Automobile Buying - Dealing With The Car Salesman

It is the latter, and one tactic specifically I would like to address in these articles for you.

In the car business, many dealerships and subsequent car sales people use what is known as a work sheet when they are dealing with a potential automobile buying prospect (you).

Of course, any type of sales is predicated upon using a tried and true system, presentation, or process that works. Everything sales has one. In the car business their is a sales process that may car sales people on trained on known as the the 4-square worksheet, 4-corner close or some other connotation thereof.

The 4-square worksheet or the 4-corner close is drilled into the automobile salesperson that this tool is their ally. This tool will maximize their profit and as such maximize their commission. And you should be aware of this when you sit down to negotiate the car deal.

As the name implies, the worksheet is divided into 4 sections.

So, when the salesperson gets you to sit down in their cube (known in the business as having the customer in the box... isn't that comforting), don't be surprised to see the arrival of this sales tool.

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First of all, I should point out that at some car dealerships, the salesperson is absolutely required to work the deal following this worksheet to a tee. And believe me, many dealerships put the fear of the salesman's job into the salesperson's mind if they don't.

Many sales managers won't even entertain the offer and run the sales person out of their office and back to the customer to get the proper information if they haven't followed the 4-square car deal worksheet.

With the 4-square work sheet the customer information is at the top along with the basic information on the car you have selected. Then (usually in the upper right square) the sticker price of the car is written in a authoritative fashion. The other boxes on the worksheet are for the price offered for the trade-in, the amount of your down payment, and your monthly payment.

Coming up next we'll take a look at the process behind the 4-square worksheet and how you should deal with this during the automobile buying  process.

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