Dealerships used to be pretty much the same, but people expect a higher level of service than they used to. That’s going to continue. Since customers can get the same product from many other places for the same price or less, your level of service is what differentiates your business from other businesses. JOE CHASTANG— CONTINUED FROM PAGE 8 a little nicer. You can’t be that rough.” He could be very direct when he told me how to act. It wasn’t easy to modify my approach, but he helped me. Please tell us about the other family members who have been involved in the business. For a while, my brother and dad both worked for me. My brother still does. We have a great relationship, and his office is next to mine. My wife, Mary, handled human resources for the first five years in business. After about five years, she didn’t work unless she was needed. We have been happily married for almost 46 years, and we have two children, Patrick and Mandy. Patrick is the general manager now. Mandy played softball through college, earned a CPA and worked for PWC. She came to the dealership in 2009. Mandy’s husband, Dennis Venghaus, is a CPA, too. He came to us from the oil and gas business. We were very fortunate to hire Dennis just a little over a year ago. Patrick, Mandy and Dennis are going to be running everything eventually. They are smart, and they care about the business, the employees and customers. Who have your mentors been? I’m sure your father mentored you, but have there been others? Yes. Karl Trogen and Marvin Rush were mentors, and so was Cal Wallace. Cal was the general manager of the Peterbilt store and gave me my first job as a manager. He was hard on me, but I liked the pressure. I thought everybody liked it like that, but not everybody does, and not everyone responded to it the way I did. Some of my employees have been with me since I bought the dealership. I firmly believe people will do anything for you as long as they know you care about them. Then you can push them to do their best. Your dealerships have worked extensively with Ford and Autocar commercial fleets. How did you end up specializing in these markets? It’s just because of my background. Most dealers come out of the retail side, but I have experience on the commercial and retail sides. A commercial store is only slightly different from a retail store. You are still dealing with people. If you treat them well and know your product, your skills transfer to most businesses. Approximately 85% of your sales come from repeat or referral clients. What would you recommend to other dealers who want to build that kind of record? Make customers, keep them and try not to irritate them. That means being long-distance runners, not sprinters. Left to right: Patrick and Meredith Chastang, Joe and Mary Chastang, and Mandy and Dennis Venghaus Meredith and Patrick Chastang with son Mac Dennis, Mandy, Tyler, Joe and Carter Venghaus 10
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