Foothills Toyota celebrates 20-year anniversary
Owner Pam Nelson reflects on family, gender and success
by John Kinmonth

The automotive business runs deep in Pam Nelson’s veins. As a third generation auto dealer, Nelson, the owner and president of Foothills Pontiac Buick Toyota in Burlington, and one of the few female dealership owners in the Northwest, has literally grown up on a car lot.
A glance at Nelson’s office tells the story of her lineage. On the corner of her desk sits an elegant crystal bowl filled with lemon drops, which was a longtime tradition of her grandfather, Stan Nelson Sr., who started Nelson Chevrolet in Seattle’s Ballard district in 1922. The large desk under the bowl was her late father’s when he managed several dealerships.
Behind her desk pictures and awards line the wall. Looking closely, one can make out an old newspaper photo of a horse and carriage, which was her great, great grandfather’s livery stable that he started in the 1890s.
It’s amongst this history rich environment that Nelson explains how Foothills became one of the most successful Toyota dealerships in the Pacific Northwest. With the dealership celebrating its 20-year anniversary, Nelson continues to look to the future. But, like her office, Nelson first pays tribute to the past.
Her grandfather started his Chevy dealership when a company representative stopped by his Ballard gas station and asked if he wanted to sell a few cars from his lot. Her father, Stan Nelson, Jr., borrowed $2,000 to start what is now Countryside Chevrolet in Sedro-Woolley.
Although she spent much of her childhood going back and forth between the Sedro- Woolley and Ballard dealerships, Nelson’s father didn’t think she had what it took to run a dealership of her own.
“He was kind of old school,” she said. Nelson explained her father’s mentality as traditional in an industry where women were strictly relegated to answering phones and filing.
Despite growing up in a family so closely tied to the automotive industry, Nelson didn’t simply inherit her success. While she’s currently enjoying her top spot as one of the leading Toyota dealerships in the region, Nelson, 54, started humbly.
After graduating from Washington State University in 1973, with a degree in education, she taught P.E. for a stint but wasn’t satisfied. Seeing this, her father offered her a job answering phones and filing.
“I found that answering the phone in an automobile dealership is really interesting,” she said, due to the variance of calls.
During this time, Nelson gained a deeper understanding of the inner workings of the industry through her ambitiousness. Not content just to sit and answer phones, Nelson soon took turns working in most other areas of the dealership.
“I can probably say I’ve done every job except a technician,” she said. Eventually, Nelson began a self-appointed apprenticeship with her father.
“I shadowed my dad and my grandfather,” she said. “What they did everyday I found extremely interesting.”
Much of her experience came from the barrage of questions she constantly unleashed on her father. As the questions turned into suggestions, her father started to realize that she was serious about running her own dealership someday.
“I started making recommendations for my dad, he didn’t like that,” she said with a smile. In 1979, she attended Chevrolet Merchandising and Management school in Detroit, which was then known as “Dealers’ Sons’ school.” In her class there were 52 students: 50 men and two women.
One year later, Nelson started Enterprise Leasing within the family’s umbrella of companies.
“At that time leasing was very popular for people as a way to finance their car,” she said. It wasn’t long, however, before Nelson had her eyes set on owning a dealership of her own.
“I realized that I wanted to be an auto dealer myself,” she said. A few years later, her father mentioned that he knew of a potential agency for sale.
“My Dad said, ‘You know, there’s a little Toyota dealer, why don’t we stop in and see if it’s for sale,’” she said.
Nelson proceeded to go through the steps to become approved by Toyota; made all the harder because of her gender.
“There were no women dealers for Toyota in the Northwest region,” she said. “They came up and really drilled me on my knowledge of financial statements and the operation of an auto dealership.”
Finally in 1985, with her two boys still under the age of 3, Nelson got the break she was looking for in the form of a phone call.“Are you ready to go work?” asked the Toyota representative. With that, Nelson bought the dealership aided by a $100,000 loan from her parents, which she repaid in 10 years at 10-percent interest.
When she took over, the newly renamed Foothills Toyota it had five employees and sold 15 Toyotas in the first month.
“It was a big transition,” she said. “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.”
Most successful business owners cite the first few years as the hardest and Nelson is no exception, but her greatest challenge came away from work.
“For me the hardest part was the first five years,” she said. “I was balancing the role of owning a business and raising small children.”
Despite the conflicting roles of motherhood and business owner, Nelson persevered through the early years and Foothills Toyota took off. Today, the dealership has about 60 employees and sells nearly 120 Toyotas per month. They also sell around 100 used Pontiac and Buick models each month.

The keys to success
“Number one, this area’s growing,” she said. Nelson also said the company has earned many repeat customers due to their longevity.
“Our loyalty is high with repeat customers and service because they trust us,” she said. “That interest has spanned the generations.”
Other factors in her success include providing a friendly and fun experience, which starts with employee satisfaction.
“If I make sure the employees are well-trained and happy, they’re going to make the customers happy,” she said.
Besides simply taking the time to talk with her employees about what’s going on in their lives, Nelson also provides an incentive program for all employees, not just the salesmen. She said low employee turnover is a key to her success.
Parts Manager John Gorsuch, has been at Foothills since the beginning. In between answering parts requests, a busy Gorsuch explained his longevity.
“I like the service department here, it’s a nice place to work in,” he said. “You’re not just a number. Everybody just seems to work as a team.”

Moving into the future
Nelson said she is currently in the design phase for a state-of-the-art Toyota Scion dealership, which will go across the street on six acres she bought in the mid-1990s. She’s aiming for completion sometime in the summer of 2007. With the industry beginning to shift its focus, Nelson said she’s adjusting along with her manufacturer.
“Gas being what it is, environmental issues being what they are, I see the hybrid as being an engine option in almost every model in the future,” she said, citing engines that utilize a mix of the gasoline and electricity such as the Toyota Prius.
Although Nelson has faced many unique challenges throughout her career as an auto dealer, she’s still preparing for one more as her sons consider the possibility of taking over the business.
“You’ve heard for years of father/son, and then father/daughter, now you’re hearing a new one: mother/son,” she said. They might be waiting awhile, because retirement isn’t even on the radar for Nelson.
“I’m not going anywhere,” she said.