The Dealer Playbook

The vendor hype machine has dealers buying AI SEO, GEO and AI visibility on faith. Brooke Furniss shows you what to verify before you write the next check.
Every few months there’s another marketing acronym dealers are told they need to understand. And with each new term comes another vendor promising to get your store ahead.
Brooke Furniss, founder of BZ Consultants Group and host of Facts Not Feelings, joins Michael Cirillo to break down what she’s seeing firsthand on calls with dealers and vendors.
She’s watched dealerships get pitched overnight rankings, 50 AI-generated pages a day, and AI visibility tools that can’t tell a shopper in Chicago from one in Naperville. Her concern is that too many stores are signing before anyone checks what these products actually deliver. And if your SEO was weak before AI showed up, a new tool on top is a Band-Aid on a bullet hole.
Here’s what you’ll take away:
The red flags in an AI SEO pitch, from guaranteed overnight rankings to content volume that invites a Google penalty
The questions that expose a white-labeled AI visibility tool, starting with whether it can read local intent
A schema check you can run yourself on any page your provider says they’ve optimized
The Google Search Console click-through benchmark Brooke uses in automotive, and what a low number says about your agency
Why more AI content does little for your rankings while your Google Business Profile, reviews and listings still need work
Michael and Brooke also get into why experienced operators fall for the fear-of-missing-out trap, and what happens when the pressure to move faster starts deciding where the dealership’s money goes.
Subscribe to The Dealer Playbook for more conversations with operators doing interesting things in retail automotive.
Takeaway: Before the next AI contract gets signed, make them show you the schema, the Search Console data, and exactly where their numbers come from. Facts, not feelings.Timestamps
(00:00) Why Hype Matters
(00:43) Show Support and Free Book
(03:05) Snake Oil in AEO GEO
(04:47) AI Visibility Tool Myths
(08:40) AI Content Versus Slop
(12:54) Fast Cheap Versus Right
(16:17) One Meeting Hype Test
(21:20) Why Wallets Open for Hype
(22:49) Buzzwords and Echo Chambers
(24:33) Connect and Closing

Could your dealership be missing out on 50 additional car sales every month?
Luke Godwin, a third-generation car dealer, founder of Godwin Consulting Group, and co-host of the Independent Dealer Podcast, believes many franchise dealers are overlooking an opportunity sitting right inside their existing operations.
Luke has managed a buy here, pay here business with over 900 customer accounts. And he's convinced that some of the customers franchise dealers turn away because of financing challenges could represent an entirely new source of business.
Think about it. Your dealership spends money attracting customers, works to get them approved, and sometimes loses the sale when traditional financing falls through.
What if you had another way to serve those buyers?
Michael Cirillo sits down with Luke to unpack why franchise dealers should consider a separate buy here, pay here operation, what it takes to make one profitable, and the expensive mistakes that can come with getting it wrong.
The takeaway: Before spending more money trying to bring new customers through your doors, take a closer look at the opportunities your dealership might already be letting walk away.
Connect with Luke Godwin:
https://godwinconsultinggroup.com
Find him on LinkedIn and Facebook, or listen to the Independent Dealer Podcast.
Timestamps
(00:00) Who Can Run BHPH
(01:00) Show Support Plug
(03:39) Why Franchise Add BHPH
(06:58) Hiring The Right GM
(08:22) Three Gen Origin Story
(12:26) Hunker Down Strategy
(15:05) Community Marketing
(19:30) Collections And Repos
(21:59) Empathy Without Abuse
(23:45) Early Mistakes Fixes
(25:01) Ancillaries Reinsurance
(26:13) Consulting And Wrap Up
(26:46) Final Outro

This is one of those episodes where you'll want to pull up your own website halfway through.
Michael sits down with his neighbor, Wade of Kerzie.ai, to talk about why AI keeps skipping right past dealership websites. Wade's been tracking how fast search is shifting. A year ago, 6% of people were using ChatGPT to search. Now it's 45%. When one of those people asks ChatGPT to find them a vehicle, AI doesn't read your homepage. It looks for a page written specifically for it. If that page isn't there, it pieces together an answer from older information, and that's when your hours and your inventory come back wrong.
Wade walks through his front cover, back cover way of thinking about it, a simple test you can run on your site in under a minute, and how his team keeps a dealer's inventory current for AI every single day. If you're stuck on an OEM-mandated website platform, he's got good news for you there too.
Connect with Wade at Kerzie.ai. His calendar and email are both there.
Michael's takeaway: We spent twenty years learning how to get found by Google. This round is faster and cheaper to adapt to, but only for the dealers who actually do it.
Timestamps
(00:00) AI Findability Matters
(01:26) Podcast Sponsor Break
(02:52) AI Upside For Dealers
(05:15) Search Shift To ChatGPT
(09:46) Structure Beats Content
(11:26) Inventory Data For AI
(12:36) Author Your AI Profile
(20:18) Future Of Websites
(25:18) Human Value And Upskilling
(29:17) Wrap Up And Contact
(29:43) Final Outro

Kevin Rudolph sold 64 cars in a month and worked 14 or 15 days to do it. He didn't chase ups, and he didn't wait on the BDC.
Kevin is a top-producing salesperson at a single-point Buick GMC store in rural northwest New Jersey. Before sales, he spent 13 years as a master tech and shop owner, and he only stepped onto the sales floor because his wife pushed him. He had one condition. His kids were going to know him.
That condition forced him to build something most reps never do. In this conversation, Kevin walks Michael through the request he made to his bosses once his numbers backed it up. He shares how two full-time assistants became part of his deals, and why his customers are fine buying from his team when he's home with his family. He also talks about a mentor's line that became his reason for going to work every day, and why he won't sponsor anything he can't personally show up to.
And Kevin explains what happened when his store took notice.
Connect with Kevin on Facebook by searching #ridewithrudolph, or find Kevin Rudolph on LinkedIn.
Michael's takeaway: "Kevin earned the help before he asked for it, and that help bought his family time back. Build the process, prove the units, then go get your people."
Timestamps
(00:00) 60 Cars Four Days
(00:53) Sponsor Message FlexDealer
(02:17) From Repair Shop To Sales
(05:47) Family First Mindset
(11:47) Building A Sales Team
(16:41) Community Giveback That Works
(20:38) First Three Career Moves
(24:21) Culture Training And Small Markets
(28:25) Key Takeaways And Mindset
(32:22) Connect And Closing

Charlie Czerniawski, better known as Emcee Charlie, has spent more than two decades in automotive retail and built a significant following across Instagram and TikTok.
But this conversation is much bigger than follower counts.
Charlie explains how salespeople can use social media to become known in their market before a customer ever walks into the dealership. That familiarity changes the interaction. Customers start asking for specific people. Trust begins earlier. And the salesperson starts building demand around their own name instead of depending entirely on random floor traffic.
Charlie shares some practical tips, including what he would do differently if he had to start all over again today.
You can find Charlie on Instagram and TikTok as Emcee Charlie.
Michael's takeaway: stop posting for attention and start posting proof. Your name is the thing that gets a customer through the door before price ever comes up.
Timestamps
(00:00) Why People Need To Know You
(00:35) Starting From Zero Online
(01:08) Quick Show Support Break
(02:35) How Charlie Got Into Car Sales
(06:36) Why He Reinvented His Content
(09:12) Sell Yourself Before The Car
(12:03) How To Build Repeat Customers
(18:00) Surviving The Chaos Of Retail
(20:19) What He’d Do Starting From Zero
(24:46) You Don’t Need 50K Views
(28:55) Become The Person Buyers Know
(32:53) Match The Buyer To The Person
(34:34) Connect With Emcee Charlie
(35:31) Final Takeaway