Four years ago, Gerry Raymond held upper management positions at some powerhouse dealer groups. But he never stopped looking for his own opportunity to become a dealer principal.
Fast forward to today, and Raymond owns three dealerships with two more closing soon.
Driving the news: "I sacrificed a lot of time with my now wife, you know, she's been with me for 11 years, bless her soul. I don't know how she does it," Raymond told Daily Dealer Live hosts Sam D'Arc and Uli De’Martino. "In the early stages, when you're in your 20s, you see everyone else going out on Saturdays and Sundays and sleeping in and taking trips. I didn't do that."
Instead, Raymond worked seven days a week, leaving at 6:30 a.m. when it was still dark and coming home at 11 p.m. But his pursuit of ownership came with financial sacrifices on top of personal ones.
Reality check: When Raymond found his opportunity (a struggling Chevy Buick GMC store in Wintersville, Ohio) his $500,000 in capital wasn't going to cut it.
"That wasn't nearly enough. I had to beg everyone and let me borrow some money. Somewhere around the million dollar mark was the all in mark," he explained.
Raymond refinanced his home three times and "borrowed whatever I can borrow off numerous people” to get the deal funded.
Big picture: The path from finance manager to dealer is rare but possible. However, the financial and personal cost eliminates most candidates before they start.
With keys in hand, Raymond's strategy to turn around the struggling dealership was to focus on people over processes.
"Everyone that came with me was pretty much new at their position. The whole entire team was so bought in," he said. You only grow by one way of doing things, right? It's the people. In order to get good employees, you treat them good."
And part of that, Raymond believes, meant refusing to change compensation plans that were working.
"How many times have you seen people go somewhere and say, well, they're making too much money that we can't have this. And then the pay plan changed. It's crazy to me."
As a result: In the first year of operations under Raymond, sales grew 86%, and over 1,000 vehicles were sold—generating $48 million in revenue and $2.5 million in net profit.
"I had a new controller at the time and we're looking at each other after the first month and we're like, is this right? Did we do accounting wrong? Something must be wrong because there's no way I made this much money," Raymond said.
Looking ahead: Raymond has dozens of signs throughout his facilities reminding him of his goal to own 100 dealerships. With five stores almost complete, he's ahead of schedule on what many would consider unattainable.
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