The Laws Of Motion

My older brother, Danny, is now retired and living in North Carolina. We were talking on the phone the other day when the conversation turned to the car business. Danny explained his time-test formula for penciling a deal when it’s first brought to the desk.

“Send the salesman back at full list including the pack, and use a 12 chart (for determining the payment). Tell the salesman to present the pencil as written and then shut up, because sometimes the customer will say yes.”

Now I realize this is really old school, but it’s still correct, even though I don’t think formula quite works for today’s customers. First of all does anyone use a pack sticker anymore? Second, I always think it’s a good idea to discount the car at least a little on the first pencil. Even a token amount works wonders to soften a customer’s attitude.

As for as using a “12 chart” (12% add-on, which is roughly a 21.00% APR) that payment, given today’s car prices, is going to be crazy high and might cause a customer to launch. But packing the payment by using an elevated APR on the first pencil is still a good idea. Let’s them know who’s boss!

The most important part of his statement was to shut up. I’ve mentioned before that the “silent close” is the most important and effective close you can use with a customer. All too often a salesman will talk over his chance to hear his customer say yes to a pencil. So do as Danny advises; present the pencil and shut the hell up!

A car deal is a little like two kids on a teeter-totter. The balance of power goes back and forth between you and your customer. Many times a salesman takes too much responsibility for what’s going on in a deal. Remember, you’re not buying the car, the customer is. Let him feel the heat of the desk, not you, and let the desk take the heat from the customer. Your role is to be a very clever deliverer of messages, so don’t say anything that takes that power away from you!

In the old days, these powerful first pencils were a matter of course, and the beginning of a battle that could literally last for hours. These days, working under the specter of the dreaded CSI (Customer Satisfaction Index), we have all become wimps. Don’t want to piss anyone off! No, no! Don’t want to try and make a decent deal on that new car! Someone might complain.

Supposedly, CSI was introduced to tame the Wild Wild West that was once the car business. But who made the old school Car Men (and women) the people they were? If customers had approached buying a car in the same way they’d buy a new couch, our jobs would have been easier, and the various exotic ways we concocted to get the job done would never had been deployed. In other words: IT WAS THEIR FAULT, NOT OURS!”

Not that I’m prejudiced or anything like that.


That’s not to say that the business hasn’t seen its share of scoundrels, but what business hasn’t? I’m sure there are plenty of kinky heating and air conditioner salesmen out there!

A car deal is nothing more than a series of actions and reactions strung together. It’s like Newton’s third law of motion: “For every action, there’s an equal and opposite reaction.” Car Men react to a customer’s attitude. If they give us a chance to make a fair profit, we treat them with all the respect that’s due them. But if we’re presented with a car thief who wants nothing more than to screw us, we act accordingly.

And remember this: a good Car Man always wins, even if a deal ends badly. We will do what we can to make a deal, but sometimes the joy you feel when booting a particularly nasty customer off the lot is even better than the mini-commission you would have had to work an entire day to earn!

Now how’s that for old school!

Talk to you later,



David