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Speaker 1: Hey, everybody is Bill Courtney with an army of normal folks,

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Speaker 1: and we continue now with our special series shop Talk.

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Speaker 1: This is episode number five of shop Talk, and today

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Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you a story that was one

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Speaker 1: of the most valuable lessons to me in business. But

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Speaker 1: I think the lesson transcends business to just about everything,

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Speaker 1: and it's summed up in this way, You'll never get

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Speaker 1: anything that you don't ask for. We'll get deep into

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Speaker 1: that right after these brief messages from our generous sponsors.

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Speaker 1: Everybody is Bill Courtney, Episode five of shop Talk, and

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Speaker 1: a story that has a really valuable lesson and it's

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Speaker 1: actually pretty funny story and one of my favorites. Back

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Speaker 1: when the kids were one, two, three, and four and

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Speaker 1: I was a dissertation away from my doctorate and had

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Speaker 1: to get out of teaching school and coaching football for

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Speaker 1: a profession because seventeen five hundred dollars a year just

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Speaker 1: didn't provide enough, and no insurance didn't provide enough for me,

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Speaker 1: lease and the kids. I was in a big transition

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Speaker 1: stage where I needed to find something to do, but

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Speaker 1: I needed to make money, and I went to work

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Speaker 1: for the Dobbs Management organization and in Memphis. That name

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Speaker 1: means something that Dobbs were big into. For some of

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Speaker 1: you who used to fly back in the seven eighties

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Speaker 1: and nineties, you might remember Dobbs airplane food. That was them.

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Speaker 1: They also were big into the liquor and wine distribution business,

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Speaker 1: and we're real heavy out west in Nevada and Arizona,

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Speaker 1: New Mexico that area. But they also had car dealerships

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Speaker 1: and they did fleets of vehicles, and we're big with

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Speaker 1: Ford and in fact, in the sixties, at one time,

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Speaker 1: I think it's one out of every five forwards sold

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Speaker 1: in the entire United States went through a Dobbs dealership.

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Speaker 1: It was I think the government even broke them up.

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Speaker 1: At any rate. The Dobbs had all these businesses, and

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Speaker 1: I got a job and I was selling cars at

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Speaker 1: Dobbs Ford in Memphis, Tennessee, and hustling, trying to make

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Speaker 1: a little money, put some food on the table, take

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Speaker 1: care of Lease and the kids, and move up in

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Speaker 1: the organization was my plan. Any rate, one afternoon I

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Speaker 1: get called into the general manager's office and he says, listen,

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Speaker 1: I've got a guy coming in. He's going to ask

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Speaker 1: for you. He's been told to ask for you. He's

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Speaker 1: going to buy a car. I want you to be respectful,

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Speaker 1: treat him with respect and whatever he wants. The Dobbs

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Speaker 1: family wants you to sell him at one hundred dollars

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Speaker 1: over cost and just take care of it. Should be

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Speaker 1: pretty simple, write the paperwork up and go. And I'm

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Speaker 1: like great. About forty five minutes later, a white haired

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Speaker 1: gentleman walks in, big smile on his face, you could

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Speaker 1: tell he was full of charsma, and he said, hello,

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Speaker 1: my name's Kimmins Wilson. I'm here to buy a crown Victoria.

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Speaker 1: Kim Mins Wilson is a name that some here may know,

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Speaker 1: but just so that you know, Keimvins Wilson was a

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Speaker 1: native Memphian. Grew up his family still in Memphis, and

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Speaker 1: they do a lot. Grew up in Memphis with not much.

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Speaker 1: Was originally from Arkansas and was a contractor and he

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Speaker 1: was taking his family over to the coast one summer,

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Speaker 1: many many years ago and was frustrated that he couldn't

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Speaker 1: find decent highway road style hotels that I had color

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Speaker 1: TVs and swimming pools, and he said there ought to

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Speaker 1: be something like that, and so he built in Memphis,

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Speaker 1: the first of many what is now the Holiday Inns.

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Speaker 1: So the Hampton Ends, the Marriott's, the Hilton's, all these

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Speaker 1: large chain hotels and everything were born from Kimmins Wilson

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Speaker 1: idea of a standardized place that you knew what you

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Speaker 1: were going to get, no matter where you were in

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Speaker 1: the country. Founded right here in Memphis is called the

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Speaker 1: Holiday Inns, and he founded the Holiday in Corporation. And

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Speaker 1: by this time when he came looking for a crown Vic,

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Speaker 1: he'd sold Holiday Inns and his family was investing in

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Speaker 1: properties and other things all over the country. But it

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Speaker 1: was a billionaire and I knew exactly what the name was.

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Speaker 1: So I was immediately intimidated. Young guy just trying to

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Speaker 1: slept cars, trying to put food on the table. And

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Speaker 1: I figured out really what he was doing with his life.

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Speaker 1: And now I'm here sitting across from one of the

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Speaker 1: most notable names in the United States and business, and

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Speaker 1: he sits down, he says, yes, I need a crown VIC.

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Speaker 1: I said, yes, sir, color matter, and he said, yeah,

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Speaker 1: I want whatever I think was green with tan interior,

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Speaker 1: which was big back in those days. And so he says,

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Speaker 1: down in my little cubicle and I go get the

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Speaker 1: invoice and I write up a buyer's order and put

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Speaker 1: one hundred dollars over the invoice costs and give it

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Speaker 1: to him. I said, there's your price, and he said, no,

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Speaker 1: I don't think that's my price. And I said, well, sir,

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Speaker 1: I've been told by the management to save you this

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Speaker 1: car one hundred dollars over the cost. And here's one

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Speaker 1: hundred dollars over cost, and that's it. And he said yeah.

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Speaker 1: He said no, and he took that piece of paper

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Speaker 1: and he wrote a number on it that was four

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars less, and he pushed a back across tape

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Speaker 1: to me. He said, that's why I'm gonna pay for

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Speaker 1: that car. And I said, mister Wilson, I can't say

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Speaker 1: that car. Listen. I'm just you know, I'm handling paperwork.

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Speaker 1: Here's one hundred dollars over the cost of car. There

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Speaker 1: it is. And he said, well, I'll think about it.

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Speaker 1: He gets up leaves and I'm about to have a

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Speaker 1: heart attack because all I'm supposed to do is deliver

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Speaker 1: this car to this man. And he's who he is,

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Speaker 1: and the dobs who they are, and they entrusted me

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Speaker 1: to try to handle what was supposed to be a

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Speaker 1: seamless transaction. And now the man walked out of the

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Speaker 1: store and I was scared of death. Next day he

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Speaker 1: shows up about the same time and he says, how

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Speaker 1: you doing. I said fine, mister Wilson. I said, you're

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Speaker 1: here to get your car. And he said, well, let's

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Speaker 1: go talk about that. And he took that piece of

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Speaker 1: paper and he scratched out five thousand dollars less. He

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Speaker 1: put four thousand dollars less. He said, that's why I'm

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Speaker 1: we'll pay for the car today. And I said, mister Wilson,

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Speaker 1: I can't. I can't sell that car to you for that.

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Speaker 1: Like I said, it's one hundred dollars over cost. I'm

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Speaker 1: handling paperwork. He you know, went through the same rigm

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Speaker 1: roll and he looked at me and said yeah. He said,

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Speaker 1: I don't think I'm gonna do anything today, and he

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Speaker 1: gets up and leaves again. And now I know I'm

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Speaker 1: getting fired. Scared to death. And so that you know,

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Speaker 1: in the car business, there's a thing called hold back.

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Speaker 1: And so when a dealership pays if the list price

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Speaker 1: of a car is twenty three thousand dollars, the dealership pays,

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Speaker 1: call it twenty thousand dollars for the car. There's three

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Speaker 1: thousand dollars mark up between the true invoice of the

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Speaker 1: car and what the sticker price is. So if I'm

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Speaker 1: selling you the car for twenty thousand, one hundred dollars,

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Speaker 1: you're getting twenty nine hundred dollars discount. I am legitimately

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Speaker 1: getting one hundred dollars more than the dealership paid for

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Speaker 1: the car. There's this thing called holdback that once inventories

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Speaker 1: are reconciled, the manufacturer sends a hold back check to

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Speaker 1: the dealership for all of the cars that they sold

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Speaker 1: over a period of time. But that holdback is, you know,

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Speaker 1: usually one or two percent of the price of the car,

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Speaker 1: so in this case, probably about four hundred dollars. And

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Speaker 1: I'll want you to think about a business now. If

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Speaker 1: you got if you're only making five hundred dollars per car,

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Speaker 1: the hundred over invoice plus four hundred hold back, and

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Speaker 1: you know you sell three hundred cars a month, that's

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Speaker 1: twelve thousand dollars. And then if you did that every

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Speaker 1: month twelve times twelves one hundred and forty four thousand dollars.

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Speaker 1: If you think about all the expenses associated with the dealership.

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Speaker 1: You are not going to keep that dealership afloat one

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Speaker 1: hundred and forty hundred fIF thousand dollars. You've got to

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Speaker 1: make more than that be profitable a car. But at

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Speaker 1: any rate, the point is that's as cheap as he

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Speaker 1: could buy the car. The next day he shows up

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Speaker 1: with a buddy of his. And now I've got five

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Speaker 1: hours invested in something I'm not gonna make any money on.

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Speaker 1: I think I'm gonna get fired. And the man sits

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Speaker 1: down with his buddy and I said, mister Wilson, you

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Speaker 1: hear to buy the car, and he said, here's what

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna do, took that piece of paper and circled

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Speaker 1: two thousand dollars below the price I was offered, slid

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Speaker 1: it ba across the table to me. I said, missus Wilson,

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Speaker 1: I cannot sell you the car. And then he looked

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Speaker 1: at me and said, you know, you offered me opportunity

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Speaker 1: to drive that car. I think i'd like drive it now.

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Speaker 1: And I said okay. So we got in the car

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Speaker 1: and he and his buddy got in the front seat

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Speaker 1: and I got in the back seat, and he proceeded

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Speaker 1: to drive from the dealership all the way downtown Memphis

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Speaker 1: and back. It was forty five minutes to an hour,

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Speaker 1: and the man drove slow and we got back and

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Speaker 1: he said yeah. He said that that car is gonna

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Speaker 1: be a good car for him, and he pushed across

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Speaker 1: and he dropped the price five hundred dollars under what

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Speaker 1: I offer him. He said, I'll buy the car today

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Speaker 1: for that. I said, mister Wilson, for the last time.

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Speaker 1: I've got four small children home, I'm starving to death.

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Speaker 1: I'm out here trying to make a living. I've got

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Speaker 1: five six hours tied up in this thing. I am

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Speaker 1: just here to push paperwork. The owners are want me

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Speaker 1: to just I tell you what, I'll take twenty five

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Speaker 1: more dollars off the price of the car, just so

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Speaker 1: that you can say you won Will you please just

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Speaker 1: buy the car for me? And he said, what'd you say?

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Speaker 1: I said, would you please just now buy the car?

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Speaker 1: And he looked at me and said, yeah, right up

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Speaker 1: the car. He said, I've been waiting for you to

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Speaker 1: ask for the business for three days. You've wasted more

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Speaker 1: of my time than most people ever do. It was

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Speaker 1: one of the most valuable lessons for me. Ever, I

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Speaker 1: wasted three days about let one of the most important

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Speaker 1: people in the city walk out of the ownership's dealership

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Speaker 1: because I never once simply asked the man for the business,

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Speaker 1: and he was teaching me a lesson. Mister Wilson's died.

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Speaker 1: Now his legacy lives on really internationally and certainly in

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Speaker 1: Memphis through his family and all of the business they

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Speaker 1: do across the country and the good works they do

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Speaker 1: in Memphis. But his legacy has a special place for

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Speaker 1: me because he's the guy that taught me you'll never

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Speaker 1: get anything that you're unwilling to ask for. Does your

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Speaker 1: church need something? Does a thing? Does your nonprofit need something?

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Speaker 1: Does your business need something? Do you need something from

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Speaker 1: your spouse? Do you want your children to do something different?

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Speaker 1: Are you demanding it or are you asking for it?

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Speaker 1: Are you have you humbled yourself enough to be willing

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Speaker 1: to ask for it? And in business, have you asked

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Speaker 1: your customer for what you want? Specifically, that lesson has

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Speaker 1: served me well of the course of my life. And

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Speaker 1: it is as a lesson that I was taught by

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Speaker 1: a billionaire one day who decided to spend three days

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Speaker 1: to teach a young pup a lesson that has served

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Speaker 1: him well. So as you think about this and reflect

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Speaker 1: on it, I encourage you. If you need something, ask

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Speaker 1: for it. That shop talk. We'll see you next on

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Speaker 1: wait