Contents

Preface iv

Who I Am . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

Why You Need This Book . . . . . vi

Introduction 1

5 Habits of Successful Car Salesmen 1

Sales Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Promotion Chain . . . . . . . . . . 6

Incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Step 1: The Greeting 9

The First Sign of Resistance . . . . 9

The 3 Selling Signals . . . . . . . . 11

The Specials: Lies or Not? . . . . . 11

The 3 Questions Salesmen Hate . . 13

Other Greeting Methods . . . . . . 16

Step 2: It’s All About You 19

The 3 Reasons To Get You Inside . 19

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Step 3: Paperwork 23The Boring Side of Paperwork . . . 23The Strategic Side of Paperwork . . 26

Step 4: The Presentation 28The 3 Minute Drill . . . . . . . . . 28

Step 5: The Test Drive 313 Steps To Overcome Your Resistance 32The Best Way to Say No . . . . . . 33The Two Types of Test Drives . . . 33The First Closing Attempt . . . . . 35The 4 Types of Buyers . . . . . . . 36

The Spontaneous Buyer . . . 37The Analyzer . . . . . . . . . 39The Slick Buyer . . . . . . . . 41The Deflecter . . . . . . . . . 43

Step 6: Negotiations 47Is the Salesman Clueless? . . . . . 48Good Cop, Bad Cop . . . . . . . . 50The 4-square Worksheet . . . . . . 53Negotiations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56

What’s Going On Back There? 56Commitment & Approval . . . . . 58Business Office . . . . . . . . . . . 59

Who Is the Finance Manager? 59What Is a Finance Manager? 60Don’t Let Your Guard Down . 61Commissions . . . . . . . . . 62

CONTENTS iii

Step 7: Do We Have a Deal? 64The Wave Goodbye . . . . . . . . . 64Referrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65

Step 8: The Follow-Up 66The Bait to Get You Back In . . . 67

Prepare Yourself: 4 Things To Know 69Step 1: Know Yourself . . . . . . . 69Step 2: Know What a Good Deal Is 73

Regional Prices . . . . . . . . 73Rebates and Incentives . . . . 74Target Buying Price . . . . . 75

Step 3: Know the Cost of Money . 76Apply Before You Go . . . . . 77

Step 4: Know Your Options . . . . 78

Conclusion 81Summary of Lessons . . . . . . . . 81Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83Closing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84

Preface

Who I Am

As I walked into the hotel room, packed withat least fifty other prospective car salesmen,I swiftly caught scents of cheap cologne andsweat. Now, after two months of unemploy-ment in a new city, I was ready to beg foremployment table scraps.

How my life had changed. Just monthsbefore, I was working as an engineer in aFortune 500 Company. My wife and I hadquit our jobs and moved across the countryto pursue our graduate school goals.

I was always nervous during engineeringinterviews because it’s so easy to get caughtoff-guard by convoluted physics concepts andapplications. I mean, how am I supposed toremember everything about semiconductortheory when I’m face-to-face with a veteran

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engineer?But back to my story. I had to laugh

about the car sales interview process. I wasasked the following four questions repeat-edly in two rounds of interviews. Includedhere are my actual responses and my inter-nal monologue.

1. Have you ever had a DUI?

Nope.

Huh? Is this seriously a real interview,or am I on Candid Camera?

2. Do you have a reasonable meansof transportation?

Uh, yes.

How would I have gotten here other-wise?

3. Can you do basic math?

Yes, sir.

Did you even look at my resume?

4. Why do you want to be a car sales-man?

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I like cars and I want to learn to sellthem.

The bar hasn’t been set very high sofar. Are you sure this question is nec-essary?

Believe it or not, the group of over fifty dwin-dled down to 10-15 candidates with thosefour questions. This was going to be an in-teresting job.

Why You Need This Book

Let’s face it, a car dealership is not a funplace to be. Sure there’s plenty of shiny newmetal out on the lot to drool over, but whatreally happens when you go to a car deal-ership? You try your best to not get com-pletely screwed. That’s exactly why I wrotethis book.

During my time in car sales I found thatmost people were woefully uninformed aboutthe car buying process and too trusting oftheir salesman. Though I will tell you thesteps you should follow to buy a car, my goalis to put you inside the mind of a car sales-

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man. As soon as you see the habits, incen-tives, and motives behind everything a carsalesman does, you’ll be truly prepared tobuy your next car.

I always felt bad for the people I was sell-ing cars to. I knew that they didn’t havethe basic knowledge necessary to make aninformed decision about their car purchase;a purchase that amounts to most people’ssecond largest purchase of their lifetime.

After quitting the car sales business overa moral dilemma, I decided to publish mythoughts and provide help to the side of thecar deal that needs it most: the buyer’s side.

Step 1: TheGreeting

The car salesman will welcome you to thedealership and ask what you’re looking for.The first response of most buyers is a politeobjection, such as:

“I’m just looking for now. Thanks.”

The First Sign of Resistance

Your salesman expects to hear this from you.He will respond in a way that will soften yourresistance, for example:

“Great! Let me quickly show youour specials and then you can lookaround the lot all you want. Fol-low me.”

10 Step 1: The Greeting

Now let’s break down this response intoits 4 parts, so you understand why he’s say-ing this to you.

Pt. 1 Respond energetically. “Great!”

Pt. 2 Soften any resistance. “Let me quicklyshow you our specials and then you canlook around the lot all you want.”

Pt. 3 Make a call to action. “Follow me.”

Pt. 4 Walk away

If you follow the salesman, you’ve justgiven him what he wants most: control. Thismay seem inconsequential, but if he can getyou to change your mind from “just look-ing around” to following him around the carlot, he knows he’s 25% closer to sending youhome in a car today.

Lesson Two:How Does The Salesman View You?

Your car salesman knows that you spendmost of your life being told what to do bybosses, co-workers, and even family membersand friends. He knows that if he authorita-tively tells you to follow him and walks awayfrom you, your gut reaction will be to do whatyou’re told and follow him.