Meeting Title: Uttam <> Troy Date: 2025-05-12 Meeting participants: Troy Ottmer, Uttam Kumaran
WEBVTT
1 00:00:04.090 ⇒ 00:00:05.050 Troy Ottmer: Hello!
2 00:02:30.830 ⇒ 00:02:36.970 Troy Ottmer: Hey? Can you hear me? Okay, I’m having some zoom problems.
3 00:03:02.340 ⇒ 00:03:03.550 Uttam Kumaran: You hear me now?
4 00:03:04.300 ⇒ 00:03:06.490 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah. Here, you okay, perfect.
5 00:03:07.300 ⇒ 00:03:13.769 Troy Ottmer: Yeah, with my computer. When I logged into zoom, it just locked up one screen completely.
6 00:03:15.410 ⇒ 00:03:19.019 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, I’m like, I’m outside right now. And I
7 00:03:19.260 ⇒ 00:03:23.609 Uttam Kumaran: I try to like, I’ve been taking most of my calls now, video off.
8 00:03:23.740 ⇒ 00:03:29.129 Uttam Kumaran: But like, today, I’m like, Yeah, I’m I’m audio through my phone. But I’ll video through.
9 00:03:31.160 ⇒ 00:03:32.520 Uttam Kumaran: My laptop. So.
10 00:03:32.520 ⇒ 00:03:45.158 Troy Ottmer: Okay, so are you, are you having trouble with Zoom? I’ve heard I’ve had various people reference. Turning off the video is something that’s becoming more commonplace, and I don’t know what that’s about.
11 00:03:45.530 ⇒ 00:03:49.419 Uttam Kumaran: Turning off the video just like it just lowers the amount of like bandwidth that’s going.
12 00:03:49.420 ⇒ 00:03:49.840 Troy Ottmer: Oh, yeah.
13 00:03:49.840 ⇒ 00:03:51.230 Uttam Kumaran: So, okay.
14 00:03:51.230 ⇒ 00:03:51.840 Troy Ottmer: Okay.
15 00:03:51.840 ⇒ 00:03:56.140 Uttam Kumaran: It sort of depends. Some people like want to be on video. When I when I talk to like my team.
16 00:03:56.400 ⇒ 00:04:03.710 Uttam Kumaran: I’m like on and off. If I’m if I’m like, on my from my home, then it’s fine, but sometimes I’m running around so.
17 00:04:03.930 ⇒ 00:04:13.780 Troy Ottmer: Yeah. Well, that’s no no worries, no worries, but so good. Yeah. Good. Good to catch up. I I liked your your paper. That was.
18 00:04:14.460 ⇒ 00:04:25.956 Troy Ottmer: there’s enlightening. Right? It’s it’s just straight to the point. But it’s it’s a ever changing world, this, you know, the A the AI snowball is definitely gaining momentum.
19 00:04:26.340 ⇒ 00:04:31.440 Uttam Kumaran: Someone described it to me as a snowball on Friday as well. They were like.
20 00:04:31.800 ⇒ 00:04:43.241 Uttam Kumaran: you know where, where? I’ll show we’re planning this workshop thing, and that’s exactly what they describe. They’re like they’re like, it’s a snowball concept. I’m like, well, you have to change it for for Austin, because there’s no snow. But they’re like, yeah, as you
21 00:04:43.660 ⇒ 00:04:48.759 Uttam Kumaran: I said, you plant the seed, and then it sort of starts the sort of build momentum. So.
22 00:04:48.990 ⇒ 00:04:58.910 Troy Ottmer: Well, you, you know we we had your your far side chat. And then here, a week ago, I did one that Rice University had.
23 00:04:58.910 ⇒ 00:04:59.330 Uttam Kumaran: Nice.
24 00:04:59.330 ⇒ 00:05:07.529 Troy Ottmer: Put on. And this particular event it was. It was different than the intended purpose of the one you know you guys had.
25 00:05:07.640 ⇒ 00:05:08.380 Troy Ottmer: But
26 00:05:08.450 ⇒ 00:05:37.389 Troy Ottmer: when I say different, it was a book launch. So that would, yeah, it had. It had basically the same content, open discussion. But so you had the the author of the book and the Cfo. Of Hewlett Packard Company there who did the forward for the book? And it was very informative, and I watched the the webinar that Kathleen, the author had prior to that.
27 00:05:37.390 ⇒ 00:05:44.699 Troy Ottmer: And it’s it’s along the link. Same lines of things that we talked about it at the the far side chat you had right. And
28 00:05:45.040 ⇒ 00:06:08.017 Troy Ottmer: and then there were several 100 people here for this event. But you know, the 1st 50 people got books and got them signed by by her. And and but the the underlying message is identical to everything that you guys mentioned, and what you know you’re you and your team are talking about, and the empowerment of
29 00:06:09.260 ⇒ 00:06:10.910 Troy Ottmer: leaders, you know.
30 00:06:10.910 ⇒ 00:06:11.460 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
31 00:06:11.460 ⇒ 00:06:25.977 Troy Ottmer: The average worker working smarter, not harder, you know, just to kind of summarize it. I think I think you’re gonna see this continue. Maybe snowballs the wrong word, you know, and and I don’t know what the right word being in Texas would be.
32 00:06:26.420 ⇒ 00:06:29.469 Uttam Kumaran: It’s like a like a like a dust devil, or like a.
33 00:06:29.470 ⇒ 00:06:29.880 Troy Ottmer: Yeah.
34 00:06:29.880 ⇒ 00:06:30.419 Uttam Kumaran: I’m going.
35 00:06:30.420 ⇒ 00:06:32.480 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, yeah.
36 00:06:32.480 ⇒ 00:06:34.655 Troy Ottmer: So, but it’s
37 00:06:35.800 ⇒ 00:06:39.910 Troy Ottmer: you know one of the things where you and I left off when we talked about a month ago.
38 00:06:40.390 ⇒ 00:06:49.080 Troy Ottmer: and I just been I wanna get back to Austin. I have been there for some other business, but I just didn’t have the bandwidth to
39 00:06:49.170 ⇒ 00:07:02.329 Troy Ottmer: to just it. It was very intentional, so I didn’t able to break it down. But over the next couple of weeks I I want to see what your availability is, and I may just come up for the day. And
40 00:07:02.680 ⇒ 00:07:25.611 Troy Ottmer: we could brainstorm on some things, because, as I as I look at doing dealer reviews, I and and the ones I’m consulting on. I give high level opinions. And I’ve been doing a lot of work with private equity groups giving. Let’s call it pre due diligence of something they may want to invest in.
41 00:07:26.370 ⇒ 00:07:27.480 Troy Ottmer: I think it.
42 00:07:27.700 ⇒ 00:07:32.120 Troy Ottmer: The the use of AI would be
43 00:07:32.470 ⇒ 00:07:45.350 Troy Ottmer: is where this is gonna go next, because it will allow you to. To. Once you lay out a template of the process that you’re gonna look at in terms of like a automotive dealership, for example.
44 00:07:46.610 ⇒ 00:08:05.660 Troy Ottmer: And you’re you’re getting islands of information may be very similar, but yet different. So where where you specialize with what you guys, do you take dissimilar data? And you you make it similar, right? Or you make sense of that. And that is one of the biggest challenges that a.
45 00:08:05.660 ⇒ 00:08:23.439 Troy Ottmer: you know, speaking as a consultant, speaking as a former dealer, executive level person, trying to make sense of how a sales department looks at their Crm versus a parts or service department looks at their Crm. And you say, Well, why would they have different crms? Well.
46 00:08:23.880 ⇒ 00:08:24.970 Troy Ottmer: there’s
47 00:08:25.100 ⇒ 00:08:39.420 Troy Ottmer: that’s a great question. And so how do you disseminate that information in a manner that’s useful to the dealer principle or the private equity group that owns the company. But that’s I won’t burn a bunch of time talking about that now. But.
48 00:08:39.429 ⇒ 00:08:44.469 Uttam Kumaran: No, but it makes sense. I guess my question for you, you know that’s what I was thinking about when I was doing this workshop, and that.
49 00:08:44.470 ⇒ 00:08:44.940 Troy Ottmer: Yes.
50 00:08:44.940 ⇒ 00:08:50.159 Uttam Kumaran: You know, we have these partners that are embedded in an industry. And so for me, when I think about like
51 00:08:50.510 ⇒ 00:09:13.369 Uttam Kumaran: hey dealerships, may not dealer in the dealer market and automotive sales may not be my forte, but, as you mentioned, there are a lot of parallels, and so what can I do to you know, partner, with someone like you, and say we have some light offering, or at least enable you to start a conversation again. That’s where sort of this workshop idea is coming out of where it’s like.
52 00:09:13.410 ⇒ 00:09:27.319 Uttam Kumaran: if you were to say, cool West, part of my offering to the PE firms as part of your offering to the dealer groups themselves. There is like, Hey, we can. You have the capability of running like a 1 week workshop on like AI enablement, or something like that, or it is
53 00:09:28.030 ⇒ 00:09:29.379 Uttam Kumaran: sort of audit right?
54 00:09:29.760 ⇒ 00:09:30.140 Troy Ottmer: Yep.
55 00:09:30.140 ⇒ 00:09:37.590 Uttam Kumaran: That’s exactly what I’m thinking about. Where for me, we have expertise in a few industries where I can go in, and you know I have the customer relationships. But
56 00:09:37.800 ⇒ 00:10:01.020 Uttam Kumaran: I then think about hey, you know, we’re seeing a lot of parallels. And so how can I enable folks that are trench in industry and partner, because for us to get as like, we may never get as knowledgeable as you are in the dealer world, and also it may not be the thing that we focus on right. I can only play a certain amount of games at a time. Instead, I’m like, Hey, but for you. You’re seeing an opportunity there.
57 00:10:01.020 ⇒ 00:10:14.759 Uttam Kumaran: and you know I I don’t know about where you’re thinking of taking this, but I think if you’re like, Hey, I you know, I want to start, continue to just do high level strategic Kpi, like strategic offering, doing a workshop or something. That’s time box, as part of that
58 00:10:14.780 ⇒ 00:10:27.379 Uttam Kumaran: is a great way for you to add value, and you know these would bring in a fair amount of revenue, and it’d be something that, as part of your like time box consulting. You could just do in like a week’s period or a 2 week period, you know.
59 00:10:27.840 ⇒ 00:10:42.529 Troy Ottmer: Well, the the in the traditional sense, and and I’m speaking as a former dealer executive where the parent company or the dealer principle, the family. Some businesses or family owned what, whatever the case may be.
60 00:10:43.130 ⇒ 00:10:46.439 Troy Ottmer: they would hire a consultant firm to come in.
61 00:10:46.620 ⇒ 00:11:04.039 Troy Ottmer: and David, the consultant group. One or 2 people would come in and they’d spend one week on site interviewing, evaluating the people, the processes, all the data. They go back to their office the second week, and then they’re crunching all the data.
62 00:11:04.040 ⇒ 00:11:04.520 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
63 00:11:04.520 ⇒ 00:11:14.339 Troy Ottmer: Information. And they’re they’re processing the the human interactions and process problems that they see what pain points.
64 00:11:14.470 ⇒ 00:11:19.009 Troy Ottmer: And they distill all that down. They come back out for a 3rd week
65 00:11:19.530 ⇒ 00:11:28.509 Troy Ottmer: in the field and go deeper where they found these other points, and then the 4th week they finalize the wrap up if you do a full one.
66 00:11:28.510 ⇒ 00:11:31.080 Troy Ottmer: Yes, to you, and.
67 00:11:31.080 ⇒ 00:11:34.959 Uttam Kumaran: You’re totally right. That’s exactly how we’re thinking about it. For like this, like 4 week.
68 00:11:35.200 ⇒ 00:11:35.660 Troy Ottmer: Yeah.
69 00:11:36.035 ⇒ 00:11:36.410 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
70 00:11:36.410 ⇒ 00:11:49.069 Troy Ottmer: Yeah, but the the challenge that I’m I’m seeing as a new consultant on the scene. If you will remove kind of stepping out of the dealer world into the consulting world is.
71 00:11:49.300 ⇒ 00:11:55.180 Troy Ottmer: you know, some firms like Oh, that’s expensive, you know. 15,000 a week, 20,000 a week.
72 00:11:55.820 ⇒ 00:12:22.979 Troy Ottmer: And hey? Would you do? Can you do these things virtually? Can you do these things remote? Well, you, you and I just walk through what a high, level Kpi Review could look like to where we’re setting triggers for them to say, Hey, this this is not going like you need it to. Let’s understand. Green is good. Red is bad. Well, Red, all red is not all bad, all green is not all good. Right? So
73 00:12:23.260 ⇒ 00:12:27.740 Troy Ottmer: how do we do that? So I think we’re at a pivotal point with AI,
74 00:12:27.940 ⇒ 00:12:31.019 Troy Ottmer: and while I’m not an It person, I would
75 00:12:31.250 ⇒ 00:12:35.309 Troy Ottmer: classify myself as a power user from an operational standpoint.
76 00:12:35.310 ⇒ 00:12:35.810 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
77 00:12:36.238 ⇒ 00:12:52.540 Troy Ottmer: Where I where I work with the back end team yourself, your team. Others like you to say operationally. This is what I need to be front, facing to customers and rear facing to my internal department needs.
78 00:12:53.160 ⇒ 00:13:17.450 Troy Ottmer: I think we’re at a pivotal time here to where we this could change that. And so if you have an upcoming brainstorming you know no pun intended workshop, brain forge. I would love to be part of willing participant to, you know, lay some things out on the table operationally, and what we’re talking about here, Tom, is not just automotive.
79 00:13:17.450 ⇒ 00:13:28.039 Troy Ottmer: related it. It fits a lot of other industries. And and it doesn’t, you know, operational process improvement should not be this
80 00:13:28.220 ⇒ 00:13:43.870 Troy Ottmer: blind task that we’re doing. And we just RAM it with our, you know, head just all the time. We it needs to be constructive, and we need to work smarter, not harder. So with that being said, I’d love to hear about your your idea for a workshop.
81 00:13:43.870 ⇒ 00:13:49.009 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, and let and let me even. You know, I think this is perfect. And I I would love
82 00:13:49.060 ⇒ 00:13:58.700 Uttam Kumaran: for you to spot. Check this, because both of what you mentioned, which is like the traditional, onsite, slower method of consulting is still something we can do, but of course
83 00:13:58.740 ⇒ 00:14:19.980 Uttam Kumaran: very, very expensive, and it’s something that the the highest, you know. Bain, bcg, that’s what those guys bread and butter is. But I still offer me what’s more interesting in in leaving people with something in a week that they can take action on, and being hyper focused on like results. Not like, Hey, you have a deck now, and like it’s totally up to you. So this is sort of like.
84 00:14:20.100 ⇒ 00:14:22.760 Uttam Kumaran: this is sort of a you know
85 00:14:22.990 ⇒ 00:14:34.780 Uttam Kumaran: what? Basically, we’ve been writing this internally for the last like week. So this is perfect, and I’ll I’m happy to share this with you, to get your feedback as well. But basically, we talked about it like.
86 00:14:35.287 ⇒ 00:15:02.569 Uttam Kumaran: as like a workshop service offering like strategy in a week. Type thing. Where we we sort of, we’re thinking, okay, let’s start high level. Maybe let’s break it down to like some way we can accomplish in anything from like a half day full day. But, like ultimately at least a week of like end to end. Where we gather insights, we have some sort of workshop, and then we close something out. So we were we were thinking about like, okay, let’s just throw something on the wall with like a week, a 2 week, and a 4 week.
87 00:15:02.969 ⇒ 00:15:18.830 Uttam Kumaran: Right? And it’s talking about. When is this best? So it’s best when this is a narrow scope, single use case, multiple use case, or some sort of or provide roadmap. But what does this actually include? So there’s gotta be some level of like a discovery. Right? So we have a questionnaire.
88 00:15:18.830 ⇒ 00:15:45.200 Uttam Kumaran: We want to understand, like what the current state is, we sort of leave. We leave my team with a priority matrix of like, what are the pain points, opportunities. We do a lot of prep work. Right? So what are the activities who’s involved? And we were we? This isn’t really like, because we we don’t have this like in person constraint. It could be as much people as we want, but really what our goal is not like. I don’t. I don’t think the pricing really scales by people. I just really need the right people in the room.
89 00:15:45.350 ⇒ 00:15:45.930 Uttam Kumaran: Correct?
90 00:15:45.930 ⇒ 00:15:46.510 Uttam Kumaran: Right?
91 00:15:46.510 ⇒ 00:15:52.559 Uttam Kumaran: I want. The change makers is what we describe. I want the super users. I want the people that are very pro
92 00:15:52.630 ⇒ 00:16:13.339 Uttam Kumaran: innovation to be in the room, because those people are are our champions internally. And so we get them to discuss and sort of map out what this could look like. And then we leave. We leave sort of with the with the whole guide, which is like, Yeah, there’s some facilitation which is like a day we have. I I’ll send you even like the workshops that we’re planning, and it’s very, very robust in terms of like
93 00:16:13.340 ⇒ 00:16:27.630 Uttam Kumaran: how we rank, use cases again very similar to what your big consulting shops will do. But for me, I don’t want that to take like 10 days. I don’t want it to be like, Oh, I gotta go to this workshop and like, sit there and play like icebreakers. It’s like very, very like.
94 00:16:27.660 ⇒ 00:16:35.759 Uttam Kumaran: try to. I know people can’t focus for more than you know. 4 h. So what I’m trying to do is create the conflict and then resolve it all within that session.
95 00:16:36.199 ⇒ 00:16:47.209 Uttam Kumaran: And then we sort of provide them like you know what the insights are, and what what the roadmap is, and for my business I want to pitch us as like, hey? If there is opportunity to implement
96 00:16:47.450 ⇒ 00:17:06.810 Uttam Kumaran: we, you could consider using us right? So that’s my reason for offering the service is that I expect that some of these will turn into. Hey? We’re thankful for that workshop. It was really great. We may not need to action on all of these, or we have talent to do this. We’ll go ahead and take that perfect. I also know that some small percent will say, like, actually, we want, you guys have been great. We want you guys to come and
97 00:17:06.810 ⇒ 00:17:27.590 Uttam Kumaran: do a small engagement with us or whatever. So that’s for me, the incentive for doing this, and I want to leave people with so much information that they could really at that point probably go hire a full team, and like Put, they would have at least a 3 to 6 month roadmap around executing on AI. So I feel really confident that we can provide that. And then I think, for us
98 00:17:27.790 ⇒ 00:17:28.640 Uttam Kumaran: like.
99 00:17:28.920 ⇒ 00:17:43.700 Uttam Kumaran: who’s the right fit for that. So I I’ll send you this. We we sort of like we have something we we wrote a bunch of stuff about like, what would the talking points be like? Like, what would the workshop like pre workshop during it, and then what would after it look like?
100 00:17:44.097 ⇒ 00:18:09.729 Uttam Kumaran: A lot of these we’re still sort of iterating on. But I’m putting this in front of A few venture capital friends of mine who I’m like, hey? If your portfolio companies are not adopting AI, maybe you should consider bringing them into a workshop. So I’m sort of workshopping this with other what we’re calling like almost other networks, right? So similarly, if you’re in, if you have a PE firm and they want to bring on, you know, if if they want to do this within their firms, they want to bring on
101 00:18:10.134 ⇒ 00:18:14.739 Uttam Kumaran: like their potential, the people that they’re potentially trying to go after or
102 00:18:14.920 ⇒ 00:18:35.260 Uttam Kumaran: or or, if you’re like, Hey, I have this big dealer group that maybe want to bring in 4 or 5 people from the dealer group into a half a session. That’s perfect, and especially if they’re here. And if they’re here in Central Texas, then that’s perfect. I we could do it in. We could do it in person, too, but I would love beyond even that. I like. I would love you to poke at this and find where this doesn’t work.
103 00:18:36.540 ⇒ 00:18:48.730 Uttam Kumaran: you know. And so that would be, I think, very helpful for me. So I’ll send this to you, and then, certainly, when you’re in town, if you have a rough set of dates, are the only times I’m out of office are going to be the 21st and 23rd like that
104 00:18:49.060 ⇒ 00:18:57.690 Uttam Kumaran: that Wednesday to Friday. Basically. But I’m around everything except for the Memorial Day, is the next holiday.
105 00:18:57.900 ⇒ 00:19:08.390 Troy Ottmer: Yup, Yup got it? Well, that’s I’m trying to line up some things that will bring you back to Austin sooner rather than later, possibly this week.
106 00:19:08.740 ⇒ 00:19:10.809 Uttam Kumaran: Great. Yeah, I’m also here all week, basically.
107 00:19:10.810 ⇒ 00:19:16.669 Troy Ottmer: And but I in the meantime, likewise, I’m going to share. I’ve been putting
108 00:19:17.280 ⇒ 00:19:21.370 Troy Ottmer: the dealer review template, and I’m basically breaking it down
109 00:19:21.850 ⇒ 00:19:38.110 Troy Ottmer: to what it would look like in a in the traditional sense of a checklist. Right? And I think that would be good for you to see. And also. Still, you know, kind of what that would look like, and in in the you know, I think most
110 00:19:38.420 ⇒ 00:19:50.570 Troy Ottmer: dealers, in my opinion, you know a good good quality consultant without AI. If I have access to the data on Monday morning of certain key things and.
111 00:19:50.570 ⇒ 00:19:51.020 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
112 00:19:51.020 ⇒ 00:19:55.559 Troy Ottmer: Department, you know, by Friday, at the latest, I could.
113 00:19:55.560 ⇒ 00:19:56.240 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
114 00:19:56.240 ⇒ 00:19:58.419 Troy Ottmer: An assessment without AI right.
115 00:19:58.420 ⇒ 00:19:59.779 Uttam Kumaran: You’re 100% correct.
116 00:19:59.780 ⇒ 00:20:05.110 Troy Ottmer: Yeah. So I think there’s there’s ways to scale this. And I would look at it.
117 00:20:05.380 ⇒ 00:20:21.419 Troy Ottmer: I would look at it both in a in respect as a vertical integration process as well as a horizontal integration process. Because this is not only gonna go up, it could also go left or right relative to the industry or adjacent industries, so.
118 00:20:21.930 ⇒ 00:20:25.370 Uttam Kumaran: I totally hear you, and that’s why it’s like for me. I want to do this workshop
119 00:20:25.640 ⇒ 00:20:43.380 Uttam Kumaran: in in a week’s time. But also I. It’s like part of even using AI is for us. We can now offer these workshops, and people can get value instead of 4 weeks. We can probably do some and then work in a week, and, you know, ultimately teach these folks how to use it during their day to day. Right like for me.
120 00:20:43.410 ⇒ 00:21:08.319 Uttam Kumaran: The biggest thing that people can come out with is one we we walk through a couple of pain points. They have a clear sense of how they can solve it themselves. And I’ve enabled them to use AI just in their day to day for them to become just super users of Chat Gpt, for example, right? Those are great outcomes, if anything, if we just leave with hey? Maybe people can’t afford to implement this or bring on a team. But like they themselves can just use chat, Gpt, and take care of 2030% of stuff.
121 00:21:08.440 ⇒ 00:21:18.789 Uttam Kumaran: I think that’s a huge, huge win like, I still think many companies will take another year or 2 to get there, and I think it’s really a great way for these folks to feel competitive.
122 00:21:18.900 ⇒ 00:21:22.740 Uttam Kumaran: or just like, you know, stay in business longer and not burn out, you know.
123 00:21:23.100 ⇒ 00:21:33.640 Troy Ottmer: Well, it it’s for example, prior to me. Retiring, stepping away from the you know, the commercial, publicly traded dealer world.
124 00:21:33.820 ⇒ 00:21:37.806 Troy Ottmer: I was using the early versions of Chat Gpt.
125 00:21:38.580 ⇒ 00:21:58.120 Troy Ottmer: to help me scrub market data to where, you know. So I’m using a combination of information that may reside in in a variety of different templates, some some process through power bi, some process through tableau, or stored there, some in generic spreadsheets right and
126 00:21:58.180 ⇒ 00:22:21.640 Troy Ottmer: trying to distill and make sense of that. And again, I’m not a coder, or by any means. But I can tell you from from a basic standpoint, if you commit to understanding the different models. Proper prompting is key, as you know, and you know, Chat Gpt has been a lifesaver, and it helped me scale some market
127 00:22:21.670 ⇒ 00:22:31.730 Troy Ottmer: activity that we we were never touching before. And that’s what I’m using to do a lot of my research. I’ll go deep research or or I’ve even.
128 00:22:31.730 ⇒ 00:22:32.310 Uttam Kumaran: Right.
129 00:22:32.310 ⇒ 00:22:42.699 Troy Ottmer: I subscribe to SIM theory. So they have all the different AI models, you know, Claude, etc. And I, you know you tinker around and you figure out which one does.
130 00:22:42.700 ⇒ 00:23:03.559 Troy Ottmer: whatever it is you’re doing better. And you compare notes. And then you figure out, okay, you know Gemini does this better than chat, gpt model, whatever, and but predominantly for me. Chat Gpt has a good robust offering, you know. That I’m continued every day. I’m very pleased with the outcome, so.
131 00:23:03.560 ⇒ 00:23:26.879 Uttam Kumaran: Too. Yeah, I mean, and this is where like for us, the way I think about it is like for someone like you who’s a power user. It makes it so obvious. Why, like you need this, you need you you. Your next step is like, if I if you were running a team. There’s 2 things that that get in way of scaling. One is like, you want to enable your whole team to become as much of a power user as you. Right? So you should be in my company. I’m the same way. I’m like
132 00:23:27.090 ⇒ 00:23:39.590 Uttam Kumaran: I should be the one who’s using the AI the least, just because my time is limited, everybody should be that. The second thing is workflows right? So now that you’ve done things once or twice, you’re like, well, it’d be great if I can go from email and transcript
133 00:23:39.670 ⇒ 00:23:57.390 Uttam Kumaran: to this like project, summary or like proof of concept page that then I can submit to my project management team for scope. Right? Those are things that we’re doing where I find myself pasting things of Chat Gpt, getting a template. And I’m like, Okay, perfect. Now let’s make sure that’s available in slack or make sure it’s available as an email integration
134 00:23:57.670 ⇒ 00:24:17.469 Uttam Kumaran: and that helps like this like workflow approach, which is what a lot of the work that we do is like. Now that you’ve been able to create a structured process where you bring in information to one place, you get an expected like document in return, and then you want another AI to maybe review that or add to it. That’s a workflow. That’s just step by step by step. And so that’s the work that we do.
135 00:24:17.893 ⇒ 00:24:40.470 Uttam Kumaran: And then the other thing is we layer on like you want your own ui like, maybe it’s slack, or there isn’t a ui to do this, and you want something you can like, just check for something that populates. Those are really easy things that we’re developing. And we have demos for. So I actually prefer that our clients and people we work with see what it’s like to to do it themselves. And then once we build a workflow, they’re like, Oh, so this just runs like
136 00:24:40.520 ⇒ 00:24:50.239 Uttam Kumaran: automatically on a trigger or like it’s, it’s more of like the AI gives it to you first, st so that you can react versus you prompting it. Right? So yeah.
137 00:24:50.420 ⇒ 00:25:00.386 Troy Ottmer: Well, I’m using like like I I just came back from a meeting with a potential client, and I was requested to put together a retainer agreement proposal.
138 00:25:00.920 ⇒ 00:25:17.900 Troy Ottmer: And so I’ve been using over the last handful of months, you know, I developed my retainer agreement into a template. Now I just plug into Chat gpt to that template who who it is. I’ve gifted the basic information
139 00:25:17.900 ⇒ 00:25:32.529 Troy Ottmer: and boom. It populates it. It structures it. It’s ready to go for signatures, and and of course I read it and proof it to make sure there’s no errors, but for the most part, what a retainer agreement. Now, you know, instead of taking 30 min to write, it takes
140 00:25:32.540 ⇒ 00:25:36.100 Troy Ottmer: 2 seconds to type the info basic, or there.
141 00:25:36.100 ⇒ 00:25:55.449 Uttam Kumaran: 100. Yeah. And in our business, like, we’re probably sending 2 to 3 proposals a week. And it’s me and one other person that are handling a lot of sales calls. But then you know what happens. Like one sales call 2, 3. And then we have, like 10 emails that go back and forth. I have a discussion with my team about like, Hey, how should we approach this? What’s the scope of work? So
142 00:25:55.450 ⇒ 00:26:24.030 Uttam Kumaran: all these assets could create, get created and need to all be formed back into that final email that I send, which is like, Hey, thanks for talking the time. Here’s like the structure proposal, and then also like the contract. And so and now, if I want to do, if I want to move without hiring a salesperson to doing 5 to 10 of those a week, still being able to talk on the phone with every single prospect that’s like the next step for me. And like. That’s what we’re solving for ourselves first, st which is like
143 00:26:24.130 ⇒ 00:26:30.570 Uttam Kumaran: great. I can do this in isolation on my own laptop. Now, I’m like, well, I want anyone who takes a sales call to be able to take advantage of this like
144 00:26:30.979 ⇒ 00:26:46.360 Uttam Kumaran: scope of work agent workflow, you know, like we go for meetings, the emails to scope of work that gets that. There’s a meeting about. Okay, what should we tweak on? There is there? Are there strategic things we should do. Then that gets sent to the client, and then that gets sent to operations for contracts.
145 00:26:46.910 ⇒ 00:26:55.499 Uttam Kumaran: right? And if I can, you know, that’s it. That’s that’s like A that’s like a low, level salesperson’s job, right? Like a basically like a Bdr or whatever.
146 00:26:55.500 ⇒ 00:27:25.370 Troy Ottmer: Well, and and that’s what I’m doing. So and and retainer agreement. There are proposals, whatever. They’re not all apples for apples, right? There are unique attributes that you got to incorporate in. So you can build in that structure, and you know and and just write it all in, and it fills it in. And and you know the models are getting better and smarter and more consistent, and they learn, you know, that was one of the things I think you had talked about. Ask it about you right.
147 00:27:25.370 ⇒ 00:27:26.130 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
148 00:27:26.511 ⇒ 00:27:48.640 Troy Ottmer: It’s pretty interesting, like. So right now. If I need, hey, I need a I need a unique bio just a short paragraph of me with my executive career. Highlights. Boom! Boom! Boom! And it does it. And and it’s 95% what I want right? And that saves a lot of time from sitting there
149 00:27:48.710 ⇒ 00:28:10.869 Troy Ottmer: doing something else and stopping and typing it. So again, for for the power user. Or you know those type of people, you know, ideally, I you know, I want to help empower people to use this technology and tooling in such a way that, you know, dealers or other businesses, you know, and then then we we improve the employee. Experience.
150 00:28:10.870 ⇒ 00:28:11.410 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
151 00:28:11.410 ⇒ 00:28:13.570 Troy Ottmer: Default The The customer experience.
152 00:28:13.570 ⇒ 00:28:33.849 Uttam Kumaran: You’re totally right. That’s the number. One thing you know, I was reading something last week about. It’s just like, I mean, this is something you read all the time, but it’s like your employees. You treat your. It’s like what happens in restaurants where you treat your employees well, and then they’re customer experience going to be a derivative like you go to a fast food place. That isn’t like trick like chick-fil-a is a good example, right? And so
153 00:28:34.670 ⇒ 00:28:41.129 Uttam Kumaran: I don’t know like, that’s totally right. And so everybody who, especially if you’re having face to face interactions like at a dealer.
154 00:28:41.582 ⇒ 00:29:03.079 Uttam Kumaran: You know, it should be that like, Hey, your! If your employees aren’t stuck doing pay paperwork for like 50% of their day, or you want them talking to customers. You want them following up with customers. You want them building the relationship with, you know that farmer who’s gonna order like 10 trucks this year like you want them to to proactively follow up, be like, Hey, how’s your how’s your son doing like things like that?
155 00:29:03.150 ⇒ 00:29:13.949 Uttam Kumaran: That’s real like sales work, but like there’s no time to do that. If you’re doing manual stuff updating Crm, which I feel like a lot of people’s day to day is that especially on the sales side.
156 00:29:14.510 ⇒ 00:29:22.160 Troy Ottmer: Well and and getting getting dealers dealer groups, whether it’s automotive, commercial truck or commercial equipment or ag equipment, any of those
157 00:29:22.280 ⇒ 00:29:28.410 Troy Ottmer: getting them to have their business systems. Their erps have an AI element
158 00:29:28.550 ⇒ 00:29:35.269 Troy Ottmer: is, you know, I in some cases I’m not sure to be a year or 2. It it may be 3 to 5, but.
159 00:29:35.270 ⇒ 00:29:35.890 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah.
160 00:29:35.890 ⇒ 00:29:58.910 Troy Ottmer: You know it. It there’s and I use this term loosely. So I apologize. But there are. There has to be, or there is bolt on, or standalone units that do. An Api can then communicate with said business system or Erp to where that AI could help assist, and you know it’s more like augmented support of a.
161 00:29:58.910 ⇒ 00:29:59.410 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
162 00:29:59.410 ⇒ 00:30:02.430 Troy Ottmer: Antiquated system. Probably the better way to say it.
163 00:30:03.120 ⇒ 00:30:14.760 Uttam Kumaran: Yes, I totally agree. It’s it starts as augmented first.st That’s the only place it could start. And then, as the tools start to integrate with AI or get better. But you know and dealer software is very, very legacy. So
164 00:30:14.960 ⇒ 00:30:32.220 Uttam Kumaran: it’s just like working around that stuff. But even again, if your if your salespeople could use chat, gpt, and they can like take a picture of their notes and put it into something, and like or use it while they’re on the like on the floor, or use it while they’re talking to people like you may see some list right, but that just takes a little bit of training
165 00:30:32.752 ⇒ 00:30:37.220 Uttam Kumaran: and those that comes for like 20 bucks a month. Right? So.
166 00:30:37.220 ⇒ 00:30:38.240 Troy Ottmer: It’s cheap.
167 00:30:38.480 ⇒ 00:30:39.410 Uttam Kumaran: Cheap.
168 00:30:39.410 ⇒ 00:30:44.333 Troy Ottmer: It’s if if I were in a sales role today and I kinda am in my in my new venture.
169 00:30:44.580 ⇒ 00:30:46.729 Uttam Kumaran: You are. Yeah, it’s all sales. It’s all.
170 00:30:46.730 ⇒ 00:30:47.790 Troy Ottmer: So I’m
171 00:30:48.050 ⇒ 00:30:58.309 Troy Ottmer: I’m kind of going back to the basics. But I you know, I routinely, I no longer use Google to go look at something. Google Chrome. I go to chat, gpt, and type in what I need to know.
172 00:30:58.310 ⇒ 00:30:58.860 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
173 00:30:58.860 ⇒ 00:31:06.729 Troy Ottmer: And and it gives me the answer, or gives me options, and then I go from there with the whatever choices I need. But.
174 00:31:06.730 ⇒ 00:31:07.540 Uttam Kumaran: Yes.
175 00:31:08.180 ⇒ 00:31:13.219 Troy Ottmer: So well, take what? I I do got a I got a little, a 3 o’clock. I gotta.
176 00:31:13.220 ⇒ 00:31:18.299 Uttam Kumaran: Yeah, but I know this week, or whenever you’re planning on coming through.
177 00:31:18.300 ⇒ 00:31:22.630 Troy Ottmer: I will, I’ll send you the dealer, the old school dealer, review checklist that.
178 00:31:22.630 ⇒ 00:31:23.360 Uttam Kumaran: Okay.
179 00:31:23.360 ⇒ 00:31:31.700 Troy Ottmer: And then let’s continue the conversation about a a workshop, and how that looks, and we’ll get together, and I’ll send you some travel dates. Okay.
180 00:31:31.700 ⇒ 00:31:33.429 Uttam Kumaran: Perfect. Okay, thanks. Roy.
181 00:31:33.430 ⇒ 00:31:35.059 Troy Ottmer: Good talking to you. Take care, Bud, see you.