1. Rebounding From Personal Disaster
How Billy Wright recovered from a near-fatal injury
and the loss of his business and marriage.
by SUZAN ZIGLAR WITMEYER
Billy Wright was born a fortunate
man. While he didn’t have a silver
spoon in his mouth, he did have loving
and successful parents who were ex-
tremely generous with their only child.
Being an only child wasn’t a problem
because Billy’s parents were both from
large families. So he grew up surround-
ed by a loving extended family of aunts,
uncles and cousins. To top it all off,
Billy was a friendly kid who had lots of
friends. Growing up just couldn’t have
been any better.
One thing Billy Wright always loved
was motorcycles. So when the oppor-
tunity to buy a motorcycle dealership
came along during his senior year of
college, Billy bit hard. Armed only with
enthusiasm and his fathers signature
cosigning a note for $125,000. “an
amount he could not even imagine
repaying” he went into business.
Motorcycle Dealership
As he took on this enormous re-
sponsibility, it immediately occurred to
Billy that he knew absolutely nothing
about selling. Three years of business
college at Mississippi State had given
him some technical sales knowledge
but no “belly to belly” know-how. On the
advice of friends in other businesses,
he went to the bookstore and pur-
chased many books and tapes pro-
duced by the Zig Ziglar Corporation.
Zig Ziglar became his personal sales
trainer.
Billy began his business practicing what Zig Ziglar taught. Not just
the how-to but the principals and philosophy. He basically set out to
make friends of his customers. He did this in many ways, but his main
focus was relationship-building by staying in touch. He sent cards,
newsletters and follow-up letters. He made phone calls. He built rela-
tionships. Everything he did was focused on repeat buys through cus-
tomer satisfaction.
The other dealers in the area were not impressed. Men with much
more experience than Billy, twenty to thirty years in the business, told
him he was wasting his time.
But Billy didn’t think so. He just kept on doing what he was doing,
and by the end of his first year he had equaled the best year the previ-
ous owner ever had, $250,000 in gross sales or about 100 motorcy-
cles. The next year sales reached $300,000; the next $500,000; then
$700,000; then $900,000; the next $1,000,000; and finally $1,500,000.
After eight years in business he had sold roughly 7,000 motorcycles.
Eighty percent of his sales in his eighth year of business were repeat
buys or referrals.
Billy Wright had never had such fun. His charmed life just seemed
to get better and better. He took up amateur motorcycle road racing
and in 1985 ranked first in four different amateur classes in the South-
eastern Region. He was so adept on motorcycles handling that he
believed that there was not way in the world that a car could hit him. He
was almost “dead wrong.”
Head-On Collision
On an ordinary day, during an ordinary test drive, a car turned into
Billy, hitting him head-on. He died three times in the ambulance on the
way to the hospital. The motorcycle handlebars pushed deep into
Billy’s chest upon impact. He was thrown 75 feet and landed face down
on the highway. The impact knocked off his full-coverage helmet,
knocked out his lower teeth and jaw, and pushed his jawbones into his
eardrums. His left arm sustained multiple fractures so severe that doc-
tors later recommended amputation. Everything in his chest was punc-
tured, causing him to lose all of his vital fluids into his chest cavity. His
spleen was destroyed, his liver punctured, and his heart damaged.
When they opened his chest in the hospital, all Billy’s vital fluids
gushed onto the floor. Doctors pumped saline solution through him
while they typed his blood. Billy wasn’t aware of any of this, he would
remain in a coma for the next four and a half months.
Billy wasn’t expected to live. Doctors feared brain damage if he did.
His lungs collapsed three times during recovery. According to doctors,
if he had been a smoker, he wouldn’t have made it. If he hadn’t been a
Black Belt in Karate, a tennis player, water skier, an avid golfer and all-
round athlete, he wouldn’t be alive today. But Billy was young and
healthy, strong and remarkably alive.
Four and a half months
after the accident Billy
Wright regained conscious-
ness. He was in an exami-
nation room surrounded by
doctors and interns when he
became aware of voices.
The doctors were bragging
on the great job the medical
team in Columbus, Missis-
sippi, had done to save his
life and restore his face. But
Billy recalled none of this.
The last thing he remem-
bered was leaving his deal-
ership on a motorcycle. It
was a moment of great con-
fusion.
When they noticed that Billy was stirring, the doctors went into a
frenzy. They asked him what his name was. “Billy Wright” he thought.
“My name is Billy Wright.” “Do you know who is president?” they
asked. “Ronald Reagan” he thought, but Billy could not speak, or even
open his eyes.
It wasn’t much, but it was a beginning. Over the past four and a half
months he had lost over seventy pounds. He had been on a respirator
so long that his vocal cords no longer worked – he couldn’t make a
sound. He was so weak that he couldn’t lift his arm off the bed. His
mouth was wired shut – it would remain that way for a total of three
years.
Looking at pictures taken at that time is very painful for Billy; he
says he looked like Frankenstein’s little brother, But, he was ALIVE!
Recovery and Education
Awake at last, Billy began what he now calls the most important
educational year of his life. After regaining some of his strength, he
asked his wife to go to the bookstore and purchase some motivational
tapes. He sent her back time after time. Eventually he collected over
four hundred tapes, many of them produced by the Zig Ziglar Corpora-
tion. Billy says he learned more in that year than he had during the
previous twenty-seven years of his life. It was a turning point, and
prepared him for what lay ahead.
Eighteen months after the wreck, Billy Wright walked out of the
hospital on crutches, ready to resume his life. Just three months into
the process, he was involved in another wreck as a passenger in his
own car. This time he only spent one month in the hospital. His back
was fractured and his teeth knocked out . . . .again. But Billy figured he
was getting better at wrecks. Sure enough, some few months later he
had another wreck and they let him out of the hospital to go home the
same day! Not any of these accidents were Billy’s fault and he figures
surely by now he’s through with wrecks.
But all the time, trauma and expense were too much for his busi-
ness or his marriage to survive. It happened over a course of several
years, but end the end he was left without a wife, a business or any
money. But Billy was convinced that he had not been defeated. He still
had the one thing nobody could take away from him – a positive atti-
tude.
During his many months of convalescence, Billy had lost his enthu-
siasm for the motorcycle business. He just kept wondering how he
would reply when some parent asked him if motorcycles were safe. He
knew motorcycles were safe in the right hands, but he also knew that
the real danger was something that couldn’t be controlled, cars and
the people who drive them. He just didn’t want to put a friend in the
same position he had been in.
Billy had sold over seven thousand motorcycles in eight years and
in the process he had acquired seven thousand friends. He would
never forget the legal pad, signed by each visitor who came by during
his coma, every line of every page, full.
New Venture; Same Approach
After a couple of false starts Billy found something else he could
get excited about – cars. He decided to become the best automotive
salesperson in his power. That decision made, he began a search of
his area to find the best, most progressive dealer with the same ethics
and business ideas he had. He finally settled on Mitchell Chevrolet-
Buick-Pontiac-GMC-Chrysler-Plymouth-Dodge-Jeep in West Point,
Mississippi.
It’s been a few years now, and Billy is building his car business,
using the same approach he did with his motorcycle business. Each
month he sells more cars than the month before. He says his business
is about ready to explode. His life is back on track, just as he knew it
would be.
As far as success is concerned, Billy is convinced that if, on the day
you die, you’ve got a handful of people around your grave who sin-
cerely wish you were still with them, you’ve been a success in life.
Billy began his business
practicing what Ziglar taught.
Not just the how-to but the
principals and
philosophy. He basically set
out to make friends of his
customers. His main focus
was relationship-building by
staying in touch. Everything
he did was focused on
repeat buys through
customer satisfaction
Article Reprint – The Zig Ziglar Corp. – Personal Development