In this episode, I sit down with Don Hall, a Marine-turned-auto-retail-legend, to unpack what’s actually holding dealerships back—and how some of the best are rewriting the playbook by leading with people, purpose, and outrageous hospitality.

Unpacking the real reasons dealers are missing the mark on direct-from-consumer sourcing (aka: your most profitable channel), why “look-to-book” might be the most overrated metric in the business, and how flipping your culture from “appointment-first” to “appraisal-first” might just change your entire game.

We’re talking about the company that quietly powers the digital infrastructure of 16,000+ dealer websites, bridges the gap between OEMs and dealers, and handles the messy, fragmented world of CRMs, widgets, lead tools, and consumer data privacy.

This episode is not just another industry chat. It’s a full-on, no-holds-barred deep dive into what could be the single biggest threat to automotive retail as we know it.

We talk about something that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: the next generation of automotive leaders and what dealers need to do right now to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

We talk about something that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: the next generation of automotive leaders and what dealers need to do right now to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

We talk about one of the biggest misconceptions in automotive: the idea that a website is just a digital storefront.

Marketing in the auto industry feels like one giant mystery box. You pour money in, cross your fingers, and hope that somehow, miraculously, sales come out the other side. But here’s the million-dollar question: Do you actually know what’s working?