Thread: Looking for Salesman and Good Sales experiences.

Dearest Dave

Little do you realize that you are actually the easy sale, when you come in with numbers ready for a "Car Guy" he is going to sell you, you are doing my job for me by telling me exactly what you want and how much you are going to pay... If your numbers are way outta line I am going to show you the real numbers and if you don't believe me I will let you walk "Most" dealers don't sell at a loss (there are certain times where a dealer might sell you a car at a small loss to make a sales quota bonus)

When you "Walk" it is actually you who are losing the deal, if you want the best "deal" simply look at the Sales Leader in the paper and go buy it for a new car/truck, that is the one that has been stripped of all profit, in fact at some dealerships the salesman that sells it gets a $50 ding because he was too weak to move them off that car
New Cars and Trucks are easy to buy at invoice, there is no trick, just ask to see the invoice, any reputable dealer will show it to you, and you can get it easy enough online anyway... Heck some dealers are even offering 1/2 of the holdback to make car deals..

Even used cars are easy to get a good deal on, with all the online resources on value out there.. The days of jacking the price over book are long gone... Dealerships make their money in the "Buy" on used..


You just have to make sure to have a Title Search done ie: Carfax et al to check the VIN and for any discrepancies and for salvage..


Car selling and buying has changed drastically with the advent of the internet there is no reason to make it adversarial..


Now the guy that does F&I hehehehe with that guy you better be on your toes, there is money to be made in the dealership in the F&I dept.

Simply put, anyone that walks into a dealership without first being Pre-qualified by their own Credit Union or Bank is a whale to be landed in F&I and even there you are protected by Federal Laws the days of stacking huge money in points are also done..

I usually buy just above invoice, like I said, I don't begrudge the dealer and the salesman to make at least a little. I'd like them to be there the next time I buy a car. I usually buy cars with no or near no options, aside possibly from something other than pressed steel wheels. I've already decided that before I go to the dealer, most options in cars are just the fastest depreciating parts and if you slice the numbers and consider how many times you actually use an option, you figure out that you would never actually pay the per use rate to do it.

I deleted some of my post earlier because it was a bit long winded, but, here's what I removed: I don't begrudge the dealer and the salesman the opportunity to make a few bucks. I tell them that on the phone - i also tell them i'll be in a hurry because i've got somewhere else to be - which is true...I'm going to be not at the dealership. I know what any of the incentives are at the time of the sale, and factor that into the cost, leaving the same share for the dealer that I would've left if it was the split between sticker and invoice. The dealer can keep the holdback, I'd like them to be able to leave the lights on, so the few hundred bucks they get from that, OK. I tell the salesperson that they will probably make more money on the average buyer than me, but not when they factor time in - they can be back out on the floor almost right away. I could go from dealer to dealer pushing until I got the last couple of hundred bucks off that I couldn't otherwise get, but it's not worth the trouble to me to do it. It's a lot easier to take $500 worth of options out of a car than it is to drive to separate dealers for a week or two and screw around guessing who will or will not change their answer from the time you hang up the phone until the time there's something in front of you to sign.

I usually figure that I'm leaving about $400-$500 of holdback (I don't buy expensive cars and don't buy used), giving a little bit over invoice and the sales guy will make a hundred bucks or two when all is said and done, and the dealer will make a little more than the holdback. Maybe I'll be less generous as I get older.

My cars never go back to the dealer after that (I do the service on them - another reason I don't begrudge them the opportunity to make a little bit on the sale), and I never step foot in F&I. I'm an actuary, there's no games they're going to play with me there - I can literally calculate the numbers they would try to give me on paper, anyway.

(Actually, I do have to go to F&I because they're the ones here who take my check and give me my title.)

Now, because of that, I think the dealer who can't go along with my plan loses. I should be considered an ideal customer. They stand to make some money, and they can get right back out on the floor, and i'm rarely looking for whatever is the "it" car at the time, so it's not like I'm taking some hot car off the lot that could be sold to a sucker at sticker.

That's probably enough summary to suggest why i have no interest in talking to a salesperson about anything other than the numbers in the deal, though. I've already estimated what I want to share with them when the deal is done.

There are people like me out there who are immune to salespeople, but not necessarily out of pure stinginess or rudeness, it's just the nature of the deal - i'm buying a car in a fair way, not camaraderie and definitely not competition where I'll tolerate someone floating a couple of whoppers to see if i'm stupid.

The greatest salesman in the world is the one who is the biggest failure, those who get rejected the most. It truly is a numbers game. Have hundreds, thousands, in your pipeline/funnel, and sales drip drip drip out

Originally Posted by AntiqueHoosier

The greatest salesman in the world is the one who is the biggest failure, those who get rejected the most. It truly is a numbers game. Have hundreds, thousands, in your pipeline/funnel, and sales drip drip drip out

Got to kiss a lot of frogs .

Mister DaveW, I wish you the best in your car-buying wizardry. How does that discuss the job of being a salesman or sales manager?

This is not a car-buyer how-to or (shopping) war story thread. Please note the difference. Thank you.

On the contrary, to reply to your post before you edited out all of the lecturing and accusations, the opinion might be quite useful as when you're fishing, take what the lake will give. If you're fishing for bass but only the sunfish are close to your boat, have sunfish fillets instead.

I quite liked the last salesman that I stopped at, the one who went right along and just sold me what I was looking for. Well enough to send two more buyers to him, and I'm sure he made more money off of them than he did me (though he hardly was cheated for his time in my deal with him).

To the original point, I'd say, when a buyer doesn't love the typical sales experience, work with them, they're probably still a buyer if you're willing to do that. That was my point in general to start with, that you have to listen to what people want - if they don't want what every paid guy who posts videos on youtube to try to sell his lectures to car dealers over (you know, the type who has the "have all of your sales guys in mid 6 figures and make money 5 different ways off of buyers", then don't try to foist the textbook "how to win at sales" recipe on the folks who are clearly really irritated by it.

Originally Posted by AntiqueHoosier

The greatest salesman in the world is the one who is the biggest failure, those who get rejected the most. It truly is a numbers game. Have hundreds, thousands, in your pipeline/funnel, and sales drip drip drip out

I agree. You cannot foster too many good honest non-combative relationships with customers, especially if you expect to be selling in the same place in five years. It's sometimes hard to count how the folks in the pipeline got there, but good will, keeping your work, and straight forward hard work on behalf of the customers counts for a lot.

Yeah, i never fish for bass and will eat the sunnies or use them to bait the jugs and lines for flatheads. But my favorite fishin' hole is the Gulf of Mexico, and there we take 'em as we catch 'em.

I've eaten everything from snapper to hardheads and blue crab. I'll try bonita the next time i catch one-some sushi guys love it. (nobody eats hardheads or bonita)

I ain't afraid of work and can fillet a sand flea.

Selling should be no prob.

Good and fine and dandy Dave. Carry on.

Well I'll say this, a good salesman should not only never speaks in absolutes (though you think she is), he should listen more than talk for fear of unknowingly (or in some cases knowingly lol) burning bridges.

Resolute is for people buying lol.