Leaving a Legacy - Lessons Learned from an Automotive Gentle Giant
In a few hours I will be attending the funeral of a great man and a personal mentor. With a heavy heart, I am sad to say Donald Ray Allen passed away on Thursday March 26th at the young age of 68.
As I reflected back on the time I was blessed to be around this utterly sarcastic man, I can’t help but feel grateful that he chose to pour into my life. For those that don’t know, Don was the president of the Jerry Durant Auto Group, where I spent the majority of my automotive career.
On the outside, Don was always a jokester filled with dry wit. On the inside, he had a heart of gold and was loyal as the day is long. For whatever reason, this great man believed in my talents and abilities, even when I didn’t.
He took a personal interest in me and chose to pour into my life, and for that, I will be eternally grateful. During the years I worked with Don, he taught me countless lessons, in life, and in business. In the interest of brevity, I want to share just a handful of the lessons he had taught me. A single blog post does not do the wisdom he imparted on me justice, but I will do the best I can.
Lesson #1: Listen to others. They need to know you care.
Don was a great listener. He always made me feel like nothing was too small to talk about. I came into his office, almost daily to talk. There was something about the way he could make me feel. Important. Like I matter. I cannot ever remember a time where I felt like I was bothering him. Not once. He always took time to give me his ear, as he sat there listening with his notepad in front of him tapping his mechanical pencil. Tap, tap, spin. Tap, tap, spin. Tap, tap, spin.
He always listened, and always made me feel important. I hope that I can do the same for others.
Lesson #2: Don’t bring me problems; give me solutions to the problem.
Many a times the reason I came into his office was to vent about issues around the dealership, but one instance stands out among the rest. Per the previous point, he was an engaging listener, but I guess he was tired of listening to me vent. He finally put his pencil down, looked at me straight in the eye, and said, “Quit bitching and do something about it. Stop bringing me problems, and bring me solutions.” He turned his chair around, and I quietly left.
At the time, I was taken a back. I was just talking to him. But then I realized, in fact all I was doing was complaining, and he was tired of hearing me just “bitch”.
He taught me one of the greatest lessons of my adult life. Don’t bring complaints and problems to the table. Prior to presenting any issues, make sure you have a solution to fix the aforementioned problem. I still try and do this today.
Lesson #3: Always do the right thing…no matter what.
One thing that Don taught me with his actions, rather than his words, was to always do the right thing. I know this is cheesy, and something I am teaching to my kids now, but he never wanted to do wrong by a customer, no matter what the cost.
The Autogroup was located just outside of the Dallas-FortWorth Metroplex, in a small town that still believed in small town values. Hand shakes and a man’s word still meant something, and Don showed me that.
When a customer was upset, he would always do the right thing to make them happy, no matter what the cost. Profits were secondary to making a customer happy. Now don’t get me wrong, the dealership wouldn’t be where they are today without profits, but the repeat and referral business at the dealership accounted for over 50% of their business. Why do you think this was the case?
He took care of his customers no matter what, and not surprisingly, the profits came, and so did the people…time and time again.
Lesson #4: Don’t concern yourself with what others think of you.
One might say Don was an old crusty man. Remember, he was full of dry wit and sarcasm, but he didn’t care what others thought of him. He knew who he was, and owned it. When I started to doubt myself due to what others were saying or thinking of me, he just told me to let my actions speak louder than my words. Don’t fight your haters with words; fight them with results.
And I did just that. When others doubted our Internet department and took two of the dealerships from the department I was managing, I dug my heels in, and gave them the biggest bird I could. Our little motley crue became one of the best performing General Motors Internet Departments in the country selling close to 200 units a month. We sold more cars in the department than we did with two other dealerships.
I learned, who cares what others think of me. Just control what I can control and kick ass. That’s what I still try and do today.
Lesson #5: Get the right people on the bus.
No matter how big or small a company is it is only as good as the people running it. I learned that from Don. He surrounded himself with people he could trust. He had been burned in the past, and did everything he could to find employees that were team oriented, and not “me” oriented.
This allowed the group to flourish and sell over a thousand cars a month inside a town of 25,000. Customers drove hours away to come do business at the dealership because of the employees…and how they were taken care of (see lesson #3).
As I am growing my own business now, I still search for the same qualities in my employees as Don did.
Lesson #6: Leave a legacy by investing in your circle of influence.
Again, Don taught me this with his actions versus his words. Don was active in the community he was a part of. He knew that if he gave to his community and circle of influence, they would give back. But let me be clear, he did not invest just to get something back; he invested in his circle of influence because it was the right thing to do.
He cared about the people and community around him, and he loved helping others. And for that, he has left an eternal legacy with myself, and countless others.
Leaving a legacy is all we have. Don was an extremely successful man in the business sense, but he was even more successful on touching people’s lives.
He loved people. He loved me. And I will be forever grateful for this man. Thank you Don for how you spoke into my life. I pray I can do the same for others. God speed my friend. God speed.
