Truckin' ahead: A fast-growing auto dealer credits a gentler approach--and demand for 'big, mean trucks'.

• Author: Mildenberg, David

Having grown Team Automotive Group from one dealership in Salisbury in 2017 to six across the state and one in South Carolina, owner Kristin Dillard says the differentiator isn't standard auto-industry chatter.

"Our coat of arms is that we lead with love. That means building relationships with employees and clients," she says. "It's a little different spin than the rough-and-tumble atmosphere you see at other stores, and it doesn't mean were afraid to have tough conversations. If you are leading with love, you love them enough to have those conversations."

And, she adds, "We're still here to sell cars and service vehicles."

On that metric, Team Automotive is scoring enough for Dillard to expand her business from 60 employees to 407 during the last six years. Revenue is expected to reach $290 million this year. Her short-term goal is to operate in 10 locations with 650 staffers, continuing a growth pace that put the company on the latest Inc. 5000 list of fastest-growing companies.

"We've bootstrapped. We have a great relationship with Ally," she says, referring to the lender whose top executives are based in Charlotte. "We asked for a bit of faith, and they showed right up, and we were able to roll those into the next and the next and next."

Dillard has deep roots in the car business, having started washing cars at her father's business as a teenager. Thom Dillard got the same start in the business as a youth in western North Carolina. He worked his way up to running a Fayetteville dealership before securing the Chevrolet franchise in Salisbury in 1992.

Early on, his daughter saw her future in the business. Her dad worked such long days that "I had to be there if I wanted to see him," she says. Over time, selling cars became an "instant love affair," prompting her to attend Northwood University in West Palm Beach, Florida, where she earned a bachelor's degree in automotive marketing and management in 2004. (It's one of the few schools to offer such a degree.) She later earned two certifications from the National Automobile Dealers Candidate Academy, which she calls the industry's closest cousin to an MBA.

Working for her dad over the next decade convinced her it was her calling. That experience gave her credibility with General Motors, which made her the dealership principal when her father retired in 2017. She completed the buyout four years later.

"It's a huge opportunity, but you have to work through it. You can't just say I want to...