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What if the biggest problem in your dealership isn't your tools, your leads, or even your team but the conversations you're not having?

That's the thread running through my chat with Stefanie van Dijk, and it might just be the most honest conversation we've had on this podcast in a while.

Stefanie has spent over a decade in automotive, starting on the dealership floor, then spending eight years at DCDW helping dealers across the Netherlands and Europe get better at converting online interest into actual showroom visits. She knows the gap between what dealers think is holding them back and what's actually holding them back. Spoiler: it's usually not the tech.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why giving a trade-in estimate upfront can quietly cost you the deal, and what to do instead
• The real reason customers drive past four Mercedes dealers to buy from a fifth one an hour and a half away
• How to sell the appointment, not the car, and what that actually sounds like on a call
• Why so many digital initiatives in dealerships die on the floor
• Stefanie's Power Women in Automotive podcast and what she's learned after two and a half years of conversations
• Drive Together, her new movement pushing for real cultural change in automotive, not just diversity as a buzzword, but diversity as a business strategy
• The tension between AI and the human connection, and where she believes the line should be drawn

This one goes beyond the usual sales tactics. Stefanie is someone who's spent years in the rooms where dealers make decisions, and she's watched enough good ideas fail because of people problems disguised as process problems. She's direct, thoughtful, and genuinely trying to move the needle on something bigger than lead conversion.

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What if the real problem in automotive retail isn’t too little technology, but too little purpose?

In this episode of The Car Dealership Podcast, I sit down with Bart Pellis, a marketing strategist, advisor, and keynote speaker working with dealerships and national sales companies across Europe. Born and raised in the south of the Netherlands, he now lives and works along the Mediterranean coast. With a background rooted in creativity and automotive retail, Bart helps dealer groups shape marketing strategies, build strong teams, and rethink how people and AI can work together in the future of the automotive industry.

This conversation goes way beyond marketing tactics or the latest AI tool. We talk about people, profit, purpose, and why so many dealerships are busy doing more while earning less.

What we get into in this episode

• Why “more leads” has become a dangerous default strategy
• How profit is leaking out of dealerships even when volumes look healthy
• Bart’s simple but powerful way of rethinking sales teams, inspired by football
• The growing gap between central marketing departments and the showroom floor
• Why purpose matters more than perks when it comes to retaining talent
• The real role of AI in dealerships, not as a gimmick, but as a teammate
• Which tasks should clearly be automated, and which must stay human
• Why dealerships that over-automate the experience risk becoming replaceable
• A few surprising, very human moments from real AI conversations with customers

Bart also shares stories that stick with you. From living in a mountain village with snow on one side and the Mediterranean on the other, to customers bringing chocolates for an AI they thought was human, this episode balances big ideas with very real-world examples.

If you’re running a dealership, advising dealer groups, or simply trying to make sense of where automotive retail is heading, this episode will challenge some comfortable assumptions. It’s honest, sometimes uncomfortable, and ultimately hopeful.

Hit play if you want to think differently about growth, technology, and what really makes a dealership sustainable in the years ahead.

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Every dealer wants more leads, more trust, and more sales. But here is the uncomfortable truth. Many still treat their website like a digital brochure instead of the online version of their showroom. And in 2025, that gap is costing real money.

In this episode, I sit down with Ysai Laumen, founder of Morgen Internet, to talk about what actually makes a dealership website convert. Not theories. Not wishful thinking. Real insights from running more than 600 dealer sites in the Netherlands and Belgium.

Here is a taste of what we dig into in this conversation

• Why so many beautiful physical showrooms fall flat online
• The hidden habits of today’s buyers that dealers still overlook
• The three call to actions that outperform everything else on a used car detail page
• Why your first five photos matter more than your camera
• How subscription based websites stay fresh while one time builds slowly decay
• What dealers can actually learn from e-commerce and where the comparison stops
• How conversational AI will reshape the online showroom long before most dealers are ready
• A personal story of how I ended up buying something I never planned to buy and what it taught me about buyer psychology

This conversation will make you look at your website differently. Not as a brochure, but as the first salesperson every customer meets. And once you hear Ysai’s insights, it becomes very clear why some dealers convert and others unintentionally chase buyers away.

If you want practical ideas that can improve your online results this week, this episode is worth your time.