Selling Iron, Selling Dirt

Back in the day, many Car Men referred to the car business as selling iron. I’m not sure if this term has survived the years, especially since there is so little iron in modern cars, but you get the picture. Selling iron has a ring to it; kind of like aluminum siding guys say they their selling tin.

By the way the best movie I ever saw about Car Men was not about the auto business at all. The movie “Tin Men”, with their dynamic closers and the shenanigans they would get themselves into reminded me a lot of the high-flying closers of old. If you’ve never seen it, it’s worth checking out for the suits these guys wear alone!

Back to the point. I’ve always said that cars are nothing but iron with paint on it. The point being that no matter what the make of car or where it is built it is all essentially the same thing. You are selling iron and paint. The secret to success is being able to determine which iron to sell depending on fads and the economy. Ford Expedition iron, bad. Toyota Prius iron, good—though you have to put up with the extreme stuck-up assholes that buy them.

When I was a kid, there was a breed of car man that had dual careers. They sold iron; they sold dirt. Back in the late 60’s and early 70’s when the big thing was getting back to nature, large companies such as Boise Cascade bought up large tracks of land in the Sierras. The land was divided up into lots for vacation homes and such, but these companies didn’t sell cabins. They only sold the dirt.

There was a fairly large contingent of salesman that held both car sales and real estate licenses. In the spring and summer when the weather was agreeable they sold dirt. In the fall and winter (or when real estate sales were down) they sold Fords. I worked with several guys that did this, and what a crazy bunch they were!

I’ve mentioned before that all good car men were a little nuts, or extremely nuts in some instances. The type of guy who can easily move back in forth between two very different industries had to have a large amount of testicular fortitude. A drinking problem helped a little too. Correct timing was an essence, because if you didn’t time the market correctly it could cost you a lot.

What happened to the dirt guys? They’re still out there, or course, selling golf course lots at Lake Shastina and other developments. This type of selling is not easy and often requires a very heavy close. They make high-pressure car guys look like rookies.

A lot of car men think that CSI has taken all the fun out of selling cars. You can’t beat people up like you used too even if they deserve it. The high rollers of yore, the legends of our business can no longer operate with a free hand to impress the troops and disgust The Others. Sad, really.

And the refuge of selling dirt is no longer a viable option. That business has gone to crap, along with selling Fords. Car men hiding from a faltering economy have to find something else to do. Like selling annuities—

--and writing blogs.


Talk to you later,


David