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![The sales pitch that became a family feud](https://static.businessnews.com.au/sites/default/files/default_images/default-article-image_1440x960.jpg)
We had finally made it. The cover of Auto Dealers Magazine had a photo of my brother and me with our backs to each other. The headline: Estranged twin brothers build the most successful dealership east of the Mississippi.
How did we get so successful? Our marketing plan was based upon our ‘supposed’ estrangement. The customers loved it. Let me explain.
It had all started out innocently. We had inherited the business from our dad. We owned two GM dealerships across the street from each other but our business was stagnant; everyone was buying foreign cars.
Harry, with his ego, suggested we start using TV in a big way to gain market share. However, we needed to differentiate ourselves from all the other guys screaming that they offered the best deals.
Well, Harry came up with the idea of having us fighting with each other like when we were kids, but this time fighting over customers.
At first it was just fun. Our commercials would show us running across the street trying to snarl each other’s customers, or have me cutting the phone lines into Harry’s office so that he could not make any sales calls.
Our revenues skyrocketed. We were grossing more than any other dealership in the east.
And then, over time, fiction became reality. We needed to maintain our TV personas not only in the office but in our daily lives too.
We stopped sitting next to each other on social occasions. We went to mum’s for dinner on different nights. When we needed to meet face to face, it was absurd; we put on wigs (different colours) and sunglasses and would meet at a coffee shop 80 kilometres away.
We were too successful to change. The city had agreed to put in a traffic light and pedestrian crossing for customers who were running back and forth.
Our accountant could be seen running across the street with his arms full of computer print outs as he sought to update each of us separately on our sales.
I started getting tired of the routine. I had grandkids that I wanted to spoil. And sometimes I wasn’t sure if the animosity was real or pretend. I did know for sure that I wanted out. I put my half of the business up for sale, but there were no buyers. I offered it to Harry but he wanted the business for nothing. And every potential buyer realised that the success of the business was tied into our estranged relationship.
How was I going to get out? I could try finding two other twin brothers and offering them the business. I thought Harry might agree to sell his half too if he got the right price.
I hired a business broker to sell our business. The scoundrel wanted an extra three per cent because of the demands we had placed on him. Even after I agreed, he could not come up with any serious buyers. I finally found my own expert. He was an adviser to family run businesses. He specialised in siblings as co-owners, and would you believe it, his market niche was twins.
‘Could your kids take over the business?’ he asked. Well, I did have twin girls and Harry twin boys. Imagine if they took over the business; then it could grow into four dealerships that did not talk to each other.
We had an extended family meeting. The kids were actually interested.
The ideas started flying, perhaps dealerships that focused on environmentally friendly cars. No, the boys wanted to focus on trucks and four-wheel drives for the macho market. The discussion got heated. They were screaming at each other.
They stormed out, not talking to each other. This was great. My brother and I got up and shook hands. Our family business would continue for another generation.
Both sets of twins stepped back in.
“Hey dad(s) we think for this to really work we shouldn’t talk to our parents either. Sorry but business is business.”
- • US-based columnist Hesh Reinfeld’s tongue-in-cheek look at the world of business will appear fortnightly in WA Business News.