Local author, car sales veteran joins North Charleston dealership

By Jim Parker

jparker@postandcourier.com

Saturday, March 10, 2012

The Berkeley County native who penned inspirational books “Stay Driven” and “Move Forward” has made an automotive move of his own lately.

Archie J. Smalls, a 28-year veteran of the car trade, said recently that he is working at Rick Hendrick Hyundai North in North Charleston.

In his books, Smalls notes that he was the first minority to open a successful auto dealership in Moncks Corner. The venture, Smalls Auto Sales Inc., started in December 1996 and was in business into the late 2000s. He has been employed at a couple of dealerships since then and also was out of the automotive field for a year or two.
Smalls’ second book, “Move Forward! Position Yourself to Success,” came out in July. He is listed in the front of the book as “motivator and mentor.”

The new book includes chapters on Perseverance, Making a New Start and We Need to Put Our Trust in God.
Among the events he relates from his life and career is an uplifting story about his first auto sales job.
He ran his own cabinet shop for close to seven years, then one day saw a want ad in the newspaper for a car salesman. He visited the store on Monday and was turned down yet returned every day of the week, receiving encouraging words from his mother Thelma R. Smalls, “Son, just have faith and don’t give up if you really want that sales position.”
Finally that Friday, wearing a new suit, Smalls got the job: the manager told him, “You don’t give up. I told you we were not hiring, and you still came back.”
Smalls was paid solely on commission, so if he didn’t sell any cars, he wouldn’t be paid. He made a sale the first day. “Now, I’m not going to take all the credit for this sale. I must first thank God and then give my dear mother, who is now deceased, credit for encouraging me not to give up,” he wrote.
Within three months, Smalls had been named salesman of the month