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from a Google search on Dave Ressler :
taken form a North Dakota Newspaper story :
Subject: dave ressler
Ressler Inspired by Father Destined for Auto Business
Dave Ressler of Ressler Chevrolet of Mandan, North Dakota was destined to
be in the automotive sales business.
"You can say I was inspired because of my dad who was a car salesman for 25
years," said Ressler of his dad, Chris, who died in 1977 and worked at Bob
Chase Chevrolet. "From the day that my dad passed away, Bob kept calling and
wanting to hire me."
He eventually did.
In 1972, Chase moved into the facility Ressler now occupies. It was Mandan's
only Chevrolet dealership at that time - a distinction it still holds today
and is home to 21 employees. In 1980, Chase sold to Ivan Gandrud, who held
the store until 1988. Thirty people were working for Chase when the business
changed hands. And in 1988, Ressler bought the dealership and hasn't looked
back.
Ivan started with 30 employees and took it up to roughly 55 when he sold.
With Ressler it went from 55 to over 130 employees.
Ressler is pretty proud of the growth of his business. He's proud, and
justifiably so, of a lot of things.
"I'm probably the youngest car dealer in the two towns," he said. "I started
when I was 32. I work hard at what I do. I'm a workaholic. I really don't
know how I got that way. Maybe I got it from my dad."
The hard work has paid off.
Ressler said his dealership has received eight Customer Choice Awards over
the lasts 6 years. He said this is an accomplishment achieved by no other
Chevrolet Dealership anywhere.
"The awards are based on customer satisfaction," he said. "We do not get any
extra money for this. It's a 'wow' effect, I guess. It tells us we're all
doing a good job."
Ressler said he expects a lot of himself and the same from his employees.
"We have a mission statement that we all work by," he said. "There are five
critical areas that we focus on everyday."
They are:
Customer Satisfaction
Employee Enthusiasm
Market Leadership
Ongoing Improvement
Financial Performance
"If we work hard at these five things everyday, we know that we're doing a
good job," he said. "It's important to have our employees focused on the
right things."
Ressler said he's a hands-on employer - he can't help himself being the
workaholic that he is - and enjoys being involved in the daily activities.
But there certainly must be a point when he has to slow down, take a break
and say "enough already."
But, that's not going to happen anytime soon. In March of 1999, Ressler
moved to Bozeman, MT. and acquired a Chevrolet-Oldsmobile-Cadillac-Toyota
dealership. "I'm back in the day-to-day," says Ressler, spending about half
his time in Bozeman, and the other half in Mandan.
The Bozeman store, which employs 85 people, believes in the same values as
the Mandan store. Because of this, it enjoys being the leader in the
Gallatin Valley with more new/used car sales, service, parts sales and body
shop service than any other dealer in the valley.
"Selling BEST PRICE has been well accepted, along with Saturday service and
parts sales," says Ressler. "I'm having a blast and business is great at
both stores. Enough isn't enough, I guess. I'm not going to stop. I'm
chasing to be the best of the best!"
A winner without winning
By CRYSTALR. REID
Bismarck Tribune
He may not have walked away with the prize, but Dave Ressler still feels
like a winner.
Ressler, who owns Ressler Chevrolet and Subaru in Mandan and another
dealership in Bozeman, Mont., got himself caught up in a $1 million auction
for charity, for a Hummer used by CNNto cover the war in Iraq.
The bidding started off slow, until it moved into the $300,000 range.
"At $300,000, I thought, 'This is way too good of a foundation to not get
the money,'"Ressler said, speaking of the Fisher House Foundation, which
helps wounded and injured service members and their families.
So Ressler decided to push the bidding higher, and jumped his bid from the
$300,000 range to about $600,000.
But another bidder held his ground, and eventually, the two high bidders
were standing onstage in a bidding war that would end with both sides
satisfied, Ressler said.
Ressler didn't win the Hummer. He wanted it, but said he also realized the
money to the charity was just as important. More important, even, than
adding to his world-class car collection.
"Iwent up to the gentleman and said, 'Are you going to bid $1 million?'"
Ressler recalled of the auction, held in Scottsdale, Ariz., by
Barrett-Jackson Co.
The gentleman, who happened to be Dave Liniger, founder of Re/Max
International Inc., nodded and said "Yes, I am."
And Ressler told Liniger to do it, to bid it up above the million-dollar
mark, to take the Hummer. So Liniger did, and Ressler threw in $250,000 for
the charity on top of it, for good measure.
"He won it, but Ifeel like Iwon, too,"Ressler said.
Jim Weiskopf, vice president of communications for Fisher House Foundation,
said they never expected the bidding to get to the seven-figure mark.
"We had no idea what to expect. Ithink we were thinking six
figures,"Weiskopf said.
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