Selling cars is all about attitude – showing you really care – toward the general public. Grant Cabral has learned that lesson well from his grandfather and his dad before him.
Grandson of the founder of Cabral Western Motors Bill Cabral who was welcomed into the dealership by his dad Don, Grant is already seen going out of his way for potential car buyers who walk through the front door of the showroom on the corner of Yosemite and Union roads.
You’ve got to be a friend – you have to treat people the way you want to be treated, he said.
All three are visibly excited by the new 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee that was delivered to their lot this week. It is the first new product from the marriage of Fiat and Chrysler to come off the production line.
Don Cabral said the vehicle has gotten extremely positive press and many accolades since it has been seen in showrooms across the country.
Grant was hired on as a sales consultant following his graduation from California State University Chico. Grant and his dad are both alumni of the university. He majored in organizational communications with a minor in marketing.
Don Cabral has been with his dad’s dealership for 32 years since he graduated from Chico in 1978. Don said he feels it is important for the community to know that Grant is working up in the business much as he did from the ground up.
“In the age of the big lot stores, it’s nice to have a family business that is more personable with generation to generation of customers and ownership,” he said.
The Manteca dealership offers Chrysler, Jeep Dodge and GEMs.
The GEM (Global Electric Motors) is sold mainly as a commercial runabout to schools, universities, farmers and a few individuals for use chiefly around town since they cannot be used on the freeways.
Grant was chatting with his dad Thursday afternoon about a sale they had completed where they sold a customer a vehicle that fit his needs better than what he was intending to buy and it cost him less money.
They didn’t have a Dodge Nitro on the lot but they convinced the shopper that another car was actually a better fit for him – actually more car for his needs. He understood their rationale and purchased the car they had suggested leaving as a quickly won-over friend.
Grant was first to say that all aspects of the service at the family dealership are more personable with his dad adding that many of their employees have been with Cabral’s for a long time with the family attitude transcending through them.
“It’s nice to be able to walk into a place and be recognized and called by name - you’ve got a friend at Cabral Motors,” he said. In fact you will have many friends.
His son agreed saying anybody would rather buy a car from a friend than from a manipulator. Grant said he talks to customers the way he would want to be talked to and be treated if he were out to purchase a new or used vehicle.
“They get to meet the entire family,” Grant chimed. “We try to make it easy for them.”
Speaking of the family element Don and Grant spend time together on the slopes and at the coast with dad on skis and son going down the hill on his snowboard. All three are big time Niners, Giants and Kings fans leading mom and other family members and friends to those games.
At Manteca High Grant played third base and outfield and was involved in music with the bass guitar. In fact he wrote a piece, “Daytime Summer,” for his senior project. As for the love of boarding, he and a friend Andrew MacCready have put together a website: www.greenleafboarding.com.
“Ever since I was in Chico I wanted to be in sales. This is a good way to start my career (in the family business) and work with people to find their needs and use my creativity,” he said.
Bill Cabral said in his day, when the business was smaller, he couldn’t afford salesmen and did the entire process himself.
“I’d get the guys to tell me what they wanted, get the paper work done ahead of time, and get them in and out of the door in less than an hour,” he said. That’s still possible today, he added, except most people don’t know what they want in advance.
Cabral remembers being a “lot boy” in the early ‘50s and selling cars when the salesmen would go out to coffee – he was there and he took care of business.
After being drafted in 1952 and joining the 25th Division, 27th Regiment he headed for Korea. Before he left he had a 13 day pass when he and his girl Mirian were married.
Following his military service he went to work for Mike’s Ford in Manteca in 1954. Today the family operation sets on the eight acre corner on West Yosemite Avenue at Union Road in the newer showroom that was opened inf 2002.
