Welcome to Leadership in the Dealership — an Upstart (https://www.upstart.com/dealers/) podcast where automotive innovation meets insightful conversations. We help dealers improve their customer and employee experience by tapping into the minds and experiences of the industry’s top leaders. We’ll also explore cutting-edge trends shaping the auto industry across digitization and customer experience, both online and in the showroom. Ready to meet your hosts and catch a sneak peek of what's to come? Check out the trailer.
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Upstart. Any content provided by the hosts or guests is for informational purposes only and is based on their own experiences and perspectives.
Not every customer who walks into your dealership wants the same buying experience.
One buyer has researched the vehicle, knows their credit and wants to get in and out. Another may be buying their first car and needs someone to guide them through every step. So why put both through the exact same process?
Danielle Mills Walden and Phillip Greer break down how dealerships can adapt the sales experience to the customer in front of them without throwing out the process entirely.
They get into:
• How to recognize different types of car buyers
• When to speed up the sales process and when to slow it down
• The questions salespeople should ask before deciding how to sell
• Why forcing traditional steps can push a ready buyer out the door
• How payment, price and financing priorities change by customer
• Why lender flexibility matters when a buyer does not fit the traditional box
• How Upstart Multi-Multi can show offers across up to five vehicles on a soft credit pull
• How giving customers more options can help preserve the deal
The goal is not to abandon your dealership process. It is knowing when to adapt it to the person you are trying to serve. Subscribe to Leadership in the Dealership for more real conversations about automotive retail, financing and the customer experience. #LeadershipInTheDealership #Automotive #CarSales #CarDealers #AutomotiveRetail #Upstart
16 Sept 2026
Remove Financing Friction From Your Car Deals
The customer found the car. The numbers work. Your salesperson has momentum. Then financing hits the brakes. Danielle Mills Walden and Phillip Greer break down how Upstart can help dealers remove friction from the financing process, starting before the customer even walks into the showroom.
From starting the credit process online and reducing data re-entry to exploring offers across up to five vehicles, they walk through ways dealers can keep more options open without sending the customer back to square one.
They also get into:
• How a soft credit pull can help start the financing conversation earlier
• How multi-vehicle offers can keep a deal alive when the first vehicle does not work
• Faster decisioning and flexible deal structuring
• How dealers can adjust terms and add products within the offer
• Financing options for older and higher-mileage inventory
• How automated verification can reduce additional calls and waiting
• The training and support dealers receive when launching Upstart If the customer is ready to buy, make it easier to get them to the keys.
Subscribe to Leadership in the Dealership for more real conversations about automotive retail, financing, technology and the customer experience.
#LeadershipInTheDealership #Automotive #AutoFinance #CarDealers #Upstart
2 Sept 2026
What If Buying a Car Could Actually Be Easy?
What would it take to make buying a car actually feel easy? Amanda Gordon, founder and CEO of GoJo Auto, has built her dealership around that question. Instead of accepting long waits, unnecessary handoffs and disconnected systems as part of buying a car, she has focused on creating a faster, more personal experience for her customers. In this episode of Leadership in the Dealership, Amanda joins Danielle Mills Walden and Phillip Greer to talk about what that looks like in practice, from understanding the story behind a buyer’s credit score to simplifying the financing experience with Upstart and building a dealership around relationships, access and respect for the customer’s time.
Amanda explains that GoJo uses an A-to-Z process that keeps customers with one person throughout the transaction and averages about two hours per deal. They also get into the bigger problems still creating friction for dealers, including technology that does not communicate across systems and processes that add steps instead of removing them. Plus, Amanda shares the leadership lessons behind building GoJo Auto, co-founding the Women of Color Automotive Network (WOCAN) and serving as president of the Colorado State Dealer Board.
IN THIS EPISODE:
• Why customers do not hate buying cars, but may hate the way they are asked to buy them
• What a credit score can miss about the person behind it
• How strong lender relationships can help dealers serve more buyers
• Why disconnected dealership systems create unnecessary friction
• How GoJo Auto approaches the buying and financing experience
• Why Amanda’s team turns to Upstart for simplicity
• How WOCAN is creating opportunities for women in automotive
• What Amanda has learned from more than two decades in the industry Amanda’s vision for where automotive should be five years from now is refreshingly simple: that it’s easy.
Subscribe to Leadership in the Dealership for real conversations about the people, technology and ideas moving automotive forward.
#LeadershipInTheDealership #Automotive #CarDealers #AutomotiveRetail #CustomerExperience
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
146,125
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
4.8 / 5
6 ratings
Spotify
5.0 / 5
4 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 57 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
68
Social presence
0
YouTube
82
Engagement
32
Contact Leadership in the Dealership
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Leadership in the Dealership
Who hosts Leadership in the Dealership?
Danielle Mills Walden and Phillip Greer host the show. Published by Upstart.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes weekly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Leadership in the Dealership take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
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