If there’s any common ‘stress factor’ in selling, it’s the process of finding prospects and converting them into buyers. Think about that for a moment – we do some form of ‘cold prospecting’ to generate an appointment, then use questioning to find needs and hopefully create interest, then present, propose, and close. It can be exhausting.
But what about leads that come to you, ready to buy? Most salespeople – including myself – would look at those buyers as easy pickings, especially if you have something specific that the customer wants to buy. It’s not that easy. One of the things that some salespeople are good at is snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. I had that experience a few days ago, except that I was a buyer – and the salesperson converted me into a non-buyer.
The story goes like this. I’m in the market for a used SUV, preferably an Escalade or a Denali. In fact, you could say a “well used” one; not anything too expensive. In doing a Craigslist search, I found one at a new car dealership (it was a trade-in) about a half hour outside of Dallas that was nice – an Escalade, good miles, my preferred color, everything. And as it so happens, I was taking a trip to San Diego to speak at a sales managers’ meeting (that’s where I’m writing this), and I could easily rebook my return flight to take me to Dallas, buy the Escalade, and drive it home.
I’m a buyer. The price is right and the car is right. Granted, I’m going to try to negotiate a bit, but I’m probably not going to be that difficult.
So, I called and spoke to an obviously young salesman, asked him a few questions, and then I had to go. He texted me an hour later and asked me if I had any more questions, so I texted him a reasonable offer, explaining that I’d need transportation from Love Field to his dealership, and when I’d be arriving if I rebooked my flight.
That’s where things went wrong. I was in the car business years ago and I understand the ‘go to my manager’ game. I hated it as a salesman and I hate it now as a customer.
His response went something like, “Boy, my general manager almost bit my head off when I presented that offer! He’s MAD! But I was able to get you $100 off.”
Good grief. They’re still doing that nonsense. First of all, I know that the GM wasn’t “mad” at all, he’s trying to bump me. Fair enough. But do they really think their customer is so dumb as to believe it?
I could recount the whole conversation by text – but I’d rather not. It was more of the same back-and-forth for the next 30 minutes, the dealer coming down little by little, and the young salesman trying to make me believe he was about to get fired.
I think the fact that it was by text made it worse, because I could keep reading the nonsense. But, at some point, I started thinking.
I thought about how much trust is involved in buying a used vehicle sight unseen – that the dealer is describing it accurately and that the pictures are a good representation.
I thought about the fact that, if the dealer weren’t trustworthy, I’d be an hour from the nearest airport with no return flight booked, facing a last-minute airfare, and my only transportation would be the dealer. In other words, I’d be at their mercy.
And they’d already shown themselves willing to stretch the truth and insult my intelligence during the sales process.
I texted, “Thanks for your time, but I’m no longer interested. I withdraw my offer.” Another, rather frantic “If I could” text came, and I said, “I won’t be responding to any more texts. I no longer wish to do business with you.”
I should interject this. I wasn’t being unreasonable; my offer basically allowed for the extra last-minute rebooking cost of my flight from San Diego. Which, also, isn’t the dealer’s problem. Had the salesperson come back with something like this, I’d be flying to Dallas tomorrow:
“Look, I understand that you want a discount. I also understand that an Escalade in this color, this year, these miles, and this price is a rare bird – that’s why you’re looking in Dallas and not Kansas City. If you’d like a little discount to feel good about it, I can do that and here’s my number – but I’m not going any lower because this thing will sell well.”
Not the ‘my GM is gonna fire me’ junk, just being straightforward. I’d have agreed that he was right and I’d have made a deal. That would have been respecting my intelligence. But when I started thinking about the trust needed to make a deal like this, sight unseen, dealer unmet, an hour away from an airport and 500 miles from home, I just decided that I didn’t have the necessary trust.
So, the next morning, you guessed it. I got a call from the fabled GM, who explained that he was just trying to help the poor young salesman, etc. I explained to the GM that the nonsense they did – which was obsolete when I had to do it in 1990 – broke the bonds of credibility and trust. I further said, “You successfully converted a buyer into a non-buyer.”
It might sound like I’m just bashing car salespeople. I am, directly, but indirectly, I’m talking about negotiation itself. I’ve said for years that the best negotiation is no negotiation. Negotiation forces the buyer to come up with reasons not to buy in order to have leverage – which I did, and those reasons finally overcame my reasons to want to buy. That doesn’t just happen in car sales; it happens in all business. So, what are my negotiation strategies?
- Give the buyer a fair price up front.
- Don’t say stuff that is insulting to the buyer’s intelligence.
- If you must negotiate, take something away. For instance, had they said, “We can meet your price, but we won’t be able to transport you from Love Field,” that would have been fair.
- Finish as quickly as possible.
