The Dealer Playbook
The Dealer Playbook is the top-rated podcast for automotive professionals who want to dominate the retail industry.
Hosted by Michael Cirillo, this show delivers expert interviews, proven strategies, and actionable insights to help you sell more cars, lead stronger teams, and grow thriving dealerships.
Whether you work in sales, service, F&I, marketing, or management, you’ll gain the tools and confidence to excel in a rapidly evolving market.
Join thousands of listeners every week who trust The Dealer Playbook as their go-to resource for career growth and dealership success. Subscribe now and unlock the secrets to staying ahead in the fast-paced world of retail automotive.
The Dealer Playbook
We're Building a New Dealership from the Ground Up!
So a month and a half ago, Glenn Lundy, President of 800% Elite Automotive Club, called me. He said "Michael, I have the opportunity to build a dealership from the ground up, but I want it to be different. I want it to be a leadership training company that just so happens to sell cars." A few days later, he calls me back. He says. "It's happening, Do you want to be involved?" My immediate response? Heck yes!
There I said it, we're building a dealership from scratch!
For those who may not know, Glenn was the general manager of the highest-volume Chevy store in America. He grew that store's sales by 800% in just five years, selling thousands of vehicles per month in a small town. When Glenn left the dealership, he founded the 800% Elite Automotive Club, teaching others how to achieve similar success.
This episode is packed with insights on how we're transforming the dealership model.
We're rethinking everything about how a dealership operates. We’re embracing the mess, finding innovative solutions, and redefining what a dealership can and should be. This episode will give you a sneak peek into our thought process, challenges, and the exciting journey ahead. If you’re in the automotive industry or just love a good underdog story, this is a must-listen.
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Sell Smarter, Not Harder
AutoFi helps progressive dealers like you sell smarter, not harder—on your dealership website and, now, in your showroom, too.
AutoFi solves the everyday problems dealers actually face: like bottlenecks at the sales desk, customer distrust, and decision overload. And their all-new showroom solution includes deal estimation, desking, lender routing, and an F&I menu – all in one powerful platform that bridges the gap between the CRM and DMS.
Go to AutoFi.com/dealerplaybook to learn more. And start selling smarter, today.
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Hey there, welcome to the very first episode of MC on the Mic. Today I'm going to be sharing with you my experience building a dealership from the ground up. Stay tuned. I want to thank this episode's sponsor, autofi. Autofi helps dealers like you sell smarter, not harder, online and now in your showroom Dealerships. With Autofi, sell cars faster with higher satisfaction and more profit. Go to autoficom, forward, slash dealer playbook and start selling smarter. Today, the car business is rapidly changing and modern car dealers are meeting the demand. I'm Michael Cirillo and together we'll explore the best strategies, ideas and tools to create a thriving life in and out of the business. This is the Dealer Playbook.
Speaker 1:All right, welcome to the first episode of MC on the Mic. I mean, those of you that have joined the show recently probably don't know this, but every now and again I'll do some solo episodes without a guest, just where I share some insights. Well, we decided that we would get more intentional with this idea and have at least once a month episode of MC on the mic where I share with you some insights, some things I'm experiencing, what I'm seeing in the industry, to benefit you in your day to day role within the dealership or the auto industry. So this is the first episode, and I'm excited to share with you this new project of building a dealership from the ground up. I'm going to tell you how it all came together and some of the things that I'm thinking about that I want you to pay attention to, especially because, when I get to it, we're going to talk about how we are challenging the norm on pretty much everything we know about the auto industry. But that's what this is going to be all about. I'm excited to get into this with you and tell you about this opportunity. I have to do something that even I would say a lot of people within our industry don't get the opportunity to do, which is to build a brand new dealership from the ground up, something that has never existed before, turning it into a fully functional dealership. And you might be thinking, well, no, that's not true, cirillo. A lot of people build dealerships from the ground up, otherwise, how else did we get dealerships to begin with? I get it Okay, but follow me contextually here.
Speaker 1:My good friend, glenn Lundy some of you may know, but for those of you that don't know him, he was the general manager of the highest volume Chevy store in America. He grew that store as general manager by 800% in over five years, selling thousands of vehicles per month out of this small store in a town of, I think, population 9,000. Well, when he left the dealership he actually started the 800% Elite Automotive Club where he now trains and teaches dealerships how they can grow their store and their operation by 800%. He and I have known each other for quite some time and he and I have worked on different projects. We have mutual client partners. I helped with his most recent bestselling book in which he tells the story of how a dealership grows by 800% over five years. He's the author of that. He had the largest I don't know if you remember clubhouse, one of the largest and fastest growing clubhouse rooms. We would have like 20,000 people on at a time. It was crazy.
Speaker 1:So he's very well known in the industry keynote speaker, author, trainer, operator and he called me up about a month and a half ago at time of recording this and he said hey, I think I have the opportunity to get into a dealership and build a dealership, but I want it to be different. If this happens, I want it to be different. I said well, how? So he says well, you know how Chick-fil-A is a leadership training company that just so happens to sell chicken. I said yes, and everybody loves Chick-fil-A. I've come to learn since moving to the US. He said I want that same concept but for selling cars. I want to be able to get into this dealership and implement all of the training that we teach our dealers through 800% Elite Automotive Club and have this dealership really be a training facility, a leadership training, an operations training facility that will also happen to sell cars as a byproduct. And I'm like, ooh, that sounds exciting.
Speaker 1:A few days later he calls me back. He says it's happening. He's like I worked a deal, I've got partners, we're going to be building this dealership. Do you want to be involved? And I'm like are you kidding me? Of course I want to be involved. The idea of getting to build a dealership from the ground up, to challenge all of the norms of what we've known in retail automotive for so long, to be able to test out all of my ideas and new ideas from a marketing perspective Are you crazy? Of course I want to be involved in this. So he's like awesome, let's roll, you're in. So lots of late night conversations with Glenn Lundy lead to me being involved in building this dealership from the ground up.
Speaker 1:Well, I just recently returned from Lexington, kentucky, where we are going to be opening 800% elite auto sales, getting to meet some of the team that we're hiring and break bread with them and have fun pontificating and theorizing about how we can make this dealership a unique experience. And, of course, being in this empty shell of a room with this massive showroom and it's empty and the painters are in there and they're sealing the lot, resealing the lot and we're making signage and doing all of these sorts of things, really got my brain moving on some of the ways in which we want this dealership to be unique. So I want to share some of the things that we've come up with because, right out of the gates, what makes it unique is that it's going to be an open book, it's a training facility that happens to sell ours also, and so the idea that, in an industry where we're all like closed off and don't want to share our secrets, this is going to be the exact opposite. We're going to share everything that we're all like closed off and don't want to share our secrets. This is going to be the exact opposite. We're going to share everything that we're doing Win, lose, draw, fail, learn, triumph, tears we're going to share everything Well, right out of the gates.
Speaker 1:One of the things that's unique about this dealership is that our primary focus will not be selling cars. Our primary focus will be developing the people. Our primary focus will be the pay attention to the words guest experience. We don't have customers. We have guests. We have community members, but we don't have customers. Will we sell a ton of cars? Absolutely. I'm more than confident in that. But we're focused in on how we can change the narrative, remove the negative stigma associated with the car industry, and is what matters most, because they're the ones that will provide an exceptional experience for our guests.
Speaker 1:We're thinking a lot about the hospitality industry, and why should we think like retail when we could be thinking about hospitality? Think of the difference in experience you have going to a luxury hotel versus a car dealership. One feels like a dentist's office and smells like motor oil. One is a very welcoming, warm ambiance, lighting, visuals, welcoming Hello, mr Cirillo, welcome in that sort of a thing.
Speaker 1:We're thinking a lot about the hospitality industry and we're thinking about doing things that are out of the norm. For example, glenn has talked about how the dealership employees will have seven weeks off per year. There was something a while ago where he had this thought rest upon him of a Sabbath week in which they shut down the operation for a full week. So every six weeks they will have a Sabbath week in which they shut down the operation for a full week. So every six weeks they will have a Sabbath week and they're going to have seven weeks off per year. There's not going to be any set hours for the team to work. The shifts and the hours are going to be completely different for everybody. But what we ask is that everyone that works there works in the best interests of the company. So a built-in accountability, a peer-to-peer accountability mechanism, seven weeks off, no set schedules, work in the best interest of the company, are things that we're thinking about, that we're implementing, that are going to be different and we believe that that measure of freedom and that shift of narrative from typical retail to hey, you're a grown up working the best interest of the company, is going to set the tone for providing a unique guest experience. We're thinking about BDCs, not like call centers but as guest experience coordinators, being the first touch point that a guest will have with our organization, how we can make it feel more like a cruise ship director and less like, uh, you know, chewing gum on the phone, stale, stagnant voice, uh. And melissa, who's gonna be, uh, the director of that department is so awesome and and engaged and experienced and hospitable. I got to meet her when I was in Kentucky this past week and experience her energy and her care and concern for the guests is is going to be phenomenal. Those are just a few things that we're thinking about shifting our mindset around the operation of a dealership.
Speaker 1:Hey, I hope you're enjoying this episode of the Dealer Playbook and before we hop back in, I want to thank today's sponsor, autofi. Autofi helps dealers like you sell smarter, not harder, on your dealership website and now in your showroom too. Autofi solves the everyday problems dealers actually face, like bottlenecks at the sales desk, customer distrust and decision overload. Their all-new showroom solution includes deal estimation desking, lender routing and an F&I menu all in one powerful platform. Dealerships with Autofi sell cars faster, with higher satisfaction and more profit. In fact, dealers make an average of $641 higher back-end PVR on Autofi deals versus their non-Autofi deals. Go to autoficom forward, slash dealer playbook and start selling smarter today. All right, let's hop back into this episode.
Speaker 1:But when it comes to marketing, which is what I will largely have stewardship for, I'm thinking about things that are out of the norm that we can leverage to build relationships of trust in the community. So for those of you that have followed the show for quite some time know that I care deeply about the BRT the acronym BRT build relationships of trust. You see, most dealerships, traditional dealerships, are thinking about marketing and advertising in one way run ad, get lead right. We are thinking about, well, what can we do to foster and deepen relationships of trust in the community? So when you walk into the store, the first thing that you will see, right smack center in the showroom, is a podcast studio, and I'll get some photos and some videos of what we've put together. That's what I was there doing this past week is building out the studio that's in the middle of the showroom. I'll get some photos over to Arnold, our editor, and he can splice those into this episode so you can see what it looks like. By the way, if you're listening on Apple, you need to head over to YouTube so you can actually see what it looks like, or else you're just going to have to take my word for it that it's amazing.
Speaker 1:And the reason we're thinking about doing a podcast is not in the sense of, oh, we want to be Joe Rogan. Too many people, by the way side note, want to get into podcasting because they think they're going to be the next Joe Rogan I mean mazel tov, if it happens for you, and I don't want to sound all pessimistic, but the way I think about podcasting in terms of a dealership is that it can be a mechanism. It can be a tool, tool, a resource that we can leverage to invite people from the community into our store to change the way they feel about the store, to change the experience and the relationship they have with our store by coming into it in a different way not apprehensive, but as a guest who is going to share their wisdom and expertise with us. When you think of a podcast in that way that it is a business tool and not some like get famous tool, there are so many possibilities with what you could do leveraging podcasting. So our idea for the podcast is just that we want to use it as a relationship tool. We want to be able to bring business owners from the community of Lexington and the surrounding market who are doing business in a unique way or with a twist into our store, interview and feature them through our social channels. Social channels, we believe our thesis is that, in return, they will share that podcast episode and social posts with their following, with their customer base, with their friends and family, which, in turn, will get all of those people thinking about 800% elite auto sales which, when the time comes, those people will think of us first when it comes to purchasing a vehicle.
Speaker 1:We're thinking about everyday people doing everyday jobs and featuring them on our podcast that tying into our slogan as a dealership, which is everyday cars for everyday people. I think most of us resonate with being everyday people, right? Most of us are not celebrities. Most of us resonate with being everyday people, right? Most of us are not celebrities. Most of us are not doing crazy out of the norm stuff. We're showing up, we go to our work, we come home, we spend some time with family, we binge, watch some Netflix, we go to bed, we go to bed.
Speaker 1:So this idea of everyday cars for everyday people tying into a podcast that is everyday jobs featuring everyday people, builds up this network that we can leverage in a very organic way to deepen and build relationships of trust with the community. Oh man, I could even see where you invite the guest to come on the podcast. You set up 20 or 30 chairs and have them invite their family and friends also to come and watch the recording of the podcast live. Now guess what? All of a sudden, you've got 20 or 30 more people in your store having an experience, and I'm also confident that they're going to walk into the store and they're going to see this podcast booth, which is set up almost like the ESPN news desk and right out of the gates. It's going to feel like a different experience to them and that's all going to be top of mind. So that's how we're thinking about marketing in a very simple way.
Speaker 1:We learned that there's a big haunted house that happens in the same area as the dealership. People to this area and really saturated this area and we're like, what Did you just say? 10,000 people come to this area on the week of Halloween to do the haunted house. We're already thinking like, hey, we should call up Gravedigger, that big monster truck, and park him in front of the store and have people come and take pictures in front of Gravedigger in front of the store, we could hand out, you know, goodie bags that have 800 on them. So all the kids are going to be holding treat bags in front of Gravedigger, in front of the store, with our sign. And now, all of a sudden, there's going to be a potential of I don't know seven to eight thousand or nine thousand pictures going out on social media with all the people that got to take pictures in front of Gravedigger. But really we're taking pictures in front of 800 Elite Auto sales. We're excited to try these sorts of things in our store, but guess what? This isn't stuff that's reserved for brand new stores. This is stuff you could do.
Speaker 1:For those of you that have followed me for a while and have listened to the show, you know I am a big proponent of innovation and that we have had talks before. We have talked to each other before about how innovation is leveraging tools and resources that already exist in a fresh, new way to create a new concept. An example is Uber. Right, we've talked about Uber a lot before on past episodes of the show, especially when it comes to innovation. Did Uber create ride sharing? No. Did they create cars? No. Did they create mobile apps? No, did they create. Were they the inventors of all these things? No, did they invent payment processing? No, what they did is they took all of these pre-existing concepts and assembled them in a fresh and innovative way. And I'm not going to say the four letters, but they have a, c and a, d and a, j and R. With lots of day supply, you could be an existing dealership. I guess I'm sharing all of this and I'm excited to share these insights of how I'm thinking about marketing this store to impress upon you that there are things you could do in your community with your existing store to build and deepen relationships of trust. For us, that is the thing that matters most is building relationships of trust and coming up with all these innovative ideas.
Speaker 1:Here's something else that we're thinking about the types of vehicles that we're selling. You can get any color vehicle you want from 800% elite auto sales, as long as it's black, white and silver. And you might be thinking why black, white and silver? I challenge you to go, stand outside your store or your house or wherever. Go to a busy street in your community right now and pay attention to how many black, white and silver vehicles you see, in contrast to other colored vehicles. Are you still going to see a red car? Are you still going to see a blue one? Yes, but in relation to the number of black, white and silver cars that you see, I want you to just pay attention, maybe, maybe make a tally. Well, what we've learned is that most people want black, white or silver, so what are we going to carry? Black, white and silver?
Speaker 1:Something else that we're focused on is dialing into this everyday cars for everyday people, demographic, and so every vehicle is going to be less than 80,000 miles. Every vehicle is going to come with a lifetime powertrain warranty, every vehicle is going to be between 15 and $35,000. And so we want to be able to provide a great selection of everyday cars for everyday people, reliable cars. We've got our own service shop as well, where we're going to be able to service vehicles and add the protections to them and all those sorts of things. So we've got that all set up as well. But those are some things that we believe are unique not the servicing of vehicles, but the way that we are approaching our target demographic with, specifically, the vehicles they want. How many vehicles do you have on your lot that have just been sitting there and you're wondering why aren't they moving?
Speaker 1:We're starting out looking specifically at the most popular types of vehicles the colors, the mileage and the age, because we believe those are best positioned to sell for our target audience and, really, from a marketing perspective, I think that's what marketing is all about. It is identifying an audience and providing a product or a service to them that is compelling and enticing, so that they can make the most informed decision for themselves. So that's something else that we're doing that we're super excited about. So, as you can tell, I'm really focused on an exceptional in-store guest experience, and there's a reason for that.
Speaker 1:Years ago, a good friend of mine, michelle Danujian, offered this sage wisdom, and I think about it often. She said there is nothing worse in marketing than making a promise online that can't be delivered upon in person, and so you can see that I'm thinking about the in-store experience first. I'm thinking about the guest experience first as the baseline. Why? Because I don't want to do what I see so many of us do in this industry, which is put all the fancy bells and whistles on our website and make big claims online that then don't translate to a positive experience in person. So we're starting there first and I want you to pay attention to that because I think it's so critical. By the way, it's not too late if you've done it the other way around.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying we're starting with in-store experience and guest experience and then we want to be able to translate that into the digital world. That's why I'm super excited that flex dealer my agency gets to be partnered in on this as well, providing the website and the digital uh marketing from se and SEM and everything in between and, you know, getting to try out all of our crazy ideas but also excited to be partnered with Autofi. I mean, some of you that have been listening to the show for a while now now know that Autofi has partnered with me on the dealer playbook and we brought some episodes to you through them, which I'm excited about. That partnership. But maybe this is that put your money where your mouth is sort of a deal. So you know that I just don't partner with anybody.
Speaker 1:I'm really focused on the right people, the right innovative tools, and so, where we've started on offline with a great customer experience, I'm excited that we're partnering with Autofi at the dealership as well to place their innovative tools on the website to be able to provide a streamlined shopping experience. It's really important to us to have that tool on our website, especially this day and age when we want to be able to speed things up. Their whole mantra is sell smarter, not harder, because selling a car shouldn't be so hard, and we agree with that. We are thinking deeply about that and we know myself, having experience purchasing a car using the Autofi tool, that it was one of the most seamless car buying experiences I've ever had, and so I want to give a big shout out to them, excited to be partnered with them in a deeper, more meaningful way at the dealership level. But the gist of it is really this, if I could point our attention in any one direction, going back to what Michelle has said, nothing worse in marketing than making a promise online that can't be fulfilled in person. That is why, at 800% Elite Auto, we are focused on the in-person experience as the foundation and then mapping what we want that experience to be online and into our other properties, building relationships of trust, having FlexDealer for our website and digital marketing to have that innovative, forward thinking approach, and then deepening that connection with an amazing online car buying experience with the tools and partnership that Autofi is going to bring us.
Speaker 1:All of this to say I'm excited to bring you on this journey of getting to participate in building a dealership from the ground up. I'm excited that my team at Flex can be involved. They're going to be doing a lot of the marketing stuff running ads, doing SEO, building a website. Lot of the marketing stuff running ads, doing SEO, building a website. I'm excited to be able to partner in that way, but I'm also excited to have the inner look at building this dealership. So the last thing that I want to impress upon you that's come to my mind that I really, really want to get across and hopefully I do this in the right way is the idea of ambassadorship. So I started with the team that we have complete juggernauts. I want to end off with the team and I want you to think about yourself, your mode of operation and your team and how it pertains to this concept of ambassadorship.
Speaker 1:I witnessed just this last week at a July 4th party, witnessed just this last week at a July 4th party somebody James, who's our service director get the 800% logo tattooed on his arm and at first I was like that's commitment, holy crap. He got the logo. It is on his arm for the rest of his life. That was the first thing. The second thing I thought of is this man believes so deeply in the mission of what we are building that he is willing to be an ambassador for it everywhere he goes. There will not be a time or a place that people won't be able to see on his arm, 800%. And you know people are going to ask him about it.
Speaker 1:And it got me thinking, whether it's tattooed physically or figuratively, how deeply we are bought into and are proud to be an ambassador for what we do, not just in the dealership world. I mean, how proud am I of you know my team at a Sodu oh, it's over here. Or at FlexDealer at 800% elite auto sales, to be an ambassador for it everywhere I go to think, wait, just because it's five o'clock doesn't mean I've stopped being an ambassador in the same way that the ambassador for the United States to elsewhere in the world can never put on the shelf the fact that they are the ambassador Right. And I can't help but think what would happen if we shifted our psychology, if we changed our mindset to not being just a salesperson but to being an ambassador for the dealership that we work at or the business that we work at, and what the implications of that ambassadorship would be if we wore it so proudly on our sleeve, either physically or figuratively speaking, and what kind of conversations would come up and what that would mean for our relationships in the community, what that would mean for our relationships in the community, what that would mean for our involvement in the community and what that would mean for our income and our ability to produce for our friends and our loved ones. I know that something that really excites me about the team that's coming to work at 800% elite auto sales is their desire and willingness to fly the flag everywhere they go to be an ambassador, to be proud and dignified and have poise and decorum in representing that brand everywhere that they go, because it means something to them. And I think, on that note that's the thought that I want to leave with you is the best.
Speaker 1:Marketing in the world is not about just saying the right words and convincing someone to buy. It's not transactional, it's relational, and in order for relational to work, there has to be a deep level of belief and desire around it. As we move into this next phase of automotive, with the miscellany of challenges that we face. I really encourage you, my beloved DPB gang, that the best thing that we can do is be proud of and be ambassadors for what we do, and to move with intention, to understand the meaning behind what we're doing and to focus our time, energy and talents on what we then believe matters most. Well, I hope you got value out of this episode. I'm excited to bring you guys along for the journey.
Speaker 1:This is the first episode of MC on the mic, sharing with you the thoughts that are going through my mind as we start building this dealership from the ground up.
Speaker 1:Head over to the YouTube channel, where you'll be able to see some of the visuals that I shared with Arnold for him to be able to share out in this episode, so you can see what the progress of the dealership is looking at. You can also follow our new YouTube channel, which is 800% Elite Auto Sales. Over there you'll get to meet Glenn Lundy, who is doing a very raw cell phone docu-series, but he is bringing you into all of the ins and outs, no holds barred, of what it looks like to build this dealership, right down to how do we access money, and what do we do when the banks don't know who we are and don't want to be a partner with us, and all sorts of things that you probably wouldn't even think of. So I encourage you to go check that out until next time.
Speaker 1:Thanks so much for tuning in. Keep the playbook open and dominate. Hey, thanks for listening to the Dealer Playbook Podcast. If you enjoyed tuning in, please subscribe, share and hit that like button. You can also join us and the DPB community on social media. Check back next week for a new Dealer Playbook episode. Thanks so much for joining you.
