In 1944 a farmer from Monroe, North Carolina by the name of Jim Bigham was loaned enough money from his father-in-law to found a used auto parts business in Greensboro, North Carolina. Mr Jim named the business Greensboro Auto Parts.
The business was small and struggled along due in part to Jim's failing health until Jim's second son, Tom, walked away from a contract with the Dodgers Organization as a baseball pitcher and came to help his father run the business. Jim's oldest son was a missionary and was out of the country at the time. Jim's third son, Ed was still young at that time. It wasn't easy but Jim, Tom and later Ed shared a vision of how to grow a business by growing their customers.
I grew up knowing the Bigham family. Everyone in Bessemer (what we now call, East Greensboro) knew them.) They donated heavily in time and money to everything that got done in East Greensboro and pushed others to do the same.
Later, Tom and Ed's sons and Tom's son-in-law-- all guys I grew up with-- joined the business and eventually it became the largest used auto parts dealer in the Southeastern United States. They helped pioneer things like the teletype parts location systems of years ago and in later years the ability for used auto parts dealers across the nation to access each others' inventories via computer databases.
But the real secret to their success had nothing to do with technology or innovation.
The Bigham family understood that if their business was to grow it would require a growing base of loyal customers. Walk in retail business was okay but the real money was made selling to garages and body shops. Especially body shops. At a time when other used parts dealers were sitting around waiting for customers to come to them, the Bigham family was not only going out and getting customers, they were making new customers.
It would be almost 50 years after Greensboro Auto Parts was founded that I would be hired by Tom Bigham to come to work for the Bigham family. Tom was my father's closest friend so he called Daddy and told Daddy to tell me to come by his office one day soon and talk with him. It was quite the honor to be recruited to a job working for a family I had looked up to all my life.
I delivered parts and picked up salvage cars from New Jersey to Florida. I scheduled my own deliveries and routed my own trips. The sales staff put the tickets on the board and I made sure they got delivered on time, every time, then made my way back via the various salvage auctions to pick up the cars Tom had bought at auction. Eventually I learned to sell parts and buy salvage cars as well.
It was during those deliveries, auctions and pick-ups that I discovered the secret to Greensboro Auto Parts' success. You see, no matter where I went, there was always someone who would tell me good things about the Bigham family. If I were delivering to a garage or a body shop the owners would tell me how Tom and Ed found them working in some other shop and helped them get a shop of their own. If it was a competing auto salvage yard I would hear stories about how Tom helped them start their business or in some cases how he came in when they were in financial trouble and bailed them out, took control of their business long enough to get it back on its feet then sold it back to them for a reasonable price.
But it wasn't just money, Tom made them learn how to do it right. He believed in teaching a man how to fish. He also understood that sometimes the fish wouldn't bite. That's when his drivers came into the picture.
You see, rather than just driving the truck, we were encouraged to take care of our customers. Often times a customer might buy a part from us that actually came from another dealer and was delivered by their driver. A few days later I might happen upon that customer and learn they were unhappy with the product. When faced with the same situation, some of our competitors would simply say, "it's not our part, it's not our problem," but not us. I had the authority to do what it took to solve the problem even if it mean the company lost money. And every time I did that I managed to sell something else before I left.
The other thing Tom had me do as a driver was look for the customer who wasn't getting any bites. Besides selling used auto parts, Tom also had salvage cars rebuilt to be put back on the road. Every car he and Ed drove were rebuilt wrecks and he always had a waiting list of people wanting to buy rebuilt wrecks. But Greensboro Auto Parts didn't repair wrecked cars. Instead, when I found a shop where work was slow I would call Tom and he would have me deliver one of his wrecked cars along with the necessary parts to repair it, to that shop. When the job was done he always paid the shop owner in cash and sold the car. He never made much on those cars but who do you think was the first used auto parts yard that body shop owner called when the next tow truck brought a wrecked customer's car into his shop? Tom taught him how to fish and when the fish weren't biting Tom gave him fish in exchange for services.
I learned a lot from Tom, Ed and the rest of the Bigham family. I learned that my name is my most valuable asset. It is true that I had a falling out with Tom's son, Tony some years back but he and I have both done a lot of growing up since then and I'm happy to call Tony my friend today. I learned that business incubates business and I wonder if what went wrong with our economy isn't somehow tied to the fact that businesses no longer operate the way Greensboro Auto Parts operated for all those years.
Not that I'm placing blame, I saw the market change. I saw cheap aftermarket parts from China flood the market for less than the cost of paying a man to pull a used part off a car. I understand what happened to the used auto parts industry because I was there but I can't help but wonder if every business invested the way the Bigham family invested, in building their business by building the businesses of their customers instead of putting their money in far off stock exchanges where the profits go no telling where... Well maybe, just maybe we would be immune to these economic disasters.
And I'm wondering if perhaps the job of local government might be to figure out how to make it easier for local businesses to invest in growing their own customers. After all, we know business incubates business, the Bigham family proved it to me.
By the way, if you're wondering, while Greensboro Auto Parts has been sold out to LKQ, the Bigham family holdings were vast and diversified with lots of local holdings. Tom Bigham Inc is still in business and still operated by the Bigham family. I spoke with Tom's son, Tony not long back and was happy to hear they are doing well..
The business was small and struggled along due in part to Jim's failing health until Jim's second son, Tom, walked away from a contract with the Dodgers Organization as a baseball pitcher and came to help his father run the business. Jim's oldest son was a missionary and was out of the country at the time. Jim's third son, Ed was still young at that time. It wasn't easy but Jim, Tom and later Ed shared a vision of how to grow a business by growing their customers.
I grew up knowing the Bigham family. Everyone in Bessemer (what we now call, East Greensboro) knew them.) They donated heavily in time and money to everything that got done in East Greensboro and pushed others to do the same.
Later, Tom and Ed's sons and Tom's son-in-law-- all guys I grew up with-- joined the business and eventually it became the largest used auto parts dealer in the Southeastern United States. They helped pioneer things like the teletype parts location systems of years ago and in later years the ability for used auto parts dealers across the nation to access each others' inventories via computer databases.
But the real secret to their success had nothing to do with technology or innovation.
The Bigham family understood that if their business was to grow it would require a growing base of loyal customers. Walk in retail business was okay but the real money was made selling to garages and body shops. Especially body shops. At a time when other used parts dealers were sitting around waiting for customers to come to them, the Bigham family was not only going out and getting customers, they were making new customers.
It would be almost 50 years after Greensboro Auto Parts was founded that I would be hired by Tom Bigham to come to work for the Bigham family. Tom was my father's closest friend so he called Daddy and told Daddy to tell me to come by his office one day soon and talk with him. It was quite the honor to be recruited to a job working for a family I had looked up to all my life.
I delivered parts and picked up salvage cars from New Jersey to Florida. I scheduled my own deliveries and routed my own trips. The sales staff put the tickets on the board and I made sure they got delivered on time, every time, then made my way back via the various salvage auctions to pick up the cars Tom had bought at auction. Eventually I learned to sell parts and buy salvage cars as well.
It was during those deliveries, auctions and pick-ups that I discovered the secret to Greensboro Auto Parts' success. You see, no matter where I went, there was always someone who would tell me good things about the Bigham family. If I were delivering to a garage or a body shop the owners would tell me how Tom and Ed found them working in some other shop and helped them get a shop of their own. If it was a competing auto salvage yard I would hear stories about how Tom helped them start their business or in some cases how he came in when they were in financial trouble and bailed them out, took control of their business long enough to get it back on its feet then sold it back to them for a reasonable price.
But it wasn't just money, Tom made them learn how to do it right. He believed in teaching a man how to fish. He also understood that sometimes the fish wouldn't bite. That's when his drivers came into the picture.
You see, rather than just driving the truck, we were encouraged to take care of our customers. Often times a customer might buy a part from us that actually came from another dealer and was delivered by their driver. A few days later I might happen upon that customer and learn they were unhappy with the product. When faced with the same situation, some of our competitors would simply say, "it's not our part, it's not our problem," but not us. I had the authority to do what it took to solve the problem even if it mean the company lost money. And every time I did that I managed to sell something else before I left.
The other thing Tom had me do as a driver was look for the customer who wasn't getting any bites. Besides selling used auto parts, Tom also had salvage cars rebuilt to be put back on the road. Every car he and Ed drove were rebuilt wrecks and he always had a waiting list of people wanting to buy rebuilt wrecks. But Greensboro Auto Parts didn't repair wrecked cars. Instead, when I found a shop where work was slow I would call Tom and he would have me deliver one of his wrecked cars along with the necessary parts to repair it, to that shop. When the job was done he always paid the shop owner in cash and sold the car. He never made much on those cars but who do you think was the first used auto parts yard that body shop owner called when the next tow truck brought a wrecked customer's car into his shop? Tom taught him how to fish and when the fish weren't biting Tom gave him fish in exchange for services.
I learned a lot from Tom, Ed and the rest of the Bigham family. I learned that my name is my most valuable asset. It is true that I had a falling out with Tom's son, Tony some years back but he and I have both done a lot of growing up since then and I'm happy to call Tony my friend today. I learned that business incubates business and I wonder if what went wrong with our economy isn't somehow tied to the fact that businesses no longer operate the way Greensboro Auto Parts operated for all those years.
Not that I'm placing blame, I saw the market change. I saw cheap aftermarket parts from China flood the market for less than the cost of paying a man to pull a used part off a car. I understand what happened to the used auto parts industry because I was there but I can't help but wonder if every business invested the way the Bigham family invested, in building their business by building the businesses of their customers instead of putting their money in far off stock exchanges where the profits go no telling where... Well maybe, just maybe we would be immune to these economic disasters.
And I'm wondering if perhaps the job of local government might be to figure out how to make it easier for local businesses to invest in growing their own customers. After all, we know business incubates business, the Bigham family proved it to me.
By the way, if you're wondering, while Greensboro Auto Parts has been sold out to LKQ, the Bigham family holdings were vast and diversified with lots of local holdings. Tom Bigham Inc is still in business and still operated by the Bigham family. I spoke with Tom's son, Tony not long back and was happy to hear they are doing well..
