Digital Dealer - May 2019 - 24

C O V E R S TORY: Continued from pg. 23

was like getting a Mitsubishi franchise
today. It was an affordable franchise.
We were in an older, declining part of
town. We loved Dodge cars, trucks,
and caravans. We became the #1
Dodge dealer for 15 straight years.
We built a new facility in 1998 but
couldn't sell the old real estate because
nobody wanted to invest in a crimeridden, declining neighborhood. Then
KIA came to me and said they thought
it would be a good location for a KIA
franchise. I started a KIA store in the
old Dodge store location in early 2000
and it became very successful.
I fell in love with the way the
Koreans did business. They're all
about selling cars and taking care
of customers. At the time, there
were only something like 300 KIA
employees nationwide.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What one
word or expression best describes your
approach to business?
DOUG: Our slogan has always been,
"Where there's a Wilson, there's a
way." As part of that, we talk about
the Wilson Way, which is honesty and
integrity in the way we do business.
We're in a relatively small town in
the Jackson, Mississippi, metro area,
which has about 400,000 people.
There's not a lot of turnover in the
local population. When you operate in
a town with little population turnover,
you've got to deliver good service and
treat people right, or you're not going
to last long. I like to say, "My answer is
yes, what's the question?" The Wilson
Way is the ultimate expression of a
can-do attitude.
DEALER MAGAZINE: You're going
to be part of a panel discussion at the
Digital Dealer Conference & Expo.
What's the panel's topic and why
should dealers attend it?
DOUG: Yes, that's correct. The
panel will be on the theme of dealers
getting more involved in their local
community. That's another reason
why we've been so successful over the
years is we support the community,
24

M AY 2 0 1 9

with events, organizations, churches,
hospitals, non-profits, sports groups,
you name it, we've supported it. Even
with the internet and all, if you're
supporting something that is near
and dear to someone's heart, that's
strong medicine and they're much
more apt to do business with you.
All things being equal, you still must
have a competitive vehicle and a good
price but I think people are more
likely to want to do business with you
when you're heavily involved in the
community. I'm also giving a solo
presentation at the conference.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Two
presentations? That's great. What's
the subject of your individual talk?
DOUG: I spoke at last year's
conference and had a great time,
and am looking forward to doing it
again. This year my topic will be on
"Surviving Disruptors, Depressions
and Disasters." In other words, how
to pull your dealership through
challenging times. The way I think
you've got to do it, is to look closely at
used cars, service, and parts.
DEALER MAGAZINE: I'm glad you
mentioned survival, because I want
to talk now about how Wilson Auto
Group survived the Great Recession of
2008-2009. What steps did you take
during the downturn?
DOUG: Well, we lost our Dodge
franchise during the recession. Back
in '08, a lot of the small dealers
thought Chrysler would get rid of
these small dealers. The industry
has probably thousands of dealers
who sell fewer than 100 cars a year.
Little bitty towns that had virtually
no other car dealerships - at one
time, they probably had a Chevy store
or a Ford store and maybe they still
do - a lot of those small dealers were
hanging on by fingernails and toenails.
Surprisingly, manufacturers pretty
much left the small dealer alone in the
small town.
Instead, they took advantage
of bankruptcy protection to force

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

marriages, say, between Chrysler Jeep
and Dodge dealers, especially in major
metro areas. Previously, they had been
adamant that such franchises had to
be separate.
That's what happened to me. I was
Five STAR Certified, and we were
not going broke, the manufacturer
was, but they terminated my Dodge
franchise and gave it to my brother,
who had Chrysler Jeep and who was
literally next door. I was left with
nothing but Hyundai and KIA, so we
decided to be the best Hyundai and
KIA dealer that we could possibly be.
There's a verse in the Bible,
Hebrews 13:5: "Keep your lives free
from the love of money and be content
with what such things as you may
have, for the Lord has said, 'I will
never leave you nor forsake you.' So,
we may boldly say, The Lord is my
helper; I will not fear; what can man
do to me?"
I felt like God spoke that verse
to me. I thought how in the world
could I be content when businesses
were going bankrupt and whole
industries were being supported by
the government and even the largest
insurance company in the world went
broke?
When I lost my primary franchise,
a lot of dealerships went broke that
hadn't lost their primary franchise. It
was an especially tough period for me
because not only were we dealing with
the Great Recession and the credit
crunch and everything that went
with it, but we also lost our primary
franchise. I decided to be content
with what I had, a KIA and a Hyundai
franchise, and I was going to make a
living with the franchises I had. So,
that's what we did.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Finding
and retaining talent is an industry
challenge we're hearing a lot about
lately. What do you look for in a new
hire?
DOUG: We look for people
who have the three Cs: chemistry,
http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Digital Dealer - May 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - May 2019
