As a young man growing up in Marshall, Texas, Robert Turner didn’t know what working for yourself was called. He just knew his family exemplified it every day.
“My Father had a seventh-grade education. My mother only completed the eleventh grade. Yet, they were two of the hardest working people I knew. My mother operated a café and my father was a butcher in addition to working as a laborer at a local steel casting company,” Turner said. “We didn’t know they were ‘entrepreneurs.’ They were just hard-workers who wanted their own.”
The Turners instilled that in their children, and that entrepreneurial spirit became embedded in Robert Turner’s foundation.
“As the only boy out of six children, my dad suggested that I work with someone new every year. My first paying job was with my mother’s father, who paid $2 per day to help with yard work. He and my older cousin mowed the lawns and my job was to have the sidewalks edged by the time they finished and sweep the sidewalks clear of grass.”
Armed with that skill, Turner eventually saved enough money and started his own lawn care business. As his mowers aged, he figured out how to do repair and maintenance.
“Word got out and I had mowers and bicycles piling up in my parents’ yard for me to repair. I soon stopped cutting yards and spent most of my time repairing bicycles and power mowers,” he said.
By the time he was a teen, Turner was repairing cars and trucks and knew he was destined for the automotive industry, most likely as the owner of a tow truck company and auto repair shop. But in 1976, fresh out of a high school, a representative of General Motors convinced Turner to come work for the company in Dallas, while he worked on a degree.
Turner enrolled in El Centro College and started taking night classes while working during the day. Eventually Turner decided he wanted to be more than just a salesman, he wanted his own dealership – a daunting feat for a young black man.
“I couldn’t get a dealership so I left the auto industry and started selling insurance. Three years later I returned to the auto industry in sales, then sales management, finance management, then general management,” Turner said.
His persistence paid off and in 1998, Robert Turner entered into his first automotive partnership, a business he sold two years later.
“I moved to Beaumont/Port Arthur and purchased a dealer company in Nederland (JK Chevrolet Isuzu). We added Subaru in 2009 in Nederland and our last acquisition, Turner Chevrolet in Crosby, Texas in June 2014.”
Turner Chevrolet Crosby is one of the fastest growing dealerships in the greater Houston area. Turner has turned the store completely from low customer satisfaction scores to best in class as well as sales that were in the bottom 25% in the country to the top 25% in the country.
Now, a thriving business, Turner attributes his success to the people that make up his teams.
“We have a slogan in my business that our people make the difference. You must have the right people to be successful at anything. That’s no different in our business. We look for talent and train for excellence,” Turner said. “General Motors and Subaru make our products on the same assembly lines that other dealer’s products are made. We enlist our personnel to make the difference of the choice you make to do business with us versus someone else.”
That desire to always exceed the expectation of his customers is only part of Turner’s mission. He also believes to whom much is given, much is required.
“Being in the sales and service business of personal and business transportation, we are always involved in the community,” Turner said. “We also participate in local chambers of commerce, rotary clubs and a select group of community organizations like BCCPA, Crosby Rodeo, Barrett Station Urban League, just to name a few.”
Turner’s sons, Daylan and Robbie, work with him in the family business. Daylyn works JK Subaru as General Manager and Vice President. Robbie works in Sales for Turner Chevrolet. And though his other four children have chosen paths outside of the automotive industry, the dedicated father hopes to leave a legacy of customer and community service.
Robert Turner has come a long way from his humble beginnings in Marshall, but he is grateful for all of his life’s experiences.
“When I was growing up I did not know what my family was doing was called entrepreneurship. Most of the people in my neighborhood did something for themselves. I often heard them say you can make a living from the shoulders down and a fortune from the shoulders up. I believe that and work hard every day to ensure the success of all three companies,” Turner added.
