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Justin Pistorius: Rock Star RV Salesman
What does a band demand when shopping for a touring vehicle?
“They need to sleep a lot,” says Justin Pistorius, rock-star salesman at the RV Outlet Mall in Georgetown. “And they need to store a lot.”
His customer count for mobile homes shoots up during South by Southwest Music Conference and Festival and the Austin City Limits Festival. Big, established acts might pay $250,000 to $500,000 for a home away from home, with all the bells and whistles. Most bands settle for something they can tow in the $30,000 range. Others can afford only a $5,000 camper popup.
“Like everybody else, they tend to have champagne tastes on a beer-bottle budget,” Pistorius says.
Christian acts are regular customers: “Because they typically have more money.”
An inveterate road-tripper, Pistorius took the long way to the shiny Outlet Mall on Interstate 35. Descended from sturdy German farming stock in the Midwest, the 6-foot-4-inch tall blond seemed destined for a career in soccer. He was born in Decatur, Ill., moved to Blue Mound, Ill., and then Bloomington, Ill., as the child of an investment banker and housewife. Advanced youth training programs led to a soccer scholarship — as a striker — at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Ill.
That proved too much structure for the free spirit, who briefly played for an amateur team in Morelia, Michoacan.
“I was scheduled from the time I woke up to the time I went to sleep,” he says. “So I took a job — cabana boy and bartender — on an island off the coast of Florida.”
After announcing this dubious career move — throwing away more than 10 years of soccer training — by phone at 2 a.m., his parents asked if he had thought his plan through.
“I did not. That was kind of the whole point,” he says. “It was a case of ‘lose your computer, lose your cell phone, enjoy life.’ ”
He left for the beach at 4 a.m.
During his island time near St. Petersburg, Fla., Pistorius concentrated on hanging out by the Gulf of Mexico.
“The beach was my front yard,” he says. “During a Bears game, I once threw a remote control from my front door into the Gulf.”
When a tropical storm approached, his surfing friends persuaded him to join them on the swells.
“I thought I was going to die a couple of times,” he says “I never once got up on a board.”
Despite those surfer dude looks, you see, he’s more of a wakeboarder, skimboarder, kneeboarder, hiker, rock climber, rock diver and general outdoor enthusiast.
“I’m an adrenaline junkie,” he laughs. “But safe and supervised crazy.”
After a year and a half in paradise, vagabond Pistorius moved back to Illinois, couch-surfing in Bloomington and Chicago. Random map games led him to California, South Carolina and Texas.
“I would have loved to stay in California, if I could buy a house,” he says. “Austin is very similar to California but affordable.”
With $150 in his pocket, Pistorius took a waiting job at the Congress Avenue T.G.I. Friday’s restaurant but found the Congress Avenue Bridge bat watchers not very generous tippers. So he moved over to Chuy’s on Barton Springs Road, where he helped wait on celebrities like Lance Armstrong, Bill Clinton and Sandra Bullock.
Eternally restless, Pistorius answered an ad on Craig’slist for a job selling RVs in Jarrell on 100 percent commission, although the risk was softened when the owner offered to front him a few months’ living expenses. That successful gig led to the RV Outlet Mall, where rigs can go for as high as $1 million.
Especially when demonstrating towed vehicles for sleeping and storage, Pistorius insists the perspective buyers drive them extensively before purchase. Younger musicians, he says, underestimate the skill required to back up these monsters on city streets and in alleyways.
He says among the sharpest musicians he’s tried to help is veteran Austin musician Scott Biram, “who doesn’t want to tow anything out in front of Stubb’s,” Pistorius says. “He wants all the storage inside. That’s smart.”
Musicians make up only a fraction of his customers. Motocross riders travel — and temporarily live in — the toy haulers he sells. Pistorius has helped find new homes for customers whose full-time rigs burned to the ground. Recently, he assisted a film crew finding the right vehicle for a hair and makeup trailer.
“I mean, you name it and I have probably encountered it in this industry,” Pistorius says. “If I haven’t, I will probably will someday.”
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By Megan Ganey
September 11, 2010 2:15 PM | Link to this
This is a really interesting profile. Who would have thought that an RV salesman would have such an interesting life, and be so young.
By Raul Ramirez
September 4, 2010 7:27 PM | Link to this
Cool & interesting article! Justin worked with my brother, Chuck Ramirez, at RV Outlet Mall. Very nice, cool dude. It is great to read a "trendier / "generation X" perspective to the rv lifestyle! Way to go Justin! It is a great job when you are having a great time selling "FUN"!
Raul Ramirez
Sales Mgr
Fun Town RV
Cleburne, Tx.