My name is Brad Nikolaus and I am the President of Associated Dealers, Inc. We are also known in the industry as ADI. I would like to share the ADI story with you. It is one of great vision and an unwavering commitment to that vision.

The story begins with Jerry McMillen, the Owner and C.E.O. of ADI. Jerry began his career in sales in the automobile industry. In 1967 he moved from the St Louis, Missouri area to Mesa, Arizona. He became familiar with “mobile homes” as the car Dealership he was the General Manager of also
sold mobile homes. He said, “It didn’t take me long to figure out I had to sell ten cars to make as much profit as I could selling one mobile home!” So in 1973 Jerry left the car business and started
an “In Park” sales operation, listing and selling used mobile homes in parks.

He opened his first retail sales center located in Mesa, AZ in 1977.

Jerry was one of the first Dealers in the country to set his lot up as an environmental display sales center. All the models were ground set for easy access. The center was beautifully landscaped and the homes were fully furnished.

In October of 1979, Dennis Johnson, who today is our Executive Vice President and I joined Jerry’s company as salesmen. I began my career in the industry in 1975 and Dennis started in 1977.

A couple of years later, Jerry made a decision to open his second location. Dennis and I went and opened this new sales center also located in Mesa. As the years passed, Jerry opened more and more locations in Arizona. By 1986 the company had grown to 13 sales centers.

In that same year, I left the sales arena and became the Finance Manager for the company. A few months later Dennis also started a new phase in his career by taking on the responsibility of Sales Manager for the entire company.

Jerry had a goal to become the number one Dealer in sales in the state of Arizona. In 1986, with the management team now in place, this goal was achieved. The company repeated the status of being number one in sales in Arizona in 1987 and again in 1988!

Even though we were the number one volume Dealer in the state, we were not achieving the profit levels we felt we should. It doesn’t do you any good to be number one if you are not generating the desired profit margins! Jerry adamantly believed because we were a “multi-lot retailer” there were overhead costs that could not be controlled. He believed there had to be a better way to operate a multi-lot dealership so the profits generated could be retained. If anyone could figure out a “better way” it was Jerry McMillen!

In December of 1988, with the company finishing up with another record-breaking year in sales, Jerry introduced his concept, which became the program we have been operating under for the past eighteen plus years. Jerry’s idea was unlike anything this industry had ever seen!

The concept was to take the Lot Managers we had at the time and have them acquire the required licenses and become the Dealer on the sales center. The Lot Manager turned Dealer would be given the incredible opportunity to achieve financial heights of success previously only dreamed of!

Jerry said, “Here’s what we are going to do. We will pay the rent, the monthly flooring costs and open lot insurance. The Dealer will pay the liability insurance, the utility bills and any other overhead required. The Dealer will receive 100% of the profit generated on a sale above the invoice! Additionally, they will receive all the revenue brought in from the sale of tires, axles, insurance, rate participation, and any other source.

Jerry went on to say, “The Lot Manager who becomes a Dealer under this program will make 4 to 5 times more income than they ever have in their lives because the “Buck” now stops with them! They will be accountable and responsible for what happens on the sales center. As they will be the Dealer and get to keep 100% of the profit, they will make sure they go look at every trade-in before they finalize a sale, because the trade-in is now their trade-in! No one is going to knowingly overbook a trade-in if it is indeed his or her trade-in! They will not have state complaints or out of sight attorney’s bills because they are in full control of what happens on every sale. They will not have exorbitant utility bills because they are paying the bills. They will not have unnecessary employees on their pay roll because they will now be paying for those people. These and other overhead items that we have struggled to keep in check for years will now be the Dealer’s responsibility. But because the Lot Manager is now the Dealer and it is now their business and not just a job, they will watch every dollar that flows through their business, making sure every dollar spent is a dollar that should be spent. The dollars they save will be their dollars to keep!”

I remember asking Jerry, “If the Dealer gets 100% of the profit and we pay all the bills, how in the world will we make any money?” Jerry said, “We will make our income on the volume incentives offered by the manufacturers. Because all of the uncontrollable overhead costs will go away, we will not need to bring in as much money to pay the bills. We will let the Dealer have that money and because they are the Dealer and will be accountable and responsible for everything on the sales center, they will get to keep all of the money we have been unable to keep. The Lot Manager turned Dealer will get rich and that’s OK because I didn’t get to keep it (the profit) any way! I would rather they keep the profit than all the other people (middlemen) who get the money now! We (the manager and ADI) do all the work and take all the risk. We are the one’s who should be getting rich! With this program that is exactly what will happen!”

In January of 1989 we held a meeting and introduced the program to all of our Lot Managers. The rest, I guess you could say is history! Today we have dozens and dozens of locations across the country. The concept Jerry McMillen turned into a reality works! When the Lot Manager’s became Dealers, the uncontrollable overhead was brought into check, just like Jerry said it would! The income generated from the sale of a home now goes to those who put forth the effort and liability required, the Dealer and ADI! Many Dealers operating under this tremendous program have achieved great financial success over the years. Like I said, the program really works!

In recent years, in addition to the incredible program I’ve told you about, we have expanded the services we offer to individuals who are looking for opportunities to build a viable and profitable enterprise without investing a large sum of money to do so.

We have developed four new programs to assist in helping individuals accomplish their goals:


• Our Dealer Consignment Program is for Dealers who already have a sales center, but, for whatever the reason may be, cannot obtain new home inventory. Through this program we furnish new home inventory to the Dealer on their sales center. The Dealer can sell the inventory plus order unlimited customer ordered homes.


• The Dealer Consignment Program for Homes Placed in Parks offers Dealers/Brokers who are looking to place new homes in a park/community the ability to display new home inventory in a community. The Dealer/Broker can sell the new home inventory in the community along with selling unlimited customer ordered homes.


• For Builders, Developers and investors, we offer a unique program designed to provide a Spec Home to place on land they own. They provide the land; we provide the home.


• The fourth program is for Community Owners looking to fill empty spaces with new home inventory. The Community Owner can sell the inventory we provide as well as selling customer ordered homes.

All these programs have been designed to give people the incredible opportunity to generate a great income, not only by earning the profit on the sale of each new home, but also by earning substantial financial incentives equating to thousands of dollars each year from Flooring and Volume Incentives we offer! These programs have created a “Win, Win” situation for both the individual and ADI.

Click on the windows above for more details on each of our innovative programs or click or contact us now, fill out the application and we will contact you right away.