Dealer Talk With Jen Suzuki

AI is helping service departments handle more calls, send updates, schedule appointments, and take repetitive work off advisors' plates. That's exciting! But here's a question I think every GM, fixed ops director, and service manager should be asking: What are we doing with the time we're getting back? Picture a busy service advisor at 10:45 in the morning. Phones ringing, customers waiting, techn...

We're spending millions bringing AI into dealerships. But there's another AI revolution happening on the other side of the service counter. Your customers have it too! Imagine recommending a $289 brake fluid exchange. Before your advisor finishes the conversation, the customer can ask ChatGPT whether the service is necessary, what the manufacturer recommends, whether the price is reasonable, and w...

One Dealership. Five Advisors. Five Different Stories. Same vehicle. Same technician findings. Same MPI. Now hand it to five different service advisors and ask each one to explain the recommendations to a customer. Would you hear five completely different conversations? I spend a lot of time training inside dealership service departments, and this is one of my favorite exercises because it reveals...

Your customer books a 7:30 AM service appointment. They believe their vehicle is going into the shop at 7:30. Your team knows that's just the check-in time. Nobody explained the difference. And now you've created a customer experience problem before the vehicle even arrives. I spend a lot of time inside dealership service departments and one thing I've learned is that customer frustration often be...

AI can turn three vague technician notes into a beautifully written repair story. But here's the question dealership leaders need to ask: Does the technician actually understand what that polished documentation says? In this solo episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki , Jen tackles a growing challenge in automotive retail: AI is improving employee output at incredible speed, but is it improving em...

Some leaders earn a title. Others earn the trust of an entire industry. Sandy Fitzgerald-Angello started working in automotive at just 15 years old. Today, she's a respected dealer operator with Pohanka Automotive Group and a leader within the National Automobile Dealers Association. But what makes her story exceptional isn't how far she's climbed. It's how she's led along the way. On this episode...

Your dealership's AI is answering calls, scheduling service appointments, sending texts, and speaking with hundreds, sometimes thousands of customers. But who's actually managing it? In this solo episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki , Jen tackles an emerging leadership challenge inside automotive dealerships: We're rapidly deploying customer-facing AI, but are we giving it the same attention, co...

She walked into a dealership looking for a job. Seven years later, she's the CEO of a six-store automotive group. How does that happen? And how do you earn the respect of experienced dealership leaders? And you didn't have family or successorship on your side? In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki , Jen sits down with Nikki Lawson, CEO of Peltier Automotive Group , for a conversation abou...

What does it take to lead one of New York's most respected luxury automotive groups when margins are shrinking, customer expectations are rising, and AI is changing the dealership business? Jen Suzuki sits down with Juliana Terian, President & CEO of Rallye Motor Company , a premier Long Island luxury automotive group representing Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Lexus, and Acura, for a candid conversation abo...

Michael's operation has grown to 17 dealerships, but what stood out to me in this conversation wasn't the size of Empire Automotive Group. It was how intensely he still talks about getting better. Michael Brown joins me for a wide-open conversation about growth, leadership, accountability and what it actually takes to keep a large organization moving forward when the market gets tougher. We get in...

What does it take to build a dealership confident enough to tell customers, "Just Google Us"? Jen Suzuki sits down with longtime client and friend Jay Mealey, author of Just Google Us, for a candid conversation about transforming a family business through transparency, customer trust, and leadership.  Jay Mealey is a high-performing Mazda, Subaru and Chevrolet dealer in greater Orlando, FL! From t...

What if the best thing you could do when an internet lead comes in is NOT immediately pick up the phone? Give me 60 seconds. In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki, I'm breaking down how I approach internet leads before the first call ever happens and why great salespeople don't just call leads. They call stories. Where does the customer live? Have they bought or serviced with you before?...

What if the biggest service problems your dealership faces aren't happening when the customer arrives? What if they started days earlier? In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki , Jen shares a lesson from a veteran advisor that completely changed the way she teaches appointment preparation: "Don't wait for problems to show up. Go looking for them." Elite advisors don't just manage appointme...

What if one of the biggest opportunities to improve CSI, service retention and work approvals happens before the MPI is even completed? In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki, I'm breaking down the first 90 seconds of the service experience and why service managers should be paying a lot more attention to what happens when an advisor first walks toward that vehicle. Customers pull into the...

What if the biggest mistake with an internet lead happens before you even say hello? In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki, I'm breaking down why I want salespeople to take 60 seconds before making that first call not to wait, but to investigate. Where does the customer live? Have they done business with the dealership before? What's sitting in the CRM? What might they be comparing? Those...

What makes a customer call the dealership and ask for YOU? It's usually not one incredible service visit. It's the little moments that stack up over time. In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki, I'm talking directly to service advisors about what separates the advisors who simply write repair orders from the ones who build a loyal book of business. The goal isn't just to win today's repair...

Customers don't buy when they've been convinced. They buy when they feel confident. After listening to thousands of dealership calls, Jen Suzuki has noticed a pattern: average salespeople focus on getting the appointment, overcoming the objection, or defending the vehicle. The best salespeople focus on something entirely different reducing uncertainty. In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuk...

What does it take to keep growing when automotive retail is becoming more complex not less? Ivette Dominguez Drawe began her career selling BMWs. When the opportunity came to become a dealer, she and her husband mortgaged their home, opened credit cards as a backup plan and stepped into ownership during one of the industry's most uncertain periods. Today, their organization employs approximately 7...

Have you ever finished a conversation with an internet future buyer and thought, "That went really well" only to never hear from the customer again? Here's the harder question: What did that customer actually gain from talking to you? In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki, I'm digging into the heart of how I teach sales: Every customer should leave a conversation with more clarity, confid...

Have you ever walked out of a morning meeting thinking, "Damn, that was a great meeting" only to watch everyone return to the exact same behaviors by lunchtime? That isn't a meeting problem. It's a behavior problem. Dealerships ask sales and service managers to train their teams constantly. Improve the appointments. Strengthen the phone calls. Personalize the follow-up. Build more customer confide...

Two service advisors can work in the same dealership, see the same customers, recommend the same repairs and get completely different results. Why? It may have very little to do with the estimate itself. After training with so many service advisors, I've noticed that customers often begin deciding whether they'll approve the work long before the MPI is complete. They're paying attention when the a...

There are things being said on dealership sales floors every single day that we need to retire. "What offers have you received?" "Who else are you shopping?" "What do I need to do to earn your business today?" "We're not going to lose your business over $200." As a trainer and coach, I understand where these responses came from. Many of us were taught them. But buyers changed. Today's customer has...

I've listened to thousands of dealership phone calls, and there's one moment I hear over and over: "Do you have the vehicle?" "Yes." "Great. When can you come in?" And then we wonder why the customer doesn't show. As a trainer and sales coach, you must have great questions, the right questions . They must uncover important aspects to gettng appointments that show. In this episode of Dealer Talk wi...

The first car a customer asks about is rarely the one they actually buy. So why do so many salespeople build the entire opportunity around ONE vehicle? A customer calls about a black Tahoe they found online and immediately the salesperson locks in: availability, price, features, photos, incentives and appointment. Meanwhile, that customer may be looking at multiple vehicles and talking to multiple...

What if the thing you think makes you better at selling is actually costing you deals? In this episode of Dealer Talk with Jen Suzuki , sales coach and trainer Jen Suzuki breaks down one of the most common habits she sees in dealership training, call recordings, and role plays: salespeople talking too much. A customer walks in and the salesperson immediately starts explaining inventory, incentives...