“Get The Deposit, Head!”

Part 4 of Car Dealer Confessions…By Tug Pullman. 

Most new car dealerships have a very similar infrastructure. The Salesperson greets the customers, shows them the vehicles, takes them for a test drive and begins the paperwork. When the time comes to discuss price and payments, the Salesperson must go to the Desk Manager. 

The Desk Manager’s sole function is to get as much as possible for the vehicle. Many times it appears as though the Customer and salesperson are combining forces to get a good deal out of the Desk Manager. This is by design; classic “Good cop, Bad cop” rouse.

Unfortunately, for newer Salespeople who don’t know any better, the Desk Manager deceives the Salesperson into thinking it’s the best deal he’s willing to give the customer. They do this to ensure the Salesperson is convincing enough when pitching the deal to the Customer. They call this tactic “loading the Salesperson’s lips.”

To get a price and payment quote from the Desk Manager, at this new car franchise, you needed three things: A properly filled out buyers order with the customer’s information, a written commitment of what the customer will do today, and a deposit.

They teach this from day one in the training. These three things give the saleperson total control over the customer. If the customer says they are not buying today, you still get a written commitment.

As the trainer said, “Any customer will buy today for some price. If it’s a dollar down and a dollar per month, at least that’s a starting point.” The car dealership is just trying to take you out of shopping-mode and into negotiating-mode.

The problem arose for me when a customer saw one of our many “zero-down” commercials. Every one of our ads promised “zero-down.” This customer obviously didn’t want to put any money down - he repeated it several times. I was presented with a conundrum; I had to go to the Desk Manager with a commitment and deposit in order to get a price quote for my customer. How do I ask for a deposit when the customer clearly wants to put zero down as advertised?

I didn’t believe it to be very customer friendly to ask for a cash deposit just to get a price quote. So, I jotted down the customer’s commitment “Customer will take delivery today for zero down and $379 per month”. I trotted back to the Desk Manager with the paperwork and laid it down in front of him.

“Where’s your deposit, Head?” The Desk Manager called everybody Head; this was not a reference to my particular anatomy. “He wants to do the deal on TV, no money down”, I replied. “Still need a deposit to work a deal”, he said gruffly. So I returned to the customer. We had a fairly positive relationship up to his point, but me asking for a cash deposit to get a price quote didn’t go over well. Besides, he didn’t have any cash on him.

I returned to the “tower” (the raised platform in the showroom where the Desk Managers sit). “He doesn’t have any cash, and just wants a payment quote with no money down”. The Desk Manager looked at me for a second, and immediately paged my Manager.

Once my Manager arrived, he said, “This weak sister can’t get me a deposit, will you take a turn and show him how it’s done?” He was half-joking, but obviously trying to make a point.

The floor Manager’s role is what they call, in the car business, a “closer”. They go to the customer to get the deal done. They are trained negotiators and practice this skill constantly. What happened next was one of the most shocking things I witnessed in my short tenure.

The closer came out of the office with my customer’s watch. He actually took his watch as a deposit!

 When I asked how he did that, he casually replied he always gets something. Cell phones, wedding rings, even shoes! He entered the tower like a conquering hero as he presented the watch and revised commitment.

They looked at me and said “Now that’s how it’s done, Head!”

I thought to myself…Not in my world it isn’t.

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