"The Art of The Deal"

No, not that "Art of the Deal."  You're thinking of the best selling book by a successful businessman who just happened to go on to become President of the United States.  I'm talking about the art of the deal that goes into buying and selling a car.

Helping our daughter buy her first car was a very interesting experience this weekend.  We went to three dealerships and had two brand new salespeople.  One of them we had to help get through the experience, but we weren't able to get the numbers we needed so he didn't make his first sale.

The second new salesman got a lot of help from an experienced sales manager who did a very good job.  My daughter was trying to decide between one car he was selling and another one at another dealership.  When he asked her how much she wanted to pay for the car she told him $18 less per month than he was offering.  Going back to his desk he sent the new salesman out with a sheet of paper that was $15 less than his original offer and written on the paper was, congratulations-you win.  The salesman showed her the paper and stuck his hand out to shake her hand and that's where "the art of the deal" really came in.

My daughter left his hand hanging in the air for maybe two full minutes, before we decided she needed some time to think about it.  She didn't get any lower price on the other car, but she decided to go with the higher priced car.  The afternoon was frustrating and suspenseful and it ended up with a new car, but watching the sales process work and my daughter make her decision, was very entertaining.