Car Dealership Guy Podcast Dec 4, 2025

“Retail Is Detail!” — Why Todd Blue Returned to Luxury Retail and the Model He’s Building Now | Todd Blue, Dealer Principal of Mercedes-Benz of Northern Arizona and CEO of LAPIS

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Concept

luxury market

The luxury market is a part of the car industry that sells expensive and high-quality cars. These cars usually have better features and materials than regular cars.

Concept

high-touch customer service

High-touch customer service means giving special attention to customers and making sure they have a great experience. This is especially important for luxury brands.

Car

Mercedes-Benz Mercedesbenz Usa

The Mercedes-Benz SL is a fancy convertible car that looks great and drives really well. It's designed for people who enjoy driving with the top down and want a luxurious experience.

Brand

BMW

BMW is another well-known car brand that makes luxury and sporty cars. They are famous for their performance and stylish designs.

Brand

Toyota

Toyota is another well-known car brand from Japan that makes many types of vehicles. They are famous for their reliable cars and hybrid technology.

Brand

Honda

Honda is a popular car brand from Japan that makes cars and motorcycles. They are known for making reliable and fuel-efficient vehicles.

Concept

US manufacturing

US manufacturing means making products, like cars, in the United States. Many car companies build their cars here to sell to American customers.

Concept

largest exporters of vehicles

The largest exporters of vehicles are car companies that sell a lot of cars to other countries. It shows that these companies are popular and have a strong production system.

Concept

ICE vehicles

ICE vehicles are cars that run on gasoline or diesel fuel. They are the most common type of cars before electric cars became popular.

Concept

electric vehicles

Electric vehicles are cars that run only on electricity and don’t use gas. They are better for the environment because they don’t produce exhaust fumes.

Concept

hybrid

A hybrid car uses both a regular engine and an electric motor. This helps it save fuel and produce less pollution than just using gas alone.

Concept

post-war European sports cars

These are fast and stylish cars made in Europe after World War II. They are known for their special designs and are often very expensive and collectible.

Brand

Ferrari

Ferrari is a famous car brand from Italy that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They are known for their bright red color and are often seen in car races.

Company

Cobalt Classic Cars

Cobalt Classic Cars is a business that deals with buying and selling special old cars that people like to collect. They focus on cars that are rare and valuable.

Company

Porsche Cars North America

Porsche Cars North America is the company that brings Porsche cars to the U.S. and helps sell and support them here.

Brand

Lamborghini

Lamborghini is a luxury car brand from Italy that makes very fast and expensive sports cars. They are known for their unique designs.

Brand

Rolls Royce

Rolls Royce is a very fancy car brand from Britain that makes luxury cars. They are known for their high quality and comfort.

Brand

McLaren

McLaren is a car brand from Britain that makes very fast sports cars. They are known for their racing technology and performance.

Brand

Jaguar

Jaguar is a British car brand that makes luxury cars, often known for their sleek designs and performance.

Brand

Land Rover

Land Rover is a brand that makes SUVs designed for off-road driving but also offers luxury features.

Brand

Aston Martin

Aston Martin is a British brand that makes luxury sports cars, famous for their stylish looks and speed.

Brand

Audi

Audi is a luxury car brand from Germany that makes cars known for their technology and performance.

Car

The Porsche Cayenne is a fancy SUV made by Porsche, known for being fast and sporty while still being able to carry a lot of people and stuff. It helps Porsche make more money by attracting buyers who want a luxury vehicle but also need space.

Car

Porsche Panamera

The Porsche Panamera is a fancy four-door car that offers a lot of power and comfort. It's like a sports car that you can use every day, making it a good choice for people who want speed but also need space for passengers.

Concept

Pebble Beach

Pebble Beach is a famous car show in California where people display and sell classic cars. It's a big deal in the car community and features many rare and valuable vehicles.

Brand

Volkswagen

Volkswagen is a car company from Germany that makes many popular cars, like the Beetle and Golf. They are known for making reliable and well-engineered vehicles.

Brand

Stellantis

Stellantis is a car company that includes many brands like Jeep and Chrysler, created from a merger of two big companies.

Car

Porsche Cayman

The Porsche Cayman is a small, sporty car that is fun to drive and has a great design. It's known for being very responsive on the road, which makes it exciting for people who love cars.

Concept

G-Wagon

The G-Wagon is a fancy SUV made by Mercedes-Benz. It's known for being tough and luxurious, making it a favorite among wealthy customers.

Car

Mercedes-Benz Cclass

The Mercedes-Benz C-Class is a smaller luxury car that is comfortable and stylish. It's a good option for people who want a nice car without going for the biggest models, and it still has a lot of features.

Concept

Monterey Car Week

Monterey Car Week is a big car event in California where people show off and sell fancy cars. It's a fun time for anyone who loves cars.

Concept

Villadest

Villadest seems to be a place where car events happen, similar to Monterey Car Week, but it's not as famous.

Brand

Nissan

Nissan is a car brand that makes many different types of cars, including affordable ones and some sporty models.

Brand

Lexus

Lexus is a brand that makes luxury cars. It's part of Toyota and is known for making comfortable and high-end vehicles.

LIVE

You can't just do the fancy stuff.

If you don't do the blocking and tackling,

you don't make a lot of small decisions every day.

I'm not quite sure how that you can do it.

And I got to tell you, those are the things I probably

need to work on the most.

I think I'm probably a little bit better at the other stuff.

So I want to focus every day on one foot in front of the other,

one step at a time, and you got to do the little things.

And if you don't, it's kind of like all these cliches,

but retail is detail.

Today, I'm joined by Todd Blue, dealer

principal of Mercedes-Benz of Northern Arizona

and CEO of Lapis.

The luxury market is shifting fast,

and dealers are trying to figure out

how to stand out while staying disciplined

as cycles tighten.

Todd breaks down how to add real value

to underperforming stores, why high-touch customer

interaction still matters, and how dealers should think

about debt, risk, and long-term sustainability.

For anyone navigating growth in a luxury environment,

his perspective is a masterclass in strategy

and restraint.

A big thank you to our sponsors for making this episode

possible, fullthrottle.ai, Uber for Business, and CDG Circles.

And now, let's get into the show.

Todd Blue on the CDG podcast.

Todd, welcome.

How are you, Yossi?

Thanks for having me.

It's an honor to be on.

It's an honor to have you.

Todd the Stodd.

That's, I didn't rhyme, but I tried my best.

It's funny you say that I probably still kind of hate my name.

My whole name, Todd Blue, is two syllables.

I wish it was something like Hamilton Jordan or something

like that, but it's Todd Blue.

Come on, but that's good.

When you were doing the standard eye testing in high school,

you probably were the first one to fill the bubbles.

Actually, I just filled them out,

and that's why I did so poorly in school.

I made an art project out of it.

Oh my god.

Look, you're now a successful dealer, so I'll take it.

Todd, are you one of the guys

that has the license plate, like 2.0 GPA,

driving like a $200,000 Porsche?

I used to have, I'm putting this in quotes, vanity plates,

but I got rid of all vanity plates,

and now I just have plain old dealer plates, so anyway.

Okay, I'm good.

You can have a dealer vanity plate too, right?

Yeah, I guess that's true.

I guess that's true.

So we can start with my infamous,

tell me about the picture behind your question,

but we'll save that for later.

Okay.

My brain needs a rest.

Yeah.

We'll start with something more juicy.

I have to imagine you were just

at the Mercedes meeting in Vegas.

Oh, great question.

Ah, I like it.

Loved it.

Want to know more?

Tell me about that.

Yeah.

Well, I'll tell you, so I had a couple of dealers text me,

and they're like raving about Mercedes,

like more bullish than I've ever been on the brand.

Yeah.

And so I did what I do naturally,

which is send a message to Adam Chamberlain,

say Adam, I have FOMO and you need to come on the podcast.

Adam, for those who don't know,

is the CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA.

And so I think you responded like thank you or something.

Like you didn't actually give a full thought response.

So Adam, if you're listening to this

or if someone sends you this,

you know, would still have to have you on.

I'm sure it was just an afterthought

because we've had a conversation in the past,

but I was like, when I,

the first thing I was going to ask,

I wanted to ask you was like, hey, like tell me about it.

Like whatever you can share,

how do you feel after that event?

What did you see?

Like tell us about that.

So first of all, you know,

you go to these meetings sometimes

and like you're just falling asleep

and you're exhausted and they're too long,

very, very succinct, well done meeting.

Obviously Vegas is even harder to keep people awake

and things like that.

And it was great.

They were focused.

They were on point.

They were goals driven.

And I think the dealers in the meeting,

I mean, you think about that meeting,

especially kind of as I'm reentering this industry,

again, in a first time Mercedes dealer

and you're in the room and you've got the Penske people

and you've got the Cantonucci people

and Fletcher Jones and Ken Schnitzer

and the Price family and Ray Katina's group

and Mario Margato.

You have legends, legends in that room.

And I asked myself just first being there,

I'm like, you know,

how am I going to re-enter this business

and make a difference?

And we could talk about that later

or what's my goal or what's my niche,

but very specifically on your question,

I thought they hit right on the money.

They have goals.

They're focused on major growth.

They understand and have acknowledged,

never heard this before, maybe stumbles in the past.

Those are my words, not theirs on stumbles.

I think they have, it's a fact.

It's not anything unusual about the electrification

and the things they've done to correct that

or auto correct that.

The new team is noticeably energized.

I didn't not get along with the old team,

but these guys are hungry, focused,

have something to prove, have experienced.

I mean, you have leaders in a OEM company in America,

but most of the leadership has worked in retail

or many of them.

Then you have, you know, incredible marketing

and sales and marketing and other things

and they've just put it all together.

So that's my overlay.

And then we can obviously talk about,

details happy to talk about what I can talk about,

but I give it an A plus plus of a meeting for sure.

And I think I'm gonna say

that the dealers might have been unanimous about that.

Yeah, that's, I didn't hear like it was okay.

It seemed people really, they did something right

because people came out energized

and not like phony energized

like has happened with certain other OEMs,

but rather they truly believe

that the brand is, you know, going to do the right thing.

So what do you, from your perspective,

what do you think right now can be done

differently better for the brand?

I don't wanna monopolize the conversation around Mercedes

because I think there's a lot more we can talk about

about your operating style,

which based on what I read is an interesting unique one,

but I'm just curious, what do you think Mercedes,

what type of shifts do you think could, you know,

continue to improve the brand?

Yeah, so first of all, you know,

obviously tariffs have been or will be

a continuing discussion.

Mercedes has what I would describe as a leg up.

I think BMW is sitting equally probably strong

in companies like Honda and Toyota probably as well

where they have a significant component

of US manufacturing.

Remember Mercedes and BMW are the largest exporters

of vehicles in the United States.

So I'm not here to advertise

either one of those companies.

I'm just saying because of that,

it gives them some strength.

And I think they are in healthy dialogue.

I don't know for sure,

but I would perceive they're in healthy dialogue

with the administration to see how they can be

a better partner with the United States of America

and, you know, do what they can

to find the right compliment.

So that's kind of geopolitical.

But then basically a product

and the pipeline that's coming

is the biggest onslaught of new product.

This is for quite frankly Mercedes dealers

and our customers in probably Mercedes history

from SUVs and sedans and plenty of ICE vehicles.

And yes, some great electric and that's okay too.

And then obviously hybrid.

So I think I'm not gonna give or not give Toyota credit,

but, you know, they're, you know, taking a playbook

and they didn't say this, I'm saying it,

that they are not gonna just stick with one powertrain.

You're gonna be able to buy a vehicle

and not so distant future

and have any powertrain you want, which I love.

I think the consumer should make the decision.

I think Mercedes has heard that

and that is what they're doing.

So I'm excited about that.

You know, that's a good perspective

because when I think about them hiring Adam from Lithia

and Lithia being a retailer

and Mercedes being a manufacturer

and think about put yourself in Adam's shoes

or like, you know, imagine I'm a fly,

you know, in that boardroom

when they're talking about him and making that hire.

Well, he has personally felt the impact of, you know,

having the wrong product and trying to retail that.

And so it seems like, you know,

this is someone that, as they say, like, you know,

he ate his own dog food.

I mean, he drank the Kool-Aid.

I probably butchered those technologies,

but the point is he was there on the front lines

trying to sell product that did not sell or did sell.

And so putting him in that position,

you know, he has a very keen understanding of,

or it seems like, right, what the market really wants

and what consumers, you know, demand,

not just, you know, these,

someone that's not acquainted with reality

on the ground floor.

Without equivocation.

I mean, think about it.

The best attorneys that are in the courtroom

were prosecutors.

The best defense attorneys

were formerly prosecuting attorneys every time.

And I think, you know, Adam has sat in both chairs

genuinely, legitimately.

He's been in multiple manufacturers,

he's been in retail.

He's, I'm just gonna call, he's a handsome guy.

He's eloquent.

He's a great presentation for the brand

and he's smart and he's hungry

and he has something to prove.

And by the way, I think it's good

to have something to prove.

There's nothing wrong with that.

I think it's great.

Like, and he's built and is building a team around him

that of new people that he's brought in

and guys like Greg Gates

and he's also got a wonderful group

with people like Barton, Melody and others

that are already existing season terrific team members.

That by the way, even those people,

I mean, think about Melody.

She's got furniture, cosmetics,

multiple manufacturer brands and she's at Mercedes.

So I love the team that Mercedes has put together

because they've been other places

and it's not a myopic way to look at things.

And so I just love what he's creating.

And look, we all have headwinds

and this industry has some inertia coming against it.

And so I'm really excited about where Mercedes is going.

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Very cool.

So Todd, you alluded to this earlier

but and I'm gonna bust your chops here,

but you know, you're the only dealer

that doesn't like money

because you got out of the business in 2020

and got back into the business a couple of years after that.

So you skipped that entire period of time.

Yeah, I'm just busting your chops.

Yeah, I know.

Well, tell me, so tell us a little bit about that.

I think it's important.

Like you previously, you had a large group here

like almost two dozen stores or 18, 20 stores.

Just give us the background.

How did you get into the business?

You grew quickly.

Why did you sell?

Like kind of bring us present day.

Yeah, sure.

So I was in other industries.

We can come back to the painting behind you

which is sort of related to that.

And I...

Wait, let's start there actually.

So tell me, what industries were you in?

Okay, so I was in heavy industry

kind of mostly in the aggregate.

I've been in fast food and other things

but mostly in heavy industry

which includes steel mill service, metals trading,

scrap metal and railroad car service, parts,

re-manufacturing and recycling.

And I bought that business with my brother

and then sold it to a public company.

Eventually this is a long time ago.

And so the painting behind me actually is

to not only not forget where I came from

but also it's kind of a railroad car with a hole in it

and looking up to the sky basically

so that I'm motivated every today to say,

you know, there's no limit where you wanna go

but don't forget where you came from.

So that's what kind of that is.

Wow, love the analogy.

And then, so let's fast forward from there.

How did we get the cars?

Yeah, so I was in, I've been in YPO since 2003

which is Young Presidents Organization.

And back in the day YPO had and still has,

they have networks.

So they have real estate, they have restaurants,

they have other and they actually still do have automotive

but in the early days of YPO

and when they were connecting YPO

with their digital and internet systems,

they had networks.

And so I'm not joking.

This is literally how I got in the car business.

I was a collector and then I was a buyer

and seller of post-war European sports cars

mostly Ferraris at the time.

And that's how I started in the business.

Anyway, I was in YPO for real estate

and I've literally filled out a form that said,

this is Todd Blue at the time

my company was called Cobalt Classic Cars.

And I said, I'm looking for a high line store

in a tier one market, call this phone number.

And I put it in there

like an old fashioned classified ad.

Like people today don't even know what classified ads are.

It's like the old newspaper ads that were thin

in the bottom of a newspaper and the back of a newspaper.

Anyway, fill that out.

I got a phone call from a guy who was also in YPO.

He said, hey, I checked you out

and I know of you and what you've done in another industry

and we shared a consultant in Chicago.

And he said, you're a nice guy.

He said, you'll do what you said you're gonna do.

And basically I'm buying these five stores in Atlanta

and these were literally his words.

And I have this one crappy Porsche store.

He said those words in North Houston.

If you want it, I need to know in three days.

And so I had never really been to Houston.

I was, yeah, I was in a former industry.

I actually had only been to Beaumont, Texas

and you have to fly to Houston

and then you drive to Beaumont

which is like 45 minutes south.

So I had, I flew to Houston, put a baseball cap

and a pair of blue jeans on, secret shop the store,

called them from the airport and said, I would take it.

He said, no contingencies.

I said, well, too.

And he said, none.

I said, let me tell you the two.

He said, what are they?

I said, environmentally goes, okay, no problem.

And then the second was factory approval.

So I had to go through factory approval

and that was a very non-traditional pathway

because when I finally got to the CEO

of Porsche Cars North America,

they had their hands in their face shaking their heads

saying, I don't know what to do with you.

You've never been in the business

but like they just had a thing and they were like,

okay, we're just gonna approve you

but you gotta do these three things, which I did.

And we were off to the races.

So we took a little teeny Porsche store

and with a great team and some great people

with whom I was blessed to be surrounded.

I literally learned the car business

through the Socratic method of learning

by sitting with my team members,

my sales people and service managers

and asking them questions.

And they were like,

why are you asking me these questions?

You're the owner.

I'm like, cause I don't know.

And it was a lovely, lovely pathway.

And then we just started buying more stores

and it just kind of,

and I got lucky on timing too.

We had a good run, a good market

and Texas took off before others did.

So that's really the beginning of the car business for me.

So you did that 18 times, is that right?

You had 18 stores?

Yeah, so we had in Houston,

I had a Porsche Lamborghini,

then I had open points for Rolls Royce and McLaren.

That's in Houston.

It doesn't matter the order of which.

And then in Rancho Mirage, California,

I bought a Porsche Audi Jaguar Land Rover Rolls Bentley,

Aston, eventually McLaren and Lamborghini came

with open points.

And then at a later date,

I bought two Porsche stores in St. Louis, Missouri

and consolidated those for Porsche.

And then at a later date went back

about the BMW store in Palm Springs.

Really loved that Rancho Mirage

in Palm Springs market.

It's a very special place.

It's a great place to do business

with some great customers.

That's pretty incredible because you weren't even a dealer

and you started with a Porsche store,

which there are dealers that are in business

for 50, 60 years and don't even get a Porsche store

and they dream to get one.

Tell us, what was that like?

Like what years were these?

Give us like the time span

and what was that learning process like?

Just going from not being a dealer at all

to being a luxury dealer.

What did you learn on the fly?

Like what were the most important key lessons for you there?

So first of all, I wanna answer your Porsche question

then I wanna hop back and then hop forward.

So the Porsche question is, remember 2009,

Porsche was not the Porsche that we all know of today.

It was struggling.

It was tough.

Everybody was struggling.

It wasn't just Porsche, but it wasn't,

remember Cayenne was a few years old

and Panamera was brand new.

So this whole kind of normalization that we know today

that you have four-door cars

and that's way more than 50% of the sales that you have

was not even a thing for Porsche.

The first bank that actually turned me down

when I went to a floor plan said,

oh, we're not approving you because Porsche is exotic.

That was literally what they said.

But to answer your question about luxury and how I did it,

so I winged it to be honest,

I'm not gonna fake that.

I'm gonna tell you the truth,

but I did it lucky in this sense.

So when I was doing the post-war European sports cars

and I had a business mentor named Jim Patterson

in Louisville, Kentucky,

which is where I'm originally from.

He's 92 now.

He's an amazing man.

He's won Pebble Beach three times

and he involved me and got me involved mostly

in kind of that Ferrari world

of buying and selling post-war European Ferraris.

But what I learned was not about Ferraris

and serial numbers and the history of the individual cars,

but more the number one thing I learned

was how to deal with wealthy people.

So I think that was my number one kind of point

of differentiation from my competitors

and what I think I offered my customers

was a comfortable and familiar place in that world.

That's what I would say

and I think that's worked for me

and I continue to live by focusing on that

and what I'm trying to do.

Have you ever owned any mainstream brand stores?

So after I sold my business

to a European conglomerate lovely company and family,

we acquired, when I was still CEO for a three year period,

we acquired a group that included a Volkswagen store.

So that was the only time I had

what I would call non-luxury and it was fine.

And I would be open to it.

I think as an example, some of these,

not just, but I love a few Japanese brands

and what they do with their customers,

I mean, sorry, with their dealers

and the connectivity and the support

that companies like Toyota and Honda have.

It would be wonderful to be in that world again,

but I really do believe that luxury

is where I can add value most importantly

to my customers and communities where I do business.

Do you think that the habits and processes

from a luxury store pour over well to a non-luxury store?

Or do you think it's like overkill?

I think it's tough.

You know, you had one of my dear and best friends

in the world, Howard Tenenbaum on your-

I knew you were going to say that.

Yeah, you got to say that.

He's the best.

Howard is probably, I'm going to say,

one of the best operators in the United States.

He is incredible.

He's incredible.

And he could operate and own and run any store,

especially like, not especially

because he's great in the Porsche world and he's great.

But I mean, his Toyota experience

and his Stellantis experience,

I'm not here to advertise my dear friend Howard,

but I would say that I learned from guys like that

who have been in the business their entire lives

and the things that he does.

I don't think I could ever hold a candle to what he does.

I just try to do things differently

and do what I can do and run my own race,

which as long as I do that, I think I'll be okay.

I think if I ever migrated toward those larger import brand

or even domestic brands,

I would make sure to surround myself

with deeply experienced guys in that space.

That's the only way I could do it.

Before we get into why you sold,

why you got back into the business

and didn't move to the Cayman Islands and laid on the beach,

I want to talk about,

and I say that like jokingly,

but in all seriousness, I am curious

about your story there.

Yeah.

Because I'm probably like you, I just,

I got to build, I got to keep doing things.

Like I can't imagine not building for a day.

Just it makes me happy.

When you say I learn how to deal with wealthy people,

like what's your, what's your method, right?

When you say that, I have some, you know,

I have some ideas of what you mean by that,

you know, concierge style, stuff like that.

But like, what does that mean to you

how to deal with wealthy people?

Well, first of all, I do think it's impossible

in defense of other dealers

who maybe don't take this position that,

I mean, I give all my customers my cell phone number.

I know there are other dealers that do that as well,

but I mean, I want to have connectivity.

I want to have direct dealer interaction with my customers.

And so one would say, well, you can't do that

if you have a Chevy store that sells 5,000 units a year,

and they may be right, and they probably are right.

And so how do you scale a business doing that?

So that's one just as much direct connectivity

to my customers as I can,

and that's not like a sales pitch, that's legit.

And is that your personal number?

Is that a Google voice number?

No, no, it's my personal, absolutely 100% personal number, sure.

Do you ever get like, do you ever,

does it bother you when like you get that like 11 p.m. call

or do they respect you and you don't get that often?

Well, I don't sleep at all, at all.

Like, so I sleep about four hours a night, Max.

So 11 o'clock to 3 a.m. is probably when I'm sleeping

and I'll probably look at my phone

in the middle of the night anyway.

But no, I do turn my phone off at night

when I sleep during my four hours.

So you set boundaries and let them call you

within those boundaries?

Sure, absolutely.

And then the other thing is wealthy people

that buy some of the more, call it,

super luxury brands that I've been involved with

and hope to be involved with in the future,

they want access.

They want access to you,

they want access to the best events.

They can afford, they can buy anything.

We all know this,

but they want really special connectivity

to things that can't be purchased,

mostly experiential,

and then also as generic as your phone number

and as good as getting behind the velvet rope

at the coolest, neatest, most unique auto and other events.

And in my company name, Lapis,

which is, it stands for a blue rock named,

obviously Lapis is a blue rock,

but I also, it's luxury access, performance,

innovation, and service.

And that access is not only one of my favorite things

in the world as in personally, as an individual,

so I can empathize with my customers that want that,

but I wanna provide that

and I wanna celebrate that

and I wanna be the guy that gets them

the most access to the greatest things

that no one else can get them.

And that makes it fun for me,

which translates into fun for them.

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So what does, what do you do at your stores?

When you say access,

like how do you provide access to your customers?

You know, what type of events

or what type of special, you know,

things do you like offer in your stores

to scratch that itch for your customer

and keep them coming back?

So I do think it depends on the brand.

So we'll offer anything to all of our customers

for all of our brands.

Right now, I currently have Mercedes-Benz

of Northern Arizona,

but in a previous life,

I obviously had every luxury and exotic brand.

And I think different customers want different things.

So as an example,

maybe a G-wagon customer might want things

that are different than a C-class customer

because they just do.

And so we wanna try to meet and exceed those expectations.

But when you get into the exotic brands,

whether it's Ferrari, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce, Bentley,

Aston, McLaren, whatever those brands are,

I think that customer has every, not every access,

every ability to purchase whatever they wanna buy.

And so you can offer them,

obviously some of the very simple things

like extra special opportunities

to go to Monterey Car Week

or Villadest in Lake Homo for car events.

That's if they wanna do car events

or access to the factories.

And take them yourself.

Like I wanna take my customers myself,

five of them at a time

to whatever factory we're going to.

Take them to auctions, get them behind the scenes,

have them meet drivers,

do different things that are obviously

in the automotive space.

And then that can be extended to a network

that all of us or some of us may have,

whether that's professional athletes and celebrities

depending on where you are

and give them a really special, unique experience.

But in the end, they really just want

to know that you're there for them,

give them a great vehicle,

give them exactly what they want,

maybe obviously going back to paint a sample

and leather to sample.

But in Mercedes-Clais manufacturer

or in Ferrari's case, TaylorMade

or in Porsche's case, CXX.

And really make sure that you know

those programs intimately yourself

if you're really gonna involve yourself.

If you don't, no problem that you have your salesman know it,

they have to know it anyway.

But I think it brings a lot of credibility

that the dealer has lived in that world,

has touched that world,

has been a customer him or herself.

Like last thing I'll say, sorry to be long-winded,

is it's tough to get

and it's gonna sound snobby

and I do not mean it this way,

but it's tough to give or get

a four seasons hotel experience

if you've only stayed in a Holiday Inn.

Nothing against Holiday Inn at all.

But in order to explain that and give that,

you have to know what it feels like, it's okay.

And it's just calling it like it is.

No, I mean, I think you're trying

to serve a certain customer

and you have to know how to serve

that customer the right way.

Like I think it makes total business sense,

like you said.

And I would also invert that.

I think that if you try to serve someone

in a Holiday Inn like in a four seasons,

you'll probably go out of business

because you will be doing things that don't even pencil.

Exactly.

Yeah, I mean, it gotta align with the customer.

Exactly.

I did also read though that you have like,

I saw several times you said the words like back to basics.

What does that actually like,

what does that mean in your stores

and what's just like principle you live by back to basics?

Yeah, and by the way, it's hard.

And I'm not gonna say that it isn't,

but blocking and tackling

and a lot of small decisions are critical,

you know, each and every day.

Like you can't just do the fancy stuff.

If you don't do the blocking and tackling

and you don't make a lot of small decisions every day,

I'm not quite sure how that you can do it.

And I gotta tell you,

those are the things I probably need to work on the most.

I think I'm probably a little bit better at the other stuff.

So I wanna focus every day on,

you know, one foot in front of the other,

one step at a time and you gotta do the little things.

And if you don't, you know, it's kind of like,

all these cliches, but retail is detail.

And if you forget that, then you're out.

You know, one of the interesting things

that I learned about myself between being a retailer

and now, you know, being a media tech,

whatever you wanna call an entrepreneur,

we're doing like, you know, several things here at CDGs,

some of which we're gonna announce shortly.

But anyway, so one of the things I learned about myself

is where I excel and where I don't excel.

And I can tell you that I don't enjoy

and I'm not the best person that like logistics,

you know, zeros and ones, do I understand it?

Sure, do I wanna be all day in the logistics

and figuring, you know, ops out?

Like that's, no, I don't wanna do that.

And all the people can do that way better than me.

So I've leaned into what I'm better at, right?

Which is like zero to one, creativity.

That's kind of where I excel.

Now, and so I asked that or I mentioned that

because I'm curious, when you say that

you are trying to get better at that,

you also seem to me like someone who's clearly

into like self-improvement, you mentioned, you know,

you were or are in YPO, so like you're on a peer group.

Is that something that you think

you need to get better at

or do you just need to compliment yourself

with the right person by your side,

who's good at that while you do you,

which again, I'm still getting to know you.

I don't know what you're best at.

Maybe you're like the visionary

who just goes and finds deals and is endearing

and people connect with,

which is by the way an important role.

But I'm curious, like is that,

have you thought about it that way or?

For sure.

You know, I mentioned all those holofame dealers earlier

at the beginning of the call,

but there are, you know, new, what I would call

soon to be holofamers, whether it's guys like

Jeff Swickard who's been on your show

or Joe Gresty, I'm not sure if you have,

who have built these massive,

incredibly beautiful, incredible private groups,

and they've done it either

because they have those skill sets

or maybe more specifically,

they've surrounded themselves with talent.

So I need to do both because I have neither.

I need to surround myself with good people

because I don't have those skill sets

and I know what I know and I know what I don't know.

I think the exciting thing for me and for,

as I try to build as I'm recruiting people,

the one thing I think I do offer is,

you know, I have, I've got good capital,

I have low leverage and I want to build something.

And so there's a lot of people out there

that are kind of stuck with ceilings on them

in organizations and they hopefully look at a guy

like me and say they can align with me

and ride it all the way up the way other people have

that have worked with me in the past, you know,

with other guys.

People have become multimillionaires,

many of them working with me

and that's probably the most proud thing that I can say

other than the company that I helped to build

with those people.

It's kind of like saying whether you like John Calipari

or Rick Petino, the real,

other than their national championships are,

by the way, John Calipari's from Pennsylvania,

he's my guy, is the real thing to measure someone by

is how many assistant coaches have gone on

to be head coaches.

And that's a great measurement,

whether John Wooden had Denny Crumb

or other people along the way made great head coaches.

I want to be surrounded people that want to grow with me

but like I'm going to need them for their skillsets

so they can't come in and rely upon me.

They've got to walk with me hand in hand

and do the things I can't do

because there's plenty of stuff I cannot do.

I can promise you that.

Okay, so that's good.

I mean, that's illuminating.

And I think that's a great North Star

that you mentioned there.

I think, you know, people that lives you've impacted

just to wrap up the basics thing.

So you said it's something you're getting at

but are there like, when you do say,

hey, back to basics in our stores,

like, what else does that mean to you?

Like, how does that really play out

in your stores on a daily basis?

Yeah, so back to the basics.

You know, we do ongoing education all the time.

The other day we had Dave Anderson

from Learn to Lead in our stores

but he's just one of the many resources we all can bring in.

I'm not advertising for him or anybody else

but I mean, there's incredible resources in this industry

and out of this industry to continue to learn.

And like I said earlier,

I live by the Socratic method of learning.

I was never a great student.

I'm not a great reader

but I love sitting down with Jeff Swickard

or Howard Tenenbaum or watching

and just admiring what guys like Michael Cantinucci

and Ken Schnitzer have done with their businesses.

And even though some of them may be competitors

and you may like or not like some of them

if you ask them questions or learn from them,

I've always done a lot better with that

than reading a book or studying a manual.

That's me.

That's not everybody

but conversational and questioning

and wrestling with topics is, that's my vibe.

I love it.

All right, so here's the ending

and I remember now what I wanted to ask you about

which was why did you sell your business?

Oh yeah, yeah.

So like- 2020.

Yeah, yeah, no one could have predicted COVID.

So like over my left shoulder

which I always wanna remember,

you know, my dad, thank God, is still alive

is probably my best friend in the world.

And I saw him have tremendous ups and downs

in his career, we were in a very cyclical business.

So in 2020, I'm kind of thinking

I'm having the time of my life,

I'm loving this business, I'm living a dream

I always wanted to do that I never thought I could do

and I, with my teammates built a great company

that I'm so proud of.

And then I said to myself, I was waking up at night

and I'm like, oh my gosh, I had so much debt

because I grew with debt.

And so I'm thinking to myself

which by the way, looking back on it

the amount of debt that I had then

is nothing compared to some of these guys today

and what they carry, it's mind blowing.

But I was like, you know what, I'm nervous.

So everybody was calling trying to buy my business

and I met with all these amazing people

and just kind of took,

I believe in another business philosophy

always take the meeting, buying, selling, helping

whatever always take the meeting

you never know what you could learn.

And I met with all the traditional guys

I could tell you who they are

but it's not necessary

but all the traditional normal buyers

and none of that really worked.

And then finally the company to whom I eventually sold

gave me a number that at the time

was a number I couldn't refuse.

Now looking back on it, it's arguably no money

compared to what businesses sell for today.

And that's okay too.

And I'm incredibly grateful in general.

I'm grateful to God and I'm proud

of what we accomplished.

So selling was quite frankly out of fear

in my vulnerability and the fact that I perceived

that I had debt that I was scared about.

And I thought we were at the end of a cycle

which arguably we should have been

but then COVID hit and boom.

So, you know, you win some, you lose some.

You have something very similar to me

where like I grew up in a household

that was like very conservative financially

and like debt was any form of debt.

It's just like you don't sleep at night.

Right.

And that, I can't shake it off.

Like I, you know, I would rather make a decision

that some analysts would say is like financially stupid

because, you know, oh, you're paying off a low interest rate

but like just having debt.

You know, some people have more,

they're more tolerant to that.

I personally, like I struggle with debt.

And I see that in you too.

Like you mentioned before, I'm not leveraged.

I'm, you know, I have capital.

It seems like that's something that stuck with you

throughout your life of what I can tell

and it's totally fine.

I mean, I respect, I'm the same way

but it's interesting.

I just know I happen to notice that.

Yeah. I mean, and I would say that like I am like,

I don't look at the sale as anything

but a huge positive and an amazing thing

and an incredible story that I'm so proud of.

I don't look back at all.

I don't look at all like saying,

oh my gosh, shoulda coulda woulda.

Now I'm just kind of looking forward

saying there's so many exciting opportunities

and as I go and again, referencing those legends

that I mentioned earlier on the call,

I go in and I'm like, how am I gonna be different?

What can I do that they're not doing?

I don't wanna be the same as them.

By the way, not cause they're not amazing

cause they're all incredible

but more what's gonna be my niche

and how am I gonna be different?

And that's what I'm constantly focused on

and I'm excited with some of my upcoming acquisitions

to be able to do that.

And again, I don't wanna be everything to everybody.

I wanna run my own race

and I wanna take my shots where I take them

and build my own pathway and business

and I did that before

and I'm not gonna change the process this time either.

It was this a life changing outcome for you when you sold?

Oh yeah, for sure.

Oh yeah, for sure, absolutely.

Totally, totally beyond my wildest.

And so between the time period of selling

and getting back into the business, what happens?

Yeah.

What do you go through?

Okay, so very interesting.

So COVID happened.

Now, to be clear,

after I finished my employment contract, COVID was boom.

So I left the company in July of 20.

Do you know what that means?

Like that is the heart of it.

So literally like, you know,

it was going back and forth from Texas to California

with my family

and it was like going from Mars to Earth.

I mean, there couldn't have been two totally different

ways that COVID was handled and the processes.

It was amazing.

But what I did get was this incredible blessing

to hang out with my adult children and my wife

and my dogs, which I will never forget.

I'll never, ever trade that for billions of dollars,

which I did not get, by the way.

It was the best time of my life.

And so I did that.

And by the way, I'm not unhappy to say that.

I did also look at businesses.

I looked at the fashion business.

I wanted to stay only in luxury.

I invested in some private clubs

and some other things that are all luxury related.

And so, you know, I did that kind of stuff

and scratched the mitches,

but nothing that I was genuinely passionate about.

I did grow a car collection,

which I'll probably, you know,

I'm buying and selling cars and that again.

And that was a great life accomplishment.

But really I'm a builder.

I'm not sure I'm a real lifelong collector.

I like to build, I like to build things.

Got it.

So you stayed pretty involved.

And ultimately, why did you decide to get back

into auto retail?

Yeah.

What was that kicker for you?

You know, I would just say that, you know,

when you sell a business and you do a pie chart

and you do the advantages and you do the disadvantages

and the upsides and the downsides.

And God, this is good.

There's elimination of debt and capital and safety

and whatever the different reasons are.

One thing that at least I left on my pie chart

and in my decision thing is,

remember I didn't grow up in the car business.

So I wasn't a dealer's son or a GM or a salesman

or any of that.

And so because of that,

I forgot the main reason I got in, which is I love it.

And I think loving it definitely translates,

especially in luxury and performance

and in these unique brands,

it definitely translates into,

I think something different than others offer

doesn't mean I'm better, I'm actually not better.

I think all those guys are better than me.

And I think they're all better than me,

which makes me better every day.

Cause if I thought I was better than them,

then I think that's the kiss of death.

So I always think the guys that are up there

that I mentioned earlier and many others

are better than me.

It keeps me hungry, keeps me focused.

I continue to learn.

And so I'm getting back in because I love it

and I missed it and that's something I underestimated.

And it's not scientific and I'm sorry,

it's not mathematical, but it's just in my heart.

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That's super cool.

And tell me, what's right now important to you

in terms of like, what are you working on right now

and the big things?

Is there a certain hire?

Are you going through an acquisition?

Right, like just to give us like a high level overview

of what's going on in your world nowadays.

Yeah, for sure.

So I do think that, so yes,

I am in some processes right now,

literally formal processes to grow the business

and make a few acquisitions.

Obviously, you know better than anybody.

You can't talk in specifics.

I could talk in and around those things

but really excited about what I'm about to do.

One of the situations is a lifelong dream

and to accomplish that dream

and then to implement and execute on that dream

so that it translates into a really unique, growing,

vibrant customer experience for that brand.

I definitely want to try to not be all over the place.

56 now, I started the business, my previous business.

When I was 40, I don't think 56 is old

but I don't know if I want to be on a gazillion airplanes

all over the country all the time.

And so I'll probably try to regionalize things

in a few states.

I think that makes-

Quality of life.

Yeah, quality of life.

And then we'll take it from there

but I definitely want to try to deliver

to the marketplace something that is unique and authentic.

Everybody says that but I've done it before

and I do have a plan and I'm excited about it

and it's a lot about making sure

you're in the right communities.

I love underperforming stores, by the way.

I'm definitely not.

And by the way, I've been on a few podcasts,

one of which some of which is in your group

and I never want to be perceived as the guy

that badmouths the publics

because they're amazing and they've done great things

but I'm not going to be able to buy a business

that has huge earnings and then just make it a creative

to my earnings and just call it a day

and tell that to Wall Street and that's my story.

By the way, it works for them and I applaud them.

I'm not saying anything bad.

What I'm saying is I like to buy broken things,

things where I can add value.

I value them.

Yeah, and maybe where I'm familiar

with the communities or close to the communities

and those kind of things.

And if I can do that

and have connectivity to those communities

or areas in and around those communities,

I think that's exciting

and I've obviously brands that I'm either directly

or tangently familiar with.

So if anyone is listening to this

and is considering going up market

or is interested in it,

like what's a message you have for that dealer?

I definitely think that the car business

is not the car business.

So if you go to the top of the food chain,

by the way, top doesn't mean better or worse.

I'm just saying luxury and exotic versus whatever.

So if you're up here with, again, luxury, exotic,

Bugatti and Ferrari and Lamborghini and Rolls and Bentley,

obviously we all know that's different

than at the bottom or not the bottom as in worse

but in mass market brands, they're definitely not the same.

So I don't think like the giant, let's just, well,

the giant Nissan dealer is,

and even if they're amazing

and they've been in the business 50 years

and they've made hundreds of millions of dollars,

I don't know that they could really deliver

the experience that a exotic

and performance brand is gonna require

because you have to like really get in there

and do things that are, it's like saying,

one is an air mess bag

and the other is a pair of Converse tennis shoes.

They're just different.

Doesn't mean that one is better or worse.

It's just, it's a totally different animal

and I don't think those brands

are really the car business.

And then, obviously Portia, Mercedes, Audi, BMW,

that's in between all that stuff.

So I think those brands, I think it's possible

but gotta be careful with those brands as well

because those customers

continue to be more and more discerning.

Many people on this podcast

have mentioned the book Unreasonable Hospitality.

Yeah.

Have you read that?

Well, I don't read books, by the way.

Anybody that knows me, but I listen to books,

I read table of contents

and I could make it like I do.

I'm into it.

Yeah, I'm into it, man.

I can make it like I did read it.

By the way, that's only because I can't read

because remember I learned through talking

and communicating and questioning.

So how do you spend any potential possible downtime?

Like what do you do?

Is there any form of entertainment,

anything, any media you consume

that's not like automotive?

I'm curious what you do.

Sure, I listen.

First of all, I hang out with my dog a lot

because my kids are all gone.

But no, I love comedy

and I love all these,

there's a plethora of all these shows

and different things on TV,

but I love sports.

I'm a basketball fan.

I'm now an Arkansas fan

because my man, John Calipari

is the head coach of Arkansas.

And I, you know, I definitely listen to podcasts.

I'm selective.

I'm overly inundated with too many politics,

too much stuff.

It's debilitatingly exhausting,

but if you're not familiar with it,

by the way, no matter what side of the aisle you're on,

it's becoming exhausting.

So I'm trying to lessen some of that

just for my mental health

and smart and try to do more comedy.

Try to listen to it.

It's really exhausting.

I mean, you know, it's exhausting.

I find that like the more I scroll X,

the more stressed I am.

It's just like it's too much.

There's something going on.

And it's like the incentives are just so like,

so dysfunctional, right?

You're thinking about the incentives of being

like a online creator or whatever

that actually relies on like YouTube income.

Yeah, right? It's like, oh my gosh.

What is your, what is that person's incentive?

It's to get click.

It's just, it gets crazy to stuff

and you got to go more extreme to get more clicks.

So it's a really, it's a, yeah.

I mean, it is exhausting.

I agree with you.

When you think about the economy and industry at large,

it seems like that you're pretty in tune with this world

and I find it all really interesting.

What's your, again, as a fellow,

relatively kind of risk averse person,

you could say, doesn't mean you're not an entrepreneur

and just, you know, you're more risk averse

when it comes to, like you said, debt and stuff like that.

What is your take on where the economy is headed?

Of course, impact on automotive, on us.

Like, what do you think about that?

Yeah, so I would say I don't want to be negative,

but I would say I am concerned about inertia in general.

Also, I follow cycles and it just shocks me

that we haven't hit one yet.

Obviously, we know the stock market,

I haven't looked at it today,

but call it at around 48,000

and the fact that it relies upon nine stocks scares me.

None of this is information that's new to anybody.

However, I do think, as we've talked about on other shows,

that, you know, there's a whole generation

of people in the workforce,

a whole generation that have never operated

during a recession.

They think, oh yeah, times were tough during this

or whatever, they have no idea.

So what I'm trying to do is either surround myself

and acquire brands that are sustainable,

that are in it for the long haul, no matter what.

I'm obviously in my personal company,

trying to be careful with leverage.

I'm not scared of leverage,

but I'm not going to go crazy with leverage.

I'm going to equitize things as best as I can

to protect in a downturn.

And then, you know, you want to make sure

that you're in communities maybe

that are less elastic for whatever reason.

So we can look at various communities

and what could happen and what might not happen.

So I'm looking at all those things

and I also, I'm going to just stay on theme here.

I'm not going to try to compete with the publics

and their mission and what they're telling Wall Street.

And by the way, I say God bless them

for what they want to do.

I think it's great.

There's a place for everybody.

And I fundamentally disagree with,

even though I love, you know,

Aaron Kerrigan and Alan Hague and George Corollis

and all the fabulous competing brokers

and investment bankers in our business,

Steven's company and the others.

I definitely think there's still room for yes,

large publics, large privates, medium-sized companies.

And I strongly believe that niche auto dealers

call it from two to 10 stores

if they're doing something very special,

not only will exist, but they'll thrive.

They'll thrive.

And I probably want to play in that

10 kind of stores environment.

Yeah.

And I think we have spoken,

I have spoken on the platform about just what type of stores

are maybe more recession resistant, not recession proof.

So I think it makes sense to think about that.

You know, I spoke recently about my purchase experience

of a Lexus from a local Lexus dealer

and Lehigh Valley Lexus

and how that was a really unique,

just like bespoke experience that, you know,

he, I'm pretty sure they only own one store,

I could be wrong there, but even if they don't,

the point is that's an experience

that's just gonna be hard to replicate at scale.

Maybe you can, maybe they can try,

but the point is I'm very bullish

on single store operators that operate that way.

That's what I'm trying to say.

I agree.

And I've spoken about it, I've raved about it

because it was, I don't necessarily perceive it

as anything that requires crazy resources.

They just handled every touch point really well

and that's why I would be a customer again.

So I think to that point,

I think if that's the type of operator you are,

and I'm not saying you specifically,

but a single point operator, you know,

if you really lean into the benefit

of being a single point or the advantages

and go more high touch,

I think that's how you can differentiate and win.

I love that story.

I 1000% agree with you, love it.

And that is a way to end the podcast.

Todd Blue, Lapis Automotive.

Todd, thank you my man for coming on

for being your vulnerable and reals was a super, super fun.

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Bye.

About this episode

Todd Blue, dealer principal of Mercedes-Benz of Northern Arizona and CEO of Lapis, shares insights on returning to luxury retail amidst a shifting market. He emphasizes the importance of detail in retail, discussing strategies for enhancing underperforming stores and the significance of high-touch customer interactions. The conversation touches on his experiences with debt, risk management, and the evolving landscape of luxury automotive sales. Todd's perspective offers valuable lessons for dealers navigating growth and sustainability in a competitive environment.

Aston Martin Audi BMW Cobalt Classic Cars EV Ferrari G-Wagon high-touch customer service Honda hybrid

Mercedes-Benz C-Class Mercedes-Benz SL Porsche Cayenne Porsche Cayman Porsche Panamera

Original notes

Today I’m joined by Todd Blue, Dealer Principal of Mercedes-Benz of Northern Arizona and CEO of LAPIS. We break down how luxury dealerships can truly differentiate in a crowded market and why direct customer engagement still drives outsized loyalty. Todd opens up about leverage, market cycles, and why he exited his business at its peak. We also explore what it really takes to elevate underperforming stores and thrive even when the economy turns. This episode is brought to you by: 1. fullthrottle.ai® - fullthrottle.ai® is a next-generation AdTech powerhouse. The Automotive DSP™ is built specifically for the auto industry, combining advanced programmatic targeting, real-time bidding, and analytics tailored to drive dealership and OEM performance. With fullthrottle.ai®, marketers can reach the right car shoppers at the right moment and optimize toward real business outcomes like test drives, leads, or sales. fullthrottle.ai® bridges the gap between auto media buying and results-driven marketing. Check out http://fullthrottle.ai 2. Uber for Business - With Central, you can request a ride on behalf of your customers even if they don’t have the Uber app. If you’re ready to reduce the costs associated with maintaining shuttles and limit the liability of loaner vehicles, it's time to partner with Uber. Visit @ http://t.uber.com/CDGauto today 3. CDG Circles - A modern peer group for auto dealers. Private dealer chats. Real insights — confidential, compliant, no travel required. Visit @ https://cdgcircles.com to learn more. Check out Car Dealership Guy’s stuff: For dealers: CDG Circles ➤ ⁠https://cdgcircles.com/⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Dealership recruiting ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgrecruiting.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Fix your dealership’s social media ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.trynomad.co⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ For industry vendors: Advertise with Car Dealership Guy ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgpartner.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Industry job board ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://jobs.dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Request to be a podcast guest ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠http://www.cdgguest.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Topics: 00:15 How did Todd Blue's early life shape him? 00:41 Vanity plates: funniest or most memorable? 02:57 Why re-enter the car business? 13:54 Key to building a luxury empire? 20:22 How to handle ultra-wealthy clients? 25:03 Delivering a premium experience: how? 28:52 Secret to building a successful team? 32:29 Why sell a successful business? 46:35 Navigating economic uncertainty: best strategy? Car Dealership Guy Socials: X ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠x.com/GuyDealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠instagram.com/cardealershipguy/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠tiktok.com/@guydealership⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ LinkedIn ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠linkedin.com/company/cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠threads.net/@cardealershipguy⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠facebook.com/profile.php?id=100077402857683⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Everything else ➤ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠dealershipguy.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Car Dealership Guy Podcast

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