Not too long ago, there was talk that General Motor’s Saturn division was coming to the end of the line. But Sherrill Freeborough saw it differently. She and her husband, James, took a huge risk and bought both Lansing-area Saturn dealerships in 2002. So far, sales have significantly increased and the company has been adding employees. Taking this kind of chance and making it a success was why Sherrill Freeborough was named the 2008 entrepreneur in the retail category.

“To be a recipient of the Entrepreneurial Award was really a surprise to me,” she stated in her acceptance. “I don’t think of myself as an entrepreneur. I think of myself as just going to work every day [and] trying really hard to take care of our customers, our employees and our community.”

Freeborough began working in auto sales in the Detroit area over 25 years ago.

“The one thing that sticks out in my mind when I started was the dealer [Don Massey] saying to me, you can work a 37-hour week and be good, or you can work really long hours and work really hard and be great,” she said. “As a business owner, we all know how true that is and how much effort it takes.”

Only a year after starting at the dealership, Freeborough was asked by Massey to be the sales manager for a brand-new dealership, Saturn of Okemos, which was built in 1991.

“I had a chance to pick out the property as well to hire all of the employees,” she said. “I got the opportunity to do the same thing when we built [Saturn of] Grand Ledge some years later.”

In 1997, Massey sold the Okemos franchise back to the Saturn Corporation. Freeborough was then asked to be the executive manager, and the corporation still had enough confidence in the product line to add the Grand Ledge franchise. But in 2002, confidence in Saturn had dropped, and GM decided to sell the dealerships. At very great financial risk, the Freeboroughs bid on them.

“I owed it to myself,” Freeborough said. “I felt that I started these stores in the Lansing market. They were my babies. I owed it to myself, but also to all the people who worked for me.”

Fortunately, they won the bid, and have seen the business grow. According to Freeborough, some customers have bought nine different vehicles from her, and others will not change brands, just to keep the Saturn service.

Freeborough has also looked out for her staff, instituting split shifts and rotating days off to address the long hours that salespeople usually work. “This is unheard of in a dealership,” she said. Freeborough has had some of the same employees since the beginning. Additionally, the company has won Saturn’s Summit Award eight years in a row, the only facility, according to Freeborough, to have won that many times.

As for winning the Entrepreneurial Award, Freeborough  said, “I want to thank my teams, I want to thank my great husband. I want to thank everybody in the community. Lansing’s a great place to be. I went to Michigan State, my son was born here; I’m very proud to be a part of the Lansing community, and I’m so proud of this award.”