Sixty Years and Counting

Dennis Underwood poses for a portrait at Ford Groves dealership Friday, May 25, 2018 in Cape Girardeau.

Kassi Jackson ~ Southeast Missourian

Dennis Underwood, Ford Groves fleet manager, has no plans to retire

On the walls of Dennis Underwood’s office hang posters with the words “vision” and “attitude” inscribed upon them. Celebrating his 60th year working at Ford Groves in Cape Girardeau with no plans of retiring, Underwood embodies both these traits.

“Dennis is still one of the first ones here in the day and the last one to leave,” Bob Neff, general manager of Ford Groves, says. “We need at least two years’ notice [before he retires]. I told him he’s not allowed to retire. That’s for sure.”

Underwood never had plans to work in automobile sales. At 16, he graduated from high school in Bloomfield and was the only one of seven children in his family who did not attend college. Instead, he worked with his father on their farm for two years before moving to St. Louis to try to find work. For eight months he worked at the job he’d thought he wanted — an electrician at McDonnell Aircraft — and then quit because he enjoyed being busy and didn’t have to work as hard at this job as his farm work ethic had taught him. He also missed interacting with people.

Dennis Underwood celebrates his 60th anniversary working at Ford Groves in Cape Girardeau during 2018.

Kassi Jackson ~ Southeast Missourian

So he put in his application at several types of jobs. A new sales manager at a Plymouth DeSoto dealer in St. Louis took a chance on the eighteen-year-old, giving him a sales job. After eight months there, he and his wife, Barbara, decided they didn’t want to raise their family in St. Louis, so they moved to Cape Girardeau, to be closer to their Southeast Missouri roots.

Becoming a salesman

1958 was a recession year, though, and Underwood had a difficult time finding a job once he got to Cape Girardeau. Although he interviewed at several dealerships, Mr. Ed Massey who ran the Ford Groves dealership was the only one who said he would hire him, thanks to some of Underwood’s references.

So, Underwood began doing what he does: selling cars. He worked as a salesman and then moved up to the used car manager position before he and his two partners, Ed Massey and Cliff Irwin, bought out Mr. Groves in 1972. They owned the dealership until 1986, when they sold it to the Schicker family, who owns it today. Underwood has worked for them for the past 32 years, as the new car manager and salesman.

Today, he deals largely with fleet bids as the fleet manager, and still works with his old customers.

“It gives me something to do,” Underwood says. “I used to think I’d be retired by now, but I can’t imagine doing that when my health’s good yet, and they don’t want me to retire. I’ll probably keep working.”

Times, they are a changin’

In 60 years, Underwood says he has seen a lot of changes in the automobile industry. When he first began selling cars in 1958, a car that had 50,000 miles on it was usually worn out. Today, he says, most automobiles can run for 300,000 miles before it’s time to put them to rest. Cars now include technological features that can take two to three hours to explain to a buyer, including back-up cameras, sensors and adaptive cruise control.

Not so much when he first started.

“Used to, when we sold a vehicle, we would give the people the keys and say, here it is,” Underwood says. “You didn’t have much to explain.”

Although he appreciates much of the new technology allowing for low gas mileage and more powerful engines, he is not a fan of self-driving automobiles.

“It would take the fun out of driving an automobile,” he says.

Plus, he wonders how teenagers turning 16 would feel without getting their license.

“But that’s what they’re moving towards,” he says.

Underwood believes in studying what he’s doing so he has a broad knowledge base to work from when talking with customers. And he believes the golden rule still applies, and he lives this out through his actions.

“If they’ve got a problem, you don’t go hide, you confront it,” he says of his customer service style. “The main thing is not to be afraid to get in and work with them and try to help them any way you can.”

While this is a core tenant of his salesmanship, Underwood says this is also one of the most challenging parts of his job.

However challenging it is, though, it resonates with customers: the customer to whom Underwood sold his first car in 1958 still buys cars from him and has bought approximately 50 units from Underwood throughout the past sixty years. His children buy cars from Underwood, too, one of them even driving from Imperial, Missouri, to Cape Girardeau to make their automobile purchases with Underwood.

Taking care of the customer

Customers aren’t the only ones who notice the success of Underwood’s sales philosophy; Gene Dewrock, who has worked at Ford Groves with Underwood for the past 18 years, has also taken note.

“He was like my mentor,” says Dewrock, assistant manager of sales, of when he first began working at Ford Groves. “I worked at a grocery warehouse driving forklift for 27 years. I’d never sold anything in my life until I started here, and I started watching how he handled customers and how he took care of his customers. I learned that from him.”

What did he learn from these observations of and conversation with Underwood? His findings confirm Underwood’s sales philosophy.

“You’ve got to take care of your customer, you’ve got to appreciate them,” Dewrock says. “If a customer has a problem, you have to listen to it and not just blow it off and say there’s not anything I can do about it. You’ve got to try to help that customer. You’ve got to try to fix it.”

Despite his skill and legacy, Underwood is humble. Passerby can tell from his laughter and casual conversations with customers and co-workers as he walks throughout the dealership: he still clearly enjoys what he does day-to-day.

“Ford Groves has been good to me,” Underwood says. “I’ve never had any desire to go anywhere else.”