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"Win the Top-of-Mind Battle" - Why Car Dealers Need Video Marketing in 2026 | Charles Cannon, GM at BMW West Houston
"Win the Top-of-Mind Battle" - Why Car Dealers Need Video Marketing in 2026 | Charles Cannon, GM at BMW West Houston
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About this episode
Charles Cannon, GM at BMW West Houston, shares insights on the importance of video marketing for car dealers in 2026. He emphasizes the need for consistency in marketing efforts and building genuine relationships with customers through personal branding and social media engagement. Cannon discusses the shift from viewing sales as a job to a career, highlighting the significance of human connection in an increasingly digital world. The conversation also touches on overcoming the fear of video, handling negative reviews, and adapting to economic challenges in the automotive industry.
Topics:
video marketing
personal branding
customer relationships
consistency in marketing
human connection
overcoming video fear
handling negative reviews
economic challenges
career mindset
community engagement
Most dealership marketing advice is “do more ads, post more content, chase more leads.”
Charles Cannon’s playbook is the opposite: become the person your community remembers.
In this episode of The Dealer Playbook, Michael Cirillo sits down with Charles Cannon (General Manager at BMW West Houston) to break down the long-term habits that create consistent referrals, repeat customers, and a reputation that prints business, without needing to go viral.
If you’re a sales pro, BDC rep, or manager trying to stand out in a crowded market, this episode is a blueprint.
What you’ll learn in this episode:
Why consistency beats “new tactics” (and why most people quit too early)
The mindset shift: job vs. career (and what changes when you go all-in)
How Charles uses LinkedIn + social media to stay top-of-mind with customers
The simple video follow-up scripts that humanize you (even if you hate the camera)
How to handle negative reviews without taking it personally
Why Charles calls customers “guests” (and how it changes the entire experience)
How to sell during high rates and high payments with integrity + confidence
Real takeaway: The best online marketing starts offline, and then gets amplified.
Timestamps:
00:00 Introduction and Welcome
00:15 Meet Charles Cannon
00:27 Marketing Strategies for Car Dealers
01:08 Charles' Journey Back to Houston
02:20 Building a Personal Brand in the Car Business
05:05 The Importance of Consistency
08:54 Humanizing Sales Through Social Media
12:02 Overcoming Video Marketing Challenges
19:47 Shifting from Job to Career
30:27 Handling Negative Reviews and Customer Relations
31:40 Economic Challenges and Opportunities
34:42 Final Thoughts and Contact Information
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Introduction and Welcome
Meet Charles Cannon
Marketing Strategies for Car Dealers
Charles' Journey Back to Houston
Building a Personal Brand in the Car Business
The Importance of Consistency
Humanizing Sales Through Social Media
Overcoming Video Marketing Challenges
Shifting from Job to Career
Handling Negative Reviews and Customer Relations
Economic Challenges and Opportunities
Final Thoughts and Contact Information
Select text to request an explanation
Wow, that guy was rude. My name is Charles and I'm going to help you out.
Hi, this is Charles Cannon, your BNW client advisor. One of the benefits of owning a BNW
is BNW is four years or 5,000 miles completely free maintenance program.
I welcome BNW on Charles and you are. Hey, Charles Cannon here, your BNW client advisor.
Hey there, welcome back to this episode of the Dealer Playbook Podcast. Here's a face you've
seen before. You probably heard this face. You probably saw him before. You even came to the
Dealer Playbook. I'm sitting down with Charles Cannon. We're going to be talking about how you
can dominate your local community by doing some tried and tested marketing strategies.
That worked yesterday. Worked today. Guess what? We're going to work tomorrow. Stay tuned.
Charles Cannon, my man. Welcome back to the Dealer Playbook Podcast.
I'm here to be here again. You're back in Houston. I am back in Houston. Yeah, I made the move
back from San Francisco to Houston. My company that owns both dealerships asked me to come back
and here I am. Welcome back to the Promised Land, dude. This is so exciting. But now I got to ask
you though, because you know Texas. I mean, you know Texas very well. So now that you're back
and people say, where are you from? Do you say you're from California or you even go down that
road? You just say you're from Texas. Oh, no. No. I always hope you. I was born in California,
but I was raised here in Texas. I'm a Texan. Yeah. And that's also because you wanted to
find realtors that would work with you. Exactly. Exactly. All right. Very well. Very well. And you
said it's been about six weeks. Yeah. I've been back about six weeks. I started early July and
been hitting around running. Every day is just a blur. So much stuff to do. So much stuff to learn,
but it's been exciting. I love you. I mean, we met each other or have at least been on each
other's radar now for, I'm going to say almost a decade. Yeah. At least about that. And I mean,
I remember the reason we connected, you came to us and you're like, Hey, I want to build a website
for myself because I want to put myself out there. And I mean, you go back 10 years,
maybe it was even longer than that. Nobody was doing anything to really self promote at that
level. I mean, there were one or two here and there, but it's not like it is now where this whole
idea of personal branding and putting yourself out there and really, you know, owning a business
within a business, so to speak, or being an automotivepreneur, so to speak, was really a thing.
In my mind, you've always kind of been on the forefront of that. I want to talk to you a little
bit about this, this idea or this desire you had to put yourself out there when you were selling
before you, before you had kind of climbed the ladder into management. What was it about you
coming into the car business that planted that seed within you to say, I've got to do something
different. I've got to put myself out there in a way that I can't be dependent on anybody else.
Well, I'll tell you, for me, it was a transition of looking at this as a job versus career. And so
once I really decided this is going to be my career, I decided to go all in. I started looking at
the people that were successful at other dealerships across the country. I called it Google
People, kind of see what they did. And I noticed a common theme was that they constant follow-up
of how they took care of their customers. And they were constantly in their face, whether it's
through gift cards or Christmas cards or anything like that. So then I started doing some research
on that of, how can I consistently get in front of customers? Because my ultimate goal was to be
the number one BMW salesperson in the country. That was my goal at the time. But I knew I had a
big hill to climb in order to get there. And so I knew I had to be creative in how I got customers
in front of me. And so that's why I was looking at stuff that was for thinking like doing videos and
reach out to you about doing a professional website. So when they Google me, they would say,
okay, there's somebody that's a professional and he takes his craft seriously. And then they're
more likely to come to you and buy a vehicle from you. I love this because fast forward to 2024
for those that are listening in the future. My beard is all white now. Charles has lost all
of his hair. But it's 2024. You look at this day and age. People, I think it's easy. This
excuse I hear a lot, which is everybody's got a website now. Everybody's got a podcast now.
Everybody's running ads now. Everybody's doing this that the next thing. What's your take on
this idea of I'm, I'm just going to get lost in the mix because everybody else is doing it.
I would think the key is just being consistent. There's everybody's going to try stuff, but
those same people that try look at where they are three months from now, six months from now,
a year from now, 90% are going to drop off because it takes work and you're not going to necessarily
see the results immediately. And so since some people mentality is if I don't see the results,
this is not working versus I'm going to think long term and no matter what, I'm going to keep doing
this. That's what's going to separate you from the, from the rest of the people out there.
How do you remove the emotion from it? For example, it's easy in the context of, oh,
you know what, I'm going to go buy a gold bar at spot because I know that that will
in the long term grow and it will increase my money. And I'm like, oh yeah, great,
lock it in a safe. We're good. Safety deposit. I can sit on that till the day I die. It's going
to be worth so much. But then when it comes to the context of what we do for a living, it's like
everything's got to be so immediate. We don't do what you just said and focus on the long term.
So how do you remove the emotional attachment from this, this perceived
constant sense of urgency that we have to get everything right now?
Oh, you still want to do deals today. There's no doubt about that. But if you're thinking that
this is your career, your long term goal is to get multiple customers in front of you for
multiple different sources. So you have to think that way and say, you know what,
I'm going to continue to work. I'm going to continue to prospect. I'm going to continue to work
service. So then, you know, if for whatever reason, one source of customers goes down,
I said my other sources to get there. But it's just consistent daily habits of doing what you're
supposed to do every single day and you'll see results. It may take a while, but I promise you
you'll see the results that you want to see. What I love about this is it ties into something that
I don't think we talk nearly enough in this industry about. You know, you go to the conferences,
you go to workshops, seminars, 20 groups, and all of the information is very absolute, meaning
all you all you need to do is a website. All you need to do is run ads. If you're not doing SEO
this way, then you're not correct. You'll never win, blah, blah, blah. But when you contrast that
to what you just said, Charles, you said consistency is key. And I can think about the
application in my own life. I mean, for example, are there a million and one automotive podcast
out there now? Absolutely. The one thing, even some that are probably much larger than this one,
which is cool, Mazel Tov. But the one thing that nobody can ever take from me is the consistency
in doing this over almost 11 years, right? That is something that doesn't matter. And from a branding
perspective, that consistency plays into a top of mind awareness, which removes this feeling we
all have or this idea that we all have that we need to go viral. Consistency to what you're talking
about is so important because it removes the attachment to the idea of going viral, because
you're more concerned about the community that's around you. And by virtue of that,
viral is not a thing. It's better to have 10 handshakes than it is a million views from
China on TikTok, right? 100% facts. Yeah, it's like a drip campaign. You're constantly
on their mind. It's a subconscious thing. They see you on social media posts and stuff. They see
you out there doing stuff in the community. Every time they come to the service, you're just saying
hi to them with no material motive of selling them a car. You're just checking in on them and
seeing how life's going. One of the things I do is I follow a lot of my customers on LinkedIn. And
if I see a job promotion, hey, congratulations on your job promotion. Just little things like that.
It just helps you stand out to them. And you're on top of mind whatever they have a vehicle that
they look and purchase or even somebody in their circle of influence. You said a combination of
two of my favorite words when put in this sequence. And you said, stand out. And the reason I love that
word combination is because this is an industry that often is very concerned about what everyone
else is doing. But it's like, how can you stand out from the pack if you're standing in with the pack?
If you're concerned about what everyone else is doing and never looking to differentiate.
And you said something that is so key. If I could, if we could draw an underscore on our screens right
now. You actually take time, Charles, to follow your customers on LinkedIn and pay attention to them.
What? That's a big deal. I mean, it's a professional environment. People are on LinkedIn. And I tell
my my salespeople all the time, I said, you know, don't feel uncomfortable following them because if
they have a public domain, they want to be followed. If in worst case, they don't want to follow it,
they'll just reject you. There's no problem. But that's extreme. I mean, majority of customers
don't mind. And they don't mind interacting with you. And they get to see a different side of you.
They don't see you as just a salesperson. They see you as somebody that's personal. And then
they see you building up good ratio with them, follow them on Facebook and Instagram as well.
I mean, there's nothing wrong with that. It's social media. It's meant to be social and
talk and get to know people. And, you know, you'd be amazed how many referrals you get just because
of that. But just again, because you're human, you're not the the evil salesperson, you're a human
being that has real emotions, real feelings and real life experiences that that would connect
with people. I want to get your thought on this as it relates to what you just said. Do you think
there's an element at play here where we went so far on digital mediums that we're kind of coming
around back to I need to talk to a real human. I need to know a real human. I need to shake a
real human's hand, look them in the eyes, get to know them beyond surface level texting and
one word comments on on LinkedIn and Facebook, you know, the great love it. Yes, 100 emoji.
Awesome. But like people are really starting. We went so far down the digital that people are
actually craving real human to human connection. What's your take? Oh, absolutely. You know,
one of the things I tell myself to do, I encourage them is, you know, whenever a customer leaves,
you know, they didn't buy a vehicle for whatever reason, send them a video message saying, Hey,
thank you for something by when they get in there and query, I tell them to do the same thing,
send a video, it humanizes you and it just allows that extra level interaction that they won't
necessarily get through a text or email. And you know, I tell it's uncomfortable for some of them
because they don't like being faced in front of the camera, but I tell them, you know what, in
the end of the day, you're humanizing yourself and that can make a difference long term.
Can I put you on the spot real quick? Let's go.
You brought up sending them a video a couple of times now. I'm sure you've done so many
videos now that you kind of have like a word track that that resonates with you that comes out.
Would you mind sharing that with us so we can those that are listening or watching can get an
example of like, okay, Charles picks up his phone, he clicks on the camera and he looks into
it and what's what's something that you would say. So let's say, for example, a customer left
and I couldn't close them on the car. I would just say, Hey, Mr. customer,
I thank you for stopping by here at ABC Motors. Here's the vehicle that we looked at. It's still
here for you. I'd love to give you an opportunity again to come by and see it and we can test drive
it again. Please feel free to reach out to me at blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
something like that. Or you send out a text if it's their happy birthday anniversary. Hey, Mr.
Mr. Smith, happy anniversary of your vehicle has been a year. I see that you've been here on service
recently. Hope all is going well. Boom. Or if it's internet lead. Hey, Mr. Mr. Smith. My name is
Charles Cannon. I'm the internet sales manager here at ABC Motors. I wanted you to put a face with
the name I'm going to be person you go be interacting with. I see you left the inquiry on
his nice bean WX3. Good news is it's right here. I point to it and start going over the
features on it and just go from there. And it's not hard. You just once you start doing it a few
times, you'll get over your nerves. You'll get over the anxiety that some of you may experience
and you'll actually once you start seeing results, you'll go, Oh, this is so easy. And on another
side, I've been telling people, this is the way the industry is going. And five years from now,
this is just going to be as normal sitting at an email. So you must get used to it. You're
being this industry for a while. Yeah, I love the
using the tools and resources that each of us have at our disposal, right? There's
there are sales pros out there right now with this thing. They're probably doing the doom
scrolling, right? Looking through reels. Wondering, what could I do? It's so dead in here.
And you're saying, Hey, I'm going to take some time. I'm going to go going back to your concept
about long term inconsistency. I'm going to invest time into growing my business and deepening
connections that I have with real human beings that goes beyond just, you know, a like or whatever.
And I'm going to I'm going to make them remember me. I've been thinking about this recently. I've
been working with with my pal Glenn. And this crazy idea to build a dealership from scratch.
Um, having no clue what we're doing. And we've learned some interesting things along the way
that I think underscore what you're talking about, which is in order to be different, you
have to actually be different and different requires effort. Something as simple as saying,
Oh, you could do a video becomes a little bit more complex and application. We're dealing
now with personality types. Oh, I'm not comfortable on video. You brought up nerves.
What would you say to those that are maybe having those feelings? They know, Oh man,
I keep hearing those people keep saying I got a new video. It sounds so simple. But why is it so
hard for me to just maybe get over the perfection complex? I don't know. I don't have better words
to articulate it. I know for myself, I talked to myself how to do a video for months and months
because of, you know, this idea of trying to be perfect and oh shoot, I flubbed over my words.
But what would you say to that individual to maybe encourage them and say, Hey, no, just, just go.
Hey, does your marketing agency suck? Listen, before we hop back into this episode,
I know you know me as the host of the dealer playbook. But did you also know that I'm the
CEO of Flex dealer, an agency that's helping dealers capture better quality leads from local SEO
and hyper targeted ads that convert. So if you want to sell more cars and finally have a partner
that's in it with you that doesn't suck, visit flex dealer.com. Let's hop back into this episode.
But what would you say to that individual to maybe encourage them and say, Hey, no, just, just go.
I'd say you write down the worst case scenario. What's the worst case? Because you, you get a chance
to edit the video for you send it. It's not like a FaceTime words line. Now you can do that.
And which I encourage do that as well. But that's, we can talk about that later. But you just edit
it, but don't overthink it. Just, just like you're talking to somebody in person,
how would you do the video? And you just do it like that knowing that 90% of people aren't even
doing them. So you're going to stand out, even if your video is not the best quality in the world,
they're all just preaching the fact that you're doing it. And then you just, you have to just
switch for practice. And as you practice, you'll get naturally better at it. And then it'll be just
nothing to even think about. I don't know why I find, I find humor.
I find humor in this idea of we live in a world where people tend to not think
and then skip right past thinking to overthinking. Like they go from not knowing how to think
to overthinking. And it happens in the blink of an eye. And you just made me think of it as
you're saying, just don't overthink it, just do it. It reminds me of my buddy Paul who says,
posted is better than perfection. Because posted, and I know you know this and I know this all too
well, posted is where the difference lies. There are millions of people in our industry,
hundreds of thousands of which have recorded eight gazillion videos and never did anything with them
because they went right from not thinking to overthinking. And what will differentiate us
in large part is the posted piece, just do it. You don't speak perfect anyways, like pay attention
to the conversations you have with your loved ones, your friends, family, buddies, whoever,
you don't speak perfectly. You flub over your words, you know, all sorts of things.
And I don't know, I want your take on this because I think that's probably what our
customers or potential customers want from us. They want to just know they're dealing with a real
person. I would say this, if you're listening to this podcast, there's a reason why.
Do the video. Just get it done. You'll think yourself later and you're going to make mistakes.
It's going to happen. It's my last excuse. So what? It's just a video.
But it will benefit you again. If your job is that this is a career long-term thing that you
want to do and not just a job, you need to do it. You want to be ahead of the curve and, you know,
it will make you so much more money and income because more customers will come see you because
you will stand out in the market. So don't think just do. Let me ask you this. In line with career
not job, obviously we know attrition in our industry is crazy high turnover, employee turnover,
all these sorts of things. We know in recent years, the conversation of culture and its impact on a
workplace and happiness and fulfillment is rising up to the surface. Still much more work there to
do. But when you say, but I think it's safe to say that probably majority of people in our industry
are here because it's a J O B, right? Barrier to entry is low. The opportunity to make crazy money
is high. Where I'm going with this is how do you recommend people shift their mind to think of this
as a career where maybe many of the their outside factors inside of that dealership are treating
them like it's a job. You must be here at this time. You work these hours and you leave at this time.
HR says you got to do this. I mean, there's certain things to think like an entrepreneur,
you can't think like an employee. But your environment is telling you every day you're an
employee. How do you break out of that and say, despite that, I will think like an entrepreneur.
You have to find your why. What are you trying to accomplish in life? Is this something that
you want to do? Maybe you're on the wrong part of the bus. What I mean is you may be working in
service and say, you know what, I rather be in sales or vice versa. I have people all the time
who transition different departments because it's just not what their passion is. And then they
find the right department and then they take off. It may be, you know what, I'm not good on the cell
side. I need to be more on the OEM side. That happens all the time as well. So you have to find
your niche of what works for you and just go all in. Don't leave an option of, you know,
I have one foot in, one foot out because it won't work. But if you go in and say, I'm going to give
them my all, I'm going to figure it out and this is what I want to do, then you're fine. But yeah,
this industry is not for the week. If it ain't for you, it's going to chew you up and spit you
out quickly. So it's something that you should, it's tough to do when it's just a job. I will
say that. Was there ever a time in your past coming into this industry that it was a job
before it was a career and what flipped the switch for you, if so? Oh yeah, it definitely was a job.
I, you know, when I got in the industry, it was just something to do to, I found a quote-unquote
real job. But, you know, after, I will tell you, after I got fired as a pre-owned manager
and I immediately transferred back to the sales floor, at that point I had to decide that this
would want to do seriously or not. At that point I took it seriously and that's when I transferred
to my career and when I took off and, you know, that was in 2012 and 12 years ago and here I am
right now. And yeah, I just, at that point I took it seriously and said, this is what I want to do
the rest of my life. I love it. When you look at your circle of influence, the people you, you know,
you see them at school drop off you, the people you go to church with, your peer circle, etc.
In your estimation, how many people in your sphere know what you do for a living, would you say?
It's about everyone. In my folks, yes.
And it was a leading question. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I was thinking, yeah, no, everybody does
because even if Unified will talk to my person, they know me on, they follow me on social media,
they know what I do. How important is that? What did that look like? I mean,
did it grow organically? Were there periods where you were the obnoxious car guy that told everybody
I sell cars? Or like, how did that look in application? Because I guess where I'm going
with this is I think back to the point about digital and we always think digital about everything.
And oh, I need a website and I need a new logo and I need social this and the,
we sometimes forget the acres of diamonds sitting right in front of us, like just getting to know
our peer circle, our neighbors, etc. What did that process look like for you?
You know, it's when I first started, there was this, I had hesitation to tell people
because it always was a very polarizing conversation with people. And this is what I
was trying to decide this is where I wanted to do. It was either they had very good stories that
they had horrible stories and you feel like you were being judged for the whole industry
what they had experienced. Everybody's had that bad experience as they were the car sales person.
But then it got to the point to where, you know what, I'm not that person and I'm not,
I know plenty of other people who aren't those people and there's a great part of what we do.
And so when that my chef shifted from me, I was quick to tell everybody what I did, but I
was never obnoxious about it. But you know, I just made sure it came up naturally in the
conversation. And if I didn't bring it up, then you know, somebody around me did, you know,
where his family or my wife or, you know, friends, they all know what I did for a living.
I've been doing this along that they know, okay, he's he's serious about it.
I love that. I love that it's a polarizing conversation. You know what I mean? It's like,
you sell cars. Like, yeah, it's like you're asking them if they're voting for Kamala for
crying out loud or voting for Trump for crying out. I was like, I just what I do for a living.
Some dudes taste ice cream for a living. I sell cars for a living. And getting to this point,
as I'm sure you you did in that in this kind of transformational moment where it went from job to
career, where you realized, dude, there ain't nothing wrong with this career. Exactly. What's
your big beef? I sell cars, get over it. You have a bad experience somewhere. Guess what?
Remember the last time you ate at McDonald's? That was probably a bad experience. Guess
where you go for lunch tomorrow? McDonald's. You're going to come back. Exactly. No, it's true.
And it just is just a mindset. And I just I look at it as I get the privilege of putting
some of my second most expensive purchase in our life, typically, in a driveway. And I hope
that with that process. And there's nothing more exciting to have somebody tell you,
man, I've been dreaming about this car my whole life, or I've been saving up years to get this
particular car or I custom ordered it. And, you know, just seeing that passion, you know, you get
great joy of that, that, you know, few, few things you knew for living can do. And also,
I remind people that it's not the industry that makes you evil. It's their human beings. And
there's bad people in every industry, doesn't matter what it is. There's going to be bad people.
And it's not just because that profession. So, you know, it's just a mindset. And also,
I will tell you this, in the age of internet and social media and Google reviews and all that
stuff, though, a lot of those bad apples that weed themselves out, because you can't do this a long
time and be that kind of salesperson, you'll be kicked out quickly. If not my the dealership,
then definitely I can show it to anyone come back to you. This is why I really think the best
online marketing starts offline. If it starts with you as the individual, knowing your why,
like you talked about, I know what gets me out of bed in the morning, I know what motivates me,
I know what I desire, I know what I want to build. And I know I'm a good person and I desire to be a
positive influence in other people's lives. If it starts there, the best marketing you could ever
do online will just be an amplification of that message. Michelle Danojean, a friend of mine,
she's not in our industry anymore, but she was the chief marketing officer at Roadster
at Brilliant Marketer. She said the biggest mistake you can make in marketing is to make
promises online that you can't fulfill offline. And it sounds like everything you've done to build
has started from a foundation of offline real world. And why people resonate with you online is
because when they get to experience you, they realize you're the same person. And you said,
you know, there's going to be kind of bad or corrupt or conflicted people in any industry.
And that's so true. I mean, we get so caught up. Charles, I feel like, oh, man, we got a negative
Google review. You know, who else got a negative Google review? Everyone. There's not one business
on this planet who has not received a negative Google review. Why are we so hung up on negative
Google review? When if we had a foundation to draw back to which is positive good person,
choosing to have a positive impact in the world, that I can go and use that
reason to contact this person and set them set it straight to have them experience my
how we deal with conflict and how there's a silver lining to everything and how we can take care of
them. Do you think money just gets in the way sometimes? Like it's like, oh, but money's on
the line. They wanted to return the car and they that's going to I'm going to see the spiff
removed from my paycheck. And I'm about is it as easy as that? Is it as easy as money corrupts us?
Is what what steers us down the wrong path? That is a one of the reasons. Yeah, I can't tell you
unfortunately, how many times that we have customers that'll leave a bad Google review
because and they'll tell you upfront, hey, if you don't give me formats from a car and leave
a bad Google review. And it's again, not all cases, but there's a stream few that they know how
to play the game. And it's unfortunate that that's the way some people are. I can't tell you how
many people just they'll leave bad Google reviews for you. And it's not even they never even did
business with you. Yes, you have those extreme people. And unfortunately, it is one of the things
that people look at when they look at a dealership that can make a huge difference when they do
business with you with you or not is your Google reviews versus another store. And somebody's at
4.8 stars or somebody's at 4.4 stars and that could sway them. So yeah, it can cost you money.
It reminds me of the comedian, Chris D'Alia, he has a stand up bit where he's like, you know, I'm
always so I'm always so amused by people that come to my stand up show and then leave. And
they heard one bit that they didn't like or that offended them. And then they go and leave a bad
review about the show. And he's like, you know what I think is so crazy about that? We're joking.
It's all made up. We don't believe what we're saying. It's a joke. Like, you know, in other
words, kind of this like get over yourself. But when you think about it, everybody gets negative
reviews, how you deal with them, how you use them as an opportunity to show people who you really
are and that you really do care, I think is a huge differentiator. I'm sure you've gotten
negative reviews in your career. How do you deal with those conflicts?
You know, when I get those negative reviews, I look at and say, okay, was this a genuine situation?
So, you know, I always make sure to call the customers myself and apologize about the experience.
And, you know, I'll give them my side of the story. And, you know, sometimes the customers,
after we talk to them, they'll say, you know, you're right. No, we're moving to you. Others
will leave it on. But, you know, we look as there as opportunity to get better. And, you know,
I call the customer of nothing else and tell them, thank you for the feedback. And, you know, we'll
use this as an opportunity to, if I need to coach a specific teammate or get better in
particular situation, you know, we'll take care of it and address it. Hopefully it doesn't happen
again. It's like a well-trained athlete, you know, because they get negative feedback all the time
from their coaches. You did this wrong. You did that. What separates the amateurs from the pros
is the pros, I think, approach it with the mindset you just articulated, which is I'm going to use
it as an opportunity to get better. Yeah, you don't take it personal. You know, they're usually not
tackling your character. They're just tackling the situation. You just have to be the face of it.
So you just have to address it. Okay, I got one last question for you here
before we wind down. You've seen lots of economic ups and downs in your career.
In particular, with the season that we're in, there's still some weird supply chain stuff and some
from some OEMs. Interest rates are crazy. Inflation is nuts. Income levels have not matched the level
of inflation. People can't buy houses, this, that, and the next thing. And now we're facing
$1,000, $1,300, $1,500 car payments. How do you take that as an opportunity? How does
Charles Cannon look at the circumstances right now and lean in? What are some of the things you're
thinking about? Well, for me, all these things, I've been through the O8 crisis. I've been through
all these crazy situations. And each time I look at it as a glass half full versus half empty. I
say, you know, there are certain segments of the population that aren't affected, you know, by these
big swings and downturns. There are smarter with their money. So you just have to be professional
and, you know, give them reasons why they should buy from you at the time. Even if their payment's
going up, okay, it's going up, but this is what you're getting, ABC123 versus you keeping your
vehicle. And you need to buy warranty. And your next, you know, if you look at the next few years,
how much you're going to spend in maintenance, you're going to spend an extra $200 anyway,
so you might also get something new and stuff like that. So these are conversations that you have
intelligently with guests, but you do it with integrity. And, you know, you're doing it for
the right reasons. And if it's not the right time, you tell me this isn't the right time.
But yeah, that's just reality. Everything's going up in price. And I just tell my guys just
concentrate on one customer at a time, interact with one guest at a time, give them the best
experience ever. And, you know, everything will take care of itself at the end of the month.
Okay, I lied. I have one more question, because now I've heard you use the word twice in the same
sentiment. You refer to your customers as guests. How does that change
your mindset and how you work with them? Well, actually, I learned that in my time with Lexis.
They say treat everybody like guests, like you would a guest in your home. And it just changes
things because how would you treat a guest in your home? You welcome a man with open arms,
you give them the best experience, you make sure the environment is clean and comfortable for them
to want to naturally do business with you versus if they're just a customer, it's kind of that
impersonal thing, i.e., like, you know, being a salesperson that doesn't follow my social media
versus you being on social media with them, they humanize you and help build a natural
relationship that that they want ultimately, because I tell people all the time, they're
there are a lot of people, they just want to find that one car salesperson and just
deal with them forever. They don't want to have to constantly go shop around and different things
like that. But in order for you to do that, you have to build that relationship and make them
trust you to get to that point and it tastes hot. I love it, man. This is so much fun. You're always
a wealth of information. I love your wisdom from experience. How can those listening and watching
get in touch with you and connect? Well, you can follow me on all the social medias, Instagram,
clcanon3, look up on LinkedIn, Charles L. Cannon, or my website, charleslcanon.com,
and have my information on there. Charles Cannon. Thanks so much for joining me on the
dealer Playbook podcast. Thanks, my friend. Always good to be on 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 DPP community on social media. Check back next week for a new
dealer Playbook episode. Thanks so much for joining.
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