Irma Elder just might know more about the retail automobile business than anyone. A bold statementbut here's the reasoning:
How many of you have been a dealer as well as a spouse of a dealer? How many of you understand, not only a man's perspective of selling cars, but also a woman's? How many of you taught yourselves the business starting out at the top, without the benefit of learning as you work your way up?
We all agree that this is a people business and we all know that the vast majority of the dealerships which make up this business are family-owned.
Irma Elder has a remarkable understanding of the "family" part of this most "family" of businesses and an exceptional understanding of the "people" in this "people business." While her understanding of the components of "people" and "family" in the retail automobile business may or may not lead to your concluding that she "might know morethan anyone else," it has vaulted her into the #1 Jaguar dealer in the country. Read on and see how she did it.
Q: Mrs. Elder, how did you become an automobile dealer?
Irma: My husband passed away suddenly fifteen years ago. It was during one of the worst times to be in the car business, the early 80's. We had mortgaged practically everything in order to survive and then I found myself with three young children and a Ford dealership. I didn't know what I was going to do. People say I had a choice, but in my mind, I did not have a choice. I didn't know what the dealership was worth and in the early eighties, it would have been difficult to sell for any price. I felt I only had one choiceto become a dealer.
Q: How did your husband become a dealer?
Irma: He took a more traditional path than I did. He sold cars, became a sales manager and, eventually, a general manager. We then made a commitment that we wanted to have a dealership of our own. We finally got one in 1969.
Q: What experience did you have when you had to take over the Ford store so suddenly?
Irma: I had worked as a personal secretary for an automobile dealer in Miami. Everything came through my desk, so I understood the concept that our business is many separate businesses in one. Also, you cannot be married to a man for twenty years and not know something about his business. My husband was old-fashioned, we had an old-fashioned marriage. I was the homemaker, the housewife, and he was the breadwinner. But he wanted me to attend meetings with him and by just sitting and listening, and by always talking with him about the business, I learned a lot. Plus I had a tremendous ability for numbers. Numbers come very easily to me and that is an asset. I tell a story of how I used to bring the financial statements home for the first months after I took over: I would read them, study them and learn from them by spreading them out on the living room floor after the kids went to bed.
Q: But you never held a position at a dealership outside of the personal secretary position?
Irma: That is correct.
Q: Amazing. What were your first moves as a dealer?
Irma: First, even though I was raising three children, I tried to get to the dealership early every morning. I did not start by proclaiming that I was in charge, that I was the boss. That's not my style and I had been around automobile people for many years, so I understood their feelings and their egos. Since I did not have a tremendous amount of knowledge or experience, I asked a lot of questions. I was never afraid to walk through the service department or the parts department. I would wear a white suit and high heels and think nothing of going through the service department, asking questions of anybody and everybody. I never pretended to be something I wasn't. I am a woman.
Q: A woman who asks a lot of questions.
Irma: Right. I had to learn somehow. But while I was learning, I was not going to change who I was. I did not try to be the tough guy. I talked to the salespeople, I talked to the service people and it was quite an interesting and enlightening experience. Quite a few of our people left; they did not have faith in my ability to manage the store through those difficult days in the car business. But ignorance is not only bliss, it can be an asset. I was entirely focused on survival. I was too busy just trying to survive, I didn't have time to worry about negatives. I focused on the positives, going forward, making things happen. That's my stylewhen I hit a wall, I focus on getting around it or over it, not on the wall itself.
Q: So you take over this dealership and you're trying to teach yourself the business. The market is weak and your people are leavinghow exactly did you survive?
Irma: The most important thing in this business is people. I was very fortunate to hire the right people who helped us stay afloat. Now, I tell every single manager, "Hire the very best people you can." But, in retrospect, I believe that my focus on survival, one day at a time, was the key. One of the most important lessons which I learned was that, if you can stay alive long enough to pass a crisis, you will inevitably survive it. If you focus on surviving the crises, you will stay in the game long enough to learn the business.
Q: At what point did you realize that you could not only survive, but you could be successful in this business?
Irma: Never. I worry every day that my business might not survive. I can't help it, that's just me. I always worry about surviving, however, I'm enjoying it now, if that makes any sense.
Q: What's the difference between enjoying it now and not enjoying it then?
Irma: I'm having fun. Before the anxiety level was high, because I was so worried about surviving from one day to the next. Now, the anxiety is still high, but we now have a cushion. I'm not worried about surviving today, I'm worried about growing tomorrow. That leaves me time to enjoy what I do. I love it.
Q: What is it that you love about this business?
Irma: It's exciting. For quite a while, I kept telling myself I was in it for my children. I wanted to be able to send them to college, for them to have a future. Six or seven years ago, I woke up and asked myself, "Why am I doing this?" My youngest child had finished college, so I wasn't doing it for them at that point. I realized that I loved the challenge, the competition, the excitement, I loved the car business.
Q: Irma, what advice would you have for dealers who have family members who aspire to be dealers themselves?
Irma: To ensure that those family members get that opportunity, number one, don't hesitate to let your spouse know what's going on in the dealership. Not because your wife is going to take over, but in the event that anything happens to you, she should be aware of what's going to happen to her. A friend of mine's husband just passed away from a heart attack. She did not know anything about his business and it has been a disastrous experience. I think the bank is going to take it over. He never told her anything.
Q: He probably thought he was being a good husband by not bothering her with talk about business.
Irma: Absolutely. He thought he was doing the very best for her, but you cannot leave your spouse totally unaware of a family-owned business.
Q: You have sons in management positions in your stores. What advice do you have for the children of dealers who wish to become dealers?
Irma: Learn as much about the business as possible. Start at the very bottomporter, clean up, sweeperthat's how our kids started. They had a job to do and if they did it to the best of their ability, they moved up. We never allowed them to think that they were better than anybody else. In their case, life dealt them a bad hand, their father wasn't there to teach them. They had to learn from their mother, who was trying to learn herself. Start at the bottom, learn the business while you work your way up and take as many courses and classes on the business as possible. If children of dealers do this, they may end up with a broader knowledge of the business than their parent has.
Q: What's the biggest difference between men and women in the retail automobile business?
Irma: I think women have an advantage in that women have an extra sense. We have an extra sense in regards to people. We have an intuition about people. Everyone in this business agrees that it's a people business. The key to success is in bringing in the best people and keeping the best people. Women's intuition may be a cliché, but it is also an advantage for women dealers.
I also think women make wonderful salespeople. They truly do, because it is the nature of a woman to care, to listen and to have empathy for others. For the most part, women tend to focus on the needs of the customer first. Where women come up short is in terms of handling rejection. We have not been taught how to handle rejection. We take care of people, we nurture people, we feel for people, we care about people. And these are all good things and useful in selling automobiles, but rejection, and how to deal with it, is typically not a part of our upbringing. If a woman can be made to understand that she has to talk to a lot of people before she sells a car and that the subsequent rejection she must absorb is not personal, she can become a successful salesperson. If she is taught and made to understand that these people are not rejecting her, they are rejecting something about the car, the financing, the store, etc., she can be a wonderful salesperson.
Q: Understanding rejection and understanding how to deal with it are one of the most overlooked aspects of sales training for either men or women in my opinion. On a lighter note, what's the best part about being Irma Elder?
Irma: The things that I can do for people. I'm at a point where, if somebody needs something, I can do it without feeling that I'm taking away from my budget or my family. I can do it quietly, I don't have to justify it business-wise. The best part is the people I work with, the people I love and people I meet. Every day is an exciting day and a new adventure.
Q: What are you most proud of as a person?
Irma: My wonderful children. They are a part of me, they are a part of their father. They have survived tremendous odds in very difficult times. They lost their father and then their mother had to take over the business. They accepted it, they rallied behind me, they helped me and encouraged me. They are very giving and respectful of everybody and now I get to work with them everyday. I'm very proud of them.
Q: What are you most proud of as an automobile dealer?
Irma: That I have survived. I have survived and have survived long enough to be in the position I am today. One of the best things about getting older is that you become comfortable with yourself. You know who you are and you know what to expect of yourself. Life is a wonderful adventure if you take it as such. Accept the bad, enjoy the good. Change what you can and accept what you can't and make the most of it. That I have survived to the point that I can have this outlook, that is what I am most proud of as an automobile dealer.
At this point, the ever-curious Mrs. Elder asked me if I thought she was much different from the other Cover Story Dealers which DEALER has profiled. I told her, "You're like every one of them and you're not like any of them. You're no more different from our previous Cover Story Dealers as a group than any other Cover Story Dealer is."
She somewhat humbly expressed concern that she was unsure how much interest America's dealers would have in reading about her story. I asked Irma what she thought of several past Cover Story Dealers who happened to hold Jaguar franchises. She raved about what great dealers they are. I asked her who the number one Jaguar dealer in the country is. She answered, "I am." I then told her this proves they are interested in her story. As she appeared unsure of my meaning, I explained to her why they are interested"You sell more cars (Jaguars) than they do." She just leaned back in her chair, slowly nodded and smiled. The lady... is a champ.