I’ve been like that Ground Hog recently… holed up in my office doing a zillion and one things. But yesterday I emerged just long enough to take the first step toward achieving a dream I’ve had since I was about 23.
What’s more, there is a serious marketing lesson in the experience I went through that I want to share with you.
First, I want to give you a heads up… tomorrow (Friday March 24th) I will be making a very special offer for just 7 people who want to go to Big Seminar for the first time… more on that in a minute.
Now on with my story…
I’m going on a road trip, starting in June, and my life may never be the same. I’ve dreamed of this for a long time but it’s taken until now for all the pieces to fall into place. What’s 14 years among friends…
Sometimes life doesn’t take the turn you thought it would… and you’re faced with a whole new road to travel. So it is with my new dream vehicle… which got me a ribbing by one of my friends who let me know I’d finally become a Texas Redneck.
Now, I had wanted to buy this beauty a few months ago… it’s a super machine that will push your eyes to the back of your sockets if you stomp on the pedal… the hand crafted race-bred engine simply sings louder the more you ask of it… and I’ve had my eye on one that looks like this….
Ah, that’s a beauty. BMW M3.
Had I bought that yesterday, my friend would not have accused me of being a Texas Redneck (an aging yuppie with a lead foot, perhaps… but not a Redneck)
Here was my dilemna… my dream is to drive across this great country in an RV or tow behind trailer… and the fact is this muscle bound convertible will NOT tow anything like what I need.
You’re a Redneck if… you dream of THIS…
This is simply the largest vehicle I have ever owned. In college I had a beat up pick up truck (Ford F150 4×4) for my landscaping business, but this monster is even bigger…
What’s amazing is the ‘cowboy leather’ seats in side (that’s what my kids call it). It’s the only vehicle with Castano leather.
If you had told me just a few years ago that I’d buy a top of the line truck with ’smooth as butter’ leather for about what it would have cost me to get that shiny M3… I’d have hurt myself laughing.
Roadtrip!
The dream come true is that this June I’ll be departing with my wife and three boys towing a big 5th wheel trailer and spend about 8 weeks on the road. About 4 weeks will be in Vermont, visiting family and friends… with a detour up north to Canada for Michel Fortin and Sylvie Charrier’s wedding in August.
If you have experience with 5th wheel trailers and want to drop me a line, please do. I’m considering renting one or buying one and need to feed my brain with savvy about what I’m looking for.
I can’t wait…
I’ll of course have my laptop with cell phone broadband card so I can post pics and stories to this blog as I go.
Marketing lesson…
This truck is brand new… which means I shopped around at the 4 or so local Ford dealers to test drive and compare. One guy, who was relatively new on the job, showed me around, was friendly enough, and I went back several times to explore different options during my search.
The reason I’m doing this now is that it’s ‘Truck Month’ and my sales guy told me they’d knock $10k off the sticker in factory incentives.
I was pretty sure I would either buy a new truck from him or a used one from eBay if I found something that hit the spot.
Well, when it came down to haggling, I sat down last Saturday with this guy and asked him to get me his best numbers. He said he was busy and shuffled me off on his trainee sales person who had literally 3 days on the job. At this point, I knew more than she did about the vehicle.
She was helpful and took my information as I waited for the price quote. When my original sales guy returned a while later he had a hand written breakdown of what they’d be willing to do… including a $5,000 down payment.
Here’s the thing, I had spoken with another dealer the day before and that sales guy, Rick, told me a price that was several thousand below what the first guy offered… and no down payment.
So, when I told the sales manager I was going to shop around, he picked up the paper with the pricing on it and I walked out, saying I’d call on Monday. Without that paper, I’d not be able to ’shop’ with any hard bargaining chips as all I had haggle with was my word. Needless to say, I noticed the gesture.
As it turns out, in Texas, car dealers can only be open one weekend day… and Rick was open on Sunday so I took my wife, Aimee, and the boys down to see him. He confirmed his price and had an attentive, no BS style. We looked at a couple identical trucks and never test drove anything.
Monday… I bought my truck from Rick. I even gave my original guy one more chance to come back with a serious offer (because I said I would give him a chance), but you know what he said? It was his day off and he’d have his trainee talk to me.
Wrong answer.
Why did Rick get the $50k sale and the original guy who spent all the time with me didn’t?
Relationship…
I’m no newbie when it comes to sales and marketing and I can spot BS pretty quickly. The original sales guy and his trainee simply didn’t recognize that I was serious when I said give me your best numbers… and played games when it came time to haggle…
If you’ve got a top of the line truck to sell… you need to listen to your customer and walk them through by the hand all the way to the sale. Don’t pawn them off on someone who can’t answer final buying questions… and then ignore the fact that you’re up against stiff competition.
The lesson I took away from this for me, and am now sharing with you, is that the business that comes across with a real, honest, no BS offer will beat a ‘too slick for their own good’ sales shark any day.
Substance outsells manipulation and games. I’ve been known to pay more from one salesperson for the same product just because I liked the person I was dealing with better.
In this case, the lower price from Rick was the way I discovered the games the original guy and his manager were playing… so I got the best price and the better dealership.
I see this sort of thing happening all the time online, especially in the Internet Marketing niche with affiliate promotions.
Sometimes I’ll see just one too many emails promoting the same thing… and I’ve become ‘BS Intolerant’.
I’ll buy any day from the person who tells me like it is and gives me a square deal. In fact, I love to buy stuff from people like that because I want to reward them for doing things right.
Be real… people will buy more from you. It’s that simple.
With that said… I will be making an irresistible offer tomorrow for 7 people who want to go to Big Seminar in Atlanta April 7th, 8th and 9th.
See, on Tuesday I have a special preview call with Armand Morin about email marketing… I’ll be giving you my straight up, no BS take on why I recommend this Seminar so strongly.
I know live events aren’t for everyone and I don’t want to post this limited offer on the blog. So, if you haven’t already done so… sign up for my VIP Seminar list here and tomorrow I’ll tell you all about what I’ve got cookin.
(When you sign up for the VIP Seminar list, you’ll instantly get a link where you can check out the seminar and sign up for the preview call with me and Armand on Tuesday, March 28th)
|
|
|---|
I’ve talked a lot about ‘breakthroughs’ recently and taking the first steps on this dream is a big deal for me.
It’s a milestone that represents FREEDOM to travel the country in a ‘home on the road’ with my family and see things most people don’t get to see.
Whatever your dream, I encourage you to reach for it… and not settle for anything less.
I’ve proven to myself beyond a shadow of a doubt that you can achieve whatever you dream.
All the best,
Craig
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey Craig, nice ride! :0)
Ron (and Rusty!) and I might see you on the road. We’re heading out from Arizona in about 3 weeks. Off to Florida, then D.C., then cross country to Idaho and Montana.
We’ve got a new ride too…should be here in a few days.
Can’t wait to get on the road with it and our 5W.
Let us know if you need any “road” advice!
Safe Travels,
Tina and Ron Lorenz
Well Craig, if you come anywhere near Kentucky, I’ll be here to ‘Neck it up with you. We’re professional ‘Necks here, not pretend ‘Necks like you !
Also, I did a post a while bak that detailed the difference between the two firms you dealt with. If you want to check it out, I’ll leave the URL.
http://simplenomics.com/the-secret-of-his-success/
Seriously, if you’re gonna get near Kentucky, gimme a shout, I travel the state as a Masonry Consultant and can steer you to the finer parts of our little ‘Neckdom !
You’re experience is not unusual. The big mistaken salesmen make is prejudging the prospective buyer as not being serious, the second is not giving the potential customer 100% attention, and third not recognizing who is really the important party in a potential deal. I thought you indicated this salesman had limited experience himself, what is he doing with an assistant? Apparently, teaching her to fail also. You are like most people, they also prefer to do business with no-BS, and gather the information them need to gain sufficient confidence in the product, have the real benefits and advantages of the products features demonstrated and explained, so they can make a decision. Hopefully the saleperson will still be allow to help the buyers to enjoy the emotional thrill of getting exactly what them want.
Craig, congratulations on your new “Texas Cadillac.” We have been RV’ing for 10 years this spring. We started out with a 3/4 ton suburban and a 32′ bumper pull trailer. We sold that and moved up to a F550 Ford Custom Truck and now pull a 37′ 5th wheel, Alpha Gold trailer. Our rig combined weight is about 23,000 empty and 25,000 loaded. We have taken off 3-4 weeks at a time and traveled and love this life style. We have an acre in the Dallas area and have a big metal building that we keep our trailer and truck under cover. We have traveled up to Montana and back and have gone to Florida and back with our family. We belong to Good Sam’s travel club and use their road side service and use the Trailer Life Directory to help plan out our trips and where the best RV parks are to stay at. We have full hookups at our place if you want to hook up your trailer and come and visit us. We have electrical, water and sewer. When we moved here we added on to the place and lived in our 5th wheel for awhile while we were building. This is a wonderful way to raise a family and see our beautiful country. We love RVing and can talk about it all day long!
The “dog lady”
Coleen Merk in Sachse, Tx
I am happy for you. It looks like a practical choice and I am sure much more safe to cart the family around in.
Hey Craig,
Love the truck. I think we should start holding our mastermind meetings in it.
Great lesson for salespeople here, though. You don’t have to be a marketer to see through most of the games being played in car dealerships these days. I despise the way dealerships turn what should be an enjoyable experience into something that makes your stomache grind.
Congratulations on finding Rick, who sounds like a winner. And congrats on the new truck, it looks good on you. I’ll have to turn you on to my salesman at Boot City, you’re going to need a wardrobe change.
Hi Craig,
Interesting article! Isn’t it amazing that many sales people are so ‘arrogant’ that they can’t spend a few minutes with their client to make sure they gve their client the best deal they can and that is not price, it’s personal attention!
If I were in your shoes I’d be tempted to inform the ‘boss’ of the dealership and the parent company of the attitude of their representatives – it may fall on deaf ears but who knows.
Re: your dream – GO FOR IT! and enjoy it. You only live once and many years ago I remember an old man in a pub saying to me “I only wish I could have done that when I was younger” – he could but never got off his Butt yo try. Life is what you make it and too many people expect life to come to them.
20 years ago I decided to go on a 6 month overland tour of Africa (despite not being given leave from my employer at the time) and I can telll you that it opened up my life in ways that you wouldn’t believe. On returning home to the UK I looked around and said to myself I want to g back to Africa so after a short three months sojurn in the UK there I was in South Africa with no job and very little money!
I’ve never looked back and lived there until two years ago when I was given the chance to work in China so of course I grabbed it with both hands. I’ve been here two years now and will soon be spending my time between Africa and China which are two countries I love – it only tales the will, the means will be found along the way.
Have a great trip – the education you and your family will receive is immeasurable. When you return back home plan your next one (if you haven’t already!) Make your life work for you!
All the best,
Stuart Elliott
Craig, it’s funny you should post your car-buying experience for us. I’ll wager that nearly every person reading this has endured similar experiences. I wish I would have gotten to you sooner! We just coupled with a 14 year veteran of the car business, an ex-General Manger, that has decided to TELL ALL about the car business and help us arm ourselves against these tricky little guys.
Seriously, when I interviewed Ken (his free product is (3) 20min interviews, his purchaseable product is over 8 hours of insider secrets) I didn’t realize what I was really in store for. I learned about all the ugliness, all of the deceptive things they do and say to really steal money right out of our pockets. You’ll learn about the whole “Truck Month” sale…and what it’s designed to do. You’ll learn why Rick took your offer and didn’t even haggle with you.
I know it’s too late for you to use this information for this purchase, but for you and everyone reading this that will ever buy or sell (oh, he teaches us the best way to sell or trade in our vehicles) another vehicle again in your life, this is MUST HAVE information.
I’m not trying to do TOO big of a sales plug here, but since you JUST went through this experience and thought enough of it to tell all of us about it, I wanted to help give people an avenue to a better, easier, and cheaper way to buy their cars from the dealerships.
Please help me arm consumers with this information…someone has to help out us little guys! LOL
Take care of your family and it’s been great to be involved in your life! I’ve enjoyed your blog very much! Have a great road trip!
Amy
Car Buying Tips
http://www.insidethelionsden.com