Broadcasting Telecasting (Jan - Mar 1951)

Mass Auto Sales With a Personal Touch WHEN 17-year-old Jim Moran opened his own filling station in 1936, he adopted a simple get-ahead formula. He said to each and every customer: "Good Morning (Afternoon or Evening) ;" he asked: "How are you?," whether or not the patron liked it; he closed with: "Hope you drop in again." Men who have watched the progress of tow-headed James Moran, president of Chicago's Courtesy Motor Sales Inc., say his manner hasn't changed one iota in 15 years. "It isn't what Jim Moran says to you, it's the way he says it," is the comment of one of Jim's first customers. "At that Sinclair station up in Rogers Park where I first met him, he was always quick to check my car for oil and water, wash the windshield — even before he was asked to do so. But a lot of station attendants did that. The difference between Jim and the average salesman was that he looked you in the eye when he talked to you. You felt that you were transacting business with a friend. You found yourself going back to see him again." This friendly approach, which Jim calls common courtesy — the name he gave his Hudson automobile agency in 1948 — has carried Jim Moran to phenomenal heights in the automotive sales world. His sales volume totaled $20 million in 1950. Jim is the first to acknowledge that, were it not for television, he would be "just a neighborhood success." Today, two years after Courtesy Motor Sales bought its first TV time, a few Chicago advertising men still are asking what makes the Courtesy TV campaign click. The answer is: It has Jim Moran's personal touch. A "nice guy" to everyone he meets — shoeshine boys, elevator operators, mechanics, grease monkeys, and doormen and waiters at the Illinois Athletic Assn., where he often dines with fellow members — Jim is the perfect example of a low-pressure saleman. It is his simple charm, together with husky good looks (176 pounds, 6 feet, engaging grin, close-cropped, curly, blond hair) that puts him over. When he first took television seriously in the fall of 1948 (automobile dealers then were having to do a selling job for the first time since World War II), he at once sensed its "auto showroom" possibilities. But he also saw in the new medium an opportunity to project his comparatively quiet, subdued technique o f selling, which had brought him success * * * LARGE sign, featuring likeness of Jim Moran doffing his hat, lets motorists on Chicago's West Grand Ave. know where Courtesy Motor Sales does J, business. View is looking east 4| on Grand Ave. at Central ▼ Park. Page 58 • February 19, 1951 whenever he found time to deliver a pitch in person. Early in his business career he had found himself penalized because there are only 24 hours in one day. As long as he had one filling station, he stayed on the job from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and attracted an increasing number of patrons. But when he expanded his early operations to four stations, business at one or the other fell off in his absence. Now, through television, he can do a personalized mass selling job. By February 1949, he became "Jim Moran — the Courtesy Man" on WENR-TV (ABC) Chicago, sponsoring wrestling matches Wednesday nights from Rainbo Arena. He made a personal appearance five times during each program when the camera shifted to "Opera Drive" in front of the station's headquarters at the Civic Opera Bldg. Here, alongside a procession of new Hudsons and highly polished used cars, beautified by klieg lights, Jim calmly pointed out the best features of his cars during each announcement period. There was no hokum, no come-on to his selling. He was "courtesy" personified. Sets Pattern For Other Dealers This $l,200-per-week show set a pattern for other Chicago auto dealers to follow, resulting in a bonanza for the city's TV stations. The Courtesy wrestling show brought such prosperity to Jim that within eight months he was able to bankroll Courtesy Theatre on WGN-TV, the Chicago Tribune station. This Sunday night show, most highly rated of his TV ventures, brought Chicago viewers their first feature-film TV theatre. Mr. Moran wisely chose to break in for an announcement only once during the program. Last February he unveiled the QUICK to sense the "auto sh< room" possibilities of television, . Moran personally handles Courtescommercials. With the in forma of an in-store salesman, he poi out the best features of his cars d ing each announcement period Friday night Courtesy Hour, 60-minute variety show w i himself as m.c, at WENR-T Civic Studio. This show is int rupted only 2 minutes and 56 s onds for commercials, which proaches Jim Moran's ideal of | commercials at all — Courtesy speak for itself." From the beginning of his activities Jim has worked with count Executive Hal Barkun, Malcolm-Howard, Chicago ager who spends much of his time on the Courtesy account. Mr. Moran's 1950 expenditure of $36,000 monthly for TV paid off handsomely. Last May, he sold 1,436 new and used cars. His sale of 690 new Hudsons that month topped every other auto dealer in the United States. I I ing a contest last spring, Jim 1 awarded Hudson Motor Car Cl "Oscar" for having sold more < 1 than any other Hudson dealer, I ceeding his quota by 218%. ll sentation of the award was ram July 15 in Chicago by Roljl Smith, district manager of I! 'J son Sales Corp. Currently, he more Hudson "Baby Hornet" nl els than any other because hifl pushing this exclusively Com 9 development. The car is reallH Hudson Pacemaker souped-up jfl improved by Moran mechanics I Courtesy Motor Sales, w'M Mr. Bark Telecasting • BROADCASTI m J