CEDARBURG — Jackson native and Vietnam veteran Kenny Miller first got into the car sales industry in 1978. Now, 47 years later, he has just recently hit a major milestone in selling his 10,000th car.
Miller, who works at 5 Corners Isuzu Truck & Auto in Cedarburg, sold his 10,000th car to Mary Beth Wundrock. His inspiration to hit the 10,000 mark began when he saw a story about a Milwaukee area car salesman in 2017 who had sold 13,000 cars in his career.
“I looked at it and said ‘oh my gosh,’” Miller said. “I started in 1978, and I kept a log, I got logs for every year of what I sold, and I was over 9,000 cars, so since then I’ve been on a journey to get to the 10,000.”
According to Miller, he began selling cars in 1978 due to his experience purchasing a car in 1977.
“I got into the business in 1978 after my wife and I bought a car in 1977,” Miller said. “I thought it was not a very comfortable situation, I was 29 years old at the time, and I was working in the factory and got my sales experience working at the JC Penny at Northridge selling sporting goods. … I was there for a couple years and then we bought this vehicle, and it was very difficult. A couple weeks after we bought the vehicle, there was an ad in the local paper for sales person at the dealership. I can still remember my wife, she threw it on the kitchen table in the morning and said, ‘Here, go apply for this job.’” Miller added that throughout his career, that initial experience purchasing a car has led him to try and make a positive impact on his customers so that they have a good experience.
“I didn’t want to do that to other people. I try to make it easy when you come in,” said Miller. “You don’t know all the little insights that I may know … I try to help people out and not make the same mistakes I did. I’ve seen mistakes and try to eliminate those.”
Since Miller began selling cars, many things have changed greatly in the car sales industry.
“The car business has been good to me. Yes, it’s changed over the years,” Miller said. “I mean the biggest change (was the internet.) I mean, when that thing came out, I went to my boss, I was working in Thiensville at the time, I said, ‘Well, there’s my replacement.’” With the advent of the internet, Miller said that car purchasers are more informed and have done more research into what they are looking for.
“In the ‘80s you didn’t have this. If you wanted some information on a car, the brochures that we used to hand out … that’s the way you would get the information. People would come in and you would have to tell them what options were available and ask what do you need,” said Miller. “Now all the things on these vehicles today (are online.)” Despite the changes, Miller’s salesmen aptitude and advice from prior managers has kept him on a consistent track to hit the 10,000 cars sold mark.
“(A past manager) said to me ‘the good lord gave you one mouth and two ears for a reason, listen to what the customer says,’ and try to take care of it,” Miller said. “It’s simple as that, and it’s not that hard.”
While on his way to hit the 10,000 cars sold milestone, Miller had many people reach out saying they wanted to be the ones to make that purchase, which led to some comical situations for Miller.
“During that pursuit, of course, people heard about it, and this one guy said ‘Kenny, I want to be you’re 10,000th customer,’ and I said ‘OK,’” said Miller. “When he came back in for service a couple months later, I said, ‘Rick, I just want to let you know I’ve got so many people, including my wife, that wants to be my 10,000th customer, so I started a little pool and whoever gives me the most money’ and he said ‘take me off the list.’” Ultimately, the honor was Mary Beth Wundrock’s to have. According to Miller, he may have hit 10,000 cars sold, but that doesn’t mean he is done. “It’s been a good career for me,” Miller said. “I enjoy it and I don’t have any real plans for retirement, my health is still good.”