Years ago, in a far away place, in the mystical land of Noe, there lived a car salesman...me. I spent about ten years in that field and loved almost every minute of it! (There were times, though...)
I guess you could say I was a journeyman salesman. I was never satisfied enough to stay at one dealership more than a year or so, so I would "journey" on over to, or back to, a different one. Sometimes I left because I was restless. Sometimes I left because they asked me to! I think I got "asked to leave" at least twice maybe three times from one dealership! Being fired from a dealership meant nothing if you were good at what you did. You could have a new place to work before you went ten miles down the road. I know because I did it! I worked for and was fired from the same dealership for about 5 of those ten years. Randall Noe Auto Group was a three part conglomerate: Ford, Dodge-Jeep Chrysler, and a separate Used Car Supercenter. I worked out of the Supercenter. I never sold a new vehicle if I could help it. There was no money to be made in new cars unless you sold in volume. I much preferred to sell one used car or truck and make $1000 in the same amount of time. And I did so often! My apologies to any of you to whom I sold a used vehicle, but fat boys gotta eat!
I often made my way up to the Ford store. They were all situated within yards of each other. My good friend "Loop" (Looper) worked there and was also a dang good salesman. One of my best sales was to Loop. It wasn't a car. No no...something even better! You see...I played the lotto numbers back then and one night I matched 5 out of the 6 numbers! Paid me a whopping $675! I, however, had no desire to find and make my way to the lotto headquarters in Dallas to cash the ticket in! I told Loop about my situation and he offered to "help me out" by taking the ticket off my hands for $500 cash. SOLD!
A couple of days later Loop found me and told me he had mde the trip to Dallas and cashed in. He then told me that the lottery commission deducts taxes from anything over a certain amount. It seems I came out pretty sweet on the deal! Sorry Loop! (He probably came out about even on it in actuality.)
I had lots of good times working at the RNAG. If I could stay away from the owner I was completely at peace! I got quite good at spotting him and the GM lurking around the stores in unmarked cars watching for folks loafing. I stayed on the lot watching for customers, so I had nothing to worry about, but the idea of dealing with them just held no appeal to me.
From time to time the Used Car Director, my man Mayo, would decide we needed to eat a good meal and we would fire up the grill out back around the corner of the building! Everyone pitched in and we bought meat and veggies to grill. Those were some of the best times I remember! Mayo passed a few years ago. I would almost bet you that the bottom line profit there dropped like a rock in a vacuum! He made that place rock! He also made me a ton of commission. It was a great thing to work a deal with Mayo. You were sure to make a large commission! I once made over $2000 on one sale!
RNAG has since sold out to one of those Dallas based chain dealerships. I would not work for them on a dare. I hate the chain stores and their ways of doing business. But my memories of Mayo, Loop, and all things "car-sales" related remain etched in my mind. An old salesman told me the first day I was hired by a dealership, "Son. Make sure this is what you want to do, because it will get in your blood." He was right. If my health would let me I would be selling cars to this day...somewhere. It gets in your blood.
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