The discourse of this particular episode is predicated upon the compelling journey of Frank Crinite , a luminary within the automotive industry, who shares his profound narrative of resilience and transformation. The conversation commences with an exploration of Frank's early influences and his serendipitous entrance into the car sales realm, catalyzed by familial expectations and personal circumstances. This anecdote serves as a precursor to a deeper examination of his professional ethos, which is characterized by an unwavering commitment to service and community engagement. Frank elucidates how pivotal moments in his life, including a harrowing battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma, catalyzed a profound paradigm shift in his approach to both business and personal interactions. Through this lens, he articulates the importance of empathy, authenticity, and the human connection in fostering not only personal success but also collective growth within the automotive sector. The episode subsequently delves into the establishment of the Pinnacle Society, a collaborative initiative aimed at empowering high-performing sales professionals. Frank's reflections on the intricate dynamics of competition and camaraderie among top-tier salespeople underscore a common theme: the elevation of others is paramount to sustained success. He passionately advocates for a culture devoid of ego and entrenched in mutual support, whereby industry leaders actively engage in uplifting one another to achieve greater heights. This narrative, rich with personal anecdotes and professional insights, culminates in an earnest call to action for listeners to embrace vulnerability, foster community, and prioritize genuine relationships in all their endeavors.

Takeaways:

• The podcast episode emphasizes the significance of personal development in achieving professional success.
• Listeners are introduced to Frank Crenitti, an exemplary figure in the automotive industry.
• The discussion highlights the importance of community involvement and supporting local charities.
• Crenitti shares his transformative experience with cancer, which reshaped his approach to business and empathy.
• The hosts discuss the Pinnacle Society, which aims to elevate high-performing salespeople in the automotive sector.
• The conversation underscores the necessity of maintaining a positive mindset amidst challenges and competition.

Companies mentioned in this episode:

• Piazza Honda
• Delco group
• Pinnacle Society
• Mont Blanc
• Ali Rita
• Eagles

This is Adam Marburger.

And this is humans that build real.

Conversations with real people.

Not just about what they've built in the world, but what had to be built inside them first.

No hype, no shortcuts.

Just humans doing the work.

Humans that Build.

Real people.

Real work.

Welcome to another episode of Humans that Build.

This show's designed to share stories from super achievers making an impact, and today's guest is doing all of that.

Welcome Frank Crenitti to Humans that Build.

How are you, my friend?

Well, I'm a human, and I've built things with Legos before, so I guess I qualify for this podcast.

I am so excited.

This is great.

Well, I'm happy you took the time.

So before, you know, before we get talking business, because you are definitely very involved in business, I gotta ask you a question.

I'm gonna put you on the spot because you're a Philly guy.

You know, I visit Philly often.

We do a lot of business in the Philadelphia market.

First thing I'm gonna throw at you, who's got the best dang cheesesteak in the city?

Who wins that one?

Angelo's, by far.

It's.

It's.

It's not even close.

It's Angela's.

I'm a big fan of Angelos.

I know that's a big thing.

People take it real serious.

You know, people.

You know, people get.

Do people fight over cheesesteaks in your town?

I mean, because people take that stuff.

Pretty Dang serious about 500 comments on a post.

Just let me post about a cheesesteak place.

Click on my Facebook page and it'll.

It'll.

It'll be like people praising some people, other people calling people morons.

And you've never had a good cheesesteak.

They are so passionate about their cheesesteaks here.

We are so passionate about their cheese takes here, I should say.

But, you know, I've been trying to stay in shape, so.

So I can't really be eating.

I can eat the bowl of steak.

There you go.

Not too much roll at that point.

Good to go.

There you go.

So we'll get right into the business.

So you do multiple things.

You know, you're at Piazza Honda, which we're really going to lean into that.

You're very involved with the Delco group and the Pinnacle Society.

But let's just talk about our career path, because we have similarities.

I sold.

My path was selling cars, you know, when I was.

When I was 14, in my third grade.

Third grade.

When my eighth grade teacher, before I Went into high school when he had everybody raise their hand, you want to do when you grow up.

I never said I wanted to sell cars.

It was kind of a blessing that I got the opportunity to sell cars, but it was by accident because my restaurant closed down and I was drug into the car business.

So I'd love to hear your journey.

Where did really did it start for you?

So it's funny so you say that.

So, like, when I was in third grade, I finally got to be able to walk to the bus stop myself.

And I'd walk, you know, through Falkroth, where I grew up, down here in Delaware County.

Bunch of row homes.

Great neighborhood back then to grow up in.

Still a great neighborhood.

It was just I'm walking to school and I'd see, you know, a couple people go to go to work, you know, just, you know, dressed in construction outfits, whatever it was.

But I always seen one guy, and he always went out in a suit and tie every single day.

I'd see him in the morning.

He was, like, right across from my bus stop.

And I'm like, man, that guy's a businessman.

Like, I didn't know what it meant in third grade, but I just kept telling myself I wanted to wear a suit and tie to work every day, and I wanted to be a businessman.

I had no idea what that meant.

And then I had the blessing of same thing, kind of being thrust into the car business.

My dad said, go get a job or get the hell out of the house.

And, you know, at the time, at that point, I was kind of.

I was working for a company, but not really.

And I'm just like, all right.

So I opened the paper.

He's like, go sell cars.

You love cars.

Why don't you go sell cars?

So, yeah, I guess I love washing my car because it was my first car, little Honda Prelude that I had.

And I opened a paper, seen an ad, you know, 26 years ago.

And I still remember I called up, like, hey, calling about the job.

And they're like, yeah, man, no problem.

It was a Friday afternoon.

He's like.

He's like, can you come in today at, like, 1 o'?

Clock?

I was like, I actually.

I have a tee time with a guy's like, dude, you'll never make it in this business, and hung up on me.

And I'm like, like, this guy's really, like, intense about this job.

So I called back.

I'm like, listen, man, I didn't realize it was that important.

I could be there in, like, an Hour, hour and a half.

And he's like, all right, come on out, man.

You know, came up and, you know, started talking to the guy, you know, and again, I started do a little bit of sales, but, you know, I didn't really know much about the car business.

And I just seen he had a Mont Blanc pen, and I knew I had a Mont Blanc pen that I won for being this, the tops in our company, for what I was doing with, with this marketing firm we're at.

So I just tried to find common ground with the, the sales manager.

Time I started talking about his Mont Blanc, told him how I actually won mine, you know, trying to show him that, you know, I, I, I do know how to do sales and just got a level ground with him.

He's like, all right, can you come in tomorrow and start?

I'm like, well, I'm not going to make this mistake again.

Absolutely.

I could be here.

What time am I starting?

So, you know, I was like, go get some suits.

And, you know, I went to the, I went to the mall and I bought three suits for like 150 bucks.

At that point, they didn't fit me.

They were too long.

They were all striped up.

Like, you know, definitely wasn't my style.

But I just bought them because that was, you know, the money I had to buy them at that point.

And started off in the car business 26 years ago.

And my first deal, my first deal, I'm sitting with the salesman that I'm shadowing, and I ended up selling the guy two cars at once.

Guy was buying a car for his wife, and he goes, I'm gonna need one too.

I said, you know, I just matter of factly said, well, why don't you, you found a great deal.

Now why don't we just do both of them now?

And they started talking, and the other salesman came back, and I'm like, hey, I think they want two cars.

And he's like.

And then after it all happened, the guy goes, that's the worst thing that could ever happen to you.

Because now you're going to think that every deal should be that way.

And I like, why can't every deal be that way in my head?

And from there on, I took it.

And I sold 18 cars the next month all by myself.

Took the board and never looked back at my whole organization.

I've never lost a month ever since that first month, and my whole organization never selling cars before.

But just because I had a little bit different mindset than what the, the older salespeople There the guys like, listen, if you could sell, you know, one used car and two new cars a month, a week, like, this is what it'll get you.

And I was like doing the math and I'm like, man, like, I, I don't think that I could work these hours to, to do that.

But I'm glad I didn't let that creep into my mindset.

Or the guy who was showing me, he was being really nice.

He was showing me.

But like, I'm like, man, like, you know, I just took it to the next level and just ran with it.

And I didn't even really know what I was doing at that point until a couple people actually, you know, stepped in and showed me and helped me out.

Like demonstration, presentation, some process stuff that I needed.

You know, I was just raw, just selling cars, which, you know, was fun.

I remember those days.

Hey, I remember, I, I remember the days of being raw.

And it's amazing too, if you do follow a process and you don't skip any steps, it's amazing kind of what can happen.

And you've been, how many years have you been at Piazza?

I mean, have you been in the same school?

20.

I love that I, I've been here this long.

Awesome.

Because you're, because what's special about this conversation is there a lot of auto peeps that do listen to this is you have built a business within your business.

The Piazza organization is one of the most prestigious organizations in the entire industry, which is awesome.

But you've built your own business within the business.

And I've had the honor and privilege to walk into your showroom floor and see it.

So when did it kind of click?

Like, you know, because here we're not here.

Let's not.

We can brag a little bit.

I mean, you average well.

How many cars do you average per month now would you say?

What do you average in per month?

I don't average anything.

Because I don't like the word average because that just means you're like everybody.

What'd you sell last month?

Let me ask you that then.

What'd you sell in May?

It was the funny thing, I actually, because my boy Ali Rita told me to stop looking at my numbers and just about growing it.

I know it was in the triple digits somewhere, you know what I mean?

But I actually, we do a six month evaluation sometimes I'll do quarterly.

But to me, the auto business is the only business that's actually month to month.

Like that reports month to month.

Every other business reports quarterly or semi Annually.

So that's what I just focus on.

Just getting in front of as many people as I can and just helping as many people as I can.

So as long as I stick to that process at the end of the year, you know, I take a peek in June, I take a peek to figure out where I'm at and what I want to adjust and, and it's done wonders for me.

Rather than worried about chasing this number, like, people, are you number one, are you this?

I'm like, listen, that was so ego driven and there's so many people on social media that's not worth fighting with.

I'm just here to serve my community.

If the rest of the car business wants to support me or, you know, people want to believe or not believe or do whatever it is that that's on them.

Like, I don't, it doesn't bother me at all.

The people that want to learn and want to support you, they're, they're, they're your people.

The people that want to just like troll you in and it just takes away from like your energy and your enthusiasm for the, for the business and like what I'm doing.

So, you know, I almost, I don't want to say I stopped posting my numbers, but people would just get so butthurt, like, there's no way that one person can do all this.

And you know, I'm like, all right, it's no problem.

And you're more than welcome to camp out in my showroom on a Saturday and watch me hand 15 keys to people and me do all the selling for everything.

And you know, then I got a good team that, that, that follows up and cleans up with me.

So, you know, as far as getting cars ready and stuff like that.

But, you know, it's great.

It's a show, we have fun.

I, well, I love that mindset.

You know, it's like in the car business and even as a finance person, like we would live month to month, you know, that last three or four days of the month, finance people get a cash deal and they start to freak out because they're number that whole month to month.

And you've been, you've adopted that, you know, that quarterly review.

I actually love that.

When did that click for you, Frank?

When was that kind of aha moment where you're.

First of all, I want to know when was that aha moment that you wanted to take this into, turn it into your own little business?

How long have you been operating like this and what happened in your life if you don't mind me asking?

That made the switch for you to operate the way that you do.

So there's several aha moments, there's some really big ones when God actually brought me to my knees and made me reevaluate everything in life and the way that I was doing it.

One was about.

Were we 20, 26?

About 11.

A little over 11 years ago, I got diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Cancer, blood cancer.

It wasn't the end of the world, you know, I mean, it was like, you know, but it really humbled me and kind of like brought me to my knees when I needed it.

I was very ego driven.

I was very numbers driven.

Like, we just talked about, like the rest of the industry was.

And, you know, I had this, like, goal to prove to myself about how many cars that I can sell without assistance and without all this stuff.

And it's funny, once.

Once I got humbled, you know, basically by God, and I took it as a blessing that I got cancer.

And because going through that process, it taught me empathy for people.

It taught me to be patient with people.

It taught me to actually think about people and the situation that they're in and what they're actually dealing with.

Where before.

I don't want to say that I had that, but it wasn't present of mind at that point.

And going through that in the worst physical condition that I was in.

I was.

I was 16 weeks into chemo, start my radiation, and I actually sold 88 cars that August.

Right before we moved to this dealership, I sold 88 cars, which was my high by like, 18, 16, 17 cars at that point.

So I went home that.

That night after the.

The end of the month, and we counted all the numbers, and I said to myself, I've been lying to myself this entire time about how good I was and what my processes were, because if in this physical condition and.

And where I was, you know, like no hair, basically, eyebrows gone like that, I could sell 88 cars in this condition.

I've been lying on myself the entire time that I've been doing it the right way, because I changed everything up at that point.

You know, like, literally just how I care for people, how I poured into everything, and it changed everything for me at that point.

And that's when I really started treating it like my own business rather than I was just turning and burning and chasing a number.

I made sure that I did actually care about the customer experience.

That I was doing all the little things that made me special, not just relying on my talent that, you know, I had, you know, that my mom gave me from way back in the day, you know, my talents that I had, but actually treated it like a business at that point.

So, you know, that was the aha, God brought me to my knees moment.

And thank God I took it as a blessing and recognized it because it changed my life.

Yeah, I've, you know, I've had similar, ah, moments and sometimes I've had whispers from God, sometimes I've been punched and.

Smacked in the face.

And there's a lot of people too, that go the complete opposite, where they spiral out of control, self destruct, kind of woe is me.

And then there's those that take it as an opportunity.

What would you, you know, here, the automotive industry alone is an absolute blessing.

And I've seen it change, I've seen it save lives.

I've seen it change lives.

What would you tell, you know, because there's a lot of the auto industry, there's a little ego in it.

I think you and I, we run in some of the same circles, right?

We know a lot of the same.

There's some ego.

And you got a lot of guys and gals out there selling 20, 30 cars a month and think they got it all figured out.

They're the best.

You know, what best advice would you give somebody out there that's truly trying to get to 50 to 60, to that hundred?

You know, Mark, what are some tweaks or some really great advice you could give to somebody that can just kind of catapult them to that next level?

Well, I mean, listen, some people's level, that's, that is the best for them.

That's what they want to do, and that's where they're happy.

And if it's ego driven, listen, we all have.

Even though I say that I don't have as much ego, still having ego, it still hurts, you know what I mean?

Sometimes when you hear things online or you don't have the greatest day or something like that.

So there's still a little bit of ego, but you can't have that be your driving force every day just to feed your ego that you're the greatest.

I mean, literally, I wake up every morning and, you know, I tell myself, don't be a wimp, get out of bed the second I get up.

You know, get up, start my daily routine of working out, getting my day planned out, prepped out, get in the shower, and second I got out of the shower, you wipe the steam off, I high five the mirror.

I love being me.

And I got to tell myself that it's not because I'm ego driven.

It's because if I don't love being me, nobody's going to love being with me.

Right?

They'll tolerate me.

They'll.

They'll go along maybe with what I'm saying, but they're not going to love and have that feeling that they love being with me.

If it's somebody I'm in a relationship with, friend, family, my wife, a co worker, a client, whatever, it is just somebody you meet outside.

If you don't have that energy and enthusiasm that you love me and you, why would anybody remember you?

Why would anybody love to talk to you, have a conversation with you meaningfully?

You know what I mean?

So, I mean, that's really where I got to that I started recognizing that.

Yeah.

Hey, listen, I am a little bit special in the fact of how optimistic I am and how positive I am.

So for a salesman, the advice, you know, that to change the way that they do things, just be the most positive person in the room when you walk in, no matter what room it is.

The finance office, the manager's office, your kitchen, wherever it is, get the negative out of your head.

Stop watching the news.

Stop worrying about the cycle of everything going on around you.

Amen.

You just said stop watching the news.

I love you for saying that.

So I'll tell you, because something changed in my life, and I haven't shared this with a lot of people.

I thought about putting a post about this, but I was like, you know what?

I'm gonna keep this to myself.

I found myself, like, in this, like, rut.

Like, I think it was like September through, like, even March of this year.

My businesses are scaling at the highest rate possible.

I'm in good shape.

I got health.

My kids are healthy.

I mean, on the outside looking, it's like I'm winning.

But I was so down.

I was so freaking depressed, and I couldn't figure out why.

Then what I stopped doing, Frank, because I'm on airplanes a lot.

So I'll go through Fox News and then go to cnn.

I mean, I look at all of them and then I scroll and I get in these conversations with everybody talking politics.

And then I chased this Epstein file scandal forever.

Got no justice out of it.

Went nuts.

And then after the Charlie Kirk thing, I went down the rabbit hole.

I found.

So I got myself so depressed, I made a decision to stop watching all News.

I stopped scrolling on all the bs.

I've never been happier.

I get people that ask me questions, like political questions, asking me all that.

I don't even know what's going on.

I really don't even know what's going on politically right now.

And I'm happier than I've ever been.

Yeah, it's crazy.

There's nothing that you can actually change.

And if I can't change it and I'm involved with it, it's not doing any good.

So there's only three things in my perspective that I can control and that's like my mindset, my actions and how I react to things.

So if it's not one of those three things and it's not really important to me, you know what I mean?

So if I can't directly affect it, why am I going to worry about it?

Why am I going to have anxiety or have an argument with somebody online or try to put a point out there that nobody's ever going to change their mind about?

You know what I mean?

It'd be like, you know, me putting something out about politics or what you just said, all that stuff that'd be like me trying to change a Dallas, a die hard Dallas Cowboys fan into an Eagles fan.

It's just, it's not going to happen over, especially over a tweet or a post.

So, you know, when I'm training my salespeople that train with me, I tell them and like, listen, like, it needs to be fun, it needs to be exciting.

It can't be anything, you know, political or, you know, too personal or, you know, too opinionated where you're gonna alienate half your customer base.

No matter if you're right, you're wrong, or you're indifferent, everybody thinks that they are the right one and on the right side of it, and they possibly could be, but it's gonna ruin your mindset.

And to me, I just need to keep.

I call them the Peaky Blinders.

You know, the horses they run the races in the Kentucky Derby, everything to have these Peaky Blinders on.

And it's because they're running, they got dirt firing them, they got other horses, they got jockeys, they got the crowd, you know, yelling and all over the place.

And all they're focused on is running their race right.

And they don't stop at the finish line, they run through the finish line.

And a lot of times as salespeople, we get to the end of the month and we celebrate this great month or we look back and we didn't have a great month, and that just stunts your growth.

So I preach to run through the finish line, right?

Just keep going, keep your momentum going.

So stop looking at your numbers on the daily.

I understand how important it is to track things, but as a salesperson, that's why you have sales managers.

That's their job to track things.

It's your finance manager's job to track, you know, your back end and everything.

So I empower everybody else to do their jobs so that I can keep growing, you know, with mine.

And one of them is just keeping laser focused on what I need to do to be successful every day and to help as many people as I can.

I love that.

And, you know, for those that don't know you, I do want to kind of lean into this just a little bit because you mentioned Ali.

Ali is another exceptional human that I actually need to get him on the show as well.

He's got a great story.

It's kind of cool how, you know, in the world that we're in, you know, there's competition's a healthy thing.

But you guys are, in my opinion, the two top in our industry.

But you guys are friends and you guys are leaning on each other and you help each other.

Tell us a little bit or tell my people a little bit about your store and kind of how you operate different than the status quo.

If you don't mind doing that, Frank.

Well, Ali, Rita, is the most amazing human being that you'll ever have a chance to meet, have a conversation with, or follow.

And he helped me out immensely before we were ever really good friends.

I mean, I literally came home on a Saturday after selling, I think it was like 16 or 17 cars.

And I went out back and sat in my pool and I thought I was actually going to leave the industry at that point.

I'm like, I just, I don't want to do this anymore.

It was, it was just.

I was, I was burnt, and it wasn't anything that anybody did, anybody said.

I was just burned.

I was selling 120 plus cars at that point.

And I don't know, something just said, call Ali.

So because there's not many people that I can talk to that are going to feel, you know, empathy or be able to give me advice about selling as many cars and doing and life, you know, as somebody that's a.

That's, that's not a high performer at these levels.

It's just, it's difficult to comprehend and understand what you actually deal with.

All a lot of people see is the money and the success and the notoriety and the popularity and all that's great and, you know, we love it.

But at the same point, like, there's a lot of pressure.

There's a lot of.

There's a lot that goes into that you have to deal with and decompress.

And I called him and on a Saturday night, he took like two hours out of his.

Out of his busy day with his family.

He was with his family.

I think it was at his lake house at that point.

And he walked me through everything about his process and how he was doing things and basically again, told me to stop being so ego driven that you had to do it all by yourself.

And almost not ego driven, but control freak.

Because I know that I can do it better than the person that I'm going to ask to do it and faster.

So I would just do it right.

And he said, dude, you're going to burn out.

You're not going to make it and your dealership's not going to want that, and you're not going to want that.

And here's a plan he did.

He set it up, you know, with, you know, the way that he has an assistant, the way that he has, you know, people for that.

He basically manages that, you know, kind of run around and do things for him.

So, you know, I got Marianne.

She's been sent here by God.

I tell everybody to keep me organized and to keep me focused and to slap me around when I need him like, yo, get back in the game.

And then I got Justin, who is like Buddy the Elf.

He wants to help everybody and do everything possible to make the customer experience just a great greatest ever.

He gets cars ready for us.

He makes sure that he goes over cars with a customer.

He is, he's.

He's the mvp, man.

Like, he helps us out, like, so much.

And without me being able to have that just epiphany moment of I gotta call and talk to somebody.

Because a lot of times in this business, a lot of times as men, when the way I was growing up, you can't.

You can't call another guy and talk about your feelings.

You can't call another guy, you know, talk about.

It just.

It just wasn't.

It wasn't a way that our parents grew up.

You know what I mean?

You just compartmentalize that you ate it and you went to work and listen, like, a lot of times I do that.

But at this point, I had to call somebody or like, my life probably would have been changed drastically.

Who knows what it would have been better, worse, and different.

But I'm so blessed that he took that time out and that really grew our friendship.

Man, this was before we were ever in business together.

Like, you know, I guess people seen us as competition, and I was like, man, there's this guy selling as many cars as I am, and why in the world would he give me the time of day, let alone tell me his industry secrets and what it was?

And he was like the nicest human being and as blunt as could possibly be for two hours and poured into me and that another moment that changed my career path and changed my life at that point.

Yeah.

And that's perfect segue, because I want to talk about pinnacle Society.

I've had.

I've known Ollie a long time.

I don't know him obviously, as well as you, but I've got.

I've sat at the dinner table with him.

I've watched him share his secret sauce with others.

Like, he's.

So.

He just shares information.

I mean, the guy is so humble.

It's absolutely insane.

And you guys own a business together.

So let's talk about pinnacle Society.

Why was it formed?

What's the mission behind it?

If you don't mind kind of digging into that a little bit.

Not a problem.

So I'll just tell you how it was formed to start.

Okay.

Because it's a funny conversation.

Somebody put me in his.

In his group and said, hey, this guy is selling, you know, 100 plus vehicles.

And he put me in his group and immediately reached out.

He's like, hey, hearing all this great stuff about you.

Is it true?

And I said, well, what great stuff are you hearing about me?

Right?

And we walked through and, you know, we had a great conversation.

And then, you know, like a month later, I found another person through Facebook.

You know, Ali, Rita.

Boom.

Selling all these cars.

I'm like, man, this is great.

Somebody else is out there that's doing this, and we got to be friends.

Broke Joe Gerard's record and went through all the stuff that he went through on social media with people all over him.

And me, him and Jonathan became pretty close on social media.

And we'd always talk and go back and forth.

And I had my own training company the time.

And the reason I started my own training company is because there was no sales trainers that would just train individual salespeople.

They would only because there's no money in it, basically, right?

They would want to train the whole.

The whole organization, the whole dealership was the only way anybody want to trade it.

But there's guys like me and guys like, you know, that we didn't really go to sales training or have access, access to that.

And I'd go to these hustle and grind.

Back in the day, I had a line of people that wanted to take a picture with me.

Like I was like Mickey Mouse at Disney.

I'm like, man, this is really weird.

But then when I started having conversations with all these.

With all these salespeople, they're like, man, is there any way that we can get 10 minutes of your time?

Is there any way we get 10 minutes of your time?

And I started to notice, like, these sales people, their companies didn't want to pay for sales training or it was sales training that was irrelevant or regular regurgitated or googled and just put into a doc and, you know, something makes money on it wasn't actually what they needed to do to scale their business.

So that's kind of how I started off with the sales training thing.

Just wanted to help people at the lowest price point I possibly could to make it, you know, at least worth my time, but also be able to make it, you know, so somebody else had skin in the game to want to actually do it.

And it will weed out the people that were just trying to get a quick hit or a quick close or whatever it was.

So, you know, I found a community of people that wanted to grow.

And I always knew once I met Jonathan and once I met Ali that I wanted to be in business with these guys.

And again, I had no idea what this meant.

I had a dream, and it was a reoccurring dream that I was going to be in business with Jonathan and Ali.

Jonathan went to Ali's house.

He was in Ali's house in Michigan.

And it was 9 o'.

Clock.

I think it was a Friday or Saturday night.

It was actually a Saturday night.

I remember I was sitting home after work and I got a FaceTime call on Facebook from Jonathan Ali.

And they said, hey, we got an idea that we wanted to run past you.

And before they get that out, I said, I'm in.

I said, I already had a dream about this.

I'm in 100%.

You don't even know what it is yet.

I said, I don't care what it is.

I've been Waiting for this call.

And we sat there and we explained to each other what we thought everything should be.

And you know, it was for high level salespeople that just basically get left alone by their dealership.

Because once you start selling 25, 30 cars a month, everybody at the dealership thinks you have it figured out.

And that's the problem because at 30 cars a month, self working off Internet leads, that's usually where everybody tops out.

And you know, it's really hard to get past that 30 car a month if you're just getting Internet leads, if you're just getting, you know, floor traffic, if you're getting the occasional by happenstance or circumstance, you know, the referral, and you don't really know how to procure that and how to actually get that business to come in through a pipeline of referrals and customers.

It's so hard.

And you know, we decided we wanted to train the tops of the top, the people that are selling the 25, 30, 30 plus cars a month.

The people that are making six figures are the tops in their, in their dealership.

And, and that's how the pinnacle society came about because we wanted to help the people that everybody else thought was, was at the top.

And listen, there's always another level up, level up.

And you know, when I was growing, there wasn't any.

Like every sales trainer, the top they were doing was how to get the 30 cars because that was easy to get the 30 cars.

There was nobody teaching how to get the 40, 50, 60, 70, because there wasn't those hitters out there.

There was no, again, no money in training, just those, those individuals, they would want the whole dealership or the whole dealer group, which I get as a, as a business model.

But you know, we're more mission driven than anything.

You know, it's not a, it's not a, it's not a money grab, it's not a hey, let's run Facebook ads, anything.

It's, it's really a fact family.

It's something like I've never been part of, had the opportunity to be a part of before.

It's a, it's a sisterhood, it's a brotherhood, it's a family.

And everybody truly cares about everybody else's successes.

But then we're also able to be open with each other about our struggles and our failures, especially at these levels.

Like I said when I called Ali, it would have been hard for me to call somebody that was selling 25 cars and for them to understand, you know, and have empathy for me at 150, 20 cars a month.

Back then, you know, what I was actually struggling with, you know, so it's great to be able to have those performers around you and people that are struggling, you know, in the same direction with you.

Yeah, I remember you guys had that phrase, you know, it gets lonely at the top.

It does get lonely at the top.

Well, why the heck, you know, I'm seeing this today.

You know, our agency is grown quite substantially and you know, we work with a lot of wonderful clients.

I mean, our deal, we're not going to say we're picky.

We're pretty picky.

I mean, if you don't want to grow, we're not the right fit.

Because we hold people accountable, we want to grow.

But there are a lot of dealers out there that just, they don't want to grow.

And you've got a lot of salespeople out there.

And even you see finance managers, they want training, but then the dealer won't provide the training.

I mean, that to me seems counterproductive to the business.

Why does that even exist, Frank?

I mean, it drives me crazy.

Well, there's 98% of the time it's because if you're a sales manager, you've been at the same dealership for X number of years, or you've trained your team, or you said you've trained your team and really not, hey, go watch these videos or just a word of advice at the desk when you're bringing up a pencil to a customer or trying to present numbers and then some sales trainer or somebody comes in and shows you how to do it differently or has a better way, they feel like they lost their worth.

Right.

Because they weren't able to do it.

Instead of being open minded and inviting to that, because if you come into an organization or you have a salesperson, you change and they double their output in a very short time.

Which is easy to do in this day and age with social media, with the way that you can speak from a stage like we are right now, rather than when I was doing it, have to basically knock on doors and individually go shake hands and ask for people's votes.

At that point it hurts a lot of egos and people get really secure in their jobs and they get that word that I hate.

They get this average comfortability about them and they're like, well, we're number one on our street, we're number one in our market.

Well, why is that the top?

Why are you not striving to, to push?

And why do you Care what everybody else is doing.

I don't care what everybody else.

I hope everybody.

One of the things we say in the pinnacle society is when we say it's no, it's, it's no longer lonely at the top.

It's because I want to pull everybody up the mountain with me.

Because being at the top of the mountain all by yourself is kind of lonely.

Right?

That party gets boring after a while.

Talking about yourself gets boring after a while.

I want to talk about the successes that I helped other people, people grow, right.

The things that have changed their families lives.

Right.

The people that were making, you know, under six figures and now they're making like into the, you know, three hundred, four hundred thousand dollar plus range changes people's family dynamics.

It changes their legacy, it changes their lives at that point.

And a lot of times at the dealership level, at a sales manager level, if you have a better way and a better process and they don't understand or know that because they never did social media or they don't really know how to ask for referrals.

Right.

And that's the way they were trained and go get control of your customer.

Stop.

Right.

So that's commitment.

Get a commitment.

That's the feedback that I get from the salespeople that I train that are in the dealership that are having to have the, the fight with their, their sales managers about how they're growing and how they're changing because then it, it emasculates or, or takes away from what they've grown or where they think that the tops of their business should be rather than being open minded.

Now not everybody, not everybody, but a large majority of, of this business unfortunately a lot of times ends up being like that.

So.

Yeah.

So let's talk about kind of some of your passions, you know, because you obviously you love helping people and I know you personally, so I know that you just love helping people and it feels good to help people.

Like I, there's a, there's a little selfishness that comes with the joy that you get.

You know, when you see people that continue to grow and you have some small part and it just feels good.

I see it in jiu jitsu.

You know, I own a jiu jitsu academy.

I'm getting a little bit older now.

These younger kids are getting, getting a lot stronger and as students progress and they start to kind of get you at first, you know, ego used to kind of get in the way.

And now it's kind of like, gosh darn it, you're high five.

You're really picking this up.

I love it.

So, I mean, I love the passion and.

The passion and the joy that you do get from seeing people win.

It's.

It's.

It's the best feeling in the world, in my opinion.

And you've got other passions, so tell us a little bit, because we're.

For the sake of time, you know, I got a couple topics, and one's a very.

There's one.

We're going to talk a little football because I think you've got a little passion there.

But before we do that, let's talk about the Delco group.

I know you're really involved in community.

You do a lot.

Tell us a little bit.

What is Delco?

What are you doing with the Delco group?

I'd love to share that story.

Yeah.

So Delco is Delaware County.

Delco Shore for Delaware county, where we.

Where we live.

And Delaware county is the most supportive community that I would ever.

I'm blessed to be a part of, let's put it that way.

Like, literally, like everybody here, you know, not everybody, but for the most part, you know, people have your back.

Like, you know, if you take care of people in the right way in this community, you know, it's.

It's.

They.

They want to tell the world.

They want to support you.

And so, you know, I want to give that back.

I mean, when I started to grow, I'd always have these charities reach out to me, and they'd be like, hey, man, like, can you support?

Can you write a check?

And I'm a yes guy.

Like, want to support and everything.

And I write a check, 500,000 bucks.

And then I'm a little inquisitive.

So I'd like Google this person's charity and look into it, you know.

And, you know, I see that, you know, they read the things and it'll say, yeah, well, only 38% of the money you donate actually goes in charity.

And then there's administration, and, you know, they pay people.

What's your.

Is fine.

I finally understand how charity works.

But then I Google it even further, and the guy has a $17 million beach house.

And I'm like, just doesn't sit right with me, you know what I mean?

And not saying they're not doing great, they're not doing things, but it just wasn't like me to give my money and then know that 60 some percent of it wasn't actually Going to what the call is that they say.

And I understand, listen, our organization is completely volunteer.

We have 14 people to volunteer right now, board members, and it's a lot, right?

So I understand why charities hire people and they have to pay people to do this.

Not everybody has the same passion, but when we were forming this, it was, listen, every dollar that we raise goes back into the community.

Nobody takes the thing.

It's all volunteer.

And I'm like, yes.

And then we're going to share it with the world on.

We have like 30,000 followers on our.

On our community Facebook page that we have.

And to see that your money, every dollar that you.

You give, every dollar that I ask you to give gets back in the community and then see where it actually goes.

Love it.

Like the greatest thing.

And I have people, oh, man, why are you showing off and like, showing where, you know, you're helping people?

Why can't you just help people?

Because then nobody knows about it.

This is the Salesperson that sells $8 a month and it doesn't want to share anything with anybody because they're scared of social media, don't understand it, or they're just coupled with it.

I said, listen, we're.

We're going to show you where every dollar that I just asked you for is actually going.

And people love it, man.

It took off to the point where, like, we're like, wow, like, we.

We have something here.

And, you know, we're like a.

Basically like a local make a wish foundation.

We're not the charity that's going to just write a check to you.

You know what I mean?

Like, hey, here's, you know, X to cover your bills.

But listen, we'll come in and we're sending a family to the Disney World this week.

You know, we send families to the Jersey, the Shore, you know, all the time that are going through struggles or having a hard time.

And for us to show up at the Delco group with, you know, a bus full of.

Full of Delco Group and like, people follow us and the whole communities around this house, like, when we knock up and like, you know, bring these people out for their special moment, it is.

It's such an amazing feeling to be able to help.

Right?

When I first started doing this, I used to read these applications and I'd get so, like, down and upset and, like, I'd be like, man, like, I don't know if I can do this.

I had to totally switch my mindset around to listen, the impact that you've made on this community and the popularity you have empowers me to be able to help so many people that I got to look at it from a totally different lens or it's just going to eat me up inside.

So instead of worrying about, man, these people are going through all the struggle.

What can I do to take their mind off of the struggles that they're having right now?

Just for a brief moment, you know, somebody going through a cancer battle, which, you know, totally I can empathize with.

You know what I mean?

Like, you know, somebody came in and said to me, man, like, you know, here, listen, you guys have a trip.

Just take off of work, you know, for the weekend, and you guys have a trip and could go away and just have some time with your family, like, would have meant the world to me at that point.

So, you know, we're creating experiences that, you know, have been leaving a lasting memory for people and their families.

That's.

That's what matters to me.

It's legacy stuff right there.

You're a vessel, my brother.

You're a vessel.

And you know what?

It's.

It's.

I believe, and this is.

And I say this boldly because I most.

The majority of the individuals that I bring on humans that build are business owners, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs.

I believe it's our due diligence to serve the community.

I just think it's our.

I think it's our responsibility.

We should be serving the community.

And I want to.

I'm going to end this conversation on something.

I have somebody on my team who is an absolute psychopath for the Eagles.

And you probably know who I'm talking about.

Yeah, it's like in our team meetings, it's like when it's around football season, we know.

I mean, she posts more than I do about the Eagles.

So.

Cindy Z.

If you're listening to this, shout out to you, because you are my number one salesperson.

Keep selling stuff.

But I want to know, tell us, because you are a fanatical, an absolute fanatical fan.

But you were actually, and I don't know if it was last year, year before you were voted by the Eagles as fan of the year.

So talk.

I mean, how the hell does that even happen?

First of all, talk us through that, if you would.

The word.

The word isn't fanatic.

It's delusion.

I am delusional.

Every single, every single, every single year that we're going to win the Super Bowl.

And I have this path and I convince myself and I see it, and I just go with it right?

So being the Eagle Fan of the Year.

We were two and two at the time.

We lost two big games in a row, got crushed.

They're calling for our quarterback.

Jalen hurts his head.

They're calling for our coach, Nick Sirianni, to be fired.

I win this award, they bring me down to the stadium.

I got Mike quick, old Eagle there, Big Dom who's like, the Eagles.

Like, you know, everything guy.

Like, all these old X you.

They're.

They're.

My name's on the board.

Frank Crenadi.

You're the Eagles Fan of the Year.

Tapping.

I didn't even know it.

Like, I'm miked up and I'm talking.

I'm not even thinking anything because I'm just being on microphone like, hey, we're doing a fan tour.

We want to get some feedback.

I'm like, no problem.

They totally got me.

Like, I.

It's hard to surprise me.

It's hard to ambush me.

They got me.

So, long story short, fast forward, like, we go over to the NovaCare center where the Eagles practice and Eagles train and with my boys, and they're like, hey, man, we need you for 10 minutes.

We got to get you in the studio.

We're gonna do a quick interview with you before Jalen hurts.

He's got to do a press conference.

I said, no problem.

Boom.

He's like, ever been on KYO before?

I'm like, yeah, I'm good, man.

So the reporter mics me up, and he goes, all right, I'm gonna just fire through, like, five or six questions, you know, just go ahead and answer it.

He goes, you know, first one, he goes, frank, he goes, you know, just, big day today for you.

What's it feel like to be the Eagles Fan of the year?

And I said, it feels like God would never have blessed me with this award if the Eagles weren't coming with me to New Orleans for the Super Bowl.

And we're going to win the Super Bowl 20, 24.

And this is like, we just lost two games like that.

We're, like, the worst team in the league at this point.

The guy shuts the camera off and goes, now I understand why you're Eagles Fan of the Year.

I don't think anybody else in Philly would have said that.

But I'm not going to say that I was the lucky charm and that I was the propelling person that put out the positivity, but we went undefeated after that, and Went all the way to the Super Bowl.

I got to go to the super bowl with the Eagles.

Got to bring my wife.

Surprised my kids, flew them out on Saturday of the Super Bowl.

So we all got to spend time together at the Super Bowl.

It was amazing.

And we won the Super Bowl.

So not saying I was the greatest Eagles fan of the year ever to, to be, you know, given the award, but I don't know of an Eagles or an NFL fan of the year of any team that have went from, from 2 and 2 to undefeated to winning the super bowl with their team.

So, you know, I still think I'm the biggest.

Well, I do.

I've got to make my.

I'd love to go to a game sometime.

I'd like to go to a game with you sometimes to get together and do that.

So I'm going to sound off on this.

First of all, I know you have seven clients waiting on you today, and I want to thank you for your time.

Before we go, how can people follow you?

How could fellow sales professionals in the world connect with you?

If they want to grow to that next level, maybe they want to be in pinnacle society with you.

I know that you have to qualify for that, but how can people follow you?

How can people connect with you?

I mean, you can find me on social media.

I mean, it's.

If you can't find me at this point, then listen, I'm just not doing my job.

It's my fault.

So if you're in the auto industry and you know you can't find me, then you know, it's, it's, it's.

You're probably not going to make it in this business.

So, you know, just find my name, Facebook, Instagram, tick tock, my numbers everywhere.

Everybody's like, dude, how do I call you?

And they're on my messenger page.

How do I call you?

I'm like, do you see that little phone button at the top?

You just, you just lick it.

Just hit that.

You know what I mean?

Really easy call.

Make the call.

Make the call.

You are.

You're an incredible human.

I'm grateful just to call you friend.

You're a blessing to our industry.

So thanks for taking the time and for those listening and those that end up watching, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Humans that Build.

This show is designed to help people to become a better version today than they were yesterday for a more promising tomorrow.

Frank, let's get to work.

My brother.

We'll talk soon.

Thanks, brother.

You're the man.

Appreciate that.

Humans that build real people, real work.

See you next time.