Carl Sewell's never-ending journey

D Magazine, Nov 01, 1998

CARL SEWELL SELLS MORE CADILLACS, Lexuses and Suburbans than anyone in the Southwest. His dealerships consistently rank among the top performers nationwide in customer satisfaction. His book, Customers for Life: How To Turn That One-Time Buyer into a Lifetime Customer, was named best business book of 1990 and has sold more than 850,000 copies in 16 languages. It led to a speaking tour that took him across the country to share his story with business owners and managers from a wide range of industries, including IBM's executive committee. It also took him to Japan to address Toyota's world organization--with the help of a half-dozen translators.

The Sewell story began in 1911, when Carl's father assembled Ford Model T's from parts that arrived in boxes by train and sold them out of his father's Arlington hardware store and livery stable. After migrating around North Texas, Carl's father settled in Dallas in 1941. In 1957, he bought Village Cadillac and renamed it Sewell Village Cadillac. Carl, a 14-year-old pupil at St. Mark's School that year, started in the parts department cleaning the bins. He learned the business from the service bays and used-car lot before heading off to SMU, then to a short stint in the Army.

When his father died unexpectedly in 1972, Sewell began a journey that would lead him from a single, $10 million dealership to a $500 million company with nine franchises in two states.

Along the way, he found teachers, from Stanley Marcus to W. Edward Deming to Tom Peters, who would help him develop an approach to the car business that has attracted international attention.

That's because Sewell isn't the stereotypical car dealer. If you want proof, listen to his radio ads. There's no shouting or wild claims. The ads don't mention prices, rebates, or low-low interest rates. There's no need for fast-paced disclaimers about tax, tag, title, and dealer prep.

What you get with Sewell is a thoughtful, educated, soft-spoken man who understands that his success begins with people, those who work for his company and those Is who buy the cars from him.

But as Sewell is quick to point out, while this approach has served him well, he's certainly not perfect. "We try very hard to run a very good business," he says, "but sometimes we're human and we don't do all the things that we should. We make our very best effort to correct our mistakes. It really is a journey, it is never-ending, and the bar keeps rising."

Recently, Sewell talked with BUSINESS DALLAS editor Richard Urban about how he built his successful business and the lessons he has learned in the years since his book was published.

One thing that's clear in Customers for Life is that the corporate culture you developed at Sewell Motor Co. is unlike what one expects to find at an automobile dealership. Since the book was published in 1990, you have acquired additional dealerships. What's it like to take your corporate culture and try to instill it into a new dealership?

First, I think we have to define what a corporate culture is. The dictionary is helpful: "the customary beliefs, social forms, and material traits of a group But it's more than that. It's the way we live, the values we have, and our aspirations and capabilities. The culture, whether corporate or social, is developed through sharing of values and continuous education. So if we're starting a new business or acquiring an existing business, we have to develop shared values and shared directions. And we need to articulate those.

How did this idea of culture become such a part of your philosophy on building a successful business?

After graduating from SMU and a tour in the Army. I went to work full-time in 1967. My dad died in 1972, which pushed me into a leadership role at a little earlier age than I might have wanted. I was 28 at the time, and I really wanted to run a great automobile dealership and be the best I could be. Managing a mediocre business was not an option. My mom and dad's expectations were always very high. They expected me to do the right thing and perform at a high level. They were always very clear about doing the best I could.

After the shortages of World War II, you could sell a car for anything, but my dad always sold the cars at the legal price. You could get two or three thousand dollars over the legal price for any car that you had, but he always chose not to do that. He also gave priority to the soldiers that were coming back from the war. One day the father of one of my school friends told me he was able to buy a car from my dad at a fair price when not many would sell it that way. I questioned my father: "You sure gave up a lot of money doing that And he said, "Yes, and the reason I did it was because I wanted people to tell you what that man just told you." That's a pretty powerful example.

In your book, you contend that a company-builder doesn't have to invent everything, just find something that works well, improve on it, and adapt it to one's needs. Is this part of your own continuing education?