The Power of a Clean Tech Stack in Car Sales | ASOTU CON 2025

Ryan Rohrman masterfully packed ten years of lessons into a 25-minute ASOTU CON keynote and gave dealers a playbook for growth.

His guiding idea is simple: cleaner is better. Cleaner leadership. Cleaner KPIs. Cleaner data.

That approach is fueling one of the most focused and efficient dealer groups in the country.

From Founder-Led to Team-Led

Rohrman Automotive started in 1963 on a gravel lot. For decades the business ran on the hub-and-spoke model, with one leader making every decision.

When Ryan stepped into the top role in 2018, he tried to replicate it. Twenty-five stores a month, endless meetings, constant travel.

It was exhausting and it was not sustainable. The turning point came when the group shifted to a team-based leadership model.

Shared accountability and structured systems made growth possible without burning out leaders.

The Infinite Pursuit: KPIs That Actually Work

Most KPIs in retail are easy to manipulate. Ryan calls that “smoke.” Sales teams and managers always find the loopholes.

Rohrman solved this by creating the infinite pursuit.

Every department has KPIs that tie directly to profit. Net-to-sales is the main driver. Directors and general managers push them, but every front-line employee also knows them.

That only happens because leadership runs more than 30 internal trainings each year.

No consultants, no outsourcing, just the team teaching the team. KPIs became part of the culture instead of a spreadsheet.

Breaking Free From Old Advertising Habits

The second shift was external. Rohrman had to stop spending money the old way. For years ads ran on TV or in the paper simply because that was tradition.

The group cleansed a million records and found out more than half the database was inaccurate.

That explained why half the ad spend was wasted.

With clean data, every dollar started working harder.

Cleaner really was better.

Building a Data-Driven Tech Stack

The group moved its data into Snowflake, connected it to a CDP, and started tracking sessions instead of leads.

They measure clicks, hovers, swipes, and abandoned forms. That creates micro-audiences instead of mass blasts.

A customer who almost booked service but got interrupted can now be reached with a reminder.

Marketing dollars are precise, not scattered.

The payoff showed up fast: March and April 2025 were the best back-to-back sales months in company history.

Cleaner Data, Higher Close Rates

The average close rate nationwide is about 12.5%.

Rohrman is at 30% and climbing.

By targeting the 66% of leads who never buy anywhere and the 45% who switch brands, Ryan believes dealers can push into the 40% range.

Dealer Takeaways

1. Let go of hub-and-spoke leadership: Growth depends on teams, not one hero.

2. Make KPIs bulletproof: Tie them to profit and bake them into training.

3. Cleanse your database: Bad records drain ad dollars without you noticing.

4. Track behavior, not just leads: Sessions reveal intent before a form is ever filled out.

5. Use micro-audiences: Right message, right moment beats mass marketing every time.

The Bottom Line

Cleaner is better.

It is a leadership model, a data strategy, and a mindset.

Rohrman Automotive proves that focus and discipline beat tradition and guesswork. The result is higher close rates, lower waste, and growth that lasts.

Dealers who clean up their process will find cleaner is not just better. It is the only way forward.