[Top Agency Series] Marketing Mastery in Auto Retail With Michael Cirillo of FlexDealer

Michael Cirillo is the CEO of FlexDealer, a dynamic marketing agency dedicated to revolutionizing the way car dealerships attract leads and enhance marketing ROI by utilizing innovative SEO strategies and targeted digital advertisements. Under his leadership, FlexDealer has distinguished itself by becoming an official partner of Toyota Canada. Michael is deeply involved in the automotive community as the Chief of Staff at ASOTU and the host of The Dealer Playbook, a top-rated automotive podcast that offers invaluable insights into the industry.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• [03:22] FlexDealer’s unique mission and approach to digital marketing in the automotive industry
• [07:15] Why FlexDealer chooses month-to-month client engagements over long-term contracts
• [10:29] Michael’s philosophy on business growth and the importance of trust in client relationships
• [12:21] How FlexDealer effectively communicates and executes price increases with clients
• [20:05] The early beginnings of Michael’s entrepreneurial journey
• [27:22] How the lessons Michael learned from his dad shaped his sales acumen and business ethos
• [35:41] Michael’s personal struggle with depression and the pivotal moments of his recovery

In this episode…

Have you ever considered how the deepest of lows could pave the way to the most inspiring highs? How can a journey overshadowed by doubt and depression lead to a thriving business that radiates trust and expansiveness?

Michael Cirillo shares his transformative journey from battling depression and suicidal thoughts to becoming a pivotal figure in the automotive market through digital innovation. Unlike traditional marketing agencies that offer a one-size-fits-all solution, FlexDealer distinguishes itself by offering tailored strategies that consider the unique challenges and opportunities of each auto dealer. This approach, combined with a dedication to building long-term relationships based on trust and value, has enabled FlexDealer to maintain decade-long partnerships with clients, emphasizing the power of adapting and evolving in a fast-paced digital world.

In this episode of the Inspired Insider Podcast, Dr. Jeremy Weisz sits down with Michael Cirillo, CEO of FlexDealer and host of The Dealer Playbook podcast, to talk about overcoming personal and professional challenges to achieve success. Michael’s personal journey serves as a powerful reminder of the impact of gratitude, the importance of seeking help during difficult times, and the transformation that can occur when you align your professional endeavors with a deeper purpose. His insights into the automotive industry and the evolution of digital marketing strategies offer valuable lessons for entrepreneurs and business owners in any sector.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Michael Cirillo on LinkedIn
• FlexDealer
• The Dealer Playbook Podcast
• Gary Vaynerchuk: Facebook For Car Dealers on The Dealer Playbook Podcast
• Friday Fire: What Grant Cardone Said on The Dealer Playbook Podcast

Special Mention(s):

• Rand Fishkin on LinkedIn
• Marcus Sheridan on LinkedIn
• Dan Collingridge on LinkedIn

Related episode(s):

• [Top Agency Series] Most Valuable Advice When Selling Your Agency With Todd Taskey of Potomac Business Capital on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• [Sweet Process Series] How to Save Hundreds of Hours a Month Using Top Productivity Tools with Adi Klevit of Business Success Consulting Group on the Inspired Insider Podcast
• [Top Agency Series] Navigating a Merger and Becoming an End-to-End Digital Partner With Kevin Hourigan of Spinutech on the Inspired Insider Podcast

Quotable moment(s):

• “Time kills deals. You’re not feeling urgent enough because maybe you’re not wanting to break out of your comfort zone.”
• “Gratitude quite simply shifts the lens with which we see the world.”
• “We were destined to do great things.”
• “What you need is your feet held to the fire because if you don’t sell something today, we die.”
• “We must do as the universe does and expand continually.”

Action step(s):

1. Begin a daily gratitude practice. Doing so can reframe your mindset and promote a positive outlook despite challenges.
2. Embrace a value-driven business approach. This cultivates long-lasting client relationships and sets the stage for growth and trustworthiness.
3. Prioritize clear and consistent communication. Good communication ensures clients are aligned with strategies and changes, fostering a strong partnership.
4. Establish your personal brand and authority. This can lead to increased credibility and leverage in business negotiations.
5. Seek help during difficult times. Addressing mental health can not only aid personal recovery, but also inspire an entrepreneurial spirit and resilience.

Episode Transcript

Intro 0:01

You are listening to Inspired Insider with your host, Dr. Jeremy Weisz.

Jeremy Weisz 0:22

Dr. Jeremy Weisz here, founder of inspiredinsider.com where I talk with inspirational entrepreneurs and leaders. Today is no different, I have Michael Cirillo of FlexDealer. You check them out at FlexDealer.com. Michael, before I formally introduce you, I always like to point out some other episodes people should check out of the podcast. This is part of the top agency series, I did one with Todd Taskey. He’s got the Second Bite podcast. Todd helps pair agencies with private equity. He helps sell agencies. Second bite, sometimes he’s found that they sell more on the second bite than they do on the first. We talked about the agency space. You know what’s going on with valuations and selling and m&a. It’s a really interesting episode. Another one that was good was Adi Klevit. Adi Klevit specializes in creating SOPs for companies. So she’s like an easy button for SOPs. So we geeked out on our favorite productivity software, you know, operating procedures, you know, with all the sexy stuff that makes a business work. So it was a fun episode sharing our different resources that we like. Kevin Hourigan was another good one. He’s had an agency since 1995. So he just shared the evolution of, you know, business that, you know, we were talking about, Michael before he hit record, about some of the ups and downs, the economy, like all the crazy stuff, and he’s kind of been through a bunch of the roller coaster rides there. So it’s interesting to hear his take over the year. So check those out on inspiredinsider.com 

This episode is brought to you by Rise25. At Rise25 we help businesses give to and connect to their dream relationships and partnerships. How do we do that? We do that by helping you run your podcast. We’re an easy button for a company to launch and run a podcast. We do the strategy, the accountability, and the full execution. So Michael, we call ourselves the magic elves that run in the background and make it look easy for the host so they can create amazing content, create amazing relationships, but run their business. You know, for me, the number one thing in my life is relationships. And I’m always looking at ways to give to my best relationships. And I found no better way over the past decade to profile the people and companies I most admire and share with the world what they’re working on. So you’ve thought about podcasting? If you have questions, you can go to Rise25.com or email us at [email protected]. 

And Michael has a podcast. He’s been doing it for right now, almost 600 episodes, so you can check it out: The Dealer Playbook. He’s got some really interesting episodes. So Michael knows how important podcasting is as well. I’m excited to introduce Michael Cirillo. He’s CEO of FlexDealer, ARIA, LiftKit, and he’s the host of The Dealer Playbook podcast. FlexDealer helps retail auto dealers turn traffic into revenue. They help with the strategies attack, and they map out so people can make it easy for car shoppers to buy over and over again. So they do. He’s been doing it for almost two decades now. So it’s pretty amazing. And Michael is going to share his journey. Michael, thanks for joining us.

Michael Cirillo 3:22

Hey, thanks so much. And by the way, you said you’ve been podcasting for 15 years and it shows dude, that was the best intro. And just smooth into the sponsor read that I’ve ever heard. You do it better than some of the big dogs out there. Oh, I appreciate all of it.

Jeremy Weisz 3:39

Oh, I appreciate it. That means a lot coming from you. You can go back and check out some of his Gary Vee on the podcast. He looks like 12. That’s how long ago Michael, Gary Vee and Grant Cardone and a bunch of others. So I appreciate that. Let’s start off and talk about FlexDealer. I mean, we have, we have some amazing things to talk about and know how we’re gonna cover it all in like the next 40 minutes because from you know, gratitude is a big thing that comes up for you in his journey as a business owner, but also, you know, you just shared with me that you were suicidal and depressed and it’s crazy to look, to think back to what you were in your 20s to now I’m sure for yourself. So we’re gonna cover some of these things and what you went through, but let’s start off with FlexDealer and what you do.

Michael Cirillo 4:35

Yeah. FlexDealer is on a mission as a marketing agency that’s specific to the niche of retail auto dealers, to bring them the most realistic view of what it actually takes to grow their business digitally. So where most agencies in our industry deliver a very cookie cutter approach, hey, we’re going to come in and do SEO this way. We’re going to come in and run your ads this way, we’re gonna, you know, do this, that and the next thing and there’s very little collaboration with the dealership. We come in and say, hey, well, let’s flip that on its head, every dealer, every market, every brand is unique. Just because you own a Chevy franchise or a Honda franchise doesn’t mean you’re the same as every Honda dealer. 

Part of that is powered by the desire to help the market understand that the few bad apples that give the stigma to car sales and car sales people and dealerships, that’s very few, it’s like, it’s like anything. The few kind of bad experiences, the radicals, the whatever, they’re the ones that kind of shaped the stigma for the entire industry, we’re on a mission to help our dealer partners overcome that negative stigma that’s associated with the car business, by showing them how they can market themselves, brand themselves, put their message out there, what their values are, in a way that resonates with the demands of the market. And then just you know, deliver them cutting edge tech and marketing strategy and practical ideas that they can deploy over their morning cup of coffee that are going to help them see sustainable games. 

And what we notice from that is, instead of flip flopping from agency to agency like is very common in our space, that our dealer partners tend to stick around for quite some time. We have dealer partners that have been with us for 20-plus years. Many. By many, I mean over a dozen that have been with us for over 15 years, and then even more over 10 years, and so on and so forth. Which we think is pretty spectacular considering that we’re a month to month agency, we don’t have long term contracts, which you know, people that are in the m&a space probably don’t want to hear that part. But it’s a testament to us that because our behavior maps to our desire. And our desire is felt by the client partner, we stick around for a long time, regardless of month to month.

Jeremy Weisz 7:15

We have a lot to cover you know, I want to talk about the evolution of the services, evolution of hiring, too. But let’s stick on that topic for a second, which is, you know, I know you don’t follow what the crowd is doing. Right. So let’s talk about the month to month and the thought and decision of why even though maybe other people are advising you, you know, you should really have a six month, a year, whatever. What made you decide to do that?

Michael Cirillo 7:45

It didn’t happen all at once. I mean, we’ve tried termed agreements in the past. For me, there’s a KPI, there’s a metric that is more important to me in business than probably any of the others. And I know some people might be thinking, shouldn’t money like money in be a good metric? It definitely is. But I believe it’s the byproduct of what I’m about to share, which is relationships of trust. And further to that long term relationships of trust. And so when I really look at my desire to have a long term relationship of trust, to help somebody else be successful, knowing that I’ll be successful with them, right, we know the late Zig Ziglar, quote, help as many other people achieve success, and you’ll be successful. That really resonates with me. And so when I looked at it and said, Hey, long term relationships of trust are the most important metric for our business. I then began to examine well, so let me get this straight, then if long term relationships of trust is the metric, and my first behavior is to put handcuffs on them, and say you can’t go anywhere else, it just seemed very counterproductive, counterintuitive to me. And so we just simply said, Hey, we want to make sure that we’re accountable. The greatest accountability mechanism for us as your partner is to make sure that our behavior invites long term relationships, that we don’t need some clause in a contract to force the long term relationship. But it’s going to be our behavior, how we treat you, how we execute, how we’re in the trenches with you, then the thesis is maybe they’ll stick around for a lot longer. And that’s just proven to be the case. 

In fact, some of our client partners unsolicited from us, came to us and just said, Hey, we know we’re gonna stick with you, can we just pay for the whole year up front? And the first time that happened, we were like, what, you can do that? You know, it was one of those types of things. And that’s been a long term relationship that’s been well over a decade now that that client partner in particular has been paying for the entire year upfront, even though there’s no term in their contract. And so, to me, that’s the most important thing. Don’t go against what you say you’re going to do, don’t go against what you think or say is important. And for us, if we want a long term relationship of trust with you, then the last thing on our mind is how do we lock you in and remove your agency, remove your choice from the mix?

Jeremy Weisz 10:29

What was their motivation, Michael, for that? Was there, I don’t know if it was like a tax thing at the end of the year, or was it, do they get a certain you know, somebody will offer okay, if you pay for a year, we’ll give you a percentage off or something like that? What were some of the motivations there?

Michael Cirillo 10:51

I’m sure some of them have to do with tax implications on their end. For us, as we were going through the process and exploring the first time, we definitely said, Hey, we’re gonna give them an incentive, right? Sowe do, I think 20% off if they pay for the year upfront, just and it wasn’t for us to incentivize them, per se, because they had already offered to do it. It was more so for us to just say, hey, here’s a little token of our appreciation for that. And so that’s now just become something that we do every year. And I don’t want to make any mistakes about this. That account also grows. So every two years, they know that there’s going to be an upcharge, we’re going to grow, whether it’s due to cost of living, whether it’s due to cost of goods, whether it’s, you know, whatever it might be inflation. 

But with that, we’re also wanting to over deliver and incentivize. So for example, this last time that they up sold, it was at that second year interval, not only did we give them the 20% discount for paying up front, we also said hey, we’re also going to develop a new website for your group where all of the stores in your group can have their inventory in one single place. And it’s going to make a streamline shopping experience, so on and so forth. And so we’re always looking for what we can do extra to sweeten the pot, put that chef’s kiss on it, so to speak.

Jeremy Weisz 12:21

I’m curious, because this conversation comes up a lot about navigating increasing fees. How do you handle that? Is that upfront that you tell a company like? And then even if you tell them upfront, they may forget, like two years, right? And so how do you navigate that upfront, and then also when the two year mark hits and you’re like, remember, we told you this? 

Michael Cirillo 12:50

Yeah,it’s not so much a remember I told you, it’s more so like, we talked about this, but here’s what we’re gonna do. So I think it’s important for businesses to stand in their authority. Often, and I’ve experienced this before, it’s very easy, especially in the agency game, to become order takers. And you just sit there and you’re like, oh, man, the customer said that if we don’t do this, then they’re going to look somewhere else or, like whatever it might be. For me, I think the narrative is a little bit different. I knew I recognized early on that being a family business in the sticks of British Columbia, Canada, and not having a face and just being another run of the mill mom and pop shop wasn’t going to work for us. I really invested in personal branding. No, I did not buy some big course and figure it all out that way. It was just organic. It started with a desire of, I gotta put myself out there. There needs to be a face to this business if we ever want to break out of this region. And so it was just videos, it was educational content. It was all the things you see everybody doing now, just 15 years ago. Really, as those things start to break out, the podcast. I started the podcast 10 years ago. The desire was it’s a no pitch. You know, give them practical tips and have good conversations type of podcast. And it hit I mean, hit real quick right out of the gates. 

So the reason I share that as a bit of a preface is if you don’t have a personal brand, and you’re not known as an authority on a topic, it’s very difficult for you to break out of that order taker mode. However, it’s really hard for my client partners to dispute the fact that I’ve written two best selling books, and I speak as a keynote speaker on stages across the globe, from Australia to Germany and everywhere in between. It’s hard for them to dispute that they see my podcast every week. I’ve had guests like Gary Vee and Chris Voss and you know, all of the names that they tend to follow. It’s hard for them to dispute those things. And so if it’s ever called into question the authority that I have based on what I’ve built, I can refer them to third party readers. Oh, hey, well, let’s see what Rand Fishkin says about SEO, you know, the founder of Moz, even Zoom agrees with me here, it’s given me a thumbs up. But let’s talk to Marcus Sheridan, the best selling author of, you know, They Ask You Answer. Let’s talk to all of my buddies. And so, the authority definitely lends its hand to when we are going to position for more money. The upfront as well, very, very important. In fact, when we sign New Dealers up, we let them know what our process is. And at the exact point, we will ask them for more money. So if I’m doing a sales pitch, which I don’t really feel like I sell, I know it’s sales, but it’s more of a consultative approach based on everything I just shared. 

When I come into a sales call, it’s typically like the doctor specialist with the clipboard. That’s what they expect from me. So I’m like, Okay, tell me what’s going on. And they bare their souls to me now. It wasn’t always that way, but it is now. I simply let them know, Hey, here’s how our process works and why it’s different. Phase one is this. Phase two is this. Once we’ve concluded phase two, we’re going to know exactly how much it costs to generate a high quality opportunity for your business. And at that point, once we know, should you want more, we will ask you for more money. This $4,000 a month deal will become a $6,000 a month deal at that point. Fair? And they go, That seems reasonable. Okay, well, then along the way, Jeremy, what we do is we make sure that there’s regular interaction. In fact, any of our retainer clients, marketing retainer clients meet with their account rep every single week. 

And I’ll give you the formula for those calls. It’s very simple. They get on the call, they exchange their pleasantries, they review the work that happened the previous week as an accountability. Hey, here’s what we accomplished based on last week’s meeting. Here’s then the opportunities we see that we should capitalize on. Let’s talk about what you have on the go. Let’s create the priority list together. And that’s what we’re going to be tackling over the next week. Is that what you want? Is this clear? Does it map? Yes, it does. Fantastic. Off we go. We also make ourselves available via text message. So any of our client partners can text anybody in the business, including me. In fact, just before we hopped on, I had a client partner that said, Hey, man, I’d really love it if you hopped on this call, we’re vetting a new software for to do XY and Z. Your opinion would matter. Would you be okay with that? I’m like, I shoot back. Yeah, absolutely. 

Communication is key. And we repeat that every week. And then at the end of the month, really the beginning of the next month, because the end of the month for car dealers is pretty hairy. They’re trying to close their books out for the month and get the last sales gone. And all those sorts of things. So the first week of the following month, we do a whole month review. And we say okay, here’s what happened in the month, here’s how things performed, here’s the recommendations we have, what’s going on on your end, what’s coming for this month? What do we need to be aware of so on and so forth. We make it so clear and simple that they know, hey, just so you know, we are about to conclude phase one. We now know how much it costs to generate a high quality interaction from your Google ads, from your Facebook ads. We’re running some advertising on Hulu. Here’s how it’s performed. Your traditional marketing, let’s look at that we know how it performed, here’s what it costs you. Now we’re moving into phase two. Phase two is to continue on with this, this, this and this. we spell it out at the end of phase two, you’re going from four grand to six grand a month. So they know it’s coming. They know, they know, they know. 

The biggest challenge I think businesses face and I know because I’ve been there is lack of communication, lack of the right type of communication. Telling your customers what you’re going to do because that’s your safe space, that’s your comfort zone, instead of just pausing and adapting. My whole business would not exist if we didn’t listen to our customers. The only reason by the way we’re an agency is because we started as a website company, we built our own proprietary CMS. You know, it’s not built on any other platform. It’s not WordPress. We built our own content management system to build car dealer websites, we built our own inventory management system for dealers. The reason we’re an agency is because one day a customer called and said, Hey, man, my website doesn’t show up. And I’m like, What the heck does that mean? My website doesn’t show up. It was going back to ‘06, you know, 2005-2006 point. What does that even mean? Go on Google, Google, Google. Oh, there’s this thing called SEO. Oh, man, I better. I gotta learn everything. There’s only three people in the business at this point. And I’m like, I better learn everything there is to know about SEO. Learn, apply, learn, apply, learn, apply. Oh, dang, it’s working. We should sell this as a service. And it just compounded from there. 

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