This was the cheesy headline I came up with years ago when I was first given the green light to build a commercial vehicle sales department, and I decided to slap it onto top a nice glossy black brochure that I could hand out to potential clients. Man, I was big time. My own glossy brochure. The thought behind the slogan was to tell people I can take a truck, add some cool stuff to it, and BAM! It would then be functional, efficient, and of course make them money so it would BUILD THEIR BUSINESS.
My GM at the time told me it was stupid and he couldn’t believe he authorized the cost.
Over 15 years later, I’m writing my first blog entry and I’m wondering what the heck am I doing? I had it made. Come to work, work, and then go home. 40 to 50 hours a week? Noooooooooo, problem. Why did I want to add more responsibility? More hours. More stress (and lose a lot of hair).
I’m dumb and very competitive by nature. That is the simple answer.
My family has been my anchor for sanity. They make me laugh and I love spending time with them and chasing the kids to all of their various sporting events, concerts, or take them on vacations. Keep my head on straight. If not for them I would have been dead from an OD on hours and trying to perfect my workaholic tendencies.
Now I have two great hard working people that make me laugh and stress me out even more working with me. I moved from one dealer to another, and we are selling far more than I ever expected, and tackling so many different aspects of the business. So, small owner/ operators all the way up to large fleets with thousands of vehicles buy from my little department of three.
This week we have a shipment of 385 out of the 500 FIAT 500s coming in for a client. Another truck going from Colorado to Idaho for an upfit, and then to the client in Michigan. Another truck leaving here and heading to Indiana. Plus, we have sold “local” vehicles to every corner of Washington state. Not bad for a little department of three.
So, in 15 plus years of selling to businesses, I have gone from handing out the super awesome glossy brochures to people in hopes that I might catch their interest, to now sitting in our separate office hidden away with no signage. No one really knows what we do all day, but they know we are busy because we are always on the move helping clients and getting their new trucks ready for work.
We fondly call this office the Sugar Shack by the way, and I am not really 100% sure why.
Thankfully, my co-workers, friends, and especially my family, have helped me tame the need to be a workaholic. Of course, I still nerd out and read nearly every article I can, study random economic charts, follow the different automotive manufacturers, and catch myself coming in way too early, and staying way too late once in a while. Of course, I am always looking for new ways to build my business.
So, blogging. Here I am. Watch out world. I started with a glossy brochure, and now I have you reading this on a glossy screen ready to help build your business. Big Time!
RAM Work Trucks 