“What’s the Next Move” — How Top Car Sales People Stay Ahead of the Market | Andrea Anderson, Cadillac Sales Consultant
This week Michael talks with a Cadillac Sales Consultant at Andrews Cadillac in Brentwood, Tennessee, who spent years ranked in the top 100 nationally before ever posting online, and then built 150,000 followers in a single year without her numbers dropping.
She walks through the moment she realized being good at her job wasn't enough to stay on top. She needed more people to know it. That's the shift that started everything, from her first clumsy videos to a system that now brings buyers in already trusting her. She also talks candidly about a cancer diagnosis during pregnancy, why she stopped tying her worth to whether she sold a car that day, and how she holds firm boundaries (home by 5, no Saturdays) while still outselling reps working six days a week.
You can find her as AndreaSellsCadillac across platforms, or reach her directly through Andrews Cadillac in Brentwood.
Michael's takeaway: the top of your market isn't a finish line, it's the point where you have to ask what got you here won't keep you here, so what's next.
Timestamps
(00:00) Rapid Growth Setup
(00:49) Sponsor Message
(04:05) Early Sales Lessons
(06:55) Fitness To Dealership
(08:31) Abundance Mindset Origins
(16:25) Why Social Media Started
(19:59) Hooking Viewers Fast
(22:46) Reps And Authenticity
(26:22) Cost Of Top Performer
(29:23) Why Customers Choose Her
(31:36) Boundaries And Balance
(34:36) Connect And Wrap Up
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Episode Transcript
[0:00] Intro (What’s Coming Up)
Michael Cirillo: You didn't start social media that long ago.
Andrea Anderson: A year ago.
Michael Cirillo: A year ago, and at time of recording, 150,000 followers. What? What made you decide to start, and how has your process on social media changed today versus where you started a year ago?
Andrea Anderson: Whatever got you to this place is not going to continue to keep you at that high level. You always have to be thinking about your game plan. So it was like, okay, if I want to stay on top, which I do, what else can I do? And I'm like, I know I'm good at my job. More people just need to know about it.
Michael Cirillo: Top sales professional. Let's quantify that. We're talking top 100 in the country, consistently, over years. What's the cost or investment of that, that nobody sees?
Andrea Anderson: That's a great question.
[Sponsor message]
[2:10] Introduction
Michael Cirillo: I am so excited about this conversation. I've had so many questions flowing through my mind. Anytime I can sit with someone who is actively in the dealership, on the front lines, doing something extraordinary, which you are, Andrea, it's hard for me to know where I want to start. So I'll start here. You mentioned briefly that you were in the fitness business, but that you also got into the car business because of a bet with your dad. What was that bet, and how did you know it was something you wanted to do, and that you were ready to let go of the fitness path?
Andrea Anderson: We moved to Durango, Colorado, and there weren't a lot of jobs there. The Jeep dealership in Farmington, New Mexico, an hour away, was hiring. I said something to my dad, and he said, "If you want to prove to me that you can sell things, you should go sell cars." I said, "What is that supposed to mean? Of course I can sell things." At the time I was doing personal training. Then he gave me a great piece of advice. He said buying a car is going to be the second biggest purchase you'll make as an adult, so I might as well understand it better and prove I can sell things.
So I said, "Screw you, Dad, I'll go sell cars." I got hired on the spot and hard closed the manager. At first it was really just a competition with my dad, because I was hardheaded and I thought of it as a new challenge. That was in 2012. I told him I'd be the top salesperson my first month, and I was. The guys there didn't like some young girl who didn't know anything about cars outselling them, so it became a competition, and I'm a competitive freak about that kind of thing. So it was great.
[4:05] Early Sales Lessons
Michael Cirillo: Looking back at that version of yourself all those years ago, what are some common mistakes you saw yourself making in the beginning that you still see new car sales professionals making? What would your encouragement be to help them snap out of it faster?
Andrea Anderson: That's a great question, I've never thought about that. It was very different then. At that time it was really just walk-in traffic. We were in an area where the internet wasn't really a thing yet, phones weren't really a thing yet, so it was just figuring it out. I could stand by the door longer than anyone else and wouldn't leave my spot until I got a deal.
I think as I've grown, I don't associate my self-worth with how many cars I sell anymore. If I didn't sell a car it used to feel like a bad day, I'd be disappointed. But looking back now, you can't let it mess with you that much, because you're always one deal away from that month turning around. You just have to keep the momentum going. So now, if I don't sell a car, it's not like I have a bad day. Whereas before, I did.
Michael Cirillo: Got it. What I'm hearing is it's this idea of consistency over time, not being so stuck in the micro. I think about 22-year-old Michael, who wanted everything right now, versus 40-something Michael, who's like, it'll happen when it happens.
Andrea Anderson: Don't get me wrong, 41-year-old Andrea still wants things to happen right away. I'm not patient. But I can see that there's a process for everything.
Michael Cirillo: I actually had a conversation with the VP of a group a couple of days ago about this very topic. He said his team is a bunch of instant gratification people, and I said, "Preach." But then he said, "I need them to be, by nature of the work that they do. They can't let off the gas." And I thought, that's absolutely right. The nature of the work requires being in the micro while also balancing the macro of life in general.
[6:55] Fitness To Dealership
Michael Cirillo: What are some similarities between the fitness industry and the car business, and what did you have to unlearn to start fresh in the car business?
Andrea Anderson: Very similar. You have to create those opportunities for yourself, and that's why I love it so much. I was an athlete growing up, walking in every day ready to go. I have the opportunity to give myself a pay raise every day if I want to, and it's all dependent on my performance. Going to a job and making the same amount of money no matter how I do sounds like the worst thing in the world to me. For me, being able to go out, be in my office, make calls, it's such a great world and I'm thankful I found it.
With personal training it was the same thing. You had to create those opportunities and those clients yourself, not being scared to talk to people and start the conversation. I think it's more the athlete mindset of putting in the work every day, going in ready, and not being scared to fail. That's done me so well, and I love it.
Michael Cirillo: That is so strong. Not having the fear of failure. So many people are motivated by failure, they overthink, they don't take action, and they keep getting more of what they don't want. Listening to you, you have an abundance mindset.
[8:39] Abundance Mindset Origins
Michael Cirillo: Is that mindset something you've had for as long as you can remember? Was it part of your household growing up? Did it develop through being an athlete? Take me into the moment you realized an abundant mindset is personal freedom.
Andrea Anderson: From a young age my parents put me in situations where I was doing hard things, and it was hard. I started riding horses competitively when I was four. I played All-Star baseball, I played basketball. I was never a crazy intense athlete, but in my mind I always wanted to be a professional athlete because I loved the grind of it. It's funny, I think it was just the way I was brought up. My sister is a woodworker in California, I sell cars. We clearly didn't go the typical teacher or nurse route, nothing wrong with that, we just never thought of it as what we wanted to do. So I think it's just doing hard things young. We failed, and we're fine.
Being in a "good enough" mentality is the worst thing in the world for my personality. I love to see what's possible. It's not that I tie my self-worth to that anymore, I'm past that, though younger Andrea definitely felt that way. Now it's more, "I'm just going to try it, just to try it, why not." I get to keep existing either way. If it fails, life goes on.
I always laugh when people ask me, "What if no one watches the videos?" Okay, well, no one watches it. Cool. Life goes on. I still have to go home and figure out what I want for dinner. That doesn't go away whether the video gets a million views or not.
[11:19] Cancer Perspective Shift
Andrea Anderson: It's kind of crazy the way I grew up. And then, when I was pregnant with my son, I was diagnosed with cancer. I was 33 years old. It gives you perspective on everything. I'm just thankful I'm not carrying around a pee bag. It's great to be able to sit on the toilet and go pee, that's real stuff. I'm very thankful for finding car sales, and then social media, because it's kept me growing, and it's been so fun.
Michael Cirillo: Can we unpack that a little? The perspective that can only come from a trial.
Andrea Anderson: I'm a big podcast and book person, and I remember hearing a cancer doctor talk about what happens to a person when they go through something like that. He called it post-traumatic growth, and it's something I can relate to so much. It's only made me better.
Michael Cirillo: I'm writing that down.
Andrea Anderson: Having a catheter while pregnant was terrible, chemo felt like peeing glass. But it really is that post-traumatic growth. We all go through hard things, you might as well kick ass even harder after it.
Michael Cirillo: Let's go. This is so important, because there are roughly 300,000 car sales professionals in America, a few million worldwide, and the majority are going to be six-car people, which has been the average for the last 30 years. And DPB gang, I love you, but let's name it: you come in wanting the layup, you complain the coffee's not hot enough, you're upset someone took your deal on your day off. My invitation is that you lean into what Andrea just said, post-traumatic growth. There's a saying: tough times make tough men, tough men make easy times, easy times make weak men. Maybe we're living in circumstances so good that we have to find something wrong about nothing.
Here you are, so inspired after cancer and pregnancy at the same time.
Andrea Anderson: It was not expecting that.
Michael Cirillo: Not on your bingo card. I think about going to the Philippines as a 19-year-old, living there without a healthy experience, in and out of hospitals, losing 80-some pounds, but also learning the language and a new culture. Coming home and seeing how good we have it, even at our worst, has done something to my psyche that I think about daily. Even on my worst day, I have it so much better.
Andrea Anderson: I totally agree. When I lived in New Mexico and sold mostly to the Navajo Nation, a lot of them don't have running water. You guys are complaining the coffee's not hot enough? Boo-hoo. That's the stuff I don't even stand near. I'll literally say, "Are we done here? I'm not going to listen to this." People don't even talk like that around me because they know I don't deal with it. I've had people call it toxic positivity, and I say, sure, I'll go with that.
Michael Cirillo: I love this. If you're really struggling because your employer's job is to refill the K-cups, so you can't sell, so you're not going to follow up with your appointments, that's just foolishness.
[16:25] Why Social Media Started
Michael Cirillo: You didn't start social media that long ago. At time of recording, just shy of 150,000 followers. What made you decide to start, and how has your process changed since?
Andrea Anderson: I started just over a year ago, and I was already selling, always top 100 for Cadillac nationally, and top two or three out of ten states in my region. I'd always been a top performer, but I remembered hearing, I think it was a coach, maybe from the Celtics, say that whatever got you to this place isn't going to keep you at that high level. You always have to be thinking about your game plan.
I really internalized that last February. I thought, if I want to stay on top, which I do, what else can I do? I know I'm good at my job, more people just need to know about it. My coworker saw me trying to figure out how to start a YouTube channel and told me to follow Russ, from Russ Lipsky. I DM'd him, he responded, I signed up. It was, "I know I'm good, I just need more people to know I'm good."
If someone's already built something huge and tells you, "This is how you do it," of course I'm going to follow it, he's giving you the blueprint. So I'm very coachable, and I did exactly what he told me. It took me a while to figure out how to talk on camera and do everything, but it was necessary to put in the reps. I've put in a lot of time, coming in early, staying late, working on it at night after I put my son to sleep.
It's grown into empowering people on how to buy cars and feel educated. When you're buying a car, you feel like you're getting screwed because you don't understand the process, not because the margins are actually that big. Giving people context on what questions to ask and what to look for has really grown, and it's cool hearing from women saying they had the best car-buying experience because they knew what to ask and look for. And of course I've sold more cars because people associate me with Cadillac.
Michael Cirillo: We've got to get you in front of Mary Barra. She probably already knows, but we've got to make it happen.
[19:59] Hooking Viewers Fast
Michael Cirillo: You were already a top seller doing all those things. Without asking for Russ's blueprint for free, can you share one or two things you were doing that just needed a slight tweak, where you noticed real impact?
Andrea Anderson: I wasn't really doing anything at first, I just started with what he said. But watching other people's videos now, I can critique them because I'm a student of his. The biggest thing is having that dead space at the beginning of a video where you're not talking, or you're just breathing. I'm swiping before that's even over, even if it's my friend. I can't do the whole, "Hey guys, I'm so-and-so from this dealership." If people want to know who you are, they'll figure it out. Don't say, "I'm Andrea from Andrew's Cadillac." Swipe.
So get straight to the point. We don't need an intro, we don't need to ask about the weather or where you are. Nobody wants that.
Michael Cirillo: Oh, I see trees behind you, must be beautiful there.
Andrea Anderson: Exactly, and I'm thinking, what are we actually trying to accomplish here?
Michael Cirillo: You're getting to the punchline, people's attention is limited.
Andrea Anderson: Right. And you be intentional with what you're saying. It doesn't need to be scripted, but you don't need to say the same thing three times. No dead space at the beginning, and make it engaging, and teach something. I ask myself, what am I trying to accomplish, what am I trying to teach in this video? That's really where I found my niche, teaching people about something.
Michael Cirillo: Be valuable to somebody, not worthless to everybody online, that's the name of the game. Not that you, the listener, are worthless. I'm saying, for the algorithm, get to the point.
Andrea Anderson: Yes. The customers I want to attract are business people who don't have time to listen to people yap online. I don't consume a lot of content myself, I'm not someone who spends hours watching videos. I post, I comment on comments, I respond to messages, and that's it. I'm very regimented and disciplined with anything I do, and that's the kind of customer I want to attract too.
[22:45] Reps And Authenticity
Michael Cirillo: Something standing out to me, connecting the through line here: you got the reps in, doing what you needed to do to become a top sales performer, before social media ever entered the picture. In the social media world we're too quick to say, "All she did was start posting." No, there are years of building, cadence, skill set, and mindset behind it, there's no magic bullet.
We help produce podcasts in the industry, and the ones we don't take on, it's usually clear why. Someone says, "I want to be Joe Rogan," and I think, you're never going to be Joe Rogan. First, there's only one Joe Rogan. Second, he got his reps in for 30 years as a stand-up comic, celebrity, and TV host, including Fear Factor, before he ever started podcasting. If you're coming into social media just to be the next viral sensation, the purpose is misaligned and you haven't put in the reps.
It's genuinely working for you. If I pull up your TikTok, I can verify I'm talking to the same person I'm listening to right now. This one's got a mustache drawn on, that's "Italian Andrea," but it's the same person. The fact that we're sitting here chuckling about it, and you're not pulling it from the show, is so important. People gloss over that. They're not willing to put in the reps, but the reps are the reps for a reason.
Andrea Anderson: Agreed. People ask, "What would you change from a year ago?" Nothing. I had to get better, it was cringe watching those old videos, I'm definitely better now, but I had to be there in order to be who I am now. It's part of the process. I can barely remember what I posted three days ago, people aren't going to remember it either. You're important, but not that important, don't take yourself so seriously.
I compare it to the gym. People are scared to lift weights because they think everyone's watching, and I promise you, everyone's thinking about themselves, not judging your form. Get over yourself, get out of your own head. Of course I've been nervous to do certain things, but you can be nervous and still do it. Two things can be true.
Michael Cirillo: I love that. When I started going to the gym, I felt exactly that way, working out at home in solitude because I didn't want anyone looking at me. Now I walk in like, who wants to get whooped? Nobody's paying attention to you. People care about themselves way more than they should. What I'm taking from this: just get started, just do it.
[26:21] Cost Of Top Performer
Michael Cirillo: I want to go back to something we glossed over. Top sales professional, top 100 in the country consistently over years, what's the cost or investment of that, that nobody sees?
Andrea Anderson: For me that's just normal life, but it's years of coming in every day ready to work. I bring my lunch, wake up early, work out, get good sleep, I don't drink or stay out late. Those are normal things, but they're probably not normal for everyone. I think of myself as very disciplined, I love routine, and it's worked out great, it's been the vessel for my success.
I'm not a massive car fan. Unless it's a Cadillac, I don't know a ton about cars, I couldn't tell you what's under the hood, but I can tell you what trim and color it comes in and what you can and can't get, which is what the customer actually wants. I know I can't out-talk everyone on storytelling, but I can outlast anyone. My focus, drive, and ability to problem-solve, that's where I'm strongest. When I come in ready to work a deal, my manager sometimes says, "Whoa, Espresso, I'm not ready for you yet."
Michael Cirillo: Wait, is that your nickname?
Andrea Anderson: One of my managers calls me Espresso, yes, even though I don't drink much espresso, it's just how I'm wired. It's putting in a lot of time before and after work, and taking care of myself. I feel amazing, I'm 41 and I feel better than I did at 24. I guess that's a cost, but for me it's not a cost, I'd rather feel like this.
Michael Cirillo: That's a paradigm shift, it ties back to that abundance mindset. People want checklists, "just tell me what to post," but you have to listen between the lines, it's mindset, it's showing up, there's more than enough to go around.
[29:23] Why Customers Choose Her
Michael Cirillo: If you had to name the real reason people choose you over anyone else, for the person thinking they need to be a car fanatic or obsessed with the product, what is that reason?
Andrea Anderson: I listen, I know what I'm talking about with my product, and I make things happen.
Michael Cirillo: Mic drop. She didn't say AI, she said she's a human being. This is the thing I love about this show, every episode comes back to this. People think they need to know how to negotiate a car deal, but are you paying attention? She listens and she makes things happen.
Andrea Anderson: I ask, what's important to you, what do you not like about your current car, and they tell me. If it's a Cadillac, here's what fits. I'm efficient, I don't spend twenty minutes talking about something the customer doesn't care about.
Michael Cirillo: There's going to be a recap in the show notes and description for anyone following along. A few things stand out to me: the mindset piece, the perspective that comes from trials, post-traumatic growth, I wrote that down. Getting the reps in. You brought up time on several occasions, which feels like an important thread, we have less time than we want and more than we think. And this one especially, you said several times, "My worth isn't tied to this, my identity isn't tied to this."
[31:36] Boundaries And Balance
Michael Cirillo: As we wind down, for other professionals juggling parenting and a full career, what does balancing that messiness of life look like for you, as a mother and a business person?
Andrea Anderson: When I'm really busy, I tell myself, this is what I've been working for. Instead of that anxious feeling, I remind myself it's the same feeling as being excited, it's just perspective. So I flip it in my head, this is what I've been working for, I can't be mad that I'm busy.
With social media, people want to do business with winners who have that positive energy. I leave at 5:00 every day, I don't work Saturdays, and my numbers are still great. Last month I worked three weeks and sold 22 cars. If people want to work with me, they work around my schedule. Once my son gets older I may work a little more, and my numbers will keep growing, but if you're good at what you do, you can set boundaries, and boundaries are good.
I say no to a lot of things because I value time with my husband and my son, along with my job, my health, and my workouts. I'm firm on boundaries, and I can flip almost anything in my head to make it feel good.
Michael Cirillo: That's a powerful lesson, it comes back to mindset, giving yourself permission. That's something I struggled with as an entrepreneur for years, learning how to give myself permission to set that boundary: did I leave it all on the field while I was on that field? Yes. Now I give my best to this field, my family. When I die, I won't be thinking, "If only I'd done one more podcast." I'll be concerned with whether I had meaningful time with my family and the people I love.
This is powerful. Will you come back sometime soon?
Andrea Anderson: Yeah.
Michael Cirillo: I don't want to go too far, the rule of show business is leave them wanting more. I want more, but I know you're at the dealership right now, and I'm so appreciative.
[34:36] Connect And Wrap Up
Michael Cirillo: How can those listening or watching connect with you?
Andrea Anderson: Andrea Sells Cadillac, on all platforms. I respond to all my DMs, or you can email me at the dealership. I'm here at Andrew's Cadillac in Brentwood, Tennessee, a great family-owned store. I'm super thankful.
Michael Cirillo: Andrea, thanks so much for joining me on the Dealer Playbook. 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 in the DPB community on social media. Check back next week for a new Dealer Playbook episode. Thanks so much for joining.
