Oxxford Suits The Power Of Goals

At night 1987 before we started Lee
Associates in 1991 and I I want to tell
that story at some point but in 1987
I I was just starting to make some money
been in the business three years
uh was on my way to SMC at the time that
was a big deal at Grub and Ellis
and I saw this this Time magazine and
it’s and the cover was
50 things America America makes better
than anything in the world, anybody else
in the world. And so I I I picked it up
and I started looking through it and
there was a little thing. It said Oxford
suits.
It was the finest suit in the world.
That’s that’s what time was saying. And
if time said it, you know, back then it
they were made in America,
but you would think it would be Seville
or somewhere in England, right? Yeah.
So, I said, I’m going to, you know, I
don’t have any money, but I’m going to,
as a goal, I want to own an Oxford suit,
right? Sometime I want to be able to
afford an Oxford suit.
Lightweight suits or
they’re just they’re custommade suits.
You could buy they were, you know, you
you would order them.
So, I then
I read that and I kept that article
around and then so the rest of the story
happens in less than a half an hour. So
I’m I’m messing around and one day I’m
like I’m I think I’m going to make a big
deal. So I I call I 411 just like you
did Salt Lake City. I call Chicago
Oxford Suits was which they were
headquartered there.
Yeah.
And I call and I said, “Hey, my name’s
Craig Capola from Phoenix, Arizona. I
would like some more information to
potentially buy an Oxford suit.” So the
gal says, “Well, we don’t sell them. You
have to buy them through uh retailers.”
And I said, “Oh, really? who would you
recommend? She says, “I recommend Ma and
Hoffman. They’re out of Florida. We just
know them.” I said, “Great. Can you give
me the phone number?” Gives me the phone
number. Hang up. Dial Ma and Hoffman. I
go, “Hey, my name is Craig Capole. I
just called Oxford because I’m in the
cold calling business. I know how to get
to the guy.”
Right.
I just called Oxford and they said great
things about you. I would like to
potentially own a Oxford suit at some
point.
The receptionist goes, “Hold on,
please.” Puts me on hold. 30 seconds
later. Hi, this is Bill Maus. So now all
of a sudden I’m talking to Bill Mos.
Now I’m getting out of my league, right?
Because I’m not ready to buy. I’m just a
young guy. I’m less than 30 years old.
Hey Bill, it’s Craig Capola. Here’s the
story. I called Oxford. They told me you
and and and he says, “Where’d you say
you’re from?” I said, “I was from
Phoenix, Arizona.” He says,
“Great. I want you to hang up and give
me your direct line because I’m going to
have somebody call you in two minutes.”
Wow.
I said, “Okay. Uh, okay, Bill. Here’s my
number. Hang up.
Two minutes later, the phone rings. Hey
Craig, I just talked to Bill Mos and um
I guess you want to buy an Oxford suit
and I want to just get on your calendar.
I said, “What do you mean?” He says,
“Well, I I live here in the valley and I
want to come over here and meet you.”
Okay. So, I said, “Okay.” So, he goes,
“How about Tuesday at 10?”
Yeah. Right.
So, okay. Tuesday at 10:00.
I said, “Okay, so now this that that all
happened four minutes, right? Tuesday at
10 rolls around
and I get a call from our receptionist
and you know how they tell you a little
bit about you, you ask him, tell me,
Craig, there’s this really dapper
dressed elderly man out here to see you.
Yeah.
So, I walk out there and there’s this
he’s just dressed. He’s got this
incredible suit on, pocket square,
all that.
He says, “Hi, Craig.” And he introduces
himself and I’m trying to remember his
name right now, but he introduces
himself. Can we sit down and talk? and
he’s got this big trunk with him. So I
I’m I’m 10 minutes into this Oxford Sue
story now. I’ve got a guy sitting in
front of me with swatches. So he sits
down, he opens his swatch and I said,
“Well, well, let’s hang on one second.
This tell me a little bit about who you
are and what you’re in.” He pulls out a
card and he gives me his card. He was
the chief designer for Oxford Suits for
40 years. He retired to Sun City.
Wow.
And he was doing trunk shows. So now I’m
sitting with this guy who who how are
you going to tell this guy no? Right. So
now I’m buying I don’t even know. I
order a suit. I don’t even know what it
costs.
I can’t ask the guy cuz I’m a sales guy.
I don’t ask the guy. Yeah.
So he says
he measures me up. He’s the designer.
He’s 40. He’s like he’s like 70 years
old. So he show he says I’ll be back in
three weeks. Calls me, sits at me. He
shows up. I’ve got this incredible
Oxford suit. And then he hands me the
bill. It’s 1,800 bucks for a suit.
And then, by the way,
this is when? What year?
This is 1987. By the way, it goes on. I
end up buying five Oxford suits before I
said, “I’ve got enough.” I couldn’t tell
the guy, “No, it was I was like I had
for for 10 years, I had the most. I was
the best dress broker in Phoenix. I had
these Oxford suits. I had this
relationship with this man who since
passed, but it was just a 10-minute
story. It was a great one. It’s like,
don’t get in trouble.” You know, when
you know how to co- call. And we tell
our guys, we call for a living. We can
get to anybody we want.