Why Most ‘Guest Experience’ Programs Fail... and What Actually Works

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This former teacher used simple, repeatable hospitality—not buzzwords—to scale and auto group.

Today’s guest, Adam Gaedke helped steer a dealership group through hyper-growth, an ESOP transition, and a full-blown culture shift rooted in hospitality. Starting as a salesperson, Adam rode the wave from one store to 18 in 18 months, sat on the board during the employee-ownership transition, and learned what it really takes to make “guest experience” more than a poster on the wall.

Along the way, he swapped the industry’s old secrecy for radical transparency: ask customers how they want to buy, train for small touches that compound, and build processes that make great service the default.

In this conversation with Paul, Kyle, and Michael (with a cameo on Kazakhstani dealership hospitality), Adam breaks down the brass tacks: greeting standards, appointment confirmations that feel like a welcome, feedback loops that actually get used, and the uncomfortable—but loving—discipline of exiting non-fits fast.

His thesis is simple: most guests intend to buy when they walk in; your job is to remove the friction and honor their time. Guest experience isn’t just a metric, it’s a mindset you can operationalize—one touchpoint at a time.

Takeaways

0:00 The $0 Habit That Signals Hospitality

1:43 LinkedIn ‘Swipe Right’: How Real Collabs Start

2:54 From Six Months Teaching to Record Month Selling

4:52 “That’s Cute… But What Will You Do?”

9:26 Stop Gaming CSI, Start Earning It

11:39 The Ritz-Level Appointment Confirmation

13:11 Why We’re Not Saying ‘Digital Retailing’

15:12 Assume Intent to Buy, Then Remove Friction

16:39 “How Would You Like to Purchase Today?”

17:02 Operationalizing Care: Scripts, Follow-Up, and Video

21:18 Scaling to 18 Stores Without Losing the Plot

23:00 The Kindest Hard Thing: Fast Non-Fit Exits

Connect with Adam Gaedke on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamgaedke/

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