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.
Most people assume the biggest problem in retail auto is inventory, rates, or competition. But every time I walk into a dealership, I see something else at the core of the struggle. It isn’t obvious on the surface, but you can feel it in the turnover, the burnout, the “busy but not fulfilled” pace that too many teams are stuck in. In this week’s solo episode, I share what I believe is the biggest…
This week Michael talks with a Cadillac Sales Consultant at Andrews Cadillac in Brentwood, Tennessee, who spent years ranked in the top 100 nationally before ever posting online, and then built 150,000 followers in a single year without her numbers dropping. She walks through the moment she realized being good at her job wasn't enough to stay on top. She needed more people to know it. That's the…
Most dealers are fighting over a sliver of traffic while the majority goes unclaimed. Matt Copley, Co-Founder, Chairman, and Chief Revenue Officer of Hrizn, joins Michael to unpack it. With over 25 years across media, adtech, and martech, including a decade working inside retail automotive itself, Matt's built a career watching how dealers show up online, and now builds the platform to fix it.…
Average production has a cost, and it usually shows up long before someone notices it in their paycheck. After 18 years in automotive retail, Raul stepped away from the general sales manager position and returned to the showroom floor as a client advisor. He wanted to reconnect with the customer experience and find out what separates someone selling ten cars a month from someone consistently…
Every operator has felt it: too many fires, no clear order of attack, and the creeping sense that whatever you fix first is a guess. This episode centers on a simple decision-making framework: plot every project against how easy it is to achieve and how big the return would be, then go after the highest-value, lowest-effort work first. It's borrowed straight from corporate America, and it works…
Jonathan Dawson has spent over 20 years training dealerships as the president and founder of Sellcology and co-founder of the Pinnacle Society. A year ago, he became an owner and operator himself at Cherokee Mitsubishi. This episode centers on one story: a 10 year veteran salesperson who'd been chasing 40 cars a month for a decade, topping out at 39, and told Jonathan flatly that the only way to…
Rob Dell runs a Ford store in a town of just 2,700 people, boxed in by a competing Ford dealer every seven miles. Instead of fighting for new car volume he could never win, he rebuilt his store around used cars, taking monthly volume from around 175 to close to 400. Rob Dell is the Vice President at Bob Ruth Ford, and he's spent almost 30 years figuring out what actually makes a dealership work.…
There's a moment in this conversation where Charlie Spradlin says something most GMs would never admit out loud, and it's the reason his multi-rooftop dealer group keeps adapting faster than everyone else around him. He's not running things the way you'd expect for someone breaking records the way he is. This episode gets into how he actually leads his team through constant market shifts, what's…
Is your dealership struggling to move used EVs while your competitors are banking big? It's time to stop letting inventory sit and start capitalizing on the massive opportunity in the pre-owned electric vehicle market. In this episode with Lyteflo Co-Founder and CEO Ryan Osten, you'll discover: Why used EVs are consistently delivering up to $5,000 in total gross profit per unit. The critical…
Are the "AI zealots" and "AI doomsayers" clouding your judgment about what artificial intelligence actually means for your automotive retail business? It’s time to move beyond the hype and fear and discover the practical, actionable ways AI can elevate your dealership and refocus your team on what truly matters: human connection. What you will get from this episode: - Understand how AI can free up…
