Al
Tawil
Business Development · SaaS GTM · Auto Finance · Dealership Leadership
16+ years turning observation into execution. From subprime finance and the dealership floor, to enterprise SaaS GTM, to running a Mazda franchise as General Manager — building teams, selling adoption, structuring deals, and driving revenue that sticks.
Sales leader
built through
execution.
I sell ideas, systems, software, strategy, and change — and I know how to run the business on the other side of the sale. My career spans three worlds that rarely overlap in one person: 17 years building an auto finance operation from the ground up, a year selling SaaS adoption and GTM strategy to dealer partners for a national lender, and now the General Manager seat at a Mazda franchise store.
My strength is taking something complex and making it usable. Whether it is a lending platform, a subprime deal structure, a CRM workflow, a market strategy, a pay plan, or a new way of operating, I know how to connect the value to the person who needs to believe in it, use it, and act on it — and then hold the result to a P&L.
That is why the experience translates. Business development, software adoption, finance, and operations all come down to the same thing: find the gap, build the buy in, simplify the message, lead through resistance, and create momentum wherever people, process, technology, and revenue have to work together.
Business Development & GTM
Grow territories, open doors, and turn strategy into action people can follow.
Grew a dealer partner territory for a national lender, presented "Leading the Charge" to 500+ sales and GTM staff, and moved implementation from concept to field execution.
SaaS & Software Adoption
Sell technology by connecting features to workflow, revenue, and daily use.
Sold lending-platform adoption the way strong SaaS teams do: simplify the value, remove friction, prove the use case, and create usage that sticks. Then lived it as a buyer — leading a full DMS migration and building my own desk tools as GM.
Finance & Deal Structure
F&I, subprime structuring, lender relationships, and profit per copy.
17 years in auto finance plus a lender-side view of approvals and funding. At Mazda Direct that became a 36-lender pre-screen desk tool, tighter deal structure, and a 26% gross sales lift in the first month.
Dealership Operations & Turnaround
Run the whole store — sales, F&I, service, parts, accounting — and fix what is broken. Used-car age: 226 days to 91.
Full P&L leadership of a franchise store: hired half the team, revived parts, rebuilt accounting and reporting, restructured fixed ops, rewrote pay plans, mastered the manufacturer programs, and swapped the DMS, CRM, and inventory feed — all at once, without the store missing a beat.
Where results
were earned.
- Lead a single-point Mazda franchise in Fostoria, Ohio — full P&L ownership across new and used sales, F&I, service, parts, and accounting.
- Grew gross sales 26% in month one and cut average used-vehicle age from 226 days to 91 by digging into used-sales data no one was watching, restructuring the desk, and rebuilding the buy sheet, pricing policy, and recon flow — with pay plans wired to keep pushing both numbers.
- Expanded the finance desk with a 36-lender pre-screen tool and stronger prime and subprime lender relationships, structuring every deal for approval, funding speed, and back-end gross.
- Rebuilt the team — hired and trained roughly 50% of current staff, restaffed an empty parts department, installed a Fixed Ops Director and shop foreman, and rewrote pay plans for every seat including a Master Technician development track.
- Carried the store through a controller change while rebuilding the accounting office, chart of accounts, and financial reporting, and simultaneously leading a new DMS, CRM, service lane platform, and inventory feed changeover — four system swaps most stores spread across years, done in one quarter without missing a beat.
- Clearing the shop bottleneck with a 7-business-day front-line-ready standard and a rewritten internal recon agreement so cars hit the lot faster and tech hours go where they pay.
- Launched the Direct Promise customer standard, a 10-week "Road to the Sale" training program, and a "buy or die" lead process — every lead worked to a sale or a documented dead end, no one falls through the cracks — and learned the Mazda manufacturer programs from scratch to keep the store qualified and capture incentive and co-op dollars.
- Winning the community back with owner and enthusiast events, local partnerships, and a visible presence in Fostoria and Seneca County — rebuilding the reputation the store had lost — while running market intelligence (Experian Velocity / AutoView), a live sales dashboard, and monthly "Under New Management" reports to ownership.
- Managed and grew a territory of franchise and independent dealer partners through consultative coaching, strategic follow up, and performance reviews.
- Sold adoption of Credit Acceptance lending software by connecting platform usage, approvals, deal structure, and dealer profitability.
- Applied Challenger Sale methods — teach the gap, tailor the message to dealer workflow, take control through live examples and clear next steps.
- Used analytics, close rate trends, funding friction, and lender comparison reports to uncover missed sales opportunities and build action plans.
- Partnered with internal teams on platform enhancements, training needs, issue escalation, and field execution to improve partner adoption.
- Built and ran an auto finance and used vehicle operation over 17 years — sales, purchasing, marketing, customer relations, finance, staff development, vendor relationships, and performance management.
- Structured and funded subprime deals day in and day out — underwriting, lender relationships, portfolio performance, and collections — the foundation of everything I do in F&I today.
- Built and led a long tenured team using the Good to Great principle — right people in the right seats.
- Guided CRM and workflow adoption using Tecobi, DealerCenter, and automotive CRM processes to improve follow up, accountability, and customer experience.
- Increased market share by 8% through sales strategy, customer programs, process improvement, and hands on leadership.
- Led weekly, bi weekly, monthly, and quarterly meetings to align goals, coach performance, and maintain execution accountability.
Education
The long way
around.
2008
Clay High School
2008 · Oregon, Ohio
Clay High School
Graduated and ready to take on the world. Just not the traditional way. The floor was calling louder than any classroom.
2008 to 2025
Nationwide Auto Finance
2008 to 2025 · Toledo, Ohio
Nationwide Auto Finance
aka the best internship ever
Took a hiatus from traditional education and stepped into the family business. 17 years of real world school across operations, sales, finance, and leadership. No classroom teaches what the floor does.
Currently Enrolled
Owens Community College
Currently Enrolled · Toledo, Ohio
Owens Community College
Business Administration because 17 years of hands on experience deserves a degree to match. Better late than never, and the classroom hits different when you already know how it works in the real world.
Recognition
Awards &
Accolades.
2025
Runner Up — OIADA Quality Dealer of the Year
2025 · OIADA
Runner Up —
OIADA Quality Dealer of the Year
Recognized by the Ohio Independent Auto Dealers Association as one of the top dealers in the state — a reflection of 17 years of consistent customer trust, operational discipline, and team leadership.
2023
Best of the Best Dealer
2023 · Industry Recognition
Best of the Best Dealer
Industry recognition for dealership excellence — earned through process, people, and a relentless commitment to doing right by every customer that walked through the door.
2022
Finalist — Blade Readers Choice, Pre-Owned Dealership
2022 · The Toledo Blade
Finalist — Blade Readers Choice
Pre-Owned Dealership
Voted by Toledo readers as a top pre-owned dealership in the region. A community-driven recognition built entirely on reputation, word of mouth, and years of earning trust one customer at a time.
Certification
Sales & Customer Service — National Retail Federation
Certified · National Retail Federation
Sales & Customer Service
Certification
Certified by the National Retail Federation — the world's largest retail trade association — in sales and customer service excellence. A formal recognition of the skills built over nearly two decades on the floor.
Tools behind
the results.
AS SEEN IN THE TOLEDO BLADE
"Al Tawil joins 12 workers shoveling snow off 900 cars — leading from the front, not from behind a desk."
— THE TOLEDO BLADE
That photo says everything. When there is work to be done, you show up and do it alongside your team. No shortcuts. No exceptions.
