"Car Lot Cowboy" Reality TV Show coming to Spike TV

[XDCX]

If you've ever watched the show, "Bar Rescue," on Spike TV you may have wondered why there isn't a similar series targeting failing dealerships that need the assistance of an outside consultant.

Well, wonder no more because Spike TV is currently filming episodes of a Car Dealership Reality TV show with the working title of "Car Lot Cowboy." Here's a report with more details - click here

The TV show will feature Tom Stuker and his team of consultants who will spend one week at each dealership.

While I don't really like the "Car Lot Cowboy" nonsense I think the concept of a TV show that tries to turn around struggling dealerships is interesting.

[ohiobuckeyes]

Can not wait to watch this show. Really enjoy Bar Rescue very hard truth show. Hope these dealership are ready for a "eye opener".

At first I thought it was one of Towbin Dodge's employees getting their own show. He did have a person call the "Auto Marshall"

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by ohiobuckeyes

Can not wait to watch this show. Really enjoy Bar Rescue very hard truth show. Hope these dealership are ready for a "eye opener".

I've enjoyed watching some of the Bar Rescue shows too. While I think the show comes off as being a bit scripted, that seems to be true with most reality TV shows today.

Concerning the dealership reality show, I wonder what "freebies" they'll offer the dealerships that participate? It seems that most Bar Rescue shows include a facility make-over and some free item provided by a sponsor. (Point of sale system, Keg tap system, Menu redesign, etc.)

Based on the picture of Stuker in the news report I linked in the first post, it seems pretty certain that one of the first dealerships is going to be a Chrysler store.

Originally Posted by ohiobuckeyes

At first I thought it was one of Towbin Dodge's employees getting their own show. He did have a person call the "Auto Marshall"

You know it's funny you mention that.

I track Google Search Terms pretty closely and lately there have been some hits based on people doing a Google search for "What ever happened to the King of Cars." We've had a couple of threads about Towbin Dodge and that seems to be whats drawing the traffic to the forum.

I wonder if people had heard about the new Spike show and wondered if it was going to be a re-make of the King of Cars?

[ohiobuckeyes]

Did anyone see Turnaround King: Dealership Jump Start on NatGeo. Grant Cardone went in to Straub Buick in NJ and talked with these brothers to help turn around the operations. Never saw it but it sounds like the new Spike Show. Here is a link to the YouTube Clip....

http://youtu.be/KEozkMkw25o

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by ohiobuckeyes

Did anyone see Turnaround King: Dealership Jump Start on NatGeo. Grant Cardone went in to Straub Buick in NJ and talked with these brothers to help turn around the operations. Never saw it but it sounds like the new Spike Show. Here is a link to the YouTube Clip....

http://youtu.be/KEozkMkw25o

Wow, I'd never heard of the show but I've heard a lot about Grant Cardone. I agree that the new Spike show sounds like a knock-off of this program.

For what it's worth I like the name of the "Turn Around King" a lot more than the "Car Lot Cowboy" and I liked Cardone's quiet/conversational tone. I get the impression the "Car Lot Cowboy" will be loud and confrontational like we've seen on Bar Rescue on occasion.

Regardless, I still think it's an interesting idea and I'll definitely watch the first few shows.

[steve_biegler]

Grant Cardone was the 1st person to ever call me a "DK" (dealers kid). That was 1988 if my memory serves me right. He was working for Tom Stuker at the time and presenting a class for AMC in Sioux Falls SD. I think it was on the Medallion. I didn't even know it was a slam until a few months later when I was talking to my AMC rep. Back then we were pretty sheltered here in the Midwest. I'll actually get to see him in Orlando in 2 weeks at the National Kawasaki dealer show, he's putting on 2 seminars. I wonder if he will remember me.....HAHA.

[SHACOS]

Speaking of car shows, if you want to watch a terrible, stereotypical show about cars and New Jersey, just check out CarFellas on Discovery. Terrible.

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by steve_biegler

Grant Cardone was the 1st person to ever call me a "DK" (dealers kid). That was 1988 if my memory serves me right. He was working for Tom Stuker at the time and presenting a class for AMC in Sioux Falls SD. I think it was on the Medallion. I didn't even know it was a slam until a few months later when I was talking to my AMC rep. Back then we were pretty sheltered here in the Midwest. I'll actually get to see him in Orlando in 2 weeks at the National Kawasaki dealer show, he's putting on 2 seminars. I wonder if he will remember me.....HAHA.

That's funny - I like the "DK" line.

I remember another trainer who used to do something similar when she'd comment that someone in the room was a "PHD." Of course we all thought she meant the person was a doctor but she explained that in this case "PHD" meant "parents had dealership."

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by SHACOS

Speaking of car shows, if you want to watch a terrible, stereotypical show about cars and New Jersey, just check out CarFellas on Discovery. Terrible.

Wow, I hadn't even heard of it but based on the title and your quick description it doesn't sound very good. I might check it out for a few minutes just to get a sense of what it's about.

[steve_biegler]

Originally Posted by XDCX

Wow, I hadn't even heard of it but based on the title and your quick description it doesn't sound very good. I might check it out for a few minutes just to get a sense of what it's about.

You won't need more than one!

[LastMango1524]

Quite the review on the NatGeo's Turnaround King and some interesting info on Mr. Cardone's project:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runnin..._cardone_t.php

Originally Posted by ohiobuckeyes

Did anyone see Turnaround King: Dealership Jump Start on NatGeo. Grant Cardone went in to Straub Buick in NJ and talked with these brothers to help turn around the operations. Never saw it but it sounds like the new Spike Show. Here is a link to the YouTube Clip....

http://youtu.be/KEozkMkw25o

[XDCX]

Originally Posted by LastMango1524

Quite the review on the NatGeo's Turnaround King and some interesting info on Mr. Cardone's project:

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runnin..._cardone_t.php

That was interesting. It's too bad Cardone's show was on the National Geographic channel - there aren't too many people I know who watch that channel.

Concerning the Church of Scientology, I don't know enough about the subject matter to render an intelligent opinion. For some reason when I hear about the Church of Scientology I think of Tom Cruise and that's about the depth of my knowledge on the topic.

[SEvans]

Several people on this post have hinted that the Car Lot Cowboy might be a knock off of the Turn Around King........I have worked closely with Tom Stuker and Grant Cardone.

Toms show came 1st. In fact, it is likely, that the Turn Around King was spawned completely off of the car lot cowboy. In late 2009 to early 2010, Tom went on a media blitz (Nightline, Good Morning America etc.) for being the number one flyer on UA. Tom is the number one flyer in America, and number 2 in the world. He will surpass the number 1 (a Russian flyer) within the next 2 years at his current pace. Most of the media attention portrayed him as the real life "Up in the Air" guy.

A Hollywood producer saw several of the media clips of Tom and thought that his story would make for a great show.

So, they filmed one show for testing and it tested so well, they picked up 8 episodes. Which just completed filming in December of 2011. It is rare to get 8 episodes picked up off of a test show only.

Shortly after filming the original test show, Grant and Tom had an in-person conversation where Tom told Grant what was going on with the show, the premise etc.

Not long after that, Grant had his show in the works. When it failed, its been reported that Grants people even tried to get Stukers agent interested in forwarding the failed show and bringing it back to life.

It is my feeling from conversations with Tom that he felt very betrayed. He has done a lot for Grant and little of it has been acknowledged (Tom gave him a job as a trainer, was instrumental in getting him on ASTN .....AFTER GRANT LEFT TOM ....which practically launched Grants career as a speaker).

Not that it matters in the car business (although I do think it does matter to some), Tom is a very big hearted human being. He is a very good man, with good principles and he treats people with dignity and respect. Incidentally, he still "has it". Tom just did a phone workshop in the SF bay area (December 14, 2011) and the ratings and responses from the workshop were the highest I have ever seen. I have been involved with Workshops since 1997.

The Car Lot Cowboy comes out in February to March of 2012. Spike is very confident in the show, they have high expectations for it and a lot of top level producers have been involved with it.

[Moparguy]

This scares me. How many of the "DLS" (dirty little secrets) in our industry will it expose to the consumer. (Certain things in our business need to be kept our business). I am concerned that it might become a club to beat the dealers with...I hope not.

[SEvans]

I understand your concern and have had conversations with Tom about that. He has assured me that he has gone to war, so to speak, with some of the network people in terms of his desire to protect his industry (your industry) and not shine an unfair light on it for ratings sake. Understanding that ratings are what its all about, its a fine line there. But I think Tom will represent the industry well. I guess anyone watching it might want to remember, reality TV is not 100% reality. From what I have seen and been told, the show is very creative and really does dig into problems that most dealers face daily and addresses many as a training issue. And many of the training sessions (some of which are conducted away from the dealership) are very interesting and creative and have great training value. For example. There will be a outside training exercise relating to prospecting, where Tom, after teaching them how to effectively prospect, basically puts them out in the street(not in the proximity of the dealership) in a competition to find prospects based on using his techniques. The idea being: Not to talk dealers into sending their people out on the streets to prospect, but by showing dealers: if it can be done with strangers on the street, how well will it work with your sold customers etc.

My understanding is that this little project worked amazingly well, and that it was a very REAL part of the show.