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