Print

June 2011 Employee Spotlight


Employee Spotlight for June 2011
Jo Gratton - Used Car Sales Manager

Have you ever met one of those burly fellows, not overweight or ripped like an Olympic athlete, but just a generally big guy with a booming voice to follow?  What is your first impression of a gentleman like this?  For me, a man of a smaller frame and voice to follow suit, my first inclination when I meet someone of these qualities is one of fear; and though I don't mean fear as in terror, just rather general uneasiness.  Jo Gratton, Handy Chevrolet's longtime Used Car Sales Manager, fits most of this to the letter, but if at first you wonder if behind the gruff personage is an equally gruff man you would be dead wrong.

Born in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Jo and his family moved to Vermont about 48 years ago when he was just two years old.  Come high school time, Jo attended Bellows Free Academy in St. Albans, excelling in many studies and taking on vocational training in the field of an automotive technician, perhaps the first indicator that he would make a stellar sales consultant and manager some day.  Yet another brief look into his future came at the hand of our current owner Dan Handy, with whom Jo was friends with when Dan transferred from Swanton to St. Albans, and the two quickly became buddies.

In the intervening years, Jo had a few jobs in the automotive business, the first of which was, as one could expect, as an automotive technician.  "My whole life has been about networking," Jo tells me, "and it really speaks to the power of the idea.  My vocational teacher in high school actually got me my first job as a technician at a Swanton [Vermont] fertilizer plant."  He continues to jokingly reminisce about his early days as a "technician," wherein he would clean fertilizer tanks, and as he clearly relished in the fact that his desk job is much more comfortable than the cleaning of tanks, the booming laugh for which he's known echoed throughout the Handy Chevy showroom.

"After that first job," Jo continued to explain, "my manager at the Swanton Company set me up with a job at the John Deere store in town."  It was at the John Deere store where Jo started to hone his sales craft; he was hired as a technician of course, but soon became a sales consultant where he sold tractors and other John Deere supplies for four of his seven years.  Clearly he had a knack for the work, because Jo was approached shortly thereafter by who else but his old high school buddy Dan Handy--and Dan wanted Jo to work for Handy Automotive as a sales consultant.

As Jo explains of his start at Handy Automotive "I had every job you can possibly imagine:  snow removal, detailing, cleaning the showroom, and everything else.  You see in those days there were only three of us!  Three salesmen!  We did it all.  That's why I always say 'soup to nuts.'  I learned how to tinker on cars--well more than that.  Everyone can take a car apart, but doing it right, diagnosing the issue, using your brain, and figuring things out, that's what makes a good mechanic.  And I've come from that to upper management, so like I said:  I've done it all; soup to nuts."

But where does Jo get this stellar and nothing short of exemplary work ethic?  Is it due to his age?  He did just turn 50 after all.  No, Jo attributes his work  ethic and just as importantly his success to the tight, familial upbringing that not only inspired him to put 110% into every endeavor but also gave him the great, tight knit socialization skills that would later serve as the foundation for his person-to-person skills and sales skill.

"It wasn't like it was today," he says.  "Nowadays, who knows what kids are learning and more than that where they're learning it from!  I learned everything I knew with my family.  My father had twelve kids in his family and my mother had nine in hers.  This made for a big family, and all of us were very close.  We also had a farm, just like many folks my age can say in those days, and we all worked together."  As Jo explains the simple yet elegant times from whence he spawned, I can't help but be taken back into the days of yesteryear when life was rough, strict, but a little more simple.  Learning of these things, it's this writer's opinion that Jo hits the nail on the head when he says these factors strongly influenced him from... well, as Jo puts it:  soup to nuts.

But just because Jo spent a lot of time on a farm as a youth doesn't mean that was his only experiences.  Jo's father, a local engineer, actually worked on the building of Curb's Hospital, a local health care facility that, depending on the age of the reader, you may know as Northwest Medical Center on Fairfield Street.  To repeat what I've said several times, with an engineer in the family it's little surprise that Jo ended up with a technical trade under his belt in the form of car diagnosing and repair.  I had mentioned to Jo that my own grandfather, a doctor that was an integral founder of Curb's/Northwest Medical Center hospital, used to tell me the only way he could ever have been successful as a doctor was with his engineering background, something Jo completely agreed with and again spoke of his rise to where he is now.

So what kind of vehicle is Jo Gratton?  "That's easy," he says, "I'm a Camaro.  Reinvented, rejuvenated... a blast from the past!  I, like the Camaro, come back stronger and better than ever.  Off topic though it may be, this is why I love GM and Handy Chevrolet.  They are one in the same, and there's a reason why we're a GM-branded store.  Whenever the going gets tough--and again, this applies to me and the Camaro and GM and Handy Chevy--we find a way to overcome.  And not only do we succeed, but we come out on top, and we do it better than the rest."  On the other hand, Jo's favorite car is a bit different and a bit more classic.  "If I could have any car it would be the 1968 Corvette" he says with that twinge of nostalgia once more piercing his eye.



When Jo isn't selling vehicles and keeping the Handy Chevy crew in check, you can bet he's probably with the "love of his life" Linda with whom he's been with for over 15 years.  Between his time spent at Handy Chevrolet and with Linda you might think Jo hasn't a moment to spare elsewhere, but his work ethic carries over to rest and relaxation time as well which he makes happen by golfing, playing water sports, and one of his favorite passions gardening or landscaping.  He also enjoys taking time to enjoy his camp, and whether that's with Linda or his son Kyle (21) or both, sitting outside enjoying a freshly landscaped yard with a cool drink in hand is just about as good as it gets.

To learn more about Jo, come on in and see him at Handy Chevrolet's 699 Highgate Road location in St. Albans.  Always good for a laugh and a story, Jo Gratton is the epitome of what it means to be a Handy Chevrolet employee.
Close