The $35 Car Deal...

I was standing outside the dealership, watching my latest customer drive off the lot in her new car.

She was an adorable little grandma who lived in a small town an hour outside of Austin, TX. We'd probably spent 4-5 hours together from the time she arrived on the lot that day to the time the delivery was done and she climbed excitedly behind the wheel of her new car. On the one hand, I felt a little sad...knowing I'd probably never see my new friend again. On the other hand, I felt elated. Because once the wheels of her vehicle touched the street next to the dealership, the car was hers...and there was no returning it!

She had just bought at $38,500 luxury SUV from me. I made $35 on the deal.

Here's the crazy part--earlier that very same week I had sold the EXACT same make & model of luxury SUV to a nice couple and made $1500 on that deal!

As I waved goodbye a final time to the grandma while she sped off, I remember wondering, "What was the difference between these two deals? What had this little granny done to save so much money compared to the nice couple?"

I didn't immediately know the answer. And I wouldn't know until some years later...and only after a great deal of study and exploration.

Instead, at that moment I was mentally calculating my largesse for the month. Although technically I only made $35 for selling her a $38,500 car, this was also a Saturday AND the last day of the month. This final sale put me over the top to earn Top Producer rights amongst all the salespeople...and with that honor came a several hundred dollar bonus.

In addition, we received an additional bonus of $100 for each car sold on a Saturday, so I added that to my running total. Beyond that, I would eventually get a small finance bonus and a special bonus of $150 from the manufacturer, since she'd bought one of their "incentive" vehicles for the month.

So I did all right on this deal.

Of course, I did all right on almost all my deals! I was an excellent salesman and had been doing it for a number of years. I got my start in sales as a Field Trainer for the legendary motivational guru and sales trainer, Tony Robbins...and was privileged to learn from one of the very best.

Then I moved my young family to the Washington, D.C. area for a while and had a successful run selling luxury cars. Later, I returned to Austin, TX and spent six years in Outside Sales, selling on-screen advertising for a major movie theatre chain to local businesses. And finally I had ended up at this new dealership, again selling quality cars. 

I learned quite a bit about the Sales Process during that nine-year journey. I read every sales book I could get my hands on. I listened to audio courses by top sales trainers. I attended seminars on selling and motivation whenever I could.

But as I stood there outside the dealership, contemplating my $35 deal, I realized that I knew very little about the other side of the equation--the Buying Process.

From my perspective, I liked the nice couple just as much as I liked the granny and worked just as hard (or so I thought!) in getting them a great deal. But somehow granny was just a Better Buyer than the couple and she somehow got a far better deal--without me being consciously aware of what she'd done.

So at that moment I decided to find out.

How could I become better at Buying things, especially high-ticket items like a new car or a house or whatever? Were there any strategies or secrets I could discover to save money no matter what product I was buying?

And if I could learn how to do this on a consistent basis, could I then share what I'd discovered with others so they could achieve the same results?

I left the dealership shortly after this experience to pursue some of my other professional interests, as well as to search for the answers to these burning questions.

Thus began a journey that lasted several years and took me into seemingly unrelated fields of hypnosis, group psychology, NLP and even the world of Pick-Up Artists--the so-called Seduction Community profiled brilliantly by Neil Straus in his "New York Times" Bestselling book, THE GAME.

This blog, as well as my upcoming ebook, HOW TO BUY A NEW CAR AT USED CAR PRICES, is the result of these years of exploration into the buying process.

My goal is to share with you the tips, strategies and techniques I uncovered. If you can eventually enter just about any buying situation without fear and with the certain knowledge beforehand that you'll be getting the best possible deal and save yourself money every single time, then both of us will be most happy indeed!

I really appreciate that you're joining me on this journey. Feel free to post Comments if any of these blog entries are useful to you or even drop me a note anytime!

Oh...and thanks for playing!