Recently, STELLA Automotive AI’s CEO, Rich Sands, sat down with David Spizak for an in-depth conversation on “The David Spisak Show.” They dove into a wide range of topics, from the leadership principles that shape a winning team to the practical realities of making AI work in automotive retail. The episode is packed with valuable takeaways, but here are three key insights Rich shared that every dealership leader should hear.
A championship business is built “11 as one”
Long before leading an automotive-focused conversational AI company, Rich coached youth football for 14 years. He shared a core philosophy that took his sons’ program from a team that had never made the playoffs to a perennial championship contender: “11 as one.”
“It’s 11 individual football players that have 11 different jobs to do all at the exact same time … for one common goal,” he said.
He brought this mindset to STELLA AI. “It’s the same concept no matter where you are, what you’re doing, what your role is. No one’s above or below another position. We’re all doing this together … to accomplish a common goal.”
Why this matters for your dealership: Technology is only as good as the team that builds, supports and integrates it. At STELLA, this philosophy means our engineers, marketers and client support staff are all aligned on a single goal: creating a frictionless, valuable experience for you and your dealership guests. It’s about a cohesive team doing the hard work together so that when it’s “game day” in your dealership, our conversational AI solution performs flawlessly.
In AI, deep integrations are the real differentiator
In a market now flooded with companies claiming to have AI, David asked what truly separates STELLA from the pack. Rich’s answer wasn’t about the AI itself, but the foundational work required to make it effective.
“In order to make AI work or any software technology work, you have to be able to make connections. … A lot of these players out there will say they have integrations … but it’s really a one-way street,” Rich explained. “We did it the hard way. … We’ve spent the last two and a half years really enhancing these APIs to become certified integrations. The amount of use cases that we can do and perform … increases exponentially.”
Why this matters for your dealership: An AI tool without deep, two-way integrations often creates more problems than it solves, leading to clunky workarounds and frustrated staff. STELLA’s commitment to building certified integrations with major DMS and CRM providers means our AI can see the full picture, from booking an appointment with a customer’s last known advisor to understanding RO data. This is the difference between AI that just answers a call and AI that drives your business forward.
The future of customer engagement is proactive, not reactive
Rich unveiled the next evolution for STELLA, a move from handling inbound communication to empowering dealers with proactive, intelligent outbound engagement.
“Now we’re moving into outbound. We have now developed and built an outbound customer engagement engine … to interact with their guests when and how the guests wishes,” Rich said. “The goal here is to basically stay in contact and maintain a relationship with your guests, both for long-term retention goals, but also for the personal relationship side.”
Why this matters for your dealership: This new engine will allow your dealership to automate and personalize outreach for everything from sales and service campaigns to recall notices and even birthday wishes. It’s a tool designed not to replace your team but to empower them to build stronger, more profitable long-term relationships at scale.
To hear the full conversation and get more incredible stories and insights from Rich Sands, you can listen to the entire episode of The David Spisak Show.
To learn about our AI, schedule a demo with our team today.
