The Dealer Playbook

The End of the Dealer Playbook?

• Michael Cirillo

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Welcome to this special solo episode, as I celebrate ten years of unforgettable moments; I can't thank you enough for always being here with me every Thursday. Ten years ago, I took a leap of faith and launched the Dealer Playbook Podcast. From the nerve-wracking moment of hitting "publish" to the surreal experience of seeing our show hit "New and Noteworthy" on iTunes within 48 hours, it's been an incredible journey. 

We've hosted industry giants like Dr. Willie Jolly, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Grant Cardone, and we've been honored with global recognition, listing among the top 300 podcasts in the world.

But amid the success and milestones, there came a time when I felt the initial spark fading. Producing the show started to feel routine, and I found myself getting bored. The excitement that once fueled my passion for creating meaningful content seemed to dwindle. We've all been there before right?

As I reflect on this journey, I've realized how crucial it is for all of us to take a step back and reevaluate after every significant milestone. Whether you're running a podcast, managing a business, or pursuing personal goals, it's essential to pause and assess where you are and where you're headed. This period of introspection allows us to realign our efforts with our core values and passions, ensuring that we continue to grow and evolve in meaningful ways.

But this brings us to a pivotal question: Is this the end of the Dealer Playbook Podcast? As we celebrate a decade of incredible moments, the uncertainty of the future looms large. The industry is evolving, and so must we. Will the Dealer Playbook continue to be a beacon of practical wisdom, or is this the final chapter?

Join me in this episode as I unveil the next steps and share my vision for the future. The answers lie ahead, and I promise it's a journey worth taking.

Connect with Michael Cirillo

CLICK HERE to learn more about The Dealer Playbook! 


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Speaker 1:

Recently I was having a conversation with my producer, Joe, and he was really great about asking questions about the future of the show and how I felt about it and have you lost interest? Or these sorts of things. And the reality of it is. I'm glad he did that because it forced me to center in on the source of why I do this, to really examine through a critical lens if I should do this. 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 business. This is the Dealer Playbook. Hey there, welcome to this episode of the Dealer Playbook podcast. If you're new to the show, welcome. If you're not new to the show, welcome. We're going to do something a little bit different and you're thinking well, hold on, michael. You've done solo episodes before. What's going to be different about this episode than any of the other solo episodes? And I kind of want to like just share with you some of the things that have been on my mind lately as it pertains to the show and some of the direction that we're going to take. So stay tuned for that, because I've got some things that I'm really excited about. But I thought, you know, we just passed our 10 years producing the dealer playbook and it has been such a wild journey. Um, we launched the show. I'll never forget it. We launched the show.

Speaker 1:

I was at a conference in Atlantic City. It's 2014,. April, to be precise, april 11th, 2014. And I remember back then, apple podcast didn't exist. Itunes existed, but Apple podcast did not exist yet and, um, you had to create your own feed on your website and then share that with iTunes and upload it, and there was a whole approval process. Anyways, it was a nerve wracking thing because back then, I was afraid to put myself out there. I was afraid that, um, that I would be mocked and ridiculed, and I was living in this small town that I grew up in possibly on the world stage, dare I say, was frightening to me, and I actually talked myself out of doing it for quite some time. But then, all of a sudden, in April of 2014, here I am pushing the button that publishes this site, and I was excited about it. I was at this conference. In fact, I remember it was a networking event in the evening and I was legit going around telling everybody about this thing called a podcast and having them pull out their phone and find it. You had to look through Safari, or maybe they had the iTunes app and you had to.

Speaker 1:

I remember just going around getting everybody to subscribe to this thing and in the back of my mind, perhaps self-deprecating, I remember thinking, man, it would be so awesome if 100 people listen to this thing. That was my KPI man, it would be so cool if 100 people listen to this podcast. Unbeknownst to me that within 48 hours of launching the podcast, it hit new and noteworthy on iTunes and I was like what. I couldn't believe it that this podcast called the Dealer Playbook for Car Dealers was listed alongside podcasts that I was following, that I felt the hosts were celebrities. It completely rocked my world. I couldn't believe it. And then, after about four weeks on the New and Noteworthy, we hit the what's hot list and honestly I don't even know if that list exists anymore. I think there's new and noteworthy. Anyways, we hit what's hot and that rocked my world again and I thought what we are listed on the charts of podcasts that I mean who have just the most amazing hosts and business people. And I think back then you were only supposed to be on the what's hot list for a max of eight weeks and we were on that list for three months. Back then I couldn't believe it. Again thought process was I hope it would be cool if a hundred people listen to this thing. And and here we are, three months later on this what's hot list and getting all sorts of downloads and praise and and all these things.

Speaker 1:

And then I remember, at the end of 2014, getting an email saying from Apple saying that we were in the top 300 podcasts in the world. And I remember thinking, really I remember looking at my wife Kara being like is this for real, like a car dealer podcast, what you know? It was one of those things. I being like is this for real, like a car dealer podcast, what you know? It was one of those things. I'm like no way. I remember, in fact, the host that we were hosting our audio files on, who gave us download statistics. I remember distinctly emailing them and saying is this right or is there an error somewhere? Because the numbers just it just took off right, 60 plus countries, like you name it. And they wrote back and they they were like hey, we use international advertising, broadcast standards, numbers, these are accurate, these are not robots, this is not spam. And I was here's a word you haven't heard in a while.

Speaker 1:

I was flabbergasted. I was like what in the world, um? And I mean, we lucked out by episode five, right, I had dr willie jolly, who at that time was the number one sirius xm rated radio motivational show in the world. By episode 10, I had Gary V for the first time, gary Vaynerchuk, and I'll never forget that I was so flippant nervous for that episode, um, and he talked to us from the back of a cab. I mean, anybody that follows Gary V know he's always in a car, uh, but I was nervous for that. By episode 15, I had Grant Cardone, which I was super nervous for that, but it just compounded from there and this show was picking up steam and the only thing I could think of as to why this was happening is that there was this was evidence that our industry was shifting the people in it, there was a change of the guard, it it was a coming of age almost, where people in this industry were thirsting for new information delivered in a new way. And and that is just so thrilling to me Now.

Speaker 1:

In the early days of the show, we were very focused on marketing strategy and sales strategy. Along the way, though, I kind of got bored of that, and there was a moment where I didn't publish an episode for like six months and I thought, okay, I think I'm done with this show, I think I'm ready to quit the dealer playbook. And then I came back after six months and I published an episode and the strangest thing happened, which is that that entire audience was still there. Many of you were still here with me at this moment, and it was like I never left. It was the craziest thing. And as a result of this show, so many amazing things have happened, so many blessings have happened in my life that I would have never expected that the little boy growing up in Vernon, vernon, british Columbia, would have never anticipated happened because of this show. Preston Pysh Jr, my agency flex dealer, blossomed.

Speaker 1:

Because of this show, I wrote a bestselling book. I know what you're thinking Anybody can do a Kindle book and become a bestseller. No, no, no, no. Paperback bestseller, three categories, 13 Amazon countries Okay, but it was because of the community that we had built on the show.

Speaker 1:

Because of the show, I somehow skipped the line and was no longer applying to speak at conferences. People from all over the world were calling me up and saying hey, we want you to be the keynote speaker of our annual event, and so what a tremendous thing to take my wife to all over Canada, all over the United States, australia, germany, holland, like everywhere. It was amazing and it has been amazing, and for a while I went through this period where I'm like, dang, if this is having an impact, like that's really fueling my desire to continue doing this show. But, if I can be totally transparent with you, I started getting bored again. I felt like, if all I'm going to do is have conversations and all of these conversations are going to be about the same topic, then what is that actually doing anymore? Like I really felt like, ah man, this is getting boring. Um and and I don't want to sound ungrateful, that's not, that's not it either. I don't want to sound like I'm ungrateful and I don't recognize how amazing this has been, but it was starting to get boring for me and my thesis is like, if this is getting boring for me, then have I kind of veered off track?

Speaker 1:

I also want to be very clear that this has nothing to do with the guests. This has everything to do with me and producing this show, because the guests have been amazing. The guests are phenomenal. They've brought so much wisdom and their time and that means the world to me. So I don't want anyone listening to think that I think any of the guests or shows have been bad. Guests or shows have been bad.

Speaker 1:

But I think I had to identify for myself why I was getting bored with producing the show. I don't know if you've ever produced a show before, but it's not easy work. It's time consuming, a lot has to go into it and I'm so grateful for my team who helps me do it. But I had to kind of identify well, where is this kind of, dare I say, boredom coming from? And recently I was having a conversation with my producer, joe, and he was really great about asking questions about kind of the future of the show and how I felt about it and have you lost interest or these sorts of things and the reality of it is. I'm glad he did that because it forced me to center in on the source of why I do this, to really examine through a critical lens, if I should do this.

Speaker 1:

Everybody has a show now, everybody's got a podcast, everybody's got a YouTube channel, everybody's all over social media, but what I've noticed is that everybody's kind of doing the same thing. And hey, don't take that the wrong way either. No judgment, you do you, but for me and what I want to do and what the purpose of the show is, what I realized that the source of my friction was that I feel like I had fallen off purpose. When I look at the time when I was most excited to what is missing, what excited me the most in the beginning is that the dealer playbook was really a playbook. It was about tangible, practical information that anyone listening could apply to their daily routine or to their workflow or to their business. To see it, uh, an outcome from it. That was really exciting to me.

Speaker 1:

And so, um, um, all of that to say, as we had this conversation, as Joe and I were talking about it, and as we thought about it and examined it, what I realized is that my excitement, as I thought about making the playbook a playbook again, started to rekindle this feeling that I remembered from the past, this drive, this motivation, this excitement, and the more I thought about it, the more excited I got, and so I guess I'm sharing all of this with you, because I wanted to just let you in on my heart and what's going on in my mind and to say that no, the dealer playbook's not going anywhere, but this is the 10-year reset, not to go back in time, but to evolve and to grow and to put value out into the industry. That gets us excited. That means something to you. I think about those moments in the past that made me the most excited, and it was when I would hear from you, when you would email me and text me and send me Facebook messages and carry your pigeons and ride in on a horse and deliver the message that what you said or what they talked about or shared in that episode I applied and it grew my business and it grew me as a sales professional and I grew as a manager. That was the stuff that I realized was really exciting for me, and so what I'm excited to share with you is that we are really dialing in and refocusing our energy to return the playbook to the dealer playbook, because we want it to be a tangible and practical experience for you.

Speaker 1:

Experience for you, we want you to be able to tune in on YouTube or podcasts, wherever you're capturing this, and walk away enlightened and lifted, full of ideas and context about how you can take the discussion and practically apply it to your day-to-day routine to grow your business routine. To grow your business, to increase profits, to grow your people, to grow your business, to grow your presence, to get more attention. Those are the things that really excite me. I want you to be able to walk away from every episode going. There's my key takeaway to not have to guess, to not say, okay, they talked about this, but what do I do with it. I want you to know unequivocally, without doubt, how you're going to walk away from every episode with something to apply and that you can even tell I'm like posturing up here and I'm like I'm excited about it. That really excites me because that is the essence of the dealer playbook. So then it got me thinking.

Speaker 1:

The timing of it all is really interesting because when we observe where the industry is going, now just seems like the right time to get back into it with practical information that can be applied over your morning cup of coffee. That can be applied over your morning cup of coffee. That can be applied in your morning sales meeting. That can be applied when you're working with your customer, penciling a deal, going up to the tower, working with your people, training your people. We need that now again more than ever. And when I think about, interestingly enough, going all the way back to the beginning and one of the motivators for starting the dealer playbook, we were on the tail end of a market correction Right after 08, 09, 2010,. We were still coming out of it and we were still trying to figure out what the new normal was back then and I'm like we got to get information out into this industry. Well, here we are again. No wonder I'm feeling this way. We are on the, on the cusp, the beginning of a market correction we just came out of and I'm not even going to say it because I'm sick of saying what we just came out of. We've talked too much about it. Uh starts with C, rhymes with ovid. Uh, and here we are again.

Speaker 1:

All of the discussions and the worry and the doubt of the industry right now and all of the unknowns, I think are fueling my desire to make the playbook a playbook once more. You thought I was going to say make the playbook great again. No, stop it. That's not what the playbook's about. So what can you expect?

Speaker 1:

Well, we're still going to publish an episode every week. We're still going to have guests, but I'm excited to include takeaways. You're going to be able to go to the show notes again and get guides and resources that you can download and take with you that break down the action items from that episode. That break down the action items from that episode we're going to extract from our guests because I consider you here with me having these conversations we're going to extract from our guests two, three, four tangible, practical takeaways that you can apply immediately to see a result. We're going to refocus back in on my just insatiable desire for you to be in the driver's seat no pun intended, but to take control and grow your profits, to make more money in this industry, to do it ethically, to be the best you can be, to be a beacon of light, hope and amazement in the community with which you reside and with which you operate. Those are the things that excite me. I want to deepen our community that we have around the world of automotive professionals who want those things, who want to grow and help those around them grow, and so that's what you can expect a weekly episode, tangible takeaways, more resources, more practical tips to return to dominating with the dealer playbook.

Speaker 1:

But now that makes me curious, curious, and I need to turn this over to you. I need your help, I need your voice. So, if you do me a favor and let me know what you want to learn about, tell me what topics you want us to dig into, tell me what's on your mind, what problems are you trying to solve, and if you give me that information, I promise I'm going to run to the ends of the earth to curate information for you. The way that you can let me know is by opening up your email and sending an email to producer at the dealer playbookcom. Producer at the dealer playbookcom. Let us know what's on your mind and what you want to learn about so I can put together the greatest playbook for automotive professionals ever known to man. That is the mission.

Speaker 1:

Hey, I want to thank you for being here. If you're brand new boy, did you come at the right time? And if you've been with me for a while? You've blessed my life beyond measure and I'm so glad to have you in this community. Thank you for being a part of this and for your support. I want to hear from you as well. Producer at the dealer playbookcom. Hit me up anytime so that we can put together the most powerful resource in your toolbox. And until then, hey, keep that playbook open. Let's dominate together. Thanks for being here. 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.

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Michael Cirillo

Host