Michael Crawford
Peoria KIA
By LeeAnn Sharpe

“I wanta see ya in a KIA,” is the catch phrase you hear from Peoria KIA General Manager and 20% owner Michael Crawford. He dramatically inflects his voice to extremes so it catches your attention and stays with you. It’s an effective marketing tool because kids are out there mimicking him and adults are saying “who is that guy?” Families come to his showroom on Saturday enthusiastically coaxing him to say his slogan.

Born in South Chicago, raised in Kansas City, Missouri, Crawford moved to the Valley in 1979 and has been in the car business ever since. Mel Clayton Chevrolet was where he started. He’s been at Peoria Kia for the last 4 years.

Michael Crawford is everywhere these days; TV commercials, infomercials, magazines, newspapers and radio. He’s even in negotiations with Bravo producers to make a reality tv show about his life. As the pitch man for Peoria Kia you wonder if this smiling, fast talking, car salesman is really as upbeat all the time as he seems, or is it his stage persona. He says, “I’m like this 24/7.”

And he really does seem to be the real deal. His employees and customers all seem to love the guy. He gets hugs every time he walks the showroom floor with incredible energy and a charismatic personality.

A family man, Crawford is married to Gloria and they have fraternal twin daughters Giovanna and Makalya. He lights up when he talks about his girls. He works 80-85 hours a week these days, so his family time is private and special.

The first thing Michael Crawford will tell you is he’s out to break the mold when it comes to the stereotypical perception of “car salesman”. He wants his salesman to be respected and loved and happy. So that’s how he trains them to treat the customers, with respect. My bottom line is 100% customer satisfaction.

“I really want to hit home about how some auto dealers use deceptive advertising promises. What they say or put down in print, they really need to back it up. We need to change the perception of automotive dealers,” His goal is to get the industry to accept truth in advertising. Double rebates and other false advertising claims are bad for the industry. Crawford fires off, “When they say they will double the rebate, you can’t do that! Please, you are smarter than that! People know the truth. That’s misleading.”

“What I guarantee is there isn’t a soul on this earth who will work harder to get you behind the wheel of a brand new or pre-owned Kia at a price you can afford. Is that a guarantee I can get you approved. No. But what that’s doing is that it doesn’t matter if you have been surrounded by unfortunate circumstances. I’m gonna look at you as we are all equal. A lot of people are looked down on because of their situation. Other dealers run their credit and walk away from them and won’t even listen to their stories. They don’t care.” He trains his sales staff to treat the customer with respect, listen to their story and work hard to get them what they need to achieve customer satisfaction.

Crawford tells his employees in motivational sales meetings “Do you understand that it’s already in the books. Let me go deep with you. A lot of people can’t get this in their mind. God knew you before you were in your mother’s womb. It’s all there in the cards. You just gotta want it. You can have a higher IQ than I do, the difference is I want it more, so I will succeed. I get up every morning working for the best corporation in the world. It’s me incorporated. I’m the CEO, President, Vice-President. So what’s my stock worth? I have a game plan. I come to work everyday and whatever I do is better than I did yesterday. I know I have the God given talent. All I need is the application. The difference is I just want it more. Are you willing to sacrifice to get there? I was always willing to sacrifice to get to the top, as long as no one else got hurt.”

“My number one goal in life is to be wealthy enough to not have to work and spend all the time I possibly can with my children and truly be the best father that I am capable of being. And I can help all those people in need, truly in need. I have given away thousands of dollars and cars and other things to people truly in need.”

Crawford broadcasts a program direct from his “The Hello Arizona Studio” right in the Peoria Kia showroom every Saturday 1-3pm on KPXQ the Christian Radio station. He says, “They decided I was perfect for their programming. The radio station, they also own a sports radio station, sales rep was trying to get me to advertise and I didn’t want it. He kept talking to me and he called one Sunday morning and had seen my infomercial and I had been working with this black woman who had a low credit score. She had been disrespected at other dealerships. They looked down on her like a triple minority because she was black, and a woman, and had low credit score. Then she heard I was a Christian and decided she should go see me. I worked hard to get her approved. And she jumped up and cried and cried so happy when we got her a deal. And she says Michael, Jesus sent me to you!” So this sales rep went to his people and said this guy would be great on the Christian radio show and they had a time slot open. Michael felt he had a sign that God wanted him to reach out to more people. So now he’s on the radio.

“This woman was disrespected by several other dealerships. It’s not her fault she had been in an bad situation. She has six kids and her husband ran off with the car because he’s a crack head. She can’t get to work. I worked really hard to get her a car. Love thy neighbor. That’s what it’s all about. If everyone would just love their neighbor think of how the world would be,” Crawford continues. “If you have the ability to help them, if more people truly “loved thy neighbor” we wouldn’t be sending these young men to Iraq before they have an opportunity to father a child. It’s so sad that they lose their life before they have the blessing of a child.”

His face reflects a real concern for the people in need. He talks about what he feels is right from his experience for his audience. This past week the topic was “I am who I am because of Him.” A recent customer experience had impacted him. A man of wealth had the impression he was all that. Crawford wanted to remind us all where our true wealth resides and from Whom it comes.

Crawford’s ministry is without any divinity training. He worries about ministry training, that it’s about raising money. “I’m getting the word out there because He wants me to. He propels me into action. Sometime I say something and I think, I didn’t mean to say that. I had stuff prepared to talk about and I got totally off that. It just came out. And it came out great. That’s the Holy Spirit baby!”

“When you are in the corporate world and I try to make everyone believe as I do, I can’t do that. Will I let you know I’m a Christian? Yeah! You can see in my show room the sign on the broadcasting studio. But I don’t try to sell you my beliefs. The reality of it is, just be real. That works for me. I’m just me. The moves I make reflect my beliefs and my faith. When I talk, I talk with all of the happiness from the top of my head to the tip of my toes, and people see how my faith is real and how my faith is reflect in how I treat people. My door is always open. I give my cell phone number out for anyone to call me directly. I talk the talk and walk the walk.” When have you ever heard of a GM handing out his personal phone number?

Being a Christian prevents Crawford from doing anything deceptive in advertising. It prevents him from worrying about the money. “It’s not just about the money. It helps me stay with my mission statement that it’s about total customer satisfaction. Now no matter how hard you work, you won’t be able to satisfy everybody. You just won’t. You as a businessman can’t always do it. But I’ll tell you one thing. As long as you tried every single morning you will build a name people respect. First phase, you build a name, and second phase, you work to keep it. You don’t ever sway from those values, that faith. Never compromise yourself. Have those principles and values. Customer satisfaction has to be worth more to you than anything else.”

So what does the future bring for Michael Crawford and Peoria Kia? “In another year or two we would like to open another store or two here in the Valley.” (We includes majority owner Dana Moore.) And whatever He (the big boss upstairs) wants me to do. Right now I am doing what He wants me to do.”

The 2.9 acre Peoria Kia dealership is at 91st Avenue just North of Bell Road It’s the #1 Kia dealership in Arizona and #3 in the world. Michael Crawford works hard to keep it that way!

One last question he asked, “If you were guaranteed Heaven would you go right now?” Think about it.
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