How Two Mormon Missionaries Built a Multi-Billion Dollar Empire (+ The AI Playbook Behind It) | Eric Rea & Dennis Steele, Co-Founders of Podium
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RSS Feed Eric Rea and Dennis Steele's first pitch to a car dealership ended with the general manager writing a check for the entire year on the spot, and they say that moment is what convinced them dealerships, not the tire shops they started with, would build their company.
They walk through how a 700-location collision repair network let Podium's voice agent take over 61% of its after-hours phone calls, and how that agent is now on pace to help book $1 billion in repairs this year with a customer satisfaction score higher than the network's own human call center, a result that surprised even their most skeptical engineers.
Eric Rea and Dennis Steele are the co-founders of Podium, the AI platform now used by 4,000 auto dealerships for reviews, texting, and voice-based customer service.
Topics:
00:55 AI Replaces The Entire Dealership Stack.
03:30 Don't Learn To Code, Learn Agents.
09:00 Door-To-Door Tactics Sold Dealerships.
15:05 Jerry Launched In 2023 And Never Left.
22:45 Voice AI Completed 87% Of Bookings.
31:20 Operator Found Lapsed Customers In 10 Minutes.
38:15 Default State Of Any Company Is Stillness.
This episode is brought to you by:
1. Experian Automotive - Experian AutoCheck helps dealers meet them earlier in the buying journey as the only vehicle history report across top consumer shopping sites. Visit @ here for more info.
2. Proton Dealership IT - Around-the-clock protection starts with around-the-clock support. Visit @ here for more information.
3. Podium - the AI platform trusted by one in three dealerships. If your AI isn’t driving real outcomes, it’s time to take a closer look @ here.
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