My wife and I just went to buy a new car … and left with our old one.

You can learn a lot about sales technique by seeing how it is done badly from the other side of the counter!

Let me set up the scenario:

1. We spent a good 20 minutes looking at the exact model we were interested in while making all the appropriate yummy noises and asking all the good questions.
2. The sales person was polite, reasonably knowledgeable and not at all pushy.
3. It was clear from the start that we wanted to buy, not just browse.
4. All the long time staff at the show room know us, as we have been customers years and have had all our cars serviced there.
5. There were no other customers in the place the entire time we were there.

This sale should have been easy!

Happy, loyal customers, who know exactly what they want, want it now, and are ready to pay?

Here is where the learnings come in. There were several good reasons why we did NOT buy:

• Trust – We were ready to buy, we had a rapport with the sales person … why do they go and do all those well-known car-sales tricks of calling the boss or disappearing into a closed-door office for 30mins? If you already have a sale, why the shenanigans? Deal with us face to face and with some transparency. We know you have to make a profit and we are willing to pay, why the tactics?
• Price – All we ask is for a fair price. Once you start doing the sales voodoo where numbers seem to become plastic and imaginary my eyes glaze and I start to doubt anything you say. I’m not there to haggle, tell me how much and where to sign. If the price is different from listed you had better give me a good reason.
• Configuration – And once you give me a price, don’t up-sell me crap I don’t need or that should be built-in. When we said we want a certain model and colour (picked from your brochure no less), don’t try to sell me an entirely different car that just happens to be 20% more expensive but clouded in mysterious jargon and brand names so I can’t make a fair cost comparison.
• Urgency – Did I already mention we were ready to buy? Why the fake urgency? I don’t have to make this deal today, no matter what you or your “boss” say.
• Logistics – And after creating false urgency you make out we have to wait some crazy delay. When you have no customers and the model isn’t even new.

Sometimes a good sales approach is simply supplying the facts and getting out of the way:

1. What you are offering
2. The price
3. How to get it

Why do people always try to squeeze that extra buck and spoil the sale in the process?