Spending a day in Hot-lanta, Why We Are ‘Slack-splaining’, and ASOTU CON Speaker Notes

SPEAKERS

Kyle Mountsier, Paul Daly

Paul Daly  00:27

Today you're so special. I wore my prized possession. I'll talk about that in a minute is Tuesday July 12. We're excited because we get to get on the ground in the dirt at a dealership today. Hotlanta Here we go. Feels like Atlanta song actually really does

Kyle Mountsier  00:46

actually went up on Atlanta track. I've never realized that until now. It's just it's just it's meant to be in Atlanta. Yeah. I wonder if you just from Atlanta like you get off the plane in Atlanta and you just feel like you you need to like kind of just kind of drop out a little bit. You just get a little bounce when you get off the plane. Oh, my not too much because it's hot there this time of year. You know,

Paul Daly  01:08

it is I you know, yesterday, I looked up the temperature to see what I was going to be dealing with today. And I realized that Syracuse was nine degrees warmer than Atlanta yesterday when I looked No way. Yeah. It was 90 and Syracuse. I bet the humidity level might be just a little different.

Kyle Mountsier  01:29

Oh, that's the diff that's the massive difference right there. Nashville Atlanta. We all just deal with this oppressive walk out sweat type thing. That's just the way that we do. That's the way we Oh man.

Paul Daly  01:39

Oh, man. Oh, man. I booked to see my hat today. I just my prized possession. I am wearing my dark blue on dark blue asoto hat that was that the first family reunion that has everybody signed on it was there. shoulding you're on here somewhere? I should I am. Where were you where your

Kyle Mountsier  01:56

mind? Got my mind. Right back up there. You're on there somewhere. Actually, you signed? You gave yourself the little like hotspot? Let's see. Right, right. Right over my pinky.

Paul Daly  02:08

I know what's up. The day trading attention over here. We are a few fun things to talk about. Today we're gonna talk about Slack explaining it is something I had never heard of before. But slack splaining. I think you might already know what that is. But we'll talk about that in a second. We're also going to announce, shoot our first speaker for a soda content, we've been teasing this thing for so long. Now

Kyle Mountsier  02:30

we have we might have like accidentally barely dropped it on a day. And

Paul Daly  02:36

we're gonna talk about it a little bit more today. And yesterday, we're so excited to announce our premier sponsor cars.com stepped up to the plate with a big swing to make sure that we could fully execute the rebirth of the automotive conference for you. So just a little residual love from cars.com. Yesterday, we announced them as the premier sponsor. So we want to say like just say it twice, because it's worth it. Our friends at cars have just come all the way we are so excited to be collaborating with them to bring you something that you've never ever, ever seen in an automotive conference before. And so speaking of someone we're pretty sure you've never seen at an automotive conference before. Well, no one That one went this one's

Kyle Mountsier  03:17

got hot buttons mixed up this morning. I think

Paul Daly  03:20

the track was still playing in the background. So we're announcing somebody today that actually made an impact on you. And I as entrepreneurs actually influenced our decision to do things the way that we've done them both with our little consulting thing contagious Auto, and then asoto. Here's let's tell the story. Do we tell the person first or we tell the story first,

Kyle Mountsier  03:41

go back to the story. Go back to the story. So I'm, well first of all, so I had my first speaking engagement at Digital dealer a little over a year ago now. So that was June of 2021. And we were in Tampa Paul and I had just met that morning on for the first time in person morning before in person we have met in person and we went

Paul Daly  04:04

on a fun run.

Kyle Mountsier  04:07

And then Paul decided he was like, You know what, I think I'll go to Kyle's session because it was about marketing and and the way that marketing teams are formed and a lot of the stuff that we do with our consultancy on contagious nowadays. Well, that was what we were I was talking about. And Paul sitting there listening and I actually interact with Paul asked him how much a RED camera was and he was like, oh, no, the guys in the back answer those questions. Right. And, and so so there was this? It was a really fun room. And apparently, Paul, you're sitting there next to someone who I'm like, we have no

Paul Daly  04:41

one is, if it was you please send us an email at crew@asoto.com and let us know. It was you. It was actually before the session started.

Kyle Mountsier  04:49

Ah really?

Paul Daly  04:50

No. So you got that little you got that little conversation going before the workshop and people are filing and we just started talking and the young man next to me was like hey, yeah, right. Did you ever read this book? called the innovation stack. And I was like, No, I never heard of it. He's like, I was so good. And he gave me a little synopsis. Maybe and I literally right there, and someone that I feel is credible enough, recommends a book, I pulled my phone out, and I ordered on Amazon. So it'll be home when I get home. So I ordered it. And then you know, Kyle did his thing. And then we had the rest of digital dealer, and I got home, and I read this book. And I read the book. And then I was like, Man, this is amazing. And then I don't know how many months we decided to go into business together. And then I recommended the book. It was interesting, because we decided

Kyle Mountsier  05:29

to go to business together. Right? And for what, a couple months, you just kind of sat on this book. Oh,

Paul Daly  05:36

yeah. Right, right. I didn't read it right away, right? Because that's how I look next to my bed. I have a stack of books that's like,

Kyle Mountsier  05:42

Well, no, you sat on, like telling me and then you told me about it. And I was like, I'm gonna get this book right away. Well, I think what happened is I actually got super sick over a weekend, and I read this book, cover, yes, I read this book cover to cover. And I'm sending literally sending Paul, all these screenshots. I'm like, Oh, my goodness, this is absolutely incredible. And he's like, I've got to read the book again. So Paul goes back and reads the book again. And then just a couple months later, we did digital dealer in Vegas. And that was the moment when like, I think everything kind of tied together when it was, you know, the innovation stack plus what was happening with a so do what we already believed about the automotive industry, and all of that came together. And And so really, that was kind of that was the impetus to to really have an a big vision as far as what we're doing with a soda and what we're doing in the automotive industry. And so we're really excited to announce that the writer of the innovation stack and co founder of square now block, Jim McKelvey will be our premiere keynote speaker on Monday night of the event in Philly of a sudo. Con, and I can't wait to, to kind of like bring him into the automotive industry in a really unique way. So you don't

Paul Daly  07:06

go, you don't even know. So this is like full circle. Now. We're just really excited that we're going to have some conversations with him and get to see him in person. And when we reached out to him, he's actually his interest piqued? Because he hasn't done anything in automotive before. Yes. And this is someone who understands all industries, right? Like, because when you when you study and look into his history, he solves problems. And from glassblowing, to credit card payments, right? He just likes to solve problems. I want to read a little excerpt from his bio, I just had it up and now it's not up anymore. Oh, here it is. So this is his bio on his website. So he has a Wikipedia page. So I don't know if you caught it. Kyle said co founder of square, you know, that little payment processing company that yeah, that company. he co founded square with Jack Dorsey. And a lot of stories about that in the book. By the way, if you haven't read the innovation stack, do yourself a favor and read the innovation sack because it was one of the most entertaining business books I've ever written. And also one of the most profound from Jim's bio on his websites is please don't ask me to connect on facebook, whatsapp or Instagram. I'm not there. I've got better things to do and frankly, so to you. And just like you don't need to know what I had for dinner last night. You don't need to know about where it was born or meaningless laundry list of things I've done. That's what Wikipedia is for those things. I build the things that through the things I do in the people I meet, I aim to be a conduit to ideas, innovation, and even to entrepreneurship. I want to explore solve problems and inspire others to do the same. And that my friends is the most important thing you need to remember about me.

Kyle Mountsier  08:37

Paul signed Jim McKelvey. Look at this troublemaker.

Paul Daly  08:42

Troublemaker right. If that's not a troublemaker, I don't know what it is. So he's coming in hardcore with Soto you have to be there to see him in person. I've never seen him in person, but I heard he is an amazing speaker. It's not like one of those guys where they write the good book, and then you realize that hate people are gonna get in a room? No, no, this is a different thing. So if you haven't already, go to a Soto con.com and get your tickets, we're selling tickets. Now the flow is moving in a really great direction. And now the momentum is building we have a lot more speaker and sponsor announcements. What do we what are we up to count over 50 speakers? Somewhere like that? Yeah, I

Kyle Mountsier  09:15

think we counted yesterday over 50 speakers like 40 sessions, we're packing them into panels, because we just want to be the best thoughts and the best. Like, I'm excited because I think the panels are going to stir up some like it's not going to just be like viewing information from your own brain. There's gonna be like, Oh, wait, you think and I think and we're going to put some challenging things together. The idea is to not just kind of, ah, Yep, that sounds good. And everyone thumbs up and rollout and you know, we kind of Manila our way through it. Like we want to press press boundaries and push back and make ideas happen and synthesize great ideas for the auto industry out of this event.

Paul Daly  09:53

It's happened coming at you hardcore soda con September 11 through 13th in Philadelphia. Let's talk about we got time probably for one article today, this is an article that is probably not timely, but it's going to be very relatable. And the question that we are posing is, are we losing more time than ever in this hybrid work environment? Sometimes remote, sometimes not remote? Slack? splaining. Kyle, what is black slacks planning? Do you have a guest?

Kyle Mountsier  10:20

Slash explaining? I would say that it's like the over the need to over explain yourself for the words that you're using. Because this digital ecosystem is very hard to understand emphasis or point of view, or the mode in which you're communicating. And so like, people drop emojis on things, you got to have a gift for everything, right? It's just all of this. Yeah. Is that right?

Paul Daly  10:51

That's a very good. That's a very good, I wouldn't say it's a very good guess. But it's pretty accurate to what it is. So basically, it is what you said it is over communicating, right? Spending a lot of time and energy overthinking your communication, writing too much, because you're worried about being misunderstood or the point be mistaken. And on top of that our brains are hardwired to interpret the negative potential interpretation first, have you ever seen that in real life? Right? That's fine, right? That's fine. What do you mean, that's fine. What

Kyle Mountsier  11:27

do you mean, that's fine?

Paul Daly  11:28

Well, I hear I hear they said, that's fine, right? That no, they will say, Oh, that's fine. Right? Totally different. So here's the deal survey by the communication platform loom of more than 3000. office workers found that 91% had digital messages misunderstood or misinterpreted at work. And for 20% of those, they've caused them to get reprimanded, demoted or even fired. Oh, that is a major, major problem. Right? So we're spending another research in this article, we linked it up. It's a Fast Company article. It's great. It's a little bit longer, but it's full of great stuff. And like I found myself reading it and nodding along like yes, yes. So another research from grammerly You know, Grammarly, and the Harris poll found that employees spend nearly half of their work week on written communication alone, because the shift to more, yeah, one half, because of a shift to a more dispersed workweek. I don't know, when you were in a dealership at the time. So you didn't go through this the same way. But when the agency moves remote, because we had to in New York, right? Like, they shut everything down. I remember, I was like, all upset about it. And then after like, a week or two, I was like, you know, I mean, I do feel like we're pretty efficient. And then after like three or four weeks, I was like, this sucks, right? And now, I mean, I

Kyle Mountsier  12:38

think about this, like, the volume of texting and emailing that's happening within a dealership with customers. And this is a big thing. Right? That is, it could be a shocking realization of, you know, what are you communicating? And are your customers able to obtain that information? Because, you know, you go from like in person interaction, then you separate that to phone interaction, which loses that interpersonal connection. See, right, nobody likes Yeah. And then you go to text and an email, and you're just removing more and more opportunity for contextualization. And you're putting barriers up. And so yes, everyone wants to be texted, yes, everyone wants to respond to email in their own time. But what I mean, even recently, actually, Paul, you and I have been really intentional about, like, instead of just, you know, we've you know, especially with a lot of outreach that we've had to do around a soda con, it's like, oh, let's email them. And we've just realized, oh, picking up the phone is actually a much better option. And so I, you know, obviously people need to communicate in the way that they need to communicate whether in business or, you know, business to business, or within a business or business consumer. But, you know, recognizing that there are there are barriers when you remove that layer of, of personal connection, and like physical visual connection, especially like audio plus visual. Yeah, it's a, that is a wild, that's wild research right there that people are getting fired over messages because of miscommunication. You know,

Paul Daly  14:12

that that really is kind of like, that's the extreme, right? I just, I backed into the amount of time that I've kind of always felt like is wasted, right, because of well, let me send a Slack message. And then the more detailed you're making it, the more you're like, right, you're explaining more and more context. I'm like, I don't know that this is faster. And then you start to think about, well, that what I'm producing right now is going to generate an equal detailed response, which if you think about it, someone's going to have to overthink it that much on the other side, and you put all that together, and it's one thing if you're like, sharing engineering plans, right, right. That's like about math and measurements. And I want to in the text message, right? I want my pacemakers to be made to the spec, but when it's like creative work, or it's like thought work, man, I just can't, I can't, I can try still trying to wrap my head around the amount of time is being wasted. And on top of that, the amount of misinterpretation that's obviously happening when you look into. So I mean, here's our advice on that. And this is something that I've, the second it starts to feel burdensome, right? Really, the consideration of like a two minute phone call should really filter right up to the top of your mind. Most cases, it's even less than two minutes. Hey, sent this Slack message about this, I wanted to make sure are you thinking this and this? Or were you thinking that that? Right? And then all of a sudden, things start free flowing? And for sure, for sure, for sure. If you ever interpret someone's Slack message as short, or Curt, or, you know, aggressive in any way, and you're like, I'm not sure if they meant just pick up the phone?

Kyle Mountsier  15:51

Yes, exactly. And I would say in all communication, right, the the default mode that we should have, whether you are texting someone or emailing someone or in a Slack message or on on messaging is is to believe the best about them, and believe that they have your best interests at heart first, right until proven otherwise, believe that the person on the other side is acting with with like your best interests at heart. That's going to just go a ton a long way for communication, especially, like for an industry that from the outside looking in, that the perception of our industry is that it is harsh, or is or is cart curse, right? That that anytime that we have the opportunity to break down that barrier internally that's going to transition external day. That's it. And so, it is we just have to be hyper aware as an industry of that reality.

Paul Daly  16:47

Well, we have your best interests at heart today, as we're on the ground banging out dealerships we're gonna bring you some good dealer interview content tomorrow probably maybe the next day but until then assume the best about one another and let's go out there and care. Right

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