August 26, 2024 • 12 mins
Matt Weekley is the owner of Weekley Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram in Butler. The dealership has been around for over 100 years and was started by Matt's grandfather (1921). Weekley's is the oldest Chrysler dealer in the state of Ohio and the 6th oldest in the United States. Matt was born in Mansfield and went to Clear Fork High School, before college at North Central State. Learn more about Matt and Weekley on the podcast.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
The CEO you Should Know, brought to you by Roby
Foster Miller Eric Insurance. This week's CEO Matt Weekly, owner
of Weekly, Chrysler, Doddge Jeep ram In Butler. Matt, good
morning and thanks for coming in.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, good morning, Aaron, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
All right, I mentioned I've heard that name for a
long long time. I'm sure our listeners, even if they're
new to the air, they don't know a lot about you,
would love to hear the history. So tell us about you, guys.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
So, my grandfather started in the car business one hundred
and three years ago, nineteen twenty one. Him and his
cousin moved to Butler from Caldwell, Ohio, and started initially
fixing cars. My grandfather was not so much of a mechanic,
more of a salesperson, and so he soon started buying
cars and selling them. And then in approximately nineteen twenty three,
(00:55):
he took on the Willies' Night new car franchise, not
to be confused with Willie's Jeep. But Willy's Night sold
those for about a year and then actually started selling
cheval Ats. And the rumor has it that the Chevrolet
distributor the dealership network back then was certainly different than
it is today, and they were not giving enough cars.
(01:17):
So in nineteen twenty seven he approached Chrysler and they
gave him the Chrysler franchise. So that's been almost one
hundred years we've been a Chrysler dealer. We're actually the
oldest Chrysler dealer in Ohio and the sixth oldest Chrysler
dealer in the United States, So it's been a long time.
(01:37):
When he started, then my dad then started working with
his father in the forties, and then I started in
the eighties. It's kind of the history of the family dealership.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Awesome stories. You hear the voice this morning of Matt Weekley.
He's this week's CEO. You should know he's the owner
of Weekly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Butler. You talk
about a family business, you talk about a business, a
local business that has been around for better than one
hundred years. Really cool to hear the story. Has it
all been in the same location in Butler?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
No, Actually, my grandfather started in a smaller store, just
a couple of blocks from where we're currently at, and
in nineteen thirty three he bought the building we're in
now actually, which was originally built actually as a Ford
dealership and he moved there in nineteen thirty three.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
All right, now, where exactly are you located at in Butler?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
We're in downtown Butler. That would be the address's fifty
Main Street.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
All right, again, glad to have Matt Weekley with us
in studio now. In terms of you know, selling vehicles,
they hear Chrysler, Dodge, Geep Ram. I'm sure they have
a lot of choices when they come to see you guys,
inn right.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
We do. We obviously have new cars. We have a
pre owned which is a major component of our business.
Also we have a full service department. Yeah. Actually we're
now doing outside DA tailing also.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
All right, so a lot they offered to the community.
How far do people come to see you from? Is
it just a local area across the state? Do they
come from further?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Our core market is within probably twenty five miles of us.
With technology and the internet, when we've sold cars all
over the United States, it's amazing how people will travel
to buy a car one real quick. Kind of the
unique story is we had some people actually come from Iowa,
took a train to buy.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
A used jeep. It's amazing though. You go on the internet,
you find the vehicle and you're like, hey, you know,
they come to get it. It's a great thing. I'm
sure that really has helped a lot of things in
terms of your business.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Then really, yes, yes, it's amazing how technology and the
Internet has changed the way we do business.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, well, you just think about it in general. I
know I was talking. I think it was one of
the county commissioners, mayor They're talking about you know internet,
you think of you know, water electricity. It's almost becoming
that because you you you know, people used to pay
bills so many different things on a daily basis, and
you don't think about it till it goes out, you
know how much.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
You Yeah, we we fixed cars over the internet. You know,
all of our paperwork software is Internet driven. So yeah,
if if you have Internet problems, it can be a
situation to deal with.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yes, for sure, we are learning this morning about a
great local company down in Butler, and that is Weekly
Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Their owner, Matt Weekly, is with
us in studio now right now. How many staff members
I know you mentioned you have you know salespeople, you
have service all of that. Roughly how many people ballpark
do you have?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
There's seventeen of us full time, and we have a
number of part time people helping us too.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
All right, tremendous. Now is we talk about you. Let's
step away from work a little bit because you talked
about you know, father, grandfather, all of that. But let's
kind of get the story of Matt Weekly. Let's step
back to the very beginning. I'm sure people want to
know where was Matt Weekly.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I was born in Mansfield, lived in Butler my entire life.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I went to high school at clear Fork, graduated from there,
and then actually went to NCTC which is now North
Central State College for two years, work that whole time,
and then after that I began full time at the store.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
So is you grew up with grandfather father, you know,
in the car business. Did you know that's what I'm
going into or when you were growing up were you
thinking I want to do this? People may want to
know it was the aspiration always to join the family business.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yes, I always knew that's what I wanted to do.
I guess I didn't really think about it in the
capacity of what I'm doing today. Things just naturally evolved.
That's just what I've always done and never really have
thought about doing anything different. I've enjoyed it and glad
that this is where it's all all.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
When it's kind of neat when you think about it.
Family grandfather started it better than one hundred years ago,
your dad continued it, and your king continuing that today.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's honestly, Aaron, it's at times quite humbling when I
really think about it. You know, I would like to
say that I would like to give the Lord the
honor for that in glory. I mean, I believe it's
his hand of provision protection. It's allowed that to happen.
And it is at times very humbling to think through
that whole thing that it's been one hundred years that
we've been a business in Butler.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That great story. Matt Weekly in studio this week's CEO.
You should know owner of Weekly Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
in Butler. All right, so let's find out more about you.
We found born in Mansfield, grew up in Butler, went
to clear Fork North Central State College now is what
it's called, and then into the family business, but don't
know if you're married kids. Tell us a bit more
about Matt and the family.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I'm married to my awesome wife. We actually just celebrate
twenty five years. Amazing lady. That's helped me in my
journey immensely, so I'm very thankful for her. We have
two children, a daughter that's twenty four and our son
is twenty, both gainfully employed. Our son actually working at
the store, and our daughter works in Worcester.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
All right, thankful, not too far away than in Worcester.
All right. Now, I know you're busy, you know, running
everything with the store. But when you have spare time,
what do you like to do? What are the hobbies
for Matt weekly.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I really enjoy hanging out with my wife and my family.
That's the first thing I enjoy the most. Love the water.
I enjoy skiing, probably a fair weather skier, but I've
enjoyed that for a long time. And I enjoy cars.
I enjoy new cars, I enjoy old cars. I enjoy
tinkering around working on cars. So yeah, that's the whole
(07:40):
saying of motor oils in my blood is certainly true.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So all right, terrific. You know, it's funny you bring
up cars in earlier you brought up technology. It's amazing.
I'm sure when even when you were a kid, or
think back to your dad and grandfather. Cars now have
so much technology in them nowadays.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, it is amazing when you think about even in
the last ten But if you hit the rewind button
and we go back to forty years ago when I
first started selling cars, it is amazing. I mean, you know,
we're fixing cars on telephones. I mean, the same thing
that we're using to communicate with to talk to our
friends or whatever, we're using to fix cars. It is
(08:18):
incredible when you think about the technology as it's evolved
specific to the car business.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And Matt for you in terms of, you know, operating
the business, I'm sure that's a lot over see, right,
I think about, you know, everything that you would you
know on a daily basis at the car I'm sure
that's a lot OVERSEEA right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It is. It's certainly a lot of responsibility. But I
will say I have the most amazing group of people
that has come together that are just amazing people. They're
people that really care. One of our mantras for a
long time in the area is service. We have good service.
Weeklies has good service, and that's something that we really
(08:58):
work hard at. And the people that I have understand
that and they care and they are very interested in
helping people and developing relationships with people. We don't want
to just sell you a car or fix your car.
We want to develop a relationship with you. And I
think that's one thing that really separates us.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, you bring that up. You know, somebody comes to
buy a vehicle, you want the next vehicle. You know
that you want them to come back. You mentioned that relationship,
those kind of things to say, Hey, I had a
great experience. There was awesome. I'm going back right.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
That's the backbone of our business and that's just what
we strive to do. You can buy a car, as
we talked to Aaron, you can buy a car on
the internet. You can buy a car anywhere. But the
difference becomes when you have an issue, a problem, how
it's dealt with, and what kind of treatment you get
that point that's what really I think separates us from
a lot of other places.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And that's kind of the question you know about you
know what makes you guys special? And you told me
it's the people at Weeklies that make you special, right,
It really is.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It's all about the people, because you know, in today's climate,
it's sometimes feels like customer service is evaporating. It's kind
of gone the wrong way, and that is not what
we're all about. And we strive very, very very hard
to continue to maintain that level of service that we
have for a long time. And you know, you mentioned
technology and cars are more advanced and it takes more
(10:18):
time knowledge understanding to fixed cars and for that fact
to sell cars today because of new regulations and all that.
It's it's just a different climate, but we really try
to maintain a customer first perspective.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Well before I let you go, Matt Weekly, this Week's CEO,
you should know great conversation. He is the owner of Weekly, Chrysler,
Dodge Jeep ram in Butler. If somebody wants to get
in contact, you told us where you're located at Main
Street and Butler. How about website phone number for them
to be able to check you guys out.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Sure thing erin our phone numbers four one, nine, eight
eight three two four six ' one. We're on all
the social media channels or our websit site is www
dot Weeklyauto dot com and that's w E E K
L E y A U t O dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
All right, great conversation learning about a local company that
has been in business, family business for better than one
hundred years, and that is Weekly Chrysler Dodge Jeep Raymond Butler.
Their owner, Matt Weekly, is with us in studio. Matt,
it's been great to learn the story, love the history
all the way back. You mentioned your grandfather running this
your dad now you thanks for coming in and again
(11:31):
great to hear your story and we wish you continued success.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Aaron, thank you so much for the opportunity to come in.
Greatly appreciated.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Matt Weekly, owner of Weekly Chrysler Dodge Jeep, ram In Butler,
the CEO you should know RITA Bio c A photo
and here the extended interview at wm A n FM
dot com. This is John Roby of RFME Insurance. It
has said that a good leader sets the bar high
because he or she wants to reach goals and make
(11:59):
the best of their teams. We are proud to introduce
you to some of the community's leaders on the CEO
series
The CEO you Should Know, brought to you by Roby
Foster Miller Eric Insurance. This week's CEO Matt Weekly, owner
of Weekly, Chrysler, Doddge Jeep ram In Butler. Matt, good
morning and thanks for coming in.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Well, good morning, Aaron, thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
All right, I mentioned I've heard that name for a
long long time. I'm sure our listeners, even if they're
new to the air, they don't know a lot about you,
would love to hear the history. So tell us about you, guys.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
So, my grandfather started in the car business one hundred
and three years ago, nineteen twenty one. Him and his
cousin moved to Butler from Caldwell, Ohio, and started initially
fixing cars. My grandfather was not so much of a mechanic,
more of a salesperson, and so he soon started buying
cars and selling them. And then in approximately nineteen twenty three,
(00:55):
he took on the Willies' Night new car franchise, not
to be confused with Willie's Jeep. But Willy's Night sold
those for about a year and then actually started selling
cheval Ats. And the rumor has it that the Chevrolet
distributor the dealership network back then was certainly different than
it is today, and they were not giving enough cars.
(01:17):
So in nineteen twenty seven he approached Chrysler and they
gave him the Chrysler franchise. So that's been almost one
hundred years we've been a Chrysler dealer. We're actually the
oldest Chrysler dealer in Ohio and the sixth oldest Chrysler
dealer in the United States, So it's been a long time.
(01:37):
When he started, then my dad then started working with
his father in the forties, and then I started in
the eighties. It's kind of the history of the family dealership.
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Awesome stories. You hear the voice this morning of Matt Weekley.
He's this week's CEO. You should know he's the owner
of Weekly Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep, Ram and Butler. You talk
about a family business, you talk about a business, a
local business that has been around for better than one
hundred years. Really cool to hear the story. Has it
all been in the same location in Butler?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
No, Actually, my grandfather started in a smaller store, just
a couple of blocks from where we're currently at, and
in nineteen thirty three he bought the building we're in
now actually, which was originally built actually as a Ford
dealership and he moved there in nineteen thirty three.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
All right, now, where exactly are you located at in Butler?
Speaker 2 (02:32):
We're in downtown Butler. That would be the address's fifty
Main Street.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
All right, again, glad to have Matt Weekley with us
in studio now. In terms of you know, selling vehicles,
they hear Chrysler, Dodge, Geep Ram. I'm sure they have
a lot of choices when they come to see you guys,
inn right.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
We do. We obviously have new cars. We have a
pre owned which is a major component of our business.
Also we have a full service department. Yeah. Actually we're
now doing outside DA tailing also.
Speaker 1 (03:01):
All right, so a lot they offered to the community.
How far do people come to see you from? Is
it just a local area across the state? Do they
come from further?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Our core market is within probably twenty five miles of us.
With technology and the internet, when we've sold cars all
over the United States, it's amazing how people will travel
to buy a car one real quick. Kind of the
unique story is we had some people actually come from Iowa,
took a train to buy.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
A used jeep. It's amazing though. You go on the internet,
you find the vehicle and you're like, hey, you know,
they come to get it. It's a great thing. I'm
sure that really has helped a lot of things in
terms of your business.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Then really, yes, yes, it's amazing how technology and the
Internet has changed the way we do business.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, well, you just think about it in general. I
know I was talking. I think it was one of
the county commissioners, mayor They're talking about you know internet,
you think of you know, water electricity. It's almost becoming
that because you you you know, people used to pay
bills so many different things on a daily basis, and
you don't think about it till it goes out, you
know how much.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
You Yeah, we we fixed cars over the internet. You know,
all of our paperwork software is Internet driven. So yeah,
if if you have Internet problems, it can be a
situation to deal with.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Yes, for sure, we are learning this morning about a
great local company down in Butler, and that is Weekly
Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram. Their owner, Matt Weekly, is with
us in studio now right now. How many staff members
I know you mentioned you have you know salespeople, you
have service all of that. Roughly how many people ballpark
do you have?
Speaker 2 (04:38):
There's seventeen of us full time, and we have a
number of part time people helping us too.
Speaker 1 (04:43):
All right, tremendous. Now is we talk about you. Let's
step away from work a little bit because you talked
about you know, father, grandfather, all of that. But let's
kind of get the story of Matt Weekly. Let's step
back to the very beginning. I'm sure people want to
know where was Matt Weekly.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I was born in Mansfield, lived in Butler my entire life.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Where'd you go to high school?
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I went to high school at clear Fork, graduated from there,
and then actually went to NCTC which is now North
Central State College for two years, work that whole time,
and then after that I began full time at the store.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
So is you grew up with grandfather father, you know,
in the car business. Did you know that's what I'm
going into or when you were growing up were you
thinking I want to do this? People may want to
know it was the aspiration always to join the family business.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Yes, I always knew that's what I wanted to do.
I guess I didn't really think about it in the
capacity of what I'm doing today. Things just naturally evolved.
That's just what I've always done and never really have
thought about doing anything different. I've enjoyed it and glad
that this is where it's all all.
Speaker 1 (05:53):
When it's kind of neat when you think about it.
Family grandfather started it better than one hundred years ago,
your dad continued it, and your king continuing that today.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
It's honestly, Aaron, it's at times quite humbling when I
really think about it. You know, I would like to
say that I would like to give the Lord the
honor for that in glory. I mean, I believe it's
his hand of provision protection. It's allowed that to happen.
And it is at times very humbling to think through
that whole thing that it's been one hundred years that
we've been a business in Butler.
Speaker 1 (06:20):
That great story. Matt Weekly in studio this week's CEO.
You should know owner of Weekly Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram
in Butler. All right, so let's find out more about you.
We found born in Mansfield, grew up in Butler, went
to clear Fork North Central State College now is what
it's called, and then into the family business, but don't
know if you're married kids. Tell us a bit more
about Matt and the family.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
I'm married to my awesome wife. We actually just celebrate
twenty five years. Amazing lady. That's helped me in my
journey immensely, so I'm very thankful for her. We have
two children, a daughter that's twenty four and our son
is twenty, both gainfully employed. Our son actually working at
the store, and our daughter works in Worcester.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
All right, thankful, not too far away than in Worcester.
All right. Now, I know you're busy, you know, running
everything with the store. But when you have spare time,
what do you like to do? What are the hobbies
for Matt weekly.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
I really enjoy hanging out with my wife and my family.
That's the first thing I enjoy the most. Love the water.
I enjoy skiing, probably a fair weather skier, but I've
enjoyed that for a long time. And I enjoy cars.
I enjoy new cars, I enjoy old cars. I enjoy
tinkering around working on cars. So yeah, that's the whole
(07:40):
saying of motor oils in my blood is certainly true.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
So all right, terrific. You know, it's funny you bring
up cars in earlier you brought up technology. It's amazing.
I'm sure when even when you were a kid, or
think back to your dad and grandfather. Cars now have
so much technology in them nowadays.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
Yeah, it is amazing when you think about even in
the last ten But if you hit the rewind button
and we go back to forty years ago when I
first started selling cars, it is amazing. I mean, you know,
we're fixing cars on telephones. I mean, the same thing
that we're using to communicate with to talk to our
friends or whatever, we're using to fix cars. It is
(08:18):
incredible when you think about the technology as it's evolved
specific to the car business.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
And Matt for you in terms of, you know, operating
the business, I'm sure that's a lot over see, right,
I think about, you know, everything that you would you
know on a daily basis at the car I'm sure
that's a lot OVERSEEA right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
It is. It's certainly a lot of responsibility. But I
will say I have the most amazing group of people
that has come together that are just amazing people. They're
people that really care. One of our mantras for a
long time in the area is service. We have good service.
Weeklies has good service, and that's something that we really
(08:58):
work hard at. And the people that I have understand
that and they care and they are very interested in
helping people and developing relationships with people. We don't want
to just sell you a car or fix your car.
We want to develop a relationship with you. And I
think that's one thing that really separates us.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
Yeah, you bring that up. You know, somebody comes to
buy a vehicle, you want the next vehicle. You know
that you want them to come back. You mentioned that relationship,
those kind of things to say, Hey, I had a
great experience. There was awesome. I'm going back right.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
That's the backbone of our business and that's just what
we strive to do. You can buy a car, as
we talked to Aaron, you can buy a car on
the internet. You can buy a car anywhere. But the
difference becomes when you have an issue, a problem, how
it's dealt with, and what kind of treatment you get
that point that's what really I think separates us from
a lot of other places.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
And that's kind of the question you know about you
know what makes you guys special? And you told me
it's the people at Weeklies that make you special, right,
It really is.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
It's all about the people, because you know, in today's climate,
it's sometimes feels like customer service is evaporating. It's kind
of gone the wrong way, and that is not what
we're all about. And we strive very, very very hard
to continue to maintain that level of service that we
have for a long time. And you know, you mentioned
technology and cars are more advanced and it takes more
(10:18):
time knowledge understanding to fixed cars and for that fact
to sell cars today because of new regulations and all that.
It's it's just a different climate, but we really try
to maintain a customer first perspective.
Speaker 1 (10:34):
Well before I let you go, Matt Weekly, this Week's CEO,
you should know great conversation. He is the owner of Weekly, Chrysler,
Dodge Jeep ram in Butler. If somebody wants to get
in contact, you told us where you're located at Main
Street and Butler. How about website phone number for them
to be able to check you guys out.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Sure thing erin our phone numbers four one, nine, eight
eight three two four six ' one. We're on all
the social media channels or our websit site is www
dot Weeklyauto dot com and that's w E E K
L E y A U t O dot com.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
All right, great conversation learning about a local company that
has been in business, family business for better than one
hundred years, and that is Weekly Chrysler Dodge Jeep Raymond Butler.
Their owner, Matt Weekly, is with us in studio. Matt,
it's been great to learn the story, love the history
all the way back. You mentioned your grandfather running this
your dad now you thanks for coming in and again
(11:31):
great to hear your story and we wish you continued success.
Speaker 2 (11:34):
Aaron, thank you so much for the opportunity to come in.
Greatly appreciated.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
Matt Weekly, owner of Weekly Chrysler Dodge Jeep, ram In Butler,
the CEO you should know RITA Bio c A photo
and here the extended interview at wm A n FM
dot com. This is John Roby of RFME Insurance. It
has said that a good leader sets the bar high
because he or she wants to reach goals and make
(11:59):
the best of their teams. We are proud to introduce
you to some of the community's leaders on the CEO
series
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