An Army of Normal Folks - The Life Lesson I Learned from Holiday Inn's Founder

Episode Date: April 5, 2024

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. Support the show: https://www.normalfolks.us/premiumSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey everybody, it's 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. My name is Jonny B. Good, and I'm the host of the new podcast, Creating a Con, the story

of VidCon. Over this nine part series, I'll explore the life and crimes of my best friend, Ray Tripani. I always wanted to be a criminal. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. You see, Ray has this unique ability to find loopholes and exploit them. They collected $30 million.

There were headlines about it. His company, Centratec, was one of the hottest crypto startups in 2017. It was gonna change the world until it didn't. Came into my office, opened my email, and the subject heading was FBI request. It was only a matter of time before the truth came out. You can only fake it till you make it for so long before they find out that your Harvard

degree is not so crimson. How could you sit there and do something that you know will objectively cause more harm in the world? Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will be even more revealing and more personal with more entrepreneurs, more trailblazers, more live events, more Martha, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin,

about the secrets behind my skincare. Walter Isaacson, about the geniuses who change the world. Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Dr. Elisa Pressman about the five basic strategies to help parents raise good humans. Florence Fabricant about the authenticity in the world of food writing. Be sure to tune in to season two of the Martha Stewart podcast.

Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big take from Bloomberg News brings you what's shaping the world's economies with the smartest and best informed business reporters around the world. Western nations like the US and Europe. Mexico will likely have its first female president. And then you have China. And help you understand what's happening, what it means, and why it matters. He'll get his yo-yos to Europe in time, but the longer this drags on, the more worried he's getting. They knew that they needed to do this as fast as they possibly

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I'm thinking about it quite often. Listen to the big take on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everybody. It's Bill Courtney, episode five of Shop Talk. And it's 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 $17,500 a year just didn't provide enough and no insurance didn't provide enough for me, Lisa 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. The Dobbs were big into, for some of you who used to fly back in the 780s and 90s, you might remember Dobbs Airplane Food, that was them. They also were big into the liquor and wine

distribution business and were 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 were big with Ford. And in fact, in the 60s, at one time, I think it's one out of every five Ford 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 Lisa and the kids and move up in the organization was my plan. At 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 them with respect and whatever he wants. The Dobbs family wants you to sell them at $100 over cost and just take care of it. Should be pretty simple. Write the paperwork up and go. And I'm like, great. About 45 minutes later, a white haired gentleman walks in big smile on his face. You could tell he was full of charisma. And he said, Hello, my name is Kimmins Wilson, and I'm here to buy Crown Victoria. Kimmins Wilson is a name that some here may know.

But just so that you know, Kimmins Wilson was a native Memphian grew up his family still in Memphis. And they do a lot grow up in Memphis with not much, was originally from Arkansas and was a contractor. 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 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 ends. 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 Inn and he found the Holiday Inn Corporation and by this time when he came looking for a Crown Vic, he'd sold Holiday Inn and his family was investing in properties and other things all over the country but he was a billionaire and I knew exactly what the name was. So I was immediately intimidated young guy just trying to schlep cars trying to put food on the table not figuring 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 in business and 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 is was big back in those

days and so he sits down in my little cubicle and I go get the invoice and I write up a buyer's order and put $100 over the invoice cost 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 say this card $100 of the cost and here's $100 over cost and 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 it back cross tape to me so that's why I'm gonna pay for that car and I said mr. Wilson I can't say that car is that

listen I'm just you know I'm handling paperwork here. It's a hundred dollars over the cost of car. There it is. And he said, well, I'll think about it and get something 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 to death. And he said, well, let's go talk about that. And he took that piece of paper and he scratched out $5,000 less. He put $4,000 less.

He said, that's why I'm gonna pay for the car today. And I said, Mr. Wilson, I can't, I, uh, I can't sell that car to you for, for that. I can't sell that car to you for that. I can't sell that car to you for that. I can't sell that car to you for that. I can't sell that car to you for that. I can't sell that car to said mr. Wilson I can't I

I can't sell that car to you for that Like I said, it's hundred dollars over cost. I'm handling paperwork, you know went through the same rigmarole and he looked at me said Yeah, he said I Don't think I'm gonna gonna do anything today and he gets up leaves again. And now I know I'm getting fired think I'm gonna gonna do anything today and he gets up and leaves again and now I know I'm getting fired. I'm 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 if the list price of a car is $23,000 the dealership pays call it $20,000 for the car. There's $3,000 markup between the true invoice of the car and what

the sticker price is. So if I'm selling you the car for $20,100, you're getting $2,900 discount, I am legitimately getting $100 more than the dealership paid for the car. There's this thing called hold back that once inventories are reconciled, the manufacturer sends a holdback 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 2% of the price of the car. So in this case, probably about $400. And what you think about a business now, if you got, if you're only making $500 per car, the 100, 100 over invoice plus 400 hold back, and you know, you sell 300 cars a month.

That's $12,000. And then if you did that every month, 12 times 12 is $144,000. If you think about all the expenses associated with the dealership, you are not going to to keep that dealership afloat on 140,000, $150,000. You got to make more than that be profitable 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, Mr. Wilson, you here to buy the car? And he said, here's what I'm gonna do.

Took that piece of paper and circled $2,000 below the price. I was over slid it back across tape to me. I said, Mr. Wilson, I cannot sell you the car For and then he looked at me said, you know, you offered me an opportunity to drive that car I think I'd like to 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 45 minutes to an hour and the man drove slow and we got back and he said, yeah, he said that's that car is going to be a good car for me and he pushed across and he dropped the price $500 under what I offered him. He said, I'll buy the car today for that. I said,

Mr. 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 $25 more dollars off the price of the car. Just so you can say you won will you please just buy the car for me and he said uh what'd you say i said would you please just now buy the car and he looked at me 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. I about let one of the most important people in the city walk out of the ownerships dealership

because I never once simply asked the man for the business and he was teaching me a lesson. Mr. Wilson's died now, his legacy lives on really internationally and certainly in Memphis through his family and all 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 your Just 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? 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 over the course of my life and it is a 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's Shop Talk. We'll see you next week. I'm Jonny B. Good, the host of the podcast, Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin.

This podcast dives deep into the story of Ray Tripani and his company, Centratec. I'll explore how 320-somethings built a company out of lies, deceit and greed. I've been saying since a very young age that I was going to be a millionaire. If someone's like, oh, what's your best way of making money? I'm like, oh, we should start some sort of scheme. Listen to Creating a Con, the story of Bitcoin on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Martha Stewart and we're back with a new season of my podcast. This season will

be even more revealing and more personal, with more entrepreneurs, more live events, and more questions from you. I'm talking to my cosmetic dermatologist, Dr. Dan Belkin, about the secrets behind my skincare. Encore Jane, about creating a billion dollar startup. Walter Isaacson about the geniuses who changed the world. Listen and subscribe to the Martha Stewart podcast on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. The big take from Bloomberg news brings you what's shaping the world's economies with the smartest and best informed business reporters around the world.

We cover the stories behind what's moving money in markets and help you understand what's happening, what it means, and why it matters every afternoon. I'm Sarah Holder. I'm Saleh Emosen. And I'm David Gura. Listen to the big take on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.