31 years in rural sales, Don Nelson retiring from Tractor Supply

Kenneth Smith knew what he was getting when hired Don Nelson at Tractor Supply Company Sept. 8, 1980.

Smith knew he was getting a man who knew the lumber business and more. Nelson had worked at Wasson Lumber Yard for two years and at that time TSC needed someone to sell lumber and construction materials.

He also was hiring an employee with the gift of gab who had trained himself to memorize the customer as well as the pricing of lumber. Now in his 31st year on the job, Nelson retires Thursday.

In 1980 Nelson stopped by TSC to see Smith who was a personal friend. It so happened he was also out looking for job, but had not considered going to work for the company. He was thinking more about a teaching job to supplement the income he made as pastor of Gaskins City Baptist Church.

"I walked in the door and saw Kenny. He said, 'You looking for a job?' I said, 'Yes, but I came to see you. He said, 'You're hired. Come in Monday morning,'" Nelson said.

It helps to know people in this world. Smith was a deacon of Bankston Fork Baptist Church where Nelson, wife, Brenda, and son Alan, began attending when they moved to the Bankston area in 1971.

The family moved to a 40 acre farm that was "across the creek and down the road" from Smith.

Smith invited Nelson to paint his house and Nelson borrowed a water pump from Smith's father's barn to pump water from the well into the house.

The Nelsons did not have a telephone so Smith found himself in the position of the family's personal message service. Nelson was pursuing a preaching career.

"Any time anybody called me, we didn't have a telephone, to preach somewhere, Kenny drove up honking his horn for me to preach," Nelson said.

Smith helped Nelson along in his career through hiring him to paint, delivering him messages about preaching prospects, signing his certificate ordaining a minister -- first at First Baptist Church of Muddy -- and finally hiring him at TSC.

"At that time we had a lumber building and construction materials and the other half was farm equipment," Nelson said.

The store carried two kinds of dog food: The blue bag and the red bag.  There was one bag of cat food.

The local economy changed the evolution of the store. TSC got out of the lumber business and tried to replace it with fencing materials. That led to automotive supplies.

The market for hogs fell and so few local people were buying materials for hogs. The dairy farms stopped so the company's dairy business fell.

"Gradually we were weening ourselves away from heavy farm equipment," Nelson said.

TSC now specializes in pet products, clothing and items catering to gardening and life in rural areas.

Weather events have marked certain periods in TSC's history. There was a storm in summer of 1979 or 1980 that tore the store apart.

Just as memorable was the 1982 tornado that struck Marion.

"We saw a tree fall into our parking lot," Nelson said.

The tornado was reported to be headed toward Harrisburg on state Route 13, but veered south into Somerset and the Eagle Mountains.

The sky above TSC was blue, but there was an object that appeared to be a leaf falling.

"It looked like a leaf, then a limb, then half a tree fell into our parking lot," Nelson said.

"Then insulation was flying everywhere," Smith said.

The most devastating blow from Mother Nature came in March of 2008, a time of history-making flooding for Harrisburg.

"There was almost 4 feet of water through the whole store. When we came in the first time there were toolboxes floating around in a circle, just like ducks at the fairground," Nelson said.

The bags of feed had disintegrated on the floor.

"The floor had turned to mush before we had time to get into the building," Nelson said.

Most disconcerting to Nelson was the loss of his old service counter books with lists of parts for long-outdated tractor mowers and even horse-drawn mowers.

"Those were originals. Nobody else had those," Nelson said.

Nelson believes he has been suited for TSC due in part to his sales panache and a due to the genuine pleasure he experiences talking to people.

"I like people," Nelson said.

"He was the PR person," Smith said.

Smith came and went and came back through the years being assigned to troubleshoot other TSC franchises. At the Saline County location Smith was the business man with a knack for tracking sales, bookkeeping and organizing. Nelson was the face of the company.

"You want to remember people's names. That means a lot," Nelson said.

"You've got to remember their dog's names, kids names, know what kind of car or truck, because you've got to know them when they walk in the door."

On an outing with his son, Alan, several people had greeted Nelson. Alan took note that everywhere they stopped someone knew Nelson. Nelson decided to test Alan's theory. As they drove along a rural road Nelson proposed they stop the next time they saw someone just to see if that person recognized him. They saw a man fixing a fence and as they drove closer Nelson recognized the man. He stopped the car.

"He said, 'Hey, Don, what are you doing out here?' I said, 'I had to come check out your fence job,'" Nelson said.

Nelson said he got his first taste of sales between ages seven and nine. He and his twin brother, Ron, became door-to-door salesmen selling Cloverine salve, seeds and handmade pot holders.

"One thing I learned and Ron learned, if there is a huge house and you might feel intimidated, they might buy something. Knock on the door," Nelson said.

At the same time if they came across a house that was old and unkempt that didn't mean the person inside was too poor to buy something.

"You don't cull people. If you're going to sell something you've got to sell to anybody," Nelson said.

"Just because the dog's barking doesn't mean it's going to bite you. Usually it's the one that doesn't bark that's going to bite you."

Nelson's other piece of sales wisdom: Grumpy customers are not always going to be grumpy.

Nelson timed his retirement to coincide with the birth of his grandson, the son of his daughter, Michelle. Nelson's daughter and son live in Key West, Fla.

"Grandma is going to want to be there and go stay as long as it takes. I'm sure she's not going to leave until that baby's born and everthing is OK," Nelson said.

With all future Sundays free from work, Nelson plans to return to church pastoring.

"TSC has good retirement," Nelson said.

Nelson also expects to be tending to his mother who in a nursing home.
"My time is getting pretty precious right now and I don't have to be here," Nelson said.

At noon Thursday there will be refreshments served and Nelson said he expects to be at the front cash register greeting each new customer on his final day.
 

• DeNeal receives e-mail at bdeneal@yourclearwave.com.