If Best Doesn’t Mean What You Think, What Does It Mean

Learning Without Scars

Learning Without Scars
If Best Doesn’t Mean What You Think, What Does It Mean
Feb 12, 2026 Season 6 Episode 3
Ron Slee & Mets Kramer

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What if your dealership stopped reacting to problems and started predicting opportunity? We sat down with Mets and Nick, the team behind a from-scratch dealer management platform, to trace how a human-centered CRM evolved into a scalable DMS and where AI now multiplies the impact. The throughline is simple and bold: technology should fit the business, not the other way around—and clean signals beat crowded screens.

We walk through the early missteps and course corrections that every tech leader will recognize: rebuilding the stack to something future-proof and hireable, resisting feature bloat, and prioritizing role-specific views so parts, service, and sales see only what they need. From there the conversation shifts to the power of triggers. Think: the buyer who always orders every two weeks but has gone silent, the fleet that hits a three-year mark, the prospect who clicks a high-value email at 10 p.m. With disciplined data capture—site behavior, email engagement, telematics, service milestones—AI can surface these moments automatically and route them to the right person at the right time.

We also tackle the cultural roadblocks. Dealers will approve a multimillion-dollar machine in a heartbeat but hesitate to invest five figures in software that guarantees faster quotes and same-day invoicing. Yet this is where ROI hides: shaving clicks off the parts counter, auto-alerting sales to strong intent, turning completed jobs into instant, accurate bills. As sensor data grows, AI helps redefine what “best operator” means by weighing idle time, safety, maintenance, weather, and job complexity, not just output. Roles evolve too—analysts curate data quality and validate model insights while frontline teams act on event-driven queues instead of chasing stale lists.

If you’ve wondered how to go from dashboards to decisions, this conversation lays out a practical path: start with foundations, capture the right signals with consent, let AI find patterns, and make it effortless to act. Your brand and territory are strengths; pairing them with proactive, data-led workflows is the competitive edge. Enjoy the episode, then subscribe, share with a colleague who still lives in spreadsheets, and leave a review telling us the first workflow you’d automate.

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Episode Artwork If Best Doesn’t Mean What You Think, What Does It Mean 56:50 Episode Artwork Rethinking Business Systems: Innovation and Adaptation for Success 1:04:50 Episode Artwork Decoding the Fusion of Tech and Operations in the Auto Industry 54:35 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and I talk about the recent changes in the world of dealer business systems 57:13 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer introduces his new dealer management system. 53:20 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and I continue to talk about Digitalization of Dealers. This conversation covers what we need to do “internally.” 53:14 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron talk about the impending recession and how it won’t affect equipment dealers 51:31 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer talks about Websites 43:27 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer talks about the different generational expectations 32:43 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer talks how we must change from processing Transactions to Transforming our processes 29:12 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron wrap up their discussion on the Digital Dealership (4 of 4) 10:12 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron continue their discussion on the Digital Dealership (3 of 4) 19:44 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron continue their discussion on the Digital Dealership (2 of 4) 17:02 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron talk more on the Digital Dealership (1 of 4) 15:10 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron talk about Strategy for the digital world (3 of 3). 15:48 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron talk about Defining Segments for the digital world (2 of 3). 15:07 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron talk about Jargon for the digital world (1 of 3). 14:14 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron continue their discussion on the Digital Dealership. 49:38 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron review the machine ownership and a better use of information to drive equipment sales. 45:33 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron talk in more detail on the Digital Dealership. 47:18 Episode Artwork Mets Kramer and Ron have a conversation on Data and Information Technology in use in the world around us and how we are being left behind in the digital world. 51:13