Me, Mr. Wiggs and the Love of Sales

It is funny how what you love now can retrospectively can  be traced to an event or two in your earlier life. In an earlier post, I referenced how instrumental Art Hughes was in teaching me to golf  and the love for golf.  Ultimately golf became my profession for a time.  Today golf remains a favorite pastime and it has provided a social structure throughout my life.

My love for sales and service began at Mr. Wiggs discount department store in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Mr. Wiggs is no longer in existence, and has been out of business for nearly 40 years. As I recall, it was headquartered in Sandusky, Ohio which today is better known for Cedar Point Amusement Park.

I began working there as a 16 year-old kid looking to secure a more reliable income to put gas in my car. The 25.9 - 30.9 cents per gallon was putting a severe dent in my pocketbook at the time (ah, the good old days). Getting a job at Mr. Wiggs seemed like the perfect way to augment the money that came from normal summer farm activities such as bailing hay, crop work, and other labors that do not appeal to most, or to me either for that matter. Little did I know that the lessons learned (consciously or not) in that retail environment would serve me well later in my business ventures.

I was hired to work in the sporting goods and automotive department, which seemed very appropriate for a high school student who participated in nearly all sports and loved cars. Mr. Wiggs put me under the keen training eyes of Andy Bubb, Carolyn Rheem, Mike Perry, Don ???? (last name escapes me which is a shame as he actually hired me) and Ken Kessler. My sincere apologies for misspellings of anyone’s name. It has been over 43 years since I last worked with (or have seen) any of them. From these assigned mentors I learned mostly by "forced" observation (and having my knuckles rapped and ego bruised) to ask questions and listen to what the customer needed or wanted while shopping before giving them options or suggestions. More importantly for me, I learned that sales and service was NEVER about me, but rather it was about the prospective buyer and what they wanted, or what they were trying to accomplish during their store visit. The lessons learned were exceedingly helpful throughout my career.  Clearly it was a much different experience than what a farm kid would normally have in daily life.

My job at Mr. Wiggs served me well through high school as it not only provided me gas money, but became my business and social construct.  My "career"at Mr. Wiggs ended the summer preceding my sophomore year in college but the lessons learned and experiences still resonate today. My last summer I worked in the warehouse under the guidance of Carl Shoudel.  Carl was a WWII Purple Heart recipient who had retired from a career in the military.  Carl, through his attitude and actions, reinforced lessons from my parents on how the value of work and service plays a role in serving the customer. I cannot stress enough how important that these roles were in my development as my colleagues became not only my work family, but also became friends and were the basis of my social network and construct. Because of these relationships I did not suffer some of the less than desirable experiences that my classmates did - meaning, I managed to stay out of trouble.

Here is today’s request for action from you. If you have kids or grand kids who are working while in high school, get engaged and take the time to make certain you are aware of the values your kids are learning. Hopefully they are lucky enough to be around (or that they are seeking out) people who are supportive and take an interest in them. Most importantly, if they are so lucky, take the time to thank these bosses or mentors for helping. If your kids are normal teenagers they may well pay far more attention to their boss or mentor than they will you.  Lastly, understand that other kids are looking at you and may well be learning things from their observations.

Until next time...