WEST HERR WEDNESDAY: Ryan Smith

December 12th, 2023 by
Ryan SmithFor this week’s West Herr Wednesday, we headed over to West Herr Jeep of Orchard Park to chat with Sales Consultant, Ryan Smith. Ryan grew up in Seneca Falls, NY right outside the Finger Lakes, went to high school in Pittsford and attended Saint Bonaventure University. Ryan joined Team West Herr in 2020.

Before working at West Herr Ryan worked as a Market Manager for Heineken in Western and Central New York. He mentions he worked in the beverage industry for about 10 years before making the switch to automotive. Right before the COVID-19 pandemic, he got laid off. Ryanā€™s college friend John Kennedy who works at our West Herr Nissan of Orchard Park location told Ryan to give it a shot!Ā  In the height of the pandemic, he knew he needed to find a job he loved. Ultimately, Ryan decides to give West Herr a chance. He said he never thought about car sales but as soon as he started he took to it naturally.

Ryan says it’s great to be able to help all of his family and friends since they never had a ā€œcar guyā€ in the family or friend group. He also touches on being able to fully learn the business with no prior knowledge of the car industry. For Ryan, that was refreshing since his fatherā€™s career was in the beer industry as well. Ryanā€™s favorite part of working at West Herr is having the freedom and ability to create partnerships at other dealerships and being able to ā€œrun a business within a businessā€. Ryan goes on to talk about how West Herr values their employees and goes on to say ā€œIā€™m proud to be here. Selling for West Herr is fun and something I look forward to every morningā€.

Ryan highlights how the St Bonaventure community also helped him make connections and friends within the West Herr Network and customers. Ryan expressed the importance of having the support of John Kennedy, Brian Cosen, Jay Christopher, Rob Kates, JP Sfeir, Sean Murtha, Rich Perry and the Jeep OP finance team. He said ā€œThere’s just so manyā€ people that have really helped and mentored me along the way, and that is what makes West Herr so special!

Ryan spends his free time hanging out with his three year old son and their pet cats! He also enjoys checking out the local live music scene, and loves watching the Buffalo Football and Hockey with family and friends. Ryan also travels down to Bonas to watch their basketball team whenever he can. He said he loves just doing ā€œtypical Buffalo stuffā€. His favorite concert he has been to was a Rolling Stones concert at the Denver Broncos stadium with his wife!

CongratulationsĀ to Ryan for hitting the Presidents Club for the first time this year! He highlights his team at Jeep is ā€œalways willing to help each otherā€. Ryanā€™s next goal is he wants to become a top 20 Sales Consultant at West Herr.Ā  He states he would not have been able to do it without the relationships he has made with Team West Herr!

Posted in Employees, jeep