COLUMN: Carillon Flashback March 25, 1955 – Fast is in top 12 in 1954 Ford sales

A 30-year-old Steinbach salesman has been named as one of Canada’s 12 top salesmen in 1954 by the Ford Motor Company. Earlier in the year, he was awarded top rank in a Manitoba contest, having won all four of the quarterly awards given to the top-ranking salesman in each province for selling the most Ford products.

Elvin Fast, who started with the local Ford distributor as a parts and service man when he was 23, was credited with selling 250 units during 1954, which also has been his average during the past three years.

Fast attributes his success to the dealership he works for, the product he has the privilege of selling, and to being alert and quick to take advantage of sales opportunities.

“People like to deal at J.R. Friesen’s, and of course, our product is good.”

But the salesman has to be alert, and Fast has learned that a good saleman never underestimates a customer.

Fast recalled an incident where an old pensioner had called at the office and said he was interested in a new half-ton, if the salesman would teach him how to drive.

The man lived some 50 miles out of town, on very poor roads, and didn’t look as if he could pay for a truck anyway, so Fast didn’t take the man seriously. When the man approached him a second time, Fast finally decided to follow up on the request and call at the man’s home.

A few minutes after Fast arrived and talked to the man, the potential customer went back into his modest home and returned with a roll of $100 bills to pay for the truck.

Hours mean nothing to salesmen on the road and Fast says he travels at least 25,000 miles annually, calling on prospects.

When he received word in March of 1955 that he was among the top dozen Ford salesmen in the country the previous year, Fast was not aware of what the award would be, but he was looking forward to the all-expense paid trip to Toronto and the opportunity to visit Ford factories.

But Fast was not Steinbach’s only crackerjack Ford salesman in 1954, and Penner Motors George Kehler earned the distinction of being top man in the province, and one of 12 top men in the Dominion in a Meteor-Mercury sales contest.

Like some of the other outstanding car salesmen in Steinbach, George was born on a farm.

But, one of his brothers recalls George was never much at farming and the worst job he could be given was to herd cows. Even at a young age George just couldn’t stand having no one to talk to.

George’s first job at selling was when he worked as sales clerk and butcher at Steinbach Cold Storage. Later, he learned to cook and sold a line of cooking utensils.

In 1952, his sales ability caught the eye of Ben Penner, Meteor-Mercury dealer at the time. When John D. Penner bought the business, George stayed with it – convinced that there wasn’t anything better than having new cars to sell.