|
Super-salesman and infomercial producer and star, "Chop” is a 30 year-old force of nature. Emulating his salesman father, young Chop was on the job as a teenager, washing cars and learning everything he could. KING OF CARS focuses on Towbin Dodge, Chop's used car dealership, as well as behind the scenes at "The Chopper Show," a wildly popular weekly improvised infomercial that brings in 80 percent of the dealership's sales. Chop's obsession with the customer experience – how the cars are lined up, making the visit fun, the overall feel – has made his place the number one single point used car dealership in the nation. In addition to managing his hugely successful auto empire in Nevada, Chop also balances several other real life roles as father, rap artist, radio host, and music and TV producer.
On…..A life-long love of cars
"I believe my first words were about cars. I've always been infatuated with cars, excited about cars, and always knew all the different makes and models. I even had a little dealership set up when I was kid"
"I had other jobs when I was younger, but I started working at the dealership when I was 14. It was like heaven for me, I was washing cars! I got to drive the cars before I even had a license. Don't tell anybody!”
On…..The line-up
"I'm just real particular about how my cars are lined up. How they look, which cars are the first ones you see when you pull into the dealership….the whole nine yards. I'll even take a string to make sure all the bumpers are lined up perfect, that's just kind of how I like to do it"
"I can't say how other lots do it, but I know that ever since I've been in my teens and I've been working at a dealership, I've always been very particular about how the lot looks. Even when I was a salesperson and it was not my job to line cars up, I would still go out and line the cars up and make sure they were presentable"
On…..The success of the dealership
"Towbin Dodge has been open since '98. For a business this young, we're really tracking strong numbers. We're always improving, always looking to improve, always looking for a new goal to meet. It's just really unbelievable how fast and how well things have gone. It is a lot of hard work. Fourteen, sometimes sixteen, hour days. It's never easy, but it definitely is fun, and to be able to come to work and have a good time is like the ultimate goal. My whole thing is, the atmosphere has to be fun. So everybody respects each other and, if there's a problem we just bring it out into the open"
On……The Chopper Show
"I was a salesperson at our Infinity store, and then I became Assistant Used Car Manager, and that's when I started doing The Chopper Show. It has since evolved into a really important sales tool for our company. ”
"I didn't want to do the infomercial at first. I said, "You know, my friends are going to make fun of me. I'm going to look like a geek. The commercials at that time were a little slow moving -- "This one has air conditioning and this one is such and such a price.' I decided if I was going to do it, then it would have to be fun. I'd have to do it my way. My first show, well, it was pretty funny"
"At some point we decided, what if everyone on the show had a nickname and what if we came up with the zaniest ideas possible to grab attention. So we came up with silly nicknames for the staff and had them appear in wacky costumes"
"We'll do just about anything on the show. We have a guy who likes to wear a giant diaper with a piece of broccoli in it…his character name is Broccoli Pants. Silly stuff that will make people who watch the show say….what was that?”
On…..The show's popularity
"Yeah the show is pretty popular. It rates higher than most of the local programming here in Vegas"
"People have definitely noticed the show. George Carlin wrote a whole skit about the show and about the dealership and utilized all this car terminology. It was really funny. And George Wallace, who is also a great comedian – he's pals with Jerry Seinfeld. George Wallace was doing a show at the Flamingo and Jerry walked on stage and they started imitating "The Chopper Show'. Gladys Knight called me to tell me that she thought we were doing a great job, that she considers our show very entertaining. She and her husband have since become friends. We're really lucky. I mean it's a fun experience"
On….What he hopes viewers will get from KING OF CARS
"I hope that by watching the show, viewers will see that this really is a tough business, there's definitely a difficult side to it. We do want to do the right thing. We do want to make our customers happy. Sometimes they're rough on us. Sometimes, I'm sure we make mistakes. I think it will be cool to have people see what it's really like to work at a car dealership….especially one that does it like us"
|