The Salesman Of The Moment

When you’re hot, you’re hot; when you’re not, you’re not. When it comes to selling cars, it’s a simple fact of life. Sales trainers say this is not true. They claim you can control your fate by skill and proper work habits. To a certain extent this is true, but in life a lot of things happen in cycles, and nowhere is this truer than in selling cars. Why this is is one of life’s great mysteries right up there with how they built the pyramids and where Chinese people buy their cars. It’s a fact of life, and no sales trainer can explain it away.

Let’s not talk about the “not” part of this equation. It’s a crap out, and I’m not in a crap out mood today. Let’s talk about the hot part. That perfect moment in time when you become “The Salesman of The Moment”.

I believe it was my brother, Danny, who coined this expression. He used it to describe a guy who can suddenly do no wrong. Back in the day, car dealerships regularly held “salesmen of the month” contests. If you won you got a spiff and one of those cheesy plaques with the silhouette of a guy in a hat and carrying a briefcase with your name engraved below it. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about those magic times when you get hot and everything you touch turns into a car deal. That’s what makes you “The Salesmen of The Moment”.

Everyone experiences this automotive equivalent to luck in a bottle. It happens to the best salesman and can even happen to the worst. Remember, what goes around, comes around, and when it comes around for you it’s the best moment in the world. You feel on fire, alive, and capable of doing just about everything.

Like a baseball player in the zone, the magic moment of being hot is a wonderful thing. Everyone you talk to wants to buy a car. It’s as if you can see hundred dollar bills plastered on their foreheads and all you have to do is pick them off. For a brief period, a day or two or maybe a week, no one is buried in their trade, everyone’s got good credit, and they all need a car today.

I remember one time when I was in the zone. I was selling Datsuns at the time. I delivered four fresh deals in one day. I was like a human sales vacuum cleaner. If you got anywhere near me, you were sucked in. In times like this I used to crow to the guys, “If anyone of you had any common sense, you’d throw me in a car and take me to Reno!”

More importantly than the sales, it’s the feeling you get when you’re suddenly “the guy”. Life becomes clearer; your vision is razor sharp. You’re ready to hit any fastball anyone wants to pitch at you. Girls check you out in bars, dogs want to lick your hand, babies coo at your gaze, and grocery clerks want to give you too much change. It’s the most wonderful feeling this side of being asked out by Penelope Cruz.

Even in down times like now this phenomenon can happen to you. And my advice is that when it happens you savor it and pump it for all you can. For when you look back on your life as a Car Man you can remember that time when the fireman paid nearly full list for that SUV, and you buried a real estate broker in a 66-month lease.

It never gets any better than that!


Talk to you later,



David