Oct. 12, 2023

The needs of the business couldn’t wait for the college calendar.

Cole Frankman was 20 years old, studying at USD, when the family business needed his skills.

“My last year in college, I worked full time and did full coursework in the evenings through USD,” said Frankman, who grew up in the family’s Frankman Motor Co.

“But it was one of those things – I’m 20, I’m coming to a business of 50 people all older than me. You can’t just come in and start making moves, so I attacked one thing at a time.”

Frankman wasn’t a typical 20-year-old. He’d bought his first used car at 11 – a 1953 Pontiac he fixed up and sold in the classifieds – and he’d served as a dual shadow of sorts to both of his parents.

His father, Kevin, “is the car guy,” he said. “He was traveling all the time. My whole childhood, my dad was gone every other week at auctions. When he came back, I was probably involved in business conversations I should not have been for as young as I was, but it didn’t matter to my dad.”

His mother, Brenda, was the business lead, teaching him everything from payroll to trademarks, accounting and advertising. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when Frankman was 15 and died earlier this year.

“I learned from both of them,” he said. “I learned two entirely different sides of the business from both of them. I learned my negotiating with people, deal workings, from my dad … but all the business stuff came from my mom, and with my dad traveling, I had heavy introductions to both.”

He’s putting it all to work today at 26, serving as chief operating officer and bringing his own modern twist to the business.

“He is business-minded, 100 percent,” said Frankman’s cousin Dustin Frankman, who serves as the company’s general manager. “Really, his gifts are with business management and problem-solving, and he’s very, very good with creating processes, and … I don’t know if that can be taught.”

When Frankman first came into the business, he tackled its website. From there, it was pricing strategy. Then service, fixed operations and accounting.

“Every time there was an issue, I kind of took the problem over,” he said. “Fixed it the best way I knew how with the team. I don’t care how it was done before, this way makes sense, and then I’d hand it back and move onto the next thing.”

Every three to five years, “the car business reinvents itself completely,” he continued. “The cars are the same, and the people buying the cars are, but the technology is always changing.”

Two years ago, the business acquired a body shop in Harrisburg, now Frankman Auto Body & Kustom Shop, giving it a full-service approach, from selling pre-owned vehicles to servicing and detailing them, plus handling collision and restoration.

“The hard part is maintaining customer service with it all,” he said, adding he’s addressing some of that with technology, too, such as sending video repair updates to customers.

“Cole is very transparent, and he wants all the processes to be very transparent,” Dustin Frankman said. “He came up with the slogan: ‘We don’t sell people cars. We help people buy cars.’ And that says it all.”

The way Frankman has embraced technology and adapted the dealership around data has been key to his success, said Mike Jordet, dealer principal of Minnesota Truck Headquarters in St. Cloud, who has known the family through the industry for more than two decades.

“He is a very smart young man,” Jordet said. “If he doesn’t have the answer, he doesn’t fake it ‘til he makes it. He picks up the phone and gets involved in groups and brings it to industry experts to help him navigate the problem he’s trying to figure out. I’m 38 and started at 18. I remember being 28, and there’s no way I’d be doing what he’s doing. I would have already thought I knew everything, and he really impresses me with how little of an ego he has.”

Frankman also is inclined to share the credit, Jordet added.

“To me, that’s a leader – that’s not a boss,” he said. “And it’s very, very surprising to see a leader in somebody that young. He’ll do whatever it takes to better the team, and he’s always looking forward and not behind.”

Within the industry, Frankman also has taken steps to build relationships, especially among young, up-and-coming dealership owners, his cousin said.

“That was a really big thing for our company and for us to grow is learning from other people that are under 35, under 30 and some in their late 20s are running five new-car stores and just very successful, very intelligent and exchanging ideas with us,” Dustin Frankman said. “And then, he’s brought in a lot of young talent and kind of changed the culture out here – for the better.”

Frankman Motor’s team has grown to 60 employees, whom Frankman credits for executing the business’ vision.

“I’ve got a really good team here,” he said. “I sit in my office and do some stuff, but if I didn’t have the team I do, I wouldn’t be able to do any of it.”

For now, Frankman Motor has the space it needs at its dealership on the southeastern edge of Sioux Falls on Veterans Parkway, he said. There’s additional land for growth as needed. A family commercial real estate business provides other opportunities for his own growth, though his father is “much more involved than I am,” he said.

Kevin Frankman, who is 65, has “no retirement in his eyes,” his son said, adding Dustin is 46 and he’s 26, “so we have a nice long stretch,” he continued.

“Our ideology is never to stand still and to always push. I think it’s a good mentality to always keep pushing and coming to work and striving for something greater and better. Because often if you’re not, someone else is.”