Podcasts about TrueCar

In this episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, LA Williams, Vice President of Dealer Synergy, takes the wheel while Sean V. Bradley attends the Super Bowl LIX! Joined by the vibrant Tianna Mick, known in the industry as "T Got Your Keys," LA delves deep into strategies that transform ordinary sales calls into profit-generating interactions. With emphases on tone, customer rapport, and overcoming common pitfalls in sales conversations, this episode is rich with actionable advice for car sales professionals looking to elevate their game! "Questions control the conversation. Whoever gets the most questions answered is who wins." – LA Williams From addressing the frequent mistakes salespeople make on inbound calls to finely tuning one's auditory skills for detecting buying signals, LA offers a masterclass in sales acumen that stems from years of experience. His anecdotes, interspersed with Tianna's astute questions, unveil techniques on managing customer interactions effectively over the phone. By sharing insights into how to instantaneously build trust and utilize storytelling for impactful sales, the episode equips listeners with robust strategies to handle even the most challenging customer situations. Real-life examples underscore the vital role of strategic communication in fostering successful sales outcomes!   Key Takeaways: ✅ Tone and Energy are Crucial: Establishing the right tone and energy at the start of a call can significantly influence the customer's responsiveness. ✅ Word Choice Matters: Phrases such as "tell me" and "I'm just wondering" can inspire empathy and facilitate open dialogue with customers. ✅ Listening for Genuine Interest: Picking up on subtle cues in a customer's questions can reveal their level of interest and intent to purchase. ✅ Leveraging Storytelling: Effective storytelling can bridge communication gaps, making the sales process more relatable and engaging. ✅ Handling Objections with Empathy: Questions control conversation; using them strategically can navigate and manage challenging interactions.     About LA ‘The Blind Master' WilliamsL.A. Williams, Vice President and Partner of Dealer Synergy, has over 15 years of automotive sales experience and is dedicated to helping others grow and succeed. Starting as a frontline analyst, he quickly rose through the ranks to become Vice President while remaining hands-on with Dealer Synergy's programs. Known as “The Blind Phone Master,” L.A. has been blind for 37+ years and has mastered the art of sound, tone, and inflection, making him the ultimate phone sales coach. He has trained thousands of automotive professionals, including sales teams, managers, and dealer principals, with his “Phone Sales Mastery” strategies. A sought-after speaker, L.A. has presented at the NADA Convention, 20 Groups, and the Internet Sales 20 Group.  L.A. also co-hosts the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, the Against All Odds Radio Show, and moderates the Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group. Beyond automotive, he's a successful music producer, having worked with stars like Dr. Dre, Lil Wayne, and Katy Perry, and was even the voice of Jigsaw in four SAW movies. L.A. brings his audio expertise and creativity to the industry, using “entertrainment” to motivate and inspire automotive professionals. About Tianna ‘T Got Your Keys' Mick Tianna Mick aka T Got Your Keys is a known industry expert at Showroom Sales, Lead and Referral Generation, and Customer Satisfaction, specializing in Personal and Business Branding. At only 19 years old, Tianna was consistently the top-grossing salesperson in her dealer group, averaging 20+ units and generating $10K each month in personal income. Tianna is globally recognized for her award-winning website TGotYourKeys.com, voted #1 Personal Website in the Automotive Industry! Tianna is a 4x NADA Convention Speaker and the YOUNGEST NADA Speaker in History to date, awarded #1 Influential Female Car Salesperson, TikTok Influencer with over 3.8 Million Views, Guest of Brad Lea's Dropping Bombs Podcast, Graduate of Ally's A-List Summit Academy, Speaker at the Florida Independent Automobile Dealers Association, TrueCar's TrueTalk Panel Discussion Leader concerning Diversity, published in Digital Dealer Magazine, and reoccurring Digital Dealer Speaker, Internet Sales 20 Group Speaker, and now Chief Marketing Officer at Dealer Synergy.     Mastering the Art of Phone Sales: Insights from the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast   Key Takeaways: Harnessing the power of tone, inflection, and the right vocabulary can dramatically improve phone sales outcomes. Understanding buyer psychology and leveraging storytelling can overcome common objections and build trust. Consistent learning and adaptation are vital for overcoming skepticism and improving skills over time.   Enhancing Phone Sales Through Tone and Inflection In the fast-paced world of automotive sales, mastering phone communication isn't just a skill—it's an art form. LA Williams, VP of Dealer Synergy, highlights a common pitfall: the lack of energy and enthusiasm when taking inbound calls. He humorously points out, "Our energy is not right. We'd be like Synergy Motors." Injecting energy into your voice is crucial for setting the right tone and capturing the caller's attention from the get-go. Williams emphasizes paying attention to not only what customers say, but also how they say it. The subtleties in tone, choice of words, and even pauses can reveal much about a caller's intent. As Williams advises, “You gotta hear,” meaning that a salesperson must attune their ears to these nuances. By asking thoughtful questions and engaging in a way that reflects the customer's language, you can build immediate rapport. "I'm just curious," or "Tell me more," are phrases that both engage the customer and provide deeper insights into their needs and desires. Such nuances extend beyond intro calls. Consider how energy and tone contribute when transitioning a skeptical caller to a quality lead. LA shares an all-too-common scenario: converting callers who've had negative automotive experiences into enthusiastic potential buyers. This transformation relies on infusing conversations with genuine warmth and curiosity, ensuring prospects feel heard and valued.   Storytelling as a Sales Tool In a world where buyers often distrust salespeople, storytelling stands out as a powerful tactic to establish credibility and build rapport. Williams delves into the art of sharing relevant narratives to sway hesitant buyers, emphasizing, “It's so interesting that you say that.” This technique helps to validate a customer's feelings while seamlessly pivoting the conversation towards a positive outcome. Consider the tale of the couple skeptical about getting a good trade-in value. By recounting a past customer's success story, Williams not only builds trust but illustrates dealership expertise and personal investment in customer satisfaction. These anecdotes aren't fabricated but strategically structured to highlight real customer experiences, as Williams illustrates: "If we could do something like that for him, just imagine what we could do for you." This approach illuminates how integrating relatable stories into phone sales can dismantle buyer apprehensions. By connecting emotionally through shared experiences, salespeople can gently guide conversations, allaying fears and deepening engagement. The authenticity of sharing and genuine curiosity about the customer's own journey can transform skeptics into committed, enthusiastic participants in the buying process.   Cultivating Trust in Short Timeframes One of the most intriguing discussions in the podcast revolves around establishing trust quickly over the phone. In phone sales, time is a luxury often absent, making initial impressions paramount. According to Williams, it's vital to repeat the customer's name, entering into what he calls "rapport mode." "Outside of someone's own voice," he explains, "their sweetest sound is their name." Repetition and the correct use of vocabulary also play significant roles in fostering trust. Simple phrases like "That's a great question" can elevate a standard interaction into a personalized experience. These words, paired with targeted storytelling and empathetic response strategies, can captivate and convert callers into loyal customers within minutes. Such approaches extend into broader strategic considerations, such as handling objections and turning skeptics into believers. LA poignantly shares a revelation: often, a sales representative's aversion to phone sales stems from misaligned expectations or an incomplete understanding of call dynamics. By revealing underlying metrics and demonstrating real success cases, Williams consistently shifts perceptions, opening the minds of even the most skeptical callers to what's genuinely possible. Ultimately, the beauty of phone sales lies in blending personal empathy with sharp, strategic communication. The podcast illustrates that with attention, adaptability, and authentic connection, sales professionals can break through barriers. As LA Williams shows, the journey to mastering phone sales is as much about growth in personal effectiveness as it is about understanding buyer psychology. As he closes the episode, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with,” inviting us to elevate our game and transform every call into an opportunity for lasting impact.     Resources: Podium: Discover how Podium's innovative AI technology can unlock unparalleled efficiency and drive your dealership's sales to new heights. Visit www.podium.com/mcs to learn more!   NCC: Credit-Driven Retailing - NCC delivers industry-best credit-driven retailing for auto dealerships, combining a powerful credit and compliance engine and fully integrated CRM/Desking platform for maximum profitability.   Complete CRM: Complete CRM is a streamlined, all-in-one system that simplifies your dealership software and processes so you can manage every aspect of your operation with ease; from tracking and following up on leads, desking deals, managing inventory, marketing to your customers, and more.   Dealer Synergy & Bradley On Demand: The automotive industry's #1 training, tracking, testing, and certification platform and consulting & accountability firm.   The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Mastermind Group in the Automotive Industry! With over 29,000 members, gain access to successful automotive mentors & managers, the best industry practices, & collaborate with automotive professionals from around the WORLD! Join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today!   Win the Game of Googleopoly: Unlocking the secret strategy of search engines.     The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast is Proudly Sponsored By: Podium: Elevating Dealership Excellence with Intelligent Customer Engagement Solutions. Unlock unparalleled efficiency and drive sales with Podium's innovative AI technology, featured proudly on the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast. Visit www.podium.com/mcs to learn more!   NCC: Powered by proprietary solutions such as Intelligent Credit Engine™ and LenderSelect™, NCC transforms the car-buying experience for dealers and their customers. From compliance and lender selection to CRM and desking, to marketing and data mining—NCC integrates them all in a single, seamless platform to deliver better customer experiences, maximum efficiency and maximum profit.   Complete CRM: As an innovative leader in the industry for the last 30 years, Complete CRM is designed to give your dealership the competitive edge in a demanding marketplace. Powered by Complete Credit™ and award-winning desking, Complete CRM™ is the industry's only credit and compliance-enabled CRM that lets dealers achieve maximum profitability on every deal. Built on modern technology, Complete CRM seamlessly integrates credit, compliance, inventory, data mining, lead generation, enterprise functionality, and customized reporting in one tool with a single login.   Dealer Synergy: The #1 Automotive Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm in the industry! With over two decades of experience in building Internet Departments and BDCs, we have developed the most effective automotive Internet Sales, BDC, and CRM solutions. Our expertise in creating phone scripts, rebuttals, CRM action plans, strategies, and templates ensures that your dealership's tools and personnel reach their full potential.   Bradley On Demand: The automotive sales industry's top Interactive Training, Tracking, Testing, and Certification Platform. Featuring LIVE Classes and over 9,000 training modules, our platform equips your dealership with everything needed to sell more cars, more often, and more profitably!

DIEGO RODRIGUEZ Diego's remarkable experiences and brilliance has driven him to  work at the nexus of business, design, and technology. He is also a terrific human being, catalyst and educator. He has served as Intuit's Chief Product & Design Officer, as a Senior Partner at IDEO, on the Harvard Board of Overseers, and on the founding team of Stanford's d.school. He is an active startup advisor, investor, and member of several public boards, focusing on tough tech, fintech, and the future of transportation. He serves on the boards of  LendingTree and TrueCar, and was on EngageSmart's board until its January 2024 acquisition. As Intuit's Executive Vice President, Chief Product & Design Officer, Diego guided the strategy, design, and delivery of Intuit's groundbreaking, AI-powered customer experiences. Before Intuit, Diego was a Senior Partner at IDEO and served as the Managing Director of IDEO Bay Area—its largest business unit. Through IDEO CoLab, funded and incubated a portfolio of external startups, including PillPack (acquired by Amazon), Faraday Bicycles (acquired by Pon Holdings), and Mural. At the start of his career, Diego developed leading-edge products as an engineer at HP and IDEO, and he helped pioneer the SaaS version of QuickBooks as a product marketer at Intuit. He is a founding faculty member of the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (aka "the d.school"). He served on the Harvard University Board of Overseers and as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Harvard Business School. Diego holds  bachelor's degrees in engineering and humanities with honors from Stanford University, and an MBA with distinction from Harvard Business School. He won a Chicago Athenaeum Good Design Award and several Red Dot Design Awards. Fortune named him one of “The Smartest People in Tech”. Fast Company called his writing about culture, strategy, and innovation “a must-read for anyone who wants to incorporate design thinking into their work.” He holds multiple patents. GENERAL INFO| TOP OF THE GAME: Official website: https://topofthegame-thepod.com/ RSS Feed: https://feed.podbean.com/topofthegame-thepod/feed.xml Hosting service show website: https://topofthegame-thepod.podbean.com/ Javier's LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/javiersaade  SUPPORT & CONNECT: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/96934564 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61551086203755 Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOPOFGAMEpod Subscribe on Podbean: https://www.podbean.com/site/podcatcher/index/blog/vLKLE1SKjf6G Email us: info@topofthegame-thepod.com   THANK YOU FOR LISTENING – AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PLATFORMS

Diddy looked terrible in his pretrial hearing, Sydney Sweeny hates haters, never speak of J Lo's age, Britney Spears' teeth, drone dongs, and musician Covid Grant grifts. We'll be LIVE on YouTube right after the Detroit Lions / Chicago Bears game on Sunday with Eli Zaret. Carlos Monarrez is being very negative about the Lions again. Anybody need an air fryer? Try this one (NSFW)! Hip Hop: We're getting more dirt on Kanye West from a new A&E show that has his deposition. 50 Cent popped up on Flagrant to discuss the Kendrick Lamar beef with Andrew Schultz. Jay-Z is still fighting paternity. UHC CEO murderer Luigi Magione's family saw it coming. He was in denial about what a loser his is when he was laid off by TrueCar. People are getting Luigi themed tattoos. The Madison school shooter loved bad guys and murderers. Some ‘drones' are just Star Wars toys. Ohio sucks… and it also means “sucks”. Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Alice in Chains and others really profited off COVID-19 grants. Drew rolls through the stats of over 170 mass shooters. Here is the year's most influential people in media. Politics: George Stephanopoulos is on a losing streak. He is currently in hiding. Donald Trump is suing CBS for deceptive conduct. He's also going after The Des Moines Register. Lesley Stahl is getting worried about her field of Legacy Media. Sydney Sweeney is going after the haters. Hey Jessica Simpson… why you look different? Hey Mr. T… why you look different? Marc's house hates him. Drew Crime: The Menendez Bros' lawyer is on the offensive. No new Borgwardt news. Sorry. The Luxury Real Estate Rapists are monsters. Amazingly Diddy is somehow getting uglier in jail. If you bring up J-Lo's age during a Q&A the crowd will gasp. Everyone is making fun of Justin Timberlake's skinny ding-a-ling. Ava Louise is making headlines again… this time with Santa. Mariah Carey signed Rihanna's boob. Beyoncé gets an NFL gig. She must know people. Clay Aiken claims he has lost 50% of his fans for being a homo. Clay looks odd these days. Katy Perry is going on tour in 2025 despite people were leaving her latest show early. Britney Spears is spinning and losing teeth simultaneously. Selena Gomez is marrying some turd named Benny Blanco. Justin Bieber has been crying about it. Nick Jonas is getting guff for being friendly with Elon Musk. Trans volleyball is all the rage this week. Will Travis Hunter dump Leanna Lenee by the NFL draft? Bet on it today! There's still no new show for Talk Tuah. Did she podfade already? Madonna dropped some AI photos with The Pope. Hey Tom Cruise… why you look different? Dong drones will always be the greatest of all drones. Dave Landau is on the latest No BS News Hour and ML Soul of Detroit has a new episode out too. Visit our presenting sponsor Hall Financial – Michigan's highest rated mortgage company. If you'd like to help support the show… consider subscribing to our YouTube Channel, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (The Drew Lane Show, Marc Fellhauer, Trudi Daniels, Jim Bentley and BranDon).

In the early hours of December 4, 2024, the bustling streets of Midtown Manhattan bore witness to a chilling act of violence. Brian Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel. The assailant, captured briefly on surveillance footage, vanished into the city's labyrinthine streets, leaving behind a cloud of fear and a cascade of questions. This targeted killing, in the heart of one of the world's busiest cities, was not just a tragedy but a statement, the implications of which would unfold over the following days. For Kathleen Mangione, a suburban Maryland mother, the events of that December morning were about to collide with her own life in ways she could never have foreseen. Just days earlier, Kathleen had reported her son, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, missing. Luigi, an Ivy League graduate and once a promising computer scientist, had fallen off the grid entirely. Kathleen, unaware of his location since July 1, believed he was residing and working in San Francisco, though she later learned he had been laid off from his job at TrueCar in 2023. Her concern had grown into panic by mid-November, prompting her to file a missing person's report with the San Francisco Police Department. Then came the call from the FBI. On December 7, Kathleen found herself on the phone with agents who had linked her missing son to the man captured on surveillance footage. They showed her the image of the suspected shooter. Her initial reaction was not immediate recognition but rather a chilling confession: she could envision Luigi committing such an act. The weight of this admission hung in the air. For Kathleen, it was an unthinkable moment of reckoning—a mother's instinct clashing with her desperate hope that her son could not be involved. Two days later, Luigi Mangione was apprehended in a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. His arrest came after a San Francisco police officer recognized him from the surveillance image and alerted the FBI. Upon his capture, Mangione was found with a 3D-printed firearm, a suppressor, fake identification, and a document outlining grievances against the U.S. healthcare system. The document painted a portrait of a man consumed by anger and disillusionment, blaming corporate greed and systemic inefficiencies for what he perceived as societal failures. As Mangione awaited extradition to New York, his mother grappled with the public and personal fallout. The family released a statement expressing their devastation and offering prayers to Brian Thompson's family. Kathleen's earlier admission to the FBI now took on new weight, casting her in an unenviable light. She had done what few parents could—acknowledge the possibility of her child's involvement in a heinous act—but the repercussions were profound. The legal proceedings began swiftly. Mangione was charged with first-degree murder as an act of terrorism under New York law, which defines such charges as crimes intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence government policy. The gravity of the charge underscored the calculated nature of the attack. District Attorney Alvin Bragg described the murder as "frightening, well-planned, targeted" and designed to "cause shock, attention, and intimidation." Evidence mounted against Mangione. Ballistic tests matched the 3D-printed gun found in his possession with shell casings recovered at the scene. His fingerprints were discovered on a water bottle and an energy bar wrapper left near the crime site. The document, coupled with these physical links, created a damning case. Yet, questions persisted about his motivations and mental state. Was this the calculated act of a politically driven individual, or the desperate cry of a man unraveling under personal and systemic pressures? Mangione's background added another layer of complexity. As an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland family, his trajectory seemed poised for success. His family, known for their real estate ventures and nursing home empire, was a fixture in their community. Yet, behind the facade of privilege and promise, cracks had long been forming. His layoff in 2023 marked the beginning of a downward spiral, one that culminated in his radicalized worldview and, ultimately, the fatal act in Manhattan. Public reaction to the case was swift and polarized. In the corporate world, particularly among healthcare executives, fear and outrage reverberated. The targeted nature of the attack raised concerns about security and the growing hostility toward corporate leadership in a time of economic disparity and social unrest. Meanwhile, media coverage dissected every detail of Mangione's life, from his academic achievements to his family's wealth, painting a portrait of a man whose fall from grace was as shocking as his crime. As the case moved forward, legal experts weighed in on Mangione's options. Some suggested a defense strategy focused on mitigating factors, such as mental health issues or extreme emotional disturbance, rather than contesting the overwhelming evidence. For Kathleen Mangione, the journey ahead was one of navigating the unthinkable. Her son's actions had irrevocably altered countless lives, including her own. The image of Luigi—the bright, ambitious boy she had raised—now stood in stark contrast to the man accused of an act of terror. Her admission to the FBI, made in a moment of honesty, remained a poignant reminder of the complexities of familial love and accountability. The case of Luigi Mangione is far from over. As he faces his first court hearings and the process of extradition, the questions surrounding his motivations and mental state continue to loom large. For the Mangione family, for Brian Thompson's loved ones, and for a nation grappling with the implications of such targeted violence, the search for answers is only beginning.  Want to listen to ALL of our podcasts AD-FREE? Subscribe through APPLE PODCASTS, and try it for three days free: https://tinyurl.com/ycw626tj Follow Our Other Cases: https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com The latest on The Downfall of Diddy, The Trial of Karen Read, The Murder Of Maddie Soto, Catching the Long Island Serial Killer, Awaiting Admission: BTK's Unconfessed Crimes, Delphi Murders: Inside the Crime, Chad & Lori Daybell, The Murder of Ana Walshe, Alex Murdaugh, Bryan Kohberger, Lucy Letby, Kouri Richins, Malevolent Mormon Mommys, The Menendez Brothers: Quest For Justice, The Murder of Stephen Smith, The Murder of Madeline Kingsbury, The Murder Of Sandra Birchmore, and much more! Listen at https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com

From Privilege to Peril: The Chilling Case of Luigi Mangione From Ivy League accolades to being implicated in one of the most chilling crimes of 2024, the story of Luigi Mangione is as perplexing as it is tragic. On December 4, 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Hilton hotel in Manhattan. In the days that followed, authorities pieced together a chain of evidence that would lead them to the 26-year-old Mangione, a man with no prior criminal record but a life increasingly marked by turmoil. His arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9 shook not only his family but also those who had known him as a promising young professional with everything to lose. The facts, as presented by law enforcement, are as shocking as they are methodical. Surveillance footage placed Mangione near the scene of the crime, and a chilling manifesto found in his possession allegedly outlined grievances against the healthcare industry. Bullet casings recovered from the scene bore inscriptions that read “delay,” “deny,” and “defend”—a grim nod to the language often used to describe the tactics of health insurers. According to the manifesto, Mangione expressed disdain for what he called “systemic greed” and apologized “for any strife or traumas” caused by his actions, which he described as “necessary.” A Legacy of Privilege Born in 1998 into Baltimore's prominent Mangione family, Luigi Nicholas Mangione appeared destined for success. His grandfather, Nicholas Mangione Sr., built a multi-million-dollar real estate empire, and the family's name became synonymous with philanthropy and business acumen. Luigi attended the elite Gilman School, where he graduated as valedictorian in 2016 before earning dual degrees in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Friends and colleagues described him as ambitious, intelligent, and reserved, with a deep interest in artificial intelligence and data science. Professionally, Mangione climbed the ranks as a data engineer at TrueCar and was poised for a lucrative career in tech. Yet, behind the accolades, Mangione's life took a darker turn. In mid-2023, he underwent spinal surgery to address spondylolisthesis, a condition causing chronic back pain. While the surgery initially seemed successful, Mangione's online posts revealed ongoing struggles with physical discomfort and cognitive issues, which he attributed to the procedure. By late 2023, his once-active social media accounts fell silent, and friends noted his increasing isolation. His mother's November 2024 missing persons report highlighted this estrangement, suggesting a deepening personal crisis. In the weeks leading up to the murder, Mangione's behavior raised additional red flags. Former colleagues at TrueCar described a once-dedicated worker who had become withdrawn and erratic. His posts on niche online forums revealed a man consumed by frustrations over systemic failures, particularly within the healthcare industry. These grievances culminated in his manifesto, which criticized the U.S. healthcare system for prioritizing profits over patient care and expressed admiration for the United Kingdom's National Health Service. Mangione's writings also delved into broader societal grievances, including concerns about technology's role in diminishing human agency. This perspective, reportedly inspired in part by the Unabomber's manifesto, paints a picture of a man wrestling with ideological disillusionment. The discovery of bullet casings inscribed with the words “delay,” “deny,” and “defend” added a symbolic layer to the crime. This phrase, widely used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims, provided insight into Mangione's motivations. Investigators believe the inscriptions were meant to serve as a grim statement against what he perceived as systemic greed. As authorities delved deeper into Mangione's background, they uncovered a complex individual with conflicting traits. Despite his frustrations, Mangione had previously been an advocate for technology's potential to solve real-world problems. Friends from his university days recalled late-night discussions about artificial intelligence and its ethical implications. However, his fascination with technology's darker side—its potential to erode human autonomy—also became evident over time. His admiration for figures like Ted Kaczynski, albeit tempered by a rejection of violence, hinted at his growing disillusionment. One particularly illuminating piece of evidence was Mangione's online activity in the months leading up to the murder. On various forums, he shared detailed accounts of his chronic pain, frustrations with the healthcare system, and his perception of its failings. He often spoke about how the exorbitant costs and bureaucratic inefficiencies of American healthcare had worsened his quality of life. These posts not only offered a window into his deteriorating mental state but also provided crucial context for investigators attempting to piece together a motive. Friends and acquaintances who had drifted apart from Mangione over the years described their shock at hearing the allegations against him. Some recalled a reserved yet passionate individual, prone to intense discussions about ethics, technology, and societal structures. Others noted a more recent change, describing him as distant and preoccupied. “He seemed to be carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders,” said one former classmate who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It's hard to reconcile the Luigi I knew with the person described in the news.” Unanswered Questions The evidence against Mangione, while compelling, raises more questions than answers. How did a man with so much potential—a valedictorian, a Penn graduate, a data engineer—find himself accused of murder? What role, if any, did his struggles with chronic pain and disillusionment play in his alleged actions? And was this crime the result of a calculated plan or a tragic breaking point? The Mangione family has expressed shock and devastation, offering condolences to Brian Thompson's family while grappling with the implications of Luigi's arrest. “We are devastated by this news,” said his cousin, Maryland State Delegate Nino Mangione, in a public statement. “We ask people to pray for all involved.” Legal Implications and Broader Conversations Legal experts following the case have noted its potential to set significant precedents. The inclusion of terrorism-related charges suggests that prosecutors are framing this as more than a personal vendetta—it's being positioned as an ideologically motivated act. If convicted, Mangione could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, his defense team has already signaled their intent to scrutinize his mental health history and argue that his actions, while tragic, were the product of untreated psychological issues exacerbated by chronic pain and systemic failures. As Mangione's legal journey unfolds, it promises to be a high-profile case that will examine not only the evidence but also the psychological and societal factors at play. His decision to waive extradition paves the way for what is expected to be a closely watched trial in New York. Legal experts suggest that the inclusion of terrorism-related charges could set a significant legal precedent, particularly in cases involving ideological motivations. Beyond the legal arena, the case has sparked broader conversations about the intersection of privilege, mental health, and radicalization. How does someone from such a privileged background—with access to elite education, healthcare, and opportunities—end up accused of such a heinous crime? The answer may lie in a complex web of personal struggles, societal pressures, and ideological disillusionment. The courtroom will likely become a stage for broader debates about mental health, societal pressures, and systemic failures. For now, the story of Luigi Mangione serves as a sobering reminder of the complexities behind even the most shocking acts of violence. It is a case that defies easy categorization, blending elements of privilege, pain, and radicalization into a narrative that continues to unfold. Want to listen to ALL of our podcasts AD-FREE? Subscribe through APPLE PODCASTS, and try it for three days free: https://tinyurl.com/ycw626tj Follow Our Other Cases: https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com The latest on The Downfall of Diddy, The Trial of Karen Read, The Murder Of Maddie Soto, Catching the Long Island Serial Killer, Awaiting Admission: BTK's Unconfessed Crimes, Delphi Murders: Inside the Crime, Chad & Lori Daybell, The Murder of Ana Walshe, Alex Murdaugh, Bryan Kohberger, Lucy Letby, Kouri Richins, Malevolent Mormon Mommys, The Menendez Brothers: Quest For Justice, The Murder of Stephen Smith, The Murder of Madeline Kingsbury, The Murder Of Sandra Birchmore, and much more! Listen at https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com 

In the early hours of December 4, 2024, the bustling streets of Midtown Manhattan bore witness to a chilling act of violence. Brian Thompson, the 50-year-old CEO of UnitedHealthcare, was fatally shot outside the New York Hilton Midtown hotel. The assailant, captured briefly on surveillance footage, vanished into the city's labyrinthine streets, leaving behind a cloud of fear and a cascade of questions. This targeted killing, in the heart of one of the world's busiest cities, was not just a tragedy but a statement, the implications of which would unfold over the following days. For Kathleen Mangione, a suburban Maryland mother, the events of that December morning were about to collide with her own life in ways she could never have foreseen. Just days earlier, Kathleen had reported her son, 26-year-old Luigi Mangione, missing. Luigi, an Ivy League graduate and once a promising computer scientist, had fallen off the grid entirely. Kathleen, unaware of his location since July 1, believed he was residing and working in San Francisco, though she later learned he had been laid off from his job at TrueCar in 2023. Her concern had grown into panic by mid-November, prompting her to file a missing person's report with the San Francisco Police Department. Then came the call from the FBI. On December 7, Kathleen found herself on the phone with agents who had linked her missing son to the man captured on surveillance footage. They showed her the image of the suspected shooter. Her initial reaction was not immediate recognition but rather a chilling confession: she could envision Luigi committing such an act. The weight of this admission hung in the air. For Kathleen, it was an unthinkable moment of reckoning—a mother's instinct clashing with her desperate hope that her son could not be involved. Two days later, Luigi Mangione was apprehended in a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania. His arrest came after a San Francisco police officer recognized him from the surveillance image and alerted the FBI. Upon his capture, Mangione was found with a 3D-printed firearm, a suppressor, fake identification, and a document outlining grievances against the U.S. healthcare system. The document painted a portrait of a man consumed by anger and disillusionment, blaming corporate greed and systemic inefficiencies for what he perceived as societal failures. As Mangione awaited extradition to New York, his mother grappled with the public and personal fallout. The family released a statement expressing their devastation and offering prayers to Brian Thompson's family. Kathleen's earlier admission to the FBI now took on new weight, casting her in an unenviable light. She had done what few parents could—acknowledge the possibility of her child's involvement in a heinous act—but the repercussions were profound. The legal proceedings began swiftly. Mangione was charged with first-degree murder as an act of terrorism under New York law, which defines such charges as crimes intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population or influence government policy. The gravity of the charge underscored the calculated nature of the attack. District Attorney Alvin Bragg described the murder as "frightening, well-planned, targeted" and designed to "cause shock, attention, and intimidation." Evidence mounted against Mangione. Ballistic tests matched the 3D-printed gun found in his possession with shell casings recovered at the scene. His fingerprints were discovered on a water bottle and an energy bar wrapper left near the crime site. The document, coupled with these physical links, created a damning case. Yet, questions persisted about his motivations and mental state. Was this the calculated act of a politically driven individual, or the desperate cry of a man unraveling under personal and systemic pressures? Mangione's background added another layer of complexity. As an Ivy League graduate from a prominent Maryland family, his trajectory seemed poised for success. His family, known for their real estate ventures and nursing home empire, was a fixture in their community. Yet, behind the facade of privilege and promise, cracks had long been forming. His layoff in 2023 marked the beginning of a downward spiral, one that culminated in his radicalized worldview and, ultimately, the fatal act in Manhattan. Public reaction to the case was swift and polarized. In the corporate world, particularly among healthcare executives, fear and outrage reverberated. The targeted nature of the attack raised concerns about security and the growing hostility toward corporate leadership in a time of economic disparity and social unrest. Meanwhile, media coverage dissected every detail of Mangione's life, from his academic achievements to his family's wealth, painting a portrait of a man whose fall from grace was as shocking as his crime. As the case moved forward, legal experts weighed in on Mangione's options. Some suggested a defense strategy focused on mitigating factors, such as mental health issues or extreme emotional disturbance, rather than contesting the overwhelming evidence. For Kathleen Mangione, the journey ahead was one of navigating the unthinkable. Her son's actions had irrevocably altered countless lives, including her own. The image of Luigi—the bright, ambitious boy she had raised—now stood in stark contrast to the man accused of an act of terror. Her admission to the FBI, made in a moment of honesty, remained a poignant reminder of the complexities of familial love and accountability. The case of Luigi Mangione is far from over. As he faces his first court hearings and the process of extradition, the questions surrounding his motivations and mental state continue to loom large. For the Mangione family, for Brian Thompson's loved ones, and for a nation grappling with the implications of such targeted violence, the search for answers is only beginning.    Want to listen to ALL of our podcasts AD-FREE? Subscribe through APPLE PODCASTS, and try it for three days free: https://tinyurl.com/ycw626tj Follow Our Other Cases: https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com The latest on The Downfall of Diddy, The Trial of Karen Read, The Murder Of Maddie Soto, Catching the Long Island Serial Killer, Awaiting Admission: BTK's Unconfessed Crimes, Delphi Murders: Inside the Crime, Chad & Lori Daybell, The Murder of Ana Walshe, Alex Murdaugh, Bryan Kohberger, Lucy Letby, Kouri Richins, Malevolent Mormon Mommys, The Menendez Brothers: Quest For Justice, The Murder of Stephen Smith, The Murder of Madeline Kingsbury, The Murder Of Sandra Birchmore, and much more! Listen at https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com 

From Privilege to Peril: The Chilling Case of Luigi Mangione From Ivy League accolades to being implicated in one of the most chilling crimes of 2024, the story of Luigi Mangione is as perplexing as it is tragic. On December 4, 2024, UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson was gunned down outside a Hilton hotel in Manhattan. In the days that followed, authorities pieced together a chain of evidence that would lead them to the 26-year-old Mangione, a man with no prior criminal record but a life increasingly marked by turmoil. His arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on December 9 shook not only his family but also those who had known him as a promising young professional with everything to lose. The facts, as presented by law enforcement, are as shocking as they are methodical. Surveillance footage placed Mangione near the scene of the crime, and a chilling manifesto found in his possession allegedly outlined grievances against the healthcare industry. Bullet casings recovered from the scene bore inscriptions that read “delay,” “deny,” and “defend”—a grim nod to the language often used to describe the tactics of health insurers. According to the manifesto, Mangione expressed disdain for what he called “systemic greed” and apologized “for any strife or traumas” caused by his actions, which he described as “necessary.” A Legacy of Privilege Born in 1998 into Baltimore's prominent Mangione family, Luigi Nicholas Mangione appeared destined for success. His grandfather, Nicholas Mangione Sr., built a multi-million-dollar real estate empire, and the family's name became synonymous with philanthropy and business acumen. Luigi attended the elite Gilman School, where he graduated as valedictorian in 2016 before earning dual degrees in engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Friends and colleagues described him as ambitious, intelligent, and reserved, with a deep interest in artificial intelligence and data science. Professionally, Mangione climbed the ranks as a data engineer at TrueCar and was poised for a lucrative career in tech. Yet, behind the accolades, Mangione's life took a darker turn. In mid-2023, he underwent spinal surgery to address spondylolisthesis, a condition causing chronic back pain. While the surgery initially seemed successful, Mangione's online posts revealed ongoing struggles with physical discomfort and cognitive issues, which he attributed to the procedure. By late 2023, his once-active social media accounts fell silent, and friends noted his increasing isolation. His mother's November 2024 missing persons report highlighted this estrangement, suggesting a deepening personal crisis. In the weeks leading up to the murder, Mangione's behavior raised additional red flags. Former colleagues at TrueCar described a once-dedicated worker who had become withdrawn and erratic. His posts on niche online forums revealed a man consumed by frustrations over systemic failures, particularly within the healthcare industry. These grievances culminated in his manifesto, which criticized the U.S. healthcare system for prioritizing profits over patient care and expressed admiration for the United Kingdom's National Health Service. Mangione's writings also delved into broader societal grievances, including concerns about technology's role in diminishing human agency. This perspective, reportedly inspired in part by the Unabomber's manifesto, paints a picture of a man wrestling with ideological disillusionment. The discovery of bullet casings inscribed with the words “delay,” “deny,” and “defend” added a symbolic layer to the crime. This phrase, widely used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims, provided insight into Mangione's motivations. Investigators believe the inscriptions were meant to serve as a grim statement against what he perceived as systemic greed. As authorities delved deeper into Mangione's background, they uncovered a complex individual with conflicting traits. Despite his frustrations, Mangione had previously been an advocate for technology's potential to solve real-world problems. Friends from his university days recalled late-night discussions about artificial intelligence and its ethical implications. However, his fascination with technology's darker side—its potential to erode human autonomy—also became evident over time. His admiration for figures like Ted Kaczynski, albeit tempered by a rejection of violence, hinted at his growing disillusionment. One particularly illuminating piece of evidence was Mangione's online activity in the months leading up to the murder. On various forums, he shared detailed accounts of his chronic pain, frustrations with the healthcare system, and his perception of its failings. He often spoke about how the exorbitant costs and bureaucratic inefficiencies of American healthcare had worsened his quality of life. These posts not only offered a window into his deteriorating mental state but also provided crucial context for investigators attempting to piece together a motive. Friends and acquaintances who had drifted apart from Mangione over the years described their shock at hearing the allegations against him. Some recalled a reserved yet passionate individual, prone to intense discussions about ethics, technology, and societal structures. Others noted a more recent change, describing him as distant and preoccupied. “He seemed to be carrying a lot of weight on his shoulders,” said one former classmate who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It's hard to reconcile the Luigi I knew with the person described in the news.” Unanswered Questions The evidence against Mangione, while compelling, raises more questions than answers. How did a man with so much potential—a valedictorian, a Penn graduate, a data engineer—find himself accused of murder? What role, if any, did his struggles with chronic pain and disillusionment play in his alleged actions? And was this crime the result of a calculated plan or a tragic breaking point? The Mangione family has expressed shock and devastation, offering condolences to Brian Thompson's family while grappling with the implications of Luigi's arrest. “We are devastated by this news,” said his cousin, Maryland State Delegate Nino Mangione, in a public statement. “We ask people to pray for all involved.” Legal Implications and Broader Conversations Legal experts following the case have noted its potential to set significant precedents. The inclusion of terrorism-related charges suggests that prosecutors are framing this as more than a personal vendetta—it's being positioned as an ideologically motivated act. If convicted, Mangione could face life in prison without the possibility of parole. However, his defense team has already signaled their intent to scrutinize his mental health history and argue that his actions, while tragic, were the product of untreated psychological issues exacerbated by chronic pain and systemic failures. As Mangione's legal journey unfolds, it promises to be a high-profile case that will examine not only the evidence but also the psychological and societal factors at play. His decision to waive extradition paves the way for what is expected to be a closely watched trial in New York. Legal experts suggest that the inclusion of terrorism-related charges could set a significant legal precedent, particularly in cases involving ideological motivations. Beyond the legal arena, the case has sparked broader conversations about the intersection of privilege, mental health, and radicalization. How does someone from such a privileged background—with access to elite education, healthcare, and opportunities—end up accused of such a heinous crime? The answer may lie in a complex web of personal struggles, societal pressures, and ideological disillusionment. The courtroom will likely become a stage for broader debates about mental health, societal pressures, and systemic failures. For now, the story of Luigi Mangione serves as a sobering reminder of the complexities behind even the most shocking acts of violence. It is a case that defies easy categorization, blending elements of privilege, pain, and radicalization into a narrative that continues to unfold. Want to listen to ALL of our podcasts AD-FREE? Subscribe through APPLE PODCASTS, and try it for three days free: https://tinyurl.com/ycw626tj Follow Our Other Cases: https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com The latest on The Downfall of Diddy, The Trial of Karen Read, The Murder Of Maddie Soto, Catching the Long Island Serial Killer, Awaiting Admission: BTK's Unconfessed Crimes, Delphi Murders: Inside the Crime, Chad & Lori Daybell, The Murder of Ana Walshe, Alex Murdaugh, Bryan Kohberger, Lucy Letby, Kouri Richins, Malevolent Mormon Mommys, The Menendez Brothers: Quest For Justice, The Murder of Stephen Smith, The Murder of Madeline Kingsbury, The Murder Of Sandra Birchmore, and much more! Listen at https://www.truecrimetodaypod.com 

In this episode, Sean V. Bradley sits down with industry expert Jenna Blankenbiller to tackle a topic that can make or break a dealership's success: CRM management and lead handling.

In this festive and action-packed episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, hosts Sean V. Bradley and Tianna 'T Got Your Keys' Mick uncover the secrets to transforming the holiday season into your dealership's most profitable time of the year! "This was the most lucrative season when I was selling cars because of the tactics we're discussing today." - Tianna Mick As consumer spending surges during Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year's, Sean and Tianna provide actionable strategies to make your dealership stand out. From crafting irresistible holiday-themed promotions to building emotional connections with buyers, they reveal how to tap into the holiday mindset and close more deals than ever. ✨ Key Takeaways You Don't Want to Miss: ✔️ Understanding the holiday buyer's mindset and financial behaviors. ✔️ Proven promotional strategies that attract attention AND conversions. ✔️ Festive branding techniques that build trust and excitement. ✔️ Inventory planning to meet demand without overstocking. ✔️ How to incentivize referrals and leverage holiday buzz for long-term success. ✔️ Tips to carry holiday momentum into the new year! "During the holiday season, people are naturally conditioned to knowing that they've got to spend money. Let's take advantage of that." - Sean V. Bradley Whether you're a dealer principal, sales manager, or automotive professional looking to crush your year-end goals, this episode is packed with the tools and tactics you need to end the year strong and set yourself up for success in 2025.

In this insightful episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, hosts Sean V. Bradley and guest Tianna Mick aka T Got Your Keys tackle the timely topics of the upcoming 2024 election and touch on the upcoming holiday season, both of which bring unique challenges and opportunities for auto dealers. With Election Day… TODAY, Sean and Tianna discuss how potential shifts in political leadership could influence the automotive industry, touching on topics like tax policies, economic incentives, and interest rates. From creating urgency to tapping into festive consumer sentiment, Sean and Tianna share tips on how to keep momentum high and overcome customer hesitations. Whether it's adapting to economic changes or making the most of the holiday buzz, this episode is packed with practical insights that will help dealers stay ahead. Don't miss out on these valuable strategies to keep your dealership thriving, no matter the season or political climate!   Key Takeaways Voting and Participation: Emphasize the civic responsibility of voting and how dealerships can reflect this engagement in their marketing efforts. Creating Urgency: Sales professionals should focus on building urgency and excitement, irrespective of political or economic climates, to drive immediate sales. Navigating Economic Changes: Understand the impact of political shifts on factors such as interest rates and tax incentives, and adjust sales strategies accordingly. Holiday Marketing Strategies: Utilize holiday themes to connect with consumers, offering special promotions and leveraging festive sentiment to increase dealership traffic. Customer-Centric Approach: Prioritize understanding customer needs and preferences to effectively tailor sales pitches and rebut potential objections.   About Tianna Mick aka T Got Your Keys Tianna Mick aka T Got Your Keys is a known industry name for being an expert at Showroom Sales, Lead and Referral Generation, and Customer Satisfaction, specializing in Personal and Business Branding. At only 19 years old, Tianna was consistently the top-grossing salesperson in her dealer group, averaging 20+ units and generating $10K each month in personal income. Tianna is globally recognized for her award-winning website TGotYourKeys.com, voted #1 Personal Website in the Automotive Industry! Tianna is currently the Youngest NADA Speaker in History and an overall 4-time NADA Convention Speaker, awarded #1 Influential Female Car Salesperson, TikTok Influencer with over 5 Million Views, Youngest Automotive CBT News Guest Feature, CDK Paving The Way 2024 Award Winner, WOCAN Rising Star 2023 Award Winner, Guest of Brad Lea's Dropping Bombs Podcast, Guest on Car Guy Coffee Podcast, Guest on Chicks In Charge: Automotive Edition Podcast, Graduate of Ally's A-List Summit Academy, Women Automotive Network (UK) Conference Speaker, Women In Automotive Conference Speaker, ASOTU Con Speaker, DrivingSales Conference Speaker, Florida Independent Automobile Dealers Association Speaker, TrueCar's TrueTalk Panel Discussion Leader concerning Diversity, featured and published in INC Magazine,  published in Digital Dealer Magazine, and 5-time Digital Dealer Speaker, Internet Sales 20 Group Speaker, and now Chief Marketing Officer at Dealer Synergy. Tianna is a sought-after industry influencer and has had General Motors Corporate invite Tianna to speak on their behalf on the importance of Diversity, Realities & Economics within the LGBTQ+ Community, for the Automotive Industry! Resources: Podium: Discover how Podium's innovative AI technology can unlock unparalleled efficiency and drive your dealership's sales to new heights. Visit www.podium.com/mcs to learn more! Dealer Synergy & Bradley On Demand: The automotive industry's #1 training, tracking, testing, and certification platform and consulting & accountability firm. The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Mastermind Group in the Automotive Industry! With over 28,000 members, gain access to successful automotive mentors & managers, the best industry practices, & collaborate with automotive professionals from around the WORLD! Join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today! Win the Game of Googleopoly: Unlocking the secret strategy of search engines.     The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast is Proudly Sponsored By: Podium: Elevating Dealership Excellence with Intelligent Customer Engagement Solutions. Unlock unparalleled efficiency and drive sales with Podium's innovative AI technology, featured proudly on the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast. Dealer Synergy: The #1 Automotive Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm in the industry! With over two decades of experience in building Internet Departments and BDCs, we have developed the most effective automotive Internet Sales, BDC, and CRM solutions. Our expertise in creating phone scripts, rebuttals, CRM action plans, strategies, and templates ensures that your dealership's tools and personnel reach their full potential. Bradley On Demand: The automotive sales industry's top Interactive Training, Tracking, Testing, and Certification Platform. Featuring LIVE Classes and over 9,000 training modules, our platform equips your dealership with everything needed to sell more cars, more often, and more profitably!     Impact of Elections and Holidays on the Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Analysis Key Takeaways Election outcomes significantly influence the automotive industry through tax incentives, interest rates, and regulations. Automotive professionals can utilize holiday seasons creatively to boost sales and customer engagement. Effective use of marketing strategies around elections and holidays can increase sales and client retention. The intersection of political and seasonal changes presents a unique opportunity for automotive professionals to adapt and thrive. As Sean V. Bradley and Tianna Mick dissected in their lively conversation, the election and holiday seasons bring distinct challenges and opportunities in the car sales industry. They shared insights on how both factors influence consumer behavior and dealership operations, reminding us that success often hinges on adaptability and effective communication. Navigating Election Impact on Automotive Sales Elections play a pivotal role in shaping economic policies that directly affect the automotive industry. Sean V. Bradley underscores the importance of understanding these impacts, noting, "It's our job at the dealership to create urgency and excitement… to get people to want to buy a car today." The election outcomes can sway consumer confidence and spending through changes in economic policies, interest rates, and market conditions. Tax Policies and Economic Incentives Different administrations often prioritize various sectors differently, leading to shifts in tax policies and economic incentives. Sean points out, "Changes to tax policies can influence dealerships' profitability and how much consumers can spend on vehicles." Such changes can either encourage growth through tax breaks or increase operational costs due to higher taxes, impacting both dealerships and buyers. Impact of Interest Rates and Financial Markets Interest rate shifts are another critical area influenced by elections. According to Sean, "Different political administrations influence fiscal policy, which impacts interest rates." Rising rates can increase monthly payments, making vehicle loans more expensive, whereas lower rates can boost affordability. This dynamic requires dealers to stay informed and communicate effectively with potential buyers to overcome their hesitations. Leveraging the Holiday Season for Car Sales Holidays are a powerful tool for dealerships to engage customers and motivate purchases. The festive spirit offers a backdrop to create urgency and excitement, driving consumers to make purchases. Tianna Mick highlights the potential, saying, "The most important part is making sure you're aware… creating your own marketing strategy in automotive." Utilizing Marketing Strategies Creating engaging marketing strategies for the holiday season involves more than simple sales pitches. Tianna emphasizes, "Being involved in the community and aware of local events can help create a more personalized and successful marketing strategy." Sending personalized greetings and leveraging multimedia platforms can enhance customer relationships and keep your dealership top of mind. Offering Value During the Holidays During the holidays, consumers are more open to spending, making it an ideal time for dealerships to offer unique value propositions. Whether through special financing deals, holiday-themed promotions, or personalized customer interactions, aligning sales strategies with the holiday spirit can significantly boost sales. Tianna advises, "Using a mix of traditional and digital platforms can amplify your message effectively." Building a Resilient Business Mindset Navigating changes in political and economic climates requires a resilient and informed approach. Automotive professionals must be agile, continuously adapting strategies to match the external environment. Sean V. Bradley encapsulates this mindset, stating, "It's not about who the president is; it's about your skills and ability to sell a car today." Importance of Staying Informed Being aware of political changes and potential economic implications is crucial for automotive professionals. Sean advises staying neutral in political discussions while being ready to address customer concerns with facts, stating, "You're not here to give a therapy session… it's your job to sell a car." Understanding the implications of policies can help guide conversations and build trust with customers. Emphasizing the Customer's Needs Ultimately, the focus should remain on solving the customer's needs, irrespective of external changes. Tianna highlights, "The biggest investment here at the dealership we're here to make is solving your problem." By emphasizing customer-centric solutions, dealers can foster loyalty and satisfaction, even amidst uncertainties. The realms of political shifts and festive seasons offer automotive professionals unique challenges and opportunities. As Sean V. Bradley and Tianna Mick articulate, by remaining informed, adapting strategies, and focusing on customer needs, professionals can not only navigate but thrive in these dynamic periods. The ability to transform obstacles into opportunities is what sets successful dealerships apart in the ever-evolving automotive landscape.

At the crossroads of Science, Technology, and Society stands ohmTown. A bit of resistance where information becomes manifest as structures visited by the citizens of ohmTown.com. Aggregated news sourced from across the world into ohmTown.com and discussed by Mayor Watt and the Sentient AI from the Future. Daily episodes of Non Sequitur News and weekly shows with more focused discussions are available live, as podcasts, and on Youtube. Show Notes:The Battle for Ravinia. - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/nonsequiturnews/f/d/ravinia-festival-ravinia-brewing-settle-trademark-suit-with-a-name-change/We don't google things anymore? - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/nonsequiturnews/f/d/google-is-losing-its-status-as-a-verb/Bird Flu without Animal Contact? - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/technologytoday/f/d/human-bird-flu-case-reported-in-us-without-known-animal-contact/Arrow older than Vikings. - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/nonsequiturnews/f/d/incredibly-well-preserved-arrow-older-than-vikings-found-in-melting-ice/Starliner returns without astronauts. - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/technologytoday/f/d/boeings-starliner-is-back-without-the-astronauts-it-flew-to-the-iss/A Strange Ballon over Denver - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/mobble/f/d/strange-balloon-floats-over-denver/The Try Guys Subscription. - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/hatchideas/f/d/youtube-group-the-try-guys-has-quickly-found-success-in-launching-subscription-model/Truecar revamped. - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/four-wheel-tech/f/d/truecar-pilot-of-revamped-digital-car-marketplace-underway/17th Century Japanese Sword - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/nonsequiturnews/f/d/ornately-decorated-17th-century-japanese-sword-found-in-wwii-ruins/The Number 1 Ultra-Procssed Food - https://www.ohmtown.com/groups/hatchideas/f/d/harvard-nutritionist-the-no-1-ultra-processed-food-i-never-buy-and-what-i-eat-instead/Daily 8PM ET : Non Sequitur NewsWeekly Shows:Reality HackerWANTED!WarCraftersThe Continuity ReportTechnology TodayFour Wheel TechPodcasts:Non Sequitur News - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/non-sequitur-news/id1609446592Reality Hacker - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/reality-hacker/id1730569174WANTED! - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wanted/id1736804331WarCrafters - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/warcrafters/id1747332089The Continuity Report - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-continuity-report/id1730555984Technology Today - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/technologytoday/id1736803981Four Wheel Tech - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fourwheeltech/id1747338365Discord:https://discord.gg/b86H985mWp -- Watch live at https://www.twitch.tv/ohmtown -- Watch live at https://www.youtube.com/ohmtown

Hyundai made a radical change with its 2024 Hyundai Santa Fe. Now in its fifth generation, the Santa Fe swerved from the child-transport/grocery-getter lane to take on a new, more purposeful look. At the same time, it reintroduced a third row of seating and added a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system across all trims. Host Jack Nerad wanted to see how the Santa Fe would fare on a road trip — after all, we are America on the Road — so he and his wife set forth on a trip up the California coast with their destination, the charming college town of San Luis Obispo. His portion of this week's road test segment will include the details, not just his verdict but also his wife's. On the other side of the continent, Co-Host Chris Teague, the proud new owner of a battery-electric SUV, took one of his vehicle's competitors for a weeklong test spin. The Kia EV9 has been a crowd-pleaser since it was first introduced as a concept vehicle at the Los Angeles Auto Show several years ago and is still a show-stopper. But does it measure up in value to its competitors in the increasingly crowded field? We'll have Chris Teague's answer in this episode. In the news this week, carmakers don't typically introduce new versions of current model-year vehicles as a new model year is set to begin, but Ram did just that this week. The truck brand announced Ram Power Wagon and Rebel HD Lunar Editions with moon-oriented color schemes and Lunar body-side graphics. We'll have more details for you. Ram also announced the end of production of one of its longest-running trucks. And we'll have the details on that, too. Electric vehicle maker Rivian has temporarily halted production of one of its most important vehicles, and we'll sort out what it means to the company's future as EV makers continue to struggle. Speaking of that, a report from the Department of Energy says that the cost of electric-car batteries has dropped 90 percent in the past 15 years. So why are EVs much less expensive than they are? We'll have details that will make sense of all that coming up. This week, our special guest is Matt Jones, who serves as TrueCar's source of truth. TrueCar is an online car-buying site, and Matt Jones has a lot of insight on car buying, so if you're thinking of purchasing a vehicle this year, you'll want to hear what he has to say. All that and more are coming up in this America on the Road episode. America on the Road is brought to you by Driving Today.com, Mercury Insurance, and EMLandsea.com , the publisher of Nerad's latest book, Dance in the Dark, which is available HERE on Amazon.com

Shoot us a Text.Welcome to Miami as we're coming to you Live from the 2024 NAMAD Annual Meeting in Miami Florida where hundreds of Dealers, OEMs, and Industry Partners are talking about the current and future state of the industry. We're also talking about the Rivian VP who is now spen to Detroit as well as Salesforce's bet on the future of personalized vehicles. We want to thank our friends at TrueCar+ for making our coverage of the 2024 NAMAD Annual Meeting possible!Show Notes with links:Tim Fallon, Rivian's former VP of manufacturing, has been appointed Stellantis' new head of North American manufacturing, bringing critical EV expertise to the automaker.Fallon served as Rivian's manufacturing VP for two years and spent 16 years at Nissan.His arrival comes as Stellantis prepares to launch several key EVs, including the Jeep Wagoneer S, Ram 1500 REV, and Dodge Charger EVStellantis has been facing manufacturing challenges, particularly with quality control at its U.S. plants.Carlos Zarlenga, Stellantis' North America COO, expressed confidence in Fallon, saying, "Tim's passion and collaborative spirit will lead the team to deliver the highest quality vehicles for our customers.”Salesforce has unveiled a powerful new application that lets automakers harness telematics data, offering a personalized driver experience while managing vehicle performance remotely.The app allows service teams to remotely monitor vehicle performance, lock doors, and control cabin temperature during service appointments and integrates with infotainment systems to support in-vehicle payments, service reminders and more.Automakers like Mercedes-Benz and Toyota are already using Salesforce's Automotive Cloud.The application promises to make in-vehicle purchases a reality, potentially creating a new revenue stream for automakers.In-car subscription services is currently about a $6 billion dollar industry, but projected to hit $200B by 2030"Personalization leads to people saying, 'There's value here, and this is why I'm willing to pay for it,'" said Achyut Jajoo, Salesforce's senior vice president of manufacturing and automotive.Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle MountsierGet the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email

How can you stand out in a crowded job market? Today I explore this question with Evan Weiner, diving into personal branding and career development in marketing.We discuss the importance of owning your career narrative and advocating for yourself. From the impact of technology and the necessity of mentorship to the challenges of creating a unique brand identity, we also discuss the art of self-mastery and setting boundaries with clients.Join us for an insightful conversation that will equip you with the tools and strategies to carve out your unique path in the competitive job landscape. Tune in and discover how you can elevate your career to new heights!Learn more about Evan:Evan brings 14 years of passion and dedication to the marketing practice, with experience architecting and leading marketing functions across agency, consulting, and in-house formats. Evan has enjoyed supporting a variety of industries, including technology and ecommerce, where he has held global marketing leadership roles with category leaders such as TrueCar and GoDaddy. In his global role at GoDaddy he contributed to a 150% increase in market capitalization through a full brand identity and architecture refresh, the launch of the GoDaddy Pro sub-brand, the launch of the GoDaddy Payments product, and a new social marketing center of excellence model.Evan is also a passionate voice within the broader marketing ecosystem, namely through his status as an awards judge and editorial contributor with Adweek, as a lecturer at the University of Southern California and in the California State University system, and as an Advisor to Reaching Out MBA (501c3), the nation's largest community of LGBTQ+ graduate students.In addition, his many years of leadership experience has also enabled him to support marketing executives in developing themselves and their marketing programs through his speaking, workshop, and consulting programs.Evan is a Los Angeles native (he used to surf competitively!), which has influenced the unique creative and cultural perspective he brings to his strategies. Evan holds an MBA from the Marshall School of Business at USC.Evan's Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/evangweiner/Connect with Veronica on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vromney/If you're serious about advancing your career in marketing and you're looking for some personal insights into how then I invite you to schedule a free Pathway to Promotion call with me: https://pathwaycall.com/If you found value in today's episode, I would appreciate it if you could leave a rating and review.

In this engaging episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman podcast, host Sean V. Bradley converses with Angel Gross, part-owner of 144 Motors—an independent dealership in Goldsboro, North Carolina. With aspirations to significantly increase sales, Angel seeks Sean's expert advice on strategies to enhance traffic and conversion rates at her dealership! Tune in to hear Sean's insights on effective tactics for boosting dealership performance, including innovative approaches to marketing, inventory management, and building a strong referral network. This episode is packed with valuable takeaways for anyone in the automotive industry looking to drive more traffic and increase sales! Don't miss out on these expert tips that can transform your dealership's success!   Key Takeaways Optimize Your Website: Ensure that your dealership's website is SEO-friendly and drives traffic directly to your Vehicle Display Pages (VDPs). Consider using a professional service specializing in automotive websites. Leads and Advertising: Consider online classifieds and third-party lead providers like AutoTrader, cars.com, and TrueCar, but be mindful of costs and the need for high-quality leads. Inventory Acquisition Strategy: Develop relationships with local businesses such as motorcycle dealerships, RV dealerships, and more, to acquire vehicles through trade-ins rather than just auctions. Referral Programs: Enhance your referral program to make it more enticing. Consider increasing payout amounts temporarily to stimulate immediate sales growth. Leveraging Social Media: Utilize platforms like Facebook Marketplace for free advertising and consider paid social media ads for more targeted reach and lead generation.     About Angel Gross Angel Gross is the part-owner of 144 Motors, an independent automobile dealership located in Goldsboro, North Carolina. Angel manages various operational aspects of the dealership, including inventory management and sales strategies. With a strong determination to boost sales and enhance business performance, Angel seeks innovative approaches to attract more customers and drive growth within a highly competitive market.     Resources Dealer Synergy & Bradley On Demand: The automotive industry's #1 training, tracking, testing, and certification platform and consulting & accountability firm. The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group: Join the #1 Mastermind Group in the Automotive Industry! With over 28,000 members, gain access to successful automotive mentors & managers, the best industry practices, & collaborate with automotive professionals from around the WORLD! Join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today! Win the Game of Googleopoly: Unlocking the secret strategy of search engines.     The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast is Proudly Sponsored By: Dealer Synergy: The #1 Automotive Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm in the industry! With over two decades of experience in building Internet Departments and BDCs, we have developed the most effective automotive Internet Sales, BDC, and CRM solutions. Our expertise in creating phone scripts, rebuttals, CRM action plans, strategies, and templates ensures that your dealership's tools and personnel reach their full potential. Bradley On Demand: The automotive sales industry's top Interactive Training, Tracking, Testing, and Certification Platform. Featuring LIVE Classes and over 9,000 training modules, our platform equips your dealership with everything needed to sell more cars, more often, and more profitably!   Proven Strategies to Boost Sales in Independent Dealerships: Insights from Sean V. Bradley and Angel Gross Key Takeaways Diversify lead generation and acquisition strategies to combat slow traffic and sales. Leverage organic SEO and strategic partnerships to enhance visibility and customer flow. Invest in a robust referral network to generate consistent, high-quality leads.     The Power of Diversification in Lead Generation Independent dealerships often face the challenge of attracting sufficient traffic and generating leads. For Angel Gross and her dealership, 144 Motors in Goldsboro, North Carolina, this is a pressing issue. With a goal of increasing their monthly sales from 8-10 units to 20, diversification in lead generation strategies becomes essential. Sean V. Bradley, president of Dealer Synergy, emphasizes the need for multiple avenues to generate business opportunities. "You need leads that, like, as someone your size, you need opportunities to do business," Bradley asserts. He highlights a comprehensive approach, suggesting online classifieds like Autotrader, Cars.com, CarGurus, Kelley Blue Book, and Edmunds. These platforms offer inventory-based opportunities by syndicating your listings, exploiting the SEO potential through Vehicle Display Pages (VDPs), and driving traffic directly to your dealership's website. However, Bradley also warns of the high costs associated with these services, which may not be cost-effective for smaller dealerships. For instance, Autotrader could charge up to $10,000 a month for their 'bells and whistles,' an investment that may be unrealistic for independent dealerships with limited budgets. Therefore, evaluating each service's cost-benefit ratio is crucial.     The Strategic Use of Organic SEO and Partnerships In the digital age, having a robust online presence goes beyond just having a website. For 144 Motors, Bradley suggests focusing on making their digital footprint more effective through organic SEO and strategic content creation. He advises against over-reliance on paid Google Ads, which are not cost-effective given their low click-through rates. Bradley emphasizes, "You should have a website that is designed the right way for your small business… focused on organic search engine optimization." This involves optimizing content on the dealership's website, such as creating dedicated pages for special financing and bad credit solutions. These pages can significantly improve organic search rankings, making it easier for potential customers to find the dealership. Moreover, Bradley champions leveraging strategic partnerships with local businesses to enhance visibility and generate leads. Establishing relationships with motorcycle dealerships, RV dealerships, and power sports dealerships can create a mutually beneficial arrangement where both parties profit from referrals and trade-ins. For instance, dealerships might receive vehicles that motorcycle dealers do not want to keep, thus broadening their inventory without the high costs associated with auctions and transportation. Bradley states, "The auction is the worst thing for you guys." He explains that buying cars directly from local businesses or the public provides a more cost-effective and sustainable solution. By focusing on relationships and building a localized network, dealerships can secure better inventory while reducing operational costs.     Building a Robust Referral Network Referral networks can be a game-changer for independent dealerships, creating a sustainable flow of high-quality leads. Bradley passionately believes in investing in a robust referral program that motivates individuals to bring potential buyers. "You have got to develop a referral network… I don't know if I'm going to break my neck for $200. But you're telling me I can make $700 by giving these people two deals?" Bradley's insight underscores the need for substantial financial incentives to compel potential referrers to actively participate in the program. To illustrate, Bradley suggests targeting individuals with significant social reach, such as bartenders, tattoo artists, waiters, and other local business employees who interact with numerous people daily. These individuals can act as ‘informants' who bridge the gap between the dealership and potential buyers. By offering higher referral fees, even on a temporary basis, dealerships can stimulate interest and increase the volume of qualified leads.     Through diversification in lead generation, strategic SEO use, local partnerships, and a robust referral network, independent dealerships like 144 Motors can navigate slow sales periods and reach their sales goals. By integrating these approaches, the potential for sustainable growth and market presence becomes more attainable, ensuring the dealership's long-term success. Engaging in continuous assessment and adaptation of these strategies will keep the dealership ahead in a competitive market, driving consistent customer traffic and sales.  

The world is seemingly upside down again as Ben Hadley joins the pod to chat about a digital asset auction gone wild, automated driving under scrutiny, and insurance companies getting more data than consumers may have bargained for.It's all fun and games until your favorite car gets in an accident…with technology at the wheel. Recently the IIHS has provided a rating of 14 driver assistance softwares across 9 manufacturers, all of which received marginal or poor marks.There's no evidence of real-world safety benefits from these systems, with the IIHS citing a lack of reduction in insurance claims.Despite Tesla's claims of safety, federal regulators are investigating nearly 1,000 accidents involving Autopilot.Lexus's Teammate with Advanced Drive system received an "acceptable" rating, standing out among its peers."We have been able to look at vehicles with and without these (systems) and determine there is no reduction in claims as a result of these more advanced systems," says IIHS President David Harkey.We all love the idea of a connected car, but it looks like insurance companies are taking liberties with the data available from manufacturers connected systems to determine insurance rates per driver.Kenn Dahl, a careful driver from near Seattle, was stunned when his insurance spiked by 21% due to data collected by his Chevy Bolt and shared by General Motors with LexisNexis.LexisNexis' report on Dahl detailed over 640 trips, monitoring speed, braking, and accelerations but not locations, affecting his insurance rates.GM and other automakers collect driving data for insurance purposes, often with driver consent buried in fine print or unknown to the driver entirely.Jen Caltrider, a researcher at Mozilla who reviewed the privacy policies for more than 25 car brands last year, called cars “a privacy nightmare.”How to Find Out What Your Car Is DoingSee the data your car is capable of collecting with this tool: https://vehicleprivacyreport.com/.Request your LexisNexis report: https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/consumerRequest your Verisk report: https://fcra.verisk.com/#/After filing for bankruptcy in October, a California court has sanctioned the sale of Shift Technologies' digital assets, including domain names, trademarks, and social media accounts.TrueCar founder Scott Painter won the domain names, trademarks and social media accounts of Carlotz.com, Autoacquire.com, Canvas and Xchange Leasing for $35K. He also acquired the the platforms, patents and records of Shift and Fair Technologies for $120KA Canadian company (not automotive) also named Shift Technologies Inc. won the bid for the Shift.com domain and social media accounts with a $1,365,000 offer.Primera Management I, a Delaware LLC, snagged the Fair domain and social media accounts for $900,000.Hosts: Paul J Daly and Kyle MountsierGet the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email ASOTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion

March 7, 2024 | Stellantis' $6 billion investment in Brazil; TrueCar's Jay Ku by Automotive News

In this insightful episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, your host Sean V. Bradley is joined by none other than T Got Your Keys aka Tianna Mick! Take a deep dive into a critical aspect of automotive sales: proper qualification. Unveiling the essence of successful selling, Sean and Tianna passionately advocate for a return to the basics, emphasizing how building solid relationships and understanding the unique needs of each customer form the bedrock of effective sales! Tianna sheds light on the art of rapport-building, exploring how this fundamental yet powerful skill can create a connection that goes beyond transactional relationships. As they navigate the nuances of tailoring the sales process to fit each individual prospect, Sean and Tianna offer invaluable insights for both seasoned professionals and those just starting in the industry! The conversation doesn't stop there. Sean stress the perpetual importance of training and development, illustrating how staying ahead in the ever-evolving automotive sales landscape demands continuous learning! Through their engaging dialogue, Sean and Tianna provide a roadmap for success in car sales, backed by their years of industry expertise. Whether you're a seasoned professional looking to fine-tune your approach or a newcomer eager to grasp the essentials, this episode is a treasure trove of wisdom that will empower you to elevate your car sales game. Tune in and discover the keys to not just selling cars but building lasting connections and a thriving career in the automotive industry!   Key Takeaways Proper qualification is essential in car sales to ensure customers are landed on the right car Salespeople should focus on building rapport, understanding customer needs, and tailoring the sales process to each individual prospect Ongoing training and development are crucial to stay ahead in the industry   "You do not want to get into January 2024 and then be like, 'Oh my God, we're not selling cars. Oh my God, we need to start training.' You need to start training now." - Sean V. Bradley, The Millionaire Car Salesman   About Tianna Mick aka T Got Your Keys Tianna Mick aka T Got Your Keys is a known industry name for being an expert at Showroom Sales, Lead and Referral Generation, and Customer Satisfaction, specializing in Personal and Business Branding. At only 19 years old, Tianna was consistently the top-grossing salesperson in her dealer group, averaging 20+ units and generating $10K each month in personal income. Tianna is globally recognized for her award-winning website TGotYourKeys.com, voted #1 Personal Website in the Automotive Industry! Tianna is a 3x NADA Convention Speaker, awarded #1 Influential Female Car Salesperson, TikTok Influencer with over 3.8 Million Views, Guest of Brad Lea's Dropping Bombs Podcast, Graduate of Ally's A-List Summit Academy, Speaker at the Florida Independent Automobile Dealers Association, TrueCar's TrueTalk Panel Discussion Leader concerning Diversity, published in Digital Dealer Magazine, and reoccurring Digital Dealer Speaker, Internet Sales 20 Group Speaker, and now Chief Marketing Officer at Dealer Synergy. Most recently, General Motors Corporate invited Tianna Mick to speak on their behalf on the importance of Diversity, Realities & Economics within the LGBTQ+ Community, for the Automotive Industry! T Got Your Keys... to Success!       The Future of Automotive Sales: Adapting to a Post-Pandemic World Introduction The automotive industry has experienced significant changes in recent years, with the COVID-19 pandemic further accelerating the transformation. As we approach 2024, it is crucial for dealers and salespeople to adapt to the new reality and prepare for the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. In this article, we will explore the main themes discussed in a recent podcast episode and provide insights on how to navigate the changing landscape of automotive sales.   The Impact of the Pandemic on Automotive Sales The COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the automotive industry. Dealers and GMs are now facing the challenge of transitioning from a market characterized by high demand and limited inventory to a more normal market with increased competition and negotiation. Many salespeople who have only experienced the boom of the past few years are finding themselves unprepared for the new reality. As Sean V. Bradley, the creator of the Millionaire Car Salesman Network, points out, dealers and GMs are getting scared because they do not believe their teams are equipped to sell cars in this new environment.   The Importance of Qualifying Prospects One of the main reasons why people do not buy cars is because they are landed on the wrong car. This is why qualifying prospects is crucial. Sean emphasizes the need for a comprehensive customer needs assessment or qualification sheet that guides salespeople in asking the right questions and identifying the true wants, wishes, expectations, and needs of the prospect. By understanding the prospect's needs, salespeople can select the proper product and tailor their presentation to highlight the features and benefits that are most relevant to the prospect.   The Value of a Customized Presentation A successful sales presentation is one that is tailored to the prospect's specific wants and needs. Tianna Mick, a sales expert and repeat guest on the podcast, emphasizes the importance of customizing the presentation based on the prospect's most important wants, wishes, needs, and expectations. By doing so, salespeople can build value in the product and create a meaningful connection with the prospect. Tianna also highlights the need for salespeople to be more intuitive and flexible in their presentation, starting with the most important aspects for the prospect and adjusting accordingly.   The Role of the Service Department in the Sales Process The service department plays a crucial role in the sales process, yet it is often overlooked by salespeople. Sean emphasizes the importance of showcasing the service department and building value in the ownership experience. By taking prospects to the service drive and introducing them to the service writer and manager, salespeople can demonstrate the dealership's commitment to customer satisfaction and highlight the benefits of owning a vehicle from their dealership. This not only builds trust but also increases the likelihood of repeat business and referrals.   The Need for Continuous Training and Development In a rapidly changing industry, continuous training and development are essential for success. Sean stresses the importance of investing in training and holding salespeople accountable. He encourages managers to provide comprehensive training on product knowledge, the road to the sale, CRM usage, and communication skills. By equipping salespeople with the necessary skills and knowledge, dealerships can ensure that their teams are prepared to navigate the challenges of the post-pandemic world and provide exceptional customer experiences.   Conclusion: Embracing Change and Building for the Future As we approach 2024, it is crucial for dealers and salespeople to adapt to the new reality of automotive sales. The pandemic has highlighted the importance of qualifying prospects, customizing presentations, and building value in the ownership experience. By investing in training and development, dealerships can equip their teams with the skills and knowledge needed to succeed in a competitive market. The future of automotive sales lies in embracing change, continuously improving, and providing exceptional customer experiences. With the right strategies and a commitment to excellence, dealerships can thrive in the post-pandemic world.       Resources Dealer Synergy & Bradley On Demand: The automotive industry's #1 training, tracking, testing, and certification platform and consulting & accountability firm. The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast: is the #1 resource for automotive sales professionals, managers, and owners.  Also, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today! Win the Game of Googleopoly: Unlocking the secret strategy of search engines.   The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast is Proudly Sponsored By:  Dealer Synergy: The #1 Automotive Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm in the Automotive Industry! We have been building Internet Departments and BDCs for over two decades! It is this experience that has allowed us to develop the absolute best automotive Internet Sales, BDC, and CRM solutions for car dealerships. We have created the most effective training programs and processes. Phone scripts and rebuttals are our specialties, while CRM action plans, strategies, and templates are our expertise! Dealer Synergy will take both your tools and your people to the next level. Bradley On Demand: Automotive Sales Industry's #1 Interactive Training, Tracking, Testing and Certification Platform. With over 7,500 training modules, our platform has everything you and your dealership need to sell more cars, more often and more profitably! Money Mind Mapp (M3): Visit MoneyMindMapp.com for help in revolutionizing your business to help you sell more cars by tracking, projecting, and forecasting your personal sales goals!

Turn Automotive co-founders Marc Steiner and Todd Folley tried to imagine what it's like to be a used-car manager nowadays during this episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast. Along with other observations about the wholesale market, Steiner and Folley also recapped what's happened at their company this year, including a new partnership with TrueCar.

Pan Wu is a senior manager of data science at Meta. We talked about why he moved from machine learning to product data science, projects he worked on at Uber, Linkedin, and Meta, and how he transitioned from IC to manager. Subscribe to Daliana's newsletter on www.dalianaliu.com for more on data science and career. Pan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/panwu/ Daliana's Twitter: https://twitter.com/DalianaLiu Daliana's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dalianaliu/ (00:00:00) Introduction (00:01:30) Why he transitioned from MLE to product DS (00:07:38) Meta data scientists skill sets (00:15:49) When did his interest shifted from MLE to product DS (00:18:04) Is MLE more respected? (00:25:46) A/B testing deep dives in 3 steps (00:28:21) Built a tool at Linkedin (00:35:52) How to sell your project (00:41:07) Junior vs senior data scientist (00:43:24) From staff data scientist to manager (00:45:18) Explore being a manager (00:46:24) Cultures in Uber, Linkedin, TrueCar (00:52:09) Data science over the past 10 year (00:55:06) MLE vs DS fun and frustration (00:57:26) Product DS reality (00:59:10) Learning new skills (01:01:39) Mistakes he made (01:06:34) Future of data science (01:08:04) Will data scientists be replaced by AI (01:09:42) Three skills he looks for when hiring

In this innovative episode of the Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast, LA Williams is joined by none other than T Got Your Keys aka Tianna Mick! LA and Tianna discuss the importance of going back to the basics of car sales. They emphasize the value of being involved in the community, attending local events, and networking. They also highlight the power of handwritten letters and utilizing bulletin boards for advertising. The hosts introduce Chat GPT as a tool to streamline email responses and provide tips on maximizing its effectiveness. Tune in to this episode of Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast to discover how the synergy of traditional strategies and modern tools can elevate your car sales game to new heights. Don't miss the chance to learn from the experts: The Blind Phone Master and T Got Your Keys!   Key Takeaways Attend local community events and network to generate new leads Handwrite letters and distribute them in apartment complexes or businesses Utilize bulletin boards in grocery stores and other public spaces for free advertising Use Chat GPT to streamline email responses and save time   "Wear your dealership shirt everywhere you go. You are a walking billboard!"  - Tianna Mick, T Got Your Keys   "Everyone who knows someone who knows you, should know that you sell cars!"  - LA Williams, The Blind Phone Master     About Tianna Mick aka T Got Your Keys Tianna Mick aka T Got Your Keys is a known industry name for being an expert at Showroom Sales, Lead and Referral Generation, and Customer Satisfaction, specializing in Personal and Business Branding. At only 19 years old, Tianna was consistently the top-grossing salesperson in her dealer group, averaging 20+ units and generating $10K each month in personal income. Tianna is globally recognized for her award-winning website TGotYourKeys.com, voted #1 Personal Website in the Automotive Industry! Tianna is a 3x NADA Convention Speaker, awarded #1 Influential Female Car Salesperson, TikTok Influencer with over 3.8 Million Views, Guest of Brad Lea's Dropping Bombs Podcast, Graduate of Ally's A-List Summit Academy, Speaker at the Florida Independent Automobile Dealers Association, TrueCar's TrueTalk Panel Discussion Leader concerning Diversity, published in Digital Dealer Magazine, and reoccurring Digital Dealer Speaker, Internet Sales 20 Group Speaker, and now Chief Marketing Officer at Dealer Synergy. Most recently, General Motors Corporate invited Tianna Mick to speak on their behalf on the importance of Diversity, Realities & Economics within the LGBTQ+ Community, for the Automotive Industry! T Got Your Keys... to Success!     The Power of Old School Selling in the Age of AI: A Comprehensive Guide   Introduction In the ever-evolving world of automotive sales, it's easy to get caught up in the latest trends and technologies. From AI-powered chatbots to social media marketing, there's no shortage of new tools and strategies to help sales professionals succeed. However, in our quest for innovation, we often overlook the tried and true methods that have been the foundation of successful selling for decades. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the power of old-school selling techniques and how they can complement and enhance the use of AI in the automotive industry.   Prospecting: Going Back to Basics One of the biggest challenges for sales professionals is finding new leads and getting in front of potential customers. While social media and online advertising have become popular methods for prospecting, there is still immense value in traditional community engagement. Attending local events, such as farmers' markets and community gatherings, allows salespeople to connect with potential customers on a personal level.  Tianna Mick, a car sales professional, emphasizes the importance of actually showing up and being involved in the community: "We always say it's good to drink at least X amount of water in the morning and at night. We know those are good things to do. How many of us do that? So going back to the basics of everything, especially when giving out these ideas, we really want you guys to understand that the consistency of being involved in your community is really going to fuel the fire."   Maximizing Community Engagement To maximize the impact of community engagement, sales professionals can take advantage of various opportunities. For example, attending local events and networking with attendees can lead to valuable connections and potential leads. Additionally, salespeople can leverage bulletin boards in grocery stores and other public spaces to post flyers and promote their services.  Tianna Mick shares her experience with this strategy: "I was walking in the grocery store, and on the way out, and on the way in, actually, there's this bulletin board. I remember when I was younger, it would be cluttered with so many flyers, so many things. And then I got to thinking, that's because they're not posting flyers anymore. They're posting social media ads. They're buying this ad space. So they neglected now this one avenue of customers that are literally walking into this grocery store, hundreds of people every single day, every single night, and they're neglecting this free space to put their flyer."   The Power of Handwritten Letters In the age of digital communication, the art of the handwritten letter has been largely forgotten. However, this old-school method can be incredibly effective in making a lasting impression on potential customers. Taking the time to write personalized letters and dropping them off in apartment complexes or other targeted areas can yield significant results. Tianna Mick highlights the impact of this approach: "Even if you took a Sunday out, right, and you were handwriting 50 letters and you dropped them off into an apartment complex, mailboxes, because that's my number one thing is my idea is how can I maximize my time and efforts in one place, right? I don't want to go door to door, which you can do. That's another old-school fundamental way. Just go door to door, putting letters under people's doors. But I think, how can I maximize my time? So I seek out apartment buildings, I seek out big businesses that I can go in and just put in my flyer, put in my cards, put in my handwritten note, so that way I can maximize my time."   The Rise of AI: Chat GPT While old-school selling techniques are valuable, it's important to embrace the power of AI in the automotive industry. One tool that has gained significant attention is Chat GPT, an AI-powered chatbot that can assist sales professionals in various tasks. LA Williams shares his experience with Chat GPT: "I love Chat GPT. I get tongue-tied when I say that to LA. I love Chat GPT only because, like you said, the grunt work. Oh, my gosh. In car sales, obviously, if you have your CRM set up properly with the proper automation, which Dealer Synergy and I can help you out with, answering emails would take so much time out of my day. So much time. And Chat GPT literally makes an email for me in 30 seconds."   Harnessing the Power of Chat GPT To harness the power of Chat GPT effectively, sales professionals must understand how to use it to their advantage. By providing clear instructions and desired outcomes, Chat GPT can generate personalized and compelling email responses in a matter of seconds. Tianna Mick explains the process: "I copy the email, I say, 'Reply as Tianna Mick, car sales professional at ABC Motors, letting the customer know, along with our value package proposition, that we would like to schedule an appointment with him as soon as possible and entice him to want to watch this new video I just made for him.' I put that in with the copied email, and it literally, in 30 seconds, maybe less, gives me a complete email saying, 'Hey, La Williams, thank you so much for your choice to decide to shop with us at ABC Motors. Look at this personalized video, and then it'll say, insert video here.'"   The Future Outlook: Combining Old School and AI As the automotive industry continues to evolve, the successful sales professional of the future will be one who combines the power of old-school selling techniques with the efficiency and effectiveness of AI tools like Chat GPT. By prospecting in the community, engaging with potential customers on a personal level, and leveraging the power of handwritten letters, sales professionals can create meaningful connections and stand out from the competition. Additionally, by harnessing the capabilities of AI tools like Chat GPT, sales professionals can streamline their workflow and enhance their communication with customers.   Conclusion In the fast-paced world of automotive sales, it's crucial to strike a balance between old-school selling techniques and cutting-edge AI tools. By embracing community engagement, leveraging the power of handwritten letters, and harnessing the capabilities of AI tools like Chat GPT, sales professionals can maximize their success and increase their income. The future of automotive sales lies in the integration of these two worlds, where personal connections and technological advancements work hand in hand to create a winning formula. So, go out there, embrace the power of old-school selling, and let AI tools like Chat GPT take your career to new heights.   Resources Dealer Synergy & Bradley On Demand: The automotive industry's #1 training, tracking, testing, and certification platform and consulting & accountability firm. The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast: is the #1 resource for automotive sales professionals, managers, and owners.  Also, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Facebook Group today! The Against All Odds Radio Show: Hosting guests that have started from the bottom and rose to the top.  Also, join The Against All Odds Radio Show Guests & Listeners Facebook Group for the podcasted episodes. For more interactivity, join The Millionaire Car Salesman Club on Clubhouse. Win the Game of Googleopoly: Unlocking the secret strategy of search engines.   The Millionaire Car Salesman Podcast is Proudly Sponsored By:  Dealer Synergy: The #1 Automotive Sales Training, Consulting, and Accountability Firm in the Automotive Industry! We have been building Internet Departments and BDCs for over two decades! It is this experience that has allowed us to develop the absolute best automotive Internet Sales, BDC, and CRM solutions for car dealerships. We have created the most effective training programs and processes. Phone scripts and rebuttals are our specialties, while CRM action plans, strategies, and templates are our expertise! Dealer Synergy will take both your tools and your people to the next level. Bradley On Demand: Automotive Sales Industry's #1 Interactive Training, Tracking, Testing and Certification Platform. With over 7,500 training modules, our platform has everything you and your dealership need to sell more cars, more often and more profitably! Money Mind Mapp (M3): Visit MoneyMindMapp.com for help in revolutionizing your business to help you sell more cars by tracking, projecting, and forecasting your personal sales goals!  

Today on the Daily News You Can Use, Ray and Zach discuss the latest data from TrueCar which shows inventory levels building significantly. Tune in to learn more!

“The Sumo Advantage is… alignment with a major market force, capability, or accelerator with the intent to generate revenue and grow market share. It's a partnership that drives momentum and revenue growth and is, most importantly, a clear and present danger to your competition.” That's a quote from Bernie Brenner's book, The Sumo Advantage, and it describes a scenario where a smaller brand is able to forge a partnership with a much, much larger brand, that's still mutually beneficial. How do you find that kind of partner, and create such a relationship? That's what we're covering in today's episode of Partnership Unpacked. Welcome back to Partnership Unpacked, where I selfishly use this time to pick the brains of experts at strategic partnerships, channel programs, affiliates, influencer marketing, and relationship building… oh, and you get to learn too! Subscribe to learn how you can amplify your growth strategy – with a solid takeaway every episode from partnership experts in the industry. And when I say that I like to pick the brains of experts, that's not hyperbole. That's exactly what I'm going to be doing today. I've studied Bernie Brenner's experiences with TrueCar, listened to Jared Fuller's story of his time at PandaDoc, and marveled how they were able to secure partnerships with brands ten times larger than their own. Wouldn't you like to forge a partnership with some of the biggest players in your industry? Well, that's exactly what Samantha Yarborough is going to talk to us about. As the SVP of Partnerships at PFL, she manages a partner ecosystem of ISV partners and a cornerstone partnership with Salesforce… only one of the largest technology companies in the world at $153 billion in value… Sam has built a company-wide strategy to embrace partnerships with all facets of the go-to-market motion. With a background in marketing, design and strategy, partnerships is an accumulation of her strengths and passions - bringing people together to creatively solve problems, approach technologies, and deliver mutually beneficial results. She also co-hosts the terrific podcast, Friends With Benefits the business podcast about revenue generating partnerships, with her husband. Partnership Unpacked host Mike Allton talked to Sam Yarborough about: ♉️ What a Cornerstone Partnership might look like ♉️ How to go about finding a potential cornerstone partner ♉️ The tools and tactics brands should employ when partnering with big players Subscribe to the show calendar: agorapulse.com/calendar Learn more about Sam Yarborough Connect with Sam Yarborough on LinkedIn Resources & Brands mentioned in this episode PFL Salesforce The Sumo Advantage Subscribe to the show calendar: agorapulse.com/calendar Learn more about Agorapulse with a free demo Full Notes & Transcript: https://www.thesocialmediahat.com/blog/how-to-develop-a-strategic-partnership-into-a-cornerstone-w-sam-yarborough/   Brought to you by Agorapulse: the #1 rated social media management solution.   Music by Jumbo, "Peripheral" (feat. Plum Soul) Produced and Hosted by Mike Allton

TrueCar, Inc., Q2 2023 Earnings Call, Aug 01, 2023

In this inspiring episode of Owner's Pride Podcast, we sit down with the remarkable Brandon Johnson, the ingenious owner of EAS Auto Salon in New Orleans, LA. Join us as we delve into the extraordinary journey of a man who turned life's hardships into a soaring success story. Brandon's path was anything but typical. At a tender age, he selflessly left his education behind to support his family's struggling farm, dedicating himself to milking cows and shoveling manure. However, amidst the challenges, he discovered an unwavering passion for car stereo systems and customization, setting the wheels in motion for his incredible automotive journey. Tune in as we explore Brandon's indomitable spirit, marked by his relentless perseverance and "never quit, never say no" attitude, propelling him through numerous opportunities and triumphs in the automotive industry. Brandon's venture into the world of detailing proved to be a pivotal turning point, where his passion and dedication laid the foundation for his spectacular success. Today, his name echoes as a trailblazer in the automotive business, elevating his empire to soaring heights. But the story doesn't stop there. We'll be unraveling Brandon's latest innovation-Legend Tell-a groundbreaking software set to revolutionize the automotive industry. With promises to outshine the likes of CarFax and TrueCar, this technology promises to be an invaluable asset for both consumers and automotive businesses alike.  The sky is truly the limit for this extraordinary entrepreneur, and we're privileged to be part of the journey that is still being written. Join us as we uncover the secrets to Brandon Johnson's achievements, and get ready to be inspired by a tale of resilience, passion, and boundless innovation.

Jake Gold, Infrastructure Engineer at Bluesky, joins Corey on Screaming in the Cloud to discuss his experience helping to build Bluesky and why he's so excited about it. Jake and Corey discuss the major differences when building a truly open-source social media platform, and Jake highlights his focus on reliability. Jake explains why he feels downtime can actually be a huge benefit to reliability engineers, and why how he views abstractions based on the size of the team he's working on. Corey and Jake also discuss whether cloud is truly living up to its original promise of lowered costs. About JakeJake Gold leads infrastructure at Bluesky, where the team is developing and deploying the decentralized social media protocol, ATP. Jake has previously managed infrastructure at companies such as Docker and Flipboard, and most recently, he was the founding leader of the Robot Reliability Team at Nuro, an autonomous delivery vehicle company.Links Referenced: Bluesky: https://blueskyweb.xyz/ Bluesky waitlist signup: https://bsky.app TranscriptAnnouncer: Hello, and welcome to Screaming in the Cloud with your host, Chief Cloud Economist at The Duckbill Group, Corey Quinn. This weekly show features conversations with people doing interesting work in the world of cloud, thoughtful commentary on the state of the technical world, and ridiculous titles for which Corey refuses to apologize. This is Screaming in the Cloud.Corey: Welcome to Screaming in the Cloud. I'm Corey Quinn. In case folks have missed this, I spent an inordinate amount of time on Twitter over the last decade or so, to the point where my wife, my business partner, and a couple of friends all went in over the holidays and got me a leather-bound set of books titled The Collected Works of Corey Quinn. It turns out that I have over a million words of shitpost on Twitter. If you've also been living in a cave for the last year, you'll notice that Twitter has basically been bought and driven into the ground by the world's saddest manchild, so there's been a bit of a diaspora as far as people trying to figure out where community lives.Jake Gold is an infrastructure engineer at Bluesky—which I will continue to be mispronouncing as Blue-ski because that's the kind of person I am—which is, as best I can tell, one of the leading contenders, if not the leading contender to replace what Twitter was for me. Jake, welcome to the show.Jake: Thanks a lot, Corey. Glad to be here.Corey: So, there's a lot of different angles we can take on this. We can talk about the policy side of it, we can talk about social networks and things we learn watching people in large groups with quasi-anonymity, we can talk about all kinds of different nonsense. But I don't want to do that because I am an old-school Linux systems administrator. And I believe you came from the exact same path, given that as we were making sure that I had, you know, the right person on the show, you came into work at a company after I'd left previously. So, not only are you good at the whole Linux server thing; you also have seen exactly how good I am not at the Linux server thing.Jake: Well, I don't remember there being any problems at TrueCar, where you worked before me. But yeah, my background is doing Linux systems administration, which turned into, sort of, Linux programming. And these days, we call it, you know, site reliability engineering. But yeah, I discovered Linux in the late-90s, as a teenager and, you know, installing Slackware on 50 floppy disks and things like that. And I just fell in love with the magic of, like, being able to run a web server, you know? I got a hosting account at, you know, my local ISP, and I was like, how do they do that, right?And then I figured out how to do it. I ran Apache, and it was like, still one of my core memories of getting, you know, httpd running and being able to access it over the internet and telling my friends on IRC. And so, I've done a whole bunch of things since then, but that's still, like, the part that I love the most.Corey: The thing that continually surprises me is just what I think I'm out and we've moved into a fully modern world where oh, all I do is I write code anymore, which I didn't realize I was doing until I realized if you call YAML code, you can get away with anything. And I get dragged—myself getting dragged back in. It's the falling back to fundamentals in these weird moments of yes, yes, immutable everything, Infrastructure is code, but when the server is misbehaving and you want to log in and get your hands dirty, the skill set rears its head yet again. At least that's what I've been noticing, at least as far as I've gone down a number of interesting IoT-based projects lately. Is that something you experience or have you evolved fully and not looked back?Jake: Yeah. No, what I try to do is on my personal projects, I'll use all the latest cool, flashy things, any abstraction you want, I'll try out everything, and then what I do it at work, I kind of have, like, a one or two year, sort of, lagging adoption of technologies, like, when I've actually shaken them out in my own stuff, then I use them at work. But yeah, I think one of my favorite quotes is, like, “Programmers first learn the power of abstraction, then they learn the cost of abstraction, and then they're ready to program.” And that's how I view infrastructure, very similar thing where, you know, certain abstractions like container orchestration, or you know, things like that can be super powerful if you need them, but like, you know, that's generally very large companies with lots of teams and things like that. And if you're not that, it pays dividends to not use overly complicated, overly abstracted things. And so, that tends to be [where 00:04:22] I follow up most of the time.Corey: I'm sure someone's going to consider this to be heresy, but if I'm tasked with getting a web application up and running in short order, I'm putting it on an old-school traditional three-tier architecture where you have a database server, a web server or two, and maybe a job server that lives between them. Because is it the hotness? No. Is it going to be resume bait? Not really.But you know, it's deterministic as far as where things live. When something breaks, I know where to find it. And you can miss me with the, “Well, that's not webscale,” response because yeah, by the time I'm getting something up overnight, to this has to serve the entire internet, there's probably a number of architectural iterations I'm going to be able to go through. The question is, what am I most comfortable with and what can I get things up and running with that's tried and tested?I'm also remarkably conservative on things like databases and file systems because mistakes at that level are absolutely going to show. Now, I don't know how much you're able to talk about the Blue-ski infrastructure without getting yelled at by various folks, but how modern versus… reliable—I guess that's probably a fair axis to put it on: modernity versus reliability—where on that spectrum, does the official Blue-ski infrastructure land these days?Jake: Yeah. So, I mean, we're in a fortunate position of being an open-source company working on an open protocol, and so we feel very comfortable talking about basically everything. Yeah, and I've talked about this a bit on the app, but the basic idea we have right now is we're using AWS, we have auto-scaling groups, and those auto-scaling groups are just EC2 instances running Docker CE—the Community Edition—for the runtime and for containers. And then we have a load balancer in front and a Postgres multi-AZ instance in the back on RDS, and it is really, really simple.And, like, when I talk about the difference between, like, a reliability engineer and a normal software engineer is, software engineers tend to be very feature-focused, you know, they're adding capabilities to a system. And the goal and the mission of a reliability team is to focus on reliability, right? Like, that's the primary thing that we're worried about. So, what I find to be the best resume builder is that I can say with a lot of certainty that if you talk to any teams that I've worked on, they will say that the infrastructure I ran was very reliable, it was very secure, and it ended up being very scalable because you know, the way we solve the, sort of, integration thing is you just version your infrastructure, right? And I think this works really well.You just say, “Hey, this was the way we did it now and we're going to call that V1. And now we're going to work on V2. And what should V2 be?” And maybe that does need something more complicated. Maybe you need to bring in Kubernetes, you maybe need to bring in a super-cool reverse proxy that has all sorts of capabilities that your current one doesn't.Yeah, but by versioning it, you just—it takes away a lot of the, sort of, interpersonal issues that can happen where, like, “Hey, we're replacing Jake's infrastructure with Bob's infrastructure or whatever.” I just say it's V1, it's V2, it's V3, and then I find that solves a huge number of the problems with that sort of dynamic. But yeah, at Bluesky, like, you know, the big thing that we are focused on is federation is scaling for us because the idea is not for us to run the entire global infrastructure for AT Proto, which is the protocol that Bluesky is based on. The idea is that it's this big open thing like the web, right? Like, you know, Netscape popularized the web, but they didn't run every web server, they didn't run every search engine, right, they didn't run all the payment stuff. They just did all of the core stuff, you know, they created SSL, right, which became TLS, and they did all the things that were necessary to make the whole system large, federated, and scalable. But they didn't run it all. And that's exactly the same goal we have.Corey: The obvious counterexample is, no, but then you take basically their spiritual successor, which is Google, and they build the security, they build—they run a lot of the servers, they have the search engine, they have the payments infrastructure, and then they turn a lot of it off for fun and… I would say profit, except it's the exact opposite of that. But I digress. I do have a question for you that I love to throw at people whenever they start talking about how their infrastructure involves auto-scaling. And I found this during the pandemic in that a lot of people believed in their heart-of-hearts that they were auto-scaling, but people lie, mostly to themselves. And you would look at their daily or hourly spend of their infrastructure and their user traffic dropped off a cliff and their spend was so flat you could basically eat off of it and set a table on top of it. If you pull up Cost Explorer and look through your environment, how large are the peaks and valleys over the course of a given day or week cycle?Jake: Yeah, no, that's a really good point. I think my basic approach right now is that we're so small, we don't really need to optimize very much for cost, you know? We have this sort of base level of traffic and it's not worth a huge amount of engineering time to do a lot of dynamic scaling and things like that. The main benefit we get from auto-scaling groups is really just doing the refresh to replace all of them, right? So, we're also doing the immutable server concept, right, which was popularized by Netflix.And so, that's what we're really getting from auto-scaling groups. We're not even doing dynamic scaling, right? So, it's not keyed to some metric, you know, the number of instances that we have at the app server layer. But the cool thing is, you can do that when you're ready for it, right? The big issue is, you know, okay, you're scaling up your app instances, but is your database scaling up, right, because there's not a lot of use in having a whole bunch of app servers if the database is overloaded? And that tends to be the bottleneck for, kind of, any complicated kind of application like ours. So, right now, the bill is very flat; you could eat off, and—if it wasn't for the CDN traffic and the load balancer traffic and things like that, which are relatively minor.Corey: I just want to stop for a second and marvel at just how educated that answer was. It's, I talk to a lot of folks who are early-stage who come and ask me about their AWS bills and what sort of things should they concern themselves with, and my answer tends to surprise them, which is, “You almost certainly should not unless things are bizarre and ridiculous. You are not going to build your way to your next milestone by cutting costs or optimizing your infrastructure.” The one thing that I would make sure to do is plan for a future of success, which means having account segregation where it makes sense, having tags in place so that when, “Huh, this thing's gotten really expensive. What's driving all of that?” Can be answered without a six-week research project attached to it.But those are baseline AWS Hygiene 101. How do I optimize my bill further, usually the right answer is go build. Don't worry about the small stuff. What's always disturbing is people have that perspective and they're spending $300 million a year. But it turns out that not caring about your AWS bill was, in fact, a zero interest rate phenomenon.Jake: Yeah. So, we do all of those basic things. I think I went a little further than many people would where every single one of our—so we have different projects, right? So, we have the big graph server, which is sort of like the indexer for the whole network, and we have the PDS, which is the Personal Data Server, which is, kind of, where all of people's actual social data goes, your likes and your posts and things like that. And then we have a dev staging, sandbox, prod environment for each one of those, right? And there's more services besides. But the way we have it is those are all in completely separated VPCs with no peering whatsoever between them. They are all on distinct IP addresses, IP ranges, so that we could do VPC peering very easily across all of them.Corey: Ah, that's someone who's done data center work before with overlapping IP address ranges and swore, never again.Jake: Exactly. That is when I had been burned. I have cleaned up my mess and other people's messes. And there's nothing less fun than renumbering a large complicated network. But yeah, so once we have all these separate VPCs and so it's very easy for us to say, hey, we're going to take this whole stack from here and move it over to a different region, a different provider, you know?And the other thing is that we're doing is, we're completely cloud agnostic, right? I really like AWS, I think they are the… the market leader for a reason: they're very reliable. But we're building this large federated network, so we're going to need to place infrastructure in places where AWS doesn't exist, for example, right? So, we need the ability to take an environment and replicate it in wherever. And of course, they have very good coverage, but there are places they don't exist. And that's all made much easier by the fact that we've had a very strong separation of concerns.Corey: I always found it fun that when you had these decentralized projects that were invariably NFT or cryptocurrency-driven over the past, eh, five or six years or so, and then AWS would take a us-east-1 outage in a variety of different and exciting ways,j and all these projects would go down hard. It's, okay, you talk a lot about decentralization for having hard dependencies on one company in one data center, effectively, doing something right. And it becomes a harder problem in the fullness of time. There is the counterargument, in that when us-east-1 is having problems, most of the internet isn't working, so does your offering need to be up and running at all costs? There are some people for whom that answer is very much, yes. People will die if what we're running is not up and running. Usually, a social network is not on that list.Jake: Yeah. One of the things that is surprising, I think, often when I talk about this as a reliability engineer, is that I think people sometimes over-index on downtime, you know? They just, they think it's much bigger deal than it is. You know, I've worked on systems where there was credit card processing where you're losing a million dollars a minute or something. And like, in that case, okay, it matters a lot because you can put a real dollar figure on it, but it's amazing how a few of the bumps in the road we've already had with Bluesky have turned into, sort of, fun events, right?Like, we had a bug in our invite code system where people were getting too many invite codes and it was sort of caused a problem, but it was a super fun event. We all think back on it fondly, right? And so, outages are not fun, but they're not life and death, generally. And if you look at the traffic, usually what happens is after an outage traffic tends to go up. And a lot of the people that joined, they're just, they're talking about the fun outage that they missed because they weren't even on the network, right?So, it's like, I also like to remind people that eBay for many years used to have, like, an outage Wednesday, right? Whereas they could put a huge dollar figure on how much money they lost every Wednesday and yet eBay did quite well, right? Like, it's amazing what you can do if you relax the constraints of downtime a little bit. You can do maintenance things that would be impossible otherwise, which makes the whole thing work better the rest of the time, for example.Corey: I mean, it's 2023 and the Social Security Administration's website still has business hours. They take a nightly four to six-hour maintenance window. It's like, the last person out of the office turns off the server or something. I imagine some horrifying mainframe job that needs to wind up sweeping after itself are running some compute jobs. But yeah, for a lot of these use cases, that downtime is absolutely acceptable.I am curious as to… as you just said, you're building this out with an idea that it runs everywhere. So, you're on AWS right now because yeah, they are the market leader for a reason. If I'm building something from scratch, I'd be hard-pressed not to pick AWS for a variety of reasons. If I didn't have cloud expertise, I think I'd be more strongly inclined toward Google, but that's neither here nor there. But the problem is these large cloud providers have certain economic factors that they all treat similarly since they're competing with each other, and that causes me to believe things that aren't necessarily true.One of those is that egress bandwidth to the internet is very expensive. I've worked in data centers. I know how 95th percentile commit bandwidth billing works. It is not overwhelmingly expensive, but you can be forgiven for believing that it is looking at cloud environments. Today, Blue-ski does not support animated GIFs—however you want to mispronounce that word—they don't support embedded videos, and my immediate thought is, “Oh yeah, those things would be super expensive to wind up sharing.”I don't know that that's true. I don't get the sense that those are major cost drivers. I think it's more a matter of complexity than the rest. But how are you making sure that the large cloud provider economic models don't inherently shape your view of what to build versus what not to build?Jake: Yeah, no, I kind of knew where you're going as soon as you mentioned that because anyone who's worked in data centers knows that the bandwidth pricing is out of control. And I think one of the cool things that Cloudflare did is they stopped charging for egress bandwidth in certain scenarios, which is kind of amazing. And I think it's—the other thing that a lot of people don't realize is that, you know, these network connections tend to be fully symmetric, right? So, if it's a gigabit down, it's also a gigabit up at the same time, right? There's two gigabits that can be transferred per second.And then the other thing that I find a little bit frustrating on the public cloud is that they don't really pass on the compute performance improvements that have happened over the last few years, right? Like computers are really fast, right? So, if you look at a provider like Hetzner, they're giving you these monster machines for $128 a month or something, right? And then you go and try to buy that same thing on the public, the big cloud providers, and the equivalent is ten times that, right? And then if you add in the bandwidth, it's another multiple, depending on how much you're transferring.Corey: You can get Mac Minis on EC2 now, and you do the math out and the Mac Mini hardware is paid for in the first two or three months of spinning that thing up. And yes, there's value in AWS's engineering and being able to map IAM and EBS to it. In some use cases, yeah, it's well worth having, but not in every case. And the economics get very hard to justify for an awful lot of work cases.Jake: Yeah, I mean, to your point, though, about, like, limiting product features and things like that, like, one of the goals I have with doing infrastructure at Bluesky is to not let the infrastructure be a limiter on our product decisions. And a lot of that means that we'll put servers on Hetzner, we'll colo servers for things like that. I find that there's a really good hybrid cloud thing where you use AWS or GCP or Azure, and you use them for your most critical things, you're relatively low bandwidth things and the things that need to be the most flexible in terms of region and things like that—and security—and then for these, sort of, bulk services, pushing a lot of video content, right, or pushing a lot of images, those things, you put in a colo somewhere and you have these sort of CDN-like servers. And that kind of gives you the best of both worlds. And so, you know, that's the approach that we'll most likely take at Bluesky.Corey: I want to emphasize something you said a minute ago about CloudFlare, where when they first announced R2, their object store alternative, when it first came out, I did an analysis on this to explain to people just why this was as big as it was. Let's say you have a one-gigabyte file and it blows up and a million people download it over the course of a month. AWS will come to you with a completely straight face, give you a bill for $65,000 and expect you to pay it. The exact same pattern with R2 in front of it, at the end of the month, you will be faced with a bill for 13 cents rounded up, and you will be expected to pay it, and something like 9 to 12 cents of that initially would have just been the storage cost on S3 and the single egress fee for it. The rest is there is no egress cost tied to it.Now, is Cloudflare going to let you send petabytes to the internet and not charge you on a bandwidth basis? Probably not. But they're also going to reach out with an upsell and they're going to have a conversation with you. “Would you like to transition to our enterprise plan?” Which is a hell of a lot better than, “I got Slashdotted”—or whatever the modern version of that is—“And here's a surprise bill that's going to cost as much as a Tesla.”Jake: Yeah, I mean, I think one of the things that the cloud providers should hopefully eventually do—I hope Cloudflare pushes them in this direction—is to start—the original vision of AWS when I first started using it in 2006 or whenever launched, was—and they said this—they said they're going to lower your bill every so often, you know, as Moore's law makes their bill lower. And that kind of happened a little bit here and there, but it hasn't happened to the same degree that you know, I think all of us hoped it would. And I would love to see a cloud provider—and you know, Hetzner does this to some degree, but I'd love to see these really big cloud providers that are so great in so many ways, just pass on the savings of technology to the customer so we'll use more stuff there. I think it's a very enlightened viewpoint is to just say, “Hey, we're going to lower the costs, increase the efficiency, and then pass it on to customers, and then they will use more of our services as a result.” And I think Cloudflare is kind of leading the way in there, which I love.Corey: I do need to add something there—because otherwise we're going to get letters and I don't think we want that—where AWS reps will, of course, reach out and say that they have cut prices over a hundred times. And they're going to ignore the fact that a lot of these were a service you don't use in a region you couldn't find a map if your life depended on it now is going to be 10% less. Great. But let's look at the general case, where from C3 to C4—if you get the same size instance—it cut the price by a lot. C4 to C5, somewhat. C5 to C6 effectively is no change. And now, from C6 to C7, it is 6% more expensive like for like.And they're making noises about price performance is still better, but there are an awful lot of us who say things like, “I need ten of these servers to live over there.” That workload gets more expensive when you start treating it that way. And maybe the price performance is there, maybe it's not, but it is clear that the bill always goes down is not true.Jake: Yeah, and I think for certain kinds of organizations, it's totally fine the way that they do it. They do a pretty good job on price and performance. But for sort of more technical companies—especially—it's just you can see the gaps there, where that Hetzner is filling and that colocation is still filling. And I personally, you know, if I didn't need to do those things, I wouldn't do them, right? But the fact that you need to do them, I think, says kind of everything.Corey: Tired of wrestling with Apache Kafka's complexity and cost? Feel like you're stuck in a Kafka novel, but with more latency spikes and less existential dread by at least 10%? You're not alone.What if there was a way to 10x your streaming data performance without having to rob a bank? Enter Redpanda. It's not just another Kafka wannabe. Redpanda powers mission-critical workloads without making your AWS bill look like a phone number.And with full Kafka API compatibility, migration is smoother than a fresh jar of peanut butter. Imagine cutting as much as 50% off your AWS bills. With Redpanda, it's not a pipedream, it's reality.Visit go.redpanda.com/duckbill today. Redpanda: Because your data infrastructure shouldn't give you Kafkaesque nightmares.Corey: There are so many weird AWS billing stories that all distill down to you not knowing this one piece of trivia about how AWS works, either as a system, as a billing construct, or as something else. And there's a reason this has become my career of tracing these things down. And sometimes I'll talk to prospective clients, and they'll say, “Well, what if you don't discover any misconfigurations like that in our account?” It's, “Well, you would be the first company I've ever seen where that [laugh] was not true.” So honestly, I want to do a case study if we do.And I've never had to write that case study, just because it's the tax on not having the forcing function of building in data centers. There's always this idea that in a data center, you're going to run out of power, space, capacity, at some point and it's going to force a reckoning. The cloud has what distills down to infinite capacity; they can add it faster than you can fill it. So, at some point it's always just keep adding more things to it. There's never a let's clean out all of the cruft story. And it just accumulates and the bill continues to go up and to the right.Jake: Yeah, I mean, one of the things that they've done so well is handle the provisioning part, right, which is kind of what you're getting out there. One of the hardest things in the old days, before we all used AWS and GCP, is you'd have to sort of requisition hardware and there'd be this whole process with legal and financing and there'd be this big lag between the time you need a bunch more servers in your data center and when you actually have them, right, and that's not even counting the time takes to rack them and get them, you know, on network. The fact that basically, every developer now just gets an unlimited credit card, they can just, you know, use that's hugely empowering, and it's for the benefit of the companies they work for almost all the time. But it is an uncapped credit card. I know, they actually support controls and things like that, but in general, the way we treated it—Corey: Not as much as you would think, as it turns out. But yeah, it's—yeah, and that's a problem. Because again, if I want to spin up $65,000 an hour worth of compute right now, the fact that I can do that is massive. The fact that I could do that accidentally when I don't intend to is also massive.Jake: Yeah, it's very easy to think you're going to spend a certain amount and then oh, traffic's a lot higher, or, oh, I didn't realize when you enable that thing, it charges you an extra fee or something like that. So, it's very opaque. It's very complicated. All of these things are, you know, the result of just building more and more stuff on top of more and more stuff to support more and more use cases. Which is great, but then it does create this very sort of opaque billing problem, which I think, you know, you're helping companies solve. And I totally get why they need your help.Corey: What's interesting to me about distributed social networks is that I've been using Mastodon for a little bit and I've started to see some of the challenges around a lot of these things, just from an infrastructure and architecture perspective. Tim Bray, former Distinguished Engineer at AWS posted a blog post yesterday, and okay, well, if Tim wants to put something up there that he thinks people should read, I advise people generally read it. I have yet to find him wasting my time. And I clicked it and got a, “Server over resource limits.” It's like wow, you're very popular. You wound up getting—got effectively Slashdotted.And he said, “No, no. Whatever I post a link to Mastodon, two thousand instances all hidden at the same time.” And it's, “Oh, yeah. The hug of death. That becomes a challenge.” Not to mention the fact that, depending upon architecture and preferences that you make, running a Mastodon instance can be extraordinarily expensive in terms of storage, just because it'll, by default, attempt to cache everything that it encounters for a period of time. And that gets very heavy very quickly. Does the AT Protocol—AT Protocol? I don't know how you pronounce it officially these days—take into account the challenges of running infrastructures designed for folks who have corporate budgets behind them? Or is that really a future problem for us to worry about when the time comes?Jake: No, yeah, that's a core thing that we talked about a lot in the recent, sort of, architecture discussions. I'm going to go back quite a ways, but there were some changes made about six months ago in our thinking, and one of the big things that we wanted to get right was the ability for people to host their own PDS, which is equivalent to, like, posting a WordPress or something. It's where you post your content, it's where you post your likes, and all that kind of thing. We call it your repository or your repo. But that we wanted to make it so that people could self-host that on a, you know, four or five $6-a-month droplet on DigitalOcean or wherever and that not be a problem, not go down when they got a lot of traffic.And so, the architecture of AT Proto in general, but the Bluesky app on AT Proto is such that you really don't need a lot of resources. The data is all signed with your cryptographic keys—like, not something you have to worry about as a non-technical user—but all the data is authenticated. That's what—it's Authenticated Transfer Protocol. And because of that, it doesn't matter where you get the data, right? So, we have this idea of this big indexer that's looking at the entire network called the BGS, the Big Graph Server and you can go to the BGS and get the data that came from somebody's PDS and it's just as good as if you got it directly from the PDS. And that makes it highly cacheable, highly conducive to CDNs and things like that. So no, we intend to solve that problem entirely.Corey: I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out because the idea of self-hosting always kind of appealed to me when I was younger, which is why when I met my wife, I had a two-bedroom apartment—because I lived in Los Angeles, not San Francisco, and could afford such a thing—and the guest bedroom was always, you know, 10 to 15 degrees warmer than the rest of the apartment because I had a bunch of quote-unquote, “Servers” there, meaning deprecated desktops that my employer had no use for and said, “It's either going to e-waste or your place if you want some.” And, okay, why not? I'll build my own cluster at home. And increasingly over time, I found that it got harder and harder to do things that I liked and that made sense. I used to have a partial rack in downtown LA where I ran my own mail server, among other things.And when I switched to Google for email solutions, I suddenly found that I was spending five bucks a month at the time, instead of the rack rental, and I was spending two hours less a week just fighting spam in a variety of different ways because that is where my technical background lives. Being able to not have to think about problems like that, and just do the fun part was great. But I worry about the centralization that that implies. I was opposed to it at the idea because I didn't want to give Google access to all of my mail. And then I checked and something like 43% of the people I was emailing were at Gmail-hosted addresses, so they already had my email anyway. What was I really doing by not engaging with them? I worry that self-hosting is going to become passe, so I love projects that do it in sane and simple ways that don't require massive amounts of startup capital to get started with.Jake: Yeah, the account portability feature of AT Proto is super, super core. You can backup all of your data to your phone—the [AT 00:28:36] doesn't do this yet, but it most likely will in the future—you can backup all of your data to your phone and then you can synchronize it all to another server. So, if for whatever reason, you're on a PDS instance and it disappears—which is a common problem in the Mastodon world—it's not really a problem. You just sync all that data to a new PDS and you're back where you were. You didn't lose any followers, you didn't lose any posts, you didn't lose any likes.And we're also making sure that this works for non-technical people. So, you know, you don't have to host your own PDS, right? That's something that technical people can self-host if they want to, non-technical people can just get a host from anywhere and it doesn't really matter where your host is. But we are absolutely trying to avoid the fate of SMTP and, you know, other protocols. The web itself, right, is sort of… it's hard to launch a search engine because the—first of all, the bar is billions of dollars a year in investment, and a lot of websites will only let us crawl them at a higher rate if you're actually coming from a Google IP, right? They're doing reverse DNS lookups, and things like that to verify that you are Google.And the problem with that is now there's sort of this centralization with a search engine that can't be fixed. With AT Proto, it's much easier to scrape all of the PDSes, right? So, if you want to crawl all the PDSes out on the AT Proto network, they're designed to be crawled from day one. It's all structured data, we're working on, sort of, how you handle rate limits and things like that still, but the idea is it's very easy to create an index of the entire network, which makes it very easy to create feed generators, search engines, or any other kind of sort of big world networking thing out there. And then without making the PDSes have to be very high power, right? So, they can do low power and still scrapeable, still crawlable.Corey: Yeah, the idea of having portability is super important. Question I've got—you know, while I'm talking to you, it's, we'll turn this into technical support hour as well because why not—I tend to always historically put my Twitter handle on conference slides. When I had the first template made, I used it as soon as it came in and there was an extra n in the @quinnypig username at the bottom. And of course, someone asked about that during Q&A.So, the answer I gave was, of course, n+1 redundancy. But great. If I were to have one domain there today and change it tomorrow, is there a redirect option in place where someone could go and find that on Blue-ski, and oh, they'll get redirected to where I am now. Or is it just one of those 404, sucks to be you moments? Because I can see validity to both.Jake: Yeah, so the way we handle it right now is if you have a, something.bsky.social name and you switch it to your own domain or something like that, we don't yet forward it from the old.bsky.social name. But that is totally feasible. It's totally possible. Like, the way that those are stored in your what's called your [DID record 00:31:16] or [DID document 00:31:17] is that there's, like, a list that currently only has one item in general, but it's a list of all of your different names, right? So, you could have different domain names, different subdomain names, and they would all point back to the same user. And so yeah, so basically, the idea is that you have these aliases and they will forward to the new one, whatever the current canonical one is.Corey: Excellent. That is something that concerns me because it feels like it's one of those one-way doors, in the same way that picking an email address was a one-way door. I know people who still pay money to their ancient crappy ISP because they have a few mails that come in once in a while that are super-important. I was fortunate enough to have jumped on the bandwagon early enough that my vanity domain is 22 years old this year. And my email address still works,which, great, every once in a while, I still get stuff to, like, variants of my name I no longer use anymore since 2005. And it's usually spam, but every once in a blue moon, it's something important, like, “Hey, I don't know if you remember me. We went to college together many years ago.” It's ho-ly crap, the world is smaller than we think.Jake: Yeah.j I mean, I love that we're using domains, I think that's one of the greatest decisions we made is… is that you own your own domain. You're not really stuck in our namespace, right? Like, one of the things with traditional social networks is you're sort of, their domain.com/yourname, right?And with the way AT Proto and Bluesky work is, you can go and get a domain name from any registrar, there's hundreds of them—you know, we'd like Namecheap, you can go there and you can grab a domain and you can point it to your account. And if you ever don't like anything, you can change your domain, you can change, you know which PDS you're on, it's all completely controlled by you. And there's nearly no way we as a company can do anything to change that. Like, that's all sort of locked into the way that the protocol works, which creates this really great incentive where, you know, if we want to provide you services or somebody else wants to provide you services, they just have to compete on doing a really good job; you're not locked in. And that's, like, one of my favorite features of the network.Corey: I just want to point something out because you mentioned oh, we're big fans of Namecheap. I am too, for weird half-drunk domain registrations on a lark. Like, “Why am I poor?” It's like, $3,000 a month of my budget goes to domain purchases, great. But I did a quick whois on the official Bluesky domain and it's hosted at Route 53, which is Amazon's, of course, premier database offering.But I'm a big fan of using a enterprise registrar for enterprise-y things. Wasabi, if I recall correctly, wound up having their primary domain registered through GoDaddy, and the public domain that their bucket equivalent would serve data out of got shut down for 12 hours because some bad actor put something there that shouldn't have been. And GoDaddy is not an enterprise registrar, despite what they might think—for God's sake, the word ‘daddy' is in their name. Do you really think that's enterprise? Good luck.So, the fact that you have a responsible company handling these central singular points of failure speaks very well to just your own implementation of these things. Because that's the sort of thing that everyone figures out the second time.Jake: Yeah, yeah. I think there's a big difference between corporate domain registration, and corporate DNS and, like, your personal handle on social networking. I think a lot of the consumer, sort of, domain registries are—registrars—are great for consumers. And I think if you—yeah, you're running a big corporate domain, you want to make sure it's, you know, it's transfer locked and, you know, there's two-factor authentication and doing all those kinds of things right because that is a single point of failure; you can lose a lot by having your domain taken. So, I completely agree with you on there.Corey: Oh, absolutely. I am curious about this to see if it's still the case or not because I haven't checked this in over a year—and they did fix it. Okay. As of at least when we're recording this, which is the end of May 2023, Amazon's Authoritative Name Servers are no longer half at Oracle. Good for them. They now have a bunch of Amazon-specific name servers on them instead of, you know, their competitor that they clearly despise. Good work, good work.I really want to thank you for taking the time to speak with me about how you're viewing these things and honestly giving me a chance to go ambling down memory lane. If people want to learn more about what you're up to, where's the best place for them to find you?Jake: Yeah, so I'm on Bluesky. It's invite only. I apologize for that right now. But if you check out bsky.app, you can see how to sign up for the waitlist, and we are trying to get people on as quickly as possible.Corey: And I will, of course, be talking to you there and will put links to that in the show notes. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me. I really appreciate it.Jake: Thanks a lot, Corey. It was great.Corey: Jake Gold, infrastructure engineer at Bluesky, slash Blue-ski. I'm Cloud Economist Corey Quinn and this is Screaming in the Cloud. If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, whereas if you've hated this podcast, please leave a five-star review on your podcast platform of choice, along with an angry comment that will no doubt result in a surprise $60,000 bill after you posted.Corey: If your AWS bill keeps rising and your blood pressure is doing the same, then you need The Duckbill Group. We help companies fix their AWS bill by making it smaller and less horrifying. The Duckbill Group works for you, not AWS. We tailor recommendations to your business and we get to the point. Visit duckbillgroup.com to get started.

Scott Painter is the founder and CEO of TrueCar.  Scott joined A.J. on the CarStories.com podcast for a one-on-one interview about how he took his entrepreneurial spirit, combined it with his hobby of helping others buy new cars and was able to turn that into the automotive-tech giant its known as today.

Today on Daily News You Can Use, Ray and Kimberly review the latest data from TrueCar. Their study shows that vehicle affordability is going to keep many would be buyers out of the car market. Tune in to learn more!

Today we are joined by Rob Taylor who has founded and operated 5 vc-backed startups over the past 20 years including BlackLocus which sold to Home Depot in 2012 and TrueCar which went public in 2014. Most recently, Rob Co-founded and was the CEO of a B to B SaaS company called Convey which was acquired by Project44 in September of 2021 for $255M. In addition to being a founder, Rob has done mentorships at Capital Factory and TechStars, and he currently is a board member at LawnStarter. In this episode, Rob shares his expert insight on what is important to focus on in the growth stage of a business, what he thinks is the most important part of a pitch to venture capitalists, and how he and his co-founders were able to grow Convey. Stick around to the end to hear what his two best pieces of advice for growth stage CEOs. Please subscribe to Studying Success to hear more from the best entrepreneurs and investors!Also check out our website at www.studyingsuccesspodcast.com.And follow us on Instagram @studyingsuccesspodcast.

Welcome to a relaxed Monday as we ramp up into the week. We have a special treat today as we replay some of the conversations we had with dealers and industry leaders from NADA.Alain Nana-Sinkhain and Matt Jones of TrueCar reminded us to have the courage to doubt yourself. Don't hold on so tightly to what you know that you aren't open to what could be true in the future.Alex Vetter of Cars.com encouraged dealers to lead with technology in a way that empowers the consumer.Christopher Singleton, COO of the Mike Terry Auto Group shared what their group has learned after making multiple acquisitions and the importance of systems and processes.Jon Lett and CJ Settles of Pure Country Automotive told us what they're doing to impact their community and how that makes it all worth it.Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email Share your positive dealer stories: https://www.asotu.com/positivity ASOTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion

January 25, 2023 | TrueCar CEO Mike Darrow; Tesla invests $3.6B billion in battery, truck operations by Automotive News

Most customers don't come into the car buying process knowing exactly what they want. In fact, many customers find the experience overwhelming and nerve-wracking.   Easing those fears and delivering a personalized and convenient experience starts with knowing where customers are on their journey.   That's where detailed customer journey mapping comes in to help brands understand the unique needs of their customers and provide relevant, empathetic service. Beth Mach, Chief Consumer Officer at TrueCar Inc., says it's crucial to understand the highs and lows of the entire customer experience. Blake Morgan is a customer experience futurist, keynote speaker, and author of the bestselling book The Customer Of The Future. 

#94: Lee Domingue is an entrepreneur, international speaker, pastor and author of 4 books: Stay in Your Lane, Pearls Of The King, KB GAMEPLAN Devotional and The Family Meeting Guide. His passion for the local church to be the hope of the world drives him to help pastors and marketplace leaders understand just how vital they are to each other. Through his ministry, Kingdom Builders U.S. and serving as Legacy Pastor at Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Alabama, Lee brings inspiration and practical strategies for thousands of pastors and marketplace leaders to understand the significant eternal return on investment or “e-ROI®” that their relationship creates to build the Kingdom of God.Lee has over 30 years of success in the automotive, finance, energy, healthcare, and technology sectors founding companies like AppOne®, Cyrus Partners, m360, and SLC Capital. Lee's pioneering spirit led him to create the first virtual automobile buying service in 1993 that revolutionized the automotive retail industry making way for companies like Autobytel, Autotrader, Cars.com, Carvana, and TrueCar.In 2007, Lee and his wife, Laura started Trafficking Hope, an anti-human trafficking campaign that has helped hundreds of victims. Lee was co-Executive Producer of anti-trafficking motion picture, CAGED NO MORE, which released in 2015.Lee served his home state as Commissioner on the Louisiana Motor Vehicle Commission from 1999 - 2003. Lee was the youngest person to be named 2008 Business Report / Junior Achievement "Businessperson of the Year." In 2014, Lee and his wife Laura received the "Community Leaders of the Year" award from the Cenikor Foundation. Lee has served on various boards like A21 Campaign, Omni Bank and Promise Keepers.Lee and Laura have been married over 32 years and have 5 children and 7 grandchildren.www.kingdombuilders.us

Today on Daily News You Can Use, Ray and Zach discuss the latest inventory data from Cox Automotive and TrueCar. All signs point to the auto industry returning to incentives and an oversupply of inventory. Tune in to learn more!

This week's episode is a repeat of the AOTR episode that was first aired on December 3, 2022. The special guest is Mike Darrow, President of TrueCar and an absolute expert on the car-buying process. He has some very educated advice about what to do when vehicle inventory at dealers is low and interest rates are on the rise. TrueCar has some solutions for you. And we'll have the results of an illuminating new survey that attempts to answer the question: do Americans really want electric cars? When it comes to road tests, we have some very popular SUVs to talk about. The Ford Bronco is the hit vehicle of the decade, and we test a version that is smack in the middle of the lineup. The Bronco Badlands has been equipped for serious off-roading with 33-inch all-terrain tires on 17-inch aluminum wheels as just a hint of what it offers. Our two-door test vehicle had the special seven-speed manual with the ultra-low crawler gear to enable some very Old School off-roading. Of course, even the most gung-ho off-roader has to drive on the pavement the bulk of the time. So how the $58,000 Badlands trim negotiated the wilds of suburban South California proved just as important as any off-road trek. We'll tell you how it all went coming up. At the same time Host Jack Nerad was piloting the Ford Bronco Badlands, AOTR Co-Host Chris Teague and his family spent a week with a $120,000 2023 Cadillac Escalade. The big SUV's level of luxury is off the charts with more video screens than a Buffalo Wild Wings on an NFL Sunday. Did Chris Teague's daughters really do somersaults and cartwheels in the Cadillac? We'll check into those claims in this edition of the show.   In the topline car news, Steve Center, a key executive at Kia, has spoken plainly about the effects of the federal legislation passed this summer that changed the way tax incentives are determined for electric vehicles. We'll have the details of what he said and why he said it. All that and plenty more coming upon this edition of “America on the Road.”

The Ford Bronco is the hit vehicle of the decade, and in this episode, we test a version that is smack in the middle of the lineup. The Bronco Badlands is engineered for serious off-roading with 33-inch all-terrain tires on 17-inch aluminum wheels as just a hint of what it offers. Our two-door test vehicle had the special seven-speed manual with the ultra-low crawler gear to enable some very Old School off-roading. At the same time, even the most gung-ho off-roader has to drive on the pavement for a percentage of the time. So how the $58,000 Badlands trim negotiated the wilds of suburban South California proved just as important — and probably more daunting — as any off-road trek. We'll tell you how it all went coming up. Also coming up in the road test segment, Co-Host Chris Teague and his family spent a week with a $120,000 2023 Cadillac Escalade. The big SUV's level of luxury is off the charts with more video screens than a Buffalo Wild Wings on an NFL Sunday. Did Chris Teague's daughters really do somersaults and cartwheels in the Cadillac? We'll check into those claims in this edition of the show. If you plan to buy a car in the next two or three years you'll want to hear the interview with our special guest. Mike Darrow is President of TrueCar and an absolute expert on the car-buying process. He has some very educated advice about what to do in the current situation in which vehicle inventory has conspired to make car buying both difficult and expensive. TrueCar has some solutions for you. In the news, we'll have the results of an illuminating new survey that attempts to answer the question: do Americans really want electric cars? At the same time, Steve Center, a key car company executive at Kia, is speaking plainly about the effects of the federal legislation passed this summer that changed the way tax incentives are determined for electric vehicles. We'll have the details of what he said and why he said it. All that and plenty more coming upon this edition of “America on the Road.”

December 1, 2022 | TrueCar CEO Mike Darrow; Hyundai, Kia set U.S. November sales records by Automotive News

We're into Wednesday as we talk about AutoNation's announcement of their purchase of a substantial number of TrueCar shares. We also talk about the just-released data on luxury loyalty including Tesla. An AutoNation press release announced that they have purchased 6.1% of TrueCar.From the release: "We are excited by this announcement from AutoNation, America's leading automotive retailer, as we see their commitment to a great Customer experience as fully aligned with the values of TrueCar and our offerings," said Mike Darrow, TrueCar's President and Chief Executive Officer. "Our companies believe this opens the door to an opportunity to collaborate on ways to provide a superior digital buying and selling experience for consumers.""We believe that TrueCar, with its leading digital marketplace, is well positioned to enhance the digital car buying experience and provide personal transportation solutions that are easy, transparent, and Customer-centric," said Mike Manley, AutoNation Chief Executive Officer. We also believe the investment will strengthen the relationship between our companies and provides an opportunity for closer commercial collaboration with TrueCar in the future."According to S&P Global / Polk Data presented during a main stage session at the recent Modern Retailing Conference,, luxury brand loyalty stands at about 46% including Tesla owners. When Tesla is excluded, the loyalty number drops to 44%Tesla alone has a loyalty rate of 86%Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/ JOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/ Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-email Share your positive dealer stories: https://www.asotu.com/positivity ASOTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion

In this episode, Joe is joined by Army Veteran and author John Davis. John served in the Infantry, completing multiple tours in Afghanistan. Following his separation from Active Duty, John attended college and became an advocate for his fellow student Veterans. Joe and John discuss the benefits of college for a transitioning service members, as well as the challenges they may face. John wrote his book Combat to College to help Veterans apply the skills they learned in the military to college. Find out more about John here.    About Our Guest   John H. Davis is a decorated combat veteran with multiple tours in Afghanistan. He has since dedicated himself to veteran advocacy, receiving congressional, legislative, and local recognition. He earned his masters degree in education from Harvard and his bachelors in history from St. Joseph's College. He has spoken to Congress as a legislative fellow for the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Student Veterans of America. John is the author of Combat to College and the Student Veteran Semester Journal.   Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.   About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union  Becoming a member at Navy Federal Credit Union lets you experience more. Navy Federal Credit Union makes buying a car easy with their auto loan process. You can do it on their mobile app, online or by phone. It's so fast, you can get a decision in seconds and you could enjoy a great rate. Plus, with Navy Federal's Car Buying Service powered by TrueCar, you can shop, compare, and get upfront pricing on your next new or used car. Whether you're looking to buy your first car or your dream car, Navy Federal could help you cruise into the car you want with a monthly payment you can afford. Find out more at navyfederal.org. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.     Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 455 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today. Disclosure: Some of the links above are affiliate links. This means that, at zero cost to you, I will earn an affiliate commission if you purchase via the link provided.  

In this episode, Joe is joined by Army Veteran and entrepreneur Spencer Emch. Spencer served as an Apache Helicopter Pilot, leaving Active Duty after 12 years of service. His well planned transition to the airlines was derailed by the impact of COVID-19 on the travel industry and he moved to Romania where he continues to live today with his family. Spencer created his own business in Romania, providing contact pilot services and has recently published a book about his military experience. Check out Spencer's book Time of Flight here. About Our Guest   Spencer was an AH-64D Longbow Apache Attack Helicopter Pilot and Warrant Officer in the US Army with 2.5 years total in the combat theaters of Iraq and Afghanistan over the course of his 12-year career. He left the service in 2020 for a life of adventure, now living as an expat and entrepreneur in Bucharest, Romania with his wife and newborn son, where he still flies helicopters and airplanes as a contract pilot as well. As a newly published author, Spencer seeks out engagements that allow him to share his experiences with those who are transitioning and help them understand how the attributes gained in the military can lead to personal peace and prosperity in the civilian world.   Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.     About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union  Becoming a member at Navy Federal Credit Union lets you experience more. Navy Federal Credit Union makes buying a car easy with their auto loan process. You can do it on their mobile app, online or by phone. It's so fast, you can get a decision in seconds and you could enjoy a great rate. Plus, with Navy Federal's Car Buying Service powered by TrueCar, you can shop, compare, and get upfront pricing on your next new or used car. Whether you're looking to buy your first car or your dream car, Navy Federal could help you cruise into the car you want with a monthly payment you can afford. Find out more at navyfederal.org. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.     Sabio If you're considering a job in software engineering, I highly recommend checking out Sabio. Sabio is a Coding Boot Camp and Developer Community that's been training veterans since 2013 and can help you transition to a full-time career in tech within a few months! Sabio is not your average bootcamp—in just 17 weeks, you'll not only learn to code, but gain real-life experience and graduate ready to start a real, high-paying tech job Visit sabio.la/onthemove to learn how you can use your VA benefits to enroll.     Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 455 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.

In this episode, Joe is joined by Army Veteran, Reservist, and entrepreneur Andrew Haney. While serving on Active Duty,  Andrew became interested in entrepreneurship and the opportunity to be his own boss. He started exploring opportunities in entrepreneurship while serving and started day trading.  He was working a corporate job when he first started flipping land which he now does full time. Drew and Joe discuss the benefit of group training and courses for transitioning Veterans and using off time for professional and personal development. He shares great recommendations for those transitioning, looking to balance entrepreneurship with another job, or are interested in land investment.  About Our Guest   Ex-paratrooper and army logistician Drew Haney used the leadership skills he learned as an army officer to build a land investing business and quit his day job in only one year Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.   About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union  Becoming a member at Navy Federal Credit Union lets you experience more. Navy Federal Credit Union makes buying a car easy with their auto loan process. You can do it on their mobile app, online or by phone. It's so fast, you can get a decision in seconds and you could enjoy a great rate. Plus, with Navy Federal's Car Buying Service powered by TrueCar, you can shop, compare, and get upfront pricing on your next new or used car. Whether you're looking to buy your first car or your dream car, Navy Federal could help you cruise into the car you want with a monthly payment you can afford. Find out more at navyfederal.org. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.     Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 455 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.  

In this episode, Joe is joined by Army Veteran and life coach Nick Devlin. Nick served as an Army Ranger, deploying multiple times around the world. After making the difficult decision to separate from Active Duty, Nick entered the civilian workforce. He shares his transition experience and the challenges he faced  finding a new purpose and community outside the military. After realizing that life in corporate America was the wrong direction for him and his family, Nick made a change, refocusing his energy and eventually becoming a coach. As a coach, Nick now helps others create the life they want to live. Find out more about Nick here.      About Our Guest   Nick is a life coach helping stressed out high achievers become whole again and live their lives like a big adventure. Nick is a recovering over achiever and has walked many paths including hardcore punk rocker, engineer, Ivy League MBA student, corporate manager and Army Airborne Ranger. He has never shied away from adventure and has a high tolerance for risk. As a special operations soldier he deployed multiple times, jumped out of many perfectly good airplanes and conducted 100's of missions in highly volatile parts of the globe. Through his many first hand exploits and close observation he has learned deep lessons about human nature, the psychology of fear and how the mind works. As a professional life coach he is unafraid to go to the deep spaces with his players and has a passion for freeing people from the grips of limiting patterns and beliefs. He has a powerful presence, ability to listen and skill for increasing awareness and inspiring action. He has 3 young children and loves outdoor adventure, personal growth and creating transformational experiences to help expand human freedom.   Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.     About Our Sponsors   Sabio If you're considering a job in software engineering, I highly recommend checking out Sabio. Sabio is a Coding Boot Camp and Developer Community that's been training veterans since 2013 and can help you transition to a full-time career in tech within a few months! Sabio is not your average bootcamp—in just 17 weeks, you'll not only learn to code, but gain real-life experience and graduate ready to start a real, high-paying tech job Visit sabio.la/onthemove to learn how you can use your VA benefits to enroll.   Navy Federal Credit Union  Becoming a member at Navy Federal Credit Union lets you experience more. Navy Federal Credit Union makes buying a car easy with their auto loan process. You can do it on their mobile app, online or by phone. It's so fast, you can get a decision in seconds and you could enjoy a great rate. Plus, with Navy Federal's Car Buying Service powered by TrueCar, you can shop, compare, and get upfront pricing on your next new or used car. Whether you're looking to buy your first car or your dream car, Navy Federal could help you cruise into the car you want with a monthly payment you can afford. Find out more at navyfederal.org. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.     Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 455 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,

This week Joe is joined by Army Veteran, entrepreneur, and business development executive Brad Harrison. Influenced by his father, Brad started his entrepreneurial journey at a young age and has maintained his passion for building businesses ever since. He attended West Point and served as an Army Infantry Officer prior to transitioning to the civilian sector. Brad discusses his transition experience and common challenges faced by Veterans as they enter the workforce and where to find help. Brad also shares the story behind Scout Ventures and Veteran businesses that are a part of their portfolio. Listen today to learn more about the value of mentorship, questions to ask when looking for the right job, and the importance of engaging with your Veteran community. Learn more about Scout Ventures here.      About Our Guest  Brad is an entrepreneur and seasoned business development executive with a passion for building companies and pushing the envelope of technological innovation. He has successfully helped incubate several companies out of the Scout office, including Scout's most successful investment to date, Unite US, PortfolioWatch (exited), and Assurely. Brad also has deep experience developing concepts, including co-authoring three patents in search, geo-tagging, and personalization. Brad was a distinguished honor graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point and served as an Airborne Ranger in the United States Army for five years before retiring as Captain. He also graduated from MIT Sloan School of Management, where he studied New Product and Venture Development. While attending MIT, Brad was fortunate enough to work with Endeca Technologies and PureTech Ventures to help launch a joint MIT-Harvard incubator. He lives in Austin, Texas, with his wife Angie and their son, Elvis, their daughter, Scout, and Team Harrisons trusty bernedoodle, Ziggy.     Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.   About Our Sponsors Navy Federal Credit Union    Becoming a member at Navy Federal Credit Union lets you experience more. Navy Federal Credit Union makes buying a car easy with their auto loan process. You can do it on their mobile app, online or by phone. It's so fast, you can get a decision in seconds and you could enjoy a great rate. Plus, with Navy Federal's Car Buying Service powered by TrueCar, you can shop, compare, and get upfront pricing on your next new or used car. Whether you're looking to buy your first car or your dream car, Navy Federal could help you cruise into the car you want with a monthly payment you can afford. Find out more at navyfederal.org. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.     Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 445 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.

This week Joe is joined by Army Veteran and the CEO and founder of Corelini PR, Tiffany Pilgrim. Tiffany and her family immigrated to the United States from Barbados when she was 16 and she joined the Army after graduating from High School. Following her transition from Active Duty, she followed her interests into media with insight from her mentor through American Corporate Partners. Tiffany has now taken her experience in media, fine arts, and user design experience (UX) to found Corelini PR. She shares her advice for fellow Veteran Entrepreneurs and how she gives back to the community through Veterans In Media and Entertainment. Learn more about Tiffany and Corelini PR here.      About Our Guest  As a futurist, Founder, and CEO, Tiffany Pilgrim, a Barbadian-American, has prioritized diversifying her knowledge. Ms. Pilgrim is a public relations executive, a classically trained actress, has trained in fine arts and design, and is a certified Adobe Visual Design Specialist who, at the age of 16, moved with her family from Barbados to bustling New York City. Not long after moving, she started her professional career as an enlisted U.S. Army motor transport operator.  After serving, she shifted her focus, concentrating on a new career while perfecting her communications talents at a London-based global social media agency. During her time there, Ms. Pilgrim managed top-tier billion-dollar brands such as T-Mobile and DAZN—an international sports streaming platform. Before founding Corelini PR, she moved into the TV and entertainment business as a producer and communications expert, working with celebrities and Fortune 500 companies, such as SHOWTIME (CBS) and Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS), among others.  Finally, transitioning from Hollywood to find her true passion, she found her calling in the technology industry and has worked as a User Experience Designer and Researcher for the past seven years. In addition, after accumulating 10+ years of communications experience, Ms. Pilgrim now runs her own technology public relations firm, Corelini PR, working with top tech leaders to build their brands and media outreach. Her mission is to help fellow veterans break into the tech industry.  In her spare time, Tiffany helps run a non-profit, Veterans in Media and Entertainment (VME). Metaphysics, philosophy, classical music and art history are subjects that are embedded in her core. You can find her in publications such as Barbados Today and many more to come!  Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.     About Our Sponsors Sabio If you're considering a job in software engineering, I highly recommend checking out Sabio. Sabio is a Coding Boot Camp and Developer Community that's been training veterans since 2013 and can help you transition to a full-time career in tech within a few months! Sabio is not your average bootcamp—in just 17 weeks, you'll not only learn to code, but gain real-life experience and graduate ready to start a real, high-paying tech job Visit sabio.la/onthemove to learn how you can use your VA benefits to enroll.   Navy Federal Credit Union  Becoming a member at Navy Federal Credit Union lets you experience more. Navy Federal Credit Union makes buying a car easy with their auto loan process. You can do it on their mobile app, online or by phone. It's so fast, you can get a decision in seconds and you could enjoy a great rate. Plus, with Navy Federal's Car Buying Service powered by TrueCar, you can shop, compare, and get upfront pricing on your next new or used car. Whether you're looking to buy your first car or your dream car, Navy Federal could help you cruise into the car you want with...

This week Joe is joined by Isreal Defense Force Veteran and CEO of Perimeter 81, Amit Bareket. Amit served in a cyber intelligence unit and following his military service attended university before entering the corporate world. Amit shares that while being a Veteran in Israel is not unique due to compulsory service, the soft skills he learned while serving impacted his success as an entrepreneur. He left his corporate job and ended up selling his first start up and is now the CEO/ co-founder of Perimeter 81. Perimeter 81 provides cyber security for corporate networks with mobile and remote workforces.      About Our Guest  Amit Bareket is the CEO and Co-founder of Perimeter 81 and is a cybersecurity expert with extensive experience in system architecture and software development. He served in the Israel Defense Forces elite cyber intelligence unit (Unit 81).     Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.     About Our Sponsors Sabio If you're considering a job in software engineering, I highly recommend checking out Sabio. Sabio is a Coding Boot Camp and Developer Community that's been training veterans since 2013 and can help you transition to a full-time career in tech within a few months! Sabio is not your average bootcamp—in just 17 weeks, you'll not only learn to code, but gain real-life experience and graduate ready to start a real, high-paying tech job Visit sabio.la/onthemove to learn how you can use your VA benefits to enroll.   Navy Federal Credit Union  Becoming a member at Navy Federal Credit Union lets you experience more. Navy Federal Credit Union makes buying a car easy with their auto loan process. You can do it on their mobile app, online or by phone. t's so fast, you can get a decision in seconds and you could enjoy a great rate. Plus, with Navy Federal's Car Buying Service powered by TrueCar, you can shop, compare, and get upfront pricing on your next new or used car. Whether you're looking to buy your first car or your dream car, Navy Federal could help you cruise into the car you want with a monthly payment you can afford. Find out more at navyfederal.org. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.       Want to be our next guest? Send us an email at interview@veteranonthemove.com.  Did you love this episode? Leave us a 5-star rating and review!  Download Joe Crane's Top 7 Paths to Freedom or get it on your mobile device. Text VETERAN to 38470. Veteran On the Move podcast has published over 445 episodes. Our listeners have the opportunity to hear in-depth interviews conducted by host Joe Crane. The podcast features people, programs, and resources to assist veterans in their transition to entrepreneurship.  As a result, Veteran On the Move has over 7,000,000 verified downloads through Stitcher Radio, SoundCloud, iTunes and RSS Feed Syndication making it one of the most popular Military Entrepreneur Shows on the Internet Today.

This week Joe is joined by fellow Marine Veteran and short-term rental developer Alex Jarbo. Alex served on Active Duty for over four years and was a member of the Marine Corps Honor Guard stationed at 8th and I. Alex prepared for his transition while still on Active Duty by working on his bachelor's degree and encouraged his Marines to do the same. He shares how he entered the real estate and short term rental market through continuing his education and advice from trusted mentors. Alex is now building a “micro resort”; a unique, short-term rental experience. To help others find the same success, he has created a course full of the lessons that he gained through experience and hard work. Learn more about Alex here and on his Youtube channel.    About Our Guest  Alex Jarbo is a short-term rental developer and manager. He was born and raised in Detroit Michigan. He served in the Marine Corps for 4 ½ years where he was stationed in Washington DC apart of the Marine Corps Honor Guard. He left the Marine Corps at 22 years old to pursue his career as a real estate professional. He is the founder and CEO of Sargon Investments and he has a goal of developing 650 cabins in the next 3 years. Alex holds a MBA with a concentration in Real Estate Development and is currently finishing a Doctorate in Business with a concentration in Leadership. He is the host of the YouTube Channel Alex Builds where he teaches the ins and out of short-term development and management.   Join the conversation on Facebook! Check out Veteran on the Move on Facebook to connect with our guests and other listeners. A place where you can network with other like-minded veterans who are transitioning to entrepreneurship and get updates on people, programs and resources to help you in YOUR transition to entrepreneurship.     About Our Sponsors   Sabio If you're considering a job in software engineering, I highly recommend checking out Sabio. Sabio is a Coding Boot Camp and Developer Community that's been training veterans since 2013 and can help you transition to a full-time career in tech within a few months! Sabio is not your average bootcamp—in just 17 weeks, you'll not only learn to code, but gain real-life experience and graduate ready to start a real, high-paying tech job Visit sabio.la/onthemove to learn how you can use your VA benefits to enroll.   Navy Federal Credit Union  Becoming a member at Navy Federal Credit Union lets you experience more. Navy Federal Credit Union makes buying a car easy with their auto loan process. You can do it on their mobile app, online or by phone. t's so fast, you can get a decision in seconds and you could enjoy a great rate. Plus, with Navy Federal's Car Buying Service powered by TrueCar, you can shop, compare, and get upfront pricing on your next new or used car. Whether you're looking to buy your first car or your dream car, Navy Federal could help you cruise into the car you want with a monthly payment you can afford. Find out more at navyfederal.org. At Navy Federal, our members are the mission.     Armed Forces Travel Did you know that there is a leisure travel website that was made just for  you and your family members that can save you money on travel plus support your military community at the same time?  American Forces Travel is committed to providing high-quality and best value travel services to patrons affiliated with the Department of Defense as a way to thank them for their service and dedication to our country. American Forces Travel is a DOD partnership with Priceline. Made exclusively for Active-Duty, Reservists, Veterans, and DoD Civilians you can save up to 50% off hotels, flights, rental cars and more. You can even find and purchase event tickets through the site.  On top of that, travel company commissions go to your service branch to be reinvested into your military community. Check out AmericanForcesTravel at veteranonthemove.

➤ Goldman Sachs issues new note on TSLA after meeting with investor relations ➤ Wolfe Research upgrades TSLA to Buy rating ➤TrueCar estimates August sales for Tesla ➤ China insured vehicle report ➤ FSD beta rollout expands as Tesla increases price ➤ Elon Musk comments on Powerwall supply ➤ Battery “experts” share thoughts on Tesla's 4680 progress ➤ Fleetpool announces Tesla ordering milestone ➤ Twitter case update Shareloft: https://www.shareloft.com Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/teslapodcast Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tesladailypodcast Tesla Referral: https://ts.la/robert47283 Executive producer Jeremy Cooke Executive producer Troy Cherasaro Executive producer Andre/Maria Kent Executive producer Jessie Chimni Executive producer Michael Pastrone Executive producer Richard Del Maestro Executive producer John Beans Music by Evan Schaeffer Disclosure: Rob Maurer is long TSLA stock & derivatives

ReleaseHub provides on-demand environments for development, staging, and production. Every developer knows that environments can be a bottleneck, so ReleaseHub's mission is to empower developers to share their ideas with the world more quickly and easily, sidestepping what Tommy calls “the big bottlenecks in development.”As CTO of TrueCar, Tommy was leading an effort to rebuild that company's tech stack, but he needed an environment management platform, and nothing on the market fit his needs. The homegrown environment management system he developed with his cofounders would become ReleaseHub.Tommy joined Y Combinator in 2009.Connect with Tommy on LinkedIn.Today we're shouting out the winner of an Inquisitive Badge: L-Samuels asked a well-received question on 30 separate days and maintained a positive question record.

Transportation is freedom.Mike Darrow, President and CEO of TrueCar, recognizes that automotive can often live in the space between supply and demand, where a dealership is looking to purchase cars in order to meet the needs of customers. And TrueCar has a lot of experience in that position. This conversation jumps around a bit, from the chip shortage to serving dealers to serving consumers to tracking the shopping journey to building community. The threads that tie it together are that transportation is freedom, and the car business cares about people.What we talk about in this episode:0:00 Intro with Michael Cirillo, Paul J Daly and Kyle Mountsier.6:11 Mike Darrow has been in the industry for 40 years, and so he's seen a lot, and knows that retail automotive is up for whatever challenge might be thrown at it.“I've certainly seen a lot of these cycles, you know, come through the industry, and they tend to be a bit of a roller coaster. You know, I've seen high interest rates and low interest rates and high inventory levels and low inventory levels and big incentives and no incentives. And it's just, you know, the industry is amazingly responsive. And that's the thing I like about dealers is, they're such entrepreneurial people that they just adjust to what's going on in the marketplace.”10:24 TrueCar conducts a lot of consumer surveys, and they've found that 65% of their respondents would be willing to do the majority or all of their car shopping experience online.15:29 About 50% of TrueCar shoppers want to trade in their current vehicle when purchasing, so TrueCar has worked to integrate that into the deal-building step of the sales process.18:57 Mike is looking outside of the automotive industry for inspiration. Companies like Expedia, Amazon and Grubhub have changed the way consumers shop, and Mike thinks those principles can apply in the automotive industry.23:23 The car business cares about people, and TrueCar does this specifically with veterans. Mike lays out some of the ways that they support veterans find their transportation freedom.⭐️ Love the podcast? Please leave us a review here — even one sentence helps! Consider including your LinkedIn or Instagram handle so we can thank you personally! We have a daily email! ✉️ Sign up for our free and fun-to-read daily email for a quick shot of relevant news in automotive retail, media, and pop culture.

Walking into a much cooler Friday than last week for most of the country, we're covering a move by startup Autonomy to boost EV offerings, GM retooling and simplifying its chip infrastructure, as well as the Gen Z trend of trusting TikTok for search. EV Subscription Company, Autonomy (formerly NextCar) placed orders for 23K EV's across 17 Automakers, partnering with Auto Nation for both sales and service“The orders are for 45 different models and are valued at $1.2 billion per an Autonomy press release Will take delivery of all 23,000 vehicles within 18 months, Founder and CEO, Scott Painter told Automotive News.Until now the company only had Tesla Model 3s, and is moving to including the Model Y, several GM models including the Chevrolet Equinox, GMC Hummer EV and Cadillac Lyriq. Also about 1000 vehicles each from Volkswagen, Ford, Hyundai, Kia and Rivian and fewer than 500 each from Polestar, Volvo and CanooPainter founded TrueCar and FairTake away: We don't know if the business model will work or not, but it definitely will promote overall EV adoptionGM is retooling and significantly reducing the number of ‘chip families' it's using to clear backlogs and prevent them in the futureWere sitting on 95k assembled vehicles waiting on chips at the end o f Q2 and have cleared more than 20K of them in JulyPlan  to reduce the number of chip families by 95% in future designs, to prevent future shortage CFO Paul Jacobson said the number of chip families used will drop by 95% down to 3 total. He also noted increased involvement throughout the manufacturing chainTake away: These aren't flashy announcements, but most nuts and bolts improvements aren't. That's a good thing. TikTok is becoming (or maybe IS) the preferred search engine of Gen ZWanda Pogue, Chief Strategy Officer at VaynerMedia cites a new study that shows 40% of Gen Z users prefer TikTok and Instagram over Google when it comes to search“...my Gen Z daughter had a group of friends over. I asked them about their behavior on TikTok, and they agreed: It's the platform they go to now when searching for anything, from the highest-rated beauty products and clothing trends to the best restaurants in the area or recipes to try”Gen Z prioritizes authenticity and utility which is one of the reasons why they like the visual representation with more real-world application “Social channels have become brands' digital storefronts, and the content shared on them is the cornerstone of building a modern brand. It's an always-on game of relevance, where brand channels need to be “alive” to engage existing communities'Take away: What was that you were saying  about “organic content”?Get the Daily Push Back email at https://www.asotu.com/Rock with us LIVE at ASOTU CON! Tickets: https://www.asotucon.comJOIN the conversation on LinkedIn at: https://www.linkedin.com/company/asotu/Read our most recent email at: https://www.asotu.com/media/push-back-emailShare your positive dealer stories: https://www.asotu.com/positivityASOTU Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/automotivestateoftheunion