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Top 40 under 40

“A career in auto retailing requires hard work, business savvy, a willingness to learn and change, and a temperament well-suited to the business. A person with all of those attributes will succeed.

“A career in auto retailing requires hard work, business savvy, a willingness to learn and change, and a temperament well-suited to the business. A person with all of those attributes will succeed. Someone who excels in one or more of them will stand out. And men and women who put that package together early enough in their careers will be honored on Automotive News’ list of 40 Under 40,” explains the Auto News. This is exactly what Woodworth Dodge managing partner, Brandin Wilkinson did; made July’s Top 40 Under 40.

Wilkinson got into sales in a bit of a unique way compared to most, but it is clear that this is exactly where he is meant to be. “I took my wife’s car in for service work to the local GM Dealership on one of my days off from welding.” Wilkinson continued explaining, “The Salesman at the time, Troy Stewart, and I got chatting for a bit and I noticed that four of the six offices had their lights off. And I’m not sure where this came from, but something inside told me to say “I can fill one of those offices for you if you want.” I started sweating profusely.”

Although Wilkinson started his career in a random manner he did not continue it that way, he progressed to managing partner six years later by having loyal customers, a great team environment, mentorship from staff and family, a lot of hard work, and long hours. Wilkinson was approached by Don Carter in 2013, who is currently his business partner at Woodworth Dodge, to partner in the company.

“When I first started my career, I felt an obligation to the dealership and managers for taking a chance on me, so that drove the motivation to want to succeed that much further.” Wilkinson continued, “More recently, I’ve invested a lot of time and energy into self-development, which has had a positive impact here at Woodworth Dodge.”

The three years that Wilkinson has been managing partner, the sales have grown by a volume of 61 percent; in other words it is about triple the national average. “We have shown no signs of slowing down.” Wilkinson explained. The big part of his success is being able to put himself in the customers shoes and treating them how he would like to be treated.

“I’m fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. Going back to the day when I first started my career at age 22 having that conversation with Troy, sweating profusely, and knowing nothing about the Auto Industry and very little about sales, to being offered an opportunity to partner into a Chrysler Dealership six years later at age 28 is fairly surreal.”

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