There are some excellent automobile salespeople. Perhaps not as many as in other professions, but some very good ones ply their trade. Or perhaps, since the car-buying experience is one during which we expect to be yanked around from the start, a good automobile sales representative yanks us around intentionally to ensure that our expectations are met. (Okay, I realize this is a stretch, but I'm trying to give them the benefit of the doubt.)
I hate buying cars! I don't like the game.
I had a sales representative at a car dealer once walk up to me and say, "She's a real beauty, don't you think? I can see you sittin' high and proud in that baby. Wanna test drive her?"
"No, thanks," I said. "I've driven one like her before. I know how she will handle."
He responded, apparently not noticing I was making fun of his description of her, "Want a Coke?"
"No, thanks," I said.
"We have a really big sale going on and our sales manager told us today to bring him any offer," he pressed.
The car was about $30,000, and I wasn't planning to spend more than $25,000. "No thanks," I said. "She's way out of my price range."
He pushed some more. "Oh, come on, make an offer. The manager is desperate; it's the end of the month. He said bring him any offer."
I wondered if he could be shooting me straight. Perhaps folks like Oprah and Dr. Phil were actually having an impact on the conscience of mankind. As a result of their syndicated talk show work, perhaps real estate salespeople have replaced those 20-year-old pictures of themselves on their business cards with current ones. Perhaps information technology (IT) people have dropped that "What did you do to it?" attitude when something goes wrong with your computer. Perhaps car salespeople have lost their "yank- you- around" demeanor that makes us all crazy.
