John Curry likes to treat people the way he’d like to be treated.
It takes the right personality and enthusiasm for the product and to be comfortable with the company backing it to be successful in sales.
That Galaxy Motors Nanaimo was tops with respondents in the 2016 Best of the City Survey’s Best Place to Buy a Used Car category is a good indicator the company has the right people greeting car shoppers.
Curry, 62, has plenty of enthusiasm for cars, his customers and the dealership. He grew up on a farm in the Maritimes where he learned to fix whatever needed fixing and transferred that experience into owning and operating mechanical repair and body shops on the Island and in the Maritimes. He started selling for Galaxy Motors in 2012.
Curry said Galaxy Motors never pressures customers and provides incredible after-sales service.
“I just try to keep it simple – direct answers. There’s no BS. Just stay with the facts and try to keep it enjoyable,” Curry said. “It should be a fun process.”
He spends a lot of hours at the dealership now that his children are off pursuing their careers. His daughter is in Chicago taking her fourth year toward her medical degree and his son works for an international oil company in Houston, Texas. When he’s not at the dealership, he likes to play the stock market and he still enjoys fixing cars.
Lyle Williams, 44, joined Galaxy Motors 10 months ago after working several years for a competitor. His father had an auto parts store in Courtenay and Williams worked as a parts man for about 20 years before moving into car sales. Galaxy staff who knew Williams thought the father of three would be a good fit for the company.
It turns out the company was a good fit for Williams.
“The personalities, the calmness here, just the complete honesty and the integrity of the dealership,” Williams said. “You can be absolutely real … My personality has really come out of its shell since I’ve been here. I can be myself. It feels right all the way around because of just the way it is here.”
Williams said it’s not about the cars on the lot; it’s the people and the confidence that the dealership stands behind its customers and sales staff.
“I’m all about people as well, making sure they’re looked after and, if something does happen, you know that they’re going to get looked after,” Williams said. “That’s the hugest part, right?”