I did a few months stint working on a used car lot for a friend of mine who had been one of the top salesmen at several of the local dealerships for years. He opened a small used car lot and I went to work for him.
One of the first things he told me to remember was “buyers are liars”. Explained about the “be back bus” as in “we’ll be back”. Then pointed out that one of the first lies out of the buyer’s mouth would be “this is the first place we’ve looked at”. Amazing how he predicted exactly how my first customers acted. LOL
He also told me that I could bodily throw anyone off the lot that I wanted to and he’d back me up. Said he’d done that at one lot. Almost felt like doing it many times.
Then there was the classic “Yeah but I can get it for X$ down at *dealer name*”. He gave me the response and I used it once. “Hey, go ahead and buy one for me too at that price”. Then I turned and walked away. The “customer” called after me, “Don’t you want to sell it?” I turned and said, “Yeah, but not to you” and walked off.
Believe me, as bad as people think car salesmen are - and there are definitely some that are totally sleazebags - the buyers are worse. I found out quickly that a lot of it is just a defensive reaction to the “buyers are liars” that they end up with every day, all day.
Reminds me of a story about an old codger who owned a small lumber company. A guy came in and asked him how much he was charging for 2X4 studs. The old man said “89 cents each.”
The customer said “The lumber company down the street has them for 69 cents.”
The old man said “Then I’d go buy a truck load of them if I was you.”
“They’re out of them.” replied the customer.
The old man said “Hell, I can give ‘em away when I’m out of ‘em.”