Why Customer Loyalty Starts with Smarter Tech with Thuy Adomitis

Thuy Adomitis didn’t plan on joining the auto industry—until a grueling 14-hour car-buying ordeal sparked a career that’s now reshaping how dealerships communicate. In this episode, Thuy shares her journey from that fateful purchase to leading sales at Mia Labs, where she’s helping dealers replace “Franken-systems” with AI agents that never sleep and never miss a call.

The conversation dives into how Mia’s voice AI is transforming dealership operations by handling everything from inbound sales inquiries to service scheduling and parts availability checks. Thuy explains how this technology not only reduces customer acquisition costs but also boosts lifetime value by keeping customers engaged throughout their ownership journey. Plus, she offers insights into the future of AI in automotive retail and how it can empower staff to focus on high-value tasks.

Takeaways

0:00 – Intro with Paul J Daly, Kyle Mountsier, and Michael Cirillo

3:21 – Thuy recounts her 14-hour car-buying experience that led her into the auto industry

8:31 – The inception of Mia Labs and its mission to streamline dealership communication

11:23 – Addressing the "Franken-system" problem in dealerships with integrated AI solutions

15:12 – Enhancing customer retention and reducing acquisition costs through AI-driven communication

21:34 – Future developments at Mia Labs, including AI applications in parts departments

Connect with Thuy Adomitis at https://www.linkedin.com/in/thuy-adomitis

Learn more about Mia Labs at https://www.mia.inc

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Transcript

Paul J Daly: 0:00

Gentlemen, summertime is here.

Unknown: 0:08

This is Auto Collabs.

Michael Cirillo: 0:10

Summertime never leaves where I am.

Paul J Daly: 0:12

That's a lie. Yes, summertime and then you have ice storms,

Michael Cirillo: 0:17

that's true, that's true, and everything shuts down. They're like, was that a snowflake and that everything shuts down.

Paul J Daly: 0:24

I know summertime

Kyle Mountsier: 0:26

up, up in the north in where Paul's at in summertime, everybody like, it's like 72 and people are in like, thong Speedos. They're like,

Paul J Daly: 0:38

listen, I think the ratio of thong Speedos, to people up here is probably only, only lower in Alberta, Canada. I don't think you could buy one if you

Unknown: 0:50

wanted to, thank goodness, but, but on

Paul J Daly: 0:52

that note, like, come on. Like, how are we supposed to talk about this? So no, but the reality is, like, what people the the hot the the level of hotness that people feel when it's 72 is equivalent to the level of coldness people feel at 72 and where Michael lives, where people are pulling out Ugg boots and scarves and has right but the beginning of the summer season is my one of my favorite seasons, because I know I have, like, 10 weeks before it snows, and we can do a lot of things in those 10 weeks. That was a bad joke. That was a badge on the boat. And you know are going on the boat, but the boating season is very short. Here, I will give you that true. I'm determined to take you out on the boat sometime this summer.

Kyle Mountsier: 1:32

Let's do it all right, this, this, this boat and weather conversation has nothing to do with the fact that we're going to be hanging out today with tweet with Mia labs, and I'm excited about this conversation. We got to meet her at ASOTU CON just briefly, and we've gotten to know the team there, but I can't wait to dig a little bit in understand what makes her tick, what makes her team tick, all that type of stuff. So hey, you know, whatever your weather is, we hope you enjoy this conversation with

Paul J Daly: 2:01

tweet. Thank you so much for joining us today. It was awesome to be with some of your team, I will say, at ASOTU CON. And I did receive one of the very highest quality pieces of swag I have ever gotten in my life, legit, like Kyle. I mentioned it to Kyle. I was like, did you see this thing? Like, it was amazing. So I don't know if you had something to do with that. Or if, oh, Scott

Thuy Adomitis: 2:22

trailer, who's another VP of sales at Mia, is T zone, like, You're, like, our chief merch officer. So if this AI thing, don't work out, we're gonna create a new like, street wear brand. It

Kyle Mountsier: 2:33

was really great, perfect. I'm telling you, a good, a good piece of merch can't hurt anyone, like everybody can bring pens, right? But to bring a real quality price of merch,

Thuy Adomitis: 2:45

that's, you feel that hoodie, Kyle. It's got some

Paul J Daly: 2:48

weight to it. It's got a little bit of weight. My kids and my wife are like, Liza, going on the boat with us.

Kyle Mountsier: 2:55

Would be a great boat. See, everybody's jealous of the of the hoodie. Now, that's

Thuy Adomitis: 2:59

the thing. Well, let me know. I'm happy to ship out a few for your families. There you go.

Michael Cirillo: 3:04

Oh, thank you. Look at that

Paul J Daly: 3:06

one question. One question that we always like to ask first time guests on the show is just like the cliffs notes of how you ended up in the auto industry, because it's always a wild ride, and it's never one, it's very rarely one that people expected. So how did you get here?

Thuy Adomitis: 3:21

Definitely not linear, right? Never, like most of us, I stumbled into the industry completely by accident, right? Got married in 2000 moved from Michigan to LA, had no job, and actually purchased my very first car by myself as an adult, because both my parents were retirees from General Motors. So growing up, we just went down to a lot, picked out a car and brought home. There was no involved, right? So it took me 14 hours to buy that car. Like, in person, in person. Well, back in 2000

Paul J Daly: 3:56

that's a special one. That's like, they need to bring you three meals. Well, I

Thuy Adomitis: 4:00

ordered to get out of that situation, I said, my husband and I are gonna go have dinner and we'll be back. And they just, like, did everything they could. I'm like, I'm out of here. I'm starving, right? So I go, we go. We actually did go to dinner. And I said, we're done. We're going home after this. And he's like, tweet, please. Can you just shut up? I want this car. So we went back, he signs all of his paperwork, and I'm not feeling good about this at all, right? And I get back, I find cars direct.com, online, I do a little research. And this is when you could see, like, the transaction pricing. I don't know if you knew this is

Kyle Mountsier: 4:37

back. Oh yeah, that's early days of cars. Yeah, on

Thuy Adomitis: 4:41

are the interwebs for dealer, right? Dealers didn't even have their websites. Some did, or some didn't. So I take a peek, and I find out that we paid way too much, and that

Kyle Mountsier: 4:52

that's like, that's a terrible moment. That's how that's the worst feeling, especially after 14 hours,

Thuy Adomitis: 4:57

15 hours, lot of heartburn. Right? But with my husband got his truck, I'm super happy with it. But then I started poking around the website and like, Oh, they're hiring. I don't have a job, right? So I went down there, and I've been in sales for many, many years. So I got hired on right away, and that was my first entry into the car business. And I'm curious, like a five year old, right? So I ask a lot of questions I want to learn at every step. And my dealer friends were so giving of the information and making sure that I was going to be successful as well. So I locked arms with a couple of really big stores here in Southern California, and we just cranked out a ton of cards.

Paul J Daly: 5:43

Amazing. What

Kyle Mountsier: 5:44

is interesting there, though, is like, it's, and this is the, this is the problem, you know, you getting into the car business was because you had a bad experience, right? That there was a one off, maybe dealer that wasn't doing things right, that wasn't caring for you, maybe some something about that 14 hour experience just wasn't right. You overpaid for the car. But then you get in the industry, and you look around, you're like, No, all these people, they're doing great we're gonna do great business together, and they're gonna serve the people well,

Thuy Adomitis: 6:13

right, right? But I took some of those learnings and catapulted myself to make sure I was successful, because I shared that story, right? So when I was telling them how I was going to sell them a car, they bought everything. Because at that time, getting an out the door price from somebody was like, like, really difficult, right, from a sales person at a dealership. I just gave it to them, because I had a sales manager up my back. Every single day, I had like, 300 leads I had to get through and answer everybody right and smile and dial. Still

Kyle Mountsier: 6:44

hard to get that, though, it's still hard to get the out the door. I know you

Thuy Adomitis: 6:49

want buddy. You need an out the door. I could do it for you. Let's go. I'm ready. I got you

Paul J Daly: 7:00

amazing. How many people under 35 Do you think understand what a 10 key is?

Thuy Adomitis: 7:06

Nobody, and I have to Paul you funny you make that joke, because I have to stop making these old lady jokes anymore, right? Like, Rod looks like Sanford and sons. I got everybody's like, what's a Sanford and Son? Right?

Paul J Daly: 7:19

Yeah, I wish I could show you I care. I'm not allowed to anymore, but I always thought that'd be great to maybe I'll do this now that we have vibe coding, code an app that makes the sound of a 10 key that you can operate it like a 10 key, and as you're doing it, it still makes the sound.

Thuy Adomitis: 7:36

Isn't that amazing idea. Is an

Paul J Daly: 7:39

amazing idea. Kyle's like, I gotta go. I'll probably do that tonight. The kids will be watching TV. What are you doing building a 10 Kia, only people over 35 will even have a chance at understanding. Wait, you have to wait that long for it to print out on the receipt. Yes, yeah, and yes, the red ink is getting a little low, right?

Kyle Mountsier: 8:04

Oh, that sounds absolutely amazing. Ink out. So how do you go? So obviously, you've been through a few different places within the within the auto industry, seeing some of the progression and tech and consumer you know, both consumer tools of true car and then dealer tools. What? What led you to the place you're at now, being in an environment where AI is kind of the all day, every day.

Thuy Adomitis: 8:32

You know, it's proliferating, right? This thing is break neck speed. So coming from the consumer side, and I've just been working with dealers for 20 plus years, but once I was introduced to our technology, the top of my head popped off, and I started to think about the different communications and issues I had when I was selling cars even and myself as a consumer. And time is a non renewable resource, we don't get that back. So I'm always about making sure I maximize my dealers time all the time, right? So, and that is, we're going to do this by deploying ai, ai agents, multiple agents, at the store. So when I saw the tech Kyle, it was like, it's over. Goodbye to my legacy type products, goodbye to all of the third party lead sources. I see future with AI and dealer, but you're still going to need me as a salesperson, right? That's right. You unravel, unravel, some of that technology, language and how it applies at dealerships.

Kyle Mountsier: 9:40

You know, I love how you said, like multiple agents, because I think I get this question all the time, because I love tech, and people across the industry, especially Daly, I know they know that I love tech, they will ask the question, what's the best AI, right now, that's like the way they ask the question, right? And I think that. Right, what, what? People that are still learning what AI is. It's not like saying what's the best CDP, or what's the best CRM, or what's the best AI, is a category in which hundreds of 1000s of applications, right? You have to say, For what, for what? What's the best AI for what? And so you're saying, deploying AI agents across multiple places within the dealership, when you're thinking about, like, these things that you're thinking, I'm gonna unravel this and, like, put it back together from your position in sales. But also, you know, sales goes close to product a lot. How are you thinking about a gentle AI within the business sectors of the dealership?

Thuy Adomitis: 10:52

So there's four or five different departments, right? Let me unpack this. Let me back the train up a little bit. So over several years, us as an industry building out all of these tools. We've built a Franken system. We've plugged all this stuff into our DMS and CRMs, just to try to get to this panacea of a universal one, throat to choke product, have we not

Paul J Daly: 11:17

ranking system is like, I want to create a content series around Franken system.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:21

Now, that sounds amazing.

Thuy Adomitis: 11:23

I trademarked that, and so no, just

Paul J Daly: 11:26

kidding, Kyle is over there registering the domain

Kyle Mountsier: 11:28

problem. Well, you're over here saying stuff like, time is a non renewal resource. I'm like, and it was writing that book next. You know, it's gonna be great.

Thuy Adomitis: 11:37

We've built frankensystems, right as an industry, right? And we're trying to get to this one throat to choke. So at Mia, we see communications at every single point in the dealership. So you've got the sales department. Those guys struggle with so much volume that is coming through the internet, through the front door, the phone is ringing off the hook. And we got great sales people, right, but they are buried, right? And so we need to deploy agents to help them do that upper funnel of work with like nurturing, and that is answering basic questions like, What is the gross vehicle weight rating of the f1? 50, duly Right? Or, you know, 250 duly right. Things of those natures AI can do right now. We're in June, 2025 let's not let's this task. Stuff should be done by machine, and we do it beautifully through voice AI, but not just through voice Kyle, right? We're gonna have text, chat, email, all agents in sales, in service, in parts, maybe even help out F and I

Kyle Mountsier: 12:44

accounting, accounting,

Thuy Adomitis: 12:47

where's my plates at? I need to cancel this or I have questions on my paperwork. Yep, we're get we're going to be close. And because the Franken system that we built, all of these data silos, right? You got a chat platform on your website. You've got a texting platform in your CRM. None of those talk to each other, right? So we're creating all these data silos, and dealers have are a treasure trove of data.

Kyle Mountsier: 13:16

Well, when you think about the Franken systems, I it actually, as you're saying that I'm going, Okay, what is a website, a chat tool, a phone system, a CRM, a DMS, and any level of technology in the store outside of maybe a just a reporting tool? What do all of those have in common? And they're trying to increase the relational equity that we have interpersonally, right? So, whether that be employee to employee, employee to customer, you know, customer to customer, whatever that may be, we're trying to increase the relational equity, which all comes down to what's the biggest reason why, why relationships the two biggest reasons why relationships fail, communication and money, or communication and communication about money, right? So which are major things in our stores? So if we can solve the communication gap across multiple systems, we start to solve the relational gap, which is where, you know, a client is made, and not just transactional customers. We want to I had

Paul J Daly: 14:21

popcorn. I'd be eating it right now. That was a really great exchange. Yeah,

Thuy Adomitis: 14:26

that was awesome. Kyle. I appreciate that. That insight also. And there was a word that you said in there. I was like, shit. Did I write that down? It was good

Paul J Daly: 14:34

recording. We're recording this. If you're recording recording

Thuy Adomitis: 14:38

this, yeah, I'll play it back, and I'm gonna steal that. You guys are gonna steal my Franken system. I'm gonna steal Kyle's word. All of those data points, right? Is a treasure trove of data, and ideally it should be in one space, right? We shouldn't have all of these different communications in different areas over time. As long as the dealer stays on our system, we're going to remember every single conversation. And so it's going to be, Hey Kyle, back for your 10,000 mile service. How's the family doing? It's really we're well.

Kyle Mountsier: 15:12

And I think that that's that's an important part. I love that you call that out too, because a lot of people and this is tough in our industry, right? We're trying to solve the thing that's right now and and that's important. I have too many calls. I have too many leads. I'm not able to follow up well with these things. I'm not able to answer questions quick enough for customers, not able to get the data out of the systems quick enough as a customer. All of those things can be solved today, but what you just said is actually foresight into picking a partner or an AI tool or agent that is going to learn my business over time and be a loyal part of my organization. Actually, two, three, year 357, years down the line, when loyalty becomes important with that interaction as

Thuy Adomitis: 15:58

well. So what do you think happens when we have all of this data

Kyle Mountsier: 16:03

magic, I don't know, high fives, yeah, high fives, pizza for life, you

Paul J Daly: 16:13

know, good swag

Thuy Adomitis: 16:16

to another tool, almost like another platform, right? So if we can do proactive outbound. I know many dealer groups are playing this long game, right? We nurture the lead. AI is going to help them sell the car by handling inbound, doing outbound, voice, text, chat, all of that data is going into one place, right? And so over time, we're going to outreach to that customer when it's time for service, right? So this stops the defection to your Jiffy lubes of the world, keep them within your ecosphere of like, buy the car, service the car, bring back the car to to trade in and buy another vehicle, and we're going to start back all over again. And what that does with that type of loyalty is reduce your CAC and your your marketing dollars diminish over time, right? That is the long game. Yeah, all of that data,

Kyle Mountsier: 17:06

yeah, I think, yeah. And we talk a lot in cost per car sold, right? PBR and, and I this, the thing that I think that dealers need to learn how to measure is LTV to CAC, right, which is what SaaS companies measure all the time,

Paul J Daly: 17:27

right? Tell it to everybody what that means. So

Kyle Mountsier: 17:29

LTV lifetime value to CAC, customer acquisition costs. And so if you can measure a differential on LTV to CAC, and drive that number really high, right where you have a high LTV to low CAC, all of the sudden, retent. You know what retention looks like? You know what a low cost, cost of customer acquisition and and I think I'm just going to throw this out there, because the PE money and the VC money around software right now is so high because software is able to measure those type of metrics. If we were able to do that as an industry, I think, I think, and we were able to achieve similar numbers as software can on cost of acquisition, right, which can be in the in the ones and twos of dollars. If we could do that as an industry, the already insane multiples on dealership buy sells would be even crazier, because there'd be net new money coming into the industry. So, like, that's actually what, that's the long, long game of what you're

Thuy Adomitis: 18:41

talking Exactly, right? And every dealer and dealer group is chasing that. Of course, you're going to have some short term thinkers that are looking to gross every single deal, right? That's fine, but you've got some long tail players who are going to do this right at the very beginning. They're gonna spend a lot of money, they're gonna acquire that customer, but over time, without any defection. They're gold, right? So as they come back in over and over again that CAC from five years ago, so back to your point of LTV versus CAC,

Kyle Mountsier: 19:13

yep. So all of a sudden, you've got a retained customer that you acquired and no longer is a part of your net new cost of acquisition, and you start to drive down your cost of acquisition over time to where, I mean, imagine if a dealership could be in that like 50 to $70 cost per acquisition. I think it's possible. I think it's wild. You think it's possible? There's no reason why it isn't.

Thuy Adomitis: 19:37

But with with those types of numbers, the blue sky. Is there something beyond blue sky for dealership, valuation, valuation, stratospheric money, right? And

Kyle Mountsier: 19:49

the money's out there, the money's out there. But that's what AI enables, because then you release people

Paul J Daly: 19:56

to do the people only things you.

Thuy Adomitis: 20:00

People only stuff the higher value work, right? I don't want to take anybody's job as not here. We are not here to take anybody's job. We want to make them way more efficient. There's top of funnel customers and there's bottom funnel customers, right? So the bottom funnel customers need way more assistance, a little bit deeper dive into the vehicle, the F and I piece, but let me tell them about the car, right? Let ai do that. How, how late are you closed? We built online schedulers, and the adoption rate is dismal. Oh, it's terrible. Yeah, it's terrible, because the experience is terrible. And I still call in to book my service appointments, because every time I do these click arounds, there's like 55 clicks before I even have Yeah,

Paul J Daly: 20:45

and I have time for another. Industries have figured it out really. I mean literally, I can schedule a carpet install. I can schedule my air conditioning maintenance. I can schedule all this stuff, like Home Services.

Kyle Mountsier: 20:59

I ordered a pizza. You still can't, you still can't schedule a doctor's appointment. Though, get that. They haven't figured it out either. So at least, you know, we're at least ahead of one industry. You

Paul J Daly: 21:15

can schedule telemedicine, though,

Kyle Mountsier: 21:17

that's true. That's true. Yeah, that's true. So what are you excited about over the next year? Because I we just gave you a whole product team that you gotta reassign building LTV to CAC ratios into your measurement metrics for your AI tool. What else are you excited

Thuy Adomitis: 21:34

about so and the parts department, right? Those poor guys so busy. Gotta put my glasses on, go to the typing machine and see if that part is

Kyle Mountsier: 21:45

available. Often forgot about when it comes to tech, yeah, that

Thuy Adomitis: 21:49

store selling millions of dollars in parts every single month. So that team is massive, right? But they shouldn't be answering the phone to verify Part Availability. I know there's a little bit more involved in that, but to share, getting a deeper integration into the parts catalog or inventory the last eight digit need

Paul J Daly: 22:07

to meet our friend Kaylee filio. We had her on the show not too long ago. I'd love

Thuy Adomitis: 22:12

to meet her. I'd love to meet her, but I'm super excited and bullish on that product that we should be delivering by the end of the year. Hey, very,

Paul J Daly: 22:21

very nice. It's we.

Kyle Mountsier: 22:24

It's been fun talking to you. We. I'm just excited because I'm all nerded out. Found a new sparring partner.

Paul J Daly: 22:37

Yeah,

Unknown: 22:39

awesome. Well, thank you so much. It's been a pleasure, and thanks for joining us. Great. Joining us. Great to be here. Great to be here.

Paul J Daly: 22:48

All right, I'm dead serious. I think I need to develop the 10 key app that that we concepted and fleshed out a little bit in that episode. That's why, you know you're around a real baller, right? When you can develop an idea in person. No, the 10. Michael, do you know what a 10 key app?

Michael Cirillo: 23:05

I don't, but I love the point where, when the guest, who's the expert in that field, kind of validates when we have a good idea, they're like, Well, that sounds like a good idea. And we're like, we're smart.

Kyle Mountsier: 23:17

Jason, my favorite part, and you guys know this about me. I am just so much about this retention flywheel and the fact that AI is being leveraged to reduce customer acquisition costs, to think about building long term loyalty. It's not just about like, oh, just that one call that we had to handle, or that one task that we had to handle, that this is a string of con of events that that capture customers, life cycle, over time, and understand and relate back, especially in an industry with as it's turning the high turnover, but we still have a high turnover industry in the sales and service departments. We get the opportunity now to have a an employee type that spans turnover and that increases customer loyalty over time.

Michael Cirillo: 24:05

Oh, I like that.

Paul J Daly: 24:07

You know? I just feel like, and we'll, we'll see if this happens. But when you meet somebody and you vibe like that, I feel like, twee is going to be a part of a lot of amazing conversations. And I'm glad we just had the first one so we can get to the second one. So on behalf of com out Sierra, Michael Cirillo and myself, thanks for coming along from the ride. Look on the App Store coming up for Paul J Daly's 10 key extravaganza app, because it's going to happen. Thank you so much for listening to Auto Collabs.

Unknown: 24:35

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