Keep The Change
You can transform your dealership from the inside out, and Bart Nollenberger will show you how. “Keep The Change” is your go-to podcast for leadership growth in the automotive world—and there’s a reason leaders across the country swear by Bart’s coaching. His hands-on, proven approach has helped managers and owners just like you create lasting, meaningful change in their dealerships, and in every episode, he’s sharing his personal breakthroughs, field-tested strategies, and inspiring success stories, so you can do the same.
If you’re new here, you’re exactly where you need to be. Each episode of “Keep The Change” will empower you to develop stronger leadership skills, build a winning culture, and stay ahead in a fiercely competitive market. Ready to go beyond sales training and actually transform how your dealership operates? Join Bart and keep the change you’ve worked so hard to create.
Episodes
200 episodes
The Skill That Got You Promoted Won't Keep You There
Every month, in thousands of businesses, the same thing happens: the top producer gets promoted to run the department. Ninety days later she's exhausted, working more hours than anyone, and the department is no better than it was before she got...
Culture, Accountability & Faith in the Car Business — Mickey Seelye & Stan Qualls
Mickey Seelye and Stan Qualls return to Keep the Change for an hour that turned into more than a business conversation.Mickey runs Seelye Auto Group, five Southwest Michigan stores founded in 1963 by his grandfather — a wounded Iwo Jima ...
Why the Best Leaders Ask Questions Instead of Giving Answers | Chris Saraceno
Chris Saraceno is back on Keep the Change. As VP and Partner of Kelly Automotive Group (12 franchises, 7 locations, ~500 team members), Chris knows what it takes to build and sustain culture at scale.In this conversation, Bart and Chris ...
From Marine Corps to Main Street: Ken Cook on Building a Dealership with Core Values
Ken Cook, owner of BZ Automotive in Indiana, sits down with Bart Nollenberger to share his journey from a short career in the Marine Corps to becoming a successful independent dealer in a market dominated by giants. Ken opens up abo...
Rob Ruth Returns: The Buying Center Blueprint That Buys 362 Cars a Month Off the Street
Rob Ruth from Bob Ruth Ford joins Bart Nollenberger for a second time to pull back the curtain on the buying center model that transformed his dealership. Rob shares how he went from personally messaging sellers on Facebook Marketplace to build...
Sam Sweis: Immigrant Work Ethic, Selling Exotics from Indiana, and Why Your Team IS the Strategy
Sam Sweis went from washing cars at a California Dodge store to owning Sweis Infiniti in Indiana — with 27 acquisitions along the way. In this episode, Sam and Bart dig into what actually drives long-term success in the car business: building y...
Transformation: Healing From the Inside Out
Bart Nollenberger just got back from twelve days in Lusaka, Zambia — and he came home with a message he can't stop thinking about. Invited to speak to more than two dozen audiences, from children in the slums to recovering men in a treatment ce...
David Long on Step Zero: Why Attitude, Energy & Approach Beat Process Every Time | Keep the Change
David Long returns to Keep the Change to talk about his new book, Step Zero — and why winning isn't just about executing the process, but everything that happens before step one.Bart and David break down the three things that separate t...
The Mistake Quietly Killing Car Dealerships in 2026 — And the Leader Who's Calling It Out
COVID didn't just inflate paychecks — it gutted a generation of car people. Old dogs cashed out, GSMs got promoted before they were ready, and salespeople learned to take orders instead of build value. Now the margins are gone and a leadership ...
Your Team Is Watching!
Your team isn't underperforming. Your feedback loops are.The best leaders I know aren't failing because they lack knowledge. They're failing because nobody around them is telling them the truth.Their team nods. Their...
Inside the Leadership System Behind Multiple Winning Dealerships with Drew Tutton
Most leaders are making this mistake daily, and their team already knows it.Drew Tutton has built what most people in automotive only talk about at 20-group meetings and never actually create.Multiple dealerships. Multiple ...
The 'Thing' Killing Your Dealership That Nobody Talks About with Wendy Reeves
What separates thriving dealerships from failing ones? It's not the tools. It's not the leads. It's the culture, and most dealers are building theirs on a cracked foundation.In this episode of Keep the Change, Bart sits down with ...
What 20 Years in the Marine Corps Taught Me About Leadership With Emer Sanabria
Be honest, when's the last time someone actually challenged how you lead? Not your strategy. Not your numbers. You.I didn't know Emer Sanabria before we sat down. Michael Cillo told me I had to talk to him. Within minutes I unders...
107 Cars, One Miracle, and What Happens When You Just Say Yes with Brian Robbins
A dad watches his daughter lose everything — her strength, her coordination, her independence — over six months. Doctors have no answers. Hope is running thin.Then one night, everything changes.What Brian Robbins did with that mom...
The Hard Work Advantage: What Most People Don’t Understand About Success | Ty Nollenberger (Father & Son Episode)
My guest this week is my oldest son, Ty Nollenberger, and what started as a simple discussion turned into one of the most honest talks I’ve had on this show about discipline, pressure, leadership, risk, and what it really takes to build somethi...
Why Some Leaders Build Great Teams… And Others Destroy Them Without Realizing It with Adam Marburger
If you’ve ever looked around your business and thought, “Why does it feel like we’re working so hard… but something still feels off?” this conversation is for you.Adam Marburger is one of those rare guys who can talk growth without hype,...
From 50 to 400 Cars a Month: The Leadership System Behind Bob Ruth Ford with Rob Ruth
If you’ve been around this show for a while, you know I love a good solo episode.But this week? I get to sit down with one of the most class-act humans I’ve met in this industry, Rob Ruth from Bob Ruth Ford in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. An...
Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast (And Most Leaders Miss This) with Eustace Mita
What if the biggest thing holding your business back isn’t your strategy… but your culture?In this episode of Keep The Change, I’m pulling one from the archives with one of my favorite humans on the planet, Euse Mita. He’...
The Culture Problem That Doesn’t Show Up in Reports
Culture isn’t what’s written on the wall.It’s what people feel when pressure hits.In this solo episode of Keep The Change, I go deeper than I usually do. Just a real, honest conversation about what culture actually lo...
Why Culture Is Costing You More Money Than You Think (And How to Fix It)
What if the thing holding your business back isn’t strategy… but communication?Before you scroll past this episode thinking, “Ahhh, culture stuff isn’t my thing,” hear me out, because what we’re really talking about here ...
Thank God for the Car Business: Frank Lopes on Leadership, Legacy & Transformation
What if the car business wasn’t just about cars… but about calling, transformation, and legacy?In this episode of Keep the Change, I finally sit down with someone I’ve been chasing for a while, not because he was hiding, but because he’s...
Pressure Reveals Everything: The Leadership Habits That Make or Break Culture
There’s a moment every leader faces, when waiting is no longer an option.No excuses. No blaming the market. No hiding behind “I’m not ready.”You either step up… or your habits step in for you.In this solo episode of Keep the C...
From Homeless to COO: Ed Roberts on Leadership, Faith, and Becoming the Obvious Choice
What happens when a kid who grew up homeless, digging through dumpsters for survival, becomes one of the most respected leaders in the automotive industry?This episode isn’t just a conversation, it’s a reminder that your past doesn’t get...
The Questions Great Leaders Ask (And Why “Why” Is the Wrong One) with Dan Nicholas
What if the questions you’re asking are actually holding people back instead of moving them forward?I sat down with my friend Dan Nicholas, one of the most quietly influential humans I know, and what unfolded wasn’t just a podcast...
Who You Are at Work Shouldn’t Cost You Who You Are at Home with Joel Manby
What if the way you lead at work didn’t cost you your soul at home?That’s the question that kept coming up for me in this conversation with Joel Manby. And honestly, it’s one of the most meaningful conversations I’ve had on Keep the ...