Harris suited to sales at Courtesy
Henry Harris owns enough suits to wear one every day for more than a month, including Sundays, without wearing the same one twice. They are beautifully made, and range in color from red, purple and even pink to more subdued dark solids and pinstripes. These days, if you run into Harris during the day, you're more likely to see him sporting a crisp blue Courtesy Imports polo shirt.
And he wears it well.
Harris has worked as a sales representative at Courtesy Imports in the Valley Automall since May 2012. Many Las Vegans remember Harris, always wearing those suits, as a radio and television advertising sales representative for several broadcast media companies. His career in that field spanned nearly 30 years. But his roots are in automotive sales.
"I've come full circle," Harris says with a grin, "and I love it here at Courtesy."
In 1971, Harris was assigned to be a jet engine mechanic with the United States Air Force, stationed at Nellis Air Force Base, when he decided to permanently relocate to Las Vegas from Detroit, Mich. After leaving the Air Force, he began his automotive sales career in Las Vegas in 1978. Harris worked at a few different Las Vegas auto dealers and counts among one of his favorite memories a stormy night in the early 1980s when Roy Horn, of Siegfried and Roy fame, walked into the dealership .
Horn had brought his mother, Johanna, to shop for a new car. They found one they wanted to take for a spin and, with Johanna behind the wheel, Harris and Horn went along for the test drive. With rain coming down in sheets, Harris recalled, "she somehow ended up driving on the wrong side of the road. I'm not sure how it happened. But we made it back to the dealership safely. Roy bought the car for her, and I'll never forget how kind he was to me."
A 2006 inductee into the Nevada Broadcasters' Hall of Fame, Harris began selling radio airtime at KNUU-FM in 1985. He says while the differences between media advertising sales and automotive sales might appear to be quite great, they really aren't that dissimilar.
"Advertising sales are all about relationship building. Automotive sales, they're more immediate. But I take the skills I acquired working in radio and television sales, and I've learned to build those relationships more quickly."
People Harris has known since he was working in the radio and television industry remember him and often call on him for their automotive needs.
"Referrals are huge," he said. "People know me and remember me from the old broadcasting days. It's good for business at Courtesy."
He saves the suits now mostly for his favorite pastime: dancing .
The Courtesy Auto Group has been serving the Las Vegas Valley for more than 20 years.
Courtesy Imports, at 260 N. Gibson Road in the Henderson Valley Automall, features new Kia, Mazda and Mitsubishi vehicles along with preowned cars and trucks. Courtesy Auto Center, at 6401 Centennial Center Blvd., offers the Lotus line of new vehicles, fully restored classic cars and trucks plus low-mileage preowned vehicles.
