The Dealer Playbook

Hosted by Michael Cirillo

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731

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Nov 2026

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About the show

The Dealer Playbook is the podcast for serious automotive professionals. The ones who think beyond the transaction. Hosted by Michael Cirillo, now in its 12th year, The Dealer Playbook delivers straight-talk conversations with the dealers, operators, and leaders who are actually building something. If you run a store, lead a team, or are building a career worth having, this is your show. New episodes every week. Follow so you don't miss one.

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60 recent

November 3, 202627 min

"Sales Might Sell That First Car" — How Service Earns the Next One | Paul Dosescu, National Training Consultant

Your sales department works hard to earn the first purchase. But how much thought goes into making sure that customer returns for their first oil change, their next repair, and eventually their next vehicle? Michael Cirillo sits down with Paul Dosescu to unpack an overlooked dealership operating problem: the disconnect between selling a vehicle and keeping the customer throughout the ownership experience. Paul works with dealerships on service advisor training, customer communication, and fixed operations performance. And with independent repair shops competing aggressively for dealership service customers, he believes the way stores handle everyday interactions deserves far more attention. One of Paul's most useful observations is that service advisors cannot control every delay in the shop, but they can control how well they keep customers informed. The conversation also examines why sales and fixed operations need to take shared responsibility for the same customer, especially when their next purchase may still be years away. Michael's takeaway: The first sale gets a customer into your dealership. What happens after delivery determines how many more opportunities you get to earn their business. Timestamps (00:00) Educate Not Sell (00:58) Sponsor Break E (01:51) Service Boom Outlook (03:36) Break Down Silos (07:45) Advisors Influence Ethically (11:53) Quick Service Touchpoints (15:27) Tour And Handoff To Service (20:37) Culture And What We Tolerate (22:39) Mobile Service Future (25:49) Five Year Winning Formula (26:12) Connect And Wrap Up (26:41) Podcast Outro

October 27, 202625 min

“Anyone Can Do This” - Social Media for Car Sales Pros Who Overthink It | Raffi Mouchmouchian, CEO RM Content Media

How many salespeople at your dealership know they should be creating content but keep finding reasons to put it off? They don't know what to post. They don't like being on camera. They're worried about looking stupid. Or they spend so much time trying to make the perfect video that nothing ever gets published. Raffi Moosh (Raffi Mouchmouchian) knows that hesitation firsthand. A former Dodge dealership salesperson turned social media creator, Rafi built an Instagram following of nearly 550,000 people and now helps dealerships create content of their own. But his growth didn't happen because every video was perfectly planned. During an unexpected 30-day break from his dealership job, Rafi focused on creating and posting consistently. His audience more than tripled, eventually giving him the confidence to pursue content creation full-time. In this conversation, Michael Cirillo asks Raffi what dealership owners, managers, and salespeople can learn from that experience. And if you're trying to get more of your sales team involved in creating content, his advice is surprisingly simple. Connect with Raffi: Follow or DM @raffimoosh on social media. Raffi says he personally responds to as many messages as possible. Michael's takeaway: Stop waiting for your salespeople to become great on camera before encouraging them to post. Give them a starting point, let their personalities come through, and help them get comfortable by actually doing it. Timestamps (00:00) Intro (01:00) Show Support Break (04:01) Leaving the Dealership (05:27) Sales vs. Camera Fear (09:27) Find Your Own Style (12:35) Simple Content Formula (15:25) Cross-Posting Strategy (19:30) OEM Concerns and Honesty (23:42) Key Takeaways and Connect (25:25) Outro and Subscribe

October 20, 202625 min

“A Band-Aid on a Bullet Hole” - Why AI SEO Pitches Keep Failing Dealers | Brooke C Furniss, founder of BZ Consultants Group

The vendor hype machine has dealers buying AI SEO, GEO and AI visibility on faith. Brooke Furniss shows you what to verify before you write the next check. Every few months there’s another marketing acronym dealers are told they need to understand. And with each new term comes another vendor promising to get your store ahead. Brooke Furniss, founder of BZ Consultants Group and host of Facts Not Feelings, joins Michael Cirillo to break down what she’s seeing firsthand on calls with dealers and vendors. She’s watched dealerships get pitched overnight rankings, 50 AI-generated pages a day, and AI visibility tools that can’t tell a shopper in Chicago from one in Naperville. Her concern is that too many stores are signing before anyone checks what these products actually deliver. And if your SEO was weak before AI showed up, a new tool on top is a Band-Aid on a bullet hole. Here’s what you’ll take away: The red flags in an AI SEO pitch, from guaranteed overnight rankings to content volume that invites a Google penalty The questions that expose a white-labeled AI visibility tool, starting with whether it can read local intent A schema check you can run yourself on any page your provider says they’ve optimized The Google Search Console click-through benchmark Brooke uses in automotive, and what a low number says about your agency Why more AI content does little for your rankings while your Google Business Profile, reviews and listings still need work Michael and Brooke also get into why experienced operators fall for the fear-of-missing-out trap, and what happens when the pressure to move faster starts deciding where the dealership’s money goes. Subscribe to The Dealer Playbook for more conversations with operators doing interesting things in retail automotive. Takeaway: Before the next AI contract gets signed, make them show you the schema, the Search Console data, and exactly where their numbers come from. Facts, not feelings. Timestamps (00:00) Why Hype Matters (00:43) Show Support and Free Book (03:05) Snake Oil in AEO GEO (04:47) AI Visibility Tool Myths (08:40) AI Content Versus Slop (12:54) Fast Cheap Versus Right (16:17) One Meeting Hype Test (21:20) Why Wallets Open for Hype (22:49) Buzzwords and Echo Chambers (24:33) Connect and Closing

October 13, 202627 min

“50 More Cars a Month” - Why Every Franchise Dealer Needs a Subprime Department | Luke Godwin, Owner Godwin Motors

Could your dealership be missing out on 50 additional car sales every month? Luke Godwin, a third-generation car dealer, founder of Godwin Consulting Group, and co-host of the Independent Dealer Podcast, believes many franchise dealers are overlooking an opportunity sitting right inside their existing operations. Luke has managed a buy here, pay here business with over 900 customer accounts. And he's convinced that some of the customers franchise dealers turn away because of financing challenges could represent an entirely new source of business. Think about it. Your dealership spends money attracting customers, works to get them approved, and sometimes loses the sale when traditional financing falls through. What if you had another way to serve those buyers? Michael Cirillo sits down with Luke to unpack why franchise dealers should consider a separate buy here, pay here operation, what it takes to make one profitable, and the expensive mistakes that can come with getting it wrong. The takeaway: Before spending more money trying to bring new customers through your doors, take a closer look at the opportunities your dealership might already be letting walk away. Connect with Luke Godwin: https://godwinconsultinggroup.com Find him on LinkedIn and Facebook, or listen to the Independent Dealer Podcast. Timestamps (00:00) Who Can Run BHPH (01:00) Show Support Plug (03:39) Why Franchise Add BHPH (06:58) Hiring The Right GM (08:22) Three Gen Origin Story (12:26) Hunker Down Strategy (15:05) Community Marketing (19:30) Collections And Repos (21:59) Empathy Without Abuse (23:45) Early Mistakes Fixes (25:01) Ancillaries Reinsurance (26:13) Consulting And Wrap Up (26:46) Final Outro

October 6, 202629 min

“AI Can’t Find You” — Why AI Is Skipping Your Dealership Website | Wade Kerzie, Founder Kerzie AI

This is one of those episodes where you'll want to pull up your own website halfway through. Michael sits down with his neighbor, Wade of Kerzie.ai, to talk about why AI keeps skipping right past dealership websites. Wade's been tracking how fast search is shifting. A year ago, 6% of people were using ChatGPT to search. Now it's 45%. When one of those people asks ChatGPT to find them a vehicle, AI doesn't read your homepage. It looks for a page written specifically for it. If that page isn't there, it pieces together an answer from older information, and that's when your hours and your inventory come back wrong. Wade walks through his front cover, back cover way of thinking about it, a simple test you can run on your site in under a minute, and how his team keeps a dealer's inventory current for AI every single day. If you're stuck on an OEM-mandated website platform, he's got good news for you there too. Connect with Wade at Kerzie.ai. His calendar and email are both there. Michael's takeaway: We spent twenty years learning how to get found by Google. This round is faster and cheaper to adapt to, but only for the dealers who actually do it. Timestamps (00:00) AI Findability Matters (01:26) Podcast Sponsor Break (02:52) AI Upside For Dealers (05:15) Search Shift To ChatGPT (09:46) Structure Beats Content (11:26) Inventory Data For AI (12:36) Author Your AI Profile (20:18) Future Of Websites (25:18) Human Value And Upskilling (29:17) Wrap Up And Contact (29:43) Final Outro

September 29, 202633 min

“I Didn’t Have to Chase Ups” — Car Sales Systems Behind 64 Cars in 15 Days | Kevin Rudolph, Sales Team Leader at Royal Buick GMC

Kevin Rudolph sold 64 cars in a month and worked 14 or 15 days to do it. He didn't chase ups, and he didn't wait on the BDC. Kevin is a top-producing salesperson at a single-point Buick GMC store in rural northwest New Jersey. Before sales, he spent 13 years as a master tech and shop owner, and he only stepped onto the sales floor because his wife pushed him. He had one condition. His kids were going to know him. That condition forced him to build something most reps never do. In this conversation, Kevin walks Michael through the request he made to his bosses once his numbers backed it up. He shares how two full-time assistants became part of his deals, and why his customers are fine buying from his team when he's home with his family. He also talks about a mentor's line that became his reason for going to work every day, and why he won't sponsor anything he can't personally show up to. And Kevin explains what happened when his store took notice. Connect with Kevin on Facebook by searching #ridewithrudolph, or find Kevin Rudolph on LinkedIn. Michael's takeaway: "Kevin earned the help before he asked for it, and that help bought his family time back. Build the process, prove the units, then go get your people." Timestamps (00:00) 60 Cars Four Days (00:53) Sponsor Message FlexDealer (02:17) From Repair Shop To Sales (05:47) Family First Mindset (11:47) Building A Sales Team (16:41) Community Giveback That Works (20:38) First Three Career Moves (24:21) Culture Training And Small Markets (28:25) Key Takeaways And Mindset (32:22) Connect And Closing

September 22, 202635 min

“Stop Doing The Memes” — What Actually Works for Dealers on Social Media | Charlie Czerniawski, Car Sales Manager at Sansone Toyota

Charlie Czerniawski, better known as Emcee Charlie, has spent more than two decades in automotive retail and built a significant following across Instagram and TikTok. But this conversation is much bigger than follower counts. Charlie explains how salespeople can use social media to become known in their market before a customer ever walks into the dealership. That familiarity changes the interaction. Customers start asking for specific people. Trust begins earlier. And the salesperson starts building demand around their own name instead of depending entirely on random floor traffic. Charlie shares some practical tips, including what he would do differently if he had to start all over again today. You can find Charlie on Instagram and TikTok as Emcee Charlie. Michael's takeaway: stop posting for attention and start posting proof. Your name is the thing that gets a customer through the door before price ever comes up. Timestamps (00:00) Why People Need To Know You (00:35) Starting From Zero Online (01:08) Quick Show Support Break (02:35) How Charlie Got Into Car Sales (06:36) Why He Reinvented His Content (09:12) Sell Yourself Before The Car (12:03) How To Build Repeat Customers (18:00) Surviving The Chaos Of Retail (20:19) What He’d Do Starting From Zero (24:46) You Don’t Need 50K Views (28:55) Become The Person Buyers Know (32:53) Match The Buyer To The Person (34:34) Connect With Emcee Charlie (35:31) Final Takeaway

September 15, 202626 min

"Forget the Gimmicks" - How to Win Customers for Life | Hank Ebeling, Owner and Lead Coach at H4 Training

Hank Ebeling is the Owner and Lead Coach at H4 Training. With a background in the fitness industry and a deep understanding of hospitality, Hank has honed his skills in delivering exceptional customer experiences. His expertise has helped numerous small businesses differentiate themselves through superior service, making him a sought-after consultant and author of "Crushing the Competition with Service." What We Discuss in This Episode: In this episode I sit down with Hank Ebeling to uncover the secrets of turning customer service into a formidable competitive advantage. Hank passionately discusses why exceptional customer service is the best marketing strategy a business can have. He argues that many business owners underestimate the power of outstanding service as a competitive advantage. Good customer service is not enough; it must be exceptional to create "walking billboards" for your business. Hank shares insights on how businesses can invest in their teams, hire the right people, and provide proper training to ensure that customer service becomes a true differentiator. We explore the idea that hospitality and genuine customer care are teachable skills. Hank shares his belief that many businesses become tone-deaf to customers' needs because they are too focused on their own objectives. He stresses the importance of shifting from an ego-driven mindset to one that prioritizes serving customers. This shift not only enhances customer satisfaction but also drives long-term business growth. Tune in as we discuss the critical mindset shifts needed to prioritize customer service, the tangible benefits it brings, and practical steps to implement these strategies effectively. Thanks, Hank Ebeling! Timestamps (00:00) Welcome and Sponsor (00:31) Hank’s Service Origin Story (05:37) Make It About Them, Win Long Term (07:18) Service as a Marketing Advantage (11:40) FlexDealer Ad Break (12:07) Fitness vs. Car-Buying Skepticism (15:49) Be Genuine, Ditch the Script (17:08) Culture, Hiring and Empowerment (21:01) Lead Zombies and Capacity Reality (22:13) Why Hank Wrote the Book (25:14) Connect with Hank (25:53) Podcast Outro

September 8, 202634 min

"Sold 300+ Used Cars" - This Ford Store Cracked The Used Car Game | Rob Ruth, President - Bob Ruth Ford

How do you sell 300+ used cars a month in a town of 2,900 people, and buy 240 vehicles off the street without relying on auctions? In this episode, Rob Ruth the President / Owner of Bob Ruth Ford, Dillsburg PA breaks down the real playbook behind scaling a pre-owned-first dealership inside a franchise system, and why a startup mindset, disciplined acquisition, and a culture built on partnership can outperform “bigger market” excuses. Rob shares exactly how they pivoted during COVID when inventory vanished, how they built a team-based buying machine (starting with Facebook Marketplace outreach), and why used cars drive the whole store: service, parts, profitability, and growth. What you’ll learn: Why used cars are the real growth lever (40M used vs ~16M new) and how to differentiate The acquisition-first framework: buying center, street buys, and scaling a sourcing team How to sell 8 used for every 1 new while keeping the OEM satisfied What’s working now: $25K-and-under sweet spot, pricing discipline, and recon strategy Leadership and culture: treating employees like partners, creating career paths, and recruiting in a small market The recession-proof logic of building a pre-owned engine when markets shift If you’re a dealer, operator, or leader who feels boxed in by OEM pressure, market size, or “the way it’s always been done,” this episode will challenge you to rethink what’s possible and remind you why you got into this business in the first place. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction to the Used Car Mindset 00:36 The Story Behind Bob Ruth Ford 01:02 Key Elements of a Successful Pre-Owned Operation 01:13 Flex Dealer and the Dealer Playbook 02:35 Rob Ruth's Journey and Mindset 03:46 Challenges and Strategies in the Used Car Market 06:05 The Startup Mentality in a Family Business 15:20 Acquisition and Inventory Management 26:20 Community Impact and Leadership 33:29 Conclusion and How to Connect

September 1, 202628 min

"We Want To Actively Give Back" — An Independent Dealer On Trust Over Ad Spend | Travis Baldwin, Vice President at Best Deal Auto Sales

Travis Baldwin started detailing cars at his family's independent dealership in 1999. He worked his way up through buyer, sales associate, sales manager, area manager, and eventually Vice President at Best Deal Auto Sales, all while serving on the board of the Indiana Independent Auto Dealer Association and spending time as a reserve police officer. Travis joins Michael to talk about something most dealers don't say out loud: that the sign at the ball field and the logo on the billboard might matter less than people think. He shares how his family has built trust in their community through quiet, consistent involvement, like helping an employee buy a house when their credit didn't qualify, without ever looking for credit or recognition in return. The conversation also gets into the auction buy that changed how Travis does business: a certified unit that showed up with metal in the oil and got relisted with no disclosure. That experience led him to build Dealer Defender, a platform that flags non-disclosed auction returns before they cost the next dealer. Find Travis on LinkedIn or learn more about his platform at dealerdefender.com. Michael's takeaway: the dealers who last aren't chasing the next lead source. They're the ones people trust enough to vouch for without being asked. Timestamps (00:00) Overachiever Origins (00:52) Sponsor FlexDealer (02:18) From Detailer to VP (05:12) Advocating Independents (08:27) Competing With Franchises (10:58) Future Focus Transparency (13:22) Community Over Marketing (22:11) Reserve Officer Lessons (24:20) Dealer Defender Story (27:43) Outro