Speaker 1: Hey, everybody is Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks,
Speaker 1: and we continue now with our special series shop Talk.
Speaker 1: This is episode number five of shop Talk, and today
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you a story that was one
Speaker 1: of the most valuable lessons to me in business. But
Speaker 1: I think the lesson transcends business to just about everything,
Speaker 1: and it's summed up in this way, You'll never get
Speaker 1: anything that you don't ask for. We'll get deep into
Speaker 1: that right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.
Speaker 1: Everybody is Bill Courtney, Episode five of shop Talk, and
Speaker 1: a story that has a really valuable lesson and it's
Speaker 1: actually pretty funny story and one of my favorites. Back
Speaker 1: when the kids were one, two, three, and four and
Speaker 1: I was a dissertation away from my doctorate and had
Speaker 1: to get out of teaching school and coaching football for
Speaker 1: a profession because seventeen five hundred dollars a year just
Speaker 1: didn't provide enough, and no insurance didn't provide enough for me,
Speaker 1: lease and the kids. I was in a big transition
Speaker 1: stage where I needed to find something to do, but
Speaker 1: I needed to make money, and I went to work
Speaker 1: for the Dobbs Management organization and in Memphis. That name
Speaker 1: means something that Dobbs were big into. For some of
Speaker 1: you who used to fly back in the seven eighties
Speaker 1: and nineties, you might remember Dobbs airplane food. That was them.
Speaker 1: They also were big into the liquor and wine distribution business,
Speaker 1: and we're real heavy out west in Nevada and Arizona,
Speaker 1: New Mexico that area. But they also had car dealerships
Speaker 1: and they did fleets of vehicles, and we're big with
Speaker 1: Ford and in fact, in the sixties, at one time,
Speaker 1: I think it's one out of every five forwards sold
Speaker 1: in the entire United States went through a Dobbs dealership.
Speaker 1: It was I think the government even broke them up.
Speaker 1: At any rate. The Dobbs had all these businesses, and
Speaker 1: I got a job and I was selling cars at
Speaker 1: Dobbs Ford in Memphis, Tennessee, and hustling, trying to make
Speaker 1: a little money, put some food on the table, take
Speaker 1: care of Lease and the kids, and move up in
Speaker 1: the organization was my plan. Any rate, one afternoon I
Speaker 1: get called into the general manager's office and he says, listen,
Speaker 1: I've got a guy coming in. He's going to ask
Speaker 1: for you. He's been told to ask for you. He's
Speaker 1: going to buy a car. I want you to be respectful,
Speaker 1: treat him with respect and whatever he wants. The Dobbs
Speaker 1: family wants you to sell him at one hundred dollars
Speaker 1: over cost and just take care of it. Should be
Speaker 1: pretty simple, write the paperwork up and go. And I'm
Speaker 1: like great. About forty five minutes later, a white haired
Speaker 1: gentleman walks in, big smile on his face, you could
Speaker 1: tell he was full of charsma, and he said, hello,
Speaker 1: my name's Kimmins Wilson. I'm here to buy a crown Victoria.
Speaker 1: Kim Mins Wilson is a name that some here may know,
Speaker 1: but just so that you know, Keimvins Wilson was a
Speaker 1: native Memphian. Grew up his family still in Memphis, and
Speaker 1: they do a lot. Grew up in Memphis with not much.
Speaker 1: Was originally from Arkansas and was a contractor and he
Speaker 1: was taking his family over to the coast one summer,
Speaker 1: many many years ago and was frustrated that he couldn't
Speaker 1: find decent highway road style hotels that I had color
Speaker 1: TVs and swimming pools, and he said there ought to
Speaker 1: be something like that, and so he built in Memphis,
Speaker 1: the first of many what is now the Holiday Inns.
Speaker 1: So the Hampton Ends, the Marriott's, the Hilton's, all these
Speaker 1: large chain hotels and everything were born from Kimmins Wilson
Speaker 1: idea of a standardized place that you knew what you
Speaker 1: were going to get, no matter where you were in
Speaker 1: the country. Founded right here in Memphis is called the
Speaker 1: Holiday Inns, and he founded the Holiday in Corporation. And
Speaker 1: by this time when he came looking for a crown Vic,
Speaker 1: he'd sold Holiday Inns and his family was investing in
Speaker 1: properties and other things all over the country. But it
Speaker 1: was a billionaire and I knew exactly what the name was.
Speaker 1: So I was immediately intimidated. Young guy just trying to
Speaker 1: slept cars, trying to put food on the table. And
Speaker 1: I figured out really what he was doing with his life.
Speaker 1: And now I'm here sitting across from one of the
Speaker 1: most notable names in the United States and business, and
Speaker 1: he sits down, he says, yes, I need a crown VIC.
Speaker 1: I said, yes, sir, color matter, and he said, yeah,
Speaker 1: I want whatever I think was green with tan interior,
Speaker 1: which was big back in those days. And so he says,
Speaker 1: down in my little cubicle and I go get the
Speaker 1: invoice and I write up a buyer's order and put
Speaker 1: one hundred dollars over the invoice costs and give it
Speaker 1: to him. I said, there's your price, and he said, no,
Speaker 1: I don't think that's my price. And I said, well, sir,
Speaker 1: I've been told by the management to save you this
Speaker 1: car one hundred dollars over the cost. And here's one
Speaker 1: hundred dollars over cost, and that's it. And he said yeah.
Speaker 1: He said no, and he took that piece of paper
Speaker 1: and he wrote a number on it that was four
Speaker 1: thousand dollars less, and he pushed a back across tape
Speaker 1: to me. He said, that's why I'm gonna pay for
Speaker 1: that car. And I said, mister Wilson, I can't say
Speaker 1: that car. Listen. I'm just you know, I'm handling paperwork.
Speaker 1: Here's one hundred dollars over the cost of car. There
Speaker 1: it is. And he said, well, I'll think about it.
Speaker 1: He gets up leaves and I'm about to have a
Speaker 1: heart attack because all I'm supposed to do is deliver
Speaker 1: this car to this man. And he's who he is,
Speaker 1: and the dobs who they are, and they entrusted me
Speaker 1: to try to handle what was supposed to be a
Speaker 1: seamless transaction. And now the man walked out of the
Speaker 1: store and I was scared of death. Next day he
Speaker 1: shows up about the same time and he says, how
Speaker 1: you doing. I said fine, mister Wilson. I said, you're
Speaker 1: here to get your car. And he said, well, let's
Speaker 1: go talk about that. And he took that piece of
Speaker 1: paper and he scratched out five thousand dollars less. He
Speaker 1: put four thousand dollars less. He said, that's why I'm
Speaker 1: we'll pay for the car today. And I said, mister Wilson,
Speaker 1: I can't. I can't sell that car to you for that.
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's one hundred dollars over cost. I'm
Speaker 1: handling paperwork. He you know, went through the same rigm
Speaker 1: roll and he looked at me and said yeah. He said,
Speaker 1: I don't think I'm gonna do anything today, and he
Speaker 1: gets up and leaves again. And now I know I'm
Speaker 1: getting fired. Scared to death. And so that you know,
Speaker 1: in the car business, there's a thing called hold back.
Speaker 1: And so when a dealership pays if the list price
Speaker 1: of a car is twenty three thousand dollars, the dealership pays,
Speaker 1: call it twenty thousand dollars for the car. There's three
Speaker 1: thousand dollars mark up between the true invoice of the
Speaker 1: car and what the sticker price is. So if I'm
Speaker 1: selling you the car for twenty thousand, one hundred dollars,
Speaker 1: you're getting twenty nine hundred dollars discount. I am legitimately
Speaker 1: getting one hundred dollars more than the dealership paid for
Speaker 1: the car. There's this thing called holdback that once inventories
Speaker 1: are reconciled, the manufacturer sends a hold back check to
Speaker 1: the dealership for all of the cars that they sold
Speaker 1: over a period of time. But that holdback is, you know,
Speaker 1: usually one or two percent of the price of the car,
Speaker 1: so in this case, probably about four hundred dollars. And
Speaker 1: I'll want you to think about a business now. If
Speaker 1: you got if you're only making five hundred dollars per car,
Speaker 1: the hundred over invoice plus four hundred hold back, and
Speaker 1: you know you sell three hundred cars a month, that's
Speaker 1: twelve thousand dollars. And then if you did that every
Speaker 1: month twelve times twelves one hundred and forty four thousand dollars.
Speaker 1: If you think about all the expenses associated with the dealership.
Speaker 1: You are not going to keep that dealership afloat one
Speaker 1: hundred and forty hundred fIF thousand dollars. You've got to
Speaker 1: make more than that be profitable a car. But at
Speaker 1: any rate, the point is that's as cheap as he
Speaker 1: could buy the car. The next day he shows up
Speaker 1: with a buddy of his. And now I've got five
Speaker 1: hours invested in something I'm not gonna make any money on.
Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna get fired. And the man sits
Speaker 1: down with his buddy and I said, mister Wilson, you
Speaker 1: hear to buy the car, and he said, here's what
Speaker 1: I'm gonna do, took that piece of paper and circled
Speaker 1: two thousand dollars below the price I was offered, slid
Speaker 1: it ba across the table to me. I said, missus Wilson,
Speaker 1: I cannot sell you the car. And then he looked
Speaker 1: at me and said, you know, you offered me opportunity
Speaker 1: to drive that car. I think i'd like drive it now.
Speaker 1: And I said okay. So we got in the car
Speaker 1: and he and his buddy got in the front seat
Speaker 1: and I got in the back seat, and he proceeded
Speaker 1: to drive from the dealership all the way downtown Memphis
Speaker 1: and back. It was forty five minutes to an hour,
Speaker 1: and the man drove slow and we got back and
Speaker 1: he said yeah. He said that that car is gonna
Speaker 1: be a good car for him, and he pushed across
Speaker 1: and he dropped the price five hundred dollars under what
Speaker 1: I offer him. He said, I'll buy the car today
Speaker 1: for that. I said, mister Wilson, for the last time.
Speaker 1: I've got four small children home, I'm starving to death.
Speaker 1: I'm out here trying to make a living. I've got
Speaker 1: five six hours tied up in this thing. I am
Speaker 1: just here to push paperwork. The owners are want me
Speaker 1: to just I tell you what, I'll take twenty five
Speaker 1: more dollars off the price of the car, just so
Speaker 1: that you can say you won Will you please just
Speaker 1: buy the car for me? And he said, what'd you say?
Speaker 1: I said, would you please just now buy the car?
Speaker 1: And he looked at me and said, yeah, right up
Speaker 1: the car. He said, I've been waiting for you to
Speaker 1: ask for the business for three days. You've wasted more
Speaker 1: of my time than most people ever do. It was
Speaker 1: one of the most valuable lessons for me. Ever, I
Speaker 1: wasted three days about let one of the most important
Speaker 1: people in the city walk out of the ownership's dealership
Speaker 1: because I never once simply asked the man for the business,
Speaker 1: and he was teaching me a lesson. Mister Wilson's died.
Speaker 1: Now his legacy lives on really internationally and certainly in
Speaker 1: Memphis through his family and all of the business they
Speaker 1: do across the country and the good works they do
Speaker 1: in Memphis. But his legacy has a special place for
Speaker 1: me because he's the guy that taught me you'll never
Speaker 1: get anything that you're unwilling to ask for. Does your
Speaker 1: church need something? Does a thing? Does your nonprofit need something?
Speaker 1: Does your business need something? Do you need something from
Speaker 1: your spouse? Do you want your children to do something different?
Speaker 1: Are you demanding it or are you asking for it?
Speaker 1: Are you have you humbled yourself enough to be willing
Speaker 1: to ask for it? And in business, have you asked
Speaker 1: your customer for what you want? Specifically, that lesson has
Speaker 1: served me well of the course of my life. And
Speaker 1: it is as a lesson that I was taught by
Speaker 1: a billionaire one day who decided to spend three days
Speaker 1: to teach a young pup a lesson that has served
Speaker 1: him well. So as you think about this and reflect
Speaker 1: on it, I encourage you. If you need something, ask
Speaker 1: for it. That shop talk. We'll see you next on
Speaker 1: wait