Pushing Back Against Pessimism with Peter Kelso

Michael Cirillo: 0:00

Y'all don't know really grinds my gears yes

‍Unknown: 0:13

this is Auto Collabs

Michael Cirillo: 0:16

Did I ever tell you about how Foo Fighters tickets go on sale. And I'm like, dope, I'm gonna bring my son to a Foo Fighters concert. And I'm so excited about it because it's gonna be a first concert. And just, they're one of my favorite bands. And so, for some reason, though, I couldn't get the tickets. I was put in this like five hour long queue. But my wife was in the salon cutting her girlfriend's hair. And her girlfriend goes, Oh, I got in. I'll just buy the tickets. You can reimburse me. Sounds like a legit plan. o ne ne. We find out like, three days before the event that ticket master will not let us exchange like move the tickets. No way because the old foo boys have put a limitation in place where they're not allowing that. So

Paul J Daly: 1:14

that was like, what is it the trying to like cut down on scalpers resellers?

Michael Cirillo: 1:19

I'm like, Are they dead to me? Like I went through a bit of what came out.

Unknown: 1:24

I'm like, Dude, you didn't then I it was annoying, because I had to duck Atari. Hello, my friend, she had to do the whole reimbursement thing through Ticketmaster took like four months to get her money back. And I felt bad about that. And just before we

Michael Cirillo: 1:40

met earlier, I see that Foo Fighters are in Dallas, Texas, tonight. And I did not get the notification.

Paul J Daly: 1:53

Then you went to buy tickets, and there's none left. And you can't buy them on the black market. And

Michael Cirillo: 2:00

you know what this makes me think well, because they don't let you try it, it will be kind of a pop. So this this kind of makes me think about how little things little tiny little friction points. Get in the way of amazing experiences, amazing experiences and how that so often relates to our industry. So my gears are grind. I Gosh, I don't

Paul J Daly: 2:27

think we have any much more than the ground heat kills for full throttle. Let's just get into the interview at this point.

Michael Cirillo: 2:37

Hey, we're sitting down now with Peter Kelso. You are the VP of strategic partnerships at full throttle, right?

Peter Kelso: 2:45

Yeah, that many other things I think call the

Michael Cirillo: 2:49

Mr. Miyagi of throttle. Okay, wearing a

Peter Kelso: 2:53

hat today, but I definitely wear a lot of hats over there. We're

Michael Cirillo: 2:56

excited to have you and all your hats on Auto Collabs. Thanks for joining us. Yeah, happy to be here. Hey, I'm curious and true. I'm curious, right out of the gates, because this resonates with me, I'm on your LinkedIn. And I see one of your most recent posts is a video and it's Friday positive vibes like that. Like, what is it about you, that gives you the desire to put out those positive vibes in the world?

Peter Kelso: 3:23

Thanks for asking. So first off, it's that it's part of my job, right? I have to kind of be out there. And so why not talk about things that are a little bit more important, in my opinion than cars and marketing. I just like to talk about people and what's on my mind. And like, I made a commitment to say, I'm going to I'm going to make content right for for LinkedIn, but I didn't want it to feel cookie cutter I had to fit me. And every time I tried to shoehorn business or some sort of sales message into it, it just didn't feel like me. So positive vibes was what I went with. I felt like every morning, especially on a Friday, why not just share a little bit of positivity and let people interpret it how they want

Michael Cirillo: 4:08

is that from where you're raised that way to have a positive outlook is something you develop later on in life, like where did it come in? Is it innate in you?

Peter Kelso: 4:17

Yeah, I think it's both my parents were definitely hippie type people. They always, you know, helped me lead with positivity and listen with positivity and always try to keep that optimistic mindset. And then as I grew up, I just realized, life's a whole lot easier. If you have a more positive outlook on things you can deal with stress through people. And if you put positivity out, it's like a nice little barometer about who you're around because if they're not receptive to it, then maybe you ought to be around others. Hey,

Michael Cirillo: 4:52

and I think I love this episode. All right, not in an inherently negative industry.

Peter Kelso: 4:57

Yeah, right. Totally. That's what I love. What'd you guys do that the people before cars mindset is? It's the same approach I've taken in every one of my jobs you ask anybody I work with, or I've worked with, they're going to tell you I asked him more about themselves and want to talk more about maybe things that aren't necessarily directly related to work, but they're the reason we go there. The reason we get up and grind and so that's just the kind of guy I am.

Kyle Mountsier: 5:24

Man. I'm sitting here just mind boggled because I, I've never met a fan of Michigan football. Oh, that I can say, you know, has this type.

Peter Kelso: 5:36

Are you talking about the world champion? 15? Or no, Michigan? Had the motion Asterix someday? Who knows?

Kyle Mountsier: 5:46

I've opened the Asterix? No, that's so sorry. I had to get that in the Ohio State in me that I had to find an opening. Right? That just like that cut right to it, Ohio. Guys. Yeah, those those guys to the to the south. That's right. Right. Um, so you know, when you look back at like, your, you know, because obviously, you said, hey, I want to do this, this this content, like, what was the impetus for creating the content? So go back that because you, you said, you tried to get into this vibe of, you know, business insights, or sales or products as a shed or something like that. But I needed you knew you needed to do content, when did that come about? Because that probably was, how recent has it been, since you just started to create this content about

Peter Kelso: 6:35

probably a little over a year. And it was really just me adjusting to my first remote position and a remote sales role where you've got to put yourself out there. And, you know, I just kept kind of not feeling right. Not putting myself out there. And just leading with this, you know, business, my company, our product type stuff. And at the same time, I was coaching a lot of youth baseball, and I frickin love it. I love seeing and helping these young kids develop as much as I love coaching my son, I feel like he does better when it's another nother influence helping him. And the same goes with these other kids. And so every night, I was coming home with these nuggets that I could relate to my own life, and it just just felt natural. And I kept saying, I gotta put stuff out there, and it just just didn't feel right to do anything other than to just leave with cool stuff. That's about people that's, you know, grounded in positivity.

Paul J Daly: 7:35

Let me ask you, how does this play. So you, your VP, you work a lot in agency partnerships, and trying to get everybody kind of singing off the same song sheet, right, can and I think when we talk about positivity, and selling these good good things into the world, as people who do that on the regular basis, and have been doing that for a long time, often, it gets misinterpreted as weakness, lack of being tied to business objectives, right. And so that's the fluffy stuff, I want to talk about the real stuff. So I'd be interested to hear your perspective on how that type of thinking and those types of things being out in the world actually helps you in your position. And maybe you could first explain a little bit more about your position, because like we generalize that,

Peter Kelso: 8:22

sure. Yeah. So me, what do I do? I, my whole goal is to kind of find that that common song, like you mentioned, PA, I use the analogy of a ship. So I talked to either agency owners, or folks at dealerships, or dealership groups, and they're in their ship that they've built. And that's everything that they put together to sail towards the horizon that I think I see. And it's up to them if they want to turn that sail, and all I'm doing is hopefully blown wind in the same direction and whether they want to turn, all five of their sales are just one or two. And that's really my quest is whether I'm talking to directly to a group or to a dealer, or to an agency to see if we can sing that same song. And I like that analogy. So I'm going to start using that to singing

Paul J Daly: 9:08

off the same song sheet. Right? Okay, so now Now, talk about how this bent and kind of like magnetic pull you have toward this positive mindset and these things actually helps you close business helps dealers and agency partners work better together. How does all that work?

Peter Kelso: 9:25

Right? So my dad told me he's a he's a contractor, he was an owner painting business did well, but you know, not some huge business. But he told me a few things that really stuck with me early on and one was commerce follows the path of least resistance. And when people good people are gravitate towards one another. So to me, those relate to one another. And that that path of least resistance can be eased by having the right rapport and the right type of relationship that's on a personal level, but then you have to be careful about it. When you can shift gears and how you shift gears into the business objectives and really be able to read the room and the people around you, maybe I'm quick witted, and then used to fallen on my face and having to backtrack and, and be serious in in earlier business conversations when I was younger, but I think people regardless of if you sense they have an appetite to cut right to it. To me, I feel like that's just another challenge to find a way to connect to that individual. And if you can do both, then it really makes for a sticky relationship. And I think you guys agree in the way that you carry yourself and put out that same type of positive people mindset. It's built on the credibility that you have built in the industry by knowing your stuff. And I think when you combine those two, it's a great combination, it's a whole lot easier than having to work with somebody who really knows their stuff that's hard to deal with.

Paul J Daly: 10:55

Yeah. Couldn't agree with you more as a positive? Is it possible to be too positive?

Peter Kelso: 11:00

No, why not? You know, but,

Paul J Daly: 11:02

I mean, don't do some people get annoyed with it, you know,

Peter Kelso: 11:06

comments in football. Now they do. But like, it's free, optimism is free. So you can you can have an endless tank of optimism, or you can have an endless tank of pessimism and anything in between. It's really up to me. And so I just through why not be positive?

Paul J Daly: 11:22

I like it. Hey, I'm just asking the question. Like, it's a hypothetical. I've been accused of what I just asked you

Michael Cirillo: 11:28

on the news, like, but but there is the the other side of it, right where rubber meets the road. And as an inherently optimistic person, people, I think sometimes people mistake optimism for being naive. Totally. Yeah.

Kyle Mountsier: 11:47

Yeah. rose colored glasses. Yeah.

Paul J Daly: 11:50

You're an idealist not a rerun?

Michael Cirillo: 11:51

Yeah, exactly. And then, especially in leadership, if you're an optimistic leader, you might have, you know, I've experienced this in the past where people go, Hey, man, like, all these, you know, business experts say you gotta hire slow and fire fast. And that's something that we all gravitate towards, because it's fun to say it rolls off the tongue nicely. But if I'm truly optimistic, that has to be at play in both the good times and the bad, and I feel like as an optimistic leader, my team deserves me doing my due diligence to determine the scope at which they are actually toxic. Or maybe they woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Or maybe they're dealing with something that's, you know, crazy in their life, or, or, or, or. And I think some people look in on that. And they go, say, he's just ignorant. He's just blind. Like Kyle said, He's rose colored goggles. And for me, I see it from the opposite spectrum, which is happy people, like, optimism doesn't travel as far or fast as negativity does. And so

Kyle Mountsier: 13:02

I Oh, it's so crazy. Yeah, people were straining

Michael Cirillo: 13:06

the people that if somebody disgruntled leaves, and I wasn't who I maintained to be in a pot, like a positive leader, or whatever, their negativity is going to travel further and harder against my reputation that a positive person leaving just because they outgrew the company or moved on to their own, you know what I mean? So I think about the impact, the real impact of optimism, and how do we reconcile that and get okay with it? You know, yeah,

Peter Kelso: 13:32

I think don't be afraid to be optimistic first, and just read, read the people around you, you know, how your optimism is being received a lot of times and so if you're, you come across someone who is going to challenge you to shift gears a little bit, maybe you got to challenge them to be a little bit more optimistic at the same time, pull yours back and meet in the middle. I think it's different every day and every interaction and conversation that we have, but all of it builds on top of each other. Why not? Bill?

Michael Cirillo: 14:04

As you're speaking, I'm like, wow, and you know, as this translates to the showroom floor, and like in dealership, you know, we sit here and we wonder why the consumer tends to have a negative taste in their mouth. Right? And it's because now we hit them with so much negativity and pessimism

Kyle Mountsier: 14:29

that won't work that

Michael Cirillo: 14:32

you know, the hit through the teeth, the inhale, what do you call it that? Let me just check with my I gotta I'm not sure if I don't know if it's in stock. Let me double check. And that's how we program people.

Kyle Mountsier: 14:50

Man opened

Peter Kelso: 14:52

up a scene with a different make, by being that one outlier that's optimistic, and positive and memorable. Will and what that can what you can build from that. It's

Kyle Mountsier: 15:03

almost a whiplash in our culture. Actually, that's what the shocking thing right here is the fact that we would that we can now have at this point, like a 12 minute conversation about this and not tire of it, right. Like, think think about what what that means to what is happening in the world, is the fact that we have to like, discover all of the nature of this almost countercultural narrative, that is optimism, right? Like whether that's in auto or outside of auto, it's almost like a it's like a hidden gem, because it is so countercultural, like the default position, the fallback of our culture of business relationships, is typically pessimism. Right? Yeah. And that's a dangerous place to be, I think, right? You should what we're discovering just right now,

Peter Kelso: 15:57

you shouldn't have to pardon your enthusiasm.

Paul J Daly: 16:01

Yeah, I'm thinking of, I'm thinking of the conversations we have with like David Long and the things use Carter's room and how much he advises people when they're doing a walk around of like an appraisal on a used car with the customer there. Like not to take the pessimistic approach. And say, like, oh, I don't, you know, and he's always like, Oh, my gosh, did anyone die in the accident? But, but realistically, he's like, tearing tearing the car down. To achieve what you think is a business objective is a much less practical way to go about getting a better price on the car. Instead, instead using the optimistic approach of like, Wow, I love this. This is a great blue when they made it in this blue, right? Because then the customer is going to be in an optimistic state of mind. And you're like complimenting them instead of like, trying to squeeze every drop

Peter Kelso: 16:53

out. Right and like want to do business with you because they like you. And they probably want it to be over with anyway. Because we love car. I know it's like one of my cars, but it's really kind of a it's a long process. I don't even like going to the mall to buy jeans. So if I'm buying a car finally

Kyle Mountsier: 17:10

someone else that shares my terror for Gene buying

Paul J Daly: 17:14

on the planet. Just kind of lucked out. By the way side story, kind of lucked out. We were at the Virginia auto dealers Association's annual meeting in the Omni in Asheville, North Carolina. Never been told before. And they had these Jeeps there and Kyle needed and all of a sudden Kyle found this pair of jeans that fit a wall he bought like all of them. I bought all of them. They were all on clearance. I bought every color it was over. I was like I'm good for the next three years. I don't know why it just felt like the right time to tell that story.

Michael Cirillo: 17:51

That's an analogy for the car business buying jeans, because nobody likes trying on jeans. They're tight, at first are kind of uncomfortable, they're stiff. You're not sure if you'll like them. And then just with enough time you find yourself not wanting to take them off. And and also sometimes you don't know how to take them off. And that is how did I get into this? It was so uncomfortable at first.

Peter Kelso: 18:17

It's somehow great now playing there somewhere.

Paul J Daly: 18:22

Never wear another pair? Wow. Well, I got sorry, I derailed us with the jeans story. You

Kyle Mountsier: 18:27

know, we got I gotta ask you because obviously, you know, with what you're doing over at full throttle, like, it's important for us to note, you know, all of this connection drives to something that I'm sure you're super excited about, which is the the product and the team and what you've built that serves dealers towards you. So like, what are you doing right now, that's exciting, that you are bringing people from positivity into a product offering that can help them with their real business. What's exciting you right now?

Peter Kelso: 18:56

Great question. It's easy. It's it's, I'm a marketing nerd at heart. And I love the fact that we're just changing the lens on how you view the modern shopper. And the modern shopper is it's not just one device, right? Oh, that's simple. I like that. It's not one device or, or one computer screen or one decision maker that shopping. And we have all these signals that that are out there in the in the ecosystem and all this disruption. Everybody's trying to gather that and all everyone's trying to do is give a clearer picture of what's really happening. And that's what we're able to do with our technology and our services is changed the viewpoint of how you're viewing a shopper and how we're watching and influencing and really delighting that shopper and at the end of the day I like to think of that shopper first and we're making a difference in providing for them because we're thinking about who they really are and how they shop and if we start and make it easier on that customer that same analogy of path of least resistance making it easier. Let Let them be themselves shop how you want, and we help our clients be where they are, and then give a clearer picture of what does that really look like at the end?

Kyle Mountsier: 20:13

You know, seems simple enough.

Paul J Daly: 20:16

Yeah. We're all like, yeah, that makes all the sense of the world. Like all the sense. We know, cool

Unknown: 20:22

marketers.

Peter Kelso: 20:23

There are a lot of flags in the air. And so in our industry, there's, there's so much overlap and perceived overlap. Again, I guess leaning into that, that positive people mindset that I'm just searching for ways that we can work together to collaborate to better serve that and customer. Yeah, thank you. The same thing. You're bringing good people and great companies together to just collaborate.

Paul J Daly: 20:49

Yeah. And solve problems. Yeah. And be positive and optimistic.

Peter Kelso: 20:53

Yeah, let's not try and cut each other's legs out. Let's try and lift each other's legs up.

Michael Cirillo: 21:00

There you go. Well, we while in Canada, we call that a piggy back. Right.

Kyle Mountsier: 21:09

Peter, it has been a ton of fun, man, we laughed. We gotta encourage. Michael Cirillo is mine got blown. pants for some reason. We went from all of Michigan. And we're better for it. I think. And I think there's going to be some people in our industry that are better for it. Peter, it's been a pleasure having you on Auto Collabs today, and we can't wait to see you.

Peter Kelso: 21:32

Yes, thank you. Thanks for bringing our industry together.

Paul J Daly: 21:39

Can I just say that I'm thankful that Peter was such an optimist, because you were so grumpy going into this.

Kyle Mountsier: 21:45

He did lighten the mood he did. Delivered p k

Michael Cirillo: 21:51

for the win.

Paul J Daly: 21:52

All right out of the gate to

Kyle Mountsier: 21:56

I brought it up right. We were what 12 minutes into it. And I was just I'm still so stunned that we have to ask these questions like is too much optimism too much. Right. I've been accused of being too optimistic. I have. Right. Yeah. Like you said that right? Or, you know, how does putting out positivity into the world? Return new business? You know? Yeah, for how's that good for relationships? Do you guys think those are legitimate questions that people are asking that we had to ask because I think culture is not used to an experience that is overwhelmingly optimistic. That's what's crazy to me. Yeah,

Paul J Daly: 22:38

no one walks into the dealership optimistically or typically not.

Michael Cirillo: 22:42

Maybe sometimes. I think people I think people go to a dealership excited. I think majority of my new car I needed to buy a new car. I love new car smell. I am I can see myself I've dreamed about driving the car home. I think they show up excited. And whatever it might be lack of training or empathy or optimism. Like I always just feel like, there is nothing wrong with being optimistic and agreeable. Even if you know, there is no way in the world this 550 Beacon is getting that Mercedes. Right. You can still pay for their ambition. Yeah, yeah. Dang, that is so cool, man. Wow, let's talk about it. Tell him and tell him

Kyle Mountsier: 23:34

just being like, stiff arming everything I've checked with you know, it's up to the bank. They're probably gonna say no. You know, it's like a badger commercial waiting to happen. Oh, my gosh.

Michael Cirillo: 23:49

Well, to your point, though, what stands out to me? Kyle is you're right. Why is pessimism become the norm when we know you can fit like, it is a brick wall. And we've all felt the brick wall of pessimism. We know that optimism is inviting. And it actually is the fastest way to get someone on your side. So I often full of hope. That's why it's full of hope. And so that's why I was like we're because I'm thinking about all of the friction points we put along the way in the car sales process. Foo Fighters, and then and then we wonder why they hated the experience when we could have just got them on our side, brought them in, warmed them up and said, Hey, like, can we have a realistic conversation? Maybe not in those words, but the essence of can we have a realistic conversation they would be much more likely to listen to you and drive away in that 92 Toyota Tercel

Paul J Daly: 24:44

tell us what you really think Michael Cirillo it

Kyle Mountsier: 24:46

after it look, if that little wrap up didn't give you something to go home with and take back to the store or take back to your company. I don't know what did. Hey Dad to Michael always we always are so grateful that You make it to this little moment. If you haven't made it to the little moment at the very end of the podcast, we really encourage you to stick around for a few more seconds second, but on behalf of Paul J. Daly, Michael Cirillo, and myself, Kyle Mountsier Thanks for joining us Auto Collabs. Sign

Unknown: 25:16

up for our free and fun to read daily email for a free shot of relevant news and automotive, retail media and pop culture. You can get it now@asotu.com That's ASOTU.com If you love this podcast, please leave us a review and share it with a friend. Thanks again for listening. We'll see you next time. Welcome to Auto Collabs Are we recording

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