CBC: Micah tell us about yourself; who is Micah Birkholz?
Micah: I am a father of 5, and I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I love being outdoors. I enjoy everything from doing yoga, to running, to working out of the gym. Outdoors is my passion; being with my dogs; my family. It's who I am. I just happen to work in automotive.
CBC: So, with everything you love and do, how did you find yourself in the Automotive Industry?
Micah: I started off when I was only 19, selling tax advice books over the phone. I was newly married with a young family and had to find a way to buy formula and diapers. They'd buy the one book, and then I got a whole 50 cents if I sold them 2 books. I was barely making minimum wage and was married with a kid. My Dad said: “You know what? You're not making ends meet, and you should probably go look at selling cars”. My dad is a conservative Lutheran pastor, so to hear him say that felt completely out of left field.
My father said: “You've got sales experience. You're good at talking and entertaining people, so maybe try selling cars, and it might be a good career.” And later that week I went for it."
I found an ad for Denny Hecker's Chrysler and they were hiring and interviewed with the guy. I did the whole “What type of bird would you be if you were a bird?”, crazy questions like that. And he goes “Can you start today?” And I said “No, I'm working at this other place. I have to put 2 weeks notice,” and he goes “That's too bad. You can't work here.” Then I was like “Oh, okay, but I just have to be respectful and give 2 weeks notice.” He says “All right in 2 weeks time, walk in and you have a job waiting for you.” So I went back the next day put my 2 weeks notice in, and I showed up at Denny Hecker. I did a whole day and a half of sales training, which included how you do a handshake. They showed me where the keys were, and the booklets, you know the little pamphlets about the cars. Told me to learn them and get solid. So I did and the rest was just making my way through the business. Now it's been 27-28 years.
CBC: In your almost 30 years of working in the industry, what is the greatest career lesson you've learned, or that you wish someone had prepped you for?
Micah: When you start off in sales, you think you're going to sell cars, and then the only path of growth is, maybe you're going to be on the sales manager, then a GSM, then a general manager. But what I didn't know back then is how diverse the skills and the employment opportunities are within automotive. The advice I wish I had is: "Learn as much as possible about all aspects of the business. It gives you greater flexibility for your long-term career path and gives you insights about how to deliver a better customer experience, whether you're selling a vehicle or in the service department. If you do, you'll have more respect for your coworkers in the industry, and then, when you're on the vendor side, you'll have a greater understanding of what goes on at the dealership on a day-to-day level.
CBC: What piece of advice would you give to someone entering the Automotive Industry?
Micah: Oh, boy! The best advice I can give is: keep an open mind. You cannot have an attachment to the outcomes of any situation. Sales for example, don't take it personally when somebody says "no". You have to be detached from that outcome, and I think in many cases that type of philosophy helps in a lot of aspects in life, not just the car business. If you're not attached to the outcome, you can bounce back quicker if the outcome isn't what you wanted.
CBC: What keeps you going in this industry of so many ups & downs? What keeps you passionate about it?
Micah: It’s funny, over the past few years I've been going through a deeper study and trying to get a better understanding of the Stoics. Stoicism all about relinquishing and letting go of your passions and just being able to look at everything from a very logical mentality. For example; what's going to happen will to happen. If its in it's nature, that's how it's going to perform.
What keeps me going is not passion for the automotive industry, and believe me, there was a time that I thought that if you weren't passionate about something you shouldn't do it.
It's not that I'm not passionate about automotive, I simply respect it for what it is. It is an industry that's filled with a lot of good and bad and people just being people. I like working with people. I like connecting with people. I like understanding people. I also look at it this very pragmatically. This is a way to provide for my family. That's one thing that keeps me going. The other is I have roots within the automobile industry that goes on 27 plus years, so, I feel comfortable, but also confident. I also feel I have the opportunity to grow beyond my current role. Jumping into Automotive could be just the start of an amazing career. Whether that career starts when you're 19 as a young father trying to make ends meet, or your mid-forties, even fifties.
Look at all the different opportunities to work at a dealership or within automotive at the vendor level. And being a partner, and whether it's with paid search working at an agency, whether you're an analytic to your CRM or GMs. Or whatever the different tools and vendor partnerships might be. You have a vast opportunity, I think that's what keeps me interested and keeps me connected and grounded with that is, being able to identify that I get so much more opportunity than just this little bubble that I may have created for myself years ago.
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