WEST HERR WEDNESDAY: Jason Raymond

For this week’s West Herr Wednesday, we sat down with Sales Manager, Jason Raymond! Jason currently works at our West Herr KIA location and has been with West Herr for almost a year and a half!

While Jason has really been loving the automotive industry, he mentions he never thought he would end up here. All his life, Jason worked in the hospitality industry. He’s worked in hotels and resorts in South Florida, and even owned three restaurants in Atlanta, GA!

“Three things I said I’d never do is get married, have kids, and move back to Buffalo, and I actually did all three in the last 12 months,” Jason jokes.

Jason was originally born and raised in Buffalo, moved away for over twenty years, found his way back, and now plans to stay! After selling the shares to his restaurants back to his partner, he decided to come back and visit family and friends in Buffalo. He then found his future wife and decided to plant his roots back to where it all started.

When Jason came back to visit Buffalo, he went out to dinner with two of his friends who work for West Herr. Jason was getting their advice on what direction he should go next in his career path, whether to go back into hospitality, or try something new. Both of his friends mentioned he should come try a career at West Herr. Jason contemplated and did research on West Herr for about five-months and then decided he was ready to give it a shot.

He began his career at West Herr Ford of Hamburg as a Sales Consultant. He then moved over to West Herr Toyota of Williamsville, still in sales. Shortly after that, he moved to West Herr Chevrolet of Williamsville as a Sales Manager, and then five short weeks later he ended up at West Herr KIA, which is where he resides today.

Jason mentions that he is a “culture guy,” so being in a smaller store with a family feel like Toyota Williamsville or KIA is good for him. “I like that smaller, close-knit feel to a store,” Jason says.

He adds that when he was going through the process of researching West Herr as a potential place to work, he sat down with some of the Directors in the company and just had conversations about the culture & what it means to work at West Herr. Jason said he wanted to make sure it was a good fit for him as he was anxious about making a huge career change in the middle of his working career.

Jason mentions that he believes his hospitality background has helped him in his time at West Herr. “I think the way we sell cars is really hospitality driven. We make it more about how people feel when they walk in here, and we are breaking the stereotypical car buying experience,” he says.

In his free time, Jason loves to spend time with his wife and baby! He’s big into the outdoors and mentions he loves to golf. One fun fact about Jason is that at one point in his life, he was ranked number two in the world for the video game “Battlefield.”

Jason has made a lot of friends in his time here who have helped him get to be where he is today. “I want to thank my two friends who helped me start my career at West Herr, Ed Wagner, Director of Finance, and Eric Miller, F&I Director at West Herr Ford Hamburg,” Jason says. He also wanted to give a special thank you to Pat Schiske, his General Manager at West Herr Toyota of Williamsville, and the entire team at that store. Jason mentions that Pat was such a great mentor for him, and he loved learning under him. “He has something that you can’t teach, you can tell he truly cares,” he says.

Jason also wanted to give a special shoutout to JC Conciardo, Director of Sales Operations, who has been a mentor to him, Kevin Hahn, General Manager of West Herr Chevrolet of Williamsville, and Derek May, Used Car Manager at West Herr Chevrolet of Williamsville. He mentions that all these co-workers have helped him and answered endless questions with a smile. He also adds that his current Senior Sales Manager at KIA, Marc Mangione, is a great leader and he is proud to work with him.

Jason has a lot of goals for himself here at West Herr. He says when he was interviewing for his position, he was in a room full of Directors, and one day he wants to be on the other end of the table. “I never put a limit on myself of what I can accomplish,” he adds.

Jason has such an amazing drive and work ethic, and we have no doubt he will accomplish all of his goals! Keep up the amazing work, Jason!