Theres Something to be Learned from the Old School
I was thinking about an old friend and someone that I admired this evening. I had to distinct pleasure to know Price LeBlanc, the owner of Price LeBlanc Toyota in Gonzales, Louisiana.
He is gone now, but he accomplished a great deal and left so many people that admired him. Without a doubt, he was the best marketer that I have ever met. His store was part of the Baton Rouge ADI and he dominated it even though he was about 12 miles south of Baton Rouge. I still believe that this is the toughest market in America. At the time, Baton Rouge had a population of 380K people but had 4 Toyota stores, 6 Chevy stores and as many Ford stores. You could exit the largest Chevy store and turn into the next Chevy store, two miles away on the same side of Florida Blvd..
Price used TV as his main advertising tool.
He did his own spots and always finished with "Dah l'n". He wanted to furnish Cups for the LSU games but they would not allow you to put the name of your business on the Cup. He just put Dah l'n and everyone knew who that was. His showroom was always full and he would pull the kids out of the closing boths and have them imitate the Dah l'n at the end of his commercials. He always gave the kids a dollar when they did this. Before you left the store, they gave the customer a couple of pounds of country sausage. If they left it in the car, to continue to shop, it would spoil.
He always complemented the ladies (something that might sound unusual to people outside of southern Louisiana). I was talking to one of his sons about this, wondering if it ever got him in trouble. I was told, of a time, when he was talking to a lady that was not at all attractive. He said, "Dahln, you have the prettiest ....long pause... eyes I have ever seen".
That store was consistently in the top ten nationally in Toyota truck sales. Price could recruit the best people to work for him and there was a waiting list. I have never met a better man in the car business. His whole organization was top notch.
I was thinking about an old friend and someone that I admired this evening. I had to distinct pleasure to know Price LeBlanc, the owner of Price LeBlanc Toyota in Gonzales, Louisiana.
He is gone now, but he accomplished a great deal and left so many people that admired him. Without a doubt, he was the best marketer that I have ever met. His store was part of the Baton Rouge ADI and he dominated it even though he was about 12 miles south of Baton Rouge. I still believe that this is the toughest market in America. At the time, Baton Rouge had a population of 380K people but had 4 Toyota stores, 6 Chevy stores and as many Ford stores. You could exit the largest Chevy store and turn into the next Chevy store, two miles away on the same side of Florida Blvd..
Price used TV as his main advertising tool.
He did his own spots and always finished with "Dah l'n". He wanted to furnish Cups for the LSU games but they would not allow you to put the name of your business on the Cup. He just put Dah l'n and everyone knew who that was. His showroom was always full and he would pull the kids out of the closing boths and have them imitate the Dah l'n at the end of his commercials. He always gave the kids a dollar when they did this. Before you left the store, they gave the customer a couple of pounds of country sausage. If they left it in the car, to continue to shop, it would spoil.
He always complemented the ladies (something that might sound unusual to people outside of southern Louisiana). I was talking to one of his sons about this, wondering if it ever got him in trouble. I was told, of a time, when he was talking to a lady that was not at all attractive. He said, "Dahln, you have the prettiest ....long pause... eyes I have ever seen".
That store was consistently in the top ten nationally in Toyota truck sales. Price could recruit the best people to work for him and there was a waiting list. I have never met a better man in the car business. His whole organization was top notch.
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