CNO 2.0 Venue and Details
The venue for tonight’s CNO 2.0 meeting was “Heavier than Air Brewing Company”. Thank you to the team of Nick Sr, Chris, Ben and Nick Jr. for allowing us to take over their bar during March Madness. There was a 50/50 drawing won by Dave Garel and he graciously donated the winnings back to the club.
Michael Mershad, the owner of Ultimate Leadership Martial Arts, was inducted into the CNO 2.0 club.
We had 49 members and guests in attendance.
https://heavierthanairebrewing.com
Photos from the Meeting are Here
Tonight’s Guests
| Bruce Barger |
| Andrew Cain |
| Steve Clark |
| Dave Garel |
| Cindy Harris |
| Jill Parrett |
| Beth Phillips |
| Dave Phillips |
| Cheryl Probst |
| Craig Scanlon |
| Nick Tarkanay |
| Frank Weikel |
| Jeff Zaret |
Tonight’s Speaker
Greg Fay introduced our speaker, Steve Van Gorder, the president of SVG Motors / SVG Chevrolet / SVG Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram / SVG Urbana.
Steve gave us an uplifting story of how he came to be the successful owner of several automobile dealerships in the extended Dayton area.
When Steve was in his late teens in the 90’s he had the opportunity to sell cars and he liked it. He became bored and decided to sell jeans at a department store. He soon realized that there was not nearly as much reward in selling jeans. It didn’t seem to matter how much he sold, his pay check was always the same. He complained to a customer that he wished he were selling cars. This person knew the store manager and the manager called Steve in for a little chat. He said if you would prefer to sell cars then that is what you should do.
This time Steve went back into car business with much more enthusiasm and quickly gained skills that would help him two decades later when he started purchasing his own dealerships.
He explained to us that without being optimistic about his endeavor to own that first dealership it would never have happened. It was very scary, but he told us you have to go for it sometime. Opening additional stores was not simple either, but it was much easier than the first one.
He reminded us of a saying in commissioned sales, “You eat what you kill.” If you don’t sell something you aren’t getting paid. Learn how to do it. Go the extra mile, be kind to your customers. If you become successful give back to the community.
He has volunteer experience with:
- Dayton Campaign Fundraiser for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
- Dayton CF Walk Sponsor for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
- Fundraiser and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity International.
His LinkedIn page has a comforting quote for the sales buying experience, “We have taken the confrontation out of the sales transaction.”
We watched Steve’s current commercial and also received a sneak preview of his new commercial. When you meet Steve in “real life”, you will enjoy being around him and realize he isn’t quite the goofball he may appear to be on TV. He is having fun and he hopes you will have some fun working with his friendly dealerships.
Upcoming Optimist 2.0 Meetings
Thursday April 19, 2018 – Ollie’s Place Centerville – 5:30PM – Ryan Hawk, Guest Speaker
Thursday May 17, 2018 – Nelly’s Centerville – 5:30PM – David Ball, TJ’s Place of Hope, Guest Speaker
Thursday June 21, 2018 – Ollie’s Place Centerville – 5:30PM – Mike Schwartz, Owner of Ollie’s Place and Optimist 2.0 Club Member