A $4000 Commission, (But Even Better, Good Advice)

I had a boss one time who was very old school, I guess you would call it. He came from a different era as he was the first Chrysler dealer in Sacramento back in the early 1920s. He was elderly, probably in his eighties, when I worked for him in the mid-eighties. He wore a three piece suit and bow tie every day, his shoes were spit-shined, and every hair left on his head was carefully brushed into place. I would call him Jack when we were alone and just talking, but everyone called him Mr. Vandenburg in the company of others. He may have been the nicest man I ever worked for, but he had his limits…and when I found one it surprised me.

I was selling Mazdas and they had just come out with the newest thing, an RX7 convertible, and we were slated to get the first one in N. California, in red, and it was due in a week or so when a friend of mine came in to see one. All I could show him was pictures. He already knew more about the car than I did and he wanted it. Mostly he wanted to be the first to own one. I told him that we wouldn’t sell the car for less than $10 grand over the sticker price, and he immediately got out his check book and wrote a check for $20 grand as a deposit. I was flabbergasted…I’d never thought that anyone would pay that much for that car, but I kept my mouth shut, took his check, took it to the sales manager, and sent my friend home with visions of a brand new RX7 convertible in his head.

The next Wednesday was pay day and also my day off, but I came in to pick up my check. I was dressed for play in a t-shirt, tennis shoes, and blue jeans. And I saw, across the street, a transport and it had the RX7 on it. Back then they covered cars with cosmoline to protect the finish during transport, and usually it took a day or two to run them through the shop for inspection and detail, but I was so excited I called my buddy and told him the car had arrived and would be ready for him the next day.

He wanted to come look right then and would not take no for an answer. Now car salesmen are pure snakes. If I left and let him come in to see the car another salesman would jump on the deal and take half, so I stayed. By my calculations we had about fourteen grand profit in the deal and my commission was 30 percent of that minus a small pack off the top.

Well he came in and didn’t really get to look at the car because it was still on the truck, but he wanted to do the paperwork and pay us. He was seriously excited. So, I had my sales manager print up the deal and we did it right then. I never thought twice about it when Mr. Vandenburg came by my office. He graciously congratulated my friend on his good fortune to have the first RX7 Convertible in N. California. Every one was supremely happy. The shop dropped everything and did the PDI on the car and we sent him down the road a couple of hours later.

They gave me my commission voucher after taking a picture of it to post on the sales board. It was the most anyone had ever made at that dealership on one car deal. And they posted it right next to a picture of my commission voucher from the previous best-in-dealership commission voucher I had done the last month for a two car deal when I sold a family two Chrysler New Yorkers for full-tilt.

I was ecstatic, and at least for a while, rich. I couldn’t sleep that night, so was a bit amped when I got to work. As soon as I got to work, Mr. Vandenburg paged me to his office. I had never even been to his office before, and I figured he was going to congratulate me again, maybe buy my lunch, or give me a trophy. I proudly walked into his office, and he shook my hand and told me to have a seat. He first thanked me for a great job, then he said,” If you ever come to the dealership dressed like you were yesterday, I will personally fire you.”

I was seriously disheartened and started to explain the circumstance, but he cut me off, saying he had already heard that excuse from the sales manager and his opinion was I shouldn’t even come to pick up my check on my day off without wearing a suit and tie.

Now, thirty something years later, I see his point. He built one of the most revered car dealerships in Sacramento and probably the world, and he did it how he thought best. If someone owns a business, they risked everything in their life to build it. It’s a privilege to work for some one like that, and my respect for that has grown exponentially over the years.

Thank-you, Jack Vandenburg, for one of the best lessons I ever had