“My Team Will Adapt at the Drop of a Dime” — The GM Playbook for Leading When You Don’t Have All the Answers | Charlie Spradlin, GM Art Moehn Auto Group
About this episode
Charlie Spradlin, General Manager at Art Moehn Auto Group, shares his unconventional journey from studying philosophy to leading record-breaking dealership teams. Spradlin discusses entering the automotive industry out of survival, the power of mentorship, and how a willingness to admit what you don't know can accelerate professional growth. He offers practical leadership insights on navigating post-COVID challenges, from inventory shortages to affordability issues, emphasizing why dealership leaders must foster highly adaptable teams that can pivot at a moment's notice to sustain long-term retail success.
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 really going on with his pay plan, and the one thing he had to let go of to get his store to where it is now.
What you'll get from this episode:
- The mindset shift that changed how fast Charlie's team responds to a changing market
- What's actually behind his pay plan, and why it's not what most dealers expect
- The one thing Charlie had to give up to grow past where he was stuck
- A different take on what real trust looks like between a GM and their team
Charlie Spradlin is GM at Art Moehn Chevrolet Honda, where he's grown a multi-rooftop dealer group while protecting net profit through constant market shifts.
Follow The Dealer Playbook so you never miss an episode.(00:00) What's Coming
(00:51) Sponsor Message FlexDealer
(02:22) Origin Story Into Auto
(05:37) Climbing To General Manager
(06:38) Mentors And Proximity
(08:38) Discomfort And Humility
(12:34) Post COVID Challenges
(14:19) Vulnerable Leadership
(17:32) Big Picture Perspective
(25:50) Pay Plans And Culture
(29:22) Running Into Storms
(31:59) Used Car Inventory Fix
(34:53) Architect Not Operator
(40:52) Closing And Connect
(41:51) Final Outro
Joe Verdi
"I drink from a fire hose of Joe Verdi videos for the first six months probably. And yeah, I just wasn't going to fail."
Joe Verdi is a famous teacher in the car business who created training videos and classes to help car salespeople learn how to talk to customers and close deals.
Joe Verdi is a legendary automotive sales trainer who pioneered structured sales processes, phone training, and customer retention techniques for dealerships starting in the 1980s.
rooftops
"Prior to that, I was our sales director for the group, which is kind of over the three-ish rooftops that we've got."
This is just industry slang for a physical dealership building. If a dealer group owns three 'rooftops,' they have three different dealership locations.
In the automotive retail industry, 'rooftops' is a slang term used to describe individual physical dealership locations. A dealer group with 'three rooftops' operates three separate physical storefronts.
Jonathan Dawson
"But like I met Jonathan Dawson as a brand new sales manager and that like that left this little nugget in me after being around him..."
Jonathan Dawson is a well-known business coach who helps car salespeople and managers improve their skills and make more money.
Jonathan Dawson is a prominent automotive sales trainer, speaker, and founder of Sell to Survive, known for teaching psychology-based sales techniques and dealer mindset coaching.
20 group
"...we go to a conference or we go to a seminar or 20 group and we hear the highlight reel of somebody else's thing and then we go back to our store..."
A 20 Group is like a support club for car dealership owners. About 20 dealers from different parts of the country (who don't compete with each other) get together to share their business secrets and help each other make more money.
An automotive '20 Group' is a peer-benchmarking forum that brings together roughly 20 non-competing dealers of similar brands or sizes. They meet regularly to share financial metrics, compare operational performance, and brainstorm solutions.
front and back of each car
"But at the end of the day, if I can get my volume to a certain place and I can make this much money on the back of each car and this much money on the front..."
Dealerships make money in two main ways when selling a car. The 'front' is the profit made on the car's actual price tag. The 'back' is the money made from selling you car loans, extended warranties, and other extra protections.
This refers to front-end and back-end dealership profits. Front-end profit is the margin made on the actual sale price of the vehicle over its cost, while back-end profit comes from the Finance and Insurance (F&I) department through loans, service contracts, and add-ons.
Brian Benstock
"Brian Benstock said this at NADA and I think I've used it a thousand times since then, but I reserve the right to manage my business..."
Brian Benstock is a highly successful car dealership boss in New York who is famous in the auto industry for sharing smart business advice and strategies.
Brian Benstock is a prominent automotive retail executive, GM, and Vice President of Paragon Honda and Paragon Acura, widely recognized for his progressive dealership management ideas and digital retail strategies.
NADA
"Brian Benstock said this at NADA and I think I've used it a thousand times since then..."
NADA is the main national group that represents car dealerships. They host a huge meeting every year where dealers from all over the country gather to learn new business strategies.
The National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA) is a trade association representing franchised new-car and truck dealerships in the United States, famous for hosting its massive annual industry convention.
Art Moehn Auto Group
"And here we have episode 700 and whatever it is with Charlie Spradlin, general manager at Art Main, who's tying a bow on so many threads..."
This is a real-world car dealership company located in Michigan that sells brands like Chevrolet and Honda.
Art Moehn Auto Group is a Michigan-based automotive dealership group featuring Chevrolet, Honda, and other franchises, serving the Jackson area since 1962.
acquisition department
"And we're creating a standalone department inside of the dealership that is focused entirely on this portion of the business with their own metrics, their own pay plans, everything is separate..."
Instead of just waiting for people to trade in their old cars, some dealerships have a special team whose only job is to go out and find people who want to sell their cars directly to the dealership for cash.
An acquisition department is a dedicated unit within a modern dealership focused entirely on sourcing used vehicle inventory directly from the public. This team bypasses traditional wholesale auctions by actively buying cars from private sellers, service customers, and digital listing platforms.
service lane buying
"I have dabbled in different ways before we've done service lane buying, we've done private party, you know, we've dabbled in all these different ways..."
This is when a dealership tries to buy your car from you while you are waiting for it to get its oil changed or repaired in their service department. It's an easy way for them to get used cars to sell to other people.
Service lane buying is an inventory acquisition method where dealerships pitch vehicle-purchase offers to customers visiting their service department for repairs. This allows dealers to acquire high-quality, well-maintained local trade-ins without paying auction fees.
Request an Explanation
Heard something you'd like explained? We'll add it to this episode.
Sign in to request explanations for terms you heard.
Want to learn more?
Browse our glossary for plain-English explanations of automotive terms, jargon, and concepts.
Help improve this episode
See something that's not quite right? Our annotations are AI-generated and can sometimes miss the mark. Click the flag icon on any annotation to suggest a correction.