Fighters like Frank Lauria just rise to the challenge
The generation of larger-than-life entrepreneurs who ran dealerships in the “good old days” in Canada might be getting a bit gray, and some might not push as hard as they once did. Maybe they haven’t all “kept with the times” and adapted to new technologies as rapidly as they should have.
Heck, maybe some made the mistake of keeping too much of the business in the hands of family members instead of recruiting outside talent who might have run their businesses differently.
But it will be a very sad day indeed when the last of the rugged fighters — many of whom who leveraged their homes and mortgaged their futures to get a dealership — steps aside.
When the keys to the last family run dealership changes hands — likely to a large, professionally run dealership group — it will signal the end of an era.
I’ve had the privilege of meeting and interviewing many pioneering entrepreneurs who run dealerships in our industry, and they are as colourful and spirited a breed as you’ll find in business anywhere.
In the cover story in this issue, you’ll meet Frank Lauria, one of those entrepreneurs. At a stage in his career when Frank should have been winding down and enjoying captaining his boat in Florida, he instead battled hard and beat the odds and fought his way to the top of the hill — again.
Frank’s story is a fascinating one. After losing his GM franchise in Port Hope, Ont., he immediately opened a Hyundai franchise on the same site. He quickly rose through the ranks and become one of the top Hyundai dealers in the country, winning national recognition.
His eyes light up when he talks about it, and he can barely contain the enthusiasm in his voice. This is a man who pushed all his chips to the middle of the table and won the pot.
Frank’s story is also an inspiring one, (not all his GM colleagues who lost franchises have been as fortunate), and also speaks to the risk-embracing, scrappy and hard-working streak that many dealer principals exhibit.
I wonder what a general manager working for a dealership group would have recommended when faced with Frank’s situation? On paper, the numbers wouldn’t have looked great. No franchise, lots of real estate, lots of staff, lots of bills, no cars to sell, no revenues.
Would they have recommended a massive re-investment in the facility, transforming its layout and design at a time with no assurances that former customers would stay or return?
But while entrepreneurs consider the advice of accountants and advisors, they also run their businesses partly by gut feel, partly by instinct, partly by common sense, but mostly by the confidence in themselves and their teams that they can achieve anything and buck the odds.
It’s people like Frank Lauria, and many of those like him from coast to coast, that make the auto industry such a fascinating business.
