into Cox. And then for a while I was the Cox, you know, service department, subject matter expert wrote a couple of books on it, you know, that kind of thing. But we've incorporated a war cloud in 2014, but I'm not a programmer. So we had the idea, we knew what we wanted to do. And we started doing the development and I had accepted the position at X time.

首先，我并不是 X 公司的领导。我是 X 公司在某个时期的一位领导之一，然后公司被收购了。在一段时间里，我担任了客户服务部门的专家，还写了几本书。但是我们在 2014 年引入了云计算，我并不是程序员。我们有了想法，知道我们想要做什么。我们开始进行开发工作，而我则接受了 X 公司的职位。

You know, sort of, okay, we'll do that until we're done with war cloud. And as I said, it took seven years. A lot of the money in the early days came from me. So that helped me fund the building of war cloud while I was doing X time and then Cox automotive. But I'm an entrepreneur at heart. You know, I've always been that guy that liked the small companies or the startup energy. So in, in late 2019, I think it was, it was time to transition over because we were starting to feel like we had a solution that was ready for the marketplace. And so I sort of back home, if you will, when I came into war cloud before we had any customers.

你知道，也许，好吧，我们会持续做下去，直到战云项目完成。就像我说的，这花了七年的时间。早期的很多资金都是由我提供的。这帮助我在做X时间和Cox汽车的同时资助了战云项目的建设。但我从内心来说是个企业家。你知道，我一直是喜欢小公司或初创公司的那种人。所以在2019年末，我觉得是时候转变了，因为我们开始感觉我们有了一个准备好进入市场的解决方案。所以我可以说，当我加入战云时，我们还没有任何客户。

This episode has brought you by my very own car dealership guy, industry job board, CDG jobs.com, my industry job board connecting the best talent and automotive with the best companies will remain absolutely free for CDG listeners to post and fill available roles at their companies. This free job board is for anyone in automotive vendors, dealers, lenders, manufacturers, auto tech, everyone already over a hundred companies have posted open positions, including lithium motors, recurrent credit acceptance, Vero's credit, cars, commerce, shift digital plug, full path, Westlake trade pending, you get the point. The best part is that when these companies hire through CDG jobs.com, they are hiring the most informed candidates in the marketplace. So don't hesitate. You can add your open roles today by visiting CDG jobs.com or clicking the link in the show notes below. That's CDG jobs.com.

这一期节目由我的汽车经销商职业网站CDG jobs.com支持。我的汽车职业网站连接了最优秀的汽车人才和最优秀的公司，将始终为CDG听众免费发布和填补公司可用职位。这个免费的职业网站适用于汽车供应商、经销商、放贷人、制造商、汽车技术人员等，已有超过一百家公司发布了空缺职位，包括锂动力汽车、经常性信贷机构、维罗斯信贷、汽车商务、shift数字插件、full path、Westlake贸易等。最棒的是，当这些公司通过CDG jobs.com招聘时，他们正在雇佣市场上最了解的候选人。所以不要犹豫，您可以通过访问CDG jobs.com或点击下方节目记录中的链接立即发布您的空缺职位。就在CDG jobs.com。

So just so I understand you said you launched in 2014. You went to market in 2021. Did I hear that correctly? You sure did. How the hell do you survive a seven-year feedback loop? Well, what? What go? What do you do? What goes through your head? I think anyone building anything, you could be building a dealership. I mean, how do you like a seven year feedback loop? Think about think about me right for a second, right? My feedback loop on content is like 30 seconds. It's like you put something out there to the world. If it's the world tells you this. If it's amazing, the world tells you it's amazing. 30 seconds. I have right away. I can tell you if this is going to, you know, if flop, if this is right, this is wrong, I made a mistake. Seven year feedback loop. How do you do that? It's a long learning process.

所以，如果我理解正确，你是说你在2014年推出了产品。而在2021年进入市场。我听到的是对的吗？没错。你是如何熬过七年的反馈周期的？啊，为什么？你怎么做的？你脑子里在想什么？我觉得任何一个建立事物的人，你可能在建立一个经销商。我是说，你怎么喜欢七年的反馈周期？想想看，想想我对于内容的反馈周期，只有30秒。你发布一些东西到世界上。如果是世界告诉你，这是怎么样的。如果是很棒，世界会告诉你它是多么棒。30秒，我立马就能告诉你这个是会成功的，还是会失败的，这个正确、这个错误、我犯了一个错误。七年的反馈周期，这怎么办？这是一个长期的学习过程。

So you start off with this idea, hey, let's automate warranty processing, right? How hard can it be? Famous, famous last words. And you build a solution that works with one DMS and one brand. And you're like, OK, there we go. We're done. Well, wait a minute. The other DMS has worked differently. Well, wait a minute. All the brands work differently. Oh, wait a minute. All the dealerships work differently. So as you as you work to try and scale a solution that will work, I mean, you know, our target market is is dealer groups, right? Which is sometimes it's one DMS. Sometimes it's two or three, but it's also multiple brands. So to try and bring a solution to a dealer group, you've got to have that breath and that scalability. In conversations that I had with with service leaders and dealers, I knew that it was a pain point for them. And as we worked through, we found out what the true costs were of warranty claims processing. And that really put us on the right path. As an example, what we found back in those days, it's since increased, but it appeared that the cost of warranty claims processing consumed about 6% of the revenue from warranty work, which I know, I mean, that is a huge bite. If you know anything about the typical cost of claims processing. And the last thing was that, that we just saw that no one was stepping up. You know, I expected, frankly, I was surprised in 2014 to find out that no one was tackling this problem. And over the years, I expected, you know, one or two or three other players would join, but nobody did. Well, that speaks to the complexity of the issue. And maybe what you've talked about, you know, it's a little dry until you realize how much, how much profit potential is there. And then it becomes not dry. Oh, I bet.

所以你开始有了这个想法，嘿，让我们自动化保修处理，对吧？有多难呢？那些著名的最后的话。你构建了一个可以与一个DMS和一个品牌配合使用的解决方案。你可能会说，好吧，完成了。嗯，等等。其他的DMS工作方式不同。嗯，等等。所有品牌的工作方式也不同。哦，等等。所有的经销商的工作方式也不同。所以当你努力尝试扩展一个可以工作的解决方案时，我是指，你知道，我们的目标市场是经销商集团，对吧？有时是一个DMS。有时是两到三个，但也包括多个品牌。因此，要为一家经销商集团带来一个解决方案，你必须具备广度和可扩展性。在与服务领导和经销商讨论时，我知道这对他们来说是一个痛点。随着我们的努力，我们找出了保修索赔处理的真实成本。这让我们找到了正确的方向。举个例子，在那些日子里，我们发现，虽然现在已经增加了，但保修索赔处理的成本大约占来自保修工作的收入的6%，我知道，这是一个巨大的开销，如果你了解典型的索赔处理成本。最后一件事是，我们看到没有人站出来。老实说，2014年我很惊讶地发现没有人在解决这个问题。多年来，我期望会有一两个或三个其他人加入，但没有人这么做。嗯，这反映了这个问题的复杂性。也许你所说的，你知道，有点无聊，直到你意识到其中有多少潜在利润。然后它就不再无聊了。哦，我敢打赌。

So let's talk about like, let's just simplify this for a second for anyone. Listen, that's not familiar, right? You go to a dealership, you get warranty work done on your vehicle and the service center, right? The dealer needs to submit that to the automated manufacturer to get reimbursed for that work, right? Because the dealer is not paying for that. Right. That was a manual process. And I think, again, the other interesting part for me was asking, was asking people, hey, like on average prior to, you know, automating this, how long did it take you to do this manual process behind the scenes? And I heard like five days, six days, that was more or less what I was hearing from, from some people and it's all, you know, it varies. And then I asked, okay, so with this now being automated, like, what is it taking you? And, you know, I've been hearing like half a day, stuff like that. So again, just found out as an interesting data point, but I go back to, you know, I go back to my explaining like a fifth grader, right? You are pretty much like you said, I love your, I love your heuristic of like, hey, where is that room with the pile of paper? That's what I want to fix as a entrepreneur as a tech. I mean, that's just, that's, that's brilliant because that's exactly what you're going after.

所以让我们简化一下，让任何不熟悉的人听明白。你去汽车经销商那里，为你的车子做保修工作，然后服务中心会将这些信息提交给自动制造商以获取报销，对吧？因为经销商不是在支付这笔费用。以前这是一个手动的过程。对我来说，还有一个有趣的部分是问人们，嘿，事先在自动化之前，你们做这个手动过程要多久？我听到的答案是五天，六天，这是我从一些人那里听到的大致时间，情况不尽相同。然后我问，那现在自动化了，你们需要多久呢？我听到了半天这样的答案。所以我觉得这是一个有趣的数据点，但我会回到，你知道我会用更简单易懂的语言来解释，你基本上就像你说的，我喜欢你的顺势启发法，嘿，那一堆纸的房间在哪？那就是我作为一名创业者、科技人想要解决的问题。这真的是太精彩了，因为这完全符合你的目标。

I want to ask you, I want to ask you a bit of a different question, right? We know that this market is challenged with affordability. And that means that people have less disposable income. And that means that they have less to spend on service work, right? What is the future of like servicing vehicles in general at the dealership look like? And does it are we headed towards a world where the majority of work done at dealerships will be bigger jobs that will inevitably, inevitably fall under, you know, the many on the manufacturers balance sheet. They're going to be pwning up that money, right? Like how can people at a certain point consumers cannot afford these massive jobs?

我想问你一个有点不同的问题，对吧？我们知道这个市场面临着支付能力的挑战。这意味着人们有的可支配收入较少。这也意味着他们在服务工作方面花费的会更少，对吧？在经销商处维修车辆的未来会是什么样子？我们是否正在走向这样一个世界，经销商所做的大部分工作将不可避免地转为制造商的财务账户下的成本？他们将承担这笔费用，对吧？但是在某个时候，消费者可能无法负担这些巨额的维修费用。

And so will we get to a world where it's really, hey, I'm either going to the dealership to do these massive jobs. They're going to be under warranty or I'm doing small jobs. I know that's a mouthful, but like give us a simplify that. Like where's the world headed with respect to work being done at dealerships for consumers? Yeah, great question. So over the next three years, we are projecting a 20% increase in warranty work at the dealership that will be driven by two things. One obvious and one very not obvious. The first obvious one is we're going to sell millions more cars in the coming years, which means millions more warranty covered vehicles will be on the road. So great. That's that's good for dealers. The other though is that JD Power released some information. They've been tracking the warranty costs on EVs. And what they found is that on average, the warranty cost in year one on an EV is 300% higher than an internal combustion engine.

我们将进入一个真正的世界，要么我要去经销店做这些大型工作。它们将在保修期内，要么我要做小型工作。我知道这有点复杂，但简化一下。对于经销店为消费者完成的工作，世界将朝着什么方向发展？是的，好问题。在接下来的三年里，我们预计经销店的保修工作将增加20%，这将由两个因素推动。一个是显而易见的，一个则非常不明显。首先，显而易见的原因是在未来数年里，我们将销售更多的汽车，这意味着更多的保修车辆将上路。这对经销店来说是一个好消息。另一个原因是JD Power发布了一些信息。他们一直在追踪电动车的保修成本。他们发现，在电动车第一年的平均保修成本比内燃机高出300%。

I know, right? That's the one where you don't you don't see that coming, but it's got to do with complexity and cost of components. So your guess is as good as mine is how many more EVs we're going to sell in the coming years, but we do know that there's over 150 planned to be launched in the coming years. So the mix is going to tilt more and more toward EVs, which I think means higher warranty costs. But what that also means is that we know an EV with 50% fewer moving parts has less maintenance opportunity. So, you know, the two primary revenue streams in a service department are customer pay and warranty.

我知道，是吧？那种情况是你意想不到的，但这和零部件的复杂性和成本有关。所以我们目前卖出多少电动汽车，你我都无法确定，但我们知道未来几年将有150多款电动汽车计划推出。因此，电动汽车的比例将会越来越高，我认为这意味着更高的保修成本。但另一方面，电动汽车的50％更少的活动部件意味着较少的维护机会。因此，服务部门的两个主要收入来源是客户付费和保修。

So I think that dynamic means that we're going to see a continued shift, more warranty work, less customer pay. And I think that the other thing that the other tilt that we see over time, well, there's several. I think that as vehicle costs go up and they get more complex, I think the manufacturers may lengthen and deepen the warranties that are on these things. And then just a completely different one. But I think we're seeing a lot of energy now around mobile service and pickup and delivery. And I think that is something that we're going to see continue. You know, I've been saying for a couple of years, I think I put this in my second book that the decision dealers are going to have to make is do you want your the car to come to your service or your service to go to the car? And I think the final answer is it's got to be a mix of those if you really want to retain customers.

所以我认为动态意味着我们会看到持续的转变，更多的保修工作，更少的客户自付。我认为，随着车辆成本的上升和复杂性的增加，制造商可能会延长和加深这些车辆的保修期。另外一个不同的倾向是，我认为现在围绕移动服务和上门取送的能源很多。我认为这是我们会持续看到的事情。你知道，我已经说了好几年了，我觉得我在第二本书中写道经销商将不得不做出的决定是您想让车来到您的服务还是您的服务去到车的地方。我认为最终答案是如果您真的想吸引客户，那就必须要这两种互相结合。

At a typical dealership, what do you see as a split between customer pay, work and service center versus warranty pay? Yeah, if you look historically, you know, it's about two thirds, one third, two third being customer pay, one third being warranty. But that's where I think the dynamic is going to shift because there are going to be few maintenance opportunities. Maintenance is always customer pay and it's going to tilt more toward warranty. So I wouldn't be surprised in the next three to five years if we see that becoming almost 50 50. And when it comes to the manufacturers, give us like the behind the scenes, right? Like, are they, you know, do they play nice when it comes to paying these warranties? Is high, I see your smiling. Are there some that play nicer than others?

在典型的经销商中，您认为顾客付费、工作和服务中心与保修付费之间的比例是多少？是的，如果你从历史上来看，大约是三分之二顾客付费，三分之一保修。但我认为这种动态将会发生变化，因为维护机会会变得更少。维护总是顾客付费，而会更倾向于保修。所以我不会感到惊讶，如果在接下来的三到五年里，我们看到这比例变成几乎是五五开。而且在制造商方面，可以给我们一些幕后消息，对吧？他们在支付这些保修时是否很大方？啊，看到您笑得那么开心。有些制造商会比其他制造商更大方吗？

Are there some that, you know, maybe don't play so nice and give us the, you know, the scoop. What, what happens here behind the scenes when it comes to the manufacturer deal in relationship? Well, every OEM has their own sort of proprietary bureaucracy or administration for processing warranty claim submissions. And it's interesting because if you think about why they have those bureaucracies, there are actually three reasons. The first one far and away is the most important. But what, what, what they want, they want that data as quickly and as correctly as possible so that they can analyze it and then ripple it through the supply chain to get in front of quality problems.

有没有一些，你知道的，可能不太友好而且告诉我们，你知道的，内幕消息。在制造商交易关系方面，背后究竟发生了什么呢？嗯，每个原始设备制造商都有自己的专有官僚体系或管理系统来处理保修索赔提交。有趣的是，如果你想想为什么他们有这些官僚体系，实际上有三个原因。第一个是绝对最重要的。但他们想要什么，他们想要尽快准确地获取数据，以便他们能够分析数据，然后在供应链中传递，以及解决质量问题。

I mean, you can, if you get in front of a quality problem before it's out in a significant number, you know, out in the wild, you can save tens and tens of millions of dollars in costs. So the most important reason why the manufacturers want that warranty as quickly as possible is to analyze it for, for quality control. The second and third reasons are related. They want to prevent fraud and they want to prevent error. Those are related reasons.

我的意思是，如果在质量问题出现之前及时处理，就能节省成本，可能节省几千万美元。因此，制造商希望尽快获得保修的最重要原因是为了进行质量控制分析。第二和第三个原因是相关的。他们想要防止欺诈和错误。这些都是相关原因。

Well, first of all, WarCloud checks all three boxes because we get the claims within 24 hours and we get them as correct as possible. Um, so in those, in that context, you know, all the OEMs are going to be nice, assuming that you're getting the claims in within 24 hours and they have a high degree of first time submission correctness. As far as, you know, who plays nice, who doesn't play nice? I mean, it varies by OEM. Uh, you know, we find they all have their positives and negatives for whatever reason. And again, this isn't WarCloud. This is just what our dealers tell us.

首先，WarCloud能够在24小时内处理索赔，并尽可能确保正确性，符合所有三个要求。在这种情况下，假设您在24小时内提交索赔且第一次提交的正确性很高，所有原始设备制造商都会合作得很好。至于谁合作得好，谁不合作得好？这取决于具体的原始设备制造商。我们发现每个原始设备制造商都有其正面和负面因素。再次强调，这不是WarCloud说的，而是我们的经销商告诉我们的。

You know, Toyota Lexus dealers, Honda dealers tend to speak very positively about the warranty submission process for their dealers, but we hear that from, from lots of them. That just seems to be predominant for, you know, for whatever reason. Diving a bit more into service, right? What are the main metrics? Would you say that the service lane, quote unquote, how is it being judged by automakers? Like what are the key metrics that whether you're a dealer or a consumer and you're listening to this and you're wondering like when I, when I step into that service lane, like we know, what are they incentivized to do? But what are what metrics are they incentivized to hit?

你知道，丰田雷克萨斯经销商，本田经销商往往会对他们的经销商保修申报流程表现非常积极，但我们听到了很多这样的消息。这似乎是主要的原因，无论出于什么原因。再深入了解一下服务，对吧？什么是主要的指标？你会说服务通道，打个比方，如何被汽车制造商评判？像你是经销商和消费者，你正在听到这个消息，你想知道，当我走进那个服务通道，我们知道，他们有什么激励措施？但他们被激励达到什么指标？

Well, sure. I mean, yeah, I mean, in the service lane, and let's just talk about the breadth of the service experience. I mean, the manufacturers want to drive very high CSI or customer satisfaction because that's has a direct correlation to retention to loyalty, right? And when you have a loyal customer, all of the data shows that loyal customers come back more frequently. And when they come back, they spend more and they're less price sensitive because they feel they're getting better value.

当然。我的意思是，是的，在服务行业，让我们谈谈服务经验的广度。制造商希望提高非常高的顾客满意度，因为这直接关系到客户保留和忠诚度，对吧？当你拥有忠诚的客户时，所有数据都显示忠诚的客户会更频繁地回来。当他们回来时，他们会花更多的钱，而且对价格更不敏感，因为他们觉得他们得到了更好的价值。

And you know, the old saw, you know, sales sells the first one and service sells the ones after that. So, you know, great service experiences, loyal customers mean to more and more vehicle sales. It's a virtual cycle. The stuff that's embedded in that is, you know, you want convenient scheduling. You want a prompt and thorough write up. You want regular updates. You want the vehicle when it was promised. You want it fixed to first the first time. But all of those things roll up into this customer satisfaction score, which ultimately drives retention.

你知道，俗话说得好，销售可以卖出第一辆车，而服务则可以卖出接下来的车。因此，出色的服务体验可以带来更多忠实的客户，从而促进更多的汽车销售。这是一个虚拟循环。其中包含的要素是，你希望能方便地安排时间，想要快速和全面的检测，想要定期更新动态，想要按时取车，并希望第一次修理就能解决问题。但所有这些都汇总到客户满意度评分中，最终推动客户保留。

And then in terms of retention, tell us a bit a bit about how that is measured, right? And what are you seeing as best practices? Well, I mean, you know, retention is measured slightly differently from OEM to OEM. You know, has to do with your PMA, your primary market area and things of that nature. But it's how often does the customer return to you, whether you bought it from them or whether you bought it from another dealer, but you're in that primary market area.

关于留存率，告诉我们一些关于如何衡量它的情况，对吧？你认为最佳实践是什么？嗯，我是说，你知道，留存率在不同的OEM之间有些许不同的衡量方法。它与你的PMA，即主要市场区域以及其他相关因素有关。但关键是客户多久会再次光顾你，无论他们是在你这里购买的还是在其他经销商购买的，只要在主要市场区域内就行。

How often do they come back? And maybe more importantly, do they continue to come back when the warranty period is up, because that is a major point of defection. In terms of the experience, you know, what people are looking for more and more, I think pick up and delivery and mobile service are major drivers of loyalty. But once someone comes to the dealership, one of the things that I think dealers could do a much better job on is providing the option of technology enabled experiences.

他们多久回来一次？也许更重要的是，保修期结束后他们是否还会继续回来，因为这是客户流失的一个主要原因。在体验方面，我认为取送车服务和移动服务越来越受人们青睐，是忠诚度的主要驱动因素。但是一旦有人来到经销商，我认为经销商可以在提供技术体验选择方面做得更好。

You know, we all manage our lives based on that device we've got in our pocket, you know, being able to schedule from your phone, getting updates on your phone, give the option of a high touch experience.

你知道，我们都基于口袋里的那部设备来管理生活，你知道，能够通过手机安排日程，获取手机更新，提供高质量的体验选项。

Sure. You know, if you want to wait in the waiting room or you want somebody to call you, of course, that's the way it's always worked. But being able to manage that experience, not high touch, but through your device, I think it's a huge opportunity for dealers to drive loyalty. It feels like this is, this is one of those rare cases for the car business where it's sort of a win-win-win, right? Meaning the car dealer is more profitable with being able to collect this cash flow faster from a manufacturer. The consumer is more inclined to get better, faster service.

当然。你知道，如果你想在等候室等待，或者想要有人打电话给你，当然可以。但通过你的设备来管理这种体验，不是高度亲身接触，我认为这是汽车经销商增加忠诚度的巨大机会。感觉就像汽车行业中的少数几种情况之一，这是一个双赢的局面，对吧？意味着汽车经销商能够更快地从制造商那里收取现金流，更加盈利。消费者则更有可能获得更好、更快的服务。

Because the car dealer is getting their cash flow reimbursed faster from the manufacturer. So it feels like it's in sort of a virtuous cycle where everybody wins. Have you, do you measure, like, have you seen what impacts this has on customer experience specifically? And I asked that because again, we have a lot of, you know, and I'm talking about the last couple of years, you have the Carvanas, but you don't have the service vanas. And I say that kind of facetiously, but I'm also serious again that it's sometimes the biggest opportunities are actually lurking behind the scenes. And so what impacts have you seen or have you been able to kind of measure by what you're building on actual customer experience?

因为汽车经销商从制造商那里更快地获得资金流，所以感觉就像是一种良性循环，每个人都受益。你是否衡量过，比如说，你是否看到这对客户体验有什么具体影响？我之所以问这个问题是因为再次提到，过去几年中有很多，我在谈论的是Carvanas，但你却没有服务vanas。我说这话有点讽刺，但同时也是认真的，因为有时候最大的机会实际上是潜在的，隐藏在幕后。那么你建立的东西对实际客户体验有什么影响？你是否看到了什么影响，或者能否通过你所构建的东西进行衡量？

So the warranty claims process is pretty invisible to the consumer. You know, happily, they bring the car in, it gets things done, and then they pick it up and they're gone. Though the warranty claims process, getting the dealer paid is sort of out of sight of the typical consumer. But what WorkCloud does is it helps the dealer get paid more accurately and faster. That, of course, creates a healthier dealer financially, which is great for everybody. One thing that's really down in the weeds is, you know, technicians forever, service tax have been concerned or complained about the labor times, the amount of money that the manufacturer will pay for a given service. And that's a source of technician dissatisfaction.

因此，对于消费者来说，保修索赔过程是非常隐形的。他们开心地把汽车送进来，进行修理，然后取走车子就走了。尽管保修索赔过程对于典型的消费者来说是看不见的，但WorkCloud却能帮助经销商更精确更快速地收到付款。这当然会让经销商在财务上更加健康，这对每个人都是好事。有一件事情是真正琐碎的，就是技术人员，维修人员总是关心或抱怨关于制造商为特定服务支付的劳动时间和金钱数额。这是技术人员不满意的一个原因。

One of the things you have to do and that WorkCloud does is you have to make sure that you sweep the corners of every claim to get every 10th you're legitimately entitled to, to get every administration fee so that you optimize the amount of money that you're getting paid for that claim. That helps with technician satisfaction, but it also creates a healthier dealership. So while the consumer doesn't directly see it is impacted by those, they're important from a dealer side. Yep. Like I say, it's just all interconnected.

你必须做的一件事情，而WorkCloud正是做了这件事情，那就是确保你清理每一个索赔的角落，以获取每一分你合法享有的十分之一，获取每一笔管理费，这样你就能最大程度地优化你获得的索赔款。这有助于提高技术人员的满意度，同时也使经销商更加健康。因此，尽管消费者看不到这些直接影响，但从经销商的角度来看，这些是很重要的。就像我说的，这些都是相互关联的。

So tell us about the biggest issues you're seeing today in the dealership, you know, service lane. Like what are the biggest areas of opportunity? Given we're off the crazy hype of 21, 22 things have cooled down. You know, things are much more stable, right? So what are the biggest areas of opportunities that you're seeing today? Yeah, I smile because, you know, I use the term. It's not raining money anymore. And hey, God bless America when it's raining money. I mean, it's a wonderful thing. But in my experience, and this is seen over decades, the auto industry is a pendulum, right? And it swings back and forth between a focus on vehicle sales and a focus on service. And the pendulum is now swinging back. It's swinging away from vehicle sales and it's swinging back towards service. And if you just look at the key metrics in the industry, I mean, margins, you know, we're seeing margin compression really coming back quickly on new vehicle sales.

那么告诉我们，你在经销商、服务车道中今天看到的最大问题是什么？最大的机会领域是什么？考虑到我们已经结束了对2021和2022的疯狂热情，事情已经冷静下来了。你知道，现在情况更加稳定了，对吧？那么你今天看到的最大机会领域是什么？是的，我微笑是因为我用了这个词。现在天上再也不下钱了。嘿，当钱在下的时候，愿上帝保佑美国。我是说，那是一件美好的事。但根据我的经验，这是长达几十年看到的现象，汽车行业是一个钟摆，对吧？它在车辆销售和服务之间来回摆动。而现在这个钟摆正在摆向另一个方向。它正在摆远离车辆销售，转向服务。如果你仅仅看一下这个行业的关键度量指标，我是说，利润率，我们看到新车销售的利润压缩正在迅速回升。

Uh, wholesale prices unused is tough. F and I income is down for a variety of reasons. The regulatory environment is tightened up. Interest rates are up. And those are all the reasons why the pendulum is swinging back to service. Historically, you know, service contributes more than 50% of total gross generated by a dealership. So you always want to be paying attention to it, but it's becoming even more important because, you know, that pendulum is swinging back and the market factors are making it more difficult to make money on the variable side of the house.

嗯，批发价未使用是困难的。财务与保险收入因各种原因下降。监管环境变得更加严格。利率上涨。这些都是导致服务业回归的原因。历史上，你知道，服务业贡献了经销店总毛利的50%以上。所以你总是要关注它，但现在更重要了，因为市场因素让在汽车销售方面赚钱变得更加困难。

So, you know, what do you need to be doing there? Well, the things you should always do, but look, you can't focus on everything equally all the time. What you should be focused on number one is running a tight operation, right? I mean, you know, you need to be focused on getting cost efficiencies, making sure that, you know, you're, you're leveraging technology wherever you can. And you're focused on the guest experience, as I said, so you're creating loyal customers who come back more often aren't just price sensitive. Uh, and ultimately want to buy that next vehicle from you. So, you know, at a high level, those are, I think those are the keys today. Although you know, you should always be focused on those.

所以，你知道，在那里你需要做什么吗？嗯，你应该始终做的事情，但是你知道，你并不能始终平等地关注所有事情。你应该关注的首要事项是确保运作高效。我是说，你知道，需要关注降低成本，确保在任何可以的地方利用技术。你要关注客人的体验，这样你才能创造忠诚的客户，他们会更频繁地回来，并且不仅仅只关注价格。最终，他们会想要从你那里购买下一辆车。所以，在一个高层次上，我认为这些是今天的要点。尽管你知道，你应该始终关注这些事项。

When we think about what you just said, you know, focusing on focusing on service and experience, who is that? Like, who's the one of the most impressive examples of, you know, the dealership service experience in America? Like, I'm curious to know you visited a ton of dealerships. There has to be someone in your head right now. They're like, wow, they just crush it. And here's why. Is there someone that comes to mind? And if so, like, what does that experience like, like, try to put us in that scenario? Sure. Well, I mean, you have iconic dealers that everybody knows about, you know, you have your souls that are, that are just, you know, worldwide known for their hyper focused on the guest experience. Um, I'll tell you, uh, one of my favorite dealer groups for focus on the customer is the Fred Beens group, uh, primarily headquartered out in Pennsylvania.

当我们考虑你刚刚说的话，你知道，专注于服务和体验，那是谁？谁是美国最引人瞩目的汽车经销商服务经验的典范？我很想知道你参观过很多家经销商，你脑海中一定有一个人选。他们让你印象深刻，他们做得非常出色。是不是有人出现在你脑海中？如果有的话，那种体验是什么样的，能否让我们感受一下那种情景？ 当然。我是说，你知道，大家都知道那些标志性的经销商，你知道，有些经销商以世界闻名，因为他们对客人的体验非常专注。我可以告诉你，一个我最喜欢的经销商集团，专注于客户的Fred Beens集团，总部主要位于宾夕法尼亚。

You're smiling. I take it. You might. I'm smiling because I just got connected to Fred and I, and an email about a potential podcast. So I'm going to send this to Fred and be like, now you have to come on. Fred and his staff, uh, so a gentleman by the name of Julie and Drago runs his service departments. I think Fred has 25 stores now. Uh, but they just have a hyper focus on the customer. They are always looking at their processes. Uh, you know, how to continually improve. I tell you a quick anecdote. I wrote about this in one of my books. I was out, uh, visiting Fred. Uh, this is going back. I can, I may be 10 years ago and it was winter time.

你在微笑。我明白了。你可能会。我在微笑是因为我刚刚与弗雷德取得联系，并收到了一封关于潜在播客的电子邮件。所以我要把这个发给弗雷德，告诉他现在你必须来参加。弗雷德和他的员工，嗯，一个叫朱利安·德拉戈的先生负责他的服务部门。我想弗雷德现在有25家商店了。但他们总是专注于客户。他们始终关注他们的流程。你知道的，如何不断改进。我给你讲一个小故事。我在一本书中写过这个。我去看望弗雷德。这是十年前的事了，那时是冬天。

And, uh, Fred and I are going to dinner and he's driving and it was dark and we're driving by his Ford Ford store in Doyle's town. Slams on the brakes, throws it into park and says, I'll be right back and just jumps out the car still running. Right. And I was like, Oh my gosh, what happened? Fred disappears about 10 minutes later, he climbs back in, shuts the door. And he says, sorry about that. Uh, I said, Fred, what happened? He said, I saw a customer in the showroom and no one was talking to them and I want to make, I wanted to make sure that they were taking care of my goodness.

然后，弗雷德和我要去吃晚饭，他开车，当时天很黑，我们经过位于多伊尔斯镇的他的福特汽车店。他突然踩下刹车，将车停在路边，说我马上回来，然后就跳出车门，车还在运行中。然后我就想，天哪，发生了什么？大约10分钟后，弗雷德又爬回车里，关上车门。他说，抱歉，我说，弗雷德，发生了什么？他说，我看见展厅里有个客人，没有人和他们交谈，我想确保他们得到照顾。

I know. Right. Now, this is a guy who's been a dealer for 15 years. Right. At the time, I think Fred was in his 70s. Uh, but an unattended customer was stopped. He said, I'm going to take care of it. There's that philosophy of customer care that just comes from your DNA and that permeates the whole organization. Now they invest in a technology enabled experience. They're very advanced. They're very progressive, but there's that culture that, uh, that is just take care of the customer first. So as you can tell, I get all excited because I've experienced it firsthand. Uh, and I'm glad to hear it.

我知道。对的。现在，这个人已经做了15年的经销商了。对的。那时候，我觉得弗雷德大概七十多岁了。但有一个顾客被停下来了。他说，我会处理的。那种顾客关怀的理念从你的基因中流淌出来，贯穿整个组织。现在他们投资于技术驱动的体验。他们非常先进，非常进步，但是有着先顾客的文化。所以你能看出来，我非常兴奋，因为我亲身经历过。我很高兴听到这些。

You know, you're going to talk about a podcast with Fred. Uh, you know, uh, and, and if you want to focus on service, Julian hit Julian Dragos, his service guy also embodies that whole customer focus. You know, I think at the end of the day, any, if you as a business can make a customer feel a certain way and you can scale that, right? You turn, I mean, every, I mean, at the end of the day, like that's a brand. And you know, if you, if you look at the dealership and you look at it from a hospitality perspective, I really, really feel like your point, it makes a world of a difference with any business. But like I think about this all the time, right? Everything we do, everything we put out, I ask myself, like, how do we want our audience to feel, right? What do we want them to get out of this? What's the benefit? And ultimately, you know, every touch point builds that brand. So I, I think, well, I love that story because you're right. It's the small things that permeate through the organization and that attention to detail. That's really what makes for breaks the business long term and the brand. Well stated.

你知道，你要和弗雷德谈论一个播客。嗯，你知道，如果你想要专注于服务，朱利安·德拉戈斯，他的服务团队也体现了对客户的关注。你知道，我想说到底，任何一家企业如果能让客户有一种特殊的感受并且能够扩展这种感受，对吧？你会将，我的意思是，在一天结束的时候，就像这就是一个品牌。而且，你知道，如果你看待经销商从酒店业的角度，我真的，真的觉得你的观点，它对任何企业都有着天壤之别的影响。但我一直在想，不是吗？我们所做的每一件事，我们发布的每一件东西，我问自己，我们希望我们的观众有什么样的感受，对吧？我们希望他们从中得到什么？有什么好处？最终，你知道，每一个接触点都构建了那个品牌。所以我觉得，我喜欢那个故事，因为你说的没错。正是这些细小的事情贯穿了整个组织，以及对细节的关注。这真的是长期打破企业和品牌的关键。说得好。

Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. It really comes back to culture. You can layer the technology enabled experiences on top of it. But fundamentally, it comes down to just the whole organization being focused on making, you know, optimizing that guest experience. And that's just not something you can create in a minute. You can't create it through hanging up a sign. You know, it's got it. You've got to embody it. It's got to be deeply embedded in your DNA. So I'm glad you enjoyed it. We're really glad you're going to be talking to Fred. He is. He is a hoot in many, many ways. Jim, talk to me about the future. I mean, you've, you've done some amazing thing.

是的。谢谢。是的。这确实归根结底还是文化问题。你可以在其上加入技术支持的体验。但从根本上讲，整个组织都应该专注于提升客人体验。这并不是凭空创造出来的。你不能只通过挂个牌子就能实现。你必须体现出来。它必须深深植根于你的基因之中。很高兴你喜欢。我们非常高兴你要和弗雷德交谈。他真的在很多方面都很有趣。吉姆，跟我谈谈未来吧。你已经做了一些令人惊叹的事情。

How many dealers did you say you're working with right now? We're coming up on 600. Wow. How have you, how have you attracted these dealers? Was it has been like word of mouth or? Yeah, it's mostly word of mouth. You know, I mean, when we first came to market, I just started calling my friends, including Fred beans. Like I said, it just started to feel like one of those right idea at the right time kind of things, you know, being a guy who did X time and before that auto point, we had always been about software, you know, a tool that the dealer used. But we really pivoted in a different direction for War Cloud. War Cloud is a service. You know, we take over your warranty processing. You have, you have an app that we call Chirp that is a window into what War Cloud is doing, but, but mostly, you know, 99% we do all the work, which means we don't have to install technology at the dealership. We don't have to train your people because changing human behavior is always the hardest thing.

你说你现在和多少家经销商合作？我们即将达到600家了。哇。你是如何吸引这些经销商的？是口口相传吗？是的，主要是口口相传。你知道，当我们第一次进入市场时，我开始给我的朋友们打电话，包括弗雷德·比恩斯。就像我说的，它开始感觉像是那种在正确的时间拥有正确的想法的事情，你知道，我之前一直在做X工作，之前是auto point，我们始终关注软件，这是经销商使用的工具。但是我们为War Cloud走了不同的方向。War Cloud是一种服务。我们接管您的保修处理。您有一个我们称之为Chirp的应用程序，这是对War Cloud正在进行的工作的窗口，但是大部分时间，你知道，99%的工作都由我们完成，这意味着我们不需要在经销商那里安装技术。我们也不需要培训您的员工，因为改变人的行为总是最困难的。

So that's been a real, a real sea change. And, you know, the idea is just taken off. Once it was clear that this was something that the market really wanted. We hired a direct sales team whose job it is to go out and just talk to dealers and talk to service leaders, identify where there's a need, where there's a problem we can help. And of course, now we started to do things as we've grown. For example, as you heard, we were at at NADA, our second year with a booth there. Um, you know, I do a lot of thought leadership, uh, like this in talking to people because warranty processing is just isn't something that we've talked about ever.

所以这真的是一个巨大的变化。你知道，这个想法一下子就火了起来。一旦清楚市场真的想要这个，我们就雇了一个直销团队，他们的工作是出去和经销商和服务领导人交谈，找出哪里有需要，哪里有问题我们可以帮忙。当然，随着我们的发展，我们开始做一些事情。例如，你听说了，我们在NADA参展，这是我们第二年了。我做了很多思想领袖的工作，像在这里和人们交谈，因为保修处理从来都不是我们所谈论的东西。

I guess it goes back to my earlier comment about, you know, creating a category that's new, but it's, it's, it's important and it's becoming increasingly important for dealer profitability as we go forward in time because the mix is going to shift more and more to warranty and you've got to optimize profitability. So, so I think to come back to your original question, where do I think we're going to wind up? I think that the, the, the, the, the, the, I think, I think the pendulum is swinging back towards service. I think that service, uh, if you look at the two primary revenue streams, warranty is a sentence, uh, and optimizing profit just across the board, but particularly as warranty revenue grows is going to be critically important. And of course, just generally you should always be looking at the latest technologies to find ways to optimize efficiencies in your dealership.

我想这可能要追溯到我之前提到的一点，你知道，创建一个全新的类别，这是重要的，而且随着时间的推移对经销商的盈利性变得越来越重要，因为配件销售比例会越来越高，你必须优化盈利能力。所以，我认为回到你最初的问题，我认为我们最终会走向哪里？我认为，我认为，摆锤正在回归到服务方面。我认为服务，如果你看看两个主要的收入来源，保修收入是一句话，而且在整体上优化利润尤其在保修收入增长时将至关重要。当然，你应该始终关注最新的技术，寻找优化经销商效率的方法。

You know, it is getting harder and harder. The competitive environment is getting more and more, uh, difficult to manage. So you've got to leverage technology and, and, and new ideas in every part of the operation. And of course that's, that's one of the things that we're doing. And before we wrap up, I want to ask you one final question. What is the most surprising thing you've learned throughout this journey? Right. As you've, as you really descend in and gone to all these dealerships and you know, really picked up the process and built technology to streamline yada yada, but what have you learned or what has you seen that just surprised you about, you know, the operations of a dealership or the way things have been done up until today? I mean, the first big surprise was how much of the gross profit of the dealer is attributable to service.

你知道，情况变得越来越艰难了。竞争环境变得越来越，呃，难以管理。因此，您必须在运营的每个部分利用技术和新思想。当然，这是我们正在做的事情之一。在我们结束之前，我想问你一个最后的问题。在整个旅程中，你学到了最令人意外的是什么？就像你真正深入了解了所有这些经销商并且真的掌握了流程并建立了技术以简化等等，但你学到了什么或者你看到了什么让你惊讶的东西，关于经销商运营或直到今天方式进行的事情？我的第一个大惊喜是多少经销商的总利润归功于售后服务。

I mean, that wasn't evident because so much energy, so much investment goes into selling cars. Uh, now that has shifted over the years, but we're nowhere near the focus that we should have on fixed operations given its profit contribution. So I think that that's a big area of opportunity is just really making sure that you're making key investments, considering that it's over 50% of total dealership gross. And I think another thing that has been surprising is what I would consider to be the sort of the slow lack of adoption of modern technologies in managing the businesses. I mean, if you look across any other way of life, I give you, give me an example. Well, we, while we are talking here, I could have my phone in one hand and I could book airfare to China, hotel and rental car, round trip.

我的意思是，这并不明显，因为卖车这么多能量，这么多投资都用在了上面。嗯，这些年来情况有所改变，但我们在固定运营方面的关注程度还远远不够，尽管它贡献了大部分利润。所以我认为这是一个很大的机会领域，确保你在关键投资上下了功夫，考虑到它占据了总销售额的50%以上。我觉得另一个令人惊讶的事情是现代科技在管理企业方面的采用相对缓慢。我是说，如果你看看其他生活领域的情况，我来举个例子。嗯，我们现在正在谈论，我可以一手拿着手机，预订去中国的机票、酒店和租车，来回往返。

Um, could you do that today with a service appointment, uh, or some other aspect of the dealership experience? And I think generally speaking, it would be a lot more difficult. Uh, and I'm not sure it needs to be. So, you know, and part of that is that there is a lack of integrations across the experience. There's a lack of technologies that, that talk to one another. But I think there's really some, some opportunity there to step up and adopt technologies quicker that just improve dealership operations and the guest experience. And your point, your money worry about this. So I'm excited to see how you keep building from here, Jim. Thanks for coming on.

嗯，您能今天安排服务预约吗，或者处理经销商体验的其他方面？我觉得总体来说，这可能会更加困难。而且我不确定是否需要如此。因此，我认为部分原因在于整体体验之间缺乏融合。缺乏技术之间的互通。但我认为确实有机会更快地采用技术来提升经销商运营和客人体验。我很期待看到您如何从这一点继续发展，吉姆。谢谢您的参与。

Uh, this has been really, really, you know, just amazing conversation. Love the story about Fred. So we'll definitely send that out. Uh, and I think people, people will really appreciate it. I, if anyone wants to learn more about, uh, of course you and War Cloud, we're going to throw the link up in the show notes below, uh, with, you know, the right thing to your website, you can check it out. Uh, you're doing some great stuff, Jim. Thanks so much for what you're doing for the industry and, you know, well, I'm sure we'll talk a lot more in the future about what you're up to. Thanks. Thanks for doing what you're doing.

嗯，这真的是一次非常、非常棒的对话。喜欢关于Fred的故事。我们一定会发送出去的。我觉得人们会非常欣赏的。如果有人想了解更多关于你和War Cloud的信息，我们会在下方的节目笔记中附上链接，你可以查看。Jim，你在做一些很棒的事情。非常感谢你为这个行业所做的贡献，我敢肯定我们将来会更多地谈论你正在做的事情。谢谢。谢谢你所做的一切。

You know, you are one of the top, if not the top, I think you're one of the top two or three trusted brands and automotive. Uh, and I think that's in part because this has been a, just a fun experience, a lot of great, uh, important questions. Uh, I'm glad we're able to pull it together and it would love to come back sometime, give you the follow up story. Appreciate you. Uh, you got it. Thanks for implementing. All right.

你知道，你是顶尖的品牌之一，如果不是最顶尖的话，我认为你是汽车行业里最值得信赖的品牌之一。这部分是因为这是一次有趣的经历，有很多重要的问题。我很高兴我们能够完成这次采访，希望以后有机会再来，为你们提供后续报道。非常感谢你。你说得对。感谢你的支持。好的。

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

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