Auto Collabs
Collaboration through connection.
Hosted by Paul J Daly, Kyle Mountsier, and Michael Cirillo, Auto Collabs is your connect point to the human side of the retail automotive industry: what motivates its leaders, how they navigate change, and what keeps them pushing forward. It’s beyond-the-business-card conversations with real people powering dealerships, technology platforms, and everything in between.
From the team behind the More Than Cars movement, this podcast is built on one big belief: thriving people create thriving businesses. With candid conversations, industry insight, and just enough unfiltered banter to keep things interesting, Auto Collabs delivers authentic stories that inspire real collaboration.
// Auto Collabs is produced by Automotive State of the Union (ASOTU). Learn more at https://www.asotu.com
Auto Collabs
The #1 Reason Dealers Lose Customers (It's Not What You Think)
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Most dealers think they’re losing on price—but the real reason customers walk away is far more human (and far more fixable).
Tom Kondrat, Advanced Analytics Director at Urban Science, joins Auto Collabs to unpack one of the most misunderstood problems in retail automotive: customer defection. Drawing on real-time sales data and post-purchase surveys, Tom reveals a surprising truth—price isn’t the main reason customers leave. Instead, the breakdown happens in something much harder to measure… and much easier to fix: communication.
The conversation dives into how AI has evolved from predictive analytics to hyper-personalized insights, and how dealers can now use sentiment analysis to understand customer behavior at scale. But here’s the twist: the biggest opportunity isn’t in better tech—it’s in better human connection. From the power of simply being remembered by name to the overlooked value of following up after a lost sale, this episode makes one thing clear: data doesn’t replace relationships—it sharpens them.
Timestamped Takeaways
0:00 Price Isn’t the Real Reason Customers Leave
0:28 Communication Breakdowns Are Driving Defection
1:15 AI Shifted From Scale to Personalization
2:09 Too Much Data Can Hurt Better Decisions
3:26 Predictive AI Was Built to Anticipate Behavior
6:25 Modern AI Needs to Focus on Human Moments
8:42 Dealers Default to Price but Miss the Truth
9:38 Slow or Irrelevant Responses Push Customers Away
11:34 Great Communication Is Timely and Precise
17:35 Fast Feedback Loops Improve Sales Performance
21:26 AI Can Turn Customer Feedback Into Action
22:44 Being Remembered by Name Drives Positive Experiences
Connect with Tom Kondrat at https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomaskondrat/
Learn more about Urban Science at https://www.urbanscience.com
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