The Dealer Playbook

Ep. 660 - How To Turn Friction Points Into Profit Centers, with Jacqui Barker

• Michael Cirillo

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In this episode, my guest is Jacqui Barker, Global OEM Strategy Director at Keyloop, joining me from the floor of the Toronto International Auto Show.

We get into the real stuff—the behind-the-scenes friction points in today’s car buying journey and what needs to change now if dealerships want to stay relevant in a world of evolving tech and rising customer expectations, and let me tell you—this conversation will challenge how you see digital retailing, data integration, and the customer experience in automotive.

This one’s a must-listen if you’re serious about evolving your dealership experience with purpose (not panic).

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MC:

This episode is brought to you by FlexDealer. Hey auto industry, welcome to this episode of the Dealer Playbook Podcast. We're at the Toronto International Auto Show. I'm with my new pal, jackie Barker. You are the Global OEM Strategy Director at Keyloop. Thanks so much for joining me on the podcast.

Jacqui:

Thank you for having me.

MC:

That sounds like a lot of responsibility.

Jacqui:

There's a big team. It's okay, it's good. My role really with Keyloop is originally I joined to work with the Global Oem team and we would build lots of interfaces to make sure that manufacturer systems work in the dms's that we provide. So the technology relies on data and that data has to come from somewhere. So we provide the software at the retailer level and then integrations up to the oem. And now we're moving more into the automotive retail space in terms of tech and that doesn't necessarily have to just sit with the dealer. Lots of other platforms sell cars and all of those systems require connecting in some way. So it's about making sure we know what the OEMs are trying to achieve and then our technology dovetails into the right OEM in the right market in a way you sound like a glutton for punishment.

MC:

You said DMS technology and connecting systems. And data and data, which we know is a difficult task in our industry. With you know, everything is behind an iron gate, as it were, but you've keyed into something that plays into the dealership ecosystem. Tell me about what discoveries you've made along the way of pain points or friction points that you can solve for the dealer.

Jacqui:

So I joined Keyloop three years ago. I was new to DMSs and I was like why have they hired me? I don't really understand what the DMS. I didn't know the detail that the DMS sort of provided or how it works as a tech platform. My biggest driver was how can you make it easy for a customer to buy from you for in the car space? So I'd kind of come through a media background selling advertising. So my background was very much marketing. And then I moved into tech through auto trader.

Jacqui:

So I spent three or four years learning how consumers behave online and we spent that time educating manufacturers into how can you target your messaging at the right time when consumers are coming into market. And I think we spend a huge amount. We see lots of money spent on marketing in the hope that somebody will see it at the right time. And actually when consumers are coming into a marketplace like an auto trader or an Amazon or similar bookingcom, you're in the market to buy something. So actually catch me then when I'm browsing or thinking about it.

Jacqui:

Right, and then the mood to keely was a bit more of a. It felt like the right place to be to learn about tech and how that can solve for it. So I think it's a very human business and people buy from people, but technology can do so much of the heavy lifting to give you, as a business, the right data at the right time. So so it was a massive learning curve. I'm not going to lie. It was like every day is still a school day for me. It's like we do what and they call this what, and every OEM has a different set of names and codes and project things that are all different.

MC:

They said here's the textbook of automotive acronyms that you need to learn. Learn them.

Jacqui:

And then they're going to change tomorrow. Yeah, great, thanks See, ya, it's fun.

MC:

And then we're going to come up with a new buzz acronym just ahead of the next NADA. You've said something interesting, I think, which is the experience, the examining of the industry and then leaning into the technology, yeah, when I think a fundamental mistake and I'd love your thoughts on this my opinion is a fundamental mistake is technologists try and create technology to solve a problem, whether they know or not it existed.

Jacqui:

In some cases, yeah, they do that, and I think where you see, disruption usually comes out of something doesn't feel right, it doesn't work, it's clunky, it's difficult. So, like the iPhone is a great example of tech has provided something we didn't even know we needed. So that was an incredible example of you put a little computer in the back pocket of every single human and we now have AI that does a lot of thinking for us and I look I'm a fan of AI, I'm not gonna lie. So my brain works in a very mind mappy kind of way. Long form content isn't, you know, something I really relish. But actually using ai can help to form my thoughts into a, into a long form proposal, if I need it to do that.

Jacqui:

Yeah, so I think tech what I find frustrating is where we know we've got problems and we just don't seem to want to solve them. We just kind of blindly go on going oh, it's okay, you just sweep it under the rug. Yeah, and there was a point made. Actually, I've been at quite a few conferences this week, mainly to learn what's going on in Canada, because the market here is different to South Africa or New Zealand or the UK or Europe. Everyone is like a slightly different life stage in their tech evolution and one of the things that was quite apparent was somebody mentioned you could put my grandfather in a car and he wouldn't know how to start it. But you could put him in a dealership and he wouldn't know how to buy a car because the process hasn't really changed. And you think, yeah, we need to do something about that. Actually, we need to make that better.

MC:

You almost you just drug a cough out of me. I laugh cough. We're talking about grandfathers and my grandpa, cough laugh came out. Isn't that fascinating.

Jacqui:

Yeah.

MC:

And my knee jerk question was Do we need to change it? And then my immediate response was yes, we do. We do need to change it. Yeah, Because at first I yes, we do, we do need to change it. Yeah, Because at first I was like, oh, the marketer in me I went oh, the process is terrible, so familiar, my grandpa can still buy a car. And then I realized all of my grandparents are dead.

Jacqui:

Yeah.

MC:

They don't exist on this planet anymore, sadly. And but my children? I have a 15, almost 16. They're in that you know that almost phase, like almost 16, almost 15. I have three kids. We decided at Christmas to buy them phones. We had staved off the whole phone thing for that long and I was driving one day and the thought occurred to me but they're the first generation who will never not have this. Yeah, and to your point about AI. So to your point about do we need to change the process? We absolutely do, because the next people buying cars are our children.

Jacqui:

Yeah, it feels so. We talked about reverse engineering. So actually the whole topic of this was how can you reverse engineer it? And when I think about reverse engineering, it's like think about it from the customer's point of view. It still feels the process feels very analog, but we have all the tools to make it very digital and connected. The process feels very analog, but we have all the tools to make it very digital and connected.

Jacqui:

And the frustration when I worked for an e-commerce agency for a while, one of the things that I would do is try and buy from that company. If I was working for a manufacturer, I'd be like, right, how easy is it? And what's my lived experience of trying to buy something from this company? And then, where do I get stuck? And that's the bit where you think well, why are you getting stuck here? So one example was a manufacturer had a really lovely Facebook campaign with all of the accessories on the vehicle and I just thought I want that one as a consumer. You see, someone's designed it Like you wouldn't go to a.

Jacqui:

Maybe you have a tailored suit. You wouldn't pick your lining or your buttons. I don't want to configure a car from the ground up. I just don't have the time right or the, and I'm a car, that I'm a petrol head and I know what I want and I wanted that one and I tried to buy that one and it took me into an accessories journey where I could add the wheels or the spoiler or the thing, and I was like I just wanted it with those.

MC:

I wanted it, how I saw it yeah, I expect a car.

Jacqui:

Once I was like can I have the blacked out windows and the drug dealer wheels? That's the one I want? They were like oh, we know exactly which one you want, and that was an S-Max back in the day, when I also have three kids. So my test driving experience was I would turn up at the dealership with my life and if I couldn't fit it in the car, I didn't drive the car of double buggy three seats. You know my life stage at that point required huge amounts of moving of humans and people and stuff and now very different.

Jacqui:

My life is different. The kids are all driving, yeah, so my youngest one they've just not almost so. One just got his big job, one just bought his first actual decent car, not a shed, and the youngest one just passed his test. So I'm at the free stage of life where? But all of that?

Jacqui:

take yourself I know, drive yourself to the thing. I'm not doing it. So, yeah, it's quite good. So so I think the how do you reverse engineer something is try and buy it from yourselves, and most of this industry doesn't do that. They get given a car and they don't have to think about what it's like to try and buy it, and they still have very antiquated practices of trying to not really be clear about the finance deal you're giving me. I'll tell you the interest rate, maybe later, but I'll just give you the monthly amount, and consumers aren't stupid, and I think that's the point where you have a laptop in your pocket. We're going to search and find things. Don't patronize me and think I don't know what an interest rate should be. Yeah, you know, make it easy for me. Be transparent with me a bit of like. I'm a human to human, you know. Yeah why?

MC:

what do you think is prevent? Because I agree with this wholeheartedly. I remember having a conversation with a dealer owner and I encouraged him to do what you're saying like actually go through the process. He says, well, I've never bought a car in my life, right, he's, I think, second or third generation owner now. Yeah, he's always had a demo vehicle or you know whatever. He's never had to go from research to walk in dealership to, you know, do the whole process. He just hasn't had to do that. Yeah, what's preventing us from doing that? I?

Jacqui:

mean it seems like it's so readily accessible to anybody. Yeah, it does, and it's so. This is thing when you look at the skill set within the industry, and obviously we see this a lot because we work with manufacturers and retailers and we also. What we see is so another kind of reverse engineering is look under the hood of what tech you've got in your business. So if you're a retailer, reverse engineer it from the people that work in your showroom and the system they have to navigate into and out of just to sell that vehicle. So I dare say most of the people that own the businesses have come, they've come through the ranks of selling a vehicle, booking it in for service, so they know how it works.

Jacqui:

But those things haven't changed and often the tech and we're guilty of this, actually the tech that we would provide doesn't do everything. But we need to then have a fairly robust and integrated partner ecosystem to connect in some of those things that maybe the core system doesn't actually do. But if you don't integrate it, it means you've then got to log into and out of another system right to move my details from your service experience with me into the. I'm going to sell you a new car. Therefore, I'm going to have to re-enter all of your information rather than having an account area or having a way that you hold my data and you know then how to enhance my experience. So the biggest frustration I found as a consumer buying in this because I do a lot of mystery shopping with our customers, just remember, actually I'm a car buyer is you do this whole process and you'll maybe find the thing that you want and then you they're comparing this thing with that thing really unnecessarily hard. Just to be able to compare, like total cost of ownership with an ev is going to is going to become more important. How are you as a retailer, how's it how you help a customer make the right decision? And total cost of ownership? I did it.

Jacqui:

We had a, an event and we I posed a question to the floor and it was senior retailers in the room like how many of you could confidently explain the difference between pence per kilowatt hour versus dollar per mile pound you know pence, whatever and they all kind of looked like horrified, like I was going to ask them. I was like, don't worry, I know how to explain, I know the difference and I would find it hard. But actually, if you can simplify some of those data points to make it easier for customers to buy and compare or save their journey, so when they walk in, still you've got all of that history, history, you can see what car I'm currently driving. You've probably got the valuation integrated already into your system because valuation data is readily available through either that, you know, the local book solution, auto trader, so you can see all of that rich data. And then when I walk in, you're just helping me do the final bits of the journey.

Jacqui:

And we've got so many digital tools now with online document signing, you don't have to have a signature. So all of these things are there. It just. I think our job actually is just the plumbing. In some cases, we just connect it all up so you make it easier for the dealership to not have to spend unnecessary hours moving data around, and that's also where mistakes happen.

MC:

Hey, does your marketing agency suck? Listen, before we hop back into this episode. I know you know me as the host of the dealer playbook, but did you also know that I'm the CEO of FlexDealer, an agency that's helping dealers capture better quality leads from local SEO and hyper-targeted ads that convert? So if you want to sell more cars and finally have a partner that's in it with you, that doesn't suck visit flexdealercom. Let's hop back into this episode.

MC:

I love that word. This conversation to me is almost like a forced moment of pause to just reflect on. Yeah, you're right, what are we doing? Because when you look at the and by the way, I mean my audience knows this I am a lay down when it comes to buying a vehicle. I walk into a dealership and I go that one, that same. Yeah. And somebody just said to me it's because you're a salesperson Like most salespeople are just like. Yeah, you know, they don't want to make it difficult, but what I think is interesting to your point is, despite being a lay down and saying that one, they treat me like I just started the process.

Jacqui:

They say, oh, he's a walk-in. No, he isn't. Nobody is a walk-in. There is no such thing as a walk-in. They've all done research and I think you may not have known about me before, but I will just walk in, having done a lot of research, and there was a lot of talk about that over the events in the last three days. So it's how much research consumers can do online. We may not want to buy online and if it's a used vehicle, you are going to want to go and see it and test drive it and, as I mentioned, try my life on. It's like retail I'll go and try on an outfit or your life, or you know. So there's some really cool things you can do to make it easier for customers just to do that bit of the journey and save it and come back. So you know, let me put it in a basket, Let me think about it.

MC:

Right, yeah, isn't that interesting. Do you think, under this premise, under the concept of, like you said, reverse engineering, getting a good grasp of what we currently have and where the the friction points are, do you think maybe we rushed the whole digital retail thing like? Do you think we, instead of, because what you're saying sounds very phased lined, very strategic, oh yeah, very much and we went yeah, let's just disregard that. And everyone wants to buy online what I've.

Jacqui:

I mean what's interesting from a, an oem global observation vector, is and I respect the big consulting firms that like to you know, charge a lot of money to give advice and they do a really good job when it comes to having filling a skill gap for oems. When you don't have digital, maybe skill in your business, they'll kind of have you know boots on the ground. They can then stand up and help you build or configure a system. I think what what I found strange is we've seen like the big four topics were automotive, like autonomous, connected, electric, shared. You would have gone to any conference in the last 10 years and you'd have heard people talking about oh, autonomous vehicles are going to be the best thing of the world, are they really? And connected vehicles. I actually think there's a really exciting space in connected vehicle technology and how you can start to unlock the data from the vehicle to keep humans safer and actually autonomous vehicles have meant.

Jacqui:

I drive a volvo. That car has saved my life a number of times, you know, because it will almost anticipate something before I've even seen it, because the camera has recognized the motion. It will automatically slow me down. So I think there's some great technology coming in that space. But the electric and shared completely went after COVID, like, we saw a massive rise in the sale of used vehicles because people didn't want to share a vehicle with anybody.

Jacqui:

But the other thing as well that I found quite frankly strange is the oh, let's go agency. Let's, yeah, we're all going to sell direct to consumer, and there's what agencies sought to solve was consumer experience and brand experience on. What the industry failed to do was connect the dots with the retailer and actually have that online in-store approach. So you're absolutely right, we tried to literally go all in without having a step-by-step, just do one thing really well. So when I first started working in e-commerce, it was a retail agency that started building websites for manufacturers and we launched the Europeanan platform for stalantis, initially as a as an internal sales tool. So they learned, they did lots of learn and then do next.

Jacqui:

Do the next thing. You do one thing you make it easier for your internal people to buy vehicles, either lease them and of course, you haven't got to worry about lots of different finance options, because it's you know, you're getting it through your company game, whatever. So why fleet isn't online again is flummoxing to me, because actually you've already got your leasing terms set in place and your company car drivers could literally buy those things online. That could be an online transaction. You don't need to have money moving around, but it's. But the whole agency piece was just a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I think it was like let's go all in.

Jacqui:

Yeah, well, really, consumers just wanted to have oems, wanted to give consumers a transparent experience, and they were right to try and do that. And I just think if we'd have gone about it a bit differently, which is just connect all of your data points so that consumers have more transparent choice, and you don't. You know, in the uk now we have comparison sites for everything. I can choose financial products transparently. I look at my mortgage rates. I can see who's offering the best deal and I'll choose the best deal. Insurance I look at who's got the best rates. I choose the best rates interest.

Jacqui:

Why we're not doing that in the car space trip advisor? As humans, we're hardwired to follow the crowd. That's why reviews really matter, because we want to feel like safe in that, in those numbers, you know, as part of the crowd. If we do something different then we're at risk. So I think if we were to just do a phased approach, do one thing really well make it easy for me to value my car so I know what I've got to spend. You wouldn't buy a house until you knew what you were selling your old house for Same as a car Right. You won't make a decision until you know how much money you've got to spend. So the first thing you could do is just give the consumer a valuation, and we did that when we first started building websites. It was just OEM. Put a valuation tool on your website, make your website stickier. A valuation tool on your website, make your website stickier.

Jacqui:

I don't want to configure something, I just need to start to make the process easier, and the first step could be what's my budget? And then you can start to build great. Well. So what are my choices? So what stalantis did in europe was they simplified, not giving you millions of configurations. They gave you three choices like small, medium, large. So what's your budget like? Here's the mid-range, is the luxury, here's the base level.

Jacqui:

Yeah, so as a consumer, you're making it really easy for me to go. Oh, I think I'm probably mid-level, or my sons are, they're just learning to drive. Yeah, base level shared, they'll spend not very much money on a car. I'm now. I've earned, you know, long enough and I deserve to have a bit of luxury. So I've probably gone more at the luxury end. So, but consumers don't want to have a million choices, and if you look at how OEMs have almost now made it easy for customers to build to order, which also makes it difficult to value residual values, blah blah. So so I think, actually, if you simplify, start to simplify and make it easier for me to do another thing. You're collecting data about me in that process, so you know if I'm valuing something, what I'm currently driving. You can then help me choose the next thing.

MC:

Sure, I love this. I'm a nerd. Okay, confession everybody I'm a nerd or geek. Is that what we say? Now, I don't know what we say, it doesn't matter, but as I listen to you, I think about how and I don't know if this was the case or not, but it's how I perceive it when steve jobs stood up and said you can put 4 500, you know the ipod thing, yeah that's.

MC:

that was the marketing pitch to the general population. What he he was really saying is I'm going to put a data collection device in every person's pocket on the plane. And then, just a few years later, it was like oh, guess what? Apple Play is now in your vehicle, which learns about how you drive and where you drive, and how often you drive, and what music you listen to while you drive, and on and on. And then, to your point, about insurance companies and things of that nature.

MC:

So now I have this always with me. It knows we're in Toronto, it knows that we are next to each other you know maybe not connecting that, but the data is definitely going somewhere that it knows you're there and I'm here. It knows the flights you're going to be on, it knows duration. It knows so many things about us. And yet, to your point, we talk about the automotive purchase as the second largest purchase most people make and it is the least served. It is the least connected. Yeah, it is the least connected, yeah, yeah, it's crazy. I can go to Expedia right now and get an all-inclusive everything and it'll know what my preferences are, because it saved all of that data from the last time. I, but not the vehicle purchase.

Jacqui:

My car is parked on my driver. I could set its charge from my phone If I wanted to. It's a hybrid, it's plugged in. I could look at my phone now and know exactly what my mileage and how much charge I've got on my car and what my range is. It's nuts, isn't it?

MC:

Well, we've got a big job ahead of us.

Jacqui:

Just a bit, but yeah.

MC:

You've made me think. You've given me some aha moments and some points of pause, and I know that's certainly the case for the audience. Jackie, how can those listening and watching get in touch with you and connect?

Jacqui:

I'm on LinkedIn, so by all means, follow me. We're launching a podcast this year as well. So trying to demystify, I think, some of the things that you maybe don't want to ask about tech, but you'd like to know, but you're too afraid to ask and also just trying to make it easier for you to access all of the different micro moments in a car life, ownership, life. So we'd love to make it a bit more accessible so that you can make improvements in your business and drive efficiency by using tech and then knowing where to start. I think that's the bit where I still have conversations with oems, where they just they don't know where to start and they throw the kitchen sink at it, and so I think you don't need to throw the kitchen sink at anything, just like start small, do it really well, then do the next thing. So you know you can find me on LinkedIn. Thank you very much, and hopefully you'll tag we'll tag something in this.

Jacqui:

But, I'm based in the UK, so when I travel all over the world with Keyloop so it's a really I'm very fortunate. I get to work with a number of our customers and sales teams and then the fun stuff that we get to do is actually try and co-create some of these tech experiences with oems and users of our tech. So if you're a technician or a service advisor who's using technology, we design with the user in mind, so we do a lot of shared discovery. So if people want to get involved with that shared discovery and then you learn how tech is built and developed, I think that's a really great opportunity for people that have worked in automotive for a long time to start to make that sort of step into a tech space, because that's exciting. You know. It's a really great place to be.

MC:

Well, that's fascinating. Well, thank you so much for joining me on the Dealer Playbook.

Jacqui:

Thanks for having me. It's been a real pleasure, so I hope we can do this again we will hey.

MC:

Thanks for listening to the Dealer Playbook podcast. If you enjoyed tuning in, please subscribe, share and hit that like button. You can also join us and the DPB community on social media. Check back next week for a new Dealer Playbook episode. Thanks so much for.

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Michael Cirillo

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