About Bob

Techie geek turned salesman and web developer is probably an accurate description of my professional background. Having spent almost eight years in the USAF as an Airborne Meteorological Equipment Technician, it was a logical progression that in 1978, upon re-joining the civilian world, I would find a job as a computer equipment tech. For the first two years, I moved up through the technical ranks in field service with ITT Courier to become the District Technical Specialist for the Gulf Coast District. From my office in Houston, TX, I was responsible for providing tech support to all of our field service engineers in a four state area. This opened an opportunity for me to expand my knowledge by delving deeper into the magical world of data communications in the cave man era of mainframe computing, and eventually led to my getting a job with the Superior Oil Company as a Data Communications Analyst.

Although a techie by nature, a summer job more than a decade earlier as a door to door salesman had sparked an ever burning desire to make a living in sales. Knowing this about me, one of the marketing executives of my previous employer called me one day, and asked if I would like to come back to work for them as a Sales Representative.

"What's the catch?" I asked.

"The catch is," he said, "that you and Ritsuko will have to re-locate to the Quad Cities."

I'm a native Texan, and Ritsuko, my wife, is from Japan. Neither of us had ever been to this area. I had spent 9 months at Chanute AFB, near Champaign, IL, but aside from that I knew nothing about the midwest. While in the military, though, I had met a lot of people from all over the United States, and although many of guys talked about moving to Florida or California after separating from the military, all the people from this part of the country could talk about was going home. I figured that since none of them wanted to go anywhere else, then this must be a pretty good place. So after working out a few details of the new job and relocation, Ritsuko and I packed up the cats and moved to the Quad Cities in October of 1981.

For the next decade or so, I sold IBM mainframe compatible computer terminals, controllers, printers, and all the widgets and gadgets that go along with that sort of thing, to Fortune 500 customers, local government entities, and whomever else had an IBM mainframe and would let me in the door. It was interesting work, and I had the opportunity to learn about not only the computer business, but also about a wide variety of businesses as I worked closely with my customers. After a while, though, the travel started to wear on me. When on the road, in my nightly phone calls to Ritsuko, I would often tell her that, "one of these days, I'm just going to quit this and go sell cars!"

It was several years later, and after a gig on my own as a used computer equipment broker, and a few years working with Ritsuko, helping her establish and build her Chiropractic practice, that I finally followed up on the idea of selling cars.

That was in early 1997. Looking back, I am glad that I did it. I enjoyed selling cars to consumers. I suppose that I still approach sales in the problem solving mindset of a technician, by trying to find out what a customer needs and wants, and then figuring out how to help a customer achieve that goal. Looking in from the outside, that may seem to be easy, but in a world where most people have less than perfect credit, or perhaps need to trade out of a vehicle on which they owe more than its present value, there are often obstacles to overcome. However difficult those obstacles, it was always worth the hard work when I saw a happy, satisfied customer smile and wave as they drove off in their new vehicle.

I spent a total of over 11 years in the car business before moving on. I am currently the inside sales manager and web developer for a manufacturing company, but I want to share with you some of the things that I learned during my years as a car salesman to help you have a better experience the next time that you buy an automobile.

Bob Crabb