Negotiating face to face is very rare in the real estate world. Most of the time buyers and sellers have agents who act as the intermediaries. Even if the agents for the buyer and the seller were sitting at a table, neither is empowered to act without consulting their clients. Most real estate negotiations are extended affairs that take days and involve plenty of discussion.
Buying a car is a different experience – the buyer is face to face with the seller. Or at least someone working for the seller who is empowered to make pricing decisions. It’s a whole different style of negotiating, and as I recently learned, doubles as a graduate level course in manipulation.
Here are my 5 favorite techniques that the sales associate and the business manager used to try to influence me, some subtle and others quite overt:
5. Good Cop, Bad Cop: The sales associate started out as the good cop, with the business manager as the bad cop, which is traditional. Later the business manager transitioned to the good side and the “owner” became the bad cop. It’s a classic strategy that everyone knows, and is fun to play along with.
4. Silent Treatment: After the business manager had joined us around the negotiating table, they tried the silent treatment on me. I’m a huge fan of the silent treatment as a strategy because it’s simple and often effective – some people get really rattled by just being quiet. I enjoyed the quiet for a moment, meeting their gaze, but then had to call their bluff by moving to wrap up the discussion.
3. Thick Permanent Marker: The business manager wrote the dealer’s official counter offers using a thick green marker and large font. It was intended to look very final – that’s the lowest price they can offer. As an added bonus, he also wrote numbers out to the ones place, which was supposed to signal that his counter had much more careful thought behind it than my bids that ended in three zeros. I like these techniques because they are much more subtle attempts to influence than the others.
2. Isolate & Pressure: They really wanted to keep me sitting at the negotiation table free from distractions. With no communication with the outside world, they could try to control what information I had available to me. That wasn’t very successful since I consulted my iPad each time the sales associate visited the business manager, but whatever. What won the prize was when they actually discouraged me from calling Amy, saying something like, “If she trusts and respects you, then she’ll be fine with you agreeing to a deal right now without consulting her.” Are they specifically trying to cause marital strife? I wonder how many angry spouses they have to deal with?
1. Appeal to my Vanity: There were two models I was considering, one slightly larger than the other. They wanted me to buy the larger car, presumably because it cost a little more and they would make more money. I would shift the conversation to the smaller one when they were signaling that they couldn’t reduce the price of the larger one any more. The first couple times that convinced them to lower the price of the larger car a little more and keep the discussion going. But on one occasion they instead tried to sell me on paying more for the larger car because it was the “big boy car.” They went on to explain how I would make a much better impression if I “rolled up” in the larger car. That was easily the highlight of my negotiation. First of all, it was a bogus argument because I’m confident that 99% of people either wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between the two cars or wouldn’t care. But what really amused me was the absurdity of actually hearing them say “big boy car.” Does this nonsense actually work?
The day after all of this happened I made a quick list of all the ways they tried to manipulate me, and got up to 17. Just about everything about my visit was geared towards closing the deal before I walked out the door. Both the sales associate and business manager were good at their jobs, and they succeeded. I’m confident they made money, otherwise they wouldn’t have sold me the car, but am also confident that I paid a fair price.
The best part of these techniques is that they can be played in reverse. The next time I go car shopping I’m going to have Amy be the bad cop that I have to consult by phone, I’m going to definitely use the silent treatment first, I’m going to bring a giant red marker to write my bids with, and I’m going to sell them on how great they’ll feel when they close the deal.
With mind games like these, how can car shopping not be fun?!
There are several reasons why I didn’t want to go on your car shopping adventure. Your post just reinforces my decision. Did they really say “big boy car?” You hadn’t told me about that. I probably would have vomited on the table if I was there and they said that. My favorite part was when I went in later in the day and the finance manager referred to me as “girl” within 30 seconds of meeting with me. I’m looking forward to when we do this again so I can be the “crazy wife” on the other end of the phone.
No question, the best part of your strategy will be using the big red marker. I’ll even purchase one for your use, a sharpie Magnum.
I was looking at cars last month, they pulled #2 through #5 on me, and we eventually walked out. The “silent treatment” for me was more like a “stare down,” I think I laughed at him, and threatened to leave, then followed through on it when he didn’t get the hint.
I ended up getting a better deal on the same car somewhere else a week later, this time I pre-negotiated the sale price before I drove out there.
Amy: Yes, they really said big boy car, and it was really hard to keep a straight face.
Brooks: I actually have a big red sharpie and was kicking myself that I didn’t bring it!
Rob: Nice to hear that I’m not the only one who thinks some of the stunts they pull are funny … it’s just such a crazy experience. Sounds like that first guy lost out on a sale because he was too ridiculous, and I’m glad you were able to improve your deal.
Hi Kyle,
Congrats on your new “big boy” car. Do you need a handcrank to start it up, or just push, like the Flintstones? =) I, like Amy, would’ve vomited all over the showroom demo, just to make a point. Car salesmen are like gnats on a nice, summer evening…can’t seem to get rid of them, and they tend to ruin the experience.
Also, depending on what “status” your car represents (European, Japanese, American), would they use different tactics? And, if the car is more expensive, does the dealership employ more sophisticated tactics or just appeal to your snobbiness? I’m really curious about high-brow culture at car dealerships.
I vaguely remember Amy’s car purchasing experience, with the dealership constantly reminding her that “this” society is a male-dominated society, and that she is just a “girl”. How quaint.
Hey Nick. Our experiences in car buying have definitely made it seem like showrooms are very different from the real world. And in that world Amy is a second class citizen, even if she’s the actual decision maker. Kinda sad. I would think that attitude ultimately hurts their bottom line … or maybe it suggests that women are better negotiators (so they marginalize them and deal with the dumb men).
A friend and I walked out of the office of one used car lot, perfectly fine with passing on a lowish-mileage car for an okay, but not awesome, price. The manager trotted across the lot as we were about to pull out and offered a lower price through the closed window of the car we were driving. That was satisfying.