The LAST car I ever sold

            So in my time as an internet sales manager at a Ford store I had a lot of strange contacts.  You would think that people who are trying to save time by conducting most of the transaction online would want to keep things simple.  On the contrary most of the people who started shopping for a car online made it more complicated and challenging than if they would have just stopped in and said hello.

            Having said that there are certain times when you simply can’t help but make it more complicated than it needs to be.  For example, if you’re in an active combat zone and you’re trying to buy a car for a surprise visit stateside.  That is where the last car I will ever sell started.

            I got an email lead one day through our USAA lead source.  I took special care of these leads as they were usually members of our armed forces or their families.  Regardless I respect what they do for our country and wanted to give them every possible courtesy as thanks for their sacrifices.

            The email I got was from a young man who wanted to buy a black on black California special Mustang GT 5.0, manual we had on the lot.  It was one hell of a sexy looking car and from the day it showed up I kept checking in on it whenever it was within eye sight.

            The USAA pricing made things super easy for us.  At the time it also meant that I was only going to make $150 on the deal because of the overly aggressive pricing my (now fired) GM had put on these deals.  The price was the price and the rest was just pushing paperwork through.

            At first it was emails back and fourth making sure the car had the right features and options.  I noticed the emails had “declassified” on them and made it a point to jokingly ask my customer what was going on.  He told me he was in a forward operating base in Afghanistan and the emails had to go through a screening process to make sure he wasn’t giving out intelligence. 

            Finally after several emails I told the young Marine he was welcome to call me, day or night, either at the dealership or on my cell phone.  I know he would only get a small window to do so and I worked crazy hours so something had to line up.

            The next day I get a phone call from a “kid” with lots of “yes sir” and “no sir” answers…I knew right away it was the Marine.  He told me he wanted to buy the car and drive it to his sisters wedding in 3 months as a surprise.  I told him what we would need to do in order to make that happen with power of attorney and a deposit.  As soon as I said “deposit” he said “oh shit” and abruptly hung up.

            Not having a way to call him back I wrote him an email and explained the steps on what he needed to do.  The next morning I returned to work to find a reply in my inbox saying “sorry about that…we were taking mortars and I had to get to cover.  Is the car still there?!”.  I sat staring at my screen for a few minutes letting that sink in.  This “kid” was more concerned about blowing his mustang deal than he was getting killed by mortar rounds.

            His mom had to get in the mix as the stateside power of attorney and she collaborated with me to send all the documents we needed.  When we had the paperwork together I told him all we needed now was the deposit.  I got 3 emails in rapid succession with his credit card info on them.  About an hour later I get a call from him.  “Hey did you get those emails?  I was in my can, on a toilet, with the fob out the vent hole, trying to get a wifi signal while we took more rounds.  F@$kin’ Taliban”  (“can” was the concrete bunker he lived in.  Apparently there was a vent hole they Marines figured out had a wifi signal if you could see the communication bunker)  He had been hitting the send button over and over again to make sure the email got sent.

            At this point the car was his.  We sent a courier up to his family in South Dakota to discretely have his mom sign the paperwork.  His dad, a long haul trucker was on the road at the time so it was perfect.  The Marine emailed me saying his dad would be in Omaha that weekend dropping off a load of cattle and he wanted to see the car.  “Now remember, my dad doesn’t know I’ve already bought the car so just act like I’m still considering it.”  I agree to meet his dad on Sunday, when the dealership was closed, to take him for a ride.

            Sure enough Sunday afternoon his dad pulls up in a truck with a load of cattle.  If you’ve never smelled someone who hauls cattle before it takes a few days to get it out of your nose and mouth.  It’s a very “earthy” smell and I knew this going in…but this guys story had me hooked.  We took a test drive and his dad smiled the whole time, he was loving every second of the drive.  “Well shit…guess I’m not a Camero guy anymore!”  I parked the car and told him we’d have to get back in touch with his son and see if we could work out numbers.

            I put a sign in the cars windshield for the next 3 months.  “Welcome Home Marine  SOLD”  We made it a point to walk people past the car to show them how we took care of our armed forces.  I kept the keys in my desk and had him send me a letter stating I was allowed to retain ownership and/or operate the vehicle as needed to facilitate his ownership.  I didn’t want my “evil” manager or my less than bright GM saying I stole the car.  At this point I had also made up my mind to quit after I delivered the car to the Marine.

            The final week rolled around and I get flight times for his arrival into the Omaha Airport.  Friday at 1pm I was going to deliver the car and then on my return to the dealership I was going to quit.  I told a friend of mine the night before for some reason and she told my GM the next morning.

            Friday morning rolls around and I’m rather chipper knowing I’m hours away from being done.  Our GM calls an all sales meeting after his morning beating of the other managers.  He went through the room checking our schedules making sure we had coverage and then dismissed everyone except me and 2 of the other managers.  “I know today is your last day…I’ve known this for some time.”  He said.  (total lie and just positioning)  We go through a laundry list of things about how I’m doing, what’s wrong, where am I going…etc.  My responses by the way were:  “I’m pissed off every day and taking sleeping aides at lunch to calm down”, “I make $150 a car with the internet pricing you put in place so I’m broke”, and “I have NO IDEA but at least its not here”.

            I but a great big bow on top with a middle finger with this one, “I would have quit 3 months ago but I promised a Marine in Afghanistan I’d pick him up in his Mustang at the airport so he can surprise his family.  (I actually had the letter in my pocket stating I could do this…just in case)  I made a promise to a man who is fighting a war…I intend to keep it.  His flight gets in at 1pm…then I’m done.”

            He makes a few more petty attempts to keep me on and I blow it off.  As I’m walking out one of the other managers shakes my hand and said “that was awesome”.  (he quit a month or two later as well)  I was “allowed” to deliver the car but wasn’t supposed to return afterward.  A lot porter and friend of mine helped me get my car downtown to my place and give me a ride back so I had nothing left there.

            I got in the Mustang and drove it to the airport later that day.  I’m not sure if it was the sense of finally being free of the nightmare that was that job or if it was the V8 under my foot…but that drive felt amazing!  I pulled up to the gate right as I got a text from the Marine.  “Out front”

            He wasn’t hard to miss on the street.  “Jarhead” haircut, built like a brick shit house, and holding a green duffle bag over his shoulder.  I revved the engine a few times as I entered the concrete “canyon” where you pick people up.  The smile on this guys face said it all.

            “Corporal, I believe this is your car sir.”  As he walked over a group of guys blurted out “NICE CAR BUDDY!!!”  “Its his…as of right now.”  And with that I put the keys in his hand and shook the other.

            He spent the next 5 minutes in awe.  So much so that the airport police told us we had to leave and I had to drive because he hadn’t driven stick in a few years.  I drove it like I owned it…but I definitely gave the car an opportunity to show what it could do.

            We pulled up outside my girlfriends condo downtown.  I showed him how to work everything and paired his phone.  I gave him a few recommendations on places to eat in town if he was hungry and pointed him in the direction of the interstate to get driving to his sisters wedding.  “How will you get home sir?” he said as I closed the door from outside.

            “Actually I’m going to walk home…I quit this morning.  This is the last car I will ever sell.  I made you a promise 3 months ago and have been waiting for this day.  Now have a safe trip home Marine, enjoy your family.” 

After a few “seriously!??!” comments and he realized I was serious about the whole deal he got out of the car, walked around to my side and gave me what I can only describe as the most profoundly grateful handshake I have ever had. 

As I walked the few blocks back to my apartment I heard the sound of a 5.0 V8 coming dangerously close to the redline and a less than perfect shift into 3^rd disappear onto the onramp of the interstate.

Months later when he was home for good, I got a sheepish text from him asking how to reset his phone in the car.  He apparently didn’t feel right calling the dealership and asking them how to do it.  Honestly, I was just glad to hear the guy was home safe so I had no problem helping out one last time.

So why post this in this blog?  Its simple, integrity.  I worked in an industry where everyone…I mean EVERYONE thinks you’re a crook or you’re lying.  It is one of the reasons I got so angry all the time.  When I told them something I wasn’t lying…it was the truth, but was called a liar on an hourly basis in many different ways.  Other salespeople may not have had the integrity to do the right thing and help this kid buy the car.  It took months, logistics were a nightmare, and I jumped through more hoops than any other deal I did as a car salesman.  But at the end of the day I made that Marines dream come true and his family got a moment that can never be recreated.  Me…the lying cheating no good car salesman…a man of integrity did that.  Whenever I think back to all the horrible things I experienced in my time as a car salesman they all go away when I think of that black on black California special Mustang GT.

The virtues of selling on value vs. price.

            When I was working for New York Life Insurance Company I had a client who gave me a whole new perspective in one case.  The perspective he gave me has changed the way I sold things from that day forward.  Its also changed the way I purchase things on my own behalf.

            I’ll spare you the details but I lucked into having a client who needed a long term care insurance policy.  Long term care, for those who don’t know, is a policy that pays for your nursing care in your later years.  Its cheaper to have you stay in your home than a skilled nursing center so these policies and companies fight to keep you at home as long as you can.  There are even tax incentives to make purchasing one of these policies more appealing.

            This particular client was someone who knew me from when I was a kid.  Honestly, I think he took the meeting because he wanted to help my career out and I was the rookie.  Regardless of the outcome I knew the experience would help me grow as an agent.

            I’ve always been a fan of being an expert in what your good at.  If you’re not an expert, know someone who is and get them involved when you’re out of your depth.  Nobody will ever complain you brought a specialist in to work on something important to get right.  Our office had a long term care (LTC) specialist and I brought her in to help me work the case.

            When we sat down with the client and his wife she instantly started to go through her somewhat scripted process.  She normally worked with clients who could afford the policies but were more focused on the daily aspects of living.  This particular client had been a CEO for years and was the President of a company at the time.

            When she started asking questions designed to illustrate a gap in your current plan her presentation fell apart.  “If you were sick where would you go?”  Most people respond with “a doctor” but this guy responded with a specific doctors name.  “If your house had mold what would you do?”  Most people would call a mold specialist, however, this client had a general handyman he had worked with for years and used his name.  “If your car was broken where would you take it?”  Again, the obvious answer is “a mechanic” but he not only said the specific dealership name but the salesman who handled things like this for him. 

            After some laughing at how “squared away” he was she was afraid to read her final question.  I knew there was one more question because I could see it on her printed notes in front of her.  I stepped in at this point, “Lets assume you didn’t have these contacts or knew exactly where to go to solve a problem…wouldn’t it be worth while to have someone you trust give you direction?”  He got where she was going and we got back on track.

            After laying out how the policies work and what was covered we came to the dreaded “money” question.  “Now, we agree these are valuable features in the policy, right?”  You could hear how uneasy she was after being thrown off her script.  “How much would you be willing to invest in a policy like this?”  And with that she sat quiet.

            For those of you who don’t know this rule its an amazing technique.  When you’re negotiating and you lay out your solution, whatever it is, stop talking.  “The first person to talk looses.” Was what an old sales manager once told me.  He and I stared at a piece of paper, with a customer, in total silence, for 45 minutes once.  The customer ended up buying the car and I learned a huge lesson on the “hard sale”.

            However, this wasn’t your easily closed client.  He thought about it, I think he recognized the technique, and then after a few seconds said.  “If its worth it, I’ll pay it.”  I was surprised to hear that come out of his mouth but I began to understand it.  Meanwhile my “specialist” restated the question and fumbled through trying to get a number commitment.  “Look, I don’t want my children to have to take care of me and my wife when we’re older.  This policy does that and more.  If you can show me enough value in the policy, I don’t care what it costs…because its worth it.”

            After I picked up the ball from where my slack jawed “specialist” left things we concluded our meeting and agreed to meet up again in a week with our solution.  We went back into our cubicle bullpen for new agents and began to recap the meeting.

            A few days go by and we meet to go over the plan.  She had 3 plans laid out that were a few hundred dollars a month and fairly modest benefit periods.  I had played around with the software and knew there was an “Unlimited/Unlimited” option for the policy.  Basically, the policy paid out unlimited funds for an unlimited benefit period.  If you triggered the policy you were taken care of in the very best way possible. 

            “Lets show them that…its what he wants”  We argued for a half an hour and she was afraid to scare him out of the room with the premiums.  The premiums were more than some mortgage payments, but the value was there.

            I knew my cohort would chicken out so I printed out the unlimited/unlimited policy information.  We went in and sure enough, she presented the smaller policies.  The client had a look of disappointment on his face and it felt like he was choosing the lesser of the three evils put in front of him.  “There is one more option I want to show you.  In my opinion this is the highest bang for your buck in a policy like this.”  I explained how the unlimited/unlimited policy worked while my “specialist” shook in her boots.  I finished up going over the policy and said, “Was I correct in thinking that the kind of value you were looking for in a policy?”

            Immediately after I finished my sentence he looked at his wife and smiled.  “This means we’re taken care of until we die and the kids don’t have to take care of us unless they want to.  That’s what we talked about right?”  She had tears in her eyes and held his hand and nodded.  He looked back at me and said “Yup…lets write it up”.

            With my first long term care sale I was the salesman of the month in our region.  It was my ONLY long term care sale in my time there, but still.  It was a huge victory for a rookie agent.

            The lesson I learned was to sell based on the value of a product, not the price.  The more value you build in something the harder it is to say “no” to.  Admittedly, I got lucky with this instance by having someone who could afford the policy, but the premise is the same. 

            As I went on from the insurance world I found myself doing everything I could to add value to what I was selling.  Occasionally I would lose a customer or client in a price battle.  But they were typically difficult people who weren’t worth the extra time and effort to appease for no money.  The people who bought from me bought the value I showed them and subsequently brought me more business.  That’s right, I charged them more than my competitors and they brought me more people to sell to.  The experience and the value they found in me was worth the price they had to pay.

            I’ve found myself buying things with the same mentality.  If its worth it, I’m going to pay more for it.  Ironically when I buy a cheap(er) version of the big ticket item I’m looking at I’m always disappointed.  But knowing I’m buying a lower value proposition makes it easier to accept the negative aspects and move on.

The power of doing the right thing

            So last week I wrote a story about my old manager in the car business.  I had some good feedback from people who read the article and they expressed condolences for having worked with someone like that.  While it’s a bit comical to have that reaction it helped me “purge” the experience from my mind.

            Rather than sharing the horrible negatives of the experience with one manager I decided to not only share more stories about the “evil boss” but examples of the “good boss” who also worked at the same location.  Much like the yin yang in every bit of negative there needs to be positive.

            One night early in my career I was working with an airman from Texas.  He was interested in trading in his two wheel drive FJ cruiser (yes they exist) and buying a truck for the Nebraska winters.  After giving him plenty of grief about his “poser” FJ with knobby tires and winch we were having a good time.

            We had two trucks on the lot that met his criteria.  Ironically they were parked next to each other and the one was a dark blue and the other was black.  There was an $8000 price difference between the two as one had much higher miles.  That more expensive truck was out of the budget we were looking at but it was the truck he wanted.

            At this time most of the sales staff and managers had left for the night.  It was getting late and we were down to minimal staff waiting for me to close this deal.  My “non-evil” manager was cutting to the chase but staying within the procedures set fourth by the dealership.  We were having fun joking around while he crunched numbers to keep our moods positive.  I always enjoyed working deals with him because he gave you the information and then double checked to make sure you understood what it meant.

            After several hours of working the numbers we were close to making the deal.  We were within $100 of the figures working out and getting the deal closed.  I pulled the CarFax to show that the vehicle hadn’t been in a wreck.  It was then we noticed something somewhat shocking.

            The truck we had been working numbers on was the more expensive VIN trucks VIN number.  The tricky part was we had been using the financials of the cheaper truck the whole time.  This was a huge error that had slipped through the cracks.  The airman was blown away, as was I, and the thought of potentially starting over was hanging in the air.

            I brought the mistake to the attention of my manager.  When you’re the last people in a dealership you can get away with some things you normally wouldn’t do.  In this case the loud bellowing “YAWP” from my manger went mostly un noticed.  After some chewing on his toothpick he simply said, “well…lets do this.”

            He walked back into the room with my airman nervously texting away on his phone.  My manager sat down and with a heavy head said, “Well…we screwed up and have been working the wrong truck this whole time.  I’m a man of my word so if you want this truck for that price I’ll sell it for that…tonight only…so we can wrap this up and get out of here.  What do you say?”  with that he held out his giant catcher mitt sized hand to shake.  (He’s a friend to this day so I can’t write a glowing article about his positive attributes without giving him some grief)

            The airman, who wanted the black truck from the start, lit up and smiled ear to ear.  “Deal” and with that we hastily wrapped up everything so we could all get the hell out of there.

            The truck was a major loss in terms of profitability for the dealership.  I made the bare minimum you can make on a car deal.  I felt like I had failed the dealership in some way.  But my “non-evil” boss sensed my feeling off.  “You can’t win them all…and sometimes you need to do the right thing no matter what it costs you.”

            It was then I knew it was possible to have integrity in the auto world.  An industry full of “misfit toys” and a history of being despicable still had some bastions of hope and moral fiber.

            The airman not only loved the truck but he came back to buy his dream car from me later that year.  We ordered it from the factory with every nut and bold with his name on it.  To this day it was the only glass roofed Mustang GT I’ve ever seen in Omaha.  Its also “Gotta Have it Green” so its not to hard to miss on the streets.  If you don’t know what that color is imagine hooking up a lime to 100 watts of power and covering it with baby oil.  It’s a color that stands out from miles away and looks alive when you’re close.

            While these deals weren’t the deals I was going to retire on they did set a few things in motion.  Firstly, I found an example of what I wanted to become in the auto industry.  Luckily for me he was willing to mentor me when my “assigned” mentors did little to help me grow.  The Mustang was the first USAA purchase in the dealership.  Within a few months of his purchase we became the USAA dealership closest to the large Air Force Base down the interstate.  The volume of cars we sold to USAA members at home and even deployed more than made up for the loss on the truck.

            Both guys are still good friends to this day.  I’m constantly referring buyers to my “non-evil” boss who is running on of the highest rated dealerships in the Midwest.  When asked what his secret was by one of the owners his response was so simple it was genius, “do the right thing, every time”.  While I can’t refer much to the airman I still enjoy seeing photos of his mustang as it has morphed into “Hulk”.

The high road is paved with double stuff oreos

            Years ago I was working for New York Life Insurance out of Omaha.  I had just finished training and was well on my way to becoming a full blown agent with the company.  The only thing I needed was my first client.  As is the case you start with your family and friends to ease into things, but I wanted a challenge.

            I came home from work one day to see a note stuck to my door.  Apparently I was being served and the county sheriffs office had stopped by.  I was shocked and confused on what was going on so I panicked and called the number.

            A woman answered the phone and told me in a fairly dull tone that she had court papers for me.  Eager to know what the hell was going on I opted to meet her and get the papers sooner than later.  I definitely didn’t want them served to me at my new job, where image was important, so I asked where I could meet her.  “You can meet me at the county lock up downtown…” 

            After a hard swallow and a few heart palpitations later I agreed to meet her down there.  Honestly, all I knew was it was in a bad part of town and I never wanted to be anywhere near that place, so I Googled it.

            I opted to leave work a little early and meet her in the afternoon.  For some reason I felt like that was safer for me and I could just head home afterward to regroup.  I walked into the secure waiting room in a suit and tie with a cashmere overcoat.  Several of the people waiting in the room looked at me like I was either a lawyer or a possibly a detective.

            Pam (name changed to protect identity) was called and I waited a few awkward minutes until she came up.  When she opened the door she was a heavy set African American woman in her 50’s.  She, rather un ceremoniously, handed me the papers in one quick motion. (I was being sued for a car accident from two years ago, it ultimately was just an ambulance chaser trying to get paid.)  “That’s a nice suit…what do you do?”  I told her I sold life insurance for New York Life.  “That’s the building in New York with the gold top right?”  Still in shock I nodded yes  “I need to get life insurance for me and my family…can you help me?”  And with that I had my first potential client.

            We met at a village in down in Bellevue.  I had to take my mentor at the time Steve (name also changed).  Unknown to me Pam was a lesbian and her life partner joined us.  Between the two of them they had 8 kids and 13 grandkids.  Steve did a very “quick and dirty” version of the script I had been given to help me sell.  You could tell he thought this wasn’t going anywhere and wanted to get it over with fast.

            After he breezed through it Pam looked at me and said “what do you think I should do?”  They had a huge need for coverage but didn’t make a ton of money.  Plus her weight and the fact she smoked meant her premium would be sky high.  I suggested the cheaper option of term insurance and she agreed.

            Steve was in the habit of quoting the top rating for clients.  “We’ll just send it in and see what we get”  and with that we wrote up a 500k policy.  I sat between the two women and literally walked line by line through the entire application answering questions as we went.  I could almost feel the relief as we wrapped it up.

            On the way back to the office Steve said “There’s no way in hell she’s getting that policy at what I quoted her!”  He knew her rating would be 4 to 5 times more than what we told her and still wrote it.  “I’ve also go a new nickname for you…double stuff!”  Apparently the sight of me, a heavy set white guy, sitting between two heavy set women reminded him of Oreo cookies.  It took everything I had to not punch him in the face at that moment.

            For the next month the case was in underwriting.  Pam got issued where I expected her to, 5 times what we quoted her.  We went back and gave her the policy and explained how it worked.  I did everything I could to give her an “out” and provided just enough information that she could figure out she wasn’t completely hosed with this deal, but Steve was persistent.

            Pam was excited that she had been able to get a policy and it meant the world to her knowing her kids would be taken care of.  She cried a little and held the hand of her partner.  When we left both of the women gave me, and only me, a hug thanking me for helping their family.  She told me to expect calls from all of their kids for policies in the near future.

            A week or two later I get a call from Pam.  She had looked at the illustration I told her about in the paperwork.  Steve had hoped she wouldn’t notice it so the policy would stick.  “Justin, in 5 years this is more than my mortgage…I can’t pay that.”  We discussed options and ultimately we had to cancel the policy.  Steve was pissed he lost his commissions on the deal and continued to call me “double stuff” for the rest of my time there.

            Pam left the department and gave me a call to roll over her pension several months later.  Steve went with me and tried to write it as a variable annuity so only he could get the case count as I was not licensed for variable annuities.  Her pension was a hair over $2000 and paid out $20 in commission.  Steve was calculating how much he made per mile, per minute, and so on.  Pam ended up cashing out her pension to pay her bills and Steve never got the $20.

            My first client in the life insurance industry was an overweight smoker who served me process papers in a jail.  Pam unintentionally taught me a huge lesson about myself and the power of doing the right thing.  Throughout the entire time we worked together she knew in her heart I had her best interests in mind.  She could see right through Steve and his ways, but knew I was the rookie who had to have him there. 

            Pam was going through a tough transition in life and needed someone to not only listen to her but to be kind to her.  I can only imagine the number of times this kind grandmother of 13 grandkids had been treated poorly serving process papers.  The number of times someone treated her like crap or with hostility.

            At the end of the day Pam needed someone to be kind to her and to have her interests in mind.  Steve faked his sincerity with her.  I remained genuine and from the moment I opened my mouth she trusted me implicitly.  Had I been a man of lower moral fiber I could have sold her a $20 million dollar policy…but she knew better.

            From that policy on I began to put quotes into my policy holders.  I printed out dozens of quotes that were inspirational or compassionate.  Every time I worked with a client I remembered that feeling of relief I felt in a Village Inn between those two women.   Every client I “signed up” from then on got a quote that I felt fit their life…a way to put into writing the relief I wanted them to have.

            I would never have gotten rich off of Pam and her family.  But that wasn’t the point of working with them.  Sometimes you’re in a position that you need to put the salesmanship aside and do the right thing for your customer.  Strangely enough that might be not selling them a damn thing and just teaching them about your business.