June 5, 2025 • 23 mins
In this episode, my guest is Alan Dickie, President - www.AlanDickie.com and a returning DPB alum.
Alan’s one of those guys who doesn’t just talk about success—he breaks it down to the bone. In this conversation, we explore what he calls the “laws” that make success predictable in life and business.
We talk about why most salespeople stay stuck selling 8–12 cars a month while a few are pulling in 30+. It’s not about personality. It’s not about luck. It’s about understanding how human behavior works and knowing what laws to follow to create momentum.
You’ll also hear:
- How to break out of the “employee mindset” that’s holding you back
- What selfishness has to do with better service and more sales
- Why ignorance always feels like anxiety (and how to fix that)
- What Dollarama can teach you about value-based selling
- And how success really is just about following the right laws—every time
If you’ve ever found yourself thinking “I’m doing the work but not seeing the results,” this episode will shift how you think about performance, money, and personal growth.
This isn’t about motivation. It’s about awareness. And Alan doesn’t hold back.
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FlexDealer Need Better Quality Leads? FLX helps car dealers generate better quality leads through localized organic search and highly-targeted digital ads that convert. Not only that, they work tirelessly to ensure car dealers integrate marketing and operations for a robust and functional growth strategy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
MC (00:00):
This episode is brought to you by FlexDealer Auto industry.
Welcome to this episode of theDealer Playbook Podcast.
I'm sitting down with my palAlan Dickey, a DPB alum.
(00:23):
You're going to have to go wayback Machine to hear the first
episode that you were on.
Thanks for joining me, man.
Thanks for having me Excited tobe here.
This is great.
How come I don't look the same,but you look exactly the same?
Alan (00:35):
Yeah, that's a good question.
What's your stress regimen?
You know what it is, stayshaven.
MC (00:51):
At least that's what my kids tell me.
The second I bring the beardout, they're telling me I'm
revealing my secrets, so I'mdoing my best.
Is that real?
It is.
Are you serious?
100 my.
I threaten my kids to shave mybeard and they go no, don't,
because you look like franklinthe turtle without it.
Alan (00:57):
I didn't say they didn't chirp me after I took it off,
but you know what I explained tothe family.
I'm like, do you guys enjoy thelife you live?
They say, yeah.
I'm like, well, that life comesbehind this face, so let's just
keep for the good times rolling.
MC (01:10):
I love it.
What I remember of our firstconversation, something that's
always impressed me about youthat resonates with me, is law.
Yeah, you are a big law guy,not like laws of the land, but
laws of success, yes, and youknow, having the past that I've
had where I've had to overcomemany a demon, yep, if it were
(01:32):
not for what we call the laws ofsuccess, I don't know that we
would even be sitting herehaving this conversation.
I would agree.
When in your upbringing did youdiscover that these laws of
success, though some may thinkare intangible, are actually the
things that move life forward?
Alan (01:54):
You know, it's interesting .
Early on in my sales career, asI developed as a salesperson, a
leader, a manager in thosecapacities and then ultimately
coming into this business, whereI was declaring myself as
somebody with the insight toteach people how to win, I
started to realize it was allbehind sound principle laws, as
I like to call them.
(02:14):
To give you a background onthis, I remember learning a
little something about this,ironically, in church of all
places, right?
So we're talking about laws andthere's a lot of laws in that
wonderful book called the Bibleand apparently, when we adhere
to them, life is supposed to gowell, and I'm a Testament to say
I fully agree to that.
Uh, but the premise is simplelaws exist for things to
function smoothly, right, andthis is what I teach people.
(02:37):
You know, I love getting infront of groups where I'll say
to them hey, did you drive heretoday?
And everybody looks at me andsays yeah, and I'm.
I look back and I'm like I havea hard time believing that
because y'all look way too calmand they look at me funny and
I'm like I drove here today butI was surrounded by a bunch of
5,000 pound cannonballs, calledother vehicles doing a hundred
kilometers an hour.
You know I joke with them, butthe reason we all arrived here
(03:00):
calm is because we have driver'slicenses, and driver's licenses
are an indicator that we'refluent in the laws of the road.
Thus we can join others withdriver's licenses and together
we can all function smoothlyright.
To carry that thought a hairfurther, this was sort of the
premise of this thinking, whereI was looking at something like
the traffic laws you know, lawsof the road and how I could
(03:21):
apply the same type of conceptsinto winning principles for
success, you know.
And that evolved where I wouldsay to people I'm like you could
run a red light and you couldget a, and they would answer a
ticket.
And I would say correct, whogives you the ticket?
And they would say the cop.
And I would say no, that'sincorrect.
You see, when you break a law,the law breaks you.
The judgment for violating alaw exists inside of the law
(03:45):
itself, which is why, when yougot a ticket, you took it and
you said thank you to theofficer and you wished him a
good day because he didn't doanything to you.
You did something to you.
So that was the beginning ofthis journey.
That really had me understand aconcept, that there are laws,
laws that will allow success andfailure to be predictable, and
(04:06):
that was something that reallyfascinated me.
I mean to take that just a stepfurther.
You drove here today.
If I was to go out into theparking lot with you and fill
your car up with 100% Floridagrade A orange juice, could I
successfully predict your carwon't start?
And the answer is yeah, I can.
Now, am I psychic?
No, I'm not.
I simply understand the laws ofthe vehicle.
(04:27):
In fact, they're clearlywritten on the back of your gas
cap, right.
What does it say there?
Unleaded fuel only.
So, conversely, if I went outand filled the car up with
unleaded fuel, could Isuccessfully predict it would
start?
The answer is yes.
There's principles toeffectively influencing other
human beings, or selling stuff,in layman's terms, that when you
follow the same, success can bepredicted as well as the
(04:49):
failures.
That was a long winded answer.
MC (04:51):
I love it, though there's a lot to unpack there.
It made me think of my kids.
Like we talk a lot about howyou know mom and dad don't
create the consequences, right,we simply enforce them.
Yeah, absolutely.
And you your analogy about thepolice officer and the ticket.
It's like the cop didn't giveyou the ticket.
You're not following the lawgot you the ticket, they're just
(05:13):
enforcing that.
They have to give you a ticketand now you bring it into the
realm of human behaviorFascinates me to no end, because
I feel like we go through lifeand there are some people that
have just had such a disservicedone to them by being led to
believe that you can just makeit up as you go and that there's
(05:37):
no consequence to that.
But in fact there is aconsequence to just thinking
you're invincible to the way thelaws work.
A hundred percent.
Alan (05:44):
And one of the funniest things is, laws have no respect
for how you think and feel aboutthem.
Right?
If you want to get on the roofof this building and walk off
the edge of it, gravity is goingto show up and let you know
that what goes up must come downRight, and that's the beauty of
(06:05):
it.
You know, when I'm training anddeveloping people, I say to
them opinions are like elbowsEverybody's got one.
And the reason that's importantis because I express I'm here
to teach you about laws.
If I was here with an opinion,you may not like the look of my
face or the sound of my voice,which could cause you to
disregard what it is I'mteaching you.
There's a lot of people who arelike well, who are you to tell
(06:25):
me or show me?
And I'm like well, I'm AlanDickey, but I'm just somebody
who's fluent in the laws on howto get here, and I challenge you
to listen to anyone that comesout of my mouth and poke a hole
in it.
MC (06:36):
I want to touch on this because, you're striking a chord
, all right, let's go and thewith okay, but it's like a c
major chord because I'm like wegot a strum at heart.
It is when you becauseundoubtedly you do there's so
many strong personalities in ourindustry, for sure when you
encounter someone who is justlike I don't want to accept this
(07:00):
because I've been taught all ofthese well.
They don't know their limitingbeliefs yet, but correct,
probably the one that's going toreveal correct, but they just
push back.
They're almost incapable ofseeing the reality of things.
What do you do to pry opentheir brain and help them see?
Alan (07:20):
what's interesting is the truth, and the truth sometimes
hurts.
Here's a law.
Ignorance, which by definitionis a lack of knowledge, leaps at
the opportunity to disagree.
Sometimes you need to point outto an individual what's
happening for them to see theforest through the trees, if you
will.
The other thing is to thendeliver the law so you know.
(07:41):
For example, you'll.
Here's one I love saying to agroup I'm like and I ask loaded
questions, but I'll say is everysingle person who shows up on
the lot ready to buy, like whohere believes that I oversell it
right Now?
We all know I'm the trainer guy, right?
So this is my Alec Baldwinmoment.
Did I just date myself, glennGary, glenn Ross?
Great pick, check it out.
(08:02):
But naturally you would assumeI'm supposed to say yes, that's
the case.
I explained the law, though, topeople.
The law is this Human beingsare inherently selfish.
Now, if any human being wantsto look me in the eye this
includes myself, it's all of usand make an argument to disagree
with that, I'm all ears, butusually the conversation doesn't
go that far.
So then, on top of that law, Ifollow up by explaining the only
(08:27):
reason somebody has arrived atthe dealership is because of
their inherently selfish desireto solve a perceived challenge I
don't like the word problemthat they are currently
experiencing and they'veidentified.
The acquisition of your productsolves it.
Thus, the key to closingunearth what that problem is.
Provide the solution we'redoing business today.
Us the key to closing on earthwhat that problem is.
(08:48):
Provide the solution we'redoing business today.
If you fail to understand thenature of human beings in this
particular law, then you're theguy who's running around trying
to be Walmart, the cheapest guyin the building, and nobody has
ever wanted the cheapest thingof anything in my experience,
unless it's toothpaste.
Shout out Walmart.
But yeah, so it really is aboutinforming them.
You know, a lot of people havepredisposed belief systems.
(09:08):
I tell people it's like a tablein your head and the legs are
what hold up this belief systemyou have.
Well, when I start to explainthese laws, in essence I start
to kick the legs out of thosebelief systems, or the tables of
those belief systems, and veryquickly it's the individual
realizing that belief system isnow crashed because its
(09:29):
foundation is well, it'snon-existent.
And that's a lot of the manytimes how I sort of win them
over to the good side.
MC (09:37):
I was going to say like, but you have to be ready for a
fight.
Yeah, they're going to fightyou.
Yeah, of course it also makesme think of as you're saying
nobody wants the cheapest thingof anything, right, of course it
also makes me think of asyou're saying nobody wants the
cheapest thing of anything,right, and ignorance almost
always, I think, positions youto just take the cheapest thing
of anything.
Yeah, because you don't know,because you're willing to accept
that you don't know any better.
But, yeah, look we.
(10:00):
So emer, who's just off camera,is the first time to canada,
right, so we're giving them theexperience.
We went to canadian tire, yes,we went to dollarama, yes, but
you know what, as you weretalking about it, you know what
you made me think of.
What's that?
Even dollarama, yeah, who's thecheapest of the things?
Yes, knew that people don'twant crass toothpaste, right, so
(10:24):
they sell crest.
They even sell the betteroption, corral, right, because
they used to sell what was it?
It was arm and hammer, buttheirs was like leg and ankle
toothpaste and you're like whatfruity o's instead of fruity
loops?
And now they just sell all thename brands of things because
even they knew, yeah, as thequote-unquote cheapest provider,
(10:44):
that nobody wants the cheapestalternative.
Yes, and ignorance alwayspositions you for the
alternative right and in and ofitself.
I sit here and I say cheapestalternative and I feel like an
idiot saying it.
Why would I want the cheaperalternative?
You wouldn't.
And so when I think about whatyou're saying and that you have
(11:05):
to be ready for the fight, yeah,because sadly, our world, yeah,
our society, is basically setup to prey on ignorance and to
perpetuate it.
Yeah, I'd agree with that.
Yeah, so now you show them thelaw.
Alan (11:22):
Yeah, the you know it's as you're sharing that example.
Here's the law Anytime valueexceeds price, business gets
done.
Now there is a Walmart, thereis a dollarama, right, and yes,
they are selling things at thecheapest price possible.
But the way they operated underthe law to position themselves
(11:44):
to do that is throughunderstanding that the value of
buying in such great numbers andspreading it out through such a
number of locations is whatallowed them to bring the price
to where it's at now.
Abc motors would love to have 10000 locations selling whatever
cars they're selling, but inmany instances they might have
(12:04):
one or a dealer group that mighthave 10, so they're not in a
position where they can buy somany pick, a brand of vehicle
that they're able to undercutthe market.
So you know, in that instance,when value exceeds price comes
down to what is it, above andbeyond the product itself, can
you create value in, to engagedecision-making?
(12:24):
And in those instances thatcomes in the form of the one
thing you know all Ford dealers,for example, they have all got
the same vehicles, samedealerships, same balloons
inside the store.
But I say to the salesrepresentative what's the one
thing you can offer that noother Ford store in the country
can offer.
And they look at me for aminute puzzled and then I look
at them back Simply I say you,you are that value.
(12:48):
That's where we get on ajourney of explaining how they
can create value throughthemselves, through their brands
, that will exceed the price ofsaid Ford vehicle and make
decision making easy for someoneto take advantage of.
MC (13:04):
Hey, does your marketing agency suck?
Listen, before we hop back intothis episode.
I know you know me as the hostof the Dealer Playbook, but did
you also know that I'm the CEOof FlexDealer, an agency that's
helping dealers capture betterquality leads from local SEO and
hyper-targeted ads that convert?
So if you want to sell morecars and finally have a partner
that's in it with you, thatdoesn't suck visit FlexDealercom
(13:27):
.
Let's hop back into thisepisode.
This is bringing me to employeemindset and how our industry is
plagued with employee mindset,where they only can see things
from their point of view, andwhat you said that made me think
of it is when value exceedsprice.
(13:47):
Business Every time, every time.
How do you help employees in adealership who are like, but I'm
only getting paid to do this?
Think, no, but there's more toit than that.
Oh, but I only get paid forthis, so I'm only.
How do you rip them out of theblack and whiteness of that so
that they can grow?
Alan (14:08):
There's two things there.
I look at them and I would sayto the hourly employee how do
you ever expect to make $30 anhour when all you do is $20 an
hour worth of work?
Usually, the guy who's willingto do $30 an hour worth of work
when they're only being paid $20is thus delivering value on
that same law that exceeds theprice of what their employment
is.
And they are the ones who tendto be offered opportunity.
(14:30):
Move this to a salesrepresentative in a commission
role.
It comes to your production.
I go and work in dealershipsall the time and the mass
majority of the salesrepresentatives they're eight to
12 car a month salesrepresentatives that tend to be
eating off of the reputation andmarketing dollars spent by the
store Right.
So these are also the ones whosometimes feel they're not
(14:52):
making enough money, sometimesfeel the hours are too crazy,
sometimes feel they don't getenough time with their family,
and I say to them that you'redoing it wrong.
When I was in those positions,I took time whenever I wanted to
.
I worked whatever hours Iwanted to, but the value of me
on that team exceeded the priceof having to listen to 10 other
team members complain about theexceptions made for Alan Dickey.
(15:13):
That was only achieved throughproduction.
So if you're a salesrepresentative who is like, well
, I'm only getting paid this todo that, do more right.
Luckily for us, when yourproduction is directly
correlated to your income, yourperformance is directly
correlated to your income.
You just need to perform moreright.
You see a lot of people who makethose statements.
(15:34):
They just want to throw theirhands up in the air and stop
there instead of asking thequestion and it's a simple one
how do I perform more?
And then there's laws for that.
As I'm saying that, I juststart thinking to myself and
again, I don't claim to be thesmart guy.
I think like a child, but I'mnot in the business of teaching
people how to be perfect.
I'm in the business of teachingthem how to create enough
opportunities to afford failureto really dumb this down.
(15:57):
I'm the kid that when I wanteda date for the dance, I wasn't
hoping to be perfect.
Asking Lisa.
I was going to ask a hundredLisa's, create new problems
where 10 of them said yes, andthen I had a problem of who am I
going to tell?
Can't come Right.
So, like law, and when youstart to explain that to people.
You're not perfect, you neverwill be.
Yeah, so let's just take moreaction.
(16:17):
And then law human beings whenthey're good at something, it's
in their nature to perform it.
Often the only reason they'renot taking the action is because
they're not comfortable andconfident on how to how to use
the telephone, how to utilizesocial media, how to even do
networking and outreachopportunities in their immediate
communities.
Yeah, so again to your point.
It all ties back to ignorance.
You only know what you know.
MC (16:39):
Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing the vice
president of the Fairmont RoyalYork Beautiful hotel, beautiful
hotel.
Yeah, he said something thatI'm thinking about, that you
just said, and it was tying backearlier.
You said we're inherentlyselfish.
Yes, he talked about how theytrain people to pick up on cues,
(17:00):
which you can't do if you'reinherently selfish.
You have to train out ofselfishness and this ability to
see the bigger picture, thebigger playing field.
Is that something you wereraised with?
Is it in your DNA or did youdevelop that over time?
Because I think those watchingand listening sometimes go easy
for a guy like Alan Dickey, ahighly successful individual, to
(17:22):
say.
The successful people alwayssay these things and make it
sound easier.
I'm imagining you had your ownrude awakening.
Alan (17:30):
I'm working on it daily.
But I'm an incredibly selfishperson.
If we're all out, I'm goingback.
You know the boys are going out.
Hey, where are we going tonight?
I want to go where I want to go.
I'm making a suggestion, I'mtelling my buddies the features
and benefits of going to thatplace, because there's a lot of
pretty girls there and that'swhere we want to be.
(17:50):
And so I had a willingness togo for failure because I wanted
to do what I wanted to do.
Great question, and I think,like a child I just mentioned it
when I was on the showroomfloor, I remember early in my
career hearing things like didhe drive the car?
No, he says he doesn't havetime.
We can't give him payments.
That seems weird.
Man Like we're, you know, isn'tan informed customer somebody
(18:11):
who's going to be in a positionto make a better decision?
Law, the law, my law, statesignorance breeds anxiety.
If somebody doesn't know what'sgoing on or what's coming,
they're going to be in a veryanxious state and that breeds I
need to think about it.
So what I did is I number one,acknowledged I had a problem.
Hey, I got to stop thinkingabout me.
But number two, I just said tomyself if I was walking into a
(18:35):
dealership, how would I feel ifsomebody was reluctant to give
me information?
If I was walking into theFairmont hotel and I said, hey,
I arrived early, a long flight,I was hoping for an early
check-in, and somebody was likecheck-in's at four.
Now, that might be the case.
My room may not be ready, butthere is a way to handle that
opportunity.
(18:55):
And I know it's not check-in'sat four, because I know how that
makes me feel.
A lot of people listen to thetechniques I've come up with on
how to effectively influenceother human beings, not only in
life but, you know, on the salesfloor in a dealership, and a
lot of it has come from me justthinking how does that make me
feel?
How would I respond?
And then, once I identifiedthat, proactively, reverse
(19:17):
engineered how to avoid thosepitfalls and come up with the
techniques that I utilize nowthose pitfalls and come up with
the techniques that I utilizenow.
MC (19:29):
So, almost right, using the selfishness to your own
advantage.
You nailed it.
How would it make me feel it'salmost.
It's poetic and oxymoronicalmost at the same time.
Yes, it's like don't be selfish.
But also, if you're gonna beselfish in the right way, you
know, think about this, see andjust so we're going to be
selfish in the right way.
Alan (19:43):
You know, think about this , See, and just so we're clear
to everybody sometimes there areinstances where an inherently
selfish nature actually servesyour success.
I mean, think about this.
When you get on an airplane,there's a moment where they tell
you if the mask drops, what dothey tell you to do?
Yours first, Put yours on first, so then you can serve others
(20:06):
right.
So you know, there are instanceswhere being selfish and really
getting inside of that naturethat we have can actually lead
to a lot of opportunities toserve, and again, one of them
being, you know, when I'mthinking about my personal
experiences as somebody in aretail environment, I can
understand what it would be likeif it was difficult to get
(20:26):
information, difficult to getanswers to my questions, and so,
again, reverse engineer thetechniques.
MC (20:33):
Well, you want to come back on and talk more.
Alan (20:36):
Yeah, we would not run out of time, would we?
MC (20:39):
No, that's great.
You know, I always appreciatesomeone who can, and I find
myself much this way.
Where people will look at amicrophone like this, my first
instinct is to say I want tolook at it from this angle, in
other words, to examinesomething from all different
angles, to poke and prod andexamine so that I get a better
understanding of it.
And this is what I'm picking upfrom you.
Yes, so that I get a betterunderstanding of it, and this is
(21:01):
what I'm picking up from you.
People are going through andthey think, hey, dealer playbook
, just give us more word tracks,right, that'll help us sell
more cars, right.
And over the years, especiallysince we've spoken last, I
realized no, it's about how dowe improve all facets of life,
including mindset, heartset,right, might be fitness, it
(21:21):
might be mental fitness, itmight be sales techniques, it
might be whatever.
And that's what I appreciateabout how you're approaching
this, alan, is you're saying butlet's just talk about law.
Law is law and you're also whatI'm picking up on.
I'd love your take as we winddown.
I had this conversation theother day.
You brought up the law ofgravity.
(21:43):
I had this conversation theother day.
You brought up the law ofgravity.
Yeah, I said, you know, the lawis the law, it can't be broken,
infallible, right.
And then I said the law ofgravity is what goes up, musk,
and they finish, my sentencemust come down, I said.
And then the wright brothersdiscovered the law of lift,
which now means what goes upcould actually stay up given
certain laws, or and physics,yeah, and now, all of a sudden,
(22:05):
we have a law that is senior tothe other, law that can't be
broken yes yes, and when I sawthe laws of success here, yeah,
the first thing that came to mymind is that the laws of success
are actually the most seniorlaw of all the laws, the og, ogs
Right, yeah, they supersedeeverything they do Because they
(22:25):
have to do with human growth andhuman baby.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely,absolutely.
How can those listening andwatching connect with you and
learn more about this?
Alan (22:33):
They can find me on my website, alandickeycom.
There's a lot of greatinformation there, including the
laws.
These are things that I've puttogether in programs and made
available for consumption forthose that understand, connect
with it and want to make winningeasy.
So, yeah, that, and Google.
Google's an amazing tool, isn'tit?
If you're doing anything ofvalue, you could usually punch a
(22:54):
name in there and you could geta little feedback, and the
internet is wonderful.
MC (22:58):
You're the only Alan Dickey I know.
Well that's good to know.
There's all sorts of MichaelCirillo's since the internet
Before Google.
I was the only one, Is thatright?
But now there's dozens,Imitations, flattery, right.
Alan Dickey, DPB alum.
Thanks so much for joining meon the dealer playbook.
Thanks for having me.
Great to be here.
Hey, thanks for listening tothe dealer playbook podcast.
(23:19):
If you enjoyed tuning in,please subscribe, share and hit
that like button.
You can also join us and theDPB community on social media.
Check back next week for a newDealer Playbook episode.
Thanks so much for joining.
This episode is brought to you by FlexDealer Auto industry.
Welcome to this episode of theDealer Playbook Podcast.
I'm sitting down with my palAlan Dickey, a DPB alum.
(00:23):
You're going to have to go wayback Machine to hear the first
episode that you were on.
Thanks for joining me, man.
Thanks for having me Excited tobe here.
This is great.
How come I don't look the same,but you look exactly the same?
Alan (00:35):
Yeah, that's a good question.
What's your stress regimen?
You know what it is, stayshaven.
MC (00:51):
At least that's what my kids tell me.
The second I bring the beardout, they're telling me I'm
revealing my secrets, so I'mdoing my best.
Is that real?
It is.
Are you serious?
100 my.
I threaten my kids to shave mybeard and they go no, don't,
because you look like franklinthe turtle without it.
Alan (00:57):
I didn't say they didn't chirp me after I took it off,
but you know what I explained tothe family.
I'm like, do you guys enjoy thelife you live?
They say, yeah.
I'm like, well, that life comesbehind this face, so let's just
keep for the good times rolling.
MC (01:10):
I love it.
What I remember of our firstconversation, something that's
always impressed me about youthat resonates with me, is law.
Yeah, you are a big law guy,not like laws of the land, but
laws of success, yes, and youknow, having the past that I've
had where I've had to overcomemany a demon, yep, if it were
(01:32):
not for what we call the laws ofsuccess, I don't know that we
would even be sitting herehaving this conversation.
I would agree.
When in your upbringing did youdiscover that these laws of
success, though some may thinkare intangible, are actually the
things that move life forward?
Alan (01:54):
You know, it's interesting .
Early on in my sales career, asI developed as a salesperson, a
leader, a manager in thosecapacities and then ultimately
coming into this business, whereI was declaring myself as
somebody with the insight toteach people how to win, I
started to realize it was allbehind sound principle laws, as
I like to call them.
(02:14):
To give you a background onthis, I remember learning a
little something about this,ironically, in church of all
places, right?
So we're talking about laws andthere's a lot of laws in that
wonderful book called the Bibleand apparently, when we adhere
to them, life is supposed to gowell, and I'm a Testament to say
I fully agree to that.
Uh, but the premise is simplelaws exist for things to
function smoothly, right, andthis is what I teach people.
(02:37):
You know, I love getting infront of groups where I'll say
to them hey, did you drive heretoday?
And everybody looks at me andsays yeah, and I'm.
I look back and I'm like I havea hard time believing that
because y'all look way too calmand they look at me funny and
I'm like I drove here today butI was surrounded by a bunch of
5,000 pound cannonballs, calledother vehicles doing a hundred
kilometers an hour.
You know I joke with them, butthe reason we all arrived here
(03:00):
calm is because we have driver'slicenses, and driver's licenses
are an indicator that we'refluent in the laws of the road.
Thus we can join others withdriver's licenses and together
we can all function smoothlyright.
To carry that thought a hairfurther, this was sort of the
premise of this thinking, whereI was looking at something like
the traffic laws you know, lawsof the road and how I could
(03:21):
apply the same type of conceptsinto winning principles for
success, you know.
And that evolved where I wouldsay to people I'm like you could
run a red light and you couldget a, and they would answer a
ticket.
And I would say correct, whogives you the ticket?
And they would say the cop.
And I would say no, that'sincorrect.
You see, when you break a law,the law breaks you.
The judgment for violating alaw exists inside of the law
(03:45):
itself, which is why, when yougot a ticket, you took it and
you said thank you to theofficer and you wished him a
good day because he didn't doanything to you.
You did something to you.
So that was the beginning ofthis journey.
That really had me understand aconcept, that there are laws,
laws that will allow success andfailure to be predictable, and
(04:06):
that was something that reallyfascinated me.
I mean to take that just a stepfurther.
You drove here today.
If I was to go out into theparking lot with you and fill
your car up with 100% Floridagrade A orange juice, could I
successfully predict your carwon't start?
And the answer is yeah, I can.
Now, am I psychic?
No, I'm not.
I simply understand the laws ofthe vehicle.
(04:27):
In fact, they're clearlywritten on the back of your gas
cap, right.
What does it say there?
Unleaded fuel only.
So, conversely, if I went outand filled the car up with
unleaded fuel, could Isuccessfully predict it would
start?
The answer is yes.
There's principles toeffectively influencing other
human beings, or selling stuff,in layman's terms, that when you
follow the same, success can bepredicted as well as the
(04:49):
failures.
That was a long winded answer.
MC (04:51):
I love it, though there's a lot to unpack there.
It made me think of my kids.
Like we talk a lot about howyou know mom and dad don't
create the consequences, right,we simply enforce them.
Yeah, absolutely.
And you your analogy about thepolice officer and the ticket.
It's like the cop didn't giveyou the ticket.
You're not following the lawgot you the ticket, they're just
(05:13):
enforcing that.
They have to give you a ticketand now you bring it into the
realm of human behaviorFascinates me to no end, because
I feel like we go through lifeand there are some people that
have just had such a disservicedone to them by being led to
believe that you can just makeit up as you go and that there's
(05:37):
no consequence to that.
But in fact there is aconsequence to just thinking
you're invincible to the way thelaws work.
A hundred percent.
Alan (05:44):
And one of the funniest things is, laws have no respect
for how you think and feel aboutthem.
Right?
If you want to get on the roofof this building and walk off
the edge of it, gravity is goingto show up and let you know
that what goes up must come downRight, and that's the beauty of
(06:05):
it.
You know, when I'm training anddeveloping people, I say to
them opinions are like elbowsEverybody's got one.
And the reason that's importantis because I express I'm here
to teach you about laws.
If I was here with an opinion,you may not like the look of my
face or the sound of my voice,which could cause you to
disregard what it is I'mteaching you.
There's a lot of people who arelike well, who are you to tell
(06:25):
me or show me?
And I'm like well, I'm AlanDickey, but I'm just somebody
who's fluent in the laws on howto get here, and I challenge you
to listen to anyone that comesout of my mouth and poke a hole
in it.
MC (06:36):
I want to touch on this because, you're striking a chord
, all right, let's go and thewith okay, but it's like a c
major chord because I'm like wegot a strum at heart.
It is when you becauseundoubtedly you do there's so
many strong personalities in ourindustry, for sure when you
encounter someone who is justlike I don't want to accept this
(07:00):
because I've been taught all ofthese well.
They don't know their limitingbeliefs yet, but correct,
probably the one that's going toreveal correct, but they just
push back.
They're almost incapable ofseeing the reality of things.
What do you do to pry opentheir brain and help them see?
Alan (07:20):
what's interesting is the truth, and the truth sometimes
hurts.
Here's a law.
Ignorance, which by definitionis a lack of knowledge, leaps at
the opportunity to disagree.
Sometimes you need to point outto an individual what's
happening for them to see theforest through the trees, if you
will.
The other thing is to thendeliver the law so you know.
(07:41):
For example, you'll.
Here's one I love saying to agroup I'm like and I ask loaded
questions, but I'll say is everysingle person who shows up on
the lot ready to buy, like whohere believes that I oversell it
right Now?
We all know I'm the trainer guy, right?
So this is my Alec Baldwinmoment.
Did I just date myself, glennGary, glenn Ross?
Great pick, check it out.
(08:02):
But naturally you would assumeI'm supposed to say yes, that's
the case.
I explained the law, though, topeople.
The law is this Human beingsare inherently selfish.
Now, if any human being wantsto look me in the eye this
includes myself, it's all of usand make an argument to disagree
with that, I'm all ears, butusually the conversation doesn't
go that far.
So then, on top of that law, Ifollow up by explaining the only
(08:27):
reason somebody has arrived atthe dealership is because of
their inherently selfish desireto solve a perceived challenge I
don't like the word problemthat they are currently
experiencing and they'veidentified.
The acquisition of your productsolves it.
Thus, the key to closingunearth what that problem is.
Provide the solution we'redoing business today.
Us the key to closing on earthwhat that problem is.
(08:48):
Provide the solution we'redoing business today.
If you fail to understand thenature of human beings in this
particular law, then you're theguy who's running around trying
to be Walmart, the cheapest guyin the building, and nobody has
ever wanted the cheapest thingof anything in my experience,
unless it's toothpaste.
Shout out Walmart.
But yeah, so it really is aboutinforming them.
You know, a lot of people havepredisposed belief systems.
(09:08):
I tell people it's like a tablein your head and the legs are
what hold up this belief systemyou have.
Well, when I start to explainthese laws, in essence I start
to kick the legs out of thosebelief systems, or the tables of
those belief systems, and veryquickly it's the individual
realizing that belief system isnow crashed because its
(09:29):
foundation is well, it'snon-existent.
And that's a lot of the manytimes how I sort of win them
over to the good side.
MC (09:37):
I was going to say like, but you have to be ready for a
fight.
Yeah, they're going to fightyou.
Yeah, of course it also makesme think of as you're saying
nobody wants the cheapest thingof anything, right, of course it
also makes me think of asyou're saying nobody wants the
cheapest thing of anything,right, and ignorance almost
always, I think, positions youto just take the cheapest thing
of anything.
Yeah, because you don't know,because you're willing to accept
that you don't know any better.
But, yeah, look we.
(10:00):
So emer, who's just off camera,is the first time to canada,
right, so we're giving them theexperience.
We went to canadian tire, yes,we went to dollarama, yes, but
you know what, as you weretalking about it, you know what
you made me think of.
What's that?
Even dollarama, yeah, who's thecheapest of the things?
Yes, knew that people don'twant crass toothpaste, right, so
(10:24):
they sell crest.
They even sell the betteroption, corral, right, because
they used to sell what was it?
It was arm and hammer, buttheirs was like leg and ankle
toothpaste and you're like whatfruity o's instead of fruity
loops?
And now they just sell all thename brands of things because
even they knew, yeah, as thequote-unquote cheapest provider,
(10:44):
that nobody wants the cheapestalternative.
Yes, and ignorance alwayspositions you for the
alternative right and in and ofitself.
I sit here and I say cheapestalternative and I feel like an
idiot saying it.
Why would I want the cheaperalternative?
You wouldn't.
And so when I think about whatyou're saying and that you have
(11:05):
to be ready for the fight, yeah,because sadly, our world, yeah,
our society, is basically setup to prey on ignorance and to
perpetuate it.
Yeah, I'd agree with that.
Yeah, so now you show them thelaw.
Alan (11:22):
Yeah, the you know it's as you're sharing that example.
Here's the law Anytime valueexceeds price, business gets
done.
Now there is a Walmart, thereis a dollarama, right, and yes,
they are selling things at thecheapest price possible.
But the way they operated underthe law to position themselves
(11:44):
to do that is throughunderstanding that the value of
buying in such great numbers andspreading it out through such a
number of locations is whatallowed them to bring the price
to where it's at now.
Abc motors would love to have 10000 locations selling whatever
cars they're selling, but inmany instances they might have
(12:04):
one or a dealer group that mighthave 10, so they're not in a
position where they can buy somany pick, a brand of vehicle
that they're able to undercutthe market.
So you know, in that instance,when value exceeds price comes
down to what is it, above andbeyond the product itself, can
you create value in, to engagedecision-making?
(12:24):
And in those instances thatcomes in the form of the one
thing you know all Ford dealers,for example, they have all got
the same vehicles, samedealerships, same balloons
inside the store.
But I say to the salesrepresentative what's the one
thing you can offer that noother Ford store in the country
can offer.
And they look at me for aminute puzzled and then I look
at them back Simply I say you,you are that value.
(12:48):
That's where we get on ajourney of explaining how they
can create value throughthemselves, through their brands
, that will exceed the price ofsaid Ford vehicle and make
decision making easy for someoneto take advantage of.
MC (13:04):
Hey, does your marketing agency suck?
Listen, before we hop back intothis episode.
I know you know me as the hostof the Dealer Playbook, but did
you also know that I'm the CEOof FlexDealer, an agency that's
helping dealers capture betterquality leads from local SEO and
hyper-targeted ads that convert?
So if you want to sell morecars and finally have a partner
that's in it with you, thatdoesn't suck visit FlexDealercom
(13:27):
.
Let's hop back into thisepisode.
This is bringing me to employeemindset and how our industry is
plagued with employee mindset,where they only can see things
from their point of view, andwhat you said that made me think
of it is when value exceedsprice.
(13:47):
Business Every time, every time.
How do you help employees in adealership who are like, but I'm
only getting paid to do this?
Think, no, but there's more toit than that.
Oh, but I only get paid forthis, so I'm only.
How do you rip them out of theblack and whiteness of that so
that they can grow?
Alan (14:08):
There's two things there.
I look at them and I would sayto the hourly employee how do
you ever expect to make $30 anhour when all you do is $20 an
hour worth of work?
Usually, the guy who's willingto do $30 an hour worth of work
when they're only being paid $20is thus delivering value on
that same law that exceeds theprice of what their employment
is.
And they are the ones who tendto be offered opportunity.
(14:30):
Move this to a salesrepresentative in a commission
role.
It comes to your production.
I go and work in dealershipsall the time and the mass
majority of the salesrepresentatives they're eight to
12 car a month salesrepresentatives that tend to be
eating off of the reputation andmarketing dollars spent by the
store Right.
So these are also the ones whosometimes feel they're not
(14:52):
making enough money, sometimesfeel the hours are too crazy,
sometimes feel they don't getenough time with their family,
and I say to them that you'redoing it wrong.
When I was in those positions,I took time whenever I wanted to
.
I worked whatever hours Iwanted to, but the value of me
on that team exceeded the priceof having to listen to 10 other
team members complain about theexceptions made for Alan Dickey.
(15:13):
That was only achieved throughproduction.
So if you're a salesrepresentative who is like, well
, I'm only getting paid this todo that, do more right.
Luckily for us, when yourproduction is directly
correlated to your income, yourperformance is directly
correlated to your income.
You just need to perform moreright.
You see a lot of people who makethose statements.
(15:34):
They just want to throw theirhands up in the air and stop
there instead of asking thequestion and it's a simple one
how do I perform more?
And then there's laws for that.
As I'm saying that, I juststart thinking to myself and
again, I don't claim to be thesmart guy.
I think like a child, but I'mnot in the business of teaching
people how to be perfect.
I'm in the business of teachingthem how to create enough
opportunities to afford failureto really dumb this down.
(15:57):
I'm the kid that when I wanteda date for the dance, I wasn't
hoping to be perfect.
Asking Lisa.
I was going to ask a hundredLisa's, create new problems
where 10 of them said yes, andthen I had a problem of who am I
going to tell?
Can't come Right.
So, like law, and when youstart to explain that to people.
You're not perfect, you neverwill be.
Yeah, so let's just take moreaction.
(16:17):
And then law human beings whenthey're good at something, it's
in their nature to perform it.
Often the only reason they'renot taking the action is because
they're not comfortable andconfident on how to how to use
the telephone, how to utilizesocial media, how to even do
networking and outreachopportunities in their immediate
communities.
Yeah, so again to your point.
It all ties back to ignorance.
You only know what you know.
MC (16:39):
Yesterday I had the pleasure of interviewing the vice
president of the Fairmont RoyalYork Beautiful hotel, beautiful
hotel.
Yeah, he said something thatI'm thinking about, that you
just said, and it was tying backearlier.
You said we're inherentlyselfish.
Yes, he talked about how theytrain people to pick up on cues,
(17:00):
which you can't do if you'reinherently selfish.
You have to train out ofselfishness and this ability to
see the bigger picture, thebigger playing field.
Is that something you wereraised with?
Is it in your DNA or did youdevelop that over time?
Because I think those watchingand listening sometimes go easy
for a guy like Alan Dickey, ahighly successful individual, to
(17:22):
say.
The successful people alwayssay these things and make it
sound easier.
I'm imagining you had your ownrude awakening.
Alan (17:30):
I'm working on it daily.
But I'm an incredibly selfishperson.
If we're all out, I'm goingback.
You know the boys are going out.
Hey, where are we going tonight?
I want to go where I want to go.
I'm making a suggestion, I'mtelling my buddies the features
and benefits of going to thatplace, because there's a lot of
pretty girls there and that'swhere we want to be.
(17:50):
And so I had a willingness togo for failure because I wanted
to do what I wanted to do.
Great question, and I think,like a child I just mentioned it
when I was on the showroomfloor, I remember early in my
career hearing things like didhe drive the car?
No, he says he doesn't havetime.
We can't give him payments.
That seems weird.
Man Like we're, you know, isn'tan informed customer somebody
(18:11):
who's going to be in a positionto make a better decision?
Law, the law, my law, statesignorance breeds anxiety.
If somebody doesn't know what'sgoing on or what's coming,
they're going to be in a veryanxious state and that breeds I
need to think about it.
So what I did is I number one,acknowledged I had a problem.
Hey, I got to stop thinkingabout me.
But number two, I just said tomyself if I was walking into a
(18:35):
dealership, how would I feel ifsomebody was reluctant to give
me information?
If I was walking into theFairmont hotel and I said, hey,
I arrived early, a long flight,I was hoping for an early
check-in, and somebody was likecheck-in's at four.
Now, that might be the case.
My room may not be ready, butthere is a way to handle that
opportunity.
(18:55):
And I know it's not check-in'sat four, because I know how that
makes me feel.
A lot of people listen to thetechniques I've come up with on
how to effectively influenceother human beings, not only in
life but, you know, on the salesfloor in a dealership, and a
lot of it has come from me justthinking how does that make me
feel?
How would I respond?
And then, once I identifiedthat, proactively, reverse
(19:17):
engineered how to avoid thosepitfalls and come up with the
techniques that I utilize nowthose pitfalls and come up with
the techniques that I utilizenow.
MC (19:29):
So, almost right, using the selfishness to your own
advantage.
You nailed it.
How would it make me feel it'salmost.
It's poetic and oxymoronicalmost at the same time.
Yes, it's like don't be selfish.
But also, if you're gonna beselfish in the right way, you
know, think about this, see andjust so we're going to be
selfish in the right way.
Alan (19:43):
You know, think about this , See, and just so we're clear
to everybody sometimes there areinstances where an inherently
selfish nature actually servesyour success.
I mean, think about this.
When you get on an airplane,there's a moment where they tell
you if the mask drops, what dothey tell you to do?
Yours first, Put yours on first, so then you can serve others
(20:06):
right.
So you know, there are instanceswhere being selfish and really
getting inside of that naturethat we have can actually lead
to a lot of opportunities toserve, and again, one of them
being, you know, when I'mthinking about my personal
experiences as somebody in aretail environment, I can
understand what it would be likeif it was difficult to get
(20:26):
information, difficult to getanswers to my questions, and so,
again, reverse engineer thetechniques.
MC (20:33):
Well, you want to come back on and talk more.
Alan (20:36):
Yeah, we would not run out of time, would we?
MC (20:39):
No, that's great.
You know, I always appreciatesomeone who can, and I find
myself much this way.
Where people will look at amicrophone like this, my first
instinct is to say I want tolook at it from this angle, in
other words, to examinesomething from all different
angles, to poke and prod andexamine so that I get a better
understanding of it.
And this is what I'm picking upfrom you.
Yes, so that I get a betterunderstanding of it, and this is
(21:01):
what I'm picking up from you.
People are going through andthey think, hey, dealer playbook
, just give us more word tracks,right, that'll help us sell
more cars, right.
And over the years, especiallysince we've spoken last, I
realized no, it's about how dowe improve all facets of life,
including mindset, heartset,right, might be fitness, it
(21:21):
might be mental fitness, itmight be sales techniques, it
might be whatever.
And that's what I appreciateabout how you're approaching
this, alan, is you're saying butlet's just talk about law.
Law is law and you're also whatI'm picking up on.
I'd love your take as we winddown.
I had this conversation theother day.
You brought up the law ofgravity.
(21:43):
I had this conversation theother day.
You brought up the law ofgravity.
Yeah, I said, you know, the lawis the law, it can't be broken,
infallible, right.
And then I said the law ofgravity is what goes up, musk,
and they finish, my sentencemust come down, I said.
And then the wright brothersdiscovered the law of lift,
which now means what goes upcould actually stay up given
certain laws, or and physics,yeah, and now, all of a sudden,
(22:05):
we have a law that is senior tothe other, law that can't be
broken yes yes, and when I sawthe laws of success here, yeah,
the first thing that came to mymind is that the laws of success
are actually the most seniorlaw of all the laws, the og, ogs
Right, yeah, they supersedeeverything they do Because they
(22:25):
have to do with human growth andhuman baby.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely,absolutely.
How can those listening andwatching connect with you and
learn more about this?
Alan (22:33):
They can find me on my website, alandickeycom.
There's a lot of greatinformation there, including the
laws.
These are things that I've puttogether in programs and made
available for consumption forthose that understand, connect
with it and want to make winningeasy.
So, yeah, that, and Google.
Google's an amazing tool, isn'tit?
If you're doing anything ofvalue, you could usually punch a
(22:54):
name in there and you could geta little feedback, and the
internet is wonderful.
MC (22:58):
You're the only Alan Dickey I know.
Well that's good to know.
There's all sorts of MichaelCirillo's since the internet
Before Google.
I was the only one, Is thatright?
But now there's dozens,Imitations, flattery, right.
Alan Dickey, DPB alum.
Thanks so much for joining meon the dealer playbook.
Thanks for having me.
Great to be here.
Hey, thanks for listening tothe dealer playbook podcast.
(23:19):
If you enjoyed tuning in,please subscribe, share and hit
that like button.
You can also join us and theDPB community on social media.
Check back next week for a newDealer Playbook episode.
Thanks so much for joining.
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