“Ten Cars Does Not Work” - The Habits Behind Higher Car Sales | Raul Tomsa, Client Advisor at Motor Werks
The Dealer Playbook
“Ten Cars Does Not Work” - The Habits Behind Higher Car Sales | Raul Tomsa, Client Advisor at Motor Werks
The Dealer Playbook · Jul 28, 2026
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Concept
10 cars per client advisor
It’s a sales benchmark—how many cars one salesperson is expected to sell. The guest says that number is often not enough for the dealership to meet its targets.
Concept
20 salespeople
This is how dealerships figure out staffing. If you need to sell a certain number of cars, you estimate how many salespeople you’ll need based on how many each one can sell.
Term
units
Here, “units” just means how many cars are sold. It’s a counting term dealerships use for sales targets.
Term
margin on the front end
This means the dealer’s profit from the car’s sale price. The guest is saying that for some expensive brands, that profit is big enough that selling fewer cars can still work.
Car
Land Range Rovers
The Range Rover is a large, luxury SUV made by Land Rover. It’s designed to be comfortable for everyday driving but still capable on rough roads. It’s the kind of expensive vehicle that dealers may focus on when they’re trying to sell new cars.
Car
mini
MINI is a small car brand. The speaker is saying that even if it’s not the most expensive car on the lot, selling more of them can still make you money.
Car
G wagon
A “G-Wagon” is a Mercedes-Benz luxury SUV that’s famous for its rugged, boxy look. The point in this segment is that some salespeople chase only those rare, expensive cars instead of selling what’s available.
Term
fresh pre-owned cars
“Fresh pre-owned cars” refers to newly arrived used vehicles that just hit the lot and haven’t been sitting long. In sales terms, they’re often easier to move because they’re newer to the market and more likely to match what active buyers want right now.
Car
Volkswagen Golf
The Volkswagen Golf is a small car made for regular daily use. It’s known for being practical and easy to drive, and it’s sold in many body styles. The podcast mentions it as part of a general, everyday reference.
Place
Mannheim
Mannheim is a big car auction/buying market where dealers can find vehicles. Prices there can reflect what cars are worth right now.
Term
MSRP
MSRP is the price the carmaker lists as the starting point for the car. Dealers can sell for more or less than that number.
Term
auction
An auction is where cars are sold to the highest bidder. The final price can show what people are willing to pay right now.
Car
Jeep Grand Cherokee
The Jeep Grand Cherokee is a mid-size SUV. It’s made to carry people comfortably while still being able to handle tougher roads when needed. The podcast mentions it because someone was trying to trade it out for something else.
Car
GLE
The Mercedes-Benz GLE is a luxury SUV. Leasing means you pay to use it for a set time instead of buying it outright.
Concept
follow-up tool
A follow-up tool is how a salesperson keeps contacting people after they first talk. The goal is to stay remembered so you’re the one they think of later when they’re ready to buy.
Car
Ford F-150 Lightning
The F-150 Lightning is an electric pickup truck made by Ford. It’s meant to do many of the same jobs as a regular truck, but it runs on electricity instead of gasoline. The podcast brings it up because it drew a lot of attention and sales interest.
LIVE
About close to a hundred percent of every new vehicle ever produced has been sold.
Did you know that?
Kind of sell one way or another.
I say close because there's, you know, a few millions sitting on the lots,
but they'll go to, you know, so it's 99.999 percent of every vehicle ever produced
has been retailed, where they buying from.
And that's the difference.
They bought from somebody they either just needed to deal with or they bought
from somebody like you, who they had a genuine connection with,
where they're going to continue to lean on as the expert, the authority,
somebody they trust, which pays back dividends.
What's something that a 20 car guy a month knows that a 10 car a guy month
does not yet know and car guys talk themselves out of car deals.
One of the things that I enjoy most about producing the dealer playbook is
hearing from you, the messages that I get of people who are getting so much
value out of the podcast, applying it to their day to day workflows
and finding a thriving career right here in the retail auto industry.
It means the world to me.
And, you know, one of the ways that we make doing this possible
is through my agency, Flex Dealer.
And of course, in the spirit of providing value, I think this is a perfect time
to head over to triple W dot flex dealer dot com to show even further support
for you, my beloved DPB gang right now.
If you go to my website, flex dealer dot com, you can get a full free PDF
of my number one bestselling book, Don't Wait Dominate.
And the reason I think it's so special is that a lot of the topics
that are discussed in this book are even more relevant today than ever
with this surge in popularized AI and people wondering, well, what can I do next?
How can I have a competitive advantage?
Well, that's all here in this book.
And so I'd love to be able to offer you a free copy of this.
If you go to flex dealer dot com, it would mean the world to me
because that is how we continue to produce this show for you.
OK, I've been thinking about where I want to start this conversation,
Raul, and and I think I want to start with the punchline
and then work our way backwards.
And the punchline for me is, you know, you you've been in the industry
for a while, right, over like what, 15 years ish, 18 years.
OK, and you start out like everybody, I call it the trust fall,
like you did the backwards trust fall into the industry.
And here you are 18 years later, you work your way up the ladder.
You have the journey that, you know, when new car guys reach out to the show
and they ask questions are like, what do I have to do to climb the ladder?
I mean, you've done it.
You went you you sales finance sales manager, general sales manager.
And then inevitably make a decision.
I'm going to go back to the floor.
Yeah. What motivated that decision for you?
Because nobody else really does it.
I've always kind of been a little bit of a contrarian, like almost
the World Cup just ended, almost everybody I know is a huge messy fan.
I've never been a messy fan because everybody is a messy fan.
So when it came to sort of going backwards, quote unquote, backwards,
I thought nobody does this.
Maybe there's something to it.
Can I recline the ladder anytime I want?
Yes, I've got the resume for it.
But what what am I missing?
Haven't been disconnected from the sales floor for over a decade.
What what am I not getting on what a client advisor goes through every single day
about the process?
What what am I losing that?
You know, maybe who knows what the future brings?
I go back.
I don't want to.
But what am I missing?
So I wanted to find out what I was missing.
And what are some of the things that stood out to you going going?
And I'm even trying to refrain myself from saying going back because
every visual cue I'm getting from you, following you on social, TikTok, Instagram.
There's no going back concept here.
This isn't like you climb.
I should not have even said you climbed the ladder in my back down.
You you this is to me feels like a lateral move.
What are some of the things that you noticed returning to client advisor
from having gone all the way to general sales manager?
Connections may be struggle.
That's some client advisors.
I work at a dealership where we're out in the Chicago suburbs
and let's just say the clients are of a certain vintage age wise.
And do you know who I connect most with?
I'm connecting most with people in their sixties and their seventies.
I don't know if they look to me like I'm their son, their grandson,
but I'm connecting with these people on a level where they they seem surprised
that we're actually connecting.
And that's something that I I couldn't teach.
That was just who I was.
I was always if you want to call it an old soul,
I would always rather hang out with my dad and his friends
because their conversations were way more interesting
than what the 10 and 12 year old kids my age were talking about.
I'd be that kid in the midst of the adults
trying to listen to what the adults are talking about.
So when it comes to that connection, which is I don't think easy.
I don't think it's teachable.
I think it's experience based of who you are.
I think we've talked even off the air, right?
I'm a I'm a deacon in my church.
I deal with people of all ages.
I'm 38 years old, but I'll give you a quick example.
About two years ago, a friend of my mother's passed
and they live down in Arizona.
And I've known her since I was a child.
OK, they moved down 30 plus years ago.
I went to her funeral and I thought about it this way.
Yeah, did I go to but but over the last 30 years,
every time I've seen her, hey, how are you?
How you doing? How's life?
And I came to this realization sitting, you know, in that church
when the funeral was going on.
Am I at my mom's friend's funeral or am I at my friend's funeral?
And, you know, I've been telling young people since then
this concept of be friends with your parents' friends
because I deal with the young people at our church, right?
And, you know, how many of you have you might be 18,
you might be 20 years old.
Do you have your dad's buddy's phone number for anything?
Right. So again, that connection.
And you said, what does this have to do with sales?
Absolutely everything.
Because I don't see ABC as always be closing anymore.
I see this always be connecting.
And that's what I found.
That's what I've uncovered.
It's very, it's very easy for me to sell a car.
I love it because it's a it's a transition of a conversation
that everyone's having. How do I sell more cars?
Well, you're asking the right question
from the wrong angle in my estimation.
It's not about selling the car.
The car is actually going to sell it.
I often joke. I'm like, you know, we'll go into a dealership.
And I'm like, you see that chair right there?
And they go, yeah.
And I'm like, that chair is going to sell six cars this month
because it just exists,
because somebody already knew what they wanted.
Hey, about close to 100% of every new vehicle ever produced
has been sold. Did you know that?
It's going to sell one way or another.
I mean, I say close because there's, you know,
a few millions sitting on the lots, but they'll go to, you know,
so it's 99.999% of every vehicle ever produced has been retailed.
Where are they buying from?
Right.
And that's the difference.
The connection they bought from somebody they either just needed to
deal with or they bought from somebody like you,
who they had a genuine connection with,
who they're going to continue to lean on as the expert,
the authority, somebody they trust, which pays back dividends.
You said this can't be teachable.
You've observed things in your nature from your lived experience
that can't be teachable.
Why does that become so challenging?
Why is it the answer?
Right. Like I look over at the last 12 plus years doing the show
and 700 plus interviews.
And this is one of those points that I feel we need to emphasize
because it's a it's a throughput of every successful person's being
that there's the connection way to do things.
There's the human real caring service minded way of doing things.
And then there's the way that everyone keeps belaboring,
which is transactional and all of these things.
Why is it so difficult?
Why is this such a challenging thing to teach people?
I don't know.
It's there's a large swath of the population that wants to learn it.
And I it's just and it's it's one of those things of like,
was I always this way?
Maybe, maybe yes, maybe no.
There was one, you know, I started some cars when I was 20 years old.
And yes, there were those people that were, I mean, I was a child for all.
And I mean, I was a legal and adult, but dealing with business people
and dealing with people with careers, I was I was new to to life.
And so it was a lot of learning.
It was a lot of of wraps.
If you want to liken it to kind of working out, it takes wraps.
And I've told I've actually even made this connection to my time in the FNI office.
Let's say on average, an FNI manager touches 60 deals a month,
you know, in the course of the year, how many how many people did you serve?
Quite a bit, you know, and and and that's at a level of where you're
man, in the first 15 minutes, you're creating rapport.
In the next half an hour, you're doing your selling.
And in the last half an hour, you know, 15 minutes, you're printing out paperwork.
So you had about an hour's time to to really strike up a real conversation.
So it is about wraps.
But again, I a lot of times I've had younger client advisors
see how I talk on it to the client on a T.O.
And they go, how do you do that?
Right. Well, it's it's life experience.
It's learned experience.
You can do it too.
You could listen to how, you know, and take that down and kind of
internalize it and do the same thing.
Well, I can't do it like that.
Well, I don't know what to tell you that, but you can, but you have to believe you can.
Right. This ties into something that I think is so important.
I mean, when I was coming up in my career
and this is going to be a statement, a question and a compliment.
When I was coming up in my career, every mentor I had said,
nice shoes, clean appearance.
You know, if you're going to have a beard, make sure that it's clean
and you're groomed and all of these things.
And I'm sitting here watching you very well put together.
There's the compliment, right?
White shirt tie.
We live in a society.
Here's the question.
We live in a society that wants to say, no,
just be you.
And no, that's all that's old school.
And that's this.
Some might say, no, but it's probably because Raul works for some
Highline brand and that's just the way it goes.
But what have you observed?
I mean, I was in Kazakhstan, Raul.
I went to 30 dealerships in 72 hours.
It did not matter if it was a Kia store.
A gray import, a Highline and everything in between.
They all had professional white shirts, highs, clean, groomed.
You walk into some dealerships in North America and you know,
this kid just rolled out of bed and he's the guy wondering how
he's going to make more money.
So have you observed that the way you carry yourself actually
translates can be quantified into the business case for how you
operate and how you generate income for yourself?
Absolutely.
Societal norms, if you want to call them that, exist for a reason.
I'll give you, I'll give you this example.
When I was young, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up.
I just knew that I wanted to wear a suit and tie and work downtown.
I'm in Chicago now.
OK, so downtown Chicago, I'm a kid.
You go through downtown Chicago, there's a man with a briefcase.
There's a lady, you know, business attire and you say, that's it.
They figured out life.
And so I do believe societal norms are important.
And I believe in sales, you kind of have to be all things for all people.
And you have to be as unaffensive as you can be.
There's a reason why there are dress coats.
There's a reason why, again, societal norms exist to where, OK, if you act
this way in society, you will get a certain result.
Now, all the people in the world that are drawing outside the lines
and are the artists, so to speak, they're the artists.
I would call them, you know, almost.
They're the special ones of society that sort of exist to entertain us
to keep things a little spicy.
We've got no problem with those people.
But when that starts trickling down into everybody being just who you are
and and and what not.
And again, I am in an area where if there were gauges in my ears
and all sorts of piercings coming out of my face and neck tattoos, it doesn't fit.
Plus, it's not the kind of person I am again.
It just isn't.
But this this idea of just be yourself.
Well, sometimes yourself, there were times in my life
when I was being myself and myself was not the right person.
So I had to come back in line again.
You know, again, I'm a very religious person.
I believe the things that the scriptures say.
The reason the scriptures exist is to kind of give you a guidebook
to make life, which is already hard, slightly easier.
Right. Life's already hard, complicating life for yourself
in making things more interesting.
Good luck. You are a free will, free well being.
You do you, man.
But then you cannot rebel against society
when society goes, we're not about that.
Yeah. Well, and it's as simple as this for me.
It's like, hey, I love what you just said.
It's like, you do you nobody's judging you.
However, if you're going to walk on to this playing field
and you're going to complain
that things aren't working to your favor,
perhaps it's time to start playing the game
that the universe around you is playing.
There's there's universal truths.
You and I, you know, believe believe in the same things, right?
So we we can name it.
But if you don't believe that, then let's just look at how the universe operates
because there is definitely an operating system to the universe.
The universe rewards certain actions and it does not reward certain actions.
And because, you know, at your point, we operate in society
with a base foundational moral framework.
When it's an effect when you operate inside of that,
you get the intended results.
When you don't and you kick against the pricks,
you get an unfavorable outcome, and it just is what it is.
Nobody's judging you or just saying,
don't be mad when you're playing this game
and not getting the results of the game
because you're refused to play by the rules of that game.
And here we think we're programmed to rebel against the rules
and because that makes it more interesting and makes life more fun.
And no person wants to play a game with no rules.
Think of a video game.
If you play a basketball game and you turn fouls off
and you you score, run up to 400 points in like an NBA 2K or in real life,
who's playing chess with you with no rules or checkers
where you just say, I'm going to take this piece and I'm going to put it there
and I win in one move.
Well, that's not how that works, but that's those are my rules.
And so, again, I think I think the rules make things interesting.
I think the rules make things fair.
And following the rules, quote unquote,
is not a bad thing.
It's meant to help not hurt.
Yeah, I think about it this like here's a practical thing
I'm thinking through as we're discussing this.
If I'm a movie star and I want to make my character believable,
I immerse myself into the identity of that character.
So that in the environment that's been created for this character,
it's believable. OK, so now let's take that same context to suburbs of Chicago.
If I am and maybe I don't want to accept that I have to change myself,
but I want to get into my character so that I am believable in my environment.
Guys, go to the US Census websites, look up the demographics of your area,
figure out what environment you are operating this role in and play your role.
Like if you really don't want to believe that you have to change your identity,
then just get into your character.
And if and if you're the demographics of your market
and your brand that you're trying to sell,
suggest that you you are now the Brad Pitt, not from Legends of the Fall,
but you got to be a little more Troy than be Troy.
Like that's kind of the way I'm thinking about it in this moment.
Now, for guys like you and I, I'm like, no, like my role,
there is no role for me.
What you see is what you get.
I'm the same at home, at church, at play, at work.
It's a much easier way to live and to nudge nudge. Sure.
But. Absolutely.
But if you really wanted to bring it down to its lowest common denominator
so that you can stomach it, if you're a sales guy that's sitting there being like,
how come I don't have more?
How come Raul is soaking up all of the deals?
Guys, I hope you're listening between the lines here
because he's revealing what I believe are eternal truths
to how the universe operates, how people operate.
I want to ask you this.
What, if any competitive advantage, have you
or do you feel like you have gained having the perspective of operational leadership
moving back to the sales floor as a client advisor?
I let a lot slide.
What do I mean by that?
If another client advisor sells a vehicle ahead of me, I go, good job.
Good. I mean, I didn't get to it first.
There's 300, 400 other vehicles here go.
Whereas, you know, when you're fresh in here, oh, man, he took my deal, you know, et cetera, et cetera.
I up here, I am, I don't know if you want to call it on a higher plane, so to speak,
of like the little I don't let the little things bother me anymore.
Like they once did to where I go, OK, the store wins.
I cheer, like, for instance, here's one thing I do.
And, you know, I don't like putting this stuff out there.
But anytime somebody takes a deposit for a call it an out of state deal or what a hate.
I just sold this thing.
They send it to the entire sales floor.
I reply, not all.
I reply to that person and say, great work.
I do that.
And, you know, after two or three to one particular guy, he came up to me.
He goes, why are you?
Why are you congratulating me for selling that car?
I go, because I'm proud of you, man.
And the more cars you sell, the more money you'll make, the happier you'll be.
And the better of a co-worker you'll be.
I'll get mine.
I'll get mine. OK.
But I'm proud of you for selling that vehicle.
And the guy about, you know, you could knock them over with the feather.
Because because everybody else is like, ah, I had somebody on that
and I got to call my guy now and tell him he missed out.
And that's going to be an awkward conversation.
And why do you have to, you know, and again, I'm not speaking
specifically of this store right now.
I'm speaking in general, you know, what it can be like on sales floors
sort of from coast to coast.
So again, I look at things, I think, almost like they say,
the best employees act like owners and the best owners act like employees.
I like to think like I'm the owner.
I like to think like I'm the general manager, even if I'm just a client advisor.
It resonates with me.
Something I want to emphasize here that I'm picking up on
is just because you're not the owner of the store doesn't mean you can't be the owner of you.
And you can't be the leader of you and operate like an executive.
If you are your own executive, why would I not present myself, be encouraging of my team?
The other thing that's coming to me, which I believe is probably a bigger problem
than we'll be able to solve on on this episode, which is a part two.
There's always a part two.
And then this might need a part three through two through 10.
We're either a team or we're not.
And what makes it not a team, like, so we say we're a team,
we do our team meetings in the morning, we got the sales meeting and we got the rah, rah, rah.
But then in application, what you're pointing out, you're illustrating a very real picture
in which many people are operating then for themselves.
They're not operating like a team.
You brought up the World Cup, right?
I mean, do you think Lameen is really upset that he didn't score a goal in that final match
or that he's really excited his team won the World Cup?
He's he's excited to be a World Cup winner.
Nineteen flipping years old, 19 years old, dude, and he's a World Cup winner.
No one for the rest of his life, for the rest of history,
we'll be able to take that away from him.
He earned it.
He contributed.
Is he a star?
Yes. And what I, where I guess I'm going with this, what you're really bringing
to the forefront for me is what makes you a star in your ecosystem is that
you're a team player, you're not out for yourself all the time.
You're playing, you're playing the infinite game and so many people are trapped in the myopic.
Oh, my gosh.
Think about, OK, I'm six months in and the place flooded the floor.
I mean, I've seen guys six months into selling cars again.
This is 18 years ago and they're flood and then they're gone, right?
And so I had this, this concept of, well, stop again, you do you, you look,
there is a part of this business that is and kind of going back to the beginning.
You know, when you're a sales manager, you're building a business,
but you are relying on people to sort of execute that the team to execute that.
And coming back to the sales floor, there's a little bit of like,
this is my business within a business.
Part of the grander business of like, I, you know, I help somebody go get a car.
I help sign somebody out.
We're an A to Z store.
So if my buddy, you know, is off that day and the deal is 95% done,
I'll do that 5% for him.
A few months ago, I test drove, negotiated,
did our F and I menu and brought everything up to the little signing of the paperwork.
So I did the 95% for someone because I had nothing else going on that evening.
And again, it's easy for me to do this.
So the guy goes, well, you know, I kind of need the unit.
Can I just, I said, cool, how about you give me a hundred bucks?
He goes, no, that's, I said, yeah, pays for lunch this week.
Yeah, I did 95% of the work.
You'll get the whole deal.
You'll get everything.
Said, if you really want to recompense me here, how about a hundred bucks?
He goes, I can't believe you would do that.
Said, again, I wasn't doing anything else.
It was 45 minutes of my day.
You gave me a hundred dollars cash for it.
It's fine.
So again, it's, it's about, and what did that do for him that month?
Right.
I think again, there's this dichotomy of you have to do you, you have to be
successful for you and your business, but you have to do everything at the same
time to make your environment a better place.
And that, that, that's being a good person to those around you.
What I'm hearing is the law of reciprocity and full effect.
It's you're pouring value into your business and knowing, like having faith
enough to know that it will find its way back to you, probably to a greater
degree.
And, you know, I just think of the value of what that does in the relationship
between you and your coworkers to, to create a team atmosphere where now
everyone realizes, you know, the, the, uh, that old Zig Ziglar quote, help
as many people, other people achieve success and you'll have success.
I want to ask you this kind of in the, in this line, right?
So many people though, I think get trapped in this, like, I need to make
more, more climbing the ladder is the way I make more.
General sales managers probably make way more.
What I'm hearing though is there, there's like this tradeoff, potential tradeoff
of money versus meaning.
You, you've kind of found a greater meaning in all of this.
You've found a greater operating level in all of this.
So what would you, what do you think returning to the sales floor?
For those that are wondering, has it cost you anything financially?
And if so, what's the, the positive other side of it that others aren't
considering, like, have you gotten your life back?
Have you, you know what I mean?
Like, I'm working harder, I set this year aside, so to speak.
I didn't, I didn't go into this of like, oh, let's see what happens.
I work open and close.
I didn't as a sales manager.
So I'm working more hours.
I'm seeing my kids less.
However, it's for the greater good.
If you want to call it that, I've got a plan up here that is getting closer
and closer every day to come into fruition.
And because I work in kind of a special place where I have six brands under
one roof, something that is unique, special.
I kind of wouldn't have done this anywhere else, if that makes sense.
Because, you know, how, how great is it to have to be in a brand and also have
your, the greatest competitor to that brand under the same roof?
And by the way, you can sell both.
So then to the client, it's like, which one's better?
It's like, these are the great features to both you choose.
I'm here just to facilitate that deal for you.
So the monetary impact has not been negative, thankfully.
You know, I got four kids at home.
So that is something that I know a lot of people worry about, but they also
worry about it because ever since the 80s, you have this average of 10 cars
per client advisor, right?
I need 200 units.
I need 20 salespeople.
Well, I knew from the start that 10 cars was not going to cut it.
From the start, I said, I'm going back to the sales floor to be a 20 plus
guy or else this is, this doesn't work.
I mean, 10 cars a month does not work unless you're selling Lamborghinis,
right, or brand new Porsches with that huge margin on the front end and
hold that margin, et cetera.
So 10 cars doesn't cut it.
So when I, when I got to the 20, I said, what's next, you know, and what's next
is 30 and what's next after that is 40.
I mean, in my mind, I had 40 as the number of, I'm going to sell 40 cars a
month out of here.
And then I got into talking with some people that are doing a hundred.
I say, what?
They go, yeah, we do a hundred.
I talked to somebody that says, I sold 120 cars last month and I didn't
work 40 hours a week.
And I go, there it is.
That was that for everybody.
You and I both know absolutely not.
It takes a special kind of person to be the kind of person to do that kind
of production.
But I said, why not me?
I said, can I give a year of my life dedicated to doing something at such a
high level that here almost every store has a GSM, every store has a GM,
every store has sales managers and F and I managers.
Not every store has a guy doing tens and tens of cars every single month.
And if I could figure that out, I think that's probably more special.
So if you're one of these kind of people that climbing the ladder wanting
to be like the guy or the gal, quote unquote, I think that's a, I think
that's a bigger achievement.
You know, and I think that's another way of really writing your paycheck and
writing your future and taking that into your life.
Because guys like that, the store could sell that new owner is probably
isn't messing with that person, right?
GMs can change that GM can try to mess with that guy.
I don't think they'll be successful.
GSMs could change that.
It doesn't matter.
That's a rock.
That's a rockage or brawler in that place.
And so I said, why not me?
What's something that a 20 car guy a month knows that a 10 car a guy month
does not yet know?
10 car guys talk themselves out of car deals.
And especially if, because a lot of our comp plans around the industry are
based off of front end growths are based off of margin.
And in some, they've talked themselves into thinking that zero equals
more than a mini.
I don't know where that math math's out, but I've, I've, I've had client
advisors that work with me that have worked for me.
I'll give you an example.
We were at a store and we were at a JLR store that was doing very well in
margin and I had a client advisor that was an amazing, amazing salesman.
And he could never get to the 10 cars, but he was doing 99 cars
very well to where I sat down with him one time and said, bro, you're,
you're, you're the dates bigger than mine and I'm not manager.
Keep going.
I said, but here's where you're missing out at 10 cars.
We were paying an extra 5% and if he had a lead, if he had an up on one
of my bagels on the lot, couldn't be bothered.
He had to sell brand new Range Rovers or he couldn't be bothered.
And I said, if you would have just sold one more bagel,
you would have unlocked and I know you're driven by comp.
Just sell a bagel.
There was thousands waiting for you with that bagel sale, but it was a $200
mini and you couldn't be bothered.
So that's the difference where a 20 car guy or gal is just, just stacking deals
and it'll all sort of come out in the wash.
That's what they understand that the more cars I sell, whether they be
minis or not at the end of the day, I'll be fine.
But the 10 car guy is, is searching for the, for the fresh pre-owned cars is
searching for the G wagon customers where you, you know, at a Mercedes store,
you get one or two G wagons a month and you think that you're, you're going
to be the guy that sells every G wagon.
And so that's, I think, you know, kind of a long answer, but I think that
that's, you're going to be the G wagon guy wearing khakis that are too tight.
And too short with golf shoes and, and a white polo that has a catch up
stain on the sleeve.
I get a little salty over that one.
Um, but you know what, the visual that comes to my mind role is the millionaires
who will still stop to pick up a dime on the sidewalk.
Like we kind of have a backwards where we think, Oh, once you, if
I could get the bigger money, I will somehow just start devaluing all of
the cheap money.
You're, this is that same concept to me.
It's like, dude, I'm tripping over, I'm tripping over dollars to get to pennies.
And, and it changes the psyche.
What's something else that you've observed separates a 10 car guy from a
20 car guy or a 20 car guy actually from a 10 car guy service.
You know, there's just being at the service of the client again, no matter
what they're there for, um, it's the guy that walks the person to service or
part department and not says, Oh, it's over there.
You know, it's the guy or gal that picks up the trash on the lot and doesn't
call the porter.
It's, it's, you know, the person that cares about people, cares about their
coworkers, cares about their managers and cares about their clients.
Because, and, and I know that might sound cliche and it might sound very
cum barrage, but here as a GSM for a short amount of time, and I had a client
advisor again, I went to a store that was not performing very well.
And when I showed up there, like I was unlike anything that I'd ever seen.
And, and this was a fresh person in the business.
And they said, like, what, what, like books do you read?
Like what sales tactic?
Like, how are you the way that you are?
Like, what do you read?
And I said, the Bible did one of these.
And I said, it, this is, you know, okay, if we want to talk about the elephant
in the room of like the car advocates out there, okay.
And that's becoming more and more prevalent that, you know, it's
out there, right?
The content is out there.
Yeah.
And every single person that goes up against one of these car
advocates will tell you, well, the reason why we exist and the reason
why we're good at what we do is because of the experience.
But I ask you, Mr.
Cirillo, if you were to, you know, just pull the American public, would you
say, Hey, would you say you had a positive or negative experience when shopping
for a car?
Yeah.
There are good dealers.
I worked for one.
I like to think I am one and I do give that good experience.
And this is going to sound, I think I'm in the minority, not the majority.
So that's, that's the other thing is just being a good human.
I bring it back to just being a good human.
You got to be the kind of person that is going to draw other humans to you and
that they're going to want to spend time with you.
One of my first deals back on the sales floor, we have this thing on our
website, one person, one price, one hour.
And, you know, when, when I get the lead, the guy goes, I read this whole thing.
Are you really can sell me a car an hour ago?
I'll take, take a step forward.
I can sell you a car in half an hour.
There's something wrong with you, not me.
And, you know, he laughs and all that.
And, and we were there for 34 hours together, not doing the car deal.
We're talking about, we're going to get sushi after, and he had been in the oil
and gas business and I'm Romanian.
He had spent some time in Romania.
We're talking about everything else, but the vehicle itself.
And yes, he transacted, of course.
So that's, that's another thing.
And, and again, there, there's this, there's this dichotomy.
Do you, do you want to transactional or relational sales?
I think you could do both, but it's the relational sales that make it fun.
They make this worthwhile and that draw people to here.
So I think about it in, in these terms, because I love what you're
saying right now, it, it resonates with me.
By the way, P.S.
Bible is the best.
You want a business book?
Read the Bible.
Like something that, that we miss and you're bringing up, if I could just a
quick side note here, which is Jesus never walked up to people and said, Hey,
is there anything I could do for you?
He pro, he was proactively observing.
And proactively serving people, you bring up, picking up garbage on the lot.
Yo, that's what Jesus would do.
You know why?
Because you either care enough about yourself that you know, you don't deserve to
work at a place that's filthy, or you accept the status quo and say, well,
that's not my job.
No, it's like, bro, you don't deserve to work at a place that's filthy.
You don't deserve this.
So do something about it.
You are better than this.
So pick up the trash, serve.
That is an active service.
You know, you said like showing somebody to service, not just saying, Oh,
it's over there.
Like these are all just such commonsensical things.
And I mean, to me, the dark humor in my mind is if you're sitting here right now
and DPB gang, come on, you know, I love you.
But if you're sitting here right now going, but what do I got to do to be a
good person, an indication you're not one.
Maybe time to start pondering.
Maybe time to start reading, read, read that.
Think and grow rich, read that power of positive thinking, read that Bible.
We've covered a lot of territory.
I want to, as we start to wind down, I want to cover one piece up to now.
We've talked about how you present yourself for those that are really leaning
in paying attention, Raul presents himself.
Well, if you are not watching this, you're only listening pop over to YouTube.
You have to see this one in order to believe.
We've talked about how you present yourself.
And part of that presentation is what's happening in your mind.
We talked about how you have a vision of something you want to achieve.
We're going to put a little pin in that because that's going to lead to my next
question. We talked about proactive service.
We talked about being a leader of one.
We talked about the power of being a team player for those that are wondering
what separates a 20 plus, a 30 plus, 100 plus car guy or gal
from those that keep getting stuck at six to 10.
This is a roadmap.
This is a roadmap.
Now let's talk about, you know, where you're building towards,
which I believe is a critical foundation for where I saw you,
where you popped up on my radar, which is social media.
And admittedly, I think even in 2026, at the time of recording this,
we get stuck trying to reconcile, is it all social media?
Or is it all hand to hand shaking and like the things that we've talked about?
And my best guess, and I'm going to turn it over to you is
it's probably a majority of who you are in real life, amplified by social,
where I think a lot of people are like, no, if I just do social and I drop it like it's hot
and I do the worm on the floor through my showroom and get attention,
that that's going to help me sell more cars.
What has your lived experience been with social media?
How are you leaning into it?
How are you thinking about it?
And what is the motivator of you continuing to be consistent at it?
I could go on for a while and try to just summarize it.
There's two masters you have to serve in social media.
Doing the worm gets the views.
It'll never get your car sale.
Early on, I was doing skits a lot and I have to return to them
because my fans have been asking for them.
They appreciated my humor, my creativity.
But those skits will never get me a car deal.
All that got me was followers and you kind of have to feed the algorithm
so that the videos you do get in front of eyeballs.
But what has really paid dividends is the educational stuff.
It's the expert.
I'll give you a quick example.
I'm sitting trying to buy cars at Mannheim and I see G-wagons,
2026-mile year G-wagon delivery miles sell for $20,000 over MSRP at auction.
And so I grabbed my camera and I walk out the door and I do a video.
And the hook was the G-wagon market is exploding.
It's something that I cannot tell you in the factual statement
because I just saw one go for $20,000 over.
That video led to a local customer who said he had a hard time at my store
connecting with somebody and understanding the G-wagon market.
Coming in, putting an order for a G-wagon, leasing a GLE while he waits
because he had a grand Cherokee he wanted to get rid of
and bringing one of his best buddies in and saying,
you're leasing a GLE like I did and you're doing it from Raul.
That's three car deals for those counting at home.
Wow.
And what I want to say is what you want to do with social media
is if you are a good person and you are putting out the right kind of content
and it's very important to not embarrass yourself or your store,
it's a good thing for people to know you before they need you.
And I didn't coin that term.
Others have.
But that's the concept of I made a video clip and these don't get huge.
But I said, listen, if you're not buying a car today, hit follow.
If you're not buying a car for six months or six years, hit follow.
Because you know what?
I decided that I'm going to be here for the long call.
And I've got brands for everybody.
I've got vehicles for everybody.
You never know when.
The social media is my follow-up tool for lack of a better word.
You don't want to, client advisors hate that.
A happy birthday call or, hey, it's been a year.
If they're following you and you're always in front of their radar,
when it's time for their spouse to get a vehicle and it's time for them to get a vehicle for a child
or they're on the golf course and say, hey, oh, you're shopping.
You got to go see this guy.
I mean, I had a client that I had build out here last year.
I didn't know he was in my followers and he he fell down my trade-in tool.
And when I reached out to him, I was like, hey, man, I don't know if you remember me,
but I helped you get this car.
And he goes, of course I remember.
He goes, I've been following you for months.
You're the greatest thing I've ever seen.
I said, oh, stop it.
He's like, he's like, bro, you've got it.
And he goes, I kind of want to invest in you.
I said, I don't even know what the business is yet.
But when I figure it out, can I take you to lunch?
He goes, you better.
So I mean, these are, again, conversations of like, yeah, did I help that guy get a
ANG GT last year?
Sure.
But now he's a fan of mine, which is so weird to hear.
Like it's insane.
But I've got all these supporters now of like, dude, you're the guy and we're so glad you're doing this.
And I think that that's a high level of this social media game that I don't know if everybody
can attain.
I think everybody should strive for it.
But again, I think the realness of it, if you put out the realness of who you are,
why your process is better than the other guy down the street,
how you could be more efficient for the customer and how you can serve them.
I mean, in my emails, every time I get a lead,
text, whatever, call, I'm Raul, I'm here to serve you.
How can I serve you?
And if you can put that out there, I think it just be a huge success.
Was there any fear in the beginning, starting on social media, or if not, what would you say
to those who are maybe struggling to get started, worrying that they're only going to get two views
or a hundred views or whatever it might be?
When I tell you the last thing I wanted to do as a man in his late 30s, pushing 40,
is become a influencer, I mean, you can list a billion things.
Number 999 million would have been do social media and become an influencer.
I thought I missed the boat.
Yes, contrary to popular, I used to care a lot about what people think of me.
And then I came to this realization because, oh my gosh, yes, there are some comments that,
but I'm very sarcastic by nature, and I love to troll the trolls.
It's part of, actually, it became part of my fun in all of this, is to troll the trolls back.
And it's like, as long as I'm not embarrassed by what I put out there,
meaning it's factual, it's clean, it's the right thing, I shouldn't be so scared.
So there's a little bit of getting over a certain hurdle, and then the supporters started to come
in, which kind of softens some of the blows. And again, I think it's tough because we're in a
field where people love to comment. It's easy to hate on car salesmen. It's like you're in
sainthood if you do. There's no problem with hating on a car salesman. So I will tell you,
if you do have really low self-esteem maybe and can't, I always bring it back to,
if I shut it off tomorrow, what's the life behind that's left? Man, I have an amazing wife,
I have amazing children, I have an amazing spiritual life, church life, community life,
and I could still sell cars. So my foundation cannot be shaken. So as long as you're the kind
of person whose foundation can't be shaken, do it. And do it well. There are going to be
some growing pains and all that, but here, I'm so glad I did it. I only regret not having started
sooner. That seems to be a common sentiment, but I love all of this as built up perfectly to this
point. I think a lot of people just want to dig into the social media conversation,
but understanding your journey, your psyche, your mindset, how you behave, how you carry yourself,
these are all things why I think the social is working. In an increasingly tech-enabled world
where there's AI avatars and all these sorts of things, and it could be really easy to create
video, authenticity, the human aspect is what's going to shine through. And I mean, that's kind
of the beautiful thing about authenticity is that if you can't be authentic, then it's not going to
work for you. But if you can be true to. I had somebody say, hey, just get chat GPT premium,
load up a couple of videos, and then it's going to make videos for you and it's going to save you
so much time. And I just stared at them and go, never, no, like, are you crazy? Like, no. So again,
I think because I was, you know, I'm showing this on a Sony, you know, I take videography pretty
seriously because it's one of my hobbies. And so a lot of people ask me like, wow, I mean, I can't
put like this must take you, you know, all day. And I go, no, it doesn't. And it takes me five
minutes maybe to film and maybe seven minutes to edit, rounded up to 15 minutes. You see it,
you see a one minute video clip. It's about, it's about 15 minutes investment of my time.
And anybody out there that tells you, well, I just don't have time to do this. Great. It's
because you don't want to make time. You don't want to learn how to do it. That's fine. You just
stay where you're at, man. So there's going to be more for the rest of us. So it's kind of,
it's, you know, it's one of these things where I don't really, it just like when I was new on the
Salesforce, like, oh, here comes another creator. No, here, there's plenty of room. Anybody that
wants to join, but do it right. Don't, you know, for lack of a better word, like as funny as this
may seem, I've entered almost into this basket of creators, right? And I don't want to do anything
that will kind of make them look bad. And I hope they don't want to do things that make me look
bad, right? And we all are kind of rolling the boat together again, the teamwork of like,
he might have a hundred, 200,000 followers. I'm stuck at like 11,000. That's fine.
And actually, to come back to this, here's something I found. Do not get disappointed that
you're not going super viral, because I will tell you in my study, and this is just what I've noticed,
in my study of this algorithm, the car content, I don't think there will ever be another
Russ flips webs, right? It just it, the algorithm is not pushing that out like it did. However,
however, the two, the three and the maybe 4,000 views you might get instead of 400,000,
I will tell you are going to the right people. I will tell you that the algorithm right now is
really finding the person up and it could be the one person that video funds the one person that
needed to see it that results in the car deal. So do not get discouraged by not going super viral.
I think, you know, ending on this note, but I really do want to talk to you for the rest of the day.
Let's do it. I have an appointment at 130. So I got a little bit. Yeah, me too,
in six minutes, actually. Here's the point. What you said, boy, I want to just like emphasize that.
You know, you brought up Russ flips whips. I mean, look at other look at content creators that
seemingly came out of nowhere. I've been doing this. I've been podcasting for 14 years.
And I've gone, I've had I've ridden all the waves that you could ride. I have all the people you
could think of on this show. And then a guy, you know, like the car dealer guy comes through the
mix and boom, lightning in a bottle. And people, what do they do? They immediately want to get
my take. And I go, congratulations. How fantastic. How fantastic that somebody found an angle that
works for them that is true to the context of their circumstances. However, you know what,
I also can't deny to your point, this is the part I want to really emphasize. If you were to go to
the dealer playbooks, tick tock right now, which we really just started being intentional about,
and you went, we go, bro, this dude only got 1000 and whatever your followers
pause. And here's the secret. Because of this show, think how crazy this is, because of this show,
and the consistency and showing up and being authentic and pouring in value
has created an in there's my dude, my agency, my tech company, no sales department.
Wow, we don't have a single sales person here. I mean, I guess you could say I sell, but
everything is inbound and referral. We have never had a sales team. And yet we are privately owned,
debt free, never borrowed any money, self sustaining, and have a wait list of people that
want to come and do business with us. Because to your point, the 300 here, the 2000 there,
the 4000 here, I don't need all 4000. I need the right one person who has the right one problem that
I can solve who and it has created a beautiful life. I've traveled the world speaking on stage
it like I go because of a podcast, what, you know, and, and, you know, everywhere from Australia to
Kazakhstan, South Africa to Canada and everywhere in between, I brought my wife all over the world.
Some might say, but, but you do that because you were viral. And I'm like, no, I did that because
I reached the right group of people. And that to me is the real emphasis, bro, man, this has been so
enlightening and fun. I really my hope for those that are tuning in, pay attention to what we've
talked about today. This is a playbook. And it is, you know, you said it a few
times, it's available to everyone for those that are willing and who have the desire to do something
with it, can experience greatness in their life and in their career. I want to thank you for
joining me. How can those listening are watching connect with you on socials? My handle is Vin
Sierge. That's Vin Concierge. A lot of people think my name's Vince. It's not Vince. It's Raul. So
V-I-N-C-I-E-R-G-E. You can find me on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook. Yeah. You're the man. Thanks so
much for joining me on the dealer playbook podcast. Thank you. 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.
About this episode
“Ten Cars Does Not Work” unpacks why higher car sales are less about tactics and more about habits. Raul Tomsa argues that most new vehicles get sold anyway, so the real edge is trust and genuine connection—“always be connecting” instead of “always be closing.” He shares practical floor routines (rapport first, then selling, then paperwork), teamwork mindsets, and why presentation and service-minded behavior matter. The episode also ties social media to long-term follow-up: educational, authentic content that reaches the right buyer, not necessarily the most views.
Original notes
Average production has a cost, and it usually shows up long before someone notices it in their paycheck.
After 18 years in automotive retail, Raul stepped away from the general sales manager position and returned to the showroom floor as a client advisor. He wanted to reconnect with the customer experience and find out what separates someone selling ten cars a month from someone consistently producing 20 or more.
Raul explains why average producers often wait for perfect deals, avoid low-gross opportunities, and talk themselves out of transactions before the customer ever does. High performers keep stacking deals, serve every customer well, and understand that one additional sale can unlock thousands of dollars in volume bonuses.
He also shares why personal presentation matters, how helping coworkers strengthens the entire store, and why operating like an owner can make you more valuable regardless of your title.
The conversation moves into social media, where Raul breaks down how educational content creates real business. One video about the G-Wagon market led to a factory order, an interim lease, and a referral who purchased another vehicle.
Raul is a client advisor with 18 years of dealership experience and the creator behind Vincierge. Connect with him on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook at @vincierge
Michael’s takeaway: Average is expensive. Stop waiting for better opportunities and become better at serving the opportunities already in front of you.
Timestamps
00:00 Intro
00:48 Dealer Playbook Support
02:10 Why He Returned
08:41 Can Connection Be Taught
15:37 Play by the Rules
19:39 Leadership Advantage
26:52 Money Versus Meaning
29:03 From 10 to 40 Cars
35:00 Service First Selling
40:56 Social Media Reality
42:06 Content That Sells
49:29 Authenticity Over AI
51:48 Right People Not Viral
55:25 Wrap Up and Connect
The Dealer Playbook
Michael Cirillo
0:00
56:31