Jason Girdner and TECOBI weren’t overnight success stories, not by a long shot. He spent nearly two decades in the auto industry and started at the bottom, answering toll-free numbers designed to sell car loans over the phone.
He could always see the issues in the industry and knew that there had to be better ways to generate leads. So he jumped into the entrepreneurial field in 2010, creating an app within Facebook designed to capture the email addresses of users who ‘liked’ car posts. Then those addresses could be used by car dealers as marketing leads.
For various reasons, it failed, as did his next attempt. But he wasn’t ready to give up. TECOBI marked his third try, and it was, as they say, a charm. He launched this business in Denver in 2016 with his wife, Scarlet Mick.
TECOBI is different from his previous attempts since it melds the consistency of AI with the natural ease of talking to a real person. Using what’s called hybrid-intelligence software, it lessens auto sales work and leads follow-up for staff while lessening the burden of visiting car lots and feeling pressured into buying for customers.
‘How?’ You might be asking yourself. Simple, it’s all done over text messaging and SMS, easing the stress on both sides through an easy back and forth that can be done whenever the prospective customer has time.
A Rocky Road to Success
Before pulling himself up through the auto industry ranks, Girdner hadn’t had an easy life. He came from a toxic divorced family and was considered a disruptive child. He dropped out of high school and realized that his selling ability was likely his best hope for a career.
“My childhood was filled with negativity and loneliness. But God blessed me with a golden tongue, which is the key for most people that find success in sales,” he said.
The next great blessing in his life was meeting his soon-to-be wife, Scarlet Mick. Girdner calls her kind and selfless and the person who helped him to believe in himself and have faith that TECOBI was a viable idea.
If you’d asked him back then if he’d still be in the auto industry today, but as a company founder and a software developer, he would have laughed you out of the room.
Commercial Break Leads to Commercial Success
The lightbulb moment for TECOBI came late one night when the couple were watching TV in their Denver living room. A car commercial came on, and Girdner realized that the car companies make these ads to make themselves look good, without regard to what the viewer wants to know about the car.
He remembered thinking, “I’m the one spending a large amount of money. Why do I have to pick up the phone and call about this truck? Why does it feel like I’m doing all of the work here?”
He realized that these fast-talking ads were off-putting to prospective buyers. They are home; they have worked all day. The last thing they want is to make a call where they feel pressured by a salesperson who won’t simply provide the answers to their questions but try to hard-sell them into a quick buy.
The idea is so unappealing to many Americans that they simply don’t buy the car, even if they have the means for it. He knew there was space for something revolutionary in the industry, a way to make it more pleasant for people to make these large, necessary purchases.
The solution he found was customer support via text message and SMS. At first, his idea wasn’t technical; it simply involved him personally reaching out to dealerships, offering this SMS service for clients, and answering all the messages himself. However, he quickly had 130 dealerships as clients and could not keep up with the messages.
Automating Automotive Texts
He knew he had to find a way to automate the idea using software and AI, and Mick came on board as his official partner in business as well as life.
Mick took over the day-to-day text answering while Girdner began building the software that would become TECOBI. Since launching, they have gone from 130 clients to serving thousands of clients across the country. They have also won a prestigious AWA Award that hangs proudly in their Denver headquarters, where they have dozens of employees.
Girdner and Mick’s story is one we can all relate to. Their perseverance and eventual success are inspiring tales that teach us that our dreams are worth pursuing and our solutions make the world a better place.
About TECOBI
Jason Girdner & Scarlet Mick are the Founders of TECOBI, an advanced communication and advertising solution providing SMS/Text conversation support for the automotive industry. They have served thousands of automotive companies through their industry-changing software. To learn more, please visit www.tecobi.com
