Chapter 10: The Five-Minute Car Deal And More Real-Life Adventures


A hostage negotiator looks at some real-life negotiation problems.

Once upon a time there was a man who wanted to buy a car. Nothing too fancy—it was your basic, everyday family sedan. He took out a piece of paper, folded it in half, and then wrote out what he absolutely needed and what he wanted. He thought hard—really hard—about how much he could afford and where the money would come from. He then began going through car magazines to see what the possibilities were. He narrowed his choices down to three vehicles, then did some research on car prices.

Along the way he discovered that sticker prices are actually several thousand dollars more than invoice prices—in other words, he saw that dealers pay one price, the invoice, and then put another, the sticker, on the car. Thanks to the Internet, he had no problem getting a ballpark figure on what the three cars he was looking at would actually cost the dealer. He knew that his numbers didn’t include some of the discounts that the dealer also obtained, but he nonetheless had a rough idea of the dealer’s cost going in. Realizing that the dealer had to make some money on the sale, he did a bit more research and was able to get a realistic idea of a fair price for each vehicle. In this case, it worked out almost exactly to $500 more than the invoice, after a series of other incentives were subtracted.

He then went for some test drives in the cars, carefully saying he was just looking and getting a feel for what he wanted. The test drives helped him prioritize his wish list. They also gave him an idea of what the different dealerships were like, and reinforced what he had heard about how sales of the particular models were going. At the car lot stocked with Brand X, he was just about knocked over by salesmen in the empty showroom when he walked in the door. Looking at Brand Z, in contrast, he practically had to shout to get any attention.

The research done, he made his plans and went forth to negotiate. He went to the dealer—Brand Y, as it turned out—found the salesman who had arranged for his test drive, and sat down at his desk.

“I want to buy a Brand Y,” he told him. “I want the car. I’m ready to buy, and I want to do it today—actually, in the next fifteen minutes. I’m willing to pay this.”

“This” was the fair price he had determined earlier.

The salesman blinked a second, then started on some spiel he’d been taught during his job orientation training six or seven months before.

“No, here’s the thing,” said the buyer. “I want to buy, but I only have fifteen minutes. I’ll pay this.”

The salesman blinked again, then excused himself, got up and went to talk to the sales manager. The deal was done within fifteen minutes.




Negotiate and Win. Proven Strategies from the NYPD's Top Hostage Negotiator
Negotiate and Win: Proven Strategies from the NYPDs Top Hostage Negotiator
ISBN: 0071737774
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2003
Pages: 180

flylib.com © 2008-2017.
If you may any questions please contact us: flylib@qtcs.net