Larry Pickett (919)218-4402 Call or Text!

To see highlights from Larry’s time in the entertainment industry, CLICK HERE.

Larry Pickett is an award winning TV show Creator, Executive Producer & Host.

As the owner of DTS Production Agency, Larry uses his experience as television producer for NBC to help small businesses promote their brand!

Larry’s talents provided him with the ability to host 3 different TV shows & a radio show at the same time. All while consulting other television Producers and aspiring musicians. Larry also developed and produced the nationally recognized CD One Hot Minute.

Hip Hop Nation: Notes from the underground, sponsored by Universal Records aired in over 25 million homes in the United States on NBC & overseas on MTV Base (UK, Europe, Africa, Germany, Switzerland and more). All though Hip Hop Nation: Notes from the underground no longer airs on TV it can still be found in DVD format worldwide (with a concentration in the USA, Italy and France) through a distribution deal with Xenon Pictures/Universal Music & Video Distribution/Lionsgate.

LP17 on WNCN (NBC-17) was the #1 TV music show in the Southeast region of the United States and The Larry Pickett Show was the highest rated show on Raleigh’s Time Warner Cable Access. Larry was also an on-air radio talent on WQOK-FM (K97.5) in Raleigh, NC.

The shows he produced/hosted consistently dominated the ratings* in their time slots more than doubling the ratings of their closest competitors. The shows retained more than 65% of their Saturday Night Live lead-in, ranking highest among women in the highly coveted 18-34 demographic.

On top of all that, Larry was an Entertainment Producer/Reporter for NBC covering entertainment stories, concerts and events. His entertainment stories occasionally aired on 13 other NBC owned and operated stations across the country via the FeedRoom platform that allowed NBC stations to share each other’s content.

At NBC, Larry was responsible for producing content and reporting during the newscasts and any special projects as assigned.

Larry was a Segment Producer for the 5PM newscast and Saturday morning newscast.

He reported from the the field during special events, concerts and other entertainment related stories.

Larry wrote teases, promos, intros, tags and produced graphics and full screens for the newscasts.
He maintained a high degree of knowledge of current and community events while developing and maintaining good relationships with news/entertainment sources.

Larry was known for bringing high profile celebrities to the TV station to conduct in depth one-one-one interviews with them to use as content in his various television shows and for stories within the newscasts.

Larry has been seen on MTV, BET and Fox News Channel. He has also been featured in many national publications including Billboard Magazine, The Source Magazine, Vibe Magazine, Broadcasting & Cable Magazine and XXL Magazine as well as the cover story for Praxis Magazine.

Auto Industry Bio

Larry Pickett has been credited with helping dealerships achieve record profits and units sold. He has been featured in national and international magazines. He was also featured on the cover of Automotive News Magazine when he was named one of the Top 40 people under the age of 40 in the automotive business in all of the United States and Canada.

Larry has had the opportunity to meet and work with some of the most influential people in the auto industry and was even asked to serve on the National Dealer Council for TrueCar.

He has been married to his wife Shawnonne since 2002 and the couple has 3 children.

Larry and his wife have served as Youth Pastors at Word of God Fellowship Church in Raleigh, NC where they have been members since 1999.

Larry retired from the auto industry at the age of 42, but before his retirement, he earned the respect of many influential people because he specialized in, led and managed several critical departments and key areas that make dealerships thrive. Including Sales and Finance, Fixed Operations, marketing and advertising. He even developed and managed BDCs as well as inbound and outbound service department call centers.

As a salesperson, Larry broke records for units sold, gross profit and CSI. As an F&I Manager, he was the only person in the history of the company to consistently run 70-80 deals per month and still have over 80% vehicle service contract penetration. And he was the only Finance Manager with back to back 100% government compliance scores as well as having the top rated CSI in the region.

When Larry retired, he held the record with 354 reviews with a PERFECT 5.0 rating on Dealer Rater.

As a Sales Manager, Larry was recognized by Toyota as being one of the top Sales Managers in the country by helping to lead a team that achieved one of the highest percentages of objective in Southeast Toyota history!

As the Director of Business Development, he was responsible for managing a team of over 40 Sales Associates. He designed procedures and schedules to ensure that all customers were tracked and followed-up. He also helped the sales staff research, identify, and develop new clients and sales opportunities.

Larry was also responsible for ensuring that the Sales Associates achieved and maintained company benchmarks with regard to setting appointments and show rate as well as monthly certification tests required by Southeast Toyota Distributors. Larry designed and implemented digital marketing campaigns, e-blasts and produced as well as edited dealership videos to increase sales. Then he prepared custom made reports showing the effectiveness of his Sales Associates and coached any Sales Associate that may have needed assistance.

Larry was responsible for interviewing, hiring, and training each Sales Associate through processes that he designed to build a productive and profitable sales staff.

Larry is proficient with CDK, Dealer Track, Reynolds and Reynolds, eLeads, Vauto, Xtime and many other dealership based software that he has used throughout his career. Larry also trained all of the Sales Associates on eLeads, the company’s customer relationship management system.

Larry developed employee motivational programs/bonuses designed to reinforce high shown appointment percentages, high volume vehicle sales and retention of employees.

While Larry was the Fixed Operations Marketing Director, he partnered with designated Anderson Automotive Group vendors and advertising consultants to ensure fixed operations marketing activities and projects are accurately tracked, hit critical due dates and are within predetermined advertising budgets.

Larry determined and documented each project’s scope, goals and deliverables.

Larry was also tasked with managing the fixed operations database marketing and segmentation strategies including, but not limited to conquest and retention programs.

He has had to develop a full understanding of each of the Anderson Automotive Group’s dealerships fixed operations competitive landscape, challenges and opportunities and maximize all available opportunities.

Larry and his team provide Net Promoter Score reporting and stats about the dealership and personnel.

He was also responsible for fixed operations digital marketing and served as the Director of Call Center Operations for all of the Anderson Automotive Group’s dealerships.

Larry oversaw the entire operation of the organization’s call center facility. He implemented and reviewed policies and operating structure of the call center. He set standards and guidelines for interaction with customers. He was responsible for monitoring the calls to ensure that the expectations of the customers were met.

Part of Larry’s responsibilities while overseeing the Call Center included scheduling, hiring, training, oversight and improvement of key performance indicators, management of call center software, performance monitoring/quality assurance, and employee development /mentoring.

He ensured that the revenue, profitability, and productivity goals established for the call center based products and services are met daily, monthly, quarterly, and annually.

Now, with his vast knowledge of various departments of a dealership, he has developed Dealer Training Source!

Mark Owens (919)332-1572  Call or Text!

With over 32 years of experience in linear television, commercial production, live event management, and more, Mark is a seasoned professional in the business. He’s served on several Emmy-winning teams across the country, and earned the endorsements and trust of industry leaders from coast to coast.

Starting his professional career in commercial tv at the age of 22 as a director, technical director, and producer, Mark has overseen global, national, and regional telecasts and streams with some of biggest names in the industry, including ESPN, NBC, Fox Sports, CBS, among them.

He’s also pitched and successfully landed deals & launched subsequent campaigns with heavyweights like Nike, Reebok, Adidas, IMG, DIRECTV, CAA, and WME (William Morris Endeavor).

As a live sports and entertainment creative director, executive producer, and live field director, Mark has delivered content at the the highest levels TO the highest levels, including the sports series “College Football Down South”, a regional football package featuring small to mid-sized college programs that was distributed to over 40 million homes nationally.

An accomplished video editor, Mark has deep experience with all levels of content creation, from the conceptual stage to final delivery, while serving in virtually every role along the process. He’s RED-camera certified, while also serving at a world-class level in virtually all aspects of pre- and post-production.

Originally a Kansas City kid, Mark moved with his family to Farmington, Maine as a young boy, where he was a 1986 graduate of Mt. Blue High School. In 1990, he graduated from the University of Missouri, consistently rated as the top Broadcast Journalism school in the nation, and has served in several management, director, producer, and creative direction, and executive roles with several companies ever since.

He now lives in Raleigh, NC with his amazing wife Barbara, where they have raised their two sons, Nathaniel & Graham.