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How to run a dealership like a $10B company: Secrets of a Lithia Motors GM
Featuring Ric Saatzer, General Manager of BMW of Minnetonka
Welcome to another edition of the Car Dealership Guy Podcast recap newsletter.
In this episode, Ric Saatzer, General Manager of BMW Of Minnetonka, sits down to share his detail-oriented approach to running dealerships. He also offers his insights into working with dealer groups of all sizes, both public and private, and offers his advice for those applying to leadership positions in the dealership.
1. Ric’s entry into the car business.
Like many who enter the car industry, Ric’s career began at the bottom—washing cars, running parts, and cleaning the lot at a small dealership with just 15 employees. Despite its humble origins, he notes that the job exposed him to hardworking people and a potential career path that ultimately changed his life.
“I sometimes say this business really kind of saved my life. I was kind of headed down a not such a good road and being involved in a dealership, meeting really caring, hardworking people and kind of seeing a career path was really special to me.”
2. Becoming a salesperson.
After learning he had a passion for sales, Ric eventually asked if his boss would allow him to sell cars. Despite the cold and rainy weather on his first day, he was the only person to sell a car at the dealership that day—even though it was his brother who purchased the vehicle. When his commission check arrived, he was stunned at how lucrative car sales could be.
3. Service advisors—the unsung heroes of car dealerships.
Ric believes service advisors are the unsung heroes of the auto industry, juggling multiple responsibilities and, most difficult of all, keeping repair and maintenance clients satisfied.
“You're essentially making people feel good about spending money on their car so it ran the same way it did before it broke. And essentially, they're not seeing the value in the improvement because they're just getting it to work the way it did before it malfunctioned.”
Advisors also face pressure from their coworkers—technicians needing them to sell work, salespeople questioning their interactions with customers, and managers watching key performance indicators like CSI scores and profit margins. The role requires resilience, persuasion, and an ability to handle nonstop demands from open to close.
4. Public vs. private dealerships: which is stronger?
Ric has worked at both private and public dealership groups, giving him unique insights into the differences between the two. Public groups often have more capital and structured processes, while private groups offer more flexibility. Ric believes the real competitive advantage in today’s dealership world isn’t just capital—it’s execution. The stores that best utilize available tools and technology, regardless of ownership structure, will win.
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5. Daily processes: attention to detail is key.
Ric starts his day early, analyzing key metrics like trade rates, margins, and service volume. A well-run dealership requires constant vigilance—driving the lot, inspecting fresh trades and ensuring cars are priced right and reconditioned efficiently.
“My intent is always to spend that first hour before the store's waking up and get caught up on a few things…Your day has to start with knowing how you're tracking.”
Leadership isn’t just about fixing problems but anticipating them before they become major issues. Ric believes dealers need to be extremely detail-oriented to be successful, to the point of being paranoid.
6. Questions to ask before accepting a GM role.
Ric advises that when considering a job at a public or private dealership, general managers should focus on leadership quality, brand strength in the market and the reason the position is open. Plenty of stores have poor leadership, so asking the right questions can be key to finding out if the job is a good fit.
“And if I was a GM, I would always want to know why is that job open? You know, why have they not been promoted from within? You know, do they not develop talent?”
He also notes that large stores are often easier to work for since they provide better support and more specialists, while small stores require managers to wear multiple hats.
7. Implementing Lean Six Sigma.
Lean Six Sigma is an approach to management that focuses on reducing waste, preventing problems and ensuring the right processes are followed. Ric’s introduction to Lean Six Sigma came from trying to improve efficiency, and he credits his management team’s experience with the program for their current strengths as leaders. He notes that Lean Six Sigma forces dealerships to analyze every step of their workflows, identifying inefficiencies and unnecessary steps.
“...in a car dealership it can be very emotional. You see lot of snapshots around the store. You can rush to very quick decisions. Lean Six Sigma helps slow you down, helps you collect some data.”
8. Acquisitions: don’t rock the boat.
Having been through a recent acquisition, Ric has seen first hand how a buyer with good processes in place can minimize business disruptions when taking over a new store. However, it isn’t completely avoidable.
“Acquiring stores is disruptive. No matter what you do, it's disruptive.”
He emphasizes approaching acquisitions with a "freedom within a framework" mindset, one which allows local leaders to maintain their operational strengths while ensuring compliance with public company standards. Above all, new owners should focus on support, especially if business is already going well.
“Here's the thing that I'll never forget that was really counterintuitive to what I had thought we were walking into is…It wasn't a conversation of ‘we don't do it that way.’ It was ‘how do we support what you're doing? Cause you're doing really well.’”
9. Tips for boosting profit 250%.
When Ric took over his current BMW store in 2018, he recalls it had plenty of potential but suffered from leadership turnover and underperformance. Rather than analyzing financial reports first, he spent two days simply observing operations.
“At that time, the COO of the group, when he was hiring me, said, ‘Rick, what data do you want? Can I give you reports?’ And I said, ‘you know, actually, no, I don't want the financial statement. I want to spend the first two days just watching, seeing what's happening because then I'll probably know what the financial says once I do that and where to dig in.’”
He quickly discovered that the core issue wasn’t volume but margins—cars were being underpriced due to a rigid 60-day turn policy. This simply didn’t fit with the reality of the premium market.
“When you're on such a tight 60-day turn, you're already pricing that car below market because all you're thinking about is ‘I have to have it be gone in 60 days.’ Well, in the premium market, if you try to operate that way, you're going to lose a lot of available margin because some of these cars take a little bit more time because of day’s supply. They're good cars. They're not distress merchandise.”
By giving managers more flexibility and focusing on communication, he quickly turned things around, boosting profits by 250% in just 12 months. He also credits his success to better employee engagement, which he achieved by listening to staff and working with them rather than against them.
10. BMW’s present and future: a dealer’s perspective.
Ric is bullish on BMW’s approach to electrification, particularly its flexible model lineup that allows customers to choose between ICE, hybrid, and EV without being forced into a specific body style. This strategy, he argues, helps BMW avoid the costly mistakes of brands that overcommitted to EVs without demand. He also praises BMW for understanding the importance of dealer input.
“They probably listen to dealers more than they have to, to be honest with you. And they take a lot of input.”
Ric hopes BMW will bring in more hybrids at lower price points, believing it will help boost demand. He also expects to see the automaker putting more emphasis on leases, noting it has had a strong leasing ecosystem for many years.
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