The Power of One More: How Relentless Service & Consistency Build 30 Years of Success (with Christopher Vester)

In this episode of the Be The Solution Podcast, host Maria Quattrone sits down with Christopher Vester, whose family has built a 30-year automotive business grounded in relentless service, resilience, and one powerful principle:

Just one more.

One more call.
 One more rep.
 One more conversation.
 One more attempt when everyone else quits.

Christopher shares what separates top performers from average ones — and why serving people deeply, not chasing outcomes, creates long-term success.

If you're in sales, leadership, or building a business, this episode is a masterclass in consistency and legacy. 

🔑 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

1. The Power of “One More”
2. Why Service Beats Sales
3. Passion to Serve > Pressure to Sell
4. The “Yoda” Sales Philosophy
5. Loving the Journey, Not the Pinnacle
6. Affordability, Inventory & Today’s Market Reality

💬 Best Quotes

Christopher Vester:

“Sometimes the difference between winning and losing is just one more.” 

Maria Quattrone:

“There has never been a closing that didn’t start with a conversation.” 

Connect with Maria Quattrone:
Facebook: Maria Quattrone
LinkedIn: Maria Quattrone
YouTube: Maria Quattrone
Instagram: @maria_quattrone
TikTok: mariaquattronerealestate
Website: MQrealesate.com
Office number: 215- 607-3535

Transcript

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Meet Christopher And The “One More” Mindset

Maria Quattrone 0:00

Oh, so I'm so excited this morning. Uh, this is the Be the Solution podcast, and welcome my friends uh back to this episode. And I had the great pleasure of meeting the wonderful Christopher Vester on New Year's Eve on a Mutual Friends La La Palooza New Year's Eve podcast, and that is Jay Doran. Jay is a remarkable, remarkable. And he introduced me to Christopher. We were all on the pod. There was like five of us on the podcast. So today, uh Christopher is joining us on the Be the Solution podcast. And Christopher, I have a quote for you.

Christopher Vester 0:41

Sure.

Maria Quattrone 0:42

The best way to predict the future is to create it. Yeah, I love that quote. And that is your quote. Yes. I picked your quote for you.

Christopher Vester 0:53

Yeah, thank you.

Maria Quattrone 0:54

You are welcome. So Christopher's been into in his many businesses, but he's been in the auto space for well over 30 years. In fact, him and his family just celebrated their 30 years yesterday on February 6th. And like I had said, behind the scenes, an overnight success. So yeah. There is no such thing as an overnight success.

Christopher Vester 1:18

No, I think of all the times in the last 30 years we could have said this is enough and just didn't say this is enough. Meaning the trials, the tribulations, the issues, the I mean, just keep going, you know.

Maria Quattrone 1:32

It's there. Well, that's the thing. So, you know, in our businesses, auto real estate, the same sales principles apply across all industries. And you have to just keep going, right? It's like that mentality of never ever ever ever. Because if everyone is being honest, there's a time when we all wanted to throw in the tail. Actually, maybe 20 times wanted to throw in the tail.

Christopher Vester 2:07

At least. Yeah, I think sometimes we miss the power just one more. You know, what happens if we just make one more phone call? What happens if we just make one more contact? Whatever that contact looks like. What's the power of the one more? And we we don't buy that.

Maria Quattrone 2:22

I love that. I love that. And one of the people that I follow, Ed My Lat, he actually wrote a book.

Christopher Vester 2:30

He did. It's a great book, by the way.

Maria Quattrone 2:32

It's a great book. And you can apply that, those lessons, pretty much anything. You're like, you know, one more rep at the gym. One more block, one more walk around the block. But it's the compound over time that really makes a difference. I mean, sure, you you know, in

What Makes A Top Salesperson

Maria Quattrone 2:55

your what do you believe makes the most productive salesperson?

Christopher Vester 3:03

That's a great question. It's actually a question my CEO and I were having just this past week because we've got guys that have been with us um next year will be 30 years for one of our guys that's a salesperson, and he's consistently 30 to 40 cars per month. And to put that in perspective, the average dealership sells 100. So he's doing 40% of what most average dealerships do by himself. And we look at his we do we think of the predictive index, which is like giving us where their strengths and how they're how to meet people. And um, and we've got another gentleman who's with us 15 years, and then now we have these two new guys that are just have been to the space and became I'll say not overnight successes, but just they're like they have been really good at it and have never done it before. One of them is his second career, like he's in his mid-40s. And I said, Well, let's see if they have any similarities when it comes to their predictive index, and they're all over the board. So then we said, Okay, well, what is the difference? And when you sit with these guys, they more than anything have a passion for people. They um, you know, one of one core values is having a passion to serve. And you can see it on the daily how they exemplify that, how they show up for their customer. Um, they're like and relentless can be a negative word sometimes. That that's another one of our values, but they display relentlessness in how they serve. Um the idea of the one more is second nature to them, you know, one more contact, um, one more phone call, one more question. They just that idea of we're gonna do what it takes to serve the customer. It's not about I'm gonna do what it takes to sell the car. It's how can I give the customer an experience where they trust, know, and like me in a very short amount of time that builds relationships that now I'm selling their whole family cars. So it for us in our space, it's caring about who's sitting in front of them. That's like that's look around, like I guess personality-wise, they're all over everywhere. But the one thing they have in common is a care of who's sitting in front of them. You know, the car business, cars people sales traditionally had this horrible reputation of wanting to take advantage. And I think for a long, long time there was probably a lot of truth in that. You know, what they say stereotypes are based on truth. And what we've always tried to do is how can we be different than that? And developing the idea of we're going to serve and care and give the customer a different experience than they get anywhere else. And the people that fit that display it every day and it shows in their success. But the you know, the neat thing about it is I just said they're selling their entire family's cars. You know, that's one of the things that these guys track is well, I sold this one person a car. Now, how many of their circle have I sold? Have I sold their sister? Have I sold their husband? Have I sold their daughter? Like, um, just looking at did they did them well enough that this person says, hey, this isn't this my car person is. I need to introduce you to my

Serving Over Selling Builds Families

Christopher Vester 6:20

and we've had one like the guy that's been with us 30 years. We were doing the math and he sold 31 different people in one family. And now, so I don't know how many so I don't know how many cars that initiates to. We could back into that math, but there's 31 people that are associated with one particular family that have like that's the root of it. It's just one family, and it's just you know, it mushroomed out from that.

Maria Quattrone 6:47

But it's how many people can we impact?

Christopher Vester 6:49

Right. The ripple effect of that one.

Maria Quattrone 6:51

The ripple effect of the one goes back to one more, goes back to it's I owe it's the process and not the outcome. The what we do daily to help others, regardless of whether it's helps us or not, helps us because we stay in integrity, right? People uh in our industries, it's a long game, and that guy, so my father, which I didn't tell you this, has been in the car business since the mid-80s. Wow. And he's one of the he would be your he would be this guy that you're talking about right now, who has and he's my father is 77. No, wait, 76, he'll be 77, and he's still working. Wow, yeah, and he's still making the calls every single day.

Christopher Vester 7:42

Yeah, you know, my the the the my art group is after my father, he's 74, so same generation, and he's here most every day, and he has I mean he's delivering, personally delivering, like he's carrying the cars. He has friends in Kentucky because he also does thoroughbred business, and this farm wants to buy four trucks from him, and they're in Kentucky, so there's plenty of people that they could buy from. Yeah, but he's got a relationship with him, and he's like we talk about the passion to serve, like he is getting my mom, he's driving one, my mom's driving one, my dad's best friend, and my bad best friend's wife are all going out to Kentucky to deliver these cars, you know, just because he wants to keep that relationship. They just it's a passion, you know. And I tell everybody if he's if and again, owner, not a salesperson, but still sells every day. And I said, when he's got a customer in front of him that's his customer, you just need to get out of his way. Because he's he's going to do everything he can to give them an experience that that's built.

Maria Quattrone 8:42

Lead by example. I think that is something that isn't a lot of people are in the sales and they're maybe they move from sales to ownership, and then there's this do this, do that, and I'm not gonna do any of it. And I I think when you are in the game with your people at some level, it keeps you close to what's really happening today, and keeps it you and with your people by the sheer virtue of just doing.

Christopher Vester 9:19

You know, you you you were talking about the long game and how um, and it's not about the outcome. We had one of our our New Orks, he's been with us almost two years now, and he's one of those that just shows up in an amazing way. I mean he's got a bright future in the space. And he actually had a customer, this is probably six or seven months ago, that he did not sell a car to. She left and ended up buying a different brand, a brand we don't carry, but she called him back just to say, Hey, I need you to know this is what I did. And I mean, like, and he played me the voicemail, and he was like, Man, it's like that makes me feel as good as having sold her a car. It's is the gratitude that she showed for you know the information I gave her and the way I like, you know, he said, like, and I said, Well, I I told him, I said, Isaiah, if you can keep that attitude, then success is easy, you know, it's about enjoying the process. And I said, and I can tell you, 99% of salespeople, if the person ends up buying somewhere else, you never hear from them unless like they're not recalling you, you're the one calling them. She called you back to say, Hey, I just want you to know. I mean, I said that's a that's impact, but it's again how he served her, you know, he just made a difference.

Maria Quattrone 10:35

But how many people will she tell about the experience, even though she didn't buy a car, and maybe they want to that type of right, and I think that's lost. I think we have um, you know, thanks to Amazon and DoorDash, and our society has a I want it now, and if I don't get it now, I give up. And how do you find like to put those that long-term perspective into salespeople's minds? Because, you know, especially in real estate, it could take some time to they're not gonna come in and buy most of the time, they're not gonna come in and buy a house today. And we sell service, right? The house is wherever, it could be our listing or somebody else's, but and that resilience to keep serving that person, even if it's 18 months, a year, five years, oh I I think I've touched on two different ways.

Christopher Vester 11:41

I think it happens here. I think one, they see it from

Process, Not Outcome

Christopher Vester 11:45

ownership down. You know, they see someone who's actively trying to serve the customer, and having three guys in our, you know, that have been with us for you know 15 plus years and and saying, hey, if you want to know how to make this work, you don't have to take my word for it. You can speak to somebody who's still in the front, I mean, their front line of this is the sales floor. And these guys don't want to do anything other than the sales floor, they're not looking for a management position. They're like, this is what I want to do. This I want to be in front of the customers, I want to be in front of my customers. And so giving them a real life example that's willing to say, hey, this is what it takes. Um, and and you know, the guys that have been here for a while are as good at as anybody in recognizing that spark of someone who wants to serve. Like it's you can an immediate thing, but you can just a couple of conversations, you're like, oh, this guy gets service. You know, you said you're selling a service, like you're selling inventory everywhere. You know, we we have separate dealerships, and there's salespeople in each dealership, we allow them to sell you know cross-sale product. So it's you know, the idea that they may not have the solution right now, it happens. So they they know that they've got to just continue to serve. And being I think the for for again being able to have a conversation who's with someone who's done it, like someone who's who's who's been it long enough to say, hey, this is where I'm at today, 30 to 40 cars, which is unheard of. And um, but this is what it's gonna take. And when you look at the dealership that he is at, there's three gentlemen there that have been in this for, like I said, less than a year that are that I have a passion, but have watched what he does. Well, if it's working for him 30 years later, it can work for me today, regardless of technology, regardless of um the worldview of our space, like it's working for him. So I just need to put it in place and just be resilient.

Maria Quattrone 13:53

What's his name?

Christopher Vester 13:54

Alton.

Maria Quattrone 13:55

Alton.

unknown 13:56

Yeah.

Maria Quattrone 13:57

What are some of the things that he does every day?

Christopher Vester 14:02

Um, he is definitely first one in. Like he's here early, but he's not always last one out because he stacks his day. People come to him by appointment, but he is continually looking at his owner base, who's coming in for service, following up with customers that he's sold multiple cars to, um, asking for the referral. But more than anything, just sometimes just checking on them. Like it, like he can he'll know what's going on in families to and say, hey, like it's not I don't say something as simple as a birthday. It could be a kid getting married, graduating college, graduating, like he's he's that. Um, and the majority of his customers have come from, I mean, we're in a small town, we're fit less than 50,000 people population. And uh, but the a big one with his customers come from where he the neighborhood he grew up in. Like so they've known him his whole life. So he's you know, he knows these customers on a on a on a on a literal knowing basis. So he's able to have those, hey, how are things going conversations. So it's not always about the sale, it's about the person, it's about you know what we know how how well can I get to know them. And the better you know somebody, the easier it is to find the solution to the problem they're trying to solve. I mean, that's what sales is. We're we're offering problems, we're solution to a problem someone's trying to solve. And because we do that, there's money to be made. And if you know someone well

Coaching People To Lead Themselves

Christopher Vester 15:30

enough, you can figure out, okay, number one, what's the problem they're trying to solve? And do I have a solution? And can I help them find a solution?

Maria Quattrone 15:37

Absolutely. That's how we came up with the Be the Solution podcast.

Christopher Vester 15:42

100%. I get it. That makes so much sense to me.

Maria Quattrone 15:45

Because and in real estate, we have this thing called the expired listing. They went on the market, they didn't sell for a variety of reasons. It's not just always price, and that's how I built my business when I started. Uh now I'm in year 23 in this industry. But what happened was in year two-ish, I really wanted the listings because I saw that that's the business. And I'm like, well, what do I do? So I figured out I'm gonna call, cold call people I don't know, expire listings, and be the solution for them. And so when it came to 2020 and we had COVID, we had Jenna say, You're gonna go live on Facebook. And I said, Well, uh, I don't know about this. She's like, Yes, you are, and then she said, 10 days later, we're gonna have a pot, we're gonna do a podcast. I said, Well, we need names. She says, Well, what do you do? So I thought about the expires, and I knew that if I didn't get to them, they may have a bad experience again, and so I took it personally to reach as many people as I could and offer a solution to their problem. And you know, that's how that's the solution. And it I think it's it's something that's so simple people move past it. Start coming to us because they want to buy a car or they want to buy a house. Let them don't get in the way, let them buy the house or the car. Right.

Christopher Vester 17:24

Yeah, the um, you know, one one of the ones we use is actually when someone comes in and they they have a in mind, like they've done a lot of most of the cut customers in our space have spent about 19 hours before they ever step foot in a dealership. And that 19 hours is based on their understanding of what they need. Well, if we're good at our job, we may offer a a different solution, right? That's that's uh a befit that particular customer. So we'll sit them down and like literally do like an intake interview. Say, what is it that you're trying to solve? What's the problem you're like, what's the what is your that you're and of course they'll automatically go to the brand or the model and say, okay, I understand that, but why that? You know, getting getting and kind of peeling it back. Um and we've done um studies on it, and I want to say it's like 86 percent of customers buy something different than what they were shopping for, and it's from having those conversations, it's like it's a solution that they didn't even know about or better than what they could do on their own, just because this is what we do every single day. So we should know more about the answer that they have.

Maria Quattrone 18:38

100%. And it's interesting because the same thing on our side of the fence. People think that they know what they want in how in housing, then they've realized that that's not what they want. But it's our job to uncover that. And by asking the questions, nobody knows. That's why they come to specialists, right? That's why they go to the car dealership, that's why they're going uh to your family's dealership that's been around for deck three plus decades, because we have the solution to some problem that they don't even know that exists yet.

Christopher Vester 19:10

Right. Correct, 100%.

Maria Quattrone 19:13

And uncovering that through, you know, I call a lot of people call, well, we're gonna do a presentation. No, it's we call it consultation, consultation, consulting. So it's like you're consulting on their wants and needs based on questions that we have to ask to uncover and pull it out of them what they haven't even thought about yet.

Christopher Vester 19:40

So I I used the one time we were talking about the role of a salesperson, you know, to newer to guys. And I said the best thing you could do is understand you're the Yoda in their walk. Like Yoda didn't give Luke Skywalker all the answers, he just kept asking the questions. And and and so your your job

Enjoying The Journey Over The Trophy

Christopher Vester 20:00

is to to Yoda them the answer that they're looking for. Um, because he again, he's the he was the guide, he's the consultant. Like he he wasn't selling anything, he's just consulting them to a good solution.

Maria Quattrone 20:13

Yeah, and I I think it's critical to the guide. We talk about that, you know, be the guide, be that person where people say, Well, how do you sell and get all these clients? And I said, Well, I don't. That's the thing. I assume if you're calling me, or if you're in my database, you've called me in the past, I'm following up, I'm seeing if you're ready for is this the time for the solution. And if you are calling me, you're gonna unpack it and see if this is the right solution for you. And so there is no tie-down claw, like all these sales things that people talk about. There's not some of it you're doing because it's ingrained after you've been in the business. And we've been in sales for decades. I was in radio sales for 11 years, so 33, four years in sales, it becomes just who you are naturally. I think, Christopher, we look at things sometimes. We're so close to it that we don't even see really what it is. Right.

unknown 21:23

Yeah.

Christopher Vester 21:24

You know, that's I have consultants for me, for my business, for my finances, for all those things. And they always see it from a different perspective than me, because I I say I'm in the mud. Like I'm I'm in the mud of it. So it's easy for someone who's consulting me to see it and help me find the solution of that. Um, I'm in a situation now where I'm actually doing some consulting and it's amazing. I can look at the problem and I I had this with my dad the other day. I was like, it's it's crazy how it is to see someone else's solution because you're not in the mud with them, you know. But they get so caught up in it, you know, that that that they just someone from from an outside to to offer this little but yeah, you're right. We're we're so I think it's uh it's a human nature. You get so involved in it. You know, the the saying of seeing the forest for the trees. I mean, that's kind of what you know and it happens on all fronts. I mean, it's it it happens as a as a as you start to go down the rabbit hole of research, or it can happen as you know, owning a business and and being in it all the time. Sometimes you just need someone to go, hey, have you looked at this? Because you're so busy looking over here, you're missing, you know, you're you're spending time on the on the smoke, but you have you gotten fire, you know.

Maria Quattrone 22:42

So and that's you're right. It's whether you're in sales, whether you're in leadership, whether wherever, because everybody needs a coach or consultant. Pros have coaches and consultants, different ones for different things and different, you know, levels. And uh there's a devil on every level, for sure.

Christopher Vester 23:04

For sure.

Maria Quattrone 23:05

You evolve and you grow, you know, and and I talk to this all the time. You probably do the same, Chris. And Christopher, I'm curious. Like, say, it's not about sales, this is about your personal development journey through life. And who do you have to become to have the life you want?

Christopher Vester 23:22

Right. Inside the organization, I I took, I guess it was probably three years and did small group leadership development coaching. So they would spend roughly an hour with me for 26 weeks, and I would do it in small groups of five or six. And you know, getting, and it didn't matter what position they were in, it was in service, it was in sales, it was in accounting. I mean, it was like they were it was wanted to participate. Because I made the joke, I said you're you know, you're gonna spend 26 hours with me, and that's a lot, you know. Um, but giving them the perspective of do you even know where you're headed? Do you even have an idea of what you're trying to become? Who who is it that you're looking to be? Because you know, my wife has a great saying, she goes, most people are too busy doing they don't even understand that they're not being. And if they could just understand, hey, who is it that I'm trying to become? What is it, what I'm to do? What's the inner result of my life? And then what okay, what do I need to do to be the person that can get to that spot? So it was it's and to watch it. I mean, it was so I there's a young lady who's

Market Headwinds And Affordability

Christopher Vester 24:30

been with us now, I think this is her seventh or eighth year. And she's like consistently just leveled up in in every position. Um, we were talking about a certain situation this past week, and and I said, Well, here's one thing I know because I know you because she went through 26 with weeks with me.

unknown 24:48

Yes.

Christopher Vester 24:49

And um, I said, You're gonna don't do what you have a tendency to do, right? Which is overthink, overwork, and not it's um she wants things done really, really quickly, and she has the ability. So it's not about her ability, it's just about this putting so much stress on herself. Like, like, remove from some of that, put that deadline on yourself. There's nobody holding a gun to your head to solve this problem, and we know it didn't start in a day, so it's not gonna get fixed in a day. And she came to me and she goes, Do you know how much it hurts my heart to tell you it's probably gonna take me 18 months to work out of this particular thing? I was like, Yeah, I know how much it hurts, but I also know that you you're telling me that, thinking you can get it done at nine. So, but but to begin to know the them regardless of the position or station that they were working in the dealership, to help them understand the first thing they gotta do is lead themselves. And you do that by, hey, who is it I'm trying to be? And now let's start being and let the doing be a byproduct of who you're trying to be.

Maria Quattrone 25:53

Yeah, so good. I think it's like you know, stacking the wins like wins, so we can build the confidence so you can take the action, continue to take the action to be the person, become do the action, become the person that you want to be, to have the life you want. Right.

Christopher Vester 26:12

That was a lot, but it's truth. I mean, it's just it's it's a puzzle. We just gotta figure out how to put it together.

Maria Quattrone 26:18

It's a puzzle, it's a puzzle. You know what? I'd say, Christopher, if we're not having the fun, what's the point?

unknown 26:27

Right.

Maria Quattrone 26:28

And lately, as I uh my friend said we're in middle age, I said, Okay, you could say that. I'm not gonna say it. We may be, Christopher, we may be, but I I don't I don't feel it, I don't feel like I look it. Okay, so I said, as this time is progressing, the more I want to be in love with the journey and not the outcome, and not chasing whatever, because when we have this goal, and I I don't really like the word goal, I like the word commitment better, but people use this word goal to do X, and then we do X, and we go because I experienced this 15 years ago. You look around, you go, is this it? Right, and then there's this disappointment, and then a lot of people, and they could be at the pit uh what they think is the pinnacle of where they thought that they needed to be wanted. And they come a lot of times. What happens is people come crashing down and go into like this depression, this what am I doing?

Christopher Vester 27:38

This and and there's not one of my best friends um played on a Super Bowl-winning football team, and he won the Walter Payton Award, which are the two biggest awards in the NFL. And he said, in both of those situations, he gives a great uh testimony about his night he won the Super Bowl because I literally and have had my hands on the Lombardy trophy. The NFL won't let you have anyone in your hotel room, it's just one of the walls, like that's one of their rules. Like, no, no, no family, nobody room you by yourself. He goes, I'm in this hotel room, the game is over, I'm looking out my window, and I'm seeing all these people with all these different jerseys on, and none of them won the game, and they're all

Conversations Create Closings

Christopher Vester 28:20

celebrating, and I'm looking down and I'm empty, and I'm thinking, this was supposed to be the best. And then, like two years later, I think he won the Walter Payton Award. And thinking that the philanthropicness of the Walter Payton Award, he goes, Now the work of the you know, the work of it I loved. He goes, but the award meant nothing. And um, in fact, he doesn't even hints about it. Like it it he goes, I th but I things, you know, and what he goes, and but what I mean to realize is I was chasing that thing, I was chasing that moment and not looking at the journey and what's the fulfillment I'm trying to find through life's journey, and um ended up retiring two years later, just like this is not this I'm gonna do. So yeah, it's like you talk about pinnacle moments, and you and you if you interview the majority of the people that have had that moment, they will tell you the first thing they go is, oh, this is all of it.

Maria Quattrone 29:18

Yeah.

Christopher Vester 29:19

But the ones who I got I got to chills, but the ones that fall in love with the journey, that experience of being at the pinnacle, which usually gets there. Like if they fall in love with the journey, they'll reach the pinnacle, but they have a different level of fulfillment when they hit the pinnacle because they've they've they go, they see the work they put in, and then they've enjoyed the journey to get there, you know. So it's it's it's it's why, you know, why am I chasing this thing?

Maria Quattrone 29:45

It goes back to you know it's the it's the the daily things and just staying in that. I think there's like uh I call it like a groove, cadence of this movement, this movement, we want to feel good, and we get that from fulfillment, and we get that from confidence, and we get that from actually taking action and doing the work. And in sales, it's easy not to do the work.

Christopher Vester 30:17

Yes, it really is.

Maria Quattrone 30:19

It is, and said, Well, if you're not gonna do the work, we're not gonna have fulfillment, we're not gonna help people, we're not gonna serve people, and worse, and and the other part of it is you're gonna be broke financially, not spiritual. Talking finances, yeah.

Christopher Vester 30:33

I I'm uh you know, the joke is people who say money doesn't matter have never had any. You know, that like it's it is not answered to anything, but it sure does make the bumps in the road a little easier to handle.

Maria Quattrone 30:45

No doubt. I grew up without you know, a lot of money. We had things, you know, but I remember there's situations where bills weren't paid, things were shut off, blah, yeah, no heat, whatever.

Christopher Vester 31:02

Yeah, well, before we got in the car business, my we farmed, we were in family, so that's always year to year. Like it's like you're you know, you paid literally one, like you borrow from the bank, you pay the bank for the year, and then what's left over you get to keep, and it's it's like that's a lot of a lot of struct a lot of hard work and a lot of struggle.

Maria Quattrone 31:23

It is. It also depends on who it built who you are. Because without that, you probably wouldn't be where you are right now.

Christopher Vester 31:31

Yeah. I I don't mind. I won really, really quickly. I did not want to work in the tobacco field the rest of my life. Because I I mean I mean people it don't believe it, and but it's just of the times, but I I was literally participating in some of the work on the farm when I was five. Like in and people like, but it's the truth. I mean, and we didn't stop that until I was 11. And I remember at 11, it was me and another 11-year-old boy that were out there working with the adults, and it was just, I mean, it was just the way it was, you know, it was early 80s, and I'm sure there were child labor laws back then, but I but doing the work, you know, um, because it had to be done.

Maria Quattrone 32:11

It had to be done. There was an alternative. Correct. And you you do what you have to do to survive for your family.

unknown 32:21

Yeah, yeah.

Christopher Vester 32:22

But I remember I'll say it also, you know, I talk about I talk about my dad. It he had that same passion for his his the workers as he does for the customers now. You know, it's like, yes, they were helping us and helping the farm be successful as much as it could be, but he still had a passion for the for the poor there. Like they were, they weren't employee. Like he had a deep love for everybody that worked for us.

Maria Quattrone 32:49

Passion. Passion can take far.

unknown 32:51

Yeah.

Maria Quattrone 32:52

Passion can fulfill you when the money isn't there. I think it's what keeps going in the times of this is tough. Yeah. I don't know about your uh how you guys are doing um with you know how you did in December or January. Like these last few years in the real estate sector, they're they've been tough.

Christopher Vester 33:16

Yeah, with I mean, interest rates, uncertainty about economy. I mean, they they they affect the the first two they affect is automotive space and real estate. I mean, that's where it goes first. Now we had a we had a successful 2025. Um but and some of us for us is is we we had we're in North Carolina and we had weather and we don't know how to handle ice and snow here. So we you know, we we lost a few days, but we came off of a really good December and didn't have a good January. And then you look and there's inventory shortages. And I mean, there's still you know, still some of the issues that have left over from 2021 and 2022 where you know COVID affected supply chain. Like some of that's still around for us. Yeah, um, we're I mean, we're we're I we call it selling to payment where at the end of the month, a lot of times with new inventory from two of our manufacturers, there's just not any, you know, and um inventory is critical, and that's the same thing in our industry, yeah.

Maria Quattrone 34:17

Housing affordability big issue. 70% of people can't afford a home over $400,000. So most homes are over $400,000.

Christopher Vester 34:28

Right, and and now that's where the majority of the inventory sits.

Maria Quattrone 34:31

And so if that that person would then isn't selling that house because they can't afford the next buy up, like they would have to big house again, right? The rate would their their payment would be double. And if they buy the $400,000 house, why would they do that? Right, and the rate would still, I mean their payment would still be more, it makes no sense. Yeah, so we have all these, you know, and then there's yeah, there's there's there's the whole nother.

Christopher Vester 35:01

Yeah, I we I could spend about that.

Maria Quattrone 35:04

That is this is a good podcast.

Christopher Vester 35:07

Yeah, affordability is a real thing though. I mean, and and it's it's um and we've sent that we we I think that to have a Chevrolet dealership, I think the cheapest Chevrolet truck is over 60 grand now. And I remember not that long ago, I could get we could get a Chevrolet full-size Chevrolet pickup truck under 30. And and then you look, and again, affordability, you look at what that what that is a monthly payment, and it just doesn't, it's I I tell people all the time, I don't know how people do it. Like it doesn't like sometimes it makes sense for you know, I don't I don't want them not to make that decision, and we've helped them find the solution, but Lord have mercy, it's an expensive solution.

Maria Quattrone 35:45

Indeed, it is, and I think you know goes back to full circle here is as a sales organization, our job is to help as many people as we can with the solution, and and in these times, we have to just have more conversations with more people. Absolutely. I think that's really what it comes down to. Yeah, because you know, I say this to my sales team all the time. I said, I never went to a closing that didn't start with a conversation. Having more conversations requires more, more effort.

unknown 36:25

Yeah.

Christopher Vester 36:26

We had a network of us for a long time. He he actually's passed away. Um, and it was, I want to say he it was 2017, I think it was nine years ago. Incredible salesperson, um, elderly gentleman, but just was never gonna not do it. And he was losing his hearing, and we were swapping out our phone systems, and one of the things that we did with the new phone systems was making it hearing aid compatible, like he we could connect his aids to the phone.

Maria Quattrone 36:57

Wow.

Christopher Vester 36:58

And he would he went from making 20, 25 phone calls a day, and and and and like I said, pretty successful guy. The very first day he hooked his earphone, his headphone, his his um hearing aids to the phone, he made 85 phone calls, and he was like a kid at Christmas. He's like, I can hear, you know, and it because of the increase in conversation. Again, this was 2017. Well, I told the guys a couple days ago, I said, what if everybody adopted his name was Eddie? What if everybody adopted Eddie's mindset? Like every single day, how many conversations can I have? Whether that's by a text message or an email or a video message or a phone call or an in-person meet? Like, how do you you're not gonna help and find a solution until you find someone? Gotta be it's got this conversation.

Maria Quattrone 37:46

Conversation. Oh, this was wow, such a great episode, Christopher.

Christopher Vester 37:52

Well, thank you for inviting me.

Maria Quattrone 37:54

Love your calmness and your way of just it's you're very soothing. You have a soothing, soothing voice.

Christopher Vester 38:03

Thank you.

Maria Quattrone 38:04

Bring calm to the craziness.

Christopher Vester 38:06

Yeah, I spent a lot of time not doing that in my life, so I think I've just like evolved into that.

Maria Quattrone 38:11

I know all about that too. The evolvement. Thank God. Thank God. Thank thank the Lord.

Christopher Vester 38:17

Yes.

Maria Quattrone 38:18

Thank you for your time today. It was great, great connecting with you. You know, we'll have to do this again. We'll really unpack uh do one on affordability and how we can be the solution on that.

Christopher Vester 38:31

Yeah, that's great. I'd love to.

Maria Quattrone 38:33

That's on keep on being the solution.

Christopher Vester 38:35

Yeah.